Late season roses and leaves on Saturday's morning walk.
And home again to pasta with a sauce of all kinds of seasonings with a Parmesan rind cooked in. Just two meals, the last of the penne, also the last of the tomatoes. No pictures, you've seen pasta before.
Then while I was thinking about dogs, I did a bit more stitching, just deciding on stitches and colors as I went.
It's shaping up quite well.
About dogs, mainly German Shepherd dogs who could have a career in stand-up.
Molly was a client in my pet care service, and we met when she was newly arrived with her humans as a young puppy. They were experienced and knew that in order for her to let me in and handle her in the humans' absence, she'd need to accept me in her circle very young.
They used to joke that she had the best pedigree of the lot of us, being a German German Shepherd, daughter of two German national show champions. She crossed the Atlantic to join us and proceeded to enchant everyone except the cable guy whom she terrorized.
She was intelligent enough to play tricks on humans, especially this one.
One day I came at noon as usual, to find an empty banana skin on the front door inside mat. She'd swiped the banana from the dining room fruit bowl, eaten the banana and put the skin right where my foot would go. I wondered if she'd been watching cartoons and hoped to see me skid across the floor.
Other times she'd pretend she couldn't come out of her crate, crying as if stuck. Until I tilted it up from the back so she slid out. Busted! Her face was a picture. I think she was hoping to be tempted out with a treat!
One of my knitting group friends told us how they had German Shepherd dogs, two of them, who, when the housekeeper came, were crated in the backyard. She was terrified of them, but the family assured her they would be crated for her
She kept saying the dogs were getting out and scaring her, and the family, noting they were in their crates, bolts in place, when they got home, dismissed her concerns as made up from fear.
Until the mother one day came home early, noticed the dogs playing in the yard, and saw them return to their crates, bolt the doors with a paw slipped through, then lie down as if they'd been there all along.
More dog tales another time. And we're open to your dog stories, too, Please share.
Happy day everyone, dogful or dogless or dogfree, however you see it.
I loved your dog tales. Mine is not exciting.
ReplyDeleteWe were painting the inside of our house in 90s and Toby stood in the paint tray, his foot wet with paint. The logical thing to do would be pick him up, have a cloth under his paw and take him outside for a clean up. Instead we yelled TOBY, and he took off down the hallway leaving a paint paw print every foot or so. A lesson learnt by us but the situation never arose again.
One of those lessons you never need again, sounds familiar.
DeleteDogs are highly entertaining and intelligent. Some have a greater sense of humour, others are more serious, all are loving and loyal.
ReplyDeleteLike any other species, they're not all intelligent! Some are lovable and very slow.
DeleteI have late roses blooming also. I love your stitching one of my goals is to improve my stitching. I do ok but I need to make it neater.
ReplyDeleteCathy
I think just experience improves your stitching skills. But neatness doesn't always count, if you get the effect you want.
DeleteMy father loved all dogs, EXCEPT German shepherds. He never told me the exact details, but it came from his experience of their use by Nazi soldiers in WW2 Europe.
ReplyDeleteYes, I can see that. It's all about training.
DeleteI knew they were clever but wow!
ReplyDeleteWhen I talked about this in the knitting group some people looked sceptical till the other person described their gs exploits, too!
DeleteThe stitched leaves are beautiful…like the real ones.
ReplyDeleteLove the dog tales, such underestimated creatures!
Thank you for the nice words about the leaves. Yes, anyone unfamiliar with smart dogs can get a surprise. Particularly the sense of humor part.
Deletelife is intelligent. Minnie knows the button on the arm rest that rolls the window down on the passenger side. I have to lock the windows when it's either too cold or too hot to roll it down so she can stick her head out.
ReplyDeleteI think some dogs could probably drive, given the chance.
DeleteThat unbolting and bolting trick sounds more like something an orangutan would do rather than a dog. I have to admit I had no idea they were so smart. At least German German Shepherds.
ReplyDeleteAmerican GS are also smart. Not all breeds are. Some are mainly cute.
DeleteI grew up with them, they are wonderful, smart and loyal to their core. I had my mother's last Shepherd for 3 years after she, my mother, died. She was such a good dog. My best funny dog stories are mostly concerning basset hounds and greyhounds. Both of which I am certain you are familiar with.
ReplyDeleteYes bassets are the low comedy of the dog world, in both senses. I've handled a couple of greyhounds, like living artworks. They can't take a clumsy pose.
DeleteGerman shepherds are so surprisingly smart, and can be such sweet dogs. That bolting and unbolting, and bolting again, is hilarious. I had a friend whose German shepherd broke her leg as a puppy. She completely and perfectly recovered. For the rest of her life, however, whenever she’d get caught after doing something wrong (like knocking over the kitchen trash and picking through it), she’d lift her paw and limp away with an oh-woe-is-me look in her eyes.
ReplyDeleteA lifetime get out of jail free card! That doesn't surprise me.
DeleteGerman Shepherds are very appealing to me, but that is based on looks. I haven’t really known one.
ReplyDeleteYou missed an education in canine smarts!
DeleteMy parents had a German shepherd when I was a tiny baby. I had started to get around when I was about six months old. I spotted the front gate open and headed for it to get to the park across the road. The shepherd quickly stepped in front of my picked me up by my diaper and took me back inside safe and sound.
ReplyDeleteThey really are amazing animals.
They have an instinct to protect. Wonderful babysitter there.
DeleteUsing a parmesan rind is something new to me I've come across recently. I've yet to try it, but you doing it should make me brave enough to try. I love your artistically stitched leaves. And seeing it again reminds me, I have an unfinished autumn stitch around here somewhere... Molly sounds like cut-up. ;D
ReplyDeleteYou can fish out, rinse, and reuse the parmesan rind. I keep a little container of them in the freezer.
DeleteYes, I'm sure you have an autumn project!
This is a cat story. Orange cat. I kept the inside door to the garage open most of the year. There was also a screen door. I had several cats, but only one could open the screen door to come in. He found a spot with just enough room to reach under and pull it open. A guest one night froze at the sound of the door opening, and could scarcely believe it was a cat, not a burglar.
ReplyDeleteI think after living a few years with cats and their shenanigans, you'd assume a burglar breaking in was the cats having the zoomies!
DeleteI was afraid of dogs as a little girl after a German shepherd knocked me down and stole a sandwich I'd been given. Later as a young teen, I had a horrible time having and losing a puppy thanks to my parents. I do like dogs but have never had another one.
ReplyDeleteThat's a sad history with dogs, but I think your cats have done well by you.
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