Ended up mostly being about dogs…
May. 16th, 2026 08:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snowazaleaI’m kind of buzzing right now after a very good night’s sleep followed by a cup with generous scoops of Tea India CTC. I got these magnesium “relax and calm” chews from Sprouts to help me with anxiety toward the flight, and I think they have been helping me sleep, which I did not expect. I have been taking them in the evenings after dinner. I actually researched what kind of THC gummies or similar that are legal in Texas (or any cannabis product I can buy in NYC) might work, and even Xanax, but my takeaway was that it can make things worse if you don’t know how it’s going to interact with your body, and I didn’t have time to make a doctor’s appointment to talk it over with her. I am pretty drug-sensitive, so I want to proceed with caution. I already take Lexapro, and I really like how it has helped me, so I don’t want to mess with my good things. I’ve also been diligent with the Vitamin C.
I downloaded the rest of the episodes for Mr. Sahara and Toki-kun and Meet You at the Blossom to watch in-flight. Lots of fun, light BL will really help.
I got a new issue of Poets & Writer’s magazine yesterday that I’m excited about. I’m not taking it on the trip, but I do plan to read it in the mornings when we get back and find some presses or contests to submit to, or at least give me an idea of how to shape this huge file of writing I have. It’s the first time I’ve opened an issue of that magazine in years. It gave me a lot of feelings to contend with, because I have thoroughly buried my writerly ambitions for many years, and I need to sort through how and why I have done that. It feels a little heavy, so I’m going to wait until my days off when I get back to think about writing again.
In a few hours, I need to take my dogs to the pet resort. I am dreading it. I am going to miss them so much. I’m also going to worry about how they are going to do together in the kennel. They’d rather be together at home and are good about giving each other space when they need it, but I’m afraid the stress of the pet resort might change their behavior. I mean, they are both shelter dogs, and I’ve only had Jareth 5 months. He spent 3 months before that at the shelter, and prior to that, I have no idea where he was — though with his refined behavior and knowledge bank of commands, I’m guessing he was a loved pet at some point, since they said at the shelter he came that way. But he was deemed “dog selective” at the shelter, and I would say that is accurate. He does not seem to like other dogs — except Wei. Plus, Jareth is now like over 80 lbs. (put on 20 lbs. since I adopted him, oops), Wei is 14 lbs., and Wei is an elderly chihuahua, not without a temper and some snapping tendencies. Jareth is, among other things, likely part bull terrier and… the list of worries goes on and on. For what it’s worth, though, Jareth is the gentlest dog I have ever known in all of my life. He has shown fear when his rear end is being messed with, or during thunderstorms, but never a crumb of aggression toward humans or cats. The only time he’s shown aggression toward Wei is when I gave him a bone, and Wei got curious. Even that sounded mild and resolved in a few seconds before I could get downstairs. Definitely no bones for anybody, LOL. That is a house rule.
I was always afraid of pit bulls and considered them unthinkable for our gentle, quiet home with always at least 5 cats. I followed the discourse intensely after I started fostering him and concluded there are truly unhinged people on both sides of the “pit bull” argument. I also watched a lot of Cesar Milan videos, and there are a lot of pros and cons about his work, too — but for my situation, it helped me a lot in knowing how to treat Jareth. I don’t think some of his techniques are appropriate for little dogs, but for big, rough shelter dogs, which is mostly what he works with, I think his work is very useful. Still, the only way I would get another dog of any kind, but especially a large dog, would be to foster first, as I did with Jareth. I have the space to isolate a new dog and make sure they are completely safe with cats — and if not, to care for them and take them to events till they can get adopted. Now, I’m so turned on to bull terrier mixes, I would actively seek one out over another kind of mix to find the right fit for our home.
Jareth’s biggest con is that he sheds so much. I was not prepared for all the hair. I have only had a poodle, a schnauzer, and chihuahuas, and I was not prepared for what life with a truly “shedding” dog is like. It’s bad. I vacuum all the time, and it’s still not enough. I find his hairs in my packed lunch at work. Oh, well. I love him.
In my very early childhood, my mom and dad raised black labs. It’s tender to remember these first 7 years of my life, since my mom and dad were married to each other, life felt so secure, and they both deeply loved these black labs, and I deeply loved the dogs as well. When they divorced, they each kept their own black labs for a while. Jareth’s temperament is the most like those black labs than any other dog I’ve met — sniffy, almost dorky, with deeply loving brown eyes, available for hugs 24/7.
My mom and stepdad had two large dogs, in addition to my painful memory of my small dog, Prissy, who was abused by my stepdad, and both of those large dogs had behavioral problems. The lab/chow mix was extremely aggressive toward strangers and bit my dad once when he was coming to pick me up. They encouraged her protective behavior, which I now know is a huge no-no unless you want another person’s death on your hands, a big lawsuit, some jail time maybe, having your dog euthanized, etc. The other dog was a purebred German shepherd that was abused by my stepdad’s brother, and ended up attacking a family friend in a terrible way — just also a horrible memory. My stepdad also refused to have him neutered, which I now know was another huge no-no, since it did result in at least one unplanned litter of puppies. To top it all off, he was kept on a chain most of his life, only to be turned over to the shelter once they divorced… all in all, a lot of memories I never turned over have come to me over the past 5 months, having Jareth. The good big-dog memories, and also the bad.
But Jareth is his own self. He’s the gentle guardian watcher of our home whom we introduced gently to strangers and reward liberally for calm behavior. He’s caring toward his cats, greets them every morning, while they enjoy him and seek him out often for a rub and a sniff — and he gets alarmed at their fights with each other and goes to check on them. I think if he and Wei never saw each other again, they would be cool with it, but they maintain peace and sometimes find companionship, though when Wei is shut away separately from Jareth, he barks incessantly (he may be getting some cognitive dysfunction), so I have to keep them together.
I downloaded the rest of the episodes for Mr. Sahara and Toki-kun and Meet You at the Blossom to watch in-flight. Lots of fun, light BL will really help.
I got a new issue of Poets & Writer’s magazine yesterday that I’m excited about. I’m not taking it on the trip, but I do plan to read it in the mornings when we get back and find some presses or contests to submit to, or at least give me an idea of how to shape this huge file of writing I have. It’s the first time I’ve opened an issue of that magazine in years. It gave me a lot of feelings to contend with, because I have thoroughly buried my writerly ambitions for many years, and I need to sort through how and why I have done that. It feels a little heavy, so I’m going to wait until my days off when I get back to think about writing again.
In a few hours, I need to take my dogs to the pet resort. I am dreading it. I am going to miss them so much. I’m also going to worry about how they are going to do together in the kennel. They’d rather be together at home and are good about giving each other space when they need it, but I’m afraid the stress of the pet resort might change their behavior. I mean, they are both shelter dogs, and I’ve only had Jareth 5 months. He spent 3 months before that at the shelter, and prior to that, I have no idea where he was — though with his refined behavior and knowledge bank of commands, I’m guessing he was a loved pet at some point, since they said at the shelter he came that way. But he was deemed “dog selective” at the shelter, and I would say that is accurate. He does not seem to like other dogs — except Wei. Plus, Jareth is now like over 80 lbs. (put on 20 lbs. since I adopted him, oops), Wei is 14 lbs., and Wei is an elderly chihuahua, not without a temper and some snapping tendencies. Jareth is, among other things, likely part bull terrier and… the list of worries goes on and on. For what it’s worth, though, Jareth is the gentlest dog I have ever known in all of my life. He has shown fear when his rear end is being messed with, or during thunderstorms, but never a crumb of aggression toward humans or cats. The only time he’s shown aggression toward Wei is when I gave him a bone, and Wei got curious. Even that sounded mild and resolved in a few seconds before I could get downstairs. Definitely no bones for anybody, LOL. That is a house rule.
I was always afraid of pit bulls and considered them unthinkable for our gentle, quiet home with always at least 5 cats. I followed the discourse intensely after I started fostering him and concluded there are truly unhinged people on both sides of the “pit bull” argument. I also watched a lot of Cesar Milan videos, and there are a lot of pros and cons about his work, too — but for my situation, it helped me a lot in knowing how to treat Jareth. I don’t think some of his techniques are appropriate for little dogs, but for big, rough shelter dogs, which is mostly what he works with, I think his work is very useful. Still, the only way I would get another dog of any kind, but especially a large dog, would be to foster first, as I did with Jareth. I have the space to isolate a new dog and make sure they are completely safe with cats — and if not, to care for them and take them to events till they can get adopted. Now, I’m so turned on to bull terrier mixes, I would actively seek one out over another kind of mix to find the right fit for our home.
Jareth’s biggest con is that he sheds so much. I was not prepared for all the hair. I have only had a poodle, a schnauzer, and chihuahuas, and I was not prepared for what life with a truly “shedding” dog is like. It’s bad. I vacuum all the time, and it’s still not enough. I find his hairs in my packed lunch at work. Oh, well. I love him.
In my very early childhood, my mom and dad raised black labs. It’s tender to remember these first 7 years of my life, since my mom and dad were married to each other, life felt so secure, and they both deeply loved these black labs, and I deeply loved the dogs as well. When they divorced, they each kept their own black labs for a while. Jareth’s temperament is the most like those black labs than any other dog I’ve met — sniffy, almost dorky, with deeply loving brown eyes, available for hugs 24/7.
My mom and stepdad had two large dogs, in addition to my painful memory of my small dog, Prissy, who was abused by my stepdad, and both of those large dogs had behavioral problems. The lab/chow mix was extremely aggressive toward strangers and bit my dad once when he was coming to pick me up. They encouraged her protective behavior, which I now know is a huge no-no unless you want another person’s death on your hands, a big lawsuit, some jail time maybe, having your dog euthanized, etc. The other dog was a purebred German shepherd that was abused by my stepdad’s brother, and ended up attacking a family friend in a terrible way — just also a horrible memory. My stepdad also refused to have him neutered, which I now know was another huge no-no, since it did result in at least one unplanned litter of puppies. To top it all off, he was kept on a chain most of his life, only to be turned over to the shelter once they divorced… all in all, a lot of memories I never turned over have come to me over the past 5 months, having Jareth. The good big-dog memories, and also the bad.
But Jareth is his own self. He’s the gentle guardian watcher of our home whom we introduced gently to strangers and reward liberally for calm behavior. He’s caring toward his cats, greets them every morning, while they enjoy him and seek him out often for a rub and a sniff — and he gets alarmed at their fights with each other and goes to check on them. I think if he and Wei never saw each other again, they would be cool with it, but they maintain peace and sometimes find companionship, though when Wei is shut away separately from Jareth, he barks incessantly (he may be getting some cognitive dysfunction), so I have to keep them together.
no subject
Date: 2026-05-18 03:51 pm (UTC)Definitely very smart. I've heard of people getting agitated on Xanax. I've had it a few times before medical procedures and it made me very loopy.
I hope flipping through Poets & Writer's gives you some inspiration!
no subject
Date: 2026-05-22 02:58 pm (UTC)