Lilie The #Westie Turns Six

Hi everyone.  This is Lilie the Westie.

 

Mummy finally let me have a turn on this thing again.  She’s been hogging the computer lately, so it’s hard for me to get a turn.  Logan doesn’t even bother trying.  Then again, Logan doesn’t really do much of anything if he doesn’t have to.  Artemis does try and help me keep Mummy in line, but there’s only so much something that looks like a rock with legs can do.  That means it’s up to me to try and keep Mummy in line, which is hard work, let me tell you!

 

Anyway, I had one of those birthday things this past Sunday (March 26th) so I came on here to tell you about it, since Mummy finally let me have a turn on this thing again.

 

I got a new toy.  It’s a bear in a funny outfit.

 

Mummy says it’s the kind of outfit something called a palace guard wears.  She says the humans who wear outfits like my new bear was wearing look after someone called the royal family.  I don’t know who they are - dogs only know people we’ve seen and sniffed, after all – but Mummy says they’re important people, and being a palace guard is an important job.  I know looking after your people is an important job, so I’m sure Mummy must be right.

 

Here are a couple of photos of Mummy giving me my new bear:

 

 

I also got to have some ham for dinner.  I like ham.  Logan got a share of that, but he didn’t get a new toy.  I think he was a bit sad about not getting a new toy, but he soon forgot about that when he learned there was ham.  Logan forgets about everything else if there’s food around.  Well, almost anything.  He does still keep check on where Mummy is, because he doesn’t want her to sneak off.  But food does make Logan forget about everything else apart from Mummy.

 

Anyway, it was a great birthday!

 

And now I’m six.

 

Mummy says in one more year I’ll be considered a senior dog.  I have a lot more playing to do before I’m ready to be a senior dog though, thank you very much.  I might have to have medicine because of sore knees, and also because of my itchies, but that doesn’t stop me feeling as energetic as a puppy inside, and still having lots of playtime energy in me.  I might be six now, but I’m not feeling even close to being ready to retire to a basket by the fire just yet, thank you.

 

Lots of licks,

Lilie

The Inspection + #MothersDay And #SpringEquinox Celebrations

Sunday (March 19^th) was Mother’s Day here in the UK.

 

I’d made this scarf with a stitch pattern we did in loom knitting earlier in the month, and I thought my Mam would like it, so I planned to give it to her.  I literally only just finished it in time because of putting almost everything on hold to focus on the de-cluttering and organizing.  When I say, “literally” I mean it.  I was just weaving in the ends when she called to say she was on her way over.  Anyway, I don’t know how well you can see the ripple pattern in it because of the kind of wool I used, but here’s a photo of the finished scarf, which I had her take for me before she left with it, because I wanted to be able to post a photo to share with you.  LOL!

 

 

And here’s a photo of me holding the cuddly toy Kelly got me from the petkids.  It’s a cuddly nut that’s holding a heart that says, “nuts about you,” on it.  He thought it was cute, and I agree.  Anyway, here’s the photo:

 

 

 

*~*

 

Monday was the home inspection.

 

We moved things along as much as we could with the de-cluttering and organizing, and put what couldn’t be sorted as nicely as possible.  Clearly it was enough, since the woman from the rental agency had no issues, and left happy with how we’re taking care of the place.  There are some maintenance issues she’s going to report for us, but none of those are our fault or responsibility to deal with, so all she’s doing is saving us the trouble of getting in touch with the relevant people ourselves, which is totally fine by me.

 

Since our original plan of me taking Lilie and Logan for a playdate with Izi and Cai ended up turning in to Mam taking us for a ride-along to run some errands, the rental agency woman did briefly meet Lilie and Logan through the car window when we arrived back just as she was about to leave.  They were still strapped in the doggy carseats, but she said, “Hi,” to them, and told them they were adorable, much to Lilie’s delight (Logan seemed glad he was on the other side of the car to her, so she didn’t come too close to him).

 

Oh, and she was very glad to discover that Artemis was a tortoise and not a snake.  LOL!She’d assumed, on seeing the vivarium, that we had a snake, and was incredibly relieved to learn otherwise.  Kelly told me about it afterwards, and I have to admit I found it amusing, even while being glad for her sake that it was a tortoise and not a snake, since she clearly has a fear of them.

 

*~*

 

The actual astronomical event known as the Spring Equinox fell on Monday March 20^th 2023 at 9:24PM UK time.  However, for consistancy’s sake, Kelly and I always celebrate Ostara on March 21^st, whether the event itself occurs on the 20^th, 21^st, or 22^nd (or, as it does on very rare occasions, the 19^th) even though we do pay attention to when it actually is.  It’s just easier when none of the rest of the family celebrate it.  Besides, traditionally celebrations lasted at least from one sunset to the next, sometimes lasting for a couple of days, which some people still observe.  So, even though we do the main things on the 21st, that didn't stop me acknowledging the Equinox the on the 20th, and technically kicking off our celebrations the evening before.

 

I mean, not that we do much to celebrate anything, since quiet celebrations suit us best – me especially.  But we like to try and do something to acknowledge the Pagan holidays.  Even if it’s just something small like exchanging a gift, having a themed meal, etc.  Basically, just finding some way to do something with the day in mind, even if only something very small.

 

In this case, we exchanged some chocolate eggs (vegan-friendly Moo Free ones for me, of course) and made the meal I was making on the cooking call tie in to a Spring-themed menu as much as possible by adding some cheese (dairy-free for me, obviously) and greens to our dinner of spaghetti and sauce.

 

And, no.  I didn't end up making the Welsh cakes.

 

Anyway, even the petkids got in on it, of course, as they always do.  We can’t leave them out, can we? So, Artemis got to share some of the greens, and we got a package of dried sausage treats for Lilie and Logan (which aren't Spring-themed in any way, but we thought they'd enjoy having those to eat while we had our chocolate eggs).

#Snow Reports, Time, And De-Cluttering

Last weekend I swear the weather was trying to see how many seasons it could fit in to one day.  And it was doing a great job of getting them all from what I could tell.  Over the course of the weekend we had sun, light rain, heavy rain, strong winds, sleet, and even a bit of snow.  Here are a couple of photos of the light snowfall we got:

 

 

*~*

 

I've spent a large chunk of the week calculating times, thanks to the clocks in the US changing two weeks before ours do here in the UK.  The time change is annoying enough - not to mention totally unnecessary these days - but if they're going to insist on doing it, for whatever reason they still insist we need to do it, I really wish they'd have everyone change their clocks at the same time.  I'm not the only one trying to keep track of what time it is in multiple time zones, after all.  Some places - like Arizona, for example - have managed to stop constantly changing the clocks, so why can't the rest of us stop doing it as well?

~

 

Not much else besides the usual routine day to day stuff has been going on other than that, except for the fact we’ve finally been back to working on the organizing and de-cluttering project during the past week.  We hadn’t been making any progress on that for the past few weeks due to other things going on, combined with our attempts at keeping my to-do lists for each day short whenever possible.  Plus, we could do with a few things being removed before we can do much more.  But the landlord agency we rent through wants to do an inspection, so we wanted to have things a little less chaotic when they come to do the inspection on Monday morning.

 

My office/craft room especially got more attention, and looks so much better for it.  Kelly's office even got a little attention, but still needs a lot more of it.  But at least most of the rooms look a lot less cluttered and chaotic than they did.  I feel good knowing we’ve finally made more progress on the de-cluttering and organizing.  Well, I feel good from it mentally and emotionally anyhow.  We won’t talk about physically.

 

Anyway, I’m taking Lilie and Logan to my Mam’s while the inspection is going on, so they’ll get a playmate with Izi and Cai Monday morning.  I’m unsure on the wisdom of having all four dogs together for a few hours in Mam’s place, but it will keep them out from underfoot while the person from the agency is doing the inspection.  I’m hoping the trip to Mam’s place with a person and dogs he knows will be less stressful for Logan than a strange person wandering around his home.  Plus, with the lingering threat of Covid and my rubbish immune system, I’d kind of prefer not to be in the house when they’re here myself.  I have to admit to being glad it will only be for a few hours rather than a few days that all four dogs are together though, since it gets rather chaotic when the four of them are together, as I’m sure you can imagine.

 

~

 

That basically covers my week.  So, how about you? How was your week?