Tag Archives: pets

August 23, 2025 · 1:54 am

Critters

David J. Salter – @Davidjsalter on X

The critters we saw today weren’t nearly as ‘impressive’ or ‘regal’ as this beautiful tiger painting, but we enjoyed them thoroughly nonetheless.

We saw a frog that was HUGE sitting by a wall. We just stood and admired him, trying not to bother him. He was at LEAST 4 inches tall, if not more. He looked beige colored, but he was in the shadows, so it was hard to really tell.

We also saw a cat sleeping on the seat of a motorcycle in the parking garage. I spoke to him and he looked at me briefly, then stretched and got comfortable again. I’ve never seen a cat sleep on a motorcycle before. I don’t know whether it belonged to its owner or not, but the cats around the building seem to be strays that wander in and out. He was a pretty, gray striped cat.

Lastly, a rust brown dog with a collar was running down the heavily traveled street, barking occasionally, looking madly happy running after someone on a motorcycle. We have seen him before. He has a collar, so he has a home. This is apparently one of their ‘togetherness things.’ The dog negotiates the traffic really well, speaking of lots of experience. He certainly looks joyful as he runs.

We visited my husband at the nursing home again this morning to make sure he was continuing to improve from his pneumonia. He was resting comfortably and shook his head slightly when we asked him if he were hurting anywhere. He didn’t cough while we were there, but he wasn’t nearly as responsive as he was yesterday, so we just stayed a little while and then left.

I’ve been having fun painting a cats sketch I did recently. I’ll post it when it’s finished.

I’m trying to get closer to my goal of doing the 12-3-30 method of walking on the treadmill in the mornings. Today I used the first 10 minutes to go from 0-12% incline, then set the speed back to 3 kilometers per minute and walked for another 20 minutes. I’ll try to add another couple of minutes tomorrow, speeding up the incline gradations a bit. (The goal in this method is 12% incline at 3 kilometers per minute for 30 minutes.

It’s been raining off and on all day, so my laundry is on the drying rack inside. I have the fan turned to ‘medium’ and have it blowing on the clothes and towels, so I’m hoping things will dry by tonight, or at least overnight.

I hope you’re having a fun day.

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March 15, 2025 · 9:33 am

Saturday 3-15-2025

Karin de Haas via Tammy Baker-Pinterest

It’s been really busy around here. There are SO many details to handle. We are definitely making progress. A suitcase was delivered this morning. We’re going to basically pack my husband’s things in it today to see if the 2nd suitcase we’re ordering should be the same size or maybe a little bit larger. We have the backpacks our son ordered, so we can decide what needs to go in each, like a change of clothes, freshening up supplies, kleenex, tablets and charger cords, etc.

One really worrisome and upsetting thing happened yesterday. I called the vet to make sure all was good about our calling when we were ready to bring our animals and their supplies to the vet clinic, and be sure that people could help us get everything in from the truck. The rug was yanked out from under me.

The receptionist told me they weren’t set up to take our animals. They were happy to help us try to rehome them by putting their pics up on their website and would call us if there was interest, but that was it. I guess I don’t speak English anymore, because I was devastated.

We now have a post in the rehoming – Greenwood section of Facebook, but we haven’t gotten any responses. I’ve texted all of our friends to see if anyone knows anybody who wants a dog or cat and their supplies. We’ll keep adding other options as we think of them. This is a major concern for us. We haven’t told my husband, figuring he doesn’t need the stress, but we won’t be able to keep the secret for long.

Meanwhile, I’ll try to put this out of my mind as we work on getting my husband basically packed for the move.

I wish everyone a really nice Saturday.

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October 5, 2024 · 8:55 am

“Modifying” Monster Cat

“Monster Cat” aka Jet

This is how she looks right now, sprawled out on the shelves beside my computer set up. She nods off now and then, looking extremely comfortable. I tried to pet her a few minutes ago and she bit me. She doesn’t bite HARD, but she did break my skin this time, so I’m continuing to try to break her of this.

Our paper towel roll is her newest handiwork. She found it in the pantry recently and apparently batted it all over the place after pulling it down from the shelf. My husband was going to throw it out, but I told him that although it LOOKS a bit odd, it should still work fine to wipe up spills. Maybe it also adds character to our kitchen?

I’m not having to try to catch her to put her into her bathroom anymore. I merely walk toward her bathroom. She either follows me right away, passes me in order to ‘herd’ me in there, or she come running when she hears a bit of her food hit the bowl. I can then step out and close the door without the cat latch. I have modified her food so I can do this each time I go in there and not overfeed her :0)

She is now joining me on my recliner several times a day. She jumps up, walks up my front and looks at me. I pet her, and then she turns around and plops down beside my feet.

She still either ignores my husband or is hostile. We don’t know what her background was before we adopted her, so we have no idea why. He is also relentless in his actions, refusing to adapt to what she does, so this may be a long slog.

Monster Cat and Amber (97 pound yellow lab) are getting along fine. I just make sure the cat isn’t out anywhere when Amber is eating. So, we’re making progress of a sort. Her weirdness fits right in with ours, so it’s an interesting mix.

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March 15, 2024 · 9:42 am

The Saga Continues

Amber

Amber is acting like herself in every way except for food handling. She is eager to eat, playful, energetic, sleeps fine, seems happy, but she is still battling upset stomach.

Because of this we found some dry and canned food that is supposed to be easier on her stomach. We just got back from the store and fed her. We’ll see how she does with this, fingers crossed.

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March 14, 2024 · 9:40 am

Animals Update

Abby

Some of you have been asking how our animals are. I told you recently that Abby has been diagnosed with a large tumor on her kidney, probably malignant, inoperable in practical terms, due to her age (14) and other health problems. The vet injected her with antibiotics and a pain shot the last time we were there.

I bought her cat diapers so that I could allow her free reign in the house while I’m otherwise occupied. These are a great idea at best, but haven’t worked well so far. We can’t get them to stay on. At this point, I’m bringing her in at least once a day for a cat-loving session, where we sit in my recliner and purr at each other, cramming as much love into each session as we can. We may still need to use the diapers as her tumor progresses, but so far, no problems. We are both really enjoying this time together. She doesn’t seem to be in any pain.

Amber

This is an old picture of Amber. Picture her almost twice as large and she looks the same, otherwise. She weighs 95 pounds or so now. We thought that she was the one leaving the bloody puddle on her bed. Our vet tested the sample we brought in, gave her an antibiotics shot for an infection, and prescribed some meds that would clear the bladder infection. I gave her one pill that night and she had been sick the next morning or overnight when we got up. I called the vet, having caught Abby in the act of making the bloody puddle. We took Abby in, getting anti-nausea pills for Amber while we were at the vet’s.

We are still dealing with an iffy stomach with Amber. I remember that her stomach was really sensitive when she was a young puppy and we had trouble finding food that agreed with her. We thought we had solved the problem this time, after two anti-nausea pills, and then, suddenly, she was sick again. We are keeping her on the tiled area of the house in case she is ill again. She seems to be doing well now. She is a happy, overly playful dog, otherwise, her usual self, so I think we’re almost over the problem.

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October 6, 2020 · 4:33 pm

Fresh Fish

I just finished cleaning the aquarium. When all was back together, they did their one trick of piling up in the corner, blowing bubbles at me and wriggling their sweet bodies, telling me it had been MONTHS since anyone had fed them.

Apparently, we are neglecting ALL our animals. One of the cats tried to trip me on my way into our office to the computer – her way of telling me she wanted some treats.

Abby

Smoke

And Amber, our 95-pound yellow lab, just tried to crawl up in the chair with me, trying to be cute and licking my ear.

Amber

It’s obvious that we have a whole houseful of neglected animals we really should be paying more attention to…

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March 15, 2020 · 11:26 am

Happy Goldfish?

“Here’s lookin’ at YOU, kid.”

My fish don’t say much. They don’t do tricks. I need to clean their aquarium out once a week, even with the two filters I’m running now.  But they DO gather in the corner when they see me coming, wriggling their little bodies and blowing bubbles at me, hoping I’ll drop flakes in their tank.

I lost one recently. :O(   He had the balance problem I read about. I was sad to lose him, but I’ve learned a lesson that will help the other two – not to sprinkle the flakes on the surface of the water. An article I read said to put the flakes in some water from the tank and saturate them completely before adding the water and food to the tank. This is supposed to avoid the development of the balance problem due to gulping in air along with the flakes.

 

I’ve cleaned out the tank so much now that it is almost down to a science. I can empty it, change out or clean everything, and have the fish back swimming in about half an hour.

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December 14, 2019 · 10:42 am

Thoughts on a Saturday – 12-14-2019

Dog Lovers Club

We’re having a nice, though gray, fall day here in Arkansas. I found a new sweatshirt/hoodie combination in a pale pink and am wearing it for the first time today. I got it from the exclusive emporium of Walmart, and am pleased to report that I didn’t have to get it in a “wide-load” size!  It’s light weight and cozy feeling. This is really welcome since I’ve been sitting under my throw in the living room while watching TV lately, even though our heat works fine. It may be a psychological thing. Anyhow, I’m thinking of buying ANOTHER one!

I told you that I am experimenting on making light weight wooden earrings for people who do NOT have pierced ears. I found some glue and clip-on findings, both without nickel to avoid problems with allergies.

This is the only finished pair so far. The wood is just large enough for the clip-on. I’m also going to try a larger disk and then drill a hole in the bottom of it and append a smaller disk from it, making a dangle. I’ll show you a pic of that when I have one finished. I’m thinking of starting another Etsy shop just for earrings – pierced and clip-on. I’m also checking out opening a shop on Amazon.

Yesterday one of my long time good friends called to tell me one of her dogs had died. Another good friend lost a cat recently. Having been there, and knowing that losing a treasured pet member of the family is one of the worst hurts there is, my heart goes out to to both of them. I also know there is nothing I can do but show I care.  I wish I could do more.

I’m not sure what else the day holds, other than the what-I’m-hoping-will-be-the-usual exercise with my elliptical trainer and yoga stretches and working in my art room.

I hope your Saturday is fun.

 

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November 16, 2019 · 10:15 am

Thoughts on a Saturday 11-16-2019

Jeff Jett

I think one of the most important paths to happiness is REALIZING all you have. Today my main feeling is thankfulness.

I have a beef roast in the crock pot for tonight. I have a cup of coffee. Molly is resting comfortably at my feet as I type.

 

My husband is almost completely recovered from his stroke. (He still gets words garbled occasionally, but we smile at each other when that happens. He has to really work to use his keyboard on his computer. He still has bursts of anger, saying hurtful things, but the episodes are father apart. I’m avoiding triggers I know about, and talking to him calmly about the ones that do happen, making it clear that I don’t deserve it. Things are improving.

Our son is happy in Thailand. We are talking to him on the chat program almost daily, so it’s ALMOST like he is still here with us.  If a person figures out to send HUGS through a chat program, he or she will be a gazillionaire. :0)

Our weather is good, with a nice, sunny day. I’m hopeful it will warm up enough this afternoon that I can get outside. I want to rake and shred leaves, putting the mulch in our flower planters.

I have ideas rattling around in my brain on what I would like to do next in my art room. I’m even DREAMING about them! SO many fun things to play with!

 

 

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September 18, 2019 · 12:16 pm

Thoughts on a Wednesday 9-18-2019

Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

 

Pinterest

I’m beginning to see a pattern on what provokes new anger issues after a stroke –

  1. the need for quick actions (such as ‘turn here!” or “stop! You’re going to hit the ____.”
  2. the need to decide which of two things the person wants.

As we recognize patterns, we can alter our OWN behavior. It’s better to miss the turn and have to turn around and go back, for example. (You DO have to yell ‘STOP!” to avoid hitting things, though.) It’s better to just ask if the person wants to do one thing, rather than ask which of two things is preferred.   Still hoping the anger issues will fade with time, but I’m learning how to deal with things better.

I’m delighting, once again, that we have SUCH GREAT pets to enjoy.

 

Amber

Example – Amber, our 94-pound yellow lab, LOVES to play her version of ‘FETCH.” This entails her bringing her spit-covered whatever toy to you, trying to put it and her head into your lap. When you try to deter this, she tries to climb up into the chair with you, eyes sparkling with joy. She doesn’t want to actually GIVE you the toy. She just wants to make you stop whatever you were doing, TRY to get the toy so that she can run away with it, doing her dog version of ‘nah, nah NAH, nah, nah’ as she goes, only to run right back and repeat. If she DOES drop the toy and allow you to throw it, it’s a one-time event. Today I added to the complexity a bit, playing with TWO toys. I would throw one, she would run like a bunny and grab it, bringing it back and refusing to give it to me. I then picked up the SECOND toy. She immediately dropped the first, eager to run after the second. We may HAVE something here….

Pixabay

We saw a whole bunch (gaggle/skein/team/wedge/plump?) of beautiful geese on the ground on a big wide lawn of a home we pass on the way to town. There were at least 20 and they were a wonderful sight.

 

Our son made me laugh like a loon describing trying to talk to an obnoxious man on the Internet in a chat forum about a product with which our son is involved. As he described the boorish remarks of the man, he became more and more animated, acting out what the man was saying. As I laughed, it spurred my son on to more and more detail and funny movements and expressions. My stomach is still hurting from the laughter.

 

I hope that YOUR Wednesday includes something beautiful in nature, some new ideas on how to handle a problem, and laughter so hard  your stomach hurts.

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September 7, 2019 · 11:37 am

Happy Saturday!

Art and Expression via 2 STAR art

Things are gloriously QUIET around here today! A few errands, a few chores. My husband is doing well, our son is home. We are happily surrounded by our two dogs, two cats, and four goldfish, plus three hummingbirds flying around the feeder this morning.

DAY 5 of my renewed yoga practice, time to play in my art room, dinner figured out.

Doesn’t get much better than this. I hope you’re having a happy Saturday, too.

 

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May 14, 2019 · 11:57 am

Sharing a Beautiful Day

I just enjoyed walking around the yard, taking stock of what’s what while marveling that it wasn’t raining! Right now it’s 70 degrees F.!  Just gorgeous.  I wanted to show you the results of my trying to create a bit of order from the chaos created by Mother Nature recently. Here is one of our Rio Samba rosebushes. I pruned the three we have so they’ll bloom again in a couple of weeks. You can also see the tarp that is hopefully preserving the potting soil we removed from one of the two planters that collapsed. We are trying to gear up for rebuilding these ourselves, since the only estimate we’ve been able to get from an actual bricklayer was WAAAAAY too high.

Here you see one of the planters I weeded, cleaned out, and pruned.  You can see I need to weed whack next….

The second of the trio planters between our front yard and the driveway.

And this is the third planter. These are end-to-end .

Another.

And another. We have 14 planters we built 30 years ago. We live on top of a ridge line, so what soil there is was trucked in when we had the house built.  With the potting soil and an irrigation system, we are able to grow the flowers we love.

This is one view off the deck. We have lots of wave petunias and periwinkles on the deck this year. You can see our view in one direction. We love to pretend we own all this.

Here’s a view the other direction.

Some Impatiens on the front porch.

and more. You can see this planter needs some work.

And finally, I my travels around the yard I found –

Amber

Molly

Smoke

and Abby, all enjoying the screened porch on this lovely day.

I hope it’s really nice where you are, too!

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June 17, 2018 · 3:37 pm

Can Fish Smile?

I really like my fish. They don’t do tricks. They don’t say anything. They’re even quite a lot of work, since I’ve been having trouble coming up with a filtering system that was the right size to fit nicely in my aquarium and do the job it’s supposed to do. I enjoy speaking to them, especially when I feed them twice a day. The four fish all get in the upper corner on the right side when they see I’m ready to feed them. They wriggle like crazy and I swear they smile as they anticipate the fish flakes coming into the water.

That said, I bought a different design filter today. This is for aquariums from 5 to 15 gallons, so I’m at the extreme low-end of the scale. I took EVERYTHING out today, including all the gravel. I completely drained the water, washed the inside of the glass, scrubbed everything that went back in and then filled the tank again with the treated water I fix for them so that my tap water doesn’t bother them.  (I have 4 gallon jugs of treated water that is room temperature.) I put in the new filter pump with a new filter cartridge.

The newly cleaned tank has been running for about an hour now and is looking pretty good. The fish seem happy, and were even trying to convince me that it was time to feed them – gathering in the corner, wriggling, and smiling.

I don’t mind changing the filter cartridge more than once a month, but I don’t like having to change it every three DAYS as I was before, and it wasn’t even keeping the water clear! FINGERS CROSSED that what I did today results in the water staying clear for longer.

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June 17, 2018 · 10:19 am

Heart

email from Bill Lites

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January 2, 2018 · 10:17 am

“SAY IT!”

Amber with Squeaky Frog Toy

I told you recently that we’re trying to get Amber to “Say It!” when she wants to go out, or from the outside of the door when she wants to come in.

Earlier today after she had been out about half an hour, I went to the garage door and peeked out. There she was, sitting on the steps, hoping someone would come. I said, “SAY IT!” through the crack, and after some encouragement, she gave me a good bark. I opened the door, let her in, gave her a treat and said, “GOOD GIRL!” My husband did the same thing when she got to the office, having heard the good bark.

Later, I was typing at the computer, concentrating on answering an email when Amber came and sat beside me. I looked at her and said, “Hi,” gave her head a couple of pats and then returned to my email.

Suddenly, a humongous “WOOF!” erupted from the smiling dog. I jumped straight up in the air, coffee cup in my hand – with both my husband and I saying, “Jesus!” at the same time, and then I managed “GOOD GIRL!” on the way down. I immediately got up, giving her a treat and let her out. She seems to be on the good side of the learning curve on getting out now. Hopefully, she’ll learn that woofing and door opening works in both directions…

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August 23, 2016 · 3:35 pm

Companionship – Take 7

Email from Bill Lites

Email from Bill Lites

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August 13, 2016 · 2:42 pm

Dogs

Anita Opper - Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero

Anita Opper – Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero

I can’t imagine life without a dog or cat or fish, or several of all three.

Losing a pet is one of the very hardest things there is. You find yourself sobbing, guts hanging out for all to see. Fewer things in life hurt more.

Some people decide, after losing a beloved pet, that they just won’t get another. They don’t want to open themselves up to that kind of hurt again.  You give to a pet unlimited love. You talk to them about everything because they’re so understanding and compassionate. You become co-dependent, feeling lost and alone when one of you isn’t there.

My husband and I have been lucky enough to have several pets over the years. Each time we lose one we’re devastated – inconsolable.  For us, though, the only thing that helps us is to go right out and find another.

Even though we aren’t sure we really want to, if we’re lucky enough to find another sweet animal to come live with us, we’re FORCED to reach out to meet the sweet little thing’s needs. We CANNOT withdraw into ourselves. We must feed it. We must take it outside. We must make a home for it, with bed, water and food bowls, a collar, tags, shots, spaying or neutering – the whole 9 yards.

In the process of doing this, we have found that, although we don’t miss the beloved pet any less, the new wriggling furry bundle of joy has helped our hearts heal a bit. Our new addition has forced us to go on, reacting to each other as well as the fuzzy little animal, filling a void with someone who needs us.

Yes, “Dogs are Miracles with Paws.” Anita Opper has said it perfectly. I love the bright little eyes on this guy, running to us, hoping he’ll be accepted…

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