Christmas Surprise

So as you can imagine, I was really looking forward to today and the impending event of our stockings being filled with all things good. After rooting for Max to save Christmas, I was especially looking forward to what Santa would bring me! We slept in first until 3 am when Dad let us out, but I was diligent and resisted going to the living room. But when Zoe got Mom up at 5:30 am I just had to see our stockings! So imagine my extreme dismay when this is what I saw:

What? Where are our stockings? My Mom was quick to get the stocking from FarMor, but I already knew this was just a thing akin to her childhood. See, when my Mom was a wee wain (there goes my Dad again with the Derry Girl accents) she was always up first on Christmas morning. There was a household rule that she could open her stocking but nothing else until the rest of the family was up and ready. My Mom suggested to Dad that in a similar vein we could share FarMor’s stocking while he slumbered, but not Santa’s. So Mom rushed to give us this:

We loved our stocking and our treats, so don’t get me wrong or anything, but after a while I told Zoe we should probably look out for Santa. I mean, really, maybe wearing those Covid masks/muzzles slowed down the reindeer or something?

Us looking for Santa

Again, we know how lucky we are, especially this year, and we don’t really need more toys (a lie), but it hurt my feelings that Santa wouldn’t come. I mean, doesn’t he usually leave something? I asked my Mom, and she made up said she heard somewhere that if one is only a little bad, then Santa will just leave a lump of coal or wood in one’s stocking. But if one were REALLY bad (like Zoe?) then Santa takes the stockings and there will never be presents from Santa again. This was very sad to me that I was implicated in the whole “bad” thing, so we decided to try and sleep off my discontent with the few toys in FarMor’s stocking…

Us trying to get over Santa not coming…

Then lo and behold, Dad woke up and Mom went downstairs and called us. We begrudgingly followed expecting she wanted company at work…but then we looked where she told us to look and…

Santa had come! I guess he decided to keep his suit clean and come to the lower level fireplace we have yet to use! Look at this loot… he even remembered that Zoe used to be called Foxy, and that purple is my color and we didn’t even get to sit on his lap this year! And Mom really appreciated that he removed all the tags so we wouldn’t choke:

Santa does love us!

Remember how fun 2019 was?

Be safe, all. Season’s greetings and paws crossed for 2021!

The Tempest

Cleaning Day

With all the snow recently, my parents have been wearing boots on our walks which track in a bunch of sand and other debris when we return home. So it was up to me to do some serious cleaning (apparently something the ‘rents aren’t qualified to do).

My first step was to do some scrubbing of the covering of one of our Big Barker beds. Despite it having been washed once, I still felt it needed some serious detail work after Zoe boked on it the other day (boke being a word we learned recently while watching the Derry Girls on Netflix. It means to vomit in Irish slang. I’ve been trying to incorporate these new vocabulary words into my daily language while Dad walks around talking in an outrageous accent that he thinks mimics the characters on the show. 🙄).

After I was satisfied that the bed was worthy for my person to nap on, I moved on to some serious dusting. To get things really clean one has to get the thing moving at a fast pace. If only Zoe would have stayed out of my way I would have finished up much faster – but she’s always poking her nose in while I try and work (note: she didn’t lift a paw to help). Mom edit – I think Zoe was suggesting if you hold the handle it might work better. Whatever, MOM!

Lastly, after all the dust had settled, I got out the dust pan to do a final clean up. Unfortunately, the dust pan – being made of plastic – was not up to the challenge of my strong jaws and the handle ended up snapping into many smaller parts. Despite having to work with tools of such inferior quality, I was able to get the job done and our house was spotless!

…at least for the next 10 minutes until Dad decided to outside to gather fire wood in his boots…🤦🏼‍♀️

The Tempest

https://videopress.com/v/aIycfVhx?preloadContent=metadata

Tracks in the Snow

On our early afternoon walk today, Zoe and I spotted a number of different prints in the snow. The first of which were deer – no doubting the smell of these fellas. Turns out, they create their own trails and they go off every which way from the side of the streets around us and even off the approved paths in the woods.

Unfortunately, being on 6′ leashes that were attached to Dads arms, and his unwillingness to go off-roading, we were unable to properly track any of our leads. Zoe even thought she spotted one in a ravine and I was not going to doubt her as she has been the first to see them on a couple of recent walks – which really blows her mind 🤯. Legit the other day she was telling us there were deer, Mom told her to behave, and then like 7 of the buggers ran right in front of us! More than 6ft away though…I guess a COVID physical distance thing?

Then there were a couple of sets of tracks we have never seen before and which were a bit mind boggling. The first was these strange parallel grooves which appeared to go on forever! Whatever it was that made them is still a mystery to me – no particular odor to help classify them – but I wasn’t bothered by them as they did provide a nice path to follow.

The second set really widened the track – I was thinking it was Yeti since the footprints were bigger than Zoe’s oversized noggin 🤣 – but if it had been him then he had just taken a shower because the only real odor I picked up was Dove soap – something I am familiar with from living in this pack.

Despite the well packed down path on the trail, Zoe would occasionally choose to forge her own path – I think she really wanted the label: Trailblazer. I however, being the wiser of the two of us, chose the path of least resistance…that is unless there were deer tracks to follow!

The Tempest

Snow Blown

This morning we awoke to our first Nor’easter. A winter wonderland…11″ plus of fresh powdery snow. Zoe was the first to learn about this as she insisted on a bathroom break at around 5:30 AM but she didn’t mention to me just how deep the snow was – the smell of fresh snow wafting in – when she returned to bed after a few minutes outside. I was too comfy on my Big Barker to be bothered to get up and check on the extent to which the storm dropped its frozen precipitation – knowing full well it was only a matter of time before Zoe either laid on top of Mom with kisses or barked at her signalling to all it was time to get up (although Dad usually ignores this alarm). When Mom was a wee wain, NM Grandmother would not get her up if she cried. Imagine NM Grandmother’s dismay when my Mom, not usually very bright, learned very quickly to sing in the wee hours of the morning to be carried out of her crib. My Mom, still not being very smart, decided to teach Zoe to give hugs and kisses when she wants up vs. barking. Zoe is no dummy, so you never know how early Mom has to get up…

You may note in the middle picture above (or pic#2) that there are some tracks on our sidewalk leading to our driveway. That was the end of our early morning walk as decided by me. See, this COVID thing caused another wrench in our habits. Normally, Mom knows it is snowing and adjusts her wake up time to clear the snow and still walk us. Today things got confusing, and the plowing here is different so the plow came when she wanted to walk, so she only shoveled so much and realized she didn’t have time to shovel and walk us and get to work so she decided to just take us for a walk. So…the snow was up past my belly which I found unacceptable…I flopped down in the snow and refused to take another step. This action infuriated my sister since it meant the end of our walk. She promptly jumped on me and we started wrestling convincing Mom it was a lost cause and we somehow made our way back into the house.

A while later, Dad finally got up and after eating some breakfast put on his boots. This excited Zoe as she thought she was going to get that walk after all. However, he left us behind and pulled this contraption of the garage. It was nothing I had seen him use before but remember a number of people back in Illinois had these things that shot a stream of snow into the air clearing a path for people (or cars) to walk. Not everyone in Deerfield cleared their sidewalks which would cause some gnashing of teeth and biting of tongues by our parents. But what really got them going was the people who had a plow service which would stack the snow from the driveway up onto the sidewalk causing little mountains that had to be climbed over – not an easy task with two dogs pulling you along.

Back to the snow blowing thing Dad was getting out for the first time ever. Unlike the ones I had heard/smelled and seen before, this one was relatively quiet and there was no smell of gas – much like our cars but this thing wasn’t blue nor did it have a “T” on it. Despite this, he had soon made a path all the way to the street with about 11″ high walls on either side meaning…it was time for a walk!!!

The snow was still coming down and there were slick spots randomly placed here and there. Walking on 4 legs helps us pups from falling down when we hit one of these icy patches. Dad did a good job of maintaining his balance even though on a few occasions his bipedal flailing caused our leashes to get snapped around our necks causing us to look back in disgust. If he had indeed fallen, I would have gone up to him and make sure he was ok. This is part of my job as Nurse Tempi and something I have done in the past when he or Mom have gone down.

Every so often, Zoe or I would take a break to shake off the snow that had accumulated on our fur – but once that had been taken care of we were right back on our mission. Dad slipped a couple of times on the way back down this hill causing him to mutter something about getting us sled dog harnesses and a sled for him to lounge on while we pulled him around the neighborhood. Doesn’t seem very fair that we’d have to do all the work but on the other hand it might be fun.

Break for a shake

With everything covered in snow the number of good sniffing opportunities was significantly reduced as were the obvious stops for a bathroom break. Luckily there are some areas in our backyard that the snow accumulation wasn’t as deep so we are set on that front.

Hopefully tomorrow or the next day there will be more trails packed down in the conservation area where we like to take our afternoon walks – I believe these are known as Trailblazers. Until then, the plowed streets are where we will lay our tracks.

Tracks on Tracks

All the best and please stay safe,

The Tempest

Downsizing

After finding out this summer that Zoe and I had gained the “Covid1.9” lbs, our parents switched to a new kibble that was recommended by our new Vet: Hill’s Perfect Weight. This didn’t bother us much since it is chicken flavored which we like and we were getting about the same amount as we did with the old kibble.

Where things got particularly brutal was the downsizing of our treats. Not only were we getting them less often, but the scale of each one was dramatically altered…and not in a way we appreciated (see below). In addition, the evening leftovers on Dad’s plate had also shrunken – maybe he started eating more each night (could explain his extra Covid pounds), but I suspect it was more about sharing less with us.

Note: the top treats were usually broken in half…but so are the lower ones!

Of course, we still find ways to supplement our diet when our parents backs are turned. For instance, while Dad was out getting groceries and Mom was doom-zooming, Zoe and I splurged on some TP – after all we never use it ourselves so it seems it is just taking up space in our house.

Then there was the time the other evening when Mom was making cookies in the kitchen as part of a virtual cooking lesson with some of her co-workers. Little did she know that she had a Sous (Zoe?) Chef to help her out.

In order to gauge if our new “diet” was working Zoe and I got to visit the vet earlier this week. We walked around the grounds a bit while awaiting the Vet Tech to come out to get us. When she arrived she decided to take both of us at once – I suspect she wasn’t aware how we love going into the vets as she appeared shocked at being dragged through the double doors. Our old vet would have known better!

Upon return, she said we were good and that she gave us a treat – which I was all happy about…at the time. She then read off our weights to Dad and she said it looked like I was “losing my waist” – this from the woman who gave me a treat before I got on the scale. I was about to turn around and either bite her or make a disparaging comment about her physique but remembered that Mom is always telling us to take the high road, so I kept my back to her and just walked to the car.

Just for your information, Zoe and I have both lost those Covid pounds! “Lacking a Waist” – my foot!! Zoe just lost more, that is all, just sayin’.

The Tempest

–also, you may have noticed the length of my paragraphs have also been downsized. This was a recommendation from one of my aunts who learned that this “less is more” is best practice for digital communications. Of course, I may forget if I really go on a rant about something I feel is important.

From Tempi to… (Day III)

Sunday, December 6th, Car-lie-lee, MA…again:

As I mentioned, the decorations started coming out after the snow storm on Saturday. In fact, a few things outside had already been purchased to decorate the front of our house including a wreath with a bright red bow and berries that Mom added to brighten it up some:

Inside, a tree was placed on the table located in our screened in porch and some other festive decorations placed here and there around the dining and living rooms supposedly out of my reach – for some reason they think I might think they were toys for Zoe and I to play with (as if!). The tree itself has lights incorporated into the “needles” and “branches” but I’ve never seen ornaments hung from its bows unlike the trees we’ve seen at other peoples houses (our FarMor in Michigan in particular). I again assume this is because our parents feel that Zoe and I can’t be trusted around such decorations even though we have never attacked other trees or presents lying beneath them. This is contrast to one of our cousins, Otis, who we never met but have heard many stories about including the time that the nut-covered cheese ball that was a present for one of our uncles disappeared during the course of the family meal. Someone eventually found the plastic that the cheesy comestibles* were wrapped in but no sign of the fermented curd* or nuts. However, somebody found Otis passed out under a table with quite the contented smirk on his face – canines on full display with maybe a piece of walnut stuck between them.

Dining Room Decorations

Tree prior to the wind storm

Unfortunately, the tree took a bit of a tumble from the table during a recent wind storm resulting in the top third being broken off. This crash occurred about the time Zoe stepped on the porch. She immediately turned to look at Mom who was in the kitchen with the anxious expression on her face as though she was going to be convicted of a crime she did not commit. Fortunately for her, our parents figured it was the wind and were quick to let her know she was a “good girl.” With a little gorilla glue and some tying of branches from the top section to the middle section, the tree is back at full height but this accident further solidified the decision not to decorate the tree any further than the lights.

They completed this phase of the decorating by hanging our stockings over the fire place along with some candle holders that are designed for hanging on Christmas trees – Danish style:

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Note how well I am behaving under a fully decorated tree

Those pictures are from past Christmas Eve’s spent in Michigan. And, Zoe and I are not talking about the “snow” under the tree in the first picture. Surely not a toy or pillow we destroyed? Anywho, since we aren’t hanging anything on our tree the candle holders are accompanying our stockings as I just mentioned:

Stocking for me (T) and Zoe (Z) hanging ready to be stuffed with treats

After thinking about the two stocking situation, I reasoned that if there were only one stocking (T) hanging it would be stuffed with more goodies just for me. So I took it upon myself to remove the Z from the picture:

The Case of the Zed that Disappeared

Feeling quite pleased with myself, I was getting into position on one of my beds…this requires a number of circling moves to make sure the stuffing is in the right spots – one can’t just flop down any old place! During one of my rotations I spotted Zoe – she apparently noticed her stocking was no longer hanging by the fireplace:

Zoe upset about missing out on her Christmas stocking

I almost felt bad looking at that greying muzzle of hers and those big dark eyes. But then I thought of the treats I’d be getting all to myself and quickly fell to sleep and the dreams of Zukes Treats raining down on me that I expect to find in my stocking. Instead I dreamed of an ugly green guy with a tiny little puppy with an antler on his head and pulling a huge sled filled with all the presents from a local village. The evil dude who stole all the presents eventually had some sort epiphany in which his heart grew so much it broke the little metal frame that had encased it. I awoke with a start. Then took a second to shake off the creepy crawly feeling I had from my dream. When I was back to feeling settled again I immediately went over and got Dad to put up Zoe’s stocking again and even invited her to take a nap with me in front of the fire.

I guess sharing during this season – especially this year – is really important.

It’s almost like FarMor knew something when she sent us this stocking 🤔:

If I had an antler I could almost pass as Max running along side Zoe on the sled!

The Tempest

The Grinch’s dog, Max, by Dr. Seuss

*These phrases were pinched from The Cheeseshop sketch by Monty Python. Have to give credit where credit is due 😃.

From T to Z: Part 2

Saturday, December 5th, still in Car-lie-lee:

We woke up to rain. And even after Dad finally got up, outside it was still raining. It started to look like the predicted NorEaster (a first for Zoe and I) was going to be just a wet day in which we would likely not even get a walk.

Then around lunch time, to our surprise, our parents started putting on their coats and shoes – a habit they have before taking us for a stroll. And once they grabbed for the leashes, Zoe and I did our ritual mouthing each other and chatting up a storm. This behavior causes our parents no end of torment as it is virtually impossible to get our leashes attached to our collars when we our in this state. Mom has learned that if she shows us a treat that we’ll sit and let her get us all leashed up resulting in the treat being handed to us – she’s a pretty fast learner…Dad not so much.

Anyhow, out we went through our front door and into our yard and what?… Is it really snowing just like those folks at Dark Sky predicted? Maybe they are starting to get data additional data from something other than aircraft – I heard somewhere that the lack of data from commercial flights led to their less than perfect record at forecasting around the time we moved to the East Coast.

I always get a chuckle out of seeing Zoe with that skunk-like white stripe down her back when it starts snowing – I bust a gut when Dad pulls on a tree branch covered in snow that is directly over Zoe producing a good thick white stripe along her back which can last up to a second before she shakes it off and gives him that “Really?” look of hers.

The snow continued for the rest of the day and into the evening. Luckily, some of that chopped wood made it into the house prior to getting wet so we were able to relax in front of the fire:

Relaxing on one of our fireside beds

After all that relaxing we were exhausted and decided we should take a few moments to look around our lot and see how peaceful and winter-like everything looked.

That is until our parents started decorating for the holidays…

The Tempest

From Tee to Zed (Day 1)

Friday, December 4th, Car-lie-lee, MA:

Upon waking up, I checked the forecast to see what might be in store for us that day: would we get a good long walk, be able to play outside, etc., etc.. But checking the Dark Sky app on my Dad’s phone, things did not look promising:

But upon further review, the threat of a winter storm seemed a bit off given it was a balmy (for December) 55 degrees Fahrenheit…although after living in the Mid-West for most of our lives, both Zoe and I know not to become complacent to all things meteorological as they can change in the blink of an eye (or during a little nap).

One side rant before I go on with the story: I have to object to the use of “Winter Storm” when the winter solstice is still a good 17 days away (give or take a few hours). Granted, the storm that they are predicting to come through our part of the country could bring snow and sleet but shouldn’t it really be a “snow-storm” or “winter-like” conditions?

Anyhow, given it is December, I made sure Dad got his act together and did some chopping of wood in order to keep our abode at the temperatures his girls have become accustomed to. So out to the backyard – “pre-storm” – we went with me supervising his efforts. Note: despite the ominous weather guessers predictions, the current temps, and the exertions he had to put forth in his out of shape shape required him to lose his overcoat and even his sweatshirt. Yep, here he is in his T-shirt in the midday sun:

Here is the product of his effort – not just today, but many other days leading up to the impending storm:

The wood wall you see in the background of the middle picture above was his attempt to fend off any invasion from anyone ousted from Washington DC. Unfortunately, DC is south of us and his “Wall” is on the north side of the property. He claimed that as a youth he had learned that wood structures were the most secure of all. I felt this memory was dubious at best, so I texted a good friend of mine back in Deerfield, and she assured me that brick is the strongest of all home building supplies – especially if one wants to save their bacon from a windy wolf! Thanks So-Fri!

The Tempest