jagoffs

Rottweiler ramblings

July 10, 2009 by kathi

Freya is having another bout of IBS-related digestive upset. Since her last episode was only a month ago, I’m a little concerned. Her diet hasn’t changed and although we are trying to prepare for a trial on July 25, I didn’t think that we were training hard enough to raise her stress level in any significant way. Mine, yes: maybe she’s picking up on that? I’ve read a lot about the effects of diet and supplements on IBS. I know that stress can worsen IBS, but I don’t really know much about it. Time to do some research.

Axel almost gave me heart failure by escaping the yard to visit another dog. Across the street. Since we live on a busy street, and he is not always great with other dogs, this was a high stress situation indeed. He did not get hit by a car, he and the other dog sniffed each other and did not fight, and he was kind of oblivious to the other dog’s people. Yes, I am thanking God profusely for the non-dramatic outcome.

What bothers me the most, though, is that someone apparently unclipped the front gate sometime between 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., which is why Axel was able to get out so easily. This is the front gate to our back yard, which is set back quite a distance from the sidewalk. The meter reader, the UPS delivery person, or our lawn service might leave it unclipped after exiting the back yard. None of them would have been there at that late hour. There is pretty much no reason for anyone uninvited to be near that gate in the evening.

There are a number of jagoffs in the neighborhood, but I hope this was just a one-time thing with some kid messing around. I don’t want to think that someone nearby is that big of a jagoff to purposely unclip our gate to create a potential problem. I really don’t want to have to put a padlock on the gate, and inconvenience ourselves, the meter reader and the lawn service guys just because of the existence of jagoffs.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 10 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 167 of 274)

New neighbors, Axel’s frisbee, Freya’s rally-o

July 5, 2009 by kathi

Since I’ve complained often enough about jagoffs in the neighborhood, it might be a surprise to hear that we consider our latest new neighbors a welcome addition. They are welcome indeed, since they are not jagoff humans. They are pretty birds, and in fact, our Illinois state bird.

photo credit: MsPixie

A pair of cardinals has built a nest in the neighbor’s rose bush. It sits up against our fence, and the nest is only about five feet off the ground. Last year, a pair of cardinals abandoned a partially-built nest in that bush. We blamed Axel, because he was always up on his hind legs, paws up on the fence, peering into the bush.

Hopefully, he won’t scare away this pair. We’ve seen the female sitting in the nest, so we’re trying to keep Axel’s attention away from the bush and the birds. I haven’t tried to get any photos yet, and if I do, it will be with a long lens and no flash. I don’t want to be the one to scare them away this year! (Those are not “our” birds in the photo above; I’m sure most of you figured that out from the credit line though.)

Speaking of Axel, he caught the frisbee twice today. Good boy, Axe! Rottweilers are not good candidates for frisbee dogs, and it’s a bad idea to throw the frisbee the same way you would for a border collie. But a low, straight throw is Rottweiler-safe, and he still looked cool hopping up just a little bit to pluck the frisbee out of the air just slightly above his head level.

I mentioned Freya’s upcoming rally obedience trial yesterday, and the need to get a training routine in order. Today’s task was to familiarize myself with UKC rules, since we’ve been practicing using AKC rules and signs so far. I’ve identified two exercises which are used in UKC Rally Obedience 1 that we’ve not practiced yet, as they are not part of AKC Rally Novice. One is Halt and Stand, and the other is Halt-90° Pivot Right-Halt. So we practiced those two exercises indoors today. If you know of any other exercises that differ between AKC and UKC, please let me know!

I didn’t want to train outside today, although it was a nice day. As I also mentioned yesterday, I expected the neighborhood jagoffs to finish off their fireworks today, and they did. I suppose I could have used it as an exercise in working through distractions, but I really don’t think we’re going to have to deal with fireworks or gunfire in a trial situation. At least I hope we won’t, or else I’m finding a safer sport.

Weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow, and after tonight I expect the jagoffs to be out of fireworks, so I’ll set up a practice course in the yard.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 5 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 162 of 274)

Disruption in the routine

July 4, 2009 by kathi

The July 2009 NaBloPoMo theme is “routine”

The new target date for Freya’s first Rally Obedience trial is now set in stone. Okay, maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but I did mail in our entry last week for a UKC trial on July 25. So I definitely need to take a little time tomorrow to set up a training routine for the next three weeks. I’ll be trying to fit in any available run-throughs, fun matches, and drop-in classes. With the freakish weather that we’ve had lately, I also want to have both an outdoor plan and an indoor plan each day for home practice sessions. There’s not much space to practice in the house, but there are still a number of exercises that don’t need much space to practice: call front and finish, 270° and 360° left and right turns, spirals, sits, and downs.

I was going to start today, but the Fourth of July caused a huge disruption in our routine. I complained the other day about jagoffs who insisted on starting the holiday fireworks days ahead of time. I am not un-American, and I usually do not get overly bent out of shape about noisy celebrations until midnight or later. But my normally quiet neighborhood sounds like a war zone tonight. People are blowing off fireworks that are loud enough to set off car alarms, which they have, a half dozen times since nightfall. I’ve heard quarter-stick and maybe even half-stick sized “booms” tonight. Nothing that loud is legal in Chicago.

It’s almost midnight and there are still fireworks going off. The air is still thick with smoke. I am asthmatic, although it barely bothers me these days: except on New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July. I really don’t want to go out there and breathe that stuff, and I wouldn’t, except that the dogs have to go out before bedtime. I don’t really want them breathing that stuff either, but they definitely need a potty break. Neither of the dogs is actively fearful of fireworks, but Axel feels he needs to protect me from whoever is shooting at us. That gets a little stressful for both of us.

Needless to say, the early evening hours when we would normally train outside were not particularly conducive to learning or practicing today. I really hope the neighborhood jagoffs have used up all of their fireworks. Since it’s still the weekend, I’m concerned that their inconsiderate jagoff selves will choose to continue blowing off fireworks for one more day. None of them seems to have blown off a finger or set their own garages on fire, so karma hasn’t come around yet either.

I’m doing something I never do, and am hoping for rain and lots of it. I didn’t get my wish tonight, and it’s not looking good for tomorrow.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 4 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 161 of 274)

Fireworks and jagoffs

July 2, 2009 by kathi

I grew up in a time and place where fireworks were completely legal, and considered essential to many ethnic and non-ethnic celebrations. My paternal grandfather supposedly knew pyrotechnics, how to make the fireworks and how to get the different colors and effects, but it was not something any of his sons picked up on.

As an adult, I still enjoy a quality aerial display. One memory that sticks with me (good thing, too, it’s something I could never have photographed) was of a July 4 many years ago. I was riding my motorcycle, heading home from the Chain o’ Lakes to the north side of Chicago. I left as darkness was falling, which was not the safest time to leave, but it turned out to be the most spectacular time that day as I saw part of just about every fireworks display in every town between Fox Lake and Chicago as I headed home.

What I do not like is the jagoffs who insist on blowing off fireworks starting three or four days before, and continuing to three or four days after New Year’s Day or the Fourth of July. What I hate even more is the even bigger jagoffs who try to scare kids or animals with said fireworks. It’s been 15 years, and I still get mad when I think of one of our neighbors who purposely lit off a firecracker to scare our 4-month old Rottweiler puppy. His life really hasn’t gone well in the years since then, and you know what, karma is a bitch, isn’t it?

I feel lucky that none of our past or present dogs or cats are seriously frightened of fireworks. Even that puppy got over it quickly and she grew up to be one of the most rock-steady dogs I’ve ever had. The ones who are slightly afraid are fine as long as we don’t make them come out from under the bed against their will. Freya and Axel are convinced we are at war and that they must defend our home and yard from incoming attacks. Needless to say, they spend a lot of time indoors until the “war” is over. Thanks, guys, but I wish you would listen to the part about “there is no war here.”

It’s still only the second, and some of the neighborhood jagoffs are already blowing stuff up. I know it’s wrong, but I really am hoping something bad happens to them. I will not feel sorry for any of them who get burned or blow off one or two digits, and I just hope no innocent bystanders get hurt in the process.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 2 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 159 of 274)

Good stuff, bad stuff

May 16, 2009 by kathi

Good stuff: Switching over DNS for the domains on the new VPS went well. I remain impressed with WiredTree. I may not have mentioned yesterday that they are local to me. Downtown Chicago location, local tech support, not outsourced. Life is good.

Next week I will be moving most of the personal domains, and strangely enough, that is going to probably be more complicated than moving the company domain. The personal domains have things like guestbooks (I know, I know. I don’t do guestbooks for my own domains, but some people still want and like them. Not me personally, but I don’t judge) and photo galleries. I have this blog and a couple of others. So there are quite a few MySQL databases to move. The company website doesn’t currently include a blog or forum, so there was no MySQL to deal with yesterday or today. I don’t think I’m going to have an issue with PHP versions (maybe on one domain) but you never know.

Bad stuff: Spammers finally found this blog. It was sporadic up until the last couple of weeks, but since then it’s been a daily occurrence. No real comments here in a day or so, but the spam from jagoff spammers from foreign countries continues. Screw you all, foreign spammers, and yay for Akismet, without which the issues of keeping up with spam killing would be much more onerous.

More bad stuff: Some of the jagoffs who live in this neighborhood truly make me sick. I really do like some of my neighbors. I won’t say I actively wish harm upon the others. There is that Clarence Darrow quote I’ve always liked, though:

I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.

There ya go!

(NaBloPoMo | May ‘09: 16 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 112 of 274)