Tough as Nails / Smarter Than Expected

For those of you who aren't aware, my family went missing this week in the Louisiana Flood. It was a gut wrenching 24 hours before I, along with my niece, finally found my brother-in-law only to find that when he went in a rescuer's boat to get my mom, she was not home! We spent Monday thinking that she had been rescued with neighbors and trying helplessly to find which of the many shelters she had been taken to...Red Cross' Safe and Well Website is a freaking joke!

To make matters worse, I started my new job teaching in an emotionally disturbed classroom and could not work the phones during the day. By Monday afternoon, I found out Mom was rescued...but not on Sunday as I had thought. We still have no idea where she was when my brother-in-law and the Cajun Navy went to look for her! But Monday, a deputy from another parish was volunteering on his day off and Mom stopped them to ask if they could boat down to the back of her property where the water was waist deep to get her trash can that floated away...she needed to clean now that the 2' in her house was receding! They made her leave the house.

She spent a cold night in the Centroplex River Center (concert hall) and by this morning, she had someone find my number and they were begging me to get my brother -in-law to come get her. (His truck was still trapped at his house.) My little cousin was already on the way and the lady on the phone seemed relieved!

Mom is safe and sound and anxious to get to to work on rebuilding her house! Not bad for 93!

Here she is on her river boat cruise down her street:

Mom is just amazing... and one tough broad! 
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With me being in teacher training and driving to school 3 hours a day all summer (12 hours a day away from home! UGH!) Macy Blue has been getting the short end of the stick!

With the stress of so many friends and family losing homes this week and the search for Mom and the brother in law and starting a new job...I was just spent when I walked Macy last night. I had taken her to a park over the mountain about six miles because the ocean breezes flow up that canyon. It was 90 something at 6:30 on my porch and I swear it was around 80 there!

My feet were killing me as well as my back and knees. I cut our walk short by about 2/3.  It was still blazing hot tonight and I decided a repeat was in order.

We arrived at the park and I started toward the gate where we always start. Only Macy would NOT budge. No... she wanted to go the way we usually come out of the park! Wha????

I realized, she was making certain that she got her WHOLE hike...not the short version she got the night before!

That, my friends, is the smartest thing Miss Blue has ever done!

My Life According to Facebook

I always dread these type of year in review things on Facebook...mainly because I just don't "do" photos. Most family members know this but there is  always some people on the fringe of the family that just don't get it and upload and tag...ugh.

And the last few years I've done these...it was all about death. My dead sister, my dead dog. Yeah, that's a real fun year Facebook.

So I was super surprised and oh so pleased to get this:

Apparently 2015 was all about the Mace! Macy Blue!!! From L-R: at the beach; our Thanksgiving hike, on the porch sofa (hanging with our house guests), in Auntie B's backyard, the day she figured out stuffies; our painting from Chewy.com, MB's paw on my shoe - her little safety trick when we are away from home and she wants to drift off to sleep but she's afraid I'll leave her. This was when I knew she liked me finally! (Back on the left) After getting skunked, stalking my coffee; With all the toys I bought her when our houseguests left us. We were sad...we needed toys! And playing with her elephant.

It's so wonderful to see how far she's come!!

Happy Half Birthday Daddy

Happy Half Birthday Daddy! Today, you would have been 97 and a half... and this afternoon is the 40th anniversary of your death.

This day and the weeks leading up to it have been torture for me for 38 of those 40 years. I thought I was over it two years ago and last year it was barely a blip on my radar...but it's back with a vengeance this year. I realize that two years ago, I was distracted with Mom's new hip surgery and delighted to be back home in my own space. And last year, my Mabel passed and I had my hands full with my new girl Macy.  Distractions are a good thing apparently.

I know you wouldn't want me to be so sad all these years...but how can I not be?? I was a rude pubescent teen, punished by the lies of my mother, the misconceptions of my grandmother, who never understood the truth of you. The unconditional love and joy you brought to my life. What a shame to have the only a parent who thinks you are wonderful for a mere 11 years!

I'm so sorry for how rude I was before you died...not wanting to talk to you. I was an angry girl...those lies not making sense and I had to struggle to find my own truth, your truth, our truth. And even now, it's still unfolding...the things this love-child never knew.

I inherited a stack of childhood photos of me when your beloved only sister (my Sissy) died. The revelations they bring are sweet and tender.

I never knew we spent a Christmas together or that I spent any Christmas with your family... but here's your mom sitting in our living room the first Christmas I remember. Mother was taking too long to warm my clothes in front of the heater and after she got my shirt on, I could stand the wait no more. I raced, bare bottomed to see if Santa had brought me a trike...And that seat was SO COLD! But I was so happy to have it, I rode around the den with my naked behind in the air! And all these years later, I learn you and Sissy and Ma Pearl were a part of it. Just look as Sissy being a little mother hen as I ride!

Here I am putting on a show in Sissy's den and I'm pretty sure that's your knee in the shot, taking the photo. Why are there so few photos of us??? I know we spent so much time together... was your fear of exposure so great that there are only two photos of us in existence??? And your head is cut off in one of them. How sad.

Again in Sissy's living room... Mother's luggage on the floor tells me we were there to stay a few days. I always remember being welcomed with open arms. Your mother and siblings and most of their spouses accepted me with love. It breaks my heart that my brothers do not. I'll bet it breaks yours too. How could a little girl be a threat to grown men?

I loved finding this shot of me coming out of the office of the family plumbing store like I owned the joint. The stories of me tossing cash out of the register are legend and it's so sweet to see me there...in your space.

So about your "half" birthday. The other day a real life friend on Facebook had bought a cake and had a party for her dad...who would have been 100...in heaven.  Seeing her video brought me so much joy. And I've been so sad, so broken, thinking of our time cut so short... that video made me realize I need to see it differently. I have to. You were born on the 9th and you left me on the 9th. So I've decided, from here on in, to celebrate how wonderful you were on your half birthday. Since you always loved a good party, I'm certain it's OK with you.

Happy Half Birthday Daddy. I love you!

I'm Half Alive but I Feel Mostly Dead

Sigh... You know that really tired down deep in your bones? Yeah, I got that. Today was the first day in about three weeks I didn't  have to be somewhere . I still had things to do: beads to ship, rubber stamp orders that have been piling up for weeks. Instead of doing what I should, I hung out in my pjs, drank a second cuppa, snoozed, made lunch, slept hard, hiked hard and got my tomatoes in the ground after dark.

This last week has been particularly emotional and grueling. I've been working a lot and feeling a bit lost without those boys I got to teach for 22 days. I got to see them yesterday after a week away. I got a hug from all of them. Made my day! But being back on a single track teaching gig has my head spinning. Last week I taught TK (4-5 year olds)... my hugger was also a puker that day! Next was 6th grade. Then it was 10th grade math, followed by psychology and American history for 12th grade - Where the prof had the audacity to call Elvis the "supposed King of Rock and Roll!" SUPPOSED??? WTH??? He didn't give himself the name like the supposed King of Pop did! That our society has regressed so far that Elvis has become the supposed King makes me sit here shaking my head wondering about the future of the planet.

Two people I know passed away last week. One was an Internet friend but a political blogger I've read for years who had lots of real life ties to people I know. We had become friends on Facebook a few months ago after his mom passed away and... I so wanted to meet him someday. I find it sadly ironic he died after seeing the dentist. The other was someone from real life that I haven't gotten to see much in recent years. Surgical procedure / complications / blood clots / heart failure / life support. Each update was sadder than the last. And one of my California family is battling cancer. That my sister adored him (and Mom too) makes it that much sadder. My mom asks for updates daily as if some miracle is bound to happen...making me ache that there is nothing new or good to tell her.

I tell you all this to explain...I'm just tired, exhausted and wonder if the world is ever going to feel normal (better??) ever again.

 All is not dark and sad or tired. This girl brings me great joy every day! Look at her playing with a new toy a friend sent her:

I hope we'll get back into our blogging routine soon...

*apologies to Jewel for the title.

Her Life In Pictures: Twelve

Our twelfth year began in Baton Rouge, nursing Mabel Lou's granny back from hip replacement. Mabel hated the heat and never wanted to be outside. I had to force exercise upon her. But she adored her little cousin Bailey and her granny and uncle. She certainly made the best of five weeks away from home!  Here, she and Bailey are taking Granny for her daily walk. They would pace the long driveway with her, always staying close!

July was blessed and uneventful. Mabel and I were both overjoyed to be back home and in our own house and bed!  Mabel had issues getting in our tall bed after sleeping in Granny's low bed. One of her "creek uncles" made her a nice set of stairs!  Here she is posing with her Baby Lou...who took the trip with us to Louisana (naturally!). There are some funny posts about Baby and Mabel's adventures HERE.

Mabel was enjoying the new wider / longer fainting couch!

We were both sick girls in September. Me with a sinus infection and Mabel had giardia and a bladder infection! She was always such a love when she work up! I miss these mornings ...and reaching for her in the night.

We got some rain and cooler temps but our creek was mostly dry. But we had delicious hikes to the ponds with Otto Rotto. Mabel is stealing his stick here:

She got mad at me for putting a different blanket on my side of the bed and made me sleep on her side....

Even though she was getting older and complained (even more than usual), she remained a curious and playful girl til the very end.

Mabel and Baby Lou had a falling out. I don't know what happened. But they did make up... at 3 am!

I took Mabel to the lower Arroyo for her 12th birthday, hoping these trails would allow her a river exploration without a long mountain walk. I was right! She had a blast. I kept meaning to share the pics with you... but I had to do some editing because the aerospace company is in a lot of the pics and I refuse to print photos that may be a terrorist target... (I know, I'm silly!) Then, it just seemed silly to put them up. But this is my favorite from her special day:

She still adored finding a tennis ball on the trail:

And it's weird how the Universe gives you little premonitions. I wrote of my fears of losing her...just weeks before it happened! My girl at her beloved ponds:

And the last hike I took photos of... Mabel bossing Otto... three days before she passed. Note the placement of her forearms!

I'm certain she was fussing at him about something....She was bossy, domineering and The Queen Bitch of Everything to the very end!

Mabel hiked every day of her life, rain or shine, illness, fever, you name it...we hiked. I'm grateful for every single one.

Two Steps Forward...

Macy spent her first day in the backyard yesterday as I had work...my last for a while. She had company periodically. Her Auntie Rottrover stopped in to check up on her and my plumbers were here for the 3rd day! They love her and she, them!

I didn't want to leave her in the house as she's had three accidents...but none at all yesterday! When I got home, she barked at me and got all territorial. (So cute!) And so happy when she realized it was me. We played a bit and I put her in the car for some errands. Macy got to go to Atilla's house and we did neighborhood walkie. I wanted them to meet as 'tilla regularly hikes all the way from their house to mine some mornings. That's a round trip of well over 3 miles. Atilla likes to stop here for cookies and water. I kept Mabel's dish filled all the time for him! I thought the boys should know what they might find should they just come walking in my yard.

We worked on the cuddles a bit more and last night, I convinced her to stay on the sofa!

She let me pet her and fell asleep, snoring like a lumberjack for a few hours!!! Victory! Happy dance!

And I've finally started to understand her not wanting to go outside for final potty at bedtime. I have to leash her every night! And walk her in the backyard on leash, otherwise, she makes a beeline for the house! As I stood there begging her to come outside, I realized, she's used to being outside and she's afraid I'll shut the door and leave her there. Until she realizes that the big house is HER house and she's always welcome inside, we'll be leashwalking in our very own yard!

Kinda blurry but Macy is in the process of holding up her paw... She's beyond adorable when she does that!

Today is another matter with the cuddles... I'm working in the shop and suffering with allergies and still trying to determine if my computer is fixed... running here and there. I've stopped a few times and lured her up on the sofa. She comes up, gets the cookies and suddenly looks around in fear, as if she's realized she's done something wrong. She jumps down but now, instead of hiding, she will come and sit on the floor beside the sofa.

Baby steps.  I just love her so and I so want to make her understand she's STAYING. And she has nothing to fear.  I know it's going to take time. I feel so very blessed to have her! I told my brother in law this morning that she's the sweetest dog I've ever brought home. As I'm kinda known for my sweet dogs, that's saying something HUGE!

Her Life in Pictures: Four

Looking over Mabel Lou's fourth year makes me a little sad. There are no other dogs in most of the photos and I know that must be the year our beloved friend Sarah Jean died.  But my feet were healing and I was loving our creek as much as Mabel was. It made her so happy and I loved seeing her happy.

Whenever people would ask me what kind of mix she was, I was now telling them: Rottweiler, lab, greyhound, billy goat (because of the running up and down and up and down along rock levies), and part pig... because if there was a mud hole, Mabel loved to be in it!

I would later add bed hog and heart stealer to her pedigree. It all just seemed to fit.

But we both seemed to be thriving on the exploration of our creek. The flood the year before had changed so much of the land and the river flowed for 3 years after that storm and just spoiled us! We covered so much of it...just the two of us.

Mabel was such a people dog... she just adored everyone.  It's one of the most sad qualities of every rotten I've ever known. They have this big bad reputation and seriously, most them think the entire world wants to pet them and they seem shocked to realize it just not that way! Luckily, not everyone sees a rott as a big mean dog, but as the big ole baby in a dog suit they really are!

I still remember taking a series of photos (below) of her that summer. I was just shocked at seeing what a big strong girl she had become! Suddenly, she was no longer my puppy Lou.

This is about the time that Mabel started to truly develop her prowess as a great lizard hunter (in her own mind!).  The storm had washed some office putting green down the river and Mabel would toy with one side of it and keep her eyes on the opposite side looking for lizards. I thought this was ingenious until I saw a lizard zoom right between her legs without her noticing. She was still watching the other side of the green golf mat! LOL!

She never stopped loving the chase though... we hunted lizards together the day before she died. She never lost her love of play. I'm so happy that in the week before her death, she chased sticks, her pal Otto, a tennis ball and played with her toys. Her Baby Lou still sleeps with me. I don't have the heart to move her.

Mabel's takeover of every single thing in the house was most certainly complete by this point. My Her bed:

My Her sofa:

And we did make our very first creek friends this year. Baby was an ancient mixed breed who put up with Mabel. Uncle Bill and Ivy were her parents and we loved them too! Mabel is making sure Baby is not trying to steal her tennie ball here.

Mabel was always a fool about "tennie balls".... preferably ones found at the creek instead of new ones. The labradork really came out when the girl had a ball!

It was a beautiful year of hiking...no apologizing for the creek being MIA. Just lots of water and me and the girl out of the trails. I felt like I was forever on her six.

Update on me: I've been working like a maniac... very happy to be earning funds to pay off Mabel's surgery and cremation. And that ear infection from sinus has finally made it into my sinuses. I've been so sick. I'm really behind on blog reading but will be visiting again soon... School will be out in a few weeks and I'll have no income after that... Thanks for understanding! Still missing my baby girl SO MUCH!

Her Life in Pictures: Two

Mabel Lou continued to have a lot of firsts in her 2nd year with me. I was starting to figure out what a drama queen she was...She would often get in her bed and do this and make these guttural vocal noises.  What a crack up!

We were both falling deeply in love with our creek. My feet were getting worse and I was headed for foot surgery. I was grateful that she would go and explore on her own and come back to whatever rock I was on. It was exasperating, hiking her all out for over an hour, she'd come back to the the car and dash off into a vacant field chasing bunnies for another hour! SO much energy!

She was so hard headed, wouldn't listen. But she would look at me out of the corner of her eyes as if to say, "Go to hell!" when I gave her a command!

Mabel and my bestie's lab, Sarah Jean, were constantly together. Sarah helped with Mabel's training and got as exasperated with Mabel as I did! Back then, you couldn't hike right by the water. There was a natural rock levy. Sarah Jean and I would hike along on the top of the rock levy. But we couldn't move fast enough for puppy Lou! And she just loved to splash and be in the river.  So as we moved forward down the stream, Mabel Lou would run up and down, up and down the face of the levy... about a 5 - 6 foot drop into the river. She just had boundless energy to spare. Several times a hike, Sarah and I would look at Mabel, look at each other and roll our eyes!

I'm including this pic for the Creekerati ( my pet name for the people and dogs in our pack). Many of them have heard me talk of "Volkswagon Rock," a HUGE boulder that was in the stream bed back then.  The perspective is off in this pic but that's the rock behind Sarah and Mabel! It really was the size of a car! And the one in the foreground is nearly as large. Both washed away in the '05 flood!

I took so many pics of Mabel in the stream that spring and summer! That's when I landed our first CreekHiker logo out of sheer luck in timing! Mabel was terrified of deep water...thanks to me. My pool is deep and I always feel the need to make it perfectly clear to any new dog how to get out of the pool. Which means getting them in the pool! I throw them in and show them the way out... very dramatic! Mabel actually cut a path behind some shrubs to avoid running near the pool!

  

Mabel made her first flight to Louisiana to visit family that summer. I didn't take many pics of her there but I do love this one. We put her in one of my brother in law's kennel runs for a family event. She was NOT happy! But she was trying so hard to be cute!

 

I had foot surgery that October and was in a wheelchair quite a while.  I took no photos of the girl between summer and Christmas! We spent Christmas here...just the two of us as I was still recuperating and trying to learn to walk again. Here's Miss M opening her gifts:

By Spring of '04, my sister's breast cancer had returned and she and my mom came to live with us for over three months! Mabel was the buffer between all of us. She kept the peace and loved us all through it! My sister and I would leave very early every morning for the 150 mile round trip to the proton radiation center. Many days we would return to find Mabel and Mom like this:

 

And I think that's when I officially gave up the "No Dogs on the Sofa" Rule! Thanks Mom! 

My sister would often sit by the pool and Mabel would lurk near by. I'm certain she knew how sick her auntie was.  Mabel would always watch over her outside.

Her Life in Pictures: One

Humor me if you will...but writing is the way I heal my heart. Mabel Lou came along at the very beginning of my digital age. I've looked and looked for photos from that last roll of film I shot the day May came home... Her baby book doesn't hold them. I wrote in the details but the only photo is from her adoption announcement. I did find several of those pics on my computer though. Must have scanned them a long time ago. But I do know I bought my first digital camera the week after she moved into took over the house.

I thought it would be fun to look back over her very large life in a series.

Mabel made it perfectly clear from her first trip through the house just where she expected to sleep. Even though she was less than 1/2 the size she would grow up to be, she still only left me a sliver of the bed.  Look at the size of those paws!

Even though she had a bed in the den...one she looked so tiny in...

Mabel Lou also made it known where she preferred to be:

Every time I came out of my office, I found her on the sofa. It was the source of so many of our disagreements. When that sofa breathed its last, I replaced it with one I called "Mabel's sofa."

I am absolutely stunned at how lush the backyard looked back then. Amazing what money will pay for! Expensive water bills are a thing of my past! It feels irresponsible to me to have a green lawn when we live in a drought! And just look at those fences that Mabel would eventually tear down! No raccoon was ever safe behind that compared to the strength and determination of Miss Lou!

She was so tiny and scared of the raccoons at first, when I had to leave her alone, I would find her asleep on top of a glass table! I could just imagine coming home to a cut up pup! But one night, we heard the racoons under the deck and she raced to the end of the patio. She stopped there and looked back at me. Her look said, "You comin'?"

I told her, "No. That YOUR job!" If I only knew how seriously she would take me on that!

The other side of the yard was just as lush. This was before we got bloom drop in this area! Oddly enough, this is the first year I've planted veggies in years. I think my girl knew I was going to need a summer project.

One of her very first trips to the creek. She looks so small in the domain she would come to rule! As I was making calls today to plan her funeral, I realized, with the exception of my bestie, every friend we have, we met at the creek!

Ah....nothing like a fat puppeh tum right after a meal! She never liked having her tum rubbed and would sometimes growl if I tried. I think it made her feel vulnerable and a pup that had seven homes before finding her forever home probably didn't like that emotion very much. As she got older, she would grant me very brief tummy rubs, but I clearly got more out of it than she did. She was all about her head being petted!

Her first Halloween... She ate the halo! Dressing up was not for dignified rottenweilers according to Mabel Lou! Note the placement of her knees to avoid the bone on bone pain of hitting her Greyhound ribcage.

 

The photo is far more appropriate... you can see the devilment in her eyes!

Her first Christmas. The whole family came here and everyone spoiled her! My sister brought her tons of toys. My brother-in-law would work with her on training and allow her to sit on him on the sofa. My mother overfed her and her cousin Huggy played and played with her. She was a rather gracious hostess! With all that attention, how could she not be?

She adored Huggy and even figured out how to open his crate!  Still, Mabel being Mabel, she would get terribly jealous over her Granny! Here she is trying (succeeding!) to horn in on Mom petting Huggy.

Hug and May using my brother in law as a pillow:

And my personal fave...one you've maybe seen before. Mabel in her "Harley Mama" phase in the car. She would straddle the console, long skinny legs on either side of it and her left forearm draped over my right shoulder as I drove. She would use her left paw between her hind legs to brace her body! This phase only last a few months and I was quite happy when she simply grew too large to sit like that! I was always terrified she would go through the windshield!