Swan Song for August.....

.... and as I type this, it's raining outside. Real honest-to-goodness wet rain. Not just a few drops, but a soft and steady rain.  Finally.... the weather gods have recognized this part of Texas.

We have truly stopped talking about the poodle puppy. However.... we did go into town this weekend, to WalMart (where puppy sellers abound every Saturday and Sunday). We didn't see the lady with 'our' Winnie The Poohdle, but if we had, I was prepared to grab the steering wheel away from my husband and insist that we take a look-see.  Luckily, that didn't happen.  And, being that the poodle lady wasn't there in the parking lot, I'm guessing (I hope correctly) that she did indeed find a good home for that last little puppy of hers.  There were two people there under a tree by WalMart, with a crate of dogs for sale.... I'm sure they were puppies, but they looked about as big as any dog that I would be interested in. They weren't cute at all.... although that might not be fair. Winnie The Poohdle is going to be hard to beat in the cute department.

On to other things........ Happiness Boxes.  I've already made five of them for my aunt in Chicago, plus I made one to keep for herself.  When she saw the Boxes that I made for R's children, and the one I made for P and his wife, she was very interested.... she kept saying that she could give them to her church-lady friends, and to her mail-lady...... and I knew she wanted one of her own but she didn't come out and ask for one.  I found a wooden box in the shape of a woman wearing a plaid dress..... she had a hat on, and was holding a coffee pot in one hand and a mug in the other.... the face on the painted lady just reminded me of my aunt, so I knew that would make the perfect Happiness Box for her.  My aunt called me the other day..... she got all the packages..... each of the boxes is unique and now she has to decide which box to give to which friend. Decisions, decisions....   She was as excited as a little kid on Christmas morning..... it was very nice to hear.  My aunt told me that she has a lot of friends...... I told her I'd be making more Happiness Boxes for her.    The Happiness Jars have turned into Boxes, for the simple reason that the boxes are lighter in weight, easier to mail, and they won't break along the way.

Today was check-up day at the doctor...... I like the doctor here very much..... she's thorough, doesn't keep you waiting past your appointment time, gives you plenty of attention for your questions.  I have to go back for the blood tests, on a day when I haven't eaten anything for breakfast.... and then they'll take enough blood for all those tests that tell them everything they need to know about you, and then some.  It's the "and then some" that can get your nerves up.  I didn't sleep well at all last night, tossing and turning about the appointment this morning.  But it always goes fine.... I don't know why I worry..... worrying is such a waste of time.

The voice of puppy-reason.

I spoke to the lady with the puppy this morning...... she still has that cute little Winnie The Poohdle, she was willing to come down some on the price...... and she was hoping we'd buy the puppy because she thought we would give it a good home.

Well, of course we would...... but after discussing the puppy for the umpteenth time this morning, I finally told my husband that I couldn't be trusted to make the final decision. In my mind, all I could see was that adorable little face and those button eyes. How could I say no to that puppy?

The bottom line is that our discussion wasn't about the cost of the puppy, which we could easily afford.  And it wasn't about buying a puppy, either.  The main question, which my brain spat out over the wrenching sounds of my heart-beats for that puppy, was this:   Did we want to commit ourselves to another dog for the next 12 or 15 years?   That's the question that I couldn't answer, because the button eyes and that curly apricot-colored puppy hair just got in the way of my brain.

I told my husband that the final answer had to come from him. (That makes me either very gracious, or very cowardly--- take your pick.)  My husband thought about it, seriously and without emotion. He said no, that he didn't want to add another pet to the household, that he didn't want to tie us down with another dog, that he didn't want to give our friends another responsibility when we're out of town. No. We shouldn't buy that puppy, no matter what the price-tag is on his cute little curly head.

I called the lady back..... told her all of the above.  I know it was the right, rational, sane decision, the right thing to do at this moment in time.  I'm sure Winnie The Poohdle will be bought by someone else in town who will give him a nice home.  And maybe they won't have three cats to take attention away from his cute little self.  (But actually, only one of our cats is inside the house.) And maybe they'll have a one-story house so that tiny puppy won't have to worry about climbing up so many stairs. (But of course I would have carried him up and down all of ours.)

As of this moment, all puppy-talk stops.  My husband made the right decision, which I knew all along he would. 

Pooh.

Chicago

We went to Chicago last week to visit family there.  We got to see parts of the city that we hadn't seen during our last trip a few years ago.  The Art Museum had a wonderful exhibit of impressionist paintings coupled with Victorian gowns that were very similar to the gowns in the paintings..... they had large mirrors set up behind the dresses so you could see some of the paintings reflected in the mirror as you looked at the gowns.  Gorgeous and well-thought-out display.  Very crowded museum..... seemed like half of Chicago was at the museum that day.

Speaking of crowds.......... the city streets were filled with people walking and sight-seeing.... as we drove along Michigan Avenue, I remembered to 'look up, way up' (as my Uncle Mino used to say whenever someone went sight-seeing in a city)...... his theory being that the most beautiful details on the older buildings were up near the higher floors.

We saw "The Bean," a huge silver bean-shaped sculpture in the park on Michigan Avenue........ and we drove by Harpo Studios, where Oprah used to film her daily shows.  We went to The Navy Pier on our last visit, so we didn't go there this time.  We saw two restored and antique-filled mansions in the heart of the city, both of them beautiful and worth the price of the tour--- the Driehaus, and the Glessner House.  With my Aunt and Uncle, we went to the Garfield Park Conservatory..... absolutely the most beautiful and interesting conservatory we've ever seen. So many different garden rooms filled with blooming plants, flowers, and large trees......... everything clearly marked, the paths paved and easy to walk on, and just so lovingly taken care of........ the sort of place that you could go visit again and again and never get tired of the beauty there.

My cousin R's two children have grown so much since our last trip.... J is 13 now, and K is nearly 10. So nice to see the kids again..... they both showed me their rooms, and showed me their collection of gifts I've sent them over the years.  We drove into Indiana to see my cousin P and his wife..... we had dinner there out on his deck and looked out on his amazing vegetable garden. P called it his "Surprise Garden"--- he had tossed out handfuls of vegetable seeds from out-dated seed packets..... all of the seeds took root, everything came up, every plant is thriving and producing vegetables and the garden just looks like he carefully planned every inch of it.

My Aunt took me to her favorite thrift/consignment store.... huge place........ of course I found a couple of treasures to bring home in my suitcase.  We had Dunkin Donuts, Malnati's Pizza, lunch at the café in the museum, and at-home dinners cooked by R's husband.  R and the kids have a little Yorkie/Terrier mix dog named Gizmo that's as cute as a button..... P and V have a spaniel named Copper... all that dog-action brought back memories of Gracie, and my husband had a photo of Gracie on his phone to show the kids.

While I was shopping with my Aunt one day, my friend J sent me a text message about that little puppy we had seen the week before our trip.  Her short message said "Your puppy is at WalMart."  (Meaning that the owner was trying to sell the puppy outside of WalMart..... which happens on just about every weekend of the year.... people selling puppies and kittens in WalMart's parking lot up in town.)

My heart dropped to my feet...... that woman was selling 'my' puppy in the WalMart parking lot???  I sent J a one-word text message: "Damn."  Then I told my husband that the puppy's owner was still trying to sell Winnie the Pooh (we'd already named the tiny poodle, even though we didn't buy him).  My husband said that no one shopping in WalMart would be paying $750 for that puppy.

All of that got us to talking about the puppy again........ and my husband said his name should be Winnie the Poohdle instead of Winnie the Pooh. (Still, we keep naming this puppy that isn't even ours.)  Part of me wants to call up that woman and ask if the puppy is still for sale.... part of me knows that we don't intend to spend that much money on a puppy...... and the sane and rational part of me doesn't even know for sure if we even want to be raising a puppy.

My husband and I are talking more about having or not having a puppy than most people talk about having or not having a baby.  

After the hustle and bustle of the trip, it's good to be home again. No matter where we go, it's always good to be home.  Sure is quiet here..... no kids.... no dogs.  Our inside cat Sweet Pea has barely let me out of his sight since we've been home.  I wonder what Winnie the Poohdle is doing right now........

Monday stuff....

August already.  The summer is speeding along towards Labor Day. And once that weekend comes and goes, Christmas will be here in a heart-beat.

We have had brutal heat...... 109, 106, 103.... all that heat and sun, without humidity, without a drop of rain.  Has Texas turned into Arizona?  I am so, so tired of watering plants and flowers, and dragging hoses around the front and back yards in this blessed heat.  We had an in-ground sprinkler system around our other house, that I wish we could have picked up and brought with us here.  One of these days, we will 'get with the program' and graduate from Little House on The Prairie to Big House With a Working Sprinkler System.

To add insult to injury, our gardening efforts of the Spring have not done much to avoid the weeds of Summer.  The petunias I planted around the backyard deck are all okay, with very few weeds, but the other (and larger) flowerbeds have as many weeds now as they did back in the Spring when we paid the gardener to pull up every weed so we could put down the garden fabric and mulch.  So much for that stupid garden fabric....... don't waste your money or your time, unless you're willing to put down three layers of that stuff.  In the one spot where two and three layers of fabric are underneath the mulch, we have no weeds. (No flowers, either, since that small flowerbed is too far from the hoses, but at least there are no weeds.)

We had a good handle on the weeds in the Spring.... one or two would pop up and we would pull the weeds out of the ground easily.  Then the temperatures started to get up to and over 100 degrees...... who wants to be out there pulling up weeds?  (Not I, said the duck to the Little Red Hen.) Before we knew it..... dozens, and then hundreds of teeny-tiny weeds popped up all over that mulch and around the plants. Gardening is not for sissies. Nor is it for anyone who likes to keep their nail polish from chipping.

Crickets...... we have the most enormous crickets..... some of them as long as my index finger, which I think is giant-status for a cricket.  How did we get so many crickets?  And they're all colors.... brown, green, black, some with stripes, others with a few dots here and there.  The crickets will sit on the fence near the coop and watch me as I go back and forth with the hose.  I swear, if I see a cricket with a top hat and spats and a cane, I'm going to call the Disney corporation.  My husband says we have more crickets now (and bigger ones) because we no longer have the chickens who tended to eat the crickets before they got past the one-inch size.

The lady who was selling the tiny puppy...... she called me a couple of days ago, to let me know that the puppy was still available if I had changed my mind.  No, I didn't change my mind......... I still would like that puppy........ but yes, I've changed my mind.... I don't want to pay $750 for an unregistered teacup poodle, no matter how cute he is, and no matter how much he reminds me of Winnie The Pooh.   I didn't mention the price to the lady, however.... it's her puppy and she can charge whatever she wants for it.... but that doesn't mean she'll find someone to pay that much for her last puppy.  I can still see that cute little puppy-face.......... and then I think of the work involved with a tiny puppy... and with Sweet Pea in my lap every blessed time I sit down, where on earth would that puppy be?  Next to Sweet Pea on my lap?  In a little puppy-sling on my shoulder so I could take him with us wherever we go?   Puppies..... it's like having a newborn baby in the house, except you don't have to start a college fund and he'll never be able to drive your car.

My cousin F celebrated her birthday last week..... I sent her a Happiness Jar, which she loved, loved, loved.  She 'gets it,' as I knew she would.   F asked me to send her more notes for her Jar from time to time, which I've already started on... and she said she would send me some notes for mine as well.  I also sent her the complete set of Downton Abbey DVDs for her birthday.... she's been watching the programs for the last couple of days and is really enjoying them.  F is an expert on the Royals and British History, so I knew she would appreciate Downton.  I can barely wait till she watches all the episodes so we can discuss the story-line and the characters.