dog

January 8, 2014

back to routine

7:27am
-Blue gave up fussing about not being able to see his dog buddy Jake, and decided to just eat breakfast instead.
-8th grade boy was shocked, amazed and thrilled to find a new MythBusters on the DVR this morning. You see, it’s not just a new MythBusters, but A NEW STAR WARS MYTHBUSTERS!!!! Are you kidding me?! Pure awesome right there.
-Best of all, thanks to the folks at Discovery Channel, that TV show was the incentive my 5th grade boy needed to come out from under the layers of cozy covers where he was burrowed when I told him it was wake up time, a little after 7a.
Up, dressed, breakfast, backpacks with lunches packed…we just might make it.
7:33am now
Gotta go!

The words above were posted in real time as my Facebook status. It is 8:24am as I post them here at Tumblr. I just walked through my front door, after delivering one boy curbside and waiting with the other until the bus arrived. It did. *whew* My breakfast time is next. Coffee. Taking my mom to the train station mid morning. I have a whisper of an idea for how I’m going to spend my day, but I’m not yet telling. Wednesday today. All day. Going to make it A Good One! First step is taking my winter coat off. I’m holding my phone with a turquoise knitted glove and typing with my thumb. I will. Letting the words flow ‘til then…

January 7, 2014

I can’t make you

turquoisetangle:

I can’t make you

I wish I could

you’re bigger than me

I can’t stop you

you won’t listen

I won’t beg

do what you have to do

the door closes

I cry then

my eyes are dry now

no longer tired

I wonder

when you will come home

knowing that you will

I won’t call

you know the way

when you’re ready

come home

even though

I can’t make you

© 2011 Turquoise Tangles

That feeling when someone suddenly “Tumblr loves” something you wrote a few years ago. You reread it. Sigh deeply and cuss (just in your head). Somehow you nearly forgot. Does anyone else tag real life personal drama as, “creative writing” and hope the outer facade of reality doesn’t crack? No, me either. After tagging that way a few times my husband “called me on it” so I stopped. Stopped writing quite so honestly. Stopped tagging anything “creative writing.” Started talking about the dog, Blue, then just a puppy. A lot. Time flies. Speed varies. I’ve logged nearly 1,000 posts here at Tumblr since joining in November 2011. Poems. Photographs. Stories. Quotes. Reblogs. All tweeted too, if you’re counting. The best, most interesting, jaw dropping, heart aching, twisting, tugging, wrenching, soaring writing from the past several years has all been done behind the scenes. Just in case you’re wondering, this poem, written on a long ago night, was foreshadowing. I’m glad I was brave enough to write it and say it at the time. I still remember the fight. Faded. Fading. Letting go. We were fire and fire, fire and ice, hot and cold. Yet, we ended “just right.” We came through the fire, all pride set aside, and we loved with our walls down for the very first time.

January 6, 2014

January 6, 2014

Thank you kindly

Dear Driver of the Maroon Pickup Truck,
Thank you for putting your snowplow blade down to bust through the drifts and heaps o’snow from the street plow at the bottom of my driveway. I tried to walk out and say, “Thank You” in person, but that’s when you started up the snowblower motor and we couldn’t hear each other. I headed back indoors through the cloud of snow dust you were making.
I watched you work from the front window, with one hand resting upon Blue. My big hearted, protector dog was window watching too. I was waiting for another chance to say, “Thanks. A LOT!”
Instead, my youngest son came upstairs asking about bacon to eat, round two. (It’s since been cooked and devoured now.) While in the moment still, I replied lightning fast to two messages on my phone, singing the praises of you, my unknown snow removal guy. Really?! Wow.
I made it back to the front window in time to see you back inside your truck, about to drive away. You’d left it running, for a quick getaway. Glad we exchanged that brief wave. Me, hanging out the front door with my winter coat on, still hoping to catch your name. You, already back in the driver’s seat, ready to roll. More snow to clear, before you called it a day. Your wave was as chivalrous as an old time, white hatted cowboy. Felt like I heard you say as you drove away, “You’re welcome. My pleasure, Ma’am.” So what if the dialogue is imagined, the sentiment is real. Thank you kindly in reply.
In one of those two texts, sent at 1:15pm today, I wrote, “Let me share a praise: A maroon pick up truck just came and plowed my drive. Then a man got out and is snow blowing the rest. I don’t know who but am thankful. Yesterday Jake the dog’s “dad” snow blew it some. Good people out there. Thankful here. God is so good. I’ve already been weepy today. What’s a few more tears? Joy kind. :)”
Just now, at 2:23pm Marilyn replied, “That is so neat Janean. God’s provision for you.”
I simply replied, “Yes. I know. Thankful, humbled and blessed. Amen”
I just want you to know I noticed and appreciate YOU!
Sincerely,
Janean M. Baird

P.S. For the record, the temperature at this moment, according to The Weather Channel app: -11*F (Feels like -35*F) Yep. Still Crazy Cold.
P.S.S. The weirdest part is your timing is that just moments before I’d been outside with Blue. He “went” fast and wanted to play, but I threw him back inside. I was going to go back out and shovel a bit. Cold schmold. I love being outside. I’d just closed the front door to unhook the dog’s leash when the house phone rang. It was my father in law, checking in. He joked about thinking he’d miss me, because I’d be outside shoveling. Told him honestly, I nearly was. We talked a bit before the call dropped and we switched to text, just a little after 1pm. So, if you read to the bottom of my note, “Thank you” once again.

January 6, 2014

January 6, 2014 Image

With record breaking cold temperatures being reported all over the country, it’s not that I NEED a picture to prove it, but I’m posting one anyway. Even though I’m An Illinois Girl, my dad grew up in Southern Illinois overlooking the Mississippi. As a result, I ended up with a fair amount Missouri Show Me. This is my definition of Crazy Cold. Thankful for a warm home, enough food and lots of layers of clothing when I go outside to shovel or with my dog, Blue.

January 6, 2014

January 6, 2014

smart dog

I reported at 6:15am, “Blue is sleeping in. Smart dog.”

Of course, just like with human children, when you remark on their sleep habits, they do the opposite to prove you wrong and by 6:38am, my Blue dog appeared beside my bed to see if I was awake too. I scratched his velvety ears and then he woofed to say, “Get up already!” I did.

In record time that dog and I went out and were back inside before 7:00am. Here’s my micro report from that excursion:

At first Blue went romping through the snow drifts thinking, “Woo hoo! This is fun!” Then he started limping and holding up a back paw. Suddenly the spot in front of our house between the sidewalk and curb, where the wind blew the snow down to where you can see the grass with a fire hydrant conveniently located nearby was THE SPOT and we’re both back inside. Dog looked at me not quite sure what kind of snow and cold that was today, nothing like the fun of yesterday. I told him he was a good boy and to go get warm. He ate a bite and is stationed in his front window watching post now. Good morning. Safe travels if you must.

The Weather Channel app declares it is -17*F and feels like -45*F. I keep calling it crazy cold, which is evidently what comes after snot freezing cold on my thermometer. I’m obviously not A Weather Girl. Usually I just wake up, get dressed enough and head outside because it’s time to walk the dog.

January 6, 2014

January 5, 2014

weather texting

KRB: Gdnt. Ly.

Love you too
It started snowing
Gently
Lightly
Pretty l’il flakes
Nothing that seems menacing

January 4, 2014
10:40pm
We’ll know more in the morning
Predictions made for the amount of snowfall and subzero temps had people buying groceries until the shelves were literally empty
I stayed home
Evening napped
We have enough
Even if we are snowed in for a few days and run out of stuff
We’ll be OK
My boys and I
Human and canine kind
Cat too
We’re “all good”
Goodnight

January 4, 2014 Image

vivid crazy daisy blooms
and a shamrock plant for luck
are the flora and fauna
keeping me company
in the kitchen
plants hold down the counter top
I hold down the sink edge
elbows propped up
leaning, typing, thinking
as I pause just a moment
to daydream and woolgather
before moving the dirty dishes
along to the dishwasher
as happy voices drift up
my boys are playing in the basement
after visiting the kitchen for food
(thus, the dishes)
Blue dog is alternately napping
and wild front window woofing
‘cause the new neighbor
is having a moving party
the street is lined
with pick up trucks
my brother and his son
are coming over later
in this very moment
life is good
thankful and blessed
smiling a l’il brighter
thanks to a bouquet of
vivid crazy daisies
and a shamrock plant for luck
that I’ve kept alive
for nearly a whole year
I’m still here too
not sure what to do next
never had coffee today
wishing for a nap

January 4, 2014

January 3, 2014 Image

Blue dog had me laughing on the sidewalk this morning. First, he unearthed this ginormous stick from under the snow, then he turned around and proceeded to carry it home, with his tail wagging to and fro. Every so often he’d turning his head to the side and grin at me, careful to keep his prized giant stick clamped between his wolf-like teeth. This dog, he’s good for me in so many ways. There was no stopping for a photo op either, I took this photo on the move. I took several. This is the only one that shows the whole entire stick, end to end, as well as the end of my gray mittened hand. We’re inside now. Thawing out. Escapades from our second walk of the day. There will be more. Escapades and walks. For the record, I call this, “Blue’s Stick Relocation Program.” He picks them up here, drops them there, and circles back to pick them up again, days later. Funniest of all, was Blue looking over toward Luna’s fence as he walked by. Wanting to show off to his best girl just a l’il, like the hound dog that he is when it comes to pretty girl dogs, squirrels and rabbits. Dog. He’s a dog. Mine. Well, we belong to each other. Woof.

January 3, 2014