Bode... Puppyhood Rewound

Today is Bode's 1st birthday!  We know that because it says so on his papers.  We did not know him until later.

Although I like to call Bode a "rescue dog", we actually "rescued" him from a mall pet store.  Mike and I had decided we were not going to get another dog.  We wanted to be a little more free to travel on a whim and things like that.  We knew it would be hard to resist but we tried to keep each other strong.  I'd occasionally mention a rescue dog (never puppies) but Mike would be strong for me.  He'd mention that he really wanted a puppy, and I'd talk him out of it.  Puppies are soooooo much work!

The trouble started with mall lunch.  About once a week I pick up Maria and Cordelia and we meet Mike at the mall for lunch.   After we would eat our lunch we'd wander around a bit.  It quickly became a tradition to take Cordy through the pet store.  It was such fun to see her enjoying the puppies!

One day a Vizsla puppy was there.  He was so cute!  Mike really liked that breed and it was clear that the Vizsla puppy was the main attraction for him.  Still, we remained strong.  We resisted.  Nevertheless, we kept stopping in weekly and enjoyed watching that little cute puppy playing with his cagemates.  As he grew, he went through quite a few cagemates.  When one was sold, another would appear.  He seemed to enjoy them all.

Eventually, though, that cute little puppy started to grow long legs.  The cage he was in seemed to become smaller.  We started noticing that the Vizsla puppy was not as rambunctious.  He often was sleeping or just laying there looking out the glass at us.  He did not have much room to move.  It was horrible.

Then, it happened.  One night in May I had a dream that the Vizsla puppy was losing his spirit.  He was sad!  He was already 4 months old a now he needed rescued.  In my dream I realized we were supposed to rescue him!  In the morning I told this to Mike.  He was supposed to gently talk me out of this crazy idea.  He made a feeble attempt and I dropped the subject.  It wasn't long, though, before Mike said that we could maybe just go to the mall and check on him.

Now, I have to give you a little more background.  Mike's birthday had been earlier that Spring.  Instead of buying him a gift I mentioned 2 things I knew he really wanted, a puppy or a mandolin, and I told him to choose.  By the middle of May, he'd still not made his choice!

When we got to the pet store of course that poor sad puppy was still there.  We asked to get him out from behind the glass and the guy let  us play with him in a little enclosure.  We'd never touched a Vizsla puppy and he was stunningly soft!  I know, all puppies are soft, but Vizsla puppies feel much softer.  They have no undercoat and they are slick and smooth and incredibly fun to touch.  Well, of course you know we had no resistance left.

When we took that puppy outside that day, Mike set him in the grass outside the mall.  He cringed and plopped down.  He was afraid of grass!  His little paws were so tender that when I took him for a walk that first week, they bled!  He was most definitely a rescue dog... an expensive rescue dog!

Bode has continued to be very expensive.  Besides all the things he's chewed up, like every one of our vertical blinds, he's had several runs to the vet with partial obstructions from all the weird things he has swallowed.  Now, we have learned that he will need surgery on both hips.  He was probably the product of an irresponsible breeder and by purchasing him, we helped support the puppy mill business.  I am sorry about that.  I am sorry his hips hurt.  I am sorry he eats blinds, and yarn, and furniture, and rocks, and plastic bags, and newspapers and anything else he can find.  If we'd known all this, perhaps we'd had sense enough to get out of that pet store!

On the other hand, Bode has a bright and happy spirit now.  He loves us and anyone else with unrestrained enthusiasm.  He has given us many, many moments of laughter.  He sleeps well at night.  He loves to go for rides in the car.  He still feels awesome to pet.  He's so pretty we've had people stop their cars when they see us walking him, just to tell us what a beautiful dog we have.  His best friend is Bumblebee.  He greets us with a bouncy wiggle and a dog toy in his mouth.  He is a velcro dog, enjoying life most when stuck to our side.

He's part of the family.

Happy Birthday Bode!

Mm

Continuing with the ABC's of Bible Memorization...




John 10:27, 28 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.

My First Thanksgiving

 This is too funny to me!

Yesterday I was at Walmart.  I am cheap, I mean frugal, so I always look through the sale racks.  In fact, the word CLEARANCE  is like a magnet to me.  On this particular trip I was just picking up a few grocery items but got sidetracked looking through children's sale clothing.  I found a cute little dress for Cordelia for $1!  Of course, she has to wait until she is 4 years old before it will fit her.

No, none of that was funny.  What had me laughing was this onesie, size 24 months...

Get it...size 24 months?  Think about it.

Challenging God

 In one of the readings from The Essential Jesus we were reading some history of the Israelites, particularly the time when Moses was leading them after they'd escaped captivity.  Do you know those stories?  Those stories used to always make me think those people sure did complain a lot.  It seemed to me that after God rescued them from slavery, they'd be so grateful they'd never again complain. 


I am finally starting to understand that we are all that way.  I wonder if I ever have a day that I don't complain about something.  I may complain that it is too cold, too warm, I'm too busy, I gain weight too easily, I don't have someone else's talent, and on and on.  I don't think of myself as a big complainer but it turns out that maybe I am.


The author went on to say that the main offense of the Israelites wasn't really that they complained so much, but that in doing so they were challenging God.  I was surprised to ponder the author's statement that the heart of all sin is challenging God.


I'm going to be thinking on that today.  What do you think of that?  Is "challenging God" the heart of all sin?  Do we sin because we think maybe we know better than God?  Is complaining a sin?   


Our society doesn't really even like to talk about sin.  Even the word, sin, is not used much in our world today.  It is not trendy.  It is not cool.  Maybe we should try to bring it back, use it more, think about it more.


Anyway, I was just pondering this today and wondered what you thought.  Are we challenging God when we sin?  Do we have a right to challenge God?  Any deep thoughts?  Any shallow thoughts?

The Piano

I have been trying to come up with a good post about pianos.  You see, recently I took photos of our new grand piano at our church.  It's SO pretty!  The photos were taken with my cell phone, so they are not of great quality or anything.  But the piano is just SO pretty!  I just needed a good post about pianos so that I could use the photos on this blog.

First, I looked up the Bible verse about making a joyful noise unto the Lord.  Sure, I could have come up with some words to draw it all together, maybe it could have been a bit of a devotional... but I just wasn't feeling that deep.

Next, I thought about telling you that I took 2 years of piano lessons when I was 12 to 13.  I seemed to pick up on it pretty well and absolutely LOVED it.  My teacher was a high school girl, though, and when she graduated and moved away I chose not to look for another teacher.  That is a decision I still regret.  Yes, I could write about that, but then I'd have all you nice people feeling compelled to encourage me to take lessons again.  No, I don't think my regret is strong enough to properly motivate me so let's not even go there.

So, I guess I am just going to show you the pictures for no reason other than I think they are cool.

And now, for the grand finale.....

Mike and I, along with many members of our church, are going through 100 days of Bible readings.  We are using the book, The Essential Jesus by Whitney T. Kuniholm.  It is 100 readings that take us through both Old and New Testament readings regarding Jesus.  I sometimes forget how many prophecies from the Old Testament were about Jesus, written long before his birth.  This book is divided into sections and there are thought-provoking questions at the end of each section.  I thought maybe now and then I'd share some of those questions on my blog.  I'd love feed back from anyone, Christian or non-Christian.


How and when did you first learn about Jesus?  Has your understanding of Jesus changed over the years?  If so, how?



On another note, it has been so warm here it is hard to remember that it is January.  Well, all that has changed.  Winter has definitely returned to Wyoming!  These first photos are from last night.  It was so quiet and lovely.

These last photos were just taken a few moments ago.

I don't appreciate all aspects of winter weather but I certainly do appreciate its beauty!

Monday Memories

Monkey See, Monkey Do

 Last night was family pizza night.  Maria, Eric and Cordelia (daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter) joined us.  I think we probably have the weirdest pizza order but when we call it in, the Pizza Hut people are polite and never laugh.  I always order 3 pizzas.  All are vegetarian.  One has only black olives on it but with the regular sauce and cheese.  The second pizza has no cheese for our vegan family members.  The last pizza has cheese but no sauce for our delicate-tummy family members.  Anyway, this post is not about pizza.

Mike and Eric went downstairs to watch football for awhile.  Cordelia was not pleased.  She wandered around upstairs chanting, "I ALWAYS want my Grandpa."  It is true.  She does always want her Grandpa.  He's a lot of fun for her.  This post isn't really about him, though.

Any of you who have children or have ever spent any time around children know that kids often mimic those behaviors of which you may not be so proud.  Last night was a good example of this.

Sam's bedroom is in the basement.  I am very, very lazy.  This combination has led to me using creative ways of calling him to supper.  I often text him.  Don't laugh!  It is a useful tool of communication.  However, it doesn't work if he's left his phone on silent, has his music playing or is asleep.  For those instances I have resorted to another method.  I just bend down to the heater vent in our dining room, which is directly over his bedroom, and loudly call his name.  Cordelia witnessed this last night.

After supper we were hanging out and Grandpa and Cordelia were playing a game where Grandpa hides a toy and Cordelia searches for it.  Grandpa hid a toy turtle and apparently Cordelia was feeling a bit lazy herself.  She went over to the heater vent in the living room and started calling out, "Turtle, where are you? Turtle, this is Cordy!"  She went on to describe what she was seeing with comments like, "This is the carpet."  Maria snapped this photo with her camera phone...

Do you have any cute stories of children mimicking you?

Ll

 Continuing with the ABC's of Bible Memorization....

Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep.

Have you ever had a time when you felt the strong need to pray but it was hard to come up with the words powerful enough to express your thoughts?  Or maybe you felt you stumbled around and didn't quite say just what you wanted?  Well, this verse tells us that the Spirit can work with that and present your prayer to God anyway.  What a comfort!

My Computer Has an Owie!

 I don't know what it is about me, but apparently I am hard on laptop computers.  My last one was doing just fine then one day I turned it on to discover the screen had a big blackened area that looked kind of like a feather.  I was able to work around the black part for awhile but it grew and grew and eventually I gave up.

I bought the laptop I am now using about 2 years ago.  It's a smaller screen and I really love it.  I've had to replace the cord once, as it kept bending until it broke.  Now, though, my problems are bigger.

Once again, the cord is starting to deteriorate.  A little duct tape is helping that for the moment.  The screen, though, started making a little clicking sound when I opened it.  That went on for weeks and then it kind of closed with a tiny little misalignment to it.  Then, a crack appeared on the piece of plastic that covers the hinged area.  That crack kept growing until that plastic piece started raising up and I could no longer snap it back into place.  Well, what else could I do?  I got out more duct tape!

It looks pretty ghetto, but it still works!

Couch Gymnastics!

I love to rearrange furniture.  Do you?  I am not sure why, but I feel refreshed with the change.

Cordelia was visiting when I changed the furniture around this week.  I decided she should know the fun of "riding" on the furniture so I had her get on whatever piece I was moving.  Since I change my mind a lot, each piece of furniture gets rearranged multiple times.  She didn't mind!  She enjoyed my "thinking" times as well.  You know, when you have the couch in the middle of the room and then decide maybe you need to think some more about where to go with it?  That's when Cordelia learned the joy of couch gymnastics!

I absolutely LOVE being her grandmother (or grammy, as she's been calling me lately)!

Have a great week-end!

Today's Lesson - Vitamin D

A few weeks ago I went in for my yearly physical.  Instead of my general practitioner, this year I saw a nurse practitioner that I know from church.  I'm glad I did!  Besides the usual labs to check cholesterol, thyroid and such, she asked if she could check my Vitamin D levels.  I saw no harm in that.  I didn't expect there to be any problem, though.

I was wrong!  It turns out that I  am low in Vitamin D.  When I got that phone call I went online to refresh my memory on what I knew about Vitamin D.  I found a lot of new information on Vitamin D, including a lot of articles suggesting that daily requirements may be much more than once believed.  My friend put me on a recovery treatment of some pretty high doses of Vitamin D for 7 days of each of the next 5 months, with moderately high doses on the other days of those 5 months.  Of course I checked on these doses at reputable sites online to be sure this was acceptable treatment.  Because Vitamin D is fat soluble, there is danger in overdosing.  The treatment she put me on is called shock treatment, but it is considered appropriate for my levels.

I was surprised to learn that Crohn's Disease is a risk factor for having low Vitamin D levels.  That could explain my situation,  of course.  I was also surprised to learn that low Vitamin D levels are very, very common for people who live in the colder regions.  It makes sense.  Sunshine is one requirement for producing your own Vitamin D.  When it is cold, even if we do go outside, we cover up most of our skin.

Most of us know that Vitamin D helps us build strong bones but I did not know that it plays a role in our immune system.  Low levels are also associated with some cancers, irritability, depression, autoimmune diseases, high blood pressure, fatigue and other disorders.  My little internet research was quite enlightening!  If you want to learn more I'd suggest sites such as Mayo Clinic or Center for Disease Control.

I am telling you all this because yesterday I felt more energetic than I have in about 18 months!  Awhile back I'd asked Mike if he remembered the old me, the woman who flitted around the house doing stuff all the time.  Yesterday, I saw that woman again!  Maybe it was a just a good day, or maybe it was that I am catching up on Vitamin D.  At any rate, since I learned this is a common issue, I thought I'd just share a little lesson on Vitamin D today.  

Thanks for coming to class!

disclaimer:  I am NOT a doctor.  See your own medical professional if you think you are low in Vitamin D.

My Life as an Anarchist

Our family met up at the mall recently.  This is not new.  We do it about once a week for "mall lunch".  Eric was off and got to join us, so that was nice. 

After lunch we were just walking aimlessly about the mall.  Some of the family went in to see the puppies at the pet store but I'm not allowed in there.  Remember, those little visits are how we ended up with Bode! 

I was looking around and I saw a Native American store that I'd never entered.  It looked like they had some cool hand-made things.  They had a sign that said their last day was DIC 31.  I guessed they meant Dec. 31.  Since it was my last chance, I decided to wander in.  Maria came with me and eventually the entire family ended up in there. 

I enjoyed this little store and wished I'd gone in before Christmas as they had some neat gift ideas.  Maria and I chose some bracelets we liked.  This is mine.  It looks like stone but is actually wood.  I like it.

Besides the bracelets, I purchased a little giraffe toy Mike found for Cordelia.  When I was checking out, the man ringing up my total spoke to a woman off to the side in a different language.  She answered him and then he put this purse into my bag...

I asked him about it and he said, "Think of it as a late Christmas gift."  I thanked him and left the store.  When I got out of the store I took the purse out to get a better look.  Maria and Eric laughed when they saw it!  Sam was suspicious, wondering why the guy shoved it into my bag.  Here's what was so funny.  The front of the purse had the symbol for anarchist!  Luckily, I believe I can add a new front!

The funniest part of the story was that this purse from the Native American store had a tag on it that read, "Made in Equador"!