Drama Queen

           Little Raini Dae is such a drama queen!

          My first hint at just how much of a drama queen came when Spitfire brought a mouse to the kitchen patio. I opened the door and right there on the sill sat this poor little quivering creature. I wasn’t sure if it was still alive or just in the throes of death, so I touched its tail. It took a few steps and stopped.

          I called the Mighty Mouse Killer. “Bondi!”

          Raini got there just as the mouse ran for the wall. “There it is! Get it!” But she couldn’t see it. I moved a small trash can, the mouse ran, and Raini went after it. Just about that time Bondi shows up. I didn’t know if Raini had gotten the mouse or not — and I wanted it dead — so I nudged Raini to get her out of the way and give Bondi a clear shot at the mouse, and Raini starts crying like I was beating her! I wasn’t. I didn’t hurt her, mind you. I barely bumped her.

          Raini ran crying halfway across the patio, dropped the mouse, and moved away from it. Bondi ran over and sniffed it but didn’t touch it. When Bondi didn’t want it, Raini came back and worried it a little. She didn’t eat it, though I would’ve let her. If it lays there for more than a couple of hours, I toss ‘em over the fence.

          The second hint came when I did Bondi’s toenails. She’s pretty good about letting me do them, not at all like Itsy was. Ginger wasn’t bad to do either but Itsy fought me every single time, every single step of the way. She never did capitulate.

          I should get Raini used to it, I thought. After I finished Bondi I picked Raini up, put her in my lap, turned the little hand-held nail grinder on, took her paw, and the drama began. Raini started whining and crying.

          “Oh! You stop! I didn’t even touch you yet!” I told her.

          Raini cried and cried. You should’ve heard her carrying on. You’d’ve thought I was flaying her alive! “I’m not hurting you!”

Eventually she settled into a whimper and only after she calmed down, and only after I’d touched most of her nails, did I let her get down. Her nails, even though they’re really sharp, aren’t very long.

The third hint came when we were at the vet’s office. Raini was due for puppy shots and it would be the first time Dr. Lori gets to see her.

The ride over was a little challenging because Raini wouldn’t settle down. She wasn’t happy sitting in my lap. She wasn’t happy looking out the window. Eventually I put her on the floor which is where she spent a good chunk of time when we were coming back from West Virginia with her. But it wasn’t long till she was back up in my lap again.

Then we were there and early, too, I might add.

“I’m gonna walk her,” I told Mike and took Raini up away from the road. I was pretty sure she’d stay with me but I’d forgotten to bring her leash and harness.

She did stay right with me and I took flower pictures, giving her a chance to pee if she had to.

The Silky Dogwood here has purple stamen. I’m pretty sure, since I took pictures of mine just the day before, I’m pretty sure that mine aren’t purple.

Then I saw this guy.

“What is it?” you ask. “It looks like it could sting.”

I know, right! That’s what I thought, too! But this is a Plume Moth and they don’t sting or bite as far as I know.

I found some Bittersweet Nightshade flowers.

And some budding berries. I’m guessing blackberry but could be wrong.

Raini didn’t do any business and we went back to the car to wait for our appointment. 

Mikayla was the vet tech this day. “Any concerns?” she asked.

“Well, she chewed off the end of Bondi’s Seresto flea collar and I can’t find it. I’m afraid she may have eaten it.”

“Serestos are non-toxic so there shouldn’t be any issue there.”

That made me feel better. “What about causing a blockage?” I wanted to know.

“How long’s it been?” she asked.

“More than a week ago, maybe two?”

“If she had a blockage, you’d know it by now.”

We talked about Raini’s diet. “The only time they ever eat dog food is if I don’t give them any treats and they’re really hungry.”

Don’t give them any treats then, I heard Mikayla say in my head. But she’s a good girl and way too polite to say that out loud.

“Don’t say it!” I said, pointing my finger at her and grinning.

Mikayla just smiled.

Something else we talked about was socialization.    

“We have a couple of other Blue Heelers and we have to muzzle them,” Mikayla told me.

“There isn’t much chance for that where we live,” I told her.

“You could take her in Lowe’s with you or Tractor Supply. Let her get used to people and realize they’re good.”

Later, when I relayed that to Mike, I told him, “I don’t care if they have to muzzle her. I’d just as soon have her for a protector if anything ever happened to you.”

Everything goes on the computer these days and after Mikayla finished writing up the stuff we talked about, she said, “I’ll just take Miss Raini Dae in the back for the exam, her shots, and we’ll trim her toenails, too.”

I sat down, pulled out my phone, opened the Libby app, and picked up reading where I left off the night before.

“What are you reading?” you wanna know.

Right now, I’m reading Son, the third novel in a young adult series by Lois Lowry. I’ve got Sphere by Michael Crichton on hold but it’s eleven weeks out till I get that one. My oldest and much-adored sister Patti said it was a real page-turner so I can’t wait to get it.

I’m very eclectic when it comes to my choice of reading material.

Case in point — and I hate to admit this, but I’m also reading a series of children’s books by Lois Lowry following the adventures of a second grader named Gooney Bird Greene. I stumbled on them when I was searching for the second book in the Giver series. I find them a little absurd but they’re fun and I can usually read them in two or three sittings. And I can always count on there being no offensive language or gratuitous sex scenes in them either.

So, where was I? Oh, yeah, I’m sitting in the little airless room waiting for them to give Raini her exam, shots, and toenail trimming, when I hear my little drama queen sound off! She howled! She yipped! She cried!

And I laughed right out loud!

After a minute or two, one of the gals sticks her head in and says, “Just so you know, I’m not hurting her. I’m just trimming her toenails.”

I laughed. “I know you’re not hurting her.” I didn’t mention I’d tried to do her nails a couple of days before and that’s how she acted with me, too. All I said was, “She’s such a drama queen!”

She went back and Raini starts howling again.

“She’d be a good one to do a Tic-Toc video of,” I heard one of the gals say, and I totally agree with that. You’d laugh at her theatrics, too.

Raini quiets and I can hear Dr. Lori speaking but can’t make out the words. But I did hear the answer. “Oh. I was trimming her nails.”

Dr. Lori finished her exam and they brought Raini back in to me. I didn’t have long to wait before Dr. Lori came in to speak with me. I came away with a gentle scolding for the way I’m feeding Raini.

“I scramble her an egg with a little oil, add some veggies like carrots, peas, green beans, a couple handfuls of dog food, some oatmeal, and a sprinkle of cheese.”

“If people food is more than ten percent of her diet, you might consider a multi vitamin for her,” Dr. Lori said. “And you need to watch the fat.”

“She’s been scratching so I thought her skin might be dry,” I justified.

“Dogs, and especially puppies, can’t handle oil very well and they could end up with pancreatitis, which can be potentially life-threatening,” she said.

“How will I know if I’ve given her too much?” I asked.

“You won’t. Not until later in life when the pancreas develops problems.”

“Oh.”

“Dog food is nutritionally complete and balanced,” Dr. Lori pointed out.

“But it doesn’t do any good if they won’t eat it,” I pointed out.

“It’s okay to make her a special breakfast once in a while, but you don’t want her to expect it.”

I had to smile. “I’ll make her breakfast every single day for the rest of her life and won’t mind one bit,” I said as much to Raini as to Dr. Lori. I nuzzled Raini, she rolled over, and I scratched her belly.

“Anyway, you need to cut back because she’s getting too fat,” Dr. Lori said.

I wish I’d’ve weighed her when I first got her but she’s almost ten pounds now.

A quick online search tells me a two-month-old Heeler should weigh between five and eleven pounds. She’s in the range but I’ll cut back on the treats anyway.

Speaking of treats…

Raini gets too rambunctious when she sees I’ve got treats to dole out. She jumps at me and tries to grab it all for herself.

I pulled them all back and cupped ‘em in my hand out of sight. “No, Raini. Sit down,” I told her.

She cocked her head sideways and when the treats didn’t reappear, she sat.

“Good girl,” I told her and gave her a bite. Then I tore off a piece for Bondi and Raini dove for it. “No! Sit!” I told her. When she did, I gave her both the hand signal and verbal command to stay. We only had to do it twice, maybe three times and that’s all it took. She knows if she wants her treats, she has to sit, and I don’t have to tell her.

How come housebreaking isn’t coming that easy for her.

“They only remember for about three minutes,” Dr. Lori told me. “If it’s been longer than that they just look at you and say, ‘yeah, that’s poop’ so they won’t know why you’re scolding them. You need to catch them in the act, then pick it up and take it outside with you. She’ll get it.”

          We’ve been spending our days on the patio and if I’m careful and take Raini out a lot, she might not pee in the house for two or three days at a stretch. But I need her to tell me when she needs to go out.

          Raini surprised me one night in the middle of the night. Somewhere between one and three a.m. she usually whines until I wake up and take her out. On morning I felt her get out of bed. By the time I got up, she was nowhere to be seen. I did a quick search of the house and didn’t find her. Then I heard her come back in the pet door from the side run. But she’s only done it the once. I sorta wish she’d do it all the time instead of getting me up.

          I know you’re curious about how Bondi’s been doing when I scold Raini. I’ve just been super aware of where she’s at and what she’s doing and tell her no if she even looks like she’s going after Raini. That, plus I’m not scolding as hard as I did before. We’ve not had any repeats of that attack behavior from Bondi this week.

          “Peg, what’s that towel wrapped around your desk chair for?” you ask.

          Well, I have to wrap it to keep from running it over with the wheels on my chair. And I keep it there because it’s handy for drying when they come in from the rain or wet grass.

          Case in point, Tiger came in Saturday morning while I was working on pictures. He thinks he’s special and should get his food from a little dish on my desk. It had rained overnight and he was wet. I unwound the towel and dried him. He was rather enjoying it and purred and turned circles.

          When I was done and going back to my photos, I see there’s something on the computer screen. Their little bottoms will move my mouse and I just figured in all his twisting and turning, he selected some tool with his butt and made a mark on the canvas. I undid the changes and it was still there. Looking a little closer I see it’s something on my screen. I wiped it with my finger and looked and that’s when I knew.

          “Knew what, Peg?” you ask.

          Knew it was a segment of a tape worm.

          “Ew! Gross!” you say.

          I know, right! Then it started to move! Each segment of a tape worm is able to grow into a new tape worm. As fascinating as it is, it’s still gross.

          I washed him down the drain, washed my hands with soap and bleach, and soap, and soap, and bleach, and still felt like I needed to wash again. I thought about setting the computer on fire, then settled on sanitizing the screen instead.

          Aye-yi-yi.

          “I think Tiger’s getting skinny,” Mike said a week or so ago.

          “He probably has worms,” I said. Cats who eat from the great outdoors get worms and should be de-wormed twice a year. But, since I hadn’t seen any evidence, it was easy enough to dismiss it. Now I’ve got to do something. And I gave him his first dose of worm meds. He’ll get it again in ten days and in twenty days. I’ve got enough to do him but not enough to do all the cats. I’ll have to work on that.

          “What’s Mike been up to this week?” you wanna know.

          Mike and I raked all the rocks at the pond this week. It took us two mornings because it just got too hot to work despite going down early.

          I took some dewy shots while I was taking a break from raking.

I love how the droplets outline the milkweed flowers.

A spider suspended in midair.

And my Silky Dogwood with white stamen.

Once we were all done, I helped Mike take the spring he was using to rake and even out the ground with back to the upper barn.

“There’s a deer,” Mike said.

She sat there until we were close enough to see the flies on her rump. Maybe they’re ticks. Then she took off. 

After putting the spring away, we went back down to the pond to admire our work.

We were sitting there on the golf cart, looking out over the pond, and Mike was telling me all of his someday plans.

Then he spots it. “There’s a fawn down there.”

I perked up. “Where‽”

“Right there,” and he pointed.

“I wonder if that was the mom up by the barn.” But there isn’t any way we could know.

Another job Mike tackled was out on the kitchen patio.

Mike built a short wall around a tree stump and covered it with flat rocks. The one on the very end was too long.

“I’ll have to cut that off,” Mike said and bought a saw blade for stone.

Was that two years ago?

You just can’t get in a hurry about this stuff, don’cha know!

This week Mike put the blade on the saw and actually cut about an inch and a half off the stone.

At first, Mike was cutting dry. Besides the dust it created, the blade was red hot and sparks were flying.

“You need water on that,” I advised.

At first, I was trying to direct a stream of water in front of him, but that wasn’t working very well.

“Don’t get it on the motor, you’ll electrocute me.”

 I came around to the side and held a steady stream of cool water on the blade and that worked a lot better and didn’t feel quite as dangerous.

An inch and a half doesn’t sound like much, but it makes a big difference on the walkway entrance to the patio. It was a real ankle-nicker before that.

Mike also tackled the dirty windows on the new patio enclosure. First, we took out all the windows and Mike power washed all the frames. Then he set to work with a bottle of Windex and a roll of paper towels. Despite the label saying it was streak free, it still looks streaky when the sun hits it.

“I need a squeegee and a bucket of soapy water,” Mike said.

Those are things we already have but it’s too hot for him to work on them today. That’ll be a tomorrow’s job.

“Peg, what have you been working on?”

I’m so glad you asked!

I’ve had a couple of secret projects in the works, one of which I can tell you about this week and the other I can tell you about next week.

I saw a video on making a patriotic butterfly from four plastic hangers. That would be cute to make for Miss Rosie, I thought.

I have all kinds of plastic hangers. The thrift store gets them donated and they end up with so many they give them away.

I think the lady in the video tutorial used burlap but I’ve got a roll of raw canvas that I bought forty years ago, so that’s what I used.

I didn’t like how she made the body of her butterfly. She used a piece of cut off wood. It was all square and boxy. I decided to try to make one from plaster.

It’s so ugly I won’t even show you.

So, I used wood but I shaped mine a little and I’m happy with it.

The morning I gave it to Miss Rosie was when she and Lamar stopped by on their way home from their morning walk. I was excited to show it to her because I’d been working on it for weeks. But I let her catch her breath, drink some water, and chat with Mike for a bit first.

“I’ve got a present for you,” I told her when their conversation lulled.

She was surprised. “You do‽”

“Yep. Stand up.” She stood up. “Now, turn around.” She did. I thought she’d see it but she didn’t. She was confused.

“Where is it?” Miss Rosie asked.

“Right there on the wall,” I said and pointed. Then she saw it!

“It’s so cute!” she gasped. “And patriotic!”

“It makes good use of four hangers, don’cha think?” I could tell by the look on her face that she didn’t realize it was made from hangers. “You didn’t know they were hangers.”

“No, I didn’t,” she admitted.

I always tell her my adventures when I make things and this time was no exception. “I tried to make a plaster body,” I said and showed it to her. “But I don’t like it.”

“It is kinda creepy,” Miss Rosie said, “I’m glad you went with this one.”

Lamar hung the butterfly beside their front door.

Another project I’m working on is a Memory Book I talked about last time.

When I first started making book boxes, my beautiful sister Phyllis and I were talking about different things and she suggested something like this. That’s where the idea came from. And since she knows I’m making this for her, I’m not ruining any surprises by talking about it this week.

I’ve not made anything like this before. For one thing, I started on the back cover whereas I normally design the front first. But I sorta knew what I wanted for the front. Roses framing our beautiful Kat was the basic idea. I had no idea what to do on the back and I was nervous. So, what did I do? I fell back on something I liked. I liked the block wall with flowers and vines on it that I’d done before so I started there. I added a tin wall with screws, flowers, a few cogs somehow got mixed in with the roses, butterflies, a tipped bottle spilling flowers, and the darn thing started to take on a life all its own. It called for a pipe.

I put the pipe in.

I was feeling trepidation. What if Phyllis hates it?

I really think Kat would’ve liked it, Methinks to Meself.

But what if Phyllis doesn’t‽ Meself wants to know.

I guess I can rework it, Methinks replies with a shrug and a sinking heart.

“Why a sinking heart?” you ask.

Because I liked it and would hate to tear it apart. But if Phyllis hates it, that’s exactly what I’d do.

I picked up my phone, pulled up Phyllis’ name, and hit the video call button. “I have something to show you and I’m going to apologize in advance.”

“Why?” she asked.

“I don't know what you envisioned when we started talking about this. I kinda feel like you were thinking all sweetness and roses, but this is what I came up with. Are you ready?"

Now it was Phyllis’ voice that betrayed a little trepidation. “Yeah…”

I flipped the camera around and showed her. Phyllis looked and was confused. "What's to apologize for. It's beautiful!"

I can’t tell you how relieved I was to hear that. “I wasn’t sure you’d like the mixture of elements. The pipes and cogs mixed with the roses,” I explained.

Much encouraged, I started on the front. With the introduction of the pipes in the piece, I thought to have a spigot showering Kat in roses. I looked online for a spigot design I thought I could duplicate and found one. I made it, attached a pipe, and went to work making roses.

Putting it all together was a matter of trial and error. I kept moving things around until I got something I liked. Sometimes, when I’m not liking my design, I take stuff away or add stuff. In this case, I kept adding things.

The roses come out of the spigot, come down and around, turn into butterflies, fly up to Kat’s birth and death date, and a rose takes you off the cover.

I can’t really put the roses overtop of the picture because I’d end up painting the picture when I paint the roses. There might be a way for me to work it where I can slip the photo in afterward, but that’s a project for some other day.

“Peg! The spigot pipe is broken,” you say.

I know, right! I had to do that so the cover opens. But look what happens when you open it…

The pipe connects.

I did the spine last of all. A broken pipe dropping cogs and roses.

“How did you ever come up with this?” you wonder.

Simple. I asked God to help me.

I have to paint it yet. It’ll be deep purples and blacks. Maybe some lavender for highlights but I’m not going to try to plan it too much. It never comes out the way I envision it. 

I only have one thing left to talk about this week.

“What’s that?” you wanna know.

Saturday was the community-wide yard sales in our little town of Wyalusing. I haven’t been yard-saleing in ages and even though it’s on my letter blog Saturday, I wanted to go. Mike didn’t. So, I went with the Kipps.

On one stop I get out of the car and see this on the sidewalk.

What is that? I wonder. A puddle of ice cream someone stepped in? Where did the colors come from? I start to walk away then double back and take a picture.

“Don’t take a picture of that,” Lamar, who’d just gotten out of the car on the other side said.

“Why? What is it?” I asked thinking he’d already seen it.

“Cat puke,” he said as he crossed the street to the next sale.

Miss Rosie caught up to me. “He only said that because he had to clean up cat puke this morning.”

It was a hot day. We walked away from a lot of sales with nothing. That’s the problem with being older and not needing a thing. It made us really picky about what we did buy.

I found a butter dish.

“Why did you buy that?” Mike asked.

“Because the cats knocked ours down and broke it. I had a hard time finding another one, so now if they break it, I’ve got a spare.” It was only a dollar.

I found a deck of almost new Skip Bo cards. They were marked four dollars but I didn’t want to pay that. I didn’t even know if all the cards were in there. “Would you take a buck?” I asked.

“Yep.” She didn’t even think about it.

Turns out, all one hundred sixty-two cards are there.

I bought the most at a church sale. A ten-drawer cabinet that’ll hold craft stuff was fifty cents and I didn’t even pay that.

“Give it to me,” that sweet handsome Lamar said. “I’ll take it out to the car.”

“I’m not done shopping yet,” I said.

He reached in his pocket, took out fifty cents, and insisted he’d take care of it for me. I let him.

Everyone raves about the show Game of Thrones. I found the first season for a dollar. “But will I watch it?” I questioned Miss Rosie.

“I don’t know but I was wondering about it myself. I hear them talking about it all the time.”

“Okay. I’ll spend a buck and we’ll both watch it.”

Lastly, I bought a pasta roller. It was marked thirty dollars. “Will you take ten?” I asked one of the gals.

“How about twenty?” she asked.

I declined. “I don’t want it that bad. I was only gonna use it to flatten clay when I do crafts.” They talk about using one on the tutorials I watch. “I can just use my rolling pin,” I said and I was really okay with walking away from it.

“Okay. Ten. No one else will probably buy it anyway,” she said.

It’s got a ravioli attachment and another head for making fettuccini, but I haven’t figured out how to change it yet — if I decide to make clay noodles. 

And with that, let’s call this one done!