Oh, dear

I believe I have just discovered that the side effect of flushing, caused by Niaspan, is in fact almost identical to a hot flash. I have suspected it was for a long time, but I did not have a basis for comparison until just now. However, the side effect is less severe.

Whew. 

Doggone. 

Baxter and the Squirrel

I believe there is a squirrel's nest in the tree in front of our house. When the leaves dropped last fall, I saw that there was a nest in the tree. This year, before the leaves came back, I saw an adult squirrel poking around on the nest, and I wondered if s/he was readying it for another year of use.
Anyway, three times in the past two days, I have seen a squirrel in front of our house while walking Baxter.

Baxter thinks chasing squirrels is great sport, but THIS squirrel seems to be trying for a Darwin Award. I don't think he runs away anywhere near immediately enough when the dog starts barreling in his direction. He sits there and freezes for a few seconds, right in the middle of the sidewalk where there is zero cover.

It's a good thing that I have no desire to see what would happen if Baxter actually CAUGHT a squirrel, because at least two out of those three times, the only reason Baxter didn't get the squirrel outright was because I was hanging onto the leash full-force. The third time, Baxter spotted him from so far away and started barking, that a SNAIL would have had plenty of advance warning to take cover, lol.
Anyway, Baxter is teaching the squirrel (I hope!) how not to become a victim of natural selection.

*whack* *RUR RUR RURF!*

LOL. My critters are nuts.

So there I was, coming down from the second floor, when I heard a commotion in the dining room. I walked in to find Captain under a dining room chair, hissing at the barking dog.

I put one hand on each of Baxter's flanks and steered him toward the living room. "OK, you, that's enough. Leave your brother alone." Baxter stopped barking and walked into the living room.

Suddenly, a big orange BLUR came zooming out from under the dining room chair, ran up behind the dog, whacked his backside with the Paw of Doom, and then ran into the cellarway with the now-barking dog chasing him.

By this point, I was laughing too hard to reprimand either one of them. It's ineffective to scold a critter while you're laughing your face off. :-D

Newspaper Taxis

Clever canterpieces!

We are about to see a Beatles cover band called The Newspaper Taxis. How cool are these centerpieces? :-)

Old Pine St. Church famous gravesite

Well, poop. No flea market this year

Well, shiznit. 

My friends and I have gone to the annual flea market at Old Pine Street Church every year since the 80s or early 90s. So I have had it as an annual event in my calendar for eons. We used to go with Joan, and after she passed in 1995, we would go and reminisce. 

So I took the bus up here, as I always do. I thought it odd to see no outdoor tables, so I went in their community center. I thought maybe it was all moved indoors due to the threat of rain. But a lady volunteering for what appears to be a meal for seniors said there's no flea market this year. According to the lady, it's a lot of work and they were not making any money on it.

Poop. I guess we should call ahead before going next year. It'll be a shame if our annual tradition has died. 

Laughing Gull

There is at least one Laughing Gull flying around over the Pathmark parking lot

As they are normally considered salt-water birds, I checked my link for the Delaware River Salt Line. (Check it here: http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/hydrological/river/salt/ ) It's nowhere near Philly, nor should it be. In fact, it's a good 15 miles south of its normal location at this time of year, thanks to all the recent rain. 

The first time I saw a Laughing Gull here, years ago, I called the local Audobon Society to report it. I am not sure she believed me, due to that whole salt-water-only thing. But I know what I saw, and I'm seeing it again now. 

New Hope, PA

There was a celebration yesterday in New Hope, PA. It was the 25th anniversary of one of the employers for which I do freelance work, and the day involved a photo shoot and video, and a picnic. 

My appointment time was 10:30. So I asked Mark to wake me when he got up, since sometimes I sleep through the alarm. Well, he forgot AND I slept through the alarm, resulting in my sleeping till 8:45. I walked the dog, fed the critters, took my meds, and flew out the door. I proceeded to treat the speed limit like a polite suggestion, but I made it to New Hope in 64 minutes, arriving with 9 minutes to spare. 

The day itself was great. The photo and video shoots were interesting, the food was terrific, and I went to the nearby outlets and shopped. All in all, a productive day. :-)

Sometimes, it hits out of nowhere

During that gap in posting, there was one particularly bad five-week period when I heard from no one. And as Forrest Gump would say, "That's all I have to say about that."

Except to say that the time period did some internal damage that is still not entirely... repaired? Healed? What word would work here? I don't know.

To the point where I can spend a good day with everybody who I didn't hear from in all that time, like today, and still feel blue, left out, and disconnected within hours of the get-together ending. Like tonight.

I lost a lot more faith in people than I'd realized. I guess that, given that it took five weeks for the internal damage to develop, it's not going to just go away like flipping a switch. When a forest has been clearcut, it's not going to sprout back up into a big forest again overnight. I am going to have to let my ability to have faith in people start growing from the ground up.

I gave my business card out

I gave my business card to the local handmade-items consignment shop.

We shall see where this goes. :)

So, how do you like the new format?

So I decided that after 11 years, it was time to update the blog template to include all the New Cool Features that didn't exist back before Google bought the Blogger service from its original developers.

Now I can post my links to Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, as needed.

Emerald Green plus a Flower of Life pattern in the background is a perfect combination for me. But HOLY LINKFEST, Batman, did it ever take me time to copy over all those zillions of links that you see on the right-hand side. The good news is, all that work is done now, so I can go back to adding individual links as the mood strikes.

We had an interesting walk with Baxter tonight. The normal route takes us across the street from a diner, and lo and behold -- who was coming out just as I went by, but my parents. So we got to chat, and they got to dote on Baxter. (Till my dad tried to hold the dog, which upset Baxter and then they both had to Ignore The Dog for a while till he relaxed.)

My dad's got a dented rear fender, which he will have repaired later in the month. He was trying to back up and apparently a fire hydrant leaped into his path. He has a backup camera in the car, which is a great feature, but unfortunately, it doesn't spot obstacles that are beside the car. Oh, well -- the main thing is, nobody got hurt and the damage is easily fixed. Car repairs are painful to the wallet, but once they're fixed, you're good to go - unlike physical injuries, for which you might need some combination of surgery, stitches, a cast, and physical therapy, and even THEN you might not be 100% recovered afterward. We definitely prefer NO mishap, but if there's gonna be a mishap, fixing a damaged car is a lot less involved than fixing a damaged person.

And now, to celebrate my new format, I shall not only publish this post, but share it with Facebook. :-)

Happy Blogday to Me! :)

Hey, all! Happy 11th Blogday to me! Yes, this is the 11th anniversary of my starting this blog. No, I have most definitely not forgotten about my blog. I just haven't had too much in the way of major events to report.

But I will have some interesting things coming up. For one, I have been accepted as an SSP (Support Service Provider, or interpreter/guide) at the Deaf-Blind Camp of MD in June. I just got the email a few days ago. This camp has taken off hugely in popularity over the years, resulting in campers and volunteers applying to attend from all over the country. So I hope to have some blog posts to share from that event, certainly.

And interestingly, I have chosen to celebrate having a blog for 11 years by... purchasng a fancy journal so I can record some musings on paper. One thing I am not going to fall victim to is the kind of over-sharing online that leads people into embarrassment. We've all seen it happen. Perhaps someone vented their spleen in words that then caused offense or hurt feelings, or shared something that would have better been kept offline, lest too many uncaring people find out about it and cause backlash. Rest assured that I am not going to be that person. I'm more than happy to share the things that are fit for public consumption on here, or on Facebook and Twitter. That's fine. But the things that would be better kept offline are most assuredly going to remain offline.

Yet, that doesn't mean I shouldn't process those things at all. So hello, paper journal. Welcome to the household.  288 sheets, or 576 pages. Lookin' good! :)

I particularly like the kanji character combination lock on it. :) Yes, it is possible to memorize a combination that's in another language's alphabet.

I have not yet made my inaugural post in said book, but I will.

Critter progress

I came home from my job to find Captain and Baxter napping together (about a foot from one another) on the loveseat. :-) Clearly, Captain has learned not to apply the Paw of Doom for no reason, and Baxter does not view Captain merely as something fun to chase.

Baxter the Smiley SO wants to play with his kitty brothers. I thought he and Stanley were going to have a play session right after I got home, but Stanley is still not sure what to make of the dog's attention. So it wound up as a session of I Sniff Your Nose.

Baxter's Big Day

Baxter spent most of the day at PAWS, getting the Big Snip. I am happy to report that Baxter is HOME. :-) And he is sound asleep on my lap. He ate his food (1/2 the normal meal, per the vet's instructions) and has been given his pain med. He and I both take Tramadol, at least for the next 7-10 days. The neuter went well, and he is now microchipped.

He was NOT a Happy Camper while he was at PAWS, which I expected. He's very attached to his Mom, to put it mildly.

When I went to pick him up, I had a little surprise. I observed that another doggie in the waiting room looked a LOT like Baxter, and that's when I learned it was Pinky, Baxter's brother. OMG, they weren't kidding when they said he looks just like Baxter, only smaller! He looks like Baxter, but shrunk down to Mini-size (about half Baxter's size, in other words). I was disappointed to see that the doggies didn't recognize one another -- Baxter was too out-of-it from the anesthesia to pay attention, and Pinky didn't recognize Baxter because he's full of unfamiliar scents. Pinky's original foster was transferring him to a new foster mama, because she has four cats who weren't pleased at the addition of a pint-sized dog to the fold. She loved Pinky, though, and cried a bit at the transfer. :-( If not for the kitties' reaction, she'd have gladly adopted him. The NEW foster mama looked pretty enthused to be bringing him home, though, so here's hoping that this turns into a "failed foster" (an adoption)! :-)

Where Baxter is concerned, the Tramadol is not the only thing he's going to need for 7-10 days. They sent us home with a Cone of Shame. There are two problems with that. First, this freakin' thing is HUGE. Second, he had no trouble dragging it off. This resulted in my making a beeline to the PetSmart and picking up an inflatable e-collar, which he is leaving alone. I hope he keeps right on leaving it alone once the rest of the anesthesia wears off.

Well, that was quick! The first half-century

I am scheduling this post for the actual birthdate, but I'm writing it a few days after the fact because my weekend was so busy. I celebrated my 50th birthday on Friday with a big dinner at a nearby restaurant with my parents and a whole lot of friends. God bless Mark, he did a great job of hosting the dinner. We were a party of 13 in all.

Joe J. had a shirt made for me that reads "ARF" in the manual alphabet on one side, and 50 on the back. :) We are both insane and we bark at one another, and when we aren't actually barking out loud, I will spell "arf" into his hand (he's deaf-blind and communicates via tactile sign language). I think the shirt is hilarious and I can't wait to wear it.

Another classic gift I got was the tiara I'd been looking at and drooling over when Joe M., John, and I were at the RenFaire several weeks ago. :-) I came this-close to declaring the entire weekend My Birthday and wearing it the rest of the weekend. :-) But any time I plan to be Queen for a Day, that tiara is going on.

We had an unexpected visit from The Other Donna. While I was happy to see her, I was not too happy as to the underlying reason for her visit. Unfortunately, she was down here to attend the funeral of a longtime friend. :-( He was only 50 and died unexpectedly of a brain aneurysm. Sigh. It was not lost on me that while I was celebrating a 50th birthday, 50 years was all he got to live, period. So you won't see ME griping over this landmark. It's a privilege, not a burden, to keep adding to the total.

So anyway, they say that the first half-century is the hardest. We'll see about that. Bring on the next half-century!

We had a great walk! Let me tell you about it! Yip! Whine!

Baxter was all kinds of happy after we took a long walk around the neighborhood. He came in and wanted to tell the cats all about it. He went and whined and yipped at Stanley, who Ignored him. Then he stood under the window where Captain was sitting, and yipped. More Ignoring ensued. Finally, he decided he was tuckered out after all that activity, and he's snoring on my lap. :-)

Baxter vs. Captain and the Paw of Doom

Captain was lounging next to me on the sofa. Baxter, who had been wandering around the living room, decided it was time to come back to sit with Mom, and approached the sofa.

When he stood on his hind legs to look at the kitty, the sudden appearance of his head right in front of Captain's face, like a little doggy Jack-in-the-box, did not go unnoticed. Captain applied the Paw of Doom two or three times in rapid succession -- no claws, just the bopping paw. The dog withdrew, then jumped up on the sofa at the far end of the couch, well away from bopping Paws of Doom.

Now Baxter had a dilemma. The cat was stretched out on the sofa, right between him and me, and he wanted to sit with me. What to do? A tentative "Rrrff!" in Captain's direction had no measurable effect, and the dog stood there, perplexed.

Finally, I coached him a little, but he got the idea. He leaped up to the sofa back, and in that way, walked the length of the sofa to me without coming near the cat or the Paw of Doom. I hoisted him down and bingo. He's now sitting with me. And the cat is Ignoring him. :)

Intruder! Intruder! Oh, wait, it's just Dad!

We just had ourselves a little bark-fest in the living room. Mark was kneeling by the drum table at the front window, updating the lamp's timer for EST. Baxter woke from napping beside me, did not immediately recognize Mark as the person who was kneeling on the floor, and had a barking fit. He didn't stop until Mark came over and let Baxter sniff his hand. Baxter dropped his ears and stopped barking the moment he realized it was just Dad after all.

Captain remained curled up at the other end of the couch throughout all this, though he was giving the dog a "You've gone totally bananas" look. So I'm thinking that Captain is not particularly unnerved by the dog. :-)

As one of my FB friends puts it, "Intruder! Intruder! Oh, wait, it's just Dad." Yeah, that about sums it up. LOL.

So, what is a Chihuahua/Corgi mix called?

I have been googling a bit for photos of Chihuahua/Corgi mix dogs, just to see if my instincts regarding Baxter's heritage are correct. Yes, some of the pictures I have found have resembled him quite a lot.

I have also discovered that there are multiple names for this particular cross-breed. My personal favorite is Chorgi. I have also seen Corchi, and the most popular one appears to be Chigi. I think I'll stick with Chorgi, lol.

I am not happy that the designer craze has taken over the dog-breeding world. However, I say that if you really want a designer dog, make a beeline for your nearest shelter or rescue, and find one there. Not only did I get Baxter from a rescue, but Karla got a Puggle (pug/beagle) from a local shelter, as well. Adopt, don't shop.