Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

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Stary stary night, croaking frogs, bumbling bugs, fireworks and a sheltie-girl

Katie and I had a lovely warm evening last night to spend camping in the back yard.  I was so tired that we went to bed at 9 — before it was even dark.  As I was gathering up our supplies I glanced out toward the tent and wouldn’t you know it, there was our friend mama deer, standing near the house, munching on a shrub.  Just waiting, I guess, to terrorize us some more.

After she left the yard we settled in.  Sort of.  Katie got up to look out the window at every little sound.  And there was a lot of sound.  Some township nearby was having their local fireworks, so there was the sound similar to distant thunder.  Nearby someone was setting off popping fireworks.  Two bugs managed to get caught under the rain fly of the tent and buzzed around, bumbling into the ceiling of the tent for what seemed like a long time.  The next door neighbor was in the backyard calling for her dog.  Forty-five minutes into our night the deer snorted at us.  Katie didn’t bark at any of it. But she checked each sound out.  No sleeping allowed.

Eventually we settled in to watch the fireflies and the stars, periodically rearranging ourselves, her on and off the mattress, me moving over to make room, moving again to reclaim my space when she chose her own pillow instead.  After two hours of this she began to whine.  I sighed and found my shoes and her leash and we went back outside.  She had to GO MOM!  Geeze!

Back in the tent things were quieter, and we both fell asleep…until I woke with a start to Katie’s frantic barking.  I thought she’d wake up the whole neighborhood and I couldn’t get her to quiet down enough for me to hear whatever was upsetting her.  In between her barks I could tell something was walking around out there, something small, making a cat-like sound.  Didn’t bother me much, but Katie was outraged.  Apparently a lot of night creatures like to explore near sleeping humans at 2:00 a.m. as this was about the same time of night that we were scared back into the house last weekend.

After about 45 minutes of on and off barking I gave up and we went inside, serenaded by very loud bullfrogs in the pond across the road.   Silly dog.  It was such a lovely night and I was enjoying my sleep in the night air. Tonight I’m considering leaving her in with her Dad and trying again.  But I’m moving the tent even closer to the house.

Cause I’m as big a chicken as she is.  I just don’t bark as much.

 


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It's summer…and the camping is easy. Or not.

Most of you know that Katie and I camp out in the back yard during warm summer nights.  That’s a bit harder to do now that I’m working;  I suppose I could try it on a work night but I think I’d be a wreck at work the next day.  So we have to wait for nice weekend nights before we head out for our camping adventures.

We got the tent out last weekend, Katie and I, and put it up on Saturday afternoon for our seasonal inaugural back yard camp-out.   I tucked it way out at the back of our yard, behind a big blue spruce near the woods.

Just as soon as we were back in the house I saw a mama deer wander out of the woods and walk over to the tent, inspect it then casually continue to the neighbor’s yard.  Hmmm I thought, that was interesting!

So around 10 that night Katie and I headed out.  Me with my phone, my water, my flashlight and my dog.  We settled right in, she plopped down on her pile of pillows, and I snuggled in under my blankets.  We were asleep instantly.

Suddenly Katie was barking hysterically and I was clawing my way back to consciousness aware of some sort of alien noise.  A noise very close to us.  I grabbed Katie and held her tight and she went quiet.  We both held our breath and waited.  Then it happened again.  Three snorts.  Just outside the tent.  Katie wimpered.  I held her tighter.  We stayed still.  More snorting and a stick cracking.  She began to bark.  I shushed her.

Everything went  quiet…and eventually we settled back down.  But not to sleep, no we were both wide awake and on high alert.  Then as we began to drift off the snorting began again, on the other side of the tent.  OK.  That’s enough, I was envisioning some wild animal crashing through our little tent.

I turned on the flashlight, made a great deal of noise and Katie and I hightailed it back to the house.  It was 2:00 a.m.  I got online to find out what makes that sort of noise and guess what?  Deer do, when they feel threatened!  Who knew!?!  Maybe there were baby deer somewhere nearby and Mama was trying to figure out what smelly thing was inside the tent?

Anyway, it was a lot of work to set up camp only to stay out a few hours.  So Katie and I are going to try again this weekend.  I moved the tent closer to the house.

Cause I’d like to make it through the night this time.

 


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Pretty things in my own yard.

Sometimes I feel restless and wish I could move somewhere brand new.

Then we have a beautiful day like today – and as I work in my gardens I realize it’s pretty darn nice right here.

Especially if I could someday get caught up on the weeding.

Though I suppose weeding is never done.  Ever.

Tomorrow is supposed to be even prettier than today;  though maybe a bit too hot to weed.

Darn.


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Walking with random thoughts

Do any of you remember pine cone wreaths?  OK – that probably dated me, but I remember my Mom making pine cone wreaths in the 70’s.

You took a bunch of pine cones and glued them to a wire wreath, then sprayed them with something to seal them.  They were actually pretty.

Every day at work I try to get out at lunch for a walk around the neighborhood; it’s the best part of my day.  Lately I’ve noticed a lot of pine cones under trees along the way and they make me smile, because back in the day the hardest thing about making a pine cone wreath was finding the pine cones.  So seeing them all there, ready for the picking, makes me think of Mom.  She would have been excited to find so many.

On my walk the other day I saw a beautiful climbing rose hanging over someone’s backyard fence.

I thought how interesting it was that the prettiest part of the plant was where the owner wouldn’t see it.  That sometimes the best stuff is just out of sight and takes a little work to enjoy.

Isn’t that the way most best stuff usually turns out to be?


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Photo scavenger hunt – at the zoo

Karma challenged us to find photos of the following:

  • a colorful bird of your choice
  • a grad – of any sort
  • a dad – of any sort
  • something purple
  • a butterfly
  • a funny face

BONUS: a cow, bull, heifer, calf or ox.  Extra bonus points for  the belted galloway.  (This assignment isn’t due till June 25…you can challenge yourself too!)

 

So on Father’s Day I took some time and went to the Detroit Zoo.  I figured there might be a butterfly house, was sure there would be colorful birds, and figured I’d find a funny face somewhere.  And since it was Father’s Day I was hoping to find a father or two along the way.

I have to say – this was a blast!  The zoo had everything I needed except for one item on the list; I bet you can figure out which photo came out of my archives.

So let’s get going!

A Colorful bird:

I have lots of colorful bird photos, but this one won out.  I’ll show you others on another blog.  Promise.

A Graduate:

In the spring of 2008 I graduated with my library degree.  Someday I’m going to do something librarian-ish with it.

A Dad:

I saw lots of Dad’s out with their children…

…which made me miss mine a bit.  Still, it was nice to see all the families enjoying the beautiful day.

Something Purple:

I took a lot of pictures of pretty purple flowers.  But on my way out of the zoo I saw this, and knew it would become my the purple element for my hunt.  Because flowers could be anywhere, but this was definitely something from the zoo.

A Butterfly:

There was a butterfly house right near the front of the zoo!

I hadn’t seen a butterfly here at home yet this spring.  After my trip to the zoo I was weeding the garden and a monarch landed on my shoulder for a moment.   Priceless.

A Funny Face:

A funny face?  Well I saw a few, but this guy had the best face.  The docent said this emu was pretty ornery.  Maybe it was just because he had a bad hair day.

A Cow:

But of everything, you know what I’m most excited about?  The COW!  I know…I know.   A cow you say?

The zoo had farm animals so I figured I’d find a cow there, but I had no idea I might find one that looked so much like a “belted galloway.”  But look at this!

I don’t know if it really is a belted galloway…but it certainly has a wide white belt.  Maybe he’s still dressing from the 70’s.

All in all I am truly grateful to Karma for challenging me like this.  I had a wonderful Father’s Day morning.  Such fun!

Here’s one more funny face from the zoo…

 

 

 


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Finally! A little dogalicious adventure

With Aunt V somewhat settled in at the nursing home Katie and I finally had some time to do a little adventuring today.  Ok..not such an adventure.  But we did go to her favorite park!  It was a beautiful day and she wasn’t going to let me get away with putting her off.  She whined and huffed at me all afternoon till I broke down and loaded her up for the short trip to a good walk.

There were lots of people there, a softball game going on and a graduation party.  But we headed off for a solitary walk through the woods and field.  It was lovely.  We had to stop in the shade once for a rest, but otherwise we trotted right along.

On the way back to the car we stopped at the picnic pavilion and talked to some lovely ladies who said that Katie was a very pretty ‘miniature collie dog.”  Whatever.  She got petted and admired which is what she was after (That and any scraps of graduation lunch that might have fallen.  Too bad her mama wouldn’t let her have any.)

This last picture’s for Diana.  Yes I checked for snakes before we went up this overgrown path! 🙂

It’s been a long couple of months for Katie-girl as she took a back seat to other emergencies.  She’s been very patient about all the comings and goings.

See?  She can be a good girl!

 


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Aging is harder than it looks

I stopped to visit Aunt V on my way home from work tonight.  She’s at a nursing home where hopefully she’ll get physical therapy to help build her strength back up.  She’s back to not being able to walk or stand on her own after a week lying around in the hospital.

This is her first full day and she wants out.  Now.  Yet she can’t do much of anything for herself – so where to go is the question.  Tonight I was being a cheerleader for her, reminding her how well she was getting around last Sunday, how she worked hard to get stronger and she can do it again.

She said she hadn’t realized how difficult getting old really was.  But, she said quietly as she gazed out at a lake she can’t really see, “it’s hard.”  I can only agree and hold her hand.

She can’t see much, has trouble hearing, can’t read, and is more confused than she used to be.  She’s always been very sharp, very up to date, very engaged.  Now she’s sitting staring vacantly out the window, or thinking that she’s being watched, or that ‘they’ are trying to harm her.  Then she’s lucid again and you aren’t sure you really heard her say anything crazy.  Maybe it’s just you.  Maybe.

On my drive home, sitting at a light I glanced over and saw a driver, older than me, with ear buds in his ears, listening and nodding to something.  I thought about all the people out there hooked on their phones and ipods and other gadgets.  When the next generation gets to be 95 and are sitting in a room at some nursing home will they have ear buds attached?  A cell phone with the sound turned up clutched in their arthritic hands, pressed against their hearing aid?

Will the future be less frightening to us if we’re still ‘connected’ to the outside world through our electronics?  Or will those electronics slowly move us toward craziness?

Meanwhile we will take our current situation one day, one hour, sometimes one minute at a time.  The road ahead isn’t clear to any of us and hard decisions await.  I guess that makes us like most everyone else out there.

But it’s still harder than it looks.