| flies are so so so so scary |
[Mar. 20th, 2010|04:12 pm] |
Stella is terrified of flies. I forget this. But, these last couple of days with the warm weather there are flies again and she goes catatonic deaf and freezes in her tracks and can not think at all--no brain--if she hears one... a tiny infinitesimal buzz somewhere in the distance and she's terrified. I have no idea how to snap her out of it. Just now... I made these delicious (I'm assuming because they have really stunk up our home) garlic liver cookie treats and we were doing some back-up-the-stairs and box-perching with hind-end-rotation and then suddenly she heard a fly flying somewhere in the house (I left the back door open to air out the apartment before the girls get home) and that was it--session over. Nice treats, but time to go hide---and she booked. The she-cat Lo is hunting the fly, so at least the brave rotund cat is getting some exercise and amusement out of it... but this fly-phobia is not good, really not. If anyone has suggestions, I'm open! I mean -- has there ever been a spring or summer agility trial without flies?
(the monster)
(the little dog) |
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| Chasing the Wind |
[Mar. 20th, 2010|12:22 am] |
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The storm, actually. Took these pictures, among many, when we were weather spotting for the NWS on 18 July 2004. The sky was really varied and interesting, that night. 
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| Friday: Work Day |
[Mar. 20th, 2010|12:16 am] |
Today was another slog at revisions--the "write sentence, remove half the words, shift over one, and repeat..." sort. I know what needs to be done in the scene, but there's no flow at all, and it's crucial that every nuance carry to the reader. Right now the reader would be going "ouch-ouch-ouch" from the roughness, like walking on sharp stones, when what need to happen is a slow flow of information to the backbrain without tickling analysis. Yet.
If that's not sufficiently obscure, I could go on....( Read more... ) |
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| the stella status update |
[Mar. 19th, 2010|07:40 pm] |
We took a nice easy walk in the park this morning assessing what the recent storms have wrought--there was a report of 50 fallen trees... we found a bunch
  
and we stopped into the vets, not for an appointment but to say hello, have a cookie from the cookie jar and play with a kitten that is up for adoption that looks a lot like our sweet old cat Angela April.
We were supposed to be seeing where we are today--entered in Colors and Jackpot at a CPE agility trial in CT--seeing whether the focus we have been developing is getting trial-proof... that was the plan, but instead I was madly making lots of little grey fuzzy voodoo squirrel dolls and sticking pins in them because those little devilish beasts need to pay for tempting and taunting Stella to chase them the way she does like stupid super dog at hyper speed in our back yard, injuring herself enough so we had to scrap our good plan to test where we are.
Not really.
I mean not really about spending the day making fuzzy voodoo squirrelly things. But, we did have to scratch Stella from those events on counsel from the PT we saw Wednesday. He said she has an iliopsoas muscle strain on the right side. And explains why she cringed when our vet worked her hands down along Stella's back---this is where the iliopsoas muscle comes up from the inside of her leg and hip and attaches up on her spine.
I had been having nightmares about this visit--I kept waking up the whole night before. I was afraid I would find out that I wrecked the dog, because I knew it was a re-injury and we didn't find out what it was when it happened the first time last October--and I always felt there was something there, worried about it--but I wanted to know what the deal was.
So the deal is I did not wreck the dog. The PT stretched her, massaged her, did some laser therapy said she still has a lot of stretch and elasticity in her leg, so its not that bad, he could straighten the leg, stretch it pretty far back---but the iliopsoas muscle is definitely spasming. He gave us a plan to follow until the beginning of April when we can come back and hopefully get the go ahead to resume full training and actually enter some trials... unfortunately, he said he could also feel something tight in her right front shoulder which is probably a result of her compensating for the hind end injury.
So the plan is: still no off leash wrestling and running which of course is making her stircrazy. She misses her buds. Sometimes I think when we walk in the morning along the perimeter of the Meadow she can smell them--the way her nose goes in the air and starts working real hard. But, I get it, that kind of horsing around is unpredictable and she could easily pull it again. We need to stick to leash walks. Hikes in the park. Hind end work. Backing up the stairs is good. Box work--perching and moving left and right in a circle. I can see she's already a little out of shape. And he gave us our PT regime: ten minutes of heat on the right side and then stretching both hind legs before going out and then ice for ten minutes when we come back.
He did give us permission to go to back to class--probably would not have if the class wasn't with Sassie, he says he trusts Sassie to see if something is too much. And if Stella is stiff the next day we know we have done too much. But, flatwork essentially. No AF, no weave poles, no Teeter. Low low jumps. DW he thinks is ok.
So we did hightail it over to K9 Campus as soon as he was done and we arrived a little late, but happy to be there. Sassie let me walk the course, even though everyone already had and she was in the middle of teaching how to handle parts of the course... It was nice to be back, Stella was yipping with joy when we pulled into the parking lot... but because we haven't done anything, nothing, no flatwork, not even much in the way of tricks, I had to consider the possibility that Stella would go haywire and also Sassy had her puppy Toggle out in the room on a leash so there was the ever present visiting temptation.
But Stella was good. She wanted to work. And she tolerated all my screwups without running off and sniffing, just a little over the top ready to try again...
this week Sassie shot video of everyone in class on the TWO challenge pieces of the course...
The First One involved a "distance" push at the start to the tunnel and then booking it to a front cross... Stella is still not driving into tunnels (she used to) and so if I even slightly turned my body or feet to the left she skipped the tunnel, headed for the dogwalk... there was tape on the ground we couldn't go deeper than or farther left... the solution was starting with her at an angle where she could only see the tunnel entrance and then i ended up having to go pretty deep anyway, Sassie says she WILL dive into tunnels again... it might even be her iliopsoa that bothers her because they bank off the side...
And The Other involved the tricky timing and placement of a tight front cross that would get you smoothly around a wing and turn the dog to a broadjump... I felt very klutzy, but it was fine. So... here's Stella jumping SIX inches (raring to go, you can see how much she's missed class) and me, not exactly turning in the right place or getting around the wing smoothly, but good girl that she is, Stella gets the broadjump anyhow...
I am relieved Stella's injury is not so bad... I will have to stay mindful, really careful not to do too much and cause her a setback... remember the heat and ice and stretching... because this iliopsoas thing could get chronic and put Stella out of the game. The PT said this injury of hers is actually one of the most common in agility... so we'll be rebuilding doubletime come mid April...
When class was over, Sassie took Boing! over the tricky parts and it was interesting to see... nearly effortless... then she let me handle Boing! over the same sequences... Let me tell you, it was thrilling... that kind of speed and so instantly telepathic! The power! And she was so forgiving... such a sweet dog. What a treat! |
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| ICON |
[Mar. 19th, 2010|10:44 am] |
reminder, i will be at ICON SF/Media convention next weekend.
it is at SUNY stony brook on Long Island NY
since we often have some SCAdians present i will be bringing some fabric. i always bring beads. i MAY have the new pearl order in....
jewelry and corsets will be there, obviously. |
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| Revisiting the River |
[Mar. 19th, 2010|01:23 am] |
| [ | The river is |
| | Still awake | ] |
The Red River doesn't always flood just in the spring. One doesn't have to go very far to find the riverbanks lined with trees, not a house in sight. I used to live only a few blocks from the river (in the 70s and 80s), and I loved walking the paths on the river's western bank.
The Flooding River
A view of the Red River that I especially enjoy, flood and all. |
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| Spring 2009 |
[Mar. 19th, 2010|01:16 am] |
Samantha, looking out the door for Al, who is clearing the sidewalks after a storm. Certainly a contrast with this year's melting!
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| Oh, for God's sake |
[Mar. 18th, 2010|11:37 pm] |
| [ | The river is |
| |  grumpy | ] |
What is wrong THIS time? I had a perfectly pleasant full night's sleep last night, and woke up achy and exhausted, to the point where I pretty much staggered through the day until I could come home and take a nap. This is freaking ridiculous -- I have a BOOK to finish, dammit. And a garden to complete, and a house to clean, and stuff to do before the family arrives in two weeks for a visit, arrgh...
On the plus side, I did force myself to do thirty minutes on the treadmill (it helps when I watch an ep of BONES -- for some reason that's very distracting), and a friend of mine sent me a link to a musical about Edgar Allan Poe (music by Eric Woolfson of the Alan Parsons Project -- the music sampler was fabulous so I bought the CD and DVD combo), but I would really, REALLY like to be, oh, you know -- AWAKE? Bah. |
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| First Bluebonnet (and more flowers) |
[Mar. 18th, 2010|10:40 pm] |
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http://www.80acresonline.org/blog/?p=951 
It’s not fully open yet, but we count “first bluebonnet” from the first “bonnets” being open, so this counts. You can see one not as far along in the background.
In another shot, you can see that it’s already the target for hungry insects. Here there’s one tiny fly nose-down in a flower (seen from above) and one on the left zooming in.
For some reason, the first yellow evening primroses stayed open today in brilliant sun–it was about 1:30 this afternoon that I photographed them:
Many of the flowers, including the bluebonnets, aren’t fully open yet. This Drummond wild onion still has slightly folded petals:
The verbena’s also just starting to open its flowers…soon this will be a ball of pinkish purple:
But the delicate little white mustard-family flower–I think this is Capsella bursa-pastoris–is already dropping some flowers to set seed.
Finally, on the north fenceline, the clump of Mexican plums is in full bloom and you can hear the bees in it from yards and yards away:
(And I haven’t forgotten the insect lovers: Here’s the first green lacewing of the year, hiding out between tiny leaves just bursting from a cedar elm bud.)
Notice that the bronzy-red eyes of the lacewing almost match the bronzy-red of the bud casing the leaves came from. |
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| Lost Cat in Maryland, still lost |
[Mar. 18th, 2010|10:51 am] |
i am updating the prior post about the lost cat in Maryland with a flyer that is available to download.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/3hkwor
LJ user neadods has an indoor only idiot cat who somehow got out. (sounds like my idiot cat) the most likely thing is that he is nearby, hiding and scared to come out.
since he is a sweet pretty cat, he may have been picked up by someone to rescue him.
if you live anywhere near by, print this poster and get it to ANYPLACE that sells cat food, or any animal shelter.. remember, people dont shop for cat food where they found the cat, they shop where it is convenient! they also often take found pets to a shelter that they know, not the "closest" one.
If you KNOW anyone who lives near the area of Greenbelt/ Berwyn please pass this on to them!
whether you live nearby or not. please say a prayer, send energy, whatever, for the safe return home of Mulder the cat.. His human is very very worried, just like i was when my cat was missing.
PS.. If you have an idiot, i mean cat, please look into getting them microchipped. it doesnt solve every problem, but it increases the odds that they will get sent home if they are found... and unlike a collar they can't lose it. |
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