Watch Out: It's the Knitting Bandit!

In order to appreciate the little anecdote I've come in here to share, you'll need a wee bit of background information.

Me. Of course.

My little 17 lb. chihuahua mix has been missing for more than a month. There were no sightings at all for a couple of weeks and then BAM: 4 sightings in 3 days from the same general area. My dog was abused as a baby and then spent the next portion of his life living under a bridge and trying to attack anything that drove over it (yes, the troll under the bridge). It took animal control two weeks of avid trapping to finally catch the little guy and then quite a bit of time at the shelter to get him to emerge from his shell at all.

When I heard his story I knew he was exactly the 4-legged companion I was searching for. I adopted him sight-unseen and brought him home. It took over a week of coaxing to get him to use the bathroom outdoors (a nightmare time for those of us who had to clean up behind him!) and he did not know how to even play like a dog. My cat taught him. So, he plays like a cat. He ended up choosing me as his person and would only allow me to pet him- even then, only if he laid close beside me.

Alexander still tolerated me

We've gotten closer over the time I've had him (a couple of years) but he still has a special hatred for anyone other than me and leashes in general. But, he is very good at surviving in the wild- as he has proven yet again! In all of the sightings he has been reported to be well fed and moving fast. The struggle, of course, is that he will only come to me and he is very elusive. Thus, the solution is to get myself in a place where he can smell and hear me at the same time that he is in that area.

This brings us up to this morning when I decided it was a lovely, sunny day and just perfect for packing up my knitting and a chair and planting myself in various places around the area he's been haunting while calling for him. To make the experience even more exciting- it was recommended that I go without a shower so he would be more likely to smell me. So there I was, in all my odoriffic glory, kicking back with my knitting at the side of a road and calling for him periodically. Many people drove by or were out in their yards while studiously ignoring me. Finally a woman walked by with some kids and asked how I was doing. I told her what I was up to, described my dog, and she said they would keep an eye out. One of the girls she was with said that she had seen Alexander in her backyard and that she lived further down the street.

sharp, pointy weapons of terror

So after about an hour, I moved further down, found a place right by the street and far away from houses (in hopes of not encroaching on anyone's territory) and set up with my knitting and calling again. About fifteen minutes into this I noticed a short, aggressive looking woman stalking toward me while puffing angrily on her cigarette: "What is this? Do you just go about town plopping your ass on people's properties and knitting?" In this moment I had a choice... and looking back, part of me wishes I had made the irresponsible one: to reply that indeed, that is how I get my thrills mwahahaha! Then load up my stuff and drive away without another word. If I had gone that route then it would have given me a good laugh and maybe she would have felt like a jerk later when her daughter and neighbors told her what I was really doing. But no. I am far too responsible for my own good.

So I tried to tell her what I was doing and soothe her by packing up my knitting and chair, assuring her I would find a different area to look. She was not soothed. Not at all. In fact, when she heard that a young skating girl had mentioned seeing Alexander in her backyard, she turned her attack on said young lady. It turned out that this girl is her six year old daughter. After berating that poor child (I couldn't get a word in) she turned on me, belittling me for listening to a six year old (she really was not hearing my repeated assertions that multiple people had spotted him here) and then told me to just go back to my knitting, she would move herself and her kids to the backyard.

I should return and knit her trees sweaters for revenge

I packed up my stuff and just left as fast as I could. Whet did she think I was going to do? Hurt her and her kids with my knitting needles? But more importantly, I felt bad for the little girl. She sounded far more reasonable than her mother and didn't deserve to be treated so poorly. I was hoping if I left, her mom would forget her anger faster.

Maybe if I wafted my armpits about I would have had beeter luck finding Alexander... (and keeping away psycho-bitch!)

Vegetable Soup.

Vegetable soup.

I don't know about you, but when I read those words I cringe. It does not sound like dinner and if someone invited me over and announced that was what we were having, I'd figure on needing a real dinner later! 

But I'm trying something new. My knee had hit a point where the improvement had stopped. I could just shrug my shoulders and get some pain medications and plan to use a cane for the rest of my life- but that isn't in me. So I found a book called Clean Cuisine. That part of the title didn't appeal (ugh. Another diet book? As if the world needs more...) but it was further labeled an anti-inflammatory diet. Perfect for trauma induced arthritis! While reading, it appears as though there is good potential that following a 'clean' eating program would also help with other health issues I'm facing. I had no idea inflammation was responsible for so many issues in the human body!

In a nutshell it says move more, eat more fruit and veggies, eat less meat, and replace processed foods with whole grains. Oh, and of course: no sugar! So yes, there is more to it than that but like I said: nutshell. For a carnivore such as myself the idea of eating less meat is far less appealing than those high protein diets. But I like the idea of a kinder way of eating and the science makes sense. So, this brings us back to the dreaded vegetable soup. 

For those like me who wonder what the heck a fennel bulb looks like.

I'm in week one of trying new recipes and decided to dive right in by making The Easy Vegetable Soup Recipe. I did adjust a couple of things- since I couldn't find collards I used swiss chard and since this was dinner and I like it a bit more filling, I increased the broth to six cups and added a couple cups of cooked barley. The kids were seriously unimpressed (my son mainly because of the lack of meat) but me? Wow! Its got some zest to it, its colorful, its filling, and I didn't miss the meat. I'll do a couple things differently next time to cut cost. I'll be omitting the fennel (that sucker was $5!) and replacing the red pepper with a green one. I'll also add mushrooms for texture...

And there we have it. I won't turn this into a recipe blog but when I find something this fantastic? Gotta share it. 

Searching for my Faithful Friend

My dog went missing a little more than a week ago. I knew I loved him. But I hadn't realized just how much, nor had I realized how much I depended on him. For a small creature he had a big job! He was my companion, especially now that the kids are older and its so uncool to go to the beach and various parks and hang out with Mom. He was a persistent snuggler- I am not a fan of warm furry little bodies snuggling close to me but he insisted upon it and guess what? He won. In fact, he managed to monopolize the majority of my queen size bed. He has me so well train that I still stick to my side of it!

It is the little things that add up and leave me now a sleepless wreck. Every time I would stand he would dance about, so very excited at the prospect of whatever nonsense we were about to do. Any food I wasn't keen on he was happy to assist in making disappear. And when bedtime came he would dance ahead of me down the hall, making sure I was following, then snuggle in as soon as I got settled. In the mornings I still wake confused at not seeing him bouncing around next to me, excited to start a new day. How could I not waken and get the day going when greeted with such joy?

Its not that he is perfect- far from it. But as seems to be the case in relationships, it is those imperfections that make him uniquely him and in a delightfully strange way- perfect.

Since he has disappeared I do not know if he is alive or dead. I do not know if he has a place to sleep and food to eat. I know he is a touch, brave little guy- before I adopted him he lived under the bridge in Anchor Point (like a little troll). Somehow he survived through that time. Its possible he is surviving now. But I have his advertised on the radio, flyers hung and passed out around town, pictures and description in with animal control and all the local vets. There are a few possible sightings but none in the last few days.

Which leads to the big questions in my mind now. I do not want to be unfaithful to his memory and put my energies toward "getting over" his loss. What if he is found tomorrow? And I cannot keep going with so little sleep, this constant, urgent need to comb the woods and streets for him, the persistent worry for his well-being. There has to be a happy medium, I simply have not found it yet.

There are a lot of scary potential tales out there: several days ago a larger dog who had been missing was found in Nikiski. He had been tied up and beaten to death. There are rumors of people in town with baited traps who take animals far away from town to release them (a sick hobby?). In Fairbanks there was a huge increase in the number of missing pets to the point that the police got involved. They discovered a man who was abducting the beloved family members in order to skin them. He kept the pelts and have a giant dumpster full of the poor animal's carcasses. An eagle would be very capable of hauling away an animal Alexander's size and there are reports of giant owls in the immediate area who are killing small dogs and eating them on the ground. Then of course we have the ravens. Not something I would expect to be an issue: but they have been spotted ganging up on larger dogs and pecking them to death. I can only imagine what the poor creatures would have to do to offend the ravens to that point. And of course, the bears are waking from hibernation.

I want to be there for my dog. But I also need to find a way to sleep and get out of this horrid funk.