Heart Like a Dog

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

The Gift Every Dog Walker Needs for Christmas

By

There are many things I dislike about winter, but the one that has to rank right up there at the top is walking the dogs in the dark and trying to pick up poop.

Okay, so that was two things.

Picking up poop is hard in the dark.  Sometimes you can see the steam, but other times you can’t.

You try to hold onto your leash, open a poop bag with numb fingers and shine a flashlight on the poop at the same time, then pick it up and tie off the bag.

It’s next to impossible.

What every dog walker needs for Christmas

Besides a professional dog walker?

A cyclops.

No, not the one-eyed mystical giant.

Last year Hubby got me the best gift for walking the dogs at night.

IMG_3439

 

It’s made by Cyclops and clips onto your hat or visor.

IMG_3430

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.

This is me rocking my cyclops hands free light on my ear muff visor.

I love this little light.

As soon as I step out the door I turn on the light.  When a car approaches and we stop to sit, I look down at Delilah and my light shines down on her, making sure the driver knows there is someone there.

When it’s time to bend down to pick up poop, the light shines right where I’m looking, and my hands are free to pick up my temporary hand warmer.

Did I mention the price?  Amazon.com has a five LED cyclops for only $10.99.

Okay, technically it’s a product review, except I didn’t receive any product and I’m not getting paid for it.  You can purchase the light through Amazon but I won’t get any money for it, because I haven’t signed up for their affiliation program yet.

Truthfully I just thought it was a great item and might make a good Christmas gift.

Have you ever received a great gift that you didn’t ask for?

‘Ello Fred

By

This is Fred.

Hello Fred

Hello Fred.

 

Fred’s mother was found as a pregnant stray by a friend of my daughter.  She took his mom in and cared for her and Fred and his siblings when they arrived. Fred will be 2 months old on December 20th.

Yesterday Fred went to his forever home, with my daughter, her husband and their cat, Ollie.

Last night we went over for dinner and had the opportunity to meet our newest grandkit.

You're supposed to play with the toys in the basket Fred, not eat it.

You’re supposed to play with the toys in the basket Fred, not eat it.

 

Playing tickle with Papi.

Playing tickle with Papi.

 

 

My son-in-law is adorable with Fred.  He was not raised with any pets, and by the time he met my daughter Ollie was already an older cat.

He won’t pick Fred up because he’s so tiny.  Instead he calls to my daughter, Fred’s on the stairs, Fred’s back in his bed.

We were in the kitchen when he said, Fred’s crying.

I said, he might want to use the litter box, sometimes when they are small they cry when they have to go because they’re not sure where to go.

My daughter said, Mom says he might need the litter box, put him in it.

But he won’t pick Fred up.

So my daughter put him in the box and sure enough, he tinkled.

A short time later he cried again and I put him back in the box, I stood there for a few minutes watching him sniff, scratch and squat until he finally pooped.

I was amazed that such a tiny guy could be so particular about where he pooped.

Welcome to the family Fred George (and yes, he’s named after the Weasley twins from Harry Potter, two of my daughters are twins.)

Have you ever watched an animal take great care with something fairly ordinary?  Please share.

The New Normal

By

We see horrific things on the news every day.  There are shootings at malls and theaters, terrorist attacks,and even natural disasters.

We hear about them, we watch the news for a couple of days, maybe we even write a check for a disaster relief fund, or charity.

They affect us in the moment.  We can relate to them, indirectly of course because we aren’t specifically involved with them, then life gets in our way, we get busy and back to the day-to-day things which affect us directly.

But people who are directly affected can’t do that.  Their normal changes and sometimes very dramatically. Just as “pink is the new black” they have to learn to find a new normal.

How do you find a new normal, when your child, spouse, parent, sibling, or loved one is taken from you in a senseless act of violence?

Newtown is a small town (population around 2,000) nestled in the rolling hills of southwest Connecticut.  In terms of wealth, it’s fairly affluent (for today’s economy) with family income ranging over $100,000.  Having visited it myself once, I can say it’s a pretty nice little town.

Newtown is about an hour and twenty minutes away from where I live, yet I feel like it happened in my backyard.

This shooting affected me because first and foremost I am a mother, and a grandmother. My grandson will be five in February and next September he will be going to school.

Quite frankly, I’m terrified by this.

I’m terrified to think that someone can walk in and steal the lives and innocence from our children in a matter of seconds.

I’m terrified to think of the new safety measures which will more than likely be put into place to keep him safe.  Will he have to walk through a metal detector to get to school?  Will there be armed guards at the doors?  How will these measures numb him and other children to the violence that will continue in this world?

It’s not very often that my children see or hear me cry.  If you asked them, I think they would tell you that I’m a strong woman. They are 33, 33 and 26 and they can probably count on one hand the times they’ve seen me cry.

My grandchildren go to daycare about a mile down the street from where I work.  Yesterday at 4:00 pm my daughter had a phone call, with my voice breaking I asked her to bring my grandchildren by on their way home so I could give them a little hug.

We had movie tickets to go see The Hobbit last night, I tucked my pepper blaster into my purse and every few minutes pulled my eyes away from the movie to skim the crowd for signs of trouble.

Is this my new normal? Has your normal changed?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...