So That You Know

I would give my life to not have to write this post.  Seriously.  But I do have to write it, and I don't want to put it off any longer.

Yesterday afternoon, we took our sweet Dug the Doodle Dog to the vet's office for the very last time.

I've alluded to him not being his usual self here, but never elaborated, because to be honest, that was hard to write too, and I wasn't really emotionally able to deal with comments and support from everyone.  I know that sounds weird, but there you go.

Dug was never an active dog in the sense that he couldn't really run, and had an odd gait.  This was a combination of him having arthritis, but also because the vet told us that it was likely that whoever had him as a puppy kept him crated except for walks, so his back leg muscles never really had the chance to properly develop.  He wasn't in any severe pain, but he was slower than most pups and more deliberate in his movements.  Needless to say, we didn't care.

When he started having serious trouble walking a couple of months ago, we took him to the vet for a check.  She felt a lump in the area of his spleen, and suggested an ultrasound.  That scan showed that his arthritis was also really bad in his spine, and that there were several tumors and masses near his spleen, kidneys, and other places.

The vet prescribed some painkillers, and suggested two things: 1) let him enjoy his life and the things that made him happy, until they didn't, and 2) take him to a local rehab place, and see if that helped at least a bit in the meantime.  We agreed that as long as he was still his happy self, we'd do whatever we could for him.  But Tuesday night and Wednesday morning it was clear he was not his usual self, and so we knew it was time.

He died having gotten lots of love from the kitties before we left, everyone at the vet's office (where he was a favorite), who kissed him, hugged him, whispered special things to him, and of course, from us.  In his last conscious moments, he knew that everyone who loved him, and those who loved him best, were right there, petting him, talking to him, kissing him.  (We should all be so lucky when our time comes, no?)

We are grateful that we could help him, and that he is no longer suffering or sick.  We know there was an entire welcoming committee - animals and people - waiting for him, to be with him.  We know he will always be with us, even if we can't hug him, walk him, watch him love the cats and love his life.

But it sucks, and it hurts and that will never change.  We know we'll never get over it, but we'll just get used to it.  We've both been through it before with so many of our other family members (human, furry, and otherwise).  We would love to have him here still, but only if he could be healthy - because to wish otherwise is selfish and cruel.

Dug was always a happy boy.  He was full of love, kindness, and he loved his life.  Anyone who would give him attention was his friend.  He liked to play, though on a calmer level, like he did everything.  He was with us for 3 1/2 years, plus a week.  We think he was ~8 years old.

He was our boy, and he is our boy, and he will always be our boy.  We love you, Dug, more than our own lives.  We'll see you again someday. xo

I've been thinking out this, and Dug never wanted anyone to be sad or upset, nor did he like to be sad or upset. So I think he would want us to follow the advice in this quote attributed to Dr. Seuss, even if we can't quite do it right away:

Don't cry because it's over, 

Smile because it happened.

Dear Dug, we are smiling through our tears right now, but know that you will always bring a smile to our hearts and our faces. Thank you for forever being our Doodle Dog, and for saving our lives, especially mine.

Be sure to kiss and hug your family, both human and otherwise, today, as soon as you have a chance.  And if you are so inclined, please say a prayer, think a good thought, or raise a glass for our sweetheart.

A Most Lovely Summertime Weekend

Before going any further into this week, I wanted to share some pictures from last weekend, which was one of those weekends in the summer when the weather and your activities work together to make it just slightly more special than the average weekend.

I may have mentioned here something I've been calling Operation Reclaim the Garden.  To provide brief background: we have a garden area on the side of our house, where at some point in time another row house existed.  It's truly lovely, walled-in and very private, and was one of the huge selling points for us for the house.  For various reasons - construction and/or street repairs on our block, surgery and recovery, etc. - over the past few years, it has only gotten the most minimal care, and had the look of returning to the wild (well, as wild as an inner city plot can get).  This year I have been determined to fix it up and return it to the lovely outside area where we could sit and enjoy being outside when the weather permitted.

The past couple of weekends, I've done quite a bit to clean it up, and though it is a small space, a lot needed to be done.  I finally have it to the point where it just needs some fine tuning and last touches to be "habitable" again, and last weekend I was able to make real progress.  I had some plants and flowers and was able to put them into pots so that the garden would actually look more like a garden!  I also fixed up some pots to put at one of the fronts of our house. ***

 A geranium and an impatiens at  the side of the door

 A gerbera daisy and a sweet potato vine next to the carport door

The garden, 90% cleaned up and ready with some flowers and the bird feeder.  The flower in the foreground is a mandevilla, and in the other pot are some pretty lavender flowers whose name currently escapes me, and another sweet potato vine.

I'm hoping that I can find some more flowers/plants to join these, but even if not, they look nice out there, and if we can find some garden chairs, etc. on sale this July 4th weekend, we'll be pretty well set.  And at a minimum, if we have to wait until next summer for that part, I won't be starting from scratch again as far as getting things ready!

So that was a pleasing endeavor, I have to tell you. :-)

Then on Saturday night, we went to the Mann Music Center here in Philadelphia for an outdoor concert.  We'd bought the tickets months ago, and had been waiting for it to actually happen.

 Paul Simon!  This is the large screen that was set up for the people with lawn seats (us), so that we could see better what was happening on the stage.

This is a (blurry) shot of the actual stage from our seats.  (I told The Tim that I felt bad that Paul Simon looked like such a little speck from where we were, but then realized that even close up, he's a small guy!)

It was one of the best concerts ever.  He and his band came out about 8:15 p.m., and played/sang without stopping until 10:45.  There were songs from his new album, as well as some of the oldies everyone loves.  The audience consisted of people of all ages, which was nice to see.  The weather cooperated, and was perfect - you know, the kind of night you hope for when you know you'll be outside.

I think one of my favorite parts was when they got to "You Can Call Me Al," and the audience was up dancing and singing the chorus.  It was so much fun when every person was enjoying the same thing and singing along!

It's gonna be hard to top last weekend, I've gotta say ... :-)


***our house is two row houses joined back to back.  So we have two "main" entrances.  The entrance where the plants are is the one we use most often, since it's where the entry to the carport is as well.  We technically live at three addresses:  our mailing address on one street, and then our house and carport/garden/lot on the other street, where some of the utilities are registered.  

Buttery Rhubarb Muffins

Hello and Happy Friday!  I'm having a bit of a rough day, as I fell yesterday on my way home from work, and have some killer bruises to show for it.  On my elbows and knees, so of course where I actually need to bend ... but compared to The Big Fall, it's nothing.  But add to it that I have a dentist appt for later this morning for a filling, and ... well, I needed a way to make it a better day. :-)

So I thought maybe I would share some recipes with all of you now and then.  This first one is a true yum-fest!  Of course, if you are not a rhubarb fan, you won't think so - in that case, you should head over to someone else's blog!

Anyway, I love rhubarb.  And it isn't around for very long, so I thought I'd share this today.  Usually when we get rhubarb, I make stewed rhubarb, which both of us like, but I wanted to look for something different.  I have tried a rhubarb cake (recipe next time!) which was a winner, but just this past Sunday, I made these muffins, and they are D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S.  Unfortunately, I failed to note the source of this recipe; it's from a magazine, but I don't remember which  one, and for that I apologize.

******

Buttery Rhubarb Muffins

1/2 cup butter

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup sour cream (I used light sour cream (which is what we had), and it worked fine)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

2 cups diced rhubarb

Set oven to 400 degrees F.

Cook butter over medium-low heat until browned (~ 4 minutes); cool.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate, smaller bowl or large measuring cup, mix sour cream, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla, and cooled butter.

Stir liquid ingredients into flour mixture, and fold in rhubarb.  Fill 12 lined muffin cups with mixture and bake for 18-22 minutes.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes, and then remove and allow to cool completely.

Makes 12 large muffins.

******

It's really pretty straightforward, and the results are worth it.  I can also tell you that 12 muffins for two people is a lot, so I froze some.  I had one yesterday, and it was just as yummy, so they freeze well.

Let me know if you try them, and what you think. And have a great weekend!

Birds, Bugs, and Boxes of Water

Those are just a few of the topics that Kathy is asking about this week.  I decided to post this today, since I'm not participating in Ten on Tuesday this week.  Carole wanted us to list 10 Things To Do While Listening to an Audiobook, and to be honest, I only listen when I am working on a basic knitting project (no charts, counting, etc.) or when I'm wide awake and can't get to sleep easily.  So that was not gonna happen, you know?

So - onward to see what I have to say about the following questions.

1. My neighbor's trumpet vine is in bloom.  What's your preference?  Hummingbirds or butterflies?

I like hummingbirds, but I see more butterflies, so I'm going with that.

2. What's your preference - boxed water or bottled water?

I am one of the few people I know who drink tap water.  Even if for some reason I have bottled water, I'll generally refill it from the tap.  I have a container that I fill up and put in the fridge.

Every time I think of boxed water, I think of an episode of the show "Difficult People," where boxed water played a part in the overall story. It's a stupid show, about a couple of annoying and annoyed New Yorkers, and they are terrible people.  I think it's hilarious.   As I said to a friend, maybe I identify with them sometimes?

3. For next to your skin softness, do you prefer angora, cashmere, alpaca, or acrylic?

I'm not overly picky.  I hate anything itchy or too hairy.  And to be perfectly honest, the absolute softest sweater I have is a really old acrylic sweater.  So go figure.

4. Do you prefer an alcoholic drink before, during, or after dinner?

Depends on the drink.  I enjoy wine anytime.  I enjoy mimosas or bloody Marys with brunch.  But most mixed drinks I prefer after dinner (or very much before).  So ... yes? ;-)

5. What cuts into your knitting time more, others in your home or your wanderings on the Internet?

Most of the time I'm on my own, so it's usually the Internet black hole.

6. Would you rather have a snowstorm as in a blizzard, or a heat wave with violent thunderstorms?

Snowstorm/blizzard.  I like thunderstorms, but despise heat waves.  Summer and I are seldom on good speaking terms, whereas winter and I are best friends.

7. You just won an all expenses paid trip to a Fiber Festival. Would you go alone or try to bring a knit pal along?

I would ask only certain people if they wanted to come along, and if they could not, I'd happily go on my own.  For instance, when I've gone to MD Sheep and Wool in the past, it's been nice to have someone to go around with for at least part of the day.  But I also like to walk around on my own.  A few years back, I was with someone who stuck to me like glue the whole day and I was miserable.

Hm.  I didn't mean for my answers to sound so contrary ... I'm actually pretty easygoing, but I guess when you ask me for specific answers, I have a lot to say!  :-)

Like All Good Things ...

My vacation must end.  Sigh.  Tomorrow it's back to my depressing and frustrating job (I've already started back with my anxiety dreams!), and the schedule that is determined by someone else.  Such is life, and as I always tell myself, the good things are better because they don't happen all of the time.

And it was a great week.  Lots of day trips, lots of time with Dug and the kitties, lots of knitting and reading, lots of catching up on shows/movies we had recorded.

When I last checked in, we were having a day at home to wait for a furniture delivery and I had  haircut appt.  We are thrilled with our new chairs!  They look nice in the room - actually make the room look larger - and are really comfy.  I have been enjoying rocking in mine.  The cats are shocked because of course SOMETHING HAS CHANGED and that is always suspicious as far as they are concerned. ;-) And you know how it is, just one new thing makes the whole place seem new.

Thursday, we headed to the Barnes Foundation for the very first time ever.  We had seem some selections years ago at an exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but had never visited the mother ship.  This was largely because it used to be in the 'burbs, and access was extremely restricted and reservations had to be made months in advance.  Once it moved to the city, it was within walking distance, but pretty expensive admission prices kept us from going.  At the beginning of last week, The Tim received a notification of a Funsaver that allowed you to purchase tickets for half price - meaning both of us could go for what it would usually cost for one person.  So we took advantage of it, and went first thing on Thursday morning.

Absolutely wonderful.  Lovely, amazing, whatever you want to call it.  Of course, I am fan of the Impressionists, and there were lots of those paintings.  We did learn that Mr. Barnes had the largest collection of paintings by Renoir in the world!  They are arranged the way he had them arranged in his house, which is somewhat random, and which makes some hard to see up close, but it was still so much fun to see the art!  I learned that I like Henri Matisse much more than I realized before.  Which is fine with me, but I was kinda surprised.  The visit took up the better part of the day, and then we took Dug to his rehab appt.  For some reason, I had pad thai on the brain, so we went to a nearby Thai restaurant for dinner.  A good end to a perfect day.

Friday, we used the day to work on things around the house.  We'd each made a list of five things we wanted to do over the week, and both of us had house and garden/deck things on our lists!  So Friday was our most productive day, but since we had wanted that, it didn't seem like a day of chores.  Does that make sense?  Then Friday night we went to Rita's and got gelati, and took Dug with us.  Both of us had also put "Do something special with Dug" on our list, and he LOVES Rita's!  He was one happy pup, let me tell you (we were pretty happy too).

Yesterday was "gardening" day.  The Tim worked on his vegetable plants on the deck (he'd refinished it on Friday), and I worked on what I am calling Project Garden Reclamation.  We have a lovely enclosed garden on one side of our house, and for various reasons, over the past few summers, we have not done anything with it.  As a result, weeds, overgrown bushes, etc. had taken over and needed to be dealt with. I spent the morning pulling weeks, and getting things so that you could see the exposed brick again. Another thing on both of our lists was "get a new dishwasher."  The dishwasher that was in our house when we moved in ~ 20 years ago was old even then.  It stopped working long ago. and since we want to replace the kitchen countertops (a whole 'nother story), we figured it was time for a new dishwasher.  So off to Home Depot, where - just because we lucked out - the one we wanted was on sale (by quite a lot!).  So our new dishwasher will be delivered on June 29!  YAY!

Today, The Tim had to return to work.  So I spent the morning sweeping up the stuff in the garden from yesterday, and putting it in trash bags to be picked up with tomorrow's trash.  I hereby declare Project Garden Reclamation Part 1 completed.

So the rest of the day has been laundry, bills - the usual weekend stuff.  But I did get out some of my wind chimes and put them out, and that makes me happy.  (There are others, but I have to get rid of stuff in front of them on the storage shelf before I can get to them.  I may have a wind chime problem.)

I really can't complain (though of course I do).  It was a week that was one of the best ever.  Once I get organized, I'll share some of the pictures.  The weekend after next is a long weekend for the Fourth of July, so I have my next thing to anticipate. (I do much better when I have a "next thing" to look forward to.)

Do I wish I had a different job, or that I could afford to work part-time?  You bet.  But I had a week of great vacation, and some people don't even come close to that.  So I'll live, you know?

Let's hope this week is a good one for all of us.  :-)