Friday, 3/3 What ever planetary force is messing with communication and with the mechanical things in this house, I wish it would hurry up and shift already! Wednesday, I had a migraine; I felt chilly so I laid down on the sofa, covered up with an afghan, and took a little nap. When I woke up, I was even colder and I realized the furnace was no longer blowing hot air. By the time I realized it wasn't something I could fix, it was after 5. So I baked my dinner that night, and boiled some water on the stove and got the house up to a decent 65 by bedtime. But it was cold yesterday morning! I called the management company, they called a heating/air conditioning company, and he finally showed up in the middle of the afternoon. Five minutes later, I had heat again. The sound of that burner igniting still sounds sweet to me.

I've been working short little training sessions with Blizzard and Dolce, separately and together. Blizz is going to class, but Dolce's getting the training, too. Blizzard learns so quickly and will do just about anything - anything for food, but she will also "listen" when there's no food involved, only praise. Dolce's beginning to "get it" more quickly, but she can be very stubborn about not complying if I don't have a treat in my hand. *sigh* She's such a sweet girl. She needs to get into her own home - I think she'd do best with a couple, or a retiree, or a stay-at-home mom. And I think she'd do best as an only dog, though she likes the other dogs. Actually, I'd like to see her do what she was born to do - to work, to herd. I think she'd be very good at it. She's so fast! She can be at the back fence in the time it takes Penny or Blizzard to get a quarter that far. She "springs" through the air so effortlessly, and covers great distance with each leap. There's something so distinctive about the way she moves, and it's so neat to watch her! Indoors, she's calm and quiet, but must be close. Usually right at my feet; she's "kissing up" due to a lack of confidence. I think part of that is because I can't give her the exercise she needs; walks just don't do it for this girl, she needs to run and she needs a safe place to do it in. Even if it were fully enclosed, my yard wouldn't really give her enough room. She's gotten out a couple of times and man, can she take off. But she doesn't go far, and keeps running back to me then away again. I'm fairly sure she wouldn't take off and not look back and, if she were my dog, I'd take her someplace safe and let her run a couple of times a week and trust that I wouldn't lose her. But she's the rescue's dog, and I'm not gonna take that chance with their dog. I hope the right home comes along this Sunday. She really needs some things the right home will have that I can't give her.

I took Blizzard with me on my errands today, and stopped by the vet to get her weighed and pick up Interceptor. Blizzard was due. I'd stopped giving it to Penny back in November but with this warm spell, there are li'l buggies flying around already so I figured I might as well get her and Blizzard on the same schedule. They must have agreed, because Blizzard spit it out and Penny gobbled it up. So I had to pill Blizzard. Blizzard is .4 pound under 50 pounds - right where one dose stops being effective and the next one up kicks in. I got the bigger doses, since I figured Blizz will have gained that .4 of a pound in two days and Penny needs the bigger dose. Makes it easier. Blizzard has gained 10 pounds in 7 weeks. She's such a little pig-dog. *grin*

The Mushroom is letting me pet him on a fairly regular basis lately. If he's lounging around and he's comfortable, he'll let me just walk up and pet him. And he "leans into it", too. Some of his ease with me must be rubbing off on his bud Buttons; either that, or she can smell me on him when she snuggles with him, because she's becoming much more relaxed around me. She doesn't jump just because I walk by. She'll still take off if I reach for her, but she's pretty relaxed around me the rest of the time.

Two weeks post-spay, and you can barely see Mysz's incision. The scar is very faint, and the pink has entirely faded. And all of a sudden, she's huge! I swear she's grown longer and taller in the last two weeks, and I know she's heavier! She's too big to drape herself under my chin at night, now, and must settle for curling up under the covers in my armpit, her head on my shoulder and her nose in my cheek or tucked under my chin. She may look like a big girl, but she's still a kitten. She's really beautiful. Her markings are so distinct and symmetrical, she's proportioned beautifully, and that delicate face is thoroughly delightful. The senior center wants me to bring 2 cats with me, so maybe Mysz will go along this time. She loves to cuddle.

I got PSP 6.0, and have just started playing with it. I'm still thinking through that Mug Shots section (there have been a lot of distractions lately) and so I've been playing with framing the pics. I wish I had more time. Maybe I should read the book?

Tuesday, 3/7 The weather has been absolutely gorgeous for the last 4 days, getting progressively warmer and sunnier. The official high temperature here today was 74 but my thermometer said 78, and that was in the shade. I had all the windows open for a couple of hours yesterday, but they were open all day today and, since it's almost midnight and it's still warm, most of the windows are still open. I've been doing lots of laundry. Every blanket, sheet, towel, sock, crate blanket, kitty kup - you name it, I've been averaging 5 loads a day. You remember, I don't have a functional dryer so I have to hang things on the line. (Things don't dry very fast when the temperature's only 25.) When I go to visit my sis, I always take a couple of laundry bags of dirty clothes/sheets/towels with me and I've got a lot of the things you go through quickly, like sheets, towels, socks and underwear so I can get along for a while on what I do at my sis's or what I can do here and hang up inside to dry, but the "non-essential" stuff kinda piles up.

I've been taking advantage of the nice weather to do some pre-spring cleaning, too. Yesterday, I vacuumned out the car and used the hand tool from my steam vac to shampoo the back where the dogs ride. (Blizzard loooooves to go for a ride in the car, but she nearly always gets car sick at some point.) Then I got a pail of soapy water and a scrub brush, and got rid of all the muddy pawprints on the outside of the back door, next to the back door, and on the wall where Penny was chasing moths. Took the crates out and scrubbed them down and let them air-dry. Shampooed one end of my bedroom and, when the carpet was mostly dry, put the crates back inside. (The new crate is a fold-up, so it's a piece of cake to move and even to clean because it's not spread out all over the place, but the old crate doesn't collapse and is a really good, solid, heavy crate. Good anyway, until you have to move it!) Today, I unfolded the sofa bed and cleaned that up. You should have seen what I found under there! There were cat toys, dog toys, a couple of fairly large piles of picked-clean bones (I don't know whether it's the cats or the dogs that tuck them there for safekeeping.) A pile of clean Litter Pearls from the time Blizzard got hold of a new bag, tore a hole in it, and dragged it all over the living room ending up on the sofa with it - guess they rolled down through the cracks. My ladle and one of my spatulas - I was wondering where those disappeared to!

I was in and out all day. And one dog or the other was always out with me. Penny likes to go out, have a look around, park herself on the grass and just observe for a little while. But she's had enough after about 20 minutes, and wants to come back inside. Blizzard, on the other hand, wants to go out and stay out. She just loves to soak up that sun! I watched her "follow the sun" around the yard today, always choosing a spot where the grass was thin or where there's no grass at all (darker surface, absorbs more heat). I took a couple of pictures, but they can't possibly convey the entire scene - this white dog, stretched out in the dirt, looking dead for all intents and purposes. I call her my "little pig-dog", because she reminds me of a little pig. Today, she reminded me of a pig rolling in the dirt. Penny lies there so dignified and poised; Blizzard just sprawls out in the dirt. Or in her little nest of leaves - I had a black plastic bag of leaves to which I'd added some dirt and then dampened down, so the heat of the sun would turn it into compost. It was in the corner where the fence on the driveway side meets the end fence of the dog run. Blizzard tore the bag open, and made herself a little nest there, a nice, cushy, sheltered place to take a nap. She needs a bath, desperately.

The kiddles are good. TC decided to come out and pay us a visit this evening. I haven't the vaguest clue what motivates that cat - don't see him for days, and then he decides to walk out to the middle of the living room, sit down, and proceed to casually groom a hind foot like it's an everyday occurrence. "Well, hello TC, you handsome fellow!" I say, and he just looks the other way. So I ignore him. He sits there and stares at me. I wonder if we're ever going to be friends.

Blizzard's doing well in class. In fact, last night I heard the instructor say (several times) "You see what she's doing with that white dog? That's what I'm talking about!" At one point, Chris forgot that Blizzard's deaf - she was going around the room from dog to dog, drawing them away from their handlers so we could give the "leave it!" command and a leash correction to bring the dogs back to a being on a loose lead. Blizzard went forward, I gave the leash correction, and the little pig-dog (pig-headed dog) went forward again so I gave another correction. Chris said "Tell her 'leave it!'" I wondered, but I trust Chris so I lunged forward so I could get my hand in front of Blizz's face to give the "leave it" sign. As soon as I did, Chris said "Oh spit - I forgot she's deaf! Saying "leave it" won't work with her, will it now! Duh!" A little later, we were practicing "tag-team recalls" - two people kind of play "pickle" with the dog in the middle, one calls the dog and treats when the dog comes, then the other person calls the dog and treats when the dog comes. Back and forth, back and forth. Chris was my partner in this. Blizzard happily "went" when called; upon reaching Chris, Blizz went into a sit. Now, when Blizz sits, it's practically on top of your feet. Her toes are touching yours, her legs are perfectly vertical, her chest is thrust out almost touching your knees, and she looks straight up at you, chin to the ceiling. She got to Chris, did this sit, and Chris treated her. But then she didn't look back at me so I could "tell" her to "come" - she remained in that sit in front of Chris, looking straight up, directly at her face, waiting for another treat. Chris tried, but couldn't keep a straight face and busted out laughing. And still Blizz held the sit, waiting for her treat. She's just so damned direct, it cracks me up.

Blizzard and Penny are such different dogs! But each is so dear in her own special way - Penny, for her perceptive, sensitive, independent soul, and Blizzard for her determination and simplicity. They're quite a pair. I guess maybe that deaf male English Setter pup I was hoping for didn't find me because I needed the spot for Blizzard. They're both good girls, and I love them both.

Tuesday, 3/21 Well, yesterday Penny made her second visit to the pediatric ward. Last week, we were paired with a golden retriever/black lab (?) mix named Jackson. Penny and Jackson hit it off immediately, and after a momentary play posturing (maybe 3 seconds worth?), they both settled down and went right to work. We visited with 6 kids, and scads of hospital personnel. This week, we were partnered with Jazz, a 1.5 year old collie/border collie mix. She didn't care for Penny much, but she was real good with the kids! We only saw two children yesterday, and one was a sweet little fellow - 3-year old - who'd fallen down the stairs and fractured the upper thighbone close to the hip. He's in traction, and will be for at least another 2 weeks, minimum, and possibly more like 6. They wheeled him out to the visiting area in his bed, since the poor little guy's not even allowed to sit up. When asked, Pen put her feet up on the bed rail, and the little guy started scootching over to make room for her in the bed. Parents gave the OK, the doc who'd stopped by (the orthopod) gave the OK, so I boosted Pen up into the bed. She promptly curled up next to the little fellow and didn't move for half an hour while he scratched her ears, and her cheeks, and under her chin, and her chest. He was so relaxed, he finally fell asleep. Without sleeping meds. For the first time since he was admitted 5 days ago. I got a call from the director of the program this morning; that little guy went to sleep on his own again last night, and hasn't needed another dose of pain meds since our visit yesterday afternoon. And, though he was hard to understand, he manages to say "doggie" quite clearly; he hasn't quit saying "doggie" since. *G* We'll be seeing him again next Monday.

Blizzard had "one of those days" yesterday - totally contrary, wouldn't do a thing I asked her, did things she knows she's not supposed to do. Like getting out of the car at class last night before given permission - I had to chase her halfway across the parking lot. Fortunately, one of the other dogs in the class was arriving with her owner, Blizzard made a beeline for Holly, and Holly's owner stepped on Blizzard's leash to hold her until I could catch up. And class was horrible, too. She wouldn't stay. She wouldn't sit. She would sit but facing backward - I can't tell you how many times I had to bend over and physically move her around facing forward, again. She wouldn't down. She kept trying to jump up on people who approached her. Just totally bratty. At one point we had the dogs in a sit or down, and were standing on the leashes ignoring them while the instructor gave her "how to recognize signs of dominant behavior" speech. Blizzard got fed up with staying put, and started barking at the instructor. Not at the other dogs, at the instructor. Chris turned around, took a step toward Blizzard and shouted "Hey!!" at her (nevermind that she can't hear, she does understand the significance of hollering). You know what Blizzard did? She looked Chris right in the face and sassed her back! Chris's eyes opened wide and flew to mine in first shock followed instantaneously by repressed laughter. Once again, I could see her biting the insides of her cheeks to keep from laughing out loud. I took Blizz into a little room whose door was right behind me, and had a little "time out". She wasn't much better when we returned to the room, but at least she kept her mouth shut. She finally behaved, and behaved beautifully, during the last 5 minutes of class. Her "recall" is really beautiful - she runs directly to me and sits when she gets there.

Since it was a little warmer today (around 50) and the sun was peeking in and out, I figured it was time to really work on remaining in a sit or a down when approached by a friendly stranger. I hopped in the car with Blizzard and went to the supermarket to sit on the bench outside the door with her, so she could practice staying put as people came and went, and approached her or didn't. After about an hour and a half, she finally managed to stay sitting when approached, and throughout the entire petting session that followed. It nearly killed her though; I could see her body just vibrating with the effort of staying put, and little whines of excitement were escaping from her throat. I figured we should end on a high note, so we left after that. But we'll be going back again Thursday and Friday (supposed to rain tomorrow), and again after the weekend to practice. We've got the big test coming up a week from Monday, and I want to make sure she really "understands the material". I think I'll be taking the girls out to my sis's house the Saturday night before the test. On Sunday, we'll take the dogs to the fenced-in dog park near her, and let them run themselves silly. That, combined with all the playing they'll do with cousin Jaegermeister while we're at my sis's should give me a couple of really tired, mellow dogs come Monday. Getting rid of a lot of energy combined with all the practice we'll be doing before then should put Blizzard in just the right "frame of mind" to be able to pass the test.

Mom and Dad will be home Saturday from their annual "winter escape" - they go south each year right after the first of the year, and come back the end of March. They're going to stop here on their way home; it'll be nice to see them.

Hey! Did I tell you I was invited to join the Dogo Argentino Club of America? And that they want me to write a couple of articles on nutrition for their newsletter?

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