Sheri had to work most of the day so I tried to find things to entertain myself. I took Mitch in the backyard to shoot some video clips.
The first one is of him chasing a ball. On his return trip he is just sort of doing a nice easy gallop, but on his way to get the ball he gets all the way across the backyard in about three strides.
This video is just a 360 degree walk-around to get a better idea of what he looks like.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Monday, December 25, 2006
Sunday, December 24, 2006
We got a great deal on our Christmas Eve prime rib. Dominick's had them on special for only $4.99 per pound. The normal price I have seen the last couple weeks has been in the $10 to $13 per pound range.
We placed ur order for it a week ago. We asked for a roast between 5 and 6 pounds and to have it Frenched and tied. Yesterday afternoon we stopped by to pick it up. When the butcher brought our order out from the back it was HUGE. He handed it to me and the sticker said 12 pounds. "We placed our order for one between 5 and 6 pounds." I get a blank look. "This one is 12 pounds." Another blank look. "This is twice as much as we need." Finally he says: "What do you want me to do?" I didn't think this was supposed to be that complicated. "Can you cut it so it is between 5 and 6 pounds?"
I think the person that cut it for us read the tag as needing 5 or 6 ribs. I saw the little piece of paper that the order taker a week ago wrote out and it just said "5 or 6". She didn't write the word pound on the slip.
As you can see it was a really nice piece of meat.
And it turned out really nice.
I also made Yorkshire pudding, a little side salad, and one baked potato. I only ate half of the potato. It has been years since I had one and I just wanted the taste of it.
We placed ur order for it a week ago. We asked for a roast between 5 and 6 pounds and to have it Frenched and tied. Yesterday afternoon we stopped by to pick it up. When the butcher brought our order out from the back it was HUGE. He handed it to me and the sticker said 12 pounds. "We placed our order for one between 5 and 6 pounds." I get a blank look. "This one is 12 pounds." Another blank look. "This is twice as much as we need." Finally he says: "What do you want me to do?" I didn't think this was supposed to be that complicated. "Can you cut it so it is between 5 and 6 pounds?"
I think the person that cut it for us read the tag as needing 5 or 6 ribs. I saw the little piece of paper that the order taker a week ago wrote out and it just said "5 or 6". She didn't write the word pound on the slip.
As you can see it was a really nice piece of meat.
And it turned out really nice.
I also made Yorkshire pudding, a little side salad, and one baked potato. I only ate half of the potato. It has been years since I had one and I just wanted the taste of it.
Our visit to the nursing home went well. It was much more tiring than I thought it would be for both Mitch and us. We only lasted for one hour. Mitch's personality started to change towards the end. He just looked tired and wasn't into meeting new people anymore. We would walk into a room and after his initial sniff he would come back and press up against one of us.
I think there were between 7 and 10 people that really really enjoyed Mitch, appreciated his visit and made their day. There were probably another dozen or so that petted his head, smiled and thanked us for stopping by, but we didn't really see anything light up in their eyes like the other people. There were maybe another dozen that seemed like they didn't care whether we were there or not so we just kept moving along. If they were sleeping or looked like "no one was home" we just skipped their room.
We met up with one woman in the hallway. The first thing she asked is what kind of dog he was. When we told her she said "Oh, those are those ugly dogs." We didn't stay too long around her.
I think there were between 7 and 10 people that really really enjoyed Mitch, appreciated his visit and made their day. There were probably another dozen or so that petted his head, smiled and thanked us for stopping by, but we didn't really see anything light up in their eyes like the other people. There were maybe another dozen that seemed like they didn't care whether we were there or not so we just kept moving along. If they were sleeping or looked like "no one was home" we just skipped their room.
We met up with one woman in the hallway. The first thing she asked is what kind of dog he was. When we told her she said "Oh, those are those ugly dogs." We didn't stay too long around her.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
We started our 5-day Christmas extravaganza off right this morning with eggs and some of the best coffee I have ever had. Sheri's friend from Seattle sent us some fresh roasted local stuff (it was roasted on December 6) and it is just amazing.
It is from a place called Raven's Brew Coffee and I think it might even be better than my beloved Intelligentsia. (That's saying something too.)
The blend we have is called Deadman's Reach. Its motto is "Served in bed; raises the dead."
I love the Deadman's Reach logo too:
They have it on a t-shirt and I just might have to order one.
We are off to get last minute fondue ingredients for tonight.
I have not mentioned this yet but last weekend we bought a streaming webcam mostly so we could watch Mitch in his cage when we are at work.
We are going to have it on all weekend so you can stop by and watch us try our hand at fondue and a standing rib roast for the first time.
Drop me a line if you want the camera's address and/or our schedule of when we will be fondueing, roasting, etc. (or Mitch's schedule!) Depending on your connection (as well as how many other people are connected, but I am not sure about that yet) it will stream up to 20 frames per second. I received word back that on dial-up it does about 1 frame every 4 seconds.
It is a wireless camera so I can move it anywhere in the house, plug it into an electric socket, and it will immediately make a connection to our wireless router and start streaming whatever it sees.
It is from a place called Raven's Brew Coffee and I think it might even be better than my beloved Intelligentsia. (That's saying something too.)
The blend we have is called Deadman's Reach. Its motto is "Served in bed; raises the dead."
I love the Deadman's Reach logo too:
They have it on a t-shirt and I just might have to order one.
We are off to get last minute fondue ingredients for tonight.
I have not mentioned this yet but last weekend we bought a streaming webcam mostly so we could watch Mitch in his cage when we are at work.We are going to have it on all weekend so you can stop by and watch us try our hand at fondue and a standing rib roast for the first time.
Drop me a line if you want the camera's address and/or our schedule of when we will be fondueing, roasting, etc. (or Mitch's schedule!) Depending on your connection (as well as how many other people are connected, but I am not sure about that yet) it will stream up to 20 frames per second. I received word back that on dial-up it does about 1 frame every 4 seconds.
It is a wireless camera so I can move it anywhere in the house, plug it into an electric socket, and it will immediately make a connection to our wireless router and start streaming whatever it sees.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
On Christmas Eve day we are going to take Mitch to a local nursing home and let each of the residents spend some time with him. We figured if they are there on Christmas Eve they probably don't have any family nearby and might appreciate the distraction of Mitch.
We coordinated to show up around 1:30 PM and spend a couple hours there. The activities director said that would be a good time because they would be finishing up lunch and leaving the dining room, so there would be more people awake and moving around. I think the activities director is even going to post a notice on the bulletin board or put something in the daily activity flyer saying when we will be there and that he is a retired racing greyhound.
We bought some antlers for him to wear to be more festive.
We are going to cook a standing rib roast for Christmas Eve. The roast must be warmed up to room temperature before roasting, so before we leave for the nursing home we will put the roast out on the counter. By the time we return it will be ready to pop in the oven.
I bought one potato and one turnip to roast in the same pan as the meat.
The roast needs to rest for 20 minutes when it comes out of the oven. During this time I will make the Yorkshire pudding. This is basically popovers with a tablespoon or two of the meat juices added to each muffin tin to give them a more savory taste. We also will have a salad to go with the dinner.
Tonight we went grocery shopping for all the food we need for the holiday. On a whim after we checked out I bought an instant lottery ticket. I won another lottery ticket. We went to the customer service desk to get our ticket, and that ticket won $10! I buy an instant lottery ticket about three times per year.
We coordinated to show up around 1:30 PM and spend a couple hours there. The activities director said that would be a good time because they would be finishing up lunch and leaving the dining room, so there would be more people awake and moving around. I think the activities director is even going to post a notice on the bulletin board or put something in the daily activity flyer saying when we will be there and that he is a retired racing greyhound.
We bought some antlers for him to wear to be more festive.
We are going to cook a standing rib roast for Christmas Eve. The roast must be warmed up to room temperature before roasting, so before we leave for the nursing home we will put the roast out on the counter. By the time we return it will be ready to pop in the oven.
I bought one potato and one turnip to roast in the same pan as the meat.
The roast needs to rest for 20 minutes when it comes out of the oven. During this time I will make the Yorkshire pudding. This is basically popovers with a tablespoon or two of the meat juices added to each muffin tin to give them a more savory taste. We also will have a salad to go with the dinner.
Tonight we went grocery shopping for all the food we need for the holiday. On a whim after we checked out I bought an instant lottery ticket. I won another lottery ticket. We went to the customer service desk to get our ticket, and that ticket won $10! I buy an instant lottery ticket about three times per year.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Friday, December 15, 2006
A big reason I bought my Canon Eos 30D digital SLR rather than a Nikon was that my first camera, which I bought about 15 years ago, was a Canon Eos Elan and I already had a couple of lenses for it. These lenses can be used with my new camera just fine.
When we bought our first digital point-and-shoot camera seven years or so ago my film camera got a lot less use. My SLR took better pictures, but it is just so much cheaper to shoot digitally and get prints of only the really good ones.
Anyway, when my new camera showed up I dug out my old camera to get the lenses. There was a roll of film in the camera, but the battery had been left in for so long that it died and there is no way to tell how many exposures were made. I didn't know if it was an almost full roll or totally unexposed.
I thought it would be fun to take the film in and have it developed but I didn't feel like spending $10 on a special battery just to rewind the film into the canister. I took it into the downstairs windowless bathroom, turned out the lights, and opened it up. I popped out the film canister and slowly pulled the exposed film from the take-up spool. It felt like there was almost the full roll on the spool!
We will take the film to Wal-Mart to be developed tomorrow. I have no idea how old the film is. I don't even know if they are pictures from here or when we lived in Ohio. When you develop film at Wal-Mart they also convert your pictures to digital and let you get them on their website. They let the owner of the account download the full resolution version of the pictures too. I am excited to see what they are.
When we bought our first digital point-and-shoot camera seven years or so ago my film camera got a lot less use. My SLR took better pictures, but it is just so much cheaper to shoot digitally and get prints of only the really good ones.
Anyway, when my new camera showed up I dug out my old camera to get the lenses. There was a roll of film in the camera, but the battery had been left in for so long that it died and there is no way to tell how many exposures were made. I didn't know if it was an almost full roll or totally unexposed.
I thought it would be fun to take the film in and have it developed but I didn't feel like spending $10 on a special battery just to rewind the film into the canister. I took it into the downstairs windowless bathroom, turned out the lights, and opened it up. I popped out the film canister and slowly pulled the exposed film from the take-up spool. It felt like there was almost the full roll on the spool!
We will take the film to Wal-Mart to be developed tomorrow. I have no idea how old the film is. I don't even know if they are pictures from here or when we lived in Ohio. When you develop film at Wal-Mart they also convert your pictures to digital and let you get them on their website. They let the owner of the account download the full resolution version of the pictures too. I am excited to see what they are.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
A couple years ago I bought a really nice, almost commercial grade, clothes steamer. It has worked great whenever we have needed it.
A month or so ago I went to add more water to the reservoir and I noticed the rubber check-valve in the water bottle was almost deteriorated. If I touched it my finger would be covered with a heavy coat of microscopic rubber particles.
Crap! Here I have this excellent quality steamer and it is going to become useless because of some obscure part that I will never be able to find.
On the way home from work (I don't know why I was thinking about this on the way home from work) I had the idea to check the manufacture's website. I did and they sell a packet of three rubber check valves for $0.75 plus $1.90 shipping, and they ship within 24 hours! Yeah me!
It is a Jiffy J-2000 steamer and I highly recommend them. Built to last. I think it is the brand you will usually see in clothes stores.
A month or so ago I went to add more water to the reservoir and I noticed the rubber check-valve in the water bottle was almost deteriorated. If I touched it my finger would be covered with a heavy coat of microscopic rubber particles.
Crap! Here I have this excellent quality steamer and it is going to become useless because of some obscure part that I will never be able to find.
On the way home from work (I don't know why I was thinking about this on the way home from work) I had the idea to check the manufacture's website. I did and they sell a packet of three rubber check valves for $0.75 plus $1.90 shipping, and they ship within 24 hours! Yeah me!
It is a Jiffy J-2000 steamer and I highly recommend them. Built to last. I think it is the brand you will usually see in clothes stores.
Monday, December 11, 2006
We are having a great time with Mitch!
We have local dog parks nearby that have several acres completely fenced in. You have to buy an annual permit to use the parks, and we are not sure how Mitch would be off the leash, so we thought early Saturday morning we could go to the park which would be completely deserted and no rangers around because it was cold and covered with snow. We could see if he would come back to us or if we would spend two hours trying to chase him down and get him back on the leash. Depending on how he did would determine if we bought a permit or not.
We pulled into the parking lot early Saturday morning and the park was packed! They had Santa Claus passing out goody bags. A couple pet store chains had booths set up and were passing out sample packs of Greenies, doggy sausages, tennis balls, etc. They also had a dog sled group there with a team of huskies and a sled. They were mushing around the park every now and then but not while we were there.
We decided just to leave him on the leash and see how he reacted to other dogs. Would he be skittish and cling to our legs? Would he be aggressive and lunge at every dog we passed?
It turned out he was mostly indifferent. One of the first dogs we passed lunged at him with barred teeth and loud fast barks. (The other dog was on a leash.) Mitch looked at him for a second and then kept walking. Not spooked. Not agitated. Not impressed. We passed several more, nicer, dogs and he pretty much had the same reaction; indifference.
What did catch his eye were dogs in the distance running and chasing balls and Frisbees.
After a few minutes of seeing how he reacted to other dogs we decided to risk it and let him off the leash. He was at the other side of the field which was probably about a quarter mile away in a flash of the eye. It was awesome to see his legs pumping. He would see a dog running and go after him. Once he caught up to the other dog he would just look for another dog a distance away and go chasing after him. No interaction with the dogs he "caught". He just likes chasing things.
Every now and then he would need a break and would go to the closest person and press up against their leg and let them pet him. We thought that was hilarious. After he caught his breath he would dart off again.
After about 15 minutes of him chasing things he stopped and looked around for us. We called his name, he heard us, and he came at us at full speed. Very cool. We gave him some praise and head rubs and then he was off again for another 15 minutes.
At one point we saw a dog running towards him in an aggressive manner. Mitch didn't change course at all. He leaped over him almost like a gazelle! Beautiful.
Soon after that he stopped and looked around for us. Heard us. Charged towards us. The wind chill made it very cold and we were ready to leave. We put the leash on him and walked back to the car. He was exhausted and walked with a slow heavy stride. Once in the car he laid down and closed his eyes almost immediately.
Since it went so well and we had so much fun we will definitely be buying and annual dog park permit.
We wanted to take some video of him at full speed but he was away from us so fast that by the time we got the camera out he was just a speck.
I love having a shadow around the house again. He thinks everything we do is the most fascinating thing in the world. Wherever I go he is usually just a step behind.
He is pretty good about responding to a simple "No."
He picked up that he is not allowed to beg at the table the first or second day. When we sit down at the kitchen table to eat he barely tries to see if he is getting any treats and then just walks to his pillow and goes to sleep while we eat. He seems to be a very quick learner.
We took him back to the Rescue on Sunday to buy some coats for him. When we got there they had three other greyhounds in the front lobby and two or three other people. He made the rounds and greeted everyone, but after 5 - 10 minutes he came back to Sheri for a few minutes of head scratching and then over to me for some head scratching. I think he is bonding really well with us.
He has not snapped even once at us when touching his feet, food, picking him up, moving him around, putting clothes on him, touching boo-boos, etc. While Sheri was going through a stack of coats at the Rescue he just stood there while she slipped one on, took it off and tried the next one. I don't know if I've ever seen a more easier-going dog.
We took him to a little expensive dog boutique on Saturday after the dog park and just about every other person wanted to stop and fawn over him.
I took him for a walk last night before bed and he is perfect on a leash on a sidewalk. He didn't stop every 20 feet to smell something and make me tug him, and he wasn't pulling so hard that he was walking on only his back two legs and gagging himself like Goliath would do. He walked straight ahead and kept just the slightest amount of slack in the leash.
Every day we see changes in his personality. His tail wags more. He gets more playful. He just generally seems more at east and comfortable.
Mitch riding shotgun on Sunday.
Mitch at the dog boutique.
We have local dog parks nearby that have several acres completely fenced in. You have to buy an annual permit to use the parks, and we are not sure how Mitch would be off the leash, so we thought early Saturday morning we could go to the park which would be completely deserted and no rangers around because it was cold and covered with snow. We could see if he would come back to us or if we would spend two hours trying to chase him down and get him back on the leash. Depending on how he did would determine if we bought a permit or not.
We pulled into the parking lot early Saturday morning and the park was packed! They had Santa Claus passing out goody bags. A couple pet store chains had booths set up and were passing out sample packs of Greenies, doggy sausages, tennis balls, etc. They also had a dog sled group there with a team of huskies and a sled. They were mushing around the park every now and then but not while we were there.
We decided just to leave him on the leash and see how he reacted to other dogs. Would he be skittish and cling to our legs? Would he be aggressive and lunge at every dog we passed?
It turned out he was mostly indifferent. One of the first dogs we passed lunged at him with barred teeth and loud fast barks. (The other dog was on a leash.) Mitch looked at him for a second and then kept walking. Not spooked. Not agitated. Not impressed. We passed several more, nicer, dogs and he pretty much had the same reaction; indifference.
What did catch his eye were dogs in the distance running and chasing balls and Frisbees.
After a few minutes of seeing how he reacted to other dogs we decided to risk it and let him off the leash. He was at the other side of the field which was probably about a quarter mile away in a flash of the eye. It was awesome to see his legs pumping. He would see a dog running and go after him. Once he caught up to the other dog he would just look for another dog a distance away and go chasing after him. No interaction with the dogs he "caught". He just likes chasing things.
Every now and then he would need a break and would go to the closest person and press up against their leg and let them pet him. We thought that was hilarious. After he caught his breath he would dart off again.
After about 15 minutes of him chasing things he stopped and looked around for us. We called his name, he heard us, and he came at us at full speed. Very cool. We gave him some praise and head rubs and then he was off again for another 15 minutes.
At one point we saw a dog running towards him in an aggressive manner. Mitch didn't change course at all. He leaped over him almost like a gazelle! Beautiful.
Soon after that he stopped and looked around for us. Heard us. Charged towards us. The wind chill made it very cold and we were ready to leave. We put the leash on him and walked back to the car. He was exhausted and walked with a slow heavy stride. Once in the car he laid down and closed his eyes almost immediately.
Since it went so well and we had so much fun we will definitely be buying and annual dog park permit.
We wanted to take some video of him at full speed but he was away from us so fast that by the time we got the camera out he was just a speck.
I love having a shadow around the house again. He thinks everything we do is the most fascinating thing in the world. Wherever I go he is usually just a step behind.
He is pretty good about responding to a simple "No."
He picked up that he is not allowed to beg at the table the first or second day. When we sit down at the kitchen table to eat he barely tries to see if he is getting any treats and then just walks to his pillow and goes to sleep while we eat. He seems to be a very quick learner.
We took him back to the Rescue on Sunday to buy some coats for him. When we got there they had three other greyhounds in the front lobby and two or three other people. He made the rounds and greeted everyone, but after 5 - 10 minutes he came back to Sheri for a few minutes of head scratching and then over to me for some head scratching. I think he is bonding really well with us.
He has not snapped even once at us when touching his feet, food, picking him up, moving him around, putting clothes on him, touching boo-boos, etc. While Sheri was going through a stack of coats at the Rescue he just stood there while she slipped one on, took it off and tried the next one. I don't know if I've ever seen a more easier-going dog.
We took him to a little expensive dog boutique on Saturday after the dog park and just about every other person wanted to stop and fawn over him.
I took him for a walk last night before bed and he is perfect on a leash on a sidewalk. He didn't stop every 20 feet to smell something and make me tug him, and he wasn't pulling so hard that he was walking on only his back two legs and gagging himself like Goliath would do. He walked straight ahead and kept just the slightest amount of slack in the leash.
Every day we see changes in his personality. His tail wags more. He gets more playful. He just generally seems more at east and comfortable.
Mitch riding shotgun on Sunday.
Mitch at the dog boutique.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
When we first got Mitch he was terrified of the steps. We never had to carry him up or down, but it was a big ordeal coaxing him. I wish I would have thought to take a video of him on the stairs when he was still having problems with them. These two videos were taken after we had him 4 or 5 days.
For the video of him coming up the stairs we were encouraging him for 10 seconds or so before I started shooting, but you can still see his initial hesitation. Once he gets going though he shoots right up.
He mastered going down the stairs a lot sooner than he did going up which surprised me. I thought it would be the other way around.
He still has some mis-steps on the stairs every once in a while, but for the most part he has it figured out. I think he gets into trouble when he stops to think about what he is doing and where his feet should go.
Going up the stairs
Going down the stairs
We are getting ready to take him out on the town in a little bit and might have some more video later this afternoon. We plan on going to the dog park, our downtown shopping area to walk around, and PetSmart.
By the way, the video I posted a few months ago of our new toilet seat that closes slowly on its own has been viewed 12,664 times as of today.
For the video of him coming up the stairs we were encouraging him for 10 seconds or so before I started shooting, but you can still see his initial hesitation. Once he gets going though he shoots right up.
He mastered going down the stairs a lot sooner than he did going up which surprised me. I thought it would be the other way around.
He still has some mis-steps on the stairs every once in a while, but for the most part he has it figured out. I think he gets into trouble when he stops to think about what he is doing and where his feet should go.
Going up the stairs
Going down the stairs
We are getting ready to take him out on the town in a little bit and might have some more video later this afternoon. We plan on going to the dog park, our downtown shopping area to walk around, and PetSmart.
By the way, the video I posted a few months ago of our new toilet seat that closes slowly on its own has been viewed 12,664 times as of today.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
After I dropped Sheri off at the train station I came home and ended up taking a nap with Mitch for an hour or so. We woke up and went to PetSmart. Lots of fun! He is definitely an attention getter. If only I had him back in college. We weren't 20 feet from the car walking in when a woman stopped to say hi. At our first stop, chew toys, within 1 minute a cute employee asked if I needed help with anything. First of all, I don't think I have ever been asked if I need help with anything at PetSmart. Second, who needs help with chew toys? Then a dad with his wife and family had a few questions for me.
He LOVES the guinea pig display. There are glass cages right at his eye level and I think it was like greyhound TV for him. He just wanted to stand there and watch. He knew there was glass in front so he didn't try to lunge and hurt himself, but every time the guinea pig moved he would tense up and change his stance like he was getting ready to lunge. That made me laugh out loud a few times.
(I just now had to scold him for starting to chew the box my Canon 30D came in so I ran downstairs and got the chicken flavored Nylabone we picked out tonight. He likes it.)
We also got a place matt with a raised edge to contain water splashes from his bowl because he is a very sloppy drinker, some coal tar shampoo, and a tag with his name, our address and phone number.
One passerby commented on how well behaved he was and another clerk commented on how well he was doing on the smooth floor. She said her friend has a greyhound and gets freaked out when his feet slide on smooth floors so he just gets stiff and freezes in place.
He has been a working dog his whole life and a lot of the time his personality is best described as serious. There have been a few times where he loses himself and frolics for a minute on his back, but then it is back to being serious. Not too much tail wagging. Doesn't seem to have ever played tug-o-war before. But I have noticed a slight change between last night and tonight. I got a wag as we were going out to the backyard for the last time tonight. The fosters said last night a lot of times adopted greyhounds will have a personality change after 1 week or 1 month. I forgot which. Last night I just thought yeah whatever, but now I think I can see what she is talking about. He has never had any people to play with him. It was always business, and I guess he has to learn how to relax and play a little bit. He loves to be pet though. He will stand motionless for as long as you want to scratch his head. He is also can't help himself when he hears a squeak toy or sees a ball rolling across the floor.
I missed having Goliath follow me from room to room and I am glad to see that Mitch does the same thing.
He is still nervous on the steps but I think he gets a little more confidence on each trip.
I planned on grilling my sausage tonight, but it was too cold out, and I felt cold, so I just cooked it in a pan on the stove. I cooked up the pound of Lithuanian sausage I got and ate it with some of their homemade sauerkraut. I made some fat free sugar free instant banana cream pudding for desert.
The Dukes of Hazzard movie was just what I thought it would be: stupid fun humor. When I was a kid I looked forward to watching the Dukes on Friday night and making popcorn or eating cheesy poofs. It kind of brought back good memories tonight from back then.
No major plans for tomorrow. Finally complete the forms for my camera rebate. Read the paper. Pick Sheri up at the train station. I should clean out the fish tank. Still haven't gotten around to that. I guess mostly just hang out with Mitch and bond some more.
He LOVES the guinea pig display. There are glass cages right at his eye level and I think it was like greyhound TV for him. He just wanted to stand there and watch. He knew there was glass in front so he didn't try to lunge and hurt himself, but every time the guinea pig moved he would tense up and change his stance like he was getting ready to lunge. That made me laugh out loud a few times.
(I just now had to scold him for starting to chew the box my Canon 30D came in so I ran downstairs and got the chicken flavored Nylabone we picked out tonight. He likes it.)
We also got a place matt with a raised edge to contain water splashes from his bowl because he is a very sloppy drinker, some coal tar shampoo, and a tag with his name, our address and phone number.
One passerby commented on how well behaved he was and another clerk commented on how well he was doing on the smooth floor. She said her friend has a greyhound and gets freaked out when his feet slide on smooth floors so he just gets stiff and freezes in place.
He has been a working dog his whole life and a lot of the time his personality is best described as serious. There have been a few times where he loses himself and frolics for a minute on his back, but then it is back to being serious. Not too much tail wagging. Doesn't seem to have ever played tug-o-war before. But I have noticed a slight change between last night and tonight. I got a wag as we were going out to the backyard for the last time tonight. The fosters said last night a lot of times adopted greyhounds will have a personality change after 1 week or 1 month. I forgot which. Last night I just thought yeah whatever, but now I think I can see what she is talking about. He has never had any people to play with him. It was always business, and I guess he has to learn how to relax and play a little bit. He loves to be pet though. He will stand motionless for as long as you want to scratch his head. He is also can't help himself when he hears a squeak toy or sees a ball rolling across the floor.
I missed having Goliath follow me from room to room and I am glad to see that Mitch does the same thing.
He is still nervous on the steps but I think he gets a little more confidence on each trip.
I planned on grilling my sausage tonight, but it was too cold out, and I felt cold, so I just cooked it in a pan on the stove. I cooked up the pound of Lithuanian sausage I got and ate it with some of their homemade sauerkraut. I made some fat free sugar free instant banana cream pudding for desert.
The Dukes of Hazzard movie was just what I thought it would be: stupid fun humor. When I was a kid I looked forward to watching the Dukes on Friday night and making popcorn or eating cheesy poofs. It kind of brought back good memories tonight from back then.
No major plans for tomorrow. Finally complete the forms for my camera rebate. Read the paper. Pick Sheri up at the train station. I should clean out the fish tank. Still haven't gotten around to that. I guess mostly just hang out with Mitch and bond some more.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
I taped some pieces of paper to the glass door in the kitchen to remind Mitch that he can't walk through glass. I want to try and find something a little more aesthetically pleasing though. Maybe something Christmas themed like some vinyl stick ups.
His tail is 20 inches long.
This is the first I have seen him in full run. He just pooped and he is darting to come back inside.
He is laying next to me in the office right now. The rescue people said a lot (most?) of greyhounds will not sit. I think Mitch falls into that category. I think I have only seen him standing or laying down. Maybe their legs are so muscle bound that they can't sit?
I just dropped Sheri off at the train station. Our friend from San Francisco is in town for some training and Sheri is going to have dinner with her tonight, spend the night in the hotel with her, and then do some shopping in the City tomorrow.
We stopped at Bobak's after lunch today and I picked up some fresh sausage to put on the grill tonight for my dinner. We also stopped at Blockbuster and picked up the Dukes of Hazzard movie for Mitch and myself to watch tonight. That seemed like a good movie for a bachelor/guys evening.
In a little bit I think I am going to pack Mitch up in the car and go to PetSmart for some coal tar shampoo for his flaky dry skin and something like a non-edible Nylabone. Sheri was watching him stand next to the TV stand in the bedroom. He swung his head over and tried to chew on the edge of it a little. We gave him Sheri's broken electric blanket and she noticed him trying to chew the plug at the edge of the blanket. So I get the impression he is a chewer and needs something safe to keep him occupied.
His tail is 20 inches long.
This is the first I have seen him in full run. He just pooped and he is darting to come back inside.
He is laying next to me in the office right now. The rescue people said a lot (most?) of greyhounds will not sit. I think Mitch falls into that category. I think I have only seen him standing or laying down. Maybe their legs are so muscle bound that they can't sit?
I just dropped Sheri off at the train station. Our friend from San Francisco is in town for some training and Sheri is going to have dinner with her tonight, spend the night in the hotel with her, and then do some shopping in the City tomorrow.
We stopped at Bobak's after lunch today and I picked up some fresh sausage to put on the grill tonight for my dinner. We also stopped at Blockbuster and picked up the Dukes of Hazzard movie for Mitch and myself to watch tonight. That seemed like a good movie for a bachelor/guys evening.
In a little bit I think I am going to pack Mitch up in the car and go to PetSmart for some coal tar shampoo for his flaky dry skin and something like a non-edible Nylabone. Sheri was watching him stand next to the TV stand in the bedroom. He swung his head over and tried to chew on the edge of it a little. We gave him Sheri's broken electric blanket and she noticed him trying to chew the plug at the edge of the blanket. So I get the impression he is a chewer and needs something safe to keep him occupied.
We were in bed with the lights out and TV off but I was feeling restless, so when Sheri got a page it was a good excuse for me to go downstairs with her and do this. I'll start with the mundane and end with the Mitch.
This is a handheld picture I took from our bedroom window last night around 11 PM right as the snow started to fall. I had the ISO cranked up to 3,200. I think it has a neat weird look to it.
This is our backyard this morning taken using the "correct" exposure. Notice the snow looks grey.
This is the same shot opened up about 1.5 stops. Nice white snow.
The pine tree on the left isn’t doing too well.
OK, now to the good stuff. The foster family showed up with Mitch tonight. He settled into our place almost immediately. I think he was actually laying on his big pillow within the first 15 minutes he was here without anyone directing him to it.
He still doesn't get sliding glass doors and bonked his head hard twice. Once going out and once even harder coming in from the cold. I was outside with him and after he bonked his head while trying to run into the house. I slid the door open and then he wouldn't go in. He thought he was going to get another head bonking, so I had to walk in first to show him it was OK. On the steps he is still VERY cautious, very unsteady and not very graceful. I think it will take him a few more days before he gets really comfortable with those.
The fosters said he never tried to get on the couch and only got on the bed a couple times. When we went upstairs he jumped on the bed on his own while we were in the bathroom brushing our teeth.
They said if he gets loose and we can't find him in 15 to 20 minutes to give the rescue a call and they will mobilize all of the greyhound owners in the area and go looking for him until they find him. They said there dog got loose for a whole weekend but dozens of people were looking for him from sun up to sun down. How cool is that?
Every year they have a reunion for all the dogs they have adopted out. It is at the local minor league ball park and last year over 500 dogs were there! I think that sounds like a lot of fun. We will probably also go to the local pet store on the second Saturday of each month with Mitch. The rescue sets up a table with literature about adopting a greyhound and they like to have hounds there for people to pet and see what they are like. She said A LOT of people think greyhounds are mean because they see them wearing muzzles when they race. Who would have thought?
They brought a big pile of printouts showing all of his race results and his ancestors several generations back. There are a lot of columns on the race results and it will take me a bit to figure out what it all means.
His color is officially red brindle.
His official name is Knight Errant.
I am not 100% sure but it looks like he ran 56 races in his career and came in first for 7 of them. He weighs 76 pounds.
He has one toe on his left rear leg that is white.
He responds almost instantaneously to his squeaky toy. I don't think Goliath responded that intensely when we crinkled a potato chip bag. His squeaky toy is what finally got him to climb the steps and it is what got him back out of bed when Sheri got paged and we all were going downstairs. He is sound asleep again on his downstairs pillow.
This is a handheld picture I took from our bedroom window last night around 11 PM right as the snow started to fall. I had the ISO cranked up to 3,200. I think it has a neat weird look to it.
This is our backyard this morning taken using the "correct" exposure. Notice the snow looks grey.
This is the same shot opened up about 1.5 stops. Nice white snow.
The pine tree on the left isn’t doing too well.
OK, now to the good stuff. The foster family showed up with Mitch tonight. He settled into our place almost immediately. I think he was actually laying on his big pillow within the first 15 minutes he was here without anyone directing him to it.
He still doesn't get sliding glass doors and bonked his head hard twice. Once going out and once even harder coming in from the cold. I was outside with him and after he bonked his head while trying to run into the house. I slid the door open and then he wouldn't go in. He thought he was going to get another head bonking, so I had to walk in first to show him it was OK. On the steps he is still VERY cautious, very unsteady and not very graceful. I think it will take him a few more days before he gets really comfortable with those.
The fosters said he never tried to get on the couch and only got on the bed a couple times. When we went upstairs he jumped on the bed on his own while we were in the bathroom brushing our teeth.
They said if he gets loose and we can't find him in 15 to 20 minutes to give the rescue a call and they will mobilize all of the greyhound owners in the area and go looking for him until they find him. They said there dog got loose for a whole weekend but dozens of people were looking for him from sun up to sun down. How cool is that?
Every year they have a reunion for all the dogs they have adopted out. It is at the local minor league ball park and last year over 500 dogs were there! I think that sounds like a lot of fun. We will probably also go to the local pet store on the second Saturday of each month with Mitch. The rescue sets up a table with literature about adopting a greyhound and they like to have hounds there for people to pet and see what they are like. She said A LOT of people think greyhounds are mean because they see them wearing muzzles when they race. Who would have thought?
They brought a big pile of printouts showing all of his race results and his ancestors several generations back. There are a lot of columns on the race results and it will take me a bit to figure out what it all means.
His color is officially red brindle.
His official name is Knight Errant.
I am not 100% sure but it looks like he ran 56 races in his career and came in first for 7 of them. He weighs 76 pounds.
He has one toe on his left rear leg that is white.
He responds almost instantaneously to his squeaky toy. I don't think Goliath responded that intensely when we crinkled a potato chip bag. His squeaky toy is what finally got him to climb the steps and it is what got him back out of bed when Sheri got paged and we all were going downstairs. He is sound asleep again on his downstairs pillow.
Friday, December 01, 2006
I got up at 6 AM to use the snow blower. We got about 3 – 4 inches of VERY heavy wet snow. Whatever I paid for the snow blower over 10 years ago was more than made up for today.
I had finished the main driveway part and was halfway through the sidewalk to the west of our home when I noticed the college girl neighbor to the east of us slowly making half-shovelful scoops of progress past their property line and all the way to our driveway. She wasn't doing the whole width of the sidewalk, just a shovel's width so walkers could at least get through. I didn't see her dad, brother or mom, so I had to go over and help her out.
I finished up our stuff, unplugged the cord and walked over and told her to plug me in. The normal guy etiquette if another guy comes over to snowblow your driveway if you only have a shovel is to keep making progress with the shovel in the tight areas while he gets the big major areas. If you are about to have a heart attack it is acceptable to simply pay attention to what he is doing in case he needs help, give the occasional thumbs up, etc. You can even go inside momentarily to warm up as long as you bring out a cup of coffee, beer, etc.
College girl decides the best thing to do is put the shovel down and make a snowman. I don't know if that is proper snow blower assist etiquette but I thought it was cute. Sheri thought is was adorable too.
Time to shower up, go to work, and endure the agonizing 12 hours until Mitch shows up.
I had finished the main driveway part and was halfway through the sidewalk to the west of our home when I noticed the college girl neighbor to the east of us slowly making half-shovelful scoops of progress past their property line and all the way to our driveway. She wasn't doing the whole width of the sidewalk, just a shovel's width so walkers could at least get through. I didn't see her dad, brother or mom, so I had to go over and help her out.
I finished up our stuff, unplugged the cord and walked over and told her to plug me in. The normal guy etiquette if another guy comes over to snowblow your driveway if you only have a shovel is to keep making progress with the shovel in the tight areas while he gets the big major areas. If you are about to have a heart attack it is acceptable to simply pay attention to what he is doing in case he needs help, give the occasional thumbs up, etc. You can even go inside momentarily to warm up as long as you bring out a cup of coffee, beer, etc.
College girl decides the best thing to do is put the shovel down and make a snowman. I don't know if that is proper snow blower assist etiquette but I thought it was cute. Sheri thought is was adorable too.
Time to shower up, go to work, and endure the agonizing 12 hours until Mitch shows up.