Charlie has become a bed stealing monster!

Hi y’all. It was another fairly boring weekend here in Wiesbaden, even though it’s a holiday weekend for us Americans. I wasn’t feeling well on Friday, and spent most of the day in bed, sleeping. Saturday and Sunday, we spent doing some chores and thinking about where we’re going to go at the end of the month, after we see Dr. Blair (our Stuttgart area dentist). It looks like we might go to Bavaria, but it’s not set in stone yet. Bill has to officially get the days off from work. But the dogs have a spot at the Hundepension, and we have our dental appointments. It’s unlikely this will be a problem.

I spent several hours making a new political parody video yesterday. It was a fairly gross, but rather funny video involving taking a dump and seagulls. If you want to see it, you can go to my YouTube channel, if you know where it is, or you can visit my main blog, where there’s a direct link. Fair warning. I am NOT a Trumper. And I think it’s funny, but you might not. 😉

I did want to share some photos of Charlie, our second Kosovar rescue/street dog. He has recently discovered the wonders of our bed. Now, he thinks it’s his. I may eventually regret letting him get up there, but I have to admit, he sure is adorable. Charlie does have some “leadership issues”, though. He pleasure growls a bit, but he also barks. I’m sure he means no harm, but he needs to be reminded that our bed is not HIS bed.

And, of course, I have a couple of Noyzi, too. Noyzi is too big to get on our bed, and is a lot shyer than Charlie is. He usually comes into our room in the mornings and stands next to the bed so I can stroke his face and head and give him copious butt pats. He LOVES that. It’s hard to take pictures of him when he’s getting an affection session, though…

These dogs are the lights of our lives. They amaze us every day with their resilience and ability to communicate what they need or want. Noyzi is especially mature. He doesn’t need a lot more than walks, food, a nice bed that’s his, and some love.

I did have to kick Charlie out of Noyzi’s bed the other night, because he was trying to claim it. Noyzi’s bed is actually plenty big enough for both of them to fit in it, but Noyzi isn’t wanting to share. Charlie has several of his own beds, anyway, that used to belong to our departed beagles, Zane and Arran, who were more his size. But Noyzi is much too polite to make Charlie move, so I had to do it for him. He doesn’t like to fight. Charlie, on the other hand, is a real scrapper. He reminds me a lot of Arran. I wonder if Arran grudgingly sent him to us. 😉

I don’t know what we’ll do today. I know Bill has big plans to buy dog food, so there is that. It’s sad, because there was a time when a long weekend would mean a trip somewhere. But now that we’ve been here for so long, we use them to get things done. At least we have something planned for the end of the month.

Charlie and Noyzi

Bumper cars, Brats, Beer, and Bill… Dorfplatzfest 2024!

Bill came home from the United States on Wednesday. He has to leave again for Stuttgart tomorrow. However, he was around this weekend, and we were able to attend Breckenheim’s annual Dorfplatzfest, which is a fun event that celebrates our little suburb of Wiesbaden. Since we didn’t have anything else to do, we went to the Fest on Friday and Saturday nights.

The first night, there was live music provided by a local band featuring none other than our neighbor, Dr. Blendinger, the veterinarian who, along with his veterinarian wife, owns the veterinary clinic where we take our dogs. Dr. Blendinger is also a singer-songwriter and guitar player. He wrote a song about Breckenheim, which he sings every year. There’s a snippet of it in the video below.

I’m kind of glad we don’t live closer to the Dorfplatz. It’s probably annoying when there’s a Fest and you don’t feel like a party…

There were brats being fried on the grill, as well as a wine stand, and a stand for beer drinkers and teetotalers. Yesterday, there were even a couple of bumper cars for the kids! I was surprised to see that!

We enjoyed yesterday more than Friday night, because we ran into an American couple who were housesitting for another American couple we know who are on vacation. It was fun chatting with Americans, especially since this is their first time in Europe. We brought Noyzi and Charlie with us yesterday, mainly because they blocked the door and wouldn’t let us go without them. Noyzi gets nervous at events, but he also loves going to them, and meeting new people. Charlie had no problem at all fitting in and was charming everybody he met!

Below are some photos from the event. We were blessed with decent weather, although we did have a few rain clouds last night. Next weekend, Wiesbaden Wine Week starts. That will be a lot of fun!

I also swabbed Charlie’s mouth for an Embark DNA test. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s got anything in him besides Eastern European Village Dog, like Noyzi.

I will try to hang in there this week, while Bill is gone again. When he comes back, we can plan in earnest for our long anticipated trip to Iceland at the end of the month! I like August better already.

Iceland, United States

Charlie’s first week as a Deutscher Dog…

As of today, our new rescue dog, Charlie, has been here for a week. Charlie has been spending his first week in Germany with Noyzi and me, because Bill had to go to the States on business. He was in Texas for a few days, and now he’s in Utah with his mom, visiting his daughter, son-in-law and their four children.

This is a pretty special visit for Bill and his mom, because they had little to do with Bill’s daughter or her older sister after Bill divorced their mother in 2000. His absence in their lives was not because Bill didn’t want to be their dad. It was because their mother decided to punish him by alienating the children and telling them multiple lies about him and the nature of their divorce. Through it all, Bill faithfully paid $2550 a month– $850 each for his daughters, and $850 for his ex stepson, who was also estranged from his father, who didn’t pay child support. Ex also has two more children with her third husband.

Maybe it seems wrong for me to mention this stuff on my travel blog, but I never miss the chance to have Bill’s back. People love to blame men when marriages fall apart. It pisses me off that his ex wife denied him access to his children, especially since I would have loved to have been able to have children with him. That couldn’t happen, though, for a few reasons. So here I sit… a dog mom to many and barely qualifying as a stepmom. I have only met Bill’s daughters in person once, and that was in 2003. The older one is still estranged, but the younger one came around a few years ago. Fortunately, she’s a lot like Bill. It’s a pleasure to know her, if only by courtesy of the Internet.

I decided I didn’t want to go to the States with Bill on this trip. I had a few reasons for not going. First, and foremost, I really felt like Bill needed more time to bond with his daughter without me around. He saw her last in March 2020, just as COVID-19 was messing up the world. That visit was just for two nights; it was the first time they’d seen each other in person since 2004. Just after he came home from that trip, everything shut down. Since then, she’s had two more children and moved to a new home.

I also wanted Bill’s mom to visit her. She lives in Texas, and hasn’t seen Bill’s kids since the late 1990s. Bill’s ex wife despises her, and cut her out of the girls’ lives in favor of Bill’s dad and stepmother. So this trip is the first time my mother-in-law is able to see her younger granddaughter in about 25 years. I thought it would be best, given that the trip would be pretty short, that they have some time together.

There’s also a much more selfish reason why I didn’t go. I didn’t want to sit on a plane for many hours just to sit in Killeen, Texas all week. I haven’t been to the USA since November 2014, and I want my first trip back there to be about seeing people I love. I don’t love Texas, even though I still vote there. My decision to stay in Germany turned out to be a good thing, given the recent computer SNAFUs in the US. Bill ended up being stuck in Detroit for hours after he landed in the United States. I’m glad I wasn’t involved with that.

My decision to stay home also means that I can be here with Noyzi and Charlie. It saves us money, and helps Charlie assimilate. However, Charlie really hasn’t needed any help assimilating. He’s fit right in and, aside from a few marking episodes, he’s even managed to be about 95 percent potty trained. He’s picked a spot to sleep in, and is now even using the expensive dog bed we bought in Jettingen for Zane and Arran that barely got used.

Charlie is quiet, cute, enthusiastic, and always super friendly. He was even adorable a few nights ago, when he slipped out the front door and started running down to my neighbors’ row houses. Fortunately, those houses are fused together, so I managed to corner him before he slipped through a crack in a fence near their garage. I wasn’t wearing shoes or street clothes when this happened, but luckily no one was any the wiser.

None of my neighbors have met Charlie yet, and he doesn’t yet have his Tasso tag. It could have been a real disaster if he’d gotten away. Somehow, I think he would have found his way back, though. He’s a street dog, and they are smart and resilient. He wasn’t scared or trying to escape. He was just curious and wanting to explore.

Every day, we’ve taken walks around the neighborhood. He’s getting to know his new environment, and he and Noyzi seem to get along fine. They aren’t total buddies, but they don’t fight or bother each other. Noyzi stays in his room, and Charlie hangs out in my office. I can’t believe he’s only been here a week. It feels like he’s been here a lot longer.

There have been a few very short play sessions. I think Noyzi’s getting a little arthritic, though. He’s been a little gimpy all week, although he does seem to be slightly better than he was a few days ago. We’re going to have him examined by the vet, probably at the same time we get Charlie checked in with a well visit.

My big plan for today involves going to the grocery store. I don’t often go, as Bill usually picks up stuff on his way home from work. So, even though I can walk to the store from our house, going there still manages to be kind of a production. I’ve really fallen into a pretty boring lifestyle lately… It’s kind of stormy and rainy today, anyway.

The good news is, we now have firm plans for Iceland. Bill has already wired the money for our bespoke tour with Iceland Luxury Tours. I booked business class seats on Icelandair a few days ago. So, from August 29-September 7, we’ll be visiting a place I’ve never seen, and Bill only got to see on a very short business trip in 2008. The trip is paid for, and we’re just waiting for the big day to arrive!

I thought about flying on Lufthansa, so we could score more frequent flyer points, but the flights available were significantly more expensive and operated at a less optimal time. Icelandair isn’t in the same rewards system Lufthansa is… but the good news is, it is in Air France’s program. And although I’m in Air France’s reward program, I don’t have any points! It’s been ten years since I last flew on Air France– and that was to go home to Virginia for my dad’s memorial service. So here’s a chance to try a new airline to me, and to score some Flying Blue points.

I’m really looking forward to seeing Iceland. I’m sure it will be enchanting! I can’t wait to take and share the photos. I also have a feeling I’m going to enjoy the people. This tour is costing a bundle, but so far, it’s not as expensive as last year’s Scandinavian extravaganza… That was a longer trip with more people, but less personal attention than what we’ll be getting in Iceland. The tour company gets really outstanding reviews, so I’m sure we’ll be in good hands!

Well… that about does it for today’s post. I look forward to later in the day, when Bill wakes up and tells me about his first day seeing his family. I look forward to hearing from his mom, too. I’m sure she is absolutely delighted!

Edited to add: After I went to the store, I took the boys for a walk, and they met Isabel, our very young and pretty neighbor. Noyzi absolutely ADORES Isabel, and Charlie was happy to meet her, too.

Hessen

Noyzi the YouTube star… now starring as a “tramp”!

My “street dog”, Noyzi from Kosovo, sitting on the rug next to my computer, striking a pose…

First thing’s first. I’m happy to report that my left eye is back to normal now. It only took a few days, rather than the couple of weeks predicted in the articles and videos on the subject of subconjunctival hemorrhages.

I was going to make one of my usual music videos yesterday, having discovered the wonderful Peggy Lee last week. Well, I shouldn’t say I “discovered” her, per se… I had heard of her. I just never bought much of her music and listened to it intently. That changed last week, when I covered her version of “Blue Moon”, a song I never really had much affection for, until I heard Peggy do it.

One of the three songs I did last week… I ended up buying a big a Peggy Lee album.

After I did a version of Peggy Lee’s cover of “Blue Moon”, I came across her song “He’s a Tramp”, from Lady and the Tramp. I haven’t seen that move in decades, but I am a committed dog lover, and I loved Peggy’s sultry purr. I decided to try it yesterday… and since my eye was only about 90% healed, I had Noyzi from Kosovo star in the video. I happened to have a few candid Noyzi clips from around the house… I thought it would be easy to throw them in a movie made on my new computer. Well… I was wrong. But I did manage to make the video on my older laptop. Below is the end result.

There’s a long instrumental intro… but it’s a short video.

It was sheer luck that his wiggly butt matched the tempo of the song. It was hard to manipulate the clips on the laptop, since I don’t have a magic mouse for it. I need to research how to fix the settings on my computer so I don’t have the same issue adding clips to my videos on the desktop machine in the future. I think it has something to do with permissions. Whatever it is, it’s a highly annoying problem, especially when I just want to make a quick video without a lot of fuss. I wish I were more of a technical guru.

Here’s a fun factoid. Noyzi loves watching videos, especially if they have any type of animal in it. He will watch animals of any species whatsoever, but he especially likes watching other dogs. When I played the animated version of “He’s a Tramp” just to hear how Peggy Lee did it, Noyzi came in and stood next to me. He was watching the video of Peg, the shelter dog, singing about the Tramp who broke doggy hearts with no compunction.

I wouldn’t say our Noyzi is really a “tramp”. He’s actually the best behaved dog we’ve ever had, in spite of his being a “street dog”. He’s clean and very quiet, and never has accidents in the house. He doesn’t get into the trash or break into the basement. Most of the time, I barely know he’s here. He loves people, car rides, other dogs, and seeing and doing new things, and he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. I just thought his cute little tail wag would be perfect for that song! And it gave me an excuse not to put on makeup for my weekly music video.

By the way… my guitar playing is coming along. I might even be ready to do a guitar video soon. I just have to iron out some technical issues first.

Hessen

Arran’s second round of German style chemo… So far, so good!

As I wrote on my main blog yesterday, I was kind of dreading yesterday. When we still had Zane, I took him to the vet all the time for allergy shots. It got to be quite a grind, which I found kind of nervewracking. That was when we still lived near Stuttgart, and our vet was a several miles away. It wasn’t a big deal to drive there, obviously, though I don’t do a lot of driving anymore. I’m not sure why I’m like this now. Before I got married, I used to drive all the time. But then I got sucked into this stay at home wife gig, and I don’t get out much anymore. It’s not because I can’t go out, though… more like I choose not to. So, having to drive Arran the very short (even shorter) distance to the vet is kind of anxiety producing, especially in the COVID era.

I made a point of not getting to the vet too early yesterday. Noyzi demanded a walk, so I gave them one. Then I put Arran in his “seatbelt” harness and loaded him into the Volvo. Ordinarily, I would have driven my Mini, but it’s parked in the garage, and accessing it would mean moving the Volvo out of the driveway and getting my car out. And while Arran fits fine in the tiny back seat, getting him in the car when he’s mobility challenged, and there are only two doors, isn’t that easy. It’s a lot simpler to put him in the Volvo, since he doesn’t have to crawl over the driver’s seat to get in the backseat. I no longer have the upper body strength to simply drop the top and put him over the car door. There’s also a concrete barrier on our driveway that makes it harder to access the backseat.

We got to the vet at about fifteen minutes before our 11:00am appointment. I picked up a beeper from the receptionist and sat in the car with Arran until it went off. It was noticeably chillier this week than it was last week, although the skies were as overcast. Arran slowly ambled into Haus B, a part of the vet clinic I had never been in before. Arran’s regular vet wasn’t in this week, so another vet gave him his treatment. I liked her. Weirdly enough, she kind of reminded me of Mick Jagger. No, not necessarily because of her looks, but more in the way she carried herself. And her face and coloring bears a slight resemblance to his. I know that’s a weird observation, but I don’t mean it as a put down. I think Mick Jagger is an amazing force of nature! Anyway, she seemed somewhat easier to talk to, and less rushed. I don’t really know the vets at our office well, because Bill is the one who usually takes the dogs. But since Arran is getting chemo, I guess I’ll be getting to know them better.

The vet drew some blood to make sure Arran would be medically able to tolerate the chemo. After a few minutes, she showed me the results. Arran’s red blood cell count is still low, but his reticulocytes– immature red blood cells– are on the rise. That means that his body is responding to the anemia and making more red blood cells. In the meantime, “young” cells are being released into his bloodstream. This is a good finding, because it means that his bone marrow is still functioning and trying to repair itself. If there weren’t more reticulocytes being released, that would mean his body wasn’t responding and had “given up”– aplastic anemia. I’m sure in the short term, it would mean he’d need a blood transfusion and in the slightly longer term, it would mean he was on his way to the Rainbow Bridge.

After the happy news that Arran’s regular vet’s fear that his bone marrow was irreparably damaged (she had communicated this in an email to Bill) was incorrect, Arran got his second IV push of Vincristine. Haus B is a slightly less “house like” environment than the main office is, so I sat in an area next to a window and watched as many people brought their dogs for treatment. Dr. Konrad Blendinger, the man who, with his veterinarian wife, owns the practice is a vet who does highly specialized reproductive medicine for dogs. He mostly only sees dogs who are being bred, and it looked like some of his patients were waiting for him yesterday in Haus B. It was the first time I’d ever seen him in person, although I have seen him performing music in locally produced videos. I’ve noticed that part of German culture is having hobbies, and music is apparently one of his! We have that in common.

Arran was pretty calm during the chemo. He laid on his side and took the drugs like a champ, only managed to pull the cap off the port, which wasn’t a big deal. The female “Jagger” vet expressed mock dismay, then covered up the port until she was ready to administer the medication. After an hour or so, we were finished, and I loaded Arran into the car, asked for a bill (which wasn’t yet ready), and drove home. Bill came home a few hours later, and they had a lovely reunion!

The dogs were so happy to see Bill, as was I!

Arran has responded very well to the treatment so far. His lymph nodes have gone down; he’s stopped coughing and gasping; his poops are mostly very normal; and he’s eating like an Olympic athlete. He still can’t jump on the bed, but he clearly feels much better. We still don’t know how much this will cost, but it’s been so nice to see Arran behaving more like himself. To be very honest, I think if we hadn’t started treatment last week, he might not be here today. The disease was definitely starting to progress. My main goal was to make sure Arran wouldn’t die without Bill– his favorite person– by his side. Now, it looks like that will be what happens, but we aren’t sure when. But then, that would be true for anyone, wouldn’t it? As this week’s events in Ukraine have shown us, one never knows when death will occur.

Anyway, we’re just going to enjoy this time, and do what we can for our sweet Arran. I think this experience will teach us a lot, not just about canine cancer, but about cancer in general. The drugs he takes are the same as what many humans take when they have cancer.

Not to leave out Noyzi, below is a video I made of him reacting to The Handmaid’s Tale, as Serena had her baby. He was very curious and empathetic. Noyzi is a true gentle giant.

Noyzi is a big, sweet, Balkan goofball.

And a couple of photos of our regal Kosovar rescue, Noyzi, who is now living his best life in Germany. He sure has come a long way!

anecdotes

Another week, another impulse Facebook purchase…

Once again, thanks to the weather and COVID-19, it wasn’t a very exciting week in Deutschland. Even if the pandemic weren’t an issue, I doubt I’d want to go out and about in the gloomy weather that happens every January in this part of Europe. It’s chilly–not particularly cold, which is unusual for Germany in January– and there’s a lot of rain. We had a couple of dustings of snow, but nothing remarkable. The backyard is still a slop pit. Last night, I was cutting pieces of our felled crepe myrtle and feeding them to the fireplace, surprised by how easily they burned, despite being newly cut and not seasoned.

Our landlord usually supplies us with free firewood, but he hasn’t offered any lately and Bill hasn’t requested any. We don’t use the fireplace as often as we probably should… we both love having fires, and we haven’t been lucky enough to live in a lot of places with fireplaces. So far, I count two homes with fireplaces and one with a really awesome masonry heater. Sometimes I wish we could transport this house and its landlord to Baden-Württemberg, where we had snow more often.

Anyway, none of that is either here nor there. Today’s post is about yet another Facebook purchase I made. I don’t usually buy stuff off of Facebook, but one night, I was on the brink of falling asleep, and I saw an ad for the DryMee quick dry bath mat. I was half asleep when I made this purchase decision, and once I made it, I kind of regretted it. The mat cost about 40 euros, after all. And then I noticed how long it would take to get to me– 10 to 15 work days, I think. Why? Because it was coming all the way from China!

But the mat arrived this week, and I have to say, I am pleased with it for one major reason, which you can see by the photo above. The mat is flat and thin enough to fit under the door when it’s open. So now I don’t have to stand on a wet floor after a shower or move a mat there while I’m showering. Also, while I can’t say that the mat is absorbent as it appears to be in the video on the Facebook ad I bought it from, it IS quite absorbent and makes quick work of sucking up the water from the shower.

On the Web site where I bought this mat, it says that they’re running a “New Year’s Special” with 50 percent off the suggested price of 79,90 euros. Well, folks, I think the suggested price is bullshit, and I wouldn’t pay that much for that mat or any other mat, unless it was capable of massaging my feet or something special like that. But for what it is, and what it does, I have to admit I am satisfied. It does what we need it to do, and I am delighted that I can open and close the bathroom door without having to move it.

One thing I also have to mention… When you order stuff from other countries, sometimes you have to pay duties or customs fees. I didn’t have to pay anything for this mat, although I was prepared with some euros just in case. When I made my hasty impulse purchase, I didn’t realize this would be shipped from China. If I had known it was coming from there, I probably would not have bought it… not because I have anything against China per se, but because it takes so long for orders from China to get to us. On the other hand, as I wrote earlier on my main blog this week, I have gotten some real and honest enjoyment out of some Chinese products, like the hat pictured below.

*Yes, that is a picture of Mister Rogers with his two middle fingers raised.*

Last year, an enterprising Chinese businessperson offered this nifty hat for sale on Amazon.de. And yes, as an impulse buyer, I decided to purchase one. The hat came in handy this week after an encounter with a drunk hoodlum in our neighborhood. You can read about that incident on my main blog, as it’s not PG rated enough for this blog. Kidding about the PG rating… but not about the obnoxious uninvited visitor. I also wrote an update after some of our other neighbors posted about the intruder in our neighborhood Facebook group.

*Mister Rogers did this while singing with little kids. Clearly, he wasn’t aware that raising the middle finger is taboo.*

I like how community minded Breckenheim is. I was going to cross post that story on this blog, since it needs some love, but I decided that a lot of the people who are currently reading this blog also read the other one. So if you’re not a reader of my main blog, now’s your chance to check it out. I hope it doesn’t offend.

Noyzi the Kosovar rescue dog went to the vet for some routine vaccines. He charmed the vet with his stumpy little natural bobtail, which is always wagging. He becomes more adorable by the week, especially as he trusts Bill more and more. It really is rewarding to have him. Sometimes, a little ghost of Zane (his predecessor) comes out. But Noyzi is very much his own dog with his own personality.

Noyzi does one thing that most of our rescued hounds have never done. I think the one exception was CuCullain (CC), our very first beagle mix (with husky) rescue. That is, Noyzi will often “stand guard”. He will sit or lie next to me, facing the door. CC was a tri-colored beagle mix with bright blue eyes and a horrific husky-like undercoat that shed a lot. But he did have some of those big dog– prey oriented– traits. Sometimes, Noyzi reminds me of him. Like CC, Noyzi also doesn’t bark much, nor is he a licker. He will, however, happily plunge his nose into my ass, especially if I’m bent over. As someone who usually has beagles, this is a strange thing to get used to. All of our dogs have been too short to do such a thing.

The only other major event that came up this week is that our landlord came over to settle the Nebenkosten (other costs– water, gas, etc.) for 2021. Once again, we didn’t use as much water and trash service as we paid for, so we got about 600 euros back. And once again, I am amazed at the differences between this landlord and others we’ve had. It’s so nice to rent from someone who is fair, honest, and treats us with basic respect. I hope we can stay awhile… at least until our stocks recover from the recent plunge. I doubt that will be a problem, given the state of the world today. But I’ve also learned after years as a spouse to a military guy, sometimes Uncle Sam has other plans. Or, barring Uncle Sam’s plans, some meddlesome, narcissistic twit who doesn’t mind upending other people’s lives based on their own whims.

*Our landlord told us to just take 630 euros off our next month’s rent.*

Someday, we WILL travel again. Or we will eat in a restaurant. But for now, so ends another gloomy winter week in Deutschland… as the post Christmas blues slowly wane into the February blues.

anecdotes, emergencies

Pet pandemonium pauses our promenade!

Today is Bill’s birthday, and we have wonderful weather this morning. Yesterday, it rained most of the day, and the dogs didn’t get their walk until the afternoon. I was going to take them for a walk this morning and actually got underway. But our plans were abruptly thwarted by other people’s pets.

It started with an unusually brave white cat, who was loitering on our path. I saw the cat first, as it was big as life clinging to the wall. The cat saw Arran and Noyzi, but didn’t seem to be afraid. Cats usually run when they see my dogs, but this one was pretty defiant. He or she pinned their ears, arched their back, and probably hissed. I couldn’t tell, because Noyzi had just noticed. Arran, super hound cat buster that he is, was a bit like Barney Fife this morning. He was the last to see the white feline, who was warily watching the boys.

And then, just as I thought we might make it down the hill, along comes our neighbor dog, Tommi, the friendly Labrador. He charged up to Arran and Noyzi, completely unattended, although he was at least wearing a collar. Hot on his heels was our neighbor’s mother, a slim lady I’ll call Oma. I’m guessing she’s in her 70s. She speaks English well and is very nice, but she’s probably not strong enough to be walking a rambunctious young Lab. And, in fact, she wasn’t walking him. She had treats with her, but no leash.

Naturally, the dogs went nuts. The cat did not go nuts. I kept waiting for it to run away, but it just kept staring down the dogs. Noyzi was facing the wrong way as I tried to lead him away from the tantalizing pussycat…

The funny thing is, I have been using two regular nylon leashes and a harness with Noyzi because he’s a rescue from Kosovo and still pretty afraid of a lot of things. I attach one leash to his collar and one to his harness, in case I drop one. I might then have a prayer of stopping Noyzi before he bolts for the Autobahn.

Noyzi’s walking manners have improved a lot; he’s become much less fearful and wants to run more. Last week, on two occasions, he tried the retractable tape leash I currently use with Arran and used to use with Zane. I waited a long time to try the retractable leash with Noyzi because he’s so much bigger and stronger than were either Arran or Zane, or both of them together.

We did have some success with the tape leash last week. Noyzi seemed to get the concept of running just a little bit ahead and not charging off so fast that he pulls me over. I was going to try the tape leash again today, but a little voice in my head told me to use the two leash system instead. It might have just been sheer laziness, since I already had the nylon leashes out and ready to use.

Well… that second leash was a God send this morning, because Tommi was completely out of control! First, he greeted my dogs with boisterous jumps, crotch sniffing, and tail wags, and Noyzi, of course returned the favor. Then he ran over to some guy working on his car. Oma grabbed for Tommi’s collar, but it somehow slipped off. She finally got it back on him and started trying to drag him away, yelling at him and spanking him all the while. Tommi was not at all fazed by the corporal punishment.

Meanwhile, that damned white cat was STILL defiantly sitting there, watching everything unfold, completely unbothered! A lady with a baby carriage was about to come down the hill, but thought better of it when she saw and heard all of the commotion. Arran was braying like a seal/donkey hybrid. Noyzi was yipping excitedly, dancing around like a whirling dervish. And Tommi, who has developed a full on Labrador bark, was telling off the cat and trying to give chase. He ran behind the bushes and Oma went after him, shouting in German, trying to grab his collar.

I suddenly realized I had that second leash, so I quickly unsnapped it and handed it to Oma, who thanked me profusely as she attached it to Tommi’s collar. The whole lot of us then turned toward home, because I had worked up a sweat and wanted the dogs to calm down a bit, and Oma wanted to get Tommi back to a place where he wasn’t running amok. I also obviously needed that second leash back! Arran helpfully took a big dump at the top of the hill, so he probably feels better. Oma was showing off Tommi to a group of school kids who had heard and witnessed some of the show.

Oma explained to me that her 18 year old granddaughter (whom Noyzi LOVES) has to study for exams. And the man and the lady of the house are on vacation. Oma’s son told her not to walk Tommi because he’s so strong, but she said there’s no one else who can do it. I don’t actually think she was trying to walk him this morning. I think he snuck out of the house.

Just like his Labrador predecessor, Levi, used to do, sometimes Tommi comes over to our house. We can see him through the glass. The dogs go nuts! It might do them all well to have a play session and wear each other out a little! Tommi is very sweet, but I think he might need a trainer. But I’m not about to suggest it, because I’m sure they don’t need me to tell them that… I did notice that Oma petted Arran, who was the calmest of the lot, which is really saying something, if you know him. On the other hand, Arran is old and rather petite, so it’s not too hard to keep him in line.

Anyway, I guess that incident was a sign from God to keep using the two leash system on Noyzi for a bit longer… if only so Oma can wrangle Tommi when he gets loose! And you’ll be proud to know that I managed to get some video footage of all of this, too.

And now that I’ve cooled off and calmed down, maybe we’ll try again.

Edited to add: We just had our walk. It was much less chaotic.

holidays

Thanksgiving 2020…

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that Cem Klein Mediterrané, a local restaurant, was offering a takeout Thanksgiving deal. Bill and I were lucky enough to get to try Cem Klein in July of last year, before they changed locations. They used to be located in the Sonnenberg area of Wiesbaden. They are now at the Rheinblick German/American golf course. I guess, since they are now dealing with Americans all the time, they were prompted to offer a special pandemic deal for our Thanksgiving holiday. I noticed in their Facebook ad that they were willing to accept dollars or euros and, in fact, would not charge Americans tax on the meal.

Bill and I like to cook, but there are only two of us and we only have so much refrigerator space. We decided to try the restaurant’s deal, which included turkey, stuffing, yams, green beans wrapped in bacon, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and cranberry gravy. The price was $55 for enough food for two, and it was super easy to order, pick up and clean up afterwards. We also have leftovers. Here are some photos:

We borrowed a plastic crate for carrying everything.

Cem Klein did a fine job on this meal and the price was right! If we’re still here in 2021 and they offer another Thanksgiving deal, we may have to order it again. It was nice not to have a huge mess to clean up.

The dogs enjoyed hanging out with us all day, listening to music and drinking wine… especially Noyzi, who is slowly getting used to being a pet and being friends with Bill. Every day, more and more of his personality comes out. Yesterday, Arran decided to play fetch with his new toys. He left one unattended while he ran around the house being silly. Noyzi casually got up from his bed, picked up the toy, and put it in his bed, then snuggled up next to it. It’s such an endearing habit, watching him hoard toys as if they’re his buddies.

I really do miss getting to travel and enjoy Europe, but the weather has been pretty gloomy lately. Yesterday, it was foggy, damp, and cold all day. Bill said when he picked up our food, there were people playing golf. I don’t know how or why. It was pea soup thick yesterday! I kind of like this weather in November, though. It’s weird seeing people back home wearing shorts and t-shirts. It didn’t used to be that way, even in the South. The warmer temperatures worry me.

My German friend, Susanne, asked us if we’d ever used a Romertopf, which is a German version of a Tajine (clay pot). I had, but Bill had, and he used to own a Romertopf when he was in Germany back in the 1980s. I decided to get us a new one so we can try our hands at clay pot cooking. It arrived yesterday.

Wonder what culinary treasures we will unearth…

Anyway… that’s our Thanksgiving. It was low key and pleasant. Bill will work this morning, then take the rest of the day off. Then it’s time to prepare for Christmas, which means I’ll be shopping online. Whoopee!

The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

…the wanderings and ramblings of a boring housewife…

Tag Archives: rescue dogs