Monthly Archives: October 2013

Doggy Doors….Part II

Well, the doggy doors are being completely utilized now.  Casey is still struggling a bit coming back inside, but he eventually figures it out.  I was watching him the other day, trying to assess his problem.  The door is a little piece of plastic that swings both ways equally well.  When he’s leaving the house, he just puts his nose on it and walks on through, no problem.  When he’s coming back in, he puts his nose on the door, backs away, and gets it swinging.  Then he barks.  And fidgets. And barks some more in a distressed way.  Finally, he gets it swinging, then starts swaying like a little kid trying to pick just the right moment to join a moving jump rope.  He finally gets brave and hurriedly walks through.  He seems so proud of himself when he finally conquers the door!

Last night, I let him sleep outside his crate.  During the middle of the night, I heard one of the pups scratching at the bedroom door. When that happens, I get up and show them that there is another doggy door to use in the bedroom.  My bedroom and the kitchen both have doors leading to the back yard.  Last night, there was no dog there when I got up.  I opened the door and Casey came trotting in.  Apparently he found the door in the bedroom.  He just returned via the kitchen. One night, Krystal did the same thing. I heard her sniffing from the other side of the door.  But when I got up to let her in, she was already walking intently away towards the kitchen.  She quickly walked through that door and without a moment of hesitation, she headed right through the door in my bedroom.  She is pretty good at problem solving.  Unfortunately, more often than not, she has to solve Casey’s problems, too.  Bless his heart.

Doggy Doors!!!!

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They have arrived!!!  My much-anticipated time has come…..yesterday, the doggy doors were installed!  Krystal went through them right away.  She rarely forgets anything.  It took Casey a little longer to embrace the new way out the door.  He finally got the hang of going outside.  Unfortunately, he’s struggling with figuring out how to come back in.  If you don’t understand, I suggest you read an earlier post about Casey.  Bless his heart.

Speaking of Casey, he normally sleeps in his crate at night.  But sometimes, I let him join Krystal and me in my bed.  A couple of nights ago was one such night.  At 2:30 AM, one of the back up batteries in a smoke detector decided it needed changing.  (Might I add, I’ve been in this house a whopping one and a half months…..did they put used batteries in the detectors???)  Anyway, there was a chirp…..then a dog on top of me with his nose pressed to mine staring me straight in the eyes.  The chirping scared Casey to death!  When did he become such a big sissy?!  Krystal, my anxiety prone pup, slept soundly away…..another perk of her hearing loss.  I didn’t feel like changing the battery so I closed the bedroom door and put Casey under the covers.  He still cowered, either on top of me, or smashed up against me.  Finally, at around 5 AM, I got out the step stool, found a new battery and headed to make the change, tripping over Casey the whole way.  He even tried to climb the step stool with me.  Finally, the chirping stopped, and we headed back to bed.  It took him half an hour to finally lay his head down.  The mean side of me wanted to imitate the chirping just to watch him jump but I was too tired.

Well, Casey is ‘stuck’ outside again, and Krystal just went to the swinging door and tried to open it for him.  Bless his heart.

Jonathan

When I was a teenager, I did a lot of babysitting to earn extra money. And almost all of the children I sat with were girls. So when I got married, I always said I wanted two kids. A girl and a boy would be ideal, two girls would be good, but heaven help me if I had two boys! I hoped the first one would be a girl. But from the time I was a little girl….as far back as I can remember…..the main thing I wanted in life was to be a mom.

Thirty six years ago today, the most amazing thing happened. God blessed my life with a new baby. A boy. When he was born, I couldn’t believe how easy the birthing process was ( yes, I said easy) and I also couldn’t believe how incredibly ugly this little bundle of joy was. He had black hair on his shoulders, on his ears, and attaching his eyebrows to his hairline. He also had an obvious cowlick smack in the middle of his hairline. Paul goes ‘oh, isn’t he cute!’ And I say ‘Goober, I love him, but I’m not blind.’ He did have a cute dimple that showed up when he yawned. When my parents arrived at the hospital, they were so excited to see their ‘beautiful’ first grandchild. Every hair on his head stuck straight out and he looked as I described above. Mom goes ‘welllll……he has a pretty mouth.’ The first gift they gave him was a baby brush and comb.

Fast forward three months, and the Plsek family trekked home to Texas for Christmas. What a surprise for the grandparents……in my arms was the most beautiful baby in the world! He still had the dark hair but thankfully, the ear and shoulder hair had disappeared. He had long dark lashes and the most brilliant blue eyes. He was happy all the time so his constant smile showed his cute dimple to all who stopped to admire his beauty.

Somehow, and I swear it happened in a couple of years, that precious baby grew up to be a man. And not just any man, an amazing man. He is one of the kindest people I know. Not only have I never seen him pass up a person asking for money on the street without giving them something, he will stop and chat with them, and treat them so respectfully. When the two of us would go to our beloved hockey games together, I would see him get out a bunch of dollar bills as we were leaving, for he knew there would be people begging. His kindness extends to little children, the elderly, and all of us in between. It was tough moving away from him when I came to Tennessee, but he was truly happy for me to start my new adventure.

It’s hard to believe that thirty six years have passed since I realized God thought I needed a boy instead of a girl. Thank you, God……You always know what’s best!

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