Busy, Busy, Busy

Busy week. And it's NOT gonna get better before the week is over. But busy can be good. This is directed, goal-oriented, productive busy; not manic, headless-chicken busy.

Tip continues to heal well. I took him in Monday to get his bandage removed. Doc was pleased with his progress. He'll go back Friday to get his staples out. Well, the ones left. I have to call this morning b/c he has managed to either chew out, lick out, or bust out about 5 staples. But it doesn't have the appearance of a “gaping wound”. It's more like they folded his loose skin over the incision and then stapled it closed. Any body have a clue here? In all my years of being a Dawg's human, I've never had one who had surgery closed with staples before.

I've been working on various cleaning/organizing projects in the house and yard that I've neglected over the summer. The cabinets and drawers in the kitchen have felt my tender ministrations. The hedge on the North side of the house is being denuded in preparation for the stumps being removed at the same time ½ a tree is cut down.
Now I HEAR what you're thinkin', “1/2 a tree?” Scratch, scratch. “Whiskey Tango Hotel?” Well, probably 10 – 15 years ago, this tree took a huge hit of some kind. Looks like maybe lightening [?] or an axe. Whatever it was...it cleaved the tree. About 3 feet up from the ground this tree bifurcates, one trunk growing SSW and one trunk growing NNE. The NNE trunk had 2 branches and one died shortly after the split. The one that remains...THAT”S the one we're having cut down.
When the house to our North was built, the 6' wooden fence was built with a notch to accommodate the tree “branch”. However, we want to put a 16 x 20 Storage Shed [the cutey red barn lookin' one] adjacent to the tree. Since the tree is eventually gonna intrude on that fence's integrity, might as well cut it down NOW, rather than later. Before we build the shed, while it's easy, relatively, to take it out through our yard. Before we are liable for the cost of a new fence.
It will be easier for our Tree Guy to get to the tree and do the work if the “trash” bushes are trimmed to the ground. AND, it will be easier for me to begin my replanting program on that fence line if all the old boxwood and teensy hack berry stumps are gone. THEN, I can replant in Wisteria, Honeysuckle and night blooming jasmine and maybe some moonflower. Yeah, I know it'll attract some bees. But they tend to leave you alone if you leave them alone. And the smell when we're sittin' out on the patio will be worth it. Oh Yeah!

I've also been tryin' to clear out some of the flotsam and jetsam from our house and yard. Not the trash kind, the “junque” kind. I want to have a HUGE yard sale in October after we build the Storage shed and get all the Dearly Beloved's stuff out of Storage. I need to get up in the attic and see what we want to keep and what to sell in the yard or on e-Bay/ Craig's List.

I'm thinkin' of getting' rid of a Vanity with “glove boxes” on the top, if anyone wants to come look at it. We've got 2 lawnmowers that need new pull strings, those will be up for sale. Some other furniture. Unless I hear from one or another of our collective chirren with a claim on it.

But most of this will have to wait until the last week of this month. We're “getting' out of town and getting' gone,” [h/t Gary P. Nunn, Roadtrip] as of Saturday. We've needed some Terlingua therapy for a long time now, and we're getting' some. Friend Art says with all the recent rain the desert is in bloom. What the media HERE hasn't reported b/c of the devastation Ike wreaked along the Coastal regions is the havoc rains have brought to the Big Bend. Now that things have settled down, though...

The Dearly Beloved is one of the Luckiest Men Alive. While he takes my 'vertible to the Submachine Gun Match Saturday morning ... I'll be home loading his SUV for the trip. How much better could a man have it? All he has to do is pack his suitcase the night before, and set out the guns HE wants to take. Everything I want to shoot will fit in my range bag.

And that includes my ammo, custom ear plugs, extra magazines, targets, staple gun, cleaning supplies and shooting gloves.

When he returns from his match, all we have to do is hop in the Escape [aiin't that a GREAT name for an SUV?] with Tip and hit the road. I am SUCH a good little wifey.

I haven't decided whether the laptop will make the trip or not. So this may be the last post for a while....

Georgia on my Mind

Well, by the time most of y'all are readin' this, the Dearly Beloved and I will be on our way to Georgia. I don't actually have the whole state of Georgia on my mind, just the city of Augusta and some of it's residents. We're going there for the wedding of some friends. I can't remember if he's announced this event on teh web, so I won't name the Groom, but he is a Wonderful man! I'm really really looking forward to meeting his lovely bride.

Tonight I had dinner with the Fabulous LaP. She sent me off on my trip in GRAND style. I will come into town with greetings for several folks, so be prepared to be hugged and kissed twice. Once from me and once from her. Then there's the abso phenomenal bracelet she made me! OMGZ! I can hardly believe how gorgeous it is! I will have the DB take a picture of it, on ME of course. LaP knows I'm queer for gold leaf...so she used LOTS of it on several beads. And the beads? Every shade of my favorite color, purple, from a lavender so pale it's almost translucent, to dark prune.

Monday I posted an article on Associated Content. I had to chose my 10 favorite movie quotes and explain why they were important or significant or what made them my favorite. So, if you've ever wondered what movie lines I like, go read this. Now keep in mind, not all of these flicks are on my favorite movies list. I just liked these lines from these movies.

I'd be interested to know which quotes strike a chord in y'all. You don't have to share why, unless you want to, I'd just like to know if any of them make you laugh or cry or otherwise react.

I am taking the laptop with me, but I can't guarantee I'll have time to blog from the road. Fear not, Faithful Readers, I should be home by next Tuesday. I promise to regale you with tales of road warriors, wedding hi jinx and reception revels.

Tipper Sharpton in the Land of the Lilliputians

This is Tipper in my Brother's backyard with Daisy. Now, Miss Daisy is not actually, his. She really belongs to his elder daughter. BUT, that's another story. Daisy is supposed to be a Teacup Chihuahua, but my Brother and I think there's a Rat Terrier in the wood pile somewhere.


I really think this pic of the two of them standing up shows the true disparity in their sizes better than the 1st picture.

Now this picture includes Paco, the blind Pomeranian. Doug was just about ready to have Paco put to sleep before Daisy came to live with them. But now that Paco has a playmate, his vet says he's doing better than he's seen him in YEARS!

Tipper actually behaved politely and with great forbearance while we were at Doug's. All 3 of his dawgs, I didn't get a pic of Bonita, his old Bitch, growled, barked and snapped at Tipper when all he wanted to do was play. They'd never seen a puppy as big as he is. But that's OK, he'd never seen a blind dawg, like Paco, or a dawg as tiny as Daisy. He did finally manage to charm Daisy into chasing him around the house and the yard.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to tell y'all. Doug has a pet door. Tipper had never see a pet door before so he didn't know how to use it. He'd watch the other dawgs hop out and then come back in. Finally, after Doug and I both "encouraged" him, he followed the other dawgs out. He very cautiously put one paw and then another and then his head outside; then he pulled his midsection through, then the back legs came out one at a time. As LaP said when I told her, "It must have been like watching the doggie dog give birth to him." Indeed. Although half the time, if the door wasn't locked, he'd wind up getting caught on the seal and opening the whole door.

He also had never seen toads. When I took him out for his last trip outside Sunday night, he saw a tiny toad and a mid-sized toad hopping around the yard. He kept trying to catch them. I kept herding him away from them. Toads secrete a chemical that will make your dawg foam at the mouth. It's a type of poison, I've been told, but I didn't want him gettin' Doug's carpet dirty, so I just kept him away from the frogs.

Doug also has a cat. Tipper hadn't seen one of those before since Ben and Boo did a good job of scaring all the cats away from our house. Maybe it had something to do with the command the Dearly Beloved and I would give them whenever we'd pull up in the driveway/open the door and see a cat using our yard/flower garden/veggie garden as a litter box; "Kill The Cat!" Whatever, Tipper saw his first cat. The cat took one look at the HUGE puppy and lit out for the back yard, not to be seen inside the house again. When Tipper would see Kitty in the yard, he'd try to approach this exotic creature. Cat wasn't havin' it. Low growls, hisses and once a vicious slap on the snout, with no claws [he was de-clawed, in the front, when Doug got him]. Tip backpedaled after the slap with a "Why'd you do THAT?" expression on his face.

I think it speaks quite well of his easy-going temperament that he did not use any of the skills Ben has been teaching him when Doug's animals got uppity. He didn't bite anybody's throat. He didn't use one of his monster-sized paws to pin another animal and then bite or claw him/her. Most importantly, when they snapped at him, he didn't grab them by the scruff of the neck and shake 'em til their spinal column snapped!

He was an excellent travelling companion, too! He'd never been in the car for more than 30 -45 minutes. He'd never been out on the highway before, either. This was definitely a couple of days of new experiences for him. When we first got out on the Interstate, and got up to 70mph, the top was down and he started snapping at the air. I have NO idea what he thought he was snapping at, but it seemed to amuse him. By the time we were 45 miles from home he was a tired puppy, so he curled up on the back seat and took a nap. When he woke up, it was time for a rest stop. I unhooked his harness from the seat belt in the back, snapped on his leash and we walked for a while. After he had sniffed all the leaves, blades of grass, other dawgs' piles of poop, empty beer bottles, the trash can, barked at the golden retriever pup 30 yards away, he finally whizzed. I didn't try to rush him, I figured it was as important for him to stretch his legs as it was to take care of those "other" functions. So even after he did that I still let him walk around and sniff some more places he found interesting. Then we went back to the car. I gave him some water and then, I put him back in the rear seat and got his harness secured. I gave him another rest stop when I stopped for gas in Huntsville.

He was just a Champ the entire trip. I am so proud of him! I'll gladly take him anywhere I need to, anytime. He's a good "little" traveler. And...I don't have to worry about car Jackers or burglaries when he's in the back seat.