A Chicken in Every Pot

Up and starting my morning,

Sadie and I take our time

on my day off.  I kept hearing

this squawking sound.

I thought my neighbor's bird

was distressed because he

had left her alone ......

much to my surprise, when we


went out the door, there was a cat

in a crouched position in the front yard.

No surprise, we have plenty of cats ....

what WAS a surprise was that the

cat was pursuing this chicken!

And the chicken wasn't happy with it!!!

Ahhh.....  neighborhood oddities!!

Mine's a Pug-ly World!

It's Saturday, in the real world.  In my world, tomorrow is my "Monday".  I had Friday and Saturday off from my BigBox Store.  I took Sadie back to the vet on Friday to have her ears re-checked and they did another application of the "ear stuff" just to be sure it doesn't come back so soon.

I was a very anxious "pug momma" on the drive over and back again.  Even though Sadie is over 6 years old now, she has never gotten over the excitement and anxiety she gets when riding in the car.  I used to take her everywhere, then knocked it back to once a week ..... she just never outgrew that puppy excitement of car travel.  When I'm driving to Tucson - a 2 hour drive - for more than the first hour, she never settles in and just chills for the drive.  I think she probably might if she got to sit on my lap!  But at 32 lbs, she's just too big to fit there so that I can drive!! 

It all went pretty well, and I arrived back home safe with her, with no reaction to heat this time.  I made sure the appointment was first thing in the morning just for that reason!  But as I get older, it's just not safe for me to be driving and trying to control her in the car at the same time.  If I want to travel with her more often, I need to train her to a car kennel.

She's of a mind where she wants to be in the same room with me, at every waking moment, and yet she's used to being asleep much of the day when I'm at work, so every time we sit down, she's snoring again.  hehehe  So far today she's "helped me" hang wallpaper, spray paint a picture frame, fill a cement crack in the backyard patio .... yeah, you get the picture.  It's like having a two year old follow you around to "help" !!! 

It's a crazy pug-ly world I live in! 

Being Creative

July 7th:  I'm a Gal who enjoys expressing herself through photography, writing and being creative in general.  What that really means is some of the DIY stuff - decorating, building, crafting.  When my daughter was getting married, I found glass vases at Goodwill, spray painted them and decorated with her colors.  Fun and crafty!

Over the past few weeks, I've felt the need to upgrade in my own house, finding some sticky wallpaper that I applied over the kitchen counters as a backsplash.  I liked it so well, I decided to do a feature wall in a wood look print with hints of turquoise.  At the same time, I bought an inexpensive floor lamp at Walmart and painted it turquoise so now my living room has an accent color that "makes your eye dance around the room" (to quote the House Doctor on Netflix).

But today I was more practical, using my day off to fetch my son from across town.  He went up on the roof and sealed the little things that protrude from a rooftop so they won't leak during monsoon season.  We do this every other year or so.  Just to be on the safe side!  The sun is brutal this time of year, and dries things out; they crack then leak, and I know I certainly can't afford a new ceiling in my home.   Thank goodness I have a son willing to help his momma out!

Because my son works the overnight shift in a local home improvement store, we both had hamburgers for breakfast - we had to get the roof done early because of today's record heat!  Yesterday was 116+ and today feels like it's about to be the same.  I have my AC set on 80, and I'm shivering. lol  Yes, very weird, but when it's 35 degrees colder inside than out ......

I'm rambling because after I took him home, I found myself at loose ends, not wanting to start any other projects as tomorrow it's back to work.  Yick.  I'm becoming a little hmmm bored at work?  Every now and then there's a weird lull in what needs to be done and the week with a holiday in it can do that.  Next week it will ramp up again back to it's old normal busy.  In the meantime, it's mundane work like making sure the files are kept current, double checking things in case there's some kind of weird audit that management tends to spring on us at a moment's notice.


July 19:  I started this thread about a couple of weeks ago, and sure enough, there was a surprise audit on Monday - never a best day in the world of retail because most weekend employees  are focused on helping all the customers in the store. 

I nearly had to force myself to get out and about, snap a few photos on Wednesday - a day off work, and other than grocery shopping, nothing on the agenda except keeping cool.  It was a little hot to be wandering the local park, but I toughed it out for about an hour.  A nice needed break in the middle of the week to just be a little creative. 

I found the ducks on the pond all seeking some kind of shade for themselves.

But the dragonflies didn't seem to mind, they just buzzed themselves from here to there, seeking whatever it is that dragonflies seek.  Love the purple shade of this one!

Pug Momma

I have a pug.  Her name is Sadie.  She's really my daughter's dog ... and as my son would say "How's that workin' for ya?"  because I've had her since she was just months old.  My daughter thought she was adorbs!  And she was the cutest puppy ever!  But puppies are a LOT of work.  And when it became too much, she called me and asked if I would take care of Sadie for her.  I told her she could have her back after 1 year.  That was in 2012.  lol 

Today, Sadie is just over 6 years old.  As a pug, she has a short snout and breathing difficulties on the best of days.  In our summer heat here in the Valley of the Sun, it's really bad for her.  We take very early morning walks and then she's an indoor dog the rest of the time.  I even refrain from putting her in the car any more because she hyperventilates and as she gets older, it takes longer for that to subside after she's back in the house. 

We had an appointment at the vet today, and a ride in the hot car, plus the odd environment of the vet, and she was stressed to the max.  After we left, we had to climb into my hot car.  Halfway home, she started acting funny.  It appeared she was having a seizure.  (And in a way she was.)  When we got home, I carried her in, she couldn't walk without bumping into things, looking like she was on a three-day bender.  I tried to get her to get a drink of water, but she couldn't bring in enough air fast enough.  I cranked the AC on, grabbed a towel soaked in water and laid it over her.  I turned a fan directly on her to cool her down as fast as I could. 

It took about 30 minutes of this to get her to seem more normal, and another hour before the panting truly subsided.  What I don't know is if there is anything else that happened during her seizure.  I guess I'll see over the next few days how she is, and cross my fingers that I did what was needed for her.

I hope that's the last of it! 
But I know that as she gets older,
other things may begin to happen.
*sigh*
The life of a Pug Momma

Arizona Living

The work day just ended and I walk out the door to very high temps -- 116+ -- and blue skies overhead.  I hop in my car and very carefully grab the seatbelt as the metal part gets very hot! and snap it in place, fire up my Cruze and turn toward home.  The onboard dash reads the outside temp as 119F.

Off over the mountains, about 10 miles away, I can see clouds -- oh boy, maybe a monsoon is headed our way!  As I drive about a mile toward those mountains, I can see low in the center of the dark clouds a bit of yellowish white and then my phone buzzes me with an alert.  Dust storm advisory until 5:30pm!

I drive another mile and I can see that this yellowish white patch has gotten taller, and much wider.  I cross my fingers that I'll reach home before the onslaught of wind and debris reaches me.  I turn a corner - two miles from home - and I can tell it's closer with every minute that ticks off the clock.  Another mile to go, and bits of leaves and gusts of wind buffet the side of my car as I pass each side street.  I miss the final light before my turnoff, so there I sa
t for another 90 seconds, watching the winds pick up.  The light finally turns green and I give her some gas, another half mile to go.  I watch a bird trying to fly from left to right in front of me straight into the wind.  He didn't make it to the grassy area but only reached the sidewalk.  Just past this grassy park is my turn for home, and I'm relieved that I'm finally home!

As the dust storm passes over my house, inside becomes so dark that I turn on the living room lights.  The wind kicks at my wind chimes and set them off, adding a nice tinkling noise.  Odd comforts as the rest of the storm passes through.

I am thankful that these dust storms don't last if you're in one spot.  They usually pass through in under 20 minutes, unless it's a really large one.  If you're out on the road, it can be worse than driving in fog.  You can't see very far in front of you; at the same time, you feel your car rocking with every blast of wind.  Then there's the other drivers, you have no idea if they are practiced in driving in any kind of wicked weather. 

ADOT tweeted this photo - thank goodness I drive all surface streets to and from work!

1..2.. Lights Out!

As always, a busy day at work.  But I've been "sticking to it" and hitting the gym during my lunch hour.  Today, I got there, changed clothes and jumped on the treadmill.  I got my stride going, and was just getting into a real rhythm, completing my first quarter mile when .... ZZZZZZzzz ..... we lost all power.  The dim emergency lights kick on, the folks using weight machines and the ellipticals were OK - they don't require power to run.  And I thought "hmm, I could stick this out, hop on some other machine ...."  BUT without power, there's no AC.  Now, I'm not a wimp - ok, not MUCH of a wimp - but it's 105 outside, and there is no AC and no fans.  And I have to go back to work after this. 

I grabbed my cell phone and found my way into the ladies' changing room (where there are no emergency lights) and by the dim light of my cell phone, I'm trying to dial up the combination on my lock.  I usually leave my glasses in the car when I'm working out, so add in a whole lot of squinting in the dim light and I'm praying "please open please open please open" and click, it did!  Hooray!

Get out of the gym clothes and back into street clothes, hoping I don't leave anything behind, or wear anything inside out!  And the thought occurs to me:  Power may be out in MY store as well, since we're kaddy korner to the local PF.  So I zipped around a major block because street lights are out and not all Arizonans stop for street lights not working!  I didn't want to try and cross 6 lanes of traffic, so I took the scenic route back to my store.  And nope, power wasn't out!   Thank goodness!




Needless to say, I'm feeling a little bit cheated on my workout, but that's ok because with all the heat and being really busy in the store, I've still managed over 14k steps again today!  

I know that whatever I need to do to reach some new goals won't happen overnight, so I'm trying to be patient, and consistent.  And I'm trying new things.  Today's new:  vegetable lasagna

It was pretty good!  I'd buy it again.