Grammys Corgi Country

Getting ready to go on a big trip for a few weeks is really a pain! I’m sure it will be fine once I get there, but I have never liked the getting ready part… trying to remember all of the things that might come up and make arrangements to cover them… Getting things cleaned, folded and packed… and for me, it is so hard to look at my dogs and horses and contemplate leaving my babies for any length of time. It just really tears me up.

I’ve been around animals since I was born… My parents always had dogs… In fact, that is how they met when they were 9 years old (They were born within 6 months of each other). My dad’s little white Pomeranian went to visit my mom’s little dog. They became friends, and he would go over at 4 in the morning to help her chop wood and get their stove going so she could make the tortillas for the day, and she would give him some for his family too. That was in 1929 and the early 30’s, when food was scarce for a family whose father had died of pneumonia 3 years earlier.

They always had dogs, and got my first dog for me when I was 6 months old. She was a little half-dead Chihuahua/Doxie mix. They got her fixed up and I had my Bootsie until she passed when I was 11. By that time, I also had a german shepherd and one of Bootsie’s pups, Bootie, while my mom had her dog, and my dad has his.

Over the years, my dad brought home all sorts of other animals as well. We had rats, and snakes… rabbits, raccoons, a skunk, and a raven (from the time when he was a featherless nestling until he passed at the age of 25 years old) among many others. He was able to get me a horse for me for my 11th birthday, and helped me train her and learn to ride. He taught me to go to the older people at the stables where we kept my Ladybug, and to listen to the older, experienced horsemen to learn about horses… their handling, care, and training.

Anyway, the only time I haven’t been around dogs is during the time I was in Bible College for a couple of years, and then I had a big stuffed dog that I kept in my dorm room to hug and pet. I believe that is one reason I’ve always had really good blood pressure… Researchers have proven that having a pet and just sitting there stroking it helps people to calm down, relieves stress, and lowers blood pressure. That is the main reason why more and more nursing homes are allowing animals in to visit patients… and lowered stress hormones also helps speed healing.

At least the last time I visited my son a couple of years ago, he did have a dog, so I won’t be “dogless,” and that is some consolation. (Maybe I can hide a corgi in my carryon… What do you think?)

Take some time doing something that will help you find calmness and peace today…

Today I’ve spent several hours on the web (remember I have an old, SLOOOWWWW computer) looking for some tickets so that I can fly to Florida at the end of the week. WHAT A HEADACHE!!! I’ve checked Hotwire (which I will probably go with), Orbitz, Travelocity, CheapTickets, Priceline, and several others.

Of course, I do realize that it is the last minute, and I actually found some rates that are much better than I had anticipated because of that fact. What I don’t understand is how one place has a flight that goes from a Santa Ana Airport, to a stopover in L.A. and then flies straight through to the city I need to go to in Florida for only $312, but, THE SAME PLACE says that I could get a flight from LAX (with a stopover in Denver) for over $500!!! Does this make sense to YOU??!!

If I would have to fly to LAX anyway, and go from there to Florida WITHOUT a layover for $312, then WHY would I have to pay $200 MORE to take a flight from the SAME PLACE (LAX) and still have to do a layover? Why can’t they just get me the leg from LAX to Florida that I would get with the other flight…

Is this INSANE or what!!??!! Do I sound a little frustrated? It would take me two hours to drive to LAX and almost 5 hours to drive to the Santa Ana Airport and then fly back to LAX to go to Florida. That’s 10 hours of driving for whoever takes me as opposed to 4 hours, and that is both coming and going… You can see how it adds up.

I think I’m going to end up going through another ticket vendor and pay about $380 to fly from LAX with a layover. It really does make a difference when you shop around online, though, so if you find yourself in this type of situation, do some homework and compare prices, schedules, etc., and you might find a good bargain.

Just as a last note, we’ve had several unexpected sources of money come in with people offering to buy things, etc. that we’ve wanted to sell but hadn’t worked at selling, and getting paid my first payment from this blog when I wasn’t expecting it… and the Lord is really helping to bring this trip together, so I want to thank Him for that, and say again, if you are trying to put Him and His ways first in your life, He does take care of the rest of it for you… What a good God we have!

May you follow Him and have your needs met…

Last night I got to bed around 2:30 a.m. (I’m still trying to catch up on back emails and other stuff) and everyone else had been in bed for several hours, and were snoring their heads off… It was cold enough to be another “Three Dog Night.” Hubby has a sinus problem currently, and so, apparently, do all three corgis. I laid there for a while listening to the chorus of snores and almost got to sleep when suddenly a mouse started chewing on something in a drawer.

I was NOT happy! I REALLY didn’t feel like getting up to look for it so that it would shut up, so I laid there for another 10-15 minutes listening to the crunching get louder and louder (or so it seemed!) As I’ve mentioned before, we are surrounded by open fields so we get a lot of mice coming into the house and that is another critter war I am waging all the time. Sadie helps a lot, but she can’t catch them all, and this one really seemed to be building a condo or something in that dresser.

I finally decided to make some earplugs out of some Kleenex that I keep in my headboard, and got to sleep for a couple of hours, but when I had to get up for a bit at 5:30 a.m., and then got back to bed, that rotten little chewer was still working hard. I really hated to get up again, but prayed about it (I pray about most things lately) and felt that if I had left the big metal flashlight in the headboard above my head, and I got up right then and went and looked, I would be able to put it out of my misery.

Normally, THAT flashlight is not kept there, but after the other night without electricity, I guess that I had left it there, because I found it right where I had felt it might be, and sure enough, when I got up and went to the dresser, I heard it start chewing again, pulled open the drawer and there it was … a Humongous mouse staring up into the light. I ended up waking up poor hubby, but I stunned the little sucker and gave it to Sadie to take outside and dispatch.

It was my hubby’s dresser, and I didn’t take the time to find out what the paper was that it was doing such a good job of shredding, so I guess I’d better let him know so he can check… I know it had shredded some of the boxes of his collectible cars, so he’s not going to be a happy camper. I guess I shouldn’t have used the earplugs when I first went to bed.

Well, my DIL is still not doing well, and seems to be getting worse. I may need to fly across country to help my son soon. I hope that I will be able to keep blogging from there… Would you believe “Grammy’s NOT in Corgi Country…” or should it be “Grammy in Miami…” (Not really, Florida, yes, Miami no, but it sounds cute…)

May you win all your personal wars so easily!

Disclaimer: I do not put the ads on my blogsite, and I do not endorse those that promote unbiblical ideas.

I just came in from feeding the horses, and it is so beautiful out there!!! There is a full moon out tonight, and it is that special “perigee” moon… supposedly, the biggest of the year, because it is closer to the earth than usual. (See the following website for more info: http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20090109/sc_space/saturdaynightspecialbiggestfullmoonof2009 ) It is also very clear out here for a change. It has been so foggy for so long, that it seems even clearer than usual, I think. I didn’t even have to turn on the floodlight to be able to feed.

I would really love to be able to stay out there and just sit at the picnic table we have out in the back patio, but it is just TOO COLD!!! I know… many of you are in really cold areas of the country (or world) but, for this area, it is cold. Actually, its colder tonight BECAUSE it isn’t as foggy as it has been.

I had gone out earlier and set it up so that I just had to open a couple of the corrals to let the horses eat. I had fed them outside of the pens earlier, put their evening feed in the pens and then shut the gates so that they couldn’t reach it until I opened them. It made it a lot faster and easier tonight.

I got a new digital camera for Christmas, so have been taking pictures, and today I got a chance to download them and work on them so that I can use them when I post. It sure takes a lot of time to put 100 pictures in Photoshop, crop and resize them and adjust the brightness and contrast, but at least you should be able to see more of what’s going on out here now. Hope you’ve liked the pics I’ve been able to add the past week or so.

I want to thank all of you that have been praying for my daughter-in-law. She has double pneumonia, has had to be put back on the ventilator machine, and is being kept under heavy sedation so that she won’t keep waking up and fighting. The doctors feel that she needs total rest to have a chance to recuperate. Please continue to keep her and her family in prayer, as this is very traumatic for them.

It’s almost midnight here now, so I’d better close and get this online so I can get the pictures added to it and get it posted. Hope you are having a good weekend. May God continue to bless you…

Today I turned on the television to my favorite channel to watch the 700 Club on TBN and all I got was snow. Snow is ok… in small amounts at a time… on the ground… once or twice a winter, but I don’t like blizzard conditions on my television set! I like to watch this Christian television channel to make sure I get good stuff going into my brain, and not so much of the depressing or junk things that are on so many of the other channels. My son went up onto the roof and adjusted the antenna until we could at least watch and hear that channel until the show was over.

When we finished watching the 700 Club, he checked the rest of the stations that we usually get, and they were all a mess. Some you could see a little bit, while others were completely gone, so we (my son mostly) spent most of the day, working on our VERY old, decrepit television antenna. He has “mickey moused” it many times over the 18 years that we have lived here, but with the rust and wind bending wires, etc. we were afraid that it had decided to “bite the dust” this time.

He worked on it for almost 5 hours, and a lot of that time, I had to be standing at the door with the channel changer. I would flip through the channels, while he worked on the roof, twisting and turning the conglomeration of wiring he has been creating to bring in the “over the air” channels, and to see where the best reception was for each one, while I called up the results to him.

At one point, about half way through, he thought he had it, and came in to the living room to check some wiring and connections in here to see if maybe that was why he couldn’t get it all exactly right. While he was doing that, something happened and it all messed up again. Boy was he frustrated… (he’d already had a frustrating morning working on the truck which isn’t starting right, and finding 2 more small waterleaks.) Finally, he ended up figuring out that one of the wires in the cable had broken, and he was able to take off the bad part and rehook things up so that it works alright now.

As I mentioned in my blog of a couple of days ago, I have been thinking a lot about how important it is to be reading my Bible every day because it shines the light of God’s Truth into my life so that I can stay on a safe path. Today, I started thinking about the old antenna, and how we really haven’t paid much attention to it (like keeping the guy wires taut for proper support, etc.), so the winds have bent it back and forth over the years, and the rains have cause parts of it to rust. Because of this, something broke, and it could no longer conduct the proper signals into the television.

The Bible says in Philippians 4:8 “ whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable… if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things.” If we keep our spiritual bodies strong and in good condition by putting good things into our brains, they won’t have “broken wires” in them and we will be able to “conduct” good examples that will bring good, clear messages to those around us. I’ve mentioned before, I think that modeling good things is the best way to draw others into a better, more healthy way of thinking and, hopefully, living.

May noble, pure, lovely, and admirable things surround your lives today…

Pembroke Welsh Corgis are totally wonderful little dogs if you want a smart, brave, energetic little dog to work with. They love having something to do, and thrive on learning new things that give them a feeling of accomplishment. Because they are so smart, they can be stubborn, pushy, and get into trouble if they aren’t given things to do that keep their attention.

They are also bred to be very energetic because they were supposed to be out in the fields working with animals that they could herd all day. I think, because they were bred to work hard in cold climates, their metabolisms don’t burn fat as fast, or they would have had problems with running out of energy while working under those conditions, so being overweight can be a problem. Because they are so cute and smart, and are always trying to please, it’s easy to give too many treats, and that can cause a problem if you aren’t careful.

Many people get these little dogs because they are beautiful and small, but they don’t realize that Corgis are really BIG dogs in small bodies. They tend to bark with a BIG dog voice and use it a lot, and, unless properly trained, they have a shoulder block that can knock your feet right out from under you… They use it on herd animals sometimes when working with them.

Because they are smart, they NEED someone who is around them, interacting with them… being a fairly constant companion, stimulating them both mentally and physically. They do wonderfully well in activities like agility classes or being helper dogs because of this.

Corgis also have memories like elephants, so you have to be very careful, especially when they are young, to protect them from things that they might learn to fear. For instance, if they aren’t properly socialized, or if they are hurt or frightened by a child or a stranger, they don’t tend to forget it, and while they will totally give their heart and soul to someone they have learned to love and trust, they won’t be very friendly with anyone else… they may learn to tolerate them, but that is all.

They also need someone who will be “Alpha dog” in their lives because if you let them, they will take that spot for themselves and have a tendency to run your life. They really love to be in high places because that is one way that dogs show dominance over others. It also gives them an opportunity to see farther than when they are down on the ground, and they are as curious as a cat (as I’ve mentioned before).

This probably sounds weird, but if you get them another dog as a pet, if they have to be left alone a lot for some reason, it often helps. I don’t think a lot of people realize the responsibility they are taking on when they get a Corgi, and they really should research the breed if they are thinking about getting one… Actually, I think that is probably true for any breed they are thinking of making a part of their family.

May you have a wonderful day with the companion of your choice…

Today, I had a doctor’s appointment in the late afternoon and we got home about an hour after dark… to a completely dark house… It turns out that somehow (the electric company didn’t say) the power lines were down and it would be several hours before they got them running again. No electricity, no computer… AND, since we don’t have gas out here, NO anything else either (like a way to cook, etc.)

Of course, we have backup plans, like an emergency, battery-powered light that is plugged in at all times and automatically comes on if the power goes off. It lasts about an hour, so we had time to run around and gather up the candles, flashlights and hurricane lamps that we also keep for emergencies.

I made a quick dinner of cold sandwiches and then went out and fed the horses. The flood lights for the back were off, so for a while, I had to juggle a flashlight and the hay, but at least I HAD a flashlight and hay to feed. While I was out there, my son started to come out to help, but he got his foot caught on something and took a pretty hard fall off the step from the washroom into the enclosed patio. He got bloodied up, even through his clothes, on his arm and knee, and pulled some muscles in his calf and the back of his knee, but did come out anyway and help me feed.

We came back in, hunted up the emergency First Aid kit, got him cleaned up and then settled in the recliner chair in the living room with an ice pack on his knee and some ibuprofen to, hopefully, help keep his knee from becoming to inflamed and swollen.

Even though it was only 9:30, I went in and went to bed (Hubby had done that just after we ate, so didn’t know any of this) I turned on the light switch so that when they finally got the electricity on, it would wake me up, and that happened a little after midnight, so here I am, finally getting to type this.

It is interesting, though, because I had planned, during the drive home, to write about light tonight. We had driven past a church, on the way home, that had a message board outside that said, “Dusty Bibles lead to dirty lives.” I had been thinking about that and what Psalms 119: 104 & 105 says: “I gain understanding from your Words, therefore I hate every wrong path. Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Little did I know that I was going to get a real example of that about 45 minutes later when I got home.

It seemed to bring home to me that if God’s Word is “Light” and we don’t use it to light our life’s pathway, then we will end up falling and getting dirty and/or hurt, but if we do use it, we will have a lighted way before us and be able to go around most of the pitfalls that we come upon. One thing that I noticed though, is that a candle or lamp doesn’t light very far in front of you… just enough for a few safe steps at a time. I think I even remember a book about something like that by Stormie O’Martian called, “Just Enough Light for the Step I’m On.”

I read a blog about this very thing yesterday (See A Corgi in Southern California in my blogroll)… Do you think maybe God is trying to be sure He gets my attention on this subject? I already read my Bible daily, and have for many years, because my Mom had been an excellent example of someone who does that. One of my fondest memories is of laying in bed, listening to her read her Bible to my Dad one night. (He read, and was a brilliant man… they were just sharing this together).

Anyway, maybe I was just supposed to share these important insights with others or something, but I will definitely keep thinking about this, because God got my attention!!!

Note: You never know when an emergeny will crop up, so be prepared with flashlights (and batteries if needed… some of ours are windup), candles, First Aid Kit (kept up, not USED up already), etc.

Keep the light on in your life, so that you will walk in safe paths, and have a great day!

Getting old can be a pain … Literally… especially in the winter! Oh, that we had the wisdom, when we are young, to take care of our bodies and our health! The problem with wisdom, in most cases, is that it comes from making mistakes. There are some things that I would change if I could, and others that I know I wouldn’t have changed for anything, over the years.

I’ve ALWAYS been a big, solid female, but the sin of gluttony is one that I’ve always had trouble with. If it tastes good, then I don’t have a tendency to stop at a healthy amount. I’ve been working on that a lot more, the last several years, but that does seem to be my “prevailing” sin… at least that is what I think they call it. That might not be the right name for it, but what the word I’m looking for means, is that everyone has some kind of sin that keeps hounding them throughout their whole lives… something that they have to fight all the time to be living the way the Bible tells us that God wants us to live.

Because I’ve given in to that tendency, I now have to sow what I’ve reaped all these years in health problems (diabetes, sore feet, asthma, hip and back problems, etc.). As I’ve brought myself more and more under the health rules I should have been following, more and more of these things are clearing up, or at least improving a lot! As you can see, I’ve gotten wisdom the hard way…

One thing I wouldn’t have changed is working with horses for so many years. If you love horses and work with them for any length of time, you WILL get hurt every once in a while. Somewhere along the line, you will get stepped on, shoved down or into something, bucked off, a rope burn, etc. Even the most solid, gentle horse can get spooked by something, have another horse knock into it, get tripped, step in a hole, etc.

If you train horses, of course, it is even more likely that you will run into a problem that can cause an injury.
As you get older, some of those old injuries tend to turn into joint problems. Still, I wouldn’t trade my time with the horses I’ve known in my life (at least most of them) for anything.

A few young people talk with, and learn from, older people and they don’t have to make many of the mistakes that were made by those people who have gained wisdom with their age. Unfortunately, way to many young people now-a-days, don’t take the time, or don’t have the opportunity, to talk to the many wise older people out there. I was blessed with parents that taught me the wisdom of spending time with older people and, though I didn’t always take their advice (which is a typical young person’s way) I did learn a lot from them and didn’t have to make many of the mistakes my friends did.

Many of the friends I’ve had that are my age, look and feel much older than I do, because they “did their own thing…” and didn’t listen to their parents or other people. Many have even died for lack of wisdom. Getting old may be a pain, but it also has its joys, and the more wisdom you gain when young, the more joy you will have when you get older.

If you are a young person, find a wise older one (not ALL older people are wise…) and spend time talking to them, or, even more importantly, listening to them, about some of your questions. If you are older, make friends with a young person so that you are available IF they want to ask for advice, or so that you can model wisdom in your life for them to see… and remember, older people can sometimes learn from their young friends, too!

Well, Praise God… so far the news is pretty good for my Daughter-In-Law. She is doing much better than expected for what was going on. She is still in the Critical Care Unit, but things are starting to look up. She and their family will continue to be in the rest of the family’s prayers.

I spent quite a while on the phone keeping family members updated, because, though we live so far apart, when a problem comes up, we all pray together… Thank God for phones and email, because we’ve all been “Reaching out to touch each other…” as the old phone commercial said. This way, my oldest son can get the news and updates out without having to do it all himself when he has so much other stuff to take care of for his girls and his wife.

I don’t know about the rest of you out there, but I’ve let a lot of chores go over the holidays, and now it’s catch up time. At least now that the water is on again, I don’t have to take all the extra time to haul buckets of it to places it was needed… Take a minute and think about not having running water for a several days. It makes it very hard to do a lot of “simple”, everyday things like cleaning your hands, your body, and your dishes, not to mention flushing. You have to haul in water to do all that, and then heat the water you haul because you can’t use the water heater. It really is time consuming, if not very difficult. I am totally thankful for running water… especially HOT running water!!!

Feeding the horses and watering them also takes some time, because a couple of them are over 20 and when it is very cold, like it has been, I try to make sure they get a hot mash of wheat bran, sweet feed, carrots and alfalfa pellets everyday or two.

I give it to them with their late evening feed so it helps them to warm up a little more from the inside out, gives them the extra carbs they need to produce energy for heat, and helps keep them hydrated. Sometimes horses don’t want to drink very cold water, so the gallon or so of warm water they suck up with their mash helps with that, too.

They get about a quart of each ingredient mixed together, and then I add hot water and let it set for about ½ hour to soak the water into the grain and bran, and to cool down enough so that it is fairly warm to the touch, but not to hot when I put it into their feeders. They LOVE it!!! I just have to watch because the dogs like to sneak in a “taste test…”

Another thing that takes a lot of extra time is cutting wood for the wood stove to help keep it at least close to 60 in the house when it’s close to 30, give or take 5 degrees, outside. At least the Corgis and Sadie help with gathering up the cut pieces and bringing them in.

With all this AND getting things ready for Christmas, the chores have backed up as I mentioned before. One thing about Corgis and other dogs with heavy undercoats is that the dust bunnies breed around here like RABBITS… Wonder if that is why they are called “Dust Bunnies…” Sadie has been herding them and bringing them to me a lot lately… I wonder if she is hinting. I probably had better get out the vacuum before she starts getting hairballs again.

Well, hope that your life is getting back to normal. I’m just thankful that I have a good house, wood to cut, enough horse feed, running water, and a couple of dogs that like to earn a little extra jerky by helping me clean house.

It’s been a hard night and day, with not much sleep. My oldest son’s wife has had some health problems and yesterday, she had some major problems and has had to be put in a Critical Care Unit. They live on the other side of the country from us, so we were on the phone or praying or waiting for phone calls most of yesterday evening, last night, and today.

It is hard not to be able to be with those you love when they are having serious problems, or those they love are, and you know that they are hurting. You want to be able to see them and hug them, and help in any way you can, but sometimes it’s just not possible to actually BE there physically.

It is in times like these, that my faith in a God that loves us (my family and those I love), is a stronghold that I can take refuge in. Over the years, as I’ve grown to know Him and see His work in my life, and in my kid’s lives, I have come to know that I can trust Him to do the best for those I love. It is true that what He knows is best, isn’t always what I think would be best, but I’ve also learned to trust that He will take care of them in the ways that ARE best for them no matter what I think.

He also promised to send “The Comforter” to those of us who believe in Him and ask Jesus into their hearts, and I KNOW that He keeps His promises because there have been so many times when I have been comforted. That is my prayer now, for my son and his family… that they would know the Comforter in their lives and feel His work within them, giving them peace that passes understanding and wisdom in the decisions they and the doctors make.

I hope that you have comfort when you need it, and peace for this new day…