kyotesue

Rattie Mattie the Stoner Dog

Current Location: Rocky Point Oregon 53F and raining lightly.

We had a scare last night that I wouldn’t want to repeat any time soon. Mo and I are still finalizing some of the fixes on the Painter Street house in Klamath Falls. I am not all that great at doing stuff at the moment, so Mo has the thankless job of working day after day on trying to rebuild and repair a falling down fence in the back yard. Well, not totally thankless. I can’t thank her enough, not even close. She has taken up so much of the slack on that house since my surgery last month that I’ll never be able to repay her.

The Painter Street house is finally painted and looks great

Melody joined me yesterday to help with the inside of the house, once again doing a spit shine of the floors and bathroom so the house is completely ready for showing. I sat around and directed mostly, while Melody mopped and swept and cleaned up all the junk that the contractors tracked inside while they were working on the outside. They used the bathroom and kitchen and other spaces it seems. I’ll be really glad when they are completely finished and not tracking around the house any more.

As we worked, little Mattie, the Rat Terrier (hence the Rattie Mattie name thought up by daughter Deanna) was being her wonderful self. She hung out in the house with us, and when we would go outside with her, she stayed in the yard, visiting Mo as she worked on the fence, and exploring all the corners of the small back yard.

Mattie loved rooting around in the ivy in the back corner of the yard

She snuffed around a bit in deep ivy, but I didn’t think much of it because I didn’t see her actually eating anything. By 4 in the afternoon I was tired, Melody had gone home, and Mo was still struggling with the fence. Mattie and I laid down in the patio in the sun to rest. She seemed really tired. As I drove home around 6, she lolled in her bed in the car seat, rather than standing up to watch the passing scenery as she likes to do.

Once home, she showed no interest in her dinner and passed out in her little bed in the living room. When I roused her to put her in my lap and her little head lolled and her eyes wouldn’t stay open, I knew something was very wrong. Calling several vets, I received the same emergency phone number for after hours vet care, and the number kept routing me back to the same loop. I finally located a 24 hour vet in Medford, and they said, come down now.

We loaded up Mattie and Mo drove about as fast as she has ever driven the miles over the mountain to Medford. It took less than an hour, but that was just about the longest hour I have spent in a very long time. Mattie kept going to sleep, and I guess I have watched enough TV to know that I had to keep her awake. I jiggled her and shook her, opened and closed the window, did everything possible to keep her little head from lolling and her eyes from closing.

Once at the vet, the tech took one look at her and said, “Is there any chance she could get into medical marijuana?” What??? Are you kidding me? Of course not!! We were frantic, thinking that maybe she had found a dead mouse or something that had been poisoned. Later a second technician came in and asked us the same question. Really? They were all fairly certain she had the classic symptoms of marijuana toxicity.

After a long time, thanks to an extremely busy night of emergencies, Mattie was drug tested and it came back positive for marijuana! We scratched our heads, trying to figure it out. I called Melody at midnight wondering if she had any idea if any of the neighbor kids smoked pot or not. Melody has been out of the house for a couple of months now, she and her family have nothing to do with pot, and she swore that she was sure the neighbors weren’t pot smokers either.

Mattie was given IV fluids to take care of her dehydration, and we were told we did the right thing to keep her awake. Her heart rate would dip to 60 unless she was stimulated, and she could have dropped into a coma. According to the vet, this is such a common occurrence that she sees dogs every single day in the clinic with marijuana toxicity. Every. Single. Day.

We did a lot of head scratching, and finally realized that we have had contractors all around that house for a month now, and in addition, the fence has been open, and anyone could have strolled through the back yard. Who knows if some kid threw an old roach down and Mattie found it. According to the vet, pot is so cheap and easily obtained now that people don’t bother to keep the unsmoked ends and just toss them away. It is getting to be a big problem in parks and public places where people and dogs play. Geeze!

I didn’t take photos of Mattie when everything was so scary so these are shots of our happy dog

When we rolled back into our driveway at 1:30 AM we were so grateful that the test for marijuana was positive, that Mattie would recover and sleep it off, and that we didn’t have to keep wondering what in the world she had gotten into. She was OK. But oh my, what a warning to those of us with dogs. With pot becoming legal and used openly, this problem is something we need to be aware of all the time.

Photo of Mattie on leash, although she does great off leash as well around our property

Mattie is fine today, if a bit less energetic than usual. Her eyes are bright and she is enjoying hanging out with us wherever we are in the house. Thank goodness. I was amazed at how incredibly attached Mo and I have become in only a short month of sharing our lives with little Mattie. Losing her this quickly wasn’t an option.

So Much Fun!

Current Location: Rocky Point Oregon 70 degrees F and gorgeous
Ah yes. Not a lot to write about around here. Recuperating from surgery is slow and sometimes tiresome, but every single day is better than the last day. After a little over three weeks, I am actually feeling encouraged. Maybe it will all be OK after all.

I am having a great time lying around doing not much. The little dog Mattie, is having a great time settling into our home and we adore her already. Took her to the vet yesterday to discover that she is not two years old after all, but somewhere between six months and a year. We decided on a year, and gave her a birthday of April 15, 2014. Tax Day. At least we should have an easy time remembering the made up birthday.

The year old thing explains the propensity to hunt for little things to chew if she is bored, and for the rare accident in the house. When that happens just after we have had her outside, it is a bit frustrating. At least we caught her in the act, and that is a good thing, since I have heard that when training dogs, they have a short memory and won’t have a clue why you are mad at them if too much time lapses between the act and the disapproval.

Ah well…the joys of an almost puppy. We had no desire to have a puppy, but she is adorable, and maybe her youth will mean that she is more trainable than if she were older. She is getting confident enough and we are confident enough with her that she can go outside for walks around the property off leash. She is great at dashing back when we call her even when she wanders a bit. Never far, and never out of our sight for sure.

But how much fun is it to blog about dogs and health stuff and whatever. Nope we aren’t traveling. Although traveling isn’t all that big a deal any more anyway. A favorite blogger of mine said recently, “The the Rv blog pipeline seems to be clogging up with the sediment of repetition—S. O. S. reruns of silver haired lemmings beating rutted paths to the same places. It’s hard to spin new headlines from yesterday’s hotspots, especially when they’ve been covered ad infinitum by so many bloggers.” Yeah. That would be Mark, over at Box Canyon Blog, and sad to say, I have to agree with him. I am one of those would be silver haired (if I didn’t keep coloring it) lemmings returning over and over again to Harris Beach, or wherever.

The blogging world feels a bit tired and repetitive to me lately. I realized reading Mark’s comments that I choose to read blogs for different reasons than before. Now I read blogs of friends, of photographers I love, and writers I can’t resist. Not much else.

So it is the perfect time for Blogger and Live Writer to decide to part ways. Bloggers all over G+ and elsewhere are moaning and groaning, including me. So many of us write blogs for so many different reasons. I don’t particularly care about how far out my blog goes, I care more about how it looks to me when I return to it. My kids have grown to love my blog books, and I want them to be pretty and well formatted. I want my archives available to easily search when I am trying to remember something. Many things that Blogger does that WordPress doesn’t. Besides, I don’t want to bother learning something else that may go by the wayside eventually. Like Picasa. But that is another story.

So, with LiveWriter dead in the water it seems, alternatives must be found. Thank goodness I have a friend who understands my reasons for blogging and my personal parameters, as many of them are hers as well. Thanks to Erin if this post actually ends up in the blog and looks half way decent. It is a test.

Erin already pointed me to SmugMug for photos, but I hadn’t bothered to attempt linking my photos there rather than simply uploading them from my computer, so this is also new in this post. The photos will take you directly to my Smug Mug photos. Anxious to see how all that works as well. Then, the really big test is if I can format all this in Live Writer offline, copy the HTML as Erin suggested, and manage to get it over into blogger looking somewhat like I wanted it to look.
I guess since it is a test, I should get busy with the testing part. Here goes.

We even surprised ourselves with the trim color, but really love the way it is just a little bit different without being gaudy

Oh yeah. A side note. The rain that never came until May finally stopped and the painters are almost finished with my little house in Klamath Falls. Tomorrow it will be listed and will go up for sale. I am hoping for a quick sale, of course.

Progress!

Current Location: Rocky Point Oregon Chilly and overcast at 49 degrees F

Mattie (14 of 51) After my last post about our new family member, and my upcoming surgery, I was overwhelmed and humbled by all the encouraging comments from so many. Of course, when Al of the Bayfield Bunch gives anyone a shout-out, all heck breaks loose with the servers and many more people got to see our new little Mattie than might have otherwise. Thanks, Al. Your love of dogs shines through and I knew you would love Mattie at first sight.

The good news is that our little bundle of fear and anxiety has already blossomed into a very happy little dog. I couldn’t wait for the time when I would see her smile, when her tail would rise and wag, when she would run and play. It didn’t take long.

While I was in the hospital, for a few more days than expected, Mo had time to spend with her. Peace Health Sacred Heart at Riverbend in Springfield, Oregon, looks more like a high end college campus, with a large park along the MacKenzie River lined with gorgeous plantings and beautiful trails. It was a beautiful, quiet, and safe place for Mo begin to teach Mattie how to walk on a leash. It was also a great time for Mo to bond with her one on one.

On a little side note, I have to say I was incredibly impressed with the care I received at this rather amazing hospital. There were always plenty of caregivers around paying close attention to my needs, the food, if I could have eaten it, would have been quite good, and the private room with a view of the city was quite lovely and comfortable. After asking how I managed a private room, I was told that all rooms at the hospital are private rooms because they afford better care for the patients. Each time a caregiver came into my room, I was asked carefully if there was anything else that I might need. I was asked that often and with genuine concern. I knew my surgeons were great, but didn’t know that the hospital would be as state of the art as it was. I’m not one to talk up the medical system, so these words coming from this skeptic, are surprising and heartfelt. I am grateful.

I don’t have a lot of good memories of that first week. It was wonderful to have the motorhome for transport to and from Springfield, a trip of about 200 miles, but has anyone actually tried to rest in the back of a moving motorhome. Illegal as heck, I know, but it sure beat trying to sit in an upright position. Bounces and all. By the time we got home Friday night I was one miserable puppy. The real puppy, on the other hand, was quite content in the motorhome, either curled up in her bed, or snuggled up next to me on my bed. She loves riding and shows no sign of getting car sick or stressed in a moving vehicle. Lucky for us!

The first few days at home for me were lost in a fog of feeling pretty miserable, more so than I had anticipated, so Mo picked up all the slack and took care of everything, including me. She and Mattie bonded even more as she played with her on the leash and Mattie began to respond to her name, to perk up her ears, and yes, to leap about with joy on her forays into the outdoors and wag her tail. Mattie (16 of 51)

Reading about rat terriers has been interesting. Mattie has all the known personality traits of a true rat terrier, with lots of energy, but also a love of napping and cuddling. She and I have continued the bond we started that first day at the shelter as she snuggles up to me while I am in bed. It has been incredibly comforting.

I can report that now, 12 days post surgery, I feel pretty good. No more uncomfortable than I expected and am improving every single day. “Take It Slow/Take it Easy” according to my friend Erin, battling her way through some stormy weather in southeast Texas, and with more encouraging notes from MBZ, also in Texas, and Nickie in California, I have a ton of support from long distance as well as up close friends.

The chicken soup that my local quilt buddy, Mata, brought over that first night was a life saver, with homemade broth that got me through several days of not being able to eat much. Tomorrow, my lifelong friend Maryruth will be arriving for several days of best friend care, and Mo can take a bit of a break. Of course, a break for Mo includes doing everything she usually does, plus everything I usually do, and then some. I have been pretty lucky to have her here to get me through the hard parts.

Mattie, of course, is still a project. She still is fearful, sometimes retreating if she thinks you might want to catch her, other times coming when called easily. There is much she will need to learn before we feel totally safe with her in unknown environments.

On Mom’s Day, when my daughter and grandkids showed up with fresh fruit and flowers, she guarded me in the bed, growling at the intruders until I convinced her they were OK. She is a tough little thing, and smart!

I am planning on taking her through the beginning dog training classes offered at Double C in Klamath Falls as part of the adoption package. Watching her run and play and jump, I can see that she would love to have the mental and physical stimulation of agility training. Once she gets the basics, of course. She definitely needs something to keep her engaged and busy, or she tries to discover other ways to entertain herself. Chewing the ends of my glasses was one of them.

Mattie (37 of 51) Even though they said she was two, she acts more like a year old puppy sometimes. I’ll have to ask my own vet about that one I think. We still have to pick a birthday for her.

Just wanted to say a huge thank you for all who cared enough to comment, send good wishes and thoughts and prayers, and let you know how much I appreciated them.

A new addition to the family

Current Location: Rocky Point Oregon sunny, warm, and gorgeous!

How many times can I write an opening sentence for a story? Guess I’ll revert to an old technique I learned in some great Gestalt therapy I had many years ago. “What are you feeling right this moment?” Mattie (1 of 4)

The sun is shining brilliantly into my office window. I am in a sundress, with bare feet and it is barely May. Wonderful. Today I planted a few goodies in the greenhouse, even a couple of tomatoes. That goes completely against all the rules that say don’t plant a thing in the Klamath Basin until after Memorial Day. Or at least Mother’s Day.

I guess I am having a hard time with opening sentences because things are beginning, things are ending. Some things are basically right in the middle, and my mind is finally settling down after a crazy month of working on the Klamath Falls Painter Street house and dealing with getting her on the market.

And of course, knowing that a surgery is coming up has been always in the background, creating a deadline, and just bugging me in general.

And now it is basically here. Mo has the MoHo in the driveway and the Tracker hooked up for the trip to Springfield tomorrow where we will park for free in the hospital lot with electrical hookups. At least if they aren’t all full. Otherwise she will be boondocking in the lot until something comes open while I languish in the comfy, air conditioned, fully electrified big fancy hospital.

Should be fun.

I probably wouldn’t have done a blog post at all about any of this if it weren’t for one thing. We found a dog, and yes, in spite of the business of life, we decided it was time.

Our very smart, very well thought out decision to wait at least until after our fall trip to Ireland just flew out the window when Mo said, “Hey, look at this. You have to see this little dog” and she showed me an internet photo of “Tilly”, a 2 year old rat terrier/mix at the Klamath Humane Society. She had a sweet face. Mo didn’t really want a little dog, so her reasoning was that if I got a little dog for myself, a little lap dog of sorts, I might miss my cat a bit less, and then she could later find a medium sized dog to her liking. Two dogs? We already said we wouldn’t get any animals again for a long time.

Animal lovers know how silly it is to say that. Somehow when there is a vacancy in a home that has had loving animals, it is like water flowing into a low spot. Something happens and the new family member shows up.

Tilly has been renamed and she now is “Mattie”. Eleven pounds of fear and anxiety. We have taken on a project. I knew when we found her that it might be like this. She was so afraid, and what little history we had of her life explained why. Shuttled from Shafter, California as a stray several months ago, then to Sacramento, to Redding, then to Klamath Falls, she is afraid of most everything at the moment. Except sitting in my lap.

Mattie (1 of 2) When we took her to the visiting room, she was fine on my lap, but when she was put down on the floor she ran to a corner and tried to make herself as small as possible. What in the world happened to her? We will never know.

There are many things about her that are encouraging, most of all the fact that she completely loves to be held, to be in my lap. After a few days, she will now look me in the eye, and loves to have her ears rubbed. Today she finally ate a bite, drank some water, and thank goodness piddled outside. She had surgery on Thursday, so that was an excellent milestone.

She is afraid of the outdoors, and when I take her out will anxiously run back to the house if I let her. But each time it gets a little bit better. She has shown no signs of aggression, except for a tiny growl in PetSmart as we were fitting her harness. She growled at a big dog passing by. Shocked the heck out of both of us, and we have yet to hear her bark.

Yeah, the timing may be a little strange, but then again maybe not. Taking care of a small, needy being is a great way to get outside myself and quit obsessing over stuff.

Travel? She loves being in the car, she loves riding in my lap, and she seems to have no issues with separation anxiety. I think our biggest challenge will be getting her to actually get out of her little bed on her own! This week will be the first MoHo test with Mo and the little dog, and I have a feeling it will be just fine. Mattie (2 of 2)

While you are at it, check out the beautiful quilt on the chair behind me. Here is a better shot of it.

The amazing women of the Rocky Point quilt guild donate what we call a “huggie” quilt for comfort to anyone in the community who has lost a loved one or is in the hospital at least overnight. Day surgeries don’t get a quilt. They surprised me with this very special quilt last week, a bit early, but time to enjoy it a lot before I have to go as well as afterward. The special story behind this quilt is that each of us made sets of blocks and then put them together after being inspired by a quilt we saw last year at a show. What a surprise to be on the receiving end of this group effort.

Next on our travel agenda will be a week we have planned at Harris Beach in June. I plan to be mobile by then and am really looking forward to walking again! Judy will be there volunteering, and has promised another round of her famous New York Chicken! A week in the MoHo with the little dog at the beach will be a great break from the next round of projects that are on the big transitions list that we have going.

Writer’s Block

Current Location: Rocky Point, Oregon: nice evening after a gorgeous day

I really didn’t want to fall into the trap of trying to explain why I haven’t written. Kind of like writing in your diary, “Dear Diary…sorry I haven’t written”. Diary doesn’t care, I am sure. Every one of us who write these open ended online journals run into writer’s block now and then. This time it hit me half way home from our last trip. If you don’t know me from elsewhere, you might think that we are still lost somewhere along the California coast. If I were to return to my blog a year from now, trying to figure out where we were in April, I might be rather disappointed to see that we possibly beamed ourselves, Star Trek Style, from Eureka to Rocky Point. Trinity Scenic Byway (2 of 36)

There is so much going on at the moment in our lives that travel memories have taken a bit of a back seat, but that is another story. Maybe I’ll get to it eventually, but not right now.

In actuality, the last two days of our short little vacation were spent ambling along at a snail’s pace. We decided that Highway 299 would be a good route back toward home, over the beautiful Trinity Mountains and following along the gorgeous Trinity River. Called the Trinity Scenic Byway, the route is the main road that connects the upper Sacramento Valley to the California coast.

When we left Eureka, the fog was still hanging in over Humboldt Bay, but by the time we reached Berry Summit the fog was just a wisp in the wind shrouding the mountain but not obscuring the beautiful views. The day was brilliant, the skies gorgeous, the traffic minimal. Redbuds were in bloom and the hills were Ireland green. That springtime green thing in the coast range can be so incredibly vivid. Like no other green I have ever seen anywhere.

We had a destination in mind, a mere 100 miles over the mountain to the little town of Weaverville, where I had scoped out a small RV park. We were in no hurry, and stopped along the river for photos and views. A few miles west of Weaverville, we found a forest service campground and pulled in to check it out.

Not a soul in sight, and the camp host site was empty, but there were no gates to keep us out and after walking around a bit, listening to the river, we said, “Why not?!” Our tanks were empty, we had plenty of water and no need for power so we pulled into the sweet little spot, opened up the door to the sunshine and the river and settled in for a lovely evening. Three bucks with our senior pass. Much better than that 35 bucks it would have cost in Weaverville.

The next morning we rose at our leisure and ambled on down the road to the sweet little gold rush town of Weaverville. It was charming in the way that California gold towns can be, with interesting store fronts and historical signs on the buildings.

We visited the Joss House museum visitor center, enjoying the well done displays of the Chinese culture that thrived in Weaverville during the gold rush. Neither of us felt like waiting around for a tour, so we skipped the inside of the Chinese Temple.

Once again, we were reminded of the great contribution made by the Chinese to the development of the American West.

With no desire to continue east to a boring interstate, we turned north on Highway 3, following the western shore of Trinity Lake. The road was narrow and steep in places, but not unmanageable. We stopped to view the nearly empty lake and read the non existent signs. Sign vandalism is just stupid. Although perhaps not as stupid as damming a river and backing up a lake over miles and miles of placer mine tailings.

Now that the California drought has exposed the land drowned by the reservoir, I wonder if people who are users of the millions of gallons delivered annually to the California water project are at all worried about the lead and mercury left in those tailings. I still can’t figure out the mindset of certain news pundits who say the California water problem is due to the environmentalists stopping the building of more reservoirs. The ones already there have no water in them! Talk about a waste of money! Let’s build more dams so we can have more empty reservoirs? This drought is long term, and not going to end next week.

We did see several warning signs stating that in 42 miles or so, the road would be unsuitable for trailers. No problem. We have driven those kinds of roads many times in the past. After passing the little community of Coffee Creek, where we found nothing at all, we continued north toward Scott Mountain Pass.

We ignored the sign that said no trailers once again, and within a mile knew that had been a mistake. Picture a hairpin turn with a 15 percent grade. MoHo groaned up the hill and we managed to find a turnout on the very narrow road to unhook the baby car. Next time we will pay attention. This is not an easy climb, and definitely not a place to be towing. And no, there are no photos of these few challenging moments.

Mo drove on ahead with the MoHo while I followed along in the Tracker, enjoying the gorgeous views and the beautiful wild landscape of the Trinities. Descending into the Scott Valley is a treat, with a landscape of ranching and river that is the heart of the old west.

Our evening destination, a mere 80 miles north of Weaverville, was the tiny community of Etna, California. Just 20 miles south of Eureka, Etna is charming and quiet, and boasts a great little RV park, Mountain Village. A Passport America park, there were level sites, full hookups, and grassy spaces between rigs. With the park nearly empty, we enjoyed the late afternoon thoroughly. For a mere $16.00, we spent our last night before returning to the cottage at Grants Pass the next day.

That leaning oak on the left will have to go when the house is built. That is where the western wall will extend It has been just over three weeks since that day. In that short time we spent a few days working at the cottage. Mo managed to get the 30 amp to the MoHo shed and we mowed the acre that is greening up and growing fast. My scheduled surgery required a few visits to Eugene and those overnight trips are always more delightful with the MoHo. The one time we stayed in a hotel we decided, never again. taking a break from electrical work in the RV shed

After Eugene, it was time to bring the MoHo back over the mountain to her berth in Grants Pass. We missed having her at home and with winter behind us, it was time. Of course, the only winter we had this year showed up on Easter Sunday with 1/2 an inch of snow and then again on April 14 with another half inch. Crazy.

old fort road middle In the last couple of months, we have made some big decisions about the future, moving toward a final goal of building a “forever” home on the cottage property. I also decided that it was time to sell the little house I bought in Klamath Falls back in 2002. Daughter Melody decided that as a now single mom, she needed a bit less house to manage. She has lived in the Klamath house since 2008.

Melody and my granddaughter Axel each now have an apartment at the small complex that Mo has on the edge of town in Klamath Falls. working at the apartments (10 of 12) Mo and I put some time in refurbishing those apartments, painting and cleaning, getting carpets and flooring installed so they are all nice and fresh. It was hard work but also a fun project, nice to see the apartments all pretty again. Renters are not often much fun, and don’t seem to care about how they live. I am glad that we no longer have to deal with crummy renters who trash the place.

With Melody out of the Klamath house, it was time to spruce it up for sale. I had renters in there during the time I lived in California for my final working years, and it needed fresh paint when Melody moved in back in 2008! Again, Mo and I have been busy painting, fixing, repairing and getting the house ready for market. I am really hoping that the time is right, and that she will sell quickly.

working on Painter (16 of 19) It is a great little historic bungalow in an historic neighborhood in a nice part of Klamath Falls.

finished13 Early on during this three week process, I got a phone call from the two surgeons who will be working on me, saying that the surgery had to be rescheduled from April 13 to May 4, so I gained an extra three weeks to actually get the Klamath Falls house project done. At least hopefully.

Mo and I feel like we are working again. We leave the house every morning to go to one town or another, work all day, and drive home late all tired and worn out. After surgery I am not supposed to lift anything over five pounds for 3 months! Crazy. So everything has to be done NOW or it won’t get done, at least not by me.

So, writer’s block? Yeah. I think I have a reasonable excuse.