Riley — Page 27

A Cold, but Sunny, Sunday

January 16, 2011 at 12:30 pm by Claudia

What’s that? Sun flooding the living room with light? Yes, the sun is shining. It’s still very, very cold…but the sun is shining. Is it only January 16th? That means at least 2 more months of winter, doesn’t it? I keep reminding myself that harsh winters are what make spring all the more beautiful and appreciated.

I used to live in Southern California. Where it was in the 70’s yesterday. What am I, nuts?

Did I ever share this find with you? I don’t think I did.

I won this vintage doorstop at auction a couple of months ago. I bid on it thinking I might offer it in an Etsy shop someday. Of course, I also fell in love it.

And it’s really heavy. I mean, heavy. The shipping costs would be prohibitive, don’t you think?

I’d better keep it here. It’s the smart thing to do.

I’m going to resume work on the dollhouse today. It has remained in the same state it was in last February when I had to stop work on it to start my prep work for the Shakespeare Festival in San Diego. It needs another coat of primer and then, gosh darn it, I’m going to paint the rooms and start furnishing this baby. I will have to remove the crochet that is currently on the roof. I put it there each evening so that a certain furry boy who loves yarn cannot get to it.

When we adopted Riley we were living in rented cottage in Westchester County. At some point during the first night he spent with us, he wandered into the office/studio and ate some of my yarn. Luckily, there were no side effects. Whenever I have yarn out, he immediately comes over, sniffs around and tries to lick it. That boy.

I’m off to get some work accomplished. Tuesday, I will post a book review. It’s a new mystery that I think you will like.

New Year’s Eve Went to the Dogs

January 2, 2011 at 9:36 am by Claudia

New Year’s Eve? Spent cleaning up messes made by Riley. In his defense, he had been given a little tranquilizer in the morning in order to get his nails cut. (If we don’t he will try to bite the technician.) For some reason, he had an extreme reaction to the meds and he was out of it for about 2 days. He was so bad that we had to lift him and help him walk. It got a bit scary. He’s had this medicine before, but clearly he has developed a reaction to it over time. Obviously, we won’t be using it again. Yesterday found me in tears, thinking I had harmed him in some way, even though I knew his nails had to get cut because he was slipping on our wood floors and that could be dangerous for a boy with bad hips. Thankfully, by last night he was almost back to normal.

When you adopt a dog who has been neglected and abused, there are just certain things you have to accept. In Riley’s case: no pulling on his collar, or cutting his nails, no approaching from the rear and taking him by surprise, only a certain amount of brushing, nothing to do with his ears or the area around his ears. Over the years, he has come such a long way. He didn’t know how to play or ask for affection when we got him. He is such a loving boy now. I took advantage of his incapacitation to brush his heavy coat:

Yep, that’s a lot of hair. He has a heavy undercoat.

I drove the 2 hour round trip to the Apple Store yesterday to pick up my laptop. All is well. I thought as much, but wanted to be sure. No charge. Thank you, Apple. Being without my laptop for 4 days was not fun. I did accomplish a lot in its absence. Don and I completely rearranged the office/guest bedroom/studio and it looks so much better! Since Don is the one using it 99% of the time, it needed to become his space. Now it is a studio that also has a wonderful bed for house guests. Since I spent so much time creating my little studio space, I figured it was time we did something with his.

I also read and crocheted a lot. Today, we take down the decorations. I’ll leave you with this shot of Scout, who has been feeling rather ignored the last few days:

I’ll give her some extra cuddles today.

Friday at MHC

November 12, 2010 at 9:31 am by Claudia

I woke up this morning, sleepily came down the stairs and discovered some ‘elimination problems’ from a certain male dog. Yikes. Nothing like cleaning up before one’s first cup of coffee. Poor Riley. No more water late in the evening, my friend. Our boy is very sensitive, so when something of this nature happens, he feels very badly. We are learning to be loving in these situations because he is doing the best he can. Any angry, loud reaction only bewilders him and accomplishes nothing. So in the midst of all the cleaning, I was petting him and saying “It’s okay.” Because it is.

He is a special boy, our Riley. He came to us for a reason and I truly believe that.

What else is new? I’m still nursing my lower back. I’m crocheting like a madwoman. I’ve got a book review coming up next week. I’m writing a recommendation for a former Boston University student who wants to go to graduate school in Speech Pathology. (That’s what I should have done – it pays better than what I do. And it’s steady work.) I helped Heidi at the store the other day. Her Holiday Open House is this weekend. I moved Maryjane’s banner to a new place in the studio:

I like it.

You know I have a photography blog, right? The link is right over there on my sidebar. My goal is to post one photo each day. So far, I haven’t missed a day, although a few times I forgot to post until late in the day. I like this idea of a daily snapshot of my life. Some photos are better than others, but here is one of my favorites:

A milkweed pod in my back yard. There is a challenge in this daily posting. I’m learning to see beauty in the everyday, to look beyond the obvious, to try to become a better photographer.

Oh, and my birthday is in just over a week.

Have a lovely Friday. I’ll be cleaning.

A Cold, but Sunny, Sunday

New Year’s Eve Went to the Dogs

Friday at MHC

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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