“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” — Arthur C. Clarke
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
I Bought Something from an Infomercial
I am almost embarassed to admit it, but I recently purchased something by calling a 1-800 number after watching an infomercial. But, I am so pleased with my purchase, that I’m willing to confess to it and even recommend it to you…
Posted under: Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 04/27/2004 at 02:10 PM
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Saturday, April 24, 2004
Sam is at His First Show—Updated
Yesterday, Sam’s breeder came and picked him up to take him to his first cat show in Colorado Springs this weekend. It was really hard to let the little critter go. We’ve become very attached to him over the past couple of weeks.
He’ll get a bath and all groomed up, and he should be showing today and tomorrow. We hope to get word on his experience tonight. We’ve even thought about driving down tomorrow, but that is 4 hours of driving time down and back to see cats in cages…don’t know.
Sam was great in the motorhome last week on a long trip to New Mexico and back. And, he has adapted to life with 8 big dogs quite well. He pretty much rules the house now.
He is up to about 6-1/2 pounds at 19 weeks old…he’s going to be a big boy.
Update! Sam’s breeders, Trudie and Dennis Allen of TruTails Maine Coon Cats, sent us an email with their comments on Sam’s first show and some photos. Click on “comments” below to see them. (For some reason the “more” link is not working on this article).
Posted under: Cat Stuff • by Rick on 04/24/2004 at 02:16 PM
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Training Dogs not to Bark
For some reason lately, all the dogs have started barking at the slightest thing. We can walk down the stairs, open a door, make a funny noise, and they start barking ... it is just too much! So, we’ve been exploring techniques to train dogs not to bark.
One thing we’ve done with some limited success is buy a water spraying gun from ToysRUs. Today’s water guns are not anything like what we had when I was a kid. These things look like something The Terminator would carry around, have a huge water reservoir, and are battery powered. When you hold down on the trigger they fire a good stream of water continuously while making noise and flashing lights. So, when the dogs start barking, we start shooting. This stops them from barking at the moment, but isn’t training them not to bark at all.
Today we rented a citronella bark collar from the local feed supply company. These things are expensive, so they let us use one for a week to see how it works. Bart was the closest dog around once I got it assembled, so he is wearing it today. It has a small microphone and when it detects the dog is barking, a brief spritz of citronella spray shoots up from the bottom of the collar toward the dog’s neck/jaw.
Boy is he surprised! He just can’t figure out where this stuff is coming from and he does not like it one bit. We are creating situations where the dogs bark, then rewarding Bart when he finally decides not to join in. After a day or two, we’ll rotate the collar to Heidi or Alex.
I don’t know if this is going to work or not, but it is worth a try.
Our other option is a shock collar, which we just can’t bring ourselves to try (yet).
Posted under: Dog Stuff • by Rick on 04/24/2004 at 02:07 PM
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Monday, April 19, 2004
Heidi turns 11!
Today, Heidi has her 11th birthday. This is quite an achievement for a Bernese Mountain Dog. Their average lifespan is around 8-1/2 to 9 years of age.
We’re travelling on her birthday and she is with our house/pet sitter. But, we’ll have an appropriate celebration in a couple of days when we get back.
We got Heidi from a breeder in Switzerland in 1993 while we were living in France. She was a cute puppy, but like a lot of girl puppies, she was very mischievous and taught Indiana all kinds of bad habits. She has always been the rabble-rouser in the family, barking a lot and spurring the other dogs on to mischief. But, she became one of the best obedience trained dogs in the house and did animal-assisted-therapy with children for 3 years. She finally grew tired of that. Other than a bad case of hip dysplasia—which she has compensated for by building really strong hip muscles—she has never been sick and looks like she’ll be going strong for a while yet.
Posted under: Dog Stuff • by Rick on 04/19/2004 at 09:00 AM
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Thursday, April 08, 2004
Rick Hits Major Milestone Today
This morning, I stepped on the scale after taking my shower as I do every morning, and the scale read 210.0 pounds. While I’ve been flirting with hitting 210 pounds for a month or so, this is the first time I actually hit my target weight!
I started at 245 pounds about 6 months ago. Together, Lynne and I chose to go on the South Beach Diet and we have both seen dramatic results. Sure, it was hard at first to give up potatoes and sweets and pasta, but the results have been dramatic. And, now that we are at our target weights, we are reintroducing some of those foods into our diet.
Nevertheless, this is a life-long change in the way we cook and eat. Frankly, we are probably eating more and better now than we ever have.
This weekend, it is off to the mall to celebrate by buying tighter clothes. I’m getting really tired of cynching my loose pants up around my waist.
Posted under: Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 04/08/2004 at 12:23 PM
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