Monthly Archives: December 2009
Have A Happy Holiday!
Whatever holiday you celebrate at this time of year we hope it brings you joy, warmth, wishes granted, and love.
With all our love,
MW, DH, Gavin, and Patty
Training the pup to use the ‘go out’ bells
As I’ve said before, we were fortunate that the older dogs taught the younger ones about the ‘go out’ bells. I’ve only truly taught one dog how to use the bells.
Malcolm was ten months old when he entered our lives. He was also almost housebroken. In other words, he didn’t want to go in the house, but if you didn’t catch the signs that he needed to go out, he’d have accidents. We quickly became aware of his ‘need to go’ signs, and would walk him to the door. We’d say, “Want to go out?” ring the bells, and open the door. We did this EVERY time we took him out.
Within a few weeks, I heard the bells ring, ran to the kitchen to find him standing in front of the door. I praised the heck out of him as I took him out. Several more times that day, we’d hear a tentative jingle of the bells. With each ring, he got praise and an immediate trip outside. He never again had an accident and his bell ringing became more confident.
When Sadie arrived in household as a rescue, Malcolm taught her the secret of the bells. Each dog has taught the next since then. Gavin is the most accomplished of the bell ringers. He rings them loud, often, and long. There I times that I wish he hadn’t learned that trick.
As for Linda over at Crone and Bear it teaching her Devoted Spouse the trick…well, um…gee, do you think he might get the idea?
Frozen ground and lots of rain equals a lake
We now live lakeside and didn’t have to move or spend a fortune. It rained all day and with the ground frozen, the rain had no place to go. The yard is now a lake, and by this time of night, a frozen lake. It’s a good thing that the rain stopped earlier tonight or the Koi might have had a chance to explore the grounds. Knowing them, they would’ve camped out at the back door and waited for food.
Patty doesn’t like wet weather so she only asked to go outside today when she absolutely HAD to go. Gavin doesn’t mind rain, doesn’t like snow much, but the rain he tolerates. He always wants to go out and gives the ‘go out’ bells a good workout every day. Yes, there are days that I want to choke him with the bells.
Bells ring.
“You were out five minutes ago. You peed on everything that is upright. You don’t NEED to go out.”
Bells ring.
“You can’t possibly have to go.”
Bells ring.
“ARGH! All right I’ll take you out.” I put on boots, coat, hat, and we go out. Gavin tinkles on the Tulip Poplar, barks at nothing but the wind, and heads for the door. We go in.
I take off my coat, boots, hat, and settle in front of the computer to work again. I type one sentence.
Bells ring.
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
A severe case of sticker shock
Or, whenever we see the light at the end of the tunnel, someone moves the tunnel…
For the last two weeks Casper, my haunted van, has stayed in the driveway. The brakes were bad and I wasn’t going to risk life and limb driving with bad brakes. This morning Casper went in for inspection and to have the brakes fixed.
I’ve come to realize that for us, nothing is ever simple. No, this wasn’t a simple brake shoe replacement and the labor involved was long, intensive, and quite expensive. According to the print out my brakes and tires are in good condition. However, the final total of the bill came to $699.82. Dear Hubby had a coupon for $4.00 off an inspection, which dropped us down to $695.82, whoopee.
So if it wasn’t the brake shoes what the heck was it you ask?
- Replace brake booster-$159.90
- Plenum gasket-$5.99
- PCV hose-$7.98
- labor-$265.20
- Replace worn tie rod left side outer $28.95
- labor-$38.95
- Wheel alignment-$59.95
- Oil and filter change + the green disposal of old oil charge GOG-$10.15
- oil filter-$5.60
- oil-$10.15
- EPA removal and material $5.90
- labor $12.60
- State inspection $2.00
- labor $18.95
- State emission test-$2.40
- labor $35.80
I think I have it all down, have you been keeping track?
Total parts-$208.42, misc chg $20.45, LABOR $431.45, Tax $39.50, -$4.00 coupon=$695.82. Maybe I should quit writing books and become an auto mechanic…
Um…nope, writing still wins.
Another crazy Christmas display I wish I’d thought of putting up
You know darned well this display stopped traffic and caused a few problems. Bet there were a few disgruntled neighbors too.
{Sigh} Why don’t I get these brilliant ideas?
On another note I added 91 hits yesterday…mwahahaha the dinner out is getting closer! Thanks to Linda of Crone and Bear it for sending her blog buddies over. My dear, I do believe you have more than 8 readers. Thanks to all of you who are clicking on this site to help me win the bet with DH!
Doggonedmysteries 