A Challenging Week

by

The weather report from the Pacific Northwest is cloudy and windy with literally thousands of miles of rainstorm headed in this direction.  Time to locate flashlights and be grateful that we have a working generator right outside the garage.

It’s been a complicated week around here.  We have a new dog at our house.  Her name is Mary, not a favorite of mine.  I’d like to change it to something a little less serious—like Mimi, for example—but right this minute one more change is more than she can handle.  Mary came from the same breeder where we got Jojo.  She’s a recently retired mommy dog—a long haired miniature dachshund who is bigger than Bella but looks a lot like her.  She’s a very serious little dog and doesn’t have that irresistible puppy cuteness to win over hearts and minds.

She came into our house, attached herself to Bill’s leg, clambered up into his chair, and stayed there.  It’s nice to be needed, but she doesn’t want to get out of the chair FOR ANY REASON!!  Taking her outside to do her business is a major undertaking.  And once we’re outside, instead of taking her cues from Jojo and getting busy, she sits at our feet, stares up at as, and does nothing!  Until after we come back inside.

I keep reminding myself that when Bella came into our lives, she had issues, too—ones that took time and love to overcome.  So we’re working on it, but I’m feeling very guilty about being gone this weekend and leaving a house sitter with a not-exactly house broken dog.

The other problem for me this week is that someone I’ve known and respected for years has been jailed on a charge of second degree murder in the death of his mother.  That is the full extent of my knowledge with regard to what happened.  His mother is dead, and he’s in jail.

I write about murder in fiction, but this is the first time that someone from my real life, a trusted business associate, has ended up on the bad side of a homicide investigation.  Regardless of how this thing sorts itself out long term—guilty or innocent—life as he and his family knew it is changed forever.  The whole situation leaves me feeling heartsick.

And now that I’ve written about both of those things in almost side by side fashion, I can see that having a non-housebroken dog is really small potatoes. The one is a calamity.  The other is no big deal.

This is me telling myself to sit down and shut up!

23 thoughts on “A Challenging Week”

  3. I sympathize with you and Mary. I have had Panda five years now, and she still pees when a stranger pets her. Getting a dog who is a year or more old and hasn’t been housebroken is hard to deal with. Thank heavens I have tile floors which makes clean up easy, but if you have carpets, that is hard.

    • I am so sorry about the person in trouble. I can help with the dog issue though. I also raise miniature docs and’s and rehome the mommies after three litters. You really do need to put that new doc on beach and walk her and walk her and walk her until she goes to the bathroom. She just really needs to get used to the yard. And feel free to change your name several of my dogs have had their names changed when they go to their new home. Pipsqueak became Hana, etc. I Hope that your new little one fits in really well with your family. By the way, all of my breeding females are in my house and house broken. So it’s just a matter of retraining them to the new home and yard.

  4. I’ve always felt raining days are God’s way of telling us to clean a drawer, have a nap and put my nose in a good book by one of my favorite author’s. Hum… I wonder who that might be?
    Prayers for the business man and his family, and that Mary starts her business outside.

  5. I am so sorry about the person in trouble. I can help with the dog issue though. I also raise miniature docs and’s and rehome the mommies after three litters. You really do need to put that new doc on beach and walk her and walk her and walk her until she goes to the bathroom. She just really needs to get used to the yard. And feel free to change your name several of my dogs have had their names changed when they go to their new home. Pipsqueak became Hana, etc. I Hope that your new little one fits in really well with your family.

  6. They say things happen in threes and they have for me. I have lost three neighbors in the last few weeks. Two were elderly widows and one a healthy woman in her 70’s. She suffered a sudden and fatal illness.

    I feel so guilty because I could have been a better neighbor. I have no excuse for not making an effort to visit. I’m writing this to tell people to be a better neighbor than I was before it is too late.

  7. Remember the Mary Tyler Moore show? Her friend Rhoda called her Mar…droppng the y. It fit. Maybe your Mary, too?
    My saintly cleaning lady, widowed young, had a daughter (wife and mom) who was jailed for robbing the till at her employment.
    The wave of grief spread throughout their families. The father in law a retired pastor. Small town.
    Mom never really recovered. Pride, trust, faith eroded for her lifetime. She feigned dementia.
    Hope all turns out well but some things out of our control. Friends and pets.
    All for a few thousand dollars.

  8. You’ve gone through the dog thing before. Surprised about the housebroken part. Love the breed. Perhaps a dog shrink? LOL. As for the thought of someone close to you being in trouble, I have seen this related to drugs, debts, etc. and it is heartbreaking for everyone. Young and old miscreants. Continue taking good care of yourself Looking forward to nexr release.

  9. I totally understand your frustration on the house breaking issue.
    Being a friend takes a lot of love and understanding. Getting all the facts before JUDGING is the best way one can help. Good luck on all our Friday issues. Have a good week. Enjoy the rain.. ..Jan

  12. So sorry to hear about your friend’s situation – it’s hard to comprehend something like this happening in real life to someone we know. Hubby and I went through something similar when his brother was shot (and fortunately survived).

    On a happy note – WELCOME to Mary, soon to be Mimi! You already know from being owned by Bella that dachshunds are challenging. It will take a while to resolve her issues, but in the end it will be worth it. I’m smiling at how those dang little wiener dogs have wormed themselves into your home. Hugs from “that wiener dog rescue” in Apache Junction!

  13. What a challenging week indeed. I hope your trip goes well, Mimi does okay with the sitter and you at least get some explanation about your friend and his mother. I am sure Mimi/Mary will adjust and learn the routine soon. Every time we get a rescue dog it takes some adjusting! Our 2 year old RR mix rescue was at the shelter very young and had been there 5 weeks when we adopted her at about 3 months old. She still doesn’t like the hose because of all the times they would hose out the kennels. Prayers for you all!!

  14. I suspect the same sensitivity and empathy that makes for wonderful novelists can be a burden when times are hard for acquaintances and for dogs. Our little rescue was afraid of the back yard when we got her, and also got so attached to the house that she had to be carried away for walks (and then she would power home…..). The rescue folks said she “might” improve, and of course she did over time. Sympathies on the weather! I get antsy when I can’t comfortably get outside.

    ceci

  15. Oh my! Reading this makes my life as a retired person (who was never getting another pet, but who now has a nine-year-old grandchild and his mom living with us), I realize I’m not alone as we just adopted five-month-old beagle pup. Why do we do these things I ask myself. She isn’t even fond of the kid but is seriously attached to me. Go figure. .
    So sorry to hear about your friend’s terrible predicament. We never think these bad things will happen to us or our loved ones until they do. You don’t know me but I wish you well.

  16. Wow! Murder?!!! Of his mother?!!! I’m very sad to hear this. I wish you wisdom and a merciful heart to face what’s ahead. (I never liked the name Mary very much until an event changed that for me. The name Mary went from boring vanilla to warm sweetness. I think with patience and love both the dog and her name will be transformed as well. But then you know that, right? 😉

  17. After the last page of proof of life.I’m urged comment.
    I hope you write more about Bellingham, gateway to the San Juan islands. Haven for people escaping society, working odd jobs motoring in little boats also the Lost Tribe of Hawaiians. The Lummi reservation across the bay has a great view of Bellingham and the mount Hood. Add the Moon and it’s wonderful. Here in Hawaii history reads that the white man brought diseases that decimated the population but there live Hawaiians who retained their culture, oversaw the local tribes for the Hudson’s bay company, are still loved by the coastal tribes down through Oregon and are living evidence of a migration ,not death ,.of a disenfranchised group erased for the crime of leaving Hawaii. Life was hard under the Hawaiian Kings.
    Your choice of Irish wolfhound is great. I raise German Tiger dogs or German Shorthair Collies. They can do any job, do impossible things as a challenge. Do it perfectly. They breed true and are intact even though the AKC considers them extinct.
    The story of Elizabeth MacArthur, first woman in the Australian penal colony, who with absent husband John started the Merino wool business with the Spanish King Ferdinand’s very own sheep and hired Mr Pabst of Switzerland to bring his most adaptable dogs and how they found their way to Parker Ranch on the Big Island is some story.

  19. Rescue dogs are unique. We have had our Oliver (a gorgeous english springer spaniel who was thrown away by his first owners) for 4 years and he is still very quirky. They, unfortunately, cannot tell us why they have behavior anomalies, but that is only part of the picture. Ollie still slips in the housebroken department. He does not like to go outside if it has been raining or if the grass is too high. But, he is loving and smart and gorgeous so we forgive the slips.

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