PETS - Part 4

TOBY

After Shaggy, I said, "No more dogs - period." Guess what. Less than a month later I was looking for another dog. It was so lonely around the house without a dog. Both the girls were gone and I was suffering from "Empty Nest Syndrome." So, what's a mother to do? Go out and find something else to mother. I knew I wanted a small dog, but not a mean, temperamental one. I did some research and came up with what I thought would be perfect, a yorkie. It would be small, energetic and very loving. I finally found one listed in the paper and Randy & I took off for Scottsville, KY to meet Toby. He was soooooo little, and fuzzy, and cute. I just had to have him. We brought him home and he was so quiet. Holly came to see him and he just laid on her lap, nice and quiet and cute. The next time she came over she wanted to know what I had done to him. He was so full of energy and was in a constant state of motion. He loved to play fetch. I bought him a squeaky toy - it was Lucy from Charlie Brown. We would play fetch for hours at a time. He loved the game. Lucy was his constant companion. But little by little, as he chewed on her, parts of her disappeared. In the end all we had to throw were Lucy's feet. But he would go and fetch her feet and bring them back to me. After Lucy's demise, I found another squeaky toy at the dollar store - it was a cow wearing overalls and carrying a milk bottle. Toby finally took up with "Mr. Cow." They got along so well, I went back and bought 2 more just like him. We put one in the camper and put one up so we'd have an extra in case it turned out like Lucy. We still have a Mr. Cow, but Toby doesn't play with him much any more. Mostly it's when Katie is around that he plays. Toby turned 9 last Halloween and is great company for me to have around. Toby learned our habits well and he knows, just like Shaggy did, when it's time to go to bed and he lets us know (sometimes before we're ready). He's very spoiled. He gets a bite of cheese whenever he goes outside to potty, so sometimes, he tells us he needs to go out, but just runs outside and then immediately back in. We really have to watch him or he takes advantage of us. He's been great with the grandkids. He even gets excited when I talk to Katie on the phone.

STORM UPDATE II

Things seemed back to normal for us on Tuesday morning, so I left for work at the normal time. The roads were wet but no ice. The morning was uneventful except that school had been called off for the county. I was sitting in my office thinking about lunch when the lights went out and my computer went off. Seems the ice that had fallen during the night and landed on the trees was beginning to weigh them down and they started breaking --everywhere, evidently, across the state. Our phones were out because our phone system needs electricty to work. My cell phone was the only one there that worked. It seems that AT&T had some tower problems and their cell phones as well as some of their land lines were out of order. We knew that it would be a while before the power company got to us because there were so many ahead of us. The power was still off when we left. By Wednesday morning we had had a lot of rain overnight and they were predicting snow (1-3 inches). All schools were called off again in anticipation of the snow, but at the time I normally go to work there wasn't anything on the roads, so off I go (dedicated employee that I am). Well I get to work and turn on my computer (by the way, our power was back on)and my connection to Frankfort and my e-mail account were down --NO INTERNET!! My job is completely dependent on my computer, email and access to Emars (our whole accounting system). Then I remembered that sometimes when the power goes out we just need to reset the router, so I go and reset it -nothing happens. I stayed around for over an hour with nothing to do and then it started snowing at a pretty fast rate. Since I couldn't work and only 2 others had shown up I made the decision to go back home. The roads became snow covered quickly. It took a while, but I made it home safely. I only saw one fender on the way home. In hindsight, I should have stayed a little longer. The 1-3 inches ended up being maybe 1/2 inch. It had stopped snowing an hour after I got home and then the roads cleared quickly after that. From home I could check my work email and late in the afternoon we had an email from the governor's office saying that state offices could close at 11 AM. The other 2 people who showed up along with several others who came in late couldn't check their emails and ended up staying all day because they didn't get the governor's message. When I got to work this morning the internet was still down, so I went and reset the router and things worked fine all day. We've been very fortunate with having electricity. There are thousands here that don't have electricity and several Red Cross shelters have been set up across the area to provide a warm place for them. They're saying some will be without for 7-14 days. Camping World has been bringing in extra shipments of propane heaters, generators, etc. and people are buying whatever they can to keep themselves warm. They say this is the worst power outage that this area has ever seen.

READING GOD'S WORD

Over the years I have tried to read my Bible. For a long time I bounced around from one book to another, back and forth without much rhyme or reason. I think I read all of it at some time or another. In January 2002 I made a New Year's Resolution to read the Bible from cover to cover in a year. I would be turning 50 that November and I decided I had put this off too long. It turns out that I was finished in August. Since that time I have continued to read almost daily, but have not continued to finish the entire Bible each year. I started this past November an on-line Bible-In-A-Year plan. You can pick different versions of the Bible along with chosing beginning to end or a mix of Old Testament/New Testament/Proverbs daily. I decided on the mix and am staying current on my readings. I miss a day occassionally, but it reminds me that I've missed a day so I make it up usually the following day.
I am not a Bible scholar. I sometimes worry that I don't get enough from my readings. Today one of my e-mail devotionals brought this into perspective for me with the following:

An old man who lived in the mountains with his young grandson. Each morning, the grandfather would sit at the kitchen table and read from his worn-out Bible. Wanting to be just like his grandfather, the young boy would imitate him by reading his own Bible.

One day the grandson asked, "Grandfather, I try to read the Bible just like you, but I don't understand it. When I do understand it, I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bible do?"

The grandfather replied, "Take this old wicker coal basket down to the river and bring back a basket of water."

The boy did as he was told, but the water leaked out of the basket before he could get back to the house. The grandfather sent him back three more times and told him to move faster each time. Every time, the frustrated boy returned with an empty basket.

Finally, out of breath, the young boy said to his grandfather, "See...it's useless!"

The old man said, "Look at the basket. Instead of a dirty old wicker coal basket, it's now clean. That's what happens when you read the Bible. You might not understand it or remember everything you read, but when you do, it will change you from the inside out."

I pray through continuing to faithfully read the Bible I will eventually retain and understand what God is telling me through His word.

PETS - Part 3 - Our Pound Puppy

When the girls were in elementary school they talked us into getting another dog. I took them with me to the Humane Society and prayed all the way there that we would find an acceptable dog for them. The first dogs we saw were mostly medium to large dogs, not at all what I had in mind. Then we found one dog in a cage. He looked so lonely and scared. He was about 11 pounds, had the coloring of a cocker spaniel, and a snout more like a terrier. The girls named hime Shaggy. We took him to the vet to have him checked out and the vet said that we didn't want this dog and should have him put down. He was covered in fleas and was "flea allergic." I just really didn't think that would be a huge problem, but now what to do!?! I just didn't see how I could have him put down just because he had fleas, so we treated him for fleas and he never really had a problem with them after that. Whew, I'm so glad that I didn't give in to the vet's wishes. We had signed the paperwork at the Humane Society saying we would have him neutered at that vets so we went ahead and did that, but after that I I changed vets.
He was to be an outside dog and Randy built him a doghouse and put it right by the back door. He stayed outside at first and then gradually we started letting him in the den while we were up. Then cooler weather arrived and when we'd go to put him out he would just stand there and shiver and look at us with such sad eyes. I'm a pushover when it comes to dogs so he soon became an indoor dog. He never chewed on things and always went outside to do his business. Once, Randy had to go on a trip out of town and when he came home he brought each of the girls a little toy pound puppy. Shaggy couldn't stand it, he wanted to play with them so badly so he would sneak and take them. We ended up buying him several pound puppies over the years. Even the grandmothers would look for them at yard sales so he would always have one. He would chew on them, get a hole in them and start pulling the stuffing out them. We'd find stuffing everywhere. He still played with them when there was no stuffing left -just the shell of a dog.
We had a garden in our back yard and we didn't want Shaggy playing in it so Randy put up a short fence about 10"-12" high. It worked for a while, but then Shaggy started playing with our neighbor's dog, Tip. They would run along the fence together but when Shaggy got to the little fence he would jump over it. We finally decided that the fence wasn't keeping him out of the garden anyway, so Randy took it down. Imagine how surprised we were when Shaggy and Tip began running along the fence and when Shaggy got to where the fence used to be he jumped up in air and sailed over.....thin air! He continued to jump over the invisible fence for a while.
We had always stayed up at night until the weather forcast was over about 10:20. We went through a period of time where neither one of us could stay awake until then. We would both go to sleep sitting in front of the TV. Well, we were surprised one night when, at 10:20, Shaggy started barking at us to wake up and go to bed. It didn't just happen once. Anytime that we would go be asleep when the weather was over, he would make sure to wake us up so we could go on to bed.
Shaggy loved going to visit my parents. He made the long to trip to Georgia with us for years and then when they moved back here, he still went with me when I would go to visit. Of course, my mother was worse than me when it came to spoiling the dogs. She would save food for him so she'd have something good to feed him.
Shaggy was with us until December of 1999. He was sorely missed. I decided there would be no more dogs.....

ICE STORM UPDATE

Well, we did have some ice last night. Mostly the ice is on elevated surfaces. The Ky Highway Department brined the roads yesterday so the roads are pretty much just wet around here with a few slick spots. They are reporting that the city has about 200 homes without power and the county has about 2,000. Most of the road problems are being caused by downed trees. I think all of the schools around the area have closed including the city schools, which surprises me since they say the roads are okay. I guess I'll go to work on a delayed schedule today. The temperatures are supposed to rise today to about 37, so it should just get better as the day goes along. Weather forecasters are saying we're going to have snow tonight so we'll be watching the news in the morning to see if we have slick roads.

IMPENDING ICE STORM

The above picture is of trees in Kristy & Justin's yard - December 2007 - when they had an ice storm.

They've been talking about bad weather for a while, but this morning they issued an Ice Storm Warning for tonight! We do have gas logs in our fireplace and a gas heater in our sunroom. But, me being who I am, I was worried about the electricity going off, so I suggested to Randy that this might be a good time to buy a generator. So he went to Lowes and we are now the proud owners of a generator. Now we can keep our gas furnace going and the freezer and refrigerators running. One of the other good things about having a generator is that we can keep using our laptops in the event we lose power and hopefully we'll still have internet access. You see, we're both addicted to our computers. We sit with them on our laps most evenings. We can watch TV while we surf the net, play games, or read e-mails.

I'm looking forward to staying home from work tomorrow (assuming the forcast is correct). We have a special adverse weather leave that I can take. It's nice because you make up the time in 30 minute increments. Since I already spend my half hour lunch at my desk answering the phone and e-mails, it won't really add any time to my days to make it up.

PETS -Part 2

The previous post was on my pre-marriage pets. Now for the pets after marriage.

The first dog that Randy & I bought was a beagle. Droopy was a really strange dog. We left him in the house while we were at work & I put a chair by the dining room window so he could see outside while we were gone. He chewed on the window sill and the mullions and also on the back of the wooden lyre back chair. He scratched the linolieum so he could get ahold of it with his teeth and made a hole in it. I guess what saved him for so long was that I looked on him as my protector. Now in the beginning I never would have thought that, but then Randy had to be out of town overnight with his boss. Droopy was sleeping on the floor by my bed. About 2:30 in the morning he woke me up growling --- now that was very scary. Fortunately, it was just Randy coming home earlier than expected. But I honestly thought if it had been someone breaking in, Droopy would have tried his best to protect me. As Droopy got a little older, he never really settled into being an inside dog so since we had a nice big fenced in yard he was relegated to the back yard. We went to work and when we came home he had gotten out of the chain link fence. After watching him, we learned that he wasn't jumping the fence, he was climbing it. We decided we'd have to get rid of him because we were afraid he would get out on the highway and get hit. One of the girls I worked with said she would take him. While she had him, he would disappear on warm summer mornings. After asking around, they found out that he would go over to the next subdivision, wiggle under a fence, and take his morning swim in the neighborhood swimming pool! He must have made nuisance out of his self with a neighbor because one day he came home filled with buckshoot. He recovered and was sent to a farm in the country to live out his days.

PETS

Above: Hector, Rascal & Gretchen

From the time I was a little girl my family almost always had a dog around. Hector, a wirehaired terrier came to live with our family before I can even remember. He was just always there in my memory. We had Hector for about 8 years. He was an outside dog. I really didn't like him because he was bigger than me and was always so thrilled to see me that he would jump up on me. When my dad got got transfered to another city, we had to give Hector away. My parents found him a new owner with lots of land so he would have room to run, but he ended up getting hit by car. After we moved, we didn't have a dog for a few years. Then my dad had a customer who had a litter of small terriers for sale. My dad, brother and I went out one Saturday morning to look at the little dogs. We ended up buying one - I think she was about $25.00 back in about 1962. I remember my dad putting her inside his jacket and zipping it up to keep her warm until we could get her home. We named her Rascal, well, because she was a rascal. Even though our mother wasn't with us when we picked her out she ended up being mother's dog. I guess because that's who took care of her the most. That does seem to happen. She wasn't with us too long. She died on my mother's lap one Sunday afternoon. Daddy buried her out in the garden. I remember looking out and seeing that bare ground all winter. It was really sad. Shortly after that they built a new mall close to our house. In the mall was a pet shop. We'd always stop and look at all puppies for sale (that was before all the news on puppy mills that provided puppies for this type of business). It was while I was in high school that my mother and I were out "looking" at the mall and found the cutest little miniature black daschund. At first she said no, then we went home and I begged and pleaded. This was shortly after Christmas and one of my Christmas presents hadn't come in and was going to have to be reordered, so I said ---I'll get something cheaper and put the extra money in on the dog. Well, I finally convinced her. We went back to the mall and picked up Gretchen Lee Jackson. Even though this was supposed to my dog -- guess who she took to the most? Of course, my mother! Then my dad got transferred again and I moved into the dorm, where of course, I couldn't have a dog. Then I got married, but the dog would always be mother's. When I had my first baby we weren't sure how Gretchen would be with her since she'd never been around kids. When Kristy started crawling, she'd chase after Gretchen. In my parents house you could go in a circle, from the living room, to entrance way to kitchen and back to the living room. Gretchen could run a lot faster than Kristy could crawl, so when she'd get too far ahead, she would stop and wait for Kristy to get catch up and then take off again. They had a lot of fun together. Gretchen was around for 18 years, a long time for dog. After that my parents said no more dogs.

REMINDERS OF SIMPLER TIMES

Yesterday, it was cold and snowy here. Officially 1/2" of snow -- about normal for our little dustings. I spent the afternoon looking at some of the old home movies from when I was growing up in the 50's. There were lots of just regular days playing with neighborhood kids. Me, walking down the sidewalk with a friend and holding my baby doll and wearing plastic high heels, my brother playing "army" with his best friend out in the dirt, and both of us learning to twirl hula hoops around our bodies and ride our first bicycles. I guess we had a pretty normal childhood for that time. We had some really good snows where we lived. Our house was on a dead end street --- literally---there was a cemetery at the end of the street. When we had a big snow, there weren't many cars so the whole neighborhood ended up in the street riding sleds. There are movies of the glorious rides down the hill and then trudging back up to the top to do it all over again. My mom pulled us around a lot too. When the parents couldn't come out to play, our next door neighbor had an extra lot that was on a hillside and we could sled down it without any supervision. About halfway down there were a couple of humps that when you hit it, you almost came off the sled. I never got brave enough to sit up on the sled, I just laid on my tummy and went down. I was only 8 when we moved from there. There were movies of the first day of school (back when girls ALWAYS wore dresses to school), family gatherings, camping trips, vacations. I hadn't looked at these in a while and it was nice to remember the way things used to be.

TRYING TO BE HEALTHY

I made my normal New Years Resolution this year -- to lose weight. Well, how am I doing? I haven't lost much weight, but I'm staying on track with my eating. I'm not "dieting" but trying to eat healthy. I do snack a litte each day (100 calorie mircowave popcorn) and I'll get 4-5 M & M's a couple of times a night to take care of my sweets cravings. I've cut out pretty much all Cokes, Diet as well. I eat 3 meals a day and I'm trying to get in all the food groups - dairy, veggies, fruits, etc. I've been walking 6 days a week on the treadmill. I started out walking 20 minutes a day and am now up to 30 minutes. I'm trying to increase gradually because it seems like everytime I do this, I try to add too much too fast and then my muscles protest and I'm done. This week I also added strength training 3 days a week. All of this may be why I'm not seeing much weight loss, but if I can keep on track I'm sure that will come. I know that exercising will need to be a lifelong occurance or I won't be able to keep my weight off. I found that out the hard way the last time I lost the weight and then gained it back. I quit walking and added a few extra calories a day and after several years, I was almost back to where I had started. I'm looking forward to spring so that I can do some of my walking at the park. I'm hoping that Randy will be a walking partner for me. I've already mentioned it to him, so he has been forwarned!! And maybe then, I'll go back to playing some golf with him.

AIRPLANE LANDS IN HUDSON RIVER

When I heard about the plane making a crash landing in the Hudson River, I was reminded of taking off from Laguardia Airport in 2007. We too, were heading south, but the plane took off to the north and circled around where we could see Central Park and then headed south. It was a beautiful sight. I can't imagine what those people went through when they were told to prepare for a crash. I'm so thankful that the pilot was able to bring them down without any fatalities.

READY FOR SUMMER

THE GARDEN - SUMMER 2008 ----- SNOW ---- JANUARY 2008

This morning when I turned on the TV they said the temperature was zero! I'm not much of a winter person anyway, but that is just way too low for me. We have some friends who left earlier in the week for 2 months in Florida. Normally, I would say, "No Thanks!" to spending that long away from home, but it sure does seem enticing right now. It has warmed up to 11 degrees so far with an expected high of 22. I wouldn't mind having one good snow each winter, but around here we have 1/2 to 1 inch dustings several times a winter. It's just enough to make the roads slick in the morning and just plain messy -- I would like to see a pretty snow again. One that makes you stay home for a couple of days, kids can get out and build snowmen and then POOF it's all gone and things get back to normal quickly. I know, it's too much to ask for.

FRIENDSHIP

I have had a very special relationship with a co-worker for the past 13 years. Tammy has always been supportive of me and my family. We have shared the blessings of our lives with one another. She has been a wonderful friend. When my oldest daughter married, she and her daughter were my kitchen helpers at the reception, making sure that the food was all heated and the dishes stayed full. She listened to my non-stop gushing at the births of my two wonderful granddaughters and I think she really was as happy as I was. She has always picked up special things for them that she thought they would like. She was there with me when my dad was dying and helped me get through difficult times when I was trying to help my mother through the final years of her life. I don't know how I could have managed without her. Then in the summer of 2007 we went on a girl's vacation with my daughter Holly and one of Holly's friends to New York City. I'd never been on a commercial plane before so that was an experience for me. We saw the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, walked through Central Park, went to museums, Time Square. It was a vacation I'll never forget. We've traveled all over the state of Kentucky together due to our jobs. A lot of the years we've worked together our desks have actually touched. We couldn't have had a private phone conversation if we wanted to. Tammy has always had a fair commute to work and she finally had the opportunity to move her office closer to home last week. I've been having withdrawals since she moved. I'm so happy for her that she no longer has such a long drive to work, but after having her for such a confidant, I truly miss having her close by each day. I know it'll get better with time, but her move has left a hole in my life. Tammy, thanks for being such a good friend for so many years. You've seen the good, bad and ugly and continued to support me in every way. I know we'll still talk, but it just won't quite be the same as telling you little 'tidbits' as soon as they come to mind.

Christmas 2008

I've been back to work for a week after having two wonderful weeks off for the Christmas/New Years holidays. It wasn't easy returning after such an extended vacation. Christmas was great. Kristy & her family were in for a few days before Christmas. It's always such a joy to have them here. Holly got to spend some time with us too. We had a Christmas breakfast before opening gifts. Kate enjoyed giving out presents before opening hers. The Kansas bunch returned to their home in time for Santa to visit on Christmas Eve. Holly met us at church for the late Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion Service. That has always been such a special time for our family. When our kids were small we went to the early service, but when they got to middle school we started attending the late service and then went home at midnight and opened presents. It was a compromise for me because I grew up opening presents on Christmas morning and the kids wanted to do it on Christmas Eve. This way they got to open them before going to bed, but it was actually Christmas. Christmas Day was really quiet for us since it was just the two of us. We went to the movies to see Four Christmases. It was a funny movie about a couple who always avoided family Christmases because of split families, but ended up going to all four of their parents homes on Christmas Day. We enjoyed the movie. I didn't even cook a turkey for Christmas this year -- we were planning on fixing dinner, but the popcorn at the movies filled us up and we didn't want to have dinner.

HANES FAMILY REUNION

We've had a great holiday season. In November our oldest daughter and her kids got to spend 3 wonderful weeks with us. We enjoyed having our grandchildren with us for an extended visit. We celebrated Thanksgiving with my brother and his family along with our son-in-law's parents. Then the following Saturday my husband's family had a family reunion here at our church. There were 54 in attendance, if I counted correctly. A good time was had by all. We also celebrated my mother-in-law's 87th birthday that day. Several of her cousins joined us to help her celebrate.

A New Year Begins

I've been enjoying reading my daughter's blog over the past year and have decided to try one for myself. As the new year begins, I've resolved - once again - to try to lose weight. Seven years ago I started working on a present to myself for my 50th birthday - to lose 50 pounds before the date arrived. I reached my goal several weeks ahead of schedule. Since that time, those pounds have gradually reappeared and now it's time to do it all over again. Last time I spent a lot of time at the park walking after work. I tried for 2-4 miles a day. This time I have a treadmill and I'm going to try to work up to walking an hour a day. I also lifted weights which I'm going to start on next week. Wish me luck!