Treats All Around!

When Mr. Bryant calls from the kitchen, it's cookie time.  It might be for a home-made biscuit, it might be for a prepackaged treat, it might be for a graham cracker, or it might be mini-marshmallows.  One can never be sure just what goodie Mr. Bryant may produce - and so you see in our house, no one takes any chances.  :)

Gizmo

Gizzy has been a real delight for us. Once the formal "passing of the pup" ceremony was concluded, Gizmo seemed to settle down and relax as a member of the family. He loved us to pieces, loved his daily walk, and loved Luka too. We think they enjoyed having each other around, and often came home to find them hanging out together on the living room floor, or on Gizmo's blankets.

When we lost Luka, Gizmo was as sad as we were. We spent months just being three in the house, and we know that he didn't like being all alone when we were out.

Enter Max and Gracie. They absolutely ADORE Gizmo. They want to be where he is, they want to play with him, they play with his dog treats, they hang out. It is so cool to see them actually enjoy each other! When I take the pet dishes upstairs to feed everyone in the evening, Gracie races up the steps and talks to me the whole time I am getting the food ready. Sometimes, I call and call for Max and he just never shows. Then I will walk down the steps to the landing and see Max and Gizmo laying side by side at the bottom of the staircase, looking up to me as I bring the food bowls down.

Gizmo played hard to get when they first moved in, but now he plays catch with them - they pass him the dog treat, he catches it and eats it!

Loving this pup - what can I say?

Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Dowager Cixi, said:

Let the Lion Dog be small; let it wear the swelling cape of dignity around its neck; let it display the billowing standard of pomp above its back.

Let its face be black; let its forefront be shaggy; let its forehead be straight and low.

Let its eyes be large and luminous; let its ears be set like the sails of war junk; let its nose be like that of the monkey god of the Hindus.

Let its forelegs be bent; so that it shall not desire to wander far, or leave the Imperial precincts.

Let its body be shaped like that of a hunting lion spying for its prey.

Let its feet be tufted with plentiful hair that its footfall may be soundless and for its standard of pomp let it rival the whick of the Tibetans' yak, which is flourished to protect the imperial litter from flying insects.

Let it be lively that it may afford entertainment by its gambols; let it be timid that it may not involve itself in danger; let it be domestic in its habits that it may live in amity with the other beasts, fishes or birds that find protection in the Imperial Palace.

And for its color, let it be that of the lion - a golden sable, to be carried in the sleeve of a yellow robe; or the colour of a red bear, or a black and white bear, or striped like a dragon, so that there may be dogs appropriate to every costume in the Imperial wardrobe.

Let it venerate its ancestors and deposit offerings in the canine cemetery of the Forbidden City on each new moon.

Let it comport itself with dignity; let it learn to bite the foreign devils instantly.

Let it be dainty in its food so that it shall be known as an Imperial dog by its fastidiousness; sharks fins and curlew livers and the breasts of quails, on these may it be fed; and for drink give it the tea that is brewed from the spring buds of the shrub that groweth in the province of Hankow, or the milk of the antelopes that pasture in the Imperial parks.

Thus shall it preserve its integrity and self-respect; and for the day of sickness let it be anointed with the clarified fat of the legs of a sacred leopard, and give it to drink a throstle's eggshell full of the juice of the custard apple in which has been dissolved three pinches of shredded rhinoceros horn, and apply it to piebald leeches.

So shall it remain - but if it dies, remember thou too art mortal.

Wordless Wednesday - 4/21/2010

A nice walk

Spring is starting to come at last. I wonder if it is because we welcomed it with family dinner, singing and laughing about spring and summer, talking about vacations, having Banana Pudding cupcakes. Maybe....but I am sure it is on the way. I can tell, because the flowers are coming.

Mr. Bryant and I took Gizmo for a walk on Saturday early in the day. We knew he was as tired of walking in the dark, in the rain, as we were of taking him out them. Sometimes in winter you almost forget what the world looks like in the light of the day. So off we went through the fields near the house, and we found some treasures. It was still brisk even though it was the middle of the day, but Mr. Bryant found the first flowers I have seen this spring. Up before even the Crocus, these tiny little things were just blooming their hearts out for us!


The grass was starting to green, as were the trees, even though most everything remained brown and red (from that Carolina Clay).

And in that clay we found these large deer tracks. It makes me smile to think that the deer are able to come out at night and kick up their heels in the fields around the neighborhood! They are getting a place to run and play, and that makes me not only feel like spring is just around the corner - it makes me feel like we are living peacefully with other creatures, right here, right now.

When we got home we spent some time grooming Gizmo. He was covered in burrs. Now I can't IMAGINE how he finds them, seriously. In all the time we were walking, I only saw this One Stalk! He is a "sticky thing magnet," I declare.

Stairs

I love stairs. Stairs going up to something wonderful, stairs leading down into interesting places, skinny stairways, hidden stairways, curving stairways, I love them all. So it isn't surprising that I wanted at least a story and a half in the house when we built it, that I wanted stairs. I couldn't wait for beautiful hardwood stairs with a landing and lovely white railing.

Lucky me, I have front and back steps, a staircase to the rooms above the garage, and a staircase inside.

As is often typical in this life when we are filled with anticipation, the actual fell short of the picture in my mind. Though I have beautiful stairs, actually living with the style the architect designed for the house has been less than ideal. And why? Because for me, and my aging pets, the treads of the stairs are too narrow for every day ups and downs. This makes for a less safe staircase for people and pets. It is hard for me to carry laundry down the stairs and feel secure. It is hard for older people to climb up the few stairs to the porch. It is easy for everyone to slip and fall down.

I was able to request that the builder put wider treads on the brick stairs leading to the front porch. He was certain they would look ridiculous, but once they were complete, all the other neighbors asked for similar width - and to me, they are perfect.

Mr. Bryant built wide steps to the back door for me. Again, perfect. We can stand, find our keys, enter the house, and not teeter-totter while holding the grocery bags. The dogs can get up and down with ease.

The steps leading to above the garage are what they are, and the dogs just have to take them carefully. We only head up there periodically though, and even now blind cat can maneuver them on the rare occasion that she heads out that way to find us. I do love the look of these steps as they weather and gain a patina from the sun and rain.

And unfortunately, the inside steps are what they are as well. We would have had to redesign everything in the house to accommodate wider stair treads. And so, when my Newfoundland (Christmas Carol) was older, she was not able to come up and be with me in my wonderful office or library. And recently our little Pekingese slipped and fell down step after step after step. When I heard the commotion I came running from the office and found him cowering under the dining room table, limping on both a front paw and a back leg, unable to walk much without yelping.

I was distraught, and cursed at the stairs and the architect and the builder, and thought about the wonderful old staircase in my grandparents house, with the wide railing and the big post and the broad landings, and wondered why houses today are not built as well for living. I cried and held my puppy, and talked to the vet, and fed him tender meats for dinner. And after things settled down, I remembered that narrow stairs have truly been around forever. In smaller houses, in outside lanes, on the way to the attic, leading down to the basement, in the older houses in Charleston, in the older houses everywhere. Some of my favorite staircases are narrow and winding. I lived in a house where the stairs to the bedroom were hidden behind the fireplace from the living room, and even though there was a landing, the staircase was narrow.

So I gave up my anger, said a prayer for protection for all people and pets on stairs everywhere, and hugged my puppy. And now, I carry him up and down the steps.