april 21 2015

what kind of night was it??   

in keeping with the   glass  1/2 full   vs 1/2 empty concept.... a huge thunderstorm went thru here last night and i am pleased to announce .   we have 2 white pups who did not have a problem with thunder.

not a problem-- just different handling... first and foremost  "grab and feed"  is #1.    a deaf dog must assume that being startled involves being fed treats-- and my favorite training device  for deaf is a fly swatter with a kleenex stuffed in it.  wave that around and spoon feed couple times and  later on any piece of white--- like papertowel  or notice  from the irs... is all you need. 

 that "this page left intentionally blank" is particul;arly good.

before the world comes down on me for breeding  dogs who could possibley produce a white/deaf.... 

there have been many studies done of the genetics of harlequin bloodlines... and teh arguement that the rescues are full of white deaf danes--- they may be someone elses' danes - BUT NOT OURS .  we have a policy of chipping all our pups  regardless of color....and having our name remain  as the "second contact" on the reg paper...  it is possible ot avoid teh birth of a white pup by having one parent be black-- and if that was the only concern-- fine... but we have to considert the entire dog-- like hips, kidneys and hearts.. not just the easily identifyable concern- in much of the literature a merle is considered the big problem--but  the harlequin ( the more desireable color for showing) has about the same numbers...

and take a look at  white  bailey---  perfect hips and a bunch of other things-- perfectly trained---active lifestyle--.... i know it is not nice to tempt fate-- so i just checked... she is snoring loudly- breathing  nicely  at 12 years old- and counting.... parents both harls...  could have been deaf-- but isn't.

it does mean i need to take an active role in starting these pups..

now that can be a problem.

*********

lots of projects for me to do...

mark  suggested  it is tijme to address the fact that we get alot of people here on sundays... and the t tent gets crowded...

 we could use a much smaller rendition of the arena-- by clearspan-- in the farmtek catalog- there is one with a "skylight" and a smooth arch---possible to roll up the sides and just have a big umbrella over a 30 x 50 area for tables and just sitting out of th esun/rain  and still be "outdoors" they  are not as expensiove as wood constrruction, but  there will be significant site prep-- which we can do ourselves as long as no one gets too picky about things like right angles etc...and i may be able to encourage them to donate it... we did put that unobtrusive logo on the arena...  they have been kind....  this "tent" would help...

and a cobblestone floor like the t tent is definitely OUT !!  puttin g on the t tent extension was back breaking and expensive...  the t tent did not cost that much as i carried a screwdriver in my van and  found places to park that involved tth e demolition of a cobblestone road  before anyone realized you could sell those things for severl $$ each.

like newburgh new york  and charlestown mass.

for this we will use stone dust-- bertter for wheelchairs anyway.

but we will need truckloads of "fill"   and if you think buying an acre of land around here is expensive--t ry buying a truckload.

there is an old farmer's joke about  the city guy offering to buy some of a farmers land  for $1000 an acre and the farmer says "young fellow, you come round with a wheelbarrow and i will sell you $1000 worth."

*******

today schedule--

maybe trying to get bentley to play a piano for a possibel calendar shot

and maybe lunching at another lobster place in search  for  a cateror for dogfest.

tough day-- somebody's got to do it./

************

Hi Carlene, Megan, Grace & SDP people,

 Princess Ruckus & I have been busy since we finally got a break in the weather.  We have something in common, love to be outside.  We were busy last week at school while the students were on break from taking those Common Core tests.  We will be doing the same this week.  I saw that some of the Dutchies were doing the same thing at Laura’s school.  It was great to see the faces of kids change from that “stressed out look” to a smile.  Our middle school students were making tissue flowers to decorate for a upcoming dance.  I've attached a picture of Princess Ruckus with her flower.  Please note the shades of purple.  I also fenced in my back yard & purchased a used conversion van.  Princess Ruckus was a tight squeeze in my PT Cruiser.  I think back that we have only been together for 8 wounderful weeks.  She has become a focal part of my life giving me confidence, help, friendship & love.  Last week with Princess Ruckus’s help I was able to go down the steps to my 3 season room, walk out the door, & walk around my back yard.  It was a “happy teary” moment because I've not been able to do this for a couple of years.  Carlene, the words Thank You are just not enough for how you and SDP have helped me regain & maintain my independence.  So, I purchased some chicken bricks!!  May I be shat upon!!

Attached are 3 pictures of Princess Ruckus: 1. At middle school with her flower & look of why are you doing this to me 2.  Helping me to walk in the backyard &3 playtime!!

Carlene feel free to use this in your DD & SDP Facebook page

Thanks so much

Princess Ruckus & Carolyn 

*****

i don't know how to put it in facebook-- maybe someone else can.??? or on the explore blog???

i dunno...

april 20 2015

i have already done 2 of those 3 paragraph blogs this morning -- so somehow i mentally figure the dd is done- and i am ready to eat left overs and drinki coffee

there was a guy a few weeks ago who was acusijng me of collecting donated  money and getting rich on it..- i sent him a financial statement and never heard from him again...

however ... if the truth be known... we  do collect food at  sunday stews and that becomes breakfast lunch and dinner for a good part of the week.  i saw someone come in with a  pan type dish which she said was full of chicken- and as she went by she muutered somethg about mayonase and a couple toher things and crums of csome kind.. .. i didn't have any of that yesterday, but i just had some for breakfast-- it was good !!  i wish i could pass on the recipie .. (so more people cold make it and bring ti)

i did manage to get some of the scooter chili-- that was darn good too.  it was not super hot, but klaren knows how to use the spice "with authority"

camera mark became costco mark for the afternoon-- to everyone's delight... actually that isn't fair-- barbara  was a significant part of the hambergur production

it being the 19th of the moneth  we did have a super cake- from a specialty cake in danvers--- beacues annie couldn't pick up the meister cake from cape cod-- or wherever...  it wasn't bad...- it also wasn't as big as the meister one was.. the meisteron e was to feed 80 people ( we finished that in  a normal day-- not even stew day)  this one was to feed40 so i bought cupcakes to  add... and we finished 94%-  sent the rest home with a mneighbor..

********

we had strangers-- alot- who want to come help-- and a couple of applicants-  the way that is going is to send in an inquiry as described on the web...send it snail mail so i don't have to beg the printer for a copy... we go over those and send some kind of letter   yes, no, or come visit,

so yesterda y one person went from a probably not.. to a maybe somehow..-  it helps to actually meet these applicants and see if there is a chance a dog of ours would help them.

as opposed to this %$^&&*!! accreditation method of requiring a whole bunch of hyppa medical  latin and i do not have a clue what it all means-- let us think.... we are dealing only with mobility-i do not care if a person has his hearing aid professionally maintained ( ACTUALLY A QUESTION IN THE ADI FORM).. or   . if a guy says he has an amputated leg, i don't need a physician's letter to tell me.  i put far more weight on "do you have a handicapp permit?"  and a visual of how the person moves.... because the mvb can deal with  that doctor bit and dx and hyppa  - and i can burn all the hyppa stuff so i don't have to lock it up and send all the staff for hyppa certification once a year..

*********

next problem-- the cellar-- had a significant pile of water in one spot, which being undr my shower, it was assumed to be the source..  well... in my vast plumbing experience with  rogue piles of water from leaking pipes and roofs.  i looked up- at the cieling- and there was no mark where it might have dripped... of one thing i am very sure-- water flows down hill- except for maybe a brief squirt up, then it all goes down... bud agreed

we washed the green golf cart ---(bud got the garage door open... see yesterday's failure)  abd as we were finishing up. we just happened to notice  a 12 " wide rapidly flowing stream coming out the cellar door. the pressure washer  does not always call for water , so a back pressure is maintained-- this was more than the small slit ( which must have been in the frost free hydrant) could stand and burst--  firing water up and then down..

so this accreditation - where i am to list safety hazards,... i have to add.... if the fuze box is full of water , don't touch it.

i have said to adi, it is impossible on a farm to anticipate the hazards--  i would never have thought a fuze box woul dcollect water sprayed on it... but it did.

april 10 2015

HAPPY 19TH !  

and we have a cake-- big time cake...  there  is a fancy cake place in danvers which we are trying..  annie sould not pick up yesterda y at the meister ccake place south of boston.  it looks darn ogood-- and is right next to the "brothers deli" in danvers square (great substitute for grandma's cooking)

stew day- and mark is grilling- i don't know how many will show up   -- i bought the biggest cake they could produce on 24 hour notice.. if it is as goog as the other,  megan could pick up on the 18th every month as she wanders around training...

**************

another in my sequence of --- age is not for the meek--- i honestly had to come out of my room and ask pamn to verify the fact that , i could not squeeze  any toothpast out of a new tube of toothpaste.. i was pleased to find she could not either.. so i cut a hole in the other end..- got to be a first..

**

i had a terrible time with  this " i can no longer " syndrome -- the one thing i was going to do  yesaterday for sure was to powerwash the old green golf cart-- i checked with ryan before he left for a week.. it was working fine ( it can be tempermental.)

 earlier , i did-- with meaty steve--- set 3 posts down by the stream( which did involve climbing in and out to  the tractor many times) and  after my napp i figured i had just enough energy to wash the golf cart-- with great anticipation i walked right up to the garage where  the powser washer is kept, and i could not lift  the garage door. i have had no trouble all winter flipping up that door.

ajay even came to help-- it was already up abotu a foot- and i could see the washer right there.  no dice.. i had to quit..

quitting is not in my normal run of the mill decisions. i was feeling very elderly..

later  i found out, ----some darn fool fixed the electric part of that door and now it was push button--  i never tried the remote which hangs off the tree...

and it is a good thing i didn't because someone else told me  the battery  in the remote is dead..

so teh whole golf cart washing  project was sabatoged from th e start....  but it did have a psycological effect on me.

so i try again today???  without a battery??

  it becomes  "for want of a nail the shoe was lost.... and then the horse.. and the general  and the war.. all for want of a nail"

well i can't wash the golf cart becaus e of a tiny battery.

so i will quit and eat hamburgers... and cake..   " let them eat cake !"  wasn't that the same era as the lost nail??

****

steve-- (charlie steve)-  is doing a super job with all the dogs-- but espercially wendy and hunter-- who -as best as he can describe it --,  hunter has a centrer of gravity problem which  often propels him forward at increasing speeds til he falls.. in my professional opinion as dog trainer,... the metal walker he was using made him bend over forward to use it...to soe degree creating this bent over problem often seen with walkers.

this is why when someone comes to apply for a dog, i suggest they try holding the back pocket of their caregiver to walk- so they can stand up straighter..  of course if they fall and pull someone's pants down.. that is a minor problem.

apparently some of the doctors in boston have now  also suggested the back pocket method...

*********

just to complete the puppy raising picture... all pups...  9 +4 now have stools which you can hear in the  production  process.

when you can hear  the production .. it is bad...  it is also  smelly ---so where this house usually does not smell like poo,  there are a few minutes  in the scoop and bag process  where  it ain't  the smell of roses.  and as a professional with great experience, squeezing the air out of the poo collection bags before getting it outside is a bad thing. 

**** 

have a happy 19th...

april 18 2015

we are hugelky lucky to have  some of the volunteers/staff that we do... like pam 

 who has tremendous organizational skills. (and has been a short order cook inb her career...)

her  occasional  spectacular wisdom is lovely. " whatever the  reason for anything, raising your voice at the person who signs your paycheck is a bad career move."-- brilliant !!!

if that gives me any insulation, i think i am pleased...

for instance.... yesterday we ( steve,tina and we met laura) took dogs ( moriah,charlie , lumin and eroy) to her school in hamilton- the kids were great-- and loved the dogs and pups... -- but therte was one.. child "A"  ... there always is ...started to pick up a pup... and i asked her not to-- and she put it right down nicely...  then later, the pups were behind me and i didn't see another kid pick up a pup-- 

so child A says to me " i thought you said we could not pick up the pups"..

and i.." i did" 

child A " well how come you let her?"

this concept  "well i caught you in an obvious lie which hurt my feelings and therefore you are not being fair and are a bad person"

i have to live with  now and again...the fact that i -- for so many reasons- can not say what my reasons are, i have to sit by- bite my tongue  and watch things get twisted  to meet agendas that bewilder me. 

fact twisting is an art perfected by child "A" and just a couple people around here.

it is awful.. and at times it hurts me-- and others.

bless all of you who are type "B thru Z"

for instance, i have to make a rule to accomodate the least capable person--( as in don't pick up the pups) so  then no one can.

then we started th e  purple shrirt bit - to id who  could do what... and immediately we had  how come i don't have a purple shirt...

sometimes  i just plain did not get  around to it... sometimes i don't konw if we have any-- and sometimes i worry that it would  be misinterpretded to mean privlidges-- particlularly  verbal-- like giving out  sdp policies and opinions...  i tried teh 500 hours rule and immediately got "why did the woman who washed the teepee get a purple shirt?"  ( sound like child A???) i can tell you why.. she was given a job... a big job....... she went away cheerfully to do a great job on just that without branching out into  giving guided tours.

i bet i have had at least a  1/2 dozen nasty emails pretaining to that concept and mentioning the teepee washing as  proof that  i broke the 500 hour rule and are not being fair.

now megan is having  to figure out how to  let some people walk dogs -- around here-- around town--  around teh mall and around a super market.... without hurting anyones feelings...

problem is... there are always  child "A" types  who's feellings  are all set to be hurt... 

 well life isn't  fair- get over it. we  do not have time to untwist every rumor that goes thru facebook.

**************

back to pam's variety of jobs....

i wonder who was collecting the odd jobs alot of us have had... starting with my satelite tracking,  lic tug boat captain.and  engineer/pastry chef who was on our first "board"   it would be an impressive list ....

*********

steve as come in with a beautiful  cake-- which grace called  breakfasts of champions.

it is the last day of his school for a while  so tehy empty the icebox and our volunteers then chickens are the benefactora- apparently we have a huge quantity of  salad, shreded potatos,  cubed chicken adn sausages.

on top or the lamb chops i bought yestrday 

*************

we should survive

april 17 2015

QUICK DOGIE ...  we are due at laura's school down teh driveway at 815--- and i gotr reading about crop circles...

tina... steve/charlie and i will take charlie  mariah and 2 of the netherland pups...

this school bit is something i never in my life thought i would hear about... apparently it is testing week and very stressful  so the school has 20 minute breaks for students to do non stressful things... and that is us...

i dunno

 running...

 april 16 2015

explore put up the bentley picture yesterday? on thier blog

which means i have another to do todya..

i have lined up a few pictures for future blogs, but i can see down the road , this is going to get more and more difficult.

 oh.. we have more--- on the  external drive mark has given me with 43,000 photos on it.

it sits here on  my desk staring at me... daring me to try aND find any specific photo on it.

the additional problem is  coming up with words.. spelled correctly... which form a coherent thought in 3 paragraphs..

but i will try... i will survive...

when i write thie thing i don't worry too much aqbout being coherent...  and io am told my spelling is a  "charming" additon...

the problem i have with mark's 43,000 pictures is that , if i mention one to him,..... he can find it !!!

**********

next problem ---- this cpa course 20 ? volunteers took with alice ( she has pistol/bristol) and works for the red cross...)  apparerntly   she highly recommennded getting  a  heart zapper thing... which sounds a little far out to me.... except we have  a check to use  from costco for about $1000 - which is what they cost...  i remember sitting here discussing it with  a couploe people and saying it would be a good way to use that  $1000... that was a few weeks ago and it has not arrived so i need an update on the propgress of that purchase-- except i can not remember who was researching it.

************

which brings up another serious situation.

we have no rats in the barn.... to some that may sound strange... but barns have rats-- healthy  grain fed rats--- which we snap trap and feed to george's rehbilitating raptors... to have none???? something is wrong...

i certainly hope no one had put out poison-- that is absolutely forbidden on the property-- on occasion  a dead rat becomes a dane chew toy on ocassion- so a poisoned rat could be deadly..

so with all the problems i have on my plate at the moment, the lack  of nice fat healthy rats in the barn is pretty high on my list.

we are in the situation of having people be able to make decisions on thier own, but the concept scares me badly 

so much is going on and one little slip up can have disastgerous results.

so ..... here comes this accreditation bit again.... we have to make a policy that no changes will be made without my permission

i hate micromanaging... but having rat poison sounds so logical to some people- they might think they were being helpful..

so when i sound like i am being a nosy busybody, i am just trying to keep track of those kind of details in so many situations where i hear only the every fifth word...

************

 i have been up most of teh night--  can i  prove it????  put it this wqy, i made 20 monkey fists-- that is a couple hours worth

****

now i think i wil go to breakfast at the only place i know that is open at this hour (5:30)   the truck diner on rt 1

they have great eggs benedict-- how great?? i do not know the exact cause, but  shortly after i was there last time  i had food poisoning....  it is a busy place -- it should not have been that....  who knows..

i may in a few hours...

april 15 2015

sheila drove up from florida to take her friend for chemo all last week.  . last night she died..

in an entire lifetime you don't get many really good friends..i think sheila lost one last night.

it is possible to forget the people who made you miserable,

  but those who made you really laugh you never forget

---even i don't forget them !

however i sometimes forget to contact them.. and then something like sheila's friend happens.

!   so that is a project for the day. touch tendrils (even tho i think my high school friends bobbie, steve and dar read this???)

**************

it is no secret i am less than thrilled at this^&%**((&*& accreditation...i hate the whole thing... and then a piece comes to rest where sheila( obrien who  will be our 'inspector') with her long red fingernailos, is.. i hate to say correct.. but ?helpful??

 had an email from jon hice ( annenberg foundation) questions about our 990 form... which involves "these %*)()_(*_) 'policies' that sheila is badgering me about.... typically the entire- section  gets all checked "no"-- no joint ventures, no ceo compensation, no tanning booth kind of thing... but in th emiddle i could say yes to -- we do have a policy of locking up documents and disposing by burning in the fireplace... and i think i saw in the last accreditation , a written  whistleblower  policy... whatever that is..

 i emailed  the answers( tina checked the spelling)  and said theresa would type an official letter in the morning--- thankfully he said "no need to do that "

i am assuming the answers were  ok-- it never occurred to me he could just as well have been telling me they were all useless.

we are a small efficient  episode without many of the complicatons of running general motors.  like how often do the directors meet?.. well they are  in and out of here at least 1 per  week- do we write a report?  whatever happens is in this  daily doggie... iprobably not what thei irs types had in mind... but it works....it is wonderful to deal with someone who can make that work..  the value of content... not appearences of content.

also -- hopefully his email indicates they were getting ready to write checks-  there ae a couple projects on hold til we have that grant money in hand.... or bank...

another washer dryer in the cellar is high on the list.  the laundry wascomatt is getting old-- it has lead a hard life-- and rather than replace it-- i think adding  too the laundry project in the house would be most helpful

ryan i s supposed to be getting the green golf cart out and working --??? today???  i hate to see people carrying tubs of laundry down the driveway.

***********

and the pond is open.... it is mudsville-- big time-- the  huge wad of snow on the hill is still draining into the pond, but i did managet  to get out to the 'compost' pile and add1000 pounds of lime and turn it all over... churning up the pile is a perfect job for someone who wants to learn to use the back hoe.-- it is in 3 sections current ..semi old   ---  and old ( about 3 years??)

***********

someday we may be able to try and  have grass and mow... we don't mow the lawn, we mow the green weeds.

*****

april 15th ?? isnt that hte day we have to file for an extesion??

historically the local libraries have all the forms needed... because .. you will not believe this...  some of the irs forms online are not to be used to file-- they are practice ones- you have to get the identical ones in the mail...