Whenever possible, but mostly on walks, Zoe loves operating on a different level than the rest of us. Whether it is on a stone wall, off the side of a boardwalk, on a downed tree trunk, on a curb, or even a pile of snow, Zoe elevates (or lowers) herself from the pack.
This has led her to believe she can walk on water. And then the other day she did, in fact, walk on water!
Naturally, I knew that although the composition of what she was walking on (ice) was still H2O but with a much more structured inter-molecular matrix than the liquid form known to the world as water (or agua, l’eau, vand, vetta, mizu, vatten, amanzi, etc.*). Of course my first response (in my head) was to smash her narcissistic, grandiose, self-image into an infinite array of ice shards but then my cooler head prevailed and I decided to let her keep a semblance of her imaginary persona. Her mind was blown. She thought she was great when she walked on curbs in IL, so imagine this!
The Tempest
*Although I know many languages, I must admit that I used Google Translate** for some of these words.
**Big miss: Google Translate does not include Caninese (my language).
There are so many stories along the road and in the woods around us. But more often than not, I get pulled along behind Dad before my sniffer has deciphered the entire narrative of the smells I am reading. Can you imagine how out of his mind he would be if I tore the book out of his hand and shredded it just as he was about to find out the mystery of who done it? Or turned off the TV when the game is tied and there was less than a minute to play? Well that is exactly what he is doing to me when he drags me away before I am done with a certain spot. I don’t think it bothers Zoe nearly as much since she is more of a title/headline/abstract reader and isn’t really interested in all the nuances of individual stories or trying to solve the puzzle that the mystery presents. Of course we know who is smarter of the two of us…
Of course, I will never turn down the chance to go for a stroll even if I don’t get to the end of each story. At least the questions left provide plenty of fodder for my dreams.
As I may have mentioned, during the pandemic we have watched what was one of my FarFar’s favorite shows: Perry Mason. There is a lot of courtroom procedural dialog in these cases which Perry (Raymond Burr) always wins. Although, the topic of this blog is “Redirect” it has nothing to do with legalese. I will be discussing a Zoe behavioral issue known in vet circles as: Redirected Aggression.
In most cases in which she expresses this personality flaw we are on a walk and she see’s another dog on a walk but off leash. This causes her to go bat-guano crazy! If my parents or I don’t see it first, Zoe immediately goes after me usually resulting in me being knocked down and trying to defend myself while on my back amid a tangle of our leashes which prevents our parents from separating us. If I see it coming I can try to get away but on a 6′ leash there is not a whole lot I can do to avoid her wrath. Up until now, the best case scenarios are: 1) when both our parents are walking us they put at least 12′ between Zoe and I; 2) if only one of them is walking both of us they let me have my 6′ and put Zoe on the opposite side on a very short leash – preferably both of us will be sitting down or better yet lying down. The vet proposed an ever better solution – TREATS!!!! The idea being that we (Zoe) will focus on the treats and not on the perceived violation of the other dog(s).
I really hope this works since late last week Zoe totally caught me off guard and my front left paw got banged up. I was pretty sure it wasn’t broken since I was able to continue on our walk with no problem. But after an extended nap on the couch my wrist had swollen up and I had trouble walking. In fact, for our last bathroom break before bed I let Dad carry me down the stairs and back up so I wouldn’t have to put much weight on it. The last thing I heard before I fell asleep was that I would probably going to the Concord Animal Hospital (our new vet shop) to get it checked out.
Upon waking up, despite the fact that the joint was still a bit swollen I was able to walk on it fine – even running up the stairs by myself.
Come to think of it, us dogs seem to heal up much faster than you humans (no offense). For instance, The Scribe still complains on occasion about the “trigger finger” on his right hand which began at the end of the house painting season. Of course, since this injury didn’t result in him bleeding, he did not get the attention of Nurse Tempi. In contrast, I spent much of the evening licking my paw and making sure I wasn’t resting on it or putting any undue pressure on it. And in fact, stopped Dad from trying to “ice” it since that hurt (he sucks at being a nurse).
Since I got hurt Zoe hasn’t gone mental on any of our walks – maybe she felt bad about hurting me (?). We have had a number of barking episodes in the house when we spot another dog on a walk on the street around our yard or deer walking along our fence line … and with the leaves down we can see much more of the road and woods.
In these cases of Redirected Aggression Zoe will get in my face and appear to be mad at me for not taking care of the problem in a way she sees fit. In these instances we both put on our mean faces, snarl, and bark at one another but it typically is more sisterly bickering than an actual physical altercation. We apparently look and sound really scary when this happens which is in part why we aren’t allowed outside on our porch or in the backyard without “adult” supervision 😁.
I guess that is the yin and yang of life with Tempi and Zoe…
The Tempest
“Briefly put, the meaning of yin and yang is that the universe is governed by a cosmic duality, sets of two opposing and complementing principles or cosmic energies that can be observed in nature.”The People at Google or The Internet
I was planning on writing about a different topic tonight, but after getting a question from Mungo about my last post, I thought I would put aside the Redirect for another time.
“Hey Tempi,” wrote my cousin Mungo, “What about your name?”
A great question which I felt needed an immediate response.
So here is the definition best capturing the essence of being The Tempest:
Tempified, adjective?, to elevate something ordinary to an exulted level, be it intelligence, beauty, or artisanship. Example: At a young age, Leonardo da Vinci was tempified, and subsequently produced great works of art and invention.
I’ve been waiting for Zoe to finish her Christmas movie to blog again but she has been distracted with all her new toys … and of course our walks. This was exacerbated due to the fact Mom had taken a few weeks off of work – a staycation – which meant more (and longer) walks when we were not piled on the couch binge watching shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime. Then, after Mom went back to work – meaning she started her 30 s commute downstairs to her office – the Scribe basically went off-line in regards to attending to my story telling due to the events of January 6th in Washington DC.
At last, my two “contributors” have regained their focus and I am pleased to present Zoe’s latest film:
Presents for Zoe
Now, you may have noticed that Zoe likes to take whatever toy I am playing with and attempts to claim it as her own. This is true of bones too. I’ll fight back and try to retain possession of what I consider mine but she tends to win out despite my best efforts. I don’t know what possesses her to behave in such a manner as I have always been excellent at sharing.* I have taken to calling this mal-treatment of yours truly as being “Zoed” (Definition: simple past and past participle of the verb Zoe – to steal, hog, or horde communal toys, treats, or chews).
This got me to wondering: what comes first, the proper name or the word? Let me put a little context around this question and maybe provide a few examples. I have notice that a lot of people have a name that is also a noun or verb and I was wondering if the later is due to the behavior of a certain individual.
Example 1: Carol (ing): a Christmas song or hymn (to sing Christmas songs or hymns, especially in a group performing in a public place or going from house to house.) Did this definition of Carol(ing) come about because some woman named Carol wrote a lot of Christmas songs or was known for walking around neighborhoods singing? “Hey, here comes Carol – ding-door-singing to her neighbors again.”
Example 2: John: 1) a toilet or bathroom, 2) a prostitute’s customer. So did people start asking: “Has anyone see John recently?” “Yeah, he just went to the loo.” “Again? I swear he is always in there. They might as well just put his name on the door.”
I had a long list of other names/words going but apparently misplaced it during our move so I’ll try and remember as many as I can. I’ve come with other fun examples for some of these that I am not going to share at this point because I think it could be a good COVID game for anyone with some extra time on their hands.
Woman Name or Plant/Flower/Precious Stone
Ivy
Daisy
Olive
Sage
Juniper
Rose
Lily
Holly
Iris
Fern
Violet
Jasmine
Ruby
Pearl
Jade
Other Woman’s Names
Penny
Pat
Sue
Eve/Eave*
Grace
Paisley
Piper
Faith
Eden
Trinity
Angel
Abby/Abbey*
Paige/Page*
Brooke/Brook*
Summer
Georgia
Joy
Scarlet
Skye/Sky*
April
May
June
Wren
etc,etc
Man’s Name, word or both?
Mark
Phil*/fill
Frank
Charlie/Charlie-horse
Hunter
Angel
Ryder/Rider*
Bent#
Max
Beau
Myles/Miles*
King ^
Jesus^
Zion^
River
Finn/Fin*
Colt
Walker
Reid/Read*
Reed
Tanner
Baker
Porter
Gage/Gauge*
Ruben
Wilder
Forrest/Forest*
Derrick
Drew
etc, etc
*these sound the same to me but apparently they are spelled differently so probably don’t really fit into this analysis (?)
#not a common name but I happen to have a great-uncle (?) in Denmark with this name…and he is kind of “bent” if you know what I mean😉 😇. The one time I met him – shortly after I joined this pack – and he implied (or maybe outright said) I needed some training and he expected that next time he visited I would be the well behaved dog I’ve become. So I guess I am wondering when he is going to stop by again so I can show off. Of course Zoe will set the bar pretty low on what is a good dog 🤣.
^These seem a bit presumptuous to me – assuming that the name came after the word – but that is just my opinion. To each their own.
So that is all for today. I hope you are able to incorporate being “zoed” into your daily vocabulary.
Montana Moments 