Oh, Lucy!

Lucy enjoying a mouse in a past summer.

We had the day yesterday. 

In January and February the shrews invade the cellar through the granite boulders of the foundation. The cats are always ready for them. Sometimes, they have gotten six in one day. But then the weather warms just slightly and the shrews (the survivors) leave. I have never read an explanation of why we are invaded in those months. I have even written to a vertebrate biologist but he also had no idea. Except for the weather, of course. The weather in January and February here in northern Vermont is brutal. It makes you wonder why any of us, human or not, live here at all. Our biggest storms, darkest days and coldest temperatures are during those months.

Nelly with a Northern short-tailed shrew.

Shrews, to me, look like chubby basset-hound type mice; they are low-slung and chubby. They have a toxic bite and taste vile. Cats will kill them but will never eat them. I have to keep a close eye on cat activity to make sure that I don't have a dead shrew body fouling the air after a few days here.

A Northern short-tailed shrew in Québec. Alive.
Photo by Gilles Gonthier

Yesterday, Nelly was stalking a shrew on my main floor. She had captured it and brought it up from the cellar. The problem was, that as it scuttled across the floor in front of me, I was startled and gasped. My gasps put Lucy on alert, and she immediately went for the shrew. 

But John and I had spent much time gently teaching Lucy to never steal a cat's prey, so she just watched the shrew. Then came my next mistake: Nelly seemed to have lost track of the shrew, so I called out to tell her where it went before it disappeared. Nelly moved towards the shrew, but Lucy took my shrew-alert as permission to get the shrew. She grabbed it and took it to bed. It was squeaking the entire way. (Shrews die loud.)

I was very fortunate that yesterday was a day that Amy was coming to visit and help. She went upstairs, found the shrew easily on my bed, removed it and brought the top bloodied quilt—the ancient, raggedy quilt that covers the entire top of the bed for just this reason—down to the laundry. Lucy did not go upstairs with Amy. She knew that she had overstepped. 

Lucy continues to hunt mice under the snow. It is her favorite winter activity. Dogs hunt mice much as foxes do: they follow a scent and/or a sound, and pounce. She is often successful and swallows them whole. And alive. I can't think too closely about swallowing live mice before my insides churn. It is probably best if you not think about it, either.

Lucy mouse hunting last winter.

I hope I don't have to re-teach Lucy to leave cat prey alone. It is a difficult thing to overcome a dog's natural instinct to hunt and you have to be careful, gentle, and understanding. But in the past, when she took the cats' kills, they became secretive and rodent body parts were rotting throughout the house. I don't want that to happen again. I also have to be more mindful of my reactions to their behaviors because my behaviors grant them permission for their own behaviors. No gasping at their prey, I can only show that I am pleased. No confusing conversations with a cat when a dog is in the same space; unless I use other ways to show Lucy that I am only talking to the cat (which has been very successful in the past). Yesterday, I lost all of my own training!

To learn more about Northern short-tailed shrews, see A Voracious and Venomous Mammal.

🌼 🌼

Meteorological spring begins on March 1. Northern Vermont spring is late May. I could not, will not, wait, so I put up my spring blog banner of Canada geese goslings. After all, tomorrow is March 1.

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Oh, Poppy!

Today's drive to school behind the plow on my road.

I'm not going to spend much time on the weather. It's a bore at this point and only going to get worse. But next week is vacation week! And in Vermont, we get extra days because of Town Meeting Day on the first Tuesday of March. Ten calendar days free! But I have earned it. It has been very difficult since the holidays. I've had two bad colds, my car almost fell apart. Literally. But the men at school drove it carefully to be fixed in town. For $1,200, I think you can get anything fixed; and fixed well. Wheel bearing, brakes, and stabilization bar all broke at once. Every single engine light went off within two miles of school. But all of that is over. Spring may come. The crows are showing up sporadically from the village where they spend the winter. I heard either sparrows or swallows yesterday. Because of the many problems I have had, I have not been too chipper. But I'm digging out of the hole and coming back slowly. 👌

This post is about Poppy. Oh, Poppy. She is a character. And that character is blooming. She is spending as much time with me as possible getting scratches. She sleeps on the left side at night (Nelly and Lucy have always been my right side). I have two hands busy scratching necks as we all fall asleep every night. 

But wait! She gets cuter!

There are downsides, though. She seems to enjoy sleeping on my wireless charger, as you can see. Will it affect the charger? We shall see.

She has learned that she can drag out towels and construct nest-type beds out of them on the floor.

We know how she loves to knock over plants. She also loves to eat my once-luxurious clover plants that are no longer luxurious. 

She also loves to bring her cellar-dirtied feet to the bathroom sink. And if I have left water in a cup, she can play in it and decorate the entire bathroom.

I love that kitty. She has been a great match. Have I told you how she is a silent purr-er? You can never hear her purr unless you put your ear to her chest. Well, I did hear the purr once. But just the once. But now I know she does purr. Before I thought she never did. Now I know she purrs more than most cats I have known. She is very quiet and unassuming cat. She is quite the character.

💕

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Review: Spare

Spare by Prince Harry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If your birth family is or was dysfunctional, whether your life was one of privilege like the prince's or not, you will immediately identify and recognize the truth of this memoir. The book is honest emotion about a toxic family: there is tragedy, happiness, confusion . . . all the things that we know from our pasts. Prince Harry becomes a person here, while his brother and father become stereotypical British royals who may not know why they behave as they do, but damn it, they're gonna do it.

I recognized the toxicity of the Murdoch media machine. We have seen it in action here in the US with Trump's lies somehow becoming truth. Why is it surprising that his media business in the UK is any different? Probably the US Murdoch outlets copied the UK outlets because of the profitability of the actions and words of the reporters.

The story of Harry and Meghan's romance and family is wonderful, even though they are beset with unimaginable stress because of the media. Meghan has found strategies (with her career and in her life choices) to withstand those stresses and thrive. I doubt I would have survived. I wish them all well. Prince Harry is right: racism is racism. His family in the UK seems wedded to denials of that. They have to find their own way through that, if possible. I doubt that anything Harry and Meghan say will transform that family's defense into true apologies and amends.

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Review: The Man Who Died Twice

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Elizabeth's favors that she obtained from colleagues in the first Thursday Murder Club mystery are being traded for favors in return in this second book of the series. Steven, her husband, is sinking further into dementia. Joyce is as buoyant as ever and is developing new interests and activities. Bogdan is as hot as ever and more valuable than ever to helping the club solve several more murders. Donna succumbs to depression. Ron advances in importance as a character. David and Patrice continue their relationship. The characters are more fully developed in this book. One new character, Poppy, shares the name (and sweet personality) of my new cat! MI5 and MI6 are also involved in the escapades this time around.

I think that the character's thoughts and discussions of mortality, relationships, families and friendship make this series important to me. They remind me of the things I need to be reminded of. The mysteries are, for me, secondary to the relationships of the main characters. The new characters, why and how they exist in the lives of the main characters, why they left those lives and then returned, give us more insight to the residents of the retirement living complex. They enrich the commentary and back story of each person and are important for motivation.

“You must die before your children, of course, because you have taught them to live without you. But not your dog. You teach your dog only to live with you.”

I think of this so often because of Lucy, my beloved Lab. Too often, probably. It was jarring to have my fears clarified for me.

"What was it about him? The sense of extreme danger and absolute safety in the same man?"

This is precisely what attracted me to my late husband.

"People love to sleep, and yet they are so frightened of death."

Is the author inside my head? How often have I thought this of death? It is oddly comforting.

I only have one book more in the series, #3, The Bullet That Missed, until #4 is released in September.

Mr. Osman, please write faster.

Oh, and thank you for reminding me:

"If you don’t love yourself, who’s going to love you?"

My notes from this book.

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After the Cold

A wonderful sight: two huge ravens spotted on Thursday before the bad weather.

I've been so tired since the arctic air left here. Friday night was awful. Even though I raised the thermostat, the temperatures in the house simply fell and got me very nervous. How far would it fall? Despite setting the thermostat at 70°F, the house finally bottomed out at 60°F. That is what happens with terrific winds.

We could not sleep upstairs Friday night because the wind had lowered the room temperature to about 40°F. I pulled the cushions off of the couch downstairs and made a bed wide enough for me, Lucy, and the cats. Then I fell on both arthritic knees and my walker flipped over. But I righted myself and got settled in. Lucy, though, was extremely tense because of the fall and because we were not in bed and she didn't think she could be touching my body all night as she does.

I made extra room for her, she then settled in, and heaved a tremendous sigh of doggie relief and finally relaxed. Feeling her body relax like that almost made me cry. We actually slept late. The cold air eased all day on Saturday despite some huge wind chills, and finally by nightfall it was all over.

The arctic air, in only 2 days, took 1/4 of my fuel.

Amy managed to get to the house Saturday afternoon. It was safe to travel then. I needed her help because my knees were so swollen from the fall. It was wonderful to have her and her puppy Dori here. The weather had made me feel cut off from the world and living like a squatter. I immediately began making bread.

Salt-encrusted car

Because of the new furnace though, I survived the weather well. Back at school on Monday, I heard of frozen and exploded pipes, colder houses, no sleeping, and a dog who collapsed outside because she insisted on going outside to the bathroom and not have an accident in the house. But the owner got her dog in and sat with her the rest of the day with blankets, so it ended well. She never anticipated that the dog would collapse. I never would have, either. Lucy held it in all day Friday and Saturday and did her business within three minutes the two times she demanded to go. She is also older than the unfortunate dog, and therefore, wiser.

Tuesday morning we returned to very cold air.
But the temperature rose all day to just above freezing.

This week is recovery week. Plumbers and heating technicians are busy. I hope that -50°F wind chills never happen again. The sap will begin rising in the maples in March. The chickadees will begin to sing soon, the owls will begin to hoot, and the crows will return from the villages. Those are my signs of spring coming.

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Review: Unidentified

Unidentified by Douglas E. Richards
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a light, fun book to read when I couldn't get out of the house because of the weather. It was derivative and often cliche, but still fun. UFOs and aliens are real and have been with us for a very long time and Jason Ramsey, a former non-believer, learns all about the alien activity and conspiracies on earth. He, and his gorgeous love, Tessa, also manage to save the earth…if only for this millenia. 

Once again, I could see this being made into a movie (it will require lots of CGI, though) because it is a love story, an alien story, an action novel. The book invokes Dr. Who, Ender's Game, and Star Trek but only Star Trek is mentioned by name. I'm sure there were other inspirations embedded in the book that I didn't recognize.

The plot relies, perhaps too heavily, on the same self-analysis of humans that existed in Star Trek and other novels throughout time: that humans are deeply flawed and violent but also passionate, loyal and loving. This novel takes that hypothesis to the extreme so that these are the qualities that save the planet and humankind when alien rational thought and AI could not.

Even though I was not impressed with the quality of writing or the narrative, I had to find out what happened in the end. Maybe you will want to find out, also.

My notes and highlights for this book

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The Cold

      

4 PM Feb. 3, 2023

It's going to get a lot colder tonight. They predict -23°F with a windchill of -50°F overnight. I have never experienced this before. I have seen it colder, have seen -30°F actual temperature at the house. But not this windchill. They say it is a once in a generation occurrence. Schools are closed. Nobody is driving by on the road.

As the day has gone on, the air has gotten colder from a high of +11°F at 5 AM to this. The wind has gotten stronger, also. I have been watching the trees leaning in the wind and the snow blowing through the air.

The air in the house is too dry. The furnace has not stopped burning even for one minute. I had 3/4 tank of fuel before this began. I dread to see how much is left when this is over Saturday night.

Lucy will not go out and I am grateful for that. But she has strong feelings about soiling the house. I will praise her when she has an "accident."

Lucy's nap this morning.

Lucy slept under her blanket all night last night next to me, keeping me warmer, and took her naps under a blanket on the couch. The cats? Same old routine except they have me home to pitifully cry for more food more often. 

I was going to wash dishes today (for me and the knees, it is almost an all-day chore). But this is my day off and I have taken it off. Movies, messaging with the kids all day, reading. I had supper at lunch time. My son and I exchanged piano performances of Schumann piano concertos and gossiped about the Schumanns and Brahms. We shared a couple of recipes and gossiped about TV chefs. 

Amy's district was the only district in the state that stayed open. She said when it was over that it was awful taking the kids to the busses wrapped in blankets. I can't even imagine. The state even reminded us not to let our dogs or cats outside, or to only let the dog stay out less than 10 minutes. Yet they allowed human children out in that district. 

I am so grateful we were kept home today so that I could monitor the furnace and the pipes and the animals. I will soon post about my post-holiday experiences that have kept me quiet for too long. So I needed this day to make sure all was still under control. 

Here is the map of the forecasted wind chills for my area tonight. I live between Newport and St. Johnsbury, to the right of the I-91 symbol and in the dark red at 1400 ft elevation—which will be worse than being in a protected valley. It is going to be bad. The wind chill so far has only been -43°F today. I don't even know if it is possible to sleep upstairs with the wind and cold tonight. We'll see. But I know Lucy will never leave my side. Oh, but the cats will! Those little hedonists! I suspect they are sleeping on top of the furnace!

• Tweet from Lake Champlain (2 hours to the west of me).
• Tweet from Newport this morning about 9 AM (20 minutes north of me)
• Mount Washington in New Hampshire (an hour east of me)

I survived today and I will survive worse tomorrow. But I won't go to my hair appointment tomorrow. Amy said she is (we go to the same hairdresser). 

When Lucy was awake, she took advantage 
and asked for extra cookies.
She got them.
Who could say no to this?

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Review: The Thursday Murder Club

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The characters in The Thursday Murder Club are so real to me that whenever I took a break from reading I wondered what they were doing when I wasn't looking. Unfortunately, they are all as elderly as I am, so I expect that sooner or later that at least one of them will pass on. But they are vigorous now and we celebrate that.

There were an unfortunate number of murders and suicides in the book. Not even Midsomer County can boast as many! But by the end of the book, they were all resolved. Osman supplied so many details that I actually kept careful track of them in my Kindle. And like a Russian novel, I also had to keep close track of the characters. There are many and at least twice I searched the text to remember where the character first popped up. I tried to use the clues to solve one murder myself, but I was wrong. It sure was fun trying, though!

The setting is the present, in the UK, in a modern independent-living retirement community. It seemed so pleasant that I may have considered leaving my woods and fields for a community as nice here, in Vermont. The victims of the homicides fortunately did not reside in this community. But the suicides did. That gives one pause.

This is the first in the Thursday Murder Club series. I have tried my best to stay away from series but it has been a fruitless battle. This is a high quality series. At this time, there are two others in the series and a fourth coming in September. May Osman write many more! You must read this book.

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