Our Other Blog: Two Sisters and Two Points of View
by Taswegian1957 & Human59
I don’t know the exact day that Cindy was born but calculating back from when I got her as a 9-week old puppy I believe it is around now. Thirteen years old is pretty good and she is a healthy dog.
I took these photos of her in the garden this morning.
I thought I’d share a couple of photos that I took of Cindy and Polly today. The last couple of weeks have been very strange to them and I’m very relieved that they have adapted well to our current situation.
I haven’t mentioned this in a post before because I have been deeply upset about it but a few months ago Cindy and Polly had a big fight. I don’t know what it was over as I didn’t see what happened. They get on so well that I could usually let them move freely around the house. I would separate them to eat because Cindy will eat the cat food of course. I don’t let Cindy have bones any more because she gets a very bad attitude about sharing and always thinks Polly will take it from her. Actually, I have seen Polly stealing Cindy’s dry food but she didn’t seem to worry about that.
Anyway this particular evening both had gone outside and I had left the back door open so they could come back. That’s when I heard an awful din coming from the passage. As I said I have no idea what happened. Did Polly steal some dog food? did she startle Cindy in the dark? I don’t know but she was seriously upset and had a little scratch on her face. She would not go near Cindy for several days after that.
Then one day after I’d been keeping them apart they met and appeared to be fine. All was good for a couple of weeks then, again when I was in the next room something happened. I did not hear a fight but Polly ran out upset again and this time she did not forgive Cindy. Since then if she even saw her through a glass door she would hiss and stalk away. I am sure Cindy had no idea why Polly was still mad at her.
I had to keep the two of them separate. Cindy had the run of the living rooms and kitchen as well as outside. Polly had the passage and bedrooms. At night I would have to shoo her into the laundry so I could shut Cindy in my room before bed. Polly missed me I think. Sometimes she’d miaow at the living room door for me to come and would just want to be petted. Cindy spent a lot of time lying under the pergola outside. I was miserable because I missed spending time with Polly, Cindy cried if I was away from her too long, and I missed watching them play together.
Naturally, I was worried sick about how I was going to manage them when we had to evacuate. My friends in Franklin have dogs so Cindy had to stay outside a lot or if I brought her to where I was sleeping I had to put Polly in her crate and put it in the toilet. It was far from ideal for either of them.
Then we came here to Matt and Ally’s place. The original plan was for Polly to be confined to the laundry but she soon worked out how to open the sliding door. We moved her to the room Ally uses for craft and she was happy enough but soon she wanted to come out. One day she managed to slip out the door when I was closing it and came face to face with Cindy who would lie outside the door whenever I was in there.
Nothing happened! Polly greeted her as if there had never been a fight and since then she has been quite her old self around Cindy even going up to give her a wash like she always used to. I haven’t seen them play yet but they might when we go home. I have no idea what prompted the change in attitude but it has made things so much easier.
Of course, I don’t take anything for granted. Polly is shut away to eat and I have bought a crate for Cindy and shut her in it at night. Polly sometimes sleeps in the room with us but I no longer have to worry about fights when I am asleep. I will never leave them unsupervised together if I go out or anywhere around food but I feel like it is a little miracle.
Here I was trying to take a photo of Cindy with her tongue showing for Cee’s Black & White Challenge but every time she did I was too slow. She looks quite mean in this one but she was in a perfectly happy mood.
This challenge sounded like a good opportunity to post some cute pictures of Cindy and Polly but of course, pets never perform on cue, do they?
Polly, who had been asleep in the dining room all morning decided to wander off and is probably hiding under a bed. However, I do have some older photos of her displaying her tongue.
Here is Polly intent on trying to catch a bird with her tail down.
Cindy is pretty easy to photograph but not today. No amount of saying “cheese” would get her to stick her tongue out when I wanted, always just before or just after. I even tried to hold a biscuit out at the same time.
Here is an older one which is much better.
Turning from my uncooperative pets to my dolls I did find a few who were displaying their tongues.
My childhood doll Theresa has a mechanism that moves her tongue with her eyes. I left it coloured to make it easier to see.
The Galoob BabyFace dolls are also from the nineties and they all have comical expressions, many with their tongues out. This is the only one I have.
Complete this sentence: This sandwich could really use some …
You’ve got me there, I’d only say that if I had run out of cheese at home. On the other hand if we were talking about burgers my answer would be salad. McDonald’s and Hungry Jacks (Burger King) don’t put enough salad on their burgers and I like mine with a bit of crunch not just a piece of cheese, onion and a pickle. A proper burger has meat, lettuce, cheese, tomato,onion, beetroot and sometimes a fried egg.
What is your least favorite candy?
I was going to say liquorice but on reflection I think it has been displaced by the sour tasting candies that seem to have become popular and the even more popular salted ones. Just give me chocolate.
What sign are you? Do you believe in astrology?
I am a Taurus and I do think that I am true to the characteristics of my birth sign. However, I don’t take the horoscopes that you see in magazines or these days online very seriously because of course they are generalised. In order to give a more accurate reading the astrologer would need much more precise details about me than just the month I was born. So yes I do believe but I take it with a pinch of salt, just like any practical Taurian would 😉
By Unknown – I scanned this image from a reproduction of a (normand?) medieval book of astrology (15th century), Public Domain, Link
What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week? Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination.
As I mentioned in my Sunday post we had three wet days last week. In fact we had a huge thunderstorm, one of the biggest I can remember and there was flooding in several places, parts of the Huon and the city of Hobart in particular.
I was lucky because I did not receive any damage, lose power or my internet connection so that’s something to smile about. On Sunday the weather was a little better and I was able to plant the bulbs I had ordered earlier. I am going to have pots of daffodils and bluebells, tulips, hyacinth and crocus and hyacinth and freesia. I also got out my kneeling pad and popped a few bluebells into the ground under the apple tree. After cleaning the shed I found a few more stray bulbs. I have no idea what they were, they were from previous years pots I think. I popped them under the tree too. Maybe they will grow and maybe they won’t. It was easy to dig the soil after the rain and there were lots of fallen leaves to cover everything with. I love bulbs, they are so easy to garden with and you nearly always get at least some flowers. If I am not here to see them I hope the new owner will get a nice surprise.
Of course Cindy and Polly came to see what I was doing. I spent some time reorganising the shed and sweeping out dust, and other accumulated mess. Even Polly who rarely goes to the bottom of the garden came in to investigate.
I left Cindy inside so that I could photograph the house from across the road. She was not happy about it.
A Facebook memory reminder today was a photo of Polly from five years ago. We found Polly on the 6th of January 2013 when she was probably about 8 weeks old. It’s been fascinating to see how she’s grown in confidence over five years although she still does not like strangers and hides if anyone comes to the house only making an exception for Naomi who she has decided to be friends with. I started to blog the same year that Polly arrived so her life with me has been well documented. Here is a look back.
