By the light of day

This has been a stressful week with dog-siting Jazmin the 16 month old golden pup.She barks and barks at night until I go sleep with her in the guest room, then she barks in the early morning jumping up and down going CRAZY until I let her outside then I quickly get dress and take her for a walk in hopes to leave my old calm lazy pets at home and give them a break from her craziness. It's a beautiful world out there at 8am in the warming new spring season and I have walked everywhere once again over the town of Boise in which I love so much! Yet today Jazmin goes home and I will take a long peaceful nap finally!

She is such a beautiful dog, huge and strong, clueless and not trained but willing to learn and willing to please so I will hope for the best in her life to be better and her aging to calm her down more. But as the light of morning found us walking the greenbelt or the foothills she never seemed very sure about nature, never sure about bonding with me. In our late afternoons we ran around town together walking around the state capital or all the sidewalks for 10 blocks and back. I like how calm she is when I drive but I will not miss her endless barking tonight and It was a busy week I kept her with me everywhere but she never could calm down in the evenings so I was glad to be strong enough to hold her leash and walk in the early morning scent of this beautiful world AND I am glad she is going home today as I put flowers in vases yesterday her tail smacked the first bouquet to the floor and I quickly put it up higher laughing at how she still had no clue that she caused that where as my 3 little dogs would of been looking guilty or alarmed by such chaos to unfold around them. 

Soooooo Taking a deep breath every early morning, chugging down my coffee and holding strong to Jazmin leash and commanding "Sit, sit, sit....calm down, let's walk." Then taking off beside the moving river and listening to the song birds made me grateful that I could smell lilacs in the air of lacking sleep and dog covered hair on my sweater. I liked having this busy crazy week to make me realize just how calm I truly live right now with all my loving lazy pets.

Krishna Das - By Your Grace- Jai Gurudev

Days of Jazmin

         

 It came up so suddenly that I am dog sitting this huge beautiful puppy named Jazmin, Her owner is an older woman in her sixties so this 16 month old runs circles around her. I could sense instantly that Jazmin's owner is a sad lonely lady as we met for the first time. This happens all the time when people think a brand new puppy needs to come into their lives and help them not be so lonely, however what ends up happening more time then not is that adorable puppy grows up quickly while their new owner is still struggling in deep grief or pain. Then all kinds of behavioral issues unfold in which both companions struggle with each other.....This is the story for Jazmin, she is a wild one, more wild then I can remember ever dog-sitting before. 

By the end of this week I will have done all I could to help her yet I am not sure I can ever bring her back into my home since I am truly grateful to have such a utopia here with 3 old well mannered dogs and 3 old lazy cats.....These pets of mine look discussed and betrayed by the sudden craziness of Jazmin. I won't put them through this again, I understand now just being there for people can't always work when I have to dedicate my whole life (even all night long) to training a completely crazy puppy!

My husband isn't happy with me for not realizing the depth of stress simply dog-sitting would cause.  As Jazmin howls all night long and barks at weird lights or shadows on the walls I find myself worried over the mental state of this very bored easily excited puppy? As I sleep with her on my guest bed I see a need in her to please and to be with someone always but she is just so confused. Yet she will not settled down completely, she naps for an hour maybe and only really relaxes when she is riding in the car with me.

 I am working hard to keep her balanced and worn out. We walk for miles and climb up foothills, we walk all through downtown, go by the zoo and walk even run a bit by the Boise river. Her attention isn't devoted to me, she isn't aware of nature nor really sure what to think about chasing the ball in the dog park instead she bites her leg and tail, goes crazy barking and scratching at reflections of light on the floor. When it comes to meal time the word to describe her is INSANE.  There is no calming her down at the idea of food, she wildness even bites at my hand holding her dish and as I try to work with her there is something that snaps in her and she is GONE. I find this to be the most dangerous time with her of all! 
I wish I could figure out how to not get plowed over for her food? I wonder why she is crazy maybe she is starving as a growing puppy or maybe she fears this is the only food she will ever get? As I leave her in the guestroom to eat I realize one day that bad behavior over eating so fast and desperately could grow into a huge aggression.
In fact she is very aggressive I have been training her all the while she still does what she wants to do in a puppy cute manipulating dance, she knows what she is doing while she acts clueless. Her owner said she wasn't aggressive at all but instead very skittish. What I see is however is that she might not bite you or another dog until backed into a corner but she WILL do whatever she wants. I am a bit worn out taking care of her, I couldn't imagine being 30 years older trying to keep up and I wonder if Jazmin knows  she can out run, out wit and out last her owner? I am glad to walk with her for her beauty gets many people smiling, many people admire her. I love to have a reason to climb the foothills and to help her wear out, I like petting her once she finally sits down and I hope her life story is one that ends good for all I can do is watch over her this week and learn just how important it is to match your own life style to your dog, how no matter the sadness in life one should be healthy and strong if taking on a big puppy like her or else chaos unfolds.....Nothing can save us from loneliness or heart ache, being distracted by a dog full of energy however will make you realize how important it is to be ready for young blood and new adventures to make sure you can out run and out smart your newest family member in order to stay in charge and in control. Jazmin will no doubt calm down as this week goes by, she is already more aware of my commands but my family here will not miss her when she goes home on Saturday. 
It's a good reminder of how peaceful and calm my own "pack" really is if I were to forget and dog-sit a puppy again

Days of Gratitude

      

Whenever my mother comes to stay with me, I feel more organized and ready for her stay. For each time she comes here to sleep in my adorable guest room full of rainbow colors and simple decor I am setup with things I learned I needed from her last stay. In my guest room while she is here I have a bright pink lamp, a green dresser with all her stuff on it beside her bed and on the right hand side where she can lay there reaching for a Kleenex or a sip of water. She has a baggie of celery sticks that help her from coughing so much as she chews them. In my guest room for her stay I have a tall fan on her bedside with 3 of 4 pillows all around to lift up and support hr paralyzed side. The fact that it's only 5 steps to bathroom is also very nice as we trek there several times a night. I keep my own personal stock of all the items she would ever need in my guest room closet, I wash all her dirty clothes through the day so she is never without and doesn't need to pack so much in the end. The fact she changes 3 or 4 times a day is all about how much she has sweated or traveled around. When I am with her I'm very grateful to have all these comforts for her, to have a long couch out in our living room for her to watch TV or read her book while my cats and dogs nap on her legs and feet. I am not far away in my kitchen cooking while she talks to me, I can easily roll her dinner table right up to her from the same couch and change her positions very naturally. As I space out each and every meal with setting her up right away with a salad or a fruit plate I cook away some kind of protein, usually I plan out a dish of fish or shrimp since my father doesn't like it and would never serve that in their home. Each late night has a fun berry dessert with yogurt or no sugar whip cream. I am all about making healthy foods for her because when she eats out she isn't concerned with that. I am truly grateful that I am strong and I am happy enough to help her. I can take her places and steady her balance in the shower. Wanting her to have as much comfort and fun as possible. It can feel tiring in the middle of the night as she gets so restless and vocal. I try to reason with her about sleeping in a bit longer as the gray morning walk to the bathroom has her excited to start her days in Boise. I can sleep at the drop of a hat when she is here, when I get her settled into the couch on a warm afternoon then she dozes off, I flop onto my messy bed or sleep directly below her on the living room floor. When she sleeps 4 hours straight I am THRILLED, I feel like I have renewed energy for her demands and activities once again. It's not easy to keep up on good sleep when my mother is around but I am grateful to understand how important and vital such sleep IS. These are the days of Gratitude when I can give my mother a good time, a healthy focus and a listening ear to all her sufferings.  I wish this had never happen to her, I wish she never had a stroke and I wish I had never known such trauma, but I can't change the past simply wishing it all back the way it once was, even though we weren't as close as we are now I still would of preferred her body whole and well, our time together maybe a few hours or maybe a few moments of argument back then. I remember it well, for she was always on the move, the run and the stress in her life to get it all done. Sitting over tea was a waste of her day back in her old self, now this week we sat for 3 hours at a coffee shop downtown sharing in all her memories and planning to make this summer a fun one for her too. I pushed her wheel chair downtown among old buildings and bright sunshine as she said "I use to go here, go shopping with my mother when I was a teenager! Back then this was the main street of traffic and it only took us an afternoon to see every shop in town...now we would need a week to see all these stores again like that." I laughed out loud explaining "I wouldn't even try, you can get me into one or 2 shops then I would say time to sit down for lunch and walk through the city park now." My Mother replied "How are you going to find good deals if you don't look for them everyday?" I pushed on as she shared more old memories of her life thinking to myself that the best deal in life I am ever going to find is to enjoy my time on this earth, to enjoy my time with my mother and simply be grateful to be outside and grateful to be alive!

http://foodmatters.tv/content/cultivating-habits-of-being-grateful

Earth Day

Now I know I'm always saying that EVERYDAY is Earth Day for us living in such a BEAUTIFUL planet, but I also thought it was funny in this week of  the Earth day celebration I was covered in dirt from head to toe almost every night as the sun light disappeared :-)
Having my mother stay with me while my strong hard working brother Davey helped me get all my yard projects done has been truly successful and now the place looks so good for the soon to arrived Summer time! Happy Earth Day indeed for I've seen a lot of it lately and I LOVED every minuet too <3

Stuff in Spring Cleaning

When it comes spring cleaning I wonder HOW did I get all this STUFF?
I love deep cleaning, getting my step stool and sweeping down the ceilings to wiping the walls to scrubbing the floor boards to mopping the floor. In each room there are bugs in the light fixture and in the floor vents I am always amazed at how much work cleaning is. How can I cook dinner when dusting 3 book shelves and each book? No wonder a place as huge as  "Downton Abby" had a person for every section of the home or else it would all fall apart!
My love for "The story of Stuff." has changed my life over the last decade and I am by far much happier in having more time for myself to delight in good fun things more then when I was younger working all the time to buy into that idea of "success".
The story of stuff will always be there so I have learned by saying "NO, I don't need that." or "my time using that is now over." I keep my home cozy and clean in an easy way, no storage fees or wasted time moving boxes from one room to another feeling overwhelmed or stressed out. I only own the items I actually use and every year for spring I clean out my home from winter hibernation in awe of all things gathered here.
Time to take charge of the social system in hounding us to buy their stuff, the whole system could be fixed if we put an end to money in politics and put money into our communities for a better quality of life. I love a fresh cleaned out home, AND I would love a fresh clean government too! So here's to "spring cleaning." out there :-)

 

Blooming

Slowly in this new spring season I am noticing all kinds of flowers and blossoming trees, as I drive around day after day to get my husband to his classes and his office sometimes my elderly neighbor Bernice rides with me, especially if we are running to the store. (The only kind of shopping we like is the food and home store NOT the mall or any big department store.) Bernice exclaimed "Downtown Boise sure has changed since I stopped driving, not that I came down here much before it's just so different I am not sure where we are, I'm glad YOU are driving!" I chuckled back explaining where we were as the car moved on back up the hill to our homes and our quiet calm good life once again. Bernice exclaimed "Look at all these flowering trees, they are just so beautiful!" I told her we should plan on doing a picnic this summer and she can get out down by the river again. She suddenly remembered that's where her childhood farm was at least 80 some years ago before this area grew in like this. I sighed to myself thinking how it's always something about the past that makes me wish I was born then as she describes her kind father and beautiful landscape.....It's funny how fast our minds take us back in time, how our memories give us insight to the things we are dealing with today. Bernice has so many stories even some I have heard a few times over but I always love listening to them again for how else will I remember everything she is teaching me? When Bernice returned home after her back surgery and recovery in the summer of 2011 I lived next door and could go help her put her socks and shoes on every morning this is how our friendship began, every night I would take them off then help her to bed so she healed properly and recovered slowly from a walker to a cane to now walking just fine again. We go grocery shopping every couple of weeks and I can find her pretty easy after I run through my own list then I help hold all her coupons, I help her get to the check out and she always buys her dog a toy or treat. This winter she asked me to come clean for her once a week as she wears out quickly anymore. I truly LOVE cleaning like this, I love organizing and creating a place for everything to fit nicely and even stage it a bit for a cozy classy look! Sometimes she had big projects for me to work on all afternoon like storage or the pantry, these kind of days leave me dirty from head to toe but I sure enjoy the finished look! 
Slowly in this new spring season I am excitedly waiting for it to warm up more so we can garden together, Bernice who knows so much about gardening, about birds and trees. She still buys flowers and pots to fill her patio chair with color and beauty! And no matter what I am doing she  reminds me to sit awhile for a break and a nice long conversation over ice water or hot tea, I sure do love her friendship! I love how right now her whole yard is blooming and how much our friendship has grown over these last few years!

I am in complete AWE of where I live and how nice, how friendly my neighborhood is as I zip up my sweater to walk down the sidewalk happily thinking "These are "the Good old days" RIGHT HERE and NOW, I really do love my life, my home, my pets and of course....my neighbors."