From The Desk of The Dog: A Day In My Life

Hello everyone!  It's Runtly, the ever so entertaining Jack Russell Terrier, JRT, for short!  Since I just love people, I want to help them!  Mom says everyone is tired of being cooped up and maybe it would be a good idea for me to share what a day is like for me, to help cheer them up.  

Humans don't understand that a day in the life of a dog, is like the best day ever.  Every morning we get to do it over again!  I do like to change my routine up every now and then, just to make it more fun!

Each morning, I get up and ask politely to go outside.  Living in the country versus the city is WAY better, in my most humble opinion.  Mom says there is nothing humble, or polite, about me and to get back to the story.  Anyways, I go outside and the very first thing I do is check for mice.  See, I have become a great mouser!  One day I found one in the bench on the front porch and I caught him!  So, from now on, that is my first course of business, checking that bench.  Then, I move on to the front steps and do the most wonderful thing......I sniff the air.  It's amazing what a snoot full of fresh morning air can tell a dog about his kingdom.  Then I bark.  Sometimes I just bark bark and other times, depending on the information from the sniff report, I barkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbark, until the entire forest is awake.  It's fun helping out my fellow creatures.

Usually by this time, my giant German Shepard buddy, Max, knows I'm up and he comes to great me.  We have a few sniffs, size each other up, wag tails and go about our other business.  We also make sure we try to out perform each other when it comes to marking our territory.  This sometimes mean I might end up getting wet.  But, all in good fun.

Then, I go back into the house, get a snack and maybe a drink and take a nap.  Naps are an essential part of dog's life.  Humans need to take more naps.  When Mom and Dad are done with breakfast I wait, oh so patiently, to see if they left me any scraps.  Believe me, bacon and egg sammich day is way better than cereal day.  After breakfast, it's time to chase the birds.  Mom feeds the birds.  I don't like that because I don't like Mom to feed anybody but me.  I must admit though, she has a ton of birds and even a few squirrels and I can make them scatter like stuffing out of a new toy!  Then, I bark some more.  Then, I takes me another nap.

When Mom lets me, we go for a walk into the woods.  Mom stays on the trail, but not me!  I run through the brush and go way down the hill to were the water is.  I don't get in the water but every once in awhile, there's a turtle along the edge.  Guess what I do to him?  I bark at him!!  It's so exciting.  Then when we get back to the house, I find a spot in the sun and take a rest.  Resting outside does not count as a nap because there's too much goin' on to be really asleep.

When the weather is nice, I stay outside with Mom and Dad just about all afternoon.  Now that I'm becoming an expert mouser, I am also fine tuning my skills as the mole police.  There is absolutely nothing better than having your head, shoulder deep, in a mole run!  Mom says if I get real good at it, she may hire me out.  I'm not sure about that but I gots lots to practice with.  Also, now that I am learning to be a country dog, I have learned to ride in the car without being afraid anymore!  Not only can I ride in our car, I will get in anybody's car that opens their door for me.  I can ride in the neighbors' 4 wheeler and I can even ride on the mower with Mom, while she pulls a noisy trailer down the gravel road.  I sit in the mower seat and Mom gets to sit on what's left.  I be a pretty good dog.

When evening time comes and the sky gets dark, I like to go out just one more time.  There is something across the road, in the thick brush that needs to be barked at.  This activity usually gets me in trouble.  Mom says there could be things in that brush that would like to eat me.  I'd like to see them try!  Then, after I eat my supper, which is about the only time I really eat.....there's too much going on during the day to waste time eatin', so I just eat at nightime, I get ready for bed.  If I rolled in something delightful during the day, I hafta have a bath  I get between Mom and Dad, get under my blankie, stick all four legs into the air and I be so thankful for my wonderful day.   Sometimes I even be smilin' in my sleep cause I know I get to do it all again the next day.....and if the next day brings rain, it's still all good because that just makes the naps last longer!  Woof!

What To Do?

During this crazy quarantine time, what exactly are folks to do?  Many cannot go to work, schools are closed and the economy is grinding to a slow burn.  In some cases, both parents are home with the kids, day after day.  Many have learned the value of teachers and many have dreamed up some great ideas to fill the hours of endless days.

There is one dad, who, upon hearing the word 'dadasaurus', spoken by one of his daughters, instantly turns into a velociraptor.  It does not seem to matter where or what the occasion might be, but the daughters video this and put in on social media.  I laughed, until I cried, watching him attack a cake sitting on the kitchen counter and also came to the conclusion his wife is an absolute saint.  If in need of a good laugh, please google 'dadasaurus'.

One engineering parent made their kids an enclosed slide for the indoor stairway by taping boxes together.  The child lays on a mat or towel and down the box tunnel slide they go.  The smiles, as they emerge from the end of the slide, on their faces are worth every piece of duct tape used in the project.

A young man turned his basement into his own private amusement park/gym.  He can leap off the steps, land on a suspended kangaroo ball, swing out over a small trampoline, flip off the ball, land on the trampoline, bound back up into the air, catch the kangaroo ball on the return swing and end up back on the stairs.  Sounds like a rocket scientist in the making.

Lots of people have taken to cooking.  There are more recipes scrolling through the social media sights now, than there are during the Christmas holidays.   Of course, these new dishes have to be eaten and several people have lamented about just how much they have eaten during 'lockdown'.  But, there is always a solution to this problem and the diet and physical fitness industries are not experiencing a lack of followers.

One young entrepreneur, a boy of nearly 13, has taken to chopping wood.  Where he lives, there is no shortage of downed trees and although fire wood may not be a huge commodity right now, he's planning for the future and cleaning up a lot of brush piles on the side.

Speaking of cleaning, it is probably safe to say that more closets and garages have been cleaned in the last month than for an entire year.  One good lesson from this is folks realizing how they can actually do with less, along with making a few dollars off the local online swap shop.

Having not been able to do yard work for nearly four years, due to city living, I have now made up for all that lost time.  I've trimmed and cut brush until sunset.  I've also learned how to make fire.  I've come to understand the importance of a good kindling base in order to have a roaring fire as the ultimate goal.  I've also discovered that if the base fails, a leaf blower makes a heck of a bellows. 

Aging: 101

It's a sure bet, and I'm a terrible gambler, to say that millions, if not trillions, of dollars are spent yearly on anti-aging products.  Just type 'anti-aging' into a search bar and within a millisecond, there will be over 300 million items to choose from.  If an individual spent five minutes researching each item, well, they would probably be found as a skeleton, with their bony little fingers still resting on the keyboard, many years later.  That would be irony at its finest.

I will be the first to admit that it is sometimes hard growing old in a world that is geared towards the young.  Standing in the foyer of the gymnasium, 45 plus years ago, waiting to graduate from high school, many of us were laughing about how old we would be when the year 2000 rolled around.  It seemed like that was eons away and we would never grow old.

Of course, there are the things that no one told us about getting older.  They didn't tell us about our hair.  That one day, it may fall out, or get thin AND it was going to change color, all by itself.  They didn't tell us that same hair would also decide to grow in places it never had before. This is especially true for women. Maybe it just got tired of being on top of ones head and thought it would look much nicer on top of the upper lip, or perhaps the chin. It would also decide that is was not necessary to grow on the legs anymore.  Those who thought this was maybe not a bad idea are usually those that find one 3 inch hair, sticking straight up, off the top of a knee, the first time they don a pair of shorts for summer....after they are already in some public place.

They didn't tell us about our skin.  The once taught organ, that we thought defined us into warriors of our time, somehow lost some of its elasticity.  We never knew that over the years, gravity would take its toll and begin to pull, ever so slightly, on our precious covering.  Making it look longer than it should be and even allowing it to fold over on itself, like a blanket.  Hanging upside down, like a bat, might have helped that situation, but no one told us that either.

They didn't tell us to take care of our knees, and other joints.  That they could become swollen and ache.  No one stressed upon us that these things were necessary, in order to continue to carry us around, from place to place, point A to point B.  But, we were invincible, that would never happen to us.  Not those teenagers, standing in that foyer, with the world by the tail.  Maybe someone did try to tell us but, like the lyrics of a song, "they did not listen, they did not know how, perhaps they'll listen now".  'Now' comes much later.

There are all kinds of things available today to combat these changes in our physique.  Lotions, potions, surgeries with plastic.  Exercise, diets, bikes, treadmills.  The ones that have worked the best for me have been the ability to close my eyes and still be, on the inside, that girl in the foyer, avoiding mirrors and bathroom scales.  But, there is always something or someone to help remind us, or slap us back to reality.  I was on the receiving end of this very thing, not too long ago.

My two youngest grandsons were helping me move my art studio, again.  The oldest, nearly 16, of this duo was taking a break, sitting in my desk chair.  I reached over the top of the desk to retrieve some old photos.  An old friend had sent them to me.  She had run across them during a recent downsizing of she and her husbands' space. (That's another thing they didn't tell us, that we really don't need a bunch of stuff.)  Anyway, they were pictures of several young girls, frolicking in their pajamas during their stay at a cheerleading camp.  I tossed the pictures in front of my grandson.  He picked them up, laughed and then began to study each one.  He looked at me and said, "G, who are these girls?"  I didn't respond, just smiled.

He was laughing about one girl, in her one piece pajamas, complete with the drop seat in the back.  "G!  Who is this?"  By this time, he's nearly snorting.

I smiled once again and said, "Me."

His mouth fell open, his eyes were as wide as saucers as he gave the photo another close inspection.  Then, with all the sincerity of his youth, he looked at me and spoke these words...."G, what happened!?" 

LOL!, I have no idea.

The DA in the TPA

A recent meme floating around on social media platforms stated:  "I'm using lettuce for toilet paper.  Today was the tip of the iceberg, tomorrow romaines to be seen."  Yes, it's a bit gross, but funny none the less.  The recent pandemic in the toilet paper industry is a real mystery.  No  one seems to have the exact answer as to why the shelves, in stores across the nation, have been wiped (no pun intended) clean of all toilet paper and anything papery that may be considered a facsimile of said coveted white roll. Maybe there is some new craft idea, floating around the web, that is making coffee and end tables out of the mega packs of toilet paper.  My mother-in-law, God rest her soul, would have never been caught up in this toilet paper madness.  The stairwell in her house, that led to the second story, which was rarely used after her children left the nest, was so full of toilet paper that one could have easily been buried by a TP avalanche at any given time of the year.  Every time I inquired as to why she had so much of it, she would always reply, "It was on sale!"  Smart lady.

One of the items people like to swap for toilet paper are the wet wipes.  This incredible feat of mankind started out for use on babies but soon became popular with people of all ages.  They have also become unpopular with a certain sector of the public, the plumber.  Why?  Because people flush them down the toilet....BUT, it is printed right on the side of the package, 'flushable', so what seems to be the problem?

Playing the devil's advocate, yes, they are flushable.  So are fish, small hamsters, jewelry, Matchbox cars, other small toys, socks, disposable diapers and money.  Indeed, if it will swirl round and round and then go down, it's flushable.  What many do not understand is that just because it can no longer be seen in the bowl, does not mean its sailing happily down the sewer system.  What can happen, using this flushing logic, is that these things, that do not disintegrate quickly, if ever, get lodged in the sewer pipe and can then cause all that flushing madness to come back to haunt the flusher.  Nothing better than to see it again, in the bowl, or better yet, on the bathroom floor, making it's way to the next room....usually in the middle of the night. 

Let's give the plumbers a break.  Let's not play the Devil's Advocate in this Toilet Paper Apocalypse and use some common sense.  Not only will the plumbers be happy, so will the front lawn that didn't need to be dug up from the house to the street.  

The Reset Button

Many electronic devices have a reset button.  It is usually a very tiny apparatus, located in some extremely obscure place on the device and can only be pressed with something tiny, like the end of a straightened paperclip.  Probably the most recognizable reset button is the little square that sits quietly between the two electrical ports on a GFI outlet.  Those are the outlets located closest to areas that are wet, like kitchens and bathrooms.

Pressing a reset button does just what its name implies.  It puts whatever the device is back to its original starting place.  In theory, it makes it just like it was, before ever being used.

Life has a way of hitting our reset buttons.  Recently, my better half and I had the opportunity to leave the city of Raleigh, North Carolina, a place we had called 'home' for four years.  Things were changing.  The apartment complex had been sold and when that reset button was pressed, nothing was as it was before.  Familiar faces and co-workers disappeared, tenants were leaving en masse and the place literally came to a grinding halt.  

A new opportunity arose.  A job offer.  The offer was from a place I call the "Beautiful Land of Pike".  Home.  Another reset button had been pushed.  We scrambled our belongings together, shoved them into a Uhaul truck and 18 hours later, we were home.  We arrived just in time to celebrate the end of the year holidays with family and friends.

Right before we bid Raleigh, NC farewell and during his last week of employment there, my husband hurt his back at work.  He and a refrigerator did not see eye to eye, while one moved the other, from  the back of a truck, down a ramp, in the rain.  Thinking it was just a wrenched back, he went to the chiropractor.  For a reason, unbeknownst to us at the time, the pain in his back did not go away and began to radiate around his ribs and across his stomach.  

Another reset button was about to be pushed.  The result of this was not going to be setting us back to normal because in the first week of February, we found out he has multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that likes to eat bones.  As of yet, this is not a curable disease, but treatable.  Its prognosis though, for a man who has worked with his hands and tools all of his adult life, was rather bleak.  Nothing heavier than 5 pounds can be lifted and, among other things, ladders are off limits.  

This reset certainly was not what we were looking forward to, but, it has made us reset our own thought process.  We have discovered that even though somethings are out of the picture, activity wise, others can be learned.  He can take a walk, with the ever so entertaining Jack Russell Terrier, Runtly, and they do so daily.  In fact, I've nearly lost my "he's my dog" status because Runtly rarely leaves his side.  He can read a book, run the sweeper and a dust mop, fix his own breakfast and learn Sudoku.  This last accomplishment is a work in progress.  It has given reason to rise early in the morning, to beat the next puzzle, or tearing the sheet out of the book, telling it what he thinks of it and slam dunking it into the trash.

Our lives, like the lives of so many others who face one of the many varieties of this disease, have changed.  It will not be exactly the way it was and we can only do one day at a time.  It has a weird comparison to what is going on in the world today.  There is a disease spreading around the globe.  It has put the entire population at a near standstill.  People are perplexed and some are afraid.  Perhaps planet Earth has hit the reset button.  Maybe it's a time for change, to not take things for granted, to learn new things, to take one day at a time. 

From The Desk of The Dog

Hello everyone!  It's Runtly, the ever so entertaining Jack Russell Terrier....JRT for short!  It has been so long since I have shared my adventures and boy howdy, do I have some adventures to share!

First, me and Mom and Dad have moved!  Mom says I'm not supposed to list myself first or use so many 'ands'.  I don't know what she is talking about, it's pretty clear than I'm #1 in the family AND what's the big deal with AND?  Anyway, we have moved to what Mom calls the Wonderful Land of Pike, I just call it home.  We used a great big truck to come back and I sat in the front seat, on Mom's lap.  We didn't stop, except when I needed to, and I stayed awake almost the whole trip!  Mom finally gave me a treat that has hemp in it.  I don't know much about that, but Mom says I said "far out" a lot for the remainder of the trip.  

I live in the country now and I LOVE it!  I can run and run and run and run!  I be looking pretty fit too, cos' all that runnin' makes for some mighty fine looking muscles.  I can bark all I want too!  I bark in the morning, afternoon, nighttime and at 3o'clock in the morning.  That last one usually gets me in trouble, but I'm sure there might be something out there in the dark that needs a good barking.

I have a new friend too.  I've known him for awhile, but this is the first time we have got to spend lots of time together.  His name is Max and he is a giant German Shepard.  He makes about 10 of me, but he is a gentle giant....until that time he put his giant paw on me to try to slow me down.  I let him know that was not acceptable in my book.  We have only had one fight.  I sorta came out on the short end of the bone too.  It was over a whiffle ball.  Max had it, I wanted it.  The next thing I knew, my head was in Max's mouth.  I even have a boo boo on my nose, right between my eyes, for proof.  Max's mom and my mom say we can't play whiffle ball anymore.

I live by some water now.  It's way bigger than the puddle we lived next to in the big city.  Mom says this water is called a lake.  Me and Mom walked down to the water the other day.  Mom says she likes to go there to ponder.  I don't know what that means, I just like to go to sniff new smells and perhaps find something delightful to roll in.  Mom makes me wear my shock collar when we go.  See, I hear just find, but everyone says I don't listen.  Humans are so confusing at times.  So, we went to the big water and as usual, I went off to explore, ahead of Mom.  When Mom got to the edge of the water, I was no where to be seen.  Mom said she listened for the sound of rustling leaves and there was no noise.  Mom called me and she pressed the button on the remote for the shock collar, still nothing.  Umm, that's another thing about humans, they think we canines don't know why sometimes the shock collar just makes a noise or sometimes it bites.  I could hear Mom calling me and I could see her.  Every once in awhile, when I was close enough, I could even hear the collar make a noise.  See, it had been really cold for a few days, before this adventure and all the water had turned white.  It was white and cold and slippery and made for some great new territory to explore.  Mom says the water was frozen.  She says that she caught something moving out of the corner of her eye and it was me.  Way out on the frozen lake, just emerging from the fog that was beginning to rise off the ice.  We had to go back to the house after that, Mom said I ruined her ponder time.  The next time she went, I didn't get to go.  Mom is mean.

Mom says enough adventure sharing for the time being.  Besides, there's a leaf moving outside in the breeze and I'm sure it needs a barking!  Woof!

Just Like That

It seems like eons since I've let my fingers caress the keyboard.  Why I do that is anyone's guess.  Writers, good writers, write.  They write everyday.  I could make the excuse that I write in my head on a daily, 24/7 schedule, but that does not count.

Life, or our journey through this plane of existence, does one thing.  It continues.  It continues on for each and every one of us, regardless of what we may or may not be going through.  It waits for no one, it stops for no one. 

Things happen along the journey that can throw a wrench in the gears, but all in all, our reaction to those particular curve balls is part and parcel the whole of the sum.  How did we handle some of the trials?  How much attention did we pay to the times that were so smooth it felt as if we were cruising on an endless highway with the top down? That one favorite song blasting through the speakers.

Is it the trials that shape us?  Do they hone us like a stone to the blade?  Or, do they shred us like the blade to grass?  Perhaps both.  It is whatever we allow ourselves to feel.  We can either react with emotion or logic.  It does not seem fair to think that it is merely a decision to be made....by us.

Right now, I'm walking that fine line between emotion and logic and it's breadth is about as fine as frog hair.  Its length seems to be endless.  But, I'm not alone.  "Legion, for we are many.", comes to mind.

Just like that, in the blink of an eye, things change.  We must choose to sink or swim and no matter which we decide, life goes on.