Been a while - not been peaceful

So, I've been absent more than a bit - Preoccupied with things in my world, much of which I frankly don't care to share in detail. In this day and these times, there's no need to go on about more people losing jobs, nor about the pressures that puts on those of us who whom are fortunate to manage to retain theirs - There's already enough of that out there already. So, yeah, times, they be tough, but I still have a paycheck.
Enough of that already.


I did manage to find a very little time to help at the farm, but nothing at all compared to what those awesome kids from the Alternative Spring Break program did. I hucked a few felled trees, and convinced a recalcitrant chain saw to function. Oh, and transported down some of my wife's excellent lasagna for the kids to eat. But compared to the labors of the kids, the other volunteers, and Sarah, I'm a serious piker this year.
No excuses.

Sarah tells the tale better than I ever could:
http://dogdaysatmabcr.blogspot.com/2011/03/asb-ucf-2011-wrapup.html



Not everything has been peaceful on the homefront, nor has it been as happy as the ASB crew.

Suka took a run at Dakota, and paid for her rude behavior in blood. It's to Dakota's everlasting credit that it ended as well as it did, because she had Suka utterly at her mercy before I could take even one step out of the shower.

The tale runs something like this - Early AM, and I'm in the shower. The dogs have been walked and fed, and would normally be engaged in their favorite activities - Dakota watching birds out of the back door, and Suka stealing a few minutes on the couch whilst no one is watching. But, for some reason, Suka chose to do a lap of the house with a high-value toy that had been somehow overlooked and left in-reach. At some point, Dakota either got too close, or maybe expressed some interest in the toy - Not sure, but my first warning of trouble was the sound of Suka's distinctive snarl-snap, followed by a general uproar as Dakota responded in-kind.

I was all of ten feet and one door (plus shower curtain) away, and it took me only seconds to get to the scene, flinging water everywhere as I came. By then, the fiight was already over; Dakota had Suka's head gripped firmly in her jaws, and had bodily crushed her to the ground onto her belly. Suka was still making chainsaw noises, but it was clear that she had no recourse and was entirely at Dakota's mercy. And when I say 'mercy,' I mean it. I commonly watch Dakota crush cattle bones in her jaws; Suka's head would've been no challenge. Or she could've whipped her head to the side, breaking Suka's neck and shredding her throat. But instead, all she did was grip Suka firmly and pin her decisively, ending the fight almost instantly. Better and more gentle manners, frankly, than Suka sometimes deserves. Despite her great size and intimidating power, Dakota is, at heart, a gentle soul.

Suka came away with a superficial abrasion and a minor puncture/laceration to the crown of her skull, and a rather more bloody puncture to her lower jaw - none more than 1/2 the depth of Dakota's incisors. They healed cleanly and well, and if you don't know what you're looking for, you can't find any of them.

So... That's what happened. Who is at fault..? Me, of course. I don't know how it is that the squeaky pig was down and in-reach, but I do know that Suka is highly defensive of it, and that it should be up out of reach whenever there's not responsible supervision immediately present. I don't *think* I left it down, but in the liklihood that one of the kids had taken it down for Suka, I've clearly failed to drive home the importance of having it put away properly. Well, they've get that NOW, but I didn't do my job well enough previously. Fortunately, it all ended with painful but ultimately minor consequences.

Minor abrasion

Fairly minor laceration

1 cm deep pocket - no stitches (to allow for drainage), no penetration into muscle.

More serious (and bloody)

1 cm deep puncture, some pocketing, bled freely for quite a while - No stitches (to allow for drainage), some penetration into muscle.

Scalp scar

If you don't know it's there, you won't find it.



Jaw scar

Even if you DO know it's there, good luck finding it!

Corrupting youth

I firmly believe that as parents, we have a duty to warp... ah... help our children expand their horizons. With that in mind, I took my daughter Lin with me to The Farm this past weekend, and put her to work. Since we were going down with nothing but work in mind, I didn't bring a camera. So tough, folks! no pictures this time, either!

:-p

Lin had a choice between going to a museum to see a really spectacular touring exhibit of art, or stay home and help clean with her mother, or come to The Farm with me and get really dirty and a bit cold whilst working. I'm quite pleased that she chose The Farm, and she did me proud.
:-)

We got there a bit later than I'd have preferred, but some random idiot took off with my gas cap, and I had to replace that, first. But we made it, and Lin immediately discovered Puppies. As in a pair of female rescuees, maybe 16 weeks old, wandering about the place busily being cute. Then she discovered barn cats, also busily engaged in the demanding task of being prime distractions for a young teenager. I left her to play with kritters while I filled food bins at various places, but soon enough, I was ready for the main event, which was putting an end to the last chaos and mess in the feed trailer. Lin immediately dropped the play, and turned-to with a will. She toted, and carried, and ran back and forth on various errands without complaint or slacking the entire time I was up to my elbows in disordered and spilled flats of canned food. She lifted and hauled while I was moving out bags of kibble and cat litter (yeah, it was another donation from Fibber McGee's closet o'stuff). Once the food was sorted, she happily shifted surplus cat food over to another trailer to be hauled over to the local shelter, then helped me transport and off-load it at the shelter.

Back at The Farm, she helped clear out a truck, and load yet more food for distribution. And she picked shredded fiberfill from destroyed dog toys out of the grass and fences. And helped shift a pen for the puppies and learned how to corral puppies whom don't wish to be caught. Oh, and still somehow found time to play with puppies and dogs and kitties, and stare at sheepies and other livestock, and generally have a good time. And get generally filthy - It *IS* a farm, after all!
:-D

All in all, and without over-working her, Lin's help made it possible to get done more than twice as much as would have otherwise have been done without her. AND she had time to play! She made a strongly favorable impression on the HBIC, and I daresay my job of corrupting... Um, expanding her horizons... was a major success. Certainly, I was pleased to spend the day with her, and there was none of the teenaged angst or whining that can often come with a bored child. Just a good day of doing good.
:-)




Now it's time to sing one of my favorite songs again:
Times are hard, and volunteer-based organizations are hurting for resources and man-hours. It doesn't matter if you have no major skills and are tight on resources yourself - there are things to be done by all. A little lifting, a little organizing. Maybe a load of laundry or two. Perhaps something needs be driven from 'here' to 'there'. Maybe it's just stuffing envelopes for an afternoon, or making some phone calls. Who knows? Find a cause that speaks to you, and find out! It doesn't matter if you haven't a lot to give - Small help is still help.





OK, OK - *ONE* picture:

Stacking it up

Another 'day at The Farm' post...

No pictures - not this time.

The HBIC got another donation shipment, and with volunteer time at a premium, it helps to have the food sorted so that she and the other volunteers can get to the food quickly and easily. So I again went south and sorted and stacked food. I quickly ran out of space to maneuver and stack food, so will have to go back after the current stack is whittled down a bit. But that's still a useful thing... Whilst I was climbing in and out of the trailer, categorizing, moving, sorting, seperating, and stacking, the HBIC was free to do a behavioral consult, and another senior volunteer was able to focus on conducting a class on behavior and manners for a goodly number of students, and they neither one had to worry about the lifting and toting whilst they attended to tasks requiring more nuanced skills.

I've sung this song so many times, but I feel the need to sing it again:
It doesn't matter if you're lacking in fancy or highly developed skills, or if you have no money to spare - there is something for everyone to do, when you volunteer. Find a spot where you can put your hand out to help. You don't have to carry the whole load. If you can't lift a whole load of work, you can lift a little bit - Every little bit sets the stack that much higher. Find a cause that speaks to you, and help stack it up.



In only peripherally-related news, Suka is free of the 'Cone of Shame.' Poor thing was having a terrible time navigating with it, and actually shattered it on the final day she was to wear it by jacking herself up slamming into the furniture. So - Even if she were *supposed* to still be wearing it, she couldn't.
:-p

Oh, and I have some spectacular linear bruises on the backs of my calves - I never really thought about how closely she follows me, or how little free space there is to navigate when The Girls are zipping around me.
Ouchy.

Putting my hand to the cart...

Down at The Farm this past weekend - a 'command performance,' if you'll allow me the license. HBIC needed the feed shed cleaned out, rather seriously, and I'm one of the go-to guys, it seems, for that sort of work. I don't flinch at rats, need little supervision, and am strong enough to make light of the lifting and toting.

The economy reaches into all manner of corners, and hard times mean fewer volunteer hours. The Farm is running on necessary minimums right now, those being the health, safety, and care of the dogs and other animals resident. That means that other things must give, like the cleaning and maintenace of unoccupied structures, like the feed shed. Oh, wait... Did I say "unoccupied?" I meant unoccupied by any animals that people care for. Rats had obviously been there, and had themselves a party. Spiders and grubs were in plentiful evidence, too - Grubs feeding on food spilled by the rats, and the spiders feeding on the grubs. Yes, the rats spilled food - a lot of it. Well, rats thrive on clutter, and that was what I was there to fix!

OMG! Clutter!

Clearly, there was some work to be done.

The HBIC was busy elsewhere (so busy I didn't realize until much later she was even at the farm), and it was a pleasnt day - a break in the recent rains, so I turned to and cleared the shed, tossing away what needed to be tossed, salvaging what I could, and reorganizing as I went. Sadly, a lot of food had been spoilt - hidden behind the clutter, the rats had been at it until the bags were sieves, and food once contained therein was thoroughly spoiled by rat feces and urine. Also hidden were cans of wet food that had become compromised - some had literally exploded, spraying high-velocity food into the damnest places.

Food - and money - literally down a rat-hole...

Unsalvageable - rats urinate and defecate all over what they eat, leaving it dangerous to eat by most any other animal.

One of the resident rescuees - Mickey, perhaps? - was there to supervise in the HBIC's abscence. Such a well-mannered guy! He was constantly nearby, but mostly not directly underfoot. He obeyed so well, and stayed out of the shed, even when clearly perplexed by what I was doing with that mound of spoilt food. He's going to make someone a wonderful companion - I hope he finds a home soon! If I'd so much as an inch of spare space at home, I'd take him in, in a heartbeat! Even knowing my wife would smack me a hard one (and correctly so). He's that good a dog.

Whatcha doing ..?
Da man supervises as I get down to some serious organizing.

Anyway, to make short of the tale, things much improved now, with room to move around and places to put everything. What could be slavaged was, and the rest disposed of. I'm not done - more work needed, but there's only so much time in a day. I'll be back to The Farm again soon, to finish up in the feed shed, and do more catching up on those things that have gone by the wayside in these tight times. At least now, all the food can be seen, and reached. There's space, too, for more feed to be brought in, and the rat holes can be blocked - Something more perminant will be needed, but for now the food is safe.

Improvement...

Space to work now - And to actually store food.

Think about your charities and causes. Times are hard, and money is in short supply, but if you can spare a few hours, that may be worth far more than money. Not every task needs a speciallst - sometimes, all that's needed is a willing pair of hands. Look about, and see if there's a place you can put your hands on the cart, and give it a push.

Meanwhile, back at The Farm...

Spent a bit of time down at The Farm, this AM. Didn't take Suka, as she's been exposed to Dakota, and whilst Dakota has a clean bill of health, you never know what mild, sub-clinical illness she might be harboring. It'd be some kind of serious rude to expose the rescuees at The Farm to some bug they'd never seen before. So - Suka stays away for a few more weeks longer.

Not as many dogs at The Farm as there sometimes are, and maybe that's a good thing - The economy has been having obvious impact on volunteer hours, and whilst the core work is getting done, it's a bit of strain. Some projects that need doing have been hanging-fire. Some key projects have been done, but more could be done, if there were hours available. Recently, there was a massive work day, and the bathing room was given a major face-lift. Some used, but still very serviceable medical holding kennels were added, and it's made a major imrovement on the quality of care for the dogs staging through the bathing room. Not to mention making things much easier to keep clean!

Well, today, I was put to the task of clearing out some blown appliances from the kennel house. A fairly straight-forward task, save that rats have been tearing at the infrastructure, so there was a bit of cleaning up to be done. Also, the dogs have been digging at the foundation again, and had created a completely undermined tunnel-like structure right at the cargo door - One that wouldn't hold my weight for a second, much less my weight plus a dolly holding a washing machine.

So... Find a hunk of heavy-duty plywood, bridge the gap, and work the appliances out to where I can get the dolly under them, then haul them out and into the play yard. Next, haul the equipment across the play yard, avoiding all the ankle breakers the dogs have thoughtfully dug for us there... Oh, and dodge the dogs, too... Including the pinheaded booger who has been so severely under-socialized and left so free of discipline that his idea of a friendly greeting is to bite you. >:-(

Finally, out through the dog-lock and then across the yard, over to the dumpster area. One washer, one dryer, both elderly and quite heavy. Then clean the mess left behind, and replace the washer - A reverse pilgrimage from above - whilst breaking up scuffles between Pinhead and the other dogs, and fending him off, too.

Also, moved some spare stainless kennels, to make space for a freezer, then moved the freezer.

That's all - About two and half hours, all told. Not my usual stay, but time was a bit pressurized; My hours are subject to squeezing by the economy too, and I've not spent near as much time down at The Farm this summer as I'd have liked to have done.

A word on the Pinhead; He's a young dog - Well under a year, and possibly a pure-bred. He's a classic black-n-white rough coat, and has fabulous teeth. Which I experienced quite closely. I daresay he's never experienced real discipline in his life. Certainly, once I lowered the boom on him, he shaped-up quite a ways... For me. I do NOT appreciate being greeted by a dog that tries to get my attention by pinching my legs right through my heavy jeans. Nor do I appreciate being punched by a dog that uses his front paws to practice kick-turns off my groin. So I had to drop a hammer on Pinhead, and he eased off - Though he kept almost forgetting, and spent a lot of time directly under my feet when I needed to be walking. He's in rescue, and there's NO DAMN REASON for it. Had the parents of the kids handling him paid some attention, and applied some basic discipline, there'd be no reason for him to be a pain in the ass like he was this AM. He could be a damned good dog for someone. Instead, he's an annoyance and nuisance to everyone whom meets him, and he's going to need a fair bit of detailed work to get back on the straight and narrow. No doubt, the HBIC will manage to fix his little red wagon, or will find a willing foster to sort him out, but he should have never needed to come to us in the first place.

The hot, not-so-lazy days of summer...

Long time, no posts... Not terribly sorry about that, to be honest. Job responsibilities change, Jenn's Chorale group is putting on their annual summer musical - Camelot, this time - and the kids are settling into summer camp(s).

So, among other things, I'm attending canine gets-together. First one was in Manasas, Virginia, at Bull Run State Park. Yes, that Manasas, and that Bull Run... But not at the actual battlefield! This one was for my friends in the SSDCA-MAC. That's Shiloh Shepherd Dog Club of America, Mid-Atlantic Chapter. This is the home club of the ISSR Shiloh Shepherd dog... Giant-breed dogs descended from GSDs, but not actually GSDs! No police work; gentler, more family- and child-friendly. These are working companion animals, and are not for Schutzhund or other aggressive work - Think SAR, therapy, tracking, and the like. Didn't get many shots of Suka, though there are other slide shows out there with Suka at this event... Didn't get many shots of Ian, either, though he was there... Like he was shot from a gun! Little guy clamped on to one owner's fox-terrier, and the two went runing all over the picnic site like ions out of a linear acclerator. ;-)

Anyway, slide show:
http://s111.photobucket.com/albums/n124/Tranquilis/Bull%20Run%2006062009/?albumview=slideshow

Most of those dogs are puppies! Otis, the pup Lin is mooning over, was a mere 13 weeks. Penny is 4 months - and 48 pounds! That makes her 15% heavier than Suka, a full-grown Border-mutt. And she's taller, too! Dude and Elwood are six months, and Ginger wasn't quite a year. Orion and Kuma, however are full-grown.

Anyway, the dogs were chilled-out, and Olga - the President of MAC - was able to use a somewhat skeptical Ginger as model for a number of grooming tips. It was hot enough that Ian and Jack the fox-terrier were the only real activity. Everyone else clung to the shade, and hung out. All said, a successful day. :-)

The weekend walks down Main Street are continuing and Suka does ever-better; Her willingness to relax and just 'be' are improving each time! Much of this socialization has been hampered by the disrupted schedule, and by the near-demise of Jenn's car. We're back to two functional cars again, so things are moving better than before.

Today, we were back down to Victory Farm for an Open House at the Rescue. Jenn has never been to The Farm, so I've been teased more than a little about my 'non-existent' wife. Well, today they met her! Also, Ian got his first visit to The Farm, and was very well-behaved. How a-typical! :-p Got a LOT of shots of MABCR alumni, so many, in fact, that I pruned it back pretty sharply.

HOT day, but there was a lot of shade, a good breeze, shade pavilions set up, and lots and lots of water available - stock tanks filled and set out everywhere you turned. Some of the dogs even tried out for the scuba team, submerging themselves in the stock tanks until only the tops of their heads were showing, like so many furry bullfrogs! :-D

Lots of MABCR alumni, lots of adopters; everyone looking good and happy. Add lots of good food (even if Sarah did charcoal some hotdogs!), and it was a pretty darn good day! Jenn and I went for our usual walk down Main Street, but poor Suka was wiped out - We let her sleep it off in her crate.

Slide show:
http://s111.photobucket.com/albums/n124/Tranquilis/MABCR%20Open%20House%20June%202009/?albumview=slideshow

Oh, the glamor!

Country air! Scenery! Another day of shameless lounging about The Farm!
Heh!

This past weekend, a transport consisting of a bitch and her (many!) pups was due in, and frankly, the inn was full! Well, something needed to be done... And the HBIC has the plan (as always): Convert the lambing stall into a canine nursery. Well, that means mucking the stall, and it hasn't been done properly since... Well, a while. See, the HBIC got herself a bit broken a while back (something about tangling with an uppity ewe and a small flock of her hangers-on), and she isn't really the lift-n-tote kinda person any more. Add to that, that volunteer hours are down (where have we heard THAT refrain before..?), and well - The stall was a bit nasty.

I've seen worse. Still, it needs work.

So, I was down at The Farm, and my biggest utility, when you get down to it, is as a "strong back, weak mind" kinda person. There were dogs to groom, and adoptions to manage, and lunch to cook... Guess which I did? Yup! Actually, I don't mind at all... It's been a long time since I mucked a stall, but the skills don't exactly vanish, and it's a straightforward, fairly mindless, but satisfying job.

Mount That's-Not-So-Bad

In I go with a hay fork, and pile up a couple loads-worth of crud. Not too nasty, really. Yeah, it's a bit damp, and the bottom layer has 'felted' into a solid sheet, but it comes up clean and easy. Then, pile it in to a wagon and haul it off to the compost pile. Small-ish wagon, so three trips. No problem!

First load away!

The sheep, however, were less than impressed. A pair of ewes were clearly suspicious, and spent the morning giving me the stink-eye.

Just who do ewe think you're looking at, anyway..?

Unfortunately, the first stack of muck wasn't the worst of it... Getting into the corners, things got a bit nastier. The second large pile was, well... fragrant.

Mount That's-Not-So-Nice

Some of the barn cats camped nearby to snicker at me. Or maybe to just observe the natural order of things, as humans work whilst they lounge in lordly repose.

House cats camp on your keyboard. Farm cats camp on your tractor.

Anyway, one stall, cleaned down to the deck matting. It still needed a good sweeping, but frankly, I was getting tired of taking pictures, so you'll have to do with this shot, sans sweeping. :-p

Much improved!

At this point, I really needed to get on the road, so I didn't get to participate in the spreading of shavings and straw, nor to the settling-in of mom & pups. Still, a fine, languid, glamorous day!

Please note - In this economy, many volunteer-run organizations are really hurting for volunteer hours. And yeah, some volunteer work is seriously non-glamorous. I've cleaned kennels, scooped poop, picked up dead rats, rewired electrical runs, mucked a stall, driven nails, and lifted-n-toted untold bags of food. Oh, and played with puppies and dogs, too! But I'm only one person, and there's work to be done 365 days a year. And it's not just MABCR, but *every* volunteer organization is hurting. If you're not into rescue, maybe there's some other way you can help someone... I'm sure they'll be grateful for whatever you can do!

And besides... If we had more volunteer hours, I might not have had to be the one mucking the stall!
;-p

Another fine day at The Farm

Finally broke a Saturday loose, and toddled myself off to The Farm today...

MABCR lies partway down the DelMarVa peninsula, not far from the Chesapeake Bay. To get there, I drive into Lower Delaware (basically anything south of the Canal counts as Lower DE), and then into Maryland.

Rural Kent County, MD

Today, I was greeted by a deputation at the gate - I don't normally rate such, but I guess the dogs were bored. These were some of the resident pack, and one of our alumni - Nick, a rescue from a hording situation. Couldn't guess that's how he came our way, now! He's a well-behaved, neat, clean, and reasonably mannerly guy. I'm quite taken with him.

The Welcome Wagon

The Farm itself is charming, in a typical farm kind of way... It's practical, but with surprising touches, like the fancywork on and in the house. No one needs, say, cute chimneys, but it has them anyway!

Victory Farm

Mind you, this is not a large farm, and its major crop is rescued Border Collies, trained Border Collies, and trained Handlers. But it does have some livestock - Sheep for the dogs practice on, and to provide some limited fibre. Some goats, a couple cattle, a llama, a horse, and recently added, a pair of refugee miniature horses. Plus cats. And chickens. And... Oh, yeah, dogs. Musn't forget about those!

Sheep! And More Sheep. And goats. And Mini-horses in the distance!

Anyway, a large part of what I was down at The Farm to do today was to unload and stow a food donation. Once again, there was a strange assortment of donated items - Rabbit food, strange dog toys, training goop for race horses, and so on. The trailer had been largely unloaded over the last few weeks, but with me there, it could be finished up and the trailer made ready for, well, transporting livestock. Go figure - Using the trailer for it's intended purpose? Heresy!

Mostly empty...

Even before the trailer was fully empty, I had a fairly intimidating Wall o'Food built in the feed shed:

The Wall o'Food. Which will not last long...

Anyway, as I've said before, we get some fairly silly things. Lest anyone think it's not possible to go too far in pampering one's pets, I present...

The TurDuckEn Feast! In New! Smaller Size!

Be afraid. Be very afraid!

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering... I got a replacement camera for my birthday. Yay!

Now... If only could figure out why Blogger is such a moron about images and formatting. I hate WYSIAWYG editors.

Christmas wrapping... up.

Well, wrapping up Christmas - Still some hoiday season events pending, but the big ones will finish today - Gift day at my father's place. It's been lean, due to the economy, and due to the fact that Work Ate My Life (WAML). Not enuogh money, not enough time, to do everthing we might have otherwise have done. Still, people did have Christmas, if more frugally than extravagently. Suka, too, has had her Christmas, though she seems to not understand the significance. Imagine that! ;-)

The HBIC at The Farm sent a 'thank you' package with some home-baked dog treats, and I learned what she found to do with the raw food samples ( http://sukasplace.blogspot.com/2008/11/cold-indeed.html ) - bundle them up in small groups, and send them as gift training treats. Well, that makes sense - opening a double handful of packets is much easier, individually, than opening literally thousands. Much less scary! So, yeah, some of those found their way into Suka's Xmas package. In addition, she's been given pressed-rawhide (not solid!) chewies, and pink piggie toy, which she's decided is worth carrying about the house (the first toy in which she's shown any real interest).

Along with all the nifty treats, she's talking more, and showing a lot more affection to other members of the family. This is, I'm sure, in part due to others picking up the care slack when WAML, but it also seems to stem from the competition to be the one to giver her treats. Also, my daughter has taken to cheating... Well, not cheating, per se, but she's at that pubescent stage wherein other people are all idiots, and are to be tollerated on sufferance, at best (she ruins the effect by giving my random hugs and pesting me to watch Monty Python with her). As part of this "Oh, that Angst!" attitude, she's taken to going out to the old playset in the back yard to read her "Twilight" books. She takes Suka out with her, so Suka has identified my daughter as the "outside girl." Needless to say, my daughter's status has risen considerably! The younger child has been drafted to treat Suka while I'm trimming her nails, and with placing her food on the floor, so he's risen, too.

All told, not the most thrilling of Christmasses, but far from a disaster. Considering how easily the wheels might have come off, I'm counting this as my Christmas Miracle.

So to everyone (all three of you) who read this; Happy Holidays (what's left of them!) and a happy and productive new year!

Cold, indeed.

So, another trip to The Farm, to do a donation sort. I'm not sure who the donor is, but they always seem to 'see us coming,' and use that as an opportunity to dump everything in their warehouse...
So, the load was about one and a half tons - Three pallets worth, packed in large tri-wall boxes. Of course, the bags weren't loaded in anything like order - Everything was just dumped in, higglty-pigglty, and with no care to whether or not they'd play nice with the other contents. End result, not only did it take two of us about three hours to unload, sort, and stow, but we had a lot of bags re-burst, and had to make like mad with the tape.

This time, we had not only the usual variety of burst bags of dog and cat food, but also cans of "kong wiz" aerosol-propelled goop for baiting kongs, dog treats of random sorts (which I suspect didn't sell worth a damn), about a half-dozen different kinds of kitty litter, rabbit food(?!), bird food (!!), some toys, and a couple items I've got zero idea what the hell they are - They look like plush fuzzy beehives, and have an obvious purpose, but what that purpose is, no one knows. Also about 3150 little sample packs of some kind of dried raw dog food from, of all places, New Zealand. Little sample packs - each individually-packed folder contans about a heaping tablespoon-worth of the food. WTF..?! I have a hard time imaging something more useless for feeding dogs. Now, for a vet's office, where they could be handed out to patients to help keep their dogs distracted, yeah, that'd work. And, I suppose, if you wanted to go to the trouble of opening up all the little folders, they'd make pretty decent training treats, but man, the work involved for the value recieved! I know, I know... I should be grateful for the donations... And I am. But donations of this sort are actually counter-productive. Feh.

At the bottom of one the tri-walls was a very phalic-looking dog chew toy that makes cow noises when you move it. It looks, to be blunt, like a noisy, red, semi-anatomically-correct dildo. Only the most confident of men would let their dog chew on that! I think I know why that item wound up in the shipment - No doubt it's been on the shelf for years, no one willing to buy it.

Oh, did I mention somewhere that it was cold? It was. Now, in Alaska, this probably isn't anything to note, but here, it's bitter - I woke to 23f temps, and it never went above 27f. And windy... Especially on The Farm, where there's no land features - none - to stop the wind blowing across the Chesapeake Bay. And of course, the wind was dragging lovely moisture with it, so the wind was a nice, biting, damp ice-pick kinda thing, finding every gap in your clothing, or simply ignoring the gaps and stealing your warmth right through your clothing. It's the kind of weather that brings snow out of a clear blue sky, as the humidity freezes out. Yeah, we had snow like that all day. Of course, we were humping donations back and forth, working up a healthy sweat, and didn't that just combine well with the wind! Not.

The farm is absolutely swimming in dogs right now - Someone had been busy since the last time I was down, and there were three new kennel runs established, and all were already full. Plus, someone dumped a couple pregnant cats on us, too, which had littered a passel of adorable kittens that were busily making the HBIC's kitchen their kingdom. Donations are down, intakes up, and volunteer hours are down... I've said that before, I know, but it's still a central, inescapable fact of what we do. This last shipment of food is an absolute godsend, as the shelves were damn-near bare, and purchasing food enough to feed the residents at commercial rates would blow a huge hole in the already-stretched finances.

The shelves are packed now, the ready-use cannisters are full to bursting, and there's enough that we could pass some along to the local food bank. Yeah, the food bank - people who can't make ends meet have pets, too. Every family that can get a bit of pet food from the food bank is one less family that'll be looking to place their dog or cat in a shelter. It's all of a piece with our mission; if we can prevent a dog being placed in the shelter in the first place, it's better than actually intaking and placing a half dozen dogs, in terms of resources used.

Oh, and we've also got a large stack of the food samples, too. I wonder if we leave them out, if the rats won't make them vanish for us..? Naaah... I suppose we'll find some way of putting them to use.

Snow! Yay!

OK, it's a "Delaware Decorative Snow" - The kind of snow that gilds the houses and cars, frosts the grass and trees, but otherwise has no impact on life. It's a lovely thing - Pretty and harmless both at once.

Suka, however, has decided that snow is an invitation to roll. In the back yard, the soft green-white blanket is stippled by dark green circles where Suka has flipped onto her side in her curious approach to a good back scratching, then proceded to roll onto her back for a vigorous, wriggling, foot-kicking roll-n-scratch. Anywhere there was a good coating of snow, there's a nice smooshed-down patch where she went and had herself a party. ;-)

I can hardly wait until we get a proper depth of snow - I'm expecting a proper snow monster to go with the precipitation.

The snow's cleared out, and the stars are crisp and clear. The air has that sharp prickling bite to the nostrils which means real cold is coming - No clouds, no heat retention, and the thermometer is plunging. I'm due at The Farm tomorrow to sort a dog food donation - I'll be dressing heavy.

Dog Day Weekend, redux

So, once more unto the breach!

Sarah contacted me, asked for a special run down to The Farm, to get things squared away. Times are tough, volunteer hours are down, intake requests are up. And we've gotten a couple HUGE runs full of dogs from things like Hurricane Gustav - the Humane Society of South Mississippi brought us a truck full of rescuees, for instance. And more are coming...

So, down to The Farm, to do a little scoopin' and scrapin' and whatever else needed done. Got there early enough that 'Yappy Hour' was still going on, but things were looking a little unsettled, so I didn't take Suka into the field with the rest of the resident pack; A couple of the dogs seemed to be having status issues, and Suka wasn't keenly interested in joining the ruckus. That's fine - I was there to work, anyway. So, walked Suka about, then crated her up and got to work. About that time, the rain arrived. Oh, wait - Did I forget to mention that it was a grey, dreary kind of morning? Well it was. Until it started to rain. Then it was a grey, dreary, WET kinda morning.

There are a LOT of puppies at The Farm right now, though I think they're secretly a genetic experiement gone wrong - They've been crossed with cow DNA. I can think of no other explanation for how something so small can poop so much! The cute little buggers are pooping at twice the rate (and volume!) as their older counterparts! Oh, and they've got sharp little claws, too! So, I'm in with the pups, scrapin' and scoopin' as fast as I can, before the rain turns their mess into something truly horrible... And the pups are all jumping and clawing and whining for attention, and, oh, incidently, covering my boots and pants in kennel muck - which contains pretty much what you think it does. Once the kennel runs are clean, time to clean the pups, and their bedding. Then feed and water them... OK, done, and on to the older dogs, whom have the sense to 1) stay out of the rain, and 2) not stomp in their own mess, and 3) are generally much better behaved. Except one - Him, I had to save from hanging himself. This is a dog who comes from an area where bull-headed BCs are common, and he's stronger than most. Plus, I think he's a retriever mix, too. He's managed to pry up a corner of the heavy-duty chainlink fencing of his run, and shove his head through. In the process, he'd hooked his collar on the wire, and was well and truly stuck. I have to say, he took the indignity of the situation with fair aplomb - Waiting patiently for me to come in and unclip him from his self-inflicted peril. Whereupon he immediately sat on my foot and grinned at me. This is why I'm thinking "retriever mix" - He's got zero sense of shame. "Whoo-hoo! I jest 'most died! Let's play!" Clearly, this is a redneck dog.

So, into the kennel house with him, while I break out some fencing wire and whip the bottom of his kennel fencing to the bottom rail. When I way "whip," think whipstitch. With fencing wire. Which means taking a seat on the ground with a spool of wire, and sewing the chainlink fencing down to the bottom rail. Did I mention it was raining? And I'm sitting in wet, muddy grass and/or streaming wet concrete? And there's guaranteed to more poop in the squishy/streaming mess, somewhere. So, a couple flesh wounds later, Bubba the Redneck Pooch ain't gettin' out of this kennel, nor can he hang himself on the bottom of the run. I've no idea how, but I'm sure he'll find some other way of getting into trouble, though. Probably while yelling the canine equivalent of "Hey, lookit me!"

Carrying on, did a bit of laundry to get some more bedding clean and ready - they're gonna need it! Also fixed a couple gates for the main fences - these are big stock gates, the kind with wheels to support the open end whilst they're being swung. Had to replace the support wheels where time and circumstance had managed to destroy them. More sitting on the ground. In the mud. And rain.

Along the way, Sarah stops me. "Is Suka in heat?"
!!
Gods, I should HOPE not... I'd been told she was altered - But something is definately up! All the classic external signs of the early stages of heat, and now that I was thinking on it, many of the emotional ones, too - She'd been much whinier, much more clingy than is her usual, and much more submissive than usual, too. Damn... Now it's time to confirm what I *thought* I knew... And come to find out, I didn't know as much for certain as I thought. What I thought I knew turns out to be "whisper down the lane" kinda information, and not as reliable as it might be. It's possible she was never altered. Or it's possible some ovarian tissue was missed. Whichever, I've got a new mission - Keep Suka away from male dogs, especially intact male dogs, until I can get her to a vet to confirm her status! Yee-haw! Just what I needed - I'm soaking wet, covered in mud and the kind of sludge you find on a working farm, and now I'm paranoid, too!

Well, that was pretty much the capper for me - The chores were done, and I wasn't hanging around in the rain to socialize, not with a possibly intact bitch in heat by my side! Fortunately, I brought a tarp to cover the seats of the car - I left smudges when I sat down, but a tarp is easy to clean.

Oh, and by Sunday, the external signs were no longer "maybe" but rather "Oh, yeah" obvious. This isn't an anal gand infection or a UTI - It's the real deal. She's either intact, or there's definately some ovarian tissue floating around inside her still. Just what I was looking forward to... Not.

I hope my vet has a sense of humor, cause she's gonna need it.

Dog Day Weekend

It was all dogs, all the time, this weekend.

Saturday dawned blustery and overcast, with intermittent drizzle. Up with the day, to get my daughter ready and run her off to her morning at the University of Delaware's Children's Chorus' Song Fest - six hours of singing and drumming with a wide collection of musical groups all under one roof. She'd be picked up later by my wife. Once my daughter was dropped off, it was my turn - With Suka in-tow - to run off. Off to The Farm, for an open house. MABCR runs open houses roughly twice a year, or as resources and weather permit. This fall, the open house was being held despite the weather. For a late October day, it was warm, and the rain wasn't heavy - Not yet, anyway.

I brought with me some home-made salsa to share; I make some mean salsa. I *know* I make mean salsa - I accidentally rubbed my eyelids after playing with the hot peppers. They were better-quality than I expected, and the oil soaked off my fingers, and through the skin on the tops of my eyelids. Oww! Not an eye-opening experience - more of an eye-closing one! AKDD is calling me "Squintyboy" now, and with more than a bit of accuracy. :p Anyway, good salsa is a partial offset for bad weather. I also brought along some StinkyKibble(tm) for Suka.

Got to The Farm to find that an agility clinic was on-going, so made myself at home, hanging out and walking Suka about the farm, away from the clinic. Suka's still a bit freaked out by The Farm, though her stress reaction is quite manageable. The HBIC, Sarah, showed me some tips for helping get her reactions more under control, and I spent a good chunk of the day walking Suka about and acclimating her, socializing her, and just enjoying being at the farm without any real chores. Silly me! I should know better...

Sarah ambushed me and asked, pretty please, as I was the only one not attending the clinic, if I could clean & feed. OK, no problem - I can do that! Crate Suka up, get my nasty boots on, and off I go with scoop, hose, and cleaning supplies. There are relatively few dogs at The Farm right now, so it was pretty straight-forward. Clean the runs, scrub the water buckets and food bowls, and chivvy the dogs into their runs. Feed the dogs, clean up the outside area, haul the trash. Takes about an hour and a half, if you've done it before. In mid-clean, was surprised by a drop-in visit from Animal Control, come for an inspection of the kennel area (which passed with no complaints!), but still managed to get done in plenty of time to share in some excellent pot-luck lunch. The salsa was a hit, but the best dish was some kind of chili pot-pie, for which I will definitely need to beg the recipe!

Back outside for more agility work, but the wind blew, and then the skies opened up - rain was coming down hard, and sideways! That was pretty much the end of things - When it's raining harder than standing under a hose, and the agility equipment is blowing away, it's time to call it off! So, toddle back home, the pair of us wetter than drowned rats, for a good lie down in a nice, dry nest. Well, a nice lie down in my favorite chair, Suka curled up under my feet, and heavy blanket thrown over the pair of us! May as well be a nest, anyway!


Sunday couldn't have been more different, weather-wise; Sunny, warm, and cloudless skies. Newark has parades every chance they can come up with an excuse - Halloween is a great excuse! So, Main Street is blocked, and everyone and anyone whom can think of a reason they should be marching shows up and marches! It's basically a street party, with a parade as the excuse. Thousands of costumed spectators, thousands of costumed marchers, fire brigades, National Guard units, high school and university marching bands in costume (one brass unit completely co-ordinated as a Pac-Man game!), politicians, beauty queens, old cars, fancy hotrods - All the makings of a stereotypical small-town parade! Even Mike Castle, our US Representative, was present, marching along as Frankenstein's Monster. He looks the role, too. ;) The only thing missing was a mounted unit. Eh - Next time, I'm sure!

My daughter was marching with our church's unit, as were my nephews. They'd apparently lost the plot as to where to meet up after the parade, according to my sister, so I stepped off the curb and joined the unit as the marched past - Hey, this is a small town! Anyone can play!

Did I mention I'd brought Suka along? Well I did. She needs exposure to the wide and varied, and to people, and to crowds. I couldn't be more proud of her - She was wonderful! Yes, she was a bit stressed, but the biggest stress on her seemed to be standing still - She wanted to smell everything, greet every dog, and in general explore until her legs fell off! She was the hit of our church unit's march - I was walking alongside, rather than in the middle, so she wouldn't trip anyone with her lead, and the result was that we were right on the edge of the crowd where people could get a good look at her. She's a beauty in my eyes, of course, but it sure was nice to hear so many people saying the same thing, too! She trotted along the parade route, licking faces, greeting people and dogs, and hunting for every new scent she could find - A really wonderful day for her, getting out and about and showing how truly good she is!

After the parade, it was mass trick-or-treat all up and down the street, with every merchant giving out goodies to the throngs of children. Catton candy and balloon venders stalked up and down the street, and people overran the downtown with a will. It says something about the town, that the motorcycle cops had as big a crowd around them as the guy playing Ronald McDonald did. Through all this, I walked Suka down the middle of the street, stopping to talk to her admirers, letting her greet dogs, and generally moseying along, keeping an eye on the kids as they did their level best to fill their bags to over-flowing with loot. My daughter didn't do nearly as well as her little brother, though - There's something about a four-year old pirate that just makes people extra generous. Must've been the hook he was brandishing at them! :D

After a long afternoon of walking and partying, we returned home - Where Suka and I nested up in my chair again. :p

Rescue work: It's not "all dogs, all the time!"

Transport run this weekend past... Not a long one, either. Up into Pennsylvania a ways on Saturday, then back south into Delaware, and then a bit further into Maryland. OK, so I didn't reach the farm in the early AM as I'd originally planned, but this was still a good thing - Bringing a pair of young dogs, really puppies still, down to the farm from a foster family, to be transshipped out to another foster family. Everything ran smooth as silk, and my passengers were a delight.

Getting to the farm, I find that it didn't much matter that I wasn't there in the early AM, as there was still a good bit of work to do. So, some of the less-typical taskings one might find when volunteering as a Rescuer:

Pulling weeds... Clearing the fence line of the dog yard, so the low-lying electric wire will stop shorting out, and we can be assured the dogs won't try to tunnel under the fence. Lots o' weeds to pull, but the ground was soft from the recent rains, the weeds fairly strong due to said rain, and that resulted in great clumps of weeds coming out at each pull. But frankly, I'm out of shape, I've been a bit sick of late, and have pulled too many late nights at work, so I faded fast. Fortunately, there were other volunteers, including one particularly industrious fire-fighting architect, who really went to town on the weeds with hand and shovel.

Auto Mechanic... Of sorts. There's an older car, one donated to the Rescue for resale, the proceeds to benefit the dogs, but one which hasn't moved under its own power in a year or more. Nothing actually wrong with it - it's just that no one has gotten the spare time to sell the bloody thing yet, so its been sitting. And, of course, the engine was dry as dust, and the battery flat as flat as Jebal Ali, with nice weeds growing up through the engine compartment, and divots under the tires... So, put it on the booster pack, and periodically try to get it to turn over. No dice. So, gather a bunch of people, and push the little bugger to where it can be reached - It'll leave, even if it has to be towed. But maybe, after a long charge, someone will be able to get it to crank over. Maybe.

Arborist/landscaper... The HBIC got a lot of trees from the local nursery at a steep discount, this being the end of the season, and we being a non-profit and all. So, we dug holes and planted trees, too. Quite a few of them. But, as previously noted, much of this was handled y other volunteers. I'm out of shape. And tired. And not a little it still shaky from the stomach bug. But I did help... And next time I'm at the Farm, I should be in better condition.

Meanwhile...
Several really plugged-in and gung-ho volunteers made the rounds of Washington, DC's various Federal Agency HQs this last week, setting up information booths at the kick-off events for the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC). For those of you unfamiliar with the ins and outs of US Federal bureaucracy, the CFC is a coordinated charity drive. Rather than have every charity in the world hitting Federal Workers up at random intervals throughout the year, they all gang together in one giant posse, and hit them up one time, all at once, and get over with it. This is a big deal - paper-pushing administrators like to brag on their support for this official 'non-official' pan handling, and they set up informational fairs that allow charity groups to tout their cause. Well, someone had actually slugged a charity number on us - We are a non-profit, after all - and when our go-getters learned this, they took a table and some flyers and handouts, and a couple likely dogs, and made the tour - State Department, Labor Department, and so on. We may not get much in the way of donations, but a good number of people actually sat down and talked to our people - Some adoptions are likely to come out this, if nothing else!


With all that, things are going well. So, just to put a reality check on things, my son let Suka escape this AM. I don't think he was being malicious, he's just a four-year old. Rather than wait for his mother or I to escort him out of the house, he decided to go ahead on his own, and I hadn't crated Suka yet... So out she went, and vanished like the mist. Perfect way to start a Monday... NOT.
I don't know exactly where she went, though I did hear some random barking in different directions - Fortunately, that early in the day, TRDATEOTN were inside, or at least not active. After a quick close-in search that turned up nothing, I grabbed the car and started a wider sweep. As I was doing that, Suka returned, quite happy to have my wife let her back in the house. *Whew!*

That's more adrenaline than I need on a Monday AM, to be sure. And worse, now Suka has learned that she can slip past my son and go have an adventure, with nothing (in her mind) bad happening. We're going to have to completely change the door protocols now, to prevent a recurrence. Yuck.

Now you see her, now you don't...

Heh!
Call me prescient; Pip has gone home, already! She took almost no time at all to assess and place.

She flew through - in little more than a week, she'd already found her place. Other dogs haven't gone as well, sad to say - One placement was returned almost immediately - the resident dog objected violently to the newcomer. It's rare that we have a screening failure of that magnitude - We were a bit shocked. Oh, it happens, but so rarely that it's caught us on the back foot.

Another transport...Gone right this time.

I'm not usually in the transportation rota, but we had a gap in our rotation that couldn't be filled. Two dogs coming in from the mid-west, two different locations, and we couldn't complete the chain with the usual suspects, so I stepped in.

310 miles, before the day was done, but I brought a tiny, sweet full-grown owner surrender, and a 12-week dumped puppy to the Farm, where they could settle in comfort and safety.

Pip, the owner surrender, already has potential home prospects lined up. She was obviously stressed, but behaved very well for me, and was completely appropriate with the other dogs at the Farm. The puppy, OTOH, hasn't anything lined up yet, but he's an utterly fearless little fuzz-ball. He was dumped at a shelter at age approximately three weeks - And when I mean 'dumped" I mean left on their doorstep in a box sometime over night. Three weeks old..?! What the hell, people?! What idiot takes a pup away from its mother at three weeks?

Well, anyway, a shelter worker took the pup in, and nursed him past weaning, before sending him to us. The result is not only is he a fat, cheerful little guy, but he's got zero sense of fear - boldly ran up to me, ran over to the car, ran over to pretty much everything that caught his eye - a blowing weed, a scrap of trash, the other dogs, the barn cats, the HBIC, another volunteer... This little guy might take as many as five minutes to place.
:-p

Considering the unmitigated train wreck the last transport run was, this one was pure pleasure.


Edit 9/17/2008:

Just want to show you my passengers:
Casey (the puppy):
http://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=11915779
Bold little guy, fearless and inquisitive - Not for a novice home!

Pip (tiny little Lady - And I DO mean "Lady!"):
http://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=11915707
She's going to be a beloved pet for someone - Proper, appropriate, and mannerly, she's a canine "Miss Manners."

Day at the Farm...

Went to the Farm ( http://www.mabcr.org/ ) yesterday - Surprised Sarah, HBIC, a touch; They weren't really expecting help. But I know I can always find work to be done at the Farm, and yesterday was no different. The kennel runs were a mess, as dogs can certainly make them! So, I spent the morning scooping poop and hosing down the runs. Meanwhile, an adoption was underway, and an intake.

The Adoption was Duncan, whom I don't care for one way or an other - he's never had much time for me, and I've more or less ignored him right back. but yesterday, as Sarah was offering last-minute advice to his new family, all of as sudden he was quite friendly; What's with that? Well, it's Stinkykibble(tm)! I'd made up a batch for Suka that morning, and my hands still stank. Heh! I've tweaked the make-up of Stinkykibble - I've added a touch of anchovy oil for extra stink, and it works! :-p Duncan certainly liked the taste, even having been wiped off and diluted by time.

The intake was a big guy. Supposedly, he's aggressive and has resource-guarding issues. I wonder, though - He certainly sucked up to me, and wanted to follow me around. I'm a big, bearded, loud, scary guy, and he wanted to follow me? Must be the Stinkykibble! :-p Anyway, newly-intaken dogs are under stress, and aren't showing their full personality - I suppose the reported issues could be true. Dunno, but we'll see.

Anyway, I brought Suka with me, and by-and-large, she was a very good girl. No lunging or acting out. She settled in her crate and waited while I did my chores, but didn't want to come out. Well, none of that! She was there for a reason, and hiding wasn't it! So, popped her out, and introduced her to the part of the resident pack currently out and about - mostly retired stockdogs - and to the Volunteer Coordinator and the HBIC. Sure enough, I find that I've been making some mistakes... HBIC straightened me out on those, and showed me what she meant - damn, she's good! Gave me solid advice on getting Suka to adapt to TRDATEOTN, and how to teach her how to make the right choices with them. Homework! Anyway, I feel myself well repaid for scooping poop!

Poor girl, Suka stressed heavily - I've got to make a habit of taking her places, to help her learn to not stress on road trips. She LOVES the car, and riding, but doesn't like new places. Well, no surprise - She's been to the Vets as often as anywhere else, since she's gotten here. More homework!
:-D