I always want to record these great quotes when they happen, but it seems like I never have the time until something else big comes up to blog about.
Firstborn was watching a show on TV where someone was remarking on another characters bicepts, referring to them as guns. Firstborn lit up and said, while raising his fists in the air. "I've got guns! They're kind of mushy, but they're guns."
Then the other day, we were driving around town and passed some unfortunate woman who had the dubious honor of standing outside a resturaunt, dressed as a bottle of mustard and waving a sign for the resturaunt. It was very hot and humid and the costume did not fit her well to say nothing of the embarrasment of being seen in this predicament. In my mind I'm wondering what a woman in her 40's has done to leave her dressing in costume on a street corner to drum up business, when Lastborn blurts out, "well, theres a great reason to get a college education."
Ah. My job is done. Even my 8 year old realizes that without a good education, he could end up on a street corner dressed as a bottle of mustard on a hot summer day. I mean, if it were Ketchup, that would be a totally different thing.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK
In case you don't get the title reference, here's a clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clPYfaTvHT0.
Friday, DH announced that he had purchased a chainsaw to take care of the trees in the back yard. Sigh. He promises that he knows what he is doing. He has never been taught how to use a chain saw. He assumes it is some trait carried on the Y chromosome that will enable him to immediately know how to use a chain saw once it is placed in his hands. Having no Y chromosomes of my own, I find this explanation a bit doubtful, but I reserve judgement.
Friday night, as usual, we wandered over to the neighbors' house while the kids played neighborhood games outside. The neighbors always have an open bottle of good red wine. She is a buyer for a local wine store and she has a very reliable palette. So we know it will be good and it will be flowing. They have another friend, Firstborn calls him Mr D., who comes by nearly every night. He's a whiskey drinker, though. When DH arrived, he asked him about the chain saw.
"Picked one up today" DH replied.
Mr. D's face lit up. "Didja get the 16" or the 18"?"
"Ah. the 18".
"Much better choice. That should take care of whatcha got" said Mr. D.
Let me point out here that Mr. D is an placement specialist. I highly doubt he has ever picked up a chainsaw either. But you know, that Y chromosome. I shook my head and asked my neighbor, who works the ER at the local hospital if she would be on duty tomorrow night.
Saturday, DH suited up with his steel tipped boots, suitable denim and long sleeves, eye protection and gloves and headed to the back yard. He pulled the cord and started the beast. I could see his back straighten, he stood a bit taller.
Within minutes, there were neighborhood men walking into our yard to check it out under the guise of helping him stack the wood. It was like something from Home Improvement. "how many horsepower that thing got?" I could see one man asking. They all practiced their primal grunts, starting softly and then increasing as they all gained confidence. Well, it was either the confidence, or the logs they were all carrying to the new wood pile were getting heavier and heavier. Ya. That could be it.
My plan was to take pictures of him using the new chain saw and then take a picture of all ten fingers for my mother in law. I was simply having too much fun watching the testosterone fest in the back yard though. Forgot to get out my camera. And no, there were no trips to the ER that day.
Friday, DH announced that he had purchased a chainsaw to take care of the trees in the back yard. Sigh. He promises that he knows what he is doing. He has never been taught how to use a chain saw. He assumes it is some trait carried on the Y chromosome that will enable him to immediately know how to use a chain saw once it is placed in his hands. Having no Y chromosomes of my own, I find this explanation a bit doubtful, but I reserve judgement.
Friday night, as usual, we wandered over to the neighbors' house while the kids played neighborhood games outside. The neighbors always have an open bottle of good red wine. She is a buyer for a local wine store and she has a very reliable palette. So we know it will be good and it will be flowing. They have another friend, Firstborn calls him Mr D., who comes by nearly every night. He's a whiskey drinker, though. When DH arrived, he asked him about the chain saw.
"Picked one up today" DH replied.
Mr. D's face lit up. "Didja get the 16" or the 18"?"
"Ah. the 18".
"Much better choice. That should take care of whatcha got" said Mr. D.
Let me point out here that Mr. D is an placement specialist. I highly doubt he has ever picked up a chainsaw either. But you know, that Y chromosome. I shook my head and asked my neighbor, who works the ER at the local hospital if she would be on duty tomorrow night.
Saturday, DH suited up with his steel tipped boots, suitable denim and long sleeves, eye protection and gloves and headed to the back yard. He pulled the cord and started the beast. I could see his back straighten, he stood a bit taller.
Within minutes, there were neighborhood men walking into our yard to check it out under the guise of helping him stack the wood. It was like something from Home Improvement. "how many horsepower that thing got?" I could see one man asking. They all practiced their primal grunts, starting softly and then increasing as they all gained confidence. Well, it was either the confidence, or the logs they were all carrying to the new wood pile were getting heavier and heavier. Ya. That could be it.
My plan was to take pictures of him using the new chain saw and then take a picture of all ten fingers for my mother in law. I was simply having too much fun watching the testosterone fest in the back yard though. Forgot to get out my camera. And no, there were no trips to the ER that day.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Ike: the aftermath
Wednesday, schools started on time; except for one middle school. This happened to be the middle school Firstborn really wanted to go to. He had heard rumors that they brought in name-brand junk food for lunch every day. We are not zoned for that school, so he had to go to a different one. Poor Firstborn.
I loaded the kids onto the bus and updated my blog with the story and pictures. Then I ventured out to the grocery store to refill our fridge. It was crowded and crazy. The stock boys were trying to refill the shelves and the shoppers were emptying them as soon as they filled them.
Some shoppers had just gotten power on either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Others were still waiting and looking for ice and water and cooking fuels.
There were no eggs. None. Not even the crate of broken eggs that everyone rejected. Both in the organic sections and the regular dairy sections, no eggs. So we would go without. No biggie, at least we had other food. The chickens would catch up soon.
I decided to stop at Wendy's for lunch because I was running so late. Wendy's drive through was backed up right in to the grocery store parking lot. Fast food establishments have been doing a booming business since they got power on. I stopped by the grocery store again on Thursday and again the Wendy's was backed up into the grocery store parking lot.
Those businesses who could open up have been making a killing. Those who could not are losing money like crazy.
Everything in our house is coming back to normal. My laundry is almost caught up. I still have a bit of vacuuming to do. It upsets the dog, so I go slowly. Many are still without power though and they usually have to go to work. Our township rec center finally opened up to even non members for showers. They publicized it by sending out an email through the schools. That made me laugh. The people who need the service don't have power let alone email.
Many people are still without phone and Internet as well. I see AT&T trucks everywhere. So it must be their services that are effected. We lost phone because we have digital and it needs a router to operate. We have a battery back up for short power outages, but nothing like this. But once our power came back, Internet and phone both came back too.
So as things calm down here in Ohio, I'll leave you with some pictures of a praying mantis I found sunning on my porch today.
I loaded the kids onto the bus and updated my blog with the story and pictures. Then I ventured out to the grocery store to refill our fridge. It was crowded and crazy. The stock boys were trying to refill the shelves and the shoppers were emptying them as soon as they filled them.
Some shoppers had just gotten power on either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Others were still waiting and looking for ice and water and cooking fuels.
There were no eggs. None. Not even the crate of broken eggs that everyone rejected. Both in the organic sections and the regular dairy sections, no eggs. So we would go without. No biggie, at least we had other food. The chickens would catch up soon.
I decided to stop at Wendy's for lunch because I was running so late. Wendy's drive through was backed up right in to the grocery store parking lot. Fast food establishments have been doing a booming business since they got power on. I stopped by the grocery store again on Thursday and again the Wendy's was backed up into the grocery store parking lot.
Those businesses who could open up have been making a killing. Those who could not are losing money like crazy.
Everything in our house is coming back to normal. My laundry is almost caught up. I still have a bit of vacuuming to do. It upsets the dog, so I go slowly. Many are still without power though and they usually have to go to work. Our township rec center finally opened up to even non members for showers. They publicized it by sending out an email through the schools. That made me laugh. The people who need the service don't have power let alone email.
Many people are still without phone and Internet as well. I see AT&T trucks everywhere. So it must be their services that are effected. We lost phone because we have digital and it needs a router to operate. We have a battery back up for short power outages, but nothing like this. But once our power came back, Internet and phone both came back too.
So as things calm down here in Ohio, I'll leave you with some pictures of a praying mantis I found sunning on my porch today.
Hurricane Ike; Day 3
Monday night, over drinks, our neighbors talked with us about how this had really been fun. While it has been a huge inconvenience, the weather has been nice for this forced camping trip. We are all sleeping pretty well and it is cool enough to do the work we are left with. The kids can play their hearts out and get very dirty, but we are all aware that we are on the verge of problems. For example, the kids really are getting dirty. They have been taking sponge baths every night and the baths are becomming increasingly colder.
DH insisted that I take a shower Monday night. I think I was not smelling pretty, though he denies it. He just kept talking about how there really was enough warm water for a shower. Really.
Well there was not enough for a warm enough shower. Not pleasant.
We also heard at about 8:00 that the schools would be closed again on Tuesday.
We all slept to the sounds of emergency vehicles and neighbor's generators. There were many fires and other emergencies overnight. This included a house in our development that caught on fire when their power was turned on at 5am. Luckily, damage was low, but it all added to the worry.
Tuesday Morning, we heard the details of that house fire and rumors that the power would be out until Saturday. The comforting fact was that our grocery store was open and more gas stations were opening as more sections of the grid were turned on. We were hearing on the news that stations were running out of gas. The first day, delivery trucks were having a hard time getting to their deliveries because so many lights were out. So deliveries were late and everyone was frantically converging on the few gas stations that were opened.
I'm just not driving anywhere until enough power comes on to stabilize the gas situation, and we figured that with the grocer opened, we can buy daily what we need to live on since everything perishable in our fridge would be spoiled by now. Things in our freezer are still covered in crystals (except the soft ice cream that the family finished off Monday night).
I had a front yard to rake since the pear tree was now gone. I spent the morning cleaning low tech; boiling water over Sterno to wash my dishes and sweeping the hard surfaces. The whole place could use a good vacuuming, but that won't happen. Housecleaning was indeed a good way to avoid the raking. I was still sore from raking the back yard Monday.
I had to kick the kids out of the house at 10:00 because Firstborn was convinced he was going to spend the whole day playing DS and Lastborn was going stir crazy. They joined up with all the neighbor kids and hung out in the newly fallen trees.
I headed to the front yard to rake. Nova was tied up in the middle of the yard pulling sticks out of every pile I raked. The three kids across the street were tasked with raking their yard and they started singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall substituting names of soda for each bottle that came down. When they ran out of soda names, I supplied grape nehi and Dr. Pepper for them.
At about 1:00 my kids wandered back to our house with their friends. Everyone was looking for trouble. So I sent them next door where I had heard there were two large boxes of sugar free Popsicles that needed to be eaten before they became a sticky gelatinous mass on her freezer floor. There was a feeding frenzy over the dripping pops. The kids were all in heaven and my neighbor and her mother in law (visiting from Montana for this joyous week) enjoyed watching them. Once the kids were finished, they had to hose down the patio where the feeding frenzy occurred.
At 4pm, the power on the cul-de-sac across the street came on. Firstborn came running home to tell me the power was on, but it was just a tease. We sat watching the porch lights across the street jealously.
Then at 5 our power came on. Cheers were heard all down the street and into the next cul-de-sac.
The funny thing is that I still stop my self on the way into a bathroom and wonder where I left that flashlight last. It took me three days to stop hitting the light switch, now how long will it take me to remember that we have power.
There are still areas of Centerville without power.
DH insisted that I take a shower Monday night. I think I was not smelling pretty, though he denies it. He just kept talking about how there really was enough warm water for a shower. Really.
Well there was not enough for a warm enough shower. Not pleasant.
We also heard at about 8:00 that the schools would be closed again on Tuesday.
We all slept to the sounds of emergency vehicles and neighbor's generators. There were many fires and other emergencies overnight. This included a house in our development that caught on fire when their power was turned on at 5am. Luckily, damage was low, but it all added to the worry.
Tuesday Morning, we heard the details of that house fire and rumors that the power would be out until Saturday. The comforting fact was that our grocery store was open and more gas stations were opening as more sections of the grid were turned on. We were hearing on the news that stations were running out of gas. The first day, delivery trucks were having a hard time getting to their deliveries because so many lights were out. So deliveries were late and everyone was frantically converging on the few gas stations that were opened.
I'm just not driving anywhere until enough power comes on to stabilize the gas situation, and we figured that with the grocer opened, we can buy daily what we need to live on since everything perishable in our fridge would be spoiled by now. Things in our freezer are still covered in crystals (except the soft ice cream that the family finished off Monday night).
I had a front yard to rake since the pear tree was now gone. I spent the morning cleaning low tech; boiling water over Sterno to wash my dishes and sweeping the hard surfaces. The whole place could use a good vacuuming, but that won't happen. Housecleaning was indeed a good way to avoid the raking. I was still sore from raking the back yard Monday.
I had to kick the kids out of the house at 10:00 because Firstborn was convinced he was going to spend the whole day playing DS and Lastborn was going stir crazy. They joined up with all the neighbor kids and hung out in the newly fallen trees.
I headed to the front yard to rake. Nova was tied up in the middle of the yard pulling sticks out of every pile I raked. The three kids across the street were tasked with raking their yard and they started singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall substituting names of soda for each bottle that came down. When they ran out of soda names, I supplied grape nehi and Dr. Pepper for them.
At about 1:00 my kids wandered back to our house with their friends. Everyone was looking for trouble. So I sent them next door where I had heard there were two large boxes of sugar free Popsicles that needed to be eaten before they became a sticky gelatinous mass on her freezer floor. There was a feeding frenzy over the dripping pops. The kids were all in heaven and my neighbor and her mother in law (visiting from Montana for this joyous week) enjoyed watching them. Once the kids were finished, they had to hose down the patio where the feeding frenzy occurred.
At 4pm, the power on the cul-de-sac across the street came on. Firstborn came running home to tell me the power was on, but it was just a tease. We sat watching the porch lights across the street jealously.
Then at 5 our power came on. Cheers were heard all down the street and into the next cul-de-sac.
The funny thing is that I still stop my self on the way into a bathroom and wonder where I left that flashlight last. It took me three days to stop hitting the light switch, now how long will it take me to remember that we have power.
There are still areas of Centerville without power.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Huricane Ike, Day 2
We didn't get to eat until after 8:00 on Sunday. By then, our battery operated and crank radios were telling us that 800,000 people were without power in Cincinnati. We figured that schools would probably be closed because all the power was out; this includes traffic lights and even cell towers.
I dug out Sterno and a fondue pot and warmed up some leftovers being careful not to let too much cold air out of the fridge.
By 9, we had confirmation that there would be no school. The kids got to stay up late and enjoy dinner by candlelight.
The next morning, I boiled water and dripped it through grounds in our automatic drip coffee maker -- sort of a manual drip coffee maker. The coffee was good and we enjoyed a cup while surveying the damage and greeting all the gawking neighbors who wanted to see the back yard. They could see some of the damage from the street and just wanted to get an up-close look.
We then put the kids to work clearing walnuts. We paid them a dollar a crate to pick them up. The ground was littered with walnuts. They must have been about a dozen per square foot in places. Here Lastborn sits on his milk crate while picking up walnuts. He filled three crates while many of the kids filled upwards of 10.
We used the hold made by the pulled-up root ball to hold the walnuts. In this picture, they are at least 18 inches deep. It took the kids at least 3 hours to clear them.
I dug out Sterno and a fondue pot and warmed up some leftovers being careful not to let too much cold air out of the fridge.
By 9, we had confirmation that there would be no school. The kids got to stay up late and enjoy dinner by candlelight.
The next morning, I boiled water and dripped it through grounds in our automatic drip coffee maker -- sort of a manual drip coffee maker. The coffee was good and we enjoyed a cup while surveying the damage and greeting all the gawking neighbors who wanted to see the back yard. They could see some of the damage from the street and just wanted to get an up-close look.
We then put the kids to work clearing walnuts. We paid them a dollar a crate to pick them up. The ground was littered with walnuts. They must have been about a dozen per square foot in places. Here Lastborn sits on his milk crate while picking up walnuts. He filled three crates while many of the kids filled upwards of 10.
We used the hold made by the pulled-up root ball to hold the walnuts. In this picture, they are at least 18 inches deep. It took the kids at least 3 hours to clear them.
While the kids picked walnuts, DH and many of the men from the neighborhood helped the neighbors with the tree over their driveway. That was a story in itself. These neighbors had been on vacation. They pulled into their driveway just before I had gotten home and as they pulled in, a large branch fell on their car. Luckily no one was injured, but the car was a rental. The husband, who is from S. America and very unfamiliar with Midwestern storms ran into the house leaving his wife to get the kids (2 yrs and 9 months) out of the car. He would not leave the house for the rest of the day. As they cleared the branch off the car (that was happening as I drove past the house Sunday) the rest of the tree came down across their drive.
This was the tree DH helped clear. They had to tie it to an SUV and drag it out of the way and then they used hand saws to cut it up enough to clear some of it. Later in the day someone with a chain saw cut the larger sections up.
After the kids finished with the walnuts, we walked around and surveyed the damage and took pictures. This is the double tulip poplar that fell into the neighbor's shed It came very close to damaging their house. Their entire back yard was full of this tree.
Here's Eddie making lemons out of lemonade. We have nicknamed this fallen tree, the temporary jungle gym in the back yard.
After the walnuts were cleared the kids got to play on the trees.
Here Mr. T from across the street plays on one of the smaller trees attached to the root ball of the first tree to come down. They were also climbing the roots. Children are so agile.
At 2 our neighbor across the street came over with some fish stew. She had to use or lose the fish and this is what she could make over a camp stove. But it was too spicy for her kids. We had already eaten, so DH had some and we kept it hot and gave it to the tree guy. The tree guy will come back in a couple of days to take care of the other pear tree that was damaged.
We got to meet lots of people that day. Everyone was out checking out the damage or cleaning up. The kids were playing in a pack, mostly on the trees in our back yard. People were sharing food and grills to cook out. The kids were not wining about lack of TV. Altogether, it was fun. Nova was out of a lead the entire day eating fallen sticks. This was doggie heaven. I had been making a beef and barley soup with one of our beef bones when the power went out Sunday. All I had was a bone and broth. The meat was dinner Sunday and I saved the bone for Nova. She spent the day working on it.
By evening, we heard no school on Tuesday. The kids played until 9pm outside. We hung with the neighbors. Then we all crashed by 10 or 11 exhausted from our day of raking and cleaning up.
Ike Pictures
Ah. Pictures are working.
This is the second tree to come down. The one on our property that hit the shed. It was a double three; a tulip poplar. It was one of my favorite in the yard. It also ripped out a large section of our pathway.
A view through the family room at the root ball of the first tree to go down.
This is the second tree to come down. The one on our property that hit the shed. It was a double three; a tulip poplar. It was one of my favorite in the yard. It also ripped out a large section of our pathway.
A view through the family room at the root ball of the first tree to go down.
The view of our front yard and the pear tree that went down.
A closer look at the root ball of the first tree.
2 Mil Without Power in Ohio, But Nobody knows
Today, I am faced with lots of vacuuming, piles of laundry and an empty refrigerator that I need to fill, but I can't go shopping until the kids go to school. They are on a two hour delay. This all started Sunday, which was a terrible, horrible, not good, very bad day.
Sunday started out very warm and very humid. We had a warm humid week in fact. Our only event for Sunday was a cub scout meeting where they were getting their whittling chips. So when the high-wind warning came on the news, I didn't think much of it.
We headed to the meeting at 2pm and the den leader insisted that we meet in his back yard, until the kids almost blew away. At about 2:30, the power went out and we all laughed. The meeting was a mixture of learning how to use a knife and watching things blow around. By 3pm, I was getting worried and we hurried out of the meeting fighting our way through the wind to our car. As we climbed in, I heard a crack like thunder, but there was no lightening.
As we left the den leader's street, I noticed all the roofing shingles lifting off in the wind and the neighbors and kids were outside watching it. It seemed like a good time to be inside the safety of your house to me.
Coming around the bend of the den leader's development, I noticed a pear tree snapped in half in a yard. I concluded that the crack I had heard was probably a large branch breaking off a tree.
The ride home was scary. We passed many large limbs on the road and debris was blowing everywhere. At one point, we approached a loose cable whipping from a pole. It could have been telephone, or cable or even power, but it wasn't arcing, so I just told myself that the rubber tires would protect us. It hit the windshield and scraped across the roof of the car as we passed. about 200 feet further down the road, a girls soccer game was still in progress. No one seemed to notice the chaos going on near the trees.
I had Lastborn watch for tornadoes and pressed on only feeling safe on the wider roads where the trees were well back. We breathed a sigh of relief when we entered our development. Until we saw many people in a neighbor's yard trying to clear a tree from across their driveway.
When we pulled into our driveway, DH was there with the dog on a leash and Firstborn. DH looked concerned and I wondered why he was outside with the kid. He told me he had tried to call me and said to go into the family room and check out the back yard. This was the view from the kitchen.
Sunday started out very warm and very humid. We had a warm humid week in fact. Our only event for Sunday was a cub scout meeting where they were getting their whittling chips. So when the high-wind warning came on the news, I didn't think much of it.
We headed to the meeting at 2pm and the den leader insisted that we meet in his back yard, until the kids almost blew away. At about 2:30, the power went out and we all laughed. The meeting was a mixture of learning how to use a knife and watching things blow around. By 3pm, I was getting worried and we hurried out of the meeting fighting our way through the wind to our car. As we climbed in, I heard a crack like thunder, but there was no lightening.
As we left the den leader's street, I noticed all the roofing shingles lifting off in the wind and the neighbors and kids were outside watching it. It seemed like a good time to be inside the safety of your house to me.
Coming around the bend of the den leader's development, I noticed a pear tree snapped in half in a yard. I concluded that the crack I had heard was probably a large branch breaking off a tree.
The ride home was scary. We passed many large limbs on the road and debris was blowing everywhere. At one point, we approached a loose cable whipping from a pole. It could have been telephone, or cable or even power, but it wasn't arcing, so I just told myself that the rubber tires would protect us. It hit the windshield and scraped across the roof of the car as we passed. about 200 feet further down the road, a girls soccer game was still in progress. No one seemed to notice the chaos going on near the trees.
I had Lastborn watch for tornadoes and pressed on only feeling safe on the wider roads where the trees were well back. We breathed a sigh of relief when we entered our development. Until we saw many people in a neighbor's yard trying to clear a tree from across their driveway.
When we pulled into our driveway, DH was there with the dog on a leash and Firstborn. DH looked concerned and I wondered why he was outside with the kid. He told me he had tried to call me and said to go into the family room and check out the back yard. This was the view from the kitchen.
The root ball from a large tree, sticking up in the air. This one was just off our property, but if it had fallen in the other direction, it would have hit our family room. This tree took down a few others in a domino effect and one ended up through the roof of a house on a cul-de-sac near us. Blogger is giving me a hard time about uploading pictures, so I have to use this one. I do believe I have better ones I will try to share soon.
The storm progressed. The kids wanted to go out in it. After all, most of the neighborhood kids were out playing. I would not let them, for fear they would get hit by a tree. My husband was basically laughing at my fear and he spent the whole storm out and about. Here he is with our next door neighbor and a guy from a couple doors down. Many people were out. The warmth of the air and the lack of rain was lulling people into a false sense of confidence. By the way, the woman in the black shirt is a nurse and she had to work the ER that night. She told me the place was hopping with people who got hit with branches. Funny, that. Notice the branch by their feet.
At one point, DH and the guy next door went out to the woods to check out the fallen tree. Less than 20 minutes after they returned, we heard another crack. DH asked if I could see what had fallen I noticed that there was a lot more light coming through out there. He looked, and another big tree, this time on our property, had come down. Again, in the right direction. It fell on a neighbor's shed. Just like the last tree, this one had taken several others with it.
At this point, the boys from the cul-de-sac across the street came to see if Ken wanted to play outside. They though this was a lark, so I brought them to the family room to see how bad it really was. Of course, as boys, they thought this was great, but they did get a little more appreciation for the size of this storm. I didn't want to send them home through it, but I worried that their mom would worry and I had no phone at this time to call her. Within 5 minutes of their arrival, a large branch fell off one of the ornamental pears in our front yard. This was the final convincing they needed to be careful and they ran home.
But they returned in about 10 minutes. So my boys spent the afternoon playing a board game that one of the neighbor boys made up.
Then the other ornamental pear in our front yard came down.
By 6 the winds were still high, but the damage was done. By 7, it was safe to go outside again. We let the kids play on the root balls and I had a glass of wine with the neighbors.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Even the dog is gifted!
Let me just start out by saying that the headline is a joke.
When I signed Nova up for doggie school, I had no idea that it would be so much like getting my kids through school. We had our first class last week and I had no idea what to expect. I mean, I think Nova is a pretty cool dog. I've done my best to socialize her around other dogs and people so that she can go into the class with the best attitude her genes will allow. I even began doing some basic puppy training with her hoping that we wouldn't go in there as the most ignorant and out of control puppy/owner pair in the history of Pawsitive Pet Solutions. Short of signing her up for the most elite puppy pre-k on before we even adopted her, I thought we were pretty well prepared.
Well, her first day of puppy school was very embarrassing. The class consists of 5 dogs; an older spaniel who is shy and very attached to her two elderly owners, a nervous beagle and his single, professional, divorcee owner, an adorable, unflappable, 6-month old bloodhound, and a very nervous black husky/Shepherd/lab mix who was recently rescued and is handled alternately (but never together) by a young unmarried couple. In the latter case, it is clear that the dog is the young woman's, but this week, the young man had to bring her. I suppose it is better than getting pregnant, but I worry about this couple. They don't seem particularly communicative.
Nova is kind of nervous, but she is such a happy dog that she gets over it quickly and moves on. She's not much interested in the calm spaniel, the beagle's owner is very rigid and seems to be protecting her dog from my big oaf, the blood hound's owner's are very nice, but we all try to keep them apart in class because anyone could see that 2 large 6-month old puppies would produce a big bang in class. Nova seems to constantly try to make friends withe the nervous husky mix. No doubt she is a beautiful dog, and the two of them together make a great looking pair. But her owners are so young, and nervous, and shut down and the dog is nervous too.
Anyway, Nova is clearly the extrovert in the crowd. And she already knows sit. The clicker was a novelty though and she found it very interesting. In fact, she found everyone's clicker to be interesting. Not knowing I should not feed her before class, she went there a little less interested in treats than she should have been and she spent the night turning for every click in the room and wondering what treats the other dogs were getting. She just wasn't interested in working with me at all. Although when the instructor would come over to demo on her, she was just good as gold. Curiosity can do that.
So last night, I didn't feed her before class. I got some really strong smelling treats to use with her and we dutifully practiced our sits and watches and name responses all week.
Starvation will make a big difference in a dog's willingness to work. You could tell that when we went over the lessons from last week, though, that she was only humoring me. Until we started on down. The teacher asked if Nova knew the command and if we had a hand signal. She knows it well. You can't have a large dog without teaching it down very early. Especially when you don't use a crate. So she demonstrated how to mold the down command by luring the dog with a treat using Nova. She likes to show it on large dogs because it takes them longer to get their bellies down so it is like doing it in slow motion. And then she showed how to add in the hand signal. Nova was perfect for the whole thing. The star of the show. With ears perked up and eyes firmly on the treat, she laid down just as asked, and as soon as the instructor used the hand signal, she popped down and wagged her tail.
So the instructor said we could move on to teach her how to sit from down. I've never done this before. So it was new for me too. Nova loved it. She didn't take her eyes off me the whole time. She didn't go check on the nervous dog or wander off to smell things. She just laid down as asked and then popped into the most perfect sit; repeatedly. It was so much fun. She was obviously having fun. I was so proud of her.
Maybe she was just bored last week and at the beginning of class. Maybe, like gifted kids, she needs a challenge to keep on track and stay out of trouble. Ya. We'll go with that.
When I signed Nova up for doggie school, I had no idea that it would be so much like getting my kids through school. We had our first class last week and I had no idea what to expect. I mean, I think Nova is a pretty cool dog. I've done my best to socialize her around other dogs and people so that she can go into the class with the best attitude her genes will allow. I even began doing some basic puppy training with her hoping that we wouldn't go in there as the most ignorant and out of control puppy/owner pair in the history of Pawsitive Pet Solutions. Short of signing her up for the most elite puppy pre-k on before we even adopted her, I thought we were pretty well prepared.
Well, her first day of puppy school was very embarrassing. The class consists of 5 dogs; an older spaniel who is shy and very attached to her two elderly owners, a nervous beagle and his single, professional, divorcee owner, an adorable, unflappable, 6-month old bloodhound, and a very nervous black husky/Shepherd/lab mix who was recently rescued and is handled alternately (but never together) by a young unmarried couple. In the latter case, it is clear that the dog is the young woman's, but this week, the young man had to bring her. I suppose it is better than getting pregnant, but I worry about this couple. They don't seem particularly communicative.
Nova is kind of nervous, but she is such a happy dog that she gets over it quickly and moves on. She's not much interested in the calm spaniel, the beagle's owner is very rigid and seems to be protecting her dog from my big oaf, the blood hound's owner's are very nice, but we all try to keep them apart in class because anyone could see that 2 large 6-month old puppies would produce a big bang in class. Nova seems to constantly try to make friends withe the nervous husky mix. No doubt she is a beautiful dog, and the two of them together make a great looking pair. But her owners are so young, and nervous, and shut down and the dog is nervous too.
Anyway, Nova is clearly the extrovert in the crowd. And she already knows sit. The clicker was a novelty though and she found it very interesting. In fact, she found everyone's clicker to be interesting. Not knowing I should not feed her before class, she went there a little less interested in treats than she should have been and she spent the night turning for every click in the room and wondering what treats the other dogs were getting. She just wasn't interested in working with me at all. Although when the instructor would come over to demo on her, she was just good as gold. Curiosity can do that.
So last night, I didn't feed her before class. I got some really strong smelling treats to use with her and we dutifully practiced our sits and watches and name responses all week.
Starvation will make a big difference in a dog's willingness to work. You could tell that when we went over the lessons from last week, though, that she was only humoring me. Until we started on down. The teacher asked if Nova knew the command and if we had a hand signal. She knows it well. You can't have a large dog without teaching it down very early. Especially when you don't use a crate. So she demonstrated how to mold the down command by luring the dog with a treat using Nova. She likes to show it on large dogs because it takes them longer to get their bellies down so it is like doing it in slow motion. And then she showed how to add in the hand signal. Nova was perfect for the whole thing. The star of the show. With ears perked up and eyes firmly on the treat, she laid down just as asked, and as soon as the instructor used the hand signal, she popped down and wagged her tail.
So the instructor said we could move on to teach her how to sit from down. I've never done this before. So it was new for me too. Nova loved it. She didn't take her eyes off me the whole time. She didn't go check on the nervous dog or wander off to smell things. She just laid down as asked and then popped into the most perfect sit; repeatedly. It was so much fun. She was obviously having fun. I was so proud of her.
Maybe she was just bored last week and at the beginning of class. Maybe, like gifted kids, she needs a challenge to keep on track and stay out of trouble. Ya. We'll go with that.
Our plan to take over the world has been discovered!!!
This week, Nova started obedience training. They use a method called clicker training. Each owner is given a little clicking device. When the dog performs the behavior you are looking for, you click the clicker and give them a treat. Eventually, they learn that the sound itself is a good thing and you can skip the treats. It's a very effective method of training.
I keep my clicker close by so that I can use it to reinforce good behaviors. The other night, the clicker was sitting on the side table next to me. The kitties get up on the side table to ask for attention. I don't think much about it. I just pet them and talk to them when they ask. Suddenly, I notice that the clicker is on the floor in the middle of the room. The two cats are sniffing it and looking at each other. To get the clicker to that point of the room, one of them had to have picked it up and carried it in her mouth. Otherwise, I would have noticed the playful batting and even heard it scratch against the surface of the side table.
I suspect that they decided to use the clicker to train the dog to do something in support of their goal to take over the world. They were planning their strategy. Kitties must be watched!
I keep my clicker close by so that I can use it to reinforce good behaviors. The other night, the clicker was sitting on the side table next to me. The kitties get up on the side table to ask for attention. I don't think much about it. I just pet them and talk to them when they ask. Suddenly, I notice that the clicker is on the floor in the middle of the room. The two cats are sniffing it and looking at each other. To get the clicker to that point of the room, one of them had to have picked it up and carried it in her mouth. Otherwise, I would have noticed the playful batting and even heard it scratch against the surface of the side table.
I suspect that they decided to use the clicker to train the dog to do something in support of their goal to take over the world. They were planning their strategy. Kitties must be watched!
Monday, September 08, 2008
Catching up
It's been a while, I know. We've been very busy.
Last weekend, I attended a letter boxing event in Eastern OH. Beautiful country and Firstborn and I enjoyed seeing the world in 3D again. But we are back in the flat country and I will recap the event in another post.
Today, I went to the dog park with Nova. She loves the dog park and already recognizes my dog-park bag. I carry a water bottle, collapsible bowl, plastic baggies and sometimes a toy in it. It also doubles to hold my keys, wallet, phone and ipod, so I don't have to carry my purse as well.
She is still reluctant to jump into the car sometimes. In the back of her mind, I'm sure she is afraid that I might trick her and bring her back to the vet for another operation. She is just growing back the hair from the bikini waxing they gave her when they fixed her. She's not in the mood for another. Especially with winter approaching. Too cold to have a bald belly.
Anyway, we had fun at the park and she ran and ran. I usually walk the perimeter of the park while she runs in circles around me. I got some good shots of her having fun. You can see in the bright sunlight that she is not just a big black blob. She has a separate head. Of course when she is panting, it just looks like a black blob with a big pink tongue.
We had the park to ourselves for a while and then a little fuzz ball named Jazz took over the small dog area. The two of them ran along the length of the fence between the small dog area and the large dog area. They seemed well matched, but Jazz was just coming home from a stay at the kennel and wanted to go home and get away from strange dogs.
Nova is now sleeping next to me. She's tired and happy.
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