Thursday, September 19, 2013

September 19, 2013

Sweetsie and my pink poodle tissue box!

I have had a fascination with pink poodles since I was a little girl.  I must have seen a stuffed animal or a picture of one somewhere.

Now I have a real living pink poodle!  I got an okay from the vet to dye her.  First I gave her a bath and rinsed her well.  Then I did a final rinse with 2 quarts of water with about a third of a packet of strawberry lemonade sugar free drink mix dissolved in it.

Her white fur took the color so quickly.  I didn't think she would turn such a pretty color.  When she lets me brush her she's looks like a little stuffed toy.

I tried to get her to pose with my group of pink poodles.  She was just too excited.  I put her on a table with my small tissue box and she posed so nicely.  I would have tried to get a better photo without all that reflection from the table but I felt lucky to get the photo at all.

Sweetsie got more than her usual attention last night when I walked her.  The neighbors shouldn't be too surprised.  After all, I painted a pink poodle on my mailbox.

My pink poodle mail box is now installed by my front door.


Sunday, September 15, 2013

September 14, 2013: My new puppy!

I love poodles!  They have such cute curly hair and sweet dispositions.  For years I have been wanting a tiny poodle for a pet.

In 1999 I adopted a 3 year old dog that one of my co-workers was wanting to dispose of.  She told me that it was just an itty bitty dachshund mix.  She brought him to my house in a tiny pet carrier.  She said that he stayed in that carrier all day when she was at the office.

He was no tiny dog - at least 20 pounds - but he was cute and he needed me.  I kept him until he died in 2011.

I couldn't get another dog back in 2011 because I was still coping with my 3 cats, my job and a quadriplegic husband.

Then that husband decided he wanted to marry his young caregiver and he moved out.  The divorce was final in February 2013.

After adjusting to my new situation I decided to search for a tiny white female poodle or poodle mix.
I went to one shelter that had a cute dog,  but I would have had to take her brother, too.  3 cats plus 2 dogs just seemed kind of ridiculous to me as a single woman.

I would look through the petfinder's website every day.  Then I found the cutest little girl.  She was at the Pearland Animal Shelter.  Pearland is a small city about 25 miles from Houston.  I called and she was still available.  I zipped over there, filled out the paperwork and passed muster with the shelter people.  I got my beautiful approximately 8 month old puppy for a mere $35.00!

She was just so cute that I kept calling her Sweetie.  Her official name now is Sweetsie.  The animal shelter would not let me take her home until she had been spayed in a Pearland animal clinic.  I found one that could do the surgery the next day.  Sweetsie came to her new home the next evening.

I walk her in the morning and evening every day.  I have to go with her to the backyard because the new fence is too high off the ground.  She had a few accidents during her first few days.  But, she is learning and walking her helps.

The only problem is my poor kitties.  They have holed themselves up in my sewing room.  If Sweetsie sees one out she chases the poor thing.  The cats get so scared.  I've learned to hold her back when we return from a walk or when we come out of closed room.

Tonight I didn't see poor Stella in the hallway in time.  Sweetsie chased her throughout the family room and kitchen while I yelled "no, no!" at her.  I had to give her a spanking and then clean up the glass broken by Stella jumping all over the place.

I feel sorry for the cats.  All they have to do is jump up on a chair to evade Sweetsie.  But instead they start running.  I miss my kitties.  I hope everyone will adjust soon.

Sweetsie is so happy to see me when I return home.  I have to pick her up and she is just ecstatic.  When I'm home she is my constant companion.  I have even started letting her sleep in my bed.  She has had no accidents during the night.

Sweetsie is so excited to be lifted onto the bed at night.

The photo in this post was taken by a Pearland police woman at the shelter.  Isn't she just the most adorable little dog?

Saturday, September 14, 2013

September 14, 2013: The owl by the door





I work at Rice University where the owl is the official mascot.  There are owl flags, an owl mobile, a giant owl statue, owl facades, etc.  Right outside the door to the building where I work is a real live owl in a tree!  This is the first owl that I have ever seen in its natural habitat.  I stood under the tree to get this photo.  I woke the poor owl up.

Other people have told me that they have seen owls on campus.  One professor who was working late and walking to her car got knocked over by a flying owl.

I went to a talk given by a retired professor who photographed a nest with 3 baby owls and their parents.  He followed their progress on campus.  Then the mother owl disappeared.  He said that a major danger to our native owls is rat poison.  The owls will catch and eat a poisoned rat that has not yet died.  The owl then dies from the poison in the rat.  The owls are safe on the Rice campus but just across Main Street is the Medical Center.

Working at Rice is kind of like working in a park.  The squirrels are so tame that they just stop and beg for food as you walk by.  Once I thought a squirrel was dead but it turned out that it was just sprawled out on the sidewalk napping.  I've seen bunnies jumping through the hedges in the morning and evening hours.

I am so happy that the cooler weather is only a month or so away.  It's just too hot to be outside now. I look forward to walking to the student center for lunch and admiring the beauty of the campus.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

September 8, 2013: Progress

I just did something unusual for me.

A man I dated twice told me he wanted to take our relationship to the "next level."  After the first date he was calling us "a couple."  I told him that we didn't even know each other yet.  He kept texting me all day yesterday and even asked what I was doing and where I was. I do not have to answer these questions from someone I just met.

But, I still went out to a movie with him last night.  He gave me a couple little kisses during the movie. I let him put his arm around me.  We drove back and he dropped me off on my driveway and said he was going home.  That was kind of weird.  If he wanted me to at least kiss him, he would have gotten out of the car.

Then the texts start up, again even though I told him that I don't carry my phone with me all the time and that I'm better with email.  His texts were basically an ultimatum.  Either intimacy on our next date or no more dates.  I wasn't sure if I was even attracted to him yet so I wasn't ready.  I texted him that I had read his text and was thinking of my response.  A few minutes later I get "Well?????" Then "Joann, r u going to answer???"

That was enough of that.  I emailed him (not texted) that I didn't think we were compatible and wished him luck and good bye.  He wrote me back, all in caps, seeming surprised that I was calling it quits.  He continued to send me multiple "flirts" through the dating website until I blocked him.

I know I did the right thing.  It was nice to have him take me to the movies but I wasn't really into him. Last night on the way back to my house he stopped on the side of 45 and started looking for a cd.  I told him that that made me uncomfortable but he didn't respond, just kept digging through his cd's.  If a man isn't respectful to a woman in the very beginning of a relationship, that does not bode well for the future. Plus, if he wanted some affection, he could have at least gotten out of the car.

Anyway, I am actually proud of myself.  I didn't like him being so pushy and bossy.  He didn't listen to me nor did he have much to talk about.  (He had told me a bunch of his physical ailments during our first date. We all have our share of problems at this age but he told me some of his physical shortcomings that made him very unattractive for intimacy - ever.)

Onward!

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

September 3, 2013: Match.com

Today I cancelled my Match.com account.  Every day Match would email me with 24 "matches."
These men rarely were compatible with what I was looking for.  I would go through their profiles.  It was disheartening to read profiles that only jived with my search criteria in terms of being "male."

I didn't match what they wanted either.

90% of the "matches" I received were for men looking for "slender" or "athletic and toned" women.  I am neither of those.  More than half of these men were far from being slender or athletic and toned themselves.  (Oh, to be a man and have such a wonderful body image of myself!)

 I also listed myself as "spiritual but not religious."  I'd get profiles of men stating how they were looking for the woman "god meant " for them to meet and men whose only reading material was the bible.

I'm a liberal and I'd get profiles of men who listed themselves as ultra-conservative.  (I don't understand how someone "religious" can reconcile himself with being "ultra-conservative."  But, that would entail an entirely different post.)

There are other dating websites that are far superior to Match.com and some of them are free.  One site doesn't allow anyone more than 13 years younger or older contact you.  I love this site! Another free site gives you the opportunity to answer a variety of questions.  When you open up a man's profile there is a tab "y'all have issues."  Click on that tab and you can compare your answers to theirs.  What a great website!

I've given out my card to some of the men I've met.   I am not going to name these sites just in case one them were to check my blog.  Let them do their own web research.