dd 4 29

ongggg. Story,,,

Here's just some of my education in the Dane business ---long ago like in the 1980 eights I got inspired to own a Harlequin Great Dane basically because I had seen pictures of ones that had won Westminster dog show great big black and white Danes so I started out looking.. quickly zeroing in on AKC breeders and being very impressed with champions and things like that..  but very early in the game I noticed that every AKC breeder I had contacted was bragging about the amount of BMW bloodlines that were in their dogs.   So I figured I better go see these  BMW dogs---turns out there kennel was on Long Island and though I hate boats I took a ferry boat from grotten to the tip end of Long Island in order to go see these dogs---- the owner of the kennel was Laura Kyle lanes I don't know how you spell it something like that she was an architecture who worked in Manhattan and she had lovely dogs.. it was decided I could buy one of her puppies in the next letter and I did that which turned out to be Tiffany beautiful dog look just like sizzle..  Laura also sold or gave me a mail dog I've forgotten which and I didn't at the time realized that she had intended to use that dog for breeding but as the days turned into months I decided th male was not really up to what I like and so I had him neutered . Laura was very upset that I could remember her saying you don't realize what you've done when basically all I did was have a male dog neutered that I really didn't think it was worth breeding but any rate she said he was the only one I had in that line I was new at this game I knew nothing about lines and genetics and things like that but I was soon to learn it. I was of the opinion if you want a female Dane and you want to breed it you found an AKC champion Dane and for a certain amount of money they'd breed it for you -----it's not that simple.

 

My basic agreement with Laura was if I was to breathe the female I let her pick the male and she got half the price of anything she helped sell I said fine not realizing that when the puppies were about six weeks old I found out that she had all of them sold and I wasn't going to have any of them which made me very angry and also made me just keep them all which is how I ended up with eight great Danes running around Boston in that crazy bed... 

They were wonderful dogs.. though I never did register them..  they were all registered in Laura's name. --.

 

Aside from being  a super intelligent Architecture for Manhattan Laura knew her dogs--and you will see BMW bloodlines in many Danes today- but having angered Laura, she would not give me a male to breed. Tiffany..  which ended up with me flying all around the mid West looking at great Dane stud dogs. and most people would not breed to my female as she was unregistered --- ( I ended up buying Mary The Super intelligent donkey from Kansas City)  

However I found the owner of country run Danes on the Hudson River willing to let me use   their “EARL” for $1000.

And I was off running... But I had a bunch of puppies by Earl so therefore I didn't want to breed him again and I found out it's not easy to find a nice sound healthy Great Dane in the United states..  which is how I ended up going to Europe It's almost easier to buy a puppy in Europe than to deal with the AKC here in the United states—

I just kept that scenario going for the next 25--30 years. basically the BMW bloodline was the strength of my females

and I used studs from Europe to keep the gene pool mixed.

 

Actually I bought the male dogs and for the most part parked them with friends and neighbors around here.

Which is why in Georgetown MA I think is where they both  are.. there are two stud dogs there are better than most of the others you'll find in the United states namely Tigger (harl) and Sir Richard--  who is the Merle from Claudia Bohemia’s kennel in the Czech Republic.  he is better bred than anything I found in the USA.

I think both are still there and  available.

 

The other problem is that I think all female from my breedable line have been spayed and neutered so there is no way of going forward with that .  If there is anyone still out there with an unspayed female from.. shall we call it carlene's line please let me know..  not too sure what I can do about it but I could think about it

 

I do hope that any of the Dane world I should say normal Dane world.. who is thinking of having a litter of pups do consider those two dogs I don't think you'll find any better anywhere else..  The people who have these stud  dogs basically on loan from me but scrap all the details.. I think Megan knows where they are and who they are.  I might have the phone number somewhere but all I ever had to do was make a phone call and the stud dog would appear in my kennel,, it worked very well for 20 odd years..  I worked very hard to mix  a dog from the Claudia Bohemia line  with my bmw dogs.

 photo credit---

Here is laura with 5 huge danes in a tiny rowboat--- she took them – almost daily over to fire island “for a run” -there is not much boat left for any wiggle room...  she knew her dogs.  eventually she liked what I was doing.

 

Her other claim to fame was she had a lufthaunsa  pilot friend who used to bring her semen in his shirt pocket aand she bred many dogs in the ladys room of kenedy airpoort. 

 DD. 4 28

Dd 4 28

Noodle has had a rough morning .  He does not understand why people haven't figured out that when there are puppies in the house every up has a down----and regardless of where you put things---UP-----gravity with the help of puppies will make them go “down”----and in this morning's case he really didn't mean to pick up a wire along with his mashed water bottle... but that caused the tripod usually holding the camera to go down big time.... Not only that but the one camera became two pieces of Camera. And then it didn't move at all so noodle ran for my feet... and just laid there staring at the two pieces of camera lying so quietly on the floor..

” . I thought it must have died it didn't move.... And to make matters worse carlene has started telling me “down”--- and making me lie with my tummy on the floor...  until she says “noodle come” which is what I'm supposed to get up and run and see if she has any cookies.    it is very confusing..   there seems to be no point in  tummy “down”  and tummy “up”..  But the ways of humans are very strange..    I did have a lovely run around at a place she calls Meredith----with lockie and sizzle I found out there are birds to chase even if you never catch them---

I had trouble keeping up with lockie but I tried my best with my 4 little legs.. . Then we all rode around in the car while they tied An old piece of chain link fence to the back of our car.. so we could drive around in the places they keep the horses.. Until we rode into a place where there was a lot of water... Carlene’s car does not swim well.  So we had to get Mr. Meredith to come along with his great big odd  looking yellow vehicle...  To pull us backwards out of the mud... after which we drove around all the pastures while we dragged that chain link behind us--to spread out the “clumppies “and make the pastures all pretty again......

Then we went to a really strange place where they keep bunches of  people in funny chairs with wheels. .   I love going to those places because the people in those funny chairs have a frying pan where  they put treats. Fun .. but reallllly weird..... Mine is not to reason why”

 

Back to reality--  eventually we will get goldies farm equine rescue network, the veterans project, and a few other projects all in order and be able to set up some kind of budget---    the hay bill is a constant---  there is no variation---if you have a bunch of equines you must have hay--  and thankfully our camera crowd is taking care of that very nicely because we do use 70 to 100  bales  a week depending on the size of the bales ----that is a constant—however...    the variables like veterinary visits, fly covers, and  blacksmiths  are covered by the henny penny contributions---- and I am happy to give you a specific list of expenses   AS LONG AS YOU DON’T INSIST ON ACCOUNTING TYPE ACCURACY....

We have an official accountant to prepare our paperwork for the IRS pretty much on a yearly basis which is exceedingly expensive,,,   if I run this stuff off in a spreadsheet I really don't want to bother worry about the balance is being off by a $1.02.. BUT IT CERTAINLY WOULD GIVE YOU SOME IDEA—LIKE--- THESE PLACES ARE THRILLED WITH OUR DONKEY AND HORSE---THAT WAS DEPENDENT ON MY SPENDING ? $1040 GETTING THE TRAILER   UPDATED AND PAPERWORK DONE...  PLUS THE ENTIRE FARM SHOWS A  NEGLECT FROM A COUPLE YEARS OF IGNORING “STUFF”.

HOW SIGNIFICANT? YOU MAY ASK???  WE HIRED A 40 YARD DUMPSTER WHICH WE FILLED IN ABOUT 3 DAYS. – I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE BILL IS FOR THAT – BUT I KNOW “TRASH” DEMANDS A SIGNIFICANT PART OF OUR BUDGET---  THAT IS JUST ONE...

??H.R.PAPERWORK???? .... AND IF YOU WANT TO GET INTO HUMAN RESOURCES TYPE STUFF,  OSHA WOULD NEVR APPROVE MY  HOURS- MORE LIKE 14 HOUR DAYS  7 DAYS A WEEK....AND WHEN PUPS WERE BEING BORN IT WAS 24 HOUR DAYS... DID I GO ANYWHERE????  REFRESH MY MEMORY... 

   I THINK.... WHEN YOU TALK OF HOURS AND  VACATIONS...... I THINK I HAVE TAKEN 3 DAYS OFF IN THE PAST 22 YEARS... I WENT TO SEE SANDY ONE WEEKEND ... I DON’T REMEMBER ANY OTHER “TIME OFF”  EVEN IF I AM ALSO A VOLUNTEER

P.S. DON’T BOTHER  WITH THE PITY PART--- YOU WOULD HAVE TO DRAG ME SCREAMING TO GET ME ON A CRUISE SHIP- AND AN AIRPLANE IS NOT MUCH BETTER..... THO SANDY AND I DID HAVE FUN !!

 

at the moment.. we are flying by the seat of our pants--- AND MY THANKS TO ALL WHO KEEP US “KEEPING ON” AS YOU SO OFTEN PUT IT...

AND MANY THANKS TO CLOUD FOR ILLIUSTRATING OUR SENIOR HOME VISITS

 DD TESTING 4 27\\\

Today (Saturday....27... I am going to rigg this dd to send it to me first swo maybe I can figure out why it is not going where I tell it to go note... aol will not sent  to the size list we are—so I work with constant contact. Which sors for duplicates and tells me who reads i5 and when..( for \ a small fee)- and they have been great for years.. as you kow....—but they can be screwed around with like any internet dealings...so I have asked them to be on alert today---

 I send it to 3 locations

 

 First a small group6  of tqandom cp’s  ( and ME).  GET IT FIRST—WHICH ALSO GIVES ME A PLACE TO COPY AND PASTEFROM I I NED ITTHNE THE CC LIWT OF ABOUT 2000 PEOPLE ( WHER 55% READ IT DAILY AND 1 UNSUBSCRIBES AND ADDS  1 NEW ADDRTESS)--- MY ADDRESSIS IN THERRE TOO.. SO I SHOUOD RECEIVE 2 COPIES RIGHT AWAY

 

 THEN  I COPY AND PASTE TO THE “BLOG” WHICH IS APPARENTLY OFF OUR WEB??   I DUUNNO. BUT 150 OR SO PEOPLE READ IT THERE DAILY TOO.. I HAVE NOT SO FAR CHECKED THE BLOG TO BE SURE IT GETS TEHRE.. WHICH I WILL NOW DO..

 

COUPLE THAT WITH THE INTERNET  WIRE GETTING RUN OVER BY DOZENS OF CARS  WHICH DO NOT PARK IN THE PARKING LOT..  I HAVE ASKED THEM TO PARK IN TH E PARKING L;OT—OR ALONG THE DRIVEWAY BEFORE THE GATE.. IT DOES NOT SEEM TO MATTER....AMAZON USPS, FEDEX AND UPC ALL NOW TURN HERE IN FRONT OF MY CABIN SO THEY DON’T CROSS THE WIRE..THSNKD TO THEM...

 

OUR NEIGHBOR “DEB” WITH  TEENAGE DAUGHTER HAS DONE A COUPLE  JOBS WITH US SO FAR—AND IS ENJOYING IT...—THEY GET HER OUT OF SCHOOL TO “PARTICIPATE IN SOCIAL. SEFVICES” WHERE SHE IS “THE KID WITH THE FRYING PAN !!.” I AM TRYING YO INCLUDE HER IN A VARIETY O F PLACES’’’ SOME VERY “HIGH END” QND THEN THE REST “NORMAL”.  IT IS CERTAINLY EDUCATIONALL FOR HER—AND SUCH A HUGE HELP TO RESIDENTS AND STAFF OF THESE PLACES... MAYBE....... I JUST THOUGHT.. SHE COULD MAKE IT A SCHOOL PROJECT TO WRITE TO MR CUMMINGS AND SEE IF HE \]WOULD  DO SOMETHING...   IF SHE COULD GET A SMALL  GRANT FROM HIM WE COULD HIRE HER FOR THE SUMMER. AND EVERYONE WOULD BENEFIT !!*****/* D3BBIE... THAT WAS JUST A NEWW IDEA—MAYBE A GRANT COULD BE AA SCHOOL PROJEDCT---  I BET HE DOESN’T GET MANY FROM KIDS  AND IT MIGHT JUST BE HER SUMMER JOB????****-WE HAVE A TEEN HERE WHO JUST GOT HER DRIVERS LICENSE..... I WOULD BE HAPPY TO GIVE THEM TRAILER MANAGEMENT LESSONS !!

 

AND I COULD WRITE IT UP IN THE NEWSPAPER.......BINGO!!!

SO FAR SO GOOD... NOW FOR CONSTANT CONTACT .

 dd 4 25 

lets see if i can get this DD out before the creek overflows.i know one thing... someone.... ?goldy? dkes not want meeven lookng around amazon...--- it is a fake warning.. and just have to turn off and on-- but i may not go "shopping" 

janine took over mail call last night  and it looked like they were "on the road" with wanda.. so she may be home today. there are many projects awaiting her......  judy and carlie did the chelsea job with donk and horse,,, with great success even if it was miles away..i am learning to "let them go" with the equine bunch.

 i still want to go   til noodle gets a little better trained.  he is almost ready for the canine good citizen test.... i had said ?2 weeks for pasta?? pasta-- being a dane.. was easier for me-- this guy has a more independent streek ?had no spoon feeding?

i am thrilled with the poo pad project.... currently he gets up when i do--- 3 or 4 ish. and i tell him to get out the door quickly-- which he does... he now goes away from the door ( progress) to pee.. then turns back to the door.. for breakfast-- after which he poo's dead center on the pad ! you remember my goal is to have a pee pad in the ? hotel?  bathroom so i don't have to get up and out at 2am....so far so good...  the vet-- being negative said. what happens if he will only go on the pad?   i will simply carry a 4 inch square as a marker !!

.sorry i missed a day or two...j give up too easily when it comes to this #$$%^^&* computer..

i have a new challange... betsy's basket for her shop--janet sent me a video on makeing  a "rope basket" which would be perfect for he shop with my zipperpulls...

dd 4 24

it is working-- at the moment... 

dd 4 22..3

dd4 23 computer  problems we are having serious problem with the traffic over the wire-- we are working on it...

Dd 4 22

This may turn out to be a rough day,  I told you about the gallon of white pennies that I have compliments of some old boyfriend of Janine and I did some research online and found out that there are very few of those white pennies that are worth $250,000 each and it implied that one of the differences was that some of these were magnetic and some were not and the non magnetic ones a word 250,000 OK..  I will do a lot of things for 1/4 of $1,000,000 and sitting in my chair with a magnet checking out a gallon worth of pennies is certainly one of them..

except the magnet was dirty it was out of my workshop about 18 inches long and used for picking up nails at work sites.  so I decided I needed to wash off this magnet before I could sit so comfortably in my chair with it.

hands up for anyone who sees the problem coming but I went to wash it in the kitchen sink so I would have a nice tidy project going not realizing the kitchen sink is stainless steel so once I place the magnet in the kitchen sink I couldn't get it out that's a big magnet..

 

 so while I was struggling with the bag that in the kitchen sink nick came through the door looking for towels Emptied my supply of towels into his is brand new manure bucket he said that the donkey was about to have a baby and that he'd been told to go get the towels all right--so before he left with the towels he put my computer screen on the camera that would allow me to watch what was going on and I saw him arrive in the stall with the donkey who was just eating hay and he decided to give her more hay which was logical check the water which he did and then he decided to take some of the hay outside for the four donkeys or so on the other side of the door so he gathered up the hay and went out through the door and very slowly the door wedged opened and end came a goat's head.. it's also pretty well known that wherever a goat can put its head it will put its whole body and get loose at any rate so one goat came in cute little white thing and sure enough second cute little white goat came in and then nick came back in slightly flustered trying to get the goats out ohh the pregnant Mama stole.... goats are usually very nice benign animals without too much trouble but was it they do and they love to do it is if you push their head around they will stand up on their hind legs and come crashing down with their head and hit you in your closest spot which is sometimes your knees and that could be devastating it's fun to them pushing each other's head around is what they do for entertainment.. so that left nick with two goats and the pregnant Mama and to try to get them sorted out it was very difficult and clearly not one of his marketable skills... He finally got them sorted out and came back to the cabin where we called Elizabeth his wife who was visiting Janine..  and their advice was to keep watching on the Internet camera and if it looked like she was going to have a baby he was to come get me and take me down and put me in the stall to supervise whatever happened/

 

which brings us to the next problem I only have one shoe I don't know what noodles has done with the other we've looked for it for about a day now and I don't have it so although I stayed in my street clothing to be carried down to this pregnant donkeys stall I was going to only have one shoe . Nick said that didn't matter he was  interested only in what was in my head and not on my feet /

 

To get the magnet out of the sink was going to require some serious muscle which of course is Wallace.. who I'm sure would be happy to help in any way he can.

 

now is there anyone out there in camera land who would like to try and write the job descriptions for any of the people involved in this baby magnet  goay shoe episode..  because at one point assistant dog international said I MUST  write a job description for everybody  on the fatm...   and that's when I just completely lost it. this is a farm. I cannot tell from one minute to the next well anybody would be required to do.

 

 dfd 4 21

Dd 4 21. Food

I get all sorts of early morning brainstorms at 2:00 in the morning and I really am enthusiastic by about 4:00 with some idea or another So that by the time I get up I've exhausted myself and don't get to carry it forth today's brainstorm I've tried very hard to start early I've heard rumors Gwen is coming up from the Carolinas.  Gwen is noted for being super organized and accomplishes a great deal ----last time she was here she tackled the problem of food which is a good topic but I think we need to address it more scientifically..  I ended up with an awful lot of macaroni and cheese which I rarely eat..  so I propose that she write a book how I fed my 86 year old mother... and it really would have to start with sit her down and figure out what she wants to eat in the first place......macaroni and cheese goes just so far.. and I become painfully aware that the slippery factor is a big one..  putting it mildly I don't swallow quite as easily as I once did and very nearly bought the farm the other night over a piece of meat.  With gwen's organization I think she could put out a very entertaining and useful book.  Gwen is super good at that kind of thing..... if she manages figure out how to display our finances at the same time that would be very useful also...  it's all very straight in my head and janine's head but accounting type people do like to have plot plans or whatever you call them.

 

Succotash--   Lima beans and corn---  I do like that so this morning I'm going to try and cook up and bag a bunch of that and see how I make out..  A big problem in the food department is that quantities of things are not figured in half cup sizes which is about the size of what I eat so somehow prepackaging that's got to be part of this deal and I do like those seal a meal plastic that bags.

 

so often at 4:00 in the afternoon I wish that I had started one of those suvee steaks which I could then eat at supper time but I never managed to get it started appropriately..  except today in the sink there is the SUV cooker with a beautiful piece of prime New York sirloin...  last time I cooked that I used 134° and it was good but a little too done so this time I'm doing 130..  This being Sunday there is no mail call so you won't get to see how I make out and by tomorrow I probably will have forgotten.  unless somebody asks me...

I do know that the 4 inch plastic cups with instant Idaho mashed potatoes are wonderful I think someone sent us those and I will be trying to find more of them.. with a hunk of butter or a spoon of sour cream they are elegant.

 

Moving on... with one other perfect “find”.   That young man who has been raking our driveway is doing a super job---so I asked around... he is related to Wallace ( the ex-bullrider) who works training horses in the area,... Wallace is wonderful---( and super strong). He came in the cabin to say hello and I asked if  he would plan to roll up my ( urine soaked) rug so I could get it cleaned... with that he picked up my 400 pound desk and got the rug out and rolled—not a problem...with that concept in let us not lose track of the young man raking.... every farm needs access to at least one  lift and carry type person.  If it ain’t rugs, it is hay that needs lifting...

 

On todays menuis ---- no trips.. no judy --- so we have the day off. ( we being lachey sizzle and noodle)

as for a name the foal--- i like to wait til we have a live whealthy foal on the ground before we start the naminmg game....

 

dd 4 20
So yesterday it was Hunts rehab we've been there about two weeks ago with the donkey and pony--- very popular so this day it was the two dogs with noodle for the exciting thing to talk about and he was exciting he was terrific it -----the operation works like this ---JUDY DRIVING....we pull up in front of the place as close as we can get to the door and I get out with my Walker and two dogs ---many times lockie on leash  and sizzle  following and we go on in and I have them lie down in the lobby and I sit on my Walker which has a seat attached -or proceed to the “gathering room”.----- Judy goes and parks the car and comes in with that sack full of paraphernalia that we need for this operation from poop pickers to treats to frying pans all of that stuff and she had noodles on a leash well I went all the way in and sat down and it was quite a while before Judy got there so I rambled on a little bit for the few people that had already gotten there and finally Judy arrives with the great flurry now there's a name for a dog any rate she comes in and immediately starts in with her rambling which is hysterical” good morning everybody how we feeling this morning and everybody have their coffee this morning and isn't that a pretty shirt. that's a nice color and are those new sneakers that you got she goes on and on and on and it is amusing to me but I've heard it before so after 10 minutes of this something else takes over,,

 

now I've been up since about two. AM. .. probably had a cup of coffee by three found something to eat by about four written the daily doggy hopefully sometimes written something check my emails and the weather and the henny penny sales at any rate I generally by 7:00 in the morning I have had what my body thinks is lunch and I'm really ready for a little nap which would ordinarily be somebody's early morning nap.   but I'm out dressed in the car and at hunts nursing home but that didn't stop it from being my nap time so I began to nod off amid a circle of about 20 people many of them younger than I who are at various stages of also nodding off...  now the problem there becomes larkey..  is his attitude if I'm working you're working and he came up to me apparently put his head under my chin and gave a quick upward snap nearly broke my neck but I woke me up big time and it was pretty funny Judy saw it exactly what was going on she could hardly stop laughing I don't think everybody noticed but larkey sure did... he's like that though------- I should not be sleeping while sitting in a chair or someplace and he is very quick to say so now I did not train him to do that but that's basically him alerting me to the fact that something is happening that he does not understand and would I please wake up and take care of it...  So with effort  I stayed awake for the remaining 30 minutes and made it home to take a proper nap in my chair.  

 

I don't know and it frightens me to wonder how many of these people we see are  not normally napping but are basically in a medically induced sleep as I was a couple months ago when the medication I was given for my itching skin was far too relaxing..    I have stopped taking that medication and it took me almost a week before I could once again do a #4 sudoku puzzle..   so these little pills that you swallow so willingly can easily affect more than you intend them to affect. 

And then you drive?....  OR VOTE??????

 dd 4 19

dd 4 19 

You old timers remember the 19th when we used to take a cake to the fire department before somebody passed some sort of suggestion that they don't accept anything edible or anything anyway or whatever and they ruined all the fun but there are a lot of firemen out there who ate a lot of cake that we gave them on the 19th of the month.

 

so today's job is hunt rehab center somehow there's two rehab centers on the same hill one is addiction rehab and the other is some sort of physical rehab we are doing the physical rehab.. last time we were there we had the donkey and and something else I think 2 donkeys today we will take the two dogs and our one little puppy

 

noodle  was absolutely spectacular yesterday.. off leash behaving on the button. stay by me until Judy makes a noise with her frying pan and we tell him to to go and he runs like crazy all the way across the ring of people which is 30 feet maybe ---eats the cookie and it turns around and he runs back to me.. this is a sharp little dog ... He knows to keep track of us where I am where Judy is and where locky is.. wow because when all else fails he runs for lackey------- for the first few minutes... their staff kept him on leash. but then I suggested we just take it off because he seemed so relaxed and knowing what he was doing so we remove the leash and he was on his own and he did fine he worked the crowd pretty well and crowd that there was it was our first time at this particular rehab center.  We were asked to go there by a woman we met in the Georgetown senior  center. As our troupe is getting better known, we can get to our goal of 100 people a week, and hardly travel 8 miles in any direction...  basically essex county..

 

I don’t dare ask for any local support from “big” donors until I am free of any legal mess—lin the meantime you all are doing fine at keeping me in gas money--- plus those odd things that go with pet ownership---  I walked into the local vet—who 20 years ago said they did not service great danes  for such big dogs..  going in as a new pet owner I got the full treatment including a shadow sheet of paper on how to house break a puppy and things like that so I'm kind of keeping track of that to see what just what it would cost for the old person to get a puppy out of rescue and end up in the veterinarians office for shots////

so far I have been required to pay $50 to sign up to be part of their practice and that $50 would get applied to my first visit so I gave them my credit card and prayed the next time I went it was for the first of a series of shots primarily parvo and things like that and he listened to the heart and looked at the teeth and moved all the limbs and things like that and everything was fine $134..  and they gave me a heartworm pill which would also kill fleas..  and on the receipt for all this was my next appointment at 9:00 yesterday where he gave hIM the second shot ..  That was $164 and on the receipt what is my appointment for the next one a couple of weeks down the road..  I don't mind paying for the knowledge these veterinarians have in their heads what I have beginning to add up and object to is the guy who came along and gave them a course in how to build your practice and how to make people come back-- how do take advantage of the emotional attachment to the dog or cat or whatever and I can see that this practice..  is well attuned with that.   We'll see how far I can go with that before I get out the catalog where the same shot that they're charging $60.00 for iS $1.89 ON AMAZON..... well maybe $8.34---  point being made...

 

and we haven’t even got to the rabies shot at 12 weeks that is mandatory— I will fund this  fun for the moment...

 dd 4 18

Dd 4 18

Somewhere in the course of this building's history  there was a young man maybe a new leak graduated from college whatever who ended up living in the cabin---for whatever reason--and he had a very strange hobby of collecting pennies and he had milk jugs lining the sitting room..  which sounds totally useless until you had somebody's birthday and you could very easily go pick out 10 pennies from the year of their birth without any problem and it was extremely unique way of celebrating anybody's birthday.. 

 

Fast forward to 2024 and puppyhood...   all the mutual milk jugs have gone and the only milk jug that remains is 1943. which was the year there were silver pennies...  not only does this milk chug remain but for about two weeks I have had the lid to something that looked very familiar and couldn't remember what it was until these white pennies began to appear under my chairs and on the floor and in my boots all 1943 and then I remembered he had a whole gallon of those and the lid that he kept it in was not the normal milk chug but it had a wide mouth just the size of a puppy's head I can't tell if the puppy has swallowed any of these but those white pennies are all over the place now..  Judy has checked one or two of them because apparently there is one that's worth a whole lot of money 1943 and some letter on it or something I don't know..  I haven't found the jug yet ----well I'm sure that's what the lid is and all of these pennies that are appearing...  are all 1943.

Does anybody out there in camera land have any idea what we should be looking for in this gallon of 1943 pennies?

I would hate to have noodles swallow a penny that was worth $17,000 because it had a funny date ..  Judy just slipped a note under my nose that said maybe the date would be 1944 which would be worth $1,000,000 can we get an opinion on that one???

 

This cabin has been home to a raft of newly graduated college people who haven't quite gotten their full stride yet.. but now looking back 20 years or so it's an amazing group of people--- most of them we're gwen's friends. who had. graduated from Kenyon College in Ohio... janine's collection of friends seemed to come from BU... and had been also graduates of my animal episodes business where they were chicken watchers or some such as a moneymaker for the newly graduated masters or PhD looking for a job ... it was out of that bunch the penny person was here for a while.

 

Movie guide for the day we have a dog job at 10:00 at a place I haven't been to before but it was very fancy joint also very well organized because they insist on rabies tests not too sure why but what the heck we do carry that in the glove compartment of the car.. but there is a guy there from Georgetown whose wife visits him every day and reads him the newspaper. and that's all I can remember I'm hoping the receptionist at this place can remember who that is so we can be sure we go and visit him Charles.

 

after that I'm hoping somebody shows up to give me an estimate on the roof..   I requested an estimate from the outfit that seemed to be the oldest...  as recommended by all my camera people     len.  Somebody. 50 years in business

let us pray.

ww 4 17

Dd 4 17

 

The great Internet mystery “I'll call you at 2:00”.  Is that today tomorrow or yesterday,,,  and does yesterday become today at midnight as one would suspect or tomorrow  does today become yesterday?  without at least one identifying marker like,,,,  today (, Wednesday)---- I am often left wondering when did this sequence start. I suspect that most of the world communicates through Facebook which may label it for them but seeing as I don't facebooks I am often left with one foot firmly planted in mid air.

 

Deb offered to help with the donkeys around a dental appointment... which would have been nice if we could have worked around 2:00 for both appointments ----it was a good visit yesterday.  We went to the Pilgrim house nursing home with that lovely Little Pony mini horse or whatever you want to call her and I would have to call the donkey a nomal  a regular size donkey he's a little bit larger than a mini..  having argued for 20 minutes with the trailer hitch about what is 2 inches???   we finally loaded the two without any trouble and managed to park easily in their handicapped parking place..  there is a long straight corridor and I have to say carpeted corridor 2 the door which exits onto their patio... where they had probably 35 patiences already in wheelchairs or rolling beds or whatever with Carly and Judy leading the animals I trailed along behind with my Walker filled with apple snacks, frying pans and the green bucket. Because I was perhaps the most experienced catcher in the rye...  so to speak... it very nearly fulfilled a lifetime goal of wandering around a nursing home with a well behaved donkey as we walked down that long corridor followed by the activities director moaning about not having received permission for this deal from the head honcho.. but we made it through the whole performance with no accidents,..  one thing about nursing homes whatever accident the donkeys could have has already happened somewhere in the place so although we try and be very careful reality is reality... and I was the keeper of the green bucket...

 

These two animals have not been used all that much so far and at the start the donkey was a little bit intense at finding just who had the treats and did not relate the frying pan with being fed...  so by the time we'd been there for 45 minutes he knew very well that the treat  was going to appear in the frying pan and if he just concentrate on that he'd find the treat a lot faster... so I sat there with the activities director (and the green bucket.)    she asked me how long it took me to train these two to eat out of the frying pan,,  and I honestly said about 5 minutes---- it really is a very good idea the donkeys concentrate on the pan instead of hands and people can take pictures as they search around for maybe a second treat in the frying pan..

 

The people were all amazed and thrilled with the two animals... and though it took considerable effort to get the trailer lights and the hitch and the registration all in order so we could use it for these visits,   the thrill these people got was well worth the effort...  particularly the one poor man who must have had a stroke and could not move anything besides his head----   his whole family was there and you can see he really appreciated the effort we had made

 

I have to admit there's an awful lot more effort that goes into trying to show a horse in some horse show where your goal is a blue ribbon which you can buy at the ribbon store for about $3..  These people will be talking about that horse and donkey for a very long time..  money well spent...

 

If success is using your capabilities to their fullest extent I was certainly well placed behind those two with the green bucket.   most people can identify some peculiar activity of which they are capable.... and my talent was certainly well defined behind the whole operation with the green bucket.

 

On to the next

 

 dd 4 16

Dd 4 16

Heaven help me from the roofers  -- I did get a few who were pleased... but the majority were “look out for....”

 

My super report today is  for dawn- dishwashing,,,,, I had heard that dawn killed fleas by doing something about ruining their chemical organization..  and at the moment I see nothing to disagree with that.  noodle is at my feet and ordinarily he would have scratched at least a half a dozen times by now and he hasn't done anything so it would look like if he did have a flea or two they may have flown the coop so to speak...

 

I could remember---- here we go again---my mother always added a cup of ammonia to every wash load just on general principles the guard against whatever living creatures any of us might have brought home... I had two sisters who were not as active as I with animals but still it could happen... there was a theater in town --a movie theater that we were not supposed to go to...   there were two theaters on mothers approved list but that one we were not supposed to go..

however frannie and I one day went it was a warm day and since we had such long hair we just flipped it over the back of the seats while we watched the movie.. and guess what we came home with...  nits...  and back then the chemicals weren't quite as good as they are now so it required a nit shampoo and a comb with a very fine comb... which was exceedingly painful with our long hair..  my mother did not have much sympathy as we shouldn't have been there in the first place.. 

when my own children we're of grade school age... I lived in fear of having one of them sent home with a note so they said they had bugs..  so just on general principles every month or two I would buy the special shampoo to take care of nits just in case...  I always said I was probably the only mother who could be fairly sure that her kids did not have any..  and then you get down to the nitty gritty of I've had a worm all the animals in the barn and why did I think my children were any different so they got wormed every few months too and they're both very healthy....

 

just on general principles...  like picking up a mattress or a bed or stuffed sofa--off the street-----  I try only to do that when the temperature is well below 32°..  because I am told by them as  seems to know--- that bedbugs will not survive being frozen-   and so far that does seem to work.  

 

So much for the delicacies of being rightly considered just one more animal. I always wondered why veterinarians insisted that the horses be wormed every six months or something and the dogs that were two buns yeah my pediatrician never said a word I figured they're hiding that wormer and some instant medication like gummy bears.

 

At the moment, I have a donkey job about 2 this afternoon and no one to go with me,,,  deb???? Anne???? Somebody????

and costco determines that a chicken with green muscle disease is ok to eat.... really????

 dd 4 14

Ask and ye  shall receive---  I asked for information on roofers and I have quite a few here to go through today thankfully and notably they have quite a few precautions to take ----it does sound like roofing is a place where a lot of newly graduated college students jump in with more enthusiasm than insurance and have created problems both by falling off the roof and by not finishing the job but taking the money ....so on we go..  

 

I'm not getting very far with my pee pad program///. being a boy dog he figures if he gets his front feet on the pee pad, he's there but that is not geometrically correct

I don't want to say that having a puppy is terribly distracting but I did just save a package of 500 pieces of paper for the copy machine I'm thinking that maybe if I put the manufactured end in first that the other end of the puppy chewed might just go through anyway//sitting here drinking my cup of coffee at 3:00 AM he has bought to me an  --- AA battery.--- pair of glasses. === a three inch brass ring  A piece of mattress foam,,A LEFT HAND SNEAKER,   One of the new yellow goldies acres pens  and a calculator..(still  useable ) THUS EMPTYING THE  UNDER AND BEHIND COLLECTION FOR LAST NIGHT.

 

Let's hope before 7:00 this morning he can find me some kind of right hand foot covering device... because with the puppy in the house a pair of anything can be just a figment of your imagination.. and the best you can do it is one right-hand foot covering device and one left-handed..  I wore that combination to the last adult care center and as I sat there in the circle with 25 or so residents of the facility my mismatched footwear looked almost normal as the staff assumed that at my age I just didn't know,, when in actual fact I've accepted the challenge of training a very active puppy.

 

I believe a company called E-D. Roofing will be here early this afternoon at least that's what somebody said last night on the phone but I don't know if they remembered that "to Morrow" was going to be a Sunday--  Sundays don't make any difference in the animal world.--- they all need food and care 365 days a year..

 dd 4 12 

 Beginning to gather information on roofers—anybody out there have any words of wisdom???it seems with this 5 star yelping bit  they are either 5 star or 1. Which boils down to it either “still leaks”... or it is fixed....

I am happy to report Elizabeth is down to three buckets that's three manure buckets from 7 this is progress..  but I've started asking around about the fixing of roofs.. and once I even sneezed in that direction I am inundated with roofing ads unbelievable how fast the word gets round.... I still would like to see what the building inspector has to say or who he might refer..  and I always wanna check with Jeff Masterson who has been around the block twice. one comment I picked up somewhere along the line was the 1st question you want to ask anybody who does roofing is how long have you been in business that's a strange question to be first but any rate I do notice there are two in this area who started back in the 1970s.. so out of the blue I've called one to ask if he wouldn't come up and give an opinion and an estimate.

 

I know that giving an estimate is part of any business process.. but to me I always feel badly knowing I'm not going to hire him that day at any rate.. 

 

The daily doggy crowd is certainly extremely valuable when I  need some odd piece of information because somebody out there is bound to have it......And there are two camera people out there who had a leaky roof and hired somebody to come fix it one of them charged $1700 the other one charged $1200 and in both cases the roof still leaks... that in itself is enough to scare  me  away from the whole project , Between water doing what water does and gravity pulling everything downhill the topic of leaky roof is not  a simple one//even though in this particular case the holes in the roof could be measured with a yardstick.    Anybody have any advice on “the repair of roofs” ???

 

Somebody warned me --- if the guy gets  up on the roof to look around, consider his weight because he might be causing the leaks where there are none.. the relationship between water and roofs is a very pequiliar one.

 dd 4 12

I got an interesting letter from the insurance company which was to let me know that there was a state law than if they had any damage of more than $1000 that they had to notify the state and town and it was three things----the building inspector the health inspector and I can't remember the third ---  I believe Janine already notified the building inspector and Elizabeth has contacted Boyne falls which was the cedar house builder that I think built it to see if there's any structural questions that we need to figure out. 

 I know the insurance inspector went over the whole place pretty thoroughly and according to Elizabeth picked up a few things she hadn't seen before And since to day there was supposed to be heavy rainfall that'll help identify anything else..  but the question does remain about the structure.

personally I don't think there is a structural problem , But what do I know. the damage seems to be in one corner of the

building.   You have to pick your experts very carefully especially when you're women and old ones... one man explain to Elizabeth how the rafters in the ceiling we're just decorative =====? somehow I don't think so I don't see how that roof would stay up if those rafters weren't there but he had great length explained to Elizabeth that they weren't necessary. you take a building with an A shape..  and the side walls end up holding up the roof.  well what do I know---

 

Yesterday anne AKA Denmark ann drove me to our job in Danvers at the seasons we're in a very disheveled format we entertain people for about 45 minutes with larkey sizzle and noodles///. From the front it looks like a rather small place but those have to be the longest corridors and I really wish I'd had my Walker--so I'll make note of that for next time.

 

today I think Debbie my next door neighbor 's going to join me to go to the senior daycare in Peabody trask?  where we can practice running dogs back and forth ---OK and the dog food maybe I'll get a good enough photograph to be able to write the article for tomorrow's newspaper----otherwise I'm stuck for a topic and a photograph.

 

I would really like to establish regular help slash drivers for three or four days a week so the Judy can stay home here and get other stuff done... the stuff in the other stuff department is overflowing. And Judy who was totally exhausted two days ago is considerably better with one serious day of rest. that's gotta say something.

dog training in day care centers is two fold,,,,