A Special Bonding Moment ...

Charlie (our dog), being solid black has the bonus feature of being able to quietly blend in with  shadows, dark corners, curl up in black chairs or stretch out fully on black sofas when the light of the day is almost gone or has left us all together and become virtually invisible. Other than two strips of the whites of her eyes when she is looking off to one side or the other (and her mouth is closed) she is just a featureless mass of black ...

She likes to hang out with us, so this feature lends itself rather well to just finding a dark spot somewhere near us and laying down.  If she is within a certain degree of my peripheral vision I see movement as she shifts her eyes back and forth and her presence is noted.  It is nice to have that movement so that we don't accidentally step on her or sit on her! 

Why she has 'Shifty Eyes' - where she will look at me ... then somewhere else ... then me again ... then the SAME somewhere else ... me ... 'somewhere else' again ... I have no clue.  While this quirk may not be all that notable - other than that it is weird - it creates the CUTEST eyebrow!  A perfect little half circle made of muscle and a mass of black hair - giving her a quizzical air.

I am not sure what she is seeing ...  me and ... what, my imaginary friend?  Since her eyebrow(s) are so cute we overlook this odd behavior and just go with ... OK and the fact that Charlie is just 50 pounds of black hair, springy legs and odd behavior.

Last evening was no different as I was sitting at my desk I could sense, more than see - my little shadow hanging out with me over my right shoulder.

"Ah, Kjærlighet!" I said. Charlie's name is not "Charlie" it is "Kjærlighet" which, in Norwegian means 'love'. It is pronounced: Shar-lee-het thus the nick-name of 'Charlie'.  I thought that would simplify things, but since Charlie is a female dog - maybe not so much ...

"Skal ve snakke om nyheter?" My Norwegian is GONE! I believe I asked her if she wanted to talk about the news, but in actuality it could be somewhere near that - or somewhere very far away! Charlie is 100% Norwegian and FULLY FLUENT, I am sure in the language. That she corrects me only once in a while is sweet of her ...

"Ahhh, the news is too depressing!  Let's talk about this new Photoshop CS6 ... COOL huh?  TOTALLY LOVE the new features."

We talk.  Photoshop ... that vet appointment I have been meaning to make ... the weather ... the doctor ...

We bond ....

We talk some more as we watch the last rays of daylight drain from the skies.

"Veldig deilig, yes Charlie? (very beautiful)  So ... give it to me straight, just how bad has my Norwegian become?"  I laughingly ask her - while turning towards her - only to discover that I have been "Talking to" and "Bonding with" a black duffel bag:

Man ....

Suicide Lane ... and apparently "I'm Back" ...

Just a little preface: I am giving up and admitting defeat on the 'No Blog' thing. SO wanted to share this with y'all and really thought that I could figure out how to insert more than one photo in my 'Status' on Facebook if I looked hard enough. Just post these lovelies, write a line or two and be done with it. I have spent the last 2 hours scouring the web Googling: "multiple photos in Facebook post" and short of becoming a Facebook developer and doing it all in what looks like HTML - it is impossible. Well, that's what all 250 links told me. Anyone out there who knows how to do this - easily ... I would love to know

So, with a huge sigh I 'undeleted' my blog - BECAUSE YOU SO WANT TO SEE THESE PHOTOS! You can thank me later ...

Suicide Lane


I know, I know - this title might set some of you to fretting all over again about the state of my mental health - but TOTALLY NOT ABOUT ME! Y'all might STILL be worried about my mental health after reading the post, but I just HAD TO SHARE ....


LIZARDS!!!


Yes, people, lizards are JUST DYING TO GET INTO OUR HOUSE.

I have no idea why this is the case. It is a good house, I like it - but looking at it from a lizards point of view, I am a bit baffled. There is the dog, and dust bunnies, and no insects to eat (quarterly pest control). It is a mystery. After getting in, they somehow wander around rolling around in those dust bunnies and slowly starve to death. When I find them, they are just crispy, flattened, bits of dog jerky.

AND THOSE ARE THE LUCKY ONES!!

I give you our back door, and the:

"Lizard Suicide Lane":

What would posses a lizard to, when our door is open, run to the crack and strategically position themselves to be squashed flat?

Maybe it's some sort of game of 'Chicken' and these dudes are the losers ...

And what would be the fun of blogging about suicidal lizards without some CLOSE-UPS!! Yes, this is how exciting life is here at the Hurst home - I'm taking photos of dead lizards ...

Seriously, y'alls! TOTALLY popped his eyeballs out! HOW COOL IS THAT?

Gary saw my photos while I was here 'blogging' and asked me if I had cleaned them off the door? I totally went all 'girly' on him - said no and ... ICK. Told him he was the man with all the scrapers and it seemed more like a "Garys Job" than one for little ole me ...

And I kinda want to see how many we can stack up. I'm thinking it is sort of like my stuffed Cane Toad collection - just not as portable ...

Adieu

I believe it is time for me and my blog to part.

Looking back over the years, I enjoyed reading past posts and the multitude of funny, uplifting and encouraging comments. It was a fun outlet. It kept me connected to what I called "Our little blog land". Going back a few years and reading past posts I realized something ....

Somewhere, somehow that little group (not all) seems to have scattered to the winds and I find myself at a loss for what to do, how to connect (especially bedridden) how to get back the camaradirie that was there before, and I finally realized that I cannot. Thus my blog has become a place where I tend to whine, and be more honest than I should (cause, I mean, really? Who's really reading this?) and I'm thinking that that is probably not very healthy for me.

So ... As fun as it had been in the past, I SO LOVED writing and posting photos, I feel now that I am shouting stupid, inane, idiotic stuff to the unlistening heavens, and that's just no good.

So it is time ...


Bye, y'all ...