Of Dogs and Water Features

16. April 2012 · 1 comment · Categories: 2012 Resolution, Our Life Together, Our Travels, Pets, Ramblings, Stayings at home

Well, I missed a week.  What can I say?  Last week, the creativity juices were just not flowing!  I was reading other peoples’ creativity, but not only could I not think of anything to write, I had a bit of a problem wanting to write.  Sigh.  And I’m told I should be a writer.  A VERY hungry writer.

And so, I guess this is a good week for snippets, again!

Several months ago, I mentioned that we were planning on visiting England this year.  That trip approaches!  One of the problems we’ve had to face is our pets.  In years past Scott and I could just pick up and travel, and we had built in dog sitting.  But no more.  Not since Gary moved to Portland, OR.  In January, when we left, we arranged for a house sitter to come take care of our house and Princess Nikki.   The sitter worked like a charm!  For the house, that is.  Our little timid Princess crawled under the bed and refused to come out to pee, poop, eat or drink while the sitter was in the house.  So, after we got back she was sick for a week (well, a little indisposed, not sick really.)

In March, when we went to Oklahoma City for the weekend, we took our lady to the vet, figuring they at least would be able to assist her.  She came home with poop in her fur, so we had to get her groomed.  I’m not thinking I like that arrangement.  I LOVE our vet, but not as a boarding option.

So, last weekend (Easter Weekend) we arranged with the couple that takes care of our dachshund, Ixhel, to doggy-sit both Ixchel and Nikki just as a trial (even though we stayed in town.)  Worked like a charm!  Magnificent!  We’re taking them back for another trial run this coming weekend for 3 days.  If this works, then when we go to England we have this covered.

But last week worked even better than as just a sitting arrangement.  Princess Nikki has always, for 9 years now, slept next to me on the sofa in the evening.  But when Ixchel came to live with us, Nikki stopped.  She would not share the sofa, and let Ixchel win.  I think that’s because Ixchel initially attempted to nurse from Nikki and Nikki would have NONE of THAT.  Our friends who took care of Nikki 2 weekends ago have 4 dogs of their own.  Nikki loved it.  AND, after returning home is now much more willing to share space with Ixchel!  I love having my hip warmer back by my side!

So, for England, it’s looking like our house-sitter will come stay at the house just so it’s not left alone, and our dogs will go stay with our dog-sitters!  Yay!

In other news, I’m sure everyone who reads my blog is aware of the horrible storms that blew through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa over the weekend!  Regarding the tornados, over 126 hit on Saturday, but we were so blessed that none of them were in Omaha or Council Bluffs!  Though one DID strike about 15 miles east of us, out in farm-land.

But we had a deluge, and strong winds at home.  If you go back a few weeks you’ll read about the BIG $$$ we spent getting our basement waterproofed.  The whole south wall was treated.  And about 5 feet of the East wall.  There are two windows on the east wall, one about 7 feet from the south wall.  We moved all our shelving off the south wall when the work was done, and it was moved to about 7 feel from that wall, along the East wall.  In front of that window… Fortunately, we put it about 3 feet from the window.

Guess what?!?!?!  The rain water poured off our roof, rand down our back yard, and filled the window well of both windows along the east wall!  Both windows leaked.  A lot.  And as we were attempting to clean up the basement all of a sudden we realized… we have a new water feature in our back yard!  Well, not really in the back yard.  Actually the back yard is part of the water feature.  It feeds the water from all point to a point directly in front of that window in our basement… and from that water well, the water SHOOTS into our basement!  You got it… just over 4 feet straight out from the window… right onto the shelves!

Scott and I spent HOURS hand wiping down ever item in every box on those shelves, all while watching the basement floor fill up with 2+ inches of water!  That’s about 240 square feet of basement 2, maybe 3, inches deep.

I should probably add… the dehumidifier could NOT keep up!

And that, dear friends, was OUR weekend!

Lent 2012 – Day 44 (Thursday)

05. April 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: 2012 Resolution, Eric's Life, Lent 2012, Ramblings

Well, we’re in the final stretch for Holy Week.  Lent is nearly over.  Easter is around the corner.  And it’s time for “Eric’s Newslets” once again (see my post of March 14 for my first newslets post.)

  • The day I posted my last post about the dog, I arrived home and found the my passport had arrived!  All the stress and worry about it turned out to be for naught.  I’m going to England as Eric Louis Hays-Strom!
  • Ixchel seems to have recuperated from her little fright, so that much is good!
  • The weather did not remain quite so ‘summer-like’ as my last post indicated.  We had more hot days, of course, and some chilly ones.  But the chilly ones are appropriate to this year.  Monday this week, though, our bedroom was 90 degrees at bed time!  EEeeeeyuck!  And of course, I slept fitfully, so the dogs tricked me into taking them out at 3:30 am, and that meant I couldn’t fall asleep again because over night the temperature started dropping.  So I had to close the windows because it was getting COLD in the room… and when I closed the windows a BAT flew out of the curtain and hit my arm.  So then I lay awake worrying about the bat.  But eventually I fell asleep.
  • Related to the first news item, Scott and I are busy drawing up plans for our trip to England!  So far, I’m going to a wedding, on a pub crawl, to see Sweeney Todd, then to Cornwall, with stops at Avesbury and Stonehenge.  Maybe up to Ipswitch (that one is on again/off again.)

Guess that’s the end of the little newsy stories.  There’s one other thing.  Over the years I’ve been interested in walking… going back now over 7 or 8 years.  I get really into it, and then slow down, then don’t bother for a while, then get back into it.  I always like the way I feel when I’m “into” walking.  You may recall a couple of years ago, when I first got my job at DOTCOMM, I got into a challenge with some of my friends… we never finished it.  It petered out.

Well, I’m back to walking again.  But no challenges this time.  At least none that my friends can participate in.  I’ve decided to challenge myself.  I am going to see how long it takes me to walk from Point Lobos, San Francisco, CA to Boston, MA.  Then I’ll hop over the Atlantic, and walk from Land’s End, Sennen, UK to John O’Groats, Scotland.  And then, I’ll mysteriously appear in Brest, France, and walk across Europe to the Pacific, and then from the north of Japan to the south.

And I’ll walk all those miles… 13,735 miles, to be exact… without ever leaving the US!  It’s a virtual walk!  Then, when I realized how long that’ll take, I decided to include all the miles I have walked since the beginning of my challenge in 2010.  In the past 2 years, then, I’ve walked from Point Lobos in San Francisco all the way to Marion, SD.  Yeah, I thought I’d take the more northern route offered me by maps.google.com.  Just out of curiosity, though, I checked in to see how far that would be if I’d come out I80… I’d be in Seward today.  That’s 1,634 miles.

Now, if I walk 2.75 miles per day, on average, I should get to the end of my destination by April 22, 2024.  I can do that, right?

Hello?  HELLO?!?!?  Huh, I think I lost everyone…

Lent 2012 – Day 22 (Wednesday)

14. March 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: 2012 Resolution, Eric's Life, Lent 2012, Our Life Together, Ramblings

Gosh, over a week since I wrote last.  Lots of “newslets” but nothing really serious to write about!  So, I guess I did not succeed at my hope of writing daily through Lent.  Sigh.

So, let’s go over some of those “newslets” (small newsy type items).  I’m getting a triple root canal today.  One tooth, 3 nerve channels, 2 of which will be “difficult to drill” – so says my endodontist.  Oh happy day. :|

Of course, the Heartland, where I live, is known for its wicked winters, bitter cold, snow, wind, grey skies.  It’s why Scott and I are so excited about our move to New Mexico next year.  This winter, I just don’t know if it’ll ever end!  We’re suffering through bitter, 80 degree days in early March, gentle balmy breezes, sunlit skies.  Oh, the misery. :|

This is the year that Scott and I do major house work.  Not the dusting and window-washing.  The “install sump pump in basement ($3000), shore up soon to collapse rear retaining wall (was $3000, now looks closer to $6000), shore up sagging soon to collapse HOUSE ($6000), paint exterior of house (eh, never mind the cost – you really don’t want to know)” kind of house work!  Oh, and then, once THAT all is done, we can start on the infamous bathroom!  Actually, the bathroom is only waiting on the sagging house repair.

Yeah, about the sagging house.  Ever since we moved in, some doors in our house just do not close!  Someone suggested we just shave down the door… well, in at least one case, that shaving would have to be 1/2 inch!  Last September the engineer took a precursory glance and said “Oh, just jack it up here and here… it’s easy.”  I kept looking at it and thinking “this just isn’t right.  If the sag is HERE where he says, why is their no weight, whatsoever, on this support post that is right here at the same place?”  Finally after looking and looking and looking at the basement, Scott and I figured out the sag and had the engineer back.  He started humming and hawing and oh-mying.  “How old is this house?”  “92 years?  Really?  It should have collapsed during the building phase!”

Yup, looking at the basement we can see major stress points with NO support under them, whatsoever!  It turns out that first of all, we need EIGHT new jack supports in the basement, not two, and secondly, when they put in the sump pump they discovered that our concrete basement floor is only 2 inches thick!  Had we jacked up the basement where he initially told us to, it wouldn’t have supported the weight!  Hence the huge amount of work, and the huge cost accompanying it.

Did I mention I’m getting a bit of dental work done today?

Did I mention that it’s going to be 80 degrees out today (2nd day in a row)?

Snow Glorious Snow

06. February 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: 2012 Resolution, Ramblings

Sheesh! I let down my guard, and see what happens?

I promised three posts a week and delivered. Then I said “OOoh! I can’t DO that, I’ll only do one!” And here we are, two weeks later. No post last week. I guess, to make up for it, I shall have to attempt to write TWO posts this week. And that will be hard because I’m not even sure what to write about for this one!

In a letter to my brothers last week, I told about what a lovely winter we were having here in the Heartland. We’ve actually had days in the 70s! In January! Can you BELIEVE that? In that letter, I wrote about how people here in the Heartland have this funny view of weather. We tend to think of winter weather as a bucket of bad. One way or another, that bucket is going to be dumped on us.

In most years, that bucket gets sprinkled over us just a little bit at a time over the course of the winter months. Since October was mild, and November was mild, and December was mild and January was mild, it stood to reason that the entire bucket was going to be dumped on us all at once! There were a few, we shall call THEM the pessimistic ones, who said, no, we’d not get it all dumped at once… we’d still get it dumped, but it would extend into and perhaps through our summer! Most of us know better… it’ll come all at once, we assured those pessimistic naysayers!

And then came last week. The news each day trumpeted the alert “Snowmageddon is coming! Snowmageddon is coming! Quick dash off to the grocery stores and squirrel away as much food as you can because Snowmageddon is coming!”

Talk around the office water cooler turned to the predictions. One person heard we’d get 5 to 8 inches of snow. Another 7 – 12. Yet a third said, oh no, it’s going to be much worse, they’re predicting 12 – 18 inches at the least! And it’s all coming on Friday!

Friday dawned, and it was indeed bleak. Grey. Overcast, and it began to mist. Then it began to sprinkle, and then it rained… a slow, pelting , soaking rain overshadowing the world around us with a dank sense of dread.

Seven pm came, the time for Snowmageddon to begin, and no snow. “Oh, but the weathermen changed their minds! It’s not starting until midnight!” Well, I can’t even stay awake to welcome in the New Year, how does one expect me to remain vigilant for a flake or two of snow?

My faithful dog, the aforementioned Princess Nikki, dutifully awakened me for our 6 am potty outing, and low and behold SNOW!… Nikki stood rigid, peering off into the sky… oh, for want of a camera (the phone still charging by the stove).

Yes, snow had come. At 6 am Saturday, there was 5 inches… and it didn’t stop snowing until nearly 5 pm… we got a total of about 8 inches where I live, I think.

I love watching snow fall. It’s beautiful. It’s glorious! It’s so peaceful.

And then I have to go outside and shovel the stuff (not the word I am thinking, but I’ll keep it G for now).

This snow was not your nice, fluffy, powdery fun snow. This was slush, from the get go. Our snow blower could barely handle it! It took nearly two hours to do our driveway and our sidewalks.
And so there we have it. Winter has, at long last, begun! Was that the bottom of the bucket? That’s the problem with this theory… no one really has any clue how deep the weather bucket is! We may have had the end of winter! Or, we could be facing 3 more months of it!

Forget ole Punxsutawney Phil, what does an old gopher know, anyhow?

These Boots were made for walking

21. April 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Eric's Life, Ramblings, Ranting

And that’s just what they’ll do…

A long, long, long time ago, in Eric Years anyhow, I was diagnosed with Diabetes… this was back in April of 2005.  I remember the day.  It was “Donut Day” at work and I’d just had about my 20th donut (slight exaggeration for hyperbolic effect) when I started having chest pains.  I’ve been no stranger to chest pains since 1999, but these seemed just a little worse than usual.  So, a friend drove me to the hospital. My heart, as is always the case, was fine, but the doctors suggested I see my personal physician about getting checked for diabetes.  And that is enough of THAT story… I serve it up here for the sole purpose of setting up what follows!

One of the recommendations that came about as a result of “Diabetes Awareness Classes” that my MD sent me to was the importance of losing weight, and getting good exercise.  It was at this class that I was introduced to the “10,000 Step Program”.  I say that as if there is but one such program… there isn’t.  Google “10000 Step Program” and you’ll see that everyone has one.

The concept is simple really… anything is better than sitting around watching TV.  So, go buy yourself a cheap little pedometer, and clip it to your belt.  You can find them for as little as $5.00.  Put it on each morning, and each night before you go to bed record the number of steps you took that day.   At the end of the first week, take all those steps and get an average.  (So, look at this little table for an example of how to get an average:)

Sunday 3215    
Monday 2976    
Tuesday 3043    
Wednesday 3427    
Thursday 1233    
Friday 1034    
Saturday 3340    
Total 18268 Divide by 7: 2609

First of all, the individual walking those steps is NOT a couch potato.  But he’s close to one!  Assuming you have a 2.5 foot pace (the distance between the toe of your right foot and the heel of your left foot when both are on the ground while walking) then 2112 paces, or steps, is equal to 1 mile.  For the purpose of the 10k step program, we say 2000 steps is 1 mile… and therefore 10000 steps is 5 miles.

Okay, then, take that 2,609 average step and round it up to the nearest 500, in this case, 3000 steps.  This is your goal.  Each day during week 2, try to walk at least 3000 steps EVERY DAY… no averages this time.

The next week, add 500 steps (3,500) and that is your target goal for that week.

If you’re really out of shape, not in to walking, then set milder goals… or strive for a single goal for a longer period.  You might, if you are the guy that walked those sample steps up there in my table, set a goal of 3000 steps per day for a whole month, and then move up to 3500 for the next month.

Back to my story.  In 2005, I began the 10000 step program, and my average steps weren’t too far off those of the sample I just cited.  On the day I was diagnosed with diabetes, I weighed in at 249 pounds.  I set my goals low, and for a month at a time.  My goal was to get to 5000 steps by end of summer.  I found the more I walked the more I WANTED to walk.  And soon, I was a walking fool!  By mid-October, I was at 10000 steps a day, I was down to 200 pounds and things were going good.  (By the way, it wasn’t ONLY exercise that brought the weight down)

And then the midwest winter hit.  So I bought a treadmill.  Then “Treadmill Boredom” hit.  And from there on, my steps started going downhill.  I quit walking, for a bunch of reasons, and I really don’t remember most of them!  By 2009, I was back to being almost but not quite a couch potato.  My weight had crawled back to about 240.  I joined weight watchers, my weight dropped but I didn’t exercise more.  I dropped back to 220.  I got laid off, I quit Weight Watchers, I exercised a little more, and managed for the next year to keep my weight in the low 220s.

Just a note on the diabetes here.  It’s under great control, even when I eat foolishly.  My high numbers really don’t get in to dangerous territory… they approach, but they don’t make it.  On a high day my level 2 hours after eating is under 150, generally around 145.  High, but not dangerous.

Walking, walking… yes, back to topic.  In March I got a job in Downtown Omaha. Scott and I carpool… which means he drives me to 19th and Dodge and drops me off.  I then walk the 4 blocks to my office.  At lunch, to find food, I have to walk… there’s lots of good food in downtown Omaha and a walk can be anywhere from 1 block to 10.

After work… I get out of work at 4:30.  This is a mandated EOD for me.  Due to contracts and unions and such and the fact I’m a contractor for 2 more months, I am not allowed overtime.  And while I’m fine working an hour or two overtime every day with out reporting it… that’s a big no no… so I have to leave at 4:30… or the 8 hour mark.  (That’s why I’m writing this at noon on a Wednesday.  I worked 6 hours last Sunday, and 4 hours 2 Sundays before that, so I had to take a day off to get caught up!)  Scott gets off work at 5, and takes 25 minutes to get down town.  What to do?

I walk!  I’m back to participating in the 10000 Step Program.  I set a goal of 5000 steps a day for April.  In May, I’ll up that to either 6000 or 6500 steps a day.  That shouldn’t be too hard, as I’m close to that for April… and just yesterday I put in 10,075 steps!  I’m loving it!

So there you are.  That’s what’s going on in my life.

Now, here’s my challenge to you all!  Who wants to join me for a “Community Challenge”?  The idea is, as many people as email me or make a comment (it has to be approved by me, which means I have to know who you are) I’ll take that number, and we’ll set an arbitrary “Community Steps” count… say, if 10 people sign up, we’ll set a target of 500,000 paces by September 1.  Everyone will email me their daily steps either daily or weekly.  I’ll put a Cumulative Step Count up here on my blog every Sunday or something.  And we’ll see how it goes!  I’ll spend some time today refining this idea and post more if I get any takers.  How’s that sound? 

If you’d like, email me and I’ll try to help you set up a “plan of action” for the purpose of this challenge.

I bet I can walk farther than YOU can!

We’ll set up a prize or something.  What d’ya say?

Man.. these boots are gonna walk all over YOU!

More on Our New Puppy

11. February 2010 · 2 comments · Categories: Eric's Life, Pets, Ramblings

Okay, as I’ve said before, he’s not a puppy.  But it’s hard not to think of him as a puppy.  He’s got the most charming personality, and loves to give doggy kisses!

As I mentioned before, Gary wasn’t sure he liked the puppy’s name, and was considering changing it.  Monday, Gary says “I really don’t like calling him Buddy.  I can’t remember that!  Besides, it’s a dumb name for a dog.”

“Well, Gary, what do you want to call him?”  I’m thinking ‘Buddy’s a dumb name?  It’s one of the big 10 for dogs!’

“I’m thinking Pookie.”

I give Gary a stunned stare.  Surely he’s kidding!  Pookie?  POOKIE???? All I can think of is ‘talk about stupid dog names!’ (My apologies to anyone reading who may have named their dog Pookie.  It’s just stupid for US.  Really.)

“Uh, no.  We will NOT name this poor dog Pookie.”

“Okay, I guess you’re right.  We’ll keep it Buddy.”

And so it was done, I thought.  No name change for Buddy.  Tuesday, I tell one of my best friends “We have decided not to rename him.”  The chapter is closed.  The End has been posted to final page of the book.  It’s decided.

Tuesday afternoon, Gary says “I just can never remember Buddy’s name.  I want to change it.”

“Don’t EVEN mention the name Pookie.  It is NOT going to happen.”

“How about Buster?”

I like Buster.  It’s a good name, and it REALLY fits this puppy.  So, Buster it is.  Name change is now a fait accompli.  So, as promised consider this your Puppy Name Change Notification.  Pictures still pending!  In about 5 years when his dynamo runs down, and he’s calm, I’ll see if I can get one!

Oh, and poor Nikki. She just doesn’t know what to make of this interloper in her life.  I’ve been getting lots more cozy cuddly time from her.  She’ll come around!

Ophidiophobia

04. February 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Eric's Life, Ramblings

My last post briefly referred to the “snakicidal tendencies” of my earlier years.  I really was quite surprised at the number of people who have commented on that portion of my post, a post primarily about a new dog!

Those snakicidal tendencies… probably better referred to as herpetocidal tendencies… stem from the fact that I really have a problem with ophidiophobia.  Ophidiophobia is a variety of herpetophobia, a generalized fear of reptiles.  Wikipedia says “an ophidiophobic would not only fear them [snakes] when in live contact but also dreads to think about them or even see them on TV or in pictures.”  That pretty well describes me.

I have held snakes.  That didn’t gross me out or anything.  But the reality is I fear them at a very basic level.  Like the definition, I have problems watching them on TV… my hands sweat, my heart rate increases, my breathing gets fast and thready.  I get jumpy, having a hard time sitting still.  My body tenses like rock.  I used to hate thumbing through the “S” volume of our encyclopedia as a kid.  When I would push myself and come to the snakes, if I turned a page and discovered that my finger was on a picture of a snake, I’d darn near wet myself!  Scott loves going to the herpetology displays in zoos.  I tag along.  I hate it.  When we finally finish, I have to go to the bathroom, then drink huge quantities of water.  Then go to the bathroom again.

Where does it come from, this ophidiophobia?  I suspect it came from my mother.  I think she genetically implanted it in my DNA before I was even born.  Mom was terrified of snakes too.  She came by her fear a little more naturally.  She often told me a story about how that fear developed.  It seems that back in the 30s, the lake she lived by with her family (Lake Manawa, south of Council Bluffs, Iowa) came very close to drying out.  Of course, being the 30s, it was the pit of the depression.  Mom tells that she was out playing on the dried lake floor.  Maybe she was with her sister, my Aunt Jeanie, I don’t know.  As I recall the story, she stayed out later than she was supposed to, then went running home.  On the way, her foot caught in a deep fissure in the dried mud (you know how mud dries… in a jig-saw design?) and her shoe came off.  Arriving home, my grandfather, her dad, was extremely upset with her over losing that shoe, so he made her go out with him to find and retrieve the shoe (remember, this was the Great Depression; I’m sure the expense of having to buy a new pair of shoes would not have been greeted warmly by Grandpa.)  Anyhow, at some point they stepped over a log and there was a snake.  As I recall the story, the snake was large, and grandfather grabbed mom and jerked her away from it, thus implanting her fear of snakes.  Also, as I recall the story, the snake was a rattlesnake.  But I am not sure of that part.

And so, from my earliest memories, snakes were very much NOT liked by mom.  I remember Dad taking snakes caught in our yard, little garden variety snakes, never longer than a foot, foot and a half, down to the sewer grating where he killed it then dumped it down the sewer.

Years later, while working at a Boy Scout Summer Camp as a young man (21) I had two more experiences (in about 3 days) with snakes.  The first one was while out hiking.  I startled a snake, and the sound of it slithering off made me jump.  I followed the snake, getting relatively close to it, fascinated, and trying to overcome my fear.  Later, I had the Camp instructor who was teaching about snakes and reptiles help me to hold a snake.  It was ok.  Even managed to keep my terror under control.  But, then, the next morning, any progress I made was erased.

It was my habit, as the person in charge of the aquatics program, to get up before my staff, go down to the pool, do a walk around making sure everything was okay.  Then, against all safety rules, regulations, and common sense, I’d go for a swim.  The morning following my snake handling break-through, I decided to forego my walk around, and just dove in to the pool and started swimming.  I was about half way across the pool when I heard a shout.  It was the camp ranger, a big burly man, standing on the edge of the pool off to the side waving and motioning for me to swim towards him. “HURRY! HURRY! Swim like you’re in a race for your life!”  So, I swam toward him as fast as I could.  As I neared the edge of the pool he reached down, caught me by one wrist and yanked me out of the water.

I was sure I was in big trouble!  He just set me down and pointed.  There, in the pool, not far behind me was a rattler.

“We’re having a bit of a dry season up here.  They sometimes come to the pool, drawn by the water and the mice that come around here.  They sometimes fall in.  You should look before you leap.”  He scooped the snake out, killed it, then left, taking the corpse with him.  Nothing more was said about my irresponsible swim.  And I never swam alone there again… much to the chagrin of my staff, as I thenceforth made one of them wake up early with me and watch while I swam.  And I ALWAYS looked for snakes!

But that didn’t end my experiences with snakes.  When I moved back to Council Bluffs in 1998, we lived about 6 houses from a big creek that runs through town, under the 16th Street Viaduct.  One day, coming home from work, I tromped up the stairs to our apartment on the 2nd floor.  As I entered the room, I thought I sensed movement, and reached to turn on the light.  There in the middle of the floor was a garden snake, about 18 inches long.

I screamed.

I turned, and ran down the stairs to the living room, and sat with my friends until Scott could come home and go get the snake out of our apartment for me.  A few days later, there was another smaller snake.  Again, I screamed, and ran downstairs, and waited for Scott.  This soon became a pattern.  I finally got smart, and waited for Scott to come home before going upstairs.  It wasn’t long before we discovered the walls of the house were infested with snakes.  And can you believe it?  I lived there for 10 months knowing that!

One night, I awoke in the middle of the night, feeling the call of nature.  Not thinking I trudged through the apartment, and in to the bathroom.  I stepped on one of them.

I screamed.

Princess Nikki

04. January 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Eric's Life, Pets, Ramblings

Scott and I share our lives with Princess Nikki.  Or is it Princess Nicky?  Or Princess Nicki? Or… well, we never have, really settled on a spelling for her name – but that’s neither here nor there.  For information how this little darlin’ came in to our lives, you can read about it here.

Perhaps I’ll just settle for Nikki.  That spelling is as good as any.

Nikki loves the three of us.  She dotes on me; she’ll bypass everyone else to greet me when we come home.  I like that.

Nikki has her challenges in life.  She’s a dear, sweet, timid little girl.  Scott and I and Gary are her little family.  But when anyone else comes in to our home, Nikki becomes very fearful.  She barks ferociously, but prefers to do so from her hiding spot behind my legs!  If Scott or I aren’t around to protect her, she will run and hide wherever she can, though preferably beneath our bed.

In addition to her fear, Nikki has some other little issues.  Nikki does not like to be watched while she… does her business.  We must turn our backs on her… but not too far… so that she can peacefully do her thing.

Nikki also does not like water, in any form.  When it rains, it is very difficult for her to relax enough to… do her business.  And, because of this, she really hates bath time.  It used to be that we literally had to tranquilize her in order to bath her.  We’ve overcome that, but bathtime is still a very stressful time for our little princess.

In my previous post, I told about the nearly 30 inches of snow we have on the ground (and are expecting another 7 in the next 72 hours.)  Snow makes it very hard for our princess to go out to do her business.  After the last big snow, it took her nearly 3 full days before she just could not contain herself longer.  Fortunately, she found a relatively private location on our driveway on the other side of our car.   When fresh snow arrived, we made sure to go and clear a path to the “dark side of the car” for her.

She has another issue.  Her paws are ticklish.  Because of this, she doesn’t like getting her nails trimmed.  But yesterday, we finally had to do get her claws taken care of.  We grind them with one of those “Peticure” devices.  She doesn’t like this, either, but she does tolerate it.

Unfortunately we put it off so long (we could hear her anywhere in the house because of her clicking, clicking, clicking claws) that we discovered her dew claws had grown so long as to curl back on themselves.  It even appeared that they had pierced in to her paw.

Nikki also is losing hair on her sides.

So, this morning, Nikki and I braved the –17 degree cold and visited another of her great fears… the veterinarian!

The visit was good and bad.  The dewclaws weren’t as bad as we feared, easily trimmed, no surgery needed.

But, the hair loss has a rather nasty treatment.  Our poor Princess Nikki must have her semi-annual bath tonight.  And Thursday… and next Monday… and next Thursday… for a total of four weeks!

I’m not sure who dreads the baths more… Princess Nikki or her Daddy!

Mixed Feelings

30. November 2009 · 1 comment · Categories: Ramblings

It’s been a good Thanksgiving Weekend. 

Thursday morning, I made up three batches of Rum Balls for a Christmas Party Scott and I are having next month.  I think I was beginning to get drunk just from inhaling the fumes!  I finished with just enough time to shower then head over to Dad’s to pick him up for the family Thanksgiving at my cousin’s home.  On the way we stopped to see a friend who had borrowed our air compressor and nailers.

The dinner itself was fun, Missy, Jim, Uncle Lyle, David & Sylvia, along with Andrew & Scott & Becka (Andrew & Scott are Lyle’s grandsons, Beck is Scott’s wife) and Scott & I… oh, and Scott & Becka’s three children.  It’s so funny to gather with the Stroms… every single one of them looks cut from the same mold… the Kelly side of that family has pretty strong genes.  One look at one of the great grand kids, the grand kids, or any of the Strom kids and you just KNOW they came from the Kellys!

Friday & Saturday, Scott and I knuckled down to finish some long standing projects around the house, and to putting up the exterior Christmas decorations… good thing, as Sunday it started getting cold!

Sunday we put in our normal 5 hour stint at church, then stopped on our way home for our traditional breakfast at Village Inn.  And it is from that meal that the title of this entry hails.  As we were walking toward the cash register I glanced at the bill… OH MY GOODNESS!  Our waitress gave us BOTH a senior citizens discount!!!!!!  Village Inn’s “Senior Citizen’s discount” is for those aged 60 and older!

So, for all you out there who read my blog… go buy stock in Nivea!  Because I intend to sleep in a pool of Nivea skin moisturizer starting tonight!

60.  Ha!  I’ll show her!

(And our waitress, just so you know, wasn’t a high schooler, either, she was at least our age!!!!)  Maybe I should just credit to her as an attempt to be nice?

Rambling

04. November 2009 · 1 comment · Categories: Eric's Life, Ramblings

An Idea, an idea… my kingdom for an idea!

That’s what these past two months of silence have been like.  I mean, sure I’ve been doing lots of stuff… but none of it has seemed to be something I want to write about.  This past week, I’ve opened my “Live Writer” every day.  And every night I close it, nothing written.

It just seems that nothing has been weighing on me, or inspiring me to write about it. 

Over the past two months, since I blogged last, I’ve been on the run.  Of course, I’ve been to interviews… no luck.  I’ve been to Scottsdale for a wonderful family reunion.  I’ve developed a system for actually keeping the Hays-Strom household clean… something rather remarkable in and of itself!

But none of that says to me “Sit down and write about this.”  In deed, what’s being written right now is an attempt to jump-start my creative juices.  And I’m going to be NEEDING those creative juices! 

After a recent email to my family filling them in on my life, my job search, and Dad’s health, my aunt wrote me to tell me that she felt I wrote the most wonderful letters.  And she suggested I take a writing course.  And I jumped at the idea.  I start next Wednesday.  (And here’s a public THANK YOU Aunt Jeanie, for not only complimenting my writing, but making the suggestion AND then, topping it all off by paying for it!  You’re a very special lady, and I really really hope you know that.)

“A Writer’s Guide to Descriptive Settings” is the class I’ll be taking.  If it goes well, I may very well invest in another class.

My writing has taken me in some rather exciting directions.  Elsewhere out there in the “blogosphere”, a wonderful lady, a published author, whom I met online through conversations with a mutual friend, picked up an article I wrote some months ago and published it.  Another blogger in England picked up the piece from her and posted it with commentary.  A very lively conversation ensued between the 3 of us and several  other people.  One of those has even suggested I write a book!  Right now, that seems a bit unlikely to me.  But who knows?

I’m reticent to post that article here, or even tell my readers (all those thousands and thousands of you out there) where to find it elsewhere.  I’ll have to think about that.

« Older articles