National Dog Day, Frisky Business

Judy of lifelessons wrote an awesome poem celebrating our canine counterparts for this National Dog Day. They are without a doubt part of our family as we take pictures of them all the time and post them to bring laughter not only to us but to others. We tell their stories, write poetry about them and even a few songs show the ability for them not only to steal our supper but also our hearts. Below are Mimi and Max. Max is the basset.

Max n Mimi 2 (2) — How can you not laugh at their patience of “NOT BEGGING” for people food.

While these two are my and my daughter’s current household loves, below are well remembered loves of past that I thought I would share.

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This is Junior, aka Dittims. 185 pounds of the most gentle dog I have ever had. If you can ever adjust to the size of this breed, they are awesome. He is the main character in the book I have written, due out soon.

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Nope this is not Mimi. This is Baby Ruth. She was my heart throb for 16 years. Still miss her. Yes this is a favorite breed. Our other favorite breed is below, bassets.

In all fairness, Muffin, the tan one in the first picture is half basset and half beagle. Ruby, the middle picture was one of the first dogs from my early adult years and Sam(Samantha) actually belong to my mom when I was a teenager…but she loved me best.

Yes, our canines are our 4 legged children who love us unconditionally and only want to be loved by us. May we always be deserving of the love. In watching NATGEO special on the white wolves of the Arctic this week proves that all creatures just want to be loved. So lets remember that as we go day to day to show love where we can and kindness always.

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Frisky Business: Animal Mischief

Emotions

The creator of the universe created all things and said they were good. I look at the animal kingdom now through the eyes of the TV with Animal Planet’s fabulous shows and realize (in my mind) that I was right! Animals are just another marvelous extension of our loving God who also reflect his beauty and his love. Animals have the ability the be loving and nurturing, possessive and sharing, teaching and scolding…and angry.

When you bring those values down to our domesticated pets, you add in another layer of amazement and laughter because we get to share it on a closer more intimate level. Many of you have know me to speak of Mimi…half coon hound and half black lab… the ruler of the home…

loyal friend — So much for the protective sheet staying in place, part of her nest

She is also the mighty protector…and gives me this disgusted unapproving look if I ignore her warnings.

But last night was extra funny for me. She is rather spiteful if I don’t do as she wishes and will do something to get my attention to show her displeasure. She usually finds a piece piece of paper or a paper towel I have dropped into her access, then shreds it to pieces and leaves it where I can see her displeasure. Or if there is no paper around and a sock is grabbable, then she is off to her favorite hiding place, under the table, after showing me she has it. She knows it is extra effort for me to climb under the table to get said sock.

Check out the “not looking at you” disgusted pose. This is her favorite expression for “not happy” or “not begging”. Animals do have expressions.

So what prompted today’s funny happened last night as I worked until 3, came home for 30 minutes and then left again to go face paint…the very idea I left and didn’t take her and she got no food to boot(it was too early). So now she is in a state of disgust. But I got home around 8, gave her extra supper treats so all is forgiven, right??? No, because I had not had a chance to be on the computer all day and I had a few things to do, therefore not playing with her. The least I could do was come to the couch to be on the computer for snuggle time. First I get the “not looking at you” disgusted look combined with appropriate sighs. Since that didn’t work, then fine “I will just go to bed” and she did. But not before a display of total unhappiness.

This is her secondary water bowl, one day I will have to explain WHY we have two, there were 3 at one time but that is a story for another day. Most of the water was gone but enough was there to show spite. She of course was on the bed in the guest room. Again don’t tell me they are not emotionally charged.

So I went and got a treat and her ball and we played for a while until bedtime. Then all was well, lesson for mommy I guess.

Remember we all want to be loved, respected, to belong to, so share that love and kindness where ever you can and make everything smile, even animals.

Last grouping of pictures from google. What a great resource to pull from to show the beauty of the world.

Fun with Haiku

This was a stretch of a syllable stanza-ed haiku but so fit the subject. Come laugh with us.

The Orange Ball

That is my orange ball

It is my fa-VO-rite toy

Why do you have it

Our pets bring laughter and joy into our lives. When we have timing or misfortune that takes that pet away from us, we are saddened but still hold on to the funny memories they share with us. May we always be deserving of that love and laughter they brought.

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Character in a Face

We have all heard the saying of “judging a book by its cover”, and how sometimes a person with strong looking character doesn’t live up to that character as seemingly thought because of how others perceive those looks, which in itself is a stupid way to judge anything. Yet we still do it.

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But does the same judging premise work for other things like animals. Well, if we are talking about wild animals, even the smaller ones need to be given plenty of room as they understand the thought process behind survival of the fittest so regardless of their character looking cute and cuddly…they are still a wild animal and you are a lunchbox.

But domesticated animals are different, depending on their caretaker of course, and I won’t get on that soapbox for now. For now we are referring to visual character and do they really have it. I think we humans are the one’s who place that character on anything we see and judge it accordingly. We are a creation that tends to judge and give opinions on people and animals. When you go to the shelters, which I tend to stay away from as I will bring them all home, people will judge the validity of a family pet on how it looks, especially a puppy, without any consideration of it one day being a full grown dog. Then they don’t like how the animal behaves due to their own poor training practices or the fact that “That’s a cool breed, lets get one of those” doesn’t really work for you now that it weighs 85 lbs.

The reason I bring this up is because of “the church rescue”. Yesterday, a neighbor of the church brought over a small dog he thought originally had been hit right in front of the church and just left to die. All of us at the church are animal people so once we checked him out and realized he was not hurt, probably just an older fellow we got in touch with all rescue type people to see if anyone had lost their pet and such. It just so happened that the monthly Vista luncheon was going on at the same time. Vista is a program we have for people 50+ that has a monthly program combined with lunch. A good time for combining information of interest and fellowship. One of the ladies well into her 80s, came to the office to ask a question and fell in love with this dog. She had lost her long time family pet about a year prior, and due to her age, really did not want to start out with a puppy. Now this dog probably weight about 6 pounds soaking wet, was dirty with long matted, flea bitten and could not walk properly due to an issue with his hip, not at all a good visual judge of character. You could tell he had been someones pet at one time as he understood commands and kindness. So now this bedraggled creature went to a new home. She took him today to the vet and had him checked out, got him bathed, haircut and yes…a bow in his hair, its what some little ole ladies do. Then she brought him by the church for us to see the transformation. He has a caring new home and she has someone to take care of and talk to, a win-win in my book. We need to remember that older folks still need to be needed and loved. This was a good lesson for some of the younger folks.

When we look more at the heart than at the visual, we begin to see the real character. That is what Jesus does. We are all of utmost value to him regardless of how we look. He knows our hearts and he wants everyone in his hands where he can take care of us.

But there is a little more to this post on “character in a face”. There are some dogs that just ooze character, again, to some people. I am working on a birthday present for my daughter and have compiled some precious photos that I believe have character as his heart is very close to the preciousness of these pictures. So enjoy them or if not a dog lover feel free to move on to the next post.

Life of Maximus, the basset hound. I have posted several of his adult pictures in the past as he makes me laugh.

Baby pictures are always too cute, regardless of type of creature. Just go to the zoo and see all the babies in the spring.

Max’s personality coming through. He is a very sad creature as most bassets are.

Maximus, sitting as on a throne of power after the royal he was so named.

But in reality, he just loves his mommy and is so sad when she isn’t home so we stare at the door until she arrives.

Max missing mommy

I hope I made you smile today and encouraged you for a few minutes to forget possible life situations you may be going through. Remember God is never far from us and all we have to do is lift an hand to him for his help.

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The Art of Relaxation, SoCS

Max n Mimi 2 (2)

Good day. My name is Mimi and this other…’doginthehouse’ is Max, he lives downstairs. Do excuse his goofy look, he can’t help it, he is a basset. The humans think he is adorable…whatever.

Due to my human’s excessively busy schedule this summer, she has totally forgotten how to relax so when she saw what the prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday by Linda Hill was, she went straight to the back of the house and became unconscious for awhile. The theme of the Saturday prompt seems to have something to do with being conscious, so my goal is to give you proper instructions on the art of relaxation while remaining to be conscious at the same time…at least most of the time.

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To start you day off right, you need to relax with the morning sun shining to warm your coat and get your blood pumping. This is especially important in the winter months. Max doesn’t care much for the bright morning light but his large ears are useful in hiding his eyes while he himself, looks relatively unconscious.

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As the day goes, the sofa is a favorite place for comfort while allowing you to be ready for the occasion protection mode you may need to get in.

On those really hot days, there is almost no way to cool so you just have to get by yourself and do the best you can.

In the winter, the sofa where mom had been sitting is the best, still warm. Good for snuggling down.

But I guess if you have had a really tough day, being unconscious is always a option if there is not other way for recharging.

We hope you enjoyed our instructions on the proper way to relax. Have a safe and blessed day.

Oh, and always, always remember smile and to be kind as much as possible.

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A Special Kind of Stupid

Anyone who reads my posts regularly knows that I am a major supporter of being kind and trying to find the best in people. And I believe that is how everyone needs to be treated. That is what is right. However…(Don’t you hate it when a sentence starts off with a however or a but after a statement like that has been said. You know it doesn’t bode well.)…People are not born stupid but they sure can act stupid and this guy was a special kind of stupid.

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It’s Friday evening and we usually always go out on Friday evening but because of the week we both had, we decided on take out. The casino about 15 minutes from the house has a pretty good little restaurant with sandwiches and stuff so we opted for that. I ordered ahead and went to go pick it up. As I got there, there is a pickup truck kind of out by itself and the windows are cracked and a dog was barking from inside. That made me unhappy as it is still 86 degrees and too hot to leave your dog in a car with only a small crack, but I see other movement so I figure and hope there is a person also inside.

I pickup my sandwiches and head back to my car and the dog is still barking. This only exacerbates the dogs situation because he is guarding the truck, he is hot because it 86 degrees – I don’t care that the sun is starting to go down, its still hot. Unacceptable practice in my book.

So I drive over by this truck to check out the situation and yes there is another body in there, a second dog. So now I am really mad. I am mumbling to myself the cruelty of this guy as I am looking for a scrap sheet of paper as I am going to leave him a note and get his tag number. So I write my note to put under the windshield and then get out of my car. Dogs have a body language and dogs who are wagging their tails so hard that it wags their entire back end are not ferocious dogs. I speak to the dogs as they are trying to get their heads out the window for attention and then I head around the front of the truck to get to the drivers side windshield. Now you need to visualize this, as this is the funny part of the story – this truck has massive mud bogging tires on it and I am only 5’4″, this was going to be a challenge but I was determined. As I place my hands on the hood of the truck to lift up and grab for the windshield wiper, I came back down with a shock. The truck is running. Whhaaatt??? Right now, this area is having an issue with car thieves and you are going to purposely leave your truck with the window partly down with dogs inside that are obviously not really mean dogs…and it’s running.

I got back in my car as I realized the dogs were okay and …this guy was not.

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We really should not judge people but sometimes their actions make us shake our heads in disbelief. “What did you do with your brain today? Take it out and play with it like a slinky?”

Forgive me for this unkind post. God did not give this guy the disability of not being able to think, especially if he is driving a 35K pickup, although he is throwing away money at a casino…so…

And what am I doing at a casino…just getting food. Casinos are known for good food and this one is pretty good and its close.

Forgive me again as I totally believe in always being kind. Lord give us strength to deal with those who try our patience. And try to be kind.

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I have no cute anecdote type picture to close this post so just enjoy the beauty of nature.

A Badge of Love, 1LinerWeds

In learning first how to blog, then how to link, then all the other things I have learned, I finally figured out how to add text to a photo without losing it when brought it into another format. Yea me. Now I did this so I could participate in the new badge contest for 1 Liner Wednesday. I thought this was a face hard not to love so I submit this photo of Max as a candidate for the new badge hunt.

1LinerWeds Badge by Anita @ anitashope.wordpress.com

If not chosen then I hope you all enjoy this cute photo and good luck to all participants. Thank you Cheryl for the fun we have had this past year.

Come join in the race for the new badge with Linda G Hill’s One Liner Wednesday fun time.

And I can close without the reminder to always be kind.

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Smiling… and Laughter

As you go day to day do you think about the things that make you smile? When heading to work today, I passed a car that had two dogs in the back seat and both of them had their heads out the window, tongues flapping in the breeze. Dogs are so funny. I know that if Mimi gets loose which has happened a couple of times, if I go after her in the car and open the door for her, she will jump right in. The only time she has ever been in the car is when we go to the vet. Does she love going to the vet? Don’t think so, she just likes riding in the car. Her silliness always makes me smile.

IMG_20190524_183923 — On guard for anything that may be on the sidewalk

Other things that make me smile is my flowers. They bring in that beauty of creation and they seem to smile when the sun splashes in their face.

Then there is the bulb that bloomed again this spring, the angel holding a flower pot …or the birds helping to grow sunflowers.

All of these make me smile…but what makes us laugh. Why does watching someone slip, knowing they didn’t get hurt, make us laugh. Or a clown throwing a pie at someone else can make us laugh. Silliness. I have seen women get so tickled and laugh so hard they are making no sound what so ever, just tears. I want to stop them and remind them to breathe. Too funny. Laughing people make us laugh. And how about the most precious laugh that there is…a babies laugh. I don’t know too much else as sweet. About a week ago my daughter and I went out to eat and while we were there a family with a grammar school age child and a baby were eating about 3 table over from us. The older child got the baby laughing and the baby was so tickled it got that end of the restaurant snickering and giggling. It was marvelous to have so many strangers all laughing at the same time without understand what the baby thought was funny. We took that joy with us as we left. Laughter a true release of joy.

In Genesis, Abraham and Sarah both laughed at the Lord. Not something I would recommend doing but know the circumstances, I can understand. Sarah was 90 and Abraham was 100 and the Lord told them she was going to have a child. Wow. And when the child was born they named him Issac, which means ‘he who laughs’.

So I remind you to store up for yourselves the smiles of life and the joys of laughter and share them with others in kindness. Kindness shared with smiles can create laughter so smile often and be kind.

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Really…How?

This morning I created a post about our love for our pets and made the comment that some dogs are smarter than some people. Now I am not saying that some people are stupid, but I am saying a lot of people don’t think about what they are doing which makes us call them stupid. I also made the comment that I didn’t have a picture explaining that phenomenon…now I do! And I thought I would share, mostly because this is the second time in two weeks this has happened. Really?!?

Driving intellegence.image — See the flashing lights at the top of the picture…yea…

Last week was even more…interesting…as a big ole truck hit the bridge, put on his flashers as a warning because he was now attached to the bridge…got run into from behind…because basically he was a parked truck…really?!!?

Yea…dogs seem smarter than some people.

So remember while it is not kind to say people are stupid, it is not unkind to say people don’t think two feet of where they are going. So extra kindness needs to go forth to some people…to keep you from slapping them. God can only do so much when we refuse to use the intelligence he gave us.

So let us work extra hard at being kind especially when you have to shake your head. Some people really need it.

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Pets = Stress Relief…at my house

I saw this definition on adogslove.com and thought it very appropriate for my house and a good source of my stress relief.

“Canine Paralysis – The condition of a person’s inability to move due to a dog being in their lap.”

rough 1 — Partial paralysis – only holding down left leg under plaid blanket

sofa — Full on ‘You ain’t going nowhere’ paralysis

They make us laugh, cuddly us when we are sad, sit with us when we are quiet and understand us better than anyone else. There is just something special that our pets do for us, whether is be a dog or a cat. For me, I prefer dogs, they seem to be more in tune with what I need.

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I found several pictures on Pinterest that I have saved as they touch my heart strings and I thought I would share. Its Friday, after a cold icy week, and we all need some warmth. And even if it is not icy where you are, puppy love is always a comforting warmth.

I don’t go to shelters when its time for a new love without abundant support as I would bring them all home.

And one last one…

I could post picture after picture after picture but I think you get the idea and my love for dogs. And if a dog can be that devoted to its person, think how much more God is devoted to you. Both are His creations and both deserve abundant love…as God gives. So I remind you to carry the devoted love of a dog to those strangers you meet on a daily basis and be kind.