what I did with my autumn weekend
So, one of the interesting aspects of living on the green in small-town New England is the number of events, literally, on our doorstep.
This weekend was the Apple Festival, the largest event annually in our town. Oddly, there was only one apple/apple product vendor and the balance of 70 or so vendors ranged from the "Friends of Town Hall" who are a non-profit trying to step in and get the modernization done that our town hall needs but that taxpayers don't want to pay for to a Congoan (sp?) family with hand woven hats and bags for sale.
Most of the dogs got a spin around the event...although it lead to the second exciting event of the weekend, a trip to the urgent care for K. You see, there is a point in every litter where the puppies put on a critical 5-7 pounds that turns them from puppies to dogs. I always know when it happens because generally K. is on the other end of the leash when one of the puppies figures it out -- Hi Hi, the puppy that appears to be the nominal reincarnation of her foundation bitch Iota tryed, with some success, to "take K. for a ride" meaning she forgot about the primate at the other end of the leash when it suddenly came into her head to go SEE something. So K. is officially a one-armed bandit for a bit until some healing sets in .... fortunately it is only a strain but it is virtually every muscle from finger tips to neck in her right arm.
The more mundane events consisted mostly of over-due house keeping (dust rhinos were starting to plot a takeover), me playing Jenga and utilizing Simple Tools ( the lever and the wheel ) in order to rearrange the dog sleeping arrangements in the basement to accommodate a 12 year old and 7 year old Briard staying with us while their owner is in France on business. I dissassembled one 6X8 kennel to move it onto a new formica sheet, rolled (both literally as a unit and figuratively by placing on a combination of dog-crate cart and moving dolly wheels) a 5X10 that was outside as a "time out" box for one of the three puppies when they play too loud into the basement as a dog border "spare room". Breaking the 5X10 down is a pain, so I was glad that we had the tools available to move it without having to break it down or break my back doing it.
It was a bit of work and made it clear some additional capital investment (some more linoleum and a couple mini-stall mats) need acquired this week to make the space adequate, but I'm looking forward to seeing both the dogs as they are puppies from our R & U litters. Seeing their owner is a bonus as it's probably been 2 years since we have gotten together except virtually.
batwrangler came down for dinner and a movie - how sick is it that the movie was the most recent edition of Pat Hasting's "Puppy Puzzle" with the DVD "extras"? But the steaks were almost as good as the company.
Glad to be going back to work. This time off crap is too hard :-P
This weekend was the Apple Festival, the largest event annually in our town. Oddly, there was only one apple/apple product vendor and the balance of 70 or so vendors ranged from the "Friends of Town Hall" who are a non-profit trying to step in and get the modernization done that our town hall needs but that taxpayers don't want to pay for to a Congoan (sp?) family with hand woven hats and bags for sale.
Most of the dogs got a spin around the event...although it lead to the second exciting event of the weekend, a trip to the urgent care for K. You see, there is a point in every litter where the puppies put on a critical 5-7 pounds that turns them from puppies to dogs. I always know when it happens because generally K. is on the other end of the leash when one of the puppies figures it out -- Hi Hi, the puppy that appears to be the nominal reincarnation of her foundation bitch Iota tryed, with some success, to "take K. for a ride" meaning she forgot about the primate at the other end of the leash when it suddenly came into her head to go SEE something. So K. is officially a one-armed bandit for a bit until some healing sets in .... fortunately it is only a strain but it is virtually every muscle from finger tips to neck in her right arm.
The more mundane events consisted mostly of over-due house keeping (dust rhinos were starting to plot a takeover), me playing Jenga and utilizing Simple Tools ( the lever and the wheel ) in order to rearrange the dog sleeping arrangements in the basement to accommodate a 12 year old and 7 year old Briard staying with us while their owner is in France on business. I dissassembled one 6X8 kennel to move it onto a new formica sheet, rolled (both literally as a unit and figuratively by placing on a combination of dog-crate cart and moving dolly wheels) a 5X10 that was outside as a "time out" box for one of the three puppies when they play too loud into the basement as a dog border "spare room". Breaking the 5X10 down is a pain, so I was glad that we had the tools available to move it without having to break it down or break my back doing it.
It was a bit of work and made it clear some additional capital investment (some more linoleum and a couple mini-stall mats) need acquired this week to make the space adequate, but I'm looking forward to seeing both the dogs as they are puppies from our R & U litters. Seeing their owner is a bonus as it's probably been 2 years since we have gotten together except virtually.
batwrangler came down for dinner and a movie - how sick is it that the movie was the most recent edition of Pat Hasting's "Puppy Puzzle" with the DVD "extras"? But the steaks were almost as good as the company.
Glad to be going back to work. This time off crap is too hard :-P