Piper

This weekend we had an all-too-brief extension of our little pack.

A friend of mine rescued a little white, shepherd-looking puppy from where she’d been dumped on a farm. She’d been on a trail ride with friends and thought the pup might be a nice dog for her son to grow up with. Wrong. It turns out her son wasn’t so enthusiastic… so she was looking to get rid of the pup quickly. One option was to take the pup back to the farm where it probably would have been shot to keep the population down – apparently that’s what they do to female pups on the farm, or something… maybe just that farm.

Anyway my friend knew I’ve been searching for a nice dog for my grandmother. And this dog was just the right size (as long as she didn’t decide to grow too much). About 25-30 lbs, and friendly. Absolutely loves people. Unfortunately she was just too much of a puppy for what I was looking for. It about 2 years she’d probably shape up nicely for Grandma, but until then, she’d be getting into everything.

Once I’d made that decision, I knew she had to go fast or I’d end up with another dog. So I decided to go back to the St. Louis Area and take her to the St. Charles Humane Society, which is a no-kill animal shelter. Even when I got to my parents and called the shelter, it looked like I wouldn’t get her surrendered that day, but Peg encouraged me to call back – twice, actually. And they finally agreed to take her on Sunday. It cost me $50, but at least I know that she’ll be found a good home.

I really felt bad, leaving her there. I still do. That was the 4th time in a week she’d been abandoned, so-to-speak. And being a dog person, I always feel I can give a dog a better home than the next person – which isn’t quite true, but it feels true.

I’m trying hard to remember the things that weren’t so good: 1) Jenner hated having another dog around – the only dog he tolerates as much as Aggie is Lou, my sister-in-law’s pup. {Jenner takes just about anything from Lou = very interesting.} 2) She wasn’t completely housebroken = I washed two of my floor rugs yesterday. 3) she was nocturnal, the two nights I had her – another things that I really, really apreciate about Lou; he sleeps all night. 4)Piper liked to chew on shoes; despite that I still have to wear them. 5) Her name should have been Tanglefoot = she was ALWAYS right there. She had to be next to me, to see me – probably because she’d been abandoned too many times… okay, that’s making me feel bad again.

But Piper was great to have in the park on our walks. Aggie has an extended range, while hunting – which is what she does in the park. Piper stayed with me, only chasing Aggie short distances as she ran around us. Now I’m alone again as I walk the trails.

Piper – actually now named Jordan because the Humane Society already had a Piper – will make a great companion for someone. I hope whoever eventually adopts her, appreciates her good qualities and forgives those that aren’t as redeeming.

This is a reminder that everyone should  adopt a rescue dog once – it’s good for your soul.

Charging my irritation

It’s summer and I don’t watch a lot of tv anyway, but in summer it’s even less. Right now I watch This Week: with George Stephanopoulos and Traveler; both on ABC (though last year I watched mainly CBS). I only have 3 chanels, so it’s not a challenge to not watch TV.

But last night Traveler was on (which I really enjoy. I only hope it ends when the summer does *please, please, please*) and I happened to see a commercial for a Dodge Charger, that got WooHoo! 25 miles to the gallon… big whup!

I’m not much of a car person and I don’t know what all the ins and outs are, but I do know that 20 years ago my family had a Dodge Omni, that had gas mileage in the low 30’s. Of course, comparing a Charger to an Omni is like comparing the Kentucky Derby Winner to the pony ride ponies at the fair – it’s not in the same class.

BUT it’s been 20 years. And there’s a big difference in gas costs. And we all know that paying for gas is basically paying terrorists (which they use to keep attacking us, which gives the government their wars going and makes more money for their big corporate friends) but what can we do? We need the energy. And we really don’t have many good options.

What I don’t get is American car companies that haven’t jumped on the alternative fuel problem and solved it already. What’s happened to American ingenuity and creativity?… what happened to worshiping the almight dollar = if everyone wants to get off oil, to… solar, or hydrogen, or electicity, or whatever!!… don’t you think that everyone is going to have to buy these new vehicles? Every single car and truck out there is going to have to be replaced – talk about a manufacturer’s dream!

I do realize that this is not a little problem – finding an alternative power source – it’s HUGE! But cars and trucks weren’t that great when they first came out, and horses were still preferable for many years. But they made strides forward. We seem to be going backwards, ex: 32miles/gallon ’86 Omni and 25miles/gallon 2008 Charger.

This is pathetic!

day light and new movies

Has anyone noticed? the days are getting shorter.

It’s weird because it’s hot as ever in Missouri (though, honestly, it’s been hotter in years past) – summer still has quite a party left in it, before refreshing autumn rescues us. But summer solstice has come and gone and the days are shortening. Though now it’s noticeable on the earlier morning walks Aggie and I take. Each time I get up at 5:30am it stays darker a little longer.

I got to see the new Harry Potter last weekend with Peggy, who came for a short visit. It was really a good movie, though after some thought, I think that it made a difference having read the book. There is so much information, that it’s impossible to cram it all in the movie, so knowing the story is a lot of help – in this movie more than most.

Also, I’m reserving judgment, but so far I DO NOT like the previews for “The Dark is Rising”. This was one of my favorites growning up. It’s the 2nd book in a group of 5 by Susan Cooper, but I felt like someone had read the COOL title and perhaps the back cover to get an idea of what was going on, and then decided to make Will (the main character) a little more like Harry Potter – then made a movie out of it. I read these books every year for a number of years, and they are excellent, but I hate when a big, bad movie company takes a book and changes it so very much. If they completely wrote something else, if they used a different title and a different story – fine! But twisting something new from something treasured is infuriating!!!!!!

That sad “The Sterkharm Handshake” by Susan Price, would be an interesting movie = FREAKY. It’s pretty dark and it would take someone brave not to ruin it for a big, Hollywood movie.

highlander

As I was reminded by Peg, the 4th was also a good “Highlander” day. 🙂
Sonia got me hooked on this tv show during college and at the same time Peg was watching it too. When we became such good friends we started watching it together and Sonia too (when Brett’s not around 😛 … ). Peg’s gotten the first 3 seasons as gifts and over the last 5, or so, years we’ve made our way through the first 2. We’re on the 3rd now – and enjoying every second of it.

It’s funny because I mentioned it to Miranda last night when she was helping (actually she did all the hard stuff) me with my hobbit skirt for an upcoming party. And Miranda had the same reaction that most females do when they remember that show – “Duncan McLeod is so hot!”, or something to that effect

And, yes, of course he is – was there any doubt!?!

Pack chaos for the 4th

So, since my brother (Andrew) has been gone for the summer in New Mexico, doing an internship (or whatever) out there with Sandia National Labs, my sister-in-law Risa made plans to visit him out there. She wanted to see him, of course, and talk to professors she might do a post-doc with, if they move out there in a few years.

Of course, I get their dog Lou. Lou’s not bad. He’s a schnoodle, and a puppy (I got a dog purposefully, because puppies have that “dumb”-stage). I call him “Lou the Useless” or “Lou the Helpless” on occasion, but Aggie (my dog) likes him alot. They wrestle and play. She puts up with a lot from him, and does very well. Even Jenner, the cat, puts up with Lou jumping on him and chewing his ears. I don’t know if he’s just a tolerant cat, or he puts up with the “puppiness”

… so Lou stayed with us from last Saturday until today. We’ve had a few… misshaps: he peed on the couch, AFTER I let him outside; ggrrrrrrr! He whines alot. And he stole a few things to chew he shouldn’t have. Still we made it.

What made the week more interesting was that last Sunday my parents’ dog, Casey joined in the pack, until the 4th. Casey, doesn’t really like other dogs, and puppies are kinda annoying to her. She gets along fine with Aggie, but stares at Jenner for hours – which he would much prefer her not to do. He puts up with it, unless she gets too close, then he puffs up and hisses. And she loves to chase him if he breaks for higher ground.

So my new theory is: dogs get dumber in a pack. They forget the things they know and start reacting to emotions and without much thought. Aggie was tramatized each time I yelled at Lou or Casey. She’s such a peacemaker, she just wanted everyone to be happy. Casey does something wrong and she always knows, but she’s testing to see how far she thinks she might get away with it – and she looks either sly or innocent doing it. Lou just looks like, “huh? I don’t understand?!” Like he’s been dropped too many times on his head. Hopefully he’ll grow out of that.

Wednesday the 4th was nice, because I came home with one less dog. All four of us drove just over an hour to Wentzville, but of course Casey stayed with mom and dad, that night and the other two came back with me. And today, Risa should be picking up Lou, so I will once again have a quiet house. Yeah!