Not a WisCon Post & Bella News
Wednesday, 19 July 2017 05:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jesse_the_kI looked back on my journal — ten years now — and realized that I always fall into a posting hole post-WisCon. I intend to post about what happened and then don't, because WisCon generates so many complex feelings. Then I feel like I can't post about other stuff until I get the WisCon posts up, and then it's November and I can start posting again.
So, I promise no WisCon posts (which means I might actually write some) and an update on my current goings-on.
The weather is generally hateful. When it's hotter than 75° I avoid walking outside, as I'm more likely to faint in hot weather. I use my chair, but only when I'm traveling from one air-conditioned place to another.
So I mainly enjoy summer through the windows. Woe is me. At least I have a treadmill so I don't have to mall-walk, which I find the most depressing thing ever.
Bella continues to be adorable, while still letting go of her previous situation, 18 months after we adopted her. Now she's trying to "get away with things," something she was too cowed to even try for the first year. Here's an example.
We've trained her that a small towel is always an OK place to be, and we use that towel to give her temporary permission to sit on the furniture with us. Last week,
sasha_feather sat on the couch, and Bella rested her head to get ear scritches. Then she wiggled her left paw on Sandy's right thigh and right paw on left thigh. Then she somehow managed to get all the way up, with two paws on each of Sandy's legs. Technically in compliance, that dog.
A 16-week old puppy came for a visit, and Bella was so kind to her. She clearly wanted to do her standard chest-bump-snarl-run-resume cycle, but she delicately tested out each movement to see how the pup reacted.
this space would have some lovely pix, but I can't figure out how to upload them directly to DW. Whether I'm in HTML or rich text editor, clicking the image button prompts for a URL.
(no subject)
Date: 20/07/2017 12:24 am (UTC)Smart, that dog!
Ya know... if "avoiding writing about WisCon" results in puppy-dog tales (and tails!), you have my permission to avoid WisCon all you need. ;-)
(no subject)
Date: 20/07/2017 02:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 20/07/2017 04:13 pm (UTC)*Scritches puppy ears*
(no subject)
Date: 20/07/2017 01:20 am (UTC)There should be some way for us
Date: 20/07/2017 02:58 pm (UTC)Why is winter hard for you?
Re: There should be some way for us
Date: 20/07/2017 03:02 pm (UTC)Also on a practical level the dark is harder for me to get around in, so there are far fewer hours of the day where I can walk the dog, go to the store, do anything that involves being outside. I socialize less, I exercise less... None of this is going to help my mood either, I know.
I tolerate cold much less well than hot; I spend a lot of the winter uncomfortable and this also makes it harder to motivate myself to get outside.
Re: There should be some way for us
Date: 20/07/2017 03:07 pm (UTC)Thoughtless me: Of course the darkness interferes with your mobility.
As a former Minnesotan, you know every possible trick for combatting the cold, so I won't carry Sorels to Manchester. (But the UK cold is more raw, right, thanks to all that ocean?)
Re: There should be some way for us
Date: 20/07/2017 03:14 pm (UTC)Minnesota is definitely more cold (and I hate it there too) though less dark (I thought I grew up in a northerly part of the world but we get a good hour less of daylight in the morning and evening here around the winter solstice than I am used to).
And yes it's a different kind of cold: it's so wet here. It rarely gets cold enough to snow and honestly sometimes I wish it did because that would be less bad (or at least it would if people shoveled the sidewalks; there's a myth here that you're liable for injuries anyone incurs if you've made an attempt to clear the path in front of your property but you're not if you've just left the snow to be packed down into ice). The rain and ice along with the wind we often get here is worse than the crisp dry Minnesota cold.
And you get weeks of overcast winter skies here, regularly. I wouldn't mind the temperature so much if I ever saw the sun!
(no subject)
Date: 20/07/2017 02:26 am (UTC)What a sensible idea!
(no subject)
Date: 20/07/2017 03:01 pm (UTC)After we got her from the rescue, we took her to an Obedience 101 class. The trainer suggested this technique particularly for travelers, so that your dog always has a familiar place to lie down.
Can't resist boasting that she was the best-behaved dog in the class (because she'd already been trained by her previous owner) so it was a great opportunity to work on "focus." Herding dogs have awesome focus, but the trick is to harness this power for good.
(no subject)
Date: 20/07/2017 06:39 pm (UTC)Oh, that makes so much sense. ^_^
Well-trained dogs can do such nifty things!
(no subject)
Date: 20/07/2017 02:40 am (UTC)<3 for the you, too.
Thanks!
Date: 20/07/2017 03:02 pm (UTC)Do you ever dog park?
Re: Thanks!
Date: 21/07/2017 03:58 am (UTC)*hugs Bella* <3 you, too. I know I said that upthread already, but given what I've just written, it bears repeating.
(no subject)
Date: 20/07/2017 08:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 20/07/2017 03:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 20/07/2017 01:59 pm (UTC)THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Date: 20/07/2017 02:23 pm (UTC)/d'oh/
(no subject)
Date: 20/07/2017 07:32 pm (UTC)Yes, WisCon stirs up complex feelings & thoughts, so much. I keep forgetting that I could journal privately (on paper!) instead/too.
(no subject)
Date: 22/07/2017 03:57 am (UTC)