jan 31 2021

 one of the problem of  the [political scene   ???? as we morph from the actual voting, the tv channels lack the political  commercisals and therefore run charity ones over and over and over.. i have to run and shut off the cold dogs of teh aspca-- and i just yell at the  girl who broke up with her boyfriend in the adopt a kid  one...my kingdom for a  clever geico ad.

our camera people are many and varied... from the crazy texan group to the legion riders 101... who got togethere qnd bought us some "staples"  which is why teh  huge pile of towels ,500  washcloths, laundry and papergoods... is so piled in the living room .. wonderful bunch of people...lots good humor.. love that laughter as they piled in 3 carloads of  "stuff"

it will take judy at least 20 minutes to stash it somewhere... why teh washcloths????  we find the cheap, thin washcloths are perfect for birthing pups.. the right roughness and absorbancy to stimulate and clean up new  borns. we must have 500 new ones in that pile.... all to be washed and folded in prep for puppy production///

reese is in heat !!  finally ---  hope is here...plan is to get her down  here around this storm.. and have her checked our first by vet then by  watson...  they made a perfect litter lst time  10 pups ----   one saved for  breeding  ( tigger)  one pet and 8 having a wonderful time  paired with people... if we got even one more  Roo or Hoodsie  it would be worth it.   we are all set with  not only washcloths  but we have enough powdered goats milk left over from the last timel.

----

there are those...... who make fun of me and the goats milk/ spoon feeding that we do...  but yesterday george( dvm) commented that the 2 pups  in the kitchen , not raised "my way"  are showing entirely different appraoch to life than the 15 we already have.. i have ot admit  these 15 got a little short changed  of my methods from  my litters of 2004 to 2008 whe n enitre letters would follow me around the fairgrounds every nmornig  then  jump back in the ambuoance or vqan for the trip home.. took all of not much more thatn 30 minutes....but i grew away from that...  as i got older.  and relied on others......... well this time round.... i will sit around and be more insistant that  people   pay more attention  to some of the crazy details...

want proof????  watch all the  hours now spent trying to get each of the 15 into a car for a car ride... all of our old ones got over that by the time they were 8 weeks old.... between "puppy marches" around the house  to rides to the fairgrounds........ now  these 15....at 100 pounds each  .. we have a time consuming project.... just get in !!! 

---

four degrees???.. bring on the northeaster with 12 inches of snow... at least it will be 33 degrees... a regular heat wave...speaking of  statistics ,,, last week one weatern=man /woman... said the ice on the great lakes was 3"  when last year same day it  was 10"    and 2 years ago it was 23"  i have trouble  believing that ,,, but if it is true   we can boil eggs in lake eire in 5 years.. 

=====

i wrote a daily doggie on the concept oif stuff that does not need to be kept in heated and aiconditioning... and how everyone should have a huge closet to accomodate those things... like our front porch... well with this supply of towels and paper plats.. we have now outgrown  not only th e overflow room, but also the front porch..  what next??? another shippiong container...?? probably not...  but the idea is  there..   we will use it all !!  

i used to be a motorcycle rider    from vespa scooter  to 225cc  honda to 350  to a 600.

 an interesting   progression... like the "peter principal" in employment practices... i went from being an accomplished rider   with 225cc and really enjoyed it up to the 350cc  but that 600 was too big...  i tipped it over at west point and had to get 2 cadets to get me back on my wheels...

---

finally i remember what my fyi of the day couold be...

computer technology is teh only profession i know of where you can be  an expert one minute and total beginner if you blink twice.  it's  like  a jet pilot  being set back on a tricycle... and frequently falling off that besides .. 

jan 30 2021

 i am so full of "you must not say that's" this morning..that it is hard to write  and make a point...... but that doesn't stop me----. to put something in socially acceptable terms...life is a crap shoot and not enough people understand basic statistics.  things like... not every leaf blowing in the sky is a flying saucer...or if you cross the street enough times you eventually will get  struck by a  red bus. or the old chestnut... give enough monkeys enough typewriters and one will type the complete works of  william shakespeare.

couple that with the  subliminal  marketing of everything.. and you have the perfect storm called  American ingenuity. screw the details everything is a business.

plant an idea in someone's head... then work with it.

2021 1 30

 

Trying to find an example which will  not offend anybody ---  let me try education ..  I watch the commercials on TV now begging for students to go to their University .. “come here  --have a scholarship for the first  year “  .. then you will have a few credits toward your degree ... All you then need to do is take out a student loan to take a few more courses and if we give a special course   in XYZ 101 that's required for this degree we can then say it's very special and charge twice for it ..  and then add 14  more students to the class .. which won't cost us anything and they'll have to do it in order to get their degree .

at which point we will decide you are a graduate .. with a degree .. in the meantime you gave us a lot of money ..  the bank's got a fairly reliable  worker who can then spend the next 10 years making a profit for the bank paying off this loan..  very legal creative business,,,,

 

 I remember .... I had two knees ---  I still do .. but those knees 30 years ago hurt .. and I ended up going to an orthopedic surgeon .. operative word here is surgeon .. both of these were bad--- I've forgotten why .. at any rate he decided he needed to operate on them – he said that  would put off the complications of arthritis .. of course I wanted to put off arthritic complications so I said fine  cut up my knee ....  Fortunately I decided to do only one knee at a time ..  so I could still get around .. so he did that ..

The rest of that story .. is being blessed with such poor memory I totally forgot about the second  knee  till six months later I realized the bad knee was now as good as the knee  I had fixed (at great expense .). but who cares insurance is paying for it ??? not the way to go ..

but he had planted in my head the fact that my knees were pre arthritic ... when in fact all of me is pre arthritic. Actually I am no longer “pre” anything.

 

Another case ---  at Mail call the other day I had some reason stick my foot up in the air and show everyone the lump on my leg which was caused long ago by getting kicked by a baby horse .  somewhere along the line with this knee surgery .. the surgeon started talking about this tumor on my leg ..of  course the minute I heard tumor ...My mind was set in a panic .. because the concept of tumor is a lot different than the concept of lump ...  and he knew that .. however I got home and my  dr. husband said  “ for heavans  sake  it's just fat --leave well enough alone. “..  He also made some comment about if you go to a surgeon they'll find something to cut .

I'm not sure what the cure for this problem is ..  medicine is a business .. rent an equipment have to be paid for .. but statistically there has to be some line ...

Words  do matter.    Especially if they get planted in my head by someone trying to make a profit off my lack of knowledge .

 

Car mechanics to kindergarten teachers  .. business is business.. “ you don’t want to get on the road and have A  flAT TIRE.. LET ME HELP BY SELLING YOU 4 NEW ONES.”

all you have to do is quote statistics or use math...and people believe it ..  from 30 years ago   still used today....  “the rate of increase in the job market is down.”  And the listener hears “job market down”   .. with all the extra time on our hands  I could say check the source of any information.... but the internet puts out all this mind bending #$%^&*  that it is hard to find edited, correct.. information.

MAYBE 3 WEEKS FROM NOW I WILL VENT WHAT REALLY HAS ME FLYING.

jan 29 2021

 short doggie... frozen pipes  ---- luckily  only one sink is frozen... ( OTHERWISE I COULDnt GET MY FIRST CUPPA COFFEE WHICH IS PARAMONT TO BERING ABL TO TYOE THIS,)  it is the one just above the cellar door.. and ice rising, the stoppage is usually just under the sink,, which explains why heather is --- on camera----- sitting  half under the sink plying the hair dryer  up and down th copper pipes..   ? leave the door open??? not with those 2 pups  without further  fencing....

. you know...." why fix the roof now... it is not raining..."

by the time we install more fencing it will be spring.  but it would help next winter ... right.

 a hair dryer .. or a couple of them... is critical to winter in new england.... get all dressed  and 1/2 minute of a hair dryer up the front of your shirt and you are toasty for at least an hour.

---

my car is out...i.e.  down off the hill...plow aimed at the world.. but--- personally....  i have no intention of going anywhere near that front door.  thaniks to mqrk the wood bin is full..and i havve orders for monkey fists to make... so that is where i will be... sitting there  terrified of loosingg heat for one reason or another.... a  very similar  situation to gettting all soapy in the bath tub and running out of hot water...

lets take it one at a time....  i go thru this exercise all the time...

the barn heat is gas.. so if we have enough electricity  with the instnant  on generator  to keep the furnace going -- we should be  ok there... and it would be possible to double up dogs in kennels.. and aisles ....  kennels 1 to 10 are built so tht the front of them could be 2 more singles  ,,, and i built the ramos in such a way that if there is a dominant dog keepoing a second dog from getting  up in the warmer "loft"    there is a larger first step on whicbh a dane could curl to stay off the floor... WALTERS kennel.. is large..  .it is teh one you can see on camerra when they twist the camera around... it could tqke 4 danes  as long as they were friendly to each other  spays and neuters wouold help with that one.

---

historically... B.G.( before generagtor) i had to be prepared to have local people come pick up a dog if we lost electricity.. these dogs have no "undercoat" like shepahrds and labs.

because having 50 danes in th ehouse with one firep;lace.. was going to be difficult...

 so you see we hae come a long way....  that still does not stop me from worrying about heat... 

 

 because " what can happen.... will "

-------

I just wanted to thank you again for giving us the opportunity to add Elsa to our family. She is a wonderful dog. She had a great first day on the trail and made lots of new friends. Please let me know if you ever need any pictures or videos to use for promotions. Also, I will be checking the website regularly to see when you will be back open for volunteers. 

Thanks again,

Dan

----

we need to really look at how well she is doing ... all tied in a group of dogs like they are sled dogs... running the trails having a great time----  dan knows what he is doing.     we need to thank Goldie for that one.

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Hello Carlene,

I recently saw a post on Facebook asking about handler’s experiences taking their service dog to the vet under COVID protocols and it reminded me of a recent funny experience I had with Riz.  Like most vets under COVID protocols, our vet has a vet tech meet you outside and brings the dog inside while the owner waits in the car. I took Riz down for her check up and when the vet tech came to take her from me, Riz told the vet tech, “Nope, I don’t work for you”  and turned into a 137 pounds of granite.  The vet decided that it was a better idea to turn the waiting room into an exam room where I could come in with her and still be socially distanced....Riz thought it was a better idea too and ended her impersonation of granite and walked happily in with me😁.

Heidi

jan 8 2021 late...

BUSY OVERNIGHT-- RESEARCHING BREEDING DETAILS--   SOMEONE SUGGESTED BREEDING A 5 YEAR OLD DANE WAS QUESTIONABLE... I NEVER HEARD THAT BEFORE.. SO I GOT OUT OUR RECORDS AND HAVE SPENT  HOURS COMING UP WIOTH THESE STATS FOR 15 OF OUR  LADIES....

 HOW OLD WERE THEY WHEN THEY HAD TIERIR LAST LITTER...? 2 only had 1 litter at 3 years old... (moose and moxie)   5 were 4 years   4 were 5 years   2 were  six ( noel and lindsay )and 2 were 7 (luna and merlow).... so where is your friend chaos???  she was born in 2009  and had litters 11 12 13  

i need to have a discussion about  this with george.....

one of the females  due to come in heat had a litter of 9   darn nice pups...n with no health problems.....

  6 of which are keeping people on their feet walking independently......  it is hard not to try and do that again...

breeding animals is a  crap shoot anyway... ,well maybe it is more reliable than  some of the masses of people.  i see on tv.......

i dare say our pups are more carefully raised with their  24/7 baby sitters and hand feeding... remember all the  pictures of nanny pam? there werer some priceless ones...

---- 

no one told me it was going to snow--- i left my car  with it's snow plow  ---up  on the hill  with only the house, a tree, and lindas car  between me and what needs plowing..

 i maybe in here  til april.

--- 

thankfully some cut and paste

-----

Good morning,  I have a great story to share! 

Daisy was a rockstar this morning! Most people who find themselves walking on wet tile with crutches know it usually doesn't end well. Snow and the glossy tiled waiting room at physical therapy is usually an accident waiting to happen. I know ADA has standards for this but they are  just not very effective. Fall after fall. Every single wet day except today. Today, Josh and Daisy stepped confidently out of the elevator and walked right into the waiting room to the check-in desk and then to his seat without missing a step. ��

To make things a little more challenging for Josh and Daisy, they were greeted by a chorus of "doggy, doggy, doggy" by a couple of toddlers eager to get on the elevator before we could step out. This would have been a challenge over the summer but not today. They were working and Daisy didn't even flinch.

As we were leaving a different little kid tried to get near her tail while she was in a down stay. While talking to therapist, I nonchalantly blocked the kid and Daisy didn't ever move. The parent corrected the kid but what a morning. she was ready for a nap when we got home!

--------

Hi Carlene

Great seeing you the other day!

Honey is doing great and very happy.

She is a lot different than Merle in some ways.

Like while I am taking a shower she stares at me....her head poking around the corner.   I dont know if Merle was just so used to it and knew I was ok so she didnt have to stare constantly or what but I dont remember the long stares while I am showering like that, she waited patiently but not the long stare.  

Honey loves to play with her toys....Merle would look at you like I am a highly trained service animal....I dont play - she did run (not often but she did do it) but never liked toys.

Going off that Merle always had this look like she was calling you a dumb ass in her head...I loved that, she had spunk and didnt take any shit from anyone - she was always on a mission...but not Honey she always looks at you like you are her best friend - a best friend that was always there...I love that too.  So really they are the same in that aspect, just different looks.   

I feel much better about all of this, you know I was worried about it.

Thank you again for everything

Staci

---

Hello,

I wanted to give an update from SD Garnet and I.  Life continues to be pretty slow and quiet, with not many chances for work.  I have had weekly doctor's appointments, and Garnet has been a trooper through these.  Garnet has been her usual goof, making me laugh when I'm feeling a bit low and playing with her fur siblings to keep active.

Normally, when I have an appointment, SD Garnet will go right in with me, help me get seated and then lay down next to me and go right to sleep.  At a recent appointment, and I will say that these dogs just seem to know when something isn't right, SD Garnet got up off the floor and came and stood at my side.  I was at the dermatologist, having a biopsy done, and for some reason, SD Garnet came over to my side and then began starring the doctor down! It didn't matter how many times I tried to put her in a down stay, she refused and kept watching the doctor.  The doctor was quite impressed that SD Garnet came over to comfort me and watch her. The only other time that SD Garnet has done something like this was when we were first matched and she tried to get the Physical Therapist to leave our house.  SD Garnet is very attentive and protective when we are out and about, and does her job as the ultimate professional.  Thank you SDP and CP's for the gift of this goofy girl.

Take care,

Karen and SD Garnet

------

Hi Carlene!

Elsa seems to be settling in nicely. She went on a couple walks, and is getting used to the new space. She must have been tuckered out- she went right for the bed on the ground!

Thank you again for allowing us to add Elsa to our family. We look forward to visiting, and updating you on her adventures!

All the best,

Erica and Dan 

jan 27 2021

 SOMETHING SORELY LACKING IN OUR TRAINING PROGRAM

2021 1 27

 

I never realized the combination of COV and a new recipient might involve having a new person take their new dog into a Cemetery for practice .. very logical nice and quiet place not a lot of traffic things like that to practice with the dog .. except from the dog standpoint the place is loaded with squirrels ... so it is perhaps the most unstable place to practice with the dog .. with the possible exception of college campuses where we have before had a problem with squirrels I was very happy to get the following email from Mary who has Abby ... she was afraid that if the dog behaved so badly in the Cemetery what on earth was it going to do in a Boston subway system when in fact The Boston subway symptom is not nearly as upsetting to the dog as a bunch of squirrels so Mary found out and sent the letter confirming but she behaved perfectly in the urban situation ..

 

 Dear Carlene,

 

Like so many other SDP teams, Abby and I have been riding out the pandemic from home. When we do venture out, it's mostly for solitary walks in quiet places. Last summer, right around the time Abby and I were matched, I started a new job at a downtown hospital and have been lucky to be able to work remotely this whole time. What it's meant, though, is that Abby and I have had very little experience in urban settings.  

 

I've been wondering what it will be like to commute to work once we have the all-clear to be back on site. Honestly, the prospect has been a little daunting. Getting to my office will mean negotiating all sorts of unknowns: parking garages, elevators, city sidewalks, fierce wind tunnels, revolving doors, crowded hallways and curious passersby. Last week I found out I have nothing to worry about. Abby is the consummate urban professional!

 

I had a doctor's appointment in the hospital where my office is located so in effect we had a commute-to-work practice run. Abby couldn't have behaved any better. She got me safely over every obstacle, kept her focus the entire time, and left a sea of admirers in her path. During the appointment, she executed a perfect down-stay and even put a reassuring paw on my knee when the syringe came out for a shot. 

 

Thanks to Abby, I'm feeling very confident about my ability to get to my downtown office when the time comes ... and very grateful to the entire SDP family -- staff, volunteers and supporters -- for making this possible! Attaching two photos: one of us striding down the hospital hallway and the other waiting our turn to enter the clinic. And, just because I can't resist, a third photo of Abby as a three-pound puppy that I just discovered on SDP's Facebook page. What a remarkable young lady she's become.

 All my best,

 Mary

---- 

Around here we rely heavily on Goldie ... who was our ghost of the left hand drawer ...  many times we've been presented with a problem only to have a perfect solution fall in our laps -----we've always said that compliments of Goldie ... it may have happened again  --  becausw Ella was shall we say unstable around other dogs we were not comfortable putting her out with a handicapped person although otherwise she's perfectly trained .. so I went through our book of perfect pet possibilities and found a young couple who just bought a house in Newton maybe .. she does something with kids and he as a dog walking business ..They now have metella it seems to be a perfect match and he's not the normal dog Walker he runs them they live right next to a long trail and he he runs dogs .. and he seemed to have a normal sort of neck in meeting Ella so with that background I'm wondering if maybe Goldie as planned that we invite him to spend a day or two a week here trading dogs I wonder if we could make him into our kind of dog trainer .. it's a distinct possibility however I haven't mentioned it to him yet unless he reads this thing first it just kind of would go together

I'm glad you all have heard from Pam .. it was a pain in the neck how all of you accusing me of firing her when I knew she was sick and in the hospital and I just couldn't tell you so hopefully you all keep each other in line if this kind of thing should happen again there are sometimes things I just can't but the daily doggy because there are times when I had put it in the daily doggy and caught health everybody so Pam has that cleared up she is on our payroll she is helping from afar Anne that's the status quo for the moment Fortunately she left her address in the comment column so you can send things directly to her not get me in the middle ..

--

I have heard from Claudia Bohemia in Czechoslovakia who will be breeding for another litter in the spring .. I've always liked the looks of her dogs they all seem to look like chaos we have one of her bloodline a male Merle Sir Richard parked away for breeding ... we did try and use him once when he was not quite a year old .. and he had not yet finished reading the instruction manual about the reproduction process .. he is very well bred .. his mother is supra who has an impossible number of championships in Europe ... A pedigree on a dog from Europe has much more to it then the typical AKC pedigree .. and to be honest there's some of it I don't understand so if all of you people want something to do crank up Claudia Bohemia is the kennel name and supra   is Sir Richard's mother and is the dog she would be breeding it in the spring there is some sort of rating given to showdogs that has nothing to do with winning or losing but supras rating is 306 and I've never seen any other dog with it that high whatever it means .. figuring out that pedigree who is a super thing for somebody to do who's sitting around in the house because of COV ..and after you figure it out let me know .. I'm very familiar with the HD rating hip dysplasia A or B ---  I think C is something like no visual signs oh hip problems and D I think is not to be bred .

or something like that----

- have a good time

jan 26 2021

 i take back (nearly) all of those awkward thoughts about people who get a  service dog..don't keep us informed... poor david landed in my pile of 1746( literally) spam emails that i don't look thru,,,  i am guilty !!  he did tell me he had arrived...

Hi its David. Wanted to give you an update on how its been so far with the big guy. Hes doing really well and has gone everywhere with me. It's still a tough transition with getting to know my other dogs mostly my dog with the brain defect. My dog doesn't know what fear is especially when he should. So I've been introducing a little at a time to keep all parties safe. If you have any questions for me feel free to ask away. Thanks

fyi....david has a rescue dog with some kind of brain defect--- being studied/diagnosed by... cornell.

 maybe he can write a little about those details 

 for you qll to thik=nk about????

---

 2021 1 26

 

Today's daily obsession is the fact that I heard( on the news of course)   that Larry King was raised by a single mother .. this tweaked the previous obsession of mine about how many people were raised by single mothers very successfully .. of course there is Barack Obama but I think Bill Clinton also which started me back on how many presidents have been raised by single mothers .. that did not  get me too far but whoever keeps the list of Hollywood and TV actors and actresses there is a very long list

(..this is .an aside to the dogs in my room....) who's growling ----what are you all doing  in here...don't pull it up there slide out Don't call up that fluffy I just put it out there no  thank you very much .. You had breakfast go away ...)

 

Being in the dog training business and knowing how being brilliant is most often the case of accidental observations ...   I have in the past very often made note of a tremendously successful person talking about the perils of childhood that they had to endure .. we all know how our grandparents had to walk 5 miles to school uphill both ways .. and some went on to become very successful .. so is there not a logic to having children walk 5 miles uphill both ways to school .. At any rate the perils of being raised by a single mother just doesn't seem to hold water .. not that I'm suggesting it be a desirable situation .. but there is certainly an awful lot of people who managed that  situation.   Likewise It seems to me that most very successful people have gone through a phase of being dead broke .. this may be a necessary part of anybody's education ... even though the very wealthy try and redo it by going camping where they live in a tent with no electricity lights or anything else but a lot of equipment .. That's sort of the part of being homeless in the Woods ..  

I went through a phase of tent living for one weekend ..  there was a bicycle ride for the benefit of I think aids .. and my children were writing in it and they needed motorcycle riders to help and I had a motorcycle .. so I have had the distinct pleasure of sweeping qa 12 inch path thru broken glass out of every intersection between bear mountain NY and Boston MA ... because all these bicycle riders needed only about a 1 foot wide path through this broken glass .. and nearly every intersection has broken glass to some degree ... at least it doesn't wash into storm drains and end up in the ocean it just stays there and blows up tires of bicycle riders .. so I swept and moved for the three days involved which was two days camped out in a very well organized campgrounds in those pop up tents two people to  a tent.   it is not my choice to live on hard ground in a tent .. but I can certainly look at some of these homeless situations and be very glad I have been lucky enough not to have to live like that .

 

Back  when  the population of the world was not quite so crowded .. it was possible for the older teenagers young 20s to serve in the peace core send him to some godforsaken spot to live in a tent and try and help local residence somehow .. that concept I think is a very good one  Very similar to having the same age group serve in the military ... but I'm not sure in today's CLV world that you can find the place isolated enough to make the peaqce corp at all practical ..

Those couple years give particularly the young males a chance to grow up  in a very disciplined fashion  before they go entirely bezerk And decide they are entitled to a lot of things  Not naturally provided by mommy nature .  Like purple ink injected under their top layer of skin .

Why that reminds me of  something said by somebody else I don't know but flickering through my head was just ...  “ if God had intended us to fly he would never have given us the railways “—which could be twisted to.....    If God had intended us to have purple skinn  he would have given it to us ..  I suppose you could say there are a few purple marks under skin which appear naturally ... and I do have a related comment on that one ..  .my sister franny -living in Colorado has a small birthmark on her leg .. I have a small birthmark on my leg ... and I noticed  my daughter  

 Janine has a small birthmark same place on her leg ---so much for things breeding true ..

----

---- like entropion with dogs - I

The fact that I did not notice one of our breeding females had entropian .. is one of my mistakes    with breeding great Danes .  entropion is a case where some of the eyelashes turn in and irritate the eyeball .. requiring surgery to fix ...  in a few cases we had it in our past ,  George rotated the eye lash for about $200 .. now they want 2800 dollars to do the same thing ..  this is progress ?  it's a long way from doctor Connie teabo Doing a quick fix  on a dog  in his yard----on a bench .. With a cone of ether for anesthesia ... .. I never heard of him losing a dog.. and I'm pretty sure I would have .. many times I have run into his garage /slash office and retrieved a glass syringe out of a collection  in a bowl, in his sink ...   Connie had retired and basically giving up his practice but would occasionally help out friends ... he was beyond billing people and would just help out friends here and there ,,, I remember one time I paid him with a gallon of pennies to use as a doorstop ...  he loved that gallon of pennies and it was around for a long time holding his door open .

--

in case you need to know a gallon of pennies is very close to $60.00 ... and I once ran a raffle with guess how many pennies are in a 5 gallon jug ...   which I had carefully loaded by unwrapping pennies ... so I knew exactly .., and the five gallons was $291.00 and I forget the change  .

it is an interesting raffle to have --  there's an awful lot of pennies to unwrap .. and then the added complication of the fact the five gallons then ways so much it takes 4 people and a lot of ropes to pick it up .

cutting and pasting......

GOOD MORNING CARLENE,

JUST THOUGHT I WOULD GIVE YOU A QUICK UPDATE ON AURORA.

SHE IS DOING GREAT. STILL AMAZED AT HOW QUICKLY SHE SETTLED IN HERE.
DUE TO COVID RESTRICTIONS AND A RISE IN CASES LOCALLY WE HAVE ONLY BEEN TO TRACTOR SUPPLY EVERY OTHER WEEK FOR CHICKEN FEED WHICH SHE DOES WONDERFUL WITH. SHE ISN'T LOOKING BEHIND HERSELF AS MUCH AS SHE WAS WHEN I FIRST BROUGHT HER HOME. I AM TAKING THAT IS SHE IS GAINING MORE TRUST IN ME HAVING HER BACK? WHO KNOWS. HER PACE WITH ME IS WONDERFUL! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! 
WE DID GET IN TO TOWN JUST ONCE TO WALK WITH HOPES OF GOING MORE OFTEN JUST TO WALK BUT IT'S BEEN SO COLD! 
 "WORKING" TOGETHER HAS MORE SO BEEN HERE AT HOME, OUT TO FEED CHICKENS, CHECKING THE MAIL AND AROUND THE HOUSE FOR NOW. 
I HAVE A SMALL OUTER PERIMETER FENCE AROUND THE CHICKEN COOP AND CHICKEN RUN SO SHE CAN GO WITH ME, JUST NOT IN THE RUN ITSELF. 

SHE STILL PRETTY ROUGH IN PLAY MODE WITH RETIRED SD LYDIA AND MY GRAND DOG CAPONE (RESCUE DANE) SO HAVING THE BALL OUT THERE TO PLAY WITH HER DOES WELL WITH DISTRACTING HER FROM GOING AFTER THEM.  NOT AGGRESSION JUST PLAY BUT VERY ROUGH. SHE HAS JUMPED AT ME IN PLAY WHICH I HAD TO CORRECT HER FOR. SHE JUST REQUIRES THAT TIME TO PLAY WITH THAT BALL TO GET HER "WIGGLES" OUT WHICH SEEMS TO WORK. 

I WILL BE GETTING HER SET UP WITH MY VET AT THE END OF THE MONTH. LYDIA HAS HER PHYSICAL SO I WILL BRING AURORA'S RECORDS WITH ME AT THAT TIME TO GET THAT STARTED.

OTHER THAN THAT, NOT MUCH EXCITING TO REPORT. I HOPE YOU ALL STAY SAFE AND WARM. PRAYING THIS COVID THING WILL BE MANAGEABLE SOON .

STAY SAFE,
FOREVER GRATEFUL,

ANNETTE, SD AURORA, & RETIRED SD LYDIA

jan 25 2021

 the ultimate in message leaving ...   

100 ears ago  when we.. as animal episode, had 50 animals overnight for 30 days on boston common--as santas "farm" == a lot of very funny stories.. janine running around the statehouse with one antler.. because it broke off the reindeer which was then loose..... or hiring sone one with an attack dog to be the overnight so no one stole the chickens or goats for dinner...it was a wild 30 days...  but paid well...

during that  time i hired many Boston Univ students...-----one day one of those students bought a bunch of brownies to eat ... and I had one they were very good brownies so I had a second one .. very shortly I became bright red was having trouble breathing and things like that so I assumed being a student that had brought these things with them that they laced them with "something funny " .. and for years I have accused them of supplying those funny brownies and deciding that I must have been allergic to some strange substance that was in them .. they were very nearly going to call an ambulance for me when it began to subside .. so I stuck it out ..

 then last night lacking any proper cookies somebody had left a Dunkin' Donuts chocolate brownie  on thecounter.....so I ate the whole thing .. within minutes I had all the symptoms of COV with a choking and coughing and hacking and wheezing ..  i doubt Dunkin' Donuts is lacing them with strange things oso.....maybe I'm just plain allergic to whatever was in 'em heavy duty chocolate but I realized I was in trouble and found the benedryl that we have on the counter in case we have a dog problem and I took 2  went back to bed .. then I realized someone really ought to know that I have two Benadryl in me already in case things get worse. i needed toget a message to an  emt who might have to deal with me if i got worse....

 so I thought of writing it in magic marker on my forehead ..

 well I couldn't find a marker ... so  I told Claire our overnight person .  I really doubt the Dunkin' Donuts put any cannabis in their  brownies .. I must be allergic to chocolate of some kind -------that's ... a hell of a note ......or possibly dunkin is lacing them with odd medicinal   now legal things?????  it tasted really good !!

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Moving back to the garden project from yesterday I did hear from Janet who said that was an excellent place to have a a garden but she doubted she could be much help because she's terrified of snakes so will be looking for people that help with that project that aren't afraid of snakes .. actually I think the snakes are on that island and then on the far side of the pond I've never seen any on this side .. I've never looked too hard either .

 

in keeping with this project .. I had a note from honey in Vermont and said but some of these places that sell seeds like burpees are already out of certain kinds of seeds because everybody is starting to garden .. basically getting the same idea that I had .. So my advice is get your packet of peas early .

 

hopefully Explore gets us a new camera for that chicken coop .. because it would also show this fence garden project I believe .

 

I believe Janine has left off 2 pregnant donkeys here now and she says she has one more somewhere which she will be dropping off and turning in with our bunch ..I should not tempt fate but usually donkeys are  so Placid that they really don't care  who joins them --- other than a shake of the tail .. you couldn't bounce around a bunch of horses like this they'd get it in awful mass kicking ..

Watching doctor Pol  o n National Geographic makes me think it would be fun to have a milking goat .. but then I remember how cold it is of how you have no choice you have to milk them so I forget that project .. of late there's been some very cute miniature pigs .. and if I was younger I might be able to figure that out ..I always I always like pigs ..  they are far more intelligent then we give them credit for ...  But they definitely have some physical disabilities .. like their head neck arrangement is not conducive to much of anything except digging holes in the mud .   I did find out that if you feed a pig grain they don't smell .   is when you feed them kitchen leftovers that have some fat or meat in them that they become very odoriferous .. 

Today being Monday ,, is trash collector appreciation day .. I try and leave a few dollars  As a thank you -- way high on the post that he could reach as he swings in to get our dumpster ..  The collection of my trash is very important in my life ... as it is in everyone's life whether they think about it or not .. this CLV is causing us to redefine critical industries . that's all well and good .. I hope we make a serious effort to get rid of some of the industries that aren't critical .. heck  I'm not sure we need them  at all . keep it basic.....  I really like clean fresh water to drink , and food in the  local supermarket , and a fire Department that comes when it's called .. and all those things are government which we forget sometimes .. If the population of the United States had to get their drinking water 3 miles away and bring it home in bottles on their heads .. maybe they would have less time to Complain .

Hi Carlene,  I enjoyed the DD as usual. The pond garden sounds like a great idea-lots of sunshine, available compost, lots of fencing for vertical gardening and black snakes from the pond(good for eating the bugs). YIKES!!! I hate snakes, especially the big pond ones!!  I don’t even go out to weed Bailey’s grave garden unless someone comes with me and walks ahead. ( I have been startled by a couple of garter snakes in the flower beds and that’s my limit).

Hopefully, there are some people who would enjoy working on this. Many people like/don’t mind snakes. A BIG problem with me..  Going forward, I hope that you are able to pick many peas in your yard!!      Janet

Sent from my iPad

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They have products that are already Sold Out.  It appears that being at home while working has brought more people into the world of gardening.

Many of the people from NY, NJ, CT, etc. came to VT because of Covid-19 and seem to be trying our way of living.

Be well.

Honey

2021 1 24

 wooowoowoooo   i woke up several recipients...  people-- especially younger people do not realize i do not peruse facebook looking for gems of wisdom... am i allowed to say that this new moderrn way of communication is a  paucity of worthwhile information.  to put it mildly.

 meanwhile all you people who bought chicken bricks would appreciate knowing what thieir $10 helped to support... with the hopes we get enough to continue this insanity of dog training.  manufacturing fly swatters wouold be  a lot easier.

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i had several volunteers remarked that PPPP to them was  Purposful Pasture Poo Picking ..i,e, wandering around the fresh air with a purpose.

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in that vein........ to deal with the  COV situation  as pleasently as possible .. in my opionion......#1. i saw an ad for mask frames made for ocean4.. they looked  well desigened and it is a good cause.... in my  opinion..  i ordered a "pack"  of 4   -- then.... #2.... at this time of year in self defense, i begin to think ourside the doors...and historically teh burpee catalogue would arrive. I am off thier mailing list, but i began to think....if i could just chip the ice off abouT a 12 inch square, i might be able to send the news all gardners are waiting for "I GOT THE PEAS IN" 

2021 1 24

Starting with I know very little about gardening ... but way back when I lived in Lynnfield I had two friends Ricki and Rosemary who knew about serious gardening and I had a fenced in pastoure I wasn't using ---about half an acre .. and Rosemary was the one who educated me about the fact that as soon as you can get the ground chipped loose .. it was time to put the peas in .. which meant that in about 60 days I could send my two young children out to  the garden to eat peas before they came into the kitchen have their protein course ... saved a lot of time and effort in pots and pans .. point being if you got the peas in early enough you can plant something else there and still get produce .. we eventually planted corn .. carrots and of course the gardener's favorite zucchini .. but also an awful lot of pickling cucumbers .. because from my mother I inherited several really good recipes for Canning pickling cucumbers .. which if you plant two of those seeds s you will end up with enough cucumbers to feed the village ..

so it's back to planting peas .. I have not been able to have a garden here because of so many dogs and becausw I was totally lacking in creativity to figure out how to have a garden here .. last nights insomnia made me realize I have a fence around the pond .. which if I moved it back 6 feet from the pond it will be no loss till the dogs who are running around it anyway and it would provide a fenced in area that is wonderfully deep in top soil .. with ready access to water ---dip a bucket .. and it seems to my simple minded soul we ought to be able to grow peas there at least .. peas and sunflowers .. because with that 6 foot fence around it I don't think the deer could get at it either ..

 

John and his son pounded all those posts in around the pond in one day .it's very good pounding soil not the usual rocking New England .. because the whole area probably was once covered with water back when they were glaciers and things around .. at any rate if I pull all those posts out with a tractor which wouldn't take me more than about an hour maybe we could pound the posts  about 6 foot away from the pond which would give us room 2 run a mower next to our fence garden and the peas could crawl up that fence which we could reach through they get them without too much trouble .. moving that fence back in a circle means it would be too short ----geometry being what it is ----so we can put in gates every so often to make up the difference =====any case the dogs would not be welcome in there but without a great deal of difficulty we could have wonderfully raw peas and still throw in some great big sunflowers ..---

 

In our  volunteer group Janitce and a few others other gardening experts ..I haven't checked this concept with her yet as our resident expert but at the moment it sounds doable to me. .. she was the one that put in that garden fence next to the flat field .. which was hugely successful and I did enjoy many moments out there pulling out the raw peas ....  

 

If any of you have access to soil ..   even just 18 inches square , it's worth the $3.50 that the pea seeds would cost to put him in the ground as soon as you can in April and you just might have some really good healthy vegetable produced .. it's not necessary to have any great fancy gardening equipment ----  my favorite digging tool  is a soup spoon  ... and a broom handleand a coup;le wire  coat hangers would give the peas something to climb on ..  if you don't have ready access to water,  what I have been known to do is the a Poland Springs water bottle and put a needle hole in the bottom .. so I could hold it shut with my thumb  to fill it ---put the top on .. take it out of the garden stick it in with the peas and take the top off ..  and it dribbles the whole bottle full of water into the ground exactly where you need it ..  with just that for equipment you should be able to raise peas ..

 

keep in mind there may be an awful lot I don't know ..

we all know that .. but it appears to me  that's all I ever had to do ....  

 

if jaaniste  does see this as viable , it would give us a wonderful project to have where people would be at least 10 feet apart out of the fresh air .. that would be a good thing ..

so I await her opinion .  I think she reads this daily doggy .

To cheer you all up go look at the burpee catalog online and stare at the tomatoes and Peppers and squash .. it will make you feel better . spring's gotta come sometime .

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and the cut and paste... thankfully....

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Hi Carlene

I read the DD today and it reminded me that even though Riz has been a life saver for me, she is a VERY quirky dog! One of her funniest quirks is that she thinks she is “helping” by trying to copy anything I do. I have recently taken up woodworking, and was sanding a board yesterday outside. Riz stood next to the board while I sanded and dug in the ground copying the back and forth movement of the sander. When I stopped she stopped, and then crouched and watched me ready to go at it again when I started sanding again. The result was a nicely sanded board and a neatly plowed piece of ground 😜

Heidi

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      Hi Carlene,  

          Just a quick note how SD Dorothy and I are getting along.  With a high COVID risk level in the area, we don't get out  in public much.

     When we do,  it is usually on a trail hike in a conservation area conveniently located across the street from where I live.  

        .  I am so proud of her behavior when in public;  always friendly with people  (albeit a bit shy)  and indifferent towards other dogs.

      I mentioned to my daughter how people always comment on how beautiful Dorothy is  and other dogs bark at her when they see her. 
     She said   " seeing a Great Dane is like seeing a unicorn, there aren't that many around." 

          Dorothy is doing very well with her leash work and commands except during a recent visit with my physical therapist.   I had her

     in a  "down/stay"  while my therapist was helping me with some exercises ,  I had my back towards her and couldn't see her. After about ten

     minutes,  I could tell by the grin on my therapist's face that Dorothy had broken the command and was up to something.   She maintained the 
     "down" part of the command but, had crawled across the floor on her belly in order to better see herself in a mirror.  Typical female.

     

     

                                                                                                                          Mark          

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Hope all is well. 

I am so excited to see more and more dogs getting matched!!

Tin and I just started going back to school two weeks ago, but due to COVID we only go two days per week. Tin has been doing pretty good with going to school. He is a little confused on why there are so many doors and we are not going in them all. We are still working on his focus in the hallway, but only going to school two days a week makes it difficult. He is learning to get used to so many people in the hallway, but it’s hard because we dont go five days a week and he really needs repetition. I believe that this will get better in time and in fact I have already seen some improvements! 

Aside from school Tin has been doing fantastic! He loves when we go out to work and he is so willing to please. I haven’t had any issues with him when going out places except for some very tiny things that we rework and he does it perfectly! Tin is such a good boy and enjoys watching mail call and listening to everyone and watch all the dogs! 

I continue to thank you for providing me with such an amazing dog. SDP and Tin means everything to me and I will never be able to thank you all enough.

          Gabbey and Tin

jan 23 2021 snit

 GOD BLESS FRANCE

France has passed a law protecting the "sensory heritage" of its rural areas, in the face of complaints about the noises and smells typical of the countryside.  THEY HAD 130,000 SIGNATURES TO DEFEND .... MAURICE.... A ROOSTER,,   HMMMMMMM......

----=

I WAS IN A TERRIBLE SNIT BEFORE I REAd   That thing about France now I'm only in a slightly minor SNIT...unfortunately it's another one of those things that I can't put in the daily doggy ...  but I can only insinuate how sNITTED  I am .

 

let's make a study of it .. it starts when you have to locate a great quantity of white inexpensive washcloths ... we like the inexpensive ones because they just work better ... then you have to locate Kelly clamp scissors and dental floss and start drinking coffee .. after a while you get to welcome a new puppy into the world ,,..you get to welcome not only the puppy but just about as much goop that is born with the puppy .. about three washcloths full which aren't washed but thrown out .. so after getting the pup dried off and nursing you're all set of babysitting that dog for a year and a half .. during which time oh there is a metamorphosis from obnoxious rambunctious teenage horror .. into a perfectly behaved helper / companion for somebody with a mobility disability ..   but.... in the meantime.......

 

there is so much that goes into the rearing and training of these dogs .. there are books and articles written all round the block but I think I found a topic that others may  have missed  ..

------these darling little puppies weigh a pound and a quarter grow very quickly---- so where  THEIR BM’s  Start off as relatively insignificant within a month or two they weigh one pounds average per day .. And I studied that from two angles ..  1st I have   weighed   the dry food that you put into the dog who then mixes it with water as then weigh what comes out which I just did the other day so I could write this ..  .. My other way of checking to see if my calculations are correct purerena gives us wonderful dog food 192 bags every other month .. so to make life easy it's 100 bags a month ... At 37 and 1/2 pounds per bag that's 3750 Pounds per month .. which probably more than doubles in weight when you add water .. so let's   call it  conservatively   6000 pounds .. 3 tons     12 months   36  tons...Let's just quit there and say a big number .

so now Back to  this one puppy  ( that we are about to donate to someone )has these kind of numbers /

 

 So in the year and a half between birth and graduation somehow crazy acres has had to deal with 547 days of Pooh picking .. Furthermore at 2 BM's a day let's round that off to half a ton .

... so let's just keep going ..half a ton per dog .. and we have graduated now about 200 dogs .at half a ton each ... So what can you compare to 100 tons I don't know .. maybe a battleship . in the  best of times there is no way 12 acres can absorb a half a  ton  oh poo  per dog that's here on the property and most of the time there's about 50 on the property

Now you understand two things... #1.. the guy who picks up our trash/ dump;ster is definitely one of the critical jobs in this pandemic...  and #2  that is a lot of bending over .... to train service dogs?????  but we do it...

So why is it so hard for recipients to  regularly copy and paste a funny story or thankyou...

 to all the people who  have    #1 picked that poo  #$2 supported us with the chicken bricks  #3 suffered thru these daily doggies when I am sorely lacking in   materials?????????

 

 Some recip[s are wonderful... you all know who they are....  but the ones that go down the driveway and I never hear a word are the ones that aree going to cause me to get writers cramp.. when it comes to recertifying and writing letter=s.  I have told everyone of them I do not read facebook and need an email sent to me directly . how unreasonable is that ?    you all who support sdp desearve better attention..

.and the children who have our dogs... it is wrong for us to let them not realize.. ok  sdp now has them more independent physically... lets try mentally... your parents often write..... but.....    write your own interesting stories to all the cp’s who paid for the dog you have.... it is called paying it forward...

So afer all that .

 

I learned a new word  zeugma... I have long enjoyed the song “have some madera m’dear” specially for  the zeugmas it contains

 

The song contains three much-quoted instances of zeugma:^[4][5]

·       And he said as he hastened to put out the cat, the wine, his cigar and the lamps

·       She lowered her standards by raising her glass, her courage, her eyes and his hopes

·       She made no reply, up her mind and a dash for the door.^[6]

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well i got one cut and paste.....

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Marnie asked me to check in with you.  As the pandemic numbers continue to escalate, our pack continues to quarantine (fyi our pack consists of Marnie, her Bernedoodle Hamilton, our bear in the form of a 17 pound Sheltie Mandy, hubby Randy and me).  We are getting a bit stir crazy and we are thankful to live on 13 acres where Marnie and her Doodle can run.  I’ve never known a dog who so enjoys and needs to run hard and often as Marnie.  Marnie’s Doodle, Hami, was just about 4 months old when Marnie and I were matched.  He used to trail far behind her in the run--and when she turned and started running towards Hami, he would turn with a shocked look on his face and high-tail it to me sitting on the steps.  You could just here him yelling “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy” as he ran to me.  Now he can stay a little closer to her but still can’t catch her unless he takes a short cut through my garden to head Marnie off.  Sometimes, as she closes in on him, he still turns and runs away from her with a look that isn’t quite as surprised as when he was younger but still looks a bit shocked.  Marnie and her Doodle brother love each other a lot and are the perfect pair of housemates.  Hami is still young (he turned 1 in November) and sometimes when I stand, he wants to continue playing with Marnie but she is even more determined to get to me to help.  She is teaching him when to stop playing so she can work.

 

My disability comes from a deteriorating spine and lately the referred pain and weakness has changed from my right hip to my left.  It has been hard for me to continue walking with Marnie supporting me from my left side…..so we are working on making Marnie ambidextrous.  At first she was horrified and afraid to work from my right.  Marnie is getting much better but, to start I must be in a position where she can’t get to my left side….and is instead forced to my right—like standing next to a piece of furniture on my left.  Marnie and I are still are a work in progress but she is getting more comfortable although she walks a bit to far forward because she feels the need to watch my steps by looking down and back.  I lavish her with praise and she still works on my left most of the time.  My back is finding some relief from having Marnie switch sides for even a small part of the time--so it is easier for me to switch back and forth.  If you have suggestions, I surely will appreciate them.  I will also email Lynn to see what suggestions she has for helping Marnie become more ambidextrous.

 

We really don’t have anything else to report.  We are bored silly (as you will see in the attached picture) and hope that I can get vaccinated in the near future so we can venture out a bit more.

 

Stay safe and healthy!

Marnie and Peggy