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Sure feels like time for a Friday frylet, those little tasty remnants at the bottom of the french fry bag. A little salty nibble at the end of the week!
Remember this? The Weebles reenacting the creche scene in a snowy Jerusalem? (Last time I posted this it generated some fascinating comments about the weather in the Mid-East, I recall.)
Anyway, you're warned. The countdown has begun...
I surf the web much of the day, I admit. Most of it for work, or personal research*, or surfing cute cat photos with dumb misspelled captions, but also to try to stay in touch with what's happening in the world from my little rural shelter. I'm fascinated with the fast-moving flow of social chatter and the undulating waves of trends that froth up and die away. I love to run across hot topics and controversies I've never heard about before. So that just happened and I feel the need to share.
I just ran across this word, clicktivism, that I guess denotes activism through web actions like blogs, email campaigns, on-line petitions, etc. That's not really what I'm writing about though. It's that by the time I heard of this word, today, when I googled it all I can find are articles about the reaction to the reaction against it. In other words, I missed the first or second discussion go-round and am now catching up to the backlash to the backlash.
What strikes me about this is that clearly trends are flowing by me at high speed on either side and I can only occasionally reach out and grab one by the slippery tail. There are many millions of concepts out there that people are debating, pondering on, arguing about, that I've never even heard of. I don't know why, but I like knowing that.
Anyway, I'm done with the clicktivist idea already - it's over. Cool word, though. So what else have you heard lately?
I thought I just made this word up, but it already has a logo. Sheesh.
*PS: This does not refer to research in the personals
Everyone who knew Flash said he was the smartest dog they'd ever met. He knew over 30 words and a dozen hand gestures that he mostly taught himself. He knew ball vs. frisbee, various people's names, left vs. right, "back up" as well as all the usual commands. He even started to recognize spelled words so that didn't work anymore.
Being such a smart and energetic border collie and with no sheep to work, he needed lots of games and activities to keep him busy. He loved to do his trademark tricks: roll over, spin, "be a bear" (sit up on his haunches and beg), and even "crawl" (which was more like scrambling with his front paws while doing a frog kick with his back ones).
A favorite game (for him, not us) was to look for a ball under the sofa, cabinet or chair and bark and paw frantically to get someone to get it out. You'd get down on the floor and reach for the ball while he watched intently. Then, as soon as he thought you weren't looking, he'd roll it under again with his nose and start the barking pawing routine til you got it out again. He'd do this all evening if he could find a willing sucker player.
Henry and Flash also played the Table Game, explained in more detail in this post. 
It was ritualized tag in slow motion. Flash would walk around and under the table with his frisbee or ball as Henry would try to catch it. Again, another one he'd do for hours.
He loved balloons, especially helium ones that had begun to lose their buoyancy. He'd bop them with his nose and play volleyball with us. We'd blow up regular ones for him to hold by their knot and carry around the house. Occasionally they'd pop but it never stopped him from wanting more.
He also loved to work at stuffed dog toys, open them up and methodically remove the stuffing. One Christmas when #1 Sister was visiting, she carefully re-stuffed one and sewed it up for him to take apart again while he waited patiently. They both amused themselves with this activity for some time.
Flash was known throughout the neighborhood as the spinny dog. Since he had an invisible fence, he'd run right up to the edge of the yard and stop to bark at passers-by. As he couldn't run into the street, he'd spin frantically in circles while barking at them. Unfortunately for him, instead of scaring people off, they usually laughed. It got so I'd describe where I lived by saying "I'm on the corner with that dog that spins" and people would immediately know which house.
So many wonderful memories of such a high-spirited and devoted dog. He had a complex personality, with clear likes and dislikes, full of doggy determination. We're not planning to get another dog in the near future. I can't imagine one without Flash's sensibility and communication skills. Just a regular dog wouldn't do.
And thank you all for the comments, hugs, notes on Facebook, remembrances and kind thoughts. Every pet owner knows this time will inevitably come, much as we try to deny it. And when it does, I hope you can each have the warm, peaceful, loving experience we had, heartbreaking as it was.
I'm writing this from the floor of my living room sitting next to my old dog Flash. He's spending his last day with us, surrounded by love and calm. His liver has failed and he's stopped eating and moving much. He doesn't seem to be in pain, though it's a struggle to get up every few hours which he still does to relieve himself outside. He's eaten a little cat food and seemed to relish it, though a few licks were all he wanted. We're waiting for Monday, when his vet's office will be open and will help transition him to the end.
Yesterday was full of emergency and anxiety, trying to determine what was happening and what to do. The immediate crisis passed and we decided to wait, see how the weekend went and spend a last day together. Today has been peaceful and calm as we sit (or lie) in our customary spots surrounded by the normal sounds and sights of a weekend morning. Flash occasionally looks at me, checking in and communicating as always. The cats stay close, rubbing up against him though he ignores them. All I hope is that we get through the day and night without incident and not need to act until tomorrow.
Henry is alternately sad, confused and comforting. He asks me if I'm ready and I say I am. I say Flash is ready as well. I think this last day is helpful and hope it leaves peaceful memories and a greater understanding. I don't really know the best thing to do, but this feels right for now.
Friends and neighbors plan to stop by later. I decide what we really need is a coffeecake, and reach for my cookbooks to find the most complicated recipe I can.
Flash, October 17 2010
48 jars and counting...
I've been canning up a storm. Not really sure what got into me this year, but at least it's been productive.
So far I've put up:
My main challenge now is where to store it all. I'm worried that the garage gets too cold - could the jars freeze and crack? Maybe under my bed. Though it kind of creeps me out to have food, no matter how well preserved, in places not normally designated for it. I need to dig a root cellar! I'll put it on my list.
Many of the 48 jars will be holiday gifts for neighbors and co-workers (none of whom read my blog so I'm not ruining the surprise). The jars are probably more expensive than the contents, at about a dollar each, and I wouldn't mind having them returned. I'm a little unclear on the etiquette for asking for them back so that probably won't happen. Maybe a little label saying: "Return this jar to be filled with more goodies next year"?
I think the canning frenzy is almost over, especially as my special source of almost-overripe fruit is winding down (sob). I still have a couple bags of apples and pears and that should do it. My vision is a relaxed, mellow Christmas season as I pass out beautiful jars of bright gleaming fruit to the masses. It'll never happen, but at least I'm a bit closer...
PS: Only one comment in 12 days? Is it over between us?
Sorry to be so silent, but things are pretty dull around here. In an discouraging repeat of last fall, my eye surgery recovery started off great and then suddenly not so much. Without going into detail, I'm healing too fast (?) which is conversely screwing things up. This is all too familiar.
Rather than mess around for weeks trying different approaches to fix things like last year, my man Jason is taking me back into the operating room next week to deal with it. Meanwhile, I'm supposed to lie low, I have a dull headache and my eyesight is half-way blurry due to dilating drops.
Lying around the house is really not as much fun as it sounds. Especially on the heels of that cold/sinus infection where I got my fill of nothing. Baseball is on, but I haven't latched on to a team yet so am kind of "meh" about it.
When I think of something interesting to write about, I'll check back in. In the meantime, I guess I'll keep posting cute animal pics.
I've taught myself how to do many things with the help of library books and Google. Minor plumbing, household repairs, computer upgrades, child-rearing (no family elders this side of the Rockies). But, I'm not much of a self-taught knitter. It tends to be too frustrating, so I rely on classes and workshops for advanced techniques. Plus they're fun.
However, while knitting a sock leg in the middle of a flight last week, I taught myself the Magic Loop. It's an approach to knitting with one circular needle for small diameter tube knitting, when the circumference of your tube is smaller than will actually fit around from point to point.
I won't describe the technique here, sparing you all. It always seemed too technical and fiddly, but while drinking the free wine from Alaska Air, I looked at my knitting and thought "what if I...?" And it worked! I wanted to shout "Eureka!" down the length of the plane, but held back and just smiled as I kept going around and around this never-ending sock...
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