Another Day....

Newman is at it again!

On Sunday I planted a boston fern in a new hanging planter. I got out the ladder so that I could hang it high from a branch of a tree in the backyard. It just so happens that the only place to hang this was right next to a bird house that has baby birds in it. 

Now the baby birds that are in it are baby English House Sparrows. If you do a little research on these birds on the internet you quickly find out that they are called rats with wings. They kill other birds. Kill other birds babies and destroy their nests and eggs. They are really not nice birds.

I didn't know anything about this till my neighbor discovered they have been eating the mortar between the bricks on our houses. They have caused a few of my bricks to fall! It is that bad.

But anyway...I had hung this birdhouse because my sister had made it for me. And now there are baby sparrows in there and I really don't know what to do about it. My neighbor is very upset with me for hanging a birdhouse. But even he said he wasn't a baby bird killer. 

But Newman had a plan...

I noticed Newman was watching me intently while I put up the fern. He asks me repeatedly to pick him up so he can look into the birdhouse. This has been going on for weeks. This because he is fascinated by the chirping birds and jumps wildly up in the air thinking he can reach them. Of course he can't...I didn't think.

Newman watching...

I go in the house to get something and come out to this...

Actually, he was on the second rung of the ladder when I caught him. He was trying to climb the ladder to get at those birds!

This is not his first encounter with baby birds. 

Last Spring I found a baby house sparrow lying on my porch. (this was before I knew they were rats with wings) It was getting cold out...and I was afraid it would freeze. So I scooped it up and made a little nest with toilet paper in a tupperware box. I then put that box inside another cardboard box.

I got on the internet and it said if I could keep the baby bird alive during the night and then place it outside in the morning...the parents would come retrieve it.

So I put it on the kitchen counter and as the internet said to do - mixed some dry dog food with water until it was mushy. After the bird rested about an hour...it woke and I fed it using tweezers to put the dog  food in his mouth. I then put a lamp on over it to keep it warm.

I was feeling all warm and fuzzy that I was saving a bird baby. Newman was very interested in the whole process and followed me around the whole time.

We then went to bed. As soon as we got in bed the little bird started chirping. Newman jumped out of bed to go look. We both went into the kitchen.

I looked in the box on the counter...

no bird...

I looked around the counter....

no bird...

I looked down just in time to see Newman go gulp and swallow the bird whole. A little drop of blood the only thing remaining of the bird on the kitchen floor.

Newman had a sick look on his face.

He didn't expect it to still be alive when it hit his stomach. 

I turned off the light and we went back to bed.

It's a Dog Eat Bird World out there.

So ever since that experience...Newman has been obsessed with bird hunting...hence the reason he decided to climb the ladder. 

Newman 

The dog that ate the canary...um...sparrow.

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Today...

Newman Ran Away!

full name: Hanford Newman Hoyt

He was very pleased with himself.

It was all Donna at Funky Junk Interiors fault. She urged her readers to get a mundane project done and then post about it. I've been needing to redo my deck planters since moving in this house.

I decided today was the day...urged on by Donna's post today.

Funky Junk Interiors

I put all the weenies in the house and left the gate open to take huge bags of potting soil in from the car. You see where this is going. After I lugged them in, I went to the house and opened the patio doors for them to come out again. I was going back in the house...when I thought....did I close that gate?

I went out to see it was ajar just a few inches. They were all busy smelling at the new dirt I'd drug in...and didn't notice it was slightly open. I started talking to them...oh good puppies...what do you smell? sweet puppies...trying to stay calm as I worked my way to the gate. I had to walk through them to get to it. Newman looked up and looked at the panic in my eyes and his eyes went instantly to the opening in the gate...and he took his shot....out he went!

He is always trying to escape when there is a friend over...so I hold him whenever anyone goes out the gate. He is usually fine with me....but this was his perfect opportunity and he knew it. 

I had to make sure the others didn't get out and go through the gate and latch it as he took off running as fast as he could...nose to the ground zigzagging back and forth across the street from yard to yard...headed towards the park...which is better than the other way.

He went the other way once...and turned around and went towards the park...so I think he remembers the park direction is where all the interesting things are.

This scared me soooo bad. He's like 10 inches off the ground. He doesn't look at anything...he just runs...laughing the whole way. It would really be joyful to watch if I wasn't so frightened that he was going to get run over. There isn't much traffic in my neighborhood but just a couple of blocks and around a corner and he's in true danger....a heavily traveled road leading to a highway.

I was screaming for him...which does absolutely no good. But I was hoping someone would come out of their house to help me. Because he won't come to me...but there is a good chance he'll go to someone new just to see who it is and find out what they are about. 

It was noon today when this happened. Thank goodness at the house on the corner where there is usually no one during the day...they were having work done on their house. A very very nice man who was working there came out of the backyard to see why I was screaming..."Newman, no" Newman, no".

I asked if he would help me that I thought he'd come to him...Newman was in the bushes of the house then...When the man bent to try to get him, he ran through the gate into the backyard of that house. It was only then that I knew we had him. He tried to go back out and ran past the man but the man scooped him up as he went by. Newman was thrilled with the adventure...he was smiling from ear to ear.

I was near tears. I thanked my rescuer profusely and explained I didn't know what I would have done without him. How kind he was to drop all and help me get that little devil.

We then walked the block back home. Newman smiling all the way...He thought it was just a great day out in the big wide world.

(excuse those toenails...he keeps them razor sharp by digging all the time and refuses to let me clip them)

Newman. Very very pleased with himself.

He was sleepy right away though.

I say Newman is my real live boy...just like Pinnochio. Because he was a puppy that grew up to be a real live boy.

He's the first to come give me kisses if I am upset...

He loves to be kissed on the cheek. If I say, "Newman, I'm going to kiss you." He throws himself down on his side and turns his cheek up to me and wiggles all over in anticipation of being kissed on the cheek. 

He loves to sit on the back of the sofa and look out the window in the den. If I sit on the sofa...he will then jump on my shoulder to get down and slither his body diagonally across my body like a snake. This feels incredibly pleasant.

Sally was very happy to have him come back home today. Since Sally was a rescue dog...she knows what its like out there in the big wide world and she has no desire to go back out there. 

(Sally has cherry eye caused from allergies...she will have to have surgery soon)

All four weenies got out once...I caught them as they ran down the drive way. Harvey got scared and stopped...Sally changed her mind and followed me back to the backyard...but Violet and Newman took off. Violet threw herself into the arms of the first man she saw. This is what she always does. She's such a girl. And Newman went on a wild run that had me and my neighbors chasing him and diving to catch him like a greased pig at a fair.

It sounds like my dogs get out all the time...they do not. They only got out that once because I was having a garage sale and again had the gate open while they were in the house...then I let them out forgetting I hadn't closed the gate. That one time was the only time in 5 years they all got out. And only Newman has slipped out since. He got where he'd duck behind someone as they went through the gate...so now I always hold him while someone leaves through the gate. 

I tell Newman he would not like it out there in the real world. There are neighborhoods not far from me, where he might end up as dinner on the dinner table. But he doesn't understand anything about that. He'd have the greatest day...if he could, out in the world...but when night would come he'd be so unhappy to find himself lost and not at home in bed. 

Just look at that face.

This was while I was scolding him.

As all my dogs do...Newman has his own song...

Newman's Song

sung to the tune of this....

Na na na na

na na na Newman!

Na na na na

na Newmie Nu!

Na na na na

na na na Newman, na Newman, na 

 Newmie Newmi Newmi Newmi Nu!

Na na na  na na Newmi Nu!

Na na na  na na Newmi Nu!

Na na na na

na na na Newman!

Na na na na

na Newmie Nu!

Na na na na

na na na Newman, na Newman, na 

 Newmie Newmi Newmi Newmi Nu!

Whew! that was hard to write...I've sung it a jillion times but never written it out of course. When ever I start in with Na na na na...he immediately pricks up his ears...he knows its his song...of course he wouldn't have heard it if I'd sung it while he was running away today. He was in the zone.

Here's some pics of him as a puppy...he had turquoise eyes...so he was named after Paul Newman and because I liked saying "Newman" because of Seinfield.

The rest of his name comes from a dear family friend who is no longer with us...Hanford Hoyt who complained that I named him Newman because of his blue eyes that were like Paul Newman's instead of his own blue eyes....so I told him..."Ok, Hanford...I'll name him after YOU and Paul Newman". So his full name is Hanford Newman Hoyt.

Well, hard to see..but his eyes were turquoise. He was so little then. So sweet and didn't get in to trouble like he does now. He is always into something. I have wanted to post about him for ages...but you can't get him to sit still for photos. Today because he ran away...he was tired and would sit still while I took photos.

He's my Real Live Boy!

One day soon...I'll tell the story about Newman and the bird, but not today.

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Remembering Tata...

Thanks to Ebay

 I bought this little statue off of Ebay a couple of years ago. She's vintage....I have really no idea how old she is...but she reminds me of my Tata. Tata was my maternal Grandmother. She was in college during the roaring twenties. She met her future husband while doing theater at Northwestern in Chicago. 

My mother had a photo of her from this time of her life...and she looked just like this little statue when she was young. At least twenty years ago, I saw this same little statue in an antique store here in Oklahoma City but it was done in bronze. At the time...it reminded me of Tata instantly...I wanted it badly but could not afford it and had to walk away.

Then a couple of years ago, I'm browsing Ebay and think...I'll look at art nouveau statues. I had never looked for this statue any where...I assumed I'd never find it again. So that day, I look up art nouveau statues which I never did and there she was except this time in this lovely silver finish. 

I couldn't bid fast enough. I just love Ebay....don't you?

I think of Tata every time I look at her.

Can you tell me about a happy Ebay find story of your own? 

I have many....but this one seemed divine.

I'm sharing at

at Brambleberry Cottage

and at

Show and Tell Friday at

My Romantic Home

Silver Sunday at The Gypsy Fish

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