No Polar Vortex Here

Our windows are open. While there are record cold and windchill temperatures in the north and northeast, it's 70 degrees here.

I keep looking across the street.

The house doesn't look any different, but it "feels" different.

Last Thursday, our 26-year-old neighbor, the one who brought us a bunch of goodies for the dog right after we adopted Shelby, and who had such an incredible story about her childhood adoption and reconnection with her birth mom as an adult, took her own life.

I saw her every day. She and her husband have several dogs, not all of whom can be walked together, so she usually made a couple of trips every morning and a couple in the afternoon.

I know she struggled with mental health. She wanted to have a positive outlook, but had also been through so much. I didn't know her very well, and we only spoke a few times in person and several times when I was still on Facebook, but I know two things about her: She loved her husband, and she loved animals.

I dated a guy once who had a lot of grief and anger about his own childhood. He was also disillusioned about how his adult life had turned out. Once, he told me, "I wish you were enough to combat all of that. But you're not enough. No one is enough."

And, of course, he didn't mean me. He meant his feelings for me, and the kind of hope caring about me gave him for the future.

Regardless, I feel for my neighbor, and hope he's not suffering from self-doubt, wondering too much why he couldn't be "enough." I wish I knew him well enough to extend that thought. Maybe someday.

Here's another thing: Panther Cat.

Panther Cat is what Mal calls the black cat who has been around since before we moved in.

Apparently, Panther Cat's mom was a stray around here. She had babies, and all of them died/disappeared except for this one. My neighbor said she wanted to keep the cat, but couldn't.

Still, Panther Cat was part of the family. As much time as he spent in our yard and fighting over our porch with Carol, when the dogs would go out for a walk, Panther Cat always followed them. You'd have thought he was on a lead.

Once, I saw him slow down in front of the biggest dog, who tripped over him, and neither snapped at the other. It was incredible.

I haven't seen Panther Cat since our neighbor passed. Maybe he was scared off by all of the activity. James said there were 4 sheriff's cars, a ladder truck, 2 EMTs, and some other vehicle with lights and sirens.

I can't think about any other possibility. But I hope he comes back soon.

Super Full Saturday

Yesterday, we got a *lot* done.

First up, I baked three types of cookies during the morning, having prepared everything else slowly over the week so I wouldn't be stressed out.

I had the idea to host a Valentine's cookie "open house"/porch, actually, The timing was perfect that just a few days earlier, a Turquoise Table had become available through ReWork Project. They delivered it Thursday, and it's a perfect splash of fun color on our front porch. Since we moved in, we have set up the outdoor couch, and that side of the porch, which I used to think was the most boring, is now the most fun...

See? Day or night, it's a party!

And did I mention I'd made a whole crapton of cookies?

Red velvet with cream cheese frosting!

Strawberry white chocolate Rice Krispie treats!

Brownie bites 4 ways!

Sugar cookies with icing and my brain-created apple cider chocolate ganache.

Snickerdoodles with some pink sugar and cinnamon.

Chocolate chip cookies

Gluten-free chocolate chip cookies

We got everything fixed up and plated. I didn't know how many people to expect, so I had a plan: I put half of each type of cookie on two different plates, and I'd put one plate out at 2, and if a cookie were really popular and went fast, I could still put a second plate out at 3 for latecomers. I knew that was pretty ambitious, but had no idea how many people to expect, so that's why our kitchen table looked like this:

Before we went out to lunch, I stuck a plate of cookies into the mailbox for our letter carrier. She'd left me a note last week reprimanding me for putting some fliers in mailboxes, so...

After lunch, Mal and I went on a little walk around the neighborhood, then I set up the table.

We did have several visitors, and it was great to get to speak with each of them: First was a retired art teacher from one street over, who brought us a hand-drawn welcome card. While she was here, the Saturday alternate letter carrier came, and stepped out of her car to let me know she'd make sure our regular carrier got the cookies. So we invited her over for some cookies, too, and she said she was glad she got the route that day. Next, we met a couple who lives several streets over. They have been here, or at least the wife has, since 1979. She told us about the "Slim" whose name we've seen on a concrete slab and a big rock in the back yard. "Slim's" was a pool hall that he had built onto the back of his house (which was here, but it was a different house) when the pool hall on 1431 closed down and he felt bad that the local teens didn't have anywhere to hang out.

We also met a lady who lives on our way to the library, and she keeps her 3-year-old grandson on Wednesdays, so she might bring him over to play with Mal one day soon. And toward the end, another lady who lives right on the lake came by, a whirlwind of energy and words.

It was a neat couple of hours. In between guests, we hung around outside, anyway... sometimes just me, sometimes James would come out, and sometimes Mal would, too. We saw a lot of butterflies in the back yard. We're getting a lawn mower this week, but as long as the butterflies are here, I don't want to mow down the "weeds" they're enjoying.

Not a butterfly, but pretty cute.

As hopefully "first annual"s go, this wasn't too shabby. I learned a lot, and here's what I'm going to implement next year:

1) Invest in a sturdy, large sandwich board sign (or make one) that I can reuse every year.
2) Send invitations via the USPS, like officially, with a stamp and stuff.
3) Advertise early, then with personal messages, on Nextdoor.com. (I only thought of this the night before!)
4) Talk to people I see out and about and invite them personally.

Most of the people who showed up were either people with whom I'd connected verbally or online, with only one lady seeing the sign and assuming she was welcomed.

I made cookie plates for several neighbors, and so we got to chat with more people, too. A few seemed to know we were having a thing, so either they were busy, just didn't want to come, or didn't feel comfortable. I'll think on that to try to figure out before next year; if you (especially introverts) have any ideas, let me know!

If we can get a pretty good turnout next year, and the next year, and it becomes a "thing," I might make it a "cookie potluck." I think I maxed out on the number of cookies. I can do it again next year, but I probably can't handle more, unless little dude decides he wants in on the action, or goes to see Nana and Pappy for a few days. I was fortunate that he "let me" get as much done as I did.

My husband wrote this blog post about what happened next, so I don't have to rehash it! Except I will say that I did *not* complain in the car the whole way, and that my husband is an ass. It happens to be a very nice ass, so I let him get away with it. But otherwise, his description is pretty accurate.

I only got a few "phone pictures" yesterday, so thus far, the best picture we have of Shelby is probably one of the couple I took this morning when she was hanging out with Mal in the master bedroom.

I'll try to get more pictures of her later. She does stuff, like stand up and walk around (a lot; she's a follower, AKA "Velcro dog"). And she seems to like walks.

This morning on the way to church, I was thinking, "This dog is seven years old and has been cared for very well. Her teeth are gorgeous; she doesn't have doggie breath; she's in perfect shape and with no scars or abrasions (other than the spay scar)... She's microchipped. What if she got away and the owners just hadn't updated their information? James seems to think that when she's outside, she's trying to find her way back home. What if it's our job to help her?"

So I scoured the internet for "lost Catahoula" in the Austin area(s)... for a long time. Then, we finally got through the paperwork we received at the adoption and were able to put this together:

Until last Tuesday, this dog had a home. She had someone to care for her. She had a name - that almost certainly was not Shelby. I tried random names all afternoon, and none of them caught her attention. Tuesday, for whatever reason, she was voluntarily surrendered by her owner to Austin Animal Center. On Wednesday, she was given her necessary shots, and tested (negative) for heartworm. On Thursday, she was microchipped. On Friday, she was transferred to the Austin Humane Society. Saturday, she had to endure what was likely the most busy day the Humane Society has ever had, as there were city-wide free pet adoptions.

James mentioned that she was "sleeping" when we saw her. I watched her. Her breath was shallow. She was so stressed. During our initial meeting with her, she seemed to want to connect with James, but she was clearly overwhelmed by the noise and the people and the barking... she was more bothered by it than Mal, and he didn't like it much.

But Saturday night, we brought her home. James thinks she's been around cats a lot and was more emotionally hurt than physically when Rudy flew at her. But the way she horned in behind me, shaking... she was scared. She knew, though, that the place to go was to a human... so she's been loved, protected.

It hasn't even been a week since her world changed, and so much has happened to her.

So she might think we're nice people, and so much better than the noisy places... but who knows how long it will take her to feel at home? We've gotten tail wags, and she's equally happy to see everyone over the age of 3 in our household (Mal just jumps everywhere, including up in her face, and I don't think she's used to that)... But it's just going to take some time.

The good stuff: She is such a kitten of a dog. More than 24 hours, and she hasn't barked once. She is NOISY, but only when she sleeps. She "growl/snores". Like every exhale sounds like a growl! She and James are the perfect bedfellows. She also has not been retaliatory to the cats, being very leery of them at times, and even trying to make friends with Carol at one point. Well, and Rudy earlier today. Rudy's not ready yet. None of them are. But they'll get there. Also, she and Aish had a disagreement over the cat food (both wanted it, and both at the same time) and though neither was too happy, there was also nothing more than some heated stare thrown by Aish.

Shelby is nervous about Mal, but just backs away from him, with no worrisome nervous behaviors like "tittering" or lip-curling or "play" snapping or anything. (And, yes, we are doing due diligence keeping them always supervised, and teaching Mal how to treat the dog who is almost twice as big but so skittish about this little energetic human.) She knows "sit." She seems to know how to SPELL "sit," because when I was telling D about it but didn't actually want her to sit, I spelled it instead, and she... sat. She's great on a lead, which is good because she's a tank. She likes to explore a bit on walks, but I found today that one can stop that simply by jogging and letting her go faster. I am not sure whether that's good or bad, because... ugh, jogging. Plus, when I was running down the middle of the street in my church clothes, singing a song about how Shelby loves jogging even though Mommy hates it, I'm pretty sure our sweet elderly neighbor thought I was nutso. But, truly, he has no idea.

This morning, when Mal and I were leaving for church, Shelby wanted to get outside for a while. James was going to walk her, but needed to do something in the house, so I got her leash and took her out. She REALLY wanted to go somewhere in the car, but I just put Mal in and shut the door. Then this dog straight-up jumped onto the hood of my car, put her paws on the roof, and was looking all around, like she was trying to get a lay of the land.

Our next obstacle is what to do Tuesday: we have an appointment in town and need to be gone for about 2 hours. A kennel for this dog would be hugely expensive, but we don't trust the family dynamic yet. So we can close her into our bedroom, with her food and water, and hope for the best... but we really love that bed. So we'll see what we can come up with between now and then.

Otherwise, after the fluff-up last night, it's been a relatively smooth transition so far. Hoping tomorrow eases inter-species' tensions even more, and soon this sweet Shelby girl can't imagine living anywhere else.

There are three pets in this picture. Click on it to blow it up. :D

Of Dogs and Parrots

This morning, Mal wandered into the laundry room, opened James' tool box (we're waiting to house it permanently in our Tuff Shed, whose metal roof is *definitely* coming in on Thursday, and then they'll call to schedule the installation), and found a keyed padlock. He took the key out and went outside to try to open the doors with it. After a while of that, he decided he wanted to go into the back yard to swing. I opened the side gate and let him back there, then came inside to go through the office door so it would be unlocked. I was able to do this because we finally put padlocks on the gates out back, and I don't have to worry about Mal opening them and plummeting to his death in the grotto.

Well, I thought we'd padlocked all of the gates. I found a third stinking gate on that back fence later, but neither Mal nor I knew about it at the time, so no harm/no foul.

Anyway, when he got out there, he was met with excitement and... barking.

At first, I thought that someone was hiking back there, and was getting myself ready to have a "sorry, but this is private property" talk with them. But then I realized that, no, these dogs were on their own. They had collars with tags, but the smaller dog (in the background) wouldn't stand still. The bigger dog just wanted attention... he REALLY wanted in our back yard. But when I'd grab his tag, he'd try to lick my hand, and it took me a long time to be able to read the number... which went to voice mail. So I tried the second number. And the guy didn't even know that his dogs had gotten out!

When they came to pick them up, the guy was telling me where he lived. He asked, "Do you know that house that's the Eagle's Nest?" Why yes. Yes, I do.

I took this picture last month!

He said that they live next door, "with the buzzard on the wall." Um, well, yeah. I am familiar with that one, too.

Also taken last year.

He said that they call their property "The Buzzard Lounge" because before they moved in, the buzzards would all just hang out on the property.

That reminds me: If you ever visit the Waco zoo, check out their vulture exhibit. They didn't really plan to have a vulture exhibit, but the vultures wouldn't leave, and they're protected, so the zoo just put up signs about them and treated it like it was meant to be.

So that was my dog story. As for the parrot? Well, he's a two-year-old who lives in my house.

We were driving home from the grocery store yesterday after church, and because I was chatting with Mal, I missed one of the turns onto our street. I say "one" because it seems like very road in our town eventually crosses ours. So I actually missed two turns, due to traffic, before I could get into the lane to turn onto the third street. Could I make it? It'd be close, but...

I punched it and made the corner, but also tipped several grocery bags (which were in the back seat because my trunk is full of a 10 x 7 wool rug that someone gave me for free, and which I had picked up on the way to church) into the floor, with a resounding crash. Mal was surprised, as was I. I said, "Mommy is DUMB!" He happily offered, "Mommy! Dumb!" Okay. Whoops.

Last night, Mal wanted me to read a book to him, and I was trying to arrange pillows to make myself comfortable first. He said, "Animal book. Here right now!" Then this morning, he wanted something immediately and said, "Here right now!" I guess I ask him to "come here right now" a lot? I will say that listening to that kind of thing is not his strong suit yet, which is why I get stressed about things like grocery store parking lots, and why we had to put padlocks on our gates. So when I say it, I'm pretty forceful as his literal life might often be on the line .He's learned the tone well.

Today when we were out back playing, I reminded him that when he's on the swing, he needs to "hold on tight!" He said, "Hold tight, princess!" It took me a minute on that one.

Our friends gave Mal a book for his first birthday. It's "Epic Yarns: Star Wars, A New Hope" by Jack and Holman Wong. Each page has one word and a picture. This is the page for "swing."

Every time we read it, I think I say, "Hold on, Princess!" which doesn't appear in the movie at all, but the Imperial March isn't in this movie, either, and I do that whenever Darth Vader shows up, so you can take your nit-picky observations elsewhere.

Mal also wanted go into the back back yard to explore the grotto, which we did. He went down into it for the first time, and I kept having to remind him to hold my hand and let me go first (going down; coming back up, he went first). And every time I asked him to hold my hand, he said, "Hold on, princess!" What a kid.

Here are a couple of pictures I took on my phone.

Look at the bottom!

That ice looks jiust like the rocks, riddled with dripping water holes. 

Check out the roots of that tree! So many are exposed! It's holding on to that rock for dear life.

He was sweeping the leaves off of the rock ledges.

Although Mal was still in his PJs, I had changed into street clothes. I was really glad, because even though we didn't go anywhere, we did have unexpected visitors. Oh, and in addition to sweeping leaves, Mal also threw some rocks off of the path and down into the grotto. We got to listen to them roll and hit things on their long trip down, and I tried to explain that that's why we don't want him running around like a crazy person back there. He just wanted to throw more rocks.

AND lastly, there are some oak shoots back there that we need to get off of our "nature path." Well, I tried to do that last week, but you can't pull them up. Or you can only pull them up so far, and then the roots get bigger and bigger... they're not from acorns (or whatever) falling; they're upshoots from the bigger trees' roots! Just Googling that, apparently root sprouts are how oak trees propagate. I did not know that. There. Just unschooled myself.