Terrapin Station

Friday Five: Silly Sentences

Karla says at RevGals:

Because I am feeling silly, or perhaps, just out there, our FF is dedicated to creating silly sentences.  We all need a little meaningless creativity and humour, right?

Use these five words (in any tense) in a sentence:

1. pulpit, puppy, wrench, word, mouse.
2. weep, love, prayer, bassoon, chair
3. heart, shutter, wish, turtle, walk
4. howl, worry, window, story, trust
5. garden, hat, shepherd, laugh, sigh.

The Scene: Nave of a British village church

The puppy climbed into the pulpit to deliver the Word, but was wrenched away by the mouse. He was weeping with love for a large bassoon leaned against a chair, and praying that it would be his.  The puppy and the turtle convinced the mouse to shutter his heart against this foolish wish, and to walk away from the musical instrument. Just then, a howl came from outside the window, worrying all the animals and reminding them of the old stories of untrustworthy wolves in the area.  Outside, the shepherd (the howler, you see) laughed and sighed at the nervous animal friends; then she returned to her garden, putting on her sun hat. 

 

Friday Five from Jan

In my experience in the United States, people are either "Dog People" or "Cat People." As the graph above illustrates, not everyone is limited to those types of animals. So I am wondering about pets and experiences with them.

1. Are you a DOG or a CAT person? Or OTHER? I used to be a confirmed cat person. Now I am a manic dog lover. I still like cats!!!

2. Who were the pets of your childhood and what were they like? There were some bad experiences when I was very small with large dogs that were not properly trained or managed (leading to my initial lack of enthusiasm for dogs). My own first pet was a cat named Beauty. She was a white shorthair. Then we had a longhair, part Siamese named Silky. She had kittens and her Gandalf lived with us a while.

3. What pets do you have now? Josie and Boudreaux are our two Maltese.  Soon I hope to get a betta fish; Brandon has been breeding them. 

4. Have you ever had any unusual pets in your household or visit your home? We had lizards for a while, and sugar gliders for a while, and a ferret which was not allowed but still happened. (!!!) After he left home, Brandon had a coatimundi (which was TOTALLY not allowed but since not in my house, not my problem. But, ask about his mom's bathroom wallpaper...!)

5. What have you learned from your pets? Give one recent example, if possible.  I try to practice the thing about "treating the person you love the way your pet does." So, when Ken comes home, I get up and go with the dogs to meet him (they run, I don't always...). I kiss him hello and goodbye every time we part. I try to overlook little annoyances.  Here's a great article about it. And a great slideshow.

Repellent

Saw an ad on TV just now for the Bell and Howell Solar Animal Repeller. Here's a link to the site. I think it's disgusting.

I understand not wanting animals to tear up your trash or dig in your garden, but hey, here's an idea: don't go live where they live and expect them to stay away from that stuff. Go live in a concrete canyon if that's how you feel about animals, ok? Or, secure your trash so there's not a problem.

Sorry if I sound a little loony on this subject, but really. The birds and squirrels who share our living space are one of my great delights. I'm not always thrilled when birds, raccoons, or possums go down our chimney, but then, we've been saying for years that we need to cover that up. So really, our bad there.

If you had this gizmo, you'd have no birds in your trees, no squirrels in them either, no bats in your belfry. (Bats eat mosquitoes, did you know?)

It's true that the other day I came in my driveway to see 2 turkey buzzards sitting on the roof of my house, and I parked and ran straight out into the front yard (by that time there were three, sitting on the ground) and hollered at them, "GET GONE!" a la my Memamma. And Boudreaux chased them madly, barking. I don't have to be thrilled with all the animals that come to my house. But I give them a sporting chance...(Boudreaux can't catch anything). They are beautiful, flying. Just a little repellent, sitting on my roof. I do have a superstition or two.

Turtle is my totem

This is the ornament for the Choctaw Nation this year. It features "LUKSI" which is Choctaw for "turtle" - who teaches us persistence, patience, protection, self-sufficiency and long life.
The pattern in the center is a snowflake made with Choctaw Stickball Sticks.
Polished dimensional brass with red & green cloisonné. - Per my cousin, Jamie Pritchett, who does a lot of graphic design work for the Choctaw Nation. 

All the miracles...

I have been having some medical tests to determine why I have such a lot of pain in my right shoulder and arm.  It turns out there are some issues (treatable ones) with my spine.  Researching it, I found the above video, which I think is gorgeous and shows so beautifully the miraculous way our spines are designed and function.  And the music is awesome too! 

This morning, we saw a show on the Science Channel called "Weird Nature" (from the BBC).  It was amazing to see the specialized ways in which animals have evolved to survive and thirve in their environments.  But what is MOST amazing to me is that we have such wonderful, clear, close-up film of things like this, available at 6 in the morning or just anytime on YouTube.  I wish, I wish, that my Bigdaddy could see it.  He died in 1991 and he loved shows like this...but I know that 20 years ago there was nothing like this.  I still remember how, in first grade, we used to watch those Disney movies of flowers opening in fast-motion photography, and what an amazing thing THAT was. 

I said to Ken, "I NEVER want to take this for granted...being able to see these things."

Watch this one: 

What's striking you as miraculous today?

Dog Post Alert

Boudreaux has posted at the Dog Blog. 

Remembering the Sweet Cub

I am one of the lucky folks who actually got to meet Cub Poppy Forbus in person.  She and her pal Angus came to Denton with their Typist last summer for the Dog Days of Denton celebration. 

Josie and Boudreaux and I joined them, though we were not foolish enough to try to put all those dogs in one car; and it was a very fun and zany day.  You can read about it here. 

We will miss you, friend Cub.  Run free! 

Quincy's Meme

The Typist tagged me for Quincy's meme.  She was first tagged by Law And Gospel, who writes: Dave over at Here I Stand posted on a sad note, that they had to put Quincy, the family dog, to sleep. Certainly, we pray for Dave and the family because we all know that pets are people too. Their stories are our stories. One thing that can guarantee good conversation is a sharing of the antics of our animals. So, in honor of Quincy and all of our animal companions past and present, I thought I would post a couple pet antics from our house and create a new meme.

1. What is an amusing anecdote about a pet friend in your life (past or present)? 

My Boudreaux is a shoulder dog.  ESPECIALLY in the car.  This is his favorite place to sit!  Here he is with his Gran. 

2. What is a gift a pet gave to you when you really needed it?  Josie and Boudreaux are the loves of my life.  It's hard to choose just one thing, but their smiling faces would have to be it.  Sometimes the chiropractor tells me (just before a manipulation), "Think happy thoughts!"  and those faces are what I call to mind. 

3. Share a picture of one or more of your pets - extra points for amusing photos.

Josie's GlamFur Shot from Dog Days of Denton.  This is the image on my checks!!  That totally makes me smile.

Boudreaux rolling in the grass after a bath.

God bless, Quincy.  God, bless Quincy's people. 

Some Photos from Blessing of the Animals at Annunciation

A good day knitting scarves in the front yard. 

The dogs thought it was a good day to play in the leaves. 

Later that day we went to the Blessing of the Animals:

Afterward, we stopped off at Home Depot!

What A Great Day!

Laffin'