mar 17

oh lordy.... they ( congress) decided to have daylight saving time full time?i like the scotish callilng it "daft time"  and then "double daft time". twice this month. i have been awakened, glanced at the clock-- seen 4:10 and not known if i was too early for breakfast or supper,,  why daylight saving time in th e first place??? most people say energy saving..... what some folk don't know is it was  good ole benjamin franklin's brainstorm--- and he meant it as a joke.... never realzing his brainstorm would leave millions of people saying "spring forward" and.  " change batteries"...

  why not  just adjust your head "in winter i get up at night"  ok... try this one....  you are flying from san francisco to. frankfurt---- connecting flights in boston...  you start out 10 pm pacific time... land eastern time -- then connect at eastern daylight time and land german time which starts daylight time 1 week after eastern..- so you call your family to say you have arrived---  if the. weather report had said it would be  100% raining at 2:00 pm. is it raining when you call??   pity the poor scheduling makers- 

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here's an old  story for new commers.... a bunch of us were enjoying teh chicken stew i used to make every sunday--in the t-tent-- when the phone rang -  it was a camera person  from denmark..- annie had fallen in the donkey stall and was not getting up---- so we all ran to help- sure enough. she had fallen and needed help- i called 911... left 2 nurses in charge of annie... and ran for the electric gate  to hold it open... i followed the ambulance as it made a beeline for the tractor- not the barn-- problem was... someone had left delores ( the manequin)  with her head under the tractor and legs sticking out- by the wheels.....and the driver  thought that was our disaster...

such is life at CA ,,,

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puppy report-----we will again try and be at the topsfield fairgounds by 9:30 today. if any of you locals would care to join us....  come in the river gate.  you will seee us. .. and do not let any dogs loose !!  we wil probably have sizzle with us to run herd... they are doing well with the wait-- at the dinner table...

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so..... i  go to woburn to the flat  sheet metal supermarket...  3 dogs heads hanging out of the back window- the guy waiting on me with the 1/4...1/8   3/16 discussion... just what can a rat chew thru??? when worker #2 came along and said "great danes-- i love danes.... my wife works with a dane which helps a kid walk".    sure enough ... bella and george...--

back to the 1/8 discussion--- i think the guage has to. depend. on what they can get their teeth on to start the chew...   which will. depend on some research today-- just how is the wood sitting on the floor...  where is teh "L" shapped metal of the walls when it meets the floor....  -- if we go for bolting to the floor... how far appart should the holes be...for 1/4" lag bolts.(  $3 per hole drilled). 4 x 8 sheets on a 8'x 20' area. which way to lay the sheets--- except i can't find my measuring tape  to exactly measure.  -- plus janine has teh truck in north carlina and my sequoia is now deceased and i need a new hitch on the four runner.... to pull the dump trailer to pick pu these heavy sheets..... somehow MY HORSE TRAILER WAS IN THE SDP  YARD LAST WEEK BEING PULLED BY ELIZABETHS WHITE SUV BECAUSE SHE HAD TO PICK UP A GOAT FOR VET CARE AN A LUMP ON THE BACK LEG..... maybe i can get eliz to pick up hte sheet metal to address teh rat problem in our yard. and i do not even know eliz's last name. to find out where my horse trailer is even parked...  such is the life of horse trailers,, somebody will know somebody...

i do not know how "normal " people manage without access to a horse trailer-- owning one and driving one, i have hauled all manner of things for diy projects... from pianos to a complete medical library which was the heaviest thing i ever pulled.... a md friend was moving across the street to a new house and had a bunch of md's and piles of pizza to accomplish the move. it was amusing.... i also had to back uphill to deliver the load..... words like smelly "clutch"  came to mind.  we got there..

dc

mar 16 2022

so much for hearing aid glue...--- it failed... i am now back to one-- with everyone watching what they sweep up..... costco told me I had insurance so I could loose one,,,ok....  I don’t get along well with thin=gs stuck in my

 

loads of fun things to report....our star design around teh 2.5 inch hole in the shipping container caught one rat.. and in the process .. set off all the rest of the 5 or 6 traps...-making me wonder why i did not just stuff the dead rat in the hole... that might deter....

rat deterring.... my guess is toyota is now about the most expert in the rat deterring game...   they apparently have 14 million cars out there with "the rat problem"  so i bet they are paying attention.... and the repair guy at ira toyoota said i should grab handfuls of fabric softner sheets and stick them all over in my new car. so i pass that info on as "probably a tested fact". 

also now that it is spring ( ?really?) i will switch to golf cart-- and park elsewhere...

 

and laura and i chased the  sheets of iron/ welding process for the shipping container-- other thaqt stuffing the dead rat in their #2 hole. ( which i should. h ave done and did not)  i got on the  sheets of metal project... and found...or rather did not find... anyone thrilled with welding over wood in a container.... the last welder guy suggested screwing it down-- which wwith an electric drill would be jeasy enough..

 

the flat sheet metal place is nearly next door to the woburn animal hospital - so we know the way there just to fling around numbers to get some idea of where we are... i said 4' x 8' x 1/4 and they said 5 of those would be $3000-- and he also said that probably was thicker than we needed and suggested 1/8" for $1500 for the 20 foot long container..

so now today we should go back and stuff the dead rat in the hole at which point we probably would not need $1500 worth of metal-- but that is the kind of logic officials have a problem  with...  so we will measure and bless the boats that got the metal from china to woburn...my car has no hitch yet... and janine is not back yet with her big truck so it will just be an organizational trip to line it up.  I am assuming 8’ wide.     ----    if it is 8’2”  it is back to. The drawing boards....

meanwhile. The $1000 deductable on our insurance is looking more like an extra $1000 cost of the insurance in the first place., I am told t hs is our 4^th vermon related case... one being my person al and the other3 sdp... somehow they may catch up with us

 

Christmas pups are doing really well eating 4 at a time—forced on me by laura== and she may be right... she says we historically went straight to 8 at a time and never lowered it. – the current bunch in. the barn is down to eating one at a time—taking far too long...  I remember 8 on the back deck on either side of the old picnic table... and then the well known shot of me as chef.. with 3 on that same picnic table...  so it is worth a try...

  they made it to  puppy hill yesterday.---- Lost 2 going down and 2 coming back... not same two—nut not bad for first time..---  block driveway both ways before we start.....

  Wednesday----newspaper day. The ed did something with those 2 pictures I am sure...  out about  noon...

Thursday --- rain ... and lamb shank at the prepared food store.... dc

 

 we are gaining on the rat department....  i am told yesterday  we caught 2-- and i know 1 the day before...

 "the rat guy" told us something new to me......when they set a trap  the rat looks at it for 2 weeks before"trying it" 

so that might explain  my experimental dishes of trial food that got "cleaned up". before they got a chance to show a result ..

 turns out....... that one of the orange ravg 4. was parked up by the house when my seqoia was being fixed-- and now it too has $9000 worth of rat damage... 

so where do i park my new car?????? i have i loaded with rat deterrant... but. 

has anyone studied just when they chew--- like at 70 miles an hour down route 95???  or just at night...or do they just hang on for those trips???   --- i better get the golf carts going again...

next challange... the floor of the shipping container has a new2.5" hole--- teh typical 2.5 inch neatly chewed hole - exactly next to the other 2.5 inch hole they had in it last time.which we carefully

blocked by screwing down  solid oak of a previoulsy used. victor trap it probably took them 20 minutes to construct the new "entry" 

and with the pallets, it enabled easy access "under" to both grain and dog food.. i have seen an owl catch  large rat  in one swoop.... we need more owls? fischer cats and hawks????--- and soon to get the  new. elect fence around the chickens-- we  had to wait for the frost to go.

there are farmers that say this works...  i'll  believe a farmer report. 

 

we are addressing that with traps and i have ordered tanglefoot...  the impossibly goopy  substance.. while we think about it.   i have used that before in  remote situations with success...'

i am not too sure what happens to the rat. but they are not poisoned and i bet they are not too pleased either...as they drag around anything they touch.

 that stuff is awful. we might stick a volunteer to the floor with the next dog food  delivery....

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now about gluing  hearing aids to your head....  that stuff works too.... problem there is the tiny little stickum tape needs to be stuck 

to both me and the hearing aid in the right place-- and not to alternating fingers. 

 i realized today i was listening to tv, and not understanding one word...  i can hear the noise... but can't distinguish any words.

 it is an education i really want to pass on to all of you-  deaf wipes out most communication period... sometimes that is not all bad....however....

it still leaves me plenty to do. 

----

that picture of  me bending over with the. pup... that matches the picrture of the clamdigger bending over clamming...

. will probably be in tomorrows paper...as teh editor asked for a copy... i can hardly wait....

dc

 mar 14 2022

in winter i get up at night

and dress by yellow candlelight

in summer  quite the other way

i have to go to bed by day.

to heck with birds still chirping in trees... reminding me to change the batteries in my noisemakers.. 

 it is dark... i am up... all oranged and coffee'ed  

 darn daylight.....i had it all arainged  pups would have breakfast in the "mail call room"  then go  outside for the pause that refreshed  and back for a nap/// then be ready to go to the fiargrounds at 9.. 

clock says 7  pups say 6 so fairgrounds willl be pups  9 and clock 10

i remember in britain -- somethign about "daft" time--- and teh scots in the hills had "double daft "  time  now you ry and read a train schedule with all that ...  and to them it was normal.

******

yesterday a small select group lectured me on  repairing things before they totally collapsed.. they seemed totally oblivious to things like money and  help. and got i n a swivit because we have not  swept off the roofs . i know a couple  things about roofs... if a roof does not leak and you go waltzing around on it, it will then leak like a sieve.....in lynnfield  we had an upstairs porch added to the  house.. which unfortunetly pitched toward the house  meaaaaning a puddle acumulated right at the house  which then leaked .

it started with a scrapbasket catching the "overnight"  drip   -- then a trash can--- then 2 trash cans with a preplanted siphon nose between so i could fill both trash cans from one drip. and get a full night's sleep....   i coul.d not go to 3 trash cans and still get past all this to the kitchen... so i drilled a 3/8 inch hole in the floor and shoved a kitchen funnel in the hole-- worked well til i sold it   "as is where is'  and let them fix it.  i don't know if they ever did   the husband was the creative type and they just might still have it there   --- while he built a plane in teh barn and flew it somewhere impressive----i can't remembr   ?ireland??? 

i sold it without a real estate agent- some guy  " who shall remain nameless " a real character came up to me one day and said i will give you $xxx for that  property,,,one of my neighbors had just exploded at me because the kids walking thru his property  liked to throw  bits of food into his perfect garden on their way to the school bus.....and of course i had a bunch od=f dogs who would go get it..  high schoool  kids loved to watch.  the neighbor literally chased me up the road with a rake  -- so i decided to take mr nameless's offer- and i left lynnfield in a rocking chair in the back of a pick up--- to live in a temp house somehow arrainged by the cashmans   ( as in #12 wayne cashman of bruins fame)  til we could move into  the pick up camper....r parked by where the laundry building  is,,, while 3 guys from iowa built the small  house- all our belongings were stored in the back of the horse trailer while janine lived in the front   and we lived in the back of a borrowed pickup..  

the funny part was... tom had a "beeper"  and the phone was a temp one at the gate..  - so ooo  many nights he wouldl have to run up to the gate to tell someone to take 2 asprins and  call him int he morning.

  then the little house aka guest meeting  house got built-- the furnature went  in the kitchen side and kids with friends went upstaies

no mkae that "up ladder"

instacart????? delivery within an hour from local stores?????

 mar 12 2022

NOW IF I HAD MY WAY.......  we had a meeting about dogfest 2022 - and we made all sorts  of decisions  --- normal type---and then. i. slept on it-- and because i am an insomniac i had a lot of. other ideas..

like.... it is our 10th year with explore. and it's never stop learning  mantra.... i thought what fun to borrow someone's milking goat and a stand.. just for something different- well if i did that, then maybe  we could manage more  3 or 4 of explore.org screens  with the aquarium from austroalia  and. panda bears from china-- and dogs at sdp... because we could invite the NP_(newspaper people.... new people..) to come on saturday for a walk thru introduction.... well how could we cope with the number of people who might need lunch at that time... wellllll  we could call mr kayem... who owns that nice big truck-- refregerated will all kinds of grilling equipment and 2 guys, that  donated it to the barn building insaugus...   , he is  a company that could cope with the variation from 60 to 600 hotdogs without a problem. - for parking we would sacrifice teh grass on the flat filed.. which will grow back...

there is a big. why we shoujd not--- we are already stretched int eh fence fixing/ maintanence department-- but had a huge help last year from fff( our fence fixing  friend dan. ) south of the border... i did learn one thing... you can have volunteers help-- which would get done.....but  would take 6 months- or you can hire masterson construction and it would take 20 minutes with his crew and heavy equipment..

hmmmmmmmm'.. thinking.....it would be a good thing and maybe a break thru to abolish the black screens in the adult care centers.

time to feed the pups in the mail call. area--- doing well,....... 

hb

 laura is coming today -- to interview me as part of her nursing project...so i have been thinking...?? childhood??    i remember only 3 episodes of my early education..  i have a feeling i was ADHD  before it had a label.....i took an awful lot of tests in about 3rd grade... most notably the long IQ  test on which i got a perfect score very quickly... and  i can remember the teachers face ---- i  was sent to the principals  off ice just as quickly ..mother called arrived and all sorts  of activity before i showed them.. it was a folded paper which if you looked inside it showed you where they wanted the  X so i just did that and never had to read the questions.....my poor mother.. president of the pta and her kid cheats on the iq test???   

2nd most memorable was teh constant spitting in the little bottles for the dental   flouride testing  newburgh had flourine naturally  and kingston did not..  the third memory   was 11th grade when mr brown-- the physics teacher  climbed up on a desk and dropped things to demonstrte something-- and i decided  studying  physics was for me !!  that and a boyfriend who told me i should get 100% in math because it was not only  possible but necessary--  and pointless to try in english, spanish  or history...  (steve, who reads this, remember the floyd era?)..  well then ---- steve will  remember the marching band--  he could play the clarinet rather well-- and i, frankly could not...zero  eye hand coordination... i could knit a fancy patterened wool ski sweater in the movies without error, but spelling? well you all know about that.  my education really started when i had to support myself.  

 poor laura....i hope her graduation is not dependent on me...

to be continued on other compurter

LACHY. DOWN------

  Training lesson for the day----   well we started yesterday---  lucky and chimney are basically well trained --- tho  l. lUkEys enthusiasm on occasion may get the best of him but he knows what he's supposed to do and generally when I say down he gets the front end down and waits for me to say both ends in which case he puts the back end down where gymnix will just usually drop... so we get to this nursing home and I'm managing cisel who has no leash or collar because she will stay right with me within 6 inches.. but lucky and gymnix we're on the usual leash with Judy and Haley... we got in the nursing home and I've headed for the nearest chair and told sizzle to lie down which she did and then those two came in the door ON  leashes and come over to where sizzle was lying and Judy and Haley asked THEM to lie down but in doing so they pushed their hand down to the floor and yanked on their neck and I watched this and didn't say anything at the time but those dogs know full well wHAT down means you don't have to pULL neck or use your leash or your muscles to control them they know what they're supposed to do if they don't do it that's a different story but they know What down means so I could immediately see why we don't use our leashes to control our dogs the mediately their whole body stiffened up and pushed up against that leash which was pulling down... if you think about that for a few minutes there's a lot of training information right there those two dogs were capable of just lying down when  they were asked to without pulling on their leash which we say we never do and we're not supposed to----I will certainly speak to everybody this morning .

 

It was evident from handling the donkeys if you pull on a donkey head the hWHOLE  donkeys stiffens up and the head goes up and the rear end goes down and that's why there's so many pictures of a donkey sitting down is that very nearly what they do rather than let you pull them forward if you want them to go forward you just plain  ask him to try ------they're gonna do it or they're not---- and that's what we had in the nursing home with those two dogs the other day Judy and Haley both pulled downwards on their necks telling him to lie down which was unnecessary and it was insulting to them so both JIMNEY  AND larky tried to pull her head up and her whole rear end everything was all stiffened instead of the normal sort of relaxing down.

 

I'm told we have one dog that may have to be washed out because it will not lay down... I think I would like to try that dog in the Toyota waiting room.... which is my place to take dogs for the long down -----God knows we end up waiting long enough we have one of the TRAINOR. vehicles without the wires thanks to a raft of rats.... so next week that's first on my list to go sit there and see if I can make the dog lie down over the course of about four hours for them to figure out if and how to replace the wires or do we have another total wreck on our hands.....

 mar 10  22

on the road again.... straining m y coffee thru a papertowell.... life without  a kerig is different...\....

.i can remembermy mother took great pride in her cooking in general-- as she should have   3 course dinners at the table at 6pm every night....with folded napkins...anyway......she was very proud when all her friends commented on her coffee and how good it was.

 behind  the scenes i heard her comment- easiest way to better coffee is to wash the pot !!-- every once in a while i will hit a dunkin donuts  who's coffee has that bitter flavor of an unwashed pot .... 

 that is my culinary tip of the day...actually probably for the year...

the ipswich news cover has a clam digger in a wine colored sweater bent over digging clams--- i have that exact shot with my wine colored  sweater  bent over  helping a pup find his bowl...  it could not be more perfect...

our fairgrounds excursions continue to be fun with the chriistmas litter-- they could stand aa bit of group work..as there are 2 strong individuals  so we have a split scene  6 + 2  or even 6 +1+1out supervisory group must contain someone with strong legs for outrunning... 

it occurs to me we should notify the local cp's of our morning runs... they could meet us at the fairground  paarking lot--by the river gate-- row of school busses.

i don't think we can make the fairgrounds  today... got to be more like 48-50 degrees...  ..

..maybe just maybe i can start the figure 8 learning in the kitchen....   ..that will take most of the m orning.. . rope with a ring

in a loop- and continue the rope over and around the pups girtth.. and back thru the ring.... so if the pup pulls back in fear. you aare pulling on the entiree pup...not just his neck... 

i invented that rope with a ring for use with animals on movie sets  as it is a handle for most animals.. from pigs to llamas... to cats to   squirrels... and in some cases i used very fine string -- monofiliment which you cou ld not see... movie directors would say  " just turn the cat loose in the dumpster and we can film him as he runs away"  wrong !!!     that was a kia commercial...  that would have wrecked my perfect record for the certificate "no animals were injured in filming this movie..."     

the figure 8 is th beginning of leash training. ------  i start with the pup backed into a corner or something so he does not try and run backwards... which would look to the pup llike i was chasing him backwards  with my arm stuck out in his direction.. so we try not to have that happen...lotsa  praise and end with cookies and run around.  one at a time     the kitchen should work,...

maybe ... as this second litter comes along we should see if the small dog trailer is still around.  i gave it to bella and george.. if so by summer we might use it to run all 17 pups around????? basically it is a horse trailer with 5' head room... i used to carry my 8 dog hitch in it... along with many other things.