February in pictures

Hard to believe February is wrapping up.  It went by so fast.  A few pictures with how we spent the month.  

A Play-Doh creation made by grandson (formerly known as the wee one, I'm updating his name now that he is 6 years old).  The critter is Huggy-Wuggy, a game he plays.  (Note, I don't always approve/like the games/videos he watches but I'm not his parents and I don't encourage him to do so when I'm around him).  

A cortado and a donut from a local coffee shop (see below picture for more of a description).  By the way, this is the first time hubby had a cortado and the first time I had seen it on a coffee drink menu.  I learned something new that day.  It was delicious!

Coffeeshop where we had the above coffee and donut (I actually had gotten a chai tea).  The coffeeshop is called Cultivate Coffee . We try to go there at least monthly because it is a great concept.  It is actually a 503 c or b charity (not sure which one but one of them).  It employs the marginal; i.e. immigrant, teen aging out of foster care and the like.  Here is how they describe it on their website:  "Each cup of coffee not only goes to support the vulnerable in our city financially, it also helps provide opportunities for the dignity of work and human flourishing. We strive to employ people who otherwise struggle to find work in the US, whether it’s a young adult aging out of the foster care system, a refugee seeking a safer way of life, or someone simply looking for a fresh start."

Remember the big hype a few years back about changing the names of "offensive" brands? At that time we bought the syrup (it has a LONG shelf life).  We also bought the pancake mix with the same name (it had a shorter shelf life and it aged out so to speak and we had to dispose of it).  Anyway, we bought the new name of it pancake mix as we were wanting pancakes but didn't want to go out for them.  I kind of like the old name myself.  The pancakes, regardless of the name, were delicious.  We also had to buy a griddle to make the pancakes, lol, since we had given our other griddle to son several moves ago.  It was a bit of a time since we made "homemade" pancakes.

February here had lots of warm days, though we did have 2 bouts of "cold" weather; i.e. highs of 50s in the day.  This was taken on a high 70 degree day.  There is a lizard on the brick wall (right side by the pillar).  

Grandson turned six this month! I know, hard to imagine.  He had a birthday party at a local pizza parlor (not Chucky Cheese but Peter Piper Pizza).  We bought the cake and several dozen of cupcakes for it.  He wanted a Mario cake.  The cake was a hit (I think mainly because of Mario and Luigi on their racing carts).  It was a fun time!

Winslow loves sleeping in this crate.  I originally had it out as a toy container for him as a new pup but he started laying in it.  He's outgrown it, obviously, but he still will go there first thing if you give him a dog treat or a new toy and he will sleep in it.  I guess it is security to him.

Lunch out at Wendy's with hubby the other day.  There is a Wendy's very close to where I work.  Literally across the street.  Hubby picks me up in front of my work place and we drive over there.  We have lunch, then he drops me back off.  We can do the whole process in about 30 minutes, which is my lunch time (sometimes its 32-33 minutes but on the days I have lunch with him, usually 2 times a month, I don't take a morning break just in case I go over with the time).  We both get the #1 combo, single burger with cheese, no onions.  I get a small, he gets a medium.  Fast food is not cheap anymore.  This was over 20 dollars.  

And finally, a corgi bubble.  

And that is a wrap.  

How was your February? 

Really, what time is it?

 

This is the clock that is on our kitchen wall.  It runs about 5 minutes faster than the microwave clock and the other clocks in the vicinity.  I like it that way.

The clock in my Nissan Rogue runs about 5 minutes faster than the time on my cell phone.  I like it that way.

I don't wear a watch so looking at my wrist will give me no clue what time it is.

I sometimes consider getting a Fit Bit watch (is that what they are called?) But I'm not sure I really want one to keep track of everything it does on my wrist.

I like to be on time when I'm getting somewhere or a few minutes early.

So I appreciate keeping several of my clocks faster than the normal time.  I'm always on time or at least a few minutes early.

Sometimes hubby mentions about calibrating all the clocks here so they are the same time.

I tell him "no way" because I really like the few that are running ahead of time to remain that way.

What about you?

Are your clocks all the same time?

Do you like to be on time or are you always running late?

Do you have a Fit Bit watch? Do you want one if you don't?

One thing I know without a clock or any measurable unit of time, our previous corgi, Koda, always knew when it was time to eat though his tummy ran 15 minutes earlier than the time he was meant to be fed.  He was on insulin for his diabetes and had to be fed 12 hours apart.  Often 15 minutes before time he would come by me with eagerness on his face knowing that it was getting time to eat and I would have to tell him to wait a few more minutes.

He was also good at knowing when son, at the time a teenager, was due home with curfew.  Thirty minutes before 10 p.m., his curfew on a school night, the dog would be lying by the door waiting.  

Winslow as of yet doesn't have that sense of timing. We'll see if he develops it with time.

(This post was written by looking at old pictures and trying to figure out what to write because I got nothing else :)

Happy weekend!

Call upon me

The story I'm sharing today happened back in January 2009, days before (or perhaps even the same day) as Barack Obama was sworn in for his first term.  I shared this story back then in my previous blog "A Corgi in Southern California".  I didn't go back and look at that post, but I think there is only a handful of people that were reading my blog back then who are still reading it now so for the majority of you this will be a new to you story.  I had not thought of this for years, literally, but thought about this a few weeks back and it comes to mind every now and then since then so maybe I'm meant to share it again. 

This is Koda.  A lot of you will remember him.  He was our first corgi who we lost on December 23, 2014.  He was such a good dog.  Or perhaps we just thought he was a good dog.  He endured chemo for lymphoma, had an almost 4 year remission, had diabetes, became blind, and finally we said goodbye to him after his cancer returned with a vengeance.  I still cry sometimes when I think of him.  

This is Winslow, as you all know.  We got him March 7, 2020; literally around the same time everything started closing down due to Covid.  Winslow's mom looks just like Koda.  Koda was known as a redheaded tricolored Pembroke Welsh Corgi.  You can definitely see that in his picture.  Winslow is not truly a redhead as he has black on his forehead.  

Both are handsome pups, but I think Koda shines just a little bit more in his looks.  Both are purebred, but they were polar opposites as I have written about before and won't bore you again with the details.  Both were (are) loved very much and both came to us at just the right moment when we needed the comic relief they brought (bring).  

Now on to my story.

At that time, I was the one that walked Koda in the mornings before I started work.  As I was working at home, I had more time to do so.  In the evenings, hubby and me would take him together for another walk.  

That morning, sometime in mid(ish) January I was walking Koda where we used to live in Laguna Niguel (which is really close to Laguna Beach).  OOPS.  After I posted this and thought about it, I realized I made a mistake.  It wasn't Laguna Niguel we were living in at the time but in Murietta, an inland city in Southern Caifornia, close to Temecula.  It was a cloudy cool morning.  As was my custom when I walked Koda, I would pray.  When I pray by myself, I usually pray out loud.  Not loud, but not in my head.

I was walking residential streets.  I usually took him for about a 30-45 minute walk.  As I was praying, and I remember I specifically was praying for Rick Warren (pastor from Saddleback Church) who was going to be doing the prayer before the inauguration.  

I heard a noise behind me and as I turned to look, there was a Boxer dog running towards us and starting to attack Koda.  Now, mind you, this was my first encounter with a dog like this on attack and I did not know what to do.  (My hubby later educated me on things).  I panicked and I did not know what to do.  I called out "help, help, help" but it was about 7 o'clock in the morning and the street was empty, no windows opened, no one came out.  The dog was still attacking Koda.

In my desperation I called out "Help me Jesus".  And I kid you not, but at that moment the dog stopped attacking Koda and looked ahead of where we were on the sidewalk.  I looked, thinking I would see someone coming to help us.  No.  That wasn't what the dog was looking at.

There was a black cat in the middle of the road just sitting there.  I don't know how long it was there but it wasn't there before the dog started attacking Koda because Koda would have seen it (this was before he went blind) and barked because Koda hated cats.  The dog just stood there looking at the cat.  I quickly put Koda's collar back on as it had come off during the attack and picked him up and started walking as fast as I could away from the dog.  I looked back once or twice but it was still just standing there.

I turned a corner and got to the top of a little hill that was part of the street.  Satisfied that the dog was not following us I put Koda down and called my hubby.  At the time he only worked 2 miles from where we lived so he rushed home.  By then I had made it home with Koda.

Koda did not have any visible signs of trauma.  We thought he might be a little sore but that was that.  He rested that day and was back to his usual self the next morning.

I started carrying a walking stick when walking him and would usually drive to a park where others were walking their dogs or others just walking for exercise.  I felt even if no one came to help me if Koda got attacked again, at least there would be people around who may (or may not) call the police or for other help.  I always was on guard and alert after that.  He never got attacked again while I was walking him alone but did get attacked three other times when my hubby and me were walking him together (but those are stories for another day perhaps).

To this day I truly believe with all my heart that Jesus indeed heard my prayer and sent that cat as a diversion.  

(Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.  Psalm 50:15)

Believe you me, I thanked Jesus over and over and over and over again.  He protected even a silly corgi puppy.  For that and so many other reasons, I will always trust in Him. 

January Books

In the month of January, I read 4 books.  As I am keeping track of the numbers of books read this year, I'm also doing reviews of them.  

 

The first book of the new year that I finished was The Last Letter from Your Lover by JoJo Meyers.  I understand it is a movie on Netflix, but I have yet to see it.  The book started out slow and I almost gave up on it.  If a book does not grab a hold of my attention within the first 20-30 pages, I put it aside and reach for something else to read.  There are so many good books out there and never enough time to read them all that I personally refuse to continue every book started if I am not enjoying reading it.  However, I am glad I persevered on this one because once I got in to it, it was one of those that was hard to put down.  Very interesting story told in the past and the present about love and love lost with a twist I didn't see coming at the end of the book.  It did wrap up nicely with good closure at the end.  I'll say if you are going to read it, each chapter starts with a month and year.  Keep track of those in your head.  It will help it come together sooner than later as the story does bounce around a little bit.  Highly recommend it.

The second book I read was The Secret Next Door by Rebecca Taylor.  It is a story of a young mom who wants to give her son a great upbringing in a snobby type of neighborhood with a good school but has problems doing so with the challenges of her life and her marriage.  One of the other moms featured in the book loses a child in a mysterious way which has all the other families in the area up in arms on who the killer may be.  Again, the book wrapped up pretty well at the end and the story line was plausible with a surprise in the plot I was not expecting.  I think the author could have developed her characters a bit more and perhaps wrap up a few more loose ends, but all in all it was a well written book and held my attention.  Would recommend it.

The third book was Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger.  I understand that this was her 19th book but this was the first one of hers I have read.  This book was a hardcover that I had gotten from my public library. The others I read this month were e-books I read on my tablet.  This took me about 6 weeks to complete as I only read a few pages a night before bed.  I'm not sure what my head was thinking when I checked this book out back in November-ish.  It was a really weird story line, a bit intriguing to see how it all played out.  It was dark and had an okay ending but kind of a sad tale all around.  I don't think I would recommend this.  If you did read this or any of her other books, would love your opinion about her as a writer and your thoughts about this book.  I guess I should say just a little about what the book was about.  Basically a lady meets a man through online dating and it kind of goes south after that.  Again, I just don't know what I was thinking when I got that book a few months back. 

The last book read in January was The Women in Black by Madeline St. John.  After I finished reading it, I read the "about author" section of the book and saw that she had been born in 1941 and had passed in 2006 (at the age of 64 from emphysema).  She wrote this book back in 1993; it was her first book written.  Aneta had recommended it on my last post I had written about book reviews.  It was an absolute delight of a book to read.  It isn't very long compared to the other books read this month but enjoyable story all around.  Very highly recommended.  The story involved four women who worked in a high end store in the clothing department during a 6 week holiday season.  Came to a very nice end.  Just an all around "feel good" book!

Now onto February.  I updated my Goodreads account so that would keep track of my reading and signed up for the reading challenge there, saying I would read 50 books in 2022 . I think I'll be able to achieve that goal!

Let me know if you read any of these and your thoughts and any good books you read in January!

Happy reading!