Tales From The Bark Side: A Dog MMP

Add me as a member of the short night club. I don’t know why Ii couldn’t sleep. I maybe got an hour of snooze I could use, all told. It will be a very long day.

Scritches to all the Very Good Dogs out there.

Oooh, doggie vs squirrel stories. Sam dog, our little fox terrier hated squirrels. If he was inside, you could just say “Sam, squirrel!” and he’d be at he door itching to go out and chase the squirrel off of the porch. We had a high porch, and one year there had been a big snow storm, followed by ice, Sam didn’t make the corner to go down stairs…straight off the side and down into about 3 feet of snow. I wish I could have seen the look on his face as he plummeted through the air.

After my baby sister came along, my dad put up chicken wire along the railings, so she wouldn’t crawl off the edge. Sam cornered a squirrel in the caged in porch and then they had a stand off. Sam just stood there barking. Then he kind of went “Ok, go ahead and scamper down the stairs and then I’ll chase you.” He stood aside and let the long tail rat get away.

In a 20 minute phone call, I got the answers I needed bout Medicare and supplements - mainly that I shouldn’t bother with any and I should just keep the insurance I retired with. So that’s easy. I just need to stop my PartB payments since I didn’t need them in the first place. All we need to do now is get FCD signed up for his Medicare in a couple of months.

This shouldn’t be so difficult, yanno?

Bleh - it was one of Those Nights here too. I take Nuvigil so’s I can function at work, and I don’t take it over the weekends, since I usually sleep in. Unfortunately, in the past year I’ve become much more sensitive to the stuff on Mondays and routinely have trouble falling asleep. Must discuss options with the doctor - lower dose for Mondays, perhaps.

We had a number of dogs when I was growing up. This was back when you just opened the back door and let the dog out to roam - which was pretty damn unfortunate for the dogs (as several of them met their ends that way, due to running away or being hit by cars). When I was about 10, we got TIllie the Miniature Schnauzer who took her mission of hunting quite seriously. She routinely caught rabbits that were nearly as large as she was.

Our next door neighbors had no pets. The husband hated dogs. Tillie decided she LOVED him, and ignored all his attempts to shoo her away. She wound up moving in with them. She was a great help with them in their huge vegetable garden, keeping away the rabbits - “Go get the bunny!!!” would result in immediate dispatch of any long-eared varmints - and if none in sight, would result in her running into the woods until she found one - which would be presented proudly, usually sans at least some of the innards.

nellie, that’s one of my big pet peeves, too. That and the somewhat annoying habit that some people on treadmills have of glancing over at your screen and setting their pace to .1 miles above yours. Of course, no one does that anymore because I’m old and slow and have a treadmill in the basement. The gym is now for weights, ellipticals and swimming.

I had another run-in with my friend the deer/dog. She’s started wandering up to me and following me around the patio and yard while I’m watering the plants. Between the deer and the hummingbirds that hover about the place while I’m replacing their sugar water, I’m starting to feel a little like Snow White. I think I’ll start to avoid apples.

Morning all. Felt ambitious this morning so got dressed and dug out some paperwork so I could renew my driver’s license (it still has several weeks to go) with the “Star ID”, so I won’t have to carry my passport to travel (someday–implementation in Ali-bama has been moved to 2023…). So drove on down and…the Alabama system is down, no driver’s licenses are being issued, no idea when the system will be restored… So here I am, all dressed up and nowhere to go…

Only 82F outside and due (so sayeth the weatherfolks) to get to mid-80’s, so not as bad as yesterday, but not a drop of rain. If it’s still dry on Thorsday I’ll deploy the sprinklers.

talky, I think she loves you (the deer, that is…).

shoe, my pet dog (a dachshund) when I was a kid was named Tina, too! Like most members of her breed, she was loveable with her family, but fiercely protective of them…I can remember workmen refusing to come into the house because of the racket she was making…

wolfie, great stories about Bernie.

Glad you’re feeling some better, Taters

FCM, I decided the same thing, just kept the insurance I had with the Government (did downgrade from ‘High’ to ‘Standard’ coverage to save some money) and so far it’s worked out fine. I still get the occasional ‘info’ in the mail around open season, though…

OK, on with life. All y’all have a good 2sDay.

Our corgi Wally has declared a long-running jihad against squirrels.He thinks he’s a badass who has almost caught those interlopers every time. In reality, the only time he’s gotten closer than a few yards to one is when they get on the fence and taunt him.

That is, until last week when I let Wally out back and there was a squirrel on our porch steps. Wally took off after the squirrel, who easily made it to the closest tree and ran in circles around the trunk to taunt the dog.

Neither of us noticed there was a second squirrel hiding on a support post on the porch. Squirrel 2 decided it was a good time to make a run for it while Wally was occupied with the other one. In a moment of bad timing, Wally noticed the second interloper just as it drew parallel with him and abandoned the first squirrel to chase the second one.

To my amazement (and probably Squirrel 2’s as well), he got to within an inch of it before it put out a burst of speed and got away. I suspect that Squirrel 2 will be the object of extreme mockery from the squirrel community for letting Wally actually get that close to him. He may actually have to move away and start life anew under an assumed name.

Wally, on the other hand, is even more pleased with his hunting prowess than usual and is even more wildly optimistic about his chances.

I processed a load of downed branches, well mostly. I have a basket of little kindling, a small pile of larger kindling, and a pile on the ground that need to be chain-sawed into logs. We have an electric chain saw that I don’t mind using, but I’m pretty sure it needs a new blade. Once we tend to that (once FCD tends to that!) I’ve got a lot of bigger branches that I can hack up. Then I can stack them so they can dry, and I’ll make sure they’re covered when it rains.

I found some trash cans and buckets under the deck - bottoms cracked thru and such - so I’ll haul a load of said trash to the truck. Later. I’m taking a break now. :smiley:

MetalMouse - glad to hear you’re approaching insurance the way I plan to - makes me feel even better about my decision. But we’re keeping Standard rather than Basic coverage - what with all of FCD’s medical issues, it’s worth the extra premiums not to have to deal with higher copays and deductibles. Goodness knows, BC/BS hasn’t made any money from us.

Back to the topic - when we were first married, FCD and I got a great Dane pup. She was a lover and a leaner! Unfortunately, due to some less than smart financial decisions, we were forced to move and couldn’t take her. I was teaching at the junior college at the time, and in conversation with one of my students, he had a friend who wanted a female Dane. It was hard to give her up, but we truly had no choice, and she went to a wonderful situation. She was living on a farm where she had acres to run and frolic. Last we’d heard, she was up to 108# and going thru a 50# bag of kibble a week. At that point, we had a newborn - I don’t think we could have afforded to feed both of them! :rofl: I do like big dogs, but we’ve already decided that when Higgs goes to her puppy reward, there will be no more dogs. Same for the cats.

The Entourage of Gordie
A lot of dogs wreck their toys, but not Gordie. Mostly he likes to cuddle them, but one time I came out to an empty food bowl, and a line of stuffies running from my bedroom to the bowl… Another time he dragged his food bowl into the lliving room, spilled some kibble out, and put Pink Pony face down in the food. I’m not sure I want to know what he did to her that he felt obligated o make her breakfast the next morning(he does try to get Pink Pony to…uh…appreciate him).

Got bumped to irregs again.The supervisor was happy, since I was outworking people half my age. Plus, fans. There was some drama in the complex today. There was a cop assisted money dispute/breakup.

Mama_Zappa, I’ve never had a dog defect on me. wow.

The rabbits used to come up to my stoop and taunt Maggie Wonderbeagle. And welcome!

Morning, all. Don’t have any doggy stories to share, since I haven’t had a dog since early in high school. Cat stories, OTOH…

Just got back from my first maskless grocery run in over a year. Felt very weird. I’m keeping the box of disposables in the car for the next few years, just in case. They also come in handy when the world burns, as it is predicted to do this summer. Again.

This is my first full week of Summer Vacation and I’m enjoying it to the max. Temps predicted in the 100s today, so I’m just staying indoors with margaritas and other consumables. Somebody has to do it!

Stay cool, campers!

Why wait? We’re burning now. The CFD and local FDs are jumping right on all the fires that are popping up, but sooner or later one will out pace them and then we’re screwed.

It’s hot today and forecast for over 110 tomorrow. Good times, good times. Have I mentioned that we’ll be moving somewhere that isn’t here once 'Beamer is out of high school. I can’t stand this. The only saving grace is that the solar will cover our electricity costs. I have to get it installed first, of course. Before I do that, I want to refinance the house, because holy shit home prices have shot up around here and mortgage rates are still stupid low.

Today I will puruse Craig’s List for one of those glider/rocker that are peddled to pregnant women for nursing their newborns. It should be better for my back.

Happy Toesday everyone.

Due to allergies, I never had dogs. Neighbor’s poodle bit me when I was elementary school and I’ve never been comfortable with dogs, or cats, for that matter. As I was one of three people who got bit by the same dog, and the 3rd person to get bit was employed by the USPS, the dog, who was rather old, got put down.

Current neighbors are on their second dog. Both dogs went/go nuts if a cat goes by. Like, really nuts. In Switzerland, dog owners are required to take their dogs to obedience training. Maybe cats are not on the curriculum.

Reading all this about cleaning out the fridge is almost getting me thinking about doing the same. However it’s the end of the day, and it’s vacation week.

Today we went to the garden center and finally got chives, parsley, dill weed, “mojito” mint, basil, mini sweet peppers and two types of tomatoes. Rather late, but with this week’s hot weather, we’ll probably make up for lost time.

I’ve never had a dog but let me tell you about Ruble’s dog, Sam. Ruble got Sam when he was in the fourth grade. His full name was Samuel de Champlain. Why? Because they were studying famous explorers and Ruble was already a history nerd.

I believe Sam’s mother was a cocker spaniel and his father was a traveling salesdog. Sam was the runt of the litter and very smart but he never accepted the fact that he was a dog – he knew he was really Ruble’s furry little brother.

The family fed Sam dog food, to his utter disgust (except for Liv-A-Snaps, which he adored) and also people food. However, Sam knew when you were trying to give him leftovers while the family was eating something fresh, and he didn’t tolerate that. He was not a dog, damn it! He also knew the difference between butter and margarine and if the rest of his family was eating butter on their bread, he sure as heck wasn’t going to stoop to eating margarine! Really, did they think he was a dog??

He taught himself to knock on the door when he wanted to come back in the house, and the only reason he didn’t teach himself to just open the door and let himself in was because he couldn’t quite reach the door handle. He was a Most Excellent Dog and I know that he was waiting with tail wagging when Ruble joined him last year.

:purple_heart::blue_heart::green_heart::yellow_heart::orange_heart:

Howdy Y’all! We laundered, lounged at the cee-mint pond, achieved nappage, and made and et tacos. OLÉ! How do we keep up the pace!

Speaking only for myself – but I know as a retired Bear you share some of my values as a retired Pup – the practice of slothitude saves tremendous amounts of energy that can then be redirected to activities like lounging and nappage. I myself, after a morning of sloth, can nap for the entire afternoon. I respectfully question your claims to sloth of Olympic caliber, as I believe you could benefit from my correspondence course on Sloth.

Anyway, I will shortly be throwing ribs on the barbecue and making up a mess of Wolfpup’s famous baked beans. It’s cool and clear around here but strong gusty winds have been howling. Gonna wait a bit as the winds are supposed to calm down.

metal mouse, you still travel enough that having a dog would be problematic.

shoe, your Tina reminds me a little of Nelson’s grandfather Popo (short for Napoleon). He was one of my sister’s rescues and was estimated at 7 years old when she got him (she had him for 13 years!). He was one of those teeny-tiny chihuahuas who might just have weighed 4 pounds after a big bowl of kibble. He was also a mean little bastard at times. Sis knew that his hearing was shot when he could no longer hear the other dogs’ metal tags hit the stainless steel bowls and come running. :stuck_out_tongue:

Another Nelson story: there used to be two dogs 2 doors down. Kobe was a retired SDPD K9 who retired to Tennessee when his handler did and his owner’s son who also lived there had Snoop, a mastiff. Snoop was a little on the quiet side, but Kobe was quite the social critter and Nelson just loved him (we still get together occasionally for play dates). One afternoon, the dogs were doing the male dog thing and having a peeing contest. Nelson decided he could compete as top dog and lifted his leg to pee higher than GSD and mastiff markings. He lifted his little leg so high that he fell over. Kind of ruined the effect. :stuck_out_tongue:

Guess what! I have an interview for the internal position that I applied for tomorrow evening. :open_mouth: I’m nervous. I haven’t interviewed for anything internal or external for a few years and am not really sure if I want the job. Oy!

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

I got out of my car the other morning after work and a little grey dog on a long leash charged up to me for pets. As I was petting him I saw, out of the corner of my eye, an outraged little black and white dog racing to me, also on a long leash. You could just see his attitude was “hey! No hogging the pets!!!” So he got pets, too. Their owners - clearly friends, stood back and giggled.

I strongly suspect I have a mark on me that only dogs can see that says “will give pets”.

I didn’t get to the gym. I walked errand–3.5 miles–and then realized there was no way I could do the gym. Getting almost no sleep caught up to me. I’m now doing laundry and contemplating dinner.

Use your uncertainty as to whether you really want it to temper those nerves. They’d be lucky to have you for the position, but if they don’t want you, meh, no big deal, since you’re not sure you want it anyway. Nothing to lose! :slight_smile: I’m sending serene vibes your way.

Given the short notice and the fact that I wasn’t really expecting an interview at all, I took the opportunity to make sure that the is are dotted and the ts crossed on my CV and outlined my responses to the STAR questions that I was given. Just calculating, I haven’t interviewed for anything internally in ~8 years. I lost out to someone with a sheepskin (albeit, in cultural anthropology for an inventory supervisor position :stuck_out_tongue: ) I’m not sure if I’m physically capable of this position though. It would require being on my feet most of the time and there are days that that just isn’t possible.