Lizzie

I am thinking about Lizzie this morning, so I think I will write about her.  It snowed hard here yesterday.  As I watched Gabby and Belle outside playing in the snow, I thought of a very similar day not so long about when it was Bear and Lizzie doing the exact same thing.

Lizzie is a tough one to talk about for me.  Her ending was a really sad one...but first I will talk about her beginning, at least with us.  I think it was one of those times when my life was just not feeling full enough.  I missed the hustle and bustle of working/living in Japan and just the team that I had there.  And what do I do when I feel empty?  Get a new dog!  I think the real story was that I was picking up strays left and right and Tim really wanted to have a say in the next dog we got.  :-)  By the way, one of those strays that I helped place is still alive and doing well.  It is neat to see that. 

Anyway, it was near Thanksgiving of that year.  It is funny, I don't remember going to the shelter to pick her out.  I don't even remember getting her in the car.  What I do remember is pulling up to the house and all of a sudden I felt sick to my stomach.  What have I done?  How can we take care of another dog?  Will Bear like her?  I felt like I had taken on too much.  Lizzie was a five month old black lab mix.  She was beautiful and full of life.  And not quite yet house trained. 

Lizzie of course fit right in.  She and Bear became fast friends.  As I write this, I wish Tim was awake and I would get his version of this story as well.  Lizzie was one of those dogs though...that just IS.  She loved people, but never asked too much.  When Bear was being a pill, Lizzie was not.  The only time I remember having trouble with her was when she kept jumping our fence to see whoever walked by.  One time this guy started hitting her with his umbrella when she came to greet him.  Then he started running.  What did Lizzie do?  She ran too!  I had to run out of the front door because there was no gate in the back.  And all the while I was yelling, "Please stop!  Please stand still!"  Finally he did and of course Lizzie did too.  He wasn't very happy...Lizzie was VERY happy.  That man just played with her. 

So much more to say, but it is hard to talk about Lizzie without talking about Chipper.  I don't have time to go into his story right now.  But he was a full-bred red-brindle miniature dachshund.  He came along not too long after Lizzie came to live with us.  He and Lizzie loved one another.  She would get down at his level so that they could play.  So funny to think about...he would bite her legs and grab her ears in fun. 

Lizzie loved the river.  We moved to the country really mostly for our dogs...or at least that was my view.  Three dogs and a little tiny house.  It got to be too much and the pull of letting them run free was just too much to pass up.  Once we moved, I was worried.  Worried about if the dogs would run away.  Worried about how the other dogs who ran this property would deal with my dogs.  Worried. 

The dogs didn't run away.  Lizzie showed her grace once again.  She made fast friends with the dogs who ran this property.  One of them was Sampson.  He is HUGE.  He takes care of the goats next door.  And although Lizzie was a bit older than he, they hit it off right away.  Every time Sampson came to play, Lizzie was ready for him.  They ran and played and chased one another.  Lizzie was 7 or 8 by this time and Sampson was 2.  It was a sweet sight. 

Carl is up.  He said that this entry is good enough and that I should get off.  More thoughts about Lizzie later.

Money

I love the titles of my posts.  They are so descriptive.  :-)

We have been on a financial journey for some time now.  I think it officially started two years ago...ok, I think it was three years ago in May.  Tim and I went out for our anniversary to this really neat restaurant that my nephew-in-law was the chef at.  We just stopped by for a pre-dinner drink and a little something to eat...and liked it so much that we stayed there for SIX hours!  We closed the place down.  Sadly that restaurant is closed now, but that is where our money story really began.

We have always worked on our money.  Trying to penny-pinch here and trying not to spend there.  But honestly, we have not been very good about it.  That day, when we were eating good food and drinking good wine, we decided to go get books at the nearby store and read them while we waited for the live music to begin.  I was always looking for financial books, something to help us get ahead instead of feeling so behind.  On the shelf was a book with this guy's face on the front.  It looked interesting.  It was a hard-back book and not cheap, so I had to talk myself into buying it.  We hadn't bought books in some time (the library is a great place to get books!) so this day was extra special. 

The book was "The Total Money Makeover" and it was written by a guy named Dave Ramsey.  I have never heard of him.  Well, needless to say he changed our life.  He teaches what I feel is old-fashioned money sense.  I am not sure how I missed out on learning this before, but I did.  We had credit card debt.  We had just bought a brand new car within the last year.  We had a lot of veterinarian and medical debt.  We really had very little if any savings and no investments.  I felt like we were swimming. 

What was different about this guy is that he says, start where you are.  Sit down and figure out where you are.  Then work on getting current.  We pretty much knew where we were...check.  We were current...check.  Then he said get an emergency fund of $1000 if you make more than $20 thousand a year and $500 if you make less than that in your household.  We had always had this previously, but this had slipped since Carl was born.  Ok, we knew where we needed to start. 

Then he broke down each step after that.  It seemed very black and white and finally it was clear.  It wasn't easy though and it still isn't easy.  I have realized again and again how much easier it is to get into debt, than it is to get out of debt.  It is so much easier to spend than it is to save.  But what I have learned is that it is worth it.  Our adventure in this area is far from over.  We get up in the morning and make a commitment each day.  We are not quite completely out of debt, but we work not to ADD debt.  We are almost debt free except our home though...I can see the end of that phase of our lives and that feels good.

Food

I got sick a few weeks ago...I ended up in the ER with chest pains.  Luckily I am fairly healthy and it was not any of the things that the hospital thought it was, but it was pneumonia and on top of that pleurisy.  It hurt and for me it was a wake-up call.  We don't have tv, but we do have Netflix.  I tried to work from home some, but I could only get a morning full of work and by the afternoon I had to nap and veg.  It was good for me.  I stood still.  It was frustrating too. 

In any case, I spent a lot of time watching food documentaries on Netflix.  I learned a lot.  I learned things that I didn't want to know.  But I learned somethings about food, the way that it is grown, processed and sold that I needed to know.  I feel like I have begun a journey.  A journey to better health and a better way to live.  It isn't easy, but I think in the long run it will be worth it.

As time goes by and I have processed all the information a little better, I will consider sharing some of what I have learned.  Some of what touched me.  I don't want to get political about it.  That is not my point.  This is about me and my journey and my family's journey. 

More soon.

Bear - The short version

2/6-The Great Pyrenees group page asked for stories about when I fell in love with my first Pyrenees.  This was my story... My Bear was a Pyrenees mix. We never knew what he was mixed with, but he was a bit more yellow than most Pyrs. I met him when I started volunteering as a dog... walker at the local animal shelter. He was a mess of matted fur and my mom said, "You want that monster?!" when I brought her to show him off. I watched dog after dog be put down due to lack of room and lack of people to take on a new dog. I wasn't able to have a dog where I was living, so I made a deal with the shelter that I would keep walking for them as long as Bear had a spot. He was there for four months and he was about nine months by that time. Every time I came into the facility he would whine very loudly and call to me. Well, I knew I was in love...I brought him home for the weekend and had a lovely time. He was loving, well-behaved...I was ready to move. I got back to the shelter and the staff greeted me with "We are so glad you are here! We have a family that came specifically looking for Bear!" They were thrilled and I guess I should have been too...but I just burst into tears. i remember the family talking about him and saying, "Bear? That is a terrible name. Of course we can change it." Well, Bear wasn't having any of that. Once he was free, he came to me and sat and laid down and did all his tricks. Thank God for the lady who had come for him...she watched for a while and then said, "Honey, I can see you two are bonded. If you can't find a new place to live that will allow him, you call me." And she walked away...Needless to say, I found a new place to live and Bear lived with me and then with me and my family for the next 13.5 years. He was a dog who helped me believe in hope and love. He had to give his blessing when I got engaged and there is a celtic version of him on my husband's wedding ring. He passed away last summer, but as sappy as it sounds, he will forever be in our hearts.

Bird Watching

2/12 - I talked to our farm store and I bought a bunch of bird seed and sunflower seeds.  I have been putting them out for a few days, but I never really got to watch who was coming to eat.  Today...what a luxury!  I sat out on our deck all bundled up and watched who would come...Ok, so the fatty squirrel ate a lot.  But when he wasn't there I saw 2 Evening Grosbeak (my first time seeing them!), 6 morning doves, a ton of Mountain Chickadees, 10 Stellar's Jays (they like to chase the other birds off, but even they were afraid of the squirrel), several male and female Spotted Towhee (had to look them up in the book), a Northern Flicker (I thought it was a Woodpecker, but it wasn't), and one that I think was a Dark-Eyed Junco.  I saw one more kind of bird that was brown with white flecks on its wings.  I thought it was a Thrush, but now I am not really very sure.

What I thought was interesting was that there were so many birds in the trees surrounding the feeding area.  Gabby ran out at one point and a TON of birds that I hadn't even seen were flushed out of the bushes.

Ok, my own wildlife is asking for my attention.  Happy wildlife watching!

Belle COME!

Feb 13 - Took my dogs out for a long walk this morning.  First time that I trusted 7 month old...geez, maybe 8 month old now...Bellle without a lead.  We use the long leads so she has had some freedom up until now, but this was kind of a test.  We don't have cars around, so no worries in that area.  But she could have run off into the woods.  She was so good about listening!  She and Gabby took off for a while and sniffed and did doggie things, but never far enough so that they couldn't see me and I couldn't see them.  Belle was actually better about coming that Gabby was.  We were out for about 40 minutes and all was good.  I think she earned a chance to do it again.  :-)

Looking for home

I am on a journey these days.  Looking for health, looking for more community...but at the same time I am looking for more peace and more time with nature.  I am learning how to set boundaries.  How to be better to myself.  How to continue with my desire to put heart in all things.  To be real.  I want to share my findings.  Hope we both enjoy the ride.