Delayed Picnic

We planned a picnic for my mother this week - she loves picnics on my deck.  I suggested that she make arrangement with Metro Mobility to bring her here and I would take her home. Normally I pick her up, but there's no way to get out to her place and back during rush hour in a reasonable amount of time, since I work until 4:30.  She made arrangements to be picked up at 3:45, and just about the time I was expecting her, about 4:30, she called to say she had not been picked up yet.  Oops,  When she called in was assured the driver would be there by 4:45.  He was, so we figured all was well.  Mom called about 5:15 to tell me the driver was dropping off someone else first, and later to tell me that they were somewhere in Minneapolis.  I live in St. Paul.  At 6:15 they were on James Street in Minneapolis.  I live on James Avenue in St. Paul!  FINALLY, at 6:40 they arrived, poor mom having been in the backseat of the car for two hours.

Hard to know if the problem was with the person who originally took the reservation, or a driver who did not know the Twin Cities.  The driver was very apologetic, but still had OTHER people to pick up after he dropped mom off - wonder how long THEY had been waiting?

While services like Metro Mobility are certainly invaluable to seniors, they obviously are not withoutglitches.  I'd like to file a complaint, but I don't know where the blame should be placed, and my mother has used the service for medical appointments and never had a problem other than some reasonably long waits.  This was not reasonable, but she did arrive safely.

Burgers on the grill, grandma's potato salad, spinach salad, fresh pineapple and beer cheered us all up, and Letty enjoyed the company as well.

My Puppy Is A Brat

If I were one of the older Dals, I would pin Letty to the floor, grab her head in my mouth and threaten her with dire consequences.  Unfortunately, everyone is still putting up with her obnoxious behavior.  Shouldn't be too much longer before Argus, Watson & Coral lose their tempers, grab her, slime her and make her scream.  Poor Josie, who believes in permissive puppy raising, will patiently tolerate Letty leaping at her face, biting her ears, pinching her paws and grabbing her by the tail.  She'll cry out for help, but won't discipline the pup, and may in fact step in between Letty and any adult who want to teach her a lesson.  If the late "Uncle Sid" were still with us, Letty would already have started to learn what a growled warning means, and what happens if you don't pay attention.

She's rolling on the floor with Argus right now and he is endlessly patient.  Watson plays with her too, but gets tired of her shenanigans a lot more quickly.  Although she goes out to the dog yard with the others now, and LOVES being outside, she also has the run of the "people yard" so she can do laps.  I've been working outdoors when I get home from the office, assisted by Letty who loves racing around, dragging things including plant clippings, bits of fencing, sticks, and my pruning shears.

Housetraining is going well, as long as Ron & I are paying attention.  She'll always pee when taken outdoors, but occasionally slips up and pees on the rug if we are not watching.  Hurls herself at the door when she needs to poop, so the concept is there, just not total control.  She's good in a crate, fine in the car, and has become a toy fanatic like her housemates.  Reebok was not much into toys, but Argus & Josie, and even 13 year old Coral and 11 year old Watson still play with toys from time to time.

Puppy training starts on the 20th, but we're working a bit at home every evening on stacking, baiting, sits, downs and stays, as well as walking on lead.  She's smart and willing and loves the attention of course.  Still carries her tail higher than I would like, but looks terrific otherwise.  But what a brat!

New Computer ,No Time, 'Nuff Said!

Eric gets things up and running while Lisa keeps him company.

Eric installed my new computer last night.  He designed & assembled it for me, plus moved everything I needed off the old one and got the Internet connection going as well.  Saved me SO MUCH time and aggravation.  I've always purchased "package deals" from big box stores, so having one built for me was a new experience!

Everything seems to be running well, and it suuuurre is faster.  Now I have no excuse for not blogging - except that I will be playing with all the bells and whistles, and trying to find my way around.

Gone To The Dogs

A busy, doggy weekend.  Left Friday after work for Ohio for a quick trip to see Nati's pups.  Nati is a sister to Chs. Bennett, Rita, Sam, & Can. Ch. Lucy, and this was her first litter.  This picture only shows the three black pups and one of the livers, but there were actually NINE pups, although one spent the weekend at the emergency clinic because she had a freak accident during BAER testing.   We stopped down to see her Saturday afternoon, and she went home Sunday afternoon after my departure, so my litter pictures don't show her, and she's a beauty.

Nine bilateral hearing pups, no blue eyes, no patches.  Nice numbers indeed!  We spent Saturday evaluating puppies, taking puppy pictures and talking dogs.  Ann's family bred and showed Dals when she was a teenager, and when she decided to get back into the hobby she contacted a longtime Dal person who she remembered from back then.  Carol put her in touch with me, and the rest is history.  Delighted that Nati finished her Grand Championship handled by Ann, and then produced such a lovely litter for her.  Several nice show potential boys and a some absolutely stunning girls.  Could easily have brought a brown girl home - good thing they were too young!

Ann lives in the town she grew up in, in a 200 year old farmhouse that her family has owned for generations.  We had a lovely Italian meal sitting at the bar in a local restaurant, and the people on the next stools recognized her from church, although they had never met before.  Interesting people, and we had a very nice time, along with an excellent meal - except for the chocolate chips in the Tiramisu!   Whose idea was that, I wonder?

My flight was an adventure, starting with a serious pat down at the Minnesota airport - heightened security, or just chance?  The TSA people were all very nice, so it was no big deal.  Return flight left late, and when we were almost to Minnesota I could feel us doing a big U-turn and the Captain came on an announced that due to engine problems we were being rerouted to Madison.  Ron was tracking the flight on the computer and thought we were closer to MSP than Madison, but who knows the reasoning behind the decision.

We were met by fire trucks, and three guys dressed in HazMat suits and looking like space creatures.  They came up with sensors and checked the engine on my side of the plane (for temperature? was it overheating?).   There was only one later flight to Minnesota scheduled for Sunday, and there were no rental cars available, so our options were few.  Fix the plane, take a shuttle bus to Minnesota or wait and fly out on Monday - if there were seats available.  Ugh.  The mechanic took over an hour to arrive, and we all wondered around the airport or sat in the bars.  A lunch voucher for $6.00 does not even buy a sandwich at airport prices. Three hours later it was announced that things were fixed, and we were soon back in the air and on the way home.

I hate flying.  Never scares me as I figure if we crash, we die, and that's that.  Just hate all the waiting around, the lines and how long it takes to get anything done.  I don't resent the security procedures, since the reason for them is valid, but I do hate how long we often have to wait to endure them.  At least the Cincy airport was practically empty on Sunday morning and things went quickly.

The puppy pictures are on a flash drive so hopefully I can get the new computer figured out quickly and put up a page of puppy pictures.  Eric assures me that he will arrive with the new computer tonight.  We'll see.