To @Drythe from Kiku - Page 32

GingerPeach · ‎03-12-2010

Hi Ralphie!

I am very glad to see that it's your note today. Hi to EVERYONE and Mom @Drythe and Dad @Drythe and GrandPaw @Drythe .

Mom wants to brag about me. She says it was totally my idea not to get into the green mess on the floor. I stayed away all by myself and Mom didn't have to say one word about it. Since we all know how hard it is for us to do that, she was extra proud of me. She says I am a thinking dog.

Mom says she puts one cucumber (peeled and chopped in big chunks), three celery stalks (medium chunks), one apple (chunks, not peeled, and not the core), one orange (just the inside - seeds are OK if not too many), and then fill up the rest of the Vitamix with lettuce and/or your favorite greens. She thins it all with some water. She used to use apple juice, then later apple juice and water, now she just uses water. She likes the Vitamix because it's the only one that can handle celery.

If you like other things like berries, you can add those or whatever else you like. Once in a while she even puts in a little broccolini. Some berries make it turn blue, so it's no longer a "green" drink!!

Mom says sometimes it's easier to have that instead of making a salad. She likes easy yet healthy.

About nightshades: the main ones are white potatoes, eggplants, tomatoes, and peppers (green, red, etc. but not black pepper).

For some people, eating them can increase joint pain, which is the last thing we need. Mom says white potatoes do that for her, even though she loves mashed potatoes! Well, French fries, too, but those are rare around here anyway. She has never been crazy about tomatoes or eggplant or peppers, so it was no hardship to eliminate those. (She did once, however, make a stunning sauce with red, orange, yellow, and green peppers to put over pasta. That was before she knew about nightshades. It was a very delicious sauce. It happened way before I was born so I never got to taste any.)

We also have some rosemary starting in a small pot, but since our yard is tiny (just like me!), we don't want to grow it in the ground since it takes up a lot of room. Sometimes it's more fun to snatch it from somewhere else. I think you know what I mean, since we all like to snatch stuff when our Moms aren't looking. And rosemary grows fast and strong, so it's not hard on the plant to take a sprig or two.

If you want to check out the masks, Mom got hers from Tanya Grace of Scarlett Art Design on Etsy. There are lots of others, too, of course, but these had cute designs plus the filter pocket. Since we only use them about once a week to go to the grocery store and wash them after use, these are good for us.

I wonder if your Mom ate more salmon would those blood levels get to the range she would like, or her doctor recommends? Never mind if that is none of our business.

Thank you for telling me about Bertie and the picture. I think he is cute, too. Too bad we can't all have a playdate.

Mom says she has voted by mail for, she thinks, over 20 years, maybe longer. It is just the best way for her. You can really take your time with the ballot, and fill it out any time of day or night, without standing in line or feeling like you have to do it fast. Plus now that I'm here I get to supervise. I could not do that if she left the house to go vote. Some people have strange ideas about voting by mail. Mom also never liked that word "absentee." No one is absent; people are making a choice and are completely present (maybe even more so) when they fill out their ballot from home. Anyway, that's what Mom thinks.

Mom just came home from Whole Foods so she could turn on the computer for me so I could write to you. She finally made it to the "senior hour" and was second in line. She decided she likes going out to shop better than having food delivered. She showed me that the shoppers probably don't take time do things like hold an orange, for example, in their palm to see whether it's heavy or light. The heavy ones have more juice inside. The light ones can be kind of dry. She likes to make those decisions for herself and doesn't really expect that from another shopper.

Stay safe and healthy (and GrandPaw, too!)

Rainbow hearts from me to ALL of you.

🧡💛💚💙💜 🧡💛💚💙💜 🧡💛💚💙💜 🧡💛💚💙💜 🧡💛💚💙💜

Love,

Kiku

p.s. I get my nails trimmed on Saturday. I will write you later about that, if I am not too upset about it. Grrrrrr.

p.p.s. Even if some places are "loosening up," Mom isn't going anywhere different. She cuts her own hair anyway and has for most of her life (and I never need haircuts, just those darn nail trims). Mom says I will have to go in by myself this time. So we'll see how I manage. Probably I'll be OK. They always tell Mom I was really good after I'm done, even though I get a little bit scared.

[was Homegirl] Love to be home . . . thus the screen name. Joined 2003.

Drythe · ‎07-09-2011

@GingerPeach

Just a note.

Thank you for the information about nightshades. We didn’t know about peppers, but then she just doesn’t like them much. Mom likes rice lots, but not potatoes, except sweet potatoes 🍠, We all eat those. But ‘maters 🍅 would be a big problem for us to give up! Maybe a Southern thing. Even We both even like them raw, but then, we eat mostly whatever they eat. Anything that helps your joints hurt less is a Good thing!

Thank you for mentioning about the salmon. Mom says we will have some for dinner tomorrow. Wheeee! Don’t think we think anything bad about your mentioning it, you know lots about nutrition, and you are such a good cook. You know how the people have lots on their minds, when Mom gets stressed, sleep is the first thing to go, then next she kind of forgets to eat. Now, We never lose our appetite, or forget to eat, Kiku, who does that? Oh, we had eggies 🥚 last night!

Mom and Dad and Grandpaw always do early voting, because Mom was away so much, it was never crowded then. But we’ve had the mail in thing for a good while, we've just never done it. Hope we can Keep it. Dad says he might deliver them by hand, to be sure, except put a USPS stamp on too. We are all going to help pick out some real Animal lovers! 😉

Kisses, kisses, kisses, Robbie & Bertie.

The cats are all napping!

"Animals are not my whole world, but they have made my world whole" ~ Roger Caras

GingerPeach · ‎03-12-2010

Hi Friends,

You probably all helped your mom look it up already, but these things aren't the same for everybody. Maybe tomatoes don't make any changes in how your own particular joints feel. The only way to know for sure is to eliminate them from your diet for a period of time to see what happens, and then put them back in carefully and see how you feel.

Not to worry, sweet potatoes aren't in the nightshade family, just the white ones. That elimination process is how my mom figured out white potatoes made her joints react. Once in a while she still eats them, though.

I wish everybody could bounce around all the time without worrying about different foods or other things.

@Drythe

[was Homegirl] Love to be home . . . thus the screen name. Joined 2003.

GingerPeach · ‎03-12-2010

Dear Friends,

I forgot to ask whether your mom @Drythe does any interesting things with you. I am getting bored with just a walkie. I am not interested in fetching even though my mom is trying to help me understand it.

I don't watch tv, although sometimes if there is some barking on tv or on this 'puter, I come running. Mom hasn't figured out exactly what kind of bark, though, cause I don't pay attention to just any old bark. 🐕

Of course, you do have each other. I don't know how I would like having another dog here, or even if my mom could manage it.

Is there other stuff you dogs all like to do?

(Sorry, cats, we can talk next time.)

Love,

Kiku

[was Homegirl] Love to be home . . . thus the screen name. Joined 2003.

GingerPeach · ‎03-12-2010

Hi Friends and Mom @Drythe ,

I said I would tell you how it went with my nail trim.

It turned out my mom was more bothered than I was. The vet instructions were not complete. She had called ahead of time to find out what they were since they had no instructions on their website. They didn't tell her about the harness removal and how it would work once we got inside. They also had a sign at the front door, and tape on the ground six feet apart for people to stand, but nothing about anything else.

It also seemed silly about the tape since if there are going to be dogs or cats with you, you do not want to be standing in a LINE even that close to another dog. Some dogs, like me, like to bark at the other dogs. You would think a vet would be smarter than that. Other vets in the area have pet parents wait in their cars and someone comes to take the pet from the car.

Luckily there was only one other person wandering around the parking lot waiting for her dog to come out so I didn't have to see any other dogs.

When it was our turn, Mom and I got to go in, and they wanted to have her take off my harness and have me walk to the vet tech. Now whose dog would ever do that? Not me. I would not be leaving my mom to go to someone else, especially someone who was going to trim my nails!

My mom said that would not work, so they made her put me facing away from the tech and finally the tech picked me up. Then Mom had to go back outside and call them on the phone to give them her credit card number. When they finished with my nails (they said I was really good plus they said I had a very soft coat), Mom got to come in and I ran very fast back to my Mom. That's a direction I will always run. Whew!

I almost forgot, they had the nerve to mention that my nails were too long. I think they forgot what we are living through right now, not to mention that they were super unclear about how to take dogs to their office.

I got lots of treats when we got back home.

It was a kind of weird day. First at 3 a.m. we got woken up by thunder and lightning, then we went to the vet in the morning, then at 3 in the afternoon, we had more thunder and lightning. Also some heavy rain for about five minutes each time. We hardly ever have thunder and lightning, not like you guys who probably are old hands at it and have it all the time.

And that's all.

Love,

Kiku with the short nails

[was Homegirl] Love to be home . . . thus the screen name. Joined 2003.

Drythe · ‎07-09-2011

Hey Kiku,

Hi, how are you now? Did your Mom get over the excitement of the vet visit?

The tape stuff seems odd to me too. I don’t line up with other dogs either. Mom’s Alex would have done it if she asked him to, but NOT US. Our vet does the appt, call from the car, walk to door, they take cat or dog. They wear gloves and take the crate, or lead. And we have to be very brave and go in ALONE! Gulp! Dad has made quite a few visits lately, but we will talk about that later, ‘cause this is Dog time. We are all OK, no worries.

Robbie and I go into the room with the tech alone. The truth is -SHHHHHHHH, he and I are real Drama Queens 👑 when it comes to nails. We pitch a fit, throw ourselves around, jump, BARK! BARK! BARK! Our friend MrR said let’s try it without Mom and Dad. So they did, and they sure got OUR number, we snapped out of it, paid Attention to our manners, and BEHAVED OURSELVES! We sit still and act like we have sense. So, that’s how we have to do it, Mom says we should have to pay for it from our (low ence) since we won’t let them do it at home!

Do you get a (low ence)

No self respecting doggie would walk alone into the nail room! How silly. Robbie would be doing big huge laps around the place like a silly. I don’t know what I would do, but I’m not walking into a nail trim. Of course your nails were long, that’s why you were there, else you would have been at home.

What’s up with your Mom having to turn you so you were facing away? Is that a California thing? Mom can lift me, but never Robbie. He ways a Ton (@100 lbs) no way can she pick him up.

You deserved lots of treats, so did your Mom. I hope she had some tea and biscuits as the British say.

Mom watched too much TV last night. So predictable, and planned. What an awful thing. She couldn’t sleep. We hope your home and the places you love are OK.

WE envy your Short nails, ‘cause we need to go and We are dreading 😟 it!

- Be Well ~ Be Safe -

Love and Slurps

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Bertie, Robbie, Ralph, Marie, Fleur & Phinn

"Animals are not my whole world, but they have made my world whole" ~ Roger Caras

GingerPeach · ‎03-12-2010

Hi Guys,

Just a quick note to say we are OK and hope you are, too, and that we all stay that way. We heard of protests locally but are far from shopping or other areas like that. It makes us wish we could help now, but we will definitely be helping come November.

We think the "facing away" was so the tech could pick me up without me getting scared as much as if I were facing her. It all worked out and funny you should mention it, but Mom has had other dogs who behaved better when they were alone in the office but not when Mom was there. One of the vets even asked her if her dog at the time was protective or aggressive, and Mom said protective. I think we must all be a little bit the same.

I never heard of a dog 'lowance and I don't get one, I don't think. Except I get lots of treats. Is that the same? Mom got a new nail trimmer for me (she is always hoping she can do it herself), but she says she needs another hand to do a good job. Where could we get one of those? Does it explain about nail trimming behavior in the Doggie Handbook? Mom sometimes says I need to read that.

Too bad short nails don't last longer. We will be thinking of you and your future nail visit(s)! Good luck, you guys!

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 (rainbow hearts are the best!)

Hugs and licks and wags,

Kiku

[was Homegirl] Love to be home . . . thus the screen name. Joined 2003.