Dog Star

I brought Rocket out of the Dog Trick closet today. I took him into the front yard! There were witnesses to his rolling. I felt embarrassed  when the neighbors commented positively on what we were doing and I don't know why. I should be proud, its work to get  a dog to do what he does.

I've worked with him all this time in the backyard before we graduated to the  driveway - blocked by the car in the driveway and after we graduated to the side yard, again blocked by the car. But twice a day day every day, for weeks? Didn't they notice something was going on? I hadn't thought that people afforded us that much privacy. I mean, we aren't invisible  and when he's on his back legs, he is just a little shorter than I am.

He still propels the barrel primarily with his front paws and he needs to be using his back feet to make the barrell move. He needs to use his back feet to move himself because there are other things he could learn to propel if he could figure out pushing. It would be neat if he could learn to push a grocery basket, I would have to score a grocery basket first but those are common out in the world, one of the a smaller ones would be better though, but those are new and the homeless people don't steal those because they are too small. I wouldn't even have to steal it myself - but that is in the dog trick future. I'm not sure I want my dog to be a prop comic, its too hard to perform on just on a whim.

I need to find the weird circus that performs downtown at festivals and see how they feel about dog performers. At this point he is not one of these yet, but it would be neat to try. I wonder of its circus-y if he walks on a balance beam, he could you know, he all ready jumps through a hoop and climbs ladders. Note to self, look up the weird circus downtown and see if they have any openings in several months. Perhaps this is hubris.

We would be an easier circus sell if he could ride on the barrell... That would be the ultimate trick. That wouldn't come in second to an obedient dog.

Garden Update 10 2014

I'm sure you have been very curious about Garden 2014. Its been a while since I've had an update and I am sorry.  The garden, over all, is doing well. Not as well as I would like, looking at you. under performing green beans!, but  its been a good year.

The corn has finished its run

It used to look a lot more lush and green but that was before it died. Now its waiting around for the fall when I am hoping, it is going to be transformed into Guy Fawkes and burned at Alphagal and Broskeys annual do'. Clearly, the morning glories are doing well. The corn produced well, not as well as it would have had I bothered to continue to fertilize it, as I should have, but I still got five or six ears and they were sweet and lovely. I will be planting corn again.

The green beans. I think I got a bad bag of beans. They aren't producing anywhere near what I have harvested in the past and it took me so long to get enough to bother blanching them that the ones I had, went bad waiting. I had to compost the whole lot of them. I am disappointed with the green beans and in the future I will not being buying my seeds from Walmart. I may not plant them at all next year and there is a chance I'll just plant some sort of flowering vine instead. Hurmph.

The tomatoes on the other hand, are at near record yields. They love he wet and humidity and have had a great year. I have given a lot a way and frozen a lot and feel really good about the rest of the season.

They don't look really impressive in this shot, but trust me, the peppers are doing well. They aren't as big and blocky and sturdy as I would like, but they are making lots of peppers so I can't complain. I think they may be suffering from too much rain and humidity. The ground just isn't able to hold on to nutrients and the plants are suffering. Again, I need to fertilize and I'm not. Its harder to do with the weed barrier in place but I need to get something I can spray on them through out the season. It may also be time to re-fill the garden with entirely new dirt and start anew. I would love to move the whole thing to the other side of the yard where it is much sunnier and a better home for the garden over all but I don't see that happening, I can dream.

Over all, a good year but not a great year, its been too wet and too many over cast days for proper garden health. Well worth it though and there is always next year.

2014 Emmy (tm) Awards Results

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy
- Ty Burrell, Modern Family

Outstanding Supporting Actress
- Allison Janney, Mom

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy
-Jimmy Fallen, SNL

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy
- Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black

Outstanding Directing in a Comedy
-Modern Family, Gail Mancuso

Outstanding Writing in a Comedy
-Louis CK, Louis

Outstanding Actor in a Comedy
- Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy
- Julia Louis Dreyfus, Veep

Outstanding Reality Competition
- The Amazing Race

Outstanding Least Best use of Time: Question Time.

Outstanding Writing In Mini Series, Movie or Special
- Steven Moffit, Sherlock, His Last Vow

Outstanding Lead Actress, MS, M or S
- Kathy Bates, AHS, Coven

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a MS or M
- Martin Freeman,  Sherlock, his last Vow

Outstanding Directing for a MS, M or S
-Colin Bucksey, Fargo, Buridans Ass

Outstanding Least Best Use of Time II

Outstanding Lead Actor in a MS, M
Benedict Cumberbach, Sherlock

Outstanding Lead Actress in a MS or M
Jessica Lang, AHS, Coven

Outstanding Least Best Use of Time III, except its Weird Al.


Outstanding MS or M
Fargo

Outstanding Television Movie
- The Normal Heart

Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special
- Sarah Silverman, We are Miracles

Outstanding  Directing in a Variety Series
- The 67st Annual Tony Awards

Outstanding Variety Series
- The Cobert Report 

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama
- Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad

In Memoriam

Robin Williams Memorial

Outstanding Directing in a Drama
- Cary Joli Fukunaga, True Dective

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama
- Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad

Outstanding Guest Actor/Actress Drama
- Alsion Janney, Joe Morgan

Outstanding Writing Drama
- Mara Wally Beckett, Breaking Bad

Outstanding Actress in a Drama
- Juliana Margulies, The Good Wife

Outstanding Actor in a Drama
- Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad

Outstanding  Comedy Series
- Modern Family

Outstanding Drama
- Breaking Bad

Dog Art, Heavy Metal Dog

Dog Art, Hard Wood Dog

Rocket Competes!

I wish Rocket could have rolled that well in the actual contest, but now I know where we need work. When we start this back up tomorrow, we're going to do it on crunchy, uneven grass instead of smooth even, lovely cement, its going to be a challenge. He still did well at the contest, even with the handicap of the grass, 2nd place is terrific for a first timer and he really did get beaten fair and square by a preternaturally obedient golden retriever. I can't complain. I can improve.

We are going to work on how distracted he gets. Sunday, just as he started his turn, he jumped down and dove under the judges table so he could meet the five month old sheep dogs that were hanging out in the shade. This was not awesome. I had been hoping he could perform without his leash.

I looked online to see if there was something else we could practice for and I found that they will be doing the yearly AKC Dog Olympics at the NC State Vet school the weekend of September 13th, just a few days after we got there to get help for his anxiety. They have contests for Best Trick and Highest Jump and that will be fun and lots of vendors and free stuff!

Best Trick is scheduled for 10am, and that is not fun. We'll soldier through it. And in the mean time, we are going to practice, practice, practice.

Friday Cats Blogging

I'm still playful, I sure am!

You're right, I do hate you.

Weekend

Our Plans for the weekend

1. Raleigh Ribfest  . I thought I was seeing a carnival, I was seeing Ribfest. No rides but infinitely better food. I'm not sure how welcome Rocket would be, so its going to be a solo flight.

2. Re-tape and generally tidy up Rockets barrel because...

3. Best Dog Trick contest, Crowder Park  - I saw this in my weekly Parkgeek email and couldn't resist! I'm going to take Rocket and show off his barrell rolling skills in public for the very first time. I was glad to see its not until Sunday afternoon,  so he and I will have plenty of time to hone and practice those skills, we've been working on his riding skills lately, so a review is in order. Maybe while we are there I'll meet someone who can tell me how to improve my non-training game on  teaching him to roll  on the barrel properly, because I've hit a wall.

4. Mow the yards

5. Do the laundry

6.Make Sweety love me.

Fair Play

Thursday! Finally! Not quite as awesome as Friday but so much better than Wednesday.

On my way home this evening, while driving through downtown, I saw something new. A Carnival, downtown! I can't wait to take Rocket there.Well, its not like I'm panting in anticipation, but its fun and its different from what I did last week. I also think that since it has been awhile since Rocket has been to the fair that he needs to go back to just experience it again, to make sure he likes them and can handle all the chaos.

We went to one in Knightdale when he was much younger and he did well, I think he will  like this one too. He likes busy, crowded places and he loves being around people and he  isn't afraid of loud music or amplified voices or sudden loud noise.. I hope to go in the early evening and take pictures of the lights - I have skipped the state fair the last couple of years and I miss the lights, I'm not much for the actual midway because I don't eat the food and I'm not into rides or games in the least.  I am all about the lights though.

I think what I might do is to drive to the carnival after dinner and after our initial shake down trip there to see what there is to see before the lights are on, so I can plan out what I want to get pictures of. The parking lot its in is very small and I'm afraid space is going to be a problem, there will be no where to back up and get the big picture. I might even see if there is anything there I want to eat - I give carnival food credit for keeping it real, I don't like Food Truck food because its over produced. has too many ingredients and is inevitably too expensive by half.

I'm not going to park on top of the carnival, because if I do find something to eat, I'm going to have to walk whatever it ends up being off. Walking is our friend. Carnivals are our friends, kind of, if you wash your hands frequently and leave your wallet at home.

A very short thought train

In No Particular Order:

My parents cat still hates me. She has been with me for a week and she hasn't come out from under the bed nor has she stopped hissing at me. Normally we have reached a detente by this juncture.

I need to move the dogs barrel from its new place, the ground there is less flat than I had thought. I moved it because I wanted to be in the shade, but we're going to have to go back into the sun.

Peaches are really, really good.

My toaster oven does indeed make toast but I need to learn which "toast" setting to use to not toast the bread unto  paneling. This may explain why we still have free standing toasters.

I still feel bad about Robin Williams, but ow I'm getting mad at his family for knowing he was wildly depressed, but didn't think he needed to be supervised? He was incredibly bright, had a history of depression and was currently suffering from severe depression as well as a new Parkinson's diagnosis, and no one was keeping an eye on him? Really? He was in an acutely mentally ill state and no one thought to maybe institute an "eyes on" program?  Really? No one thought maybe he should be getting care somewhere? Were they waiting for the acutely mentally ill individual to make the suggestion himself?  This was neglect and someone should have been paying attention.

Filling a need

I've spent the evening  writing  Rockets initial appointment with the NC State Vet School Behavioral Medicine unit. Our appointment isn't until the middle of September, but I want to get as much down as I can. I have already forgotten a lot of incidents because so much of it is now everyday stuff. Aren't all dogs emotionally disturbed? Doesn't everybody deal with this? What problem? WE DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM! I BRING MY DOG WITH ME EVERYWHERE BECAUSE I LOVE HIM AND I AM GOOD DOG PERSON!

In the few minutes this evening I wasn't trying to figure out how much information I could fit onto a PDF,  I was taking care of a craving. I have wanted cinnamon toast for weeks! I have dreams about wheat toast and butter and cinnamon-fake-sugar. I decided that today was the end of the road for that, well actually, tomorrow morning is going to be the end of the road for that and I'm going to see how good a toaster my toaster oven actually is.

I thought eating before going to the store was supposed to be a good idea. It was not. I clearly need to up my serving size. I hit the doors and immediately decided that I needed to get some peaches. I had a peach last week and it rocked my world, and I need more world rocking. I bought four. Then I remembered that I had run out of sugar free popsicles! This is end of the world stuff here! So I got some popsicles! I tracked down the bread aisle and was a little horrified.

To buy bread you have to buy an entire loaf of bread! Since I have become a little more sensitive, okay, a lot more acutely aware, of how many carbs I take in,  I have developed a carb phobia, and this seemed like a  lot of carbs, even if they are healthy whole wheat carbs, that is a lot of carbs. I dug around a little and found the shortest loaf of whole wheat bread I could find. It was still a trial.

I think my body wants me to feed us more carbs, I'm been very vigilant but perhaps I have been too vigilant and in response to my vigilants, my body wants more. It is difficult to ignore peer pressure from your body and in general its a bad idea to ignore strongly worded messages from your body. Its good practice to to not  ignore See Me! sticky on your bathroom mirror. Because to do so is to invite eating disorders and no one wants to be the poor sad thing that the even poorer and sadder Lifetime Movie is based on.

Weekending

had another great weekend doing nothing! Well, not "nothing", I mowed both yards and got the dog a new pooper scooper.

I slept late  both days and lounged around and did as much nothing as I could get away with. I didn;t totally do "nothing, I did blanch some veggies and went food shopping and I put gas in the car.  I also watched a lot of TV.

Rocket and I took some nice walks, one  of which I badly misjudged how hot it was and neither of us enjoyed it, but you gotta do what you gotta do and we needed to go out and walk. The dog let me know that while I may have needed a walk, he did not need a walk. He needed to nap on the couch in the air-conditioning.

I also did some laundry.

Friday Cats Blogging

Friday

I have been posting status updates on Operation Dog Trick, but this week in an an awkward in-between stage and it really isn't photogenic.  This part is really the hardest. I know he can do this, I know he knows
he can do this. He is going to do this.
I spent a week just getting him comfortable getting on the barrel himself and just hanging out there. I then started to edge the bricks away from the barrel so it would move a little when he was getting on and when he was actually on it. This has been challenging.

I didn't help by  getting ahead off myself and moving the bricks too far too fast so now we have to move them back a bit and start over a little. This is going to be harder than I thought, he is really good at getting on it and staying on it as long as it is not mobile, a little movement goes a long way and I am trying to get him used to having to get his balance while he's up there because its all about him getting and keeping his balance.

We have a lot of time though.

When I am not torturing the dog for my own pleasure, I torture myself. I spend the evening watching clips of Robin Williams on various TV shows over the years. Whoopie Goldburg posted an episode of of a Comic Relive themed Hollywood Squares that he was on. It made me sad.

They all make me sad and I am going to watch ALL OF THEM, do you have some I haven't seen yet? Where are they? Send me a link, the pain is healing. I really hope they televise his funeral or the service or something because we need closure.

I was somewhat, and this will sound horrible, I was "heartened" to learn he was in the early stages of Parkinsons and for me, I was like Well, that makes sense! I get it! He knew he had a terrible debilitating disease! Ah Ha! It almost made it make more sense than if he just decided to do it because he was having a bad day. We all have bad days and we all wake up in the morning and walk through the door. Does Michael J. Fox had bad days?  Did anyone call him  and set up an icon to icon  talk?

I am sad.