Welcome, Piper!

Today was not a normal Sunday.  Weber is still suffering with Shingles and its accompanying tiredness so we did not go to church at 9 this morning.  We also did not have our regular Sunday brunch get together because so many had conflicting schedules today.  That left Weber and me to our own devices this afternoon.  

We had a late and leisurely, let's just say, meal about 1:30.  Though we had breakfast food, it was too late to even qualify as brunch, I think.  As long as we were out, we decided to go to Petsmart to gets some glucosamine for Adidas, a quick in and out.

As usual, right inside the door, there was a local rescue group with dogs and cats that needed forever homes.  Though I have a soft heart, I also have a realistic mind.  I usually glance over at the animals, comment on their cuteness, express my hope that they find loving families, and go along my way.  Again, today was different.  As soon as I walked in the door, my eyes met her eyes.

Resting on a hot pink pillow was this little "fringy" looking dog.  Something about her drew me to her.  As soon as we approached her crate, she came quickly to the front, all five pounds of her wiggling frantically.  The rescue society person said that she must like us because the puppy had been a little reserved thus far.  Someone who is trying to sell you a dress or a car will say just about anything to get you to buy; that is not the case for people looking to find homes for animals.  They are protective and want to make sure that the dogs and cats go to a home that best suits the needs of the animals and the humans.  I asked the basic questions such as age, gender, and probable breed.  I don't know why it mattered; we weren't  in the market for a puppy.  She is a four to five month old probably Jack Russell mix.  Throughout this conversation the wiggles continued and the pawing at the crate door to be let out.  The rescue volunteer asked if we  wanted to hold her.  Yeah, we all know that was a mistake:-). As we were holding her and having one of those ridiculous human-puppy conversations, we heard her story.

The rescue volunteer found this puppy at a Fort Worth shelter.  The volunteer was there to pick up a cat, and, like us, was drawn in by this sweet little face.  I'm not sure how the dog ended up at the shelter in the first place, but we did find out that she had been adopted once, kept for three days, and returned because of allergies in the adoptive family.  When the volunteer got the dog home, she noticed a problem with her back left leg and immediately took her to the vet.  X-rays revealed that this poor little pup's leg had been broken in three spots probably because she had been stepped on.  The treatment options were amputate the leg, perform very expensive surgery that may or may not help, or wait to see how it healed.  The later was chosen.

The odd thing is that based on the x-rays, the injury looked old enough that it occurred before the puppy was initially adopted from the Ft. Worth shelter, and no one seems to have noticed it.  Neither did the family that returned her mention any problems with her leg.  The more I heard about this little girl, the more I felt a connection to her.

Weber and I talked about the reality of a third dog.  We knew there would be no problem with Adidas, our black lab; he is so easy-going.  We were, however, a little  worried about Harley, our terrier mix, because she can be kind of bossy and possessive.  The Petsmart trainer suggested that we bring Harley to the store for a meet and greet.  So, we did.  Harley is only a "big girl" on her own turf.  She is definitely a home body and was fairly nervous out in the world.  She basically ignored the puppy despite the fact that the puppy was trying to get her to play.  That was actually a good sign.  At least she showed no signs of aggression.  

Weber and I and the two dogs sat in the training room together for 30-45 minutes and finally decided that the puppy was meant to be part of our family.  Thus, we had some shopping to do.  We needed a new crate, puppy food, bowls, puppy toys, and of course a Halloween sweater!

Once we paid all of our debts at Petsmart we headed home for the big meet and greet...all three dogs.  It went remarkably well.  They all ran around in the yard together.  

The puppy sometimes uses, sometimes drags, and sometimes lifts her injured leg.  It doesn't slow her down and does not appear to cause her any pain.  Adidas and Harley are still trying to figure out how all this is going to work.  They were quite disappointed that they got their senior fare rather than puppy food for dinner.  Frankie, the cat, is not amused.  Though the puppy has been in a foster home with cats and only looked at Frankie, Frankie has been in hiding in an undisclosed location since we got home.  After about an hour of checking out her new surroundings, the puppy has been sound asleep in someone's lap all evening, but the cat is not convinced that it is safe to come out.  Things will shake down over time.

So, her name...the puppy came with the name Kandy.  Her  name had no particular significance.  The rescue worker gave her that name when she took her to the vet the first time.  At that point the puppy had no name and needed one for her records.  There was a candy bowl sitting on the counter, so that was the name she was given.  Weber, Brooke, and I all agreed that a new name was needed.  Brooke said that Kandy with a "K" sounded like a hooker name.  

We tossed around several different possibilities and I finally settled on Piper, which had also been one of the contenders when little then four pound Harley joined our family.

I am not even going to try to understand the universe on this one.  We have never considered another dog.  I generally have more than enough self-control when it comes to padding by animal adoption sites, and I have always preferred big dogs.  Harley, who about 26 pounds is the smallest dog I have ever had.  Piper probably will only grow to be about 15 pounds.  She is about 5 or 6 now.

I think we need to stick to the normal Sunday routine for awhile - early church, brunch, and an afternoon nap.  No shopping!

I will post some better pictures once there is less wiggling!

Alone With Me

Today was just the day I needed!  It was gray and rainy.  Not cold, but that's okay.  And, I got to stay at home all day!  For most of the day I could hear the falling rain, its rhythm somewhat irregular but comforting nonetheless.  I was up early, made breakfast for Weber, wrote my morning pages, shared a few texts with friends, and then went back to bed for an hour.  The weather encouraged it.  My calendar allowed it.  And, I needed it.  It is not very often that I give myself permission to do this so today was a real gift to myself.

Brooke and I were both home today.  It seems like some days we just pass in the hall, never really having a chance to talk with each other.  As I was baking this afternoon, we had a chance to catch up and also solve many of the world's problems-if only anyone actually listened to us.  We also took care of a few other mundane tasks like thumbing through magazines and discussing the recipes that will make the cut and be included on our Thanksgiving menu.  These are important decisions!  Smoked turkey, roasted root vegetables, dressing, mashed potatoes, bacon sweet potatoes, sweet potato biscuits, and pie...lots of pie!

Once the decisions about food were made, we had a conversation about time and happiness.  We both enjoy being at home reading, or cooking, or writing.  To us, that is the "good life."  Those things are what make us happy.  That is not to say that we don't enjoy going out and having a good time, every now and then; we do,  but we also agreed that a life based solely in the need to be entertained by the external world is not for us.  Each of is content spending time alone.  I am amazed by the number of people who are made terribly uncomfortable by being in their own company.  If you don't want to spend time with you, why would anyone else?

In my solitude I listen to myself.   I talk to myself.  I assess where I am and where I want to be.  I think. I dream.  I worry.  I cry.  I laugh.  I wonder why.  I deconstruct.  I imagine.  I create.  I fill my heart with thoughts of others.  I pray.  And sometimes I just am.  My time alone equips me to be with others.  Without my alone time to to refocus and recharge, I am not a very pleasant person.  It is time to make my mind and heart right within so that I can be with others and be right with them as well.  It is time I desperately need and need and cherish.

Tomorrow is predicted to be another gray and rainy day.  And I am looking forward to it!

Lego and Poe

Today's photo brought to you by little energy, little creativity, and little light. (The prompt is spooky background.)

Love Unlocked

Keep your heart open;.

True beauty is felt,  not seen.

Obstacles persist.

KEB 10/21/15

Let's Talk About Today

My day began early and with the following two posts on Facebook:
1. "The time needs to change.  Getting to school in the dark is just not right."

2. Note to self: Beginning a 7:30 ear training class with harmonic dictation in the minor mode is not a good way to start the day.

And so went my day.  It had an early and rough start, but by my 9:00 class, things were moving along fairly well.  Five classes later, I was done teaching for the day and more than ready to come home.

Weber has been home from school for two days because he has Shingles on his face.  The worry was that it would go to his eye, but thankfully that hasn't happened.  I think that we were fortunate to have caught it relatively early and he started the anti-viral meds before it got too bad.

So how is the best way to spend the afternoon when one of you is exhausted from a long day that started early and the other has Shingles?  Meet with your estate attorney to rewrite your wills, powers of attorney, medical directives, and HIPAA releases. It's no fun, but it is necessary.  Fortunately, we found a great estate attorney who was helpful, efficient,  and had a great personality.  I consider a "hat trick" with an attorney to be pretty darn amazing!  So now its all done and we don't have to think about these things any time soon unless we have some major changes in our world.  Hopefully that won't be for a long while!

One piece of advice that the attorney gave us is to make sure that you have a HIPAA release form.  THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS A MEDICAL POWER OF ATTORNEY!!!  We all think that a medical power of attorney gives us the right to all the medical information related to a loved one.  With the passage of the HIPAA regulations in 2004 (I think) this is no longer true.  The medical power of attorney may give you the right to "pull the plug" perhaps, but you may be making the decision to do so without a complete picture of your loved one's medical condition because you are not listed on their HIPAA form as one who can receive specific details of their medical condition.  Crazy, but true.  I ran in to this with my dad.

When dad was in the hospital the last time, we needed to begin making arrangements with hospice.  Because I did not live close and was not there day in and day out for my dad's treatments, he had not specifically listed me on his forms as one who was privy to all of his medical information.  During his final week when I told him that he needed to do that, he said that that was ridiculous.  Of course they would give me all the information; I was his daughter.  Wrong!  He had to specifically inform them in writing that it was OK.  Doctors risk an expensive fine for each instance in which they violate the HIPAA laws.  Even if you are not ready to write your will, you may want to consider consulting an attorney for at least this one form.

None of us wants to think about estate planning and end of life issues, but it is a lot better to do it before it becomes absolutely necessary.  Doing so is one of the greatest gifts that you can give to your family ,and really yourself.

On to happier things...pumpkin bread and a cup of coffee before I go to bed, relatively early for me!

Today;s photo prompt was "repurpose."  At our house, every cardboard box is repurposed as a cat bed.

Simple Things

Ideas flying

Crazy thoughts, faraway dreams.

What will become real?

KEB 10/14/15

Time Passages

Yesterday marked the year anniversary of my dad's death.  In many ways it feels like just last week rather than last year, making me painfully aware of just how quickly time flies.  When I look back at my posts here as well as my own journaling, I realize that time really is the overarching theme in my life right now, with the majority of my thoughts being about how I spend what time I have.

I am definitely one of those people that lives up to the rule of the more one has to do, the more one gets done.  My personal dilemmas come when considering the list of things that I "have" to get done.  I spend an enormous amount of time on prepping for teaching my classes.  You would think after doing this for thirty years that I would not have to spend much time preparing, but each class is different and requires different things from me.  And, I'd get terribly bored doing the same things over and over again year after year.  Although, if I did that, it may make it feel like time wasn't passing so quickly!  Hmmm...

For the first time,  I am starting to think about what it might be like to retire, not because I don't like what I'm doing, but because there are so many other things that I would like to do and simply don't have the time.  As it is, I function on minimal sleep, which I know is not good for me.  Short of more hours in the day, I just can't do it all.  Then I have to start making choices regarding which of the things I want to do can get done and which ones can''t.  I don't like making these kinds of choices!  As Weber will tell you, it frustrates me and makes me really grouchy.

I trust that the solution to my time issues will come with much serious soul searching.  Everything will be as it should be when it should be.  Hopefully this will happen while I still have time for all the things that at this moment are simmering on the back burner to actually come to a full boil.

Recently, I did take one step toward doing something that I have wanted to do for a long, long time and have kept putting off because of...TIME!

Ever since I took the first semester of music history some thirty five years ago I have been passionately in love with the music of the Renaissance.  Sadly, the clarinet repertoire does not contain any such music:-)  All through graduate school I played recorders and crumhorns in a Renaissance consort and loved every minute of it.  Back then, I had this unrealistic dream of someday learning to play the lute.  That certainly wasn't going to happen while I was getting my theory degrees, or raising two kids, or teaching, or...and the list of reasons goes on as has time.  A few years ago I started thinking that learning to play the classical guitar was a more reasonable and perfectly acceptable alternative to learning to play the lute.  Mostly that thought swam far below the surface of my everyday thoughts, bobbing its head above water only every now and then...until a few weeks ago when it started to do the survival float.  It was right there on the surface all the time.  I have learned never to ignore this kind of nagging thought.  I did some research and ordered a guitar.  It came in on Friday.

I am excited to learn how to play, but I think the important lesson for me here is to return to that state of being a beginner, taking everything slowly and carefully and appreciating every little accomplishment no matter how small.  No longer does everything I do need to be about perfection or even being "good enough."  It is about pursuing lifelong dreams before it is too late.

I have no desire to be a great guitar player.  My goal is to simply be a happy person.

Peacefully playing

One at a time, a few notes.

Harmony will come.

KEB 10/17/15