Venting

Posted on April 19, 2024 by suziecreamcheese

I, like a lot of people, have a dog who pulls on leash. I also have a dog who has a very high prey drive, and a ton of energy. And I swear he has ADHD. Teaching him to walk nicely on leash has been a work in progress for all the days he’s lived with me. We walked every day, miles, at the park before he started daycare. We still walk miles every weekend. His pulling has improved tremendously. Yes, he still drags me to some things – but I’ve also learned, and I know the signs that say he’s about to go and I adjust for it. What fun is a walk if you just plod along and never stop to sniff?

People are judgy – I have shed many tears because of looks we’ve gotten at the park. The day he got the zoomines on leash and spun me in circles (in his defense, he was only 6 months old) and I couldn’t stop laughing, well, a lot of Karens felt it necessary to voice their disapproval. There have been days when he has practically ripped my arm out, and my shoulders are paying the price still. GIving me looks of disdain while you pass with your doodle on a flexi-lead, and make snide comments about how I should take a training class are not in the least helpful

I’ve been working on telling myself that the only opinion that matters is mine, the only one who knows how hard we’ve worked and how far we’ve come is me and the only one who has a right to criticize is Maverick. (He frequently tells me exactly what I’m doing wrong)

Last night two people felt it necessary to comment, “Looks like HE’S walking YOU!” I refrained from saying, “looks like you bellied up to the buffet one too many times” because that would be rude. I did, however, say quietly “you have no idea how much work we’ve done and how far we’ve come.” The first one stared at me like I had insulted her mightily. (I think the buffet comment would have been more insulting, personally) The second one said, “you mean he used to be WORSE?”

I admit it, I cried when we got to the car. We had completed our walk with the leash mostly hanging loose and at no time was there tension, even when Maverick was ahead of me. And yet, those two comments ate at me.

I read a lot of dog training books. I probably own more than some professional trainers. Maverick has been my challenge, and my partner, since the day we brought him home. He has taught me way more about not only dogs, but about myself, than I ever thought was possible. He is not some placid little doodle (who, by the way, are mostly batshit crazy) he has a big personality and he will let you know exactly how he feels in any given situation. He cannot be forced to do what he doesn’t want to do, and you better have a damned good explanation for why you want him to do something.

Does that mean I have conversations with him? Well, yes I do, but not about what I want him to do. I tell him by the way I react, and by the rewards he gets.

We have become quite enamored of clicker training, both of us – because I can tell him quickly when he did something right, and he knows right away that that’s what I wanted. People find it necessary to tell me that it’s much better to use “fill in the blank” training methods. Hey, if you want to use a shock collar or a prong collar, be my guest, but keep that shit away from my dog. I may look like a bumbling fool when we’re out in public, but trust me, I do know a bit.

And I thank Maverick for that. If only he could read the books! Hey, maybe I should read them to him!

Posted in blessings, dogs, learning, Maverick, my life, training | Tagged , , , | 15 Comments

I got shot in the back

Posted on April 11, 2024 by suziecreamcheese

and I lived to tell the tale

Seriously. I got cortisone shots in my back this morning. Again. This is my fourth round with these shots and they’re losing their efficacy each time. This round was in a different spot – I have no clue about the L’s they throw around, L2, L3, doodah, doodah! My doctor said this area had gotten worse so it could be why the previous shots weren’t working so well. I pray she’s correct.

Today I have a different doctor. I was quite determined not to like him because he’s not my normal doctor. I adore my normal doctor. However, she chose to have a baby and deliver last month – how rude! So she’s out on maternity leave and I had to have a sub. In spite of my determination, he was actually very good. I still prefer my normal doctor but he’ll do.

One of the warnings you’re given with these shots is that it often gets worse before it gets better. Hi, that would be me! This aftenoon I have to teach a class – yes, I’m blogging and teaching at the same time – (they’re in groups together in breakout rooms, settle down) – which means I’m sitting in front of the computer. It’s a lucky thing it’s work together day, because I can get up and walk around as often as needed. I doubt, however, I will be able to quilt this afternoon. Oh well, I’ll make up for it tomorrow. I’m also making love to my ice pack. 🙂

Not only am I blogging while teaching, I’m watching the most recent school board meeting. We’re facing a huge budget deficit and the solution being proposed by some is to withdraw money from the fund balance. I’m not clear on what this “fund balance” actually is, but I’m going to learn more. Why? Apparently this fund balance earns interest at the rate of 5% – I’m pretty sure this is an annual rate. It seems that several board members, and members of the community, do not understand the concept of time value of money. No, you won’t just be pulling $5,000, 000 from the fund, you will be pulling the interest on $5,000,000 forever. I’m considering going to the next meeting and giving a short lecture on this concept.

No one in the audience wants to make any cuts, because everyone’s child is going to be the next NFL (or whatever sport) superstar. Hate to break it to them, no he or she won’t. There is an incredible amount of waste going on in the school – my husband works there and the stories he tells just make me shake my head. Any real discussion of budget cuts is met with “that’s nickel and dime stuff!” Someone needs to say that when you save nickels and dimes, you eventually get dollars. It’s extremely frustrating. So I’m thinking – should I stay home because I may well lose my temper with their bullheadedness – or should I go and try to educate some people?

In other news – we have another great grandson, who arrived on Tuesday. I am still knitting the sweater I started over a month ago – I haven’t had to rip something so many times in years! It’s an awfully badly written pattern and I’m at the point of just doing it my way and hoping for the best. I’m the only knitter in the family, no one will ever notice!

sidenote – cortisone shots can give a headache and yup, I got that too.

Posted in blogging, my life, teaching | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

Tired

Posted on April 4, 2024 by suziecreamcheese

I haven’t slept well for the past couple of nights. Why, you ask? I’ve been waking up every hour to go pee. The deal with my bladder is that I need to drink lots of water. That also helps with muscle spasms, by the way. The problem is, no matter how much I go before bed, something kicks into overdrive when I fall asleep and an hour later, I’m up and visiting Uncle John.

Today I planned to sew some half square triangles because I’m currently obsessed with them, press and topstitch key fobs and maybe go for a walk later. Instead, I think I’ll be taking a nap.

In other news, I’m currently reading Imagine Heaven, a book about near death experiences. This topic has always fascinated me. I’m also reading American Muckraker, and a couple of dog training books. My sweet Peachy got me some transparent sticky notes and a way cool pen for Christmas, so my dog training books are now bristling with notes. Yes, I have fun with pen and paper.

Easter was quiet here. Just me the Bear and the Maverick, a huge ham and a big bowl of corn. There is a plethora of ham left over so there will be bean soup in the crock pot tomorrow. Bear and his son love my ham and bean soup, such a simple food that brings so much pleasure to the people I love – so I’ll make a huge batch so some can be frozen and some can be shared. There is so much ham that I’ll be making ham and green beans next week. There will be enough of that to share as well.

The monster quilt top is complete and I found fabric for the back. Hopefully today I will sew the backing to fit and get it all layered with the batting. Crawling around on the floor pinning will mean I have to go whine about how much my back hurts later. The sweater that I started for the great grandchild who’s due to make his arrival in 3 weeks is being frogged. I dropped a stitch about 4 rows in, and this pattern isn’t one that will allow it to just be woven back up. Of course not, this pattern is doing battle with me every step. Christmas pinwheel blocks are sewn and being squared, and a bunch of puppy pinwheel blocks are about to be squared up as well. The sewing machine is humming these days, and I’m loving it. I’ve made about a thousand wristlet key fobs and I’ve decided to give it a shot at selling them on Etsy. When I open the shop, I’ll make an announcement here. It’s not a terribly user friendly interface, but I’ll figure it out. I’m thinking I’ll list my bracelets as well. I don’t expect to get rich but it would be nice to have some extra money to buy yarn. (That’s a joke, I’m one ball of yarn away from my own episode of Hoarders)

We got to see the first great grandson the day before Easter. Maverick was, to put it mildly, batshit crazy. He was completely over the top, almost knocked my granddaughter down, tore a hole in the netting on the PackNPlay and ended up relegated to the front porch, where he barked nonstop for over an hour. So. Mommah had a long talk with herself and realized that changes need to be made, this chaos can’t go on. I’m working on a “lesson plan.” Last night when I picked him up from daycare, his usual “dash out the door and body slam Mommah” move was cut short by me turning my back, and the owner – who is also a trainer – turning him around and taking him back inside. On the fourth try, he sat nicely beside her until she released him to me, and then he sat nicely beside me while we talked. Self control is the name of this game, Maverick and you will become a master at it if it kills me. ***

The bay, our first great grandchild, is 6 months old. We’ve only seen him a few times, but I think he likes me. He stole my glasses and put his fingers in my mouth – something only one other child has ever done. And then he fell asleep in my arms and slept for nearly two hours. Was my arm broken? Well, yes it was. Did I mind? Hell no I did not.

In other news, since this has taken me too long to finish, Maverick is doing very well with polite greetings! His norm has been to bodyslam me when he comes through the office door for pickup from daycare. On Monday, it took four times till he sat patiently and waited for me to take his leash, and then sat beside me for a good ten minutes. Tuesday it took 2 times for this to happen. Last night it happened on the first try, but he had to try again because of demand barking – nope, not putting up with that either. Holy cow, he really CAN practice self control!

I’m reading a book called As A Dog Thinketh, which has a daily passage about training and living with dogs. Yesterday’s made me think of a fellow blogger – about how you feel when you have to let a dog go who only wants to bite you. It’s a very nice book, I’m enjoying my daily read.

***(DIsclaimer: I rarely get serious here and I hope you all understand how much i love this dog. He saved my life when he was a puppy and I was so deep in mourning Max that I could barely get out of bed each day. I will do anything for him. And therein lies the rub. He is spoiled to the point where he’s out of control. He’s a teenager demanding the damned car keys and telling his parents to shut up and don’t even think about imposing a curfew. It has to stop. My body has taken a toll and it’s not fun. There will be no drastic measures, but there will be enforcement of rules and a great deal more training. Nope, you’re not getting the keys to the Mercedes, kid, even though it is technically your car)

Posted in dogs, Maverick, my life, training | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Neutering – or “it’s a choice”

Posted on March 14, 2024 by suziecreamcheese

https://www.akcchf.org/educational-resources/library/articles/an-update-on-the-health.html

https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/when-should-you-neuter-your-dog-avoid-health-risks

https://www.veterinary-practice.com/article/effects-of-neutering-on-undesirable-behaviours-in-dogs

About 15 years ago, we got a Golden Retriever. Knowing next to nothing about dogs, and totally nothing about Goldens except that my brother in law had one, and that dog hated kids – since I’m not a fan of most children, I thought it was perfect. (Yeah, who knew that they’re kid magnets?)

We looked in the newspaper for “puppies for sale” ads, found one close by, went to visit – total back yard breeder and not the best kind, but again, we knew nothing – and played with all the puppies. One little fat guy stole my heart, but wouldn’t stay on my lap. One little golden guy crawled into my lap, put his head on my chest and the rest was history. I handed him to Bear, he put his head on Bear’s chest and the deed was done. We brought him home a week later, I have no recollection of that drive except that he was on my lap the entire time and I never took my eyes off him.

He was an amazing puppy. Incredibly calm, an old soul, loved everyone and opened my world. Bear worked nights, so Max and I were mostly alone, just the two of us. He went everywhere with me, even went to school with me and slept under my desk while I taught.

And then he layed down in the flower bed one morning and wouldn’t get up. Our last journey began – one of chemo and sickness and begging him to eat something and please, please God, let me have one more day with him.

Max was neutered at 6 months. The prevailing wisdom was, and still is, that the earlier the neuter, the better. It will solve all your problems and give you the perfect dog.

What they don’t tell you, you can read some of in the links above. It quite often makes behavior problems worse. Sure, it stops some of need to pee on every stick in the world, and maybe keeps the dog from roaming – although Max decided to go visit the neighbors every time their female was in heat. The paragraph about aggression in the third study is quite revealing. They also don’t tell you that in some breeds – Goldens being one of them – it greatly increases the chances of certain cancers. Can we say hemangio? Yes, we can – said it way too many times.

Hemangiosarcoma is one of the nastier cancers out there. There are no symptoms. By the time you realize your dog is sick, there’s pretty much nothing you can do but give them some weeks of joy and let them go peacefully.

There are things I can’t forgive myself for. Among them are neutering Max at 6 months. I chose to put him through chemo because I was ready to move Heaven and earth to cure him. I didn’t cure him. I put him through 6 weeks of sickness and confusion. I know, I did the best I could. I will never do that again, but was that lesson worth it?

Anyway. When he died, I was lost. My heart was completely shattered – 6 years later, I’m sobbing as I write this. Along came Maverick. He brought laughter to a home that had been bleak and dark for 3 months. I will always be grateful to him, even when he makes me want to strangle him. 🙂

I will not make the same mistakes with him I did with Max. I chose to keep him intact at least until his growth plates closed, after he turned two. But that plan, along with so many others, was derailed by Covid. In the intervening years, I’ve continued to read and debate this issue – and it always comes back to, “do I want to chance cancer?” I know, he’s a Golden, he’s already at risk but why increase that risk if I don’t have to?

Also, he’s so totally Maverick – he is such a large personality, he brings the party, then dances on the table wearing the lampshade on his head while telling terrible jokes that crack you up everywhere he goes. It drives me crazy sometimes, but I wouldn’t change him for anything. I don’t want to take that chance either.

And I’m stubborn. So the more people tell me I need to neuter him, the harder I dig in my heels. This charming trait was why I questioned Covid so early, refused to wear a mask after bowing my neck for a few weeks, still remain unvaxed, and am generally a “prove it” kinda gal. So If you’re gonna tell me that taking a chance on my dog getting cancer, exacerbating any behavior problems (which are training problems, for the most part) and will generally make life better, my response will be “prove it” and I’ll start showing you evidence of the exact opposite.

Also – it’s actually really funny when people get all indignant and tell me “you need to get him fixed!” My response is that he’s close to perfect and doesn’t need fixing, thanks.

My favorite story is about the random woman at the park who glared at me and demanded, “why isn’t your dog neutered!?” My response? “Why are you looking at my dog’s ass?” He’s a Golden, you can’t see his parts unless you’re looking!

You may disagree with me on this, but any nasty comments will not be approved.

Posted in dogs, Maverick, Max, memories, puppies, training | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

The monster quilt

Posted on March 14, 2024 by suziecreamcheese
This is one quarter – folded to get a picture
Posted in Uncategorized | 16 Comments

I may teach accounting but I can’t count

Posted on March 13, 2024 by suziecreamcheese

Last summer my dear friend gave me a ton of fabric – mostly Christmas and Fall prints. The Fall prints were all orange themed – and I’m not a fan of that color but I thought I could do something with them, because hey, the guy gives me the fabric, he loves that color so I can make him something, right? I took myself to JoAnn Fabrics and bought some plain orange fabric, some cranberry fabric and some bright yellow and the cutting commenced.

9 squares are one of the easiest patterns ever, so I happily cut and sewed with no real plan in mind except that this would become a quilt. After consulting with my friend, we decided that it would bring out the colors if I sashed each block in black. (Sashing is the strips between blocks – it’s a wonderful thing if your blocks aren’t perfect squares – and mine rarely are.)

Eventually I had sewn enough squares to figure out how to put this baby together. I spread them out on the bedroom floor and commenced to arrange them and during this process, figure out how many I needed for each row. This is a big quilt. Each block is 6 x 6 inches with a 1.5 inch strip between. It’s 11 blocks wide and 13 long It was a lot of sewing. 🙂 Half way through, I started working from the middle down because it’s a lot of fabric to handle.

Last night I was all ready to attach the last row to the bottom half and then I can sew the two halves together. Started across using my handy dandy sewing clips – I adore those little things – and got nearly to the end when I realized something was not quite right.

It’s ELEVEN blocks wide. ELEVEN. Not ten.

Oops. Somehow the last row only has 10 blocks. Well. That’s a conundrum, I looked through my orphan blocks to see if I put the extra one there. Nope (Orphan blocks are those that don’t have any friends, eventually I’ll find a way to put them all into one quilt. Or not. But I always have plans!) So the search for any unused fabric commenced. Thank goodness – found a bag full and put together another block. So today I rip out the strip of black that will now be too short and sew on a new one and then the two halves will be joined. And why does ripping take 10 times as long as sewing? It’s just cruel!

What happens next is up to my friend. I no longer have the patience for hand quilting, so if he wants that, he’ll have to do it himself – and he’s better at it than I am anyway. If he wants machine quilted, I can manage that. Pictures may appear here eventually.

In other news, Maverick has had three days of being a total shithead. A vet visit yesterday for his annual physical let me vent to the vet – who told me Maverick needs a girlfriend. Maverick is intact (not neutered) and apparently his hormones get raging now and again. I informed the vet that i will do most anything for my dog, but I draw the line there – so find him a girlfriend! (No, there will be no puppies, and if there were, they would be pure Goldens, no doodles for us!) After we got home last night, we spent a peaceful hour on the porch, and he seems to settled down. Thank goodness, cuz I’m running out of booze. (For me, not him! Geesh, people, what kind of puppy parent do you think I am?) 🙂

Posted in dogs, home, old friends, quilting, sewing | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments

Jumping bean!

Posted on March 7, 2024 by suziecreamcheese

We’re working on paws up on the black bowl – he’s not fond of the bowl so I’m using dehydrated liver as treats- very high value.

This is the result.

Lord help me 😂😂

Posted in Uncategorized | 19 Comments

Onerva

Posted on March 6, 2024 by suziecreamcheese

I found this picture by Googling, by the way.

This is the bloody cursed Onerva shawl. I did not make this. I mentioned it in a comment yesterday – I attempted it with lace weight yarn (think thread weight) twice. The first time I learned the benefits of a life line. The second time I realized that the pattern was actually a hot mess and attempted to rewrite it. Apparently there used to be a chart floating about the interwebs, but I can’t find it and I have difficulty with charts so I never printed that out. Or perhaps I did, and it’s hidden in a file somewhere on a zip drive amongst the pile of zip drives that is so big that even thinking about searching through them makes me want to drink.

I restarted it in worsted weight yarn – not caring if it was off gauge, I just wanted to figure it out. My rewrite of the pattern is also a hot mess.

It’s basically a mirror image from the center out – so it shouldn’t be that hard to rewrite, right? RIght. (Insert eye roll emoji)

After updating all the stuff for my next round of classes and looking for more classes anywhere – I have a mortgage, people! – I’m going to sit with this thing and redo it. It will not defeat me!

(Please send booze) (And cookies) (And maybe chocolate)

Posted in knitting | Tagged | 14 Comments

Knitting – because I don’t always train dogs!

Posted on March 5, 2024 by suziecreamcheese

In September, we became Great Grandparents. According to the Bear, he isn’t old enough but I am. Sorry, Dear, so are you! Shortly after the first was born, we learned that yet another grandchild was expecting, so in April we will have two little boys to spoil rotten. (Unless we get sucked into babysitting – it’s no fun to spoil when they’re gonna be with you all day, every day) At any rate, a Valentine’s Day hat was requested – and completed fairly quickly. A St. Patrick’s Day hat was next, also completed quickly, although I remembered why I’m not a fan of Fair Isle knitting – I can never totally hide the floats.

At any rate, expectant granddaughter requested a sweater for soon to arrive #2 and although I have a million patterns, off I went in search of another. I fell in love with this:

2 in 1, knitting patterns set, knit pattern baby jumper, knit pattern baby hat, knit baby sweater, todler, newborn knit pattern image 1

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1291808871/2-in-1-knitting-patterns-set-knit?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=shaker+knit+baby+sweater+pattern&ref=sr_gallery-1-4&pro=1&bes=1&dd=1&search_preloaded_img=1&organic_search_click=1

I learned to knit when I was 4 years old. I watched my mom, who always had a baby sweater on the needles, and legend has it that I just picked up the needles and went to town. I don’t remember any repercussions, so I’m assuming there were no mistakes made. At any rate, I got a little knitting kit for Christmas that year and there have been few times in my life when I wasn’t knitting something or other.

I don’t mind a challenge, although as I’m getting older I kinda prefer mindless, done in a few weeks types of projects. I didn’t expect this sweater to be difficult.

You know what they say about expectations. (Actually I don’t think they say anything about expectations except you shouldn’t live on them, but it sounds good, so I’m keeping it here)
First, I had to order needles, because I didn’t have circular needles of the correct size or length. I don’t mind that, one can never have enough knitting needles. However, I’m not a fan of magic loop and so I had to order shorter circular needles. Still too long. Fine, order the damned dp’s that I didn’t have.

I got it cast on, 8 rows of 1×1 ribbing done, on to the “decorating neckband” instructions. There’s a video link, so I went and watched – only demonstrated using the English method (which I can do so not a problem) BUT, the video doesn’t match the instructions. Okay, I can figure this out. But meanwhile, I went and did what I should have done before purchasing the pattern – read the reviews.

Here’s a hint – read the reviews first.

I’ll manage to complete the sweater before he outgrows it, And I’ll leave a detailed review. Meanwhile, I’m going to knit a bunny hat for Easter for #1.

Sometimes you just need a shot of booze and to wing it!

Posted in knitting, my life | Tagged , , , , , | 16 Comments

Roll over

Posted on March 3, 2024 by suziecreamcheese
Another trick
Posted in Uncategorized | 24 Comments