It isn't even Hump Day!

"I saw Live Camels in a Church Today" was one of my first postings and got buried among the many other postings I've written. So I thought, what the heck, a repeat camel story - just what all my reader's are craving for.

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Back on December 20^th I had no idea what I was going to do for Mary’s upcoming birthday. That night I went to a Christmas party held at the home of friends who attend our church. I was mingling and I heard a conversation about “The Boar’s Head Festival” and I butted in and asked what it was. Well by the end of the conversation I had purchased two tickets and started planning for Mary’s birthday surprise.

Trinity United Methodist Church in Springfield held their first Boar’s Head Festival in January 1984, as an epiphany gift to the greater Springfield area and has continued to do so. This year is their 31^st festival. And, do they know how to throw one! If you go out to Trinity’s website you can read about the history of the festival where the boar was the first dish served at great Roman feasts, nearly two thousand years ago. And, yes folks, there is a Youtube clip from last year’s event which is worth viewing. But what intrigued me when I first heard about it was that they have live animals participating in the festival. And guess what? They have camels, three of them walking around in the church!

Camels have intrigued me from the first time I saw one as a young child when my parents took me to see “Lawrence of Arabia.” I love that loping walk of theirs. And, the cute way they move their mouths. Have you seen the Gieco commercial with the camel in it? What a hoot “hump day.” Oops, I digress. Back to the birthday surprise for Mary.

I created a puzzle that consisted of pictures of the festival and bits of information that I gathered off of Trinity’s webpage. I put each puzzle piece into an envelope. Mary’s birthday fell on a Sunday and we hosted coffee hour after the church service which worked out perfectly. I gave out the envelopes to individuals with the instructions to walk up to Mary when we were singing “Happy Birthday” and give her their envelope. She ended up with 14 envelopes, one cake and a large package. Inside the package were two tickets to the festival and one stuffed camel! He’s so adorable.

Well, today, Sunday, January 12, we went to our very first and hopefully not our last “Boars Head Festival.” The talent and logistical efforts involved was just unbelievable. And guess what? After the camels made their walk down the aisle, each with their own handler, they went into an alcove right next to our seats!  I was no more than ten feet away from three very adorable but large snorting creatures. When they first made their appearance, I was jumping up and down and clapping my hands, I was so excited because all through the performance I had been waiting for that very moment. I was so thrilled. I can now check off from my "Bucket List" the desire to see camels close up and in person. And, did I mention that I saw them walking down the aisle of a church! Oh by the way, Mary enjoyed her birthday present as much as I did!

Chloe and Thunderstorms!

Really who needs the National Weather Service? Poor Chloe; she knows at least an hour before a thunderstorm will hit. She starts panting, pacing, and making very sad whimpering sounds. In past storms, she would go into the bathroom that has the ceramic flooring and tries to dig a hole into the tile. She picks the same tile every single time. She moves the bathroom rug covering the tile before she starts digging. I've always thought that was very considerate of her.

The other night, Chloe changed her digging habit to crawling into Chancey’s crate and staying there during the storm. For you folks who don’t know our dogs, Chancey, a Scottish Terrier, weighs in at 26 lbs. so we picked a medium size crate for him. Chloe, a Eurasier, weighs around 62 lbs. Yet, she managed to get into Chancey’s crate turn herself around and flop down with her paws sticking out. The point is Chloe found a spot where she could feel safe while the storm was in full swing.

It is not unusual for dogs to be afraid of lighting and thunder. For Chloe, it’s much more than that. Chloe and her brother were abandoned in an isolated area in Northern Virginia when they were just a couple of months old in 2003. I can’t image how they survived, but they did and were rescued when they were about six months old. Somehow, maybe getting into someone’s chicken coop, Chloe was shot and injured. To this day, she still has the buckshot in her, but it has not caused her any health problems.

Unfortunately, Chloe reacts strongly to loud sounds such as drums, nail guns and fireworks, to list a few. The 4^th of July is not her favorite holiday.  One year, the fireworks were so loud I had to lie on top of her to calm her down. I talked and told her Chloe stories during the fireworks presentation that was miles away in Easthampton.  Chloe loves hearing about herself as any Diva would.

We’ve had work done on our house when nail guns were used. We learned the hard way that when that happens, Chloe needs to be at Doggie Day Care. Our first episode was so traumatic to Chloe that she ended up hanging out in Mary’s car the entire day. We had a hard time convincing her to come back inside even after the contractor left.

Chloe is such a wonderful dog that we do whatever it takes to keep her calm during any loud episodes. She has an anti-anxiety pill we give her prior to a storm and that helps some except she gets a major case of the munchies afterwards. The dog crate may be our answer. Only time will tell.

For Jeeves’ Sake

I wrote a posting back in February about Jeeves. He’s my iPhone. At this very moment he’s having a little temper tantrum. A big tantrum would be one an iPad might have.  I made the mistake of telling him that the posting before him called “Trolling the Internet at 1 a.m.” has had 2,612 page hits as of today. Wow!!!

He asked what his numbers were and I told him 72. “Only 72?” he yelled. Did you know an iPhone can screech when he’s angry? He wants to know why his story isn’t as big a deal as the “trolling one.” He begged for another chance, so here it is.

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Jeeves

Well it is Tuesday night and I’m trying to figure out what to write. As I look around the room, my eyes focus on something. It is a small red plastic chair that just maybe a flexible Barbie could sit in. Now I don’t have a Barbie Doll collection, so why the little red chair? Well…it’s for Jeeves.

Jeeves is my iPhone and he comes with accessories. Come to think about it so does Barbie.  Jeeves comes with his own Bluetooth Jam Classic wireless rechargeable speaker, which looks like a small blue drum and it comes in a container that looks like a jam jar. That is just brilliant marketing. He also has a small platform that he can recline on while recharging, that hooks onto the charger while it’s plugged into a wall outlet. Lately he’s been letting the wireless speaker use it. Jeeves also has a pink stylus. My choice…not his. He would have preferred black. Well, I am the one using it to punch in letters and numbers as the keypad is small and getting smaller. Jeeves has resumed his workouts at the gym and has slimmed way down.

For Christmas, Mary gave me pink and purple stripped knitted gloves with little silver tips. These are for keeping my hands warm while I’m swiping or punching Jeeves’ keys when I’m outside in the cold. Suede gloves just doesn’t cut it on Jeeves smooth surface. On Jeeves’ Christmas list, he had asked for a fur liner for his Otter case. His Otter case is a necessity in case of sudden impact. I drop him a lot. And, let’s be realistic, Barbie may have a fur coat in her collection, but then she’s in a whole different league.

Back to the little red chair…what is that all about? It is a replica of the popular Danish "Egg" chair. Jeeves enjoys getting comfy in it when I’m listening to music on the wireless speaker. The little blue drum makes a great side table! Plus the chair gives him a safe environment to hang out in. I misplace him often since his Otter case is black and blends easily into dark surfaces. With the bright red chair, he’s hard to miss.

Last night Jeeves was trolling on the Internet. See? I’m not the only one! He found the tour of Barbie’s Malibu house on YouTube. He’s now thinking about moving to a warmer climate. Plus he keeps talking about location, location, location. He’s definitely been looking at too many houses on realtor.com!!!