Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Category Archives: Katie


by 4 Comments

Wet, wound up Sheltie

It’s been raining. A lot. I know we have it better here than many people in other parts of the country, even other parts of this state where there are flood warnings today. But still. Katie is wound up after two straight days of solid rain. She barks at the ceiling as the rain drums on the skylights, she barks at the windows as rain beats against them. Sometimes she just barks in bewilderment. And having to go out in pouring rain to do her thing? Well, lets just say I’m pretty sure she’s not a beach dog. She walked through a deep puddle, water up to her knees and backed up pretty fast, totally confused. So she’s exhausted (as are we) and wound up from little to no outside playtime.

This afternoon it stopped raining for a bit. They say Ike, now a tropical storm, will arrive this evening and we will get even more rain. But for now, though everything is soaked, it’s at least not still pouring down. So Katie and I went out onto our new deck to play with Mr. Squeaky, one of her favorite toys. She was so grateful to be able to run!

We had fun, and even better, now she’s asleep! I hope everyone reading this is safe and dry. We’re thinking of you, especially those of you in Texas!


by Leave a comment

Memories of a 12.5 mile run

So I’m still training for the Brooksie half marathon which is the first weekend in October. 13.1 miles. Yep. Still training. Ok, so I haven’t really run since the Crim 10 miler a couple of weeks ago. And this weekend we were scheduled to run our longest training run yet. 12.5 miles. Sure, since the Crim went so well (note comments about the Crim in a post dated August 23rd.) 12.5 should be no problem! (That was sarcasm.) So here, in no particular order are memories from my completed training run:

Going 2 miles out and 2 miles back to the car in order to get four miles out of the way merely caused me concern as to how in the world I was going to do another eight.

Putting band-aids on offending toes after the initial 4 miler, hoping to hobble through.

Watching a squirrel with some sort of nut as big as it’s head scamper across the path. He dug a hug hole and covered it up as I went by. Really, I wasn’t even THINKING about stealing it!

Seeing several swans on the other side of a bright blue lake.

Hearing a crow jeer at me as I started out on my 8 mile loop, having pushed my way through the first four miles already, and seriously considering that maybe I can’t do this.

Deciding that it was OK to do a minute of running on the 8 mile loop vs two minutes of running that I had attempted during the initial 4 miles. Whatever gets me around the lake.

Smiling when my one minute of running coincided with a nice downhill…and when my one minute of walking fit superbly into a annoying uphill.

Lots less smiling when my minute of running started at the base of a really big steep hill…and even less smiling that the stupid minute lasted almost all the way to the top!

Grateful to see the sun going under some clouds about mile 8.

Seeing a stump sticking up out of the water, and wondering if I had just seen it move out of the corner of my eye as I ran past. Turning my head I saw it was a great blue heron, with his neck folded up and his head tucked between his shoulder blades, standing in the water right next to the path. When he saw that I had him figured out, he unfolded his neck and moved very haughtily away, doing his best “I was SO not hiding from you!” imitation. Made me laugh.

Wondering if it was raining or was I just dripping sweat on myself about mile 10. It wasn’t raining.

Watching some geese out in the lake near an island. Standing knee deep in the water on one leg, they were sleeping with heads tucked under their wings. I was so very jealous because I so much wanted to be asleep myself there during mile 11.

Actively hating every single person on a bike that rode past me, as it looked like so much more fun than running. Except for the one guy straining to ride up a big hill that I was running down. Him I wasn’t so jealous of.

Smiling at the gentleman, older than me (really!) on roller blades who was zooming down a hill I was chugging up.

Waving at couples strolling along the beautiful lake, saying HI to other joggers as they approached, listening to myself breath and being glad I could.

And the best gift from this 12.5 mile run? Noooo…not finishing it…you were going to say that weren’t you! HA! The best gift was rounding a corner and seeing two sand hill cranes standing next to the path. I slowed down and walked (any excuse to stop running!) and eventually passed them. They weren’t much bothered by me. As I passed them one reached up with one foot and scratched his chin. They were the bike path width away from me. And where was my camera? Not on me, which was totally too bad! They were absolutely beautiful close up. The feathers on their chest glowed iridescently and the little red triangle on their head was beautiful. I’m sure they described me to their friends later as that rather large, loud thing in a sweaty shirt and shorts. So since I don’t have a picture of them from my run, here’s a photo of a pair of them that was taken by my brother at the beginning of August. We saw these on one of our trips down to Ann Arbor. Pretend it’s a closeup shot!


by 3 Comments

Rain, a new deck and a crazy sheltie

Since I’ve been back from Alabama it’s been raining, courtesy of tropical storm Gustuv which I dodged while in Alabama, but which apparently followed me home. I can’t complain, we need the rain. But still. Katie is getting antsy, no playing in the park because I’m too wimpy to run around in the rain with her. Not that she loves the rain either. So she’s been hanging around the house getting more and more wound up. Though if I get the camera out she will pose, being the princess that she is.

And, to keep her occupied we have hired two guys to construct a deck on the back of our house. This provides hours of entertainment for Katie, who barks at them pretty much nonstop for the first hour of each morning. Eventually she can be convinced that these are the same two guys that were here all day yesterday, but initially every day she has to warn us of the two interlopers IN OUR BACKYARD RIGHT NOW! It’s so hard being a Sheltie, always on alert. When she grows up she wants to be a Labrador, or maybe a Retriever, something more mellow. But she’s young…tomorrow she might want to be a Scottie! We, however, think she should be happy with what she is. Teenagers…

This morning she and I went out to explore the deck which is almost finished.

It’s a really big deck, and she is not sure what to make of it. But she has figured out it gives her a good view of the bird feeder, and that’s a good thing in her mind. They say it will be finished on Monday, too much rain to work on it today. So we’ll have a three day weekend without workers in the back. Good rest for her and for me.

I have an interview later this afternoon for library work. I think I’m prepared. I’ll let you know!


by 2 Comments

Taking it easy

Yesterday I ran a miserable, hot, humid, slow 10 mile race. Today, after a second night of not much sleep (pre-race jitters on Friday night, sheltie, thunderstorms and painful knees and toes Saturday night) I am pretty much wiped out. So today Katie and I are going to take a nap. Maybe we’ll go to the park and practice her homework. Maybe we’ll just sleep. Too early to tell at this point!


by Leave a comment

New windows on the world

The past two days have been busy. We had several new windows installed which caused the disruption of the entire house. It was worth it however, as the new windows are beautiful, more energy efficient, and they have blinds between the glass so that I can close them to hide things like deer, skunks and raccoons from Katie. Here is a look at the transformation.


This is our breakfast room sliding glass door opening, after the old panels had been removed.

And here it is with the new door and windows installed!


And even more dramatic, a corner of our living room without any windows…


…and how it looks completed.


Notice that I have the option now of closing the blinds on the lower windows so that poor Katie the dog can’t see anything out in the back yard…at least from that vantage point! She’s figured that out and now camps out in front of another door with a view of the yard.

PS: Katie and I camped out last night for probably the last time this summer. She went the entire night without barking at any real or imagined danger. She’s a camping girl now!


by 1 Comment

Camping and a sheltie…the true story of midnight adventure.

The truth is that Katie did rather well at camping last night. For awhile. I gathered up my stuff around 10:00; flashlight, cell phone, house keys, bottle of water, leash with sheltie attached..the usual stuff. It was difficult to juggle it all, particularly with the dog dancing around my feet in the dark. I picked her up and tucked her under one arm, balanced on my hip like a kid and off we went. Of course for some reason I put the tent up near the back of our yard, so half way there I put her down on the ground and we sprinted, with her dragging me behind on the leash, the rest of the way out to the tent. When we got there she stood on her hind legs and began pawing at the door, while I tried in the dark to get the thing unzipped. Could have used the flashlight then, but she freaks out at moving light, so I chose to work in the dark. She slipped through the small opening I achieved and by the time I got my rather larger self into the tent she was already perched on her “princess pillow” looking out the tiny window at the back of the tent. Contented.

Great, I thought. I’ll just slide under the sheets and we’ll both go to sleep. And mostly we did sleep, off and on, in between her waking up abruptly to check for dangerous camp-attacking marauders lurking somewhere out there in the darkness. She moved around a lot; from her princess pillow, to next to me on my mattress, then onto my pillow which I eventually donated to her cause just to get her to settle down. After that she moved back and forth between “her” two pillows and I slept in between her movements until 1:15 a.m. when something, some apparently very dangerous thing, caused her to begin to howl. Loudly. My husband who was home from work and watching TV in the house turned on the giant back yard floodlights. She howled louder. Non of my shushing (which I perfected in library school) could calm her down, so at 1:45 I gave up and took her back into the house.

I finished my night sleeping in the tent which seemed much too big and too lonely without her there. She, of course, slept on my side of the king size bed snug and warm in the master bedroom, certain that she had won the battle. Little does she know that we’re camping out again tonight!


by 2 Comments

Rainbow Katie

If Katie hadn’t been barking at a rabbit this evening I would have missed the fact that it was raining while the sun was shining. So I would have missed this:

rainbox-june-08-resized.jpg

The rainbow was over my neighbor’s house, across the street. It only lasted a little while before it began to fade.

rainbow-and-trees-resized-vertical-june-08.jpg

Thanks Katie! Now stop barking at the deer in the yard. Please?


by 5 Comments

Evening adventures

At home alone in the evening I am attempting to read “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Diaz. I’m also half listening to the evening news. And I’m studiously ignoring Katie who is by the back door barking about something. Doesn’t everyone read like this? I hear a faint thud, then another. Turning down the sound on the TV, I go to see what’s up with the dog. Now she is hysterically barking at the door and there are definite sounds of something…or someone…out there. But the more I listened, in between telling Katie to BE QUIET the more I thought it might be something, say a bird, that had gotten into the wall or up in the attic.

Leaving Katie behind I ventured outside to see if there was a hole in the siding that would have let a bird in to make a nest. Standing out there, inspecting the house I heard something in the garage clawing at the garden door, trying to get out of the garage! It sounded HUGE! And scary. I ran back inside to consider my next step. Obviously birds don’t have claws and whatever was in there wanted out NOW.

I went out, got in the car (locked the car doors, the garage monster might be able to open a car door!) backed it away from the garage and pressed the garage door opener. I figured whatever it was might run out. Our garage is full of gardening stuff, so I couldn’t see much, but I waited, confident that the monster would take the easy way out and run away. Nothing. I went back in the house and got a flashlight, and ventured part of the way into the garage, flashing my light under things and tentatively around corners. Nothing. But I could see, at the back of the garage that something was peeling the door out to the garden apart and chewing on the insulation inside the door. It’s a steel door but it was no match for the garage monster! I went back inside to the howling dog, locked the door and called my husband. No answer. I was on my own.

The sun was going down and I didn’t want to be working on this problem in the dark. Grabbing the flashlight I raced back around the house and approached the garden door. I could hear the THING clawing at the door again. I rattled the doorknob, hoping that would make it back away, and pushed the door open. Shining the flashlight under the workbench I saw…nothing. I backed away from the door. Nothing. It was getting dark. I didn’t want to be out there with whatever was in the garage. But I also didn’t want it in there. Finally a really big ground hog face appeared in the door, then backed back into the garage. AHA!

I left the door open and went back inside to answer the phone. Husband wanted to know what was up. I told him I’d taken care of it, believing that certainly the ground hog would leave while I was on the phone. After the call I went back out and closed everything back up and settled back into my chair to read. THUNK! Katie howled. The thing was still in there! DRATS!

So in the end I went back out into the dark night, opened all the doors, rattled around in the garage and chased the groundhog out into the night myself. I know he’s going to eat my green beans which have sprouted in the garden, but better that than my house. I guess. That’s just the breaks of living in the country.

Now Katie, go to sleep, you can stop barking. Really


by 3 Comments

Camper Katie

I like to camp, but I don’t get the opportunity to camp now days. So I sometimes set the tent up in the back yard and camp out at home. I know. It’s weird. Trust me, it’s fun. And look at all the gas I save by not going up north! So last fall I bought a new tent, and this week I put it up for the first time. It’s a lot more complicated than my old tent, and it took me about 45 minutes to figure out that maybe I should just follow the directions. Then it went up just fine.

I decided I’d see if Katie (the dog) wanted to camp out with me. So a couple of nights ago we both went out to the tent about 10:30. I was tired, I hoped she was too. She settled in pretty easily, a quick sniff all around the perimeter of the inside of the tent, and she curled up on a pillow, let out a big sigh, and I figured that was it. I went to sleep myself. Shortly a dog barked, very far away. Of course Katie started barking herself. Then more sniffing, pacing, flopping down on the pillow only to get up and pace some more. After what seemed like at least half the night I turned on the flashlight to check my watch. It had been 40 minutes. So inside the house Katie the dog went, and I went back outside to enjoy my tent by myself.

The second night she watched me suspiciously as I got stuff together for another night of camping. When I grabbed the flashlight she trotted down the hall to our bedroom. I decided to watch the 11:00 news just in case there was rain coming. After the news, at 11:30 Katie had still not reappeared. I checked on her and she was curled up asleep in her crate in the bedroom. She wasn’t the least bit interested in camping out with me. So once again I spent a wonderful relaxing night in my very own tent.

Today I had to mow the lawn, so the tent is packed back up. But I promised Katie we’d try it again sometime this summer. Maybe I can turn her into a camper yet. After 18 years of marriage I haven’t converted my husband, but Katie might be easier. You never know.

katie-and-dawn-and-tent-cropped.jpg