numbers

I was talking to my friend Holly today and she has recently decreased her pack down by 2 dogs and we were talking how everyone has a different 'tipping point'. In that you do really well and manage fine with a set number of dogs, but if you go 1 dog over suddenly it all changes and things sometimes get a lot harder. For me the magic number is 3 or less. Last year when I went to 4 with Obi things got a lot harder. When Obi left to go to his new home, nearly over night the stress level went down and things became easier again. I had been told by many people is that "Once you're past 2, it's all the same." But really for me it wasn't. Going from 2 to 3 was easy. Things stayed pretty much the same, even with different dogs. At one point I had Regal, James and Niche. Then Regal passed away and I got Monty. Different 3 dogs, but still 3 and things were fine. And when I had just 2, just Regal and James things were fine. I found very little difference going from 2 to 3.

But I know for a lot of people that is not the case. Like right now I have a long time client, husband and wife, who just added a 3rd dog after having 2 for about 7yrs. They are blown away at just how dramatically things have changed in their life. And I've heard that from a lot of people who went from 2 to 3. Things changed sooo much with that change. But like I said for me that really wasn't the case. I had a much harder time when I went to 4.

For my parents, 1 is just enough. When I was living with them with multiple dogs, my father really couldn't handle it well. When I left and they just had their 1 dog, things were great. Then he passed away and now they have Pauli and things are going well. She loves to torment James when I go over to visit and he tolerates her as long as she lets him play with her toys. But when we go home, she's just as happy to amuse herself or run laps around their big house.

Learning of that difficulty is another part of the reason why I decided to not owner train my next dog. By going with a program, I can really wait until James actually has to retire before adding another dog. If I owner trained I would have to get a dog 1-2 years before I thought James would retire so I had time to train the new dog in time. By going with a program I won't have 4 dogs for as long, as much as I hate to say it, since all of my dogs will be about 7 or older when the new dog comes. For me, placing any of the dogs I have right now is just not something I'm willing to do. James and I have too much of a history as partners, Niche I don't know anyone that could handle his neurotic traits, energy or allergies well enough, and Monty if you don't keep up with his training and behavoir mod and manage his access to trouble, his behavior problems will crop up again, but he does really great in my home and I love him to bits. I love all of them to bits. Giving up Obi, even though I knew it was the right decision for both of us, was really really really hard. And he I had for only a year. I don't think it would be a good thing if I had to give up one of the guys I'd had for many years. So instead I decided to do what I felt would keep us all happier, which was not bring in a new puppy right now and instead wait a few years and get an adult, trained dog that should fit into our family more easily. And hopefully that way 4, won't be as much of a stress.

"stormy weather...."

I remember singing that song or at least what pieces we could all remember on family car trips. Anyway this morning I got up, looked out the window as I let the dogs out and it was snowing like crazy. Last night I had looked at the noaa.gov site and they were saying we were to get 1" of snow and then lots of rain. Well, um, I think they made a slight mistake. We had like 4+ inches at 8am.

Regardless, since we decided it would indeed be too dangerous to drive to ME today, Li and I got in the car and off we went to Percy's which touts "The largest breakfast menu in New England." Making it one of Li's favorite places to eat. That girl LOVES breakfast. When we were driving there there were like no snow plows out! The roads were a mess! Then as we got down 495 it turned to rain.

We got to Percy's safe and sound, had a nice breakfast. Their blue berry pancakes are great. I usually get 1 or 2 instead of their regular stack of 3 since they are HUGE, but I forgot about that today, so now I have lots of left overs. During breakfast my mum called to wish Li a happy birthday then invite us over to watch movies.

On the way home, after the rain had basically cleared the roads, there were tons of plows out! It was rather odd. We barely made it into my drive way, since my snow plow guy hadn't come yet. I called him to make sure he was indeed coming, or else I was going to go out and shovel so at least the car wouldn't get stuck, but he said he'd be there soon, so I didn't have to do that. My back thanks me, I fell on the porch on Sat or Sun and have been hurting ever since. Thankfully I have a chiropractor appt on Thurs.

Then we went over to watch movies with my sister. We watched "The League of Extraordinary Gentleman." It was a stressful movie. I'm not really good with action movies unless someone knows what happens and warns me ahead of time. So we watch that and ate Li's birthday cake that I had made. It was very yummy!

And now I am back home and Li has gone home as she wanted to beat the commuter traffic on the highways. And it's still raining out. But my driveway is clear. Hopefully it won't become a sheet of ice in the near future. The dogs aren't even begging to go out and play. I think they know it's really sloppy and cold out.

Well we managed

The funeral stuff is finally over. The visiting with family is probably not fully over but I believe most of the extended relatives who drove in from out of state have probably started their treks home by now.

Last night was the wake. My friends Li and Julie came, which was very nice of them. James was his usual formal self. He tried to cheer my gram up with a few well timed wags of the tail and kisses, don't know if that helped or not. There were a ton of people at the wake and the funeral. I think for lunch after something like 40+ people were there.

Today was a short prayer service at the funeral home, then the funeral at the church and finally lunch at a restaurant. James has never been to a church with me. I was raised Roman Catholic, as my mother was, but chose not to be confirmed when the time came so really haven't gone to church in something like 10 years (can't believe it's been that long. funny how you remember stuff, I remembered all the hymns, refrains and all). James was rather confused with all of the sit, stand, kneel actions. Every time it went from on to the other he was going "Ok do I need to help now? What do you want me to do?" By the end though he just lay down and said "Fine, when you tell me precisely what you want I'll get up, but until then I'm staying down here."

So now it's over. It's been a long few days. Social and stimulus over load for my system that's for sure.

yup, we got snow!

Last night we got a few inches and the dogs are having a blast in it. After harassing me for about an hour to "Hurry up! We wanna go out and play!" out we went with the cuz for some fun. But even though we have snow, it seems the ground is not yet frozen solid. That is probably due to the copious amounts of rain and unseasonably warm temps we've had lately. For example at the gate that goes from the potty yard to the big play yard, it's about an inch of mud. Glad I had my tall rubber boots on! Also had to be careful that the dogs didn't slip and slide in the slick surface.

Tomorrow and Tue are supposed to be fairly sunny and nice out, but the forecast for Wed isn't looking pretty. 70% chance of snow/sleet/rain. Yuck. And Wed is Li's birthday and we've been planning for an entire year to go up to York Beach, ME and walk the dogs on the beach and eat lobster chowder at this very good restaurant we've found up there. But if the weather is really nasty, we have to make other plans. Anyone have any good ideas for around here? She already ixnayed going to a museum and there aren't any movies playing she wants to see. She did say she wants to go to her favorite breakfast place, so we'll do that in the morning and I told her I'd bake her a cake to which she said "Good, that'll be lunch!" So suggestions are being taken for something fun, probably indoors and preferably "out of the state" (so like RI, or eastern CT are doable.

snow

After a very long day of rather nasty rain, around 4:30 it started to freeze and turn icy, then to snow. We now have a but of rather wet snow acumulation. Of course by the time I got home I was pretty beat and it was dark and so the dogs haven't really had a chance to play in it as of yet. Maybe if the white stuff is still here tomorrow they'll get a chance to have some fun.

Sad news

My mum called me this morning to tell me my grandfather had passed away. He hung on a lot longer than the hospice people (or anyone else really) thought he would. So now it's funeral arrangements and family time. I'm going over there in a bit to find out what's going on and what I need to do and cancel in the coming week to be there for my family. I know there is going to be a wake at a local funeral home and then the church service the next morning, just not sure what days stuff will be on as of yet. The burial plot though is in VT, so I don't think I'll be going up there though my parents probably will be. It's the end of an era, he was born in 1919, fought in WWII in the navy, not too many of those folks left. Hope my gram will be ok, she's a tough lady, but I worry about her sometimes.

Happy Birthday Monty!

I know Monty has a blog, but I never write on it and more people seem to read this one so I'm posting here instead. Today the Mont-a-Monster Corgi-Boy is 5! Which means he's been living with me for about 2.5yrs. He's such a little lovable devil dog. Always got an opinion on something but ever ready for a snuggle on the couch. Coming to me as a dog with a pretty big behavior issue, he's taken to behavior mod very well and can now coexist in a household with others and behave himself.

So here's to very many happy more, Mont!

Lovely weather

Today was a gorgeous day out. Sunny. Balmy. Very unusual for us this time of year. Usually I'm freezing cold walking around in way more layers wrapped up in a blanket. Instead James and I went down to the Starbucks at the corner so I could get a gift card for my Gram and I had no mittens, only 1 pair of socks on and only my fleece jacket over my sweat shirt. And I was so happy, the local bakery that is basically right next to the Starbucks had Ginger Bread People! I LOVE ginger bread cookies, but find that making them from scratch can be very much a lot of work for the payout so I haven't made them in a few years. (plus do I really need to eat the dozen plus cookies that I end up making? Um, NO!) The bakery only carries them rarely, but ever hopeful I stop in there on occasion hoping to strike pay dirt, today was such a day! So James and I stopped there first, got a ginger bread lady and then dunked her in Starbucks hot chocolate. Mmmmm, yum!

James is so funny. He knows the names of a lot of the regular places we go in this plaza. The plaza is basically a very large spread out outdoor mall with a hard ware store, 2 pet stores, the bakery, the Starbucks, a pharmacy, a super market, a handmade chocolates store (the candies are to die for! We don't go there except on extra special occasions), a bunch of clothing stores, a nice pizza/italian place, etc. But for some reason he enjoys going certain places over others for reasons I have yet to fathom, since never do I feed him in stores or does anyone talk to him or anything like that. Today when I told him we were going to "Starbucks" he was like "YEAH!! FUN!!" and I'm like "Ok, you're nuts dog, all you ever do in Starbucks is stand in line with me, then find me a chair to sit in and then you lay at my feet while I drink my drink and eat a cookie. Nothing really exciting ever happens to you there." We left Ivy's (the pastry shop) and James was all driving into the harness and turning on a dime, showing me the strange corner crossing (the cross walk goes straight across but if you follow it it leads to grass and parking lot, no sidewalk, whereas if you turn left instead not following the crosswalk, you get to sidewalk and the the UPS store and then Starbucks. Just really odd. And the curb cut of course sucks and if you're not careful people try to run you over while you're standing there) going "I know where we're going and I'm having such a good time. Lalalalala" So silly that dog! Maybe he likes the smell of coffee (I don't drink coffee so he never gets that smell around the house), dunno.

Oh and it's also nice to know that James can still do traffic checks. We don't get them very often (thank god!) but today on one of the busy crossings (there is a sidewalk but no light) I had waited until cars going both ways stopped. Or at least I thought they did and I thought they recognized that we were waiting to cross. And then as we start to cross the person in the SUV on the far side starts moving again! I could have SWORN she was dead stopped and looking at us when we started crossing. But we get about half way across and there she is driving in front of us. James nicely stopped the second he saw her start to move, waited, then got us across. I told James what a good dog he was and shook my head at crazy drivers. That is one thing that I don't look forward to when I get a new dog, the traffic checks part of class. Cars when you're walking are scary enough, let alone having a trainer drive at you on purpose to make sure you trust your dog and your dog knows his job, repeatedly in one or two days. Scary. But I understand the rational and it makes a ton of sense, best to know that your dog can do it before you go home with him, rather than leave it to chance. But scary all the same. I'm absolutely glad the dogs are trained to do it, and glad I trained James to do it, as traffic crossings aren't my best area especially in situations like today, where I could have sworn there were cars stopped at all areas then suddenly there is one coming at us since I have large issues being able to judge exactly where that car is and can I keep moving safely or do I need to stop or do something else. Use to scare the shit out of my mum watching me try to cross a road especially in the city before James. Stuff just doesn't register properly. So good to have a safety catch in case I read the situation wrong.

sleep

So I decided to slightly modify the sleep program to see if I could eliminate my morning nap and it worked! Last night I went to bed at about 12:30 or so. But instead of setting my alarm for 7am, I set it for 8. The dr had said that the plan was to eventually move the alarm to 8 anyway, so I figured I wasn't screwing anything up too much (I hope!) Since when I had been getting up at 7 the past 2 days I was then needing to sleep for at least an hour about an hour or so after getting up, my thinking was, if I can sleep an hour later, then I won't need the nap. And so far I was right!

I got up at 8 with the alarm and have been up and going ever since. I've got a few dogs who are snoozing on the couch without me instead! Someone once told me that dogs sleep like 20hrs out of every day or something crazy like that. I learned at the sleep clinic that humans should be awake 16hrs out of every day, so I guess that means sleeping for 8hrs. Not anywhere near as much as dogs. I don't even want to know how much cats sleep as I think that's more than even dogs!

I was laughing so hard!

Tonight I was going through a random selection on NetFlix and this film came up called "Cannibal! The Musical" And I thought to myself, ok what on earth is this?! I read the little excerpt about it and it said something like "based on a true story of the only American ever convicted of cannibalism." But a musical about it? And it was considered a comedy? Ok I said, I've got to at least try to watch this.

It was so bizarre it was funny! It reminded me a lot of a Monty Python skit. I mean the musical numbers were horrible, but hysterically funny. Like one line was "the sky is blue, the leaves are green and my heart is full like a hot potato" Hot potato?! What does that have to do with anything? Stuff like that. Just lyrics so random that they were very very funny. And none of the actors could carry a tune. It was just so horrible it was funny. And they're out in the middle of the Colorado Territory freezing to death and this one man is singing about snow men. I mean just nuts!

The whole premise is these guys from Utah (including a Mormon priest who goes insane after getting an infected leg since it was stuck in a bear trap, and "Gotta Always have a Positive Attitude!" man and a butcher) who are gold diggers, decide to go to Colorado to try their luck at gold there. The have this 1 man "leading" them (he really has very little clue where he's going) and he has this horse Lilian. His horse "runs away" aka gets stolen by some fur trappers, because supposedly she's an Arabian and that is a "trader horse not a digger horse" and the entire film is about how he is trying to find his horse, his love. But it all goes horribly wrong and they take a wrong turn on the river and end up starving and freezing, until this one guy in their party goes crazy and kills nearly everyone except the "leader" and then he kills the crazed man and ends up surviving by eating his fallen comrades. Then gets arrested for it, put on trial, nearly hanged and the saved by a technicality found via a reporter who he told his story to. Oh yes and they meet this "Indian" tribe that is really Chinese people who practice karate and it's just so odd. And it's all interspersed with just strangeness and singing at the most random times. Like they're in the middle of the mountains and there is this random black cat walking through going "You're Doomed! You're all doomed!!"

It was a total spoof on what was really a very bad situation. It was just a very silly film. If you like Monty Python type stuff, you would probably find this film rather funny (though I do admit there were some rather gross gory parts, I just shut my eyes for that bit). If not, then probably best to skip it.