Guest Dog

Since my sister has become a jetsetter we have hosted her dog Dexter for many sleepovers and normally he is not very high maintenance but my mother, being the compassionate person that she is, feels that he should be walked at least 6 times a day and let out for his constitutional whenever he gives her “the look”.  Charlotte told her last night when she dropped off Dexter that he could hold it all night without a problem.  “Just tell him no”, she said and he would go back to bed.

I listened to the instructions but wasn’t terribly concerned since I sleep like one of the dead.  As it happened the information should have come in handy when I woke up at 2:30 in the morning to hear some sort of snuffling noise at Mom’s bedroom door.  Then I thought it must be one of the cats snoring at my feet.  As time went on the snuffling became moaning, then it became whining, and pretty soon there were tiny little yips, then barks coming from the room.  I waited but I couldn’t hear Mom instructing the dog back to bed.  More yips, scratches at the door, desperate barks and I began to wonder how Mom could sleep through the noise.

Suddenly I sat straight up in bed as it occurred to me that Mom might be dead and Dexter was trying to tell me!  I went loudly into her room and found Mom curled under the blanket.  I couldn’t hear her breathing nor could I see her shoulders moving (for breath).  I touched her face and it was coldish but not stone cold.  I spoke out loud “Mom” still nothing.   Then I shook her heavily and she turned around.  The face of terror she wore was such that I thought “good heavens, don’t let her have a heart attack from shock”.  But she was alive.

I told her I would take Dexter for a walk but that I had been worried that she was dead, well, you should have seen her face them.  I hurried out of the room and softly closed the door.

Meanwhile, the cause of both our heart attacks was running around the kitchen smelling this and that, taking a sip of water and let me tell you, he did not look at all like a dog desperate to go pee.  I looked for the leash (oh no, we don’t’ let Dexter out without his leash since he would make a mad dash for the road and from thence, home) but I couldn’t find it in its usual place.  After searching high and low I had to take Dexter back, reluctantly, to Mom’s room.

“Mom, I can’t find his leash”.

“Oh its right here.”  And she starts digging for it by her side of the bed.  Then she got up and took him for his nightly walk. 

I’m happy to report that Mom and Dexter are still sleeping away this morning but I lay awake for another hour laughing every time I thought of Mom’s face when she looked at me.  I am a very naughty daughter.

Learning about Farming

When I started talking about retiring last year I had just raised up my 26 chicks and felt inspired to go one step further in farming by contemplating putting in raised beds for small vegetables.  From there it was a leap to calling my venture “sustainable farming” and as I read up on the ways to be ecologically friendly I realize that this is indeed a huge leap from hobby farming (i.e., putting in a vegetable patch).

It’s interesting to learn which vegetable, herb and flower complement each other in a garden, and by compliment I mean nurturing each other with the nutrients in the soil, known as companion gardening.  Who knew that marigolds go well with potatoes, peppers or eggplants and that sunflowers are great with squash, pumpkin and melons?  Both mint and parsley work well with tomatoes (and tomatoes has always been my retirement challenge since I find them incredibly touchy to grow).

While waiting at the book store for a friend last week I also picked up a magazine on beekeeping.  It’s not like you can just buy a hive of bees and hope for honey, there is a lot to learn about apiculture including how to accept getting stung by your little honey bees!  One must learn about the bees themselves, how to recognize the queen bee and how to ensure that the hive accepts the queen.  How to set up the hives, how to take out the various “combs” to extract the honey, how much do you leave for the bees, how to overwinter the hive.  The list goes on and on.  It’s a little daunting but then the magazine had a huge article on mentoring and I thought ‘what I need is a mentor”.  Apparently there are bee clubs and I just need to find one close by so I can start learning firsthand what I would be up against and I am up for the challenge?

I think I would prefer the beekeeping over handling larger livestock such as sheep or goats since in the long run they are going to be much higher maintenance.  Once a person has learned about bee keeping then it ought to be fairly straightforward.

Much less complicated is building raised beds, adding compost material and good soil.  Planting seeds and bulbs and watering regularly.  I’m fortunate in now having plenty of compost from cleaning out my chicken coop all winter, I should have a good base for my vegetables.

Spring’s around the corner and I am excited to get out doors to begin my first year of “farming”.

 

Psyched Out by a Computer

So here it is a month almost since my last blog and I’m here to make a confession; I have been psyched out by my new computer.  Specifically, the new MS Word 2013 (or whatever version it is. 

For days, and then weeks, I have been beating myself up because I wasn’t able to come up with anything new to write but yesterday I actually made the discovery that it wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to say, it was that I was fearful of this new version.  How ridiculous is that – so what if my headings now have blue lines and white writing?  I was actually quite shocked when I came to the realization that the different look was freaking me out.  So, is this a sign of impending old age?  Is change becoming more scary for me with each passing day, week, month, year?  What on earth will I be like in another year or so if I can’t face a little blue line? 

One of the triggers toward my realization was a discussion with my mother about learning new things, which came after me freaking out about something in the parking lot at the shopping centre (can’t remember what that was, but that’s another story).  It is really quite frightening to realize that one becomes resistant to change which in turn is a sign of failing to learn new things.  Since learning new things is part of my retirement agenda it is disconcerting to realize that I am not paying attention to myself.

Have you made discoveries like this about yourself?  Things you’d rather not know or acknowledge.  Does it freak you out?  Here I have said over and over “I won’t become an old fuddy-duddy” only to have alarm bells go off (rather slowly, I do admit). 

On the bright side, I did remember that today is Daylight Savings Time and I can happily tell you that this is a system that I have loathed and thought impractical since I was a kid so that is at least normal.

Normal?