Unpossible

No way this is happening. No way.

We have a houseguest right now, a young BC puppy on his way south to a rescue. We picked him and another up in Georgia earlier today, and he is going to leave us on Sunday to continue his trip.

Anyway.

Indy snarked at him most of the afternoon. Indy snarks at every dog, especially those that don't stay long.

He isn't scared, he just tends to be a bully with other dogs.

Indy and the puppy are playing right now. Literally rolling, jumping, wrestling, PLAYING.

I've never seen Indy actually play with any dog except for Diocese, and he only does that sporadically. Yet here he is, playing with this puppy. Nice!

Busy, Busy, Busy

It has been a crazy week. It is exam time again in our classes, so there was a lot of studying to do. Why is it that even when I keep up with classes/class readings I still feel the need to reread every single chapter right before a test?

It is a personality quirk I could do without.

Tomorrow I head out to the new barn for the third time. I'm really loving it so far, though honestly, I'd be hard-pressed to not love it when horses are involved. ;)

My trainer, Lakey, has me riding a bay gelding named Irish who is about as much a schoolmaster as any horse I've ever seen. The nice thing about him is that, unlike most (all?) lesson horses I've ridden, his canter departures are flawless. No getting hauled around an increasingly faster trot while getting more and more nervous and kicking until my leg is tired.

Since the transition from trot to canter has been my fear for literally years (some bad experiences as a kid turned me into a very timid rider, though I'm probably one by nature anyway), I'm hoping he will be able to help me get over it. Irish is a real sweetheart.

Before ending this post I have to brag on Diocese.



Diocese is our older Border Collie. He has some behavioral problems, namely his fear-reactivity to strangers. We can't take him on walks around the neighborhood unless it is late enough at night that no one is likely to be outside. He has to be locked up when we have guests. The UPS guy knocking on the door is enough to throw him off his game for a full day at least. He's never bitten anyone, but he will certainly act the part of Cujo at times.

Not that he is a bad dog. I'm not just saying that because he is my heart dog either. Anyone who really knows how to read doggy body language can see that he is terrified when he sees somebody he doesn't know. My agility trainer said he is bar none, including her own dogs, the most affectionate dog she has ever met. A behaviorist once said he is truly weird, because he is notfinenotfinenotfinenotfine and then *poof* omgiloveyouwillyoupetmeforeverandeveramen.

Now, we spend a lot of time working on his reactivity. In certain specific situations he is much less reactive than others (e.g. he is much better at the agility field, with all the happiness he associates with that place). Our house is not one of those places.

Now that the backstory is out of the way, I'll get to the real story.

We had a couple of friends come over the other day, both guys we've known since high school, and that D has known since he was a puppy (whether he remembers it or not). I put Diocese behind a baby gate in the hallway, where he could see some of the living room, where I was sitting, but not where the guys were sitting. He saw them every now and then, and eventually I asked one of them to help me with a training exercise with him.

Diocese was perfect.

More importantly, he did so well, with zero signs of nervousness (possibly because this is a friend who I do a lot of training with), we decided to try and let him come into the living room on a leash, just in case. With the exception of a few minutes of nervous sunken cheeks on D's part, he was fine.

By the end of the night, he was sitting between our two friends, getting petted by both at the same time, and looking like he was about ready to melt from happiness.

It was heartwarming to not see him scared to death, and actually acting like a "normal" dog around other people.

Yay. :)

Getting Ready for Halloween

My hubby and I have never decorated the house for Halloween before. We've actually never passed out candy before either. Last year on Halloween night we just turned the lights off outside and in the living room, and stayed in the back of the house so that no one would knock on the door.

Well not this year. We aren't going crazy, but I bought all the candy we need to actually pass some out. We have a 'scary pumpkin man' hanging from the willow tree, and the above trick or treat sign is hanging on the front door. Lots of school-age kids live on our road, and I want to be one of those cool people who hands out the "good candy".



I think it will be fun. :)

Evil Broken Printer of Doom

I am really growing to dislike my printer.



It is a Kodak 5250, and we bought it because it was supposed to save money on ink. The ink IS cheap, I'll give them that. It doesn't really help though, if the printer doesn't run. Our first printer worked for a couple weeks then said that it was out of ink. This made sense, because we had been printing a ton of recipes to put in a binder. We replaced the black and the color cartridges.

The printer still said it was out of black ink.

We shrugged, and wrote it off to a defective cartridge and got another black ink cartridge.

The printer still said it was out of black ink. Then it changed its mind and said it was out of color ink. Remember, this is with two brand new cartridges installed, and after we had already replaced the brand new black cartridge, just in case.

I spoke with "Winner" (no joke), the tech support guy who had me run through a whole series of troubleshooting tests. I honestly don't think updating the firmware is going to help the printer with what seems to be a hardware issue, but okay. Winner sent us a replacement printer, "refurbished" of course, which arrived today.

I admit it, I was totally excited. No more running to the store to print stuff from the computers! We followed the instructions to the letter, moving the ink cartridges and printhead from the old printer to the "new" one.

Guess what?

I'm getting the same error as before. The internet tells me that the problem is probably the printhead, but the tech support I spoke with this time told me it wasn't. He says the problem is a defective ink cartridge. So they are sending me a new color cartridge.

Most likely scenario: The new color ink cartridge does not solve the problem, and tech support sends me a new printhead which may or may not solve the problem. From my research, if it is the printhead, it is an issue that will recur again and again. I suppose buying a new printer would be the best idea, but I really hate buying a new one when I have one... even if it doesn't work. =P

Why didn't I just look this up before buying it? Sites like this are not uncommon:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/cameras/kodak.html

Simba

My family is made up of dog people. I can't remember a time when we haven't had one or more pet dogs around the house. A 'few' years back my little sister and I started hounding (hehe) my parents for a cat. They eventually gave in, and adopted a 6 month old kitten from the shelter for us.



Simba was not at all we expected. He literally would not let anyone touch him for several months after we adopted him. Eventually he warmed up to my dad and I, but was still terrified of everyone else. Including my poor sister who the cat had been adopted mostly for.



He was, and is, a total grouch fairly often. Even now he doesn't tolerate being touched when he doesn't want it. He doesn't like to be picked up, or be around guests.

However, Simba has blossomed in the last few years. He loves Kevin (not a surprise, Kevin is a total cat person). He hangs out in the living room like a social cat, sometimes even when company is over. He even adores Schafer and Rumor (our two younger cats). When Kevin and I first got married, he was absolutely enraged at the thought of sharing a space with another cat. Now if he is separated from them for any significant length of time he gets upset and searches the house for them.



Awwww.

We took Simba to the vet the other day. He is 12 or 14 years old or so. He has always been the healthiest of our cats, despite being a senior. The vet pointed out that his eyes are starting to get cloudy. I've also noticed that he is moving just a little slower, a little creakier than he used to.

I can't believe it. When did my Simba get old?

Study Day

Oh boy, I get to study today. How exciting.

Both my Victimology and my Drugs class have their first exams tomorrow. Victimology I'm pretty caught up in, but the textbook for Drugs is mind-numbingly boring.

So I'm procrastinating by cleaning the house. I suppose if I must procrastinate, cleaning is a pretty good side effect, right?

Yeah. I will just keep telling myself that.

Remembrance

Nine years ago today I was a freshman in high school. I had a math test in first period. When the bell was a minute or two off, the test was finished and my teacher started to walk over to my desk. She did not look happy, and was probably going to fuss at me for not turning in my homework. I remember being relieved when another teacher ran into the classroom and started talking quickly and quietly with my teacher. I slipped out without a tongue lashing.

Next up was science, maybe marine biology, I remember the teacher much better than the class. He was Mr. Warren, a tall, soft-spoken black man that worked part-time at a local diner that my friends and I (and everyone else in town!) absolutely loved. He was, and probably still is, a fantastic teacher.

He was sitting at the front of the classroom, in a chair he had pulled up in front of the tiny TV that we sometimes watched documentaries for class on. I stopped just inside the door and looked up at the TV, because it was unusual for it for be on. I remember being confused at the recordings of the burning buildings. I've been to New York, but it was after 9/11, and I honestly didn't recognize the buildings on sight.

When the bell rang, Mr. Warren got up and told us what had happened (though many students apparently got the news in first period). He let classwork go that day, and most of us just watched the news feed. All the teachers let classwork go that day, except my band director. He felt that we needed to be distracted by work, and he was probably right.

Think about where you were when you found out that terrorists had flown into the Twin Towers. Think about how you felt. Now hold that in your mind, and think about it on the anniversary of 9/11. None of us will forget but sometimes we don't really remember.