Window on the World

Molly staked out the window seat a long time ago and for a more comfy perch, the back of the couch by the window too.
There is not much action going on in our quiet street.
The UPS truck stops with screeching brakes , the mail man when it is almost dark, several dogs pass by taking their owners for a sniff, the neighbor has the audacity to park in his drive way and a lot of fast cars are dashing by.
The most exiting moments are a few little kids walking home from school.
And of course, there is a glimpse of Abbey.
Every time you wonder if she is still around, she puts in an appearance. She must be 20 some years old, she lives here ever since we moved into this house and this is 30 years ago.
Molly describes what is happening and the little Pomeranian hops up and down in front of the window on her hind legs and still can't see a thing.
Dad : We have to buy steps !
I say no way, the house is full.
We were looking for an easy solution and found it on the mantle.
We have a large flat wooden box with metal hinges that is occupied by a chain saw carved teddy bear.
This box was used for storing ammunition for a cannon.
We neither have the ordnance nor the cannon , but the box is a handy step up for Schatzi.
She mulled this new contraption over for a day, climbed on carefully and could not believe the big world out there. A little clumsy at first, and by the next try, Schatzi climbed on the window bench and is hooked ever since.
Jumping down needed a short lesson from Dad. Instead of flying about 6 feet and landing on her head, he showed her how to climb over the arm of the couch first ( with a trail of little cheese bites ) and then slowly hop onto the carpet.
She is a smart little girl and catches on real fast.

A big Milestone

Schatzi achieved a tremendous milestone : She ate a few little pieces of cheese out of my hand !
Big deal , you say. All the dogs I knew practically took my hand off when you don't feed them fast enough.
For a mill dog to have enough trust to take something directly from one's hand is quite a feat.
It took Schatzi more than 5 months to feel secure enough to accept a treat without fear of being mistreated.
Eating the few little bites this time were not an accident like it happened a few times before.
She loves cheese, she reached for it and instantly realized, oh boy, this is really against all rules. The next bite then already was " no way " and she turned her head away. We just have to drop it into her basket and then she would pick it up and eat it. Or she would store it and keep watch over it.
Poor Molly, if she walked too close to Schatzi's basket, she get snarled at, had to detour around the wrinkled nose, the pulled up tiny teeth and the growling.

We tried it again with the same cheese, Muenster,and later with a bit of smoked turkey.
Schatzi took it again straight out of my hand.
For Dad to feed her out of his hand, took a day longer.

What a doggie ! She must finally feel comfortable with us.

Mollie's Really Big Hunt

Just when I thought the hunting season is slowing down, the yard is filling back up again.
The fox ran away from me !
It is getting dark early by now and it is still so hot, that the door stays open longer when the AC is not on.
There was the fox waiting for dinner !
I just wanted to introduce myself and ask if he prefers kidneys or heart.
I dashed down into the yard and he impolitely raced off and escaped over the fence.
Of course I got all the credit for being such a brave dachsie , because Schatzi is not going out in the late afternoon , let alone in the dark !

Now the yard is overstocked with Wildebeest. They walk around slowly and eat all my peanut butter sandwiches. If I fly like an arrow toward them, they lift off and scatter with lot's of noise. How much fun ! Andy calls them doves, I prefer Wildebeest.

Dad hurt his ankle and hobbles around with a pair of flip flops tied to his leg. The doc called this an air cast.

Early in the morning, Schatzi wakes Dad up so we have to go out and pee. I rather stay in bed, but this one time only it was really really really worth it !
Dad hobbles into the kitchen and slides the door open.
I knew this instant something really big was going on ! I raced left,to where the bird feeders are hanging and got into my best berserk barking mode. This is even a step higher than pandemonium barking.
The big red feeder had crashed on the ground and there was a gigantic black cat rooting through the dry plants. I was in awe of the gigantic cat, when I realized, the cat was a black bear !
Schatzi is scrambling down the stairs and Dad is yelling to us, to get back into the house immediately.
The bear ambled into the big spruce and started to climb up into the tree. The squirrels up there must have been scared out of their little peanut sized brains.
The scariest thing for them are cars. They never heard of a St. Bernhard sized black bear climbing up into their condo.
The bear changed its mind and jumped down the branches with lot's of noise, breaking some in the commotion. The bear reappears on the other side of the tree and heads for the fence. He climbed over it, just when the screaming woman from the Shut up House yells, " Oh my God, we have a bear ! "
So, there was another bear, maybe the mom or another cub.
I did not see the other bear, but one was enough for an exiting adventure so early in the morning.
Can you top having a bear in your own yard ?
Hardly.

Mollie is slowing down

This weekend is the official end of the summer. Balloon Festival and BBQs !
It is about time, because I absolutely hate the heat and I am sick of the days in the 90ties and upper 80ties.
The nights are quite a bit cooler already because of the clear air and lack of humidity in the high desert.
I promised I would not complain this summer about the heat, and I did not. Hating the heat does not qualify as complaining. Good thing is, I can always retreat into the AC when it is necessary.

Schatzi is acting strange for two days already.
Andy is wearing a new khaki shirt and he is wondering , if that color might cause flash backs from her bad life in the mill.
She is barking at him , bolting out of her basket and sliding along the floor trying to get away from him. Schatzi will not be picked up and we cannot catch her without scaring her.
She races into the absolute last corner of the house, the south east corner which is full with obstacles. There is a plant stand, a very low tea cart and a doll carriage loaded with teddy bears. My desk and Mollies new bed keep everything confined.
Andy will see, if changing his outfit can calm her down.

Mollie on the other hand calmed down tremendously.
She realized that the backyard will be there in the morning again. So she happily can do tomorrow what did not get done today. Sounds like me. She can take real naps and even sits in the sun occasionally.

Especially the big game hunting lost a lot of its luster.
The squirrels don't play by the rules, they don't want to be caught. There is no need for 3 feet vertical jumps either since the squirrels heckle her from way higher up. Most of the birds left for safer grounds and even the fox rescheduled his dinner hour for when Mollie is in bed already.
Truly lazy days. I suspect, it will get more interesting in the winter again.

School started at least a week ago and Mollie is studying too.
Every time someone opens the big cupboard, she stands right there and pays attention. Oh, the fragrance ! Coffee, rice, pasta, lots of cereal boxes and the better stuff like chewies from the vet and the oh so delicious bacon filled rolled beef chewies from Brazil.
Bummer, they have been recalled because of salmonella. Last year it was doggie food from China. Mollie is a fan of Chinese food.
Mollie will study how to open the cupboard and then graduate to the really difficult course : " How to open the Fridge. "
This might take a few semesters.

Sneaking up to 5 months

It is rare to see clouds in the morning . It was just before sunrise and a big part of the eastern sky was intensely red and orange . For a few minutes it looked like the prairie was on fire.
We are sneaking up on having Schatzi 5 months already and Molli going on 6 weeks.
Schatzi sleeps in a little past 6 now, which is a relief for all of us, including Mollie. She cuddles under the blankets with Dad , mostly right in the traffic lane, where Schatzi does not see her when she hops up from the doggie stairs. Growling and yipping , Mollie sighs and might as well go out too and pee. The longer to sleep in later.
We mostly still sleep with the AC at night, hoping to have less allergies in the morning, especially Andy.
We open the window very early in the morning and Schatzi's " radio " is on. She curls up on the blanket and listens intently to all the sounds coming from the street. She is sorting out what is what : Garage door slowly rattles open, a guy on a Harley enjoys waking up the neighborhood, what ,a dinosaur roaring ? No, really a garbage truck with screeching brakes in the distance, a utility truck beeps while backing up, several dogs barking, a front end of a car scraping the drive way hump ----- her little ears are moving left and right and you can see her brain working. She cannot see anything from her listening post in bed except the sky -- a virtual theater for the ears.

Steve mowed our lawn for the last 6 weeks while Dad was gone.
Years ago, when Schnapps was defending us from anybody in a wide perimeter around the house, Steve and his wife Neicha were cutting the grass in Betty's yard.
The garage door was open just a tad, Schnapps slipped under it and bit Neicha in a heel. We had to call Andy in West Virginia and inquired about Colorado dog law. He had no idea about that particular law.
In the meantime we found out, after Clar's husband almost got his face bitten off that there are no penalties and that the Humane Society does not pursue dog bites.

Steve still has his lawn service, and now he has Buddy, who works with him. Buddy must be the biggest dog I ever met, a massive, muscular, probably Mastiff and a sweet heart. Buddy keeps Steve company and guards what ever equipment is in the truck.
When Buddy comes up on the deck, the girls go totally insane with barking, hopping up and down against the glass door, charging and yelling until they are exhausted
.
Any lawn mower noise in the area now has been associated with Buddy appearing here any second now !
Molly and Schatzi go into their mayhem performance with yipping, barking, racing around and doing their best to get all worked up. Molly flies up to the window bench without missing a step and Schatzi dashing behind her, panting and the tongue hanging out . At the window Schatzi stands on her hind legs hopping like on a trampoline, her nose as high as possible and still can't see out.
It is not Tuesday girls, Buddy is not coming.

Play ball !

Clar gave the " girls " 2 squeaky balls, one purple, one green, which are still from her little poodle's toy box.
The purple one is in higher regard than the green one, maybe because it squeaks more exited than the other one.
So we accidentally found out that Molly likes to play ball.
We have at least 4 old tennis balls in the house, plus 2 that have an X cut into them to protect the legs of an old walker. Molly never looked at the tennis balls and never looked at the dozen or so weathered ones in the backyard either.

Waldi was our tennis pro. He owned countless balls and received an endless supply from Hans, who , before knee and elbow problems, was an avid tennis player.
Waldi knew when a new shipment had arrived in the garage. Just follow the tennis smell, stand in front of the bag and summon Dad because Waldi insisted on inspecting the new equipment.
I can barely remember Waldi ever being without a ball. He barked through the ball in his mouth , he slept with more than one and laid one next to his bowl when he was eating. He even kept several in the car.
The tennis balls were strategically placed in the grass and in the rocks and Waldi knew where every one belonged. When Dad was cutting the grass, Waldi put them back.
He even worked hard to pull the balls off he walker. Occasionally he brought an icy snowy ball inside in the winter and let it dry in a small puddle.

Molly invited Andy to play with the squeaky ball ! Only problem is , she loves to catch it but does not let it go and wants to pull and tug with Andy.
Playing Tug of War with a small doggie can break or chip her teeth and can cause whip lash injuries.

Raskal, our first dachsie was an excellent ball player. He played with a bavarian team " The Leupoldsgruner Wienerle " ( small hot dogs ) and joined everyone afterwards for a beer. He loved beer and I thought, he would be smart enough to know when he had enough to drink. He was not smart enough and neither was I. He stumbled over a tiny stone edging in the grass, fell down and slept there for a while.
In Florida, beer ball games were played every evening. What a goalie he was, fast, skillful and catching every ball. Ohren however sat next to Dad , umpired and still had his little bowl of beer without having to excert himself.

In the meantime the girls expanded their repertoire of games.
They added " Body lifting " and the " Office 500 ".
Molly has the advantage when "lifting " Schatzi. The long dachsie with her short little legs, fits under Schatzi's tummy and yanks her hind legs a few inches off the floor.
The " 500 " is played in Dad's office.
A small circular track goes through the knee hole in his desk around table legs, past computer equipment , a guitar stand and other male stuff . The girls race there in tight curves at break neck speed.
They play so well together, way better than I ever hoped for.

My Dad is back home

My Dad is back for almost a week.
To be exact , just about 1/2 a day is missing from the whole week.
I almost did not recognize him. It was dark and midnight and how should I know who comes home at such an unusual hour.
Phew.... I am embarrassed, but then I am off the hook, when I heard Andy saying, that he almost did not see him at the airport because he looks grayer than when he left.
Dad said, he went to Germany.
I don't know where that is. Could be right behind the backyard, or in Arkansas. Maybe even in the airport . Many people go to the airport and come out again after a while. I suspect, Germany is in the airport too.

Molly pretended to know him, but I know way better.
We had her only one day when Dad went to Germany, so how can she remember him. She loves and kisses everybody who comes into the house, which of course I don't do . I like to inspire great fear in everybody who comes to visit. Better safe and not to be too friendly , I reserve my judgment for later. A nice sharp bark never hurts to show off my voice.
Besides, people are still impressed by my woof to make the door bell ring upstairs.

A Millie moved in down the hill a little way from us. She is an excellent barker, high pitched and barely ever quits. Their people named her "Shut up ", just like the little boy in the same house.

We went to the hair salon. I am gorgeous again, bathed, fluffed, silky hair, pretty pantaloons, a pedicure and pure white stockings. I don't know about Molly. She changed into a short hair dachsie, even the ears are short. Mom said, Molly likes to roll in the yard and picks up all kind of interesting little pieces, that always make tangles and knots. Short ear hair would be a lot easier to maintain.

Molly is very mobile. She sleeps in at least 4 places on various couches plus the window bench.
Dad wants her to be by the table when we are all sitting there.
There are 2 big baskets of course already and one upstairs - they are all mine. Rule number 1 , 2 and 3 : everything is mine. Dad went to buy a bed for Molly and I had to try it out, after the dachsie vacated it. Not bad, sooo, -- this one is mine too.
Dad bought another identical one and said : "You girls have very nice soft beds now, I will get rid of the old basket. "
Oh absolute horror ! My basket, my burg, my fortress, my bed ----- where am I supposed to be feeling safe now ? True, it falls apart because I am working on it -- but this is no reason to throw out a treasured bed ! Dad !!
After being lobbied by Andy for a whole day, my basket is back in it's place.
Everything is fine again with my world .