September 2012 – Page 4

dog update

Yesterday was the best day I’ve had in over a week. Probably because it was the first day I didn’t go anywhere or do anything so I didn’t feel like I was losing my mind trying to juggle everything. Camille watched Disney Junior all morning (don’t judge me, I have never been more thankful for toddler TV) and I did a little doggie whispering to try and turn Micah into a productive member of our family instead of just another one of the wild, hairy creatures that runs around here all day eating me out of house and home.

I was this close to finding another home for Micah — not because there was anything truly awful about him, but because he liked us too much. He has separation anxiety (something I found out later is very common in rescue dogs) so every time I would either crate him or leave the house he would howl and yelp the entire time I was gone. Occasionally I would come home to a quiet house, but then he would hear me open the door and the yelping and pawing to get out of the crate would start immediately. In a house with cement walls, the constant echoing of an upset dog is not conducive to good mental health. Add to that the crate aversion interfering with our sleep at night and Josh and I were both about to say, “enough!”

As Josh put it, there was never a break. Since he was always running free we had to follow him around the house, making sure he wasn’t taking a pee break inside or chewing a shoe (he has a thing for barefoot shoes), but Camille has to be watched in the same way or I’m likely to find that she’s taken off her diaper and smeared lotion all over her body (yes, that actually happened). Since school started last week I’ve been home by myself all day and it is too much for one person to handle. I’ve been praying this week that it would be clear whether we made a mistake in adopting him or not so we can find him a better placement if that would be best for everyone. Jonah was the same way as far as getting into everything, but I could at least put him “to bed” for cooling off periods when he was getting to be too much to handle. I could have put Micah in the crate, but it would have involved catching him, carrying him and then having to listen to ear piercing shrieks. Not exactly relaxing or endearing to the neighbors. I tried all the “give him a delicious treat to keep him busy” advice, but he would be so anxious he couldn’t do anything but focus on getting out of the crate. Ironic that I have a dog with anxiety, isn’t it? Out of desperation, I looked online and there actually is anti-anxiety medication you can give to dogs. Josh just rolled his eyes and said, “This is getting ridiculous.”

Micah’s not out of the woods yet, but I can say he seems to be doing better the past 2 days. He slept in his crate all night and didn’t need to go out at 4am like he has every other night since we got him. He’s not in love with the idea, but he has been going in willingly instead of having to lure him or catch him and assist him into the crate. I haven’t left the house since I’ve started working on our dog improvement system, but I have been putting him in the crate for 20 minutes at a time throughout the day and he’s tolerating that much better than before. I’m really hoping he can relax and not be so anxious — for his sake and for mine. I’m tempted to slip him a klonapin to take the edge off before I go somewhere (they really do give it to dogs — in amounts much greater than I ever took!), but maybe I should just take one myself instead.

Anyway, I hope this story has a happy ending. Actually, I’m sure it will have a happy ending either way. We’ll end up with a well adjusted dog or I will have loads of free time in my dog-free home.

Photos from this week:

We walked to dinner — she ended up sleeping through it.

Go Giants!

the dual menaces to society

I can’t get him in it and I can’t keep her out of it.

not my photo, but an awesome typo — I wonder what they do with all that bottled up sewing rage?

playing kitchen in her new room

Interior decorating for dummies

The other night the boys spent the night at a friends’ house (yes, all 3!), so Josh and I got some things done around the house. We went out and bought special hooks to hang the pictures on the wall and now everything is up. Our walls are cement, so if you try to hammer a nail in, it either bends or makes a big hole and pulls right out. We cleaned out the rack at the store with the ones we needed and had just enough.

Since we’re going to be here for 2 years (baring any unforeseen revolutions, evacuations, etc) I wanted to make the kids’ rooms feel a little more personalized. Our landlord said he would paint for us, but I thought this would be an easier, more creative solution.

I know people have been using these vinyl wall stickers for years, but I’ve never fussed around with putting anything on the walls before. This set contained flowers, stems and bugs and I just put them up where I felt like it. It was pretty fun. The best part is you can take them down easily. The other half of the room is still blank, since I didn’t want to put flowers all over Calvin’s half.

I wonder if the boys would let me play around and decorate their walls? (I put the stickers up higher than normal so little fingers would be less tempted to pick them off).

I’m glad I took pictures of the dates last week, because it turns out that the dates are now gone. I came out this morning to find this man in my tree. He has a cool sling attached to a rope that hooks around the trunk and he scales the trunk the way loggers scale the trunk of a tree, leaning back and putting all his weight in the sling.

These are the red dates — they are probably 3 times the size of the yellow ones. Most of these didn’t look like they were ripe yet (the ones that have fallen on the ground are more of a dark purple color), but I guess it was time. The guy cut down all 5 huge bunches and I’m guessing they’ll lay them out in the sun until they are dried. He also cleared out the remainder of the yellow ones. No more date snacks for Micah!

Josh is home now from the memorial service. He said it went really well and it was good to see all of our friends from school. He said the church was packed with people who aren’t church-goers, so I hope they were encouraged by the hope that we have for Michelle and Julia.

This is the song that I’ve been listening to over and over again these past few days. I heard it for the first time as part of Michelle and Julia’s memorial service in Minnesota (I was able to watch the service on YouTube) and it captures exactly what I hope that they are experiencing right now and what we will experience someday when we get to heaven.

date harvest

On a less depressing, more interesting note . . . just kidding. Thanks for all the encouragement, kind words, and empathy. Josh and I know we have a million things to be joyful about and thankful for, especially as he gets on a plane this morning to head to Oman for our friends’ memorial service. We were trying to decide if and who should go when we got a message asking if he would be willing to come play guitar. I’m glad it’s him and not me. I didn’t want to bring the kids because I thought it would be confusing for them to be happy/excited to be back and seeing friends, but then to feel guilty about being happy in the midst of such a horrible thing, but I didn’t want to go by myself. I really hate funerals and would rather be sad at home, or at least in denial. I’m sure it’s selfish, but I don’t have the energy to go cry with all of my friends and then cry that I don’t live there anymore. I’m really glad that Josh can go and be part of it.

So on to something interesting about living here: We have three date palms in our yard. Three different varieties (I’m assuming, since they are different colors). These are the yellow ones and they are getting ripe. The huge red ones are supposed to be the best, but they ripen later. When the dates turn from yellow to brown, they are ready and you can eat them right off the tree or dry them for later. I never thought I liked dates, but the dates that we get here are much better than dates in the US. Chewy, sweet, addictive.

Some people eat “fresh dates,” when they’ve only partially ripened. These are half brown, half yellow (you can see some of them in the pictures). They’re OK, but the yellow part tastes starchy like a green banana and makes my mouth pucker up. Not a fan.

I thought when people harvested dates that they cut the bunches and then laid them in the sun to dry. And we have seen bunches of dates hanging from fences, so I was surprised to see one of our landlord’s men harvest them this way the other day. He has a plastic bag (not a new bag, but plastic film that looks like he pulled it off of the Sunday paper), puts each bunch inside the “bag,” and starts shaking. Whatever falls off is ripe. The rest are left on the tree to continue their journey to deliciousness.

See how it’s not even really a bag?

Then he picks up the rest of the dates that have fallen on the ground. I asked Josh if he thought they washed them before eating — you know, with all the dust and dirt in the air? He just laughed at me. When I told him I didn’t know if I could eat dates again he said he was sure that the commercial dates were cleaned. Uh huh.

You know who else loves dates? Our dog. He eats any that fall on the ground and even noses the bunches and picks them directly off the tree (I really hope they wash those dates to get the dog slobber off of them). I guess he’s a true desert dog, since the Bedouins used to feed their dogs dates and camel milk. All these dates make him poop like crazy — and it’s always full of date pits. The good thing about date season ending is I won’t have to pick up after him four times a day.

And that’s how we get from funerals to fruit to excrement. Always keeping it classy and educational!