How to leash a cat...

Ding is really happy now that the better weather is here.  I try and take her outside more often.  I am rather afraid of her being out without a leash.  She doesn't have front claws, from her former owner, so she can't defend herself... And I found out, she isn't afraid of vehicles.  I was walking out with her, and cars were going by, a noisy truck, a motorcycle... Nothing.  She didn't shy, she didn't run, just looked mildly curious at the louder ones.  Translation, she has no sense of danger, so she isn't going out without someone...

So, get her into a leash.  This is easy, and it's hard.  I pick up the leash, and she's ready to go.  She meows, and runs to the door.  And paws the door.  And meows.

I pick her up, and put her on the bench to put the leash on- and she jumps down and runs to the door.  I pick her up, again, hanging on to the little furball.  She is meowing insistently, and trying to slip through my fingers. 

I put the leash over her back, and she lunges.  I manage to hold her, and put the neck collar on.  This is where it gets tricky.  I have to hang onto her, and snap the chest collar shut.  Now, as far as Ding is concerned, when she heard the neck collar click, that was well and more than enough. 

So, I hang onto any bit of her that isn't in jump mode, which usually is her head or neck, I manage to snap the second collar shut, sometimes after a try or three... Her fur gets in between the latches, and makes it slip back open.

Finally leashed, I grab the door, and open.  To see her lunge, and usually bonk her nose on the screen... Not too hard, but I have to get the screen open quickly, or she meows and looks really annoyed, trying to open it with her paws.  Thankfully, she has no thumbs.

I finally get her outside, and she runs down the ramp, and gallops to the lawn.

And sits down, and grazes.

Yep, crazy.  Fits right in with our house.

Slow and steady, with some wobbling.

I haven't talked about it much, but I am slowly starting again on losing some lard.  Strangely, I had a bit of motivation reading an email at work.  There is some sort of competition where everyone keeps track of steps.  The one who has most consistently gone over 5000 steps each day, is the winner.  (I believe it was for the month of July.)  

I can't participate in the competition, but I finally got out my step counter, and have kept it on me pretty regularly.  I have, MOST days, been able to get 5000 steps.  Not a bunch more, but enough that I am becoming mindful of it.  I am also slowly making some other changes, but this is the big one.  I am just working on walking more. 

I suppose part of it, besides the general "I want to be more fit" part, is the thing I was told not so long after my car wreck.  My legs were torn up pretty badly, and the doctor had made great strides in getting me back into more or less one piece. 

I still remember, though, him sitting by my bedside not too long after the surgery, and saying, "Yes, it went well.  I repaired what I could, but I want you to know, you will be in a wheelchair by age 60." 

Well, excuse my language, but shit on that noise!  So I walk.  Retired Knitter suggested on her blog about the Walking for Fun website.  I chose the Pacific Crest Trail, and have added that to my walking. (I have finally made enough progress on it that you can see where I am, the little tabs aren't one behind another!)  I still don't like walking in the house, but it's a bit safer when it's wet, and when I get up at 4-5 in the morning, I *really* don't want to walk on the road.  I have all the protective gear, but I know some of the drivers around here... 😐 

I still need to work on my diet... The ol' Seafood diet, I see food, I eat it, sort of defeats the 'let's move' part of the program.  So I am trying to drink more tea,  (Husband bought me a case of my favorite kind for my birthday!  YAAAAY!!), as well as drinking more water. 

I have been trying to inch toward eating more vegetarian... ish.  I have enough pig, cow, and chicken in the freezer, though, it's not going to be gone anytime soon.  But I can make that ONE meal, rather than 2 or 3, at least...

And, the garden goodies, when ripe, won't hurt.  If I don't flood anything with butter. Ahem. But, since I can mow through a pile of crookneck, butter or not, it shouldn't be too bad...

Now, I just have to keep a lot of the goodies I like out of the house.  I make cookies, so I try to make ones that I can ignore, that Husband likes, (as well as the deputies), and have just about cleaned the house of any chips or chocolate, so I am able to ignore that.  Mostly...

So, we shall see if I can get back on the downswing of things! 

Forgot to put this up!

Yep, I have actually been knitting.  Some sailor baby, (or marine baby, but sailor is more likely), will be getting this one.  I finished the pink, and it just needed something.  I added the white fringe, and I think it just made it a bit more complete looking.

Right now I am working on a yellow blanket, and a multi-color blanket.  Both pretty simple, so I can just pick up and stitch when ever I get the mood.  I have found the 70's TV show "Emergency!", (Hulu is rather addictive), and I am having fun watching that in the evenings, which means I can put the hands on autopilot... With the exception of yesterday, when I realized I'd dropped a stitch about 3 lines down, and had to tink a bit to fix it.  BUT, it didn't take long, so I was back and knitting again not long after discovery.

The funny thing, I had two short notice things happen.  One, a gal I knit hats for Christmas presents to give to local kids, I had written her a few MONTHS ago. Please let me know soon. I really need some time to knit up some hats.  Do you need hats this year?  What is the hat situation??

Nothing...

So, I wrongly assumed no hats were needed.  About a week ago, I received a short note saying she loved the hats I'd made last year, and any I could send this year would be great.

Oh.  Er.  Well, so far I have... One.  2, if you count the one that is tiny... As small as it is, it might go to the hospital for the babies, because it would probably not fit a child of any size.  Meh, it will go someplace!  But... I will not be knitting any 50 hats the way I did last year!  Mom suggested next year, just assume she will want the hats.  Probably a safe bet.  And if she doesn't, I know several charities that do.

The second one, a friend of mine passed away, and his "thing" at faire was carving an apple.  I wrote a note to the head of faire, I wanted to donate an apple tree to the fairegrounds on his behalf.  I then received a reply, oh, yes, and would you like to help with the memorial?  I said yes.  I am now hoping that "helping" doesn't mean I plan and put it on... Eeeep.

I have also been reading (um, ONE of the things I have been reading, I am up to six books at the moment), Eat, Pray, Love.  I am truly enjoying this book. (Which is probably why it's being drug about the house, while the others are moldering away, locked in one spot...)

The rain has finally shown up here.  Just out of curiosity,  I checked one crack we had in the soil outside, I stuck a yardstick down into it.  It stopped about 16 inches.  I think the only reason it didn't go down past that was because the crack curved some...  Most of those have been sealing up since, so hopefully our place won't look like an earthquake hit now.  The bittersweet part, though, is that it has been cold enough that the garden is pretty well gone.  I did get lots and lots of tomatoes, some beans, a few crookneck, turnips, kohlrabi, and some peppers.  It wasn't the best year, but it wasn't bad.  The corn stunk, didn't get ONE EAR... Not even a scrubby one.  I just don't seem to have a knack for growing corn.  Oh, well, that's what farmer's markets are for, I guess...

I have been walking, and now, I have been waiting for the school bus to go by.  It goes by like an Indy Car going for pole position, and I really don't want to have wind and rain take my hat off.  I haven't seen the farm hand's dog since I changed to a heavier jacket, I don't know if he doesn't 'recognize' me, or if he is just being held in check somewhere, but it's nice not having a 21(hundred) bark salute every time I go by...

So, that and some running around, the usual house and such, and I am (yes, one of those) started on Christmas shopping.  Not much, but I have a few things in the Christmas Cupboard!

So, while it's not the most exciting blog this round, I have been doing something.  I will have a photo of an experiment I did this month.  I let my nails grow.  If I make it to Halloween, I will be surprised.  It has made for a STRANGE time of handling things, let me tell you!

Walking leads to some interesting moments.

I mentioned that I am up to 4 miles walking.  I go from my house to the next road, and then back, twice.  I have been able to do this pretty well, until the last few days, when I got a dime sized blister on my heel.  NOT fun.  But, I have found a bandage meant for blisters, and it has helped a lot.

It's been an adventure of sorts walking out on the road as opposed to walking the hill at the house.  I have found that most of the neighbors know that I am walking... Even though it's usually at about 5-7:30 am.  I have had several of them comment on "Oh, I missed you x day..."

Er.

Usually Monday, that day I "skip" walking as I go do my shopping for the week, and get enough walking doing that!     : P 
And more than once, neighbors will walk out to talk.  I chat with them on the goings on locally, gossip, all that important stuff... You live in a rural area, people tend to get up early...

The assortment of animals around here has lead to some amusement on my part.

Horses:  One neighbor trains horses for carriage work.  She now knows that one of the horses needs to go the other direction from the way I am walking.  Twice now, she has been working the horse, and once it sees me, it will slow until it paces me, and it really, REALLY doesn't want to walk away.  I don't know if it sees me as a 'buddy', or just wants to slow down, or what, exactly, but I now see her check the road, and if I am coming, she goes the other way, so as not to have her horse 'argue' with her about how fast he needs to go.  She has several other horses, and none of them seem to be so inclined to slow and pace me, except the one. 

Birds: If I am lucky, I get out at sunrise, and I get to see two Blue Herons that must nest by a local field.  They swoop down over the area, then go back up to (a nest? food?) the direction they came down from. 

Another time, I was walking and couldn't figure out what the big "lump" on top of the phone pole was.  There were small birds all around it.  When I finally was close enough to see, it was a Redtail Hawk, and it was on the post, while all the little birds were quite close on the wire.  I must say it suprised me.  I wanted to take a picture, but by the time I'd come back with the camera, it had left.

There is a rafter of turkeys that live in the trees on our place.  They go from place to place in the area, and right now, are leaving lots of feathers.  I have been picking them up, I have quite a few.  I also have an owl feather, Husband found a goose feather (that I might wear at Ren Faire this year), and even a black and orange feather, that I am still trying to figure out what bird it's from.  I put the feathers on my hat, but I think I am going to have to do something with them, I put them in a vase, and the vase tipped over and broke, soooo... Plan B.

Cats: There are dozens of cats around here.  And they do not like to stop and chat.  I come by, and they slink away, or even flat out run.  Since I walk just at morning light, I think quite a few of them are finishing the 'night shift' of cat doings.  The horse barn seems to be a haven for a lot of them, I have counted at least 5 or 6 most mornings walking there.  If there is a fence between them and me, they just sit and watch me go by.  If not, they hide under the foundation gap, or run off.  ONE cat has meowed at me, but when I kneeled down some and called 'kitty', it made sure to stay way far from my hands...

Dogs: All the neighbor dogs seem to have well tuned barkers.  I know which houses have dogs now... All of the ones that have dogs also have NOISY dogs.  The neighbor that trains horses, has a farmhand that brings his dog.  I am not on great terms with that dog.  Why, I do not know, but the dog, named Odie, will run up to the fence, and bark at me.  Then follow along the fence. Yep, still barking.  When he reaches the gate, he will bark, and start to follow me.  I have shooed him 'home' two or three times, which he doesn't like.  His people is pretty nice, though, and now calls Odie, to try and keep him from being quite such a... pest.

Rudee misses walking with me, but I don't dare take him on the road.  He doesn't walk well on a lead, he wants to wander, rather than staying by me, and I have no idea how the other dogs around might react to him.  Plus, the poor ol' guy is getting arthritis in his joints, too, so we just take much shorter walks, or we let him out to wander when we are outside.  He seems to enjoy this.

I had one interesting little dog incident.  I was walking, and ZIP goes a little bitty (Yorkie???) dog.  I was rather surprised, and managed to snag it and read the collar.  Phone, no address.  Ok, whip out the cell, no answer.  I start walking back, and the stinker manages to wiggle out of my grasp with traffic coming!  I wave frantically to get the truck to stop, when the guy in the driver's seat leans out the window and bellows, "Bennie, what the **** are you doing out here?!?"  I let him know that the dog had followed me.  The guy looked embarrassed, "yeah, he tries to everyday when you go by, but I normally catch him.  (Ah, yes, another person noticing the walking gal...)  I now check for low rider pups, and the truck guy waves most every day now.

Part of the reason that I walk early in the morning, one of the trainers at the carriage place has two Dobermans.  They are mean, and one has tried to corner me when I have walked, so I adjusted the time to before he shows up for work.  I am hoping as the seasons change, I will be able to continue walking before he, and they, show up.

I have planned for this, much to Husband's amusement.  I wear a band around my hat that is actually meant for hard hats, it has a hands-free flashlight.  On the back, I put a bicycle light, which flashes about every second or so.

So if you see a gal in a floppy hat, usually with sunglasses, a bright orange safety vest, and lights front and back, it's me.

I think I will never cease to amuse my neighbors...

A "cabin fever" walk, and a serious note on donating.

Went for a walk up the hill today.  It hasn't rained for, oh, 6 to 10 hours, so we didn't have the water running down the hill in a creek.  So I figured it was ok.  And going UP the hill, it was.  However, when I reached the top, there were ponds, puddles, and the UPPER creek was running.  I was already up there, and decided, darn it, I want to walk.  So I did walk, a little.  If hopping over puddles, fording small creeks, and trying not to swamp myself with water counts as walking...  I made it to the 4th lap, before the combination of my ankle acting up, (I think I Tae Bo'd too much yesterday), and the difficulty of staying upright in ankle deep water made me a bit timid, I guess. 

But the thing that ended the merry game, was Rudee.  The neighbor dogs, as usual, started barking once they saw us.  They ran to the fence, and Rudee ran over.  Next thing I know, he's on the OTHER SIDE, running with the other dogs!  I got out my "p****d drill seargent" voice (Thank you for the term, FIL), and called Rudee back.  I wasn't angry at him, just didn't want him to run over to the neighbor's, after all the problems I have had with said neighbors keeping their dogs home!

So, I think I have finally got to admit, I shouldn't walk for a bit, at least laps.  I will still take Rudee out, but we might just wander around the lower pasture, or up and back a few times, because when I need water wings, it's just too wet.  Tae Bo...  Well, at least it's fun, even if I can't have Rudee work out with me.

However.

On the bright side, I hadn't been able to figure out how the dratted mutts kept coming over.  Now I know.  I am planning on bringing up some T-posts and putting them in the way of the hole.  They are diggy little snots, I will put posts there, and the little suckers can dig away.  Hopefully the posts will fall on them!  Then they can check if they have carbide teeth, otherwise, they will have to dig a new hole through the fence.  I suppose I should do it today, we shall see, my ankle is uncomfortable, might be tomorrow.  It will be done, however, now that I know where the hole is, I don't want to make the way easy for either side's dogs.

******************

 And, I don't know if anyone reading is wanting to donate online, but a gent from the SO sent over this article, if you are thinking of donating, you might do some reasearch...  This is from Watch Guard Security.

Unfortunately, it almost goes without saying in this day and age; when some big event or unfortunate disaster happens, scummy malware pushers will jump all over it in hopes of enticing the news hungry masses to malicious sites and downloads. This unfortunate trend hasn’t failed to disgust me yet again with Japan’s recent earthquake and nuclear catastrophes.


Within hours of the first earthquake, scammers had already launched malicious campaigns to lure the worried global audience to phising sites masquarading as aide sites, and had also started massive spamming campaigns targeting donors who want to help Japan.

One of the techniques attackers increasingly use in these situations is called Black Hat Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is a technique where attackers leverage the same SEO methods marketers use to get their web sites to prominently display with certain search results; only the attacker falsely links popular search phrases to a malicious site. Attackers are aggressively leveraging these Black Hat SEO techniques to tie their malicious phishing sites to the Japanese earthquake disaster. So you should definately be careful when searching for earthquake news on Google and other search engines.
 I have a strong personal tie to Japan. I lived there for four years in the 80s, when I was younger. Many of my childhood memories are distinctly Japanese. So when I hear about these despicable criminals trying to make a buck off a country’s pain… well, I can’t really put to words how angry I feel. That’s why I want to make sure these crooks don’t succeed. As you receive email about the Japan disaster, or search for the latest information, please be wary of the links you click. While I encourage you to help out in some way, you should also be careful of who you are donating to. Finally, tell all your friends about these potential scams. If we all band together, maybe we can prevent these hoodlums from profiting from Japan’s pain. – Corey Nachreiner, CISSP


http://watchguardsecuritycenter.com/2011/03/16/scummy-attackers-preying-on-japanese-disaster-for-a-buck/

 


So, please don't let scum suckers win, donate, but be careful!  One way to avoid fake sites, type in the name of the place you want to donate, ON YOUR OWN.  You can use a search engine (i.e. Google) too, just make sure you have https  on the donation portion of your web page.  (The "s" part stands for secure.)  Or, you can always go "old school" and donate by mail, or through a charity you know and trust by other means.

Not an expert, just something that tripped my trigger.

Thanks!

The case of the Baying Beagles, SOLVED...

Our neighbor did end up calling the Sheriff over the beagle incident of yesterday.  And bless her, she called us later, to let us know what had happened.

Our next door neighbor, Bell, had called the Sheriff, and the deputy that came out went around trying to find the beagles, who, miraculously, were quiet.  Well, he went to Bell's next door neighbor, Sam, who I am given to understand, turned a little pink.  Turns out, a friend of his has hunting dogs, and was given permission to practice run his dogs on Sam's property.

This was all well and good, until 1,2, and 3 decided that things needed to be brought up a notch, and slipped the leads.  The chase was on, for whatever it was they were chasing.  (I still don't know if it was the deer, the bobcat, or some other thing that they got a whiff of...)  They circled 'round, and the owner was able to get them caught and put away again.  He then apologized to Sam, who in turn apologized to the deputy, then called Bell, and apologized to her.  Bell called us with the explanation. 

Not 10 minutes later, Sam called, and apologized to us for creating such chaos! 

We had a bit of a laugh about it, and said, hey, we are the 'new' neighbors here, we just didn't know if someone was doing something they shouldn't.  He said he'd have to let more neighbors know if the dog hunter needed to practice again.  We told him that would be nice, we just wanted to make sure that Bell was okay, mostly. (She's in her 80's, as I remember.) 

So, we have a really good phone system, if nothing else.  That being said, I think I will write up something and see what people locally want for a time to set up for Neighborhood Watch.  Couldn't hurt.  And in my case, I could maybe put faces to names a bit better.

So, now you know... The rest of the story.

In other news, I am going in little circles, weight wise.  I must be doing something right, because my pants are getting loose.  So I trotted up to the scales, ready for my happy reward... And what to my wondering eyes should appear, is .4 of a pound, re-stuck on my rear!  This doesn't make sense, I keep going, little up, little down, little up, little down.  But my clothes are fitting me better, even to the point of being loose.  Husband has been really nice, in fact he was of the mind that it must have been the drink I had before bed. 

Warm milk causes weigh gain?  Huh.  But, I guess there is always next week.  Grumble.

But why are my clothes fitting better???  STRANGE.

Walking, while not as exciting as yesterday, had it's share of unique-ness.  I was up the hill, and got a thorn or sticker of some ilk in my boot.  In my sock.  I had to take off my boot, and my sock, and find and remove said thorn.

Did I mention it's 24 degrees with frost on the ground here?  No snow, but let's just say I was HIGHLY motivated to get that sock back ON.  I had my big toe on the ground, and it was still a bit too much for comfort!  I realize that most folks eastward would LOVE to have my problem, but wow, that was nippy.  I did manage to keep Rudee from licking my foot.  That could have been more excitement than I could have handled, at that point.  Add to that a random Charlie Horse when I was on my 4th lap, and I nearly face planted. 

I walked, according to the pedometer, 1.16.  I think that .16 of that was when I was hopping on one foot, with Rudee deciding that I was great fun.  I wasn't. 

Trust me on this. 

Hi! Miss me? Owwwiiiooooooooooo! Bark!

Today's walk was just so strange, thought it was worth at least a quick blogging. 

I went up the hill with a pedometer, Rudee, the sticks, cell phone, and my tunes.  Just a regular day... Well, the pedometer was new, but still, I didn't expect anything but a somewhat more accurate report on my walking.  So, I am trotting along, when Rudee gets all 'focussed'.  He does this when he sees a deer, or a squirrel, or hears something, but knows he's not to leave me.  I didn't see a deer, and so I looked.  He started whining.  I looked around, and became a little confused. 

"Ok, go get 'em." 

I figured, that way I could at least SEE what he was up in arms about.  He bolted!  ZOOOOOOM!  Right across the top of the hill to the fence.  I then realized I was hearing something, and turned off the music.  Howling, screeching noises, crashing, and more howling.  My first thought was coyotes (really, really common around here).  My second thought was, geez, that is a LOT of noise. 

I waited, and then thought, ya know, our neighbor... Is she okay?  This got me on my cell phone to call Husband to ask if he'd call her.  She's elderly, and everyone has been a bit more 'on edge' with the cougar and whatnot.  I told Husband that it sounded like something was being attacked up where I was.  I was walking to where Rudee was, who was trying his level best to stick his head through the fence.  That's when I saw the outline.

"Husband! There's a BEAGLE up here!  There's TWO beagles up here!  There's THREE beagles up here!"  (And so, if needed we now know who can take The Count's spot on Sesame Street, if he needs a break.)  So, hung up with Husband, and kept an eye on Rudee, and the general fracas.  I was expecting a person sooner or later.  Finally, the beagles decided Rudee was fun, but they were on the track of something, and blasted down the hill, making a hard left to the neighbor's place. 

Husband called back, it turns out, neighbor had seen a bobcat run by her house, and the directions I'd given to Husband, told him that they were probably tracking it.  The neighbor thanked us for calling, and said that NO, there was no permission given to hunt on her place.  She was calling the Sheriff. 

Never saw the owner of the beagles.  We saw the patrol go by a little later, I don't know what happened, I might try and find out later.  I know we have had several folks complain about shooting, and comment on getting a Neighborhood Watch.  I think I better get more motivated to get that going...

Oh, and I walked 1.015 miles, according to the pedometer.  Wonder if beagle barks affect accuracy? 

Sloshy sloppy slippery sliding. And that was just the first lap.

Rain, rain, go away, I really, really don't wanna do the splits today!  We have been having our rain here, snow everywhere else (except Florida, from what I gather), but we have rain.  This would not normally bother me. 

Except...

I found out that we have a type of soil that is slick.  I have walked enough that I have created a "dirt" trail.  This was a little spooky when it was icy.  But my boots grip pretty well, and my sticks dig in, so I had no big problems. 

Wet is another story.  I have to be rather careful, the boots slide, and the sticks sink.  This makes walking with speed almost impossible.  Then there are the puddles that have been marinating the llama beans.  (Or other... things.)  Splash! ICK!  I am happy to say that I have yet to lose a boot in the muck.  I am not so happy to say my laundry load is more filthy than usual... 

But, I am still alive and quacking walking, avoiding poo, and going for it, so all is well.

Squish...

***

Prompt: Lesson learned. What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward?

I suppose the best thing I have found out about myself, is that I can overcome being a fluff head if I need to, and shyness can be squashed.  (And no, that's not two things, they are related...  Read on.)

I have a hard time speaking up for myself, and so, I just let people decide, oh, she is x, she can (or can't) do x, she won't (or will) x...  You get the idea.  They say this, and I have this stupid choking sensation, then don't say anything.  So X ends up being what someone else says, not what I might actually feel.  This is a pain in the posterior.  And I just grit my teeth, and say fine, then realize I don't give a rat's red rump about x, and people then think I am dork, because I don't do it, or forget to.  (Well, do you really want to do something someone else has foisted on you?) And then I get the fluff head award, because I forgot to do something, or didn't get something done.
 
For some reason, I have started saying a magic word, and it's helped a lot, solving the fluff problem, and works on the shy part some. 

Let's say it all together now, shall we?

NO.

I haven't been able to use it completely comfortably, but I am learning that "no" doesn't have to be a last resort.  I don't have to use it after trying to do something I didn't want to do in the first place, and then feel guilty about.  I can (GASP) just say no.  The world doesn't screech to a stop, throwing the llamas into space, pigs do not fly, causing Rudee to run wildly around in his kennel.  Might cause some people to think I am stubborn, or a jerk.  I guess I will have to live with that. 

At least if I say yes, it will be because I want to... And the time when I am a fluff head can be reserved for when I haven't brushed my hair...