Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.


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Why two won't work

Maisie’s sister is for sale.  She’d be about 2 years old,  and I’m sure she’s a beautiful tri- sheltie.  I’d love to have her.  But this morning, in the early gray light of pre-dawn I recognized why having two shelties won’t work for us.

The one sheltie-girl we have had to go out at 6:30 this morning.  She doesn’t know that it’s Saturday.  Or that Mama had a really long week.  She just knows that she goes outside at 6:30 every morning.  If not earlier.  So I drag myself out of bed, bundle up in layers while she hops impatiently around my feet.  Out we go into the dark.  Up and down the path her Dad shoveled for her.  Up and down the path again.  Have to smell everything.  Trying to find a really good spot.

Apparently there were no good spots, and after 15 minutes she turned and trotted purposefully toward the house.  I went back to bed.  At 7:00 she had to go out.  I told her to “GO LIE DOWN!”  She did for a minute, then she was back.  She had to go! I told her to GO LIE DOWN!!! She burrowed under the blanket, down to my feet and nipped my toes.

I dragged myself out of bed, put on the layers.  We went out.  Walked up and down the path.  A lot.  I sang to her “Find a spot…find a spot.  Katie go bathroom.”  My ears were freezing.  So was my nose.  We left the path and slogged through the snow, out to the road, sniffed the mailbox and then trotted briskly back up the driveway.  She skidded around the corner into her path and we raced to the end of it.  I was excited; surely now we’d get some action?  She stood at the end of the path and looked at me.  Then she trotted for the front door.  I went back to bed.

Twenty minutes later she knocks me up the side of my head with her paw.  She wants to go out.  I didn’t even try to tell her to lie down.  I dragged myself out of bed, added the layers..we went out.  Read above paragraphs for the routine.  We ended up back inside with no business being done.

I thought to myself.  If there were TWO shelties I’d get to do all this times two.  No way am I up for that.  So we’ll try to find Maisie’s sister a good home, somewhere she’ll be spoiled rotten, in a warmer climate maybe, or someone with a fenced yard so going out isn’t such an ordeal.

Cause this Mama is already tired.  And it’s going to be a long winter.


8 Comments

Misery

Misery is:

Getting up early because you know the roads are going to be bad.

Going outside to find your vehicle covered in ice and snow.  And the wind is howling, making the wind chill well below zero.

The normal 40 minute commute stretching into 2.5 hours as you creep  with the rest of the fools along crowded roads at an average of 6 mph.

Realizing hours later, after a short but long day of work, while walking back out to the car that the wind is still howling, it’s still freezing out.  And guess what?  The roads are no better.

Spending 1 hour to move 2 miles in a multi mile backup with no escape route available.

But on the other hand….Joy is:

Listening to music from the Nutcracker at 7:00, the exact hour your own community band concert should have been starting…because you have time to mess around with the radio in the new car.  Given you aren’t moving anyway.

Getting an enthusiastic hand wave from the young lady you let merge into traffic ahead of you.  Because really, after 45 minutes and less than a mile traversed, what does one more car matter?

Then again...misery is:

When the “holiday pops” music turns into some sort of monk chant.  You change the channel to a Grateful Dead station.  Who knew there was such a thing?  Playing music from 12/13/1980.  You’re not even a Grateful Dead fan, but this is better than the monk thing.

When you realize the young woman you let merge in front of you is texting and not paying attention.  So she’s not moving ahead when she could be.  OK.  So it’s only going to move you up a few feet.  Maybe a yard.  But after 50 minutes you want every foot of progress you can get.

Watching a guy walking on the shoulder pass you.  And seeing him many minutes later head over the hill about 1/2 mile away.  And you’re still pretty much where you’ve been for the past 50 minutes.

Joy is:

Realizing you sort of like this Grateful Dead stuff.

Misery is:

Getting past the accident that  has snarled traffic after more than an hour and 2 miles of progress and realizing the roads are still really really bad.  And deciding that 6 mph is about as fast as you’re willing to go anyway.

And there are at least 20 more miles to make it home.

And that the roads are so bad you turn off the Grateful Dead.  Because you don’t want to become one.  And you have to listen to the sound of the wheels on the snow and ice so that you can anticipate any problems.

Finding yourself behind a really slow car just before a big hill.  Who stops to turn left.  Leaving you to creep up the hill of ice with no momentum.  Left tire in the left turn lane which is snow covered helps.  But it’s still misery.

Joy is:

After almost 3 hours you see the blue lights of the trees in your own back yard.

And your husband has plowed the driveway.

And it’s stopped snowing.

And Katie is very happy to see you.

Misery is:

Knowing the roads won’t be any better tomorrow.


8 Comments

Are you missing Katie?

Somehow Katie hasn’t wormed her way into the last few posts.  And she’s not very happy about being ignored.   She has special things she can do if we ignore her too long…specially messy and/or loud things…so we don’t want to do that.

So with no further ado…..here’s Katie!

Have a good weekend everyone!  We’ll be getting snow, maybe a lot of snow…so I’m sure we’ll have fresh photos for all of you soon!


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Wanna play Frisbee?

Katie 2274 It’s sunny today and already 13 degrees out!  Can’t waste a perfectly beautiful Saturday.  So I asked …”Hey Katie…wanna play Frisbee?

Well, like any good young Sheltie she was immediately up for it.  She hopped around so much it was hard to put her leash on.  And once outside and off the leash…well…it was time for CRAZY DOG!  She could hardly stand it until I threw the frisbee the first time.  Then she ran as fast as she could, heading across the snow covered yard.  With the sun in her eyes she didn’t catch the frisbee, which caused her to growl at it.  But she brought it right back to me without her  “victory lap” that she  usually takes around me before she’ll hand it off.  This time she wanted me to throw it right away.  So I did.

Do you see her waaaaay out there?

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Here she comes!

Katie 2287

Throw it again Mom!  Throw it again!
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Silly girl.

Katie 2296


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Guess that hint of spring is over now

We’ve had pretty warm temps, in the high 30’s and low 40’s…once even into the high 40’s (!) for several days now.  Maybe a couple of weeks, but I’ve been too busy to notice.  It was just starting to sink in that it was nice outside and Katie and I should get ourselves over to the park.  But apparently yesterday was the last warm day.  Today was rather warm in the morning and it’s been downhill since.  This afternoon it started to snow, bigger and bigger flakes came down.

Katie and I went to check things out.  She was immediately attracted to the falling snow, trying to catch the snowflakes in her mouth.  Silly girl.  We go through this every time it starts to snow; I have to explain that she can’t catch all the falling snow, or eat all the drifts in her yard.  But still she tries.

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