TIME WARP TUESDAYS

This is Time Warp Tuesdays - sponsored by Jenn at Juggling Life!  Each week we post a photograph which we display in our home and give the back story.  Checkout all the posts at Jenn's.

This is our Hilda.  We had to put her to sleep last May shortly after her 14th birthday.  I love this photo taken just a couple of months before she died.  We took her to the beach.  She was usually camera shy but on this occasion she walked right up to the camera and snap - we finally got  a great photo.

I miss her very much.

FRIDAY FAST ONES

1.)  Just love the whole kerfluffle about kids not being allowed to apply sunscreen at school and camp without a doctor's note.  I imagine pediatricians all over the country writing prescriptions or notes for sunscreen application - just thrilled that their time is taken up with this exercise. Will common sense ever return to this country?

2.)  I have been a life long viewer of The Today Show.  I have lost a lot of respect for the show in the past years and my viewership has diminished.  I have not switched to any other network because the lack of good journalism is rampant everywhere.

It used to be that the first hours of the show were dedicated to hard news and the later hours to the fluffier, human interest stories.  When they started leading with Lindsey Lohan stories I knew it was over.  Now they have driven away the smart, warm co-anchor Ann Curry who mercifully took over after silly Meredith Viera left.  That is pretty much the nail in the coffin for me.  I am switching to the local news in the mornings.

3.)  This video makes me miss our little Hilda!

Have a great weekend.

GOODBYE TO HILDA

This morning I was with Hilda when she was put to sleep. I have never done that before and had no idea of what to expect of myself or of her.  I am writing about this because I want to tell what it was like for me in case someone is contemplating it and unsure what to expect.

She has been deaf for some time, increasingly blind, very stiff, with loss of control of her hind legs and sometimes her front legs, her weight has fallen quite low and she has become pretty incontinent. Mostly what is worrisome is her anxiety.  She paces and sniffs obsessively, she has been barking and howling when we aren't home.

I made the appointment with the vet to consider prescription anti-anxiety meds.  But last night it came to me that I was doing the wrong thing.  It was time to let her go, not to turn her into a little zombie. Tom and I talked a long time about it.  I called the vet this morning to tell them of the changed reason for my appointment.

I made her eggs and bacon for breakfast and, even though she didn't like it much, I brushed her before we went. She didn't even register the big dog in the waiting room with us before we went into the exam room.  today was the longest she has let me hold her in over a year.  She was very stiff in my arms, looking warily around the room.  I verified the plan with our vet, a very kind man with dachshunds, too.  He came in with the sedative and said he would be back in about 5 minutes.

The strangest thing happened then.  Hilda went from being stiff in my arms to licking my face, leaning back, leaning forward, looking at me and licking me again.  She did this over and over as I felt her body relaxing in my arms.  She looked me in the eyes again and I saw her old self, she licked my face and settled with her head on my shoulder and fell into a completely relaxed state.  It has been so long since she has slept on me that way - this dog who loved to be in the lap of anyone sitting down.  It made me smile to think of her so much like she was and I was smiling when the doctor came back into the room.

The next step was to lay her on the table and administer the drug to stop her heart, it only took the briefest of moments and I knew that I had made the right decision.  It was so peaceful. Just what a sweet little dog like her deserved.

DOGGIE LOVE

When we  were putting ornaments on the tree we put one for our dear little dachshund, Hilda right up front and center.  I think Hilda being 14 and a bit blind and deaf makes us all the more aware that our years with her are getting limited.

This summer we had to get rid of the area rug we had in our living room because she spent last winter using it when she didn't wait to go out to the yard and when the grass in the yard was wet and she didn't want to walk on, much less squat in, wet grass.  Believe me, I tried everything to dissuade her from that practice and to clean up after those episodes.  I really liked that rug. 

Once the rug was gone, she could no longer get enough "purchase" on the floor to jump up onto the furniture.  Which is fine,  better for her back, actually.  Except that we have never forbidden the furniture so when we were around she is constantly pestering us to pick her up, then she jumps down and wants back up, then jumps down and on and on.  We have grown tired of this.  So I have been looking for a solution, other than those cheesy, yet expensive, carpeted steps they sell for pets.

I ended up, at least for the time being, with a cat scratcher thingy.  It is the perfect size ramp for Hilda.  She climbs up and onto the ottoman and then can choose whichever seat she wants.  Usually the one most recently vacated by someone and therefore pre-warmed.

And speaking of pre-warmed, the bed there in the photo?  It has a heating pad under it which is switched on all winter...Spoiled?  Not our doggie.

OUR LITTLE CRIMINAL

We have a court date set for July 21. I am collecting statements from witnesses and researching cases to see what sort of a defense I can mount for my client. Her name is Brunhilda, Hilda for short. She has been a member of our family for 13 years which makes her 91 years old in her kind of years - that would be dog years.

She has now been complained against 3 times for barking by the neighbor who lives in the house behind us. He has never come over to speak with us or left a note. We don't know his name or what he looks like. The first complaint came when we were out of town and we just thought it was a mistake, wrong house. Hilda was inside, asleep.

There is a house two doors down with 3 chihuahuas and those dogs bark a lot. I had just gone over to talk to the owners and other neighbors have called the police to complain about them. Then, in rapid fire, we got two more complaints about our dog barking. That even though she was inside our house with windows closed, she was disturbing this neighbor. The officer who came to the house was very apologetic, he said that the neighbor insisted that he write a citation for a misdemeanor (with a fine of $100.00) which is his right after 3 incidents.

The officer said we should dispute the citation and we would probably have the fine waived. He did not hear the dog barking and will be at the "hearing" and testify to that effect. In the meantime, we have made some changes with Hilda. I read that some older dogs do start going through separation anxiety and that she very well may have been barking when we have been out of the house. She doesn't see and hear as well as she used to and can contribute to her anxiety when she is alone.

We have started putting her back into her crate in the front room of the house when we leave. After a few times she calmed down and settled in without barking. I have also been taking her on more walks and out and about with me when I can so she has more stimulation.

If the neighbor had just talked to us or left a note I would have take this all more seriously from the very beginning. It is hard to know what to think when you have not witnessed the behaviour someone is complaining about, so we just thought it was a mistake or retribution for the complaint against his neighbor.

We have always been very careful of Hilda's behaviour when she is outside, who knew that if someones hearing was good enough and their tolerance low enough, that you had to be careful of the dog's behaviour inside, too? The ordinance doesn't indicate how loud the barking has to be, just that it is disturbing "any reasonable person's peace and quiet." Nice and vague. Let's hope the Judge is an animal lover!

FRIDAY FAST ONES

1.) A general observation I have for businesses: You need to hire more people. The amount of bad will and negativity that is building up in your customer base is becoming insurmountable. Loosen up those payrolls and put enough people out there to reduce waiting times in line, on hold and for returned calls and paperwork.

It was really ridiculous to see one agent at the Delta counter trying to juggle seat assignments for a dozen standby passengers, announcements, scanning boarding passes for passengers being loaded onto the plane by zones while determining if their luggage would fit the extra small overhead compartments and tagging the over sized ones to be checked. She was frazzled, the customers were irritated and the whole boarding process took over 45 minutes for a small plane.

IT'S TIME TO START HIRING! The financial problems do not lie in the number of employees you have actually serving your customers.

2.) Speaking of jobs. All 3 of my children have become employed. My 16 year old will be earning $10.00 an hour which is what many of the jobs I have been applying for are offering - it is so sad. I am still buying lottery tickets.

3.) We hired a pet sitter for our 13 year old, somewhat blind and deaf, 7 pound mini-dachshund, Hilda, during our recent 4 day trip. We told the neighbors. Apparently, one of them called the police to complain that the dog was barking, in the house, at 11 pm on Monday night. We came home to a citation. Fortunately a "Courtesy Citation."

4.) We have discovered that our youngest daughter (a high school junior) is a lot more up in the air about her college preferences than we thought. She has been firm in her desire to attend a small to medium school in a moderately sized town. She wants a relationship with her professors and the feel of a campus community. However, she, fell in love with Philadelphia this week.

Penn is out of the question..but what about Drexel? Maggie's boyfriend just graduated from there and took her on a tour, she liked the campus, she has the admission requirements...and her big sister will be living in Philly for the time being...but once we were home we took the time to look at the Drexel website, and it is not a good fit academically. Ally doesn't really know what she wants to study and Drexel is designed for kids who are very focused going in.

So, how do we go about continuing to expose Ally to a variety of colleges that will keep her excited and help her find her direction? Any suggestions?

5.) We are a family of bike riders. My husband and two older kids ride a great deal, including on city streets. We frequently debate on the ins and outs of safe riding. Maggie rides her bike down the middle of the street to avoid car doors being opened. After reading about this fatal accident, I think she has the right idea.

On a city street in Oakland, a bike rider was knocked into/under a city bus when a woman opened her car door into him. He was killed. She continued on to her hair appointment. Yes, it was an "accident." It aways seems that the victims in these accidents are the dead and maimed bike riders who are following the rules and the people who cause the accidents are the hurried, careless ones wielding tons of steel.

As the weather improves and schools let out, please take the extra moment of time too look around you, check your mirrors and make sure that there is not a person on a bike in your path.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HILDA

When my kids and husband started talking about getting a dog - I said NO. They wore me down of course, but I stuck with NO on the big dog thing. My husband grew up with dachshunds, and I read about them and we met with a breeder and saw a yard full of these joyful little dogs romping through the grass and, well, you know.

Brunhilda - Hilda - came home with us when she was 5 months old. We went to the breeder for a newborn puppy. Hilda was in the yard and her disposition was so calm and her face so sweet that she won us over. She was the runt of a previous litter, and the breeder couldn't sell her as a "breeding worthy" dog - so she was sort of like Marley'; a "clearance puppy".

When we got her she had been living in a kitchen with newspapers all over the floor. No effort at house training had been attempted. We tried every training method we could think of with mixed success. She is so low to the ground that any dampness on the grass repels her. She finds a nice, dry carpet preferable. Over the years we have restricted her from carpeted areas but with uneven results. And take my word for it - none of the products on the market can undo what has been done.

In the years we have had her, she has remained sweet and calm, kids can do pretty much anything to her and she goes along. She is funny and lively and still thinks she is a puppy. She loves table scraps, but maintains a svelte 7-9 pound weight. We sometimes call her cat-dog because even the extra-small sized dog things are too big for her.

She loves to ride in the car. One summer day, in a fit of excitement - she jumped out of the window of our Dodge Ram truck and landed in the street. Since then she has had a couple of difficult periods with her back. She is kind of crooked now and sleeps on a heating pad.

She is a beloved member of the family. It is hard to imagine our lives without her. She greets us coming home (or even just back into the room) with wagging tail and bright eyes. She nudges my hand when she wants her ears scratched. She trustfully falls for Tom's teasing tricks. She likes to be near us, so when I am working on the computer she hangs out on the cart which holds our printer, unless there is a patch of sunshine to luxuriate in.

She isn't so keen to chase after socks or other tossed items anymore, but she loves going out to the park to sniff and roll around in smelly things.

So to celebrate her 12th birthday we took her to the park riding in my bicycle basket. She had a fine time and now she needs a bath.