Life with Lucy #15

Hey, all! Lucy and I are back to show you what we’ve been up to lately. And yes, it’s Saturday, not Friday, but I’m nothing if not sporadic.

I was given a gift in May. A child between jobs came to stay, looking for chores to do for some extra bucks. Ha! You know if you own a home that there’s always a to-do list that you never quite get to. And bless him; he worked his way right through it. Finally, it came up that I’ve been thinking about this little plot that’s a pain to mow and turning it into some sort of flowery, herby, garden-y something. So he could literally dig the grass out if he wanted. Kinda shows how far down the list we’d gotten. I’m thinking it would be a few days’ work.

Well, what do you know? A few short hours later I now had a place to plant. And the progeny loaded up his truck and moved on to his new job in another state. I hurriedly thought about how I could re-arrange my schedule to accommodate buying plants, planting plants, etc.

Once I actually looked closely at the plot, I realized that a major component was missing. The top soil. Ahem. In a former life I gardened, and I know little planty things don’t grow without it. Ha! Now if you’re like us, you don’t have a tractor, a tiller, or any of those garden type items just sitting around the house. Amazingly (have I used enough y’s? Just checking.) we had some top soil delivered for another project. The only thing remaining was for it to get from one side of the yard to another. We were able to borrow a tractor from a neighbor. Bless him! And the man of the house filled the plot with top soil. In big piles.
 

I seriously considered a landscape plan for those piles of dirt. Then gave in and committed to the exercise it would take to level it. And my dearest, Lucy, has been beside me all the way.

She’s as worn out as I am. Sniffing everything we’re planting is a big job. She also feels it's important to chase out the frogs, and try to eat the worms and other creepy crawlies. As you can see, napping between the dill and oregano is just perfect.

It’s raining here again today, so I don’t have to water. We’re lucky that way.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!
 



Life with Lucy #14

Greetings, everyone. This has been a big week for Lucy. She had more than one adventure, so I’ll let her tell you about it.

 Hi, it’s me, Lucy. This has been a week, folks. Mom said she put up the pictures of my new toy. I found it in the high grass by the woods. It was easy. I could smell it. I just ducked my head into the grass, sniffed around and what do you know? I brought it to Mom right away so she could see it. I was so proud. Until I saw the look on Mom’s face. She didn’t look happy at all. So I figured I’d better drop the toy.

I wish all of you could have seen it. She was so thrilled. She popped her head up out of the grass and came running to me, wagging her tail, with the turtle tucked into her mouth. Obviously she can’t play with a turtle for a variety of reasons, mostly because it’s a turtle! To be fair though, she has a number of stuffed toys about the same size that she carries around constantly. I’m sure she could smell the difference, but it fit just fine in her mouth. The poor girl. Her confusion was obvious. We spent some time learning that turtles are not toys.

 

Mom says I’m all grown up now, that means I can stay home by myself and babysit the cats. I did it twice this week. The first time Mom and Dad went out to dinner and they were only gone an hour. I napped on the bed with the cats. It was nice. Before I knew it, Mom and Dad were home.

The second time, Mom said something about a cookout. I don’t know what a cookout is, but it took almost two and a half hours! That seemed like forever. I got bored so I did some exploring. Mom made sure I had food and water before she left, but that’s the same old stuff. It didn’t smell nearly as good as the loaf of bread I got off the counter.

I took it to my favorite place under the dining room table. And ate the whole thing. Yum! I did leave the plastic wrapping though. Who eats plastic? Dad told me later, when I had a tummy ache that he only had one sandwich out of that bread. I wanted to tell him that wasn’t my problem, but I’m a smart girl. He was petting me, so I kept my mouth shut.

Wasn’t Lucy just a busy girl this week? It's now way too hot to even think of leaving her in the car, so she gets to stay at home in the air conditioning. Thank goodness there were only minor ill effects from the bread. She had to have gotten up on the counter to reach it. Just between you and me, I wish I could have seen her. Other than the fact that it was the kitchen counter, it probably would have been pretty funny.

For a dog that had severe separation anxiety issues when we got her, she did amazingly well. She didn’t tear up anything, didn’t get into the trash we forgot to take out, and she didn’t harass the cats. We could tell because they weren’t hiding when we got home. Next time we’ll just make sure there is no food out anywhere, and see how she does.

Enjoy the weekend!

 

 

*No turtles were harmed during the creation of this post. The only sacrifice was a brand new loaf of bread.

Life with Lucy #13

Greetings! Hope this Friday finds you well. And tick free. Let me tell you, it’s been tickapalooza at the Fox household these past few weeks. The city girl in me rails against the creepy crawlies. Especially when it’s me they’re likin’.

What happened to walking my dog on the nice clean sidewalk in a spiffy sub-division where everyone’s lawn is mowed regularly? Ohhhh, yeahh. I gave it up to move to the country. Did you know there are no sidewalks in the country? Somehow I overlooked that tiny detail. Sure, I could stay on the lawn, but then Lucy doesn’t get nearly the exercise she needs. And honestly, neither do I.

So I walk her on a path in the woods. It’s beautiful, it’s quiet, and right now it’s working its way up to the lush and green it’ll be later in the summer. I made it myself. A few days work with the pruning tools and the mower, and pronto, perfect dog walking place.

However, it’s got ewwy live things! Can you hear the city girl screaming from where you are? This week I stepped on a snake. The walking your dog head up, looking forward scanning the horizon for dangers thing totally failed me. I should have been looking down. The only thing about it that scared Lucy was me yelling like a banshee. I suppose at this point I should say it was a small snake. Maybe about two feet long and not much bigger around than a Sharpie marker. But I swear, at first glance it had anaconda proportions. 

Although, when I got home and investigated the snake, it’s a rough green, which spends most of its time in trees. Screwed, I tell ya. I can't walk looking up and down at the same time. And Lucy totally disagreed witht the threat level. She just stepped over it, and kept on walking. Don’t suppose I could get lucky and the snake would eat the ticks? No? It figures.

Well, Lucy is giving me googly-eyes, and pacing the room. Oh, now she’s barking too. Must mean it’s time to go see if we can give some more ticks a first class dog ride. Right into the house. 

Have a lovely weekend!

Life with Lucy #11

Happy Saturday! Lucy is back this week with a new accomplishment. I’m so proud of her.

Hi, everyone. It’s me, Lucy. I’m so excited. My world opened up in a big way this week. There’s this place outside Mom calls a deck. I’ve never been on a deck before. It felt funny on my feet. When Mom first brought me outside on it, I was afraid to leave the door. I barely sat down I was so scared. I shivered. I didn’t want to go out there.

Since the weather has warmed up, Mom and Dad go outside to use this thing they call a grill. It smells like meat. Yum! I don’t want to stay in the house by myself, so I had to go outside with them. The grill smelled so good, I did take a few steps toward it. Then I backed up because I wasn’t sure about the deck.

Every day Mom takes me out there. Some days, well, okay, most days, she bribes me with treats. Don’t look at me like that. Who in their right mind turns down a cookie?


The other day a bird landed on the edge. I was so curious about the bird, I forgot about the deck. I ran over to sniff it, and it flew away! Then I was stuck. I was far away from Mom and the only way to get to her was to walk. I was very careful. Slow steps. Tiny steps. And you know what? I got there. Close to mom. She gave me a cookie.

Every day I practiced walking on the deck. Every day it got better. Now it’s a wonderful place.

Did I tell you I don’t have much hair? The sun feels so good. I think I’m a summer dog. I like to just laze about in the sun. The deck is a great place to do that. And the smells! Its high enough, the breeze brings everything my way. And I can watch everything in the yard from up here. You should try it. It's nice!

It’s been fascinating to watch Lucy work through her fear.

She reminds me not to be afraid of what I want to accomplish, especially with my writing. And that it all starts with baby steps. But we have to take those steps to get where we want to go. Even if they are scary sometimes. No one can do it for us. We have to want it bad enough to take the risk.

Every day is truly an adventure. Sometimes they don’t come with fanfare, they arrive in silence, bit by bit, and then one day, there you are. Where you always hoped to be.

Life with Lucy #8

Lucy trying to get Keegan to play ball. Again.

Greetings! Lucy has this week off, so I get to tell her story of the week. Well, she thinks it’s kind of my story…

If you’ve been following along you know about her trying to get along with the cats. She’s made the most headway with Keegan as you can see.

Our nightly habit has been for me to sit on the sofa and she lies against my leg while the cat sleeps on my lap. He’s a big guy, nineteen pounds, so there’s no extra space. Every night they’ve been getting closer and closer, now they sleep with their heads almost touching.

One night this week Lucy raised her head and sniffed Keegan and he didn’t move right away. The cat just looked at her. Then he got up, turned around so his behind was towards her. She put her head back down, and he takes his tail and starts flicking the tip of it on the dog’s head.

At this point, I’m feeling really mother nature-ish. ‘Look! They’re having a silent conversation! How sweet! I knew they’d be great friends!’ *Sigh* Aren’t I smug?


While petting both of them, I look up to see what the guy with the remote is watching on television. I look back down just as the dogs mouth is getting ready to close around the cats tail.

I did what any girl would do. Made that horrible, “Eeep!!” sound we all hate, yet can’t seem to stop doing when faced with bad surprises and about jumped out of my skin. This action promptly surprised both animals and they leapt to the floor simultaneously. They looked at me, then at each other. If only you could have seen their faces. I realize they are animals, not human, but the, “What’s her problem?” expression still came through loud and clear.

Life with Lucy #5

It’s another Friday with Lucy. I have to tell you she is as sweet as she could possibly be. Er, except for bath time. She didn’t like the groomer one little bit. Well she liked the lady just fine, but not the process.

Hi, it’s me. Shiny, clean and smelling good, Lucy. Have you been to the groomer? Mom took me. They had a shower there. Almost like the big water thingy Mom gets in. I’m not going in there. It’s wet. Mom says I should like the water because I’m part Labrador. Well that may be true, but I’m part pit bull too, and that part isn’t having anything to do with wet stuff.

I confess. I got bribed with treats. They tasted like steak. I let them get me wet for another piece of steak. And then I let them scrub me with flowery smelling shampoo. That part felt good, except I didn’t much like it around my face, I wiggled, and ducked my head and finally shook water all over Mom and the nice groomer lady. She has a very soft touch and a nice quiet voice. It helped me not to be so nervous.

Nervous, shmervous. Nothing and nobody is clipping my nails. I like the tap-tap-tap sound they make on the hardwood floor at home. Mom says it’s good for me to get my nails clipped. If it’s so good, she can do it next time. I put up a valiant struggle. I backed up, I rolled over, I sat, I laid, I yelped, I went forward, heck I would have turned inside out, but it was all to no avail. I came home with short toe nails. Thank heavens Mom drew the line at nail polish.

I did get a really cool scarf tho’. Kinds suits the season, don’t you think?


Every week is an adventure. She really just keeps me smiling. What’s not to love about that? Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Life with Lucy #4

Greetings! It’s been an interesting week around the Fox household as Lucy makes herself at home. She’s doing her best to fit in, and we love her dearly. There are just some things that have to work themselves out. Read on.

Hello, it’s me, Lucy. I don’t know who YOU are. I can’t smell you. There are no butts in my line of sight to sniff. But Mom says you are there, and I trust Mom, so I believe her.

I love my new forever home. I love almost everything about it. Except one thing. It haz cats!! Cats are evil. I’ve tried my best to make friends with both of the cats that live here. The first few days they hid under the bed. That was fine with me. I could smell them but Mom wouldn’t let me get under the bed to meet them.

Then they came out! They were sneaky. Look at this one trying to creepup to me when I’m sleeping next to Mom’s desk. Her name’s Fiona. I brought her my balls to play fetch with me, and all she does is glare at me. When she’s sitting on the kitchen chair and I walk by, she swats at my head with her paw and hisses. She’s very small. Not much bigger than a squirrel. But she’s got a big attitude.

And the other one! His name is Keegan and he’s a big guy for a cat. He hissed and swatted at me when I tried to sniff his butt. I only tried to say hello. It’s not my fault he’s rude and doesn’t sniff in return. He doesn’t run from me like Fiona does. He holds his ground and hisses. Especially in Mom’s lap. We don’t fight over being there, we just try to nudge each other out of the way for space. Mom says we have to share. I think it’s not me that needs the lesson in sharing. It’s those nasty cats.

On a good note though, I had second breakfast today. Dad got up to answer the phone and I ate his sausage and cheese omelet. It was awesome! I even licked the plate clean. It’s going to be a fun day!

Remember, it’s been years since either one of us has had a dog. So it’s the little things the catch us by surprise.

No, she didn’t get yelled at for eating the eggs. It wasn’t her fault because she hadn’t been taught yet not to eat from our plates. The issue hadn’t come up. I was at the stove, and when I turned around there she was standing on the sofa leaning onto the side table, licking the plate to a shine. She looked at me and wagged her tail. Truly, I had to turn away and laugh. How could you not?

Once breakfast was finished however, she did get lessons on not eating from our plates. And she’s fine with it. Have a great weekend everyone!

Life with Lucy #3

Greetings, everyone. Fridays are wonderful things. Today Lucy took her last antibiotic pill so that struggle is over. She’s feeling much better, hardly a cough in sight. Or hearing. Why don’t I just let her tell you herself.

Hello, it’s me, Lucy. Its ve-r-r-ry cold here. Is it cold where you are? I don’t have much hair to cover me, and I shiver when I go outside. So Mom makes me wear a coat. It keeps me very warm. My daddy says it’s a girlie coat. I tried to tell him it’s a doggie coat, but he says since I’m a girlie doggie, its okay.

Mom laughs when Dad takes me outside because he’s a very big guy, walking a little girl dog with a pink leash and a pink coat. What, I ask you is wrong with pink? He says he must love me very much. Of course he does. What’s not to love? I’m a dog. Dogs are lovable.

This morning we had a wonderful surprise when we went outside. Something Mom called freezing rain. It made everything shiny and beautiful. It felt cold on my tongue. I wanted to sniff and lick everything. The rocks, the dirt, even the asphalt was icy cold and I thought I could take a bite. Mom told me, no. The grass was crunchy under my feet. The leaves were like little ice cubes. Mom wouldn’t let me eat those either.

Mom didn’t seem very happy about the beautiful rain. She slipped because she doesn’t have claws like me. She didn’t fall though. I think that’s good. Mom says I shouldn’t hope you get freezing rain too, because it’s dangerous. I’m not sure about that. I think it’s lovely and I want to stay outside in my warm coat and watch it fall.

Probably like a lot of you, for many years I've seen freezing rain as nothing but evil. It's slippery, and unsafe. It gets in the way of progress. Taking kids to school, getting to work, or walking the dog. But today, just for moment, watching Lucy react to it, I saw something very different. She was delighted. And it made me see it differently, if only for a moment. The moment just before I slipped, but still. I'm thankful, because she made me pause, and take another look. Right now, Lucy is barking at me to take her outside again. Duty calls. Be safe and have a happy weekend, everyone!

Life with Lucy #2

One of the first things on the agenda after adopting a shelter dog is to take it to the vet for a check-up. So that’s what we did first thing on Thursday. And then on Monday, we went back again in a hurry. But I’ll let Lucy tell you the rest.

 Hi All,

It’s me, Lucy. Mom says I’m supposed to tell you what happened this week. For some reason she thinks you might be interested in my life. That’s good, cuz it’s a dog’s life.

Mom took me to the vet. The car ride was very exciting. I had the whole back seat to myself. I got to smudge up all the windows with my nose, and roll around. Now it smells like me, and I feel more at home.

The vet’s office was even better. A whole buffet of smells waited just inside the door! Waiting for the vet got really boring so I decided a little nap would be a good thing. Then the vet came in and I liked him until he got close to me and I smelled him. Then I didn’t like him so much. I barked and told him to stay away. It didn’t matter. I must have been a bad dog cuz he gave me a shot in the butt.

Monday I woke up with a really bad cough. Mom told me she thought I might hack something up I might need later, so we should visit the vet again. I did my best to be a good dog, and I didn’t bark at him this time. And again I got a shot in the butt! I’m not liking this place so much. He told me I can’t play this week. No balls or toys. I have to rest and take these icky pills.

Mom thought she could fool me by wrapping the pills in roast beef, or cheese, or even once a hot dog. It didn’t work. I spit them out every time cuz they taste awful. That was only after I ate the meat though. Who spits out meat?

I have to go take a nap. No balls until I quit coughing. But I only cough when I do stuff. Like walk. It’s not so bad right? Bye, now.

That’s my Lucy. Yes, she did have a case of kennel cough, but the vet said if she rests and takes all her meds she’ll be fine. See you next week!