Am I Living A Dog's Life?

So long Michele!

2011-04-18T14:14:00.002-04:00

This past Thursday was a bitter sweet day for Kai and I. We attended our last agility class with our instructor of two years, Michele. Because of the increasingly small class size due to participants dropping out for various reasons the class has dwindled down to two. Such a small class is not economically feasible to maintain so the decision was made to scrap the class and place Kai and I in another class with another instructor.

I am not saying I have a personal grudge or dislike of the new instructor but I have been with Michele for a while now. She has a great understanding of what I need and what my dog Kai needs in our quest to someday obtain agility titles. She has spent extra time with us dealing with my difficulties navigating the course first in a scooter and now in a wheelchair. She realizes the great strain this places on Kai and the special exceptions that must be made so that we are both successful. Many times she has worked with Kai as my extra hand helping him to understand what it is I am trying to tell him to do. Michele is very knowledgeable about the sport, the rules and how to be successful. Although I am fairly certain I am her first student using a wheelchair she has never made me feel unwelcome or a nuisance.

Kai also likes and trusts Michele and he shows great enthusiasm and willingness to please her whenever she takes his leash. I do not handle change well the older I get so switching gears to a new instructor’s method has me flustered and worried. The class I am joining is not as far along as the class I was in with Michele. Will this cause Kai to backslide and begin to see agility as a chore where now he finds it a joy? My over active imagination has kicked into overtime and all sorts of good and bad things are churning around in my head. Despite the knowledge that my new instructor will do her best just like Michele to instruct us with knowledge, humor and knowing Kai’s tendency for shenanigans a great deal of perseverance I am sad to see my classes with Michele come to an end.

Thank you and goodbye Michele. I hope to see you in the future at trials and maybe someday I will be lucky enough to take classes with you again. Wishing you all the best in the future. Wish us luck, between my handling and Kai's love of the zoomies we just may need it.

Sunny Weather

2011-03-27T11:11:00.001-04:00

We are having a round of sunny weather here in Erie, PA. While the temperatures remain cold the sun is still wonderful to see, we are definately sun starved during the winter. In celebration of this Kai and I went for a walk recently on a beautiful day last week. The sun was shining and the temperatures were warm so we wandered around the small town of North East while waiting for Ashley to finish classes for the day. Of course, you know me I had camera in tow and took quite a few pictures. Kai posed nicely for this one while we sat in Gibson Park enjoying the sunshine.

Isn't he handsome? He loves to get out and enjoy the scenery with me. Getting him to pose for pictures however is sometimes a problem because he likes to get real close to the camera and lick the lens! He is also a great one for moving at the last second. Since I have an older small digital camera which can take a second or two to snap the picture I have taken many more blurry pictures of Kai than I would like to count. Taking pictures of Kai makes the delete button on digital cameras a wonderful invention.

I have stated before how long winter seems here in Erie and all the trees are still bare and the grass is dull green after having been buried for months in winter snow. Imagine how suprised I was while wandering around the streets of North East to find these flowers bravely poking through someone lawns near the sidewalk.

Just that one view of spring has renewed my hope that soon I will be enjoying many more flowers on my walks with Kai. I am sure Kai has no objections to going with me on as many walks as we can squeeze in. Dogs are like that, no matter what your plans are as long as they are invited to go along they are estactic. How many of your human friends are as happy to be with you whether you are sitting on the couch watching TV or walking around the block on a sunny afternoon.

I will share more pictures of my walk with Kai in a later post. Right now I think I will spend some time with my dog. See you later.

Another day of photos, Can you stand it?

2011-03-06T08:34:00.001-05:00

It is a snowy day here in Erie (so what else is new in early March) and the dogs are relaxing on their beds, which makes it very quiet around here. With nothing else to do this morning I am going through photographs so I am going to post a few here. Hold on to your seats!

I went to Harrisburg, PA recently with ADAPT and while in the beautiful capitol building I took some pictures. It is a beautiful old building. This is a picture taken in the main Rotunda of some of the light fixtures and a display case. Gorgeous, isn't it.

Here is a view from the rear of the capitol building. As you can see it was a beautiful day, we enjoyed temperatures in the fifties, unusual for late February.

On a snowy day this winter I had to visit my veterinarian's office. This is a view from the parking lot. The office is in an old barn that has been remodelled beautifully. Being in the country the view is wonderful. The pine trees look like they are dressed for a party with their coating of snow.

Since we are on the topic of winter, here is another picture taken this winter. Are you getting the idea that I like to take pictures of trees and wooded areas in their winter finery.

That is all for now, I don't want to post too many pictures at once. What fun would that be, I would have nothing to fill up quiet days with anymore.

Kai has a girlfriend!

2011-03-02T12:17:00.001-05:00

Last week Kai had a girlfriend come visit. Her name is Angel and she is a beautiful girl. Kai and her got together last year and she raised eight gorgeous puppies! We had a busy couple of days and Kai is now in a bit of a funk because she has returned home and he keeps looking for her. Now we are waiting to see if she has puppies in late April. I am keeping my fingers crossed, lol.

Angel

Maybe Angel is the reason he was so distracted at agility class last week although in all fairness to him so were the other dogs in the class (all of them are girls so Kai thinks he is quite the stud muffin!). I guess I will find out when we go to class this week.

On an entirely different front Ashley had her dog Scamp neutered last Friday. He came home a little dopey and out of sorts but it did not take long before he was back to his usual rambunctious self. Keeping him quiet and stopping him from jumping once he started to feel better really has Ashley pulling her hair out. Of course he is wearing an E-collar so him and Kai have matching head gear! I have told him he now looks just like Kai but since his attitude towards Kai is ambivalent most of the time I am sure he resented the comparison. Here is a picture of Scamp sitting in his crate with his e-collar on feeling sorry for himself.

Scamp

Ashley and I went to the courthouse yesterday and purchased everyone's dog license for 2011 so we are set for this year. Now we just need some lovely warmer weather so we can go on long walks and enjoy our time together.

Training Blues

2011-02-13T12:10:00.001-05:00

Kai and I attended agility class again this past Thursday. I look forward to going to class because I have so much fun working with my dog. Watching him learn is truly exciting and you always learn something new when training dogs. It is never the same for every dog, they are truly individuals no matter how much they may look alike.

Kai is doing well in agility class, I think that most of the problems are mine. I am new to agility having trained in obedience for over twenty years the world of agility is something I am still getting used to. Also the fact that I must use a wheelchair to get around severely limits my ability to keep up with Kai and also to perform many of the maneuvers that the other handlers can do almost without thinking. So with quite a few things Kai and I are struggling. The other owners and their dogs are doing so much better than we are at several things, the most obvious one is Kai's arch nemesis the weave poles.

Kai started out doing very well with weave poles but as the guides disappeared he started having more and more trouble. Last summer and fall I did not have a wheelchair ramp so getting out of the house to practice was extremely difficult so I was not able to work with Kai on the weave poles much at all. This winter of course outdoor practice is out of the question and indoors I have absolutely no room to put up a set of weave poles and run Kai through his paces.

Now the lack of practice time is showing. While the other dogs in his class seem to be very proficient at the weave poles Kai is struggling to get the concept. This week we had to go through the weave poles twice during the course and Kai did not complete them totally on his own even once. We were able to get time to concentrate on the weaves at the end of the class and we were successful going through the poles when he is on my left side several times. Every time we had a major party and the rewards were many. Doing the weave poles when he is on my right however are another kettle of fish. He seems to not even notice the obstacle is there!

I need to troubleshoot and figure out what the exact problem is and work to overcome it. It could be that he has difficulty being on my right because of previous obedience training and working as my service dog he is oriented to being on my left. It could also be one of a million other things. I am looking forward to spring when Kai and I can use my new wheelchair ramp to get outside at anytime and practice weave poles or do anything else we may want to do. A walk in the spring sunshine sounds wonderful to me now. Wish us luck.

A quiet Saturday

2011-02-05T11:32:00.001-05:00

There is not much going on today. It is very quiet, even all the animals are napping as I write this. The sunshine of the past few days has abandoned us so we are back to our usual dreary white gray skies that everyone loves to hate. I can be positive about the weather and say that at least it is not snowing! What is there to do on such a sleepy day? My dogs are only interested in catching some sleep like they have been up late partying. I was considering joining them but I seem to be wide awake so I will have to find other entertainment. Time to sort through the photo album and post a few pictures.

Kai in his working gear

I went to Washington DC with ADAPT this past September. We were there to express our opinion about Health Care Reform and other issues affecting the disabled community. I learned a great deal about civil disobedience and protesting while I was there. We are a peaceful group for the most part but we are definitely heard! Being a photo bug I took pictures when I could. Of course, Kai was with me. Above is a picture of him relaxing during all the action at HUD. It was over eighty degrees most of that week so finding shade for him was at times problematic. When all else failed I carried an umbrella! Creativity wins.

We were followed every where by police. I never knew there were so many different law enforcement officers in Washington DC. We not only had the Washington DC police force following us but also White House Police, Homeland Security and Capitol Police depending on what part of the city we were in. As you can tell, the police had a great deal of down time where not much was going on. The above picture was taken near the White House.

The first day we dressed in black and held a memorial for all the disabled that have died in nursing homes that they were forced into because they are not given the choice for home care. It was an impressive sight!

I guess I spoke too soon about the snow, as it has started falling. Kai has awakened from his nap and wants to go outside to play. I guess it is the end of my quiet Saturday.

Pictures of Winter

2011-01-30T09:34:00.000-05:00

Winter is taking too long so I am taking pictures of winter white. Another thing that is boring about winter, every thing is white or nearly so. There will be the occassional blackness of tree limbs and trunks, the disgusting brown of the plowed snow along roadways but mostly there is white. I have nothing against the color white but is it even a color or the absence of color? Regardless it gets a bit boring this time of year to see only white. At least spring and summer have the many colors of green, the vibrant colors of the flowers in their favor and of course Autumn is resplendant in the oranges, yellows and reds of the trees. Winter however is WHITE!

Snow Covered Trees

I took this picture last year. I think it illustrates my point very well. Just lots of white with streaks of grey and black.

Rommel

Even Rommel does not look too happy to be outside in the deep snow. At least he is a spot of color!

Four Mile Creek

A view looking across a frozen and snow covered Four Mile Creek which is near my home.

I much prefer taking pictures any other time of year. At least my fingers are in no danger of freezing to the camera!! But winter in it's boring white can be beautiful in it's own way so I will brave the cold on occasion and catch Mother Nature clothed in her frosty gown of snow.

Agility Class

2011-01-27T23:00:00.000-05:00

This afternoon was the first agility class of the New Year. We had a break over the Holiday season and because of the inclement winter weather we have not had much of an opportunity to do any practice.

Despite being rusty Kai seemed to get back in the swing of things with minimal difficulty. We had worked on sending Kai ahead of me and crossing in front of my wheelchair which were things he was reluctant to do before. He is so used to staying near me for service dog work that he had to learn that going ahead of me was an acceptable thing to do. By repeatedly sending him ahead of me for small things in the house he had the confidence in class to head in the direction I was pointing and take jumps with ease.

I am really looking forward to the next eight weeks learning together to work as a team and having fun at the same time.

Today also was the second week of agility class for Ashley & Scamp. Since Scamp was not a well socialized dog during his first year of life he is having some issues adjusting to all the new dogs in class but by the middle of the evening he was paying attention to Ashley and not reacting to what was going on around him. He did have an occasional mishap such as when the Minature Schnauzer decided to run up to him so he had to warn her off. But even his reaction to that was so much better than it would have been just a few months ago.

I know that if we keep working with him he will soon act calm, cool and collected around other dogs and people that he does not know.

Lampshade Head Dog

2011-01-21T23:33:00.000-05:00

I have changed Kai's name to Lampshade Head Dog. Kai is currently wearing an E-collar and he is not too happy about it but unfortunately it is for his own good. He started chewing himself about six inches above the root of his tale late this summer. Despite all my best efforts he managed to get it chewed raw and infected so that required a trip to the vet. After a bill that was a major dent on my wallet being over $200 he spent three weeks on antibiotics and antihistamines. The area healed very nicely and he was doing well when about three weeks after that he sneaked into the bedroom and chewed it open again. It was so red and inflammed that he was crying in pain if I even tried to clean it. So after a phone call to the vet and another $50 he spent another three weeks on antibiotics and antihistamines.

Needless to say I have been watching him like a hawk since then but this past week he again started chewing on himself and has some scabs in the area around the previously damaged skin. So a trip to PetsMart and he is now the unhappy owner of a green tinted e-collar. I will have him wear it until he is all healed up and then I am going to have to find a way to keep it from happening again or the e-collar will have to become permanent wearing apparel for him. I have noticed he seems to do the chewing when he is very bored, frustrated or has not gotten enough exercise so I will be sure to make sure that he has no opportunity to be any of those things. I am up to the challenge I am sure or I had better be.

Cheech the turtle

2011-01-18T20:16:00.000-05:00

In addition to the dogs and cats that live with me I am also blessed with the presence of Cheech a red eared slider turtle. She arrived with Ashley and Cheech has totally changed my opinion of what type of pet a turtle can be.

Cheech

My memory of pet turtles consists of tiny turtles that my mother purchased at the local Five and Dime. They were kept in a large open tank with thirty or forty other turtles that all climbed over each other due to limited room. My sister and I each got a turtle and we brought them home and installed them in a glass fish bowl with some water and a rock to climb out on. They did not live long, possibly because my sister and I would take them out of their bowl and handle them almost every day or just because they were not very healthy to begin with due to the conditions they were raised in. I had a series of turtles until one day we were told that they no longer were allowed to sell the turtles due to the fact that they were carriers of Salmonella.

When Ashley told me she had a pet turtle I was not sure what to expect. Since the turtles I remembered did not have much personality and basically just hid in their bowl I did not imagine that Ashley's turtle would be much different. I was totally astonished to meet Cheech, she was so much larger than the turtles of my past. They were only and inch or so across their shell and Cheech was four or five times that size. I also did not expect her to do much more than sit in her aquarium.

Cheech has proven to be quite the character. She begs for food when she sees that someone is in the room by bouncing along the glass walls of the aquarium pawing and standing on her rear legs. She has made attempts to climb out of the top of her tank, stretching up on her rear feet and reaching with her neck and front feet until overbalanced she falls down sometimes landing on her back so that I hold my breath wondering if I need to rescue her and then she manages to flip herself upright. We have taken her out of her tank and putting her in a small fenced area let her roam around. She teases the cats, especially D.C. when he gets to close to her she spins around and tries to bite him. We are all waiting for the day when we find D.C. with a turtle attached to his nose.

Ashley recently purchased a much larger tank for Cheech and she has been quite pleased with the extra room to swim and bask in the light on her rocky island. I am so glad to make the acquaintance of such a personality as Cheech the turtle.

Organizing Picture Files

2011-01-16T18:33:00.000-05:00

For the past week or so I have been organizing my picture files on my computer. When my older laptop began to have signs of impending doom and also because I always try to keep important files backed up I had put all my photos on a flash drive. I was amazed to find that I had over a thousand pictures when I went to download them onto my new computer. So I have spent a little bit of time everyday organizing them into files and culling some that are repetitive, blurry or have other major flaws I seemed to have overlooked the first time. I guess I never really thought about how large the number one thousand is but when you are spending hours going through photos and even after deleting hundreds of pictures I still have over nine hundred left. That count does not include the hundreds of pictures I have taken that were on the memory card of my camera that I have also transferred onto my computer that I had to edit.

What is the point of all this information? I thought that occasionally I will post some of my favorite pictures here in my blog. Some will be picture of my dogs, some will be family and friends and some could be just pictures of any thing at all.

Yankee (my cat)

Out of the three cats in the house, Yankee is the only cat that will voluntarily pay any attention to me. In the picture that I actually took with my iphone he is sitting on my little table asking me for his favorite snack, a potato chip.

Ashley

My niece Ashley graduated from high school last June and this picture was taken at her graduation party last August. Ashley is such a wonderful girl and she has been such a joy since she has come to live with me.

Apple Blossoms

I took this picture in the neighborhood in the spring of 2009. The apple tree in a neighbors yard was in full bloom showing off all it's splendor.

Tasha and Shanna

The last picture from today is one of my first two white German Shepherds. They have long since gone to the Rainbow Bridge but they live on forever in my heart.

Time to call it a day. I will post more pictures in the future. So long.

A snowy day for a drive.

2011-01-15T16:17:00.002-05:00

Today the weather turned snowy with very strong wind gusts so of course it is the day that I am driving to Youngstown, OH to meet a new friend. I was given information to contact her regarding a wheelchair she had for sale and after numerous emails back and forth it was agreed I could purchase the chair. Since my electric scooter had given up the ghost (unless of course I want to drive backwards the rest of my life) being able to purchase an almost new wheelchair at a great discount was such a blessing.

So we agreed to meet at the rest stop on Rt. 11 which is closer to Youngstown than here but a fairly easy and quick drive. Leaving home it was snowing lightly but by the time we reached I-90 the visibility had plummeted and the roads had blowing snow as well as already slippery conditions. Although I had left with time to spare if road conditions had been normal the weather slowed me down considerably and I ended up being late at our rendezvous. I did call her though and she was not upset thank goodness. When I finally arrive I am 15 minutes late and I am a person that is mortified to be late.

Kai loved the drive but then again Kai views riding in the car as second only to eating as his favorite thing to do in the whole world. He gets so upset if the vehicle leaves the driveway and he is not in it. He watched the loading of the wheelchair but then discovered that he was not confined to the extreme back seat of the van and could not walk up and check on me every once in awhile. By the end of the return trip he had figured out that he could stand on the wheelchair seat with his front legs and be closer to the action so he was happy about that.

Fortunately the return trip was uneventful. Visibility had cleared and the roads had been salted and were clear. Although it was still windy it was definitely not as troublesome as it had been earlier. The amazing thing was we had seen no accidents on our way to Youngstown when the weather was miserable but on the way home we passed car after car that had ran off the road and was stuck in a snow drift somewhere. Evidently driving too fast for conditions was prevalent today.

Kai and I are glad to be home safe and sound and Kai is now sleeping on the couch. I guess the trip wore him out.

Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!!

Running Errands & Playing in the Snow

2011-01-14T22:12:00.002-05:00

Today was a day to run errands including what everyone always dreads, paying the bills. After paying as many bills as I could online I then had to visit the bank ATM withdraw cash and pay the two bills I cannot pay online which include the lot rent so that I can continue to have a home. I would love to be able to pay all bills online because then I don't have to venture out when it is freezing cold outside but the natural gas company does not allow bill paying online unless you have the money deducted from a checking account which I don't have. Why credit cards which are basic Internet currency are not accepted is beyond me.

So out we venture in the frigid air, first stop is the vet where we take Scamp to have his nails trimmed. Having been a pet groomer for ten years it is few dogs that I cannot manage to trim their nails but Scamp has proved to be one. We obtained him in September at the age of one and he had only had his nails trimmed once or twice. We were told that he didn't like it so they just didn't do it. He had no training of any kind and was extremely used to getting his own way. Despite major success with teaching him basic obedience and restricting his impulse to nip and bite if confronted he was still impossible when it was time to get his nails trimmed. Nail trimming required a muzzle, two people wrestling to hold him still while I attempted to hold on to a foot and trim the nails. We succeeded twice but the last time while doing the first foot he jerked the wrong way and blood was every where. We had a very difficult time getting it to stop bleeding because the nail was cut extremely close to the toe. So after talking with the vet we decided to take him there to have them done.

I am wondering if the vet's office will ever let him back there again since it took four vet techs to get a muzzle on him! They did manage to get his nails trimmed without blood loss from either staff or canine. The vet kidded that she was surprised at how strong such a small dog was. He may only be 17 pounds but he is wiry and all muscle. So with him relaxing in the back of the car we returned home to drop Scamp off and then we dropped off the rent, and tried to pay the gas bill but they were closed at 4 pm. Bummer!

Next on the agenda was picking up my friend Lynn and her service dog Otto at work and we took the Kai and Otto for a run. The snow was up to both dogs shoulder blades and they had fun hopping through it and chased each other around a little. Kai was more enthused with playing and running and Otto spent more time warning Kai off. Unfortunately since Kai was a puppy one of his favorite things to do when playing is to grab dogs by the front leg. Otto was having none of it and so after a short period of time the play was over and we took Lynn home.

I am now staring at two exhausted dogs sacked out on the living room floor and the couch. They do say that a tired dog is a happy dog! I do know that a tired dog makes a happy owner!

Dogs vs. Cats

2011-01-13T15:37:00.001-05:00

In my household in addition to the three dogs there are also three cats that in typical cat fashion are convinced that we are all here to serve them. The relationship between the dogs and cats varies depending on the specific dog or cat and also to a great extent the time of day.

Rommel is a cat addict. He lives to seek out cats in the neighborhood with the goal of pinning them down and sticking his nose deep in their fur and sniffing in such a state of pure joy it is funny to watch. Of course the cats do not appreciate such behavior and tend to demonstrate their disapproval with varying degrees of growling, hissing and clawing. When Rommel first moved in here he tried this procedure on all the cats that lived here at the time but soon gave up because half of the fun for him was the chase and our cats just refused to run from a little old German Shepherd Dog. So now it is his dream to catch a cat roaming the neighborhood and show it how much he loves them. Taking Rommel for a walk is an interesting time because you must be alert for felines on the loose so you can distract his attention from them before he can act on his impulse.

Rommel sniffing DC

Kai on the other hand was raised by a cat at his breeder and he has a very good attitude towards cats in general. He mostly ignores our cats and the cats in the neighborhood. He does have his favorite cat though and Pip returns that affection and attention. Where ever Kai is Pip can usually be found. Pip gets in Kai's face, crawls over him and before he was neutered occasionally used him as an object of romantic affection. No matter what Kai does to him including putting his head in his mouth, pinning him down with his foot or using him as a furry pillow Pip just comes back for more.

Kai and Pip

I don't think the new addition to the household, Scamp, had ever met a cat until he moved here. I am not sure he knows what a cat is for that matter. Since he was poorly socialized as a puppy he is also not too sure that he is a dog. So his approach to cats is a little bipolar at times. When ever one of the cats comes in from the outdoors he loves to chase them down the hall. He also pounces on them at odd times in a playful mood and he is totally astonished when he gets hissed at and swatted in the face. He would have a totally scratched up face if it wasn't for the forebearance of the cats who keep their claws sheated. He especially has a hate - hate relationship with Yankee and the two of them tend to go into combat mode on sight of each other. DC on the other hand is jealous of Scamp and the fact that Ashley pays attention to him so he has taken the offensive at times and launched himself at Scamp anytime they are in the same room together.

So in my house the war between dogs and cats continues with occassional truces and occasional battles but mostly it seems to have long periods of indifference when both sides march to their own drummers.

Snowy Day. But what did you expect in January?

2011-01-12T14:27:00.000-05:00

Today is a snowy day not only here in Erie but pretty much all over the country. A major Nor'Easter blew up the east coast and is dumping snow by the foot up into New England. The Pacific Northwest also is getting snow and the deep south is still in a deep freeze and trying to dig out from more snow than they usually see for years. Why the weather report? It is interesting to see how people handle weather events. Most people respond according to where they live and whether the weather event is normal for that area. So the people in the South are finding it difficult to deal with all the snow, freezing rain and low temperatures while New England is much better equipped to handle such events. So the people of New England may be hunkering down today and waiting for the storm to pass, once it is gone they will have a much easier time digging out and getting on with their lives.

I did notice on Facebook that people who do not have the opportunity to play in the snow are using the aftermath of the storm to introduce their children to the joys of snowmen, sledding and snowball fights. Those of us that are used to snow are perhaps just a little jaded about the addition of even more fluffy white stuff. We do not enjoy the joys of a day spent romping outside on a snowy afternoon especially once we are out of childhood. Most of us just wish the snow would go away and annoy someone else.

My dogs however all approach the snow everyday with great joy. They love to run and plow through the drifts, roll around making snow doggie angels and sticking their faces deep down in the snow and emerging with face and nose covered in white fluff. They charge out the door with joyous abandon and begin to explore the new layers that have been added to their yard since the last time they were out. Often they are so overjoyed while outside that they are very reluctant to come back inside when they are called.

Maybe I need to take a note from my dogs and enjoy the day no matter what it hands us and not be so caught up in blaming the weather as a reason to not go outside and just have some fun.

Growing Old

2011-01-11T11:23:00.002-05:00

Time goes by much too fast both for us and especially for our pets. It is so hard to believe that the puppy you remember like it was just yesterday is now a senior citizen.

Rommel will be ten this year. He spends a great deal of his day sleeping and he is moving slower. There seems at times to be a look of sadness in his eyes like he knows that he is older now and can't do everything that he used to be able to do. I know that he is not in pain except for some arthritis on occassion but it is difficult watching such an energetic personality lapse slowly into indifference. Rommel does love his food though and dinner time is the major bright spot of his day. Then you can see the young puppy shining through in his eyes. They say that when your dog is getting older you should decide on what criteria you are going to base your decision that he is no longer enjoying life and maybe needs to be helped to the Rainbow Bridge. You should decide on two or three things and if the dog is no longer able or no longer enjoys those activities you should consider euthansia. I know for a dog that lives to eat like Rommel does that when he starts to have no enthusiam for his dinner that it will be time to consider his needs above my own. I am hoping that day is a long way off.

Rommel

It's 2011 (Just in case you were not aware of that)

2011-01-10T14:25:00.002-05:00

It is already ten days into the New Year and I am finally getting around to posting here again. It seems that I took all of 2010 off from blogging and I decided that I will make a concerted effort to make regular posts again. I may be talking to myself but it doesn't matter. Sometimes I have a lot to say so I might as well say it here.

Over the past year I have been concentrating on several things. Kai and I restarted agility classes and he is doing excellent despite having me as his handler. While I have always been a good handler in obedience trials I have found that agility is definately a totally different kettle of fish that I am often drowning in! Agility training requires you to be faster than your dog not only in your ability to get around the ring but also in your ability to think ahead and give your dog plenty of notice about what is coming next. Add to that the fact that due to physical limitations I am no longer able to run around the ring and I must use an electric scooter or wheelchair that makes training that much more difficult.

Speaking of my electric scooter, after three years of faithful service it has suffered a major meltdown and will no longer move in a forward direction. So unless I want to go through life in reverse I am forced to pay to get it repaired or find an alternative means of transportation. Fortunately, I lucked onto a fellow dog trainer in Youngstown, OH who has a almost new wheelchair that she wants to find a new home for and so this weekend I will be driving to Youngstown and coming back with new transportation. I think when I have saved up some money I will have the scooter repaired to use as a backup so that hopefully I will not ever be stuck with no means to easily get around.

Ashley and Scamp

My niece Ashley got a pomeranian beagle mix this past September and he is settling into the household fairly well. He does not always get along with Kai mainly because he does not being smacked on the head with a German Shepherd foot as an invitation to play. She named him Scamp and he is living up to the name. Ashley has been working hard on his basic obedience and they will be starting agility classes soon. I wish them luck but I think that they will be good at it and won't need extra luck.

Kai and his cat Pip are still the best of buddies. Where you find one you often find the other.

Kai and Pip

Ain't love grand!

I don't want to write about my entire life in one post. I will catch up more in future posts. Hopefully 2011 will be my year of the blog.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-27T06:24:00.003-05:00

Yeah I know it was Thanksgiving yesterday but I am usually a day late and a dollar short so what else is new. I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday. I had a wonderful time and wonderful food, cooked of course by yours truly. Thanksgiving is a time of tradition where you dig up the old family favorite recipes, blow the dust off of them and bring them out to oohs and ahhs of delight from family members as they savor the remembered tastes from their pasts. A time to engage in watching the traditional Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in the morning, enjoying the aromas of all the foods as they are cooking, cheering for your favorite football team to win and of course taking a well deserved nap after eating all the wonderful food everyone in the family prepared. It is a time to give thanks for all that you have family, shelter, warmth, food, etc. I also think of Thanksgiving as a time to take a breath and get ready for the upcoming Christmas holiday season. Although I am not quite prepared to go so far as to join the shopping madness of Black Friday I do get ready to decorate my house, gather Christmas wish lists from family and friends and mail out those Christmas cards to one and all.
Happy Holidays!!

Kai earns his first title!

2009-09-03T23:52:00.001-04:00

I am so proud to announce that Kai has obtained not only his first title an AKC Canine Good Citizen title (CGC) but that he has also qualified at the same time to be a therapy dog with a local therapy dog group called Therapy Dogs United. You can check out their website at www.therapydogsunited.org. Kai's picture is posted there along with the other dogs in the group. As soon as I get him to write his bio that will be posted also. I am so proud of him and can't wait to get started going on therapy visits with him.

Proudly presenting NewHope Kaiser Will to Please CGC

New neighbors and Apple Blossoms

2009-05-07T20:24:00.008-04:00

We have new neighbors now, Jim's sister Carrie and her significant other Mark have moved into Todd and Carolyn's trailer and they are getting settled in. It is great having a relative so close. Jim is very close with his brothers and sisters and since Randy unexpectedly moved out last fall he has been missing the close companionship he had during the summer Randy was here. Now we have visitors and we have a next door neighbor that we know well and can drop in on at any time. It will lessen the sadness that our good friends have moved away.

Rommel enjoys the beautiful spring day

Jim's sister Carrie

When I took Kai for his daily walk I found that the large apple tree near the end of the road had bloomed since the last time I was down that way. So I hurried home because I had forgotten my camera, one of the few times I have done that. I got some beautiful pictures of the blooms and I have included a couple of them here.

Spring is advancing so fast that it seems to be passing at super sonic speed so that if we are not careful we will miss it. For whatever reason this year I have been determined to slow down and take a good look at the changes the spring weather brings and to enjoy them during the brief period that they are with us. Soon summer will be here and with it will come it's own unique changes to our world. I will enjoy taking a good look at them also.

The Neighbors moving day and the Kentucky Derby

2009-05-02T18:57:00.010-04:00

Our neighbors Carolyn and Todd are moving today. They are not moving far but still it is going to be a major change to realize that they are no longer right next door. We have only been neighbors for about two years now but still in this transient society where often you do not know your neighbors at all to have ones that you become friends with easily is a gift to treasure.

Carolyn with some of her junior helpers

Jim volunteered to help them to pack up and move their stuff to their new home. They had promises from family members also so it seemed that things would go smoothly and everything would be moved in record time. After about an hour of Jim being the only helper it was beginning to look like it would be a bit of a longer process than first planned for. Fortunately the rest of the moving crew arrived and things began to move quite a bit faster. Todd and Carolyn's three children and the children brought along by other helpers all dived in and worked hard along with the adults.

One thing at a time

How to wrestle a sofa!

I couldn't help much with the actual lifting and moving although I did cheer from the sidelines and took pictures of some of the more memorable moments such as squeezing a very large sofa out of a not so large door! I also took the opportunity to take the dogs for a walk and check out the progress that spring has been making since my last photo journey. I took pictures of our other neighbor, four mile creek as well as many of the trees that now have new leaves instead of just the buds that were there last week. We do not have the full leaf effect of the summer but at least we are losing the dull browns and greys of the winter months.

The leaves are coming, the leaves are coming!

Forsythia in bloom, a sure sign of spring
A small waterfall on four mile creek

After a long afternoon in the sun I finally came back inside and discovered that it was almost time for the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby. I try to watch the Triple Crown every year, pick a favorite and cheer them on. I came inside so late that I turned on the television about ten minutes before the start of the race. I really had no idea who was running this year, I had done no research and I was astonished to hear that 19 dogs were running in this years race, one horse had scratched. That is a large field and that can make a race interesting. The horses came out of the paddock and were loaded in the chutes and all that anticipation that has been building explodes when the gates open and out the horses rush. It only seems like seconds later and the race is over. This year was quite a suprise when a 50:1 longshot called Mine that Bird (who names these horses anyway) squeezed up the rail and blasted into the history books as the second largest longshot to win the Kentucky Derby. Congratulations to the owners, trainers and jockey. Best of luck in the upcoming Preakness! Will we have a Triple Crown winner this year?

That is all I have to say for now. Good luck to Carolyn and Todd in their new home, we will visit you often. I will post again to let you know what suprise is moving in next door over the next few days.

A day at the south pier

2009-04-27T18:30:00.017-04:00

Friday Jim and I went to the South Pier because Jim had a hankering to fish for perch and crappie. We arrived bright and early because the weather forecast was for temperatures in the seventies, bright sunshine and a possibility of thunderstorms in the late afternoon. We no sooner get set up and ready to fish when what is looming on the horizon but a very large black sky complete with lightening and thunder. So we pack up all our gear and head back to the car. We wait out the storm which blew through rather quickly and then we unload all the gear again and head off to get set up.

Storm blowing in over Presque Isle State Park

I decided at this point that instead of fishing I would abandon Jim at the pier and follow the multi-use trail that goes next to the road heading towards the Bayfront Highway. Kai needed a good long walk and I had brought my camera so I could also take the opportunity to take pictures of the budding spring.

Jim fishing happily during my absence

Budding tree

Pine cones that have fallen in the grass

There were so many trees in bud and other plants struggling up through last years growth to reach the sun that I took many interesting photos.

Another budding tree

Walking out along the length of the pier later I was able to photograph the buoys waiting to be put in the water for the summer boaters, the lighthouse at the end of the north pier and other sights of interest that I did not know were out there since I had never walked along that pier before. Kai had a good time because he got to exercise until he was tired.

A sunken ship? I am not sure, it is located in a partially walled off area behind the south pier

Lighthouse at the end of the north pier

Bouys waiting for summer

A friendly red winged blackbird came to visit
It was a long day, Jim never did manage to catch any fish but had plenty of evidence of visitors due to the disappearence of many minnows. Just being out in the sunshine and warm weather was great after the long cold and very snowy winter. I hope we do something similar in the near future.

Dog Walks and the Great Outdoors

2009-04-03T06:52:00.007-04:00

We have been having some wonderful spring like weather lately and I have had a major case of cabin fever so it seemed like a great time to take a walk. We decided to walk to the ball park so the dogs could have a nice run as well as a walk. When consulted about the idea Rommel and Kai had no objections so we headed out.

Running past where I live is Four Mile Creek. It is a rather small creek at this point but it is typical of creeks in the area with a slate bottom and deep in a gully. The slate bottom causes many levels in the floor of the creek so there are lots of areas of ripples, small water falls and white water. I do not have a digital camera that will take time exposure yet so I am not able to blur the water movement so that it is shown in the picture. It is a great special effect that is easy to do with a tripod or stable position for the camera and a timer on the camera to create timed exposure. I did take some pictures of the creek no special effects.

Part of Four Mile Creek

I had to take the pictures from a bit of a distance because the banks were really not very stable because of the heavy rain a day or so before. I did not want to risk getting too close.

Four Mile Creek

Kai and Rommel had a wonderful time walking to the park and then once we were there they ran and chased each other all over the place. Finally when they had slowed down a little bit I decided to take the opportunity to take some picture of Kai in a stacked stand. After eliciting the unwilling assistance of Jim to pose Kai I did manage to get a few pictures. They are not the best poses because Jim had a very short crash course in how to stack a German Shepherd Dog about three seconds before I took the first picture. Even though we never did get the front and the rear stacked at the same time the pictures aren't too bad. We will just have to keep on practicing and see if we can do better.

Rommel hides under bench at ball park waiting for Kai to come running past

Kai in a stack while Rommel hangs out practicing his stand also

Now that the spring weather is here to stay (please let it be here to stay) I am hoping that walks can become more frequent for everyone. I know Kai and Rommel have no objection and with my scooter I am definately able to take off on a long walk with minimal difficulty.

Till next time.

Scooters, parties and strange bedfellows.

2009-03-28T02:30:00.011-04:00

I have not written anything here for so long I almost debated just letting the site disappear into cyberspace but I am going to give things another try and make an attempt to keep things just a little more current. I really do not have too much to talk about but here goes nothing.

I finally saved enough money to purchase an electric scooter so that I can get around easier. Since I do not have health insurance yet I had to use my own money so I had to purchase an inexpensive scooter. I thought at first that I was going to have to purchase a used scooter but I managed to find a brand new scooter in my price range so I am really happy about that. I want to thank the people at Blackburn's Rehab Specialities for all their assistance. They are a very informed, polite and friendly group of people that took care of my needs in an expidited and efficient manner.

Picture of my new scooter the day I picked it out

So now with my scooter I can go places and I am able to get around long distances. It gives me so much freedom, I can take my dogs for walks, go to the mall or even WalMart. I will be able to go to fairs and other celebrations and spend an hour or the day with no difficulty. For the past two years or so going anyplace like that was so painful and I could spend no more than a short time walking before I either had to stop to rest my knees or catch my breath. Now I have freedom, what shall I do with it!!

I had the opportunity to go to the 18th birthday party of the daughter of friends of mine on St. Patricks day. The birthday girl, Amanda is a beautiful girl and a sweetheart of a person. We had a great time, ate the usual cake and ice cream and had dinner later in the evening. As parties go it was a quiet time but we had a great time.

Amanda opening her gifts

Amanda showing us some of the gifts she received

Other than the addition of my new scooter and Amanda's birthday party I really don't have a great deal of new information to talk about. Let's cover some old ground. The dogs are doing fine. Kai started agility classes last month. He is doing well and now that I have my scooter I can train him much better. I am looking forward to possibly showing him soon. Rommel seems to be enjoying his retirement with us and is getting along well with all the other residents here. Kai and one of the cats seem to be joined at the hip. You never find one of them more than a few feet from the other. It has gone so far that sometimes the cat, Pip, sleeps on top of Kai. It is a strange relationship, they groom each other, play together and just hang out cuddled up.

Kai and Pip, together as always

I am going to close this post and work on ideas for the next time. See you then.

Here we go Steelers!

2009-01-11T23:54:00.003-05:00

I can hear the chants of "Here we go Steelers, Here we go!" echoing around Heinz Field. Too bad I was not there to hear the cheering and excitement in person. It has always been my dream to go to a Steeler's game in Pittsburgh but so far that dream has not come through. I have travelled to Cincinnati to see them play. Isn't that so sad that I would have to travel so far to see my team play. I have to sit in a stadium of hostile people that want my team to curl up and die on the football field so that they can be victorious.

Today the Steelers played the San Diego Chargers at Heinz Field during the semi finals for the AFC Championship. The winner of todays game would go to play the Baltimore Ravens for the AFC Championship and then it would be on to the Super Bowl!

YAHOO! Today we won. It was a great game. Now I have to dust off my Terrible towel and get ready for the game against the Ravens. I hope we are as successful.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-23T15:29:00.011-05:00

Christmas is almost here! It seems to me that it was just yesterday when we were celebrating Thanksgiving and before that only a day or two since the sunny skies and much warmer temperatures of summer. With all the snow that we have been getting here in Erie I sure do miss the warmer temperatures of summer!

I have my house all decorated for the season. The Christmas tree is up with the presents under it that family is giving to family. I am sure that Santa Claus will add his gifts when he tiptoes in on Christmas Eve.

I have been collecting Hallmark musical snowmen for the past four or five years and they are all lined up in a row across the television stand. With the other holiday decorations my home is looking quite festive. I sometimes get the crazy idea that I will keep my holiday decorations up all year round. I love all the snowmen, Santa Claus', reindeer, nutcrackers, elves, angels, etc that are used to decorate this time of the year. I think houses look so inviting with all the lights and decorations in the yard. Jim and I are going to go out driving on Christmas Eve to look at the houses in the area and see the decorations. It is sad that the economy has caused many people to cut back on their celebrations this year. Many houses that usually light up the neighborhood are dark this year.

Four of my Hallmark singing Snowman
Despite having six cats in the household and four of them kittens that are just six months old the Christmas tree is surviving very well. A few sprays with water and they have learned to avoid the tree like it is going to eat them. I don't want them playing with the tree because all of them had a fascination with the icicles and I do not want to have to run a kitten to the vet that has ingested tinsel and has a bowel obstruction because of it. I prefer to keep the holiday season safe for everyone that lives here. The biggest danger to the tree has been the dogs tails. It seems no matter what is going on the dogs manage to turn their butt towards the tree and wag their tails merrily. It causes a dilemma because I can't yell at the dogs for wagging their tails. So we use distraction and get them away from the tree as soon as possible. Still the bottom third of the tree is looking a little worse for wear. The branches are a bit bent, the icicles pushed into the tree or on the ground. Ornaments have been doing half gainers all over the place. We did think far enough ahead to put all the unbreakable ornaments on the lower half of the tree.

Christmas tree all decorated before the dogs tails started their redecoration efforts!
Here are a couple of my other Christmas decorations. I love giving and getting Christmas decorations. They are something you can use every year to remember the person that gave you the gift. I also buy myself at least one new Christmas decoration every year. It keeps the decoration of the house fresh and new every year and makes every Christmas just a little special. You have the comfort and memories of the older ornaments that have been used every year and you have the new ornaments or decorations that will be in your memories of Christmas in the future.

Close up of the Angel tree topper
The angel is a treasured memento of Cindy Peters, Jims mother, she passed a few years ago. Christmas was her favorite holiday and she really loved this angel.

Dogs Christmas StockingsThe dog's Christmas stockings are definitely not hung by the chimney with care because we have no fireplace. So they are hung up out of reach of snoopy puppy noses which works out just fine.

I want to wish everyone peace and happiness during this Holiday season. May everyone be safe and enjoy this special magical time of the year.
Best wishes everyone! Merry Christmas.

Trouble is back

2008-12-08T11:45:00.005-05:00

Trouble is back! I am not necessarily happy about it but you deal with what you have to deal with. Jim and I were sitting watching television the other evening when there was a knock on the door. The next door neighbor's child was standing at our door. He had a request to make. In the summer months when we had the entire litter of kittens to give away his family had taken the runt of the litter, they named her Trouble. We had heard nothing about her since then although we had seen her occasionally. Now he was on our doorstep stating that his mom told him to throw the kitten outside because she was not litter trained like we claimed. It seemed strange to us because all the kittens used the litter box only making mistakes if we did not keep the litter boxes clean. You could tell that he was upset about his mother's ultimatum. He told us that he did not want to put her outside in the cold so could we please take her back.

Trouble perched on back of chair after arrival back at our house.

I was also very upset for several reasons. One that I considered the neighbors to be responsible animal lovers and I would never consider that they would throw an animal out in the snow because of litter box issues. There are other avenues that you can follow, retraining her to use the litter box, finding her a new home, taking her to the shelter, etc. They have other cats and two dogs, I am wondering which of them will get thrown out for trivial reasons next. There are things that you can do to get a cat to use a litter box when it breaks litter training. Why if this was an ongoing problem had we not heard about it earlier? Something did not smell right about the entire situation but I did not want to see the kitten trying to survive on her own in the middle of winter or worse find out she died so we agreed to take her back. I am sure if they were callous enough to throw her outside they would not bother to take care of her and provide shelter or feed her anymore. I basically felt we had no choice.

This came at a very bad time because we had seriously considered taking the remaining kittens to the no kill shelter in town because having five cats was just a bit too much. Now here we are with six cats! This is not progressing in the correct direction.

Trouble right before she left our house when her name was Squirt!

Now we have Rommel going through cat infatuation again because there is an new cat in the house so he is on high alert to chase and play with any thing that moves. Trouble is hiding and spitting and hissing at the other cats in the house. She does not remember that they are all family. Of course the resident cats are all returning the favor and growling and hissing back at her. I have not ever heard so many sounds of cat discontent in my life. I have had to keep a small dish of cat food next to me so Trouble can get something to eat because the other cats will not let her share their dish yet. She has used the litter box so I guess that the reason for dumping her is a figment of someones imagination.

Now we not only have another mouth to feed and care for, we have chaos in the house that will probably take several days or weeks to resolve itself. We still have to make the hard decision on whether to take the kittens to the shelter where they will hopefully find good homes or keep them here because they have of course worked their little fuzzy selves into our hearts. I am not happy with my neighbors and I am hoping that I will not see them for quite a while so that I have time to calm down before I tell them what I think of their attitudes towards raising kittens.

Oh well, life goes on. I need to take a deep breath and get on with things. Excuse me but I have to go grab a German Shepherd that is flying past me chasing a cat. Life is definitely going to be so bizarre, that is for sure.

Happy Thanksgiving! Yeah I know I am late!

2008-11-29T17:51:00.007-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and gave many thanks for all the gifts and good things in their lives. I had a great day. We went to friends house and we cooked up a storm. I had a ball getting back in touch with the cook inside me again. I have not had much opportunity to cook lately. We of course had to have the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. So that meant Turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and tons of gravy. Pumpkin pie and whipped topping for dessert is required in Thanksgiving cooking 101. It was a busy day in the kitchen but a day of good conversation and a chance to meet up with family that we had not seen in a great while.

One beautiful Turkey just out of the oven!!

All the extra fixin's get their turn in the oven!

Jim watched television most of the afternoon because there were football games to see. That made his day complete especially since the friends had a 55 inch LCD television. It was huge! What more could he ask for, football and a dream television. It dominated the room and the picture was great. He was in heaven because he is such a television addict that the thoughts of having such a huge TV is the stuff of which dreams are made. I was wondering if we would ever be able to pry him away at the end of the day but we were finally successful. Now I am sure I will hear the wonders of that experience for days to come. We have been considering upgrading our television because of the digital transition in February and our television is old enough in this day of rapidly advancing electronics to be considered a prehistoric dinosaour.

Jim with visions of 55 inch televisions in his head!

Randy with our hostess Charlotte

It was a great day and it will remain in my memory as one of the great holidays of my life. I am thankful for good friends and family and chances to spend time with them. I am thankful for the food on the table, the roof over our head and the beautiful day that God gave us.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! May the spirit of giving thanks stay with you throughout the year.

Happy Birthday Stacy!

2008-11-20T16:16:00.003-05:00

Today is my sister Stacy's birthday! She turns the half century mark today! Since she lives in Colorado we do not see each other much but family is still family. I sent her a birthday card with best wishes for her to have a wonderful day and a wonderful year. It has occurred to me that I do not have any recent pictures of Stacy. I will have to remedy that situation and post one here when I get a chance. Until then my best wishes will have to do. Happy Birthday Stacy.

It's snowing - UGH!

2008-11-20T15:17:00.007-05:00

I know that I live in the unofficial snow capitol of Pennsylvania but really does the snow have to start in late October, early November. Why can't it wait until Christmas, give us the fabled White Christmas that everyone says that they want and then go away till mid-January sometime. By then I am adjusted to the fact that it is winter and snow is to be expected. I mean if you look at the calendar it is still technically fall. I think we are being cheated out of one of the best seasons in the calendar year.

This past Sunday evening through Monday we had about nine inches fall where I live. Snowfall throughout the county ranged from just a couple of inches up to a foot. At times there was thunder and lightening flashing across the sky. That is a strange phenomenon during a snow storm to hear the rumble of thunder and then the snow lights up with a glare of light. Since I usually only associate thunder and lightening with a summer storm it was sort of surreal.

This is a picture of my car with all the snow that had fallen by early Monday morning.

The one thing that I love about a heavy snow fall when there is minimal wind the snow tends to lay on the branches of the trees like white fluffy frosting. The stark white of the snow against the blacks, browns and grays of the tree branches is truly beautiful. So of course I had to take a picture or two!

Shortly after I took the above photo the snow started falling in a steady downpour almost like white rain. It obscured the view to across the street so that it appeared that you were looking through a fog. In the pictures I took you can't really tell that it is snow that is causing the foggy sensation but you can get a sense of the decreased visual acuity.

We have had a couple of days break where we have had no additional snowfall. I think that some of the snow actually had started to melt. That is of course until today when it started snowing again. Today we are having more of the light, large fluffy kind of snowflakes. I haven't heard anything about approximate accumulation amounts yet, I do not want to get depressed. I did dig out the camera and attempt some pictures of the snowflakes coming down.

As you can see the trees have lost their frosted appearance over the past couple of days. Also some of the trees have not even had a chance to lose all of their fall finery due to the early arrival of snow.
Kai and Rommel like the snow and they were outside playing while I was taking pictures. At one point when the snow was coming down a little heavy, Rommel was slowly being covered in a blanket of white and did not look too happy about the prospect of staying out in the snow much longer.

I think that the best way to spend the winter months is to hibernate like bears do. You go to sleep in the fall and when you wake up it is spring! What could be better than that! I don't have that option so I am going to make the best I can out of a bad situation and take pictures and try to enjoy myself. Since I have a bunch of sour lemons I might as well make lemonade! Only one month till winter officially begins and then just three more months until the official start of spring. I am already marking my calendar.

New Family Member

2008-10-16T15:33:00.000-04:00

I want to announce that I now have a new family member. My friend Lynn feels due to harassment and other issues from residents at the building where she lives that she needed to find a home for her retired service dog Rommel. Rommel knows me and Jim quite well so when she asked I told her sure we would give Rommel a home. Rommel has joined my family now and he seems to be making himself at home. He is seven years old and a very well trained older gentleman. Rommel has known Kai since the day I brought him home and though he sometimes views Kai as a bit of a crazy puppy they get along well. Rommel has also played with Topaz so they are familiar with each other. We brought Rommel home a couple of days ago. I wanted to make sure he was going to be happy and settle in before I took the step to announce that he is mine.

Rommel when he first arrived, looking just a little confused and stressed.
Fortunately Rommel LOVES cats and kittens. He likes to gently pin them down with one paw while he sniffs them thoroughly from nose to the tip of their tail. If they run then he loves to chase them as far as they want to run. He was in heaven when he found out that there were four cats here and that none of them were afraid of him. As a matter of fact all the cats walked right up to him a few minutes after he arrived and gave him the once over.

Jim and D.C. say hello to Rommel

Rommel brought his own food, food dishes, leashes and collars as well as a large cushion that he uses as a bed. We put the cushion off to one side in the living room and soon the cats have claimed it as their own. Poor Rommel walked over to his bed and looked down at the cats that were sprawled there and turned and walked away. According to Lynn he won't dispossess a cat from anything that it has. That includes food, a cat can walk up to Rommel and steal his food right out from under his nose and he will just watch it walk away with it. So if the cats get on the bed first then Rommel looks for somewhere else to lay down. I keep telling him to climb up on the cushion and threaten to lay down on the cats, I am sure that they will move. He is such a gentleman, he won't do it.

Pippin and Gabby make themselves comfortable on Rommel's bed
I am thrilled that Rommel is staying at my house now. He is fitting in well with the rest of the menagerie that lives here and by that I mean the crazy humans also. He is such a handsome boy and an excellent ambassador of his breed. Considering he was rescued by Lynn from horrible conditions when he was three months old he has come a long way. Kai is very happy to have an older brother to play with. Welcome to my family Rommel.

After a long first day Rommel settles in for a nap.
.

Spaghetti and Poker

2008-10-15T18:47:00.000-04:00

We had wonderful weather this past Sunday with bright sunshine and warm seventy degree weather. Sounds like a good day for another picnic and that is what we did. We went over to our friend Roy's house and on the menu was Spaghetti and meatballs. Not exactly your usual picnic fare but if you are eating in the great outdoors even if it is just someone's yard then I am going to call it a picnic. Jim cooked the spaghetti because Roy claimed incompetence when it came to cooking edible spaghetti noodles. I took my camera with me and I spent the time while dinner cooked taking pictures of all the lawn decorations and plants that were present in the yard.

Log cabin birdhouse
It is an interesting collection of birdhouses, statues, benches and other items. Anything can make a good picture if you get the right angle, lighting, etc. I do not put together all the elements of a good photograph. While my pictures may never be award winners they do please me and they do remind me of a wonderful day spent with friends enjoying one of the last nice days before winter comes to northwest Pennsylvania.

Is this a frog or a turtle. It appears to me to be the head of a frog (buggy eyes) with the rest being a turtle!

Butterflies and Birdhouse
Roy owns a Cockatoo that came out on his perch to visit with us for awhile. He is quite the comic for a bird and very entertaining to watch. He would say "Hello" and then bob his head up and down quickly while raising his crest as high as it would go. When he got bored he would pull splinters of wood off his perch. Later he climbed down on the tray grabbed a large piece of wood that he had ripped off the perch and used it to scratch his head, combing his crest with it. And some experts say animals don't make or use tools!

Our friend the Cockatoo, responding to "Hello"
What a pretty bird!
The yard is overshadowed by a huge old locust tree and the sun filtering through the leaves made a wonderful picture. So of course I took several. Here is my favorite one.

The evening of course progressed to a game of Texas Hold'em Poker. For once I was doing quite well and really cleaned up on several of the hands. The black cloud that follows me when I am playing any type of game was absent for just a little while and I took full advantage of it to gloat and tell everyone what a wonderful poker player I am. I have to get my bragging in when I can because when it comes to games of chance I don't get many opportunities! Just one last picture of our host Roy. I apologize for it being blurry but Jim took the picture not me. I will have to leave it here until I get a better one to put in its place.

Another day spent with good friends that I can file in my memory book. I like to remember times spent doing simple things, sharing good food and time with people that you like. Even quiet get togethers can be the happy memories that weave together to make the quilt of your life.

And now the cats want to drive!!

2008-10-12T11:44:00.000-04:00

As if things are not strange enough in my life now the cats are asking for driving lessons! At least that is what it seems like. Randy recently stumbled on a Stutz Bearcat electric ride on toy made by the Marx Toy Company in the early1960's. It has been sitting on the living room toy in front of the television set until a place for it can be found in this already over cluttered house. I am a bit of a pack rat but that is another story.

1960's Stutz Bearcat electric ride on toy by the Marx Toy Company

This toy is Randy's pride and joy. He is a toy collector and he likes unusual toys and also toys from the Marx Toy Company. To find both an unusual toy and one from Marx made his day.He obtained the toy from the original owner that rode the car as a child. He has since kept it under a tarp in a barn. Despite that it remains in very good condition. Randy has plans to take it apart and restore it. I know it will be beautiful when done.

The cats have all adopted the car as their very own. Fortunately Randy finds this amusing and does not seem worried that they will damage the car. At any time of the day or night you can find at least one of them sitting on the seat of the car, playing with the steering wheel, climbing over the hood or taking a nap. It is Gabby's favorite perch by far and you will find her there more often than the rest.

Gabby enjoying the view.

D.C. and his brother Pippin have discovered that the seat of the car is an ideal perch to sit on and watch television from. These kittens have never shown any interest in watching the television until the car appeared right in front of the TV set. Watching television now is an interesting adventure because at any moment a cat paw or the entire cat will pop up in front of the screen to chase something moving there. I have heard that you can purchase a video for your cats to play when you are not home for their entertainment. Sort of a cat babysitter. I have never given much thought to purchasing one because I have never had cats this dedicated to watching TV. Maybe I should buy them one but then what happens if they learn to program the VCR! Will Kitty porn be far behind!!

Pippin watching TV

I am waiting for the cats to present me with demands for their drivers permits. And the when Randy gets the car running again there will probably be arguments over who gets to drive! This could be as bad as having a house of teenagers! Yep, I really need this. Is anyone interested in having a precocious cat come to live with them, sorry but you will have to provide your own car!

Let sleeping dogs lie!!

2008-10-06T14:00:00.000-04:00

Have you ever watched your dog sleep? They sleep in the strangest positions and seem like they are so comfortable. If I slept twisted around, upside down and sideways I would never be able to move when I woke up in the morning. Kai however is always sprawled in a chair or on the floor with his legs straight up in the air, head twisted to one side, the rest of him forming the letter "S".

Kai catching some "Z's"
Cats and kittens seem to also be able to sleep while hanging over the edge of chair backs, tangled up in a knot together or in other equally strange contortions. Maybe it would be a good idea to get into the business of being a pet chiropractor because surely after sleeping in some of these positions they have to need an adjustment or two.

This is Yankee taking a nap

Pip just hanging out At times the kittens pile on each other and it is anyone's guess where one kitten ends and the next one starts. At least they can share body heat and keep toasty warm when sleeping in a pile like that. Not a bad idea on a cool fall day.

Snuggle time

Just one more, I could not resist.

How many cats do you see?

Okay I will resist the temptation to put more pictures here. It is a beautiful sunny day and I think I will take myself and my camera and see what we can see! So long till next time.
Vicki

Good News!

2008-10-01T13:15:00.000-04:00

I have good news to share. I am going to be writing for "Front and Finish" magazine. I will be writing a column for the online edition of the magazine which according to the editor is attracting more readers than the printed version. I am writing a bio and getting a picture taken to send in and then I can post columns as often as I wish. I am writing the column describing the training and showing difficulties faced by disabled handlers. Since I am going to be forced to show Kai either from a wheelchair or a scooter I will definitely have a first hand view of any problems. I hope to get readers and judges involved in question and answer columns about such things as accommodations needed for a disabled handler, proper heel position next to walker or scooter, can rally be done from a wheelchair or scooter, How fast is fast when you walk with a cane or other assistive device?
The ideas keep flowing so I think I will have fun with this column.
I am also going to be writing articles for "Show Dogs Online". I am planning on sending my first article for that magazine this month. I am working on ideas for stories so I can query the editor and get started. She is looking for columnists for future niches so I need to get my niche squared away early. I am definately more comfortable writing about performance events than I would be writing about conformation or breeding.
I need to get busy writing now. I would cross my fingers for luck but I have such a hard time typing when I do!

Fluff and Fold?

2008-09-18T04:47:00.000-04:00

Instead of my life going to the dogs as it usually does it seems that lately with the litter of kittens raising havoc through out the house my life is going to the cats! The other night my brother in law Randy comes running into the living room demanding my camera. He won't tell me why but says I have to see this. So I give him the camera, remind him where the needed buttons are and off he runs again to another part of the house. He comes back a minute later with this picture.

This is the kitten we jokingly refer to as D.C. which stands for devil cat or demon cat or just plain darn cat (slight editorializing there, must keep this PG after all!) depending on how much trouble he is causing at the moment! I have never met an animal that since birth has devised more ways to frustrate, annoy and generally irritate all of us living in this household at one time or another. At the same time everyone loves his personality so much that he has become the kitten we are absolutely keeping. Guess it pays to be annoying sometimes.

D.C. was having a grand old time entertaining himself in the dryer where someone had left the door open. Randy had decided to wash a load of laundry and found him cavorting in the dryer so he took a few pictures.At least he is capable of entertaining himself when he needs to!

D.C. playing in the dryer!

For a little change of topic we went over to my friend's house yesterday and helped her to move some furniture around and other household chores. While we were there I managed to snag some nice pictures of her and her two German Shepherds Rommel and Otto. They are two of my German Shepherd Kai's best friends and playmates. Here are a couple of the pictures.

Rommel chilling on the couch

This cool dude is Otto!
Otto and Lynn, definately Best Friends
I am going to say so long till next time. I have places to go and things to do today. Hopefully I will return with more photos and other interesting things to share.

Kai -- All bets are off!!

2008-09-02T09:54:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the Labor Day holiday. We really had no plans, just expected to stay at home and have a quiet time. Jim gets a phone call from his friend Roy. Would we like to come over for a picnic, possibly play some cards? After negotiations on who would bring what items of food we all proceeded to get ready. Jim was in a hurry to get started and ran all over the house pushing everyone to get a move on. The dogs, Kai and Trinity started going off the deep end because they could sense that some thing was up and they both began to jog through the house getting in every ones path as often as they could . Part of their excitement is feeding off the general chaos in the household, the other part is desperation that they may get left behind. So running through the house is an attempt to keep everyone is sight at once so that there is no possibility that anyone can leave without them. Even with all the confusion and chaos we managed to get everything ready in about an hour, packed all in the car and we were off! With all the gear that Jim and Randy felt was necessary to take with us, anyone would of thought the picnic was in Outer Mongolia and not just a few city blocks away.

Jim, the organizer of everything and anything!

Jim's brother Randy drove, I rode shotgun and Jim got the honor of sitting in the back seat with the dogs. As we made a quick stop at a convenience store for last minute oops items. You know those things that after you have been on the road for five seconds to five minutes pop into you head and you say "Oops I forgot .......". We soon arrived at Roy's house. Then there was the major job of unpacking the car and carrying everything to Roy's yard. I left that to the boys and just took care of myself. My philosophy is if men come along on any trip their main purpose is to carry everything so the women don't have to.

Jim's brother Randy.
Among the Oops items on my list was Kai's training collar. The entire purpose of training a dog is so that eventually they will not need a training collar but Kai has definitely not reached that point yet. Since Roy's yard is not totally fenced in he set up a tie out so that I would not have to
sit and hold Kai's leash the entire time. Randy's dog Trinity is older and past the training stage of needing to be leashed during an outing. She never wanders farther than about fifty feet from Randy. I don't know if that is just her temperament or if Randy did one heck of a job of training but it is really makes life easier.

Randy's dog -- Trinity.

Kai knew that his training collar was not on after about three seconds of being on leash so he decided that all bets were off and he could behave as he wished! I have never been so embarrassed by his behavior. He kept jumping around, running up to people and annoying them, begging for food (a definate cardinal no no in my house) and other obnoxious behavior he must have just thought up that day. Any commands given were ignored or just given fleeting attention. I do not think that this dog wanted to live to see his second birthday or even the next day! Finally as the day progressed sheer exhaustion set in and he finally settled down and fell asleep.

Kai power napping!

We had an awesome picnic dinner despite all the distractions. The food was great and the company was greater. We played texas hold 'em and just about every other version of poker known to mankind. We were not playing for money, just chips and I had some good hands and some bad ones but mostly it seems towards the end that I could not get a break and my chip pile dwindled into nothing. One of the many reasons I have never had the urge to gamble for money is my inability to win consistently at a game where there are no stakes. I can just imagine what would happen the first time I put any money on the line. I would be broke so fast it would be a worlds record I am sure. When they handed out lucky genes I must of skipped that line.

Kai's power nap revved him up for the trip home. He got excited by all the fun of packing everything in the car at the end of the evening and on the way home all you heard in the car was Jim arguing with him over the seat space in the back. I have learned that until a great deal more training, all bets are off with Kai unless his training collar is on. Some lessons are just more embarrassing to learn than others.

Time Flys!

2008-08-28T11:57:00.000-04:00

Hard to believe that so much time has passed since I last remembered to post a note here. Not much has happened in my oh so exciting life. My article was published in Her Times magazine on August 10th so I sent out copies and web site addresses to everyone and anyone that I had even a passing acquaintance with. The website is: www.hertimes.com. You click on the "Family & Relationships" link to the left, the article is entitled "Doggie U." Other than the fact that they misspelled my name in the byline but spelled it correctly in the bio information they really did not change much in the article but printed it as I sent it in. I had expected that they would edit it or change it to fit their space but they didn't. I was so happy I am still on cloud nine.

The kittens are growing like bad weeds. We are down to four, found homes for three of them but I still am hoping that we can find homes for at least three more of them. While I would possibly consider keeping one, I do not want to keep all four, that would up the cat count in this household to seven. That may be a lucky number for some people but do I want to test it!! We have given them all names mostly for ease of telling who is who.

left to right: D.C, Precious, and Punkin.

The kittens are all very active now and it is harder to get a picture. At other times they sit real still or doze off like above and I have gotten some cute pictures. This is probably the most photographed litter of kittens ever! Good practice any way.

Thundercloud over Lake Erie, picture taken from Conneaut, OH Municipal Park. Upper picnic pavilion.
We went to Jim's family reunion on a Saturday during the first part of the month. It was a gorgeous day, warm, breezy, no humidity to speak of. The sky was a beautiful blue with those white puffy cotton candy clouds over head. His reunion is held in Conneaut, Ohio at a park overlooking Lake Erie. When we arrived ther was a huge black thundercloud out over the lake, you could see the rain coming down off the cloud into the lake. All the boats on the lake headed for the marina. We could hear thunder and occasionally lightening would streak across the cloud. We all expected to be getting wet soon but the cloud just slowly drifted from west to east across the lake in front of us and never moved any closer to the shore. Soon it was past and it left no trace except for increased wave activity in the water.

Water spout that formed ahead of the thunder cloud.

Jim's birthday was this past Tuesday. We went out to dinner, had a wonderful meal. Didn't spend too much time talking to each other because Jim as usual was too busy listening to the conversations at the tables around us and interjecting comments into their conversation whenever he felt the urge. I get really upset that he does that, I consider it rude to deliberately listen to other peoples conversation, but then to just jump right in the conversation which just proves you were listening! really pisses me off. Amazingly no one has ever seemed to resent his butting in, or at least they haven't told him to mind his own business or punched him in the nose when he does it. I guess if I want him to talk to me in a social situation I need to be sitting at another table talking to someone else, then he will jump right in and talk to me!

Jim at family reunion, as usual paying attention to anything and everything except me, sigh!

That is a quick update on my month of August. September is rolling in here quick. I have lots of birthdays, including mine (which will be the dullest day in history). Doctors evaluation for my disability claim and testing for Kai to become a therapy dog. So there should be lots of interesting items to talk about and take pictures of. Now if I just remember that I have a blog and I should post just a little more often.

So long for now,
Vicki
winning the award for the worlds laziest blogger!

The kittens are five weeks already!!

2008-07-27T04:16:00.000-04:00

It is hard to believe that the kittens are five weeks old. Wasn't it just yesterday that we were watching them being born! Boy does time fly by. Flyers have been made and soon hopefull they will all be going off to new loving homes. Here are some pictures of a few of the kittens. Those that would sit still enough for a picture that is. Not all of them were cooperative, some pictures came out to be a big blur!

They are all so cute it is hard to resist the urge to keep them all but I just keep reciting the mantra: "I do not want SIX more cats."

See what I mean, aren't they just too cute! Everyone cross their fingers that we find them wonderful homes in the next few weeks. If they stay past the "Aw, aren't they cute" phase, it gets really difficult.
Wish us luck.
Vicki

Doggie Play Date

2008-07-27T03:17:00.000-04:00

Met up with my friend Lynn and we took the dogs to the beach. They had a ball swimming and running around playing with each other. We own true water loving German Shepherds. The first thing they do as soon as we let them out of the car is run straight into the water. Of course being dogs they love to share the joy with their owners so they run out of the water and get as close to you as they can before they shake the excess water off. Soon we are almost as wet as they are. They also start chase and wrestle games that kick up wet sand all over us. Lynn and I truly get to enjoy the beach experience with our dogs. We had called another friend with a German Shepherd dog about meeting at her house so after the beach we drove over there.

Debbie has a huge fenced back yard and her female German Shepherd Cheyenne is a great hostess when her dog buddies come to play. After greeting everyone at the fence to let them know it is her yard she very graciously lets the boys come in and play.

Hostess Cheyenne

Three males can be a little annoying but Cheyenne takes it all in stride. Soon they are chasing each other around the yard playing catch me if you can.

Hey we are going this way?While the dogs are having fun Debbie, Lynn and I take the time to catch up on anything and everything. It is great to have the time to just sit and relax with good friends, often that is overlooked as our days get busy.

All too soon the dogs were tired and the day was getting late so we reluctantly said our good byes. With promises of doing it again soon Lynn and I climbed into the car with our dogs, waved bye to Cheyenne and Debbie and took our happy, exhausted dogs home.

It was a great day!!

Just blathering

2008-07-19T12:18:00.000-04:00

I can't believe that it has been almost a month since I have been here. It does not seem like it has been that long and it is not like I have been that busy. I guess I need to make sure to fit this into my schedule. I am not sure where because I try to make time for everything but some things I do let slide for longer than I would like.
The weather has been hot and humid again. I have had fewer breathing problems until yesterday when the humidity went way up. So I am tucked into the bedroom with the air conditioner. The weather channel is predicting rain tomorrow so I am hoping that I will be able to get around much better in the cooler temperatures that will also bring. I hate it when I can't breathe because of the weather.
I am including a picture from my friend Debbie of my dog Kai with her dog Cheyenne and their other friend Otto. Cheyenne is the beautiful plush coated girl on the right. Otto is on the left and of course my Kai is in the middle. Don't they make a cute Oreo sandwich effect!

Another weekend bites the dust

2008-06-22T17:38:00.000-04:00

Here I am at the end of another weekend and I have not been able to do any of the things that I planned to do this summer. I am really depressed and discouraged about that. It is going to be another summer where all I get to do is sit around the house and watch TV and check email. I wanted to go camping, plant a few tomato plants and some flowers, visit a couple of county fairs, go to some dog shows, go to the National Speciality for the White German Shepherd Dog Club International. So far I missed the Erie Kennel Club show, it was last weekend. I am missing the Nationals, they are this weekend. We have no flowers planted and no tomato plants. I probably won't get to go camping because I have no money to buy supplies. I have no money to get batteries for my scooter so I can't go to anywhere that requires a great deal of walking. Basically I am not looking forward to the rest of the summer, quite a bummer since I had such plans when spring rolled around and then I go fired from my job. Now it will be a miracle if we can keep the electric on, pay the rent, the car payment and all the other bills that turn up. I have zero chance of finding another job with my age and my disabilities. It is going to be a cold winter when I end up homeless which I am afraid I just might. Boy am I down today. I think I will stop writing here before I redepress myself anytime I look at this.
Till next time. Vicki

Kittens

2008-06-18T19:25:00.000-04:00

Last night about seven pm our highly pregnant cat decided to start and have kittens. The funny part was that she decided to start to have them while sitting on Jim! He didn't find it amusing though.We put her in her little box in the bathroom and she settled right down to business. She needed some assistance from us getting the sacs off and starting to dry the kittens off but once that was taken care of she started taking real good care of them. I took all the kittens out of her way whenever she started having the next one and gave them back to nurse during rest periods. Finally about ten thirty she had six kittens and everyone settled down to take a nap. One kitten is really tiny compared to the other five and the first two born before her are very large little moose. I am worried about the little one because they don't always do well but she latched on to a nipple first and started sucking for all she was worth. Maybe she will be just fine.

picture of Gabby and some of the kittens during a rest break.

Finally an end to the heat wave.

2008-06-17T12:02:00.000-04:00

Last week the heat wave continued and I went on strike. I did not check email for the entire week, I hibernated in the bedroom which is the only room with A/C. How depressing but I couldn't breathe in the humidity and oppressive heat. Temperatures close to one hundred degrees in early June are just not typical for Northwest Pennsylvania. When that is combined with humidity way above 60% it is just a nightmare. My lungs are just not cooperating in the very cold winter weather and now they are also not doing me much good when the weather is oppressively hot. I was sort of hoping for breathing relief this summer. I would love to get out and about and enjoy the outdoor opportunities that there are available this time of the year.

View of Bicentennial Tower, Dobbins Landing, Erie, PA

I finally beat my laptop into submission and made it recognize the wireless network. It won't retain the setting for some bizzare reason but I now know how to get it to find the network so I can now check email and go online anywhere around the house and outside! I have the ability to check email when confined to the bedroom if the weather turns ugly again.

Today I am having a wonderful day, the temperatures are in the high sixties, almost no humidity. It is wonderful, there is a breeze blowing through the house and I am able to come out to the living room and enjoy my entire house. After all that is why I have a house, I don't want to be confined to one room, if I wanted that I would go to prison. With all the extras that prisoners get maybe that would be a move forward!

Here is a picture of two of the cats. Gabby and Yankee looking out at the world passing them by and wishing they could go out and join in the fun.

Garage Sale

2008-06-07T23:45:00.000-04:00

"One mans trash is another mans treasure." Never does that hold more true than in the world of Garage Sales. I have never been a person that often stops at Yard Sales, or Garage Sales or whatever they are called, although a friend tried to get me interested several years ago. And also I usually do not hold garage sales of my own very often because I tend to be a bit of a pack rat and reluctant to part with anything that I own.
So if both these facts are true what am I doing outside in my front yard at six am setting up tables and trying to arrange items in an appealing manor? I am not too sure myself, my mind refuses to wake up fully until the sun has been up for a few more hours at least. Last night I had no plans to start on this misadventure but the signs that had been posted for the last two weeks that there was a neighborhood sale this weekend had Jim all excited and gung ho to make a few extra buck. So the plan was hatched with his brother Randy that we would join in and the late evening was spent gathering items together. Randy is an inveterate junker and flea market or yard sale veteran and has a rented garage space just to hold all his accumulation of "merchandise". While I scoured the house for any items I thought I could bear to part with, Jim and Randy brought repeated carloads of junk (whoops, I mean merchandise) from the garage along with a plethora of card tables to display it all on.
With promises that everyone would be getting up early to get everything ready for the start of the sale at 8 am we retired for the evening. The next morning I am the only one that gets up early and Jim barely takes my stack of stuff out to the yard before he leaves for work with Randy driving him. So here I stand in the early morning sunshine surrounded by boxes and bins of Randy's merchandise and my meager contributions. Having no idea what Randy wants to do with all that stuff I appropriate one of his tables and set my stuff on it. While doing this it occurs to me that the only stuff that is being sold from our house is mine. Where is Jim's contribution to this endeavor? It was his idea, so why am I parting with some of my prize possessions while all his junk remains in the house? I am starting to get just a little hot under the collar, or it could be the fact that already at 7:30 am the temperature is heading rapidly towards ninety. Half an hour till the mountain of stuff of Randy's is to be arranged on the tables, etc and no sign of Randy at all. The early drive by lookie lous are already cruising by. I look around the neighborhood, where are all the other participants in this insanity. I only spot one other family setting up near the curve in the road.
I guess it is going to be a very small neighborhood today! Finally just before eight o'clock two things happen, Randy returns and starts whirling around the front yard, muttering about having to get things ready. Newspaper begins to fly across the yard as he furiously starts to unpack. Also at about the same time the neighbor strolls out of his house and after sitting at his table for a few minutes he is joined by his children and their contributions to the yard sale begins to come out of hiding. So now we are three!!

May 21, 2008 - America's Past Time

2008-05-21T05:59:00.000-04:00

Had my first opportunity to go to a baseball game yesterday evening. The weather has been cool and chilly so bundled in winter coats and blankets we went to see the Erie SeaWolves a AAA affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They were playing the Bowie Baysox.

This is a view of the front gate of Jerry Uht Park where the SeaWolves play.

The skies were blue and the sun was shining but it was not contributing much warmth to the day but a large crowd had gathered to see the game. Most people had dressed warmly but there are always people that never dress for the occasion and you wonder how they survive the cold temperatures while sitting in the stadium. Jerry Uht Park is only a few blocks from the lake and the cool breeze off the still very cold water can really drop the temperature.

This is C. Wolfe the mascot for the Erie SeaWolves as he was dancing on top of the dugout.

This is the Kid's Stampede, where they let the kids run across the outfield during the middle of the inning.

Unfortunately, the SeaWolves lost the game 10 to 5. A disappointing ending to a wonderful game. I came home and thawed out my frozen fingers. I hope my next visit to a game will be on a warmer day.

May 17, 2008

2008-05-17T19:00:00.000-04:00

It is a rainy day and as usual on rainy days I am feeling a bit down. I don't like the way rain tends to keep me indoors. It is not that I think I will melt if I go out when it is raining but just that I don't like the uncomfortable feeling of wet clothing sticking to my skin. I think maybe that this attitude of mine has rubbed off on my dogs because they all hate to go out in the rain. Considering that they have to go outdoors no matter what the weather to take care of certain chores the fact that they do not like the rain can make life interesting. It is a bit embarrasing to have to push them out the door and then slam it in their face as they try a quick about face to get back indoors. Each dog stands huddled at the door hoping desperately that they will be let back in before they actually have to venture out in the rain. Topaz, my American Pitbull Terrier will actually peek out the door and if she sees rain she will turn around and refuse to go outside. She has actually "held it" for 12 or more hours on a rainy day. Finally truly desperate she will run outside and squat immediately. She then rushes back inside and spends the next 20 minutes drying the rain from her back.
Will come back when the weather improves. Vicki

Topaz lounging on her favorite chair, keeping an eye on her favorite bone.

May 14, 2008

2008-05-14T12:48:00.000-04:00

Hi there,

Welcome to my first blog attempt. It seems that everyone has a blog so at long last I have decided to join the que. I don't know if I lead such an interesting life that I will be able to provide information for this blog but I will give it a try.

I am a writer and a photographer so I imagine I will inflict both of these loves of mine on any readers that happen by. I am also an avid reader, crafts person, I breed, train and show dogs and I teach obedience classes and do behavioral evaluations. I am helping two disabled friends train their dogs to be their service dogs. I am also training my puppy Kai to assist me with mobility and a few other physical issues that I have.

This is Kai a year ago when I first picked him up from the airport, he was nine weeks old.

This is Kai a few weeks ago. He seems to have grown just a little bit in a year!

This is all for my first post. I will be back. Vicki