Oooooh, Child Winners, and another draw!

Hello, mah pretties!

Tom is engaged in the kind of Hellacious Helliciousness that makes mah guts roil – Roofers.  Roofers Creating Havoc.

So let’s all say a prayer that he can get through this without having to do a long stint at San Quentin.

In the meantime ’tis I, Musette, here to give you winners and tell you tales.

Winners of the Child draw:

Verbenaluvvr

Edpgypsy

gmail your evilauntieanitaAT and give me your details.  I’ve been slow to get stuff out because I’m up to my eyeballs in work and allergies but I do actually get the stuff out, I promise!

Not much to tell you, tale-wise, except to say my garden is going BONKERS!  We had such a mild winter and then the hot/cool/rainy Spring caused things to LEAP!  LEAP!, I say.  I would show you a whole lot more than I have but Windows X (May I just tell you how much I loathe Windows X?  LOATHE)…anyhoo – here is one and it is perfume-related.

Therese Bugnet

it is my very early rose, Therese Bugnet.  This year the bush is almost 7′ tall, and completely covered with blossoms.  If you walk up and stick your nose in Mme Bugnet you get nary a thing…but step about 10′ away and let the wind blow – you’ll get the most amazing rose scent!  It’s the equivalent of how I like my roses in perfumery – I love Aqua di Parma Rosa Nobile but only if it’s lightly applied over their Gelsomina body cream – the jasmine has a sharp green note that cuts the rich roundness of the rose.  Combined, they approximate that wonderful ‘rose on the breeze’ .

and here is The Girl – omg, she looks so serious, doesn’t she?  It’s funny because in reality she’s a pretty easygoing sort and a total magnet for any little girl under the age of 3.   It is the most terrifying experience – and it happens a lot (I live in a place where parents are a bit laissez-faire as regards their small children and huge dogs.  Since I land firmly on the side of ‘faire’ I try to keep our distance but every now and then we are ambushed, as we were yesterday when 8 EIGHT small kids descended from the kid gym and ran, pell mell, over to us, screaming ‘DOGGGGIE!!!’  All I could do was lean over and hold TG’s head, figuring she couldn’t really hurt anybody with her feet.  She remained stoic through the entire event, accepting their kisses and pats as her due, while I waited, heart in mouth, for their parents to saunter over.  SAUNTER!, I say.

Dogggggie!

okay – this post is getting lamer by the second.  Drop me a line.  Tell me a doggie story or something fun – I’m easy.  Doggggie! will poke a few winners and I promise to get some fun stuff out p.d.q.  Allergies are exhausting – all I want to do is get through my work day and go lie down.  But I’ll get me to the Post Office, I swear it!

  • Diana says:

    Your dog is cute. Is she a Presa? I have a Boerboel, which is a South African Mastiff. Adults and older kids give my dog and I a wide berth when we are out for walks, but it’s always the littlest, tiniest people who run up to us with total abandon asking to pet the dog. Because he is a 130 pound brindle mastiff, he looks mean as can be but is a total baby. (He was attacked once by a yorkie who drew blood with a nasty nip on his nose and he did nothing except stand there looking confused!) The parent’s reactions are sometimes funny tho. I had one lady that looked like she was going to have a stroke when her little girl ran up and hugged my dog. I always yell, ‘He’s friendly” a few times in situations like this.

  • Miriam says:

    My black lab growing up loved kids which was why she came to live with us (4 ‘active’ children). She was super friendly to everyone and we played with her a lot.

    I loved combing her after playing in the woods and she was pretty happy to be combed, brushed, petted… she’d half close her eyes and leeeeaaan. Most of the time when she got Happy there was jumping and licking and running in tight circles, but we had mellow times too. I still miss her.

    Enjoy yours!

  • Nemo says:

    What beautiful roses, and what a wonderfully stoic looking dog!! My dog is tiny and terrified of small children, especially ones that make noise (so all of them). I hope one day he is as accepting of their attentions as yours 🙂

  • tiffanie says:

    Such a sweet lovey. Your doggo deserves all the pats. Reminds me of a day at the park with my then my 3 year old son. He walked up to a big labrador and shared licks of his ice cream cone while the owner and I were chatting and not paying attention. Mama dog was tenderly licking around my son’s fingers to clean up the drips. Too cute for words.

  • Angela Boyer says:

    OMG! You are hysterical! It is such Fun to read your blogs! You are my alter ego! 😉

  • Laurels says:

    Thank you for telling us about your rosebush. I thought it was just my own weird nose that sometimes can’t smell a rose when in direct contact, but will catch a whiff from ten feet away.

  • Spring_pansy says:

    Hi A – love the garden and dog stories. We have a lovely golden retriever who gets tons of love and play time – but always acts to strangers as if no one EVER pets her. Can’t always believe the sad puppy eyes!

  • jackie b says:

    We have a Duck Toller puppy and a little Pomeranian…she used to live down the road, tied up in the carport 24/7, I used to cry about her. We offered to buy her but were told that Chinese people don’t sell animals. Long story short, we gave them an orchid and they gave us Lucky!

  • Pam says:

    I love the pic of your doggie! I have a large foxhound, a rescue, who loooves children and will let them hug and hug on her. But she is not necessarily nice to other dogs. At least I don’t have to rein her in every time a child runs toward her.

  • Stephanie says:

    I have a pretty nuts doggie story for ya. Back when I was in college, the university I went to had a big bike race/drinking festival every spring. One year, during this annual drinking bender, I went over to a friend-of-a-friend’s house for a day party. It was raining lightly, and I went outside by myself to have a cigarette (gross)/get a little time by myself. In the neighbor’s yard I saw the nicest, biggest, saddest looking dog I had ever seen. So I drunkenly sauntered over to the fence and started talking to the big sad fluffy puppy, letting him smell my hand, and giving him a few pets. Then I looked around a little and found that the gate to his yard was WIDE OPEN, so I decided to go in there and play with this lonely dog. There was a tennis ball so we played fetch, and I rubbed his belly and kept telling him what a good boy he was and how his people were terrible for not spending time with him. We had a great time.

    Eventually I wandered back over to the party to see my friends. I asked someone about ur dog and they told me the dog in question basically just lived outside all by himself. When we all got around to leave and head to the next drinking site, the dog’s owner was outside playing with him! He gave me the most sheepish look. I think I drunkenly shamed him into being a better dog owner!

    Looking back, all of this was a terrible decision, but I hope that dog got his day

    • Musette says:

      I don’t think that was a terrible decision at all! What a lovely thing to do for a lonely pup! The owner sounds like a jerk and I’m glad you shamed him into better behavior.

      You are a Good Dog Friend, indeed.

      xoxoxoA

  • verbenaluvvr says:

    Message sent, thanks for your generosity! 🙂

  • We had a whippet that kids loved and what was sweet was that he loved kids so much that when they ran up to him he would suddenly go perfectly still and then kind of lean into them when they started to touch him. No licking or jumping, it was like he wanted them to be really comfortable so they could love on him. This was before we had kids so it was like he was getting his fix too.

    • Musette says:

      that is the most charming thing I’ve read today! I’m laughing at the idea of TG ‘leaning into them’ – they would topple over, with this 130-lb blonde laying on them! They’d probably love it. I would probably faint dead away! xoxoxoA

  • Jirish says:

    I love your gardening and dog stories. I was thinking of you yesterday because the shelter I work at has some puppies that are on lock-down because they are parvo-exposed. I still vividly remember the sad story of you fostering a litter of parvo puppies. I hope we are luckier.

    • Musette says:

      oh, dear! I am so sorry to hear that and hope they all survive! That was the most virulent strain any of the vets had ever seen – hope yours is milder. Wishing you all the best as you guys help them through this!

      xoxoxoA

  • Queen Cupcake says:

    Musette, I love your posts. Each and every one. For the past 5 years or so, I have been in the habit of greeting a dog who lived in the back yard of a house in the street behind our house. He actually waited for me to get home. He’d woof woof and I would talk to him. “Hi doggie, good boy.” We’d have quite a conversation. Then, a few weeks ago, he and his people moved away. I miss Doggie and am sorry that I never went to his house to speak with him up close. I have no idea what his family thought about a distant neighbor shouting endearments at their dog. I don’t think that they played with him enough, though.

    Your roses are fabulous, I’m jealous!
    XOXO

    • Musette says:

      My darling, thank you SO much! I’m so sorry you’ve lost your neighbor-doggie. I know that one, too. That’s how I got into Rottweilers. I would cut through the adjacent alley on the way to the train and there was a 12wk old Rottie girl, with her squeaky hot dog wedged firmly in her little jaws. She would ‘woof’ and the hot dog would squeak – and I was lost. We stayed friends until she and her people moved away. I had 4 Rottweilers in my life because of that little girl.

      xoxoxoA

  • Connie says:

    Not lame! I love to hear about gardening!
    Not a doggy story, but my kittens (okay, they’re two years old so probably just very small cats now) have celebrated my coming home by bringing us two dead adolescent squirrels. Kind of horrendous.

    • Musette says:

      oh, Jeebus! Been there. Cats are landsharks! The Girl is just as bad, though. Last year she bit a baby bird IN HALF! Took less than 2 seconds for it to happen. Nauseating.

      xxoxoxoA

      • Laurels says:

        When I was in high school, the family dog snatched a bird right out of the air. Impressive, and a little terrifying.