Saturday Six

I worry about the perception of my sanity level here. Living in a condo where

no one else on my floor has a pet. I think conversations are critical to a pet's sense of belonging and routine but I know people who don't have pets can't understand that. And I know that the 2 of us can be heard outside the door.

Crazy old lady.

 
trail riding

I would ride anything when I was young but now have a strong preference for smallish, quiet, well behaved horses. My current riding horse fits that bill and he is very well trained and cute to boot. Sadly, he has navicular disease and while I have had good luck controlling it the last couple years it is pretty clearly progressing. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to ride him.

 
When I lost my last dog last month I never realized how much they had made

me not feel alone. I've been saying all these years how much I love living alone but that was not entirely true. And I talked to mine all the time.

 
I know how you feel.

A month isn't much time. It takes quite a while to stop missing a faithful companion.

 
I have chats with Gomez all the time...

Like when we go for a walk and ot has to be quick, I explain it's a "business trip" and we have all sorts of chats while I'm cooking and he's helping me by cleaning the floor...

 
Perfect! My very first crispy-skinned and thoroughly cooked roast chicken!

I guess I have been over thinking it all these years. I set it out about a half hour before going in the oven, patted it dry, salt, pepper and thyme leaves. Into the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes at 425. No basting, no shoving of anything into the cavities or under the skin. No beer cans in the butt. Ignored it and it came out beautifully.
Hubby even went back for the other drumstick, LOL.

I think 2012 is going to be the year that I conquer dishes in the kitchen that have eluded me in the past.

 
A few years ago....

... I was taking a shower, and Phil was in the kitchen with our two dogs (the Jack Russel that is still with us, and our dear dalmatian, that died a year and a half ago)

I came to the kitchen barefoot, so he didn't listen to me. He was kneeling on the floor, with two pieces of cheese on his hand, and telling the dogs something along the lines of:

"you know, boys, this is a really REALLY good cheese, special stuff, so take it nice and enjoy it"

smileys/smile.gif

I thought it was THE cutest thing ever! Of course, the dalmatian was a vacuum cleaner for anything food related, and I bet not a single molecule reached his taste receptors in the tongue. He just inhaled everything in a millisecond... I still miss him terribly, the sweetest dalmatian ever!

 
Count me in too, I talk to my pups constantly...

And they love it and respond back. It's part of the bond we share with them. And they do understand a small vocabulary of words and phrases. When I utter the words: "who wants to go for a car ride/walk" you better believe they understand and are heading for the garage door at full tilt.

What truly was amazing though was my German Shepherd, Mrs Fricka Wotan. She had a catalog of sounds and noises, and she would talk back. She would apologize, she would sass me (her Chewbacka impression), she would get jealous and whine in disapproval, she could groan in embarassment (she was very sensitive about doing something ungraceful), etc. It truly was amazing the vocal interaction I had with this dog. She wanted to talk and she was doing the best she could.

And I understood her perfectly.

 
I have always on purpose, created a vocabulary of about 20 words with my cats. When they begin to

age, I add hand movements in case of future deafness (was very handy in one situation). But like your Mrs. F., my cats have been very responsive. I could see when one was just considering doing something naughty. This is a 21-year relationship and a lot is just 'understood' after that many years. She would slyly look up at me and if she saw me looking back at her she would make a completely bizarre sound (for a cat) that meant only...Okay, okay, I won't do it but only because you're looking, but I really wanted to. That sound was used for nothing but that response.

There really is that entire catalogue of sounds that they make, some specific only to certain situations and unique only to the individual.

 
Marg, interesting idea re: hand motions. Teddy is only 3; but I can see how this would have been

helpful w/ Bijou. While alot of our "tricks" are accompanied w/ hand motions, the simple, "Do you need to do your business?" "Go to pillow" is not.

Will give this one some thought...

 
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