Happy heavenly birthday, Mimi

I have no idea if birthdays are a thing in heaven. But I like to envision my sweet mother celebrating what would have been the start of her 77th year with those she loves. My granny whipping up her favorite cake. Friends and family who were special to her gathered around. It's a beautiful and comforting thought.

It was just six short years ago this month that mother moved into the guesthouse of our recently remodeled home. Mother wanted a new leather recliner for her birthday, so we went to a local furniture store to check out the selection. She ended up choosing one in an interesting shade of green we special ordered that she adored. That chair turned out to be a blessing as the cancer moved into her bones in the last year of her life. It was one of the few places where she could get comfortable, and now it resides in our upstairs family room. 

No doubt we would have celebrated mother's birthday with a lovely meal or two. Birthdaypalooza we called it, stretching the excuse to have someone else cook a good meal for several days. As much as mother enjoyed and excelled at cooking, she also loved to eat out. I imagine we would have ventured forth to a restaurant for seafood or steak. And it would undoubtedly be washed down with some sugar. Mother never met a dessert she didn't like. She got that love of cakes and pies from her own mother, who whipped them up from scratch on the regular.

This morning I took our dogs for separate walks. I don't think it was a coincidence that we crossed paths with a snorty old pug either. Mother said goodbye to her precious pugs Max and Ruby exactly a year before she went to heaven. They were a brother and sister duo we bought for her that were her faithful companions for almost a dozen years. She loved them dearly and mourned their loss, even as her own health was failing. If heaven is the perfect and peaceful place the Bible tells us it is, then her darling pugs will be right there with her, too.

Life hasn't been the same since mother left us, and yet we move forward with the joys and sorrows of this world. She has been missed on so many occasions, both big and small. We see things that remind us of her quite frequently and we comment on them. Cardinals in our yard. A tasty piece of pie. Pretty suede flats in fall colors. Snorting pugs. So many beautiful remembrances soften the grief, reminding us that she's free from the struggles of this earthly world and at peace with her Heavenly Father. That is the greatest birthday present anyone could ask for.

 

Growing like a weed

Little man Finn is growing up. In the human school world, I'd consider him a first grader. He has moved from that initial whiny and more dependent kindergartner stage by adapting to various things in the past couple months about his environment and our routines to fit into the family. I took him to the vet for his final puppy checkup and shots. Sure enough, he has gained close to three pounds since his last visit a month ago. He's a smart little guy who only has the occasional potty accident in the house now, which is a relief. It has been helpful that he's *extremely* motivated by food. He joins his Auntie Pepper in patrolling the inner yard from our local deer, raccoons, etc. And he loves rolling his treat enrichment ball all over the downstairs when I reload it around lunchtime every day. 

 

 

 

Like our sweet old Ollie, Finn also enjoys hanging out in my office with me. He often takes a nap on one of the two doggy beds I placed in there for them. However, I often find him conked out under my computer desk, too.

Pepper has been so very helpful in Finn's adjustment. She's very laid back and doesn't react when he's being a toot. The only area where he has to tread carefully is treats. I've purchased several enrichment games and toys for Finn. However, Pepper thinks they're for her. And so she doesn't hesitate to let him know when to back off and defer to her desire to have first dibs with them as you can see in the short video below.

My summer has mostly been devoted to Finn's adjustment. Thankfully, our curtailed travel has paid off in cute puppy stories and a precious terrier boy who is a wonderful addition to our empty nester home. Now if I can just get Finn to quit thinking bugs are food, I'd be oh so happy. I have to use my strident voice with Finn to keep him from eating bugs on an almost daily basis. Which also means I have to monitor him the entire time he's outside. Just this morning I saved him from snacking on a praying mantis on the back porch. Yesterday it was a red wasp in the grass. Over the weekend it was a scorpion on the steps leading down into the yard. Our insect muncher is headed for a sting or upset stomach if he doesn't leave the bugs alone!

First day of school

Our younger daughter kicked off grade 18 yesterday, the start of her three year journey in law school. She sent a couple pics she snapped around the SMU campus and it really is pretty. I fondly recall the excitement of starting a new school year for many years as a teacher. The fun of shopping for things like bulletin board supplies, meeting new people and a fresh start with all its possibilities. I imagine our girl has some nervousness associated with this new beginning, and yet I know the Lord will be with her through this transition as she adjusts to new expectations, procedures, professors, friends and environment. I'm praying for my girl, y'all, and I am trusting our Holy Father's plan for her life.

I find it interesting that her incoming class is about sixty folks smaller this year compared to previous ones. In order to drive up their GPA and LSAT statistics, they dropped the 2026 incoming class down to 180 instead of the usual 230-240. Within their class of 180, they're divided into three sections. Then within each section they're separated into smaller groups called inns. I'm just glad she has already made a few connections with some girls in her section so she'll have someone to hang out and commiserate with when the going gets tough in her classes.

 

Hard to believe it was exactly thirty years ago this month that her daddy kicked off his own law school education. We had married the month before, and then loaded up a U-Haul to move all our worldly possessions from small town Texas to cosmopolitan Cambridge so he could check out life in the ivies at Harvard. I swear it seems like a lifetime ago now. 

If I participated in social media, I'd have been able to see some pics they posted from orientation last week. It sounds as if they've all hit the ground running. We wish our girl all the best as she embarks on this legal education to kick off her future endeavors as a lawyer one day. 

The three stooges

With our older daughter traveling for vacation, we offered to dogsit her Chorkie. He's not a bad sort with the folks he knows. And he doesn't mind our terrier girl Pepper since he grew up with her. Unfortunately for us, he's not fond of anything new or different, which extends to our puppy Finn as well as any folks who come to our house.

It's a shame, because he's mostly sweet and endearing with us. Oh sure, he still hikes his leg to mark territory, so I have to close off rooms and hose off places on the patio where he took a wee. His snaggletooth, smaller size and scruffy fur gives him a comedic look that seems inviting. But that's all very deceiving because he'll bark his head off and acts as if he'll take a hunk out of you if you're unfamiliar to him. My decorator came over yesterday to help me finish hanging artwork upstairs and he snarled at her as if he was Cujo or Old Yeller once the rabies took hold. Thankfully, he doesn't put up much of a fuss about going into his kennel and so that was where he stayed for a few hours while we worked.

Sir Grumpus hangs out on the furniture to get away from baby dog Finn. Honestly, though, Pepper does the same thing to get a break from all that puppy energy. Chorkie just can't understand why Finn continues to try and engage him. He's sweetly persistent despite Chorkie's ongoing growls and snaps. I have noticed that Chorkie seems a bit intrigued when Pepper and Finn tussle. I imagine his inner dialogue goes something like this: What are they doing? Should I give it a try? Might be fun to act like a typical dog. Umm, nah! I'll just continue to be aloof, snippy and generally unpleasant to my fellow canines.

August musings

We've hit the dog days of summer here, that time of year where you long for cooler fall temps but realize it's still about three months down the road. I'd love to have a second home in a place where it actually feels like fall by the time we turn the calendar page to October. Speaking of second homes, we closed the sale of our weekend river house this week. It perches on a lovely stretch of the Guadalupe River in Hunt with a great set-up for entertaining, but alas we just weren't using it enough to justify the expense. We hope the new owners will enjoy it. Meanwhile, we'll bank that money for the retirement home I dream of building in a beautiful lakeshore setting one day. 

Our future lawyer is getting adjusted at her new apartment in Dallas, hanging artwork on the walls and doing those final runs for supplies in advance of law school orientation next week. We look forward to visiting her when we're in town for the state fair, and would love to squeeze in a separate weekend of tailgating for an SMU home game if the husband's schedule allows. 

The CPA daughter is traveling over the next ten days to Colorado and Florida, so we're dogsitting her Chorkie. He's not a big fan of puppy Finn, but I have high hopes that they'll settle down and be buddies by the time he returns home to her in Austin. I'm pleased to report that wedding plans are moving along, with the caterer and photographer secured this week. Next in the lineup is a florist, and there are so many amazing choices. Our daughter's wedding planner has made some wonderful suggestions for consideration, and so it has been a big help in narrowing down the field to make selections for the folks who will help her vision for their wedding come to life in the most beautiful way. Cheers to lots more happy choices in this process from our bride and her maid of honor!

Irksome local fauna

I'm blaming it on the heat. Our local critters are seriously starting to aggravate me lately. Let's kick off my gripe fest with the less lethal of the two. Deer are a Texas hill country staple. They can be found in the city as well as countryside. While driving out of our neighborhood recently, I spied several nonnative axis in a neighbor's yard. Thankfully they all stayed put instead of hopping the fence to dash in front of my SUV.

When I exited the garage to haul in our empty trash bins the next day, I saw these two whitetail bucks in our yard. One of them had the nerve to stomp his foot at me when he's the one trespassing. Really, dude?! I opened the front gate so they could exit. It's a funny thing about their travels across our property, which probably speaks to a deer's general intelligence. The fence at the back of our five acres can be jumped by the deer. But they can't clear our iron fence across the front. Instead of backtracking to the place they CAN exit, I've noticed they linger in the front until somebody opens the gate.

I must say I don't appreciate it when our local trespassing Bambis flop down to flatten my young Bermuda sod. And then there is the deer's doo-doo calling card they leave behind for us. Our puppy Finn likes to snuffle through the grass when I have him out on leash practice in the front yard, and he invariably runs across their droppings. I've taken to calling it deer candy since Finn seems to think it's a tasty treat. Wrestling it out of his mouth isn't exactly my idea of a good time.

However, the deer are the least of my worries lately. A couple weeks ago I spied a coral snake in the fenced area immediately behind our house which the dogs access. Red and yellow, kill a fellow, y'all! By the time I corralled the dogs inside, he had slithered off out of the fence into the part of our property we let grow wild. After that, the husband and I became much more watchful every time we take the dogs out. I went so far as to ask the husband to bring an old shovel from the barn and leave it behind the outdoor pavilion in case I ran across another snake. 

Sure enough, I took the dogs out close to sunrise late last week and spied a coral snake slowly making its way along the edge of the pavilion. I'm seriously hoping it was the same one I saw a couple weeks ago rather than another member of the family. After getting the dogs back in the house, I grabbed the rather dull edged shovel and a stronger flashlight to give him a good whack. Or fifty. I wanted to make sure he was a goner before I bagged him up for disposal. Though only about sixteen inches long, my belief is that the best kind of snake in our dog yard is a dead one.