A dog's love

Hi kiddies!

Well, today's post is going to be different from the post you are used to seeing from me.  So grab a cup of your favorite beverage, sit down, get comfortable and accompany me on a journey through the twisted maze that is my mind.

Have you ever wondered what drives a dog to lie on it's master's grave, refusing to move, until it grieves itself to death?  Is it that elusive thing called love?  Is it loyalty?  Fear, anxiety or merely grief?  Is it a combination of all of the above?

In a world full of uncertainties, I am absolutely certain of one thing.  My dogs love me.  I know all three of them love me, but my Jack Russell, Bitty, would be the one most likely to lie on my grave and grieve.  Loki and DeeOhGee would miss me I'm sure, but Bitty, my little black-eyed Bitty would not know what to do without me.

It's not as though I'm so alone, or sickly twisted, that I think the only living creatures on earth that love me are my dogs.  I know my kids love me, and so does my Dad.  My Grandkids think I'm some mysterious mythical creature that resides in the strange mountains of that misty foreign land called West Virginia. (for those of you who do not know, I NEVER get to see my grandkids.  It's not by choice, it's simply circumstances beyond our control.)

I also have some wonderful friends that would, at the very least,  be upset by my demise.

So you see, I'm not some crazy "cat lady" that believes only her pets care for her.

But I will tell you something my friends, I look into those big black eyes set in a little white fur covered face, and I know that  in that compact 16 lb bundle of muscle and energy resides a love that knows no bounds.

I realize that a mere "animal" isn't suppose to be able to feel an emotion that is usually attributed to humans.  I also realize that the love of a child or a husband, wife, father, mother or friend touches we humans as nothing else can.

But I believe that the love of a loyal four legged companion, the love of a dog for her master is something that one can't experience from any other creature on Earth.  It doesn't matter if you say heartless things to a dog, they will be there by your side even if you never call them anything except stupid and worthless.  You can do cruel things to a dog and all it takes is a bit of affection and they will be by your side until death.  Try that with a human.  If you do you will find yourself embroiled in screaming matches, physical violence or under arrest.  If you betray a human the results are never undying loyalty.  You can betray a dog and still receive more love and loyalty than you've ever deserved.

That very fact, that undying love and unwavering loyalty, is the thing that leads to animal abuse and neglect.  And it's what should make that abuse and neglect punishable by more than a fine, probation or a few days in jail.  People, and I use that term loosely, that abuse and kill animals should face stiffer penalties, they should be punished severely.  But they will never be punished to the extent that I believe they should be.  At least not here on Earth.  Perhaps there's a special place in Hell for them.

One can hope.

Be sure to hug your kids, kiss your lover, tell your friends how important they are and give your dogs an extra treat and belly rub today.  Remember all of the homeless people and animals out there.  Keep them in your prayers as the sky goes dark and the night grows cold.

Blessings.

Hope y'all had a good Holiday

I hope everyone had a good holiday. Mine was the same as ever......alone with the fur-demons....only this year I was sick on top of it!! EEEEEHAAAAA

So, I have a little something for y'all. Hope ya like it! 

 

Fur Demons in Santa Hats!!

A foggy Christmas Day

Good night y'all!!!

So....it's almost here

Well, it's Dec 24, 2009. It's 24.9 degrees this morning, with a humidity of 69%. The forecast for Christmas Day is ...... are you ready??? RAIN!! Yes ladies and gentlemen, after a week's worth of 13 inches of snow, we are going to have a BROWN Christmas this year.

So, how many of you are NOT ready for tomorrow?? I'm not. I still don't have my cookies made, but then again, I'm not feeling that great, so I guess it's okay. I mean, I'd rather NOT have cookies than to give out "creeping crud" laced cookies. (I know, yuck, but still)

So, last night I put the pups stockings on the tree. This year they will each get one toy, one chew bone and some treats. Tomorrow morning (or afternoon if I still feel like this) I will put their Santa hats on them and hand out their stockings. It will be picture time!! LOL Maybe this year I'll get some good ones!

Anyway.....It's 9 in the morning and I feel as though I've been hit by a truck, so I'm getting off of here.

Have a good day y'all.

Beautiful giveaways!!

I was surfing the blog world, following links on blogs I usually follow, and found this!!

Wiccan Soccer Mom 31 days of Yule

There are beautiful works being given away and well as links to some of the most fabulous sites I've ever seen!! Be sure to check em out!!

Later!!

A wonderful giveaway!!

Sue, over at Sue's News, Views 'n Muse, is having a wonderful giveaway for her 400th post!!  If you comment you get one entry, if you are or become a follower you get one more entry, if you post a link on your blog (which I'm doing!) you get 2 additional entries!!  

So, here's a link to Sue's giveaway page!!  Check it out!!

Sue's News, Views 'n Muse giveaway!

Good luck!!

For those of you that guessed

For those of you that either made a guess as to which dog in a previous post was mine and which was his "body double", I have decided to let y'all know.

Before I do that though, I wanted to say that out of all the people that commented, emailed or called, only three were correct.  Those three were Deb, Lorna and Esther.  Lorna is Deb's daughter and of course Warrington is Deb's "pound puppy".  Esther knows Loki because every time she comes over he tries to get into her car!!

So, without further ado.....the correct answer is:

The first pup is Loki, on his favorite perch, my couch! 

The second pup is Warrington, safe and happy in his forever home after being a "street puppy".

There were several reasons that I posted the pictures and the question.  One reason is  that these two pups were born hundreds of miles apart and look as though they are from the same litter.  They have the same colors, almost the same markings and they are the same size.  

The most important reason I posted was to simply remind folks that there are good, adoptable dogs out there, either in local pounds or running the street, that would make someone as good of a pet as Warrington has made for Deb and her family.

So remember, the next time you decide that you and your family want to get a pet, think of all of the homeless cats, dogs, kittens and puppies that are in our pounds.  If you decide to adopt please consider a "pound puppy" or a "pound kitty".

Blessings y'all!

A video for you to enjoy

I created this video for all my friends to enjoy. It's my storm pictures set to "Baby It's Cold outside" by Dean Martin and Doris Day. Please leave a comment if you like this, it's my first attempt!

Thanks for looking!!

Speaking from a snow tunnel

Hello all!!

I hate to complain, but.......yeah, snow and winter weather advisories, ice and cold.......it sure is winter.  It's all of 30.9 degrees this morning, and the humidity is 95%!  And yes, we are under a winter weather advisory!  

So, what does one do when one is trapped in the house by more snow than they care to think about?  This "one" sews, and does some quilting, and cleans and wonders when the snow will melt......although the thought of mud and slime isn't high on my list either, I'd rather have mud and not freezing temperatures than have snow and 20 something temperatures, but I'm strange that way.

So, today I will be cleaning carpets and probably starting on the cookies that I've put off for days now.  I enjoy making cookies, I just don't enjoy all of the mess that is involved with it.  I even enjoy cleaning carpets, but I'm strange so what do you expect?

This morning the pups went for their morning "outside" thing, and none of them wanted out there for any longer than was necessary.  For some reason the babies are as sick of the snow as I am.  I think maybe it has to do with not being able to see as far as usual because of snow drifts.......or maybe it's because it's cold and they are spoiled pups used to staying warm.  Not sure which, but ......

But anyway....I've added a few snow pictures for your enjoyment (or dread).  So sit back, sip a cuppa and think of better days.

We've got another storm heading our way

Well, we've got another storm coming this way!  Yes kiddies, a clipper off of the Great Lakes.  That means a lot of moisture and more snow, probably lots more snow!  Although weatherbug says only 1 to 3 additional inches of snow.  We'll see I guess.

Anyway I walked to the store and took a few pictures along the way.  Here they are:

Which one of these is my dog?

Y'all have seen pictures of my dog Loki.  Well, one of the pictures is my dog and one of the pictures is a pound puppy adopted by my best friend Debbie.  Debbie lives in Ohio almost to the Indiana line.  Warrington was born in Lima and found frozen in a snow bank last winter with one of his eyes frozen shut.  Deb and Jerry, her hubby, adopted him and he's a brat!!  Can you tell which one is Loki and which one is Warrington??

It's said that everyone has a double.  I wonder if that's true of animals as well??  It sure seems like it doesn't it??  So, which one is Warrington and which one is Loki??  Leave a comment and let me know!

Laters!!

Bright morning!

It's such a bright morning this morning!!  Not that the sun is actually shining, but the snow is reflecting what light there is and making it look bright. (see photo below)  It's all of 25 degrees with a humidity of 88%.  According to Weather.com we are going to get some snow tonight and tomorrow.  If you click the link it will take you to my local forecast, if you want to change it you just type in your zip code in the search box at the top.

So, is everyone ready for the upcoming holidays?  I'm not.....yet.  I have a few things to finish and cookies to make......eeeeeee haaaaaaa.  But, I think I'm going to enjoy having the oven on today, it's not going to get very warm and the heat will be appreciated.

Last night I had a sort of epiphany.  I stepped outside and noticed something. There is nothing like the night of a big snow. It's so bright and clean looking. Every little glimmer of light shatters into a thousand glimmers of diamond dust on the surface of the snow. The silence is so full and complete that one tiny frozen particle of water echoes a thousand times over as it floats to the ground where it joins the millions and millions of tiny little flakes.

Silence is something that many of us don't appreciate. Without silence we would never learn to listen. Without silence we would never learn to look inward. Silence is not only golden, silence is necessary.  Without silence our minds cannot rest.  Without silence we become unpleasant.  When I say silence, I don't mean total quiet all the time, I just mean a brief period of time where there is no television or radio playing, no telephone conversations with friends (or enemies) and no faxes, text messages, couriers or deliveries.  I mean a few moments to actually take a breath and just slow down and notice the things around and within us.  I believe silence is necessary to find not only ourselves, but to find GOD as well. 

It's not as though I get much silence.  I have animals, 3 dogs and two cats, and friends, and children, and grandchildren and people at my house.  I enjoy listening to music almost all the time, although lately I haven't been doing that much.  But I also enjoy quietly sitting on my couch, sipping a cup of hot tea, and thinking about the days past and the days yet to come.  I enjoy the way silence wraps around me and muffles all the things that are so pressing and important.  I enjoy just being without having to be doing.  I not only enjoy it, it is a necessary part of my life.

So last night, as I stepped out onto my porch and looked at the glittering snow, I enjoyed one true moment of silence.  That moment, those precious few seconds, refreshed my soul and filled me with hope.

For once I'm thankful for a heavy winter snowfall that has left me stranded in the center of town.  I am thankful for silence.

Until later kiddies.  I'm going to go do what needs to be done and listen to what needs to be heard........and dream of another moment of true silence.

Did you ever wonder.....

Did you ever wonder what would happen if you played in the snow until ice froze in your hair?  If you ran and jumped and chased snowflakes until you were so tired you were staggering?  Well, after a long day with snow, snow, snow and more snow, I finally know what would happened.  If you have ever wondered, just check out the pictures below!

First you sit in front of the fire and try to get warm.

Then you close your eyes and enjoy the nice warm feeling the fire gives you!

Then you look at the fire and realize how lucky you are to be able to keep warm.

The you relax and just enjoy......

Until the fire goes out and you know you have to move.

Hope all of you are enjoying the snow, ice and cold as much as my pups have.  They've run and played, jumped and chased, and now they are tucked in for the night, enjoying a fire and the joy of having a home!!

Please take a moment to say a little prayer for all of the homeless people and pets that are out there tonight, alone and afraid, on a cold winter's night so close to Christmas, and to say thanks for all the blessing you have received.

Blessings to all of you!

Yet another nosey dog picture!

Here's Loki....he's just as nosey as DeeOhGee!

People that know me know.....

People that know me know that I say my dogs are nosier than any other living animal. Well now I have proof .

As I said earlier, we have snow, and it's still snowing like crazy. At last measure we have 11 inches and the snow is still coming down strong! My pups needed out, so I let everyone out. Loki hates it, but he found a place to hike his leg and do what he needed to do. Bitty acted like she always does when there is snow, ran around and did her "snow plow" bit. DeeOhGee however, she is the worst. She heard a sound and couldn't see what it was because she was in the path that my neighbor had shoveled out for me. So here is what she did:

I told everyone that my dogs were nosy....now the world knows!! LOL

Until the next snow update, I'm outta here!

The weather outside is.......

OMG, don't even ask!! LOL The last time I went out and measured the snow in my front yard we had 9 inchs!! And it's STILL snowing like crazy!! There's a least a foot of snow on my mailbox!


Took the "babies" out again.....it wasn't pretty!

One good thing about it....it's sure starting to look a lot like Christmas!!

Guess what??

Guess what??

I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning, knowing that we would have snow on the ground, I mean, we are under a winter storm warning and all.  Not only is there snow ON the ground, it's still falling from the sky like feathers after a pillow fight!!

Unfortunately it's a wet snow that is sticking on everything!!  That means the electric will probably go out soon. (That's one of the bad things about living here, the electric lines go down a lot!!  I remember one year.....well, lets just say that things can get interesting if you go without electric for a week!)  When I say wet snow that is sticking to everything I feel as though I'm not exactly putting it in words that convey my meaning, so here is a picture of the trees outside my bathroom window!

I went outside with a ruler and stuck it into the snow, at the shallowest point around my porch it showed that we had three inches of snow, at the deepest almost 4.  My little black dog came out, looked around and said, "Screw this, I don't really have to pee", and went back inside to crawl under the covers and go back to sleep!!  I should have done the same thing, but, being the masochist that I am, I am still awake and wondering if the snow will stop before I'm left in the dark!

Now for the weather report.......It's a blazing 30.7 degrees with humidity of 97% (how we can have 97% humidity when we have chunks of frozen water falling from the sky I'll never know!).  We have 100% chance of snow for the next 12 hours.....hmmmmm, does that mean that the humidity will drop?

On a day like today I think people should stay inside and do all the things that they have been putting off, like making cookies and candies and finishing up Christmas presents.  What do you think I'm going to do today?  Yup, make cookies and candies and finish up some unfinished projects.  I may even go outside and build a snow-mouse for my kitties.........or maybe a snow-bunny for my pups....either way I'll take some pictures and post them for you so you can share my winter brrrrrrrr.

Oh, for 80 degree days again.

Uhhhh Ohhhhh.....looks what's on it's way!!

So, it's Friday morning and are we in for it!!  LOL

It's 25  degrees with a 78% humidity!  But that's not the bad part......the bad part is that we are under a winter storm watch.  Yes kiddies, we are expected to get anywhere from 3 to 6 inches of snow by Sunday morning!!  WOW!!  I'm not ready for this!  Although the folks to the south of us are going to get even more snow than we will.  And the mountains??  Don't even ask.

So, what am I going to do while I'm snowed in?  I'm not really sure.  IF I don't lose my electric, I'll do some crafts.  I may even do crafts if I DO lose electric.  For all the bitching that I do about living in town there's one good thing about it....when our electric goes out they try and get ours on first!!  YAY me!!  (Sorry guys, I know that a lot of you live outside town and that the good old Electric company takes their time in getting yours turned back on, and I'm really sorry about that.  But I've been there, done that, and I'm glad that I'm finally somewhere that actually keeps it's utilities for a while!!)

But, there's nothing that I can do to change the weather.  So I figure that I'll spend the "snow-days" making cookies and candy!!  (I have a gas stove so it won't impact my cookie baking if I lose the electric....although I STILL don't want to lose power!)

Anyway, I'm going to get ready for the big snowfall.  Hopefully we won't get as much snow as what is being predicted, but if we do, we do!

Bye for now~~

Another giveaway

Here's another giveaway!

It's at Mom Spark and it's for a HP laptop.  Here's the link:

HP laptop

I've entered and I think y'all should too!!

Lateri

Yet another giveaway!!

Alana Jo over at Nifty Thrifty is having a giveaway for Pillsbury Honey butter biscuits!! If you like biscuits and you like honey, you should go check it out!!
Here's the link!
Nifty Thrifty Pillsbury Biscuit Review and Prize

Brrrrr...I hate winter!!

Good Morning y'all!   It's a blazing 19.5 degrees outside humidity of 92%.  And NO it's not snowing or raining or very foggy.  Doesn't it just amaze  you how it can be that cold and still have humidity that is high enough to frizz your hair??

Anyway, it's just after 7 a.m. and I'm awake.  I've been having some  problems with my left hip and it's interfering with my sleepy time, in other words I can't sleep well.  I hate it, sleeping is one of my favorite things to do in the winter......actually I would hibernate if I could just figure out how the bears do it without starving to death!

As you may or may not know I have three of the cutest little, spoiled dogs in the world.  They have more toys than most three year olds and they get away with  more than my kids ever did.....just don't tell my kids that I said that, okay?  So, it's cold, like I said, and when the "pups" have to go outside to potty they have the tendency of, well, freezing.  So I, like any good "Momma", bought a coat for my "babies".  It's a really cute coat, and all of them love to wear it.  Bitty would wear it all the time if I let her, as a matter of a fact she gets jealous when one of the others wear it.  You should see her, she tries to take the coat off of which ever dog has it on!! It's hilarious!!  

So last night, Bitty had her coat on and she went out and did whatever it was that she needed to do.  When she came in I managed to get a few pictures of her.  So here you go, Bitty in her coat:

She thinks she's queen shit in her coat let me tell  you!  I think she's cute as a bug in a rug!!

Gotta love a fashion queen canine!!!

Later y'all!!

So....here's a giveaway!!

So....my hip is killing me and I'm not doing too much today, so I thought I'd check out some blogs and find out what is going on in the big, bad world.

I've found some wonderful giveaways!! And yes, this is a post about one of them!!!

Izzy & Ivy designs are giving away patterns and a wonderful ruffle purse. Here is a link to them: Izzy & Ivy  Go and check them, they have some wonderful patterns for sale.

Later.....I'm off to find more stuff!!  LOL

Another contest

While out surfing the blogger world, I came across this cool blog names I Heart Faces.  I Heart Faces holds a weekly photo contest, and since I love to take photos I thought that I would enter this weeks contest, which is Pets.

Bitty so enjoyed her first snowfall!! It was like looking at the world with new eyes as I watched her!!

Isn't she pretty!!

Check out this giveaway

Hey y'all.  I've been surfing the blogging world and found some really great blogs that I've been following.  This one particular blog, The Barely There Primitive Bear, is a wonderful blog that I really enjoy reading!  Karen is such a talented woman......I'm green with envy!  LOL

Anyway, she has this great giveaway on her blog.  It's for a lovely Christmas arrangement that I would love to have.  Here's a picture:

Isn't it beautiful??  I think everyone should go check it out!!  Here's the link: The Barely There Primitive Bear giveaway

Anyway....just thought folks should know!!

Later!!

Rain, rain go away......

Well, it's Sunday, December 13, 2009.  It's 43.9 degrees outside in old Calhoun County and the rain is pouring down.  The really strange thing about that is that the weather channel says that the humidity is only 86%.....now can someone explain that to me??  I mean I could understand if there wasn't water pouring out of the sky, if it was just "sticky", but it is actually raining, how can it be raining if the humidity is only 86%?

Anyway, it's almost Christmas.  Once upon a time that would have excited me, now it is just about the most depressing statement I've ever heard.  My kids are scattered around the country and none of them will be home for Christmas.  No kids home means no grandkids home either.  I think I've come to a decision......Christmas without kids is like swimming without water.....depressing and possibly dangerous.

Anyway, I redid the tree with red lights instead of the white ones.  I'm not sure that I like it, but I'm not going to redo it again.  I think next year it will be a white tree with dark green ornaments....but that's getting ahead of myself.  Here is what the final product turned out to be:

So anyway, I'm not sure that I like the tree, but it's up and hopefully there will be presents under it soon enough.....actually I'm waiting on things that have been ordered and not yet received.  Hope they get here soon or this tree is going to be pitiful!!

So, last night was the second Saturday of the month.  That means that last night was the sing at the Lion's club in Grantsville.  There weren't too many people there this month.  I guess between the weather, which has been cold and awful, and the Holidays, which are galloping down on us with the speed of a run-away stallion, people decided that they couldn't come out to hear some Bluegrass.  But, the ones that did make it seemed to have fun, and I got plenty of pictures.

Here are a select few:

It was a good evening!!

One more thing.....Happy Birthday Bob!!