The Dog Lady Blog

The snow started Friday night. I love snow. I love the sound it makes when it takes over the geography. It sounds "steamy" to me, almost hissing as it falls and connects. All my chitlins were in-and-out all night as it continued to fall. It has begun again and while it is beautiful and fun, I have to shake the thought of animals without shelter from my mind, like a dog shaking the snow off it's coat. One of my dogs, Desi, is a Canadian collie mix and she is delirious with joy over today's addition to our snowfall's accumulation. We just came in from a sunset stroll and while on our sojourn, Desi rolled...and rolled...and rolled...and rolled happily in the fresh powder, giddy as she embraced her inner canine Canuck (it's a beautiful thing to watch). However, back inside our camper/home, Desi goes "Psycho" because she imagines/anticipates some dog has stepped into her realm, specifically on her feet, despite the fact that she's off by herself.  She'll be in a dead sleep and POW! she shoots up, ratchets arounds, snapping at ghosts. Happy moment goes SPLAT. She just loses it from time to time, ever imagining some sort of disrespect even though none of the dogs even try to sleep near her due to her Blue Meanie vibe and the fact that she bites her "friends".

Donnie, on the other hand, is much more easy going and fancies himself a rugged outdoorsy-kind of dog, has been indoors longer than usual as the current temperature has dropped to 28*.  It's going to get much colder by morning--only 12* at 4am. One can only be so rugged. He's giving me the "moon-eyes", telling me he is SO digging the warm, fluffy dog bedding with a big humming space heater (thank you, Auntie P.) warming his lower back. He's been talking to me tonight with that terrier-like chortle--a whine combined with a howl with a touch yodeling. Gratitude is a wonderful feeling--no matter your end of the stick, you connect with another in the purest way! Hopefully you do.

I have court in the morning; the Floyd County health department is withdrawing from my case citing "Conflict of Interest". Uh, yeah. You think? I can't stand bullies. They're "Chicken Little" at heart.

No basis for their irrationality and tiresome at best. I've stood up to bullies--real, mean people age irrelevant--seven real times in my life. The January Debacle makes it eight. In 2010; I was born in '62: all even years. I've never fought a battle I didn't know I would win and I mean that in the best of ways. I've turned my cheek sooo many times, without regret. Yet sometimes you MUST stand your ground as I have these past eleven months.

It's going to be pretty nippy tomorrow morning--somewhere around 15*. I admit now that I am wearing insulated bibs with a jacket tomorrow to court. It's simply too cold for antiquated gender decorum when temperatures are below freezing. I need a new pair of insulated hiking boots but otherwise, I'm milk fed: healthy, hearty and happy.

I am happy. I and those I care for and love are safe, warm with their tummies full (at least those here) tonight. Why can't it be like this for everyone? It's really not impossible, is it?

Earlier this afternoon, as I cleaned his ears, I asked my dog, Pops, "it feels gooood, doesn't it?" I can relate. Ear problems are a weird malady. I've had inner ear problems, especially when I was young. Memories of horrific pre-adolescent episodes of "Swimmer's Ear", one year so bad I was in tears for three days. Those were some brutal times, which in my karmic mind leads me to believe that I've drowned in a previous life.

Here I am now. I seem to get a lot of adult-to-elderly dogs with ear issues. I'm so good at treating them because I know exactly what they're feeling (and thinking because it's weird to feel and hear the swooshing sound of water in your ear canals) as I work on them, much like the way I work on my own ears. The Dog Lady indeed.

Just put "Munich" in the dvd player. PBS is still fundraising/holding viewers hostage (much like the Jews in "Munich"...!) so no Sunday evening with Dame Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer in one of my favorites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Time_Goes_By_(TV_series) and no "Masterpiece". Boooo.

It's so pretty when it's so cold. I write like the plane is going down, the cold serving as a furnace, firing me on. I respond to extreme non-tactile stimulation.

When a girl lives alone: I'm nursing a HUGE crush on Geoffrey Rush--and THAT rhymes!

Did I tell you that we're thinking of moving west?