Common Courtesy Or Common Sense?

Redbush is heading into town again today to do some errands and to bear the traffic and the people.  Do you ever wonder what comes into people's heads sometimes, or are they just too busy to give a sh-t?  There's the driver who doesn't have more than a pinhole to get between you and the person in front of you, but, somehow manages to  sandwich- squeeze his vehicle into the spot while you slam on your brakes.  There's the person in the supermarket who races to get ahead of you in the line like it's the last place on earth, or, like he is going to gain at least 10 minutes in his heavy schedule.  Or, the person who can see that you are looking at an item, the last one on the shelf, and takes it right from under your grab.  Then we have the long lineups at a supermarket, and you're almost to the teller, and, notice that the person in front of you has one item (that's why you chose that line), but, as this person goes to put the item on the grocery belt, she waves in her friend who has two carts plumb full to push come into lineup without so much as looking at you, or " oh, I'm sorry, that was rude, I guess I should go to the end of the line. "  Then you get up at some ungodly hour to go in to get your blood test to be the first one there because you know the lineups can be long if you don't get there early.  You offer this person who gets there three-quarters of an hour after you do your seat , but they refuse only to butt in front of you when the door unlocks so that they can be  the first one at the counter.   Yesterday, Redbush waited with her pickup backed up ready to back into a spot because she could see the person was leaving and because it was a nicer wider spot for her pickup.   Redbush most often backs into spots because she finds it easier to see the parking lot this way and to see people backing out of theirs.  She was about to back in to the parking spot when a large expensive looking car whipped into the spot. Redbush slammed on her brakes  once again.  Getting out, this well-dressed older-looking b-tch looks at her, shuts the door and makes her way into the store.  Redbush had to bite her lip once again.  She looked at the man who backed out because he was still sitting there in shock shaking his head.  Does this ever happen to you?  What would you have done?  Do you have similar incidents?  Is it just common courtesy, or common sense?   Redbush is wishing you a great weekend with lots of sunshine, nice weather, and lots of  kind courteous people in your life. 

Dog Psychology?

Redbush is racking her brain trying to figure out what goes through either of her dogs' minds, but especially Bonzi in the last three months.  Bonzi, her german shepherd, has always loved his doghouses.  They have been supplied with home-made straw burlap pillows to keep him warm in the winter.  He has always used them as a refuge as well, to give him a rest from chasing squirrels, or if it's just too warm out in the summer sometimes.  He has a doghouse in the garage and outside the garage.  He is locked in the garage at night so that he doesn't have to deal with wild animals, or crazy neighbors even though the Redbush family has their 3 acres fenced. Lately, when they go to let him out  in the morning, Redbush, or her hubby notice that he doesn't seem to want anything to do with his doghouse  in the garage and just lays on the rug at the top of the steps.  Sometimes the temperatures are really cold, so this concerns Redbush because she doesn't want him to end up with arthritis if he is sleeping on a cold rug.  Redbush used to have some small space heaters that pointed at the doghouse to help keep him warm.  He has always enjoyed these in the past and felt toasty warm to the touch when Redbush ,or her hubby go to let him out in the morning.  The heaters have never been a problem to him in the past, but she wonders if they made some kind of noise that scared him.  Because Redbush and her family think that the heaters may have scared him in some way, they have removed them.  The heaters have been removed for some time now, at least 3 months, but even when Redbush encourages him to go in to his house, he almost seems to want to hide, but will go in finally, then pushes himself out just as quickly.  Redbush doesn't want to take him to a dog psychologist because she doesn't want him telling her everything, (Ha!) and she would have to pay big bucks for it!   Maybe Bonzi is just playing with Redbush's mind.  Redbush is wondering if any of you have any suggestions for her.   

Smorgasbord For Birds

Yesterday and today, Redbush has concluded that her mild weather has gone to pot.  It has become much cooler with continual falling snow.  She thinks that it will be a good day to stay inside, however, the deck and steps have a foot of snow on them, so, will need to be shoveled.  Redbush sits drinking her morning coffee, watching a variety of birds gathering outside her diningroom window.  It's unbelievable how such small bodies can flutter around without a care in the world, not freezing up in the process!  She watches them and marvels at how lucky they are to be in her yard.  

Grosbeaks, bluejays, nuthatches, chickadees, red polls, and finches are some of the birds that frequent her bird feeders.  Every month Redbush and family buy huge bags of striped sunflower seeds to fill their five bird feeder.  They also buy a large amount of fat balls to keep these birds happy throughout the winter.  They really are breaking the Redbush family!  She is sure that they all tell each other that the place to be is in this yard, so, be sure to spread the message in the bird world!   Redbush has tried making the fat balls, but unless you know what you are doing, the birds won't touch them.  Apparently if  the fat is too compact, it can actually glue the birds' beaks shut.  Her suppliers tell her that the birds must be ecstatic in Redbush's yard.  Occasionally, Redbush tries to be creative and attempts to make appetizers for them such as "Bejewelled Apples".   She hollows out an apple and fills in with small seeds, cooked rice, and rehydrated fruit.  

Magpies, nuisance birds in Redbush's yard, fly in regularly trying to pack off a fat ball from the fat ball holders and have succeeded on numerous occasions.  When spotted by Bonzi, he bounds off after them to warn them them that those fat balls are for his little bird friends, so, paws off, or rather beaks off, or maybe talons off!  He gives chase because Redbush has taught him that they are, "dirty birdies".  For all you bird lovers out there, Redbush will leave you with a recipe for treats for your birds.  She has also attempted to load a few pictures of her wild bird population.  Redbush wonders what kind of birds visit your yard?

 

Cranberry Terrine

Place a layer of rehydrated cranberries into the base of an individual oval pan.  Drape 

a length of string so that it will emerge from the top for hanging.

Pour over just enough white fat to secure berries into place.  Leave to cool.

When cool, add more melted fat to form another layer.  Cool again.  Add the next layer

of berries.  Secure with a little melted fat  Leave to set.       

Vacuum Massage

Redbush and Bonzi took a trip to the obedience practice session again last night.  Bonzi was a very good boy and listened well, but the yummy elk liver again probably had something to do with it. She didn't used to use treats with him, but, his response was, "Do you want me to sit today, or tomorrow?  Yesterday, Redbush put off doing almost everything that was needed doing in her household.  If you can't think of what needs to be done among the millions of things to do, procrastinate as usual! Around Redbush's household vacuuming is a dreaded activity at the best of times, except for one individual.  Her buddy shepherd, Bonzi, scratches at the door when he hears the vacuum and persists until she lets him in.  He then proceeds to watch Redbush vacuum and wags his tail every time she looks his way.  Bonzerelli used to run the other direction to hide as far away as he could.  Now, he simply can't believe his eyes when he watches Redbush vacuum Bonzi.  Redbush is going to attempt to load the video onto her blog. It isn't a very good attempt, but, she thought she would publish it anyway.   She hopes you understand that it's her first, because she definitely doesn't know what she is doing!  Now here goes:

Cross-country Fitness Snoops

Soooo,  Redbush is  finally getting a blog out!  Yesterday she had a lot of nice names for our beloved power company that kept the power off at their household from 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.  It screwed a lot of plans at Redbush's house.  So, consequently, she has learned that perhaps doing things such as exercising and showering should be done a lot earlier like one person Redbush knows in blogger world whose day starts often at 4:00 a.m.  Redbush used to get up at 3:55 a.m., for decades, but has gotten a lot lazier these days!  After giving up waiting, Redbush decided that her blog had to wait until today.  She and Bonzi decided to go out on the lease for Redbush to take out her cross-country skiis for the first time this year.  Redbush knows, she's getting lazier in her old age.   Actually, she is a little bit chicken, too, because the year before last she cracked her wrist, and still can feel it if she twists it wrong.  It screwed up things like racquetball, and skiing for quite some time!  On her way, she noticed large round tracks, that looked fairly fresh and knew that with cougars occasionally out back, as she said, she is getting a little more chicken. She doesn't want the cougars to spot 2 items for lunch, namely Redbush and her buddy shepherd.  Redbush is dedicating some flower pictures( an artwork, and a photo) to all the people who read her blog, and hope that your Valentine's Day was sweet!   She has also created a cheesy poem about Bonzi's and her trip to the lease!  I hope it's not too cheesy for you!  I know some of you don't have it as part of your calendar, but, what did you do with your family yesterday?  Here goes: Cross-country  Explorations

With sun beating on  bright snow, 

Ice crystals in the air.

She fits her boots into her skis,

Across the lease they dare.

We must be careful, his mistress thinks

We're out where wild animals tarry.

But ice beneath the slippery skis 

Makes Redbush even more wary. 

As Bonzi sniffs each deep snowdrift

And dark holes that appear,

He gallops on upon the path

Chasing  the scent of a deer.

A cougar's been here that's for sure

His mistress calls "Bonzi come"!

His bulby nose into the breeze,

"Don't call me, this is fun!"

It's homeward bound after an hour

A breeze sifts through the snow,

With Bonzi exploring way ahead

Stands saying "Come on, let's go!"

A coyote's smell, a squirrels chatter

It's home round the bend

Bonzi relaxes at the gate,

With hope that they will go again.

Dreaded Confrontations

I'm off to town to deal with the dealership about the oil on my pick-up seat.  The mechanic pretended to clean it, but, when I looked at it in the light, he did a poor job.  By the looks of him, though, he was ticked because I had caught him getting out of the truck with his oil-laden coveralls.  He certainly didn't apologize for the incident.  Now, I'm back to deal with the boss to see if they can do a better job.  

We leave Bonzi in the garage because our wonderful neighbors tease him silly.  They are adults, but, have quite an empty spot upstairs when it comes to thinking, or other things.  We take Bonzerelli with us because sometimes we aren't home for quite a few hours, and nature calls.

I hope you all have a great weekend in Bloggerland!

Dust Bunnies

Redbush is pulling a blank today, and after reading some of your blogs in blogland, and being a first time blogger, she realizes that she is not half as creative as some of you writing-wise.  She wonders where you come up with the ideas, photos, etc.

Today was the dreaded house-cleaning day around Redbush's house.  There should be some invention, as there are so many technical inventions these days, in which you could just push a button and all the dust bunnies, toilet cleaning etc would be automatically looked after.  Barring that, Redbush got through it, and Mr. Redbush helped with the vacuuming while Bonzi and lay on the mat and Bonzerelli lay in his dogbed fast asleep.  Bonzi has now learned that when he hears the vacuum cleaner, that if he scratches on the door he will get vacuumed too. It is quite hilarious because he doesn't want Redbush to stop once she starts.  Redbush has decided that it is better to get rid of those dust bunnies, or mites after seeing them magnified on one of the Science channels.  Yuk!   Redbush doesn't get to the vacuuming under her bed

 that often, so can just imagine the magnification!  It's been quite cool here today, although we had lots of sun.  I hope you had a warm sunny day in your part of the world.  The following is a picture of Bonzi and Bonzerelli relaxing.

    

Yearnings Of Spring

Yesterday was one of those days that  nothing seemed to go right for Redbush.  She headed into town to get the oil changed in her pick-up.  When she went in to the dealership later, and went to get into her basically brand new truck, she found oil on her seat. She then had to deal with the mechanic who had more oil on his coveralls than he put into her pick-up. He attempted to clean the oil off her seat, but when Redbush got home, she also noticed oil on the rug, so had to phone the dealership.  When she tried to log in to the internet, she had to phone her provider because it was down, apparently all over her province, and the neighboring province of B.C.  She and Mr. Redbush then went to scrub all the salt off both pick-ups wheel hubs, a grueling job!

The above made Redbush yearn for the signs of spring.  Water running in the ditches, snow melting, flowers pushing their stems through the ground, and the sun shining on some of the remaining snow patches are some of the things that Redbush is yearning for.  The following is a picture of a sign of spring taken in the neighbor's lease a year ago.  Redbush and family took Bonzi and Bonzerelli out to the lease on their quads.  She the

n later did a painting of the picture.  Can you guess wha

t made the ripples in the water? 

  

Salt-Lick Pick-up Style

Saturday night around 9:00 Mr. Redbush happened to look out the front window and noticed a huge dark figure between Redbush's pick-up and his.  He concluded that it was a  young bull moose.  Not wanting to startle him, because of the closeness of the pick-ups, Mr. Redbush waited until the moose moved to the other side of his pick-up.  It was lucky that both of Redbush's dogs were in the house, because a bark may have caused possible bends in one, or both pick-ups.  In the meantime, Redbush was fumbling around trying to get her digital camera out of its case, but it was too late.  Mr. Redbush opened the front door and yelled, "Yeaaaaaah," then gave a grunting moose call, and the bull trotted North to their favorite neighbor's.  When Mr. Redbush went out to check the pick-ups with a flashlight, he could see lick marks all over Redbush's dirty, salt-covered silver pick-up. 

The next morning, it was very evident when they checked Redbush's pick-up that he either wanted to wash it, or use it as a salt-lick!  There were very few patches on Redbush's pick-up that hadn't been licked.  Mr. Redbush's pick-up, which hadn't been out on the salted and calcium-covered roads, hadn't been touched by the moose.  Redbush and Mr. Redbush then proceeded to throw snow on Redbush's pick-up to try to get rid of the salt and the lick marks.  

The Redbush family thought that they had gotten rid of Mr. Moosekin's, but realized on Sunday night around about the same that he had come back to his salt-lick, only to find that most of the salt had been taken off.  He was then checking out Mr. Redbush's pick-up when he opened the front door and did his yell to scare him away.  Redbush and Mr. Redbush are worried that he will now start using both as a scratching post seeing as he hasn't gotten rid of his antlers yet, and there is no more salt on either pick-up.  They are considering setting up a salt-block near their favorite neighbor's.  Hey Bag Lady, maybe the moose was checking out the rancher's pick-up for the same reasons!  The mild weather has been nice, but certainly is bringing all kinds of animals to visit the Redbush house.    

Will I Pass?

Redbush is  off to obedience classes with her shepherd tonight to do more practising for the up- and- coming competion in the spring.  He starts to bounce around and do some whining when she asks him if he wants to go to practice?    Bonzi knows his stuff, but, when it comes to being there with other dogs, he is four years old, so tends to have a mind of his own at times.  At certain times, we get the teenage attitude which says, " If you want the dumbbell so badly, why don't you take it and hold it yourself."  Bonzi has had a problem with sniffing once he is in the ring, so, as he is heeling at practice, he is finding that he doesn't particularly like to have his nose pushed into the floor as Redbush and he  are moving.  He's saying, " Alright, I like to sniff, but, not that badly!"  Then on his long sits, he practically, without toppling over, just about touches the dog beside him on its long sit.  Redbush is  really working on the "Watch me," routine.  But, he is smart, and knows if his mistress is a ways away from him that he just might be able to stretch his nose out on his tippy-toes without Redbush being able to be close enough to correct him.  Hopefully they'll get where he doesn't care about the other dogs.  He is actually pretty good, Redbush just has to show more enthusiasm.  He loves it when she says "Whoohoo"  when he completes an excercise correctly.  The thing is, who's obedience class is it?  Will I pass?  So, Redbush hopes that this blog hasn't bored you too much.  What's going on in your part of the world?ld?

Off The Hook

For 3 months Redbush has been dealing with phone problems.  She has been getting call displays every 5 minutes even though the phone itself does not ring.  Redbush has called the company on numerous occasions, and they say that they have dealt with it on their end.  That is, they have changed the software, and have sent a technician out to Redbush's place.  Three different brand new phones have been sent back to the place the phone was bought at.  The managers at this place say that the phones have been tried out and they work just fine there.  Redbush has  now been told by the phone company that it has to be a problem with the phone, or a wiring problem in our house.  The last technician that came out said he had basically no idea what was going on unless it's because we live in the country and the city has a direct line through, and ours has a few different boxes to go through for our reception.  The phone company has also told us that if  they do anything with wiring, etc. that it will be our problem, and we will be billed.  Our other call displays workjust fine.  The company that they bought the phone from are reputable people, so, the family doesn't think they have been scammed! The calls that display, but don't ring have either a bunch of jumbled numbers, private, or, out of area.  The last week, Redbush has been getting calls with the caller saying, "62".  Go figure!  If anyone has a solution, or a comment, let me know.  Redbush is ready to scream!  She does pay her bills religously, by the way.

On another note, Bonzi, the shepherd has been giving her "the look", that says, "for god sakes, can't we do something?!"  Redbush's place has been a skating ring for the past week, or so because of all the mild weather, so hasn't been able to do a lot with the dogs.  Bonzi and Bonzerelli have to walk gingerly on the paths when they are out.  I'm not complaining, the weather can stay as long as it wants!  Redbush has to be careful, however, because she did crack her wrist on the ice when she went skiing with her shepherd in 2007.  It hasn't been the same since.

Eagle Sighting

Today is life-changing for Redbush and family.  They have sold their snowmobiles after snowmobiling since '75.  It was hard to do, but, Mr. Redbush has operated heavy equipment all his life and has an ear problem.  No loud noises.  I wonder what will happen to all those boom-box babies when they get older?

Redbush doesn't believe it!  Today is the second day that the bald eagle flew over her yard past her front window!  Redbush and Mr. Redbush have never seen one here before.  He was gorgeous! My only hope is that he doesn't spot the old boy, Bonzerelli when he is out on the trails.   He might be lunch!  The  only sightings they have had is either at a remote lake way back in the wilderness, or on the lease behind us that my friend and a rancher own.  Redbush and family spend much time on the lease in the summer, sometimes meeting the rancher and his wife for a beer.  Bring on summer!

   

Moose Legs

This morning while doing the dreaded exercise routine, Redbush noticed a huge figure ambling up to the chain link fence near the garage.   After hearing the shepherd bark a warning bark, the moose turned himself to walk down our driveway towards the road.  The young bull found himself strolling gingerly down the icy road showing no concern for his surroundings.  Man, does he have long legs!  It looked to Redbush as if he needed ice-protectors on his feet, he was moving so slowly.  Bonzo, our shepherd,  had barked about 4:00 A.M. to let us know that we had an intruder.  When Mr. Redbush looked out at that time, he didn't notice anything because of the dark.  It wasn't until  about 8:30 this A.M.  that he was noticed.  Mr.  Redbush noticed the mess that he made of the willows branches all over near the driveway.  They are sure that the  moose is now sleeping soundly somewhere until he finds another late-night feast of young willows. Redbush has pictures, but has to learn how to attach them seeing as this is only her second blog.

February Groundogs!

Today, the beginning of February, I can't believe the mild weather!  Redbush and Mr. Redbush threw the ball for their shepherd, Bonzie, about a million times.  The ice was, however, so bad, that he had to find a snowbank to sit in and to run in when the ball was thrown, to avoid the icy path.   Being as he is only 4-years old, he kept Redbush and Bonzie's master going for hours.  Redbush and Bonzie's master built a fire in the outdoor firepit to keep him happy chasing his toys seeing as the weather was so mild while Bonzie' s brother, a fox terrier, Bonzerelli, now almost 14 years old slept in his dogbed in the house!  A tough day in the life of a dog!  Hopefully the weather lasts!