My Dog is Prejudiced

We have FINALLY reached the last week of Digressuary: Thank Digression for THAT! GAH! So I thought I would share with you an observation I've made...

My Dog is prejudiced. Seriously.

Some dogs can be finicky, I get that. But Joel can be downright peevish. There are people he does and doesn't like... And dogs he does and doesn't like. And when he doesn't like someone, he is sort of a butt.


Now the people aren't so hard to figure out. He is a small dog... short more than lean... in fact only short... short and thickish... (so who can blame him for feeling like much of the world has it out for him, eh?) And so he likes people who are small... child-sized... toddlers are best... and he likes people who are patient enough to let HIM warm up FIRST.

Dogs, on the other hand, were sort of a mystery... some (few) dogs he's friendly with, most he ignores, and a couple he is REALLY SNOTTY to... and last night on my walk I figured it out. My dog hates spaniels. He's racist. I'm so embarrassed.

My husband and I have never talked poorly of spaniels in our home. I mean admittedly, we've never HAD one, but we are FRIENDS with some. We don't snub them.

So I started thinking... see, Joel is part Corgi... and the QUEEN has Corgis... I wonder if he's feeling a royal superiority thing... if what he actually is is CLASSIST. I mean spaniels are dogs of commoners, yes? To test this, I will have to introduce him the the King Charles Spaniel around the corner, as if it's a classist thing, that particular breed ought to get a pass.

Whatever the case, I am thinking it is time to take up some sensitivity training with Joel. If he doesn't shape up soon, I might even have to tell him he's adopted.

He's pouting about being photographed in his safe place... I haven't scolded him yet...

Jackie, Jean & Joel

So instead of writing a blog post last night, I had a cocktail and shortcake with Jackie and Jean. But those are J names... and today is a J day... and our little trio is special. And yes, you may take that multiple ways. But the way I'm going to TELL you about is, THIS is my Couch to Keg team.

Regulars know the story, but I hope you'll forgive me in telling it again.

In September, two of my neighbors and I got to talking about needing some exercise and decided to take it on together. We chose the Couch to 5K program because it seemed manageable (still seems like it ought to be, but never mind), and so we started. (we really need a pic of the 3 of us)

Kevin is ALSO a farm duck. *cough*

And then, on one of our cool down walks, we saw our other neighbor Kevin. Not a single member of Kevin's family has a J in their name. But Kevin is nevertheless, a very friendly guy. He and I often talk microbrews, as we are deep appreciators of good beer.

So when we told Kevin we were the Couch to 5K team, what HE HEARD was Couch to Keg. And heck. Who were we to argue with such impeccable logic. We exercise so that we have room in our diet for a couple cocktails. That is just the honest fact of it.

We never GOT to 5K running, but we are STILL, 8 months later, walking pretty regularly. So this is a good thing. And it is a GREAT thing to have gotten closer to these two fabulous women. I adore them.


And now Joel

Joel is our dog. He got a haircut last Saturday and HOLY COW, since the last time he was low on fluff, I swear he's lost about 8 pounds (which means probably 20% of his weight). He looks so good!

Before:  18 months ago. And the fur is not ALL the extra

After--isn't he svelte?

The really big deal, though, is how much better he feels. We changed his diet last summer after a bout of Pancreatitis to home made:  brown rice, chicken and green beans. He LOVES it. But he's also lost a ton of weight. He now runs more, walks farther, dances around more, and you can really just tell. (We also give him carrots for treats--switched those years ago).  He is, we think, 9 or 10, and he seems MUCH healthier than he has since he was only 3 or 4.

Dogs and BEES!

So just before Halloween, my friend Tina posted a link to a website that was cuter than cute...


http://www.beedogs.com/

Doesn't Joel make a good bee?

You need to go look at them. They are cuter than cute. And Tina, in her enthusiasm, said she wanted the dogs in her life to have bee costumes... and look who got one!!!

When it arrived, my daughter called me at work and said, “Mom? There's a package here for Joel...” teehee. Love that...

So in celebration of dogs and bees and dogs who dress like bees, I thought I'd suggest to any of you doing any fall planting to choose some flowers and shrubs that BEES like. After all, they are what keep us all eating. They are the major pollinators of the foods we buy and without them, we'd have to go through a lot of very complicated fake stuff or our food supply would not form fruit. Also, along those lines, avoid pesticides... Our bee population is actual in danger, and then we'll be in trouble.


When I was a kid, I was terrified of bees. I think it is because people use the term bee for a number of pesky stinging evil things that don't do ANY of the good stuff, and do a whole bunch of mean, rotten things, like stinging small children. Wasps, hornets, yellow jackets... let's make a pact and NOT call any of those things bees anymore. Bees are the good guys.

Glad this was empty before I noticed it.

THIS thing, is NOT from a good guy... Best as I can tell, it is a hornet's nest. It is huge—about the size of a basketball. It was hanging from a tree about halfway down our block and my husband asked them if he could have it after they died (the first frost kills them) so he brought it home last week. Pretty freaky, in my opinion. My neighbor has yellow jackets in the rock wall around the base of some trees. Poor Joel has been stung in the lip a few times... here is some useful advice—you probably shouldn't eat yellow jackets. But it is the wasps that cling their paper mache homes on the side of our house that really bug me.

Yet... NONE OF THESE is bees... repeat after me, we LIKE BEES. It's those poser, bee-wannabes we don't like.


Side note: It is elections in the US today, but odd years tend to not have much important on the ballot. I am debating voting, as I know none of the names one way or the other for such jobs as 'school board' and to my knowledge, there aren't big bonds or levies... should probably look into that before the day is out. If you DO live in a district with anything important going on, though, be sure to get out there and vote!

Over-Processed

So you all remember my cutie patootie poochie, Joel, yes?

A couple weeks ago Joel was... stodgie... had an obviously irritated... bowel... bad... yucky (messy even). And the hubby took him to the vet to see what was the matter...

Poor Joel had pancreatitis! He was getting too much fat in his diet!

The clincher is he has ALWAYS eaten Iams Weight Control, and we are careful on volume... he gets carrots for treats...

The vet gave us special food, then told hubster what we could MAKE for him if we preferred...


The food we've begun making is rice, chicken and we've been alternating sweet potatoes and green beans.

In two weeks on this non-processed food, Joel has lost a pound and a half... And you can TELL how much better he feels!  So much more energy... happier...

Okay, so the difference isn't that apparent...

And it got me thinking...


I'm a Big Fat Cow...

And it is time to cut the processed food out of MY diet too... maybe this will help me... I can only hope... Okay, so that's a digression... Just... some of the pictures the other night made me cringe. It's gotten out of hand and I need to get it back under control.


But it ALSo , it got me thinking about BOOKS...

And formulas... and rules, and stringency...

I've read some novels that follow the rules... too well... that fit in everything exactly where it should go... and I think that now and then, it is okay, but too much of that, and it is... you know... too much of that... Like too much processed food... it leaves us flabby and unattractive... (and lazy and unenergetic) I've decided what I really love are the novels written with full on HEART that then are brought into line JUST ENOUGH to make it through the labyrinth to publishing... Leave it more natural... shake it up a little... Leave in the individuality of the thing...

I know that isn't what I'm supposed to say. I like a lot of novels that follow all the rules. But those aren't the novels that I love. And nutritionally (erm... metaphorically speaking) I'm not sure those novels are the best for me. I think the rule breakers stretch me and grow me... INSPIRE ME... Show me what is POSSIBLE... Make me dream of what I might become... Now Joel had the same diet for a long time before it was unhealthy... But I think it would be nice to avoid all that... mix it up a little...

It's possible I only see it this way because the rebel in me needs to, but there you have it.

What do you think?  Do you like books that do what they're supposed to? Or books that break some rules?