Shoot!

Actually, it is chute, although sometimes I see people spell it the above way.

My homemade chute (also called a collapsed tunnel) is complete. I purchased the fabric. The guys at work cut the barrel for me. I made the stand. Not only will it keep the barrel from rolling, it also helps the barrel retain its round shape. Some red "bonds to plastic" spray paint got rid of the ugly white color of the barrel. I added non-skid material on the inside, a foam pad around the entrance side, attached the fabric material, and we are ready! Good thing too, because Blossom needs some work.


Pie found the chute easy to master. She doesn't hesitate to run into a solid object, so a bit of material wasn't going to stop her. Blossom, however, frequently turns around and heads back out the entrance of a regular tunnel (although that is getting better) so I knew the chute would give him some trouble. He'll get it eventually.

Isn't it pretty how the tire and chute match? My contact equipment should also be red and yellow.

I also made these wings for the jumps, but they aren't as exciting to behold.

Pie was wandering around, so I had her sit by the wings.

For those who may not know how a wing is used, I present a visual. Blossom is so cute, he gets two pictures.

I have to stop taking pictures while the sun is setting. They get blurry.

And to be fair, I can't leave the other two out.

As you can see, the grass is doing better. I think it helped that I didn't let the gardeners cut it for two weeks.

Of course, the spot I spilled the fertilizer is still doing rather poorly.

I just read in the online paper that the City is implementing watering restrictions. I think it should be an overall restriction. As a single person living alone, I use less water than a family through less showers, loads of laundry and dish washing. Why can't I use the extra water to water my lawn? The new rule is also if you wash your car there can't be any runoff. Which as I see it, is impossible. Now I have an excuse not to wash my car. But I am angry the city has just about made it illegal to wash your own car, with out a vote or consulting the people at all. The good news for me is I MIGHT be just outside the city limit. I've seen a map, but it doesn't have property boundaries on it, so I can't quite tell if I am in and my next door neighbor is out, or we might be out also. If so, it is close... Long live my green grass! If I am in, and my grass dies, will the City reimburse me the $300 I spent to install it when I moved in?

PS- Big Bear update still on the way!

North Coast Glass Repair

I've been wanting to get my windshield chip repaired for some time. But getting someone to come do it was tricky. And I could not find one shop to take it to. Everyone wanted to come to me, but then no one would come! My chip/ crack was getting bigger and bigger. I was sure I was going to have to replace my entire windshield, again. And it is an expensive windshield.

Today I went to a gas station I don't usually go to. I went because I was almost out of gas. (I know it's not good for the car...) As I pulled in I saw a little sign that said No Coast Glass Repair. In my mind, the No automatically translated to North. After filling up the tank, I found the glass guy who asked me who my insurance was. I told him the deductible was too large to bother (thinking not about repairing, but the last time I replaced it) and he assured me USAA covers the complete cost of chip repairs. This was news to me as I paid to have a chip repaired in the Miata and my old windshield.

The attendant took me inside to the customer service rep who called USAA and got all the info. That was when I realized the name of the company was actually No Cost Glass Repair. Oh well. It was in fact no cost, and I have the company's card. If the repair fails, they will pay for a new windshield! They have been in business in AZ for a few years, but only recently moved to CA.

The company of course gets paid by the insurance. The reason they operate out of this gas station is it has a very popular car wash. Do doubt they have an agreement that if a car washer spots a chip, they tell the glass guy, who informs you. Since it is "no cost" the only reason you would refuse if it was too much hassle to get reimbursed from your insurance, which is why they have the costomer service rep. to do all the paper work for you. Very neat. I wonder if the gas station gets a kickback from the glass company? I figured this all out on my own. After I realized the real name of the company, that is.

Very fortuitous I went to that gas station today. Less fortuitous was when I swung by the camera shop where the owner told me if I came buy today he would have my money for the camera I had on consignment. The door was locked with a sign saying he would be back at 4:30. It was 4:30. I waited until 4:45 then gave up. He probably saw me coming and made a break for it. I'll surprise him tomorrow.

Big Bear 2009

Mom, Dad, Pie, Fancy, Blossom and I just got back from a week in Big Bear, staying in a rented cabin. Roscoe and Molly were also present. We hiked, shopped, relaxed in the cabin, saw sights and even saw a movie (or two.) I will write a full review later, but here are a few pictures to keep your interest up. Craig was in the general area, but he was a councilor at a camp, not vacationing with us.

The view from our cabin.

Swimming in the lake (or Go Molly Go!) Pie is the fastest swimmer and needed to be restrained when it was someone else's turn to get the ball.

Hiking. Blossom stays on leash. Mom took him so I could take the picture. Fancy and Pie are probably about a 1/4 of a mile away, which isn't appropriate for a trail with the possibility of running into other people. They won't bother strangers, but the strangers don't know that. Eventually on this hike they had to go on leash since it is too much work to make them stay close ("Pie, close. Hey! Get back here. Close. Close. No! Come." etc... When was she making her move to not be close, and when did she just need extra room to get up over a rock?) and it did turn out to be a popular hiking spot.

I had a wonderful time and hope we all go again next year. Although I realize it might be time for a change of scenery.

More to come later!

Happy Birthday Pie!

It is hard for me to believe Pie is only turning three years old today. To me, it seems she has always been part of my life. But in reality, she's only been with me two years, today. I think a lot of people know her general story. The confusion of whether or not she was still in the shelter, me sending a non-dog friend to bail her out, with out me even seeing her in person or doing a basic assessment, her out of control behavior and then me deciding to keep her, rather than just foster her as I planned.

I don't think I'll ever forget the first walk I tried to take her on. I kept a death grip on her leash, trying to keep her from gaining the necessary momentum needed to pull me onto my face. I tried to distract her with treats or toys, I changed direction with every step to keep her guessing, but nothing worked. I made it down the driveway (it was a long driveway!) and down two houses and gave up and went home.

A few months after that I mentioned something to my mom about showing Pie in obedience, but she commented that she did not think Pie would be my next obedience prospect. Not that I enjoy proving my mother wrong, but Pie entered her first novice show, earned her CD in three tries, her CDX in four, and her UD in 6 (I think) in under six months. Eventually I want to get her UDX but we are in no big rush. In Mom's defense, it is possible that Pie falls under that category of "Obedience Dog, but not obedient dog." She was probably right after all.

Pie is my first Belgian and she makes me feel safe walking at night and living alone, even if I am not convinced she would actually see a danger and take action. But the bad guy doesn't know that.

Pie sleeps with her feet in the air, carries the "dog water" on hikes, pulls supplies home from the hardware store in her cart, and has very noisy dreams that wake me up at night.

She is going prematurely grey, she has learned if she puts her head on my lap, I can't resist petting her, she makes inappropriate advances on strangers, swims whenever she can, (wades if the water isn't deep enough,) puts her nose places it does not belong, tilts her head back and forth when I ask her questions, "helps" me type, and has learned that if I put a sock on your nose, you leave it there until I remove it.

I'll never know Pie's story (unless somehow I get really lucky) but I have my ideas. I also will probably never find out her lineage, which is too bad, because I would love a Pie clone.


So with all these memories and reflections on Pie, I wish her "Happy Birthday!" I wonder what we'll be up to next year at this time?

New Mouse

Not a pet or a critter loose in the house, but for the computer. My old mouse was a ball mouse and it has not been working well for a while. I took the ball out and cleaned it, but that didn't help. I spent so much time moving the mouse in huge circles trying to get it to move (it would freeze) and also trying to line it up just right to click that tiny little link. It was driving me crazy!!

I went to Frys and bought the cheapest optical mouse I could find. I think it was $9.99. A very cheap fix for something that was wasting lots of time. Now it works very well, but I still find myself moving the mouse in huge circles, even though it is no longer needed. What a strange habit I've picked up.

Photos of the Creepy Bug and Cute Dogs

This morning one of the creepy bugs forgot to go to bed and was on my screen door. I felt safe because I know once they are on a screen they go into a comma or something. I took his picture when I came home from work because he was still there. Then I flicked him off the door with a shovel and he hissed at me.

Does anyone know what type of bug this is? It is about the size of my thumb, comes out at dusk, and seems to go away around an hour after full dark.



These are the trees I have. I think they live in the trees. When it starts to get dark I hear them moving around in there. The bugs fly and try to break into my house.

Size of bug.

To off set the bug photos, here are dog photos.

Blossom had ants in his pants. Maybe because he has actually started eating like a normal dog (ie- anticipating dinner and whining for it) he is feeling frisky.

Those ants must tickle!

Fancy and Pie work on the "head down" command.

Pie tries to cheat. As usual. "Is this low enough?" No Pie, try again.

Pie misses the ball.

Happy Girl.

Pretty Girl.

Pie misses the ball again.

Pie gets the ball.

Pie has learned that when she puts her chin on my lap, I cannot resist petting her. This is not a natural behavior for her, she truly learned my weakness. Who could resit this? Petting does make typing hard.

Apparently, Blossom is quickly learning the same thing.

Fancy is the original chin on body part rester, but today she decided to claim her favorite spot under the computer desk.

The dogs are cute, and I hope the creepy bugs go away and never come back!

Agility Equipment!

I have taken the huge step of ordering all three of the contact obstacles needed in agility. This is the A Frame, Dog Walk and Teeter. They are being made by a man in OR, who will then personally deliver them to me if I pay his gas there and back. Yes, the delivery will be expensive, but no more than if I paid a regular company to have them shipped. Contact equipment is always shipped by freight truck, and it is always very expensive.

I was just going to order one thing, then I thought two, and once I had decided on two, it made more sense to order them all at the same time rather than one here and one there and paying the shipping two or three times. The person I am ordering from is also the cheapest I have found anywhere, and he is going to give me a military discount. But he hasn't said how much yet. I think the more people I can get to order things, the more worthwhile his trip will be, and the bigger the discount. So I'm going to poll all the local folks and see if I can't rustle some business up.

Even before I had decided to get all three, I had already begun gathering supplies to make more equipment. First, I put an add on Craigslist that I wanted to buy a plastic 55 gallon drum. This is for the closed tunnel or chute that is open at one end and has a closed fabric chute at the other. I found a place selling chutes on sale so I bought a yellow one, thinking that would go nicely with the blue barrel. Someone responded to my add right away and told me if I took more than one he would lower the price. So I cleaned the car out and off I went.

Look how clean! And empty!

I put the toy box and Blossom's crate back in.

The rest of the stuff is still sitting forlornly on my porch.

The barrels were in good shape, but they were white! Now my yellow chute will look ugly with the white barrel.I took today (the Monday after drill) off, and got lots of work done.

The dogs kept me company.

Blossom had to go inside because he wouldn't stop barking at the lawnmower and raking across the street.

Some of the supplies wait on my dryer.

Some of it waits on my side yard.

When I got to work I cut enough pvc to make five more jumps. I bought a pvc cutter for the job because using a hack saw is no fun. I also had to make a special trip to Sears to buy a new Craftsman battary for my drill since both batteries I have will no longer recharge.

After the jump pieces, I made this tire. I think it turned out pretty well.

Blossom needs the most work on the tire. He tries to go between the tire and the frame. Here he is doing it right. And looking very cute.

Fancy is contemplative before taking her turn.

Looking good!

Pie's turn!

The gardeners come on Mondays, so I had to be sure everything was cleaned up an off the grass.

The next thing I made was a stand for the chute. The part hanging off will be cut off.

I bolted the stand the the barrel to keep it from rolling and also to keep the barrel from sagging over time. I removed the bots and stand for the cutting of the barrel. When I put it back together, I will put the bolts in the other way to keep the inside of the barrel nice and flat.

The last thing I had time to finish was these tunnel holders. I made four since I have two tunnels.

They are supposed to also keep the tunnel from rolling around. To really do a good job they have to be staked down.

Pie is too fast for the camera! But only when it is getting dark.

I was working on wings to attach to the side of the jumps, but it got dark and the huge bugs came out and I had to run inside.

After my contact equipment is delivered, the only item I am missing is a real table. I still have the table I made for Bloom, but it is too tall, not adjustable, and too small on top. I suppose technically I don't have a double and triple jump, but I can put single jumps together to make those. I think I have everything else! How exciting.

Mom, you will have to bring Roscoe over and we can all have some agility fun together!

Grass Is Dying

For an unknown reason, the grass I worked so hard to plant is dying. I have reseeded the biggest dead/ bare spot. I'm going back to supplemental watering with my hose and sprinkler. But I don't think the grass should need that much water. A helpful individual at Home Depot suggested my yard is too hard and the water all runs off before it can soak in. I can believe that, especially since the biggest dead spot is right near the drain. He also said drought resistant grass loves water just as much as any other type of grass, but it will come back to life after it dies from lack of water once you start watering it again.

Notice the yucky brown color.
I reseeded this section.

I used the x pen (short for exercise pen) to keep the dogs out.

On an unrelated subject, this is what Pie does to her squeaky toys. Fancy just happily squeaks them, but Pie has to disembowel them. Then I have to clean them up.