pets – Walking Chester

Biscuits in the mail and spring in the air

Happy March! It snowed last night. Ah well, in like a lion and out like…well in Cleveland it is out like a lion too. We can’t count on no snow until the end of April, and even that is optimistic. Anyway, the sun is out and while cold, it’s a good day to walk Chester. We went to Lake Erie Bluffs recently and this is what the lake looks like. The white spots are chunks of ice. Mini-icebergs if you like.

I saw someone in shorts yesterday. It was above 30 degrees. That is a midwestern thing. The grandkids were wearing crocs; a little muddy but that’s natural consequences. we went to the Maple Sugar weekend and made maple stirs. You take hot maple syrup and stir it until it becomes thick like fudge. Here’s a before and after.

Chester got some mail yesterday.

To explain, I had donated to a foundation against the explicit instructions of the founder. The reason I ignored the direction is twofold. First, the founder donated to my non-profit handbell choir, Decibells, when we were first starting up. It was a leap of faith, and I really appreciated the facebook friends, relatives, and others that trusted us to make it work. As an update, we are over three years old and going strong.

The second reason is this; the foundation donates stuffed Maltese doggies to people in hospice. The Christmas before last, one of our cats passed away. I don’t want to make you sad, but this was the kitty who would lie on my arm until I fell asleep.

He would at some point move to the foot of the bed (probably when I started snoring). When he passed, it hit me hard. I missed him terribly (still do) and couldn’t fall asleep. So I grabbed “Lucky,” a stuffed cat we got from Petsmart for donating five dollars.

I put him on my arm and while not exactly the same, it was what I needed. Sometimes people think that stuffies are just for kids but who cares what people think. They aren’t. If the foundation can bring comfort to even one person it is worth it. So I happily donated. Plus I do have trouble following directions.

Anyway, this came in the mail:

It was addressed to “Mr. Chester.” Two bags of biscuits! This is what he looks like when he hears the bag (which is way too often I think but my husband doesn’t follow directions either):

There is an imbalance here. First of all, Mr. Chester did not pay a dime to the foundation yet he got the credit. Say what? OK, so he is the best dog in the world and barks when he sees, hears, or dreams of a noise. Even on tv. He also chases the smaller animals out of the yard and brings the muddy yard back in with him. Here is a picture of the miracle paw washer I mentioned last week:

Mr. Chester hit the jackpot. He is very appreciative! Unfortunately…this is the mail we get.

We don’t get biscuits or gifts. We get junk. I admit we aren’t getting as much as we used to. We used to get more catalogs but now we mostly get local advertisements. Except for Cosmopolitan magazine which is addressed to our son who hasn’t lived here for years. Somehow he got on the list.

You can’t see my social media accounts, mom

So I suspect this is a case of dog conspiracy since it appeared to come from a little doggie named Reiko. Chester does have several girlfriends in the neighborhood but he could handle one more. Especially a long distance one who sends him biscuits!

Have a lovely spring day! Maybe saying it will make it so!

Yak Cheese and winter

Every time John goes to the store he buys things for Chester. I am eternally grateful he goes because I despise grocery shopping. Something about all the food in all the crowded rows and my mind just shuts down. But I digress.

John buys things for Chester. I do put Milk Bones on the list but Chester has become persnickety about his treats; I guess his palate has become more refined.

Another digression: when our grandson Victor was about 2 years old he went to a wonderful day care. They would have snacks in the afternoon, supplied by mom and dad. Our son and daughter in law are conscientious parents and tried to mix up his snacks to ensure healthiness and a broad appreciation of different flavors. One day, they got a note home in his lunch bag. It said, “Victor prefers Ritz.” I don’t know why but that struck me as incredibly funny. It still does.

Anyway, Chester prefers something disgusting, preferably with unknown animal parts that stink. John knows this and comes home with a variety of icky treats. This is what he found recently:

Yes, Yak Cheese. Now because I never heard of Yak Cheese and the treat manufacturers try to make them sound more appealing to people, I looked up what Yak Cheese was. I mean it could have been just about anything. But no, it actually is cheese made of Yak milk. I never. The twist is that if you break it apart and microwave it, it becomes a Yak cheese puff.

This is not as satisfying if your hound is looking for a chewing experience, but apparently it is still tasty. I wouldn’t know because although Chester will eat both variations he just isn’t as voracious as I have seen before. I guess Chester prefers Snausages.

Anybody remember this guy? If you open him up he says “Snausages”

It has been cold and colder here, with finally some sun today but not enough to melt the snow. Schools were closed Monday for snow, then Tuesday for cold. Unfortunately for the schools it was equally cold Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Oops. What to do? They had no idea because some were closed Wednesday, then open again Thursday, or open Wednesday then closed Thursday. A couple are still closed. What a conundrum. If it’s too cold on Tuesday, and the same temperature on Wednesday, what is a Superintendent to do? Maybe check the forecast before calling school off for cold? It’s not like we weren’t warned…the weather people have been forecasting the blizzard of the century for days. Sheesh.

Because of the cold, I decided to try on the sweater I bought for Chester a year ago or so.

He looks happy, but I think he gained some weight. The truth is, he seems fine in the snow. He goes outside and buries his face in it. Then he rolls around. He goes out when I start cooking dinner and won’t come in until I’m done. I set off the fire alarm one time and it scared him. It’s not my cooking. He loves his walks and we wimp out before he does. Yesterday I took him to a park. We were the only ones in the whole park. He kept it short though because of the pup cup promise. Yes, he got one and I got an iced coffee. All in all a good walk.

Me and Kim hanging out at Gobbler’s Knob

I see Groundhog Day is approaching and I will be posting my annual tale of Groundhog Day Debauchery experienced by my sister and me. It still ranks near the top of all of our adventures. Have a good weekend and stay warm! Don’t rub your face in the snow unless you have Chester fur!

The Fortune Cookie

Right after the new year, we ordered take out Chinese food. As usual, we received two fortune cookies. I anticipated a message that reflected the hope and promise of a new year. My husband opened his first, reading an encouraging, insightful saying as expected. I opened mine.

Seriously? Is this what 2026 will look like? Now it’s true that picking up dog poo is a routine part of my day, or at least every other day. Today is my day to walk the beast and we are in the middle of a blizzard. I don’t know if I’ll be able to find the poo in the snow. This is what our poor bushes look like.

Chester loves the snow and could walk forever. I, on the other hand, usually have to cut him off because I am cold. I will say that I love my YakTrax, chains that go over my boots. Chester plays a game where he tries to pull me into the icy part of the street or into deep snowdrifts. I think he wants me to imitate the Olympic ice skaters on a bad day. I dig in my chains and hang on.

I am making peace with 2026. Our final cat, Zeus, crossed the rainbow bridge the day after New Years Day. He was 16 and a half and had kidney disease. Kidney disease is fairly common in cats, and tough. He got to visit his favorite people (our kids) over Christmas, then took a turn for the worse. There just comes a point where you realize that it’s time. So, for the first time in about 30 years, we are catless. It’s really weird. Chester keeps looking around for something to chase. I have a daily urge to clean a litter box. Not really. But I do feel like I do in the dreams where you enter a class and realize it’s the end of the year and you haven’t been there at all, and it’s exam day. I feel like there has to be a big pile of litter that I forgot about somewhere. I truly hope there isn’t.

Zeus was determined to walk across the keyboard in younger days! He had cattitude!

Chester still has Bunny and now added Bear to the family. He tore Bear’s heart out but carries Bear around. Here’s the quiz for the day…a music quiz. I predict Midwest Mark will get it first, but who knows! The lyric is “you ain’t ever gonna burn my heart out.” What is the song? And Artist? No looking it up!

Well, I will try to write at least a little drivel more often. We are fine and I enjoy reading your blogs, I just haven’t felt the urge to write. But that fortune cookie spurred a WTF feeling again, so maybe that was just what I needed! Take care and stay warm!

Chester vs The Cone

About three weeks ago, Chester went to the vet for dental cleaning and to have some small lumps removed. Easy-peasy right?

When I picked him up, he was loopy. The tech helped me get him into the car. This was no small feat since he had a large blue ~~cone~~ Elizabethan Collar. He was supposed to wear it for two weeks. When I got home, I had to get him out myself. Keep in mind he weighs 80 pounds and the cone kept catching on the door. It was one of my prouder strong man moments. He couldn’t go up or down the stairs at first, so he just slept. Poor guy, I felt sorry for him.

He had stitches in about five surgical lump removal spots. The dental was nothing. But the lumps caused the battle of the century: Chester vs the cone.

Once he was fully awake, he decided to remove the cone in spite of our wishes. We watched him carefully, but he is smart and determined, not a good thing. At one point he got the cone in his teeth, pulled it off and flung it across the room. We managed to keep it on until overnight when somehow, he got it off (quietly) and pulled out his stitches from one of the wounds.

probably inappropriate but his attempt to remove the cone

When I noticed, I didn’t panic, but it wasn’t pretty. We took him back to the vet and she stitched him up again. This time he got a hard plastic cone.

He couldn’t get it off but it was too long and he couldn’t eat or drink or go up and down stairs. He looked so miserable that my husband, the softy, waited until I left the house and took it off, replacing it with the blue cone. The concerned mom (me) bought an inflatable collar that looked like a donut with overnight delivery from Amazon.

The husband thought he looked uncomfortable when he was laying down so he put the kibosh on that one too. Back to the blue collar.

When I walk through the door I can fold it back!

This sufficed for a few days, but the stitches in half of a wound pulled apart. Fed up with the whole thing, I thought back to when my kids were little. I dealt with multiple scrapes, scratches and other assorted oopsies so I did what any mom would do. I put ointment and a band-aid on it.

This was followed with the dumping of the toys

I replaced the band-aid twice or three times daily for days and guess what? It’s almost healed! He is still going after one on his paw, so I slapped a band-aid on that one too. His appointment is Tuesday to get the stitches removed. Sheesh.

Two good things though, the lumps were all benign, and bunny made him feel better. He’s back to throwing bunny around instead of the collar.

This has occupied my mind for several weeks. When I come home I check it. Before I leave I make sure he has his cone on. He seems depressed so we have been giving him lots of treats and hugs.

Happy Thanksgiving to all in the USA! I host it, and Chester will get some turkey. Turkey for a turkey!

Going with the Flow

Sometimes when you haven’t any room in your heart it stretches a bit. This is the case with a small dog named Paisley.

To set the scene, a neighbor to my sister’s house had a medical emergency and was unable to return home. Like many other seniors, he lived alone. His wife had passed, and he still had her dog. When he was taken to the assisted living location, the dog was not permitted. All protestations and recriminations and discussion about how wrong that philosophy is did not matter. The dog needed a home.

My sister was adamant that she was not taking the dog. She did not want a dog. How do I know? She said, “I don’t want a dog,” No ifs, ands, or buts. She was finally petless and able to travel freely. To my credit, for once I did not boss her, make her feel guilty, or tell her what to do. (Really!) I listened. She said others had said she should take the dog. Nonetheless she was steadfast in her I don’t want a dog” stance. Then the family of the gentleman decided to sell the house immediately and take the dog to who knows where, probably the kennel.

A little about Paisley. She is twelve years old and has cancer. She had cancer several years ago, and it grew back. She has a massive tumor on her leg. Bottom line, she would not make it in a kennel. Back to my sister…

I have seen a determined sister; everyone in our family is a little hard-headed (except me of course). But the wall began to weaken, and she took Paisley to the vet. Sadly, the tumor is inoperable and malignant. He didn’t give an estimation of life, but right now she seems perky and happy. In case you didn’t foresee this, my sister took Paisley amidst protestations and swearing up and down. Literally.

I have been receiving photos of Paisley. It’s pretty clear what is happening. She is adorable. My sister’s heart will stretch until it’s time, then be broken. There’s no helping it.

So while I was supportive, we live a few hours away and I was able to keep my heart in one piece. Then came sister’s Michigan trip. For many reasons, this was a mandatory trip. She was not just taking vacation but involved in an event with many people. She had to go. She asked me if I would consider staying at their house and watching Paisley. After looking at my calendar, I realized that with some manipulation of dates, I could. Hence, I met Paisley.

Paisley and I are buddies now. She is the sweetest little princess, full of spunk. She already pegged me for the pushover I am. I’m sure it won’t be appreciated when they come home and have to undo some of the little habits she picked up. No, Paisley, you can’t have a treat every time you look at them. (Unless you are with Aunt Martha, hee hee).

I’m sunk. My heart stretched out and let this little girl in. How do you not? My sister has stated that Paisley is going to live her best life however long it is. I am so glad to have had a few days to get to know her. We have gone down to Jan’s Ice Cream, walked around the neighborhood, and I’m trying to teach her to fetch. I throw the squeaky bone. She trots to the squeaky bone and looks at it, then runs back to me. Oh, Paisley. She and I have binge watched an old Project Runway that I have already seen. She was a little bored and fell asleep. She doesn’t like wet grass. She does like to do her business right in the middle of the street. Cars don’t faze her, she doesn’t move until she’s done. She gets one Kong a day but persuaded me to refill it later in the afternoon. I told her if mom asks, just say I have a bad memory.

Happy gotcha day to Chester!!! We adopted him from the Cleveland Animal Control kennel back when it was the old kennel, in 2018. He is an official city dog! He was five years old they said, but hard to tell. Chester is the best dog ever! When adopting a stray there’s not a lot to go on. The first day he jumped over the fence and tore up the garbage. We moved the garbage, fattened him up a little and took him on three walks a day to work off the energy. Then he calmed down except with squirrels and bunnies, and cats. Now, at around age 12, he sleeps more, and his walks are getting shorter. But last night he charged out to the back fence and treed a raccoon. Then, he backed up out of reach to see if the raccoon would come down. It didn’t.

Happy gotcha day big boy. We love you and are so glad you are part of our lives. Here’s to many more!

Notes for what?

Do you use “Notes” on your phone? I was thinking about posting options and looking at my notes. In the past I only used it for Christmas presents and writing topics. Then I started using them for things to pick up at CVS. Shortly thereafter it got out of hand. Today I was looking for a topic and read the following: Stamps, pick up bell, drop of cap, syrup, candy, beer (to who? I’d like to know!), music store, “that was smurfully funny,” time change, does anyone have a piece of music, Mpb, coffee, and finally “When the market goes up.”

Yep, that’s really helpful stuff.

The last one I do remember. There is this local commercial here in the Cleveland area. The man reminds me a little of Lawrence Welk. He says that there is a well-known saying, “When the market goes up you share in the gains and when the market goes down you’re protected from loss.” Have you heard that saying? I think it’s a stretch to say it’s well known. He also says, “Zero is my hero.” Of course we all know that one, right? Uhh…

Other local celebrities include the little girl from the Calvetta Brothers flooring. She’s out of college now and getting married. We bought carpet from them and I really wanted to demand that she sign the agreement but I chickened out.

Tim Misny is so well known he doesn’t even have to put his name on the billboard.

Then there’s Kia…the first time I heard the now famous tagline it was a bleary eyed 6:00am on the morning show. This blonde, attractive, vivacious and way too energetic, comes on with a megawatt smile and without a hint of smirk says, “I wanna see ya in a Ted Ganly Kia.” I stared at the screen as if I had been hit with a force field. I think I muttered, “boy, she has too much energy.”

Every so often, someone takes something that should not work and through being all in it becomes great. She was all in. So was Misny; they are making a Misny movie I heard. From little kid to adult, we watch Casey say “fall in love with your home again, with Calvetta Brothers Floor show.” It worked on us! As for Zero is my hero…well I remembered it. I’m not sure it’s that well known but he believes it. I actually don’t even know what it means.

Chester is enjoying our somewhat less miserable weather and walking in parks. He doesn’t usually love the rain, but he doesn’t hate it either. He’s figured out another way to get treats from John—he finishes his dinner then herds John into the kitchen to show him the empty bowl. That dog may look goofy but he’s smart. If I say, “Did you finish your dinner” his tail stops wagging if he did not eat it. If he did, he paws at John.

Zeus and I have come to a compromise about wake-up time. I will get up after 6:00am. If it’s before, I give him a few Greenies and shut the door. He’s pretty amazing too; he usually starts his yowling around 6:45. He still sticks his face in mine for the first ~~air raid siren~~ meow. Both animals are too smart for me. Have a good week, April showers and all that…

Overcoming bad kittie habits

I have been waging war with our tuxedo cat who has two not-so- endearing habits which I have been trying to modify. This is Zeus..

Zeus will turn 16 years old in May. When our daughter was in high school, her friend’s cat had kittens. Our older cat had just passed away and our son had written a story/poem about our second cat sitting at the front door watching for his friend. (I know, my heart sank) At about the same time (they may have conspired) our daughter asked to adopt one of Missy’s kittens. Inspired or guilted by the son’s writing, I said yes. They were all grey except for one black and white tuxedo cat with an attitude. She chose him and named him Zeus because the cat they thought was his daddy was this huge feral cat. Mom cat didn’t have access to DNA tests but if she could talk…Anyway, we brought this adorable kitten home, and the second cat loved him. Shoot, everybody loved him.

I had never had a kitten before. We bought short litter boxes and kitten food. One day I ran home from work because I was afraid he would fall into the sump pump. He didn’t. He loved to play with string toys and our son taught him to open the front door. One day our neighbor called because the door was open and nobody was home. . We all knew what happened. He was an escape artist, darting out the door if given half a chance. He used up several lives that way but thank goodness he always came back. He knew where the Greenies were. From day one, he was loud. The vet surmised he may have Siamese genes because he made such a racket in the vet’s office.

Zeus now has kidney disease. He is stable, but he has decided that I have to waken at 7:00am give or take 10 minutes, no ifs ands or buts. He sticks his face right in front of mine and begins to yowl. Honestly it’s comparable to a fire alarm.

This morning he tried to get me up at 5:30 so I gave him a bunch of Greenies and shut the door. Usually I don’t mind getting up but I was tired and ended up sleeping until 8:30. It was loverly.

my husband celebrated baseball with this photo of our major league cat team a few years ago. Go Guardians!

Zeus’ second habit has been to walk back and forth on my keyboard. I pet him which is probably reinforcing, but it’s OK, I love him and take advantage of pet time while I still can. The thing is, I have been doing some song arranging and when he steps on something it is harder to fix. I bought this shoe rest from Ikea for the handbells, and I had the bright notion to put it over my keyboard.

It worked! It dissuaded him until he gave up and went to sleep on the cat tree. Then I moved it because the only issue is not being able to see the screen with metal squares in front of it. I think we have a winner here. He still can walk behind it, just not on the keyboard.

I gave Zeus some extra greenies today since it’s Fat Tuesday. I suppose I shouldn’t use the word fat, but since I am fat I think I’ve earned it. This is how I earned it…

Here in Cleveland we have a strong Paczki community. People line up for miles. Just like they line up for corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day and Christmas Ale in October, or is it September? Probably August. I don’t even like jelly donuts, but similar to egg nog, peeps, and roasted pumpkin seeds, I will force myself to eat one for the holiday (I’m just kidding, I love all of these except for peeps, but I still choke down one peep on Easter.)

Have a good week, spring is on the way! Here are a couple pictures from Chester’s last walk. It was really nice. Too bad it’s supposed to rain today and tomorrow (or snow, who knows?)

You never know what you’re going to find when the snow melts!

Odds and ends on a rainy Friday

We are at status quo here, so other than one quick rant about the rain, this will be a post of happy odds and ends.

In our relatively small town lies a huge treasure. This pipe organ sits majestically in the Painesville Methodist Church.

I am told they have great organists in the church. This time, a nationally known organist, Tom Trenney, performed a concert last Friday evening. He grew up in the church, then moved on to great success. The concert was wonderful. It occurred to me that while the organ remains silent for most of its life, it can roar to life when someone is brave enough to ask it to perform. It was hard to believe that a little man sitting at a keyboard could command that power. Kind of like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain, except no fakery. I was lucky to hear something like this—extraordinary things can be found in small places.

Another extraordinary thing I noticed was the beauty of tulips this spring.

This is at Perry Methodist Church, where our bell choir plays. Someone went to a lot of work in the fall, and voila, it came to fruition. My husband has a soft spot for tulips, and while we planted a lot, many got displaced or eaten.

I’m not sure how the church ones escaped being digested by neer-to-do-well critters. There’s a certain bit of faith involved in planting bulbs I guess. The people planted them not knowing what would happen or if they would even see the result. In this case they bloomed into beautiful flowers.

While walking Chester I saw the biggest dandelion pod ever.

I admire dandelions and other wildflowers. I think they are pretty but many don’t like them. Yet just like squirrels and bird feeders, you can wage war but you will likely lose. Their tenacity causes me to respect the lowly dandelion. Remember putting it by your chin to see if you like butter? Maybe that was an Ohio thing…

I raked out my corner garden, leaving leaves in the grass before my husband mulched them with the lawn mower. Chester decided that he must roll on the grass where they were. Of course, being a true pet parent, my husband pulled out his camera.

I cringe when thinking of what Chester must smell and be rolling in. He’s a hound. But a happy hound! He was especially happy because our grandson bought him a toy. Or rather, since he is only 4 years old, he told me “I want to buy Chester a toy” and I bought it.

Chester loved it for all of about 10 minutes until he dissected it, removed the squeaker, and pulled out all the stuffing. I did not take a picture of the mess because I was afraid the grandson would see it and be traumatized. Needless to say, Chester was a very happy boy.

This weekend is Mother’s Day. I am OK with Mother’s Day. Motherhood is messy, as is fatherhood. I enjoyed having children—the child years were the best of my life. I am loving being a grandma too. Part of me enjoys the independence of not having children rely on me. Another part gets mad when they don’t answer my calls. Another part sees how hard my daughter in law works and manages the boys; she deserves a day of recognition. (lots of energy in those boys!! ditto for Father’s Day) Another part doesn’t want them to go to any trouble for me. So you see, I am full of parts! I usually just go with the flow because any time they call or we get together I enjoy it. I know my husband is making me eggs because he asked me if I would eat a poached egg. I said no. I’m sure it would be delicious, he’s a good cook. But…still no.

Truth be told, I have pets relying on me and that’s almost like children. People call them “fur babies.” That’s pushing my saccharine level a little high. I cringe but I do get it. This morning Milo ate some treats then hopped on my lap. He rubbed his treat-smelly face on my chin so I rubbed my chin back on his head. If you have kids, did you ever have one wipe his/her nose on your pants? Even if it wasn’t your kid? Yeah….now it’s a cat. I tried to take a selfie of this expression of cat love but he wouldn’t do it with the camera watching. Instead he looks all handsome. He’s a hound too. Ignore the messy hair, I’m trying to see if it will curl if I don’t blow it dry. Looks promising.

I guess that’s all of my odds and ends for the week. I am starting a new project and will tell you about it soon. I was hoping for this week, but not yet. Have a wonderful weekend!

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