I’ve been MIA for a while. Sorry. I try to do better, but seems that “life” steps in and changes my plans.
Anyway, I couldn’t let today go by without posting a couple of pictures of Tippy. Today marks 8 years since I brought her home. It doesn’t seem possible that it has been that long already.
She is doing good, but I did find out a couple of months ago that she has a hypoactive thyroid and some arthritis in her back. She’s doing great on the medications they prescribed for her. I’m very thankful. But was hard to hear those words, “Well, at her age….” already.
Anticipation
To celebrate, we took a walk into the neighbor’s field and then she got her favorite treat, a nearly empty peanut butter jar.
As I started to work one day a couple of weeks ago, I topped over a hill on my driveway and saw that a fairly large, dead tree had fallen across the driveway. Great. I really didn’t have time to do the sensible thing and get my Gator and log chain to pull it out of the way. So, I decided to see if I could manhandle womanhandle it just far enough out of the way for the car to get by.
First try, it didn’t budge. Next time I pulled a little bit harder, and it at least moved a bit. Being that the third time is supposed to be the charm, I pulled as hard as I could and it moved! I got it pulled around into the middle of the driveway before it got stuck. Well, shoot. I tried one more time before giving up and going for the mechanical help. It rolled over and I was able to get it out of my way.
I took these pictures on my way home. Since I was in a hurry, I didn’t get one of it across the driveway that morning.
Later that evening, I was sitting on the couch and noticed, through the trees, that something was “moving” in the driveway at the top of the hill. I looked closer and saw that it was Tippy’s tail. I couldn’t hear her, but knew from the way her tail was periodically, tentatively wagging, that she was afraid of something and was probably barking at it.
We have neighbor’s that ride their 4-wheeler in the field next to the driveway and they also ride horses. I know that Tippy really dislikes the 4-wheeler and I’m afraid she might spook the horses when they are riding. She has seen the horses by themselves and don’t bother them. But, I don’t know how she would react with people riding them.
I got the leash and walked to get her, not knowing what I was going to find. I nearly laughed out loud when I saw this…
From Tippy’s point of view and the way the tree was laying, it looked a lot like a land loving Nessie or some other nefarious creature. I had to put her on leash and walk her down to it before she realized what it was and calmed down. Bless her heart. I don’t blame her for being leery of it. I haven’t had a chance to cut it up yet and I still get a little startled when I top over the hill.
I didn’t get a picture of Tippy’s interactions because I was too worried about what it was. So, here is a cute picture of her waiting to go for a walk into the neighbor’s field later.
Mom and I went to visit the neighbor’s and the puppies today. I know dogs grow fast, but I was surprised at how much bigger they looked today than when they were born just 8 days ago! Esther, the mom dog, is being really good. Ms. A. said that she was really protective of them the first couple of days. Now she could care less if you bother them and is already getting tired of feeding them. Bless her heart.
A lot of the spots we thought were black are actually partially brown, more so on the first born. I think I like that better than solid black.
The face of this one is too cute. I can’t decide if it looks like a little polar bear or an old man.
When I got home, Tippy was very inquisitive as to where I had been and why I smelled like puppies.
Then, I noticed another sign of Spring. My periwinkles are blooming. I guess it’s time to get the leaf debris off of them.
When I got home from my Sunday morning visits with the neighbor and my mom, I turned Tippy loose and told her I had to change clothes and I’d be right out to go for our walk. When I walked back into the kitchen, I spied her looking in the back porch window. She literally looked me up and down to see what clothes I had put on.
Great walking outfit. Let’s go.
Upon walking outside, she came bounding off of the porch, looking at me expectantly. She has gotten used to me waiting for my Garmin phone to synch with the satellites. When it does, it makes a buzzing sound. As soon as she hears it, she takes off, knowing I won’t be far behind. Sometimes, I think she is a little bit too smart for her own good.
I have had my second follow up from my open heart surgery and everything is going well. He still doesn’t want me to lift anything over 25 pounds or play tennis for about 4 more weeks. We want to make sure the sternum is completely healed first. But things are looking up as a lot of the restrictions I had have been lifted.
For the first time since September, I subbed at daycare yesterday. I still can’t lift the children, but I can do what they call the floater job – serve lunch, do dishes, and relieve teachers for their break while the kids are napping. The 4 and 5 year old’s were so glad to see me back and I got plenty of hugs. I really missed that.
I was also given permission to start running yesterday – taking it easy at first. Years ago I would have never thought I would say this, but I was so excited to be able to run! I had originally intended to take Tippy for a walk as soon as I got home and then go run. But, sometimes, she has her own agenda and disappears in the field for a while. So, instead, I took her a short, on leash walk out the driveway, put her on her tie out, and went out for my run.
I did a walk/run interval session – walking 4 minutes and running one, repeat, for 36 minutes. It wasn’t much, but it’s a start and felt so good. The weather was wonderful yesterday with sunny skies and 62°F. The sky was so blue and the daffodils are blooming. Spring is on it’s way.
The road where I ran.
Daffodils across from my mom’s house
When I got home, I turned Tippy loose, changed shoes, and went out for our walk. I was expecting her to be anxiously patiently waiting for me, but instead, I saw this.
I thought I heard something. Did you?
Umm. Smells good.
When our neighbor has a cow die, he buries it somewhere in the field. Something digs them up and Tippy takes advantage, confiscating a bone every now and again. This one seemed to be particularly good because she had no interest in a walk. The bone was just too delicious.
We did take a walk today and these “old fashioned” daffodils were blooming where one of my ancestor’s house used to be. At least, that’s what mom calls them. They are probably an heirloom variety of some sort. They are pretty, but the bloom doesn’t last very long.
Old fashioned daffodils
I did a little research to see if I could find a name for them, but had no luck. I did however, learn that the name daffodil is from the Dutch for “affo dyle” which means “that which cometh early.” I love that.
I totally forgot to include this selfie of me and Tippy in yesterday’s post. We were happy to see each other.
Happy to be home!
We are both trying to readjust to her being home. I had a major dog mom fail on Friday evening. I let her out at around 5 pm so she could run around a little more and do her business before she came in for the night. I got engrossed in some things I was doing on the computer and noticed it was getting pretty dark. My first thought was, I need to turn on the light. Then, I panicked and thought, “Oh no! I forgot about Tippy!” Ooops. When I looked, she was patiently standing at the front door, waiting to come in. Bless her heart.
I’m a light sleeper, so had a hard time falling asleep the first night because I woke up every time she moved. Then, she wasn’t used to me sleeping in the living room recliner, so seemed to be a little discombobulated and at one point went into the bedroom – like she “knew” she should be in a different room from me, but that it was all wrong.
I was gone most of the day on Saturday to attend my neighbor’s funeral and visit with the family afterwards. I felt bad that I had to leave her all alone after she just got home, but she didn’t seem to mind. When I did get home, we took a nice walk back into the neighbor’s field and played some Frisbee. She still has a lot of energy for an almost 8 year old.
That night, we went to sleep better, but she licked me on the nose and woke me up at 2 am. She proceeded to the door whining. From previous experience, I know that if she wants out in the middle of the night, she really does need to go. So, I got up, got wrapped up, and took her out. It was cold and had just started snowing. She did her business fairly quickly, thankfully.
When we came back in, I sat down in the recliner and she sat on my feet, wanting to be petted. I did that for a few minutes and then started to lean back to try to go to sleep. She was going to have nothing of that and tried to climb in my lap. I couldn’t let her up there because she could have hurt my breastbone…from the surgery. I figured she just wanted to cuddle, so I chose to spend the rest of the night on the couch. She did jump up and lay beside me for about 45 minutes. I guess she just needed to be reassured that I was there and everything was okay.
When we got up the next morning, we had almost two inches of snow. It was already above freezing though, so it was melting quickly and big clumps were falling off of the tree limbs. Since Tippy and I love walking in the snow so much, I drank a cup of coffee and then we set out on a stroll through the snowy woods. It was really pretty and we both enjoyed the early morning jaunt.
Because the temperatures were so warm, there was fog on the hills. It gave the scene a peaceful, eerie feeling.
Snowy fog
We took another walk in the afternoon and I think Tippy was wondering where all of the white stuff went.
Where did all of the snow go?
After that walk, her feet were filthy. She finally let me clean them off so she could come inside. I rewarded her with an almost empty peanut butter jar. Can you say “peanut butter coma?” LOL
Peanut butter coma
I’m so glad that she is home. We both still have a little bit of adjusting to do, but I’m sure we’ll be back into our normal routine in no time at all.
I had originally planned for Tippy to come home on Thursday. However, I have been waiting a couple of weeks for parts to come in so I could get my built-in microwave oven and my heat pump repaired. Both services called on Wednesday to say the parts were in and they could come do the work the next day. Since that meant strange men would be in the house most of the day, I opted to wait until Friday to have Addie bring her home.
I didn’t realize how much I had missed her until she got out of the car and I started crying. It was unexpectedly emotional.
I’m home!
This isn’t the best picture. I think she was tangled in the leash, but I assure you, she wasn’t hurt. Addie had her on the leash to insure a calm, and therefore safe, reunion. She is really good about calming down and listening, even when she is excited.
Ok. Ok. I’ll wait.
Our meeting went really well. She sat so I could pet her, which we both thoroughly enjoyed. This is our typical meeting after being away from each other. Sometimes I feel bad that we don’t have the “TV reunion,” where the dog is jumping and being overly rambunctious. But, that’s not us and not what I really want. I don’t want to be knocked to the ground every time I come home. I know she loves me and is happy to see me. She just shows it in a very respectful way.
After Addie left, she did what she always does, and surveyed the house and the property, just to make sure that things are pretty much as she left them. We also took a walk into the neighbor’s field. It was muddy from all the snow and rain, but she didn’t seem to mind, until I had to wash her feet. LOL
Then, it was time to relax.
Vacation is fun, but there always comes a time when you just want to be home.
Tippy Tales 