September Song of 2006, Second Verse

Rain the Size of Mothballs

This afternoon the sky's bladder burst. The cloud dumped buckets of water on Oregon City as the season's schizophrenic weather continued to careen along on its psychotic path.

"Clouds of gray have silver linings
When they're reversed
I found your love, and
That's when the old gray cloud burst"
-Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
(from Cloudburst)

Then down came frozen rain the size of mothballs

that pelted the car in the driveway and produced a hypnotic percussive sound. The swooshing of the rain evoked the sound of the drum brushes they sometimes use in tympanis.

And from the sky
Come the Lord and the lightnin'
-Laura Nyro
(from Stoned Soul Picnic)

A thundrous roar caused Maggie to bark aggressively. This worked well because the noise stopped almost immediately.

Powerful woman, that Maggie.

So how were we supposed to get out to walk? In my indolence, it was just the excuse I needed. I would have gladly sat on my butt and done nothing except read, waste time on the computer, or daydream and be grateful for a roof over my head that does not leak (yet).

Within a quarter of an hour, it was quiet; the rain had subsided and we would gear up for "the minimum"-- a walk around the neighborhood.

I had more nefarious plans, though, for our return. The Dremel tool's battery sat charging in the socket for the planned assault on M and G's nails, lest they become Freddy Krueger-esque. . . I am not a fan of horror movies.

I hate deceiving these two even as I leashed them up fully cognizent that the minute we returned, I'd incarcerate one dog while I sanded down the other's nails. I assuage my guilty feelings by rationalizing that if the nails are cooler and wetter, the friction won't be so unbearable to them-- or to me. That and the avoidance of the nails growing grotequely back into their pads.

We had copped the only twenty minutes of the afternoon when the clouds parted, Red Sea-style, for our benefit and managed to get in the door nanoseconds before the downpour resumed. We were The Chosen Organisms!

I escorted--okay, dragged --Geordie to the crate on leash with Maggie in arms. Sitting on the couch, I applied the grinder to her nails. The process went faster than usual because her resistance was less-than-usual. Only twice did she attempt to cover the paw that was being worked on with the other and turn her head away in horror like a Victorian maiden suffering from "the vapors," whatever the hell "the vapors" are. Then she was free and cavorting in a way that only the catharsis of having it over and done with can bring. And a treat. Whitefish and sweet potato!

Geordie resisted only slightly during his tenure on the "hot seat," but the raw buffness packed into his seventeen pounds provided me with a bit of an upper body workout myself.

Upon release, he did a three-sixty and ran back and forth, amazing me with how well his brakes work in a room that is maybe 150 square feet.

Prompted by the muffled sound of precipitation, I glanced out the window again and sure enough, the rain had resumed. Then the heavens spewed hail the size of Tic-Tacs (but not the shape, as far as I could tell).

Only one day earlier, it had been hot again-- this time without that exhilarating nip of Indian Summer that makes all feel right in the world. The heat doesn't agree with Maggie and Geordie's Scottish blood as much as the chill that winds them up like mechanical toys and causes them to sprint along the burnished hued, maple-leafed paths in for me to enjoy. I am hoping for more of those days and fewer deluges.

After all rain is for Oregon winters-- inappropriate until after Halloween at least.

"And the seasons they go round and round. . ."
-Joni Mitchell

"Ever captive on the carousel of time,"

Jill. Geord.Mag.

Cairn Terrier Puppy Prone
Joywood Geordie's Caper waiting to spring into action. "Caper" is owned and loved by Sandy and Ken Danielson of Portland, OR.

Holy Terrier Dog Designs

L'Shanah Tovah

Happy Jewish New Year. May the Year 5767 it bring peace and renewal to all the people of the world!

Jewish Cairn Terrier?
So you thought there were no such things as Scottish Jews? Cairn Terriers of the Hebraic persuasion? Converts are often the most enthusiastic of all. I still haven't told him about the BRIS!
From Holy Terrier Dog Designs

L'Shanah Tovah,
Jill, Manya, G

"When Your Get Up and Go Has Got Up and Went. . ." (09/24/06)

. . . in the lyrics of Pete Seeger of the great folk group, the Weavers. . .

How do you know
That your youth is all spent?
My Get-up-and-Go
Has "got up and went. ."

Those of you who know me well know how hard it is for me not to correct went to the grammatically correct gone. This song appears on a reunion album recorded shortly before the death of the oldest member of this legendary folk group, Lee Hays who sang some verses in that true unpretentious bass of his.

Wikipedia Trivia: the 1982 documentary The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time inspired the 2003 mocumentary film A Mighty Wind.

During the late 40s and 50s, the Weavers frequented the Greenwich Village coffeehouse that served espresso eons before Starbucks erupted in cities and suburbs everywhere.

Although, their commercial success was interupted by the notorious "blacklisting" by Senator Joseph McCarthy and his gang, the group would re-emerge and later play reunions shows. These inspirational musicians were the precursors of The Kingston Trio and also Peter, Paul & Mary-- and the whole folk movement that followed. (And here ends our lesson on 20th Century American Folk Music.)

You're thinking, "What has this got to do with DOGS?" Right?

Oh, yeah. It's all about AmCanInt'l CH. Topnote Theophilus, CD affectionately known as "Theo" and called "T-Man" by Vicki Havlik, a Cairn terrier breeder. She has lived with him and loved him for more than seventeen years. He didn't exactly have an easy start in life, but the years that followed have more than made up for it.

Theo, once a conformation showman himself, has seen dogs come and go. While with Vicki, he has been a good "nanny" to countless litters, has slept on her bed, and logged literally thousands miles to dog shows, Earthdog tests (at Belden Farms in Turner, OR where Cindi Marshall took these pictures, site of the Oregon Trail's End Earthdog Club's autumn tests.)

Theo's birthday was on July 29th. No one was betting that he would get to see October of 2006, and here he is. Vicki feeds him Tahitian Noni Canine Essentials.
It has literally given him "get up and go." In fact, one afternoon late this spring when he had been off it for two days, I thought that he had finally "got up and went." Twas a freaky experience I'd rather not re-have.

9/24/06

Mortified maybe describes how I felt when I saw him lying--playing possum???-- in his bed. My eyes homed in for evidence that Theo was still with us. . . His chest moved, which meant that he was still breathing! Finally I could resume my own breathing.

I mixed the Noni with some yogurt and spoonfed Theo. He began to eat. (Sigh.) Theo started to rearrange himself on his bed, which I took as a good sign.

When I returned from the bathroom, Theo had already regrouped and stood on all fours strolling (albeit stiffly) along the kitchen floor toward the water bowl.

Since then, Theo has been many places with Vicki. He has stayed with his "Aunt Bette" on Lopez Island. He also made an appearance at the Columbia River Cairn Terrier's match and festivities in July, apparently enjoying every minute of it. And this weekend, he basked in the attention, smells, and the comings and goings of life on Planet Earth(dog).

But in spite of it all I'm able to grin
And think of the places my get up has been.

Auld Lang Syne and all that Jazz,
Jill, Mag, Geord
P.S. Theo just happens to be Maggie's great uncle and her great great uncle-- and Geordie's too!