Sunday Afternoon

           I left you last time with another story or two to tell and more pictures to show. I cut my letter blogging short because our church had a baptism and I didn’t know how long it would take. Six people got dunked in the Wyalusing Creek with Pastor Jay on one side and Lamar Kipp on the other.

          The baptizees are, left to right, Kathy Williams, Bobbi Benton, NJ and his Nick Benuska, Robert Mapes, Pastor Jay, and Nancy Orischak.

          I find that I’ve got a little time yet this Sunday afternoon and the desire to finish my storytelling.

          So here goes.

          We had an incident here. One that bothered everyone in the house, Bondi most of all.

          “What happened, Peg?” I know you really wanna know.

          We were coming in the door. Raini ahead of me, Bondi came in the pet door beside the door. Raini got underfoot and I stepped on her. It was her bad leg to begin with and judging by her cry, I hurt her pretty bad.

          Raini turned to see who hurt her and there was Bondi. Raini laid her out. Bondi submitted pretty quick so even though it was a vicious-sounding attack, it didn’t last very long.

          “What happened?” Mike called from the other room.

          “I stepped on Raini and she took it out on Bondi,” I called back.

          A little while later, as we were going into the pantry, Raini turned and nailed Bondi again.

          “What was that about?” Mike asked.

          I was at a loss. “I don’t know. There were no food or toys involved. I don’t know why Raini got mad at her.”

          Then it happened again that night.

          And it happened four more times the next day.

          It took me all that time to figure out Raini was holding a grudge. Any time Bondi came up behind her, which is all the time since Raini’s dominant and the lead dog, she’d turn and nail Bondi to the floor.

          I turned to a Blue Heeler group on Facebook for advice.

          “Get a muzzle.”

          Mike got online and we ordered a muzzle.

          “Grab her by the nape, put her down, and firmly say NO,” was the advice of another member.

          Other people said to keep them separated, reward Raini when she interacts with Bondi without aggression, and I don’t remember what else. I deleted my post because I didn’t want to hear any more.

          I joined several groups and some don’t allow talk about shock/prong collars, physical punishment, or alpha rolling, which is what grabbing her neck and putting her down is.

          When these seven attacks on Bondi occurred, I let a couple go because they were brief, but a couple times Bondi wasn’t submitting so I grabbed Raini, pulled her off Bondi, and put her in timeout in the kennel. After the first timeout she headed for the kennel without being told. She’s so smart.

          I can’t really blame Raini. If I thought someone coming up behind me was going to hurt me, I’d react the same way.

          The third day, after reading advice from various pages, things calmed down a little. I was extremely vigilant when the girls were on the floor together and the first time Raini raised her hackles at Bondi, I alpha rolled her. I only had to do it one more time that day and not since.

          Unfortunately, the damage is done. Bondi is afraid of Raini. I can’t say as I blame her either. She has no idea what she’s done to deserve such treatment. Raini told her to leave her alone, Bondi was leaving her alone. She either stays with Mike in the recliner or behind me on my computer chair. When Bondi comes in from outside, she immediately jumps up in kitchen chair so she’s not on the floor with Raini.

          I don’t know if this will ever get any better but, in the meantime, we’re not taking any chances. When we leave the house, we kennel Raini.

          Even though I use the kennel as a timeout place when Raini misbehaves, she loves her kennel. Often time through the day, when I’m working on my computer, she’ll either be in there or under my feet.

          “Peg, it looks like she outgrew her bed,” you say.

          I know, right! We bought her a new one. I put it in the kennel. The next time we left the house, she didn’t want to go in her kennel with the new bed. I made her. When we came home, she was sitting in a corner where she wasn’t on the bed. I took it out and gave her the little one again. She can and does curl up on it sometimes.

          And since she has her little bed back, she goes in her kennel with no fuss. In fact, after just one day of kenneling her when we left the house, if she sees me making travel coffee, she gets in her kennel without being told. She’s so smart!

          Speaking of travel coffee, I went to some yard sales with the Kipps. “I’ll have my coffee ready to go when you get here,” I told Lamar.

          “You know, you don’t have to take coffee with you every place you go,” he said.

          Silly Lamar. “Oh, huh!” I said. Most people might not have to, but I do!

          “Peg, what did you get at the yard sales?” I know you’re curious.

          Well, I didn’t buy much when I went with the Kipps, but I did take some road pictures.

          Mike and I hit a couple of sales the next day and I got a great big bag and a smaller bag of poly fill. You know, the stuff you make pillows with.

          “Are you going to make pillows?” you ask.

          Nope. I’m going to use it to pad boxes I send down to West Virginia. My friend Trish uses it in some of the crafts she makes.

          I got a set of Francie Rivers books for the pastor’s daughter.

          I got a set of shutters. I didn’t know what I was going to do with them when I bought them, but I have an idea now. Stay tuned for that one.

          And I got two rolls of a thick white paper called Wall Liner. It’s meant to be glued up over problem walls to cover cracks, bumps, paneling, and cement block.

          “What are you gonna do with it?” you ask.

          I’m thinking I’m going to turn them into pages of the very first sketch book I make. Something that’s been rattling around in my head for a while now. You’ll have to stay tuned for that one, too.

          It started to rain before we got home, and this is the beautiful Susquehanna seen through the raindrops of my side window.

          There is only one more thing in the file that I wanted to tell you and this one is a brag.

          I love the game 3003 Crystal Mazes. The mazes are so cleverly constructed and I wonder at the minds that made the puzzles.

          The game is simple. You can only push the crystals and you can only push one at a time. You win when you get all the crystals into the gold home boxes. Sounds easy, right? I spent maybe a year on this puzzle set. I played it a LOT at first. I knew all the ways it wouldn’t work; I knew what I needed to do to win, I just couldn’t figure out how to make it happen given the parameters of the game. After a few months I gave up and went to other puzzles but kept coming back to this one, determined to find the answer.

          This week I did it! I figured it out! Now that I know the answer, it seems so obvious and so simple! I had to take a screen shot just before I pushed the last diamond home.

          I’m nothing if not tenacious. And that’s what keeps me going, week after week, year after year, for twenty-five years of writing to you. I never want you to forget that you are in my heart.

          Done!