Winnie

It should come as no surprise that in addition to the myriad mental health problems rampant in my family that my dogs would have some issues of their own. Take Winnie for example.

She is a hypochondriac. If anyone else in the house has a boo-boo, she pretends to have one too; even going so far as to fake a limp or simply whine and look as miserable as possible.

Every summer she picks a spot to lick at and lick at and lick at. There is nothing actually wrong at the site of the tongue-lashing until of course she spends every waking moment bathing it.

This morning after panting and whining enough to wake me at 5 AM, she is now sporting a gorgeous hot pink vet wrap bandage. And limping. But secretly quite pleased with herself and the attention.

She also gets as close as caninely possible whenever she sees a camera.

Undone

I have always found that what should be the easiest concepts to understand, are difficult for me. I am undone by the ordinary. Love, death, the growth of my children all leave me scratching my head and thinking I missed a vital lesson in comprehension.

I find it astounding that my littlest child is a beautiful nearly 18 year old heading to college. I've seen the progression of course, but this incarnation of her is a wonder.

Come on in! The water's...

Warm! Really warm! As I sank blissfully into what I consider my true element yesterday I had a thought. ( Yes, only one, but divided into two parts)
" With all the rain we've been having, and how early it is in the season, the water seems awfully warm... "

I looked around at all the people on the beach. Looked at the beautifully equipped porta-potties- not a lot of business there.

"What if the water is warm because each and every one of those people had peed, even only once, in the ocean today?

" Have you checked the chickens?"

We are in the middle of an oddity that may yield a positive outcome. Apparently, at 3 AM my husband was woken up by the screaming of terrified, annoyed or possibly gleeful poultry.
When he went outside to investigate, all the lights in the shed were on.

This is could be evidence of God answering prayers, an intruder or highly intelligent chickens.

After I moved all of my art supplies out to what was supposed to be my studio, my husband set to work to install better lighting and safer outlets. Nothing worked- he concluded that the electrical line had been cut. That was the end of that. During the summer he has little time for home projects. Therefore I have been unable to work on any art, because dragging all the crap back in was an unappealing prospect.

I have trouble understanding electricity and believe that, like the ocean, it can be your friend but you must respect it. As much as I would like to get myself out there with a couple of fans and get to work, I worry. What if I hit the switch and get fried? What if someone is living out there and forgot to turn out the lights?

Worse, what if it doesn't work?

What's going on

I am waiting. Waiting for my sister to let me know if she is leaving NY and bringing me my youngest child today. Do I go "big-shopping" today or wait?

I am pondering a mini-redecoration. I bathed one of the stinky dogs this weekend but my couch, oh my couch.... I am thinking of hauling it outside, maybe setting it on fire. Since the canines look as though they will be here for awhile, I don't want to buy a new one and seethe while they ruin it with drool and stench and hair. I may get out a base for a futon and make a day bed kind of arrangement. That way I can change the covering when it gets yucky. My husband thinks it needs some kind of arms so he doesn't fall off. He is just going to have to learn to balance.

My grand experiment? Not bad actually. Surprisingly cigarettes and coffee have been the easiest for me to cut down. Trying to eat mindfully is harder. I no longer read while I eat- I have to pay close attention. When I had acute Lyme Disease several years ago I minimized carbs in my diet. It is harder to do now. I am trying... I have more energy but that is a double edged sword- I am having trouble sleeping and aching from the increase in activity. I can live with that. Headaches, the bane of my existence have not been a problem the last few days and so no Tylenol, Motrin, etc. I have been swimming and dancing.
My mood is good and consistent. I can't remember the last time that happened.

"Cat", the animal dumped here last fall has probably lost another one of his lives. Earlier in the week he was limping. By the next day his front leg was HUGE. We gave him "aspirin water" and kept him quiet. Saturday night his bed was covered with a watery bloody tinged fluid and the leg was almost back to normal. We think he was stung or snake-bit.

The chickens are doing well and every morning I thank them for their eggs. The babies are getting bigger and soon will leave their "playpen" and join the others.

That's that.