Winter Update

Weather: It is said if you don’t like the weather ’round these parts, just give it a day. Sometimes, it can be mere hours. Either way, it is the end of January and we’ve not had much of a winter. I think many of us thought it would be brutal. The woolly worms I saw crossing the road were fat and black. Nearby friends count the fogs in August to correlate with how many snows we will get by April 1, and they promise three more. I guess flurries count. And how about those persimmon seeds? Surely umbrellas were found inside them this year. Then there’s Puxatawny Phil. How could I forget he will be adding his two cents to the predictions about how soon spring will arrive?

Camping/Hiking: The Kirkland household is taking the weather in stride. We are not outrunning Alzheimer’s this winter as much as we are living with Alzheimer’s. We are making our spring/summer/fall camping plans. Unfortunately, we winterized the camper early and missed an opportunity to spend Christmas in Florida. We are getting outdoors in reasonable weather, but warmer weather brings flooding, which is unreasonable weather to me. When we can’t get out to hike, I drop Jim off at Wal-Mart to walk laps. He used to do that on rainy or cold days when I was still working and he couldn’t get out with his hiking partner, Ernie, or our late chocolate lab, Lex. Now that he is no longer driving, he is at my mercy. Last week, he did laps while I went to my hairstylist for Phase 2 of the process to reveal my gray and while I was at our favorite coffee shop writing my book.

Book: The writing of my memoir about paranormal experiences, particularly about the two little girls who woke me one night, stood by my bedside and sent me an incredible message, is slow going. Procrastination is my enemy. That means I am my own worst enemy. This morning I decided to order an Ancestry DNA kit to find out if there is a genetic connection to the girls whom I have been able to finally identify and find other very interesting connections to me and my family over the last 100 years. The kit adds weeks more to the completion of the book.

Kenai: If you remember, I surprised Jim with a yellow lab/pit mix almost three months ago. Kenai has been living with a trainer full-time, training to become an Alzheimer’s Service Dog. Each month, we take his food and meds to the facility and get an update on him. After living with us one week, it was evident he had a very sweet personality and fancied himself a 65 lb. lap dog, but his power and stubbornness could be a problem. The trainer has confirmed all this. During the first month, Kenai attempted to bite him, twice.

Ryan said, “He only attempted it. I had to show him who is boss.”

I didn’t know how I felt about that. Not the “showing him who is boss”, which is necessary, but the biting. He assured me he won’t be at risk of biting and he hasn’t since.

In the second month, Kenai knows his basic commands and loves his “table”. Tables are actually wooden boxes each dog sits upon for extended periods of time. He loves his table because he doesn’t like to be told what to do. Just like me. While he begrudgingly does his “work”, he would rather sit on his table and be left alone. He is a “pouter”. When he is made to follow commands and he doesn’t want to, he looks away and wears his sulking face. Ryan and Beth assure me he is training just fine and is motivated by his food. Again, just like me.

Here’s when we really knew he was our dog. Like a kindergarten teacher telling you how sweet your child is, how they are so talented with coloring or knowing all their ABCs, we were proud of Kenai. Then, Ryan and Beth told us there is a bully in the group they are currently working with. We know about canine bullies. Lex was one, mostly because she was so protective of her family. But yes, a bully in the crowd that makes all the other dogs’ lives miserable, always barking and lurching at them like he wants to eat them up. Probably standing in his kennel plotting his next prank, as he gloats he is the best at everything. I held my breath. Oh no, had we miscalculated Kenai’s personality that much? But it wasn’t our dog. It wasn’t Kenai! I was more proud!

The next thing they told us was nothing less than Karmic. One day, Kenai walked past the bully who was carrying on as usual and peed on him. Kenai, the bully equalizer! Now, believe me, I am not promoting getting even with a bully, an eye for an eye kind of thing. I mean, if you are going to do it, do it with intellectual prowess. But I’m thinking peeing on the bully is the equivalent of canine intellectual prowess. I tried to act all ashamed my child did this, and I was hoping they remembered he’d only lived with us a week. It wasn’t like he was exuding our family values already.

“I probably would have done the same thing,” admitted Ryan.

Beth nodded. I had to agree.

So there you have it, our winter in a nutshell. Laps, writing, and puppy training updates. I can’t wait to find out about Kenai’s third month of progress, two weeks from now. Hopefully, the bully is learning his lesson, too.

Photo by Jordan on Unsplash