Our first snow for 2010!
Weather guys said the storm would be bigger - still it's a nice, gray day with teeny little granular flakes of snow amounting to maybe 2" - maybe - streets clear and melted.
I have today off from work and I was hoping to get some quilting done (piecing... for those who really quilt...I'm not a regular quilter...erm...piecer) and bake something to fill the house with yummy scents and warmth from the oven. Cozy.
Maybe some yoga.... maybe some hula.... maybe teaching the dogs to jump thru the hula...
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Sammy's DNA results....
Who knew all this time we had another Setter in the house?
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No wonder our Gordon Setter and Sammy got along so well... they was kin.
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No wonder our Gordon Setter and Sammy got along so well... they was kin.
Sammy shows up mostly as English Setter 37-74%...
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German Shorthair Pointer coming in at 20-36% and 10-19% each of Laborador, Golden Retriever and Rhodesian Ridgeback!
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Well we were right about the Lab anyway... Sammy must get his big dose o' fierce from the Rhodesian Ridgeback eh?
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They hunt lions in Africa ya know.... sorry we don't have lions Sam-in-ator... just coyotes, foxes and skunks.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Sammy's DNA
Sammy - Bequia - Toe
Sammy to the left - Bequia (the Dachshund - snort) to the right... baby goaties far right
Sammy knows how to smile on command ... such nice pearly whites Sam-in-ator....
Sammy to the left - Bequia (the Dachshund - snort) to the right... baby goaties far right
Sammy knows how to smile on command ... such nice pearly whites Sam-in-ator....
O.k. - FINALLY - I get around to Sammy and the results of his DNA cheek swab experiment.
If you missed the post before - I gave Furry Husband a gift of BioPet Canine DNA kits for our anniversary and his birthday. Thought it'd be a fun science experiment. You can read about Bequia's test and results here and here.
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We've always thought of Sammy as a Border Collie/Lab mix. He's a large dog - 70-75lbs. He is pretty high energy, sort of a nervous dog, quick to try and please you - but overly quick. When doing tricks before you can tell him which trick you want, he falls to the floor and rolls over trying to guess what you want to please you ... loves people... can be aggressive to dogs he doesn't know.
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He is super protective - he protects the cats, the goats, the other dogs if we should have a visiting dog. We always call him our "protector dog" and feel really safe with him around patrolling our property.
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He likes to run the fence line with the horses, barking and snapping at the horses, trying to help Bequia herd them.
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What do you suppose his DNA results were?
Monday, November 8, 2010
Kraken?
We must've really angered something out there.
Furry's car is acting up - the electrical stuff is all wonky and he can't roll windows up or down and the electric locks are acting up so in it goes tonight for a look-see.
Cataract sounds like Kraken.... sort of.....?
We fed Sunday morning and found Rosso's cataract eye swollen shut. Crap, crap, crap! I called our vet and took him down there... she found a tiny little seed hull or some little dirt thing in his eye. It looked ulcerated but we couldn't get the eye dye to pick up the ulcer. That could be a good thing.
The risk is that the irritation and pain in the eye will set the cataract off and growing again. She loaded him up on banamine for pain and swelling redux. I gave him atropine when I got home to keep his eye dilated and I am to put eye ointment into his eye every chance I get.
The swelling was finally gone this morning and he doesn't look to be in any pain but lets keep our fingers crossed that The Cataract has not awoken.....
Friday, November 5, 2010
Fragility...
(yes, this will be an odd blog post coming from me! don't worry - we'll return to regular programming shortly...)
I listened to this NPR program on the way home from Denver a few Sunday's ago. Music just wasn't cuttin' it for me on the drive home. I like to think I tuned in for a reason.
The program was Krista Tippett's on Being. She was speaking with a French man, Xavier Le Pichon. He lived in a concentration camp as a child and witnessed children of families dying every day. He chooses to live in a community of disabled people with his family. He is a famous geologist who works on plate tectonics....um, whatever that is.
He was speaking with the host about fragility and the evolution of humanity. How being fragile makes us human - what an interesting concept....
I was really fascinated by his interview - only caught part of it and kept meaning to look up the program to listen to it in it's entirety. You can find it here: http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2010/fragility/
Under his link, there is a poem, Le Vase Brise (The Broken Vase) by Sully Prudhomme. The English translated version is below. I think it is amazing and wanted to share.....
The vase where this verbena's dying
Was cracked by a lady’s fan’s soft blow.
It must have been the merest grazing:
We heard no sound. The fissure grew.
The little wound spread while we slept,
Pried deep in the crystal, bit by bit.
A long, slow marching line, it crept
From spreading base to curving lip.
The water oozed out drop by drop,
Bled from the line we’d not seen etched.
The flowers drained out all their sap.
The vase is broken: do not touch.
The quick, sleek hand of one we love
Can tap us with a fan’s soft blow,
And we will break, as surely riven
As that cracked vase. And no one knows.
The world sees just the hard, curved surface
Of a vase a lady’s fan once grazed,
That slowly drips and bleeds with sadness.
Do not touch the broken vase
I listened to this NPR program on the way home from Denver a few Sunday's ago. Music just wasn't cuttin' it for me on the drive home. I like to think I tuned in for a reason.
The program was Krista Tippett's on Being. She was speaking with a French man, Xavier Le Pichon. He lived in a concentration camp as a child and witnessed children of families dying every day. He chooses to live in a community of disabled people with his family. He is a famous geologist who works on plate tectonics....um, whatever that is.
He was speaking with the host about fragility and the evolution of humanity. How being fragile makes us human - what an interesting concept....
I was really fascinated by his interview - only caught part of it and kept meaning to look up the program to listen to it in it's entirety. You can find it here: http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2010/fragility/
Under his link, there is a poem, Le Vase Brise (The Broken Vase) by Sully Prudhomme. The English translated version is below. I think it is amazing and wanted to share.....
The vase where this verbena's dying
Was cracked by a lady’s fan’s soft blow.
It must have been the merest grazing:
We heard no sound. The fissure grew.
The little wound spread while we slept,
Pried deep in the crystal, bit by bit.
A long, slow marching line, it crept
From spreading base to curving lip.
The water oozed out drop by drop,
Bled from the line we’d not seen etched.
The flowers drained out all their sap.
The vase is broken: do not touch.
The quick, sleek hand of one we love
Can tap us with a fan’s soft blow,
And we will break, as surely riven
As that cracked vase. And no one knows.
The world sees just the hard, curved surface
Of a vase a lady’s fan once grazed,
That slowly drips and bleeds with sadness.
Do not touch the broken vase
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Siren Song
No pix o' Sammy today - I got sucked into the siren song of the barn last night. Monday is my night to clean stalls and I like to take Rosso along. I figure it's a good reminder for him about loading and backing out of a trailer and standing politely tied for a couple hours with stuff going on.
There were 5 dogs running back and forth in the alley way, a strange horse there for riding, cars pulling in, people around, poop carts rolling past, horses whinnying for their supper....one mare at the end is squealing, kicking, grunting and pissed at the stall occupant to the right... random yells to tell her to knock it off, dogs barking....
When I pulled in, I noticed this woman, T, from Divide CO was there with her horse and there was all this banging and clanging and commotion coming from the barn alleyway.
I walked around the front of our truck and poked my head over to see if my help was needed, T didn't seem to be in any distress so I unloaded Rosso and walked into the barn to tie him, right next to where the commotion is.
New Moon's stall. She was banging her empty water bucket with a LOT of enthusiasm. Who knew an empty water bucket could make THAT much noise. Hoo-eee. (Her automatic waterer is blocked because she is a hay dunker and it's been causing lots of problems, now she has a hanging water bucket).
She was clearly asking - no - demanding water from T and getting louder and louder about her request.
T had no way of knowing Moon's waterer was blocked off however and wasn't responding to Moon's communication attempt. I had to laugh (on the inside) it's like Moon was trying to talk to someone that doesn't speak the language and just kept getting louder.
We've all seen it. Someone non-English speaking and the person trying to convey a message in English talks louder and slower as if by sheer volume of voice and annunciation the non-English speaker will understand.
I filled Moon's bucket with water. She didn't give me a chance to get in the stall before sticking her head in and getting a big drink. Looks like she'll be getting an add'l water bucket in her stall from now on.
Talk about interspecies communication.....
There were 5 dogs running back and forth in the alley way, a strange horse there for riding, cars pulling in, people around, poop carts rolling past, horses whinnying for their supper....one mare at the end is squealing, kicking, grunting and pissed at the stall occupant to the right... random yells to tell her to knock it off, dogs barking....
When I pulled in, I noticed this woman, T, from Divide CO was there with her horse and there was all this banging and clanging and commotion coming from the barn alleyway.
I walked around the front of our truck and poked my head over to see if my help was needed, T didn't seem to be in any distress so I unloaded Rosso and walked into the barn to tie him, right next to where the commotion is.
New Moon's stall. She was banging her empty water bucket with a LOT of enthusiasm. Who knew an empty water bucket could make THAT much noise. Hoo-eee. (Her automatic waterer is blocked because she is a hay dunker and it's been causing lots of problems, now she has a hanging water bucket).
She was clearly asking - no - demanding water from T and getting louder and louder about her request.
T had no way of knowing Moon's waterer was blocked off however and wasn't responding to Moon's communication attempt. I had to laugh (on the inside) it's like Moon was trying to talk to someone that doesn't speak the language and just kept getting louder.
We've all seen it. Someone non-English speaking and the person trying to convey a message in English talks louder and slower as if by sheer volume of voice and annunciation the non-English speaker will understand.
I filled Moon's bucket with water. She didn't give me a chance to get in the stall before sticking her head in and getting a big drink. Looks like she'll be getting an add'l water bucket in her stall from now on.
Talk about interspecies communication.....
Monday, November 1, 2010
Bequia's DNA results
Ta - da!
Bequia is 37-74% Dachshund!
The rest of her breed profile includes 10-19% of the following:
Collie, Greyhound, Scottish Terrier
And to round out the group, she is less than 10% Border Collie.
Furry was like - this is bullsh*%^.... he doesn't believe it.
DNA is weird - could show up infinite ways and like the NPR articles, there could be some random breeds tossed in there. But it gets us in the ball park of things to see in our beloved "widdle dawg" (said in a thick NJ accent). Yeah, I talk to her in a NJ accent and ask her where she parked the car, if she has a quarter and if she wants to join me for some coffee talk....
I can see the Collie...mebbe a smooth merle coat? and of course Border Collie.... the terrier and the dachshund are sort of out there....but she is pretty deep chested with a small waist and hips... so who knows? Could that be Greyhound?
Odd that Dachshund turned out to be the BIGGEST indicator. ?? Now we are calling her our "little dachsund" or our doxie mix. grin. Anyway - good, clean, scientific fun....
Next up we'll do Sammy.... pix of him tomorrow.....
Bequia is 37-74% Dachshund!
The rest of her breed profile includes 10-19% of the following:
Collie, Greyhound, Scottish Terrier
And to round out the group, she is less than 10% Border Collie.
Furry was like - this is bullsh*%^.... he doesn't believe it.
DNA is weird - could show up infinite ways and like the NPR articles, there could be some random breeds tossed in there. But it gets us in the ball park of things to see in our beloved "widdle dawg" (said in a thick NJ accent). Yeah, I talk to her in a NJ accent and ask her where she parked the car, if she has a quarter and if she wants to join me for some coffee talk....
I can see the Collie...mebbe a smooth merle coat? and of course Border Collie.... the terrier and the dachshund are sort of out there....but she is pretty deep chested with a small waist and hips... so who knows? Could that be Greyhound? Odd that Dachshund turned out to be the BIGGEST indicator. ?? Now we are calling her our "little dachsund" or our doxie mix. grin. Anyway - good, clean, scientific fun....
Next up we'll do Sammy.... pix of him tomorrow.....
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