Sophie

Little Dog Syndrome

/ handmadebyjo / 2 Comments

Chester in Buddiy's bed

 

Poor Chester doesn’t know he isn’t a little dog.  He’s taken to sleeping in what once was Buddy’s bed.  It’s maybe 26″ across.  He squishes himself into it and will stay there for hours.  I found this out a couple of weeks ago when I was carrying the bed home in the back of my sister’s car intending to have it at the house in Enfield for Bud to snooze in.  Chester was in the car for a couple of hours sleeping in that bed.  He normally has the whole back of my hatchback but thought this was much cozier.

Young dogs always learn a lot from the older dogs around them, unfortunately for Chester (or me) he’s only been around Miniature Schnauzers.  He doesn’t understand why Sophie and Buddy can sit in our laps and he can’t.  On the occasion when someone has picked him up his tail wags like it’s one of the most momentous occasions of his life.  You know he’s been feeling neglected because the little dogs get that snuggle time and he doesn’t.  Every morning he gets onto the loveseat where I’m sitting, drinking my coffee, and leans against me.  It’s sort of a hug.  Mind you I also have at least one other dog sitting in my lap, usually Sophie. It’s cute but he’s large and doesn’t realize it.  He thinks he’s doing what he’s supposed to do.

He and Sophie have become fast friends.  It took over a year for her to warm up to him but in the past few months they have started to play – a lot.  There is nothing funnier that watching them go at it.  When Sophie is on her hind legs  she comes up to his shoulder.  They play tug of war or just wrestle around on the floor.  Chester knows all the tricks to get her to let go of the toy.  He just realized that if he can find the squeaker she will let go – she hates any toy with a squeaker.

All in all it’s fun having a dog with size confusion issues.  He makes me laugh every day.  Most of my dogs have made me laugh intentionally but I think Chester just thinks he’s being a normal little dog.

Poor Sophie

/ handmadebyjo / 1 Comment

IMG_0351

When Sophie is in Rowe the only thing she wants to do is go outside.  It doesn’t matter what the weather, if someone is outdoors she wants to be there.  When Chester is out there without her she sits on the back of the chair so she can see what he’s doing and what she might be missing. And cries.

Dogs and Snow

/ handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

IMG_0333

 

Sophie loves snow more than anything.  You’d think she’d hate the cold, or the snow balls that stick to her fur, or the fact that the snow is too deep to walk in.  Her favorite game is Bill throwing snow with the shovel into the air and she leaps into it.  In the first photo she knows what’s coming.  She wants to make sure she’s there before Chester (who is clueless about this game).

 

IMG_0337

 

Success!  A few more shovels full and she’d had enough.  Went into the house and stood in front of a fire to melt the snow.

Running in the Grass with Your Bare Feet

/ handmadebyjo / 1 Comment

Sophie Zooming

If you watch any media at all you are bombarded by negativity, death, destruction, fear, fear, fear.  I’m not sure what purpose all of it serves but I do know that I am capable of turning most of it off and tuning it out.  I have to admit that I do keep up with current events and can get caught up in many things political.  This past weekend I turned it off.  I cooked, baked, cleaned, kept busy all the way around.

It sometimes feels as if the world around me has really gone off of the tracks.  If you listen to the media or Facebook or Twitter you begin to imagine that the horrors of any particular news cycle are happening in your back yard.  Sometimes you have to say enough.

I have a theory that one of the reasons there is so much absurd craziness is that people have become too disconnected from the natural world. They have lost that reverent respect for life of all kinds.  I believe we are effected by everything surrounding us.  Years ago I lived in a medium size city on the north shore of Massachusetts.  I was surrounded by concrete and pavement.  There were a few large maples on my street but they were surrounded by concrete as well.  I would watch the children playing outside on the street or their paved driveways and was always struck by the fact that they never touched the earth, no playing in the dirt.  I would then walk a mile or so to the end of my street where there was a huge, old cemetery, it was like a big, beautiful park.  I would take off my shoes and walk in the grass.

I think everyone needs to be grounded to the earth.  As crazy as this sounds I believe we attain some sort of energy from the earth itself whether we are walking barefoot in the grass, planting a garden or swimming in a lake.  I think we take something with us every time we do, like charging a battery.  I think the disconnect is growing.  The calmest, most sane people I know have some connection to the earth and understand that even in a subconscious way.

I think we should all spend some time running in the grass in our bare feet.