Josie's Generous Offer

Josie still needs some training. Ok, a lot of training. Turns out terriers can be difficult to train. One thing she's learning, sort of, is to not beg at the table.

Or, maybe she's just learning how to beg in a different and interesting way.

There's a sliding door to our dining room that wasn't used often before Josie came along, but lately it's been used frequently to keep her out of the way at dinner time. This evening was an exception, but even though Josie was underfoot she wasn't making much of a nuisance of herself. Or, not as much of a nuisance of herself, so far as I was concerned. Still, she did manage to surprise me.

After I explained to Josie that I wasn't going to give her any food (or any more food...she'd already gotten one scrap from me as the table was being set) she vanished from the dining room briefly. Then, what did she come back with? A new rawhide bone that she'd just gotten less than an hour before. And what did she do with that rawhide bone?

She put that rawhide bone next to my chair, and looked up at me with the most adorable eyes.

All I can conclude is that Josie was offering her bone in exchange for the yumminess that was on my plate.

It was a generous offer on her part, but I'm afraid I had to turn the bargain down.

Josie and a rat, I'm not sure which one

My rats were mildly traumatized by Josie at first. This was perhaps not helped by the fact that she started excitedly barking, loudly, when she first good a good look at them. Oh, yeah, it turns out that some terriers are ratters...

By now she's calmer, though still excited (she's pretty excitable in general) when she sees them, and they've relaxed enough to more or less go nose to nose with her through the wires of their cage.

Remembering Sabine

When we had to help Socks on his way a while back, and then I lost Beka the following day, I did posts with photos of them as a way to remember them. I wanted to do that when I lost Sabine on Samhain, but wasn't really in a good state of mind to do so. It's a bit late now, but I want to finally do that for her. So here are some photos, not strictly in chronological order, though I've kept the photos of her with Beka versus the younger two girls separate.

Sisters

This was from the day I brought home Sabine and her sister, Beka. Due to photo quality I'm not sure which is which.

I got them from a breeder who I met at a place sort of between our houses. Ok, we met in a gas station parking lot. Fortunately the employees there were familiar with her so they weren't trying to figure out what she was giving me. lol I assumed that she would bring them in a box that she would hand over, but since she didn't I brought them home in a bag. This is a photo I took of them in the bag while mom drove us home.

Sabine on left, Beka on the right

Maybe one of my favorite photos of them, and not just because it showcases my fine crafting skills by showing a fancy hammock I made them.

Piano!

I was playing around getting photos, and decided to introduce Sabine to the piano. You can just see her nose poking out of my sleeve. I'd say she wasn't impressed.

Grooming

 Here Sabine was getting groomed by her sister, Beka.

Munching

How does she look so cute while munching on a treat?

Climbing

Sabine was quite a climber. Here she's climbed my bath robe that's hanging on my wall, and she's pretty much at my eye level. So, five feet up. After snapping the photo I moved her to safety.

She was pretty good at climbing, but did fall on occasion. I'm pretty sure that's how she broke a rib, though I didn't realize she'd hurt herself until I could feel the bump where it had healed up. Once the vet told me what I was feeling under her skin, I finally understood why she'd didn't want me petting her for the previous month or so. Of course she didn't want me touching her much, her rib was broken!

Sisters

A sad photo, this was in the last few months of Beka's life. At this point Beka's mobility was pretty limited, and if I remember correctly Sabine would move food closer to where she was.

Lonely

Another sad photo, or sad to me, since I know it was taken after losing Beka but before getting the two girls I have now. Sabine was really alone. And yeah, she had me, but a human friend isn't the same as a rat companion.

Sabine, Niki, Kora

After I got the two girls I have now, I took all three of them to the vet. I brought Sabine in a different carrier, but she decided to hang out with the younger two once we got to the vet's office. Sabine's hiding in the back of the carrier here, while Kora is being adventurous. 

Sabine and the younger girls

All three of them hanging out together. Based on size I'll say that's Sabine on the right, and based on scruffiness/head shape I'll say that's Kora on the left.

Don't ask me why all four rats look so similar. I really did not plan this. Beka and Sabine were from the same litter, and I'd say it's a good bet that Niki and Kora were from the same litter, and I don't think it's surprising for sisters to look like each other. Then it's just coincidence that the first rats I found at the Human Society to bring home as company for Sabine looked like her.

Just hanging out

The three of them in a hammock. Sabine on the right, and I think that's Niki on the left.

Without going into lots of details here (I wrote other posts about it and don't feel like writing it all out again), I did have to separate Sabine from the younger girls for a while. She and Niki were butting heads since both are naturally dominant, and I worried that a fight would turn bad. Once age forced Sabine to slow down I was able to reunite them and things went well.

I detect bRATtiness...

Sabine spilled coffee on my desk, then started drinking it. So of course I let her while I took photos.

I named Sabine Curlywhiskers after two characters from the Beka Cooper books by Tamora Pierce. One was Sabine, a fierce lady knight who is best not crossed in a fight but also who makes the best of friends, and she can drink anyone under the table. The second Achoo Curlypaws, a scent hound who has the best nose you could ever hope to find. She knows she's a working dog, but she also knows how to relax and enjoy a cool autumn day when the breeze is kicking up fallen leaves.

I miss Sabine, but maybe she's playing with Beka now.

Letter From the Past

Have you ever written a letter to your future self? I've written one. Or, I thought I wrote only one. I went looking for it as something to write about here, and instead found another one that I wrote to be opened in 2012. I'd completely forgotten this second one. Here it is, with a bit of editing, due to a) personal stuff, and b) clarifying details that wouldn't be obvious to readers here.

While I'll mostly reserve my comments for after the letter, I want to mention PoP before hand so that you'll know what I'm talking about in just one read through. Pride of Portland (PoP) is a barbershop chorus that's part of Sweet Adelines International. The short explanation is that it's a group of women spread out over the globe who love to sing barbershop, wear too much makeup, wear lots of sequins, and hold musical competitions every year. My first international competition with PoP was in Vegas, and my second (and last) one was in Hawaii. I found that Hawaii agreed with me much more than Vegas, though I was too focused on the competition to really get to enjoy the place properly.

November 24th, 2007

I'm 18 years old as I write this.

I'm currently taking Poetry and Math 60 at Portland Community College. By the time I read this I hope to be working in a library, and possibly making plans to major in English at a 4 year college. I've not even begun to think about which one I want to go to yet.

I went to my first poetry reading today! It was at [I'm keeping this private], and I read my poem "He Fought His Heart" for the group. I plan to continue going to that group.

Working on music for PoP is a challenge, but hopefully I'll get better at it, and am already making progress on it becoming easier. Last year in Vegas we took 14th, and next year we go to Hawaii! I'm excited.

I'm thinking that I just might get some of my poems published. But it'll be a while before I try to go about it, I think.

I wonder -- might I be married, with kids, when I read this? Or will I still be single? Currently I've never been on a date, and never been kissed.

To date I only have one poem memorized -- Ogden Nash's "The Turtle," or I think that's the title. Anyways, I think my future self will know what my current self is talking about. :)

Well, I might add some more later, but that's it for now! 

See ya!

Sarita :P

"See ya!"

...and the above letter is exactly why I have trouble making long term plans these days. Give it a few years, or less, and my plans evolve into something else.

At the time that I wrote this letter I was pretty intimidated at the thought of going to a university. It seemed like a huge commitment (which yeah, it is) and I wasn't sure whether it was for me. So my idea around this time was to maybe get a two year degree that would aid me in getting a library job, then maybe think about going to a university. And of course I was thinking an English degree since that's what I was taking every term at Portland Community College. May as well stick with what I was already nuts about.

I'm certainly not complaining about my decision to pursue an English degree before getting settled in my own place, as I believe was assumed though not stated in the letter. But it's an example of how a long term plan I have one year isn't what I want the next year. Another example is when I picked out my Music Therapy degree, then eventually realized that it was a bad idea. I guess I just don't know for sure what I really want, career wise, though something in a library still sounds awesome.

As for poetry, Fall 2007 was the term I got really into writing poems. It all started when I turned a dream into a haiku immediately after waking up one morning, or maybe I started writing the poem in my dream. Whichever way, that opened the floodgates, and I wrote a lot of poetry until my inspiration more or less dried up. Some of my poems were good, most of them not. One was good enough to get published in the magazine Cricket less than two years after the above letter, which I was beyond excited about since it was my favorite magazine at the time. The poem mentioned in the letter is still unpublished, however, and revisiting it recently I could see that it needs some TLC.

Oh yeah, and "The Turtle"....shame on younger me for not knowing the name for certain. Come on, how difficult could it have been to remember the two word name if I memorized the poem itself?

I'm still unmarried and there are no plans for kids, but I'm definitely not single and am lucky enough to be very much in love with an amazing man. ♡

Have you ever written a letter to yourself? Future or past? What did you put in your letter?