Marvel movies mania & other happenings around here

Hello.

I think it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post. During the first couple of years of blogging, I couldn't wait to tell the many stories brewing my head. Now I sometimes feel like I grasp for words, having a difficult time stringing sentences together.

Lately it's been a lot of recaps and summaries of what's been happening around here.

I hope these don't get too boring, for you and me both.

Our seedlings have been growing well and we've moved the cucumbers, zucchini and watermelon to the garden beds. It's quite nice to see the backyard space come together. We've also done some sodding work on half of the backyard (we did the other half last year).  It's nice to see our backyard filled with grass instead of crabgrass. Sometimes I come up with random lists in my head and when I come to the list of things I most hate, crabgrass is right up there with spiders and mosquitos.

I baked my first vegan "bread." Actually they were dinner rolls. And while the recipe described them as fluffy, I put them in the oven a bit too long and the top hardened a bit too quickly. But the inside is tasty and soft. I will definitely be making them again, hopefully I'll get them just right the next time.

Recipe is here at Minimalist Baker.

The other day, one of our guest dogs, Mochi decided to bring along a toy to his daily squirrel patrol duties. Out of all the toys he could choose from, he chose this one. And of course there is a story to follow.

That toy was gifted to us from a long-time friend on Instagram. She sent it to us when we adopted Bartles. I always considered Mochi Bartles's very good friend. He came after Bartles experienced a string of not so friendly guests (not because they were mean but probably because they were old, blind and having medical issues of their own). They growled at Bartles, stole his bed and snapped at him when Bartles would try to get on top of his bed. But the first thing Mochi did when he came to Piri's Place was go up to Bartles with his tails wagging as if he were saying, "Hi! I'm Mochi! Let's be friends!" And soon I often found the two together, mostly tag teaming for treats.

And so when Mochi decided to bring this toy, I thought the world was trying to tell me something. That Bartles is well and Mochi still considered him a very good friend. Perhaps he even still gets to see Bartles from time to time. 

Yangkyu and I are old school in many ways. For one, we still keep a paper trail of our bills and file them in our cabinet for three years. We were running out of space in our filing cabinet and I decided to part ways with a few things, including these notebooks of when I used to keep track of when Bartles peed, went potty, ate and drank. It helped me to see if maybe his Cushing's was getting worse (if he drank more or went pee more) and it also helped me to see if I could find a patten with when he needed to relieve himself.

I don't know why I held on to them for so long. I imagined to keep them forever. That I would be 60 years old and flip through these pages and remember the days when Bartles was with us. But I decided to let it go. I thought I found peace with Bartles' passing but after parting ways with these pages, it felt like I shed another layer, another invisible layer of the anger and hurt I had experienced after he crossed the rainbow bridge.

But even still, I am holding on to all of Piri and Bartles' old vet records and documents. Those I really don't think I can part with. Ever.

May has been a busy month of guest dogs. They keep me busy and happy. 

I once had a Uber driver who upon hearing what I did for a living said, "you are friendly and nice. It must be the dogs." He couldn't have been more right.

We have a few more guests coming for overnight stays and daycare I the coming days and our break won't be until early June. 

In-between any down time I had, I have been frantically watching all the Marvel movies. I love anime but I was never really into super hero things. I did watch Hulk because I was a fan of Edward Norton for a while and watched Civil War, which I enjoyed but it never really got me to watch the other movies... until Yangkyu insisted that at least he watch the movies he didn't get to see before heading over to see Infinity War (those movies were all Thor: Ragnarok, Spiderman Homecoming and Black Panther). So I said ok. And ended up watched Spiderman with him. 

Oh my goodness, you guys. I was completely hooked. Why didn't anyone tell me they were so fun to watch?

I have now watched all of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, all the Avenger movies, Doctor Strange, which I wasn't really looking forward to watching but was pleasantly surprised and Black Panther. I started to watch Guardians of the Galaxy but couldn't get into it really, but I do love the soundtrack. I think the only movie I didn't watch aside from the two Guardians of the Galaxy movies is Ant-Man.

The first thing we're doing when I go on break from dog sitting is going to watch Infinity War (although I know the ending because someone spoiled it on Facebook - doh).

I hope things have been well with you.

I thought I saw a mosquito a couple of days ago. I wish spring would hang out a bit longer.