November Meeting

Glenda - the pyrs I've known have been NICE dogs absolutely & for sure.  BUT in honesty??  They are what I said above.  Not the typical "dog" first -- bond with their pack but oh boy do they like to be in charge.  *YOU* will do well b/c you're a consistent "mom" who is experienced (both with dogs and boys and men  LOL).  My landlord had one years ago -- he was a sweet animal ... but nothing I've known the like of before nor since.  They don't just 'herd' -- they develop a zoning plan, elect a county commission of "one" , put the laws into effect and **LET** you help.  *grin* I'm more than typically ready to give a dog credit but wow ... these guys do complicated decisions.  And she's still just finding her way around you.

I GOTTA post this *grin* -- it's just a news item but it's typical to see bear items in the news (yeah, in Floor-daa??).  We've had a ton of problems in the subdivision just up behind me (a woman and her dog mauled by a 350 pound bear, bears "seen", coyotes seen (in FLOOR-DA???? really?)

Their habitat is so endangered and humans are SO stupid about feeding wild animals and then once they aren't afraid THEN they expect Wildlife & Game to kill them.   NOW to this story.  The authorities were trying to re-locate him, they tranq'd him and he got away from them and ran into the ocean.  **Then** the tranquilizer took full effect and the bear started to drown..  THIS HAS A GOOD ENDING -- DON'T BE AFRAID TO READ THIS.

Just LOOK at these pictures folks -- makes dog rescue look a tad ... um ... tame??

www.onegreenplanet.org/.../man-rescues-black-bear

Bought Garth a new chew toy yesterday, it doesn't have any holes for treats to come out so he is not really interested.  

Today is Friday and I am soooo happy.  It is cool but sunny and I took a little walk downtown at lunchtime.  Next weekend is the big Fall extravaganza.  All the shops close down on Thursday re-vamp re-price and  get all the holiday fare out.  They open on Friday and stay open til late,  I love it!   It is so festive.  

I hope everyone has a really great weekend!

what a great story Callie! Thanks for sharing.

Yes Pyrenees are a very stubborn breed. I am a very stubborn human AND only a gsd can teach a human how to deal with an equally st breed! She doesn't often show her stubborn side but boy when she does she does it well! That's when stubborn meets stubboner. LOL.

I posted in the kennel but if anyone wants to do Secret Santa let me know.

Glenda do you have the name of the person that trained her to behave like a well trained saddle horse? :)

Grandkids were here for most of the day.  Sky will recover.  Took GS for a walk in the deep grass.  Cold and windy at mid day.  No birds seen, but kid has seen a dog at work now.  It is a different dog then.  

Kids decided to jump in the leaves.  I had used the lawn sweeper to move the leaves into the back yard.  They used the garden cart to move them into the front yard, and I was told to say nothing.  They did have fun though.  Maybe we will get a good wind and the neighbor can vacuum them up again.

Wife made a pie last night.  Apple, cranberry, and walnut.  The only way it could be better is if she had made 2.

Company over for dinner last night, so we had to share the pie.  We got into a political discussion , and couldn't decide which side had the worst candidates, so we called it a tie.  Both sides suck.  They actually make Jessie Ventura look good.(If you understood my views on JV, you would be surprised at the depth of my disappointment this election cycle).

Deer season starts today, and as Sky has some brown on him, we will go to the dog park today  Try birds about next Wednesday .  I have lots of orange for myself and for Sky, but I don't like deer opener.  I've had deer hunters post a swamp hoping we would drive deer to them, and I don't want Sky seeing deer as prey.  Dogs that chase deer tend to get shot.

Glenda- You are not close to the stepson?  If you were, sorry.  If you were not, it may just be one less worry.  A copy of your will, with his name crossed out and a short note saying "Done".

Had my truck winterized and the idle motor replaced.  It now idles at 30mph in 3 gear.  It may be time to replace the truck.  A new motor is about $4000, and the truck has a market value of $3000.  Thinking about a Ford Taurus X.  Same car as my wifes',  except a station wagon. They stopped making them in 09, but my truck is a 97.  Or, the truck will just keep on going until I can not drive any more, and I can have it molded into a coffin shape.

Glenda-you're much more understanding than I am.(that's a compliment)

Piper was a winter pup. Below zero temps with a wind makes a dog quick to piddle. I could just let her out-no rope, no fence. She would do what she had to do and back to the door and bark. Sky likes company and has to watch the traffic go by.

Just back from the dog park. Sky had about four good buddies to play with. An Alaskan, a Golden, a hound, and a cocker-lab cross. Lots of running , jumping, gumming. It is bath time.

I may rethink that Doug. Ryan finally reached the friend of Pats (the ex) who was supposed to be putting together the memorial for NEXT weekend. They had that service today. No one shared that information with my son or with Pats youngest son, Jon who is in MI and had attended the actual funeral. The unholy little jerk wanted everything THIS weekend because he did not want to go to VA next weekend. so he bulldozed this into being. Since Wednesday nite. So Ryan, who had fully planned to take part in the service next weekend, and did not attend the one in MI was the only living son who did not get to say goodbye to his dad. At the moment I hope that Christopher burns in hades.

Oh, Glenda, my heart is breaking for Ryan and you. What a tough situation (and I know that's an understatement). ((((hugs))))

The big news here is that Rock passed his pet therapy competency this weekend, so now he gets to move on to two internships. The first will be at the extended care facility where we did a lot of our training. (I like the place and the people (staff) and Elders (the folks who live there, though not all are in the "Elder" age range.) Rock likes the place, too, and he really likes the person who heads up the pet therapy part of the Elders' activities.

I got a couple more fence posts set this weekend. (This is a different fence line from the one that took me forever before.)  Maybe I'll get all the posts set before the ground freezes!  I planted the last patch of winter rye today. The rest has already started to grow. The garlic will go in on Thanksgiving weekend.

Doug, that pie sounds delicious! I might have to try to make one, too!

Kate congrats to you and Rock :)    

Question about the garlic, is that the rule of thumb for your area or is garlic supposed to be planted in Winter everywhere?   We use lots of garlic but have never grown it.  

Doug sounds like you have been busy up your way.   I have never had that pie combination but I think I would like it, not a big fan of walnuts but I suppose pecans would work.  

Glenda sorry about all the drama you guys are going thru right now, take a deep breath....give Ryan a hug and love  on Dixie...it will all go away soon.

I plant later than most up here (but it seems to work, so I'm sticking with my schedule!). Up here, some folks have tried planting in March, but I haven't done that. I just look at southern planting guides--they say to plan in October or November (I'd even say December). If it doesn't get cold, you may want to refrigerate the bulbs a couple weeks. Here's the LSU Ag web site I found: www.lsuagcenter.com/.../Garlic+in+the+Garden.htm

I did learn a good tip from an old time garlic farmer (he grew something like 10-20 THOUSAND garlic bulbs). Right before he planted, he'd separate the cloves and then soak them in cheap vodka for 20 minutes. (I think the purpose was to kill anything that might be lurking on the outside of the clove.) I've done his process for two years, and it certainly doesn't hurt! When you separate the garlic bulb into cloves, you don't need to peel of the wrapper from the clove. Just soak it and plant about 2 inches deep (2 inches from the top of the bulb)--plan the point end up.

The kids are chewing on marrow bones tonight--it's been awhile as I couldn't find them at the store, but they had them today.

Pecans in the pie--that sounds like a great substitute (or no nuts, just apples and cranberries). Yummmmm!

I too put garlic in in the fall and give it a good cover of straw. Did the same when we lived in CA.

The cremains that Chris had such a tantrum about will remain in MIm. When his wife dies their remains will be comingled and scattered together per his written desires that were found on friday. Jon stopped and spent Monday nite with us on his way home. Would have loved ffor him to spend a few days with us but he felt the emotionalneed to be home and working....to have some normal. He is such a delight....not at all like chris.

Tried a new squash today called pinwheel. It looks like a very large pie pumpkin but is the color of butternut. Similar to butternut but even better. Ended up baking two of those, three more pie pumpkins and seven butternut squash today for the freezer. Cleaned and froze a couple lbs of kale and one a swiss chard. Of course the freezer had to be reorganized AGAIN and needed to run the oven through a cleaning cycle. Oh and made a pot of dog food and a big pot a veggie beef soup for dinner and turned a frozen bag of cherries into a yummy topping for our cheesecake and then did PT for my hip. Tonite I am whipped! Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit quieter! But I always hit the farmers market on Wednesday and just can't say no tp a good deal!

Ice on the fish pond.  We moved the fish into the basement tank a week ago, but it is a milestone day.  Probably start reading reports of ice fishermen going through the ice.  Ice scares me.  I like a couple of feet of it before going fishing on it, but there are always a few who really jump the gun.  You see them fishing just feet from open water or open moving water.  It's a fish.  

Saw a new doctor yesterday.  You get to an age and all your new acquaintances names start with "Doctor".  This one is an endocrinologist with a South African accent and she could be a runway model.  Science has proven that in the presence of a beautiful woman, the male IQ actually drops, so I have learned to talk little for the first few minutes.  A closed mouth gathers no foot.  Smart and knowledgable woman.  She cut the dosage of my most expensive med in half .  This is one that helps grow red blood cells, so I hope this is a good idea.

Took Jr to the dog park.  Cold and windy and few dogs.  Sky met and played hard with a lab/doodle for about an hour.  I was wearing my work parka.  Today we hit the WMA for a while.  Last time, he put up 4 birds on a hunting ground that gets worked hard.  His nose is really remarkable, and his drive is intense.  But he still listens and obeys me.

Had a snafu with the leash while getting Sky out of the truck.  Tore my thumb nail half way across.  We were going into the vets office, and the vet fixed the nail free of charge.

We ate our last squash.  They were small and sweet and really good.  For some reason, our squash don't really flourish .  Cucumbers also don't do real well.  We may have to get an arborist in and top off a couple of old trees that shade the gardens.  As they also shade the house all summer, I really like these trees.  We don't have to use the air conditioning too much because of the trees

gosh it's cold here today. 34 but feels like 18. An hour ago it felt like 14! Yet tomorrow will be in the 50's. Go figure.

Reclaimed my car today. Its a Ford Escape so not tiny but with acrate big enough for a dog who is 27" at the shoulder there was absolutely nothing but the front seat. I could fit a very few canvas grocery bags along one side and then have to fill the front passenger seat and floor well with all the rest. For a person who lived through the gas shortage in the 70's and has combined trips ever since multiple trips home to unload were just not acceptable. Instead of the crate and instead of leaving one back seat down to give Dixie mire room.....which also gives her access to the front seat, I've put both seats up and limited her space. Hopefully she won't try to climb those to get to the driver seat! She is good as gold when one of us is in the car. Its when I need to go into a store or an appointment that she gets antsy. But I'm afraid if she is left alone in a crate or out at home she may bark and distrube my neighbor who works nites and sleeps days. Since his family owns the duplex. .....fingers crossed that the new vehicle setup works.

f