The Good Seed

Halloween is less than a week away and I still haven't finished "sampling" all the candy to offer the wee goblins that show up at my door. I abhor the thought of sharing chocolate... there are sacrifices and there are sacrifices. I have no intention of making that particular sacrifice. Chocolate is something the trick or treaters are going to get in large measure from neighbors with less discriminating palates; they don't need to get it from me. I mentioned this to the giant squid and he said...

"Last year, you gave them wrapped taffy and when they weren't looking, you stole chocolate from their Halloween bags."

Tsk. I did no such thing. And besides... I only took the chocolates that I really liked; I didn't touch the plebian stuff.

"And this year, I'm answering the door to make sure the kids actually get some chocolate."

Double tsk. I might have to put the dogs outside the front door to scare the little buggers away.

I bought Reese's peanut butter cups - for me.

I bought Hershey nuggets - for me.

I bought Butterfinger and Heath bars - for me.

I bought Babe Ruth bars - for me.

I bought ZERO bars - for me.

I bought dark chocolate bars for the giant squid.

And... I got Jujubees and gumdrops and licorice and little packets of Indian corn and brand new boxes of crayons for the little kids.

My idea of Halloween is to have a party that includes pretty trays filled with crackers and raw veggies and lots of interesting dips.

And wine.

Then, when everyone is snookered on the wine, they won't realize they're gobbling up all the veggies the giant squid buys. While they're doing that, I can eat my chocolate in peace. I tried that one year and the next day, His Holiness told me I couldn't eat chocolate in the house for a whole week.

ROFL! Uh huh. Sure, yep, whatever you say.

So... for a whole week, I ate my chocolate out on the back deck.

Last year, I ate so much chocolate pre - during - and post Halloween that when I went to the doctor for an annual checkup, the squid said he wouldn't be surprised if I tested positive for Tootsie Rolls. Tsk.

Have you ever noticed the teeth on the technicians who draw the blood? Very fang-like. I'm almost positive they're related to vampires.

The giant squid said he wouldn't mind how much chocolate I consumed if I gained a little weight. Ummm... he also mentioned I should be nicer to the dentist. The dentist is a naval officer... I live with a sailor who was a Seal. Navy dentists aren't much of a challenge and because His Holiness is an admiral, they go out of their way not to hurt me.

Yesterday, I broke down and cleaned out the downstairs hall closet. Oh boy! I counted 8 duffel bags! Some of them were full so I opened them and peeked inside. One has several nicely wrapped presents! See! Writing to Santa early really *does* pay off! I put that duffel bag right back where I found it.

Another had a stash of chocolate I forgot about - ate that.

I found a paddle in one! A paddle! That couldn't possibly be for me! I immediately took it out to the garage and chopped it up for firewood. After I did that, I wondered if that might have been the frame thingy for his tennis racket. Oh well... better to be firewood than to take a chance.

The dogs got very interested in another duffel bag. It had a stench to it that attracts the canine nose - eau du dirty socks. I dumped those in the wash. And last, I filled an extra large plastic bag with old clothes, among which were some of the giant squid's belts. I mean... how many does he really need?

I am so pleased with the prettily wrapped presents that I'm going to dash off another letter to Santa. This is a good day to do it because I've been extraordinarily good today and won't have to fudge facts. Tomorrow could be a whole other story.

~Sar~

Grumpy

His Holiness said we were going to take a few days to relax and regroup. I've been putting in long days working and evenings have been filled with making holidays plans. We're military - as a senior ranked Naval officer, the giant squid gets to do a bit of holiday hosting and even if we cater a meal, there's still a lot of planning.

I threw a few things in a duffel bag - sweats, shorts, running shoes and packed stuff for the pups. They get all excited when they see their leads and sweaters go in a bag. BullyBoy, the mastiff, can open the fridge by himself... dropped a 6-pack of Budweiser into the duffel. That dog is a lush and desperately needs Canine AA. SweetPea, a ferocious attack-trained rottweiler, slipped his "sleepy ragdoll" into the bag. I crammed it with chocolate bars and let the squid pack his own gear.

I was all prepared to leave early on a Saturday morning. I was not prepared to be awakened at 2 AM! Well, that didn't last long. As soon as we got in the car, I went back to dreamland. The squid knows the way to the ferry docks. We have a small cabin on one of the smaller islands in the San Juans and the ferry traffic that time of night is restricted to Lopez, Orcas and the larger San Juan Island. We ferry to one of those and take a charter the rest of the way. We arrived in time for breakfast and the pups and I stuffed ourselves and went back to bed so the squid could take a nap.

I really wanted to run on the beach but His Holiness said no in such an ominous tone... tsk. We waited till he was sleeping deeply and crept out of the cabin as quietly as 2 legs and 8 paws could go.

Unfortunately... the former Seal... still has good hearing and we got about 20 feet away from the cabin before I heard "SAR!"

Jeez! It's not like we were running away.

The pups whined.

I grumbled.

His Holiness muttered something unintelligible. Honestly... for a commanding officer, you'd think he could be more articulate.

A woman has to stand up for herself so when he arched a brow and pointed a finger in the direction of the cabin, I crossed my arms over my chest and arched my own brow. Ummm... I also positioned the mastiff and rottweiler in front of me...

Oy! That didn't work.

To make a long story short, the view of the surf from over his shoulder wasn't the scene I had in mind and one very well placed smack convinced me that I needed to rethink my plans. He sure gets grumpy when he's tired. I made a simple comment: "Do you smack your subordinates when you're grumpy?"

~Sigh~

Another smack and I decided not to ask any more questions. Did I say grumpy? *Really* grumpy.

The pups and I weren't interested in napping so while the squid caught up on his zzzzzz's, we polished off a few boxes of Cracker Jacks, a few Twinkies and I made up some menus for the holidays. When 'ol Grumpy finally got his act together, we took that run on the beach. We usually jog 5 miles and walk 5 miles back but the squid felt like running and since he won't let me do more than 5 miles, he carried me piggy back on the return route. I like to yell "Ride 'em Cowboy!" when he does this but apparently I'm the only one who finds this amusing. Tsk. He stayed grumpy a little while longer.

I told him if he didn't do something about his attitude I was gonna smack him good. I mean, it wasn't my idea to get up at 2 AM...

"Oh yeah?" he muttered and came after me.

Tsk.

I set the dogs on him and took off running down the beach like a bat out of hell. When he got the dogs off of him, he gave chase and tackled me on the sand and a serious tickling session and "good stuff" later, he wasn't grumpy any more.

He made pancakes and chicory coffee for lunch. I think I'll keep him.

~Sar~

Pushing limits...

I hate to say it, but I'm tired. I've been working long hours and it's finally catching up with me. I've always been high energy but even the Energizer Bunny needs a new battery once in a while. The problem is that I'm wiped out at the end of the day but having a bout of insomnia... not a good combination.

Long time readers of my web site know that I'm a fiber artist, mostly art quilts and sometimes, other art created from textiles - book covers, one-of-a-kind handbags, and soft cloth dolls to name a few. I take just a few commissions a year and spend a great deal of time creating wall art for auction. Some of those pieces are used to raise money for charitable foundations, i.e., local cancer institute, children's hospital, the tsunami relief fund, hurricane Katrina, etc.

A group of quilters here in the Pacific Northwest committed a really large number of quilts to the hurricane Katrina families and I have been working with them for several weeks. We're making simple quilts but it takes a lot of time to make so many. I have other projects going on at the same time and then there's the giant squid...

The man wants to eat EVERY day! There is no end to it! Adding insult to injury, he wants me to include vegetables in the meals! Really folks! Home cooked meals are one thing - I do like to cook and bake - but vegetables? Why couldn't he be a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy? And when he says "make something green to go with dinner," I can't understand why pickles are unacceptable... Last night I added lime sherbet for dessert... Was that appreciated? Tsk.

We foster "rescue" dogs, specializing in large breeds because they're the hardest to foster. I have BullyBoy, a Bull Mastiff, and SweetPea, a Rottweiler as personal companion dogs. Our outside pups are Tank and Panda, two more rotts. So when the Rottweiler Rescue League asked if we'd foster two rotts rescued from hurricane Katrina, we said sure. We'll keep them until their owners can be located and resettled. If, after a year, they haven't been found, we'll put them up for adoption.

They came with microchips but no name tags so I gave them temporary names - Bonnie and Clyde. Clyde has no manners... and Bonnie is a slut.

Moving right along... Clyde growled at me when I told him "no." I've been training dogs in obedience for a while now... I grabbed his muzzle, squeezed... and growled back. He won't do that again.

When I grabbed Clyde, Bonnie charged me. Tsk. I lifted my knee right into her chest. Bonnie won't do that again, either. My own pups were all over the newbies and reinforced the one and only rule I have.

Behave and eat LARGE. Misbehave and eat kibble. Very effective rule.

So why doesn't that work on me? Funny you should ask. I do most of the cooking...

His Holiness (a.k.a. the giant squid, Cowboy, the Admiral) says I'm working too hard and he wants me to scale back.

Uh huh. Sure. Right away. Aye, aye, Sir! (Rollin' me eyes.)

He says if I don't scale back soon - like starting tomorrow - I'll be standing for dinner.

Oh goody! He's taking me out to a restaurant that has a buffet!

~Sar~

P.S. Your comments are welcome.
P.P.S. There's a link back to my web site at the top of this screen over on the right. --->

Under Construction

Not sure why I'm doing this... There are moments, events, and/or mini scenes in the course of daily life that I think might turn into a snippet or other story. Some I make note of in my "working" folder; others, I simply disgard or share with a friend who *always* says "Oh! A snippet in the making!" Tsk. Some ideas simply are not story material but good enough to share. Ergo: I'm debating this blog/journal idea because the reader base on my website is made up of zealous voyeurs. For the time being, this blog is still under construction but I'll post a date beneath the link showing when I made the most recent entry.

~Sar~