Bubble Wrap?? General Chat

Lovely photos. Looks like you were lucky with the weather.

Thanks. The weather was actually weird. By about 7:30 am, you could see blue sky, fog dispersing, and mist rising off the lake. By about 11 am, the fog descended again and there was no sky for the rest of the day. Overnight, everything was soaking wet from the fog. But it never got real cold.

I must thank you from the bottom of my heart for the photographs and your wonderful comments describing them - I have been sitting here giggling like a schoolgirl while reading them! Having just completed a marathon four-hour back and forth email discussion, complete with "instructions" as to how to get into my "personal area" on the supermarket website - which kept informing me that my surname is "Screw" and that my ID number was incorrect...

...umm, hello supermarket, my surname is most definitely not "Screw" - it has never been "Screw", and has been the same one since I was married, over 55 years ago. And I have had the same ID number since 25 August 1985. And so on and so forth.

All sorted now - I hope - and I was finally relaxing with my first coffee of the day [at gone midday] when I came across the photographs. And I am still giggling at them!!!

We aim to please!

At least you're not Screw anymore.

Unfortunately there appears to be no way for either I or them to change it at the moment. I do not object to my first name to be spelled incorrectly as it is spelled incorrectly on my ID card, thus on all legal documents. The main problem is that the same letter is used for G and for J. To change a G sound into a J sound requires a little ' to be put after the letter, and as Hebrew is written from right to left, it would appear as 'G so Juli would appear as ג'ולי because without the ' it would be pronounced Gooli.

But where on earth they got "Screw" from, I'll never know, and as for the English translation of the name of my Moshav...

I found a dog cot for Cat-dog. It is a Coolaroo brand and it folds up like a camp chair. I got the XL size - it is big enough for Cat-dog to lay on straight out (she doesn't bend in the middle that well).

It arrived this weekend and I set it up in the living room. I convinced her to lay on it a couple times, but Tornado-dog gets all excited and jumps on her, and she still isn't comfortable that far out in the living room, so she immediately gets up and goes back to her hallway...

Meanwhile, someone is attempting a theft...


He now has his toys strewn all over it and he will go play with them on it - when he's not sticking his toys in my face so I'll "go for them" (he really enjoys taking them from me).

I believe there was something about being spoiled...



Someone needs a fullsize toy chest. It is full and there are still toys not in it.

He can lift the top himself and it has a safety hinge so it won't slam down. I suspect he'll be sitting on it soon enough as it is right behind the couch.

I stop with Tornado-dog thread for a Cat-dog brag....

I got Cat-dog in May 2019. When she came home, she spent her entire day and night under the bed. After a few days, I started closing the door to the upstairs during the day. Since then, she has chosen to spend her time in the downstairs bathroom. Nothing I did would convince her to come spend time in the living room. She'd come out for a treat, then scurry back to her bathroom.

A couple months ago (about the time of the camping trip), she started sleeping in the hallway just in front of the bathroom. She would occasionally move partly into the living room, but would move back if you paid any attention to her.

Well! In the last week, she has consistently been sleeping on the living room side of the threshhold!!! She has broken the barrier! Sometimes, she will come in far enough that I can pet her from the couch.

February 2nd is Tornado-dog's one year anniversary. Last week, I sent an update on him to the shelter where I adopted him.

When they responded, they mentioned his birth mom. I hadn't known anything about her.

She had come in as a semi-feral pregnant dog. She had the 8 puppies and once they were weaned and adopted, the shelter started working with her to get her accustomed to being part of a family.

Recently, they decided that she was not adjusting well, so they sent her to a sanctuary where she could be herself.

The gave me a photo of her.


I guess that's where Tornado-dog gets his parsons and collie. I suspect dad had shih tzu and peke.

Tornado-dog doesn't remember her much and Cat-dog didn't like discussing her - she kept whining when I talked about his mom.

But we all agree that we're glad she's happy and safe. And that she did a great job raising Tornado-dog for the first seven weeks.

The shelter did great with him too as there was no clue whatsoever that he came from a semi-feral mom.

It is always nice to have a bit of background. I hope she is happy at the sanctuary. Thank goodness there are such places.

So I got called in for jury duty this morning. First time I left the dogs home alone since I got Tornado-dog. Cat-dog of course handled it with aplomb.

Tornado-dog howled and howled as I watched him on the Badgercam. Fortunately, his Aunt C got there about an hour later to Badgersit...

Since, he has convinced her he does not need to go outside to potty - I told her she has to make him, but I don't think she understands how.... Cat-dog is sleeping on the couch - something she refuses to do when I am home.

But the howling has stopped and they are safe and being looked after.

Now I just have to make it through the next 5 hours without getting called into a courtroom...

That is something to work on when you get home. We haven't really left Tally alone either. We are lucky to have a good neighbour who is running Chas to his daily hospital visits, but this has made me realise that we really must SA proof her in the near future. She isn't a barky dog, but she can whine and is inclined to wet her bedding when she isn't happy - like being left in Chas's car.

Yeah. It's going to be difficult with him because he's just a lot more demanding than any of my prior dogs. Even Bat-dog was good about staying home - even though she was very attached to me.

But Tornado-dog is needy. Even if he adjusts and stops howling, he is apt to get bored and get into things he shouldn't.

His potty habits aren't conducive to all day events either. He's great about going outside, but if he's stuck inside, he won't hold it. And after my burglary, I won't install another dog door.

Fortunately Aunt C will Badgersit when needed. She's on call for Cat-dog's vet appt since it will be too hot for Tornado-dog to wait in the car.

If I can get him to do 2-3 hours, that will be great.

Well, he survived the day. He was very well behaved with his Aunt C and slept most of the time. Cat-dog definitely missed me - she actually layed next to me on the couch for a good 15-30 minutes.

Now we have to start in with short errands. And to find a good sitter.

Next week, I need to be away for about 4.5 hours on Monday. So today, I started a daily "I need to go out" trips. It was for about 15 minutes.

Tornado-dog was good for about 5 minutes, then he stood in the window and howled three times - each howl was ended in a gutteral ooh woo woo (it was really cute).

He stood on a table and took a single werthers caramel three times.

When I got home, he was very happy to see me. We went out back and played ball - until he gave the ball a final shake of death. He punctures the tennis balls with his teeth and then grabs it by the felt and shakes it. It takes several weeks, but the felt rips off the rubber and the rubber splits in half.

I'm gonna do this every day over the next week, increasing the time away each day. So that by Monday, he should be OK.

All candy dishes WILL be put away for the duration.

The following Wednesday, Cat-dog has her vet appt so Aunt C will come and Badgersit Tornado-dog. Even though it will only be about an hour compared to Monday, I figure it will be more stressful for him to be home without Cat-dog so Aunt C's presence will be more important then.

Today we did an hour. He howled lightly at about 5-10 minutes, had a major howl at 30 minutes, and another minor howl at about 50 minutes. But outside of the howls, he did good. The werther's had been put away.

He's definitely not anxious at all, he just wants to go with me and is voicing his displeasure.

Today, after I returned, he got to play ball AND play in the sprinkler (for just a few moments as he had to bark at it nonstop).

In regards to the werther's. He REALLY likes to roll things around in his mouth. He takes out his toy's squeakers and will hold them in his mouth for hours. But I know it's a choking hazard. Currently, I give him a single licorice jelly bean (no artificial ingredients and only cane sugar) to hold every few days or so. It's not great, but it disintegrates as he swirls it around so won't be likely to choke him. But I'd really like to find something that he could hold in his mouth that is better for him. I tried ice cubes, but he likes to take the item out of his mouth after a while and the ice cubes end up as wet spots all over the floor.

Any ideas?

Today has been a tough day for everyone...

We're birdsitting a friend's parrot this week.

Today, I went out to the motorhome to grab some things. There was a strong breeze and it pushed the motorhome door shut. Tornado-dog, who was inside the house watching me through the security door with Cat-dog, hit the door handle and opened the front door.

The dogs came out and ran around the motorhome before hitting the house security door and shutting it. But not quick enough. Looney1 had already escaped and went cruising the neighbor's back yard.

The dogs came back inside with me. I opened the gate to the backyard so Looney1 would come into the yard. After about 20 minutes, he did. I went out, closed the gate, and brought him inside. Tornado-dog got excited because I was carrying a cat into the house. Looney1 was mad because I caught him and was proceeding to comb the burrs out of his coat.

Looney1 took off, Tornado-dog close behind, and ran right into Looney2. Looney2 determined that Looney1 is a pod cat (invasion of the body snatchers imposter) and screamed. Tornado-dog got excited. Looney2 went after Tornado-dog like a lion on a wildebeast. Tornado-dog hit the table where the parrot's cage is sitting, the cage slid and almost went over the edge. The door swung open, the parrot zoomed out onto the floor. Tornado-dog said "LUNCH!" and kept trying to get at the bird. Looney1 was on the floor watching the bird. I managed to get Tornado-dog and Cat-dog out in the backyard without Looney1 going for the bird. Finally got the bird, using a towel, back into his cage. Let the dogs back in.

Looney1 went upstairs and suddenly there was another scream from Looney2. I went up and took a hand towel and rubbed it all over a growling Looney2, then rubbed it all over Looney1. I gave them a special pre-dinner meal of canned and went back downstairs.

Looney1 cames downstairs. I let the dogs out back for a bit again. Looney2 came downstairs. He saw Looney1, hissed, and went back upstairs.

Through it all, Bird sat on her cage watching everything.

I'm exhausted. I'll do another towel rubdown on The Twooney tonight before bed.

The visiting bird now has a clip on his cage door.

We have all discudded this and have come to the following verdict:

Tornado-dog is to blame for opening the front door and letting Looney1 outside

Looney1 is to blame for taking off

Looney1 is to blame for getting into scents outside that he shouldn't have gotten into

Tornado-dog is to blame for getting excited about a cat in my arms

The visiting parrot is to blame for taking off out of his cage

Tornado-dog is to blame for getting excited about the bird on the floor

The visiting parrot is to blame for not getting on his aunt's hand when she went to pick him up

Tornado-dog is to blame for getting excited about Looney1

That's 4 blames for Tornado-dog and 2 each for Looney1 and the visiting parrot... And poor Looney2 is the only one who is upset.

Have you ever thought of writing a book?

I'm too tired. I finally took to wetting down Looney1 to remove some of the podcat scent. Looney2 is still insisting Looney1 is a podcat, but not with screaming anymore. Looney1 keeps calling out to his brother, but Looney2 refuses to accept him. I now feel sorry for Looney1 - he watches for Looney2 but is afraid to go near him. Looney2 just stalks him watching silently.

My next step will be to get them both wasted on some catnip. Hopefully that will settle them down.

Why do I have the names Hanna and Barbera in my head?