Merry Christmas!

I've been very blessed to have my brother Tim visiting for the past week.   Since he flew, Elvis didn't get to come along and stayed with my cousins back in Michigan.   Reports are that he's been doing a lot of howling - especially at night, but that Pete has found the way to Elvis' heart is through his stomach.   Carrying around a few choice treats in the pocket makes any corgi (at least ours) an instant friend.

Part of my Christmas Eve tradition is to ring the Salvation Army bell for the Red Kettle Campaign at my neighborhood grocery store.   It was a lot more fun to do it this year with Tim, and, with temperatures in the upper 40's, we were able to bring the girls along and take the kettle outdoors.    I'm quite sure they brought in a few bucks - especially from the kids who were begging Mom to pet the dogs.  

On Christmas Day we went for a couple of nice walks - one of them over the Main Avenue bridge in Fargo (which is gorgeous) and the other at a large park a few miles north of town.   It's our favorite place to go in the winter for cross country skiing or just a good romp in the snow.   This year, with our lack of snow, it was a hike through the mud.  Hence, the girls have had two baths in the past 72 hours and I'm still finding clumps of mud in the carpet!   Nonetheless, we had a great time and were sad to say goodbye to Tim this morning.  Hopefully he and Elvis will do a speaking tour over spring break in the Upper Midwest and stay with us for a few days.  

It doesn't look like Christmas without snow!

We are headed into the second week of December and we have no snow!!  It's been an extremely dry Fall, which has been great for the rivers, as we actually have a shot at a minor flood (or none at all!) next Spring.   That would be glorious!!   But it just doesn't look like Christmas without snow; not in Minnesota!  I can't remember the last time we had a 'brown' Christmas but it's been quite a few years.   We still have three weeks to go so hopefully we'll get a few inches by then.

Not only has it been dry, but it's been unseasonably warm and sunny.   No complaints about that!!  I took the girls to the Holiday Lights parade a couple weeks ago.  We go every year, but it's usually so cold that we don't last long.  This year it was 35 degrees and we saw most of the parade.  (I always try to get there after the firetrucks - with sirens blaring - have gone by.)   The girls were dressed in their winter jackets and reindeer antlers and they got more attention than the floats, I think.   They were pretty darn cute. 

Therapy Dogs

I can't believe that it's the end of October already.   One thing that grief has done to me is distort my sense of time.    Events that were a few weeks ago feel like they were months, or in some cases, years ago.   I'm desperately wanting to do some serious journaling about the last 8 months, and I go into every weekend resolving to do that.   I know it would be a very healing thing .... just to put events in chronological order and write up the notes that I have on assorted scraps of paper, napkins, church bulletins ... whatever happened to be handy when I thought of something I didn't want to forget.   Grief has a strange way of magnifying some memories and erasing others.   I look at some of my notes and go, "Huh?" because I have no memory of it, or the memory is inserted in the wrong place on my timeline.  I'm finding that journaling, while healing, is also very exhausting.  I can only do it for short blocks of time.

In the meantime, I have my therapy dogs.  No, they haven't gone through the official therapy dog training, and frankly, Princess wouldn't make a particularly good one.   She's too aloof.  (Quite a few people have told me that she has a cat-personality.)   But she can, at times, be very loving, especially at night.  She snuggles up along my back and it's very comforting to feel her there, especially now that the weather has turned colder and I have my flannel sheets on the bed! 


Dan and I connected in the MN River Valley for a
couple days just before he went back to China.

Dee Dee, on the other hand, is a natural therapy dog.  She could teach the class.  When I'm feeling sad, she knows it!      When my heart is heavy, she totally gets it.   She comes and sits by me, kisses my nose, licks my tears and rests her chin on my leg, looking up at me with big, sad eyes.   She is THE BEST. 



We had our annual wellness checkups this week and the girls are both in excellent health for their age.  They ran a blood panel on Princess (who is 12-1/2) and everything came back perfect.   Dee Dee had a good checkup too.   I was afraid that Dee Dee had gained weight this year, given the lack of exercise when things were harried at home.  But she was 29-1/2 lbs - exactly the same as a year ago.  And Princess was 25-1/2.   She is shorter and has a much smaller bone structure.  One thing that Tim and I have talked about for years was the possibilty that we could lose our parents and our dogs close together, given their ages.   I'm so grateful that I won't be facing that.    I need my little therapy dogs.

In memory of my parents .....

Dad                  May 19, 1927 - June 23, 2011
Mom                 June 27, 1926 - September 1, 2011

Neither one of them grew up with pets, but they ADORED our corgis.   Princess, Dee Dee and Elvis brought joy into their lives, just as they have ours.    We miss them so much!

Figuring out Fears

Is there anything about this picture that looks scary to you?   Me either.     But there is something in this scene that scares Dee Dee.   

I am getting ready to leave to Michigan this weekend, and have started setting things out that need to be packed.    Last night Dee Dee refused to come into the kitchen for her supper.    I could tell she wanted it, but was afraid of something.    I watched her as she suspiciously eyed a couple of dresses that I had hanging over the back of a chair.   Then I remembered that she has been afraid of clothing hanging over the chair before.   It's hard to even imagine what is going through her little mind that would frighten her about that.   But I was telling Tim about it and he said Elvis is afraid of loose dark-colored clothing too; especially if it sways slightly.   If he sees a woman wearing a dark colored skirt, he will run away.    Princess used to be afraid of black balloons; any other color was OK but not black.   It's so interesting to try and get inside their little minds and figure out what's bothering them. 

The girls have enjoyed coming to work with me quite a bit this summer.    They make a nice addition to our 'staff'.    Princess wanders the halls, taking naps here and there, always making her presence known when someone is heating something in the microwave or eating their lunch.     Dee Dee, on the other hand, prefers to stick close to me; hanging out pretty much all day under my desk. 

Summer is winding down, and Monday night was the annual 'dog swim' at our local wading pool.   The night before they drain the pool they allow dogs to come and enjoy a dip.   Since it was a hot night, I thought we would go.   However, in past years Dee Dee hasn't been willing to go in the pool unless I'm in the water with her.    I had hoped to get there at 5:00 when it started, but it was closer to 7:00 when we got there.   By that time there were a few ... ahem ... logs floating in the pool.   I wasn't too keen on standing in the water, or, for that matter, having my girls investigate them, so we decided to skip the dog swim event this year.    We just went to our usual park and played Frisbee instead.  

Hotter than ....

If you want to experience weather, in all of it's extremes, the Upper Midwest is the place to live.   We reserve the right to grumble when the mercury dips to -30 F in the dead of winter, but honestly, I prefer that to 95 degrees above with a dewpoint of 81.   Which is what we have now.   One step outside and you might as well be in a sauna.   Step back inside and your glasses fog up like you've just been dropped into a cloud.   I try not the run the AC more than I have to, but I've broken down this week.  

The girls aren't great fans of the heat either.   They were pretty lethargic all day Saturday, so Sunday afternoon I took them to a nearby lake for a little swim between thunderstorms.   Yesterday I got out the little wading pool I picked up at a garage sale for $2 and filled it with cool tap water.   Dee Dee wasn't so sure about it at first, but when I picked her up and set her down in the water, she stood there, relishing the coolness.   They had fun jumping in and out to retrieve the ball and were quite content for the rest of the evening.

Then, in the middle of the night the thunder-boomers came.  BIG thunder-boomers.   Princess was already sleeping between me and the oscillating fan, but Dee Dee prefers the bathroom floor, next to the AC vent.  After a couple of especially loud cracks of thunder, she decided she wanted to be up on the bed too .... and not just ON the bed, but waayyy down under the covers by my feet.   It had to have been pretty warm down there, but at least it was quieter.    We have had a lot of late night storms this summer, and I've grown weary of being awakened by thunder, tornado sirens or Code Red calls, warning of severe weather approaching.   I'm longing for the day when I can sleep with the windows open once again; a cool summer breeze lulling me to sleep.

Gotta Brag a Little ....

The past several months have been consumed with caring for my parents who are struggling with some serious health issues. I have traveled to Michigan by train, by plane and most recently by car, which meant the girls got to come along.  They have always been good travelers, but  they were on 'off the charts' good behavior this time. I am convinced that they picked up on my stress and decided to be extra good. Dee Dee, who has not been able to be in the same room with her brother Elvis for years without snarling at him, got along with him fabulously. Last year, I had to keep a muzzle on her when we went to the beach, but not this time. Princess endeared herself to my Mom by sleeping with her, pressing up against her back and giving her comfort while Dad was in the hospital.   The condominium where my folks live does not allow dogs, so we had to be somewhat discreet in our comings and goings. I made sure they got out for a good walk or swim each evening, and they were content to be left alone all day. A mom couldn't be more proud!

Elvis kept us in stitches with his stick obsession.   I could be waayyyy down the beach with my girls and if I lifted up a stick, he'd come charging down towards us, then complain loudly when the girls didn't play by 'his rules'.   He's hilarious.

The girls continue to amaze me with their understanding of new words and fairly complex problem solving.   Yesterday we were playing with a Frisbee on a paved parking lot.   It's nearly impossible for them to pick up a Frisbee when it is on a hard surface that doesn't give like the grass does.   But Dee Dee figured out how to push the Frisbee up against the curb so that the bottom lifted up  just slightly and then she could grab it.   Smart girl!