Lizzie and the Raised Glazed Donut.... and other stories.

Last Saturday was the first day on our own . Little Lizzie and I were up early. She ate her dog kibble and waited by the door for her family to come home It was going to be a whole week before their return and she, living so vertically in thought, didn't understand the concept of  "a whole week". She just knew something was different.
My brother- in-law arrived with a donut for me. He and my sister live close by. This is kind of a tradition on Saturdays. He takes their son for a drive and they always come back with donuts for everyone. I was surprised but there he was at the door with a beautiful raised glazed donut to go with my morning coffee.
I'm not sure when Lizzie decided to help herself to MY donut. Probably when I went into the kitchen to get a second cup of coffee to go with the donut. I had set it on the table next to the couch and upon my return.... it was gone.
As I said before, she couldn't wipe the smile off of her face. The bag was laying under the table and there were pieces of chewed paper everywhere. It was obvious who ate the donut.

By Sunday, I thought we had dodged a bullet. She seemed just fine.
By Monday, I couldn't understand why my son had been so adamant about not giving her anything but her kibble dog food. But, on Monday morning all hell broke loose.
and I mean loose....
I left for a few hours, putting Lizzie in the kitchen behind a baby gate, to have lunch with my sister. When I got back she had been sick (and otherwise) all over everything. The poor dog was one sick puppy.
I fail to understand how a dog that was bred for the purpose of catching rats in mines... to hunt badgers and foxes, could have a donut do her in. I guess her historic value is a distant memory for this breed and that she is now only been bred for cuteness and sensitivity.

Poor Lizzie.
I called my son and he said this happens every once in a while. Cook some chicken and rice. Feed a little to her three or four times a day and make sure she drinks lots of water.  Well, she didn't want to eat and by Wednesday she was laying around looking pretty bad.

She was drinking water but I guess it wasn't enough. I couldn't take this any longer. I called my son and he agreed.  That afternoon my sister picked us up and drove us to the vet.
She was dehydrated and lethargic. The vet was so nice. She said that these small dogs can't tolerate all that sugar at once and that just drinking small amounts of water was not enough to replace what she lost being sick. They hydrated her, gave her some antibiotics and something to stimulate her appetite. IT WORKED. She came home, slept for a few hours, ate some chicken and cottage cheese and acted like nothing had ever happen. Later she wanted more chicken and cottage cheese.
Thank God!! I really thought that she wasn't going to make it.  I was feeling like a really bad Noni. I think that she was also depressed and missing her family, which didn't help matters either, but the bottom line is  that I should never have put that donut where she could get to it.
 My little family is still feeding my Mom's cat, Honey. She's an outdoor cat and only comes into the backyard to eat and sleep. She is a tough resilient cat that calls her own shots. So when I saw this...

I thought that she was making a statement about how much food she was getting... but NO.
One morning before I left, I heard this loud commotion outside.
A group of crows were flying around the backyard making this huge outcry about something.

and one of them flew down to the table where the cat food was, knocked the cat dish around and picked up a piece of kibble. He  held it in his mouth....

and then flew off ....

with the other crows following him. They could have gotten some pieces from the table too, but it seemed this was some sort of game. Chase the Crow with the Kibble or maybe Kibble Hide and Seek. I don't know but one of the crows returned to grab another piece of food and the whole game started again. Amazing!
Years ago when I was driving down from Oregon I saw a hawk diving into the top of a dust devil in a field next to the highway. The small whirlwind sucked the bird down into the funnel and threw it out the side. The bird flew up and dived into the funnel again and again. I pulled over and watched the hawk do this until the dust devil blew itself out. Why would the bird have flown into the top of this wind accept to have fun? It was a natural amusement park ride for  this bird. I have never forgotten this display of pure avian enjoyment.
Like a dog that rolls it's own ball across the ground and them runs after it and the baby goats that play big goat head butting, animals play games too.
That's so refreshing. It's really wonderful to think that animals are like us in some way..That they like to have fun in their lives too.
 The crows were probably just trying to get kibble from one another.... but I like to think that they were playing some kind of game. It's interesting to watch their behavior.
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Oh, and last week the plumbing decided to act up on my watch. "Glug,glug, glug".  Low and behold, the sewer was backing up into the bathtub. I ran back into the kitchen and it's coming up into the kitchen sink too. I watched in horror as the sink filled with yucky drain water. I turned on the disposal and covered the sink opening with a sponge so it wouldn't end up all over the kitchen.Luckily, it didn't. Everything that came up returned into the drain. I went into the bathroom and the water had receded there too.
Lordy, lordy.... what next? The plumber finally came the day after I left. He "rotor rootered" the pipes and fixed a few other things that were not working well. Another catastrophic disaster averted.
My father use to say that he would always have to call a plumber after I came to visit. It was a joke that we laughed about for years. I think that he was messing with me last week. A joke from beyond the grave.
"Stop messing with me Dad." LOL!