Thought Patterns

Mike, Mikey, Michael, Big Mike, Mikeman, The Mikester.

Look at that alert face!

I just love that white chest.

While I was taking photos of him on the floor, I saw Jo sitting all regal and snapped one of her. When I was going over them later, I realized the two images were telling quite a story! Mike's got some growing to do!
(click images for larger version)

We did go to see Happy but, as adorable as he was, he didn't pass the working dog temperament test. He's a good dog and will make someone an excellent pet but for me and my needs, he wouldn't have worked out.

They also had two puppies left from a litter of 8 and while I was testing Happy, I tested them, too. Basically it was to give him a break between each test and to make it fun for him and everyone else. The two puppies passed the primary tests. One of them seemed more alert about what was going on. The other was probably exhausted from a day of play. I did all the tests on the one and decided he would be a great working dog. His name was Flintstone Bedrock. I discussed it with the rescue lady and with Lorna and we brought Flint home. After several days of trying to figure out a name, we settled on Mike. It is a fluctuating name that can grow with him and his moods.

For the first few days, we were worried it would not work out due to Sam not tolerating him. Happily though, the two of them are playing and liking each other! Phew!

Mike is 3 mos old, born the last week of August. Joella's birthday is August 28th so we decided they'd share a birthday. Mike, his siblings, his mother, and Happy were dropped off at an animal shelter. The rescue group got them from there. The mother was nearly starved to death and the pups were so hungry they were trying to nurse each others' tails. The vet had to amputate them (so the docked tail was not cosmetic, but necessary) due to infection and the like. Mike is not house trained but we are working on it. It is something I have to get serious about. I don't think it will take long once I do that since he is such a smart little boy. Anyone have any pointers?

That's all for now. I'll be uploading more images and a few videos soon.

Yay!

Dreamhost, the best web host evah, now has Private Servers available. I decided to give it a try. Everything went fine except the websites (as in ALL of them) were down for several days while we waited on the DNS whatchacallit to catch up. I finally asked tech support why it was taking so long (usually it is done within 24hrs). I got a reply today and seems there was a file error somewhereanother and all is well.

Way cool and groovy.

More later. I'm out the door as soon as I finish this.

I dunno. I thought you were keeping track of stuff like that.

Actually, it's been a matter of the season. We've had cold, wet weather here the past several weeks. That means I've been in pain. It also means I've been in a funk. The time change, the increased pain, the weather - all added up to one miserable Paula. Trust me, it isn't pretty.

I couldn't type very long but I could use the mouse. I have a voice recognition software, a darn good one, but I hadn't the patience to deal with it. Instead, I got addicted on The Sims 2. I know, bad Paula. Blame my brother. It's all his fault. I'm just an innocent bystander, er, bysitter, er, whatever.

I've also still been puppy hunting. Since donations toward a full-breed $1500 puppy did not appear (ahem), I backtracked out of that field and turned to the rescue groups. After talking to Joella (more on that in a moment), I also started looking for a male, slightly older than a baby puppy, and in a rescue situation. Tomorrow we go see one that meets that criteria. His current name is Happy and he is in King, NC. The rescue group and I have been emailing back and forth for nearly three weeks now and we finally meet Saturday. I'm nervous. What if he and I hate each other? What if he fails the various tests I need to do? What if….okay, stop that, Paula. Put down the clipboard and back up three feet. There ya go.

Back to talking with Joella. We firmly believe in animal communicators. Yes, there are bogus quacks who are tricking the owners and taking their money. And then there are legitimate ones. We know one of the legitimate ones. We met Patty Summers a long time ago (at Asheville Pet Supply, a way cool place)back when we had a bully cat (Pav) and his favorite target, Skiz. We took them to see Patty. It was our last effort to keep Pav. Either this stopped his bullying or he was going to find another home. Patty told him to get over his bastard self and to not be a bully. She nailed his personality down fairly well! And she got Skiz', too. When we came home, Pav raced out of the crate and hid under the bed. He didn't come out for dinner nor breakfast. For several days, each time he saw Skiz, he ran in the opposite direction. He was a bully just a few times more until he and Skiz settled into this glaring match that lasted the rest of Skiz' life.

Later, when we got Jo, we took her to meet Patty, too. I wanted to make sure Joella understood she was a working dog, did she want to be a working dog, was she happy, etc etc etc. Animal communicators don't actually speak words to the critter. It is more like images and feelings; they don't have words like we do. When she "talks" to Jo, she usually has her eyes closed. So here we were, sitting quietly while she talked with Jo. Every once in a while, she would tell me what she and Jo were talking about. "She likes her fluffy toys," Patty said. Jo had a stuffed elephant she loved. Suddenly, Patty bursts out laughing "No, Joella, no!" After a moment, and still laughing, Patty explained. "One of the fluffy toys moved. It's your cats! Jo sees them as the household pets, as toys!" She told Jo that the cats were part of the household pack, just like she was. When we come home, Jo goes straight to her best bud, Mad Max. She lays her head on the ottoman next to him and whines. He reaches out with his paws, extends the claws, and grasps her muzzle. He then proceeds to clean her from nose to ear. Each time she tries to back away, he'd just drive those claws in a little more. She never chases the cats, never bothers them. They all have loved her and rub against her often. We took Jo a second time a few years later. Lorna had taken Jake (the dog that thought Lorna was a chew toy) and they got done early (no surprise there). Patty loves Jo so we went in and used the rest of the time. Like I said, usually the communicator is silent, eyes closed, and the dog just wanders the room. Suddenly Jo stops and whips her head around to stare at Patty who then promptly almost falls out of her chair laughing. Patty had asked her if she ever plays with Jake and Jo said "Are you nuts?" Jo is apparently quite the talker. She didn't like the stinky shampoo we were currently using. She liked the smaller food better (meaning the cats' food). And she puts things into a cool perspective. She made Patty laugh several times that first visit. One was when Joella seriously said, in response to "do you need anything": "Sometimes, I just need a really good bone."

So, I email Patty and tell her I'm looking for another dog to train but I need to first make sure Jo understands what is going on. That SHE isn't being replaced, never will be. But I need someone for the job. A few days later, Patty and I talk on the phone with Jo in the room with me. Yes, she is fine with letting someone else do the job. But she still wants to go places. And she prefers a male because males are easier to boss around. Various other things were talked about (Jo wants more eggs) and Patty and I discussed what kind of dog I would look for. Rottweilers are a wonderful breed. They are intelligent, strong in both mind and body, and they are goofy clowns. They are a working breed that love to have jobs whether that is chasing down a bad guy or picking my keys up off the floor. Male rotties get along great with each other. Female rotties, however, tend to not like each other. A lot of the time, a female rottie won't like any female dogs. So it is not surprising that Joella would prefer I get a male dog. I've spoken to various people since then and they all agreed.

And off we go Saturday to meet a 4.5 mos old male rottweiler. A far cry from the baby female I started looking for several months ago. But that's how life goes.

And this time I'm not leaving you little stories to read. They all stank anyway.

I'm taking the laptop with me and plan on doing some writing/editing while Lorna drives. I plan on irritating the shit out of her with my whining. It'll keep her awake, right? Nice of me to do that public service.

Back Monday or Tuesday. If I can, I'll let y'all know I'm still alive. You just never know when Lorna is going to have enough and kill me.

As most of you know, I have a (nearly) constant companion named Joella. Jo is a big, vicious, mean, droolin' Rottweiler.

Okay, so she's not vicious. Nor mean. And she doesn't drool. But she is big and she is a Rottweiler.

And she's also my Service Dog. I trained her to retrieve certain things (Jo, where's my shoes?) and to pick up items I drop (Jo, hand me my keys. Again.) and to go get Lorna (never really got Lorna trained to listen, though). Jo just turned 8 and it is time I got another dog to train as her SD replacement. Not that Jo is going to be happy about it.

It is weird for me to even be considering getting, on purpose, a full breed dog. I'm a mutt kind of gal. I'm not too happy with AKC and their "standards" which are based on looks and not much else. But I love the Rottweiler breed. They are sweet dogs with wonderful personalities. Most people agree that they are such clowns! And they are. I love that humor in Jo.

Anyway, full breed dogs cost money. Lots of money. One breeder from TN I spoke to charges $1500 each. I about crapped with that one. I understand it, though. Her close watch on genetics means that certain traits (including hip dysplasia) are almost eliminated. It also continues good temperament. While a happy dog won't automatically produce happy puppies who grow up to be happy adults, the potential is high.

Perhaps what stops me with the price, other than the price itself, is that I'd be paying for a dog that is not guaranteed to be trainable as a Service Dog. Yeah, I'm taking that risk with any dog I get, even an adult. I'm not sure I want to spend $1500 for a pet. Know what I mean?

And I want a puppy. The youngest we've ever had was Zeus at about 3 mos. Joella was 6 months. I was there when Zeke was born but he died before he was 3 months old. There wasn't time to really bond or to form much of a personality.

It's also hard to spend almost as much on a DOG as I would a DELL.

So, donations are being accepted for either one!

Monster Blue got some updates yesterday.

Permobil makes excellent chairs. Unfortunately, they had to "dumb" them down in order to meet the Medicaid/Medicare requirements. So things that normally are nice and sturdy were made cheaper and not as sturdy. The best example are the armrests. Cheap plastic with metal only going part way. Which means when a user pushes down on the armrests to transfer, the stress is on the plastic. Mine broke within just a few months. The pad was a cardboard backed, foam covered barely in place thing. I lost one on the way to Atlanta for my first GCLS con.

(larger image of left armrest)

(larger image of right armrest)

The new armrests have metal all the way out and, better yet, are universal. Meaning one can go on either side. The other ones were side-dependent.

underneath of the new armrest:

Universal fit:

I also got some thigh pads. This will help keep my legs aligned and look less like a harlot with my legs spread.

(larger image of thigh pads)

(larger image of left thigh pad)

The thigh pads fit into a doohickey called a Unitrack. Permobil developed this to use to attach various doohickeys to the chair. This includes the pads, transfer handles, and even a lap tray.

(larger image of Unitrack)

***

I'm still having internet problems. I am at the laundromat right now with the fastest upload/connection speed I've had in weeks. One last call to Charter today and it'll be fixed, one way or the other.

Here we go. We are on our way to either starting the change back toward normalcy or we will continue down the road we have been on for 8 years. When that countdown meter in the sidebar reaches 0, will we be healing or pouring salt into the wound? Obama may not be the best for the job. Is anyone, really? But the idea of McCain in the Oval Office, at 72 years old, with Sarah Palin as the Vice President, that scares me. It really does.

I was preparing a post in my head, one that I would write here. It was going to be witty but to the point. It would have been full of sarcasm. It definitely would have wandered quite a bit.

Instead, I will spare you that post. I will give you one written by someone else who is much better at words than I am. Eve Ensler wrote an article that had me near tears. The article scared me and made me realize just how much is at risk.

Drill, Drill, Drill by Eve Ensler

I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.

I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story — connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.

Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?

A final note: the book banning incident is not exactly what the media told us.
FactCheck.org - Sliming Palin
Snopes articles on Sarah Palin