Dogtown

Our town of Eaton (pop. 4,000) has a very nice, but small, library. The best thing that I discovered this past year was the fact that books can be ordered on line and because our library belongs to the High Plains Library district books are shared between libraries. I am sure I am the last person to discover this great service. An automated phone call lets me know when the books have arrived and I make a short trip to pick them up. I usually look at the 'newly arrived' books and found a great one last week. The title is "Dogtown-- tales of rescue, rehabilitation, and redemption" by Stefan Bechtel and a foreword by Mickey Rourke. ( I know the title of the book should be underlined but have not figured out how to do that on this blog-when I see Megan next week we will need to have a lesson)

There is a show on the National Geographic Channel with the same name -Dogtown-with stories about some of the dogs. Dogtown is part of the Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah, the largest no-kill animal shelter in the world. The dogs from Michael Vick's dogfighting operation were originally going to be euthanized and Best Friends and other groups were able to convince a judge to send these dogs to various rescue organizations and Dogtown received 22 of the most difficult dogs. One chapter in this book describes the process of retraining Georgia, who has since become a leading spokesdog for the rehabilitation potential of pit bulls and other bully breeds. This shelter is a place where dogs who have run out of options elsewhere have a second chance. Each chapter tells an inspiring story about a dog who eventually either finds an adoptive family or is able to live out his or her life with love and compassion at Dogtown. Go to bestfriends.org to read about an awesome place for animals.

As for Barkley, we have had very good morning walks using the pinch collar. He still will pull if we happen to meet someone on the walk but we are working on that. He gets an A+ for the sit command.

I am becoming my mother

I have lived in Colorado for 40 years but grew up in upstate New York. When I was married and raising a family my mother and I would write every week. I often bemoaned the fact that it was time for me to write--so little time with the house, the children and husband, and then the teaching-- to give up for a letter. Now I miss not writing to her. Phone conversations were maybe every couple of weeks as it was expensive to call. In my mother's letters she would often include articles cut out of the newspapers or magazines . There were times when I was too busy to read them but have kept a few including one of a picture of the fall colors in that part of the country. When I started teaching she would often send me colorful maple leaves that I would put up on a bulletin board.

Things are different now with email, Facebook, and Skype. No longer are people writing letters. My daughter and many of her generation do not read newspapers and find all of their news through the electronic media. But I cannot help cutting articles out of newspapers and magazines--some I save for myself and file away never to be seen again. Others I send to Megan--she who does not like reading these articles, does not like 'stuff' and I am sure rolls her eyes when she receives them. I just cannot help myself--it is an inherited trait--one that ends with me.

Examples of articles ready to mail--see if you think they are worth while.

1. About the movie Avatar-Here in Colorado, the people of Crested Butte think the movie is about them. "Pandora is a harsh paradise with a handsome and adventuresome group who do such things as climb floating mountains and ride flying dragons--a rather extreme sport". Sounds like the folks in the Butte. And another comparison about a mountain being saved by a Marine in a wheelchair in Pandora just like the mayor in Crested Butte--a Marine in a wheechair--saving a mountain from being mined for molybdenum. ALSO, James Cameron has a house in Crested Butte and spends a lot of time there! Now, I think that is a very interesting article and probably information that cannot be found anywhere but in our local paper. And information that I think Megan needs.

2. An article entitled "Why We Should Believe in Santa Claus" buy Alexander McCall Smith.

3. A wedding announcement of a classmate of Megan who is now a reporter for one of our Denver TV stations. ( FYI It is Russell Haythorn KMGH- 7)

4. A Social Studies test on Hawaii Megan took in 4th grade. ( She got 100%) This one will go in the trash right away--but she might get a good laugh.

I loved all of those years when I would go to the mailbox and there would be her letter. I really miss her and do not regret becoming her.

Music

When I was a teenager I would listen to jazz and music that was popular at that time--okay it was the 50's. I listened to this music because 1. I really liked it and 2. I knew my mother did not like it. My attitude was that she really was not up on the popular culture and I knew better--I think it is generally the way the teenage brain works.

Just this week Oprah had on her show Lady Gaga. Well, first of all she was dressed in a crazy outfit and second of all the singing was terrible so I fast forwarded through the music but stopped to listen to the interview. I wanted to hear what this silly girl had to say. You know the saying "You can't tell a book by it's cover"? So true. She was smart, very respectful and talked with passion about her music. She came from a sheltered Catholic family and learned to play classical and church music at an early age. She puts a lot of thought into all of her songs and her stage shows. Her outrageous costumes also tell a story. In other words, I was impressed with her--although I did not go back and listen to the music. Not my style.

Also this week on NPR Scott Simon interviewed Keysha (not sure how it is spelled) and her album Animal. Again some strange sounding music. Another very smart girl(he mentioned her almost perfect SAT score) very articulate, and some very interesting lyrics. Again, I don't think I would listen to her music but was reminded to not make snap judgments about people.

No matter what age, we never stop learning.

Barkley

I took Barkley to a private training lesson today. The trainer was very good and informed me that I needed to be in control and not him. (Others have told me the same thing but, of course, I thought I was in control.) Right away she was able to tell that the Gentle Leader that I had used successfully with Ellee and Izzy was not working on this dog. She brought me a pinch collar (much thinner than the one you gave me, Megan) and adjusted it to his neck and then walked him around this very large arena that she owns (her specialty is agility training). She had him heel, turned him when he got ahead of her, and made him sit. There was more than one awful painful sound that came from Barkley but she assured me it wasn't hurting him and that he was just trying to get his way. I was almost in tears but understood that what she was saying was correct. Every time she stopped and said 'sit' he would sit and then immediately lie down--she would then pull him back up, walk him again and repeat. His lying down was his way of saying "I am in control and will do what I want". It only took her a few times and there were no more yelps. He looked like a dog that was ready for one of those fancy dog shows. Then it was my turn--I was, as usual, a bit clumsy but I eventually felt much better about the whole process.

Her advice for jumping was a squirt bottle with a straight spray. I am also going to put him on the choke and leash when he meets someone in the yard or house.

We talked about his aloofness--comes from the Pyrenees part of him. At first he would not look her in the eyes and was not tempted by her treat (salmon flavor) --I brought liver flavor treats that he likes and she was able to get him to connect using those.

I really liked her. Her method is lots of praise when he does the right thing.

I am substituting tomorrow so no morning walk for us. Training will have to start on Friday.

Correction

Regarding previous post:

The book I was looking for is called Body for Life , not Fit for Life. I used the weight exercises in the book when my weight lifting class ended and I was able to buy the hand weights the rec center was selling. Then, of course, I stopped at some point and even though I had weights under the chair where I watch TV and I have read that weight lifting is very good for osteoporosis, I have never used them.

Tha Big Chill

I am chillin' out to music from The Big Chill as the temperature rises from -8 this morning to 25 degrees and sunny at 2 in the afternoon. I have been in the computer room all day (originally Collin's and then Megan's bedroom) and going through 'stuff.' I have a record player/radio/cassette tape combination that was my mom's. I also have about 200 records and about the same number of tapes stored in this room. While going through stuff I have been listening to tapes-I went through some that were copied and had no labels on them so have been testing them out. The blank ones, believe it or not, I have thrown away. I found a tape of a basket ball game with the names Moody, Morehead, Sutter, and Scott mentioned. I will pass that on to Collin--that is if he even has a machine that will play tapes.

The music that I can sing and dance to (yes, all by myself with no one watching) is the best because it keeps me moving. I have now moved on to the Beatles 20 Greatest Hits.

I have been looking for my Fit For Life book for the past 2 days. Because of the very cold mornings I have not walked Barkley and have not gone to work out. I have been doing my own thing downstairs and wanted the book for weight exercises. It seems that whenever I can't find something it shows up under a pile and that was the case with this book. It was in a basket and I had piled other papers on top of it.

I love these cold but sunny days. And now I have an urge to watch the movie The Big Chill.

Happy New Year

The pictures above are from cleaning my classroom as mentioned below.
1. Avery with rosy cheeks from running around the room.
2. Avery, Emma, and Luke playing in the clothes cubbie.
3. Luke, Emma, and Avery in the school library.


My new year has started with cleaning--sorting through closets, vacuuming behind the bed and other fun things. While going through articles I have saved I found a couple on getting rid of clutter, organizing, and a book entitled Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. I think part of my clutter problem is all these articles and books. I now have 2 bags for Good Will--one filled with books and the other with clothing. It seems that as I try to get rid of things I find books that I want to read, clothing that I know I will wear (that I haven't worn in years) and things I have saved for Collin and Megan (that I know they don't want) and now think I need to save for grandchildren (that they probably won't want either). I am remembering back to Spring Break last year when Megan and Avery came to help me clean out my classroom after 30 years of accumulated 'stuff'. Fortunately, Brenda Morehead, a teacher herself, came along to help also. Brenda took over and started with a cupboard and helped me decide 'save' or 'give away'. She had the common sense to tell me when there were things that there was no reason for me to keep even though, without her, I would have thought of a reason I needed it. She also would tell me there were things that no one would want. How could that be? I have saved some things for 30 years and no one wants it? Well, she was right. Megan on the other hand would have thrown everything out so was in charge of watching Avery, Luke, and Emma as they played with all the the 'great' things I had in the room.

The reason I started this blog is to send you to a very funny program on NPR. I love listening to Public Radio and one of my favorite programs is Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. I missed it yesterday so just listened to it on their website. Go to NPR, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Jan 2, '09 and go to the last session with the Brian Williams interview. The whole interview is funny but I really laughed at the part about Florence Foster Jenkins. Believe me, it will make you laugh, unless you are tone deaf. Other favorite programs are This American Life and Speaking of Faith.