SoCS: Healthy Relationships and Dog Treats

 Our prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “how.” Use the word “how” in your post. Bonus points if you start your post with it. Enjoy! Thanks, Linda!

How to read a “how to” book:

1. If it’s a long book, skip to the chapter that actually tells you, how to.
2. If it’s a short book, go ahead and read through.
3. Come back to the other sections of the long book as needed.

That’s how I read a “how to book,” anyway. Maybe it’s not the best way, but that seems to work for me.

A short how to book that’s easy to read through would be my book, From Loneliness to Love, Five Steps for Finding a Healthy Relationship. (You can find it on the right sidebar.) And that’s all I’m going to say about that, unless I come back to it, because this IS after all stream of consciousness writing.

How to get up earlier: Go to bed earlier.

How to go to bed earlier: Turn off the TV.

How to turn off the TV: Push the off button.

How to push the off button: Set an alarm to tell you to. Nope. Not gonna do that.

How to get more exercise without hurting myself: Go to a physical therapist (appointment scheduled) and keep doing yoga, stretch regularly while watching TV and on the computer. Like right now….

How to strengthen a healthy relationship: Do fun stuff together.

David and I went to the beach last week. It was nice. We need to go more since it’s only 20 minutes away. I’m hoping we can walk the dog together in the evening, but he still needs more training to make it an enjoyable experience. (The dog needs more training, not so much David.)

I’ve been watching a lot of “how to” dog training videos and have scheduled a consultation with another trainer recommended by a friend. They use e-collars, though this is not required. At this point, I’m willing to give it a try since it’s a vibration I will try on myself first of course. If there was ever a dog that needed something like this, it could be Marley. His lunges make me worried concerned about things like shoulder dislocation. David has to wear his hand brace for several more weeks due to a Marley lunge.

Marley is making progress, but those squirrels still drive him crazy. A few days ago, there was a turtle or tortoise just on the other side of the fence minding its own business, and Marley went nuts over a turtle! He even barked at it, and he rarely barks. I was able to get the leash on him and get him to take some training treats for moving away from the turtle and get him back into the house. Fortunately, the turtle tortoise was not there when we went out back again. The videos I watch (from two different programs) use A LOT of training treats. So far, he still likes them.

I’ve been working hard in the backyard urban forest to get ahead of the vines and thin things out so I can keep an eye on Marley and hopefully nudge wildlife to move elsewhere. Oh! That reminds me, I learned at the farm animal sanctuary where I volunteer that hanging a paper bag up that looks like a wasp nest will discourage wasps from building nests. I need to put one on both of my porches.

Maybe I can find some related photos without going too far out of the stream.

Marley looking for squirrels

Marley’s idea of a stick.

He never gives up.

Mama Cat doesn’t see the squirrel above.

The tortoise looked similar to this one.

Playing with the just-washed cat litter box

Healthy Relationships include having fun together and recognizing strengths in spite of challenges. Marley is very sweet and well behaved in the house where there are no squirrels. He probably thinks I’m a nag for dragging him away from interesting things and not letting him eat the lantana or dig to China. But I’m the one with the training treats.

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To read more streams and find out how to join in, visit out host, Linda Hill HERE.

Extraordinary

When my son was in middle school, many years ago, his principle described him as “extraordinary.” It was a great word for her to use because it sounds really good to be extraordinary. Especially when you run it all together with a certain emphasis and draw out the -or- part, like this, extROARdinary! When you really look at the word closely, you see it means extra-ordinary. Beyond ordinary, perhaps. My son was always beyond ordinary. Both my kids, as I may have mentioned, are outside-the-box kinds of kids. Now they are extraordinary adults, like their mom who has an extraordinary yard with extra trees. I have an extraordinary number of trees, both in my front and back yard, because I love trees and don’t like to get rid of them. Sometimes I’ll move them around if they happen to grow in the wrong place.

Speaking of trees, my daughter and her boyfriend recently were given a bunch of fig trees that were up-routed for some unknown, possibly extraordinary, reason. She asked me if I wanted some, so I said, sure. Like I’ve got plenty of room for more trees in my yard – not really. When I went to pick up the fig trees, they weren’t in dirt, and the roots were exposed. The leaves were dried up to a crinkly crunch. My husband helped me put the abundant root tendrils into a plastic bag. I should say he helped me cram them into a plastic bag, because there was an extraordinary amount of rootage. We brought home two trees and put them in a large bucket of water for a day. Then, I planted one in the ground, after searching for a spot with enough room, which was not easy, and planted the smaller one in a large pot. There had been sad, dehydrated figs on the trees  which the squirrels enjoyed, and some new buds that gasped for life. The trees were and are hanging on to the edge of life. I snipped all the dried up leaves off so as to help the trees put their energy into new growth. I didn’t know that fig trees have a distinctive, extraordinary smell. It’s sort of a sweet smell, the likes of which I’ve never smelled before.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you, when we put the trees into the water bucket that first day, an extraordinary number of ants started to climb up the stems. Probably thousands of ants, or at least hundreds and hundreds. I’m so thankful they didn’t get all inside of the car which has been known to collect ants anyway.

I don’t know if these trees will survive, but if they do, it will be an extraordinary comeback.

And we will have figs! Unless the squirrels get them all.

Maybe next year.

These figs are from pixabay.

Today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt was:

“ex.” Find a word that includes “ex” and base your post on it. Have fun!

For more information visit our host, Linda Hill, at her extraordinary blog:

https://lindaghill.com/2016/08/05/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-aug-616/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

Habits, Habitats, and Hopefully Happy Squirrels

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Today’s Stream of Consciousness prompt is “ha.” We can use it as a word or find a word that starts with “ha.”

Ha is the sound I make when I clean my glasses with the steam of my breath before I wipe them off with my shirt. It could also be the sound of panting. Yesterday, I would have panted if I could not have sweat. I finally got back to the gym and the 30 minute work out class I started and stopped. But I went yesterday, so I don’t need to feel guilty about not going.

I’d like to get into the habit of going to the gym more often. I’d also like to get into the habit of going into the woods more often. I suppose that my backyard is like the woods. It does feel woodsy, because it’s what some people would call overgrown. I prefer to think of it as the natural look. My backyard is a habitat for all kinds of birds, as well as squirrels who laugh at the dogs who can’t catch them. “Ha!” they say in squirrel language, sitting from a branch above and dropping pine cones and insults to the dogs. I don’t know if that’s what they are doing up there, but that’s what my Stream of Consciousness says.

I’ve raised baby squirrels who fell out of nests during storms. We bottle fed one with kitten formula and then fruits and nuts, until he started acting wild and crazy in the cage. The wildlife rehab person told us it was time to let him go. We didn’t like saying goodbye. My son cried when we let him go in the woods at the state park. But we left him some food to get started. He didn’t stay around long before he climbed up a tree, and that was that. He was off in squirrel world. I hope he was happy.

I have a busy day today, taking some of my art to the Rescue Mission this afternoon, so I’m writing this a little after midnight, early, early Saturday morning. I should get to sleep, but I have a habit of staying up too late. Maybe that will change, but not much.

Have a happy Saturday, and a happy Earth month!

If you’d like to have fun with the Saturday Stream of Consciousness prompt, visit Linda here:

https://lindaghill.com/2016/04/08/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-916/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!