Potty training

I've started to train REMY, now while I still have two weeks before I start potty training my new puppy. What possessed me to think that I could train a puppy while I have two still in diapers? Probably because I've done it before (but I was much younger!).

Labor Day -- A Day of Love

To honor our working force, we didn't have a barbecue or a party, and we didn't go to the local rodeo; we worked. We have a little dog, and for the last three weeks, we've been fighting fleas. We washed him and sprayed the house and laundered the bedding (ours and his), yet still the fleas came back. So today—after visiting our new puppy who is not yet old enough to come home with us — we washed the dog again, and vacuumed, vacuumed, vacuumed everything in the house, and washed all the bedding again. Tomorrow morning, we'll give him a Capstar pill (neat, safe pill guaranteed to kill all the fleas on him) and take him and our birds to our son's house while we flea bomb the house and get rid of all the fleas for good (as well as any other hapless bug in our home). It was a day of love because the love of my life, my wonderful husband, did most of the work. That's what you call love!

Visiting our puppy—Sadie—was a nice hour-long drive into the country out to the J Bar T Ranch in Blue Ridge, Texas, where the kind people raise Toy and Miniature Australian Shepherds. Sadie is the result of a breeding between a red-tri-color female (Princess) and a blue merle male (Cinnamon). She is one of three  pups in the litter, all of whom ended up red tris. She, of course, is the cutest one. Here's her picture:

Doesn't she look like a little teddy bear? She is typically puppy-sweet, with razor sharp teeth and puppy-breath. We played with her on the grass; it was her first time on grass and she didn't know what to do at first. She tried to eat it, then decided it felt good to roll and drag her tummy in it, and then best of all to run in it.

Even though it was only 86° today, she is used to being in air-conditioning, so she got hot pretty fast and whined to go back inside. When we took her in, she stretched out on the cold floor and immediately was asleep. So cute.

So that was my day. How was yours?

Early morning ramblings

Every morning I get up at 6:00 and read my Bible and pray. Then I get a shower and get ready for my day. (So far, it sounds like a poem!) And tonight I need to go get my hair cut. The rest of the day is spent caring for Remy and Liam, my youngest son's children. They are the light of my life, and I LOVE taking care of them, although I return home at about 6:30 exhausted. How can such tiny little people make me so tired?? (And for that matter, why am I so sleepy? I had 7-1/2 hours sleep last night.)

Then the love of my life comes home, we eat dinner and watch an episode of whichever serial we happen to be watching, and then we spend the rest of the evening unwinding, doing things we enjoy, and getting ready for bed. Bedtime comes rather early—no later than 10:30 at the outside—and often more like 8:30 or 9:00. (And I'm still sleepy the next morning!)

Right now it's 7:13, and I have about 15 minutes until I have to leave to walk to their house. I need to finish this post, get everything ready to go—don't forget the needle and thread to fix Bunny—and restrain Mac while he goes nuts on the end of his leash, so excited to be going to a house with kids in it. I guess not many people get to take their dog to work with them!

After the loss of Tosh, my sweet little friend, I've decided to get another dog. This time it will be a Toy Aussie (Australian Shepherd), and her name is Sadie. I can't bring her home for 17 more days, but who's counting? (Me! I am! I can't wait to get her home!)

Well, I guess I should go downstairs and get my day ready to go. Just wanted to drop in on my way to work this morning.

A good day to all!

Until next time!

Where does the time go?

Well, it's been months since I last looked at this blog. My other blogs are taking the time, and I've not had any time left for this one.

Where does the time go?

We have daylight savings time, and I think after all these years we should have quite a little account somewhere. If I could figure out where we're actually saving time, I'd make a withdrawal when things get so busy that some get pushed to the back burner.

Speaking of the back burner— I've discovered something to rid my dog of fleas that sits on the back burner, turned to low. Go outside to where someone planted a lot of rosemary and cut a handful of stems. Take it into the kitchen and curl it around into a sauce pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then turn it down to low to simmer for awhile. How long depends on how much rosemary you've used. You want to simmer it until the water is a nice tea color, and by that I mean some really brewed tea. You want it dark. Let it cool and then work it through your dog's coat, starting with his head and working backwards. You want to completely saturate the dog, between his toes and everything. Now let him air-dry and then comb him with a flea comb, which is a comb with very close teeth. It will catch the fleas and pull them out of his coat. Comb all the way down to the skin. If any of the fleas are still moving, drop them into a cup of the dip and watch them drown. This stuff is amazing! Apparently fleas don't like the essential oils that leach out when you boil the rosemary. You can also add mint to the mix, or try tea-tree oil if your dog is not sensitive to it. (Mine is.)

A note of caution: Never use essential oils of any kind on cats. Their systems are very sensitive to environmental elements, and they can make your cat really sick.

A sad note. We had to put our faithful old miniature pinscher, Tosh, down last week. She had a lot of health issues and had recently developed seizures that made her cry. I really miss her, and now our other min-pin is all alone. His name is Mac. (Get it? Mac and Tosh.)

Until next time, then.

Joyfully yours,
Susannah

Homeschooling and crickets

Remy is almost two. At least she'll be two in July. And she's beginning to need more structure in her day. That's where my having been a teacher of two-year-olds comes in handy, not to mention homeschooling five kiddos all the way through high school!

I'm rather excited about homeschooling again. For this summer, though, we're just going to start establishing more routines. Right now, we have a movie in the morning when she wants to cuddle, then nap time, then whatever she wants to do in the afternoon. Sometimes that means playing with her Veggie Tales toys, or her shape sorter, or her peg board, or reading a book. I try to play with her so that she has some interaction in her play.

But for now, I think I'll direct her play a bit more. Like today I gave her a whole bunch of almonds and some scoops and boxes and let her scoop and dump from one box to the other until she was tired of it. And she kept eating the almonds, too, which is okay by me since she's a somewhat picky eater.

It got me all keyed up to start "doing" homeschool, but I need to slow it down and not go overboard. I tend to jump in with both feet instead of feeling the temperature one toe at a time. Moderation in everything, I always say. (I don't believe it, I just say it!)

Heard in the family:

Annie and Sarah (2 years old)

"So we found a "pet" cricket earlier today, and Sarah is delighted. She watched it jump around for awhile and then said, "I take it my fwoggie to da swimmin' poo!" So we all cracked up and tried to convince her it's called a cricket, not a froggie. So tonight she happened upon the cricket again, and came squealing into the living room, shouting, "I FOUND IT DA CRICK!" :D"

Did you ever wonder what the differences among crickets, grasshoppers, locusts and katydids are? I wondered, so I researched it and here are the main differences:

Characteristic	Grasshoppers & Locusts	Crickets & Katydids
Antennae	short	long
Auditory Organs	on the abdomen	on the forelegs
Stridulation	rubbing the hind leg against the forewing	rubbing forewings together
Ovipositors	short	long, extended
Activity	diurnal	nocturnal
Feeding Habits	herbivorous	predatory, omnivorous, or herbivorous

Now aren't you glad you know this?

Bird's eye view

I'm out of makeup. Both my foundation and my blush have run out, and I can't go to the store until tomorrow. }(

I don't know why I wear makeup during the week anyway, since it's usually just Remy and me. I guess it just makes me feel better about myself. Which is weird, because makeup is a kind of mask, I think. It brightens my face, enhances my eyes, and makes my lips dewy.

[New dwarves: Dewy, Scrawny, Sleezy, Beauty, Crabby, Bitchy and Nursey. Their wives, I suspect.]

I have five little finches in a cage and they chirp and sing all day long. I love it. One of them is a brave little fellow and will almost sit on my hand. But not quite. (He got out once, and he was really easy to catch. I don't think that would have been the case with any of the others.) I love to hear them sing. It inspires me to live each moment with joy in my heart, for they sing rain or shine.

We had a hummer at our feeder last night. First one of the season. I hope we have a lot more! I need to change the syrup in their feeder today.

But right now I have more important things to do! My birds need fresh water!

Baby's almost here, and I have a lot still to do.

Liam is due on June 6th, but he's at nearly eight pounds now. Bri says her cervix is neither effaced nor dilated, so she could easily go three more weeks. I'm so excited about this baby! You'd think that at grandchild eleven, the excitement would have worn off by now, but it never does. (I think if we hadn't done something to prevent it, I would have happily gone on having babies until menopause!) As it is, I have five kids and Liam makes eleven grands. Only our oldest is unmarried and has no children. He'd love for that to be different, though, so who knows?

I'm making big sister (almost 2 years old) Remy a Waldorf doll and all the necessaries so she'll have her own baby when she has to contend with mommy's new baby. She does love babies so!

I've gotten Bri and sling, a carseat canopy, and a diaper bag thus far, and have made a delightful blanket for Liam. So now I'm focusing on Remy. She'll have the new doll, some diapers, a diaper bag, some burp cloths, a sling, and a blanket or two. And only three weeks to make them! Ah, well, it is a labor of love.

On a sadder note, my oldest daughter informs me that her soldier/chaplain husband has been assigned to Ft. Knox in Kentucky, so they'll be leaving in a little over a month. I'm going to miss her and her four kiddos, not to mention her husband. They are wonderful people and always so hospitable. They'll be gone at least two years. So I have to suck it up and be happy for the adventure that they will have being army brats! At least I know that we'll go visit them, and I love Kentucky. (All those horses!)

As far as inspiration goes, it was hard to be inspired today, because my fibromyalgia is acting up. But I appreciated the breeze that blew in my window and cooled off my  Texas home today. It makes me think of a commercial I see every now and then that starts out, "The wind is a billowing, arrogant bully..."

But it inspires me because of the sounds I can hear and the aromas I can smell as it sings its wandering song to me. So I close my eyes and bask in its caresses...