Friday Cat Blogging

Hotel Cat

24 hours and counting

If I haven't gotten done yet, the chances are I have given up and I am not going to do it. I did finally buy myself self food for the trip : two bags of  low cal popcorn, a few no-sugar-added fruit cups and some new ear buds for my ipod.

I also finally gave in a bought some new titles for my kindle so I can keep myself busy.

I have not raked the rugs because I just see the dog finding something else to shred and grting hem all trashed again and making me depressed because it looked so nice for a second and a half. I did get the kitchen cleaned up and the bathroom tidied, so I have that. I am also going o sweep up the solids on the floors and pat myself on the back for trying. I would sweep the floors provided I could find the broom,  whiich I can not. instead I am going to track down all my power cords and start gathering my electronics.

I also downloaded a game  that promises to teach me to speak Spanish, but after a few rounds it made me feel as though I can't speak English either.

More Counting

We finished agility class, well, class ends next week but we are going to be out of town. We all ready missed a class due to injury and there are only six class total so we will be taking it again in the fall when hopefully, we can get through the whole course. I'm sure the instructor will be thrilled to see us again.

Rocket is also very puppy currently and his behavior swings widely from week to week. Last week he was flawless and the instructor was thrilled with his progress, this week he was horrible and nipped my arm hard enough to leave a blood blister! This is not normal. He's been really bad around the house lately too and I am hoping that this behavior is just the last bit of puppy chaos leaving the building before the full grown two year old  adult dog comes home to take control of the animal.

Because right now? Not a great roommate, kind of a dick actually.

There are two classes I want him to take as we move forward. The agility class, of course, but also a Dog Tricks class. I think it would be fun for us both and you can't really show off his agility skills at the bar or when a group of people gather around him downtown, I want them to see he's not only gorgeous, but clever as well.. I want to be able to exploit my dog in public without having to drag around jumps and obstacles.

Hopefully, by the fall I will ahve a dog that can focus long enough to learn something but if I don't, do they make ADHD meds for dogs?

Counting Down

I got the following accomplished over the weekend in no order

- Replaced faulty mouse pad with a working model
- attended funeral for long time neighbor
- got pedicure
- paid Sams bill
-donated to puppy baby shower
-mowed the front lawn
-corrected hair color
- put newspaper on hold
-decided to not have mail shifted
-got pills in order for travel
-packaged up dogs meals for travel
-did laundry
-mailed clothes to Marquette
-asked neighbor to "rescue" veggies in garden




Still to do
-Mow back yard
-clean house
-Mail birthday cards
-40 things I haven't thought of yet.

I forget that  among my older neighbors I may be the only white person they know.

Friday Cat Blogging

I miss my computer mouse

A couple of weeks ago the dog ate my phone. Yesterday he ate my computer mouse! I am now having to do this without a mouse and I am totally mouse dependent - I do not like the touch pad in the least and I want my mouse back!

That can not be, so I bought a new one; A new one that does not work! I plug in the USB thing, it spins, I get told it works and is ready to go but it is not. I am going to have to make a second trip out there to return it and get one that works and is smaller, this one is too large and it doesn't work. I am sad. I should have started out at Office Max or somewhere that does not also sell Turkish dishwasher detergent and Hungarian canned peaches.

The cat has never eaten any of my electronics. Daisy, in her youth, ate remote controls and possibly, a portable CD player and she did that from inside a crate. She had remarkably strong fingers. Rocket is really happy having the run of he house but  he simply can not have the run of the house, especially when he is developing a taste for plastic.! Expensive plastic.

To get my mind of this development. I need to make pre-vacation lists

- Cancel Paper
- Have mail shifted
-Pay lawnmower man
-Clean out refrigerator
-wash mattress covers
-change sheets
-mow lawn
-decide what to do with elephant ear plant - to move to back yard or to not move to back yard
- beg friends and neighbors to rescue veggies
-think positive thoughts.

Stuff

The dogs back pack is not going to be shipped ahead. I made an executive descion and its going in the car.  Adding he back pack to the box makes the box too heavy and so  the dogs's leashes and bowls and food and toys are going in the back pack in the car with the rest of us.

It fit in the box but hen I couldn't pick up the box and that was a problem. If I can't heft the box I can't get it down stairs and into the car and  into the post office and I don't want to think about how much it would cost to ship a box I can not lift. Bad idea. The back pack makes the trip with us.

Today I went to the store and bought powered peanut butter. I was there to buy cat food and I came out with powered peanut butter. I think it will be good for dog cookie making, also its cool.

How long does it take for tomatos to get ripe and why won't mine hurry up? I'm on a clock now and I need them to get with it and ripen so I can give them to good homes.

I'm thinking of how much work its going to take to get the house cleaned up before I leave and I'm rethinking my need to get it cleaned before vavcation. I will be very unhappy when I come home to a house that is as filthy as it was when I left. I have to work something out.

Need to do :

Change the sheets on bed
Wash the mattress covers in the basement and put on office futon
make up futon
think about moving dog crate back to office
clean the kitchen
clean the bathroom
rake the living room rug
rake the dining room rug

Everyone should have such problems, AKA What A Whiner.

Taking the dog for a walk is much, much more enjoyable later into the evening verses earlier when I get home, the opposite of what it is during the winter, when I have to rush like hell to get home to walk the dog  double time to take advantage dwindling day light, who would have thought it? A few months later and earlier sucks. Its too hot, its too sunny and its all together too too.

I got very irked today. I had found a mani-pedi deal on Groupon for my friend and I and it was very, very cheap - the only reason I bought it. My friend and I decided that this weekend would be an ideal time for said mani-pedis and I went to the web site of the manicure school that the deal was for. I was thinking about Saturday, late morning. Ta Da!

Three hours twice a week, during the day, no evenings or weekends hours Its super that they are serving the indigent, unemployed, disabled and elderly populations  but what about the the people with jobs? The people with jobs who do not work down the street from the school? I was so pissed. I had to contact Groupon and have my deal switched to a gift certificate. Gawd. Oh, Groupon was easy to reach and was very nice about it.

I am now going to get my toes done and my eye brows waxed at my regular place. I had to get the waxing done so I am going to kill two birds with one stone. I am not going to get a manicure because I would just tear it up in no time and there is no point. The pedicure will last a lot longer and be more of a public service anyway. I have Hobbit feet and now that its summer and I live in my Tevas, I need to cut the world at large a break and at least make them look like girl Hobbit feet...

Agility Week 4

We did better in class and I was trying to post a bit of our warm up pre-class but it was a nightmare of unnecessary difficulty and poor computer/phone cooperation. I mean, like really, really stupid-who-decided-it-needed-to-be-difficult level frustration. I needed to edit the footage because of the number of times he ended up his performance by biting down on my elbows. His teeth are very healthy.

The instructor was very excited about him and how well he did. I think it was the fact that we were the class this week and we could go over and over and over a given series until he got it down. He needs more than one or two run through's. He also needs more practice at home and I'm not really sure where that is going to happen. I have a tiny backyard and there aren't a lot of places I can just take the obstacles I have and camp out. Also? I need more obstacles, a couple of more jumps,  a tunnel, an a-frame.

But what am I going to do with them and where am I going to put them? Do Rocket and I want to do this? He's good at it and clearly enjoys it but needs lots and lots of work. Do I have time for this? Do I want to keep taking classes out in BFE? Do I want to sign up in the fall for the 3rd level of agility? Should I call his puppy trainer, Bubba the Dog Whisperer to help me force patience and self control down his dogy throat?  Because Bubba could, he's that good. If Rocket could learn some self control and patience he could potentially be a really strong agility dog. No one is faster or more enthusiastic and if he could get it together, he could be a real competitor.

I wonder how hard it would be to set up jumps on the beach? And how much guerrilla agility I could arrange on vaca?

Checking the lists

I got stuff done, kind of, most of it is just taken care of mentally, but I have worked through some problems so that's good. I did get the back yard mowed and it  looks very nice, and will, briefly. I did not mow the front yard because it looks okay enough that I can put it off for another week or up until either the next doors or the across the street folks mow theirs first. I don't always need to do the neighbor shaming. I can be shamed, I'm fine with that.

I did get some pre-vaca shopping done and that made me happy. I bought more socks and more underwear and now I feel comfortable about packing up two weeks worth of clothes without having to wear underthings that I don't like. Its important to me.

The packing is now done and I was able to use a much smaller air-bag than in years past, I sucked all the air out of it and it fit the box perfectly, except for about six inches on the one side and across the top. I'm going to have to stuff the box with paper to keep it from shifting. I am open to suggestions as to how to do it without adding excess weight for shipping. How about blowing up food storage bags? or newspaper bags?

I also have my car bag stocked, its no ready yet but its better than it was yesterday. I still need to talk to the lawn mower guy and the newspaper and think about my mail.

The garden is going to pop while I am gone and I'm hoping that my family and friends and neighbors will actually do ask asked and harvest while I am gone. It would really help me and the plants out. Everybody says they will but no one ever does. Sigh.

The count down

This weekend I am packing my box! Damn it. I looked at the calendar and it looks like week after next I am outward bound and I am so not prepared. Not, as in not at all, as in Vaca? Really? Me? When is it? WHEN? OMG! 

I have my work stuff kind of together but the home stuff is in all kinds of a mess. I haven't told the animals yet and the cat will really need a spa day to help him see the positives of the trip. The dog is going to think its super fun for the first three hours of day one and then he's going to spend the next day and half stretched out across the seat, sound asleep, farting. We may need to look into gas masks.

I need to remember to go and buy Rocket a new hew horn! Its a must, he lurved the first one I got him, they are light weight and he can chew on them for a month or more. Also flea and tick and doggy Off and probably Natures Miracle , because it has been a while but he is not good with change. Shot records for both animals!

I need to pay the lawn mower guy and get that off my plate, I need to stop the paper, and think about he mail.

I thought I didn't have anything on deck for the weekend. Oops.

New Toy

On Friday while I was  outside happily harvesting my potatoes and playing Gawd with my corn plants generally feeling pretty good about my outdoor bossness, the dog was indoors letting me know who is really boss.

The dog ate my land-line.

I back inside and noticed the rubble on the living room floor had a new friend : A battery pack and then a wider search uncovered the back of the phone and then, ultimately, I found the corpse of the phone itself. I suspect that while I was outside agitating the dog by being outside, it rang and agitated the dog further, I think the ringing pushed him over he edge

He didn't eat any of it, because he is in a phase where he hates eating and will only ingest bits of chew toy. H pretty viciously  tore the phone apart and left it where it lay as some sort of offering, or as a trap to bring in larger things he thought would taste better.  Maybe he has his eye on the DVR? Or it was an object lesson to all of my electronics. I have started to remove the computer from the dinning room during the day so he won't wonder what it tatstes like too. So I guess I learned something from it. The phone did not die in vain! Viva Phone!

It was at the time that I went to look for my cell phone. I couldn't find it, I had left it at work.

Rockets "punishment" for destroying my phone was a fun trip to Dix so I could rescue my cell and he could get a fun walk. Over the weekend I went phone shopping.

Meet the new boss

Almost the same as the old boss.

Our Friend Winter

On the first real day of too damn hot, I bring you...

Snow!

Agility Class 3

Another week another opportunity to ask why am I doing this to myself? So far in class we have learned that Rocket doesn't have a favorite side, he is just as unruly on my right as on my left. I do not like him on my right at all, a hold over of years of walking a dog on my left.

I don' go to my right or left well at all but if he is on my right there is a better chance I will trip over him The dog will not wait for me to get in position for him to go, he wants to go NOW and there is nothing I can do to kepp up with him once he's on his way. He will go to the next obstacle but it better be in a straight line from the last one or he will skip it.

I have to stand there and shout at him Jump!Jump! Tunnel!Tunnel! Jump!Jump That Thing! That Thing! Wiggle! Wiggle Wiggle! The instructor says 1) I need to give That Thing a name for he dog to learn and 2) Rocket thinks so far ahead that I need to be giving him directions as well as I should be three or four obstacles a head of where he is or he finishes where he is and gets frustrated because he doesn't know where he is supposed to go next and then he wants to run back to me and be play with my hair, where ever I am,  which is always behind him because I don't move as fast as he does. To get ahead of him I would need a broom.

Also he needs to learn right from left. I don't do left and right very well myself, how can I teach my dog the difference between right and left?!

Tonight we learned he can easily jump 26 inches  ( top of the AKC  limit on  jumps) and he is also 26 and a half inches tall. Next we the other dog won't be there so  either we have a whole hour to ourselves or the instructor will drag the class before ours with many dogs even later so I will  end up with a really short class and a drive home in the even darker. Tonight I took a wrong turn and ended up on the highway. Sadness.

Garden Update 9 2014

Today I started an experiment : Can you transplant very young corn plants?

I looked online and it seems like "yes" , but these had been in the ground for a while, not growing in a plant nursery situation and the plants are not babies anymore. I planted them in a neat grids as suggested for optimum growth , however not all the seeds sprouted and it left a lot of empty spots and empty spots are not conductive to a good harvest.

So I moved them around. I'm pretty sure that in theory the plants should be agreeable to this but I have my doubts. I just want to give them the best chance for producing a good harvest and if I had left them in the state they were, they most certainly would not have.

This weekend was potato harvest time and I got them all out of the ground, this was because it was time and the potato plants were throwing shade on my baby corn plants and the more shade they though the more I started to think it was time. They had been in the ground since March, when there was still snow on the ground!

I had wanted to get them in the ground in February but the soil was still frozen  and so  I had to wait until the first week in March to get them in the ground .They also survived a very late freeze right after they had started to sprout.

Its not a bad harvest and I only had two plans that failed to produce. It does not look like a lot there but they filled two hanging basket baskets to the brim. I can't eat this many so I'm going to have to find some good homes for a a few of them.

Still in the ground : Peppers, tomatoes, green beans, onions and corn.

Friday Cat Blogging

My kingdom for a game camera.

Today I came home for lunch and met two lovely men from Duke Power and they were kind enough to add heavy weather stripping to my front door, replace my old  cheap  florescent light-bulbs with nicer energy florescent  light bulbs, clean under my refrigerator and give me a wall thermometer for my living room. They wanted to give me a new shower head but I told them I liked my old one, its new. They would have also sprayed spray foam insulation under my sinks but I all ready had that.

This was free.

Rocket has somehow grown a thumb while I wasn't watching and he can free himself from the office room at will. He has done this several times and thus far he hasn't eaten or destroyed anything yet.  The operative words are "so far" and "yet". Today he was out in the house from shortly after I left the house to go to work, around 12:20 till when I came home from work at about 4:20.

This has so far happened four times and there has been no damage. These prior instances were stealth operations by the dog, this was the first time I knew he was free in the house and left him alone any way.

He ate the cats food but didn't eat my shoes or underwear, two of his favorite treats when he was last given free reign  of the house almost exactly a year ago. A year is a long time in dog development, he has changed from a raging, unaltered puppy with SA  and itchy teeth to a neutered adult dog with access to Dog TV and psychotropics.

 Things change. I know they haven't changed enough for me feel entirely safe with him in the house lose or to shut him into the office room, he can't stand a closed door! It triggers his SA and he would damage the door and the wall and himself in the process so its not an option. Instead, I think that if I replace the fifty year old locking mechanism in the door, that it might solve the problem of the  lose latch being so easy for him to pick, or I could get a chain lock and put it high out of his reach.

I'm going to start by moving the cats' food.

Packing

I'm going on vacation soon and I need to be getting my stuff together, deciding what I want to bring with me, subtracting half of it because just because I want to bring a prom dress with me does not mean I get to bring a prom dress with me. Its tough, a struggle.

I also need to  buy new sneakers. Go for my Groupon mani-pedi, dye my hair and get my eyebrows waxed. So I'm going to need  a lot of me time before I go. Darn, another struggle, more tough times ahead.

I have to decide how many tee shirts I want to bring or if I want to just bring polo shirts because I'm a grown woman and because polo shirts are good for hiking and going  to visit but my polo shirts are pretty ragged and I have some nice tee shirts... No one in Marquette cares what I wear.

They also don't care about my hair, eyebrows or condition of my nails.  Good thing I do.

Off to second, third and forth guess myself about how haw many and which Tee-Shirts to bring with me. Should I go with Clever Message shirts or Look at What Country my Tee Shirt  Used to Live shirts, or I Went To This Event and You Didn't shirts. More toughness, more struggle.

Clean Dog

I may have forgotten to write an entry Monday night... Possibly, I posted something on FB and decided in my exhaustion , that that would be enough. Sorry. I was tired.

This evening was less exhausting. I came home, made dinner, fed dog and watched TV. Then I decided that it was Time For a Walk and little Dog and I walked.

Right into a cloud burst.

In our favor was that the clouds burst on our way home! So we didn't have to cut our walk short because that would have been terrible. Not.  By the time we got home, a half hour into the deluge, we were soaked. Rocket doesn't like being soaked,  he kept trying to shelter under shrubs but was saddened to learn that "under" was not the same as "dry" and  I am a mean dog-driver and kept insisting that we soldier on and get home.

What is your problem? Walk faster!

While Rocket was hating me, I was thinking He is all ready soaked to the bone. He almost never lets this happen. How can I take advantage of this? I stopped a couple of times to briefly pantomime rubbing shampoo into his coat and and while it did act to get the wet deeper into his surprisingly dense fur, it was not getting him cleaner. I was also surprised that I didn't come away with handfuls of winter dog coat.

By the time we did finally get home I had a plan. I brought him inside, rushed to the bathroom and grabbed Daisy's dog shampoo and went back outside.

Rocket seemed confused.

Quickly, before he figured out what I was doing,  I soaped him up and scrubbed a dub dubbed everything I could reach. He was calm, but maybe because we were back to being in the pouring rain and he thought we came home so we would not be in the pouring rain. He was done with that portion of his evening.

Then, I was even more evil - I turned on the hose! I rinsed him off and he still didn't go berserk! He was actually not doing anything he has done in the past when I attempted to bath him. There was no running away, jumping up defensively, crying, barking or otherwise making the process impossible. It was almost not hard .   No dog was easier to bath that Daisy, except for Moonie, but it made me rethink my plan to pay the daycare to wash him before vacation, but I might be able to handle it myself...

Monday, Monday.

What I got done this weekend.

Note that I do not include "before" pictures because reasons. I had to take this picture ASAP after I finally finished up the eleventy- one different jobs getting the yard into shape  took. It won't look this good until it gets bad enough again that I am forced to do something about it. Not pictured is the front yard that looks about the same a before only with a sharp haircut and shave, it now looks like someone who cares lives  here or at the very least visited.

I also saw Carmina Barana,   with my Mom, and it was fabulous and featured a full orchestra and 125 member chorus and I should spend more of my time in pursuit of such experiences, and we had great seats and a really good dinner before hand and culture is good for you and I should get more of it because I would be a fool to turn down $18 seats for anything.

And Saturday morning after I mowed the lawn, my Mom and I went to a garden party/art show and it was also great fun.