Well, I do not know how often to write in the blog. I guess I will write when the spirit moves me.
Since yesterday I have moved Eddie, the baby finch, back into his nest four times. He thinks he is ready to be out, he was able to get to the perch where all the adult birds are, but he hasn't moved since I came home and he was gaping at Blanca who was kind enough to feed him. I may have to put him back in the nest tonight so he doesn't freeze on the perch all night by himself. He doesn't have the fear of my hand the older birds have. When I opened the cage to feed them they all yelled at Eddie to watch out, but of course he didn't. He was a little soft warm bundle to put in the nest. One of the light brown birds did escape, I think it was Remus, and I had to chase her down. I threw a clean kitchen towel over her, she got on top of the towel, so then I threw another one over her and was able to get her and put her in the cage before she broke her neck flying into the window. The other baby, Speck, has not tried to leave the cage yet and she looks younger than Eddie. Coco, may be the father, or the mother and it is possible that Summer Breeze is the other parent. Since they are all in and out of the nest and they all pile in there, together and on top of each other, at night it is difficult to ascertain who the parents are. Will the real parents please stand up?
I guess tonight will be pet night. As I said, I have five dogs. 1) I have a Service Dog from Canine Companions for Independence because I am physically disabled by Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita. I have walked on crutches since I was three years old. Currently, I walk with purple crutches. I purchased them from Award Prosthetics in Burnaby Canada. They are very light and are much more decorative than the usual aluminum crutches most people in America use. Neva is the third service dog I have had, all from CCI. She is a Labrador/Golden Retriever mix. 2) My second dog is a Maltese/Shih tzu/Lhasa aps (this is short for mutt) mix who weighs 6 pounds. Everyone thinks Betty is a puppy, but she is five years old. Betty and my daughter are both named after my friend Betty Aho, who died last year at age 90. 3) My third and only purbreed dog is a slate/pink Chinese Crested named Xiaoling, whom I call Xiao-Xiao. I pronounced his name Cha-Cha. The breeder had called him Shaq, but I'm not into basketball, so I changed it. 4) My fourth dog is Diane, whom I bought from either a drug addict or a person with a mental illness; or maybe he was just a dog abuser. He called Diane, Lady Sponge, because she was sponging from him. When I bought her, her nose was dry, she was skin and bones and I had to cut a rope harness away from her skin. He had also been hitting her; she weighed 6 pounds when I brought her home. Diane is a Fox Terrier/Yorkie mix. 5) My fifth dog is a Chihuahua/Rat Terrier mix. He is white with brown spots and he has a black ring around his tail. His name when I bought him was Ringo, I changed it to D'jango. I call him Jango. He has grey/green eyes, a maroon nose, a pink bottom lip, and maroon toe nails. He is a little nine pound alpha dog with short nerves. Jango is a little on the snappy side, but I guess that is just the way Chihuahuas are. All my dogs are fixed and five is the limit, (at the moment).
All the dogs are sleeping because at quarter to eight it is beginning to be dark and we are having the first of the Great Northwest rains. My house is cold but I'm not ready to put the heat on; the birds will pile on top of each other and the dogs are warm in their coats. When I go to bed I will have four dogs in the bed with me, three under the covers and one on a pillow. Neva always sleeps on the floor because she is too big, 60 pounds, and she uses her paws to express her needs; once she almost poked out my right eye pawing at my face to wake me.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
First Morning August 27, 2009
I have never read a blog, so this is an unusual thing for me to do. I have wanted to write daily for the last four years but have not been able to get myself motivated on paper. Perhaps the concept that others may read my writings will increase my self motivation.
I moved from Seattle to a small town in Southwest Washington four years ago this month. My friends in the city told me that I would miss Seattle, that I would be lonely, that I should rent because I would want to move back to the city. I have not wanted to return to Seattle, I have not been lonely, and I did not rent a home. Instead I bought a house in a new development and bought the empty lot behind my house, so I would not have another house built right on top of mine. I proceeded, over the last four years to purchase three more dogs to add to my first two dogs; I also have five society finches, one silver bill finch (who needs a friend), and one red factor canary. My five society finches have two babies in a nest, one black one named Eddie and a blonde named Speck, they are not flying yet.
Most of the people in this town and small county are elderly, I am 59 and most of the people I know here are older than I am. There are eight or nine churches in this county of four to five thousand people. I belong to the United Church of Christ, but often attend the Episcopal Church because they have a Spanish class before church (for one reason). The attendance at many of the churches is 28 or less people a Sunday. I don't understand how the churches pay their clergy or keep their buildings in repair, but they do it. One thing that was a surprise to me when I first moved here was that during coffee hours in the United Church of Christ the men sat at one table with the other men and the women sat with just women. I don't know if this is a Finnish custom (or from some other Scandanavian country) or if it just grew as a tradition in this community. Another thing that is different than city folks is some people never look you at your face when talking with you, many people look away or down; it took me a while to get use to this. It seems that many people who have always lived here are shy, there is quite a large group of people who have never lived anywhere else and who have family histories going back three generations or more. Now many of the young people leave to go to college or enter the military because there are no jobs. The people use to work in dairy farming or cucumber farms for pickles, or logging or fishing. I guess there were more people here at one point but when different professions stopped providing jobs many people left the area. I call this part of my world the boondocks. We are 45 minutes from the closest Washington town, which is a bigger boondock town and seems to have more conservative people than this little town.
On Monday I interviewed to become a foster mother for the second time. My daughter who was originally a foster child is now 25 years old. I had wanted to become a foster mother again when she was 21 but it didn't happen, I guess I was too busy. I didn't want her to be jealous or feel I was trying to replace her. So I guess I will have a child in my home soon. It will be interesting to see how I deal with a child in my home and also to see how the child deals with me and with the "live stock" that live here.
I am on my way to see my spiritual director.
I moved from Seattle to a small town in Southwest Washington four years ago this month. My friends in the city told me that I would miss Seattle, that I would be lonely, that I should rent because I would want to move back to the city. I have not wanted to return to Seattle, I have not been lonely, and I did not rent a home. Instead I bought a house in a new development and bought the empty lot behind my house, so I would not have another house built right on top of mine. I proceeded, over the last four years to purchase three more dogs to add to my first two dogs; I also have five society finches, one silver bill finch (who needs a friend), and one red factor canary. My five society finches have two babies in a nest, one black one named Eddie and a blonde named Speck, they are not flying yet.
Most of the people in this town and small county are elderly, I am 59 and most of the people I know here are older than I am. There are eight or nine churches in this county of four to five thousand people. I belong to the United Church of Christ, but often attend the Episcopal Church because they have a Spanish class before church (for one reason). The attendance at many of the churches is 28 or less people a Sunday. I don't understand how the churches pay their clergy or keep their buildings in repair, but they do it. One thing that was a surprise to me when I first moved here was that during coffee hours in the United Church of Christ the men sat at one table with the other men and the women sat with just women. I don't know if this is a Finnish custom (or from some other Scandanavian country) or if it just grew as a tradition in this community. Another thing that is different than city folks is some people never look you at your face when talking with you, many people look away or down; it took me a while to get use to this. It seems that many people who have always lived here are shy, there is quite a large group of people who have never lived anywhere else and who have family histories going back three generations or more. Now many of the young people leave to go to college or enter the military because there are no jobs. The people use to work in dairy farming or cucumber farms for pickles, or logging or fishing. I guess there were more people here at one point but when different professions stopped providing jobs many people left the area. I call this part of my world the boondocks. We are 45 minutes from the closest Washington town, which is a bigger boondock town and seems to have more conservative people than this little town.
On Monday I interviewed to become a foster mother for the second time. My daughter who was originally a foster child is now 25 years old. I had wanted to become a foster mother again when she was 21 but it didn't happen, I guess I was too busy. I didn't want her to be jealous or feel I was trying to replace her. So I guess I will have a child in my home soon. It will be interesting to see how I deal with a child in my home and also to see how the child deals with me and with the "live stock" that live here.
I am on my way to see my spiritual director.
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