Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Monday Mischief

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We have two pools at our house.

Of course they’re not inground pools!  Are you kidding me?  Who could afford two inground pools?

No they are little kiddie wading pools.  We have one for the dogs,which gets emptied and refilled every couple of days, and one for the grandchildren or any other children who happen to come over.

This children’s pool generally gets emptied almost immediately after the children leave, we then lean it against the railing of the deck until it’s needed again.

We don’t let the dogs in the kiddie pool, although I do confess there are times when they drink out of it.  I mean who can resist that large, cold bowl of water?

Not my dogs.

We had a small graduation party for my niece (Congrats again, Taylor!) and seeing it was a warm day we took out the kiddie pool and filled it up.

My little grandchildren were tickled to have it to cool off in, until someone decided they liked the kiddie pool better than their own.

Um Sampson? This is our pool.

What do you think, would your children/grandchildren care if the dog went in their pool?
I think this is the Monday Mischief blog hop hosted by Snoopy’s Dog Blog, My Brown Newfies, Luna a Dog’s Life and Alfie’s Blog.

Hop on, hop on.

Mock 10 With My Hair On Fire

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Many, many years ago when the donor and I first divorced, I found myself a single mother with two young children.  I was sad and lonely and so I turned to caffeine, nicotine and music to keep me going.

Yes you heard that right, I’m one of those people who find comfort, understanding and motivation through music.  At that time (dating myself) my songs of inspiration came from the early years of Bruce Springsteen.

My phone is naturally loaded up with Springsteen and the other famous Jersey Boy, Jon Bon Jovi.  I don’t always find the empathy from Jon that I get from Bruce, but there are many times when he does inspire me.

Every three or four weeks I make the trip to Avon for dog food.  I used to love to have Hubby go with me, but now I find I really enjoy this time to throw on some music and let my hair down.

I plugged the phone in and rather than do my traditional I don’t feel like listening to this song routine, I decided to listen to every song and see what kind of inspiration/motivation I might find.

Of course when you’re driving it’s hard to write things down, but I somehow managed to make a semblance of a list.

Today ladies and gentlemen I present to you my musical inspirations, in the order they came off my phone.

Springsteen: Badlands – Talk about a dream, try to make it real, you wake up in the night, with a fear so real, spend your life waiting for a moment that just don’t come, well, don’t waste your time waiting.  (The time is now, I need to get my butt in gear and do the next step, not keep waiting for God knows what.)

Springsteen: Leap of Faith – It takes a leap of faith to get things going.  It takes a leap of faith you gotta show some guts. It takes a leap of faith to get things going. In your heart you must trust. (I need to take that leap and have faith it’s what is right for me.)

Bon Jovi: Raise Your Hands – I – I’ve been out on the front line. Where you’ll go down if you waste time. They’ll walk all over you.  (I’m sitting here wasting time by not taking my blog to the next level. Um…..during this song I looked at the speedometer which read 100 and I realized, this song also makes me drive really fast)

Springsteen: Sherry Darling – my inspiration from this song was sometimes you  just have to kick back and let yourself enjoy!

Gretchen Wilson: I’m Here For The Party – You know im here for the party. And i aint leavin til they throw me out. (Yup that’s me and this blog, I’m here until y’all stop reading.)

Bon Jovi: Wild In The Streets – Sometimes this town ain’t pretty, but you know it ain’t so bad. (I have a tendency to focus on the negative, but that is changing!!  More positive please.)

Janis Joplin: Mercedes-Benz – This song told me I don’t want to be someone who just sits back and waits for someone to hand me something, I need to work my butt off if I want to make my dreams come true.

Springsteen: No Surrender – We made a promise we swore we’d always remember. No retreat baby, no surrender. (I can’t give up, I need to keep trying and working it and eventually it will turn out the way it was supposed to.)

Kathy Mattea: 455 Rocket – She’s a Rocket, she was made to burn. (That’s me, I’m wasn’t made to just sit on the side-lines, I’m an all in sort of gal.)

Springsteen: Out In The Street – When I’m out in the street, I walk the way I wanna walk.  When I’m out in the street, I talk the way I wanna talk.  (I have to stop worrying about what other people think and just be myself.)

Springsteen: Bobby Jean – Now you hung with me when all the others turned away turned up their nose.  (That’s you guys!  You stick with me even when I’m feeling sorry for myself.)

Credence Clearwater: Bad Moon Rising – No inspiration here. 🙂

Jason Aldeen: Crazy Town – One year they repossess your truck, and the next you make a couple million bucks.  (Things might not be so great this year, but next year the tables could be turned.)

Mary Chapin Carpenter: I Feel Lucky – No Professor Doom gonna stand in my way, Mmmmm, I feel lucky today.  (Negative is out and positive is in, I need to get out of my own way.)

Sixty miles later I pulled into the driveway screaming, All Jacked Up by Gretchen Wilson.  While the lyrics didn’t inspire me, I do like the tune and I can be all jacked up with positivity.

So there you have my insights from my music. What inspires you?

Test The Waters

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When our daughter got married in 2005 she was living in Florida.  To make it easier on us, we rented a house on a canal for two weeks.  The house was lovely with a master suite and bath and it also had an in ground pool.  I made sure dogs were allowed in the pool before I rented it.

The drive down took less time than we expected so we arrived mid-afternoon on Saturday.  The first thing I did after dropping my luggage in the bedroom was to open the slider and jump in the pool.

Sampson was about 15 months old at the time and had never been in a pool.  He had only been exposed to ponds and streams.

Poor baby, he stepped into the pool expecting that there would be earth underneath him and there wasn’t.   He was panicked but luckily we were both there and helped him to the stairs.

It took more than a few days to coax him back in, which my brother-in-law eventually did.  At first he only wanted to be in the pool when one of us was with him.

You won’t let anything bad happen to me, right Dad?

But by the end of the two weeks, he would go in the pool by himself, swim around and climb back out.

The only pool Delilah has been exposed to is my sister’s above ground pool.  It is accessed by a deck attached to the back of their house.  We were there for the 4th of July a few years back and the dogs had a fine time swimming for toys.

Our walking buddy has an in ground pool that the dogs can swim in.  She recently had a major landscaping overhaul done to her back yard and invited us up to see it during one of our walks.

Sampson jumped right in the pool and swam around.

I love a refreshing dip after a nice walk.

I was quite surprised that Delilah refused to go in.  She stood on the edge of the pool but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Come on in Delilah, the water’s great!

I tried to show her where the steps were but I was in full hiking gear and couldn’t get in the pool.  She ran around and around the edge of the pool but couldn’t bring herself to jump in.

Have you seen the video of the dog pawing the water for the toy, because it wants the toy but is afraid to jump in?

She was doing the same thing.

It made me feel sad, because Delilah is the bravest dog I know and I’ve never seen fear hold her back.

I want to, I’m just afraid.

But at the same time, I think a little fear can be a good thing.  It might stop you from jumping in feet first and finding out there is no earth under your feet.

Don’t let your fear hold you back, stick your toe in and test the waters, BEFORE you jump in. 🙂

Just Be The Dog.

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