Let sleeping dogs lie

I know about a dozen huskies--well, actually a number more than that--who are probably enjoying some well deserved rest tonight. That includes the eleven who finished the Yukon Quest on Allen Moore's Black Team in the wee hours of the morning today but I'm thinking more about my own canines now.

Like small children, there is something so sweet and precious about a sleeping dog. Even puppies who are never still a minute otherwise relax and look so angelic. My two red dogs often sleep close together on my bed, even when I am not there with them. They also have a special bond or synchronicity.

Rojito is a very sensitive little guy. He formed a special bond with Belle that

summer before we lost her when he was new here. He often laid down near her and followed her around outside. I think he understood whether by scent or just some innate awareness that she was old and ill and wanted to comfort and offer sympathy. He has those very dark and intense dachshund eyes, large in his delicate face. He can look at you very keenly at times but always with a tiny frown or bit of concern. That's different from Ginger.

Ginger like most of the Border Collie breed has that giving the eye or staring down trick they use on sheep and cattle to bring them into line. Many dogs will not get in your face and stare right at you; it is generally a threatening or challenging gesture to them. She will; you definitely have to be in charge with the BCs! She knows she cannot get me into or out of any herd LOL.

Still, there is a connection between them for all they are vastly different. Yes, they are both "my" dogs, "the red dogs", but it goes beyond that. Some people have mistakenly thought he was her puppy when we are out walking but that is impossible. Not only are they totally different breeds but she is about four now and he is at least eight! They really do not look alike except for the color. Right now he is almost more blond, faded by the sun on the outer layers of his coat.

Yet too many times to be chance, I have found them both on the bed with their four legs in exactly the same pose or a mirror reverse of each other. Not always of course, but often enough that it was not just a fluke! I even took pictures a time or two without waking them. BTW the tan is a dust cover sheet I use to protect my good quilts! They do get grassy and dusty outdoors.

So when they are napping after dinner and I am on the computer like now, I let my sleeping dogs lie and cherish the sweet peace about them, the contentment they are clearly feeling. They are safe, secure and at home, trusting that no one will harm or bother them here. In their time, they watch over me, too. One or both usually curl close against my back at night so that subconsciously I know I am not alone. After many years with a partner, being alone in bed is an empty feeling. No, I am not talking about sex here or even love, really but just the sense of another living soul nearby, the warmth and companionship. It's a precious thing that my sleeping dogs give me... I wish all who love canines much the same gentle pleasure.

Too soon for spring

We've had some awesome weather for several days (78 yesterday and 77 today by my thermometer!). They predict a short chill for the next two days and then more of the same. I am afraid the trees will come out too soon--I actually saw a peach tree in a sheltered area in full bloom today!--and we'll get a frost in a few weeks that will wipe out the fruit and maybe put the other trees back into a short winter with blackened leaves. On our walks I am seeing a lot of mustard weeds and the familiar green 'doilies' of fillaree, but they usually appear early and are native plants that can handle a moderate frost and not die back. So we'll see...

Anyway, I 'wasted' the last couple of days getting my jewelry shop tidied up. I first dealt with the big batch of sewing stuff, fabric and trim that I acquired from the stash my gentleman friend's late wife had left when she passed three years ago. It was a bit of a mess, stored in an old mobile, pretty dusty and a few mouse nests. I washed almost all of it, some fifteen loads or so in my washing machine! There was also some beads and other odds and ends and a lot of little storage cabinets with drawers--I'd dumped the non-sewing part in the garage/workshop to deal with later. Later just came. A corner of that facility is mine for my beads, rocks and such. It's almost back in working order after two busy days. Maybe I should have been writing but...just not in the mood!

We are to have a couple of chillier days now so maybe I can finish some indoor chores like rearranging my room, "the Red Dog room", which is about a third done. I moved the computer and its peripheral stuff first. There are limited options as the space (roughly 10 x 13 feet) is packed very full and I have to leave room for Ginger and Rojito to move around and get on the bed. So we'll see. I also have three quilt faces done and am working on the back sides. All my quilts can be used with either face out; its just a quirk of mine. There will be photos in time!

And, last but not least, the Yukon Quest started on Saturday. While not as well known as the Iditarod, it's one big and tough race. Several experienced mushers have scratched before the half-way mark as it has been bitter cold--until today I do not think the temperature got above about -20 and the ice is brutal. Anyway I am following that on the race website and the site of my favorite mushers, Aliy Zirkle and her hubby, Allen Moore. I met them in August and several of their great dogs so have a very personal connection now for the "Red Team" (Aliy's) and the "Black Team" (Allen's.) Aliy ran the YQ300 (the main race is 1000 miles) and placed second behind another fine lady musher, Michelle Phillips, who lives in Yukon Territory. Michelle will be featured in my future book too! So I am busy.

I got some good news today that the new drops prescribed by my eye doctor are starting to work and maybe my extremely dry eyes that have bothered me seriously for about five years now, will be much improved.  In just three weeks there is some improvement and since they work to restart idle tear ducts, it takes some time. I'll go back in ninety days for another follow-up.

Pictures next time, I promise. Not sure of what but pictures I'm kind of like Alice in Wonderland in the theory that books with no pictures are not very inspiring!!

I'm still here!

Gosh this month has gone by in a blur. I came down with this weird cold/flu/ virus bug right after Christmas and have just been running on three of four cylinders--or maybe five of eight at best--most of the time since then. I'm really not "sick" anymore but still cough some and sniffle and snuffle and am just constantly tired. A little bit of activity and I feel like I have run behind my dog sled all day!

The weather has been uneven--nice and mild and bright for a few days and then chilly, gray and damp for a few. I don't think that is helping. Today it was in the upper 60s here with lots of sun and light breeze only. The official high was 66 but I suspect it was a tad warmer here. And tomorrow is to be a clone of today. Then clouds Thursday and maybe rain by evening.

I know; I have not got a flipping thing to whine about when I look at the rest of the country with the freezing rain, heaps of snow, bitter cold and ice everywhere. And I don't whine--much. Then, in Fairbanks, AK today it was -30 in the middle of the afternoon--which is about sundown at the present time, but still should be about the warmest part of the day. That is close to 100 degrees below nice, LOL, but the dogs don't mind and folks dress and prepare for that up there. You learn how to live with it.

The Yukon Quest, the 'other' 1000 mile race, begins in just a bit over a week on February 7. This year, odd numbered, it goes from White Horse, Yukon (Canada) to Fairbanks. Lots of preparation underway at this point and I'd somehow cope with the cold if I could be there. Maybe next year. For now I just have to live it all vicariously.

I'm still here, anyway, puttering around with some sewing and craft projects and going through a huge pile of fabric and notions and craft stuff that my gentleman friend's late wife left behind. It has been three years since she passed away and he is ready to color it gone. I do not feel odd about inheriting it and am sharing with my brother's lady friend and putting some on Free Cycle, too. That is semi-brain dead kind of work I seem to be capable of right now! Also have three lap robe sized quilt faces done and am about ready to tackle the other sides. They are all kind of Celtic themes and in time I will post pictures!

But many word-type projects are perking along in the back of my mind and I will get to them when the time is right. One day I will wake up with the urge and the words will just pour out as if I am taking dictation. Sometimes I think I am although I have no idea where the stuff comes from!

In closing, just for laughs, here are a few photos of me as a tough little tomboy a very long time ago. She is still in there somewhere and peeks out from behind my eyes every now and then. You've seen the saying: inside every old person is a young person screaming, "What the heck happened?"  Not that I am old yet...

Happy 2015

Well, I hope so anyway!

I am first and foremost glad the holiday season is behind us for another year. The main highlight was some nice notes and cards from beloved folks I seldom or never get to see anymore. Anymore I just do not enjoy the festivities lately. I think for a long time I told myself I "should" and did my best to put up a good facade and finally that is just too darn much work! When you are older and no kids to do for and such it is just a disruption in the peaceful daily routine that feels like a bad detour instead of a fun time. So call me Scrooge if you want to.

It does not help to catch a version of the Alamo-land bug swarm--a kind of smush-up of virus/cold/flu with all the icky miserable symptoms that such things usually have. The fact the weather is bouncing all over does not help. One day it is sixty-plus and you can sit out soaking up sunshine and the next it is maybe forty-five and not a spot of sunshine to be seen plus a sharp NW wind that makes the wind chill feel about frosty. Yes, I know it is not nice to whine and by Alaska and Yukon standards this is balmy but when you feel lousy and expect the sunny south-land to be just that...! Enough already--whine over.

We're looking ahead into the new year and trying to make some plans. Right now it does not look feasible for me to get up to Alaska for the big races this time. I am disappointed but knew all along it was a long shot. Maybe next time. I still do plan to get up in the fall for the start of the training season and meanwhile will follow the progress and accomplishments of several favorite mushers. Right now it is iffy weather in Alaska too with bitter cold around Fairbanks and some snow but very little farther south. Many are still training with ATVs as there is nothing to run a sled on unless they trek up around Denali.

So I am slowly doing my start-of-the-year sort, organize and get rid of binge. Somehow that seems to help me get the ole brain in gear and begin to lay out various goals and projects. I have several fiction efforts in the preliminary stages, some new sewing and craft work, and further effort to seek some funding aid for the Alaska visits. Many grants and such are worked on a calendar year basis so an early entry stands the best chance. It is a long shot for my project but I have to try. Meanwhile a few holiday donations direct to me have built up the savings account a bit beyond what my Go Fund Me page reflects. Thank all for that!

Also keeping a toe in the door on many dog issues. I see a lot of stuff on line; 'they' seem to get your interests down pretty fast! I have two dear friends who lost canine companions not too long ago and my heart went out to them. One has already got a new boy in her home--I am so happy for both Julie and Rocco! He is another blind older Blue Heeler and the Powers-That-Be in charge of such knew they could rescue each other and made it happen. My other friend is not ready yet but I think the year will bring a new special little buddy to her as well. Julie feels her canine angels work the Man Upstairs to get the right one to her so I pray this will work for SE too--her little guy will know when and where and nose those gates to move as they should! Doggie Deity, do your thing!

When I had to let Belle go in October 2012 I thought it would be longer but within less than two months Ginger crossed my path. I've had her for two years now and cannot visualize life without her. She is aggravating at times and has all the Border Collie traits of fierce intelligence, persistence, insistence and high energy but she gets me up every day and keeps me on my toes. If I need anything, that's it! Right now she is asleep behind me, saving energy for whatever barkable truck may soon come by or other matter that needs her attention. She sleeps on my bed, close when it is chilly and she and Wee Rojito jockey for the best post--right up against Mom, often as close to the pillows as I will allow!
Here they are, when they have the bed to themselves before I crawl in! Note how their legs are positioned nearly identically! They have this sync between them, as different as they are. Isn't that precious?

Season's Greetings

As Christmas Eve winds down toward Christmas Day, I am happy to have all my very small shopping and sending done! I attended a family party with my gentleman friend and then we took a little drive to look at the lights -- there is still a magic in the day and the trappings we have linked to it, many from much farther in the dim past than we realize. Now I am quiet at home with my canine friends.

This is a favorite Christmas picture from very long ago, 1951 to be exact. That is eight and a half year old me holding my new baby-doll, a living one, my then six week old brother. He's the same one I share a home with today. So many years later, we can remember many holidays shared. That is a precious gift indeed!

It is my opinion that Christmas was carefully placed at this time by the very early Christian fathers who realized they were not likely to completely erase centuries old pagan traditions. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em! And so they did. I think that is okay and just chuckle at some of my more intensely fundamentalist friends and acquaintances who are horrified at the very idea. One's faith and spiritual beliefs are, to me, personal and private and not to be disputed. but to each his, her or their own! Mine have been 'different' all my life but I honor those of others with total respect so long as they do not cause actual harm or pain to anyone.

At any rate, the oldest of the traditional carols and hymns still bring tears to my eyes. I sense there is something definitely sacred and special about the season. Always has been and will be. It is just a bit odd maybe that so many different cultures and ethnic groups recognize some religious or secular event around this time of the year. Perhaps the vast collective power of belief and commemoration has created an energy and an entity here that we cannot see or pin down but many can feel. I count myself among them. So with that in mind, I'll share a few verses I have scribed in recent days for the Yule, the Solstice and the coming year. And I wish all my readers here a joyous time of celebration and sharing with friends and loved ones. Treasure the precious and empowering time!

Season’s Greetings!

2014 will soon be past

And quite a year it’s been

As ever a mix of good and bad,

About like all I’ve seen.

Amazing travel chasing a dream,

Many quiet times at home—

A new goal and purpose discovered

That gave me the courage to roam.

My two little canine companions

I had to leave sadly behind

But they were delighted to see me

When my way back home I did find.

Old friends and new share my vision,

Just as I share in their dreams;

Goals only come with much struggle

But the triumph that much sweeter seems.

My wish for all loved ones this season

Is that you may also find new

Purpose or goal for achievement

And in time it will come to you.

So honor the holy celebration

And cherish the loved ones you hold

Close to your heart all year long

And pray the Great Spirit enfold

All of them in a safe embrace

And fulfill all their wishes and needs

As  we all go into the near year

To reap those dear-planted seeds.

                        GMW © 2014

                   I   

Another year is fading fast;

Each seems quicker than the last.

Where does the time go, back behind

Us? Is there yet any way to find

The things we’ve lost along the way,

Or are they past and gone to stay?

As long as memories live they’ll be

A part of us, eternally.

All we have loved and done and been

Within us dwells, naught comes between.

Neither you or I an island lies

Apart, alone, beneath earth’s skies.

                  II

There are things that never change

However many years we’ve seen.

The timeless love of friends and kin,

Sweet memories of good times mean

More as they fade into the past.

They will be with us ‘til the last.

As we near the end of another year

Do we find ourselves looking back

More instead of forward now?

Perhaps we seek a different tack

To take us to our ending time,

Now yearning for  the heav’nly clime.

Yet each day and year is a rare gift,

For the many miracles we may find:

New friends, new dreams, as well as old

And all the precious ties that bind.

We are the sum of all we’ve done

Triumphs, challenges and races run.

So life your face up to the sun

And revel in its warmth and light

The precious gifts of light and love

Shining upon us, ever bright.

The promises we know will be

With faith, ours for eternity.

New Moon and Midwinter Solstice

Here is The Sun about to emerge from a peak in the mountains behind my home. Camera could not capture the very subtle sundog rainbow that I actually saw but a hint is visible! This was a couple of days ago, just not quite perfectly on the solstice date although there was similar this morning as well. To my eye, there is so much power and promise in this scene.

For these two happenings--new moon and solstice-- to fall on the same day is unusual. It also creates a kind of double whammy from an astrological standpoint. It's said that the day before, the actual day and the day after a new moon are times to stop and assess, plan ahead and perhaps profit from past errors but not to begin new projects. There is much the same mystique about the shortest day/longest night of the year when the sun is farthest from us here in the northern hemisphere and then begins his long journey back to midsummer.

As a very sun-centric person, I do look forward to this date and the subtle shift in energies as I know the heat and light is coming back, albeit slowly. But I also realize it is important to honor and appreciate the dark and cold for they are part of the natural cycle and the turning of the wheel of seasons that still govern much of our lives even though we have come so far from the ancestors who lived directly off the land and were much more subject to the capricious whims of weather and seasons than we are.

Having spent a good bit of my life in situations where I had to be outside and working in all kinds of weather and closely associated with animals, I may sense all this more than some of my contemporaries. If one merely goes from climate controlled house to equally sheltered car and workplace and back. other than maybe dealing with wet or slick roads on a commute, it doesn't matter much. But to me it does and always will.

I have lived in primitive conditions where heat was only from the wood one gathered and cut to size for the stove, where water might freeze and pipes have to be thawed or even buckets carried to fill one's needs. That's humbling in many ways but also empowering for you learn you can cope and care for your needs or those of your family and animal friends.

Yes, I am looking back today, as I have quite a lot the past few months and years. But that does not mean I cannot and do not look ahead too. In mere weeks the first signs of spring will appear and I'll be alert to them. It's an exciting time with the promise that life truly does go on and after the small deaths of falling leaves and withered plants, animal hibernation and such, reawakening comes. That is encouraging to one who recognizes she's on the last ten or twenty percent of this particular life. There will be others in time as there have been others in the past!

It's no coincidence that modern Christian Christmas is so close to the ancient pagan celebration of the Solstice and that many things we associate with the Christmas season have roots far deeper than we might guess. That is good, in my humble opinion, for it creates a continuity between us here and now and our ancient ancestors. History, even the most obscure and distant, still has things to teach us. We are still humans and despite our many technological and scientific advances are not so very different than our caveman fore-bearers. We still eat plants and animals, albeit they now come in neat cans, boxes, and saran wraps and fire and water are still essential to our lives although they too mostly come to us instead of us having to go and make them available for our needs.

At any rate, I hope you will take a moment today to acknowledge the ancient realities are viable to this day and relevant to us, and to perhaps honor the spirits and energies that operate 'behind the scenes' for us as they always have and will. Whether you think of them as the Divine Being, the "Force" the Star Wars folk spoke of or the varied deities pagan folk recognized does not really matter.

Something is or maybe are and we should never lose sight of that fact or fail to recognize that we are but so many tiny ants going about our busy-ness and still subject to those Powers-That-Be whether we want to be or not. It's okay, it really is! It does not take anything away from us, for we are part and parcel of the whole Universe too and share in all that goes on; we just don't control and direct very much of it! Yet our little light or spark can be strengthened by the energy of our mind and when we unite with others for a purpose, we can accomplish a great deal. Go in peace and harmony, and tomorrow be ready to start forward again with old or new goals clear in mind and a will to make them come to pass!

National Day of the Horse

I read that today is the National Day of the Horse. Since this year is also a year of the horse under Chinese astrology, I thought it was time to celebrate some more of my beloved equine friends that played major parts in my life years ago.

I've talked quite a bit about Tina, my first personal equine--the earlier ones were more family horses. Along during my high school years and afterwards when I was working as a trainer and equine care-giver, several special horses passed through my life. We had two stallions for a time, one Appaloosa and one Quarter Horse. Yavapai Chief was a handsome chestnut with a nice blanket. He had the typical somewhat coarse head of many Appys but for a stallion was very well-behaved and generally manageable. I rode him on a number of occasions and unless there was a mare in season nearby, he was about like any saddle horse--perhaps just a bit more elan and dash! Here's a shot of me on him. His ears say he was waiting for my signal in this photo.

The Quarter Horse was named Leo Mix; he was a descendant of the early foundation QH sire Leo, a well-known Texas stud, on both sides as I recall. He was a very pretty dappled gray, almost blue roan color with just a hint of dun in the undercoat. Dun is a tan or faintly yellow hue, not bright like the palominos but a softer shade. We got him as a yearling and I was one of his chief trainers. He was a handsome guy but for a stallion, very sweet and even tempered. In fact he handled just as easily and well as any well-broke cowpony.  I rode him a lot and even got a shot of my baby brother, then about five, sitting on him!

We had a number of young mares and Quarter Horse fillies. My favorite was one that became mine and that I trained. She was small, just over fourteen hands high and a coppery sorrel with flaxen mane and tail. She was dainty and very feminine in her appearance but she had plenty of get-up-and-go. Here's a shot of me fairly early during her training. She never had to be "broke" but simply to be taught how to respond to the reins, voice and other signals that a western rider uses to cue a mount. Her name was Buzzie Bubbles and she came from the Buzzie Bell H lineage of the Monrovia, CA area. Here she looks alert and is standing poised but not tense. Later she was pretty good on the barrels. I note I was using a loose-jaw hackamore bridle on her and riding a McClellan saddle--the old Army cavalry saddle. They were light and good to use on young horses to keep the weight down. Later I'd move on to a regular western stock style saddle.

To this day I have a great love for horses. I realize their flaws and weaknesses and often say that if humans had not taken them to be both pets and beasts of burden that they'd likely be extinct now. They are not efficient users of their feed and have a lot of delicate and fragile aspects. But that being said, they still have a beauty and grace, a special character and have done so much to help us on our climb to "civilization" that right after the dogs, they are one of the most important fellow mammals to our kind!

I think that like my beloved dogs, the horses I have loved go to "heaven" too, and that they are waiting for me across the Rainbow Bridge as well. If they do not go to human heaven, then I pray the Powers That Be will let me go wherever they are! I suspect most of my most loved people will be there too because they feel the same way I do.

So today, National Day of the Horse, I celebrate and honor the equine species. Run forever in green pastures, my friends, as you deserve to do!