Saturday, August 24, 2013

What in Hell Was I Thinking? We Adopted Another Dog

Saturday, August 24, 2013


On the morning of Sunday, May 5, my husband and I were in Saugatuck, MI, having breakfast outside a charming little restaurant.  We were enjoying the last day of a splendid weekend spent with my favorite photography group, when a woman from the Allegan County Animal Shelter walked by with the most adorable little white dog.  The woman said it was a female Havanese mix, estimated to be about 10 – 12 months old.  And she was up for adoption.  I absolutely was not looking for a dog.  But, for me, it was love at first sight. 

My husband didn’t feel the same way.  But before we finished the three-hour drive home, he was on board.  In fact, he chose her name as he drove – “Hannah.”  Little did we know that he would soon put “Horrible” in front of that name!

On line, I read that Havanese are difficult to housebreak (an understatement).  Well, she had “accidents” in our house on a daily basis, and we’d been taking her out about every 90 minutes.  She seemed to want to just sit on the sidewalk or lie in the grass and look around.  Then she’d come in and poop.  I’d never been so frustrated with a dog.

And the little darling had separation anxiety like nothing I’d ever seen before.  During her second week with us, we left the house for about five hours.  When we came back, I was horrified to see our kitchen blinds chewed into pieces on three windows and bite marks on a few of the others.  We’d left her in the kitchen with three baby gates keeping her on the wood floor, but she knocked one of the gates down.  So we had also potty accidents in other rooms.  Since then, she’s always in her crate while we’re gone. 

She has other bad habits, as well.  She jumps really, really well.  Like from the floor to the kitchen table with one leap (and, no, she doesn’t have long legs).  She ate my sushi when I got up from the table to hug my son after a visit.  And the other day, she ate some moldy cheese that I put on the island counter, intending to throw out.   Yes, she’s gotten into lots of stuff in places where she never should’ve been.

Oh, and she loves to chew.  She got my reading glasses and did such a good job on them that I had to guess what some of the scattered pieces were from.  And while she was on the nightstand, she ate an entire container of my shea butter.  She also chewed the toes off a doll I bought for our granddaughter.  And imagine my horror when she chewed a disposable razor that she dug out of the trash (yes, she’s a garbage picker – we now have new waste baskets with lids).   I thought what I saw on the floor was a piece of foil.  But, no, it was the actual blade, all bent up and, somehow, without Hannah's blood on it. 


Hannah also runs away every chance she gets.  We can’t let anybody in the house until she’s been leashed, because she squeezes out the door like a little rat.  The last time I chased her, I thought I’d have a heart attack.  The only reason she stopped running was to sniff another dog’s poop.  That’s when I tackled her and almost fell into it.  She’s just plain rude in so many ways.  She breaks into rooms by body-slamming the doors.  Or she’ll slam into me, when I don’t let her off her leash to chase a squirrel.  The papers from the animal shelter said she was turned in by a police officer.  It figures - she was probably in jail, because she’s definitely a criminal.

So why is she still here?  Well, she’s the most loving and loveable dog I’ve ever had.  She bonded with me instantly, as if she knows I’m the one who saved her.  She follows me from room to room and even stays up into the wee hours with me.  And we’re making progress with her rude behavior.  We found an excellent trainer, Kat Stevens (KatStevensDogTraining.com), who has us using a clicker (it really works!) to make Hannah pay attention to commands.  This week, we’re working on door etiquette.  No more running out the door or jumping on visitors.  And we’re making progress with her potty behavior. Hopefully, we can “click” her into a perfect lady, like her sister, Maddie.  (And then we can call the carpet cleaners in, even though we’re doing an admirable cleaning job on our own.) 


The bottom line is we love Hannah too much to give up on her.  And when I make a commitment, it’s for good.  In the meantime, I’m using humor to get us through this rough patch.  (Hannah has a Twitter page – it’s:  twitter.com/HannahHavanese)  She’s a spirited and special pup, and from the moment I saw her, I felt like she was supposed to be with us.  So we’ll just keep clicking her rudeness away!

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Monday, January 7, 2013

Create Beautiful Jewelry at Fritz and Friends

Monday, January 7, 2013

If you’re in southeast Michigan and have ever thought about making beautiful metal jewelry, you’ve got to check out Fritz & Friends!  About 10 years ago, I learned how to make a Byzantine chain bracelet.  I needed to buy supplies, and the people at the jewelry supply place told me about Fritz & Friends.  (Back then, it was Fritz Willis.)   And I’ve been there ever since!

Fritz and Friends is a stand-alone jewelry studio in beautiful Franklin, Michigan, where your creativity has no limits.  It offers a fun, friendly and well-equipped learning environment for the study of both basic and advanced techniques in metalsmithing and jewelry making.  Lead instructor, Susan Hoge, has multiple qualifications, including a Masters in Fine Arts from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bachelor of Arts (Studio) from the University of New Mexico, Bachelor of Arts (Creative Arts) from the University of Michigan and Associates in Applied Science (Jewelry Studio) from the Fashion Institute of Technology at the State University of New York.

The studio offers specialized workshops on the weekends, as well as a 10-week session of three-hour day and evening classes (cost is $27 per class; tuition for all 10 weeks is due in full before the session starts).

Fritz & Friends is unique in this region. Students of all ages and walks of life come to learn and work at different levels and paces.  And it’s the kind of place where you can’t help but enjoy yourself.  I like to say that I stick with it because it’s cheaper than therapy.  That’s because I can come in exhausted after a bad day, and by the time I leave, I’m energized and smiling.   


Don't miss out!  A new session begins this week, September 9.  It's not too late to start!    Or you can reserve a place for the Winter session, which starts in January.  Call Jayne at 248-762-4810, or visit  fritzandfriends.org  for more information.


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Saturday, December 22, 2012

I'm Back . . . Finally!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

The Hospital Bed
By:  Nathan and Jenny
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathan_and_jenny/4295768760/

It’s been a year since I’ve done a blog post, a year filled with concern over some crazy health issues that came out of nowhere.  It all started around last Christmas, when I began having mild migraine headaches, along with a scary variety of migraine auras (actually called “ocular migraines” – who knew?).  These headaches, although not severe, were with me literally 24/7.  And that frequency lasted until March.  I was convinced I had a brain tumor.

By the end of March, I’d had an MRI that showed there was no brain tumor.  But there were other “issues” that needed to be investigated.  So began my yearlong odyssey of doctor, hospital and lab visits, which I will condense into a few paragraphs.  The first neurologist I saw put me on a treatment regimen that actually increased the frequency of my headaches.  So I switched to a team of doctors who sent me for tests.  Then they told me to see a hematologist, who ordered more tests, which identified a genetic mutation that has nothing to do with the headaches.  As of today, they’re pretty much gone, but I still get the auras daily, every time I’m exposed to bright light.  And nobody knows why the headaches began or why they’ve stopped.  It turns out that neurology is still in its infancy, because relatively little is known about the brain.

Adding to my health concerns, in October, I experienced the worst upper abdominal pain of my life.  I couldn’t sleep at all that night and almost went to the ER.  Instead, I saw my doctor first thing in the morning.  He asked if it could be food poisoning and if I’d been to a restaurant.  I told him I hadn’t, that I’d made a vegetarian stir-fry the previous evening, so it couldn’t have been food poisoning.   Well, because of the extreme pain and the abdominal swelling, he sent me to the ER, where I had several tests.  They found nothing that would account for the pain, but said I had a very high white count.  So I got an IV bag of antibiotics.  One of the tests did find a 6mm kidney stone, which was a shock.  And, although the stone wasn’t causing any immediate problems, I saw a urologist about it.  I’ll see him again in a few months to further assess the situation.  By the way, here’s a quick tip – the urologist said to drink Crystal Light lemonade if you have kidney stones, because the citric acid sometimes helps break them down.  (At least, I think that’s how he said it.)

So why all the terrible stomach pain?  Well, within three days, I was back to a normal diet and feeling absolutely no pain.  So I decided to have some of that veggie stir-fry before it started to go bad.  And within three hours of eating that damned thing, I was doubled over again.  Yes, I had poisoned myself twice on the same crap!  Because I added cauliflower, broccoli and snow peas after the other stuff was cooked, they never got hot enough to kill any bacteria.  And, although they say washing veggies with water is enough, I’m proof that’s not always the case.  I figure I must have needed another big doctor/hospital bill.

Anyway, after a year of anxious doctoring, I’m left wondering whether my gene cesspool will cause health problems in the future.  (Fortunately, it hasn’t made any trouble yet, and the doctors and I are hoping it never will.)  And I wish I knew what will happen with the kidney stone.  Will it suddenly start moving on Christmas Day, when I have 30+ people here?

Probably the first thing I ought to do is stop thinking about all of it and force myself to resume eating fresh vegetables without first soaking them in bleach.  But, for now, I think I’ll go mix up a batch of Crystal Light.


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