My Precious Jazzy

Jazzy, my twenty-eight-month-old Boston Terrier, continues to make me smile. We have a fenced in yard separate from the door to the house, so I have to walk her out there for her bathroom trips, close the gate behind her, and come back in the house to wait for her to finish up. She cries the most pathetic cry to let me know she is ready to come back in. But as soon as she hears me open the door to come "rescue" her, she gets quiet. She doesn't cry one MOMENT longer than necessary. I know PEOPLE who would cry until rescued, rather than being content the very moment they know help is on the way. I can learn from Jazzy!

A week or so ago, we noticed our neighbors had a new dog. Jazzy sort of ignores their first dog, thinking it's sort of a big mouth. But this puppy-she love as if it where her own. She runs out to greet the dog now before taking care of other nature calls, or chasing off the birds, or whatever else dogs like to do in their own yards. The other night she heard the puppy crying, and she urgently had to go outside to check on baby-puppy to make sure it was okay. What a tender-loving doggy I own!

Yesterday I gave Jazzy a yummy chew treat (I guess they are yummy-she always begs for more--I've never personally tasted them!). I gave it to her to keep her occupied while I went away for the morning. When I returned home, she greeted me with the chew treat in her mouth and got all antsy to go out. Not bathroom antsy. She took her treat with her! I figured maybe she wanted to bury it, as dogs are wont to do. Not so. She wanted to share it with the baby-puppy across the fence. How thoughtful of her. KIND. So cute! She was dejected when she couldn't find the puppy. She decided to bring the treat back in to eat it, after abstaining at least 5 hours. I could learn a lot from her to delay gratification in life rather than wanting instant gratification.

Jazzy--the wonder dog!

Can You Go Back?

Last weekend Russ and I traveled up to our old stomping grounds to attend his family reunion. Can you say ROAD TRIP?! We were something like 7 hours on the road with Jazzy, the Boston Terrier cruiser. On the way, we stopped at Lamberts, the "throwed roll" place. YUMMO!

Then, we veered off course to stop in Louisiana, Missouri. Russ and I were both born in that town, grew up there, and became the cliche' of the late 70s when we met as high school sweethearts. For this road trip we wanted to see the Mississippi River. You just can't take the river out of a river-town kid. I remember my dad letting us get Dairy Queen treats and driving us to the river to watch the boats, barges, and fishermen go by. On this trip to the river, since we had no kids in tow, we took our Jazzy to see how she would react. She very cautiously walked up to the water,and every time the water would lap up onto the edge, she'd back away like she had seen a ghost. Then she would creep back to river, curiosity getting the best of her, only to get scared by the next splash of water—water that smelled like fish and mud. Thirsty, her tastes ran more for the bottled water in the car than the stinky Mississippi River. Silly girl!

While walking the Riverfront, I saw a gentleman working outside a building. I wondered who he was. Then it dawned on me that any middle-aged person in this town was probably someone I went to school with. Oh yeah! I wasn't 18 anymore. I left the town at that age and still felt I was that age when I returned. These people who looked like my parents were really my classmates. Am I really that old? I'm actually OLDER than my mom was when I left Louisiana. I was tripping on this trip down memory lane!

The town itself looked cleaner and quainter than I remember seeing a few years ago. It was no longer MY town, but it looked like a place where I'd go antiquing. Would I find remnants of MY childhood in the antique shops?

Lessons Learned from Jazzy

[photo NOT of Jazzy, but close!]

Not thinking, this morning I smeared two nutri-grain reduced fat toaster waffles with Simply Jif peanut butter (diabetic friendly). I only can eat one-not sure why I made two. So, I let the extra one sit on the dining room table, and figured I would cut it up for Jazzy to eat later.

When I went to take my shower, Jazzy helped herself to the waffle. I walked back in the room, and could smell the scent of peanut butter, but the evidence was missing. Jazzy looked guilty, and then I put two-and-two together. I wasn't really upset-it was my fault to leave the waffle there, I was going to give it to her anyway, and she somehow did not make a mess, even though the waffle was still whole.

Later, I heard her rustling some papers around. I went to check on her, and she had discovered a pack of gum sitting on an end table. I found gummy bits of green and waxy scraps of paper scattered on the rug, and Jazzy with a guilty look on her face. I guess I learned a couple of things.

1. Even dogs don't want to have peanut butter breath-Jazzy helped herself to minty fresh breath.
2. Dogs, left to themselves, will find a way to add more chaos to an already chaotic day, while still making you smile.