July 2022 - eileenanddogs

How I Taught My Dog to Sleep Later in the Morning

Posted on July 29, 2022December 16, 2022 by Eileen Anderson

A white dog with reddish-brown ears and speckles lies asleep in a curved position on a colorful blanket — Lewis sleeps in

When Lewis first came, he had just spent 10 critical weeks of his puppyhood living in a vet’s office. He grew up keeping clinic hours. He was ready to get up in the morning between 5:00 and 6:00 AM.

Eileenanddogs Is 10 Years Old

Posted on July 21, 2022December 16, 2022 by Eileen Anderson

A white dog with reddish brown ticking and brown and black on his face is lying on a mat very close to a tan dog with black ears and a black muzzle. They are both looking to the left. — Lewis and Clara in 2022

There are a lot more important things happening in the world right now, but I’m going to hoist a little flag as the 10th anniversary of my blog flies by.

I published my first post on July 21, 2012. I love writing this blog. It is my dessert after other tasks, it’s a refuge, it’s fun. I have published 367 posts.

Experiencing a High Magnitude Punisher and Its Fallout

Posted on July 11, 2022December 16, 2022 by Eileen Anderson

Black and white cartoon drawings of two stinging insects flying together in a threatening manner — *Cartoon stinging insects, since I don’t want to trigger any phobias. See the link immediately below for photo of Polistes exclamans, the common paper wasp species that was living on my porch.*

Photo of Polistes exclamans in nest

silver metal storage cabinet with a blue tarp on top. The cabinet door is partially open. — **This was the cabinet on the day that I found out there was a wasp nest under the blue tarp**

One day last summer (2021), I was on my back porch. I lifted a tarp I keep over my cabinets so I could close the door, something I’ve done without thought dozens of times. A wasp flew out from under the tarp at warp speed and stung my hand so hard and painfully that it felt like a blow. For a moment I didn’t know what happened, but my hand hurt like hell, and I realized that a stinging insect had gotten me and that there were more of them.

I yelled and scrambled back into my house, frantically scanning to make sure no wasps had come in the door with me. I slammed the storm door and the wooden door inside it. But the wooden door doesn’t latch all the way in the summer and wouldn’t stay shut. I needed to get away from that wasp and its colleagues so badly that I leaned on the wooden door with all my body weight for an embarrassingly long time, on the off chance that a wasp might be between the doors. I recovered slowly from my scare. My hand throbbed and started to swell.