if it's not one thing...

Honestly. I discouraged the squirrel with safflower seed, nyger, and a generous coating of vegetable oil spray on the pole. I discouraged the strlings with safflower seed and by not putting out fruit.

NOW I have this mourning dove that's learned to sit on the ledge of the safflower feeder. Mourning doves are supposed to be ground feeders right? Well, this guy has been studying up, and while he's not graceful, he's figured out how to cram himself onto this little ledge and stuff his crop until it's a wonder he doesn't barf. I've been watching him--he doesn't eat, like the finches and cardinal do--pick up one seed, manipulate it open, eat the kernel. No, this guy just picks them up and swallows them as fast as he can. My only hope is that he gets so heavy with all that food in his crop that he gets hit by a car. I wonder if mourning doves are heavier than cardinals? I may be driven to getting that spring-loaded feeder after all!

There's another mourning dove with white tail feathers. I know mourning doves have outer tail feathers that show white when they fly, but this one looks like someone painted the last half of his tail bright white. It's so white it practically glows. That one stays on the ground where he belongs.

The suet cakes in the new suet feeder look like they're being nibbled on, and I've seen both a house finche and an English sparrow leaning w-a-y in to snag a few beakfuls, so I'm hopeful they're figuring it out.

It looks like, if I wind up needing knee surgery, I'll be home at least one week and possibly two. I've been reading as much as I can find all over the web, and it's hard to get a good idea--everyone seems to react differently to it and also individual surgeons seem to have preferences for post-surgical care. One of them said stairs were easy--just sit down and go up backwards, pushing with your arms and good leg. I think that same site said you can drive whenever you're off pain meds and feel up to it. I'll be glad to meet with the surgeon and find out what she thinks and prefers so I can make some more stable plans and also stop wondering what to expect.

I've been paying attention to the dogs the past few days, and their sense of body space is very good. The only time they brush up against me is when they get excited about going out to play. When we go out to potty they line up and wait for me to put their collars on. At meal time, Taenzer lies down on the mat where I put her food and Timber sits in the back hall, and they wait until I put their dishes down. It probably helps that they're older and not quite as squirrely as when they were youngsters. But I don't expect they're going to be a problem. I am thinking of contacting the friend of a friend to maybe take them out to the puppy pen to play; two to three weeks is a long time to ask them to go without exercise.

Computers are such a pain

They make us change our passwords at work every 90 days, which is stupid--several studies have shown that changing passwords compulsively does nothing to prevent identity theft or hacking. At any rate, I changed it late last week, and upon returning to the office after 4 days, I couldn't remember what it was and succeeded in locking myself out. To reset it, it turns out I have to have my employee number (the university decided to stop using social security numbers, which is also dumb). I don't know what it is. You're supposed to have an ID card, which I don't have. I managed to look it up, jumped through the hoops, and got my password changed.

Well, I forgot that I had to change the stupid password on stupid Zimbra when I got home, so I stopped after 2 incorrect log-ins and went back to campus to get the piece of paper I'd written it down on. Brought it back, put it in, and got kicked out again. I don't quite understand it, since it took the password to get me online, but it won't take it for Zimbra. So apparently I'm going to have to look up my ID number again when I get to work tomorrow and change the stupid password again, write it down, and make sure I change it wherever it's supposed to changed on this computer. Maddening!!!

OTOH--I took Timber with me when I went back to campus. Put his regular collar with the tags on and a martingale collar, and hooked him up to a flexi lead, and he was wonderful. He listened to me, he came back to me when I asked him to, he didn't dash out and hit the end of the leash like a ton of bricks--I was so proud and happy I could hardly stand it. It was great. It would have been greater if my knees hadn't started to hurt.

Which reminds me--I surrender. On the way up the stairs in the building where I work, my right knee hurt a LOT and I wasn't sure I was going to make it. Not good. There is an elevator in the building, but no one uses it if they don't have to, and no one gets onto it unless they have a cell phone to call for help. I am not kidding. It's completely unreliable. But my point is that I now bow to the fact that okay, that knee probably does need surgery. *sigh*

A river runs through it

Or past it...

It rained most of the morning. There was some sun when I first got up, but it got darker and darker, until it was more like 8:30 p.m. than 8:30 a.m., and I had to turn on the light. Then it started to rain. Gently but steadily. Okay--it's been dry and we needed it. (After all that rain we had, I can't believe I'm saying, "it's been dry and we need rain"!) It rained most of the morning.

Then the sun came out. I took the dogs out--it wasn't too wet--but we came in after about half an hour because it was humid and buggy.

Later in the afternoon I was lying on the couch reading. I'd sort of noticed it was getting a little darker, but it suddenly broke through the words that I was hearing rain. So I ran outside to get my knitting and the cushion off the swing. It rained. And then it rained harder. Water ran down the side street. It looks flat, but it must slant slightly to the south, because the water ran fast and steadily, like a river. Then I heard a sound that made me think a car was coming, and I waited, and nothing appeared, and finally I realized I was hearing the rain, which had ratcheted up and was just pounding down. Then it eased up, and 5 minutes later the sun was out. Now it's overcast again.

I've put a couple of chunks of suet in the bottom of the new suet feeder, and a couple of birds have found it, including the downy, which I'm delighted to see back again. None of them have actually gone into the cage part, though--I think partly because they're all very alert and fly away whenever a vehicle drives by. I can see one going in for suet, a vehicle driving by, and the bird panicking and not being able to remember how to get out, so I'm not sure this will work for us. They are interested--they land on the outside of the cage and lean in as far as they can. I'll leave it up for a while and see.

I did a little clicker-training with the dogs this afternoon, since it was obvious we weren't going to get back outside. We worked on closing the kitchen cabinets. Timber pretty much has the idea; we just need to refine it. Taenzer, bless her heart, tries and keeps trying, but today we just got to the point where she was almost but not quite touching it with her nose. I wish I were better at this, I think she'd be more confident and get it sooner. There wasn't quite as much extraneous behavior, less walking around, than last time, so that's a good thing. I'm thinking, she knows how to nose-touch a sticky-note; maybe it would help her if I stuck one on the door.

Cuteness

Timber, jolly ball firmly in mouth, stalking butterflies, pouncing with both front feet, and trying to bash the butterflies with his ball. Beautiful and adorable.

Newly-fledged baby house sparrow, sitting in the grass at the foot of the feeder pole, complete ball of fluff and feathers, looking befuddled and clueless. From time to time one of the parents dropped down from the feeder to stuff a seed in its mouth. Something startles the mixed flock of house finches, house sparrows, and mourning doves, and they all take off in a flurry of wings, leaving baby sparrow to gaze around in dim surprise: "Where'd everybody go?" Eventually it flew into the spruce tree a few feet away.

Saturday

I'm sitting here trying to decide whether to get a new laptop. I really hate to put anything on the Visa card. I'm trying so hard to pay it off! But there are several good reasons to get a laptop.

It's been raining hard off and on since this afternoon. I took Timber for a walk this morning, and he was very good! He pulled just a little bit, but when he did, I would stop, and he would glance over his shoulder at me and come back, and as soon as he did, I'd start walking again. And when we encountered a guy coming the opposite way, I stepped off the sidewalk and asked Timber for a sit-stay, which he did very nicely. It was a very pleasant walk, and I was a proud mommy. Our hard work is paying off. Poor Taenzer, though, we only got about a block before the first spell of rain blew through and we had to hurry home.

The local farm store had a sale on a bird feeder pole with two fixed arms, a moveable arm, a mesh tray, and a plastic tray, so I ran out and got one. The really expensive ones are close to $100, but mine's not so expensive, and on sale it was only $20. A small problem--it's taller than the pole I had up, and I needed a stepstool to get the sunflower seed feeder up. Ah well, I'll just get a longer hook to hang it from, so I can reach. Another small problem: I can't get the lid off the sunflower feeder. I'm going to have to get someone to do it for me, and then tinker with the clips so that they still hold, but I can get it open.

I think tomorrow I'm going to go out and see if I can find a nice suet feeder and a pole baffle to try to keep the squirrels out of the suet. Hopefully all the nesting birds will like it for their babies as well as for themselves.

I'm also thinking of putting the pole I was using in the puppy pen and hanging a couple of feeders out there, so I can watch birds feeding while I'm out with the dogs.

I'm finally nearing the end of my 2009 calendar scarf. I have one pattern left to go. I have enjoyed working on this, with the different patterns and different yarns. I especially like the qiviut and the buffalo down. I'd like to work with them again; maybe I can find another sale.

I expect I'll do socks as my next project, if I can successfully combine one of my beautiful sock yarns with one of the many patterns I want to do.

And, oh yes, I got the lace scarf finally back on the needles and mostly made back to where I was when I originally dropped a stitch. It's going to be a nice little scarf, something I can wear to work, I think.

I also meant to tell about my sweet peas. Last year I did about 4 plantings of sweet peas before I got them to come up. Each time I faithfully soaked them for 24 hours before I planted them, and kept them watered, and hung over them, and eventually got half a dozen or so spindly little plants that bloomed sometime around in July. This year I put a packet in the ground, got them covered up, and thought, oops, I forgot to soak them; oh well, I'll just replant later. Imagine my surprise a couple of weeks ago to find a long, thick row of sturdy-looking little sweet pea seedlings! I suppose that at this point I should thin them, but I'm really afraid to touch them--they're doing so well without my interference!

Timber

I have the day off, and I have SO much to do--and I'm sitting here blinking like an owl in the sun because I didn't sleep well last night--too much noise from outside and too warm--plus my darling Mr. T woke me up at 6:30 this morning because he REALLY had to go. I had sort of expected it--he drank a lot of water last night because it was so warm and they really haven't had time to acclimate--but I thought it would be around 3 or 3:30. Anyhow, I'm waiting for the caffeine to kick in.

Over the winter I taught Timber to come to heel (at least in the house--we need some work on doing it anywhere else), so I decided now I'd teach him the "swing" variation. In a regular heel, the dog starts out sitting square in front of you and, at the cue, he goes around behind you and comes into heel position on your left side; for "swing," the dog goes directly to your left side and turns into heel. There's a spectacular show version called the flip finish where the dog leaps into the air and turns while in the air, and comes down (more or less) in heel position (or there used to be--I don't know if it's taught any more--I ought to see if I can find it on You-Tube), but a plain swing finish is fine by me.

Anyway, I'm using luring for this, where he's supposed to follow the treat in my hand, but he sees my hand start to move and thinks "Oh, I know this one!" and goes around me. I just turn in place, so he winds up in front of me again, and his expression is so priceless--"Wait a minute--this isn't right--Mom, you're not supposed to move!" So I get eye contact, then nose contact (here's the lure, silly boy), and we try again. I can tell he thinks this is really dumb, changing the rules on him to get the same effect.

After 2 or 3 repeats, I let Taenzer do it. Taenzer's like, "Here, you do it like THIS. Right, Mom? I can do it, right, Mom?" I love her enthusiasm and eagerness, bless her heart. She's not precise, but she's definitely enthusiastic!

grumble grumble

What daylight savings time means to me:

Disrupted sleep.

Going back to getting up in the dark, at least for the next couple of weeks.

Another hour to look out at the gray, dreary, soggy landscape.

It's been overcast with at least a little rain every day for a week, and they're forecasting another week of clouds and rain. I think my house is going to sink slowly into the mud and I'll have to build steps going up to get out.

In between showers yesterday I walked Timber up to the Square, and he did a very nice job--certainly no worse than Stella at his age, if not quite as connected. I started stopping and saying his name until he looked at me, then I'd click and let him go sniff his next object. By the end of the walk we'd gone from "Timber. Timber. Timber. Timber. Timber. Timber. Timber. Timber." to "Timber. Timber." So that was good. I hope eventually we'll get to the point where he checks in with me without being reminded. He doesn't have to stop and turn around and look at me, just flick an ear or cast a glance in my direction--just to let me know that he remembers I'm there.

So if the rain holds off until I wake up, I'll take Taenzer out today. I don't expect to get as far with her, but at least she'll be out and moving around.

I'm still slogging away on my scarf. I'm beginning to worry that I won't have enough of some of the yarns I'm using, like the cream-colored cashmere. Which is annoying--since I knew I didn't have much of it, I arranged the rest of the scarf around it; it'll be unbalanced if I don't have enough. I'm not sure I have anything in the stash that I can replace it with. I think I have a cream-colored lace-weight wool--maybe I could use that doubled or tripled.

I know I'm going to like it when I finish it--I'm more than half-way finished now and every so often I pick it up and wrap it around my head and neck, and it's so soft and warm and cuddly, it's hard to take it off and start working on it again! I had so much trouble with the last couple of patterns that I've started typing them into Knit Visualizer before I even start knitting them. My concentration is just shot these days; even with the visuals I've had to rip back and start over multiple times when I start a new pattern.

On the other hand, I don't really have anything on the back burner shouting to be done, so I'm just as happy to have this to work on.

Thank doG for Phazyme!

Last night just before bed, Timber started licking his nose and gulping, as if he was going to throw up. It started very gently, but picked up, and he started getting restless, so I took him outside. He pooped, but didn't throw up, so we came back inside.

I wound up sitting up with him until 3 this morning. I'm still not sure what was going on. He had some of the symptoms of incipient bloat: licking, gulping, restlessness, groaning, wanting to drink water, obvious distress. But no vomiting or attempt to vomit, no diarrhea, no drooling, his gums didn't lose color, his abdomen never swelled up, and there was a lot of stomach noise. I ran through some other possibilities in my head for a long time--poison? No--I was 99.98% sure he hadn't gotten into anything he shouldn't have. Choking? Well, no, wasn't coughing or pawing at his mouth or having trouble breathing.

Since I'm hyper-aware of possible bloat, I finally decided better safe than sorry and gave him 5 Ultra-Phazyme caps. Then I got him to sit beside me on the bed and massaged his neck and shoulders, which were very tense. After a while he lay down beside me and I stroked him as gently and calmly as I could, long calming strokes. The Phazyme seemed to help for a while, then the licking/gulping/restlessness started to increase again, with the addition of groaning, so I gave him another dose and, because he seemed so distressed, sprayed some Rescue Remedy on his foot pads, then started stroking and massaging him again. After about half an hour, he heaved this big sigh and went to sleep.

I don't know if he was bloating or whether something else was going on, but he seems fine today--brought me a toy at noon to play with, ate his dinner just fine, snuggled a little bit. I don't know if the Phazyme really helped, but I knew it wouldn't hurt him, and I'm glad I had it in the house.

Taenzer, btw, was very very good. She tends to be a jealous girl and will come wedge herself between me and Timber if she thinks he's getting too much attention, but last night she went into her crate and stayed there the whole time, until he went to sleep. Then she came and jumped up on the bed beside me and curled up in her spot.

This is the 2nd time this has happened. We go in to the vet in two or three weeks for his spring heartworm test and 3-year rabies booster, so I'll be sure to type up a description of what happened for her to put in his file.

Meanwhile, I was totally stupid at work today and made a bunch of mistakes--not enough sleep!

Training works

It might take a while, but it does work.

It's WET here. All that snow is melting, and we're supposed to get rain all week. Yay, water in my basement, can't wait. But it's been too wet to let the Ts into the puppy pen, so I got out their collars and leashes and started walking them.

Timber is a star! It took a few reminders when we started out, but he's doing so well--I let him walk in front of me, but he doesn't pull and he'll come back and sit beside me when I ask him to. I'm not surprised--he's a terribly practical boy, and seems to get the idea that if he doesn't pull me, he gets to go sniff things. Therefore, he doesn't pull me, and we go walkies. If my knees weren't bothering me so much we could go farther than we do. I'm so proud of him!

Taenzer, on the other hand... *sigh* On our last two outings, we spent 20 minutes in front of the house. I'd take a step, she'd shoot by me, I'd do a U-turn and take a step, she'd shoot by me, I'd click as she came into heel position... The first, oh, six times or so she didn't even hear the click. Then she started hearing the click and looking up, but not waiting for the treat. Then she started slowing down enough to get the treat. So we're getting somewhere, but we haven't been for an actual walk yet.

Don't know if we'll be able to get out much over the next week--depends on how much it rains.

I'm wondering if I can throw out some grass seed, or if it's too cold and might rot. The thing is that if I overseed the puppy pen, they can't use it for 6 weeks--until the seed either sprouts or rots. I don't want them getting grass seed in their paws, noses, or eyes!

More things sprouting in the garden, but no blooms yet. One of the yards I walk past with Timber is full of snowdrops! I'll have to try to remember to take my camera for a picture. I'm not overly fond of snowdrops, but they're sure a sight for sore eyes after this snowy winter!

Timber's revenge

This morning Timber got his revenge on Taenzer: I've been working on shaping "heel" with him for several months now, and he's really nailing it--he sits nice and straight (no butt out) and has progressed to doing 4 or 5 steps in a straight line and a nice right-hand U-turn. (We'd be doing more except my house is so crowded there's no room *sigh*) Anyway, he was waiting for his duck jerky treat this morning, so I asked him to come to "front" (sit squarely in front of me within touching distance--toe-to-toe, basically), which he did (we need a little more work there--he tends to sit a tad too far out). Treat. Asked for a heel, got a beautiful one. Treat. I turned to call Taenzer, and he stuck right in heel position, so I heeled him out into the living room and back to the kitchen, and he got a BIG treat. Then while he was chewing on that I called Taenzer. I was going to have her do a swing finish (where she comes directly to my left side and swings into heel position, instead of circling around my right and finishing on the left), and when I looked down to check and see there was room, there's Mr. Bright-Eyes shining up at me from perfect heel position! So he got a fourth treat, and Taenzer got a freebie. :)

(Timber at heel)

(Taenzer at heel)

Sneaky Girl!

As I've probably said before, Taenzer is of the opinion that bringing me things is Her Job. She was a mouthy little puppy, so I started working with her early, teaching her that if she brought me something instead of taking it off somewhere to chew on it, she would get a treat. As she got a little older, I taught her to bring me things I actually wanted, on cue. So now if I drop something or want my houseshoes or something, I ask her--it's Her Job.

But I've taught Timber a retrieve, too, because most dogs enjoy picking things up and carrying them. His retrieve isn't as clean as hers is--he tends to pick things up and shake them--but he will pick something up if requested and deliver it to hand (rather than dropping it at my feet)--provided Taenzer's not in the room. It's Her Job, after all.

So this morning as I was getting ready to go to work, I dropped my gloves in the kitchen. Taenzer was playing Diva on the Divan, lying on the couch in the living room and looking out the windows, and Timber was in the kitchen with me, waiting for his morning treat of duck jerky, so I asked Timber to pick up the gloves for me. Which he did, giving each one a shake but then putting it in my hand. Good Boy!

I turned to get a cookie for him out of the cookie jar. Now, I trained Stella and Taenzer to think of heel position as their default--if your dog is always on your left, you always know where your dog is and no one gets stepped on!--so I took the cookie in my left hand and lowered it for him to get while I put the lid back on with my right hand. Just as I feel the cooking leaving my hand, I realize I'm looking at Timber sitting off to my right. That's right--sneaky Ms. Taenzer had tiptoed in and rewarded herself!

Sneaky girl!

So I got another cookie for Timber (2, actually), and asked Taenzer to get me my shoes, and then hugged them both. They're just so darn cute!

Good days and bad days

Well, tonight Timber had never heard the words "back foot" or lifted his foot to put it on a cookie sheet before, and Taenzer's brain was completely gone away to Miami or somewhere. It was okay with Timber--I just had him do some sits and downs and front foot targeting and we left it at that. He's fine, I'm fine. Training goes that way sometimes, and he'll probably be back on top of it next time we work.

But poor Taenzer--she tries SO hard, and she can tell when I'm disappointed with the results. I tried to end with some simple things she knows, too, but she knows, bless her little heart.

I'm trying to figure out how to approach this differently. What do I actually want her to do? I want her to lift one back foot when I say "back foot." I don't particularly care where she puts it down, at least not now. I chose to use the cookie sheet because I thought the cold metal would feel different under her feet from the warm wood floor, and possibly make it a bit more clear that that foot was involved in the click. I've tried this before by sitting beside her and tickling the foot I wanted her to lift, and using a dowel to tap it, and neither of those worked.

Hm. I'll have to think this over a bit more.

Meanwhile, my wonderful sister sent me a belated Christmas present--a calendar of pictures her daughter took during a trip to Europe, and two skeins of one of my very favorite sock yarns, Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Eureka colorway--which btw the website describes as "a fun blend of dark purples, eggplant, pumpkin, green & magenta," but I'm seeing brown, copper, purple, teal, and gold, but it may look different under natural light. At any rate, it was a lovely surprise to come home to on a dreary, cold, foggy winter evening. Now I need to find a very special pattern!

By George, I think he's got it!

Timber's been deliberately lifting his back feet to touch the cookie sheet. It is SO unbelievably COOL to see him think about it and one foot goes up--awkwardly and deliberately, sort of as if I were trying to write my name with my left hand. AND, he's doing it when I give him a verbal cue (the oh-so-imaginative "back foot"). I was so excited when I realized he was getting it I about died. I was hugging him and making a huge fuss, and he gave me this look like, "Oh, mom, get a grip." It's just so thrilling!

Taenzer doesn't really have it yet, I'm afraid, but she will. It's harder for cross-over dogs, but she's very, very bright, and eager to work; she'll get it.

Rip out or not rip out?

By the way, if you catch a cold, try drinking Gypsy Cold Care tea. It's a herbal tea put together with a lot of herbs traditionally used for treating colds, it tastes really good (esp. with a spoonful of honey), and makes you feel better. At least, it makes me feel better. I found it in the grocery store.

I finally finished this first camel-hair yarn section of the scarf and started the next section with qiviut, and the feel is so dramatically different that now I'm not sure I shouldn't rip out the camel yarn and not use it. Yes, the swatch did soften up some once it was washed, but compared to the other yarns, it's really--well, icky. My other option, I guess, would be to knit in and bind off with some waste yarn, and wash the 3 sections I have and see what I get. If it turns out all right, I could rip out the waste yarn, pick up with the quiviut, and carry on; if it was still icky, I could rip out the waste yarn and the camel yarn and go to Plan B.

Which is--well, I could either knit on with what I have, OR use this baby alpaca/silk blend yarn I have that's a fairly nasty shade of pastel burnt orange (think old-fashioned baby aspirin--maybe that's why I don't like it!), OR take some of my cat-sitting money and order something from Elann.com. I'm thinking of their baby alpaca/silk blend, camel-colored ("mocha cream"). It wouldn't take much--2, maybe 3 skeins. About $9 plus shipping.

Hmmm. I'll have to think it over.

Oh. Timber has hit the experimental stage with the back-foot targeting: he gets clicked for the back foot, then turns around and deliberately puts his front feet on the cookie sheet. When he doesn't get a click, he steps forward until his back feet are on it. My take on this is that he's trying to decide what, exactly, he's getting a click for. "This? No. Okay, how about this?" And Taenzer several times stepped sideways to get onto the cookie sheet rather than circling around and walking over it. She also is pivoting on the foot planted on the cookie sheet to get her treats, rather than stepping off. Both things make me think she's getting the idea. Neither of them has walked up and plopped a back foot directly onto the cookie sheet in any way that looks deliberate, but I think they're both headed in that direction. I'm also working on "stand" with them--just stand still, don't move your feet or sit down or lie down--and am thinking of trying to teach them to target my hand with a hip or shoulder (more body awareness).

Sick AGAIN???

A virus, I guess. Just kinda mildly headachey, mildly upset stomach, tired, can't focus even to read or knit (that's how I know I'm really sick!). Living on hot soup and hot milk with vanilla and honey. :-P

Did I mention I got my laptop running? I can't figure out how to reload the address book to my e-mail or the favorites to IE, but it's running a lot better than it was. (knock on wood)

I haven't felt very much like doing anything for a couple of nights, so I haven't gotten very far with my scarf, darn it. I did get to day three, using camel-hair yarn, which frankly is like using carpet thread after the yak and the guanaco. I did knit up a tiny swatch and swish it around in a bath of tepid water and baby shampoo, then rinsed it and squeezed it in a towel, and it did soften up and fluff up a bit, but I'm pretty disappointed in it. I'll have to rework my list to try to keep it near the ends, away from my face and neck when I wrap up in the finished scarf.

It's warming up here quite a bit and the snow is melting, so Taenzer and Timber are getting out every evening. But I advised a friend to try clicker-training her dog the other day, so thought I might practice what I preached. I decided I would try to teach them to touch a cookie sheet with their back feet. They know how to whap things with their front paws, but I would like them to be aware of other parts of their bodies. Also, it's pretty obvious; I don't have to be super observant--a good thing in my present state of health.

So we've been working on it about 3 nights now--for about maybe 3 minutes apiece. I noticed even the first night that toward the end they were standing on the cookie sheet with their back feet more than their front feet--say, maybe, 51% of the time--but it was obvious that they really didn't have any clue why they were getting clicked/treated. Kind of the same the 2nd night, although the percentage of back feet on cookie sheet was maybe up to 65%. Tonight I think Timber's starting to get it. He hasn't had a lightbulb moment yet--the kind where he looks at me thoughtfully, then very deliberately puts a back foot on the cookie sheet and then looks at me as if to say "Is that what you want?" But several times instead of circling around and walking over the sheet and stopping with his back feet on it, he stepped off to get his treat and then simply stepped backward onto it. I was thrilled and excited. He is such a bright boy!

You can really tell that she's a cross-over dog and he was pretty much clicker-trained from the get-go. He really tries to figure things out--"what was I doing when I heard the click? What should I do to make her give me another treat?" Taenzer is much more excitable and reactive when we're training. It's not that she's not smart, because she's very very intelligent! But she gets excited and then her brain just short-circuits. She's getting better as she gets older, but it can be hard to get her to just take half a second to think. Also, she gets discouraged very easily, although she's slowly learning to keep trying. And she's very food motivated, which can make her easier to train--remember how she was actually doing better than Timber when we were working on loose-leash walking before it got so cold? That was because she was willing to work for treats even outdoors; Timber got all over-loaded by the new smells.

Maybe I'll try getting them to touch my hand with their shoulder next.

Too Cold for Doggies!

German Shepherds generally like cold weather much better than they like hot weather, but I expect there does need to be a certain amount of acclimating when it's really cold, esp. if they're inside most of the time in the winter, as mine are.

It's really cold here--single digits during the day, below zero at night. Thank goodness there's not much wind. At any rate, we haven't been going out much, just to potty mostly. Timber really wanted to go out to play today, so rather unwillingly I bundled up and took them out.

Taenzer did her usual running around and pushing her ball and seemed to be doing just fine. But I noticed that Timber was standing with his right back foot off the ground. I asked him if he was okay, and he sat down, then laid down and chewed on his jolly ball a little bit, so I went back to watching Taenzer. When I looked at Timber again, he was standing again, holding his right back foot up higher than ever. Then he put it down and lifted his left front foot. Then he sat down and lifted (or tried to lift) his right front AND right back foot. I'm sorry to say I burst out laughing--it looked very funny. But I felt bad for him, so I put my blanket away and brought them back inside.

Poor Mr. T and his little cold feet! You'd think all that fur between his toes would insulate them a little bit, but apparently not.

I wish I could find something they enjoyed doing inside. Stella loved playing the smell-it/find-it game, but neither Taenzer nor Timber seem to enjoy it much. Taenzer gets all hyperactive and brings things at random, and Timber is very dutiful about it but it doesn't seem to be *fun* for him. I guess I could get a new buster cube--I seem to have lost the old one. We have a tug-a-jug, but of course, with two dogs, I need two treat-dispensers. Hmmmm--off to surf dog toy sites!

Need a fully-working computer

I'm going to tote my laptop in to work tomorrow to see if I can get it working. If not, I guess I'll use my cat-sitting money to take it to a professional, or to get a new hard drive--or maybe both--so I can finally download pictures again.

This afternoon, I got a big Santa hat for Timber, and wrapped Taenzer in the calendar scarf, which I finished this morning. Timber was awfully good about having a Santa hat on his head, tied under his chin, but the picture-taking was a comedy. It snowed here this afternoon, so I took them out to sit them in front of the snow-laden blue spruce for a nice background. I'd get Timber sat down, and then turn to Taenzer to get her sitting parallel to him and try to get her scarf draped to show off the patterns, and then he'd pop up, so I'd have to sit him down and wiggle the hat back into the right position, then get Taenzer's attention (she's pretending hard that she's not there), then I'd back up a couple of steps to take the picture and Timber would pop back up again. Lather, rinse, and repeat, *lol*! They were very cute. And I think I got at least one good picture, though I don't think the scarf got shown off to best advantage.

scarfing right along

I think I'm going to finish the 2008 calendar scarf this weekend. I had to omit another pattern, as I won't have enough yarn, but it's still going to be very lovely. I can't get over how soft the yarn is! I'm sorting of thinking about getting blocking wires to block it with--Elann has a set for $20. That's pretty affordable.

The pattern for Day 21 is the Frostflower pattern, which I think is just beautiful, but boy is it a pain to knit. I'm glad I found it out now, rather than someday starting a large project with it. It's still beautiful, but it's not knitting to relax with.

I'm going to take the laptop in to work next week and try running the Windows Malware Detector on it--maybe it'll work and I'll be able to post some pictures. If not, I'll start thinking seriously about replacing the hard drive.

Cute Timber story: The other night I was fixing their dinner. Timber sat in the kitchen door watching me, and for some reason he looked so sad. So I started talking to him, trying to get him to perk up a little, and didn't get anywhere. Finally I remembered what a big hit the song "Old Devil Moon"had been, so I started singing that to him. Well, first he raised his head. Then his ears came up. Then he squared up and sat up straight. Then he came in and sat at heel on my right and gazed up into my face while I finished both the song and his dinner.

So I guess that's "our song." :)

Moving right along...

Having triumphed over Day 17, I decided I didn't like Day 18 and substituted another pattern for it. It reads as extra-big holes, so I decided to use the Crown of Glory pattern from Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns, which gives much the same effect. Took me a while to get it worked out, and now that I have I realize it's going to be upside down to the onlooker, but it's still pretty.

I'm afraid I'm not going to have enough yarn to finish the last 6 patterns, so I'm trying to decide which ones to omit.

I've also been printing out the patterns for this year's scarf, and wondering if I have anything in the stash to make it with.

Timber went in to get his stitches out today. He was *very* good. An overly-excited 7-month-old mixed breed puppy wanted to meet him, and he was very calm and grown-up about it. Everyone ooohed and ahhhed over him, including the girl with the puppy, and he gave kisses to everyone except the girl with the puppy, but only because he couldn't get close enough to her. And he was very good about holding still while they snipped out the stitches. They really could have come out a couple of days earlier, I think. He got half a plain Wendy-burger for being such a super boy, and Taenzer got the other half for being so good while she was home alone.

Friday Night

I can never think up really snappy titles for these things; sorry.

Tonight I broke out the humidifiers--it suddenly got cold, which sucked all the moisture out of the air, not to mention me. The humidity was down to 46% in the living room at noon. Currently it's at 51%, which is better.

Years ago a very kind friend gave me a humongous humidifier that worked but was really noisy. Last year I finally looked at the thing and realized that it has (*gasp*) filters. Which I had never changed, and which were, not surprising, completely gross, not to mention plugged. So I found replacements online at the end of last season and put them in, and what a difference clean filters make! You can hardly hear the thing now! It's amazing!

Guess it pays to follow directions.

So besides getting overcharged a thousand dollars by the plumber when he installed the shower this past spring, it's really been nothing but a pain--it's too high to be comfortable (the guy who put it in was like 6'4"--he installed it for his height, not mine), the pipe on the handshower isn't long enough for me to use it to do anything else useful, like rinse muddy dog paws or wash my hair without taking a shower or, it turns out, to fill the humidifier tank. And the new tub faucet barely clears the edge of the tub, so I can't fill the humidfier tank there, either. What a waste of money!! I'd have complained long ago, except I don't want the guy setting foot in this house again, and I can't afford to pay another plumber to fix this guy's screw-ups.

Timber's doing fine. The laptop still has a virus and is still running the antivirus program, so I still can't post any pictures. His t-shirt and "turtleneck" came off last night and he's been good about leaving things alone. The incisions look good, no inflammation or swelling. The wind died down this evening, so I sat out with them for half an hour after I got home, his first time to play since Wednesday. Ten to fourteen days before his stitches come out, so I guess that's next Saturday, maybe, or Monday. Is that the Monday before Christmas? Yikes.

I've decided to see if I can find a suitable wood file or rasp to do the dogs' claws with. They don't seem to be too expensive; I just need to find one that's the right texture and size. I'm thinking about making some woodworking store's phone-salesperson's day by asking them to recommend a file or rasp for dog nails!

I'm making good progress on my calendar scarf, but realized I won't have enough yarn to make the entire thing, so I decided to make the first 11 patterns, skip the ones in the picture that go behind the neck that I can't see, and pick up again with pattern 15 or 16 and just keep going until I run out of yarn. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to block it. Even if I had blocking wires (which I don't), I don't know where I'd pin it out. I don't have a table or desk or rug, and the bed isn't useable (Ts nap on it). Well, I'm sure I can figure something out.

On re-reading this, it sounds pretty whiny. Sorry about that. Can I blame it on the weather?