• About
  • Recipe Index
  • Daddy Oh

an everyday life

an everyday life

Tag Archives: Dog Tales

The Right Word

02 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by Janell in In the Garden, Life at Home, The Great Outdoors

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Curly Dock, Dog Tales, Everyday Life, Oklahoma Gardening

The difference between the almost right and the right word is really a large matter — it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.  — Mark Twain

In spite of appearances to the contrary, my standard poodle Max is inspired to action by the right words.

And aren’t we all?

Like today, for instance.  Today my right words were Curly Dock — which I learned was the name of the mystery plant growing in my east garden for the past year — the very one I watered when it wilted in last summer’s triple digit temperatures, the one I was so happy to see survive our mild winter intact, the one I’ve been observing every little bit this spring, waiting to see how it would develop and what it would become.

Today I learn it’s a weed.  The perennial kind, hard to remove, because it has a long, thin tap root that snaps apart when handled.  It lives in the east garden where nice hollyhocks and feathery cypress vine and forever four o’clocks thrive.   No way did this resemble a weed to my eye, since its form was almost fern-like.  It was only a few days ago I became suspicious, when she sprouted an ugly set of flower stalks.  Enough so that I decided to take time to identify her by name this morning.  And dig up what I could.  And to walk away, knowing I will only be able to remove it, once-for-all, with help of chemicals.

“Chemicals are our friend,” my chemical engineer husband tells me all the time.  Though I try not to use pesticides in my gardening, he’s right about chemicals, when it comes to Max.  Finally, after months of searching for the just right cocktail of medicines, Max is growing like a weed.  Last November’s scary scarecrow look — when he reached a low of 36 plus pounds — is gone.  I pray for ever.  Today, thanks to the just right dose of chemicals, he carries close to 50 pounds on his princely form.

To say he carries does not imply an overly active dog however.  That would be his sister dogs Maddie and Cosmo.  No, Max prefers to carry his heavy load why lying around.  Like this morning.   When I was attempting to remove Curly Dock from my garden, this curly dog of mine was far removed from dirt and bugs and weeds – lying high up on the back porch, under the comforting cool shade of the Cherry Laurel.

But speak the right word and this prissy poodle of mine will move like a bolt of lightning. No lazy lightning bug flittering about , mind you — when he hears the word “hungry?”, it’s better to get out of the way fast to avoid being mowed over.  I don’t know why we burden the word, hungry, with a question mark.  But this I know: while it’s good to mow down most weeds, it’s better to be mowed down by at least one.

It’s the difference between Curly Dock and curly dog.

Snowmax

04 Friday Feb 2011

Posted by Janell in Life at Home, The Great Outdoors

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Dog Tales, Everyday Life, Mary Oliver, Snow Storms

For Max, who enjoys a winter serving of snow more than any I know, this lovely poem by Mary Oliver.

The Storm

Now through the white orchard my little dog

romps, breaking the new snow

with wild feet.

Running here running there, excited,

hardly able to stop, he leaps, he spins

until the white snow is written upon

in large, exuberant letters,

a long sentence, expressing

the pleasures of the body in the world.

 

Oh, I could not have said it better

myself.

Closing the Escape Hatch

25 Thursday Mar 2010

Posted by Janell in Life at Home

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Dog Tales, Everyday Life, Mesta Park

 

Cosmo surprised me last night.

While I was letting the dogs out for their final nature call, rather than taking care of business as usual, Cosmo zoomed back to her favorite spot like a rocket toward outer space.  Since it was too dark to investigate, I made a mental note to check the area this morning.

Later, while in bed, I recalled an off-hand comment my husband made about the fence a couple of weeks ago.  I remembered him saying something about there being a gap in the fence somewhere behind his office.  At the time, he admitted to being puzzled as to why the dogs — and in particular, our naughty Scottie Cosmo — hadn’t taken advantage of the opening to explore the forbidden unknown on their own.  I’m pretty sure we shared a good chuckle over it  — and even pride at our superior intelligence — at the expense of the canine members of our household.

After seeing the size of the gap, I’ve no doubt Cosmo has been exploring far and wide, not once, but many, many times.  Was it only a couple of weeks ago now, that I wondered in a previous post, what was keeping Cosmo so occupied behind the garden shed?   All I can say it that I was stupid, stupid, stupid not to check this out before today.  And if it weren’t for last night’s brazen midnight dash — which offered up serious evidence that Cosmo was charting out new territories to terrorize —  Cosmo would still in the space exploration business.

I closed the hatch this morning, with stones leftover from our landscape project.  The opening was about ten feet long and six inches high in most places  — wide enough for Cosmo to have her pick of escape hatches and tall enough to offer an enterprising gigantic poodle (or two) their own peep-hole to watch Cosmo and the rest of the world go by.

The stones are too heavy for a Scottie muzzle to push around — or even a Scottie girl’s best canine friends — I know since my sad Scottie inspector has given then her seal of disapproval.  With defense once again secure, I’ve accomplished my mission.  And Cosmic Cosmo’s missions are over.

Not surprisingly, Cosmo has spent most of the day inside with me.  We’re getting reacquainted.

← Older posts

“Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? — every, every minute?”

-- Thornton Wilder, "Our Town"

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts.


prev|rnd|list|next
© Janell A West and An Everyday Life, January 2009 to Current Date. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given.

Recent Posts

  • Queen of Salads
  • Sweater Weather
  • Summer Lull Salads
  • That Roman Feast
  • Remodel Redux
  • Déjà vu, Déjà Voodoo
  • One Good Egg

Artful Living

  • Fred Gonsowski Garden Home
  • Kylie M Interiors
  • Laurel Bern Interiors
  • Lee Abbamonte
  • Mid-Century Modern Remodel
  • Ripple Effects
  • The Creativity Exchange
  • The Task at Hand
  • Tongue in Cheek
  • Zen & the Art of Tightrope Walking

Family ~ Now & Then

  • Chronicling America
  • Family
  • Kyle West
  • Pieces of Reese's Life
  • Vermont Digital Newspaper Project

Food for Life!

  • Elizabeth Minchilli in Rome
  • Manger
  • Once Upon a Chef
  • The Everyday French Chef

Literary Spaces

  • A Striped Armchair
  • Dolce Bellezza
  • Lit Salad
  • Living with Literature
  • Marks in the Margin
  • So Many Books
  • The Millions

the Garden, the Garden

  • An Obsessive Neurotic Gardener
  • Potager
  • Red Dirt Ramblings

Archives

Categories

  • Far Away Places
  • Good Reads
  • Home Restoration
  • In the Garden
  • In the Kitchen
  • Life at Home
  • Mesta Park
  • Prayer
  • Soul Care
  • The Great Outdoors
  • Writing

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • an everyday life
    • Join 89 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • an everyday life
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...