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.

~~~

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

Trek through the SoCS Vortex

Today’s prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “television.” Linda said to: Talk about your favorite show, past, present, or future, or about the apparatus itself. Enjoy!

Before computers and the internet, television was the only addictive screen. My dad watched TV a lot, and at certain times of my life, I have depended on TV for company, entertainment, and maybe even to get through big life challenges.  Star Trek may have saved my life, or at least kept me off the street during my confusing adolescence. As I’ve shared before, Spock was my first crush. Dependable, rational, competent. I try to remember this when I see these qualities in my husband. But my husband smiles more, and it’s okay that I’m the flower child.

Star Trek drew me to science, up to a point. Maybe it helped me do well in school, though I was already a “good student” except for a few blips and detours….

Since I only have basic cable now, the closest I can get to Star Trek on TV is The Orville, on Fox.  It’s like ST but with Fox humor which can sometimes be stupid, though I’m willing to overlook it, and the last episode was more serious. I’ve started reading Star Trek novels which could become addictive. Just finishing up one about the Voyager crew. Voyager and Next Generation were my favorites. I liked the strong female roles. When Next Gen’s first episode came on TV and I heard Patrick Stewart say, “To boldly go where no one has gone before,” instead of Kirk’s “where no man has gone before,”  I hooted and cheered, “YES!”

Star Trek offers possibilities of hope. The themes are about overcoming challenges, teamwork, diversity, and hope. I think those are the things that have always drawn me to the show which is more than just a show. We NEED those values in the world. Okay, there is an element of escape – to go boldly, to explore new worlds which I would have trouble doing in real life since I get motion sickness at the drop of a hat.

Television, like the internet, has a lot of crap, but it also has a lot of good that can inspire us to become better than we are, or just enjoy some healthy escape. If we are selective, we can learn cool stuff from television. For example, did you see that big disc of ice in the river in Maine?  Maybe it’s a message from our future, or aliens. Or maybe the river is trying to tell us something by making the shape of the earth.

They said the temperature changes create a vortex. Vortex is one of the Star Trek words. Where there’s a vortex, there’s always something important going on.  (Except that it would make me nauseous in real life. )

Star Trek has always been mind expanding for me. I like that they deal with ethical dilemmas. My favorite episode, or one of them that made a big impression, was “The Devil in the Dark,” where the so called “monster” turned out to be just protecting her babies. Of course it was Spock who found that out with a mind meld. He was the real hero of the show.  “The Devil in the Dark” was also Leonard Nimoy’s “favorite episode,” according to the title on this video.

Thanks for letting me go on about The Trek again. Maybe the future will have better remedies for motion sickness for the vortex travels.

…

For more on the Stream of Consciousness Saturday, visit Linda Hill’s blog. Here’s the link:

https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/18/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-19th/

Here are the rules for SoCS:

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!

Quality Time and the Letter T

Our prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “T, tea, tee.” The directions are to: “Theme your post around “tea” or “tee,” or find a word that starts with “T” and talk about that. Bonus points if you manage to incorporate all three. Enjoy!”

Taking time away from the internet has been a good thing for me. Not that I went “cold turkey” or anything.  I just cut my on-line time in half (roughly) to do more household things. And I got some writing done yesterday on a Chicken Soup story, so that was good. Speaking of writing. My book starts with the letter, T. Trust the Timing. I don’t plug it that much, but I trust you won’t mind me mentioning it today. It’s about true love standing the test of time, though it (the love) went dormant for almost four decades while me and Mr. D grew up some more. Do we ever finish growing up? I don’t think so, but we can get to a point where we know what’s important. What does that mean? Maybe in ten years, I’ll think different things are important.

Time is important. It always has been. But QUALITY time today means not being on Facebook so much. It (Facebook) pulls me some days – sucks me in. I had thought about setting a timer, but haven’t done that yet. My goal was ten minutes a day. I did that for a few days, but I think it was more like twenty yesterday. Time suck. I’d rather putter around the house, taking care of plants, getting rid of clutter, and reading BOOKS! I miss reading books for fun. Remember when that’s all we had was books? Comic books and real books, no internet! Remember that? And three channels on the TV set! ABC, CBS, and NBC. I know there are a few of us left who remember that. No cell phones, no computers…. I sound like an old geezer. What is a geezer anyway? I don’t care. I don’t have time to look it up.

What about those bonus points? I already wrote a post a while back about my ecology Tee shirt that fit me to a tee in the 7tees. 🙂

My favorite tea to drink is green tea with peach flavor. Sometimes I like to drink chai tea in the winter. Jasmine tea is nice, too. Sometime, I’m going to have a cup of tea and just sit and sip it and do nothing else. I predict that will last for two minutes. Then, I’ll go outside and talk to the trees.

Do take time to visit Linda Hill’s blog and learn more about Saturday’s Stream of Consciousness. Just click the link below:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/07/27/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-28-18/

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. I will post the prompt here on my blog every 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 will simply be a single word to get you 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 all of them! 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 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!

 

Opposites Attract, But Similarities Sustain

Opposites do attract. We’re often drawn to partners or friends who have qualities we lack. This can be a good thing, up to a point. If there are too may opposites, there’s going to be trouble.

When we were dating (for the second time) my husband confessed, “I’m allergic to fun.” I thought he was kidding. He works hard and is hard on himself. I can understand this, but my desire for myself is to have more fun. We had lots of fun when we dated, getting to know each other again; the butterflies and excitement of falling in love tends to make us giddy and overlook things.

Fortunately, we also asked a lot of questions to find out if there were any deal breakers. To find out if there was  enough common ground.

But back to the opposites. He says he is not artistic. And he’s not when it comes to free flowing things, improvisation, dance, playful art. I am more artistic. He is more precise. I tend to be scattered. He is more focused. (I’ve come to believe that’s mostly a guy thing.) He is great with numbers, me not so much.

I love to sing. My husband stopped singing in his late teens after being ridiculed. When we found each other again, he didn’t sing at all. But he’s been working on this for a couple years, and now sings in our church choir with me. He knows how I love to sing and wants to be with me enough to overcome his fear of singing. He’s also overcoming his fear of swimming in deep water due to a close call a long time ago.  I love to swim. He was a fire fighter and pilot, so he’s not at all afraid of heights like I am. I get motion sickness at the drop of a hat. But when he gets a chance to fly a plane again, I’ll be there with him, right after I take my Dramamine.

I used to be addicted to TV and movies. My husband doesn’t watch TV and rarely goes to movies. But he did like Interstellar which we saw together. It’s a good thing I took my daughter with me to see Wild. And there’s no way he’ll want to go see Into the Woods. But that’s okay.

Even though opposites attract, similarities are necessary for a happy, long lasting relationship.

My husband and I both love dogs. We  like to grow things in dirt and eat healthy. While we both partied plenty in our younger days, we’re now conservative in our lifestyles, though not our beliefs. We are responsible, frugal and conscientious. We believe in giving back to the community. We search for meaning in spirituality. We’re both Christians, but we’re open minded enough to respect the beliefs of others. We respect each others differences. We listen to each other. We both like garlic.

These are important similarities. Without them, it wouldn’t work.

And it’s working quite well.

 

This week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday Post was the word: “opposite.” If you’d like to join in the fun, visit:

http://lindaghill.com/2015/01/09/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-january-1015/

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,” or “Begin with the word ‘The’.”

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. Have fun!