Puppies

Hot times in the bedroom

/ wvfurandroot / 6 Comments

006Those of you who hang out with me on Facebook know that I’m still in the seemingly-endless pursuit of organizing The Barn.  I go in fits and starts with this, but lately my fervor has been renewed.  I love an orderly, clean house.  I’m just not very good at it.  (But I’m getting better!)

For all of my short-comings in the house cleaning arena, I’m pretty good about keeping my bedroom orderly, in part because I love my bed.

I have a grand bed.  I think everyone should have a bed so imposing it is reminiscent of a throne.

I bought the bed along with the Beloved Vanity and other pieces a good 8 years ago.  The furniture is so big that they couldn’t bring it up the stairs, but had to lift it to the top of the truck and then from there hoist it through the French doors in the master bedroom.

003I decided that since I spend a third of my life, more or less, in bed, that bed should be a haven, a sanctuary, a symphony of hedonism.   The bed is appointed with luxurious coverings including very high-thread count sheets.  There is a mound of pillows that I remove each night, but leave in place for afternoon naps.  I love sprawling among the pillows and watching the sun come through the French doors.

I love my bed.  It’s king-sized in keeping with my throne desire and I can sprawl all over the thing without body parts hanging off.  The animals sometimes join me in the bed, though not regularly.  There’s room for all of us.

In the winter time, I love keeping the bedroom cold so that I can burrow in the bed like the cocoon it is.  It’s simply delicious to wallow.  It’s only when it gets blazing hot outside, as it is now, that my bed is not quite so wonderful.  The bed linens are heavy especially so with the goose down-filled comfortor.  While I have central air, the construction of the barn is such that cooling the upstairs when it’s 80F at midnight means keeping the downstairs at freezer level.  I don’t want to pay Appalachian Electric that much.  So, tonight I will lie on top of the covers and let the ceiling fan swirl air over me.

I realize this is a first-world problem and that I have no reason to whine.  I’m not whining,  not really.  I think I’m marking the entrance of Summer to what has been a very strange Spring.

Puppy Love

/ wvfurandroot / 8 Comments
phoebe 012

Phoebe 1/23/14

Living without a dog has been like living in a house without a kitchen. It has felt like something important was missing. I could and did function, but it was unsatisfying and the heart of it all seemed to be missing.

I had decided to wait until this spring or summer to get another dog because I want a puppy – a dog that, let’s hope, would be well trained. The timing would have been conducive to house training and, theoretically, the house would have been orderly enough by then to be easy to puppy-proof. A puppy, at least in theory, means I won’t be burying another dog anytime soon.

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Phoebe 1/22/14 right after bringing her home

After my bad experience with a dog from the local shelter, I just couldn’t go through that again, so I started thinking about what kind of dog I wanted and would want me. I’ve always thought I was a big dog person who had just always been found by small dogs. The two Shih Tzus I had were too sweet for words. The Dachshunds were a hoot and a holler. The Italian Greyhound was a neurotic mess that I loved without reason. And the Golden Lab I fostered for a month or so was pure delight. I started researching breeds.

I read about Huskies and Great Pyrenees, Labradors, Boxers, and Bulldogs. I also read about Dachshunds and Shih Tzus. I kept coming back to the Shih Tzu. For my lifestyle, they seemed perfect. Properly trained, they’re affectionate, lap dogs that live to please and are fairly laid back. I had to be honest and admit I don’t have the proper number of hours in a day to walk and exercise a big dog. I also probably can’t afford to feed a big dog.

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Phoebe 1/24/14

The Beautiful Babette was “mostly Shih Tzu” and she and I suited one another perfectly. As long as she was sitting by me, she was content. She didn’t demand a lot, just my presence.

Even though I was planning on a summer dog, I’ve been cruising Craigslist daily for Shih Tzus. They’ve practically been taking bets at the office for how long it would be before I showed up with one.

Well, the longing for a dog increased and, finally, my preference for a black and white one showed up in the local feed. I was all over it. She’s actually half Shih Tzu and half Maltese which as near as I can figure is a smaller, all-white Shih Tzu. I lost my heart to her almost immediately. I had pretty much planned on naming whatever dog found me Lily, but this one’s name immediately surfaced as Phoebe. It suits her perfectly. There has never been a more Phoebe of a Phoebe.

Puppy love oozes from my every pore. She is a hoot, a holler, and worth every dollar. I brought her home Wednesday night and had cataract surgery first thing Thursday morning. So not only do I have a puppy that delights me, I can see her in high definition! She was born November 14th which makes her about 11 weeks old. The kitchen scales weigh her in at 3.74 lbs. While she is a little bit of nothing, she seems big for her breeding so I’m not sure how big she’s going to get. My preference would be for her to top out at about 8 lbs. I’m so in love with her that if she turns out the size of Great Pyrenees, that’ll be okay too.

I’m not sure why having a dog has been so important, but already everything feels so much more normal than it has in a while. There’s a creature here who misses me when I leave the room. While the cats provide me with a different sort of satisfaction, there’s nothing like being the center of a dog’s universe. So. Meet Phoebe!  [Who, by the way, is sitting under the desk on my foot.  🙂 ]

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