MONDAY'S MUSING—THE BLIGHT OF THE BROWN MESS

The One and Only Copper

                                                                                                                                                            

One of my Asian Lilies blooming on the
ground.

There’s a brown mess in my flowerbed. It’s managed to take down the bottom stems of a section of my Tiger Lilies, roll right over my yellow marigolds, and stunt the growth of my purple pansies. They’re sort of flattened. My Stargazers are confused as to whether they should be upright or safely lay on the ground and bloom. Ditto with the bed of Asian lilies.

Old fashion Tiger lilies

I worked hard to get those beds looking good. I have to say, I drooped worse then the Gladiolas as I surveyed the mess. I believe the first words out of my mouth was, “Oh. My. GAWD!” (I've been watching reruns of Magnum and I think I was channeling Higgins because he does that phrase so well.) I know the next words out of my mouth, in Higgins style, was not Magnum but JACOB ALEXANDER!  Especially when I noted a flow of white in the beds.

What was the mess? It’s called dawg.

COPPER w/his I'm innocent look.

Six fully functioning toes.

Well two dogs—our latest rescue dog, Copper, and Jake’s Pit Terrier, Isis, almost a year old. Copper we found starving to death at the state nursery two weeks ago. I’m serious when I say that because he literally was a copper-brown skanky, tick filled piece of fur draped over bones with big brown eyes that begged for help.  He’s about 4 months old and a mixture, as best we can tell, of shepherd and Beauceron (with six toes on both back feet) and he was so weak he could barely walk without wobbling and sitting or falling down when we brought him home. I could see he had a strong will to live. I just couldn't walk away. Hubs grumbled about another rescue animal until he took a look at him. That was it and sweet-talking started and grumbling ceased. 

I hate, people who throw away unwanted pets. Puppies are NOT equipped to survive without intervention and neither are most cats unless they've been taught to hunt. Even experienced hunters still misses half of the kills they try to make. Hatred isn't an emotion I feel often and most of that abhorrence is directed at people who hurt kids and mistreat animals. I can get physical very easily in defense of either.  

Copper, still a bit ribby, but healthy.

We got Copper home, tongue lolling and a happy look in his face. The look of hope about breaks your heart. We pulled all the ticks and what a job that was. We gave him a bath and have been feeding him 4 meals a day. We’re beginning week three and although he’s still very thin he looks 100% better and is now in his lets find trouble mode. Isis has her own pen. So far, Copper isn't penned, but he stays close and in the yard, much to my cat’s dismay. See, Copper thinks the cats are his new playmates and they aren't real thrilled with that thought and he’s be slapped upside the nose more than once when he’s gotten rambunctious. He doesn't try to hurt them but he wants them to run and play. Jake lets Isis out every evening to play and run and Copper loves it. Once play time is over it’s time for training Isis and then she comes into the house for the night. 

Gap in the bed of lilies and iris. The streak is Shadow my 15
year old Russian Blue with Callie in the foreground and
Copper's nose to the left by the yellow flower pot.

The mess that rolled through parts of my flowerbeds was two pups at play. To be fair, neither go into my garden beds on their own but when they’re playing they aren't paying attention to where they roll or lay. And neither was my son. They are now all well aware that the wrath of mama is not a pleasant thing to deal with. Yeah, they've all gotten that point firmly in mind. The dogs tend to slink away when I go in mama mode.

Lilies are pretty tough flowers, especially, Tiger lilies. Next year they’ll be fine so far as putting forth stems to bloom and the base bushy greens are somewhat flattened but picking back up and they will be lush again next year when they come up and the Iris and tulips had already bloomed so they’re fine. But all that work, sigh...

Hope all you fathers out there had a great day and that this week is starting out great. This week seems a bit better for me. 

MONDAY MUSINGS—LOVE AND DEVOTION

Gidget, one of my Great Danes, and Callie. Typical sight of an evening.

A funny thing about love and devotion is those qualities are not reserved to two legged creatures. 

Observation, over the years, has taught me there is a strong bond of love and devotion

Part of my pride of cats. Callie is in the right rear of the
group.

between animals. I know there is a pecking order among animals (and between people, for that matter) and that's true whether they're cats, dogs, horses, even chickens. There are animals that tend to draw together in groups like horses and dogs. There is a lot of affection between pack members of dogs and in herds of horses. Cats are a bit more solitary, but even cats are affectionate toward one another, especially when large numbers live together. If you watch they touch and groom one another. There is a greeting ritual—certain sounds and body language. I suspect it’s a way peace is kept between them, renewing the bonds of belonging. 

In almost every group, I've seen the buddy system. Certain personalities are drawn together and you see love and affection develop and when they lose that companion to death there is a true grieving period over the loss. Certain pairings who draw close to one another and spend time with one another. Where you see one you see the other. It's not exclusive to same species.

Something to keep in mind when you write about animals or if you write paranormal and you write about animal shifters it’s important to maintain some reality in the animal side of them and their interactions and reactions.

Callie, as a kitten, about to groom Gidget's face.

Callie still grooms Gidget. January 2014

My Dane, Gidget, is very close to one of our cats, Callie. This affectionate bond developed shortly after they met. Gidget was almost two when tiny Callie came to live with us as a kitten. Gidget was fascinated with this little furball. Callie loves Gidget and while careful because Gidget is huge and when she moves she’s a force to be reckoned with—especially that tail of hers. It’s like a whip when she’s happy and wagging it. I know because it’s stung my leg on occasion not to mention knocking things off of low surfaces. While Callie is aware of Gidget when she’s on the move, she’s never shied away from Gidget. Callie waits for Gidget to lie down and then she comes over and talks to her and loves on her. She tends to curl up on Gidget’s back or her shoulder. Gidget hold very still while Callie gets comfortable and has learned not to drench her with her tongue. J They’re buddies. They’re also my office companions. Gidget tends to stay within four feet of me wherever I am and Callie is usually right there.

Callie as a three month old kitten.

   

Gidget, as a 2 month old pup. She's watching
a bird fluttering around the bird feeder.

Isn't love something to behold?