Katie got a package from Reilly yesterday! She was very excited about it; she doesn’t get much mail, and hardly ever anything as good as what Reilly sent! I was pretty excited too, especially about the bags that go on a leash! No more walking around with a grocery store bag hanging out of my back pocket! I can be doggy-chic!
Katie of course was all about the treats! Notice the focus she achieves when a special treat is there just for the grabbing!
Thank you very much Reilly! You are the best!
Katie and I had an opportunity to drop into a competitive obedience class this morning. Most Saturday mornings I have to work, but for whatever reason my random schedule has me working 5-9 tonight. I like that this class has a drop-in policy that just costs me $10 to attend, whenever I can make it.
The problems began almost immediately. Even though Katie and I have on occasion gone to the park and practiced our heel, you wouldn’t know it. She’s better when we do a little bit, but every day. So while we were doing the heeling in a big circle we were pretty much out of control the whole time.
Plus to add to the excitement there was a little papillon that Katie had never met before. In fact, I don’t think she’s ever seen a dog this small! You can go here http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/papillon.htm to see a picture of a papillon. Whenever we got near Coco Katie would jerk at the leash and try to sniff. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the cute little thing. Finally, midway through the class I asked Coco’s owner if it was OK for Katie to meet Coco. We tried to get them to meet, but Coco was barking at Katie, and Katie was bowing down barking, or backing up barking. I think Katie thought Coco was a SQUIRREL! Squirrel alert Mom!! Right here in class too!!!!
Katie did OK with her stand for exam. She moved a bit, but at least it was toward the male “judge” instead of shyly backing away. And she stood for me when I asked her, which she doesn’t always do. We need to work on that more, but it’s hard to find strangers who will go up to her and pet her!
Then we did sits and stays. What a disaster! I don’t know what was up, but Katie was done with school. On her sit (which was only 2 minutes) she got almost to the end, watching the other dogs get up and get set back down. Then she just stood up and began wandering around! What’s up with THAT?! I got her to sit again by just yelling sit from halfway across the room, and she did. It was like “OOPS! I forgot MOM!” Then on to down and stay. Well. There isn’t even a word for the disaster this turned out to be. She almost immediately popped up into a sit. I went back and couldn’t get her down for the longest time. She popped up again a bit later. I went back and eventually got her into a down again. The third time she popped up into a stand I went and got her and moved her out of the line. She was too distracting to everyone. And I know she can do this, she just couldn’t do it today.
Her recalls from across the room were both beautiful. She loves to run, and she looks beautiful doing it. She gets a gold star for that.
All in all I can’t blame her. We just haven’t been working on this stuff enough. She needs to be outside in the park or the yard doing each of these things every day. I just need to make myself get her out there. I know I won’t be able to go to any trials, as I work every weekend, and maybe that’s why I haven’t been motivated. But it’s like training for a marathon and then not being able to run the race. You still get the benefit from the training. So I have to remember that Katie and I will still enjoy our relationship more if we both understand the obedience rules. Even without being able to show them off (or not!) in a trial.
She’s sleeping now. Of course. Crazy dog calmed right down when we got home.
I worked till 9 tonight at one of the branch libraries. As soon as I arrived one of the other Library Assistants pointed out the chocolate cake in the office. Said I should have a slice. It looked good. But I didn’t eat the chocolate cake.
I haven’t run since last October when I fractured my foot. I’ve done nothing, it seems, but eat and gain weight. It has to stop somewhere. Might as well be at the chocolate cake.
Tomorrow morning I’ll go for a walk. Yep. That’s what I’ll do. Even if it IS raining. And tonight I absolutely will not go check the freezer to see if that ice cream that’s calling my name is still there. Will not. Though ice cream is way better than chocolate cake.
Not going there.
What do northern pike, the electrical system of a Bunton lawnmower, Hawaiian monk seals, depression and suicide, JAVA and HTML have in common? If you think it has something to do with the library — you would be correct! These are a few of the things that patrons wanted help finding in the small town library where I worked yesterday. And you know what? We found everything except for the wiring chart for the lawn mower! We gave that patron the name and phone number of a dealer because we didn’t have any Bunton lawnmower manuals, and couldn’t find any free repair manuals online. Just about everyone left happy,even the lawnmower man, except for the woman who needed the depression and suicide information. She left looking haunted and exhausted, the same way she looked coming in. Its so hard, sometimes, not to ask, not to try to get involved. Not to step over the line of librarianship.
On a pleasant note, a young woman and a 9 or 10 year old adorable little girl were each checking out a pile of books. When I got to the youngster’s pile of books the computer pulled up a warning regarding a $10 fine attached to her card: two late fees and a damaged book to replace. The young woman looked surprised. The youngster looked down and shuffled her feet. Apparently a water damaged book had been returned and now it was time to pay the piper..er library. The young woman scrounged around in her purse and came up with $4.00; not enough to pay the fine down low enough for the youngster to be able to check out her books. Out of nowhere, and I truly mean that I never saw where this lady came from or went after, a middle aged woman offered to pay the whole fine. I gave the young woman her $4.00 back and accepted the $10 from the older woman, thinking that she must be the grandmother. Turns out neither of my patrons knew the generous stranger. It was just a random act of kindness. As I’m checking out the young girl’s books we discuss the concept of “paying it forward.” We decide that there are many things the young lady can do to repay this kindness, all that cost no money. She could draw a picture for an elderly friend or relative, write someone a nice letter, help someone in their garden, be kind to another child at school, give her Mom hugs for a month…the list goes on and on. The little girl left all smiles.
I was all smiles too.
This morning I decided to stop by my local nursery. Just to purchase a few packets of seeds. I wasn’t going to look at plants. Really. Got to save some money you know. Just seed packets…and a few photos.
It was really difficult not to buy everything I saw. It is an amazing place that makes me realize how lucky I am to have this nursery just down the road. If I ever have a blue sort of day I can pop in there and just look around. It never fails to make me smile.
And of course I didn’t get away with only buying a few packets of seeds. But on the other hand I didn’t buy all that much. It could have been much worse! A couple of tomato plants, some herbs, can’t live without rosemary, basil, parsley, thyme! A six pack of double pink impatiens and a few pots of harmony violet new guinea impatiens for a few pots around the yard. And a splurge on some pretty forget-me-nots for a special place in the perennial bed. 
Oh, there was so much more that looked wonderful as I was ‘not’ looking. But I have enough garden to keep track of already, no need to go make it any bigger. And of course, in these economic times I’m trying to keep as small a spending footprint as I can. But it’s so tempting!
I’m trying to figure out how to put a photo gallery into the blog. I’ve done it before, but so far I’m unsuccessful at uploading photos to the gallery. If I figure it out I’ll post it!
Meanwhile Katie has been very patient while I planted. She even tried to help, but in the end I had to do most of the work myself. We’re off to the park. After all, I promised!
Oh yes, picked up seeds too, green beans, beets, lettuce and chard.
I’ve been so busy coming and going from work that poor Katie hasn’t been able to go to her favorite park in awhile. Today is the first day in ten days I haven’t had to work. And lucky us, the sun is shining! So guess what? We will definitely make some time for park visiting. And she can’t wait! I can’t wait either, but I think we should at least eat breakfast first. More later. 
Poetry lady wanted to see work of contemporary poets…”someone who’s not dead yet!” I thought of a friend of mine who writes poetry and wished she was near. She’d be able to list off several “not dead yet” poets. Me? Not so much. So I found the lady the poetry section of our library and together we spent some fun minutes looking for authors we recognized, asking each other if we thought they were still living. We shared some smiles, a few (hushed, after all it IS the library!) laughs, and she left with a stack of books almost too big for her to handle.
Resume guy was updating his resume and couldn’t get the bullet points to line up. He had messed around so much his resume looked like a connect the dots picture in a coloring book. He came looking for help wondering if we knew anything about Word. Maybe. A couple of clicks and I had it looking worse. He said maybe it was OK the way he had it, and I said, in my most librarianish voice..”Certainly not, this is your RESUME! It has to be perfect!” And a couple more clicks and it was. He was grateful. So was I. I had no idea what I had done to correct his bullet points. I told him to hurry up and save it before we messed it up again. More hushed laughter.
Communist Manifesto girl needed a copy of it, the manifesto, for a paper. Of course our copy was checked out. Aren’t they all? When is the paper due? Oh not till “sometime this summer”, so I had time to pull another copy in from a neighboring branch. “Don’t think I’m weird” she said. “The prof just wants a paper on someone’s thought process, so I chose this.” I don’t think she’s weird, I think she’s more interesting than the average student.
A mother calls, wants a book whose title she’s unsure of. Doesn’t know the author. Might be a picture book. Maybe not. Probably about trains. Thomas the train? No, she doesn’t think so. But maybe. Daughter needs it for a presentation at a local college tomorrow. But we don’t know what the title is. Daughter apparently is too busy to make this call herself. Unsatisfied patron. Sigh. Might need some more hushed laughter now.
Do we have the local paper on microfilm? Yes we do. Can I get a copy of the February 23rd paper from 1918? Well, no. We only go back to 1931. Sigh.
Lots of new patrons signing up for cards this morning. Everyone wants a card to use the internet. Mostly to print resumes, look for work. Scary. I’m thinking we need some loud belly laughs now. All of us. Even if we ARE in a library.
Seems most Saturdays find me working at the library. Not that you can really consider it work, at least not compared to my previous life. Though sometimes I wish I didn’t have to go to work, most of the time I enjoy the people watching that comes with the job. For instance here’s a small smattering of things I noticed while working today:
A small boy, maybe 4 or 5 sitting in a big overstuffed chair. His feet don’t reach the floor. In fact they barely reach the edge of the chair seat. He has a big picture book in his lap and he’s studiously reading to himself. Around him is chaos, other people in the library talking loudly, joking with each other, comparing notes about movies they’ve seen. This little boy just continues to read, lost in thought. Later I was close enough to hear him read out loud and his words in no way resemble the story as it’s written. He’s making up the story as he goes, describing the pictures. He’s going to be a wonderful father someday, reading aloud to his own kids.
A young girl checks out a book about why women and girls don’t like their own bodies. I hope she picks up some pointers about learning to like herself. I wonder what made her get that book; I know there must be issues to be resolved.
A middle aged guy is writing a paper and preparing for a college group presentation on high blood pressure. He’s having trouble getting the articles he’s found on the Mayo website to print. I can’t get them to print either. It’s this kind of trouble that makes middle aged students (and I can relate to this!) think they are too old to be in school, what with all the technological changes that have occurred since we went to school the first time. But it wasn’t him, it was the website. Hopefully he gets that and doesn’t become discouraged. Sometimes it’s hard not to think you’re just too old to try something so new.
Another middle aged man is working on his resume, checking out job websites. It’s discouraging for the unemployed middle aged patron as well. A young woman plays games on the computer, killing time until she has to go see her doctor. Just a checkup she says, but you see the questions in her eyes. I wish I could make it all better for all of them.
A grandmother comes in with one of her grandchildren. She wants a book on aerobics. A book? Why not a DVD? No, just a book. I can’t find one specifically on aerobics, but I find one on walking, and one on Yoga and she seems happy. I’d think chasing after grandchildren would be aerobic enough!
Another older college student, this one needs stuff on anatomy and physiology. I’m working in a small branch today, not much on our shelves, but lots of stuff in our reference section. He’s happy with that.
And of course the movies. Movies being checked in and checked back out just as fast. Seemed like hundreds of movies, might have been. With the occassional book thrown in, just to make me happy.
Libraries. Here’s hoping we never have to live without them.
I’m Katie, the ever-vigilant squirrel hating dog. I can never rest. Now that it’s spring the squirrels are back! They could be anywhere! Just anywhere I tell you! It’s madness!
What’s that you say? Stop barking? Get off the chair? Are you crazy? Don’t you know that if you let your guard down for ONE MINUTE those squirrels will be back? And you just never know what they may do next! Climb a tree! Scamper across MY lawn!
Awww…OK, I’ll get down. But it’s your risk if they get by me. I’m telling you, it’s a bad decision to make me get off this chair. They’re sneaky, those squirrels, could be anywhere. Probably are eating MY birdfood right this minute. They know when I’m around, yes siree they sure do. Can’t be nearly as effective if you curtail my tools. Silly humans.
Can’t expect me to keep track of those guys when I can’t see out the window…..HEY! SQUIRREL ALERT!!! Don’t worry guys, I’m still on the job! SQUIRREL ALERT! SQUIRREL ALERT! MAYDAY MAYDAY!
Can’t keep a good dog down. No siree, always on the job, that’s me. Hope they appreciate it. Might be a biscuit in it for me if I do a really good barking job. Hmmm… gonna ask for a raise, yes I am. This kind of work makes a girl hungry. Should be getting more food at supper.
And another thing. What’s up with no dessert for dogs? Gotta check with my union rep. Yep, sure do. Oh no…there’s ANOTHER ONE!
Squirrel alert! Squirrel alert! Gather round guys, they’re out there. They’re everywhere. Stand guard! I’ll take care of them, let me at em!
Sigh. I know, I know…get off the chair. Geeze.
Yesterday Katie and I got to go to an advanced competitive obedience class. It meets every Saturday morning, but I’m usually working, so this was the first time I’d been to it. Katie’s first time too! 🙂
We got there pretty early, so we walked around in the parking lot of the mall, sniffing stuff and doing the potty thing. She’s getting good at being able to go in strange places, which is handy. After I got that all cleaned up and thrown away we ventured inside. There were only a few other dogs there at that point, two big Rotweillers and a big German Shepherd. They were practicing coming, and stopping and going DOWN! and waiting. They all looked good, very professional. I felt WAAAY out of my league. I had never called Katie from across the room, then yelled “DOWN” when she got part of the way and had her go down like they were doing. Katie had never waited to chase after a toy until she had been told to “GO GET IT!” Heck she didn’t even heel very well; while these dogs were attached to their people at the hip, gazing adoringly at them, ready to respond to every whim, Katie heeled with her nose on the ground, looking to pick up any leftover treats. SIGH. I was intimidated, and whispered in her ear that maybe we were in the wrong place.
More people came in with their dogs, another couple of Shepards, a Boxer, a Wheaton Terrier, a Doberman, an Australian Shepherd. All of them bigger than Katie. All of them with more experience, and it appeared, more confident handlers. Poor Katie! So we started going around the room in a big circle, heeling as the instructor called out commands and worked one of the Rottweilers. Katie was keeping up pretty well, though still not exactly where she needed to be. Then the instructor commanded us to do a moving down. Unsure what that was I sort of watched. Everyone put their dogs into a down, Katie went down too. Then everyone started walking but the dogs stayed! WOW! Katie stayed too and I trotted to get back in my spot. The humans walked around the room, up next to the dogs, until we got back to our own dog. Not a dog moved a muscle. Even Katie. I was so proud of her. We did several other things with our heeling, and she did pretty well.
Then we did sits and downs. A THREE MINUTE sit! That is forever. Katie sat between the Boxer and a Shepherd. We all walked way down to the other end of the room. She stared at me. I stared back. People started talking amongst themselves and one by one almost all the dogs broke. Katie kept looking at me. I kept looking at her with my arms folded, my feet planted apart. She looked at all the other dogs moving, getting yelled at, getting reset up. She looked back at me, I looked back at her. She never moved! I was so so HAPPY with her! Of course then we did the down. FIVE minutes, though I didn’t know how long it was because I missed what the instructor said. I got her into a down, walked away, then faced her from the other end of the room. Arms folded. Feet planted. We watched each other. Some of the dogs flopped over and went to sleep. Katie and I just watched each other. She woud occassionally shift her hips, you could see she was thinking about what was up. Was she done working? Was it OK to explore. She looked at the other dogs, no one was wandering. She looked at me. I looked back. And she NEVER MOVED! I can not believe my little hyper dog lasted 5 minutes without breaking! Such a girl! She got lots of treats for that when we went back to them!
Then it was Stand for Exam. Well. Katie HATES being touched, especially by a stranger. She is always happy for people to come up to her, but when they reach out to pet her she backs up. She rarely does well on this, sometimes she won’t shy away too much, but she never stands still. Guess what? She let two different strange men walk up to her and run their hand along her back and didn’t move. I was six feet away from her and she was standing in the middle of a room full of strangers and she let them touch her and didn’t balk. At this point I am beginning to wonder if I brought someone else’s dog!
Of course she was good on her recalls, she loves that game, didn’t even anticipate and break early. She was perfect.
So all I really need to work on is heeling, getting her to heel where she’s supposed to, rather than surging ahead or getting behind, and especially getting her to stop checking the floor out for good things to eat. Hopefully the weather will hold and we can go to the park and practice some more.
Meanwhile I am so proud of her! What a good girl!
Change Is Hard 