Chat for Month of March 2015

We' ve tried to keep up with the poop, but keeping up with the snow was much harder, so yeah, we'll have plenty of "buried treasure" too,

Jackie, continued prayers and good thots for both you are Charles.

80 F in the greenhouse.  My suggestion to remove the plants and install a table, chairs, and fridge didn't get far.

Kitchen is advancing slowly.  I reinstalled the dishwasher-running out of clean plates-and now have to see if it leaks anywhere.  Always a fun moment.   Granite guy measured yesterday, so it could be a few days until I hook up the stove top.  Gas always scares me a bit.  Water makes a mess, gas can kill.  Also planning the electrical connections-that can really scare you.  I have melted the points on my meter several times.

Wife is thinking about a new carpet.  We replaced a 30 year old carpet when we moved in.  It was clean, but the hairs were stiff.  This one is 17 years old.   Rags, Bear, Piper, Gunther, Sky, 3 cats all house broken on it.  I don't do carpet well.  But after a while, even after a good cleaning, you want to wear slippers or shoes when walking on the carpet.

Ran Sky today.  He was cutting arcs in front of me through the grass at about 30 mph.  Staying fairly close.  Then I worked him a few times with a Dokken dummy.  He had to use his nose a few times to find it, but he loves the chase and the return is fast-not perfect-but right back to me.  Then a short whistle, tell him to heel, and walk back to the truck.

Dog likes to lie on his back and wave his feet in the air, while making strange noises.  Really likes lying on his back next to me while I tickle his feet.  Really makes strange noises then.

Brother called to invite me fishing on the River next week.  Some Walleye from really cold water sounds good.  Maybe watch the Bald and Golden Eagles at play.  Taking a camera this time.  And lots of cold weather gear.  The water will be close to freezing.

Steph, good to hear from you!  I hope you and your family are well.  

Yes, 99% of the iDoggers have abandoned the forum, but there are a few of us die-hards left.  Actually, I think it's the moderators and technicians who have abandoned it. Jackie mentioned the spam --- it doesn't seem to get deleted, it just gets pushed down when more spam posts.  And I saw where Kate started a new thread to report problems she's having, and although several people have viewed it, no one has replied.  I think there's no one manning the ship anymore.

Anyway, like Kate reported, I don't see page numbers at the bottom of a page anymore either, so the only way I can move between pages is if I click on the small font "Non Dog Related" (just above the thread title) .  That goes to a more linear-looking layout, and you can click on the different page numbers for the thread.   But as Jackie said, the forum is ghastly.

Speaking of members we don't see anymore, I wish Deb was still around so she could come up with a special celebration drink for Charles being done with treatments!

Yanke, sounds like puppy-hood has been relatively easy so far.  Yay!

Have a good weekend all, and don't forget to move your clocks forward on Saturday night!

Doug, I forgot to say that Ruby does a similar move on her back with legs flailing around in the air while making odd noises.  We call it the carpet back scratching dance!

It is snowing. here! And so what's new? Snow certainly is not. Running out of room to put the stuff. Everyone has about had it. Finally have had some temperatures though, that are not in the single digits or teens. A real heat wave for sure. Turn the clocks ahead tonight and Spring is just around the corner. Have to think positive.

Good to see you Yankee. I remember way back when, when we shared pictures of flowers in our yards. I'm afraid it will be August this year before all of this snow is gone. Sounds like a smart little pup you have there.

Jackie sorry about Charles feeling so bad but happy to hear that he's done with treatments and wishing all the very best for the both of you.

Doug the kitchen looks great. Making me think maybe some time in the not too far away future we should get ours done. Agility is great fun Doug if you have someone near that teaches it. We love it.

Glenda so sorry about that darn ad that gets you so upset. That is totally understandable. You should write them a letter. They may not pull the ad but the next time they write one they may think a bit about how stuff like that can be so upsetting to people. Hope your sister decided to stay and enjoy her vacation. Sounds like she is very deserving of it.

I never heard that ad with the kid either Tracy and glad I haven't. How young was the child. I often wonder when kids are put out there to say things, whether some of  the stuff may end up really troubling them.

Tracy, my trailblazer is up there with yours and Kate's vehicles. It's a 2003 with 140,000 some miles. I keep thinking, okay this year, and then another year comes and goes. This may for sure be the year though. Starting to get nervous about taking it long distances to agility trials with the dogs. It's in good shape, as I've kept it that way, but when you have that kind of mileage you never know what might go wrong. Our last trip we had to stay over a couple of extra days to get the air conditioning worked on.

Spitting snow here too.  We too have absolutely no place to put more.  Where we shovel the driveway, out by the curb, well, actually the entire outlawn, the snow is way over my head.  DS had to shovel a path for the fuel guy to deliver and I went out and measured....more than 4 feet deep!  Yikes!  And that's just in the yard where nothing had been shoveled.

Fortunately, Mom's bug was pretty much a 24 hour one.   Poor Sis was totally freaking since KY and TN were getting blasted with a winter storm and both are states they travel through to go to MI.  I guess they could have picked up 95 and gone up to VA then through WVA to Ohio and home, but I'm sure that would have added a lot of miles.  Sis gets migraines from stress and tons of stomach issues and her stress levels are through the roof.  My Mom is very needy now and Sis isn't good at balancing everyones needs, so her own get ignored.  While I'm the "baby" of the family, I'm the one who is best equipped for dealing with all the stuff life throws my way...this is really difficult for her.

I was almost a total slug today.  Piddled in the kitchen a  bit, but spent a LOT of the day watching the squirrels on the deck.  Weeks ago, I had some apples that were getting a little past their prime and at the time my hands were really cracking badly so I didn't want to subject them to the juices from the apples to peel, slice and freeze them.  Needing a way not to waste them, I started slicing up one or two a day, spreading them with peanut butter and putting them out for the squirrels.  The apples are long gone, but now I dip a knife in PB, then swirl it around int he bird seed and make little PB balls.  They LOVE the darned things, so every day I have to make more for them.  At least I know they've got something to eat.  Crazy critters bury food underground in warmer weather....it's gonna be a long time before they can even FIND the ground!

We had a hot lunch today.  Soup and sandwich.  I know it doesn't sound like much, but we forgot we had an electric griddle.  Soups in the microwave are fine, but now I can have pancakes, eggs, grilled cheese.  Life is good.  Hoping to get the granite in Monday or Tuesday.  Then I can install the cook top again.  We might even see the upper cabinets this week.  Small shop cabinet maker.  I had to help unload the lowers and help position them.  

Sky is getting a checkup Tuesday-blood work for  heart worm.  He's almost 10 months now.  The brain will start working soon.  Actually, he is really good in a small group.  He meets new people, greets them, then goes off and lies down and watches them.  Of course, if you're lying on your belly working on plumbing, he does try to help.  He cleans your ears and eyes really well.

Warm and sunny.  Had Sky to the big WMA by the river and he had a blast.  He met another dog, and played chase with it for a bit, then they went there way and we went ours, with Sky working the grass and brush like a vacuum cleaner.  He found a place where a deer had marked the mud, so he rolled in it a bit, then we moved on and he found and flushed a rooster pheasant.   Very proud of himself.  Lots of praise and petting.  Then the bath.  

I get to clean up the left over crab apples.  The ones on the bottom half of the tree were used up, but the upper ones are still hanging on.  Rotten, soft, squishy, but hanging on.

Smack the branch and a bunch fall or fly.  Then, I get to rake them, if I can find the on/off switch on the rake handle.  

I did fill a 5 gal bucket with fewmets yesterday.  Hard to pick out in the leaf and brown grass areas in the shade.  Wife decided to not help with this chore.

Still 2 months in the Possible Snow Season.   Uff da!!

Hey Tracy thanks for mentioning about clicking on the small font at the top to get to where you get page numbers. Other wise you will be missing posts. I thought I was going a bit nutsy here. I'd see things when I went thru notifications but then I couldn't find them again. Very odd that all of a sudden the page numbers, at that particular lay out anyway, disappeared. Sun is out so guess I'll go out with the dogs for a bit.

Its also very frustrating that clicking the link in the notification doesn't take you to the post its listing.  In so many ways this place is becoming more trouble than it is worth :(

In the beginning, I thought it would just be a matter of time before I learned the new format and the bugs were ironed out.  I don't think my learning curve is the problem....it's all the danged bugs and wierd stuff.  Yet, I sure would hate to loose whats left here.

We are having a beautiful March day - it's about 40 degrees above zero and the sun has been out all day!

I'm still feeding the feral grey cat. In a few weeks, I will have help trapping him to get neutered. I got a little dog house over the weekend and put straw in it, set it near where I feed him. The dog house is solid, the opening is small, so just the right size for a cat if he chooses to shelter there. Yes, I am turning into the crazy cat lady.

In the 50's and sunny.  The school cross country team just went by.  Shorts and t-shirts.  The school track is probably a little wet for running..  

No progress to day on the kitchen, but I did dump a load of old cabinets at the dump .  The burnable will be used to generate electricity, the recyclable will be sorted.   We did find our electric fry pan, and it is warm enough to use the Weber.  No mosquitos.

I may have to buy a new wheelbarrow.  Apparently after about 20 years, the handles break off.  The metal is all rusted.  Got my wife a garden wagon for xmas, but I don't think I am allowed to get it dirty.

Maureen, I remember sharing garden and flower photos, too.  Yanke's yard was always one of the prettiest!

Tina, you'll never be the crazy cat lady.  You're just the warm-hearted, compassionate cat lady!  Good luck with the trapping.  Hopefully it's an easy process for you and for the cat.

Glenda, it's absolutely not a learning curve issue anymore; it's an apparent abandonment of any behind-the-scenes tech support or moderation.  It's almost like we're the few surviving members of a species after a nuclear event or alien war or something --- there are no powers that be, just a few straggling survivors trying to sift thru the ashes for some semblance of normalcy!  :-)

It's nearly 50 and sunny today - the snow is melting and everything is that dirty snow and/or brown color. Yes, it's March in Michigan.

It seems like some of the spam posts are not accessible to post to or report, but they haven't been removed from the grid. If you click on some of them, it says "report not found." Who knows anymore?

Today two of my co-workers (both men) and I came to work wearing argyle sweaters. There are only four of us here today. We really didn't plan this.

hey everyone!

Yes it is finally Spring, even here in NC. February was brutal for here and I am happy to see the back of it.

Work has been reasonable for about 6 weeks and I have another 2 before we hit 6 weeks of hyper drive again

Bugsy is truly starting to show signs of aging and it breaks my heart. As much as I have prepared for this it is still shocking to the system to watch him sleep the days away. He has recently broken an upper canine and now we think he has sciatica. I feel sad for him yet he is as happy as ever. I let him ride with me to the bank and for gas today and he was so content.

DH has retired again. I can only shake my head and pray he gets bit by the DIY bug. There is certainly plenty to do around here.

I hope everyone is doing well

Peace, Karen