I have no memory of writing this.
*
You need to stop watching science documentaries to help you fall asleep.
Uncategorized
Working Out
*
Thanks to (a bunch of crap nobody cares about) I have been in PT using arm bikes, lifting weights and working with resistance bands for several months. After all this time I am practically unrecognizable.
Get a load of them guns!
And you thought she was kidding about that stick figure.
The sad part? I look much better now than when I started.
*********************************
Looking for ways to stay warm? Consider this handmade bear Paw Quilt!
This rustic Bear Paw Quilt would fit in nicely at a cabin by the lake or thrown over your couch at home. The pattern is geometric, and the colors are bold yet earthy. The overall effect of the quilt is of paw prints in snow. On sunny days, the colors look so inviting it is hard not to lie down on them and take a nap.
Handmade Bear Paw Quilt and other fine gifts are available from my shop at L Bowman Studios.
Little Girl Lost
Several months ago my neighbor had to help her little dog cross the Bridge. Since then the woman has been very down without her constant companion. After many prayers and a thorough search of online rescues, she found a pup who looked like a perfect match.
This lady was counting the days – the minutes – until the little dog arrived! She bought sweaters and dishes and cases of food and booties and pet-friendly salt and seatbelts and toys and beds and leashes and harnesses in preparation for the pup’s arrival. This little dog would have wanted for nothing.
On adoption day, though, the new pup slipped her harness and ran away. Within minutes the neighborhood mobilized to help find her. Fliers were put up. Facebook notices were posted. People brought drones with FLIR to help with the search. There were even bloodhounds.
Although there have been several sightings, no one has caught the runaway pup. By today it has been a week, and her chances of being found are not so good. I helped with the search as much as I could. I was out for days checking the creek, looking under sheds and cars, literally beating the bushes to see if I could roust her from a hiding spot, but I found nothing.
I’ve been feeling particularly down this week, and I think it is because of this missing little girl. I was looking forward to getting to know her – to helping discover that all humans aren’t bad. (She was saved from a puppy mill where she produced litter after litter for most of her seven years. At this point she didn’t like or trust humans very much.). I would have been her dog walker, and I was mentally planning the routes we would have covered…the friends we might have made. While she wasn’t my girl, I looked forward to her as if she were.
I told my friend about how I’ve been feeling, and she said that maybe I need to let go. This isn’t a problem I can solve (even though I feel as if it is my fault, that my not-aggressive-enough hunting skills left the dog out in the cold).
I find myself wondering if maybe the little girl dog prayed when she was in captivity. Perhaps her prayers weren’t for a soft bed or a warm house. Maybe she prayed for freedom. Making her own decisions, being her own woman – even if only for short while – may have been more important to her than creature comforts. I like to think that she is (or was) happy breathing fresh air, finding her own food, feeling the rain on her fur. Maybe these things brought her greater joy than our leashed walks ever could.
I just wish it didn’t have to hurt so much.
I thought of her as “Girl Murphy” since they looked similar and shared a Gotcha Day.
Mom’s been hugging me a lot lately. What’s going on?
One Thing Each Day (or The Mysterious Case of the Blue Bunny)
*
*
I’m not sure you can find it, but there is a toy bunny hidden in this picture.
*******
For inspiration with my One Thing Each Day Challenge, I watched an episode of British Hoarders. What a difference between that and the American version! The American show has drearily sad background music, focus on the mental illness side of the issue and allow only 3 days for total cleanup. In the British show they feature upbeat music while an antiques broker and a home organizer are brought to help the client. The broker looks for possible hidden gems while the organizer teaches the homeowner how to do better. Then they leave for several weeks, and the homeowner is expected to do his or her homework and clean up the mess.
One month has passed, and I am keeping up with my de-cluttering. Despite my happiness over my progress, I’m waiting for the day when I go to look for something that I’ve always had, and it isn’t there. Or at least it isn’t where it usually is. How much time will I waste searching? Maybe Murphy can help me find it.
You can wish all you want, but unless it’s a biscuit we both know it ain’t gonna happen.
*********************
Come see what my other boys have been up to in Dream Our World.
Inside Dream Our World, Bitey and Toby visit the museum of their dreams, view the world or art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.
Dream Our World and other fine gifts are available from my shop at L Bowman Studios.
Happy Gotcha Day, Perfect Puppy!
*
I was so scared back then!
Today Murphy got a yak chew for his Gotcha Day. I don’t know if there is a significant amount of sugar in those things, but he has been a bouncy little spaz all evening. (I love it!) This tiny boy was so scared for so long that I didn’t think he would ever come out of his shell.
*********************
Come see what my other boys have been up to in Dream Our World.
Inside Dream Our World, Bitey and Toby visit the museum of their dreams, view the world or art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.
Dream Our World and other fine gifts are available from my shop at L Bowman Studios.
One Thing Each Day
*
*
Work smarter, not harder, right?
I think he was onto something.
*************
My aunt told me about this challenge years ago. She said that if you get rid of one thing each day – even if it’s something as small as a paperclip – at the end of the year you will have made significant progress in cleaning up your house.
I thought of this challenge as I was hanging my new calendar. What if, to keep myself honest, I wrote what it was that I got rid of each day on the calendar? So far, this has turned out to be a great motivator. Trying to sort out an entire desk drawer might seem intimidating, but getting rid of that cable from a camera you don’t even have anymore is easy. After a while, these little steps add up.
I wish I could say that the place looks neater already. Instead I can say that the stack of items I have to give to charity is growing steadily. I keep hoping that somehow my donations will make it to areas of the country that have been devastated. Their loss is so great. I want to help, but I have so little. Perhaps this will be a way for me to make a difference.
*******************
*
Looking for ways to stay warm? Consider this cozy quilt!
This rustic Bear Paw Quilt would fit in nicely at a cabin by the lake or thrown over your couch at home. The pattern is geometric, and the colors are bold yet earthy. The overall effect of the quilt is of paw prints in snow. On sunny days, the colors look so inviting it is hard not to lie down on them and take a nap.
Handmade Bear Paw Quilt and other fine gifts are available from my shop at L Bowman Studios.
The Elf
*
*
*
*
*
*
*****************************
Don’t mess with my Christmas!
********************
Thank you to Ruby for thinking of this one!
****************************
Due to a change in life, I find myself unable to make Royal pillows any longer. I still have several large ones and several smaller ones in stock, and I would like to find good homes for them. While I am unable to deliver in time for Christmas, these pillows might make a lovely gift for the princess in your life who may be having a birthday coming up.
To get a pillow of your own please visit my shop at L Bowman Studios.
The Pumpkin Patch
I’m not sure if the Great Pumpkin will visit us, but it looks like the Great Horned Owl did.
This year my garden yielded mostly rabbits and bugs. The exception was that I did get pumpkins. I took this picture while I was still harvesting them, so this isn’t their full number. In all I picked 49.
(Off to the left is what happens if you don’t pick zucchini in time.)
*
Can we go visit the garden?
*
While the pumpkins were in the garden, Murphy didn’t seem to realize what they were. He was more interested in the rotten tomatoes.
*
When I moved the pumpkins to the porch, he still didn’t seem to recognize what they were.
Once I started bringing them inside to cook them, he suddenly noticed them. Now he is a total pest wanting more, more, more. (I tried handing him one of the smaller pumpkins to play with or eat, but he turned his nose up at it. He wanted it cooked first.)
Gimme! Gimme! That’s dog food. I know it!
************************************
Join Bitey and Toby as they go on the adventure of a lifetime in Dream Our World!
Inside Dream Our World, Bitey Dog (Geordie) and Toby visit the museum of their dreams, view the world or art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.
We’re Hunting Wabbits
*
*
*
This year’s problems started with “Watership Down”. It’s difficult to tell from the photo, but those weeds are over 6′ tall.
*
That’s more than 12 Murphys!
*
*
The season began with these voracious little tyrants. I was kind and didn’t kill them, and how did they repay me? At least one dug its way back into the garden and moved into the bean patch.
*
*
Can you find the bunny hidden in these beans?
Neither could I.
*
*
I was taught that pests don’t like marigolds, but rabbits love them. This marigold had so many pretty flowers on it before the rabbit moved in.
*
*
The poor, devoured plant had the misfortune to grow slightly closer to the beans than it’s cousins and therefore lost its robes of glory.
Totally disgusted with the damage the Bean Rabbit was doing, I decided to try a humane trap. Instead of a rabbit, I caught an opossum.
Not my image. Borrowed from internet.
It turned out the rabbit was too small for the trap and was able to squeeze in and out between the bars. So, for several days I just fed the rabbit. The opossum was safely released to its home in the morning after also having a good meal of fruit.
After days of fruitless (ha ha) wabbit hunting, I startled an adult doe on the hillside. “No way!”, I thought. “I will NOT have you burrowing into this hill and leaving ticks and poop everywhere!” First I cut down all the foliage on the hill, then I sprayed with stinky spray and spread Irish Spring soap chips. I planted yet another pinwheel on the hill. Surely I had won this time.
Nope. The next morning I found my pinwheel knocked over, and this at its base.
(I stood the pinwheel back up.)
Inside that opening you could see little bunny ears and eyes. Aagh!
Despite my failures, I knew I had one weapon left in my arsenal…..
You say there’s a what right behind me?
Aagh! Despite being 3/4 Yorkie, this dog, as they say, won’t hunt! He was completely oblivious to the nest behind him.
(Don’t worry, I wouldn’t have let him hurt the baby bunnies. I just wanted to see if he would notice their scent.)
I don’t care for Hasenpfeffer, but I do like a nice marinara.
The Still Life
*
*
*
*
‘Fraid all I have left from my ensemble is the zucchini.
Those shelter people stole more than just my fur when I showed up.
*****************************
Come see what other naughty things my boys have been up to in Dream Our World.
Inside Dream Our World, Bitey and Toby visit the museum of their dreams, view the world or art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.
Dream Our World and other fine gifts are available from my shop at L Bowman Studios.
The Adventures of Bitey Dog 