Monday, February 19, 2018

I'll have to take a picture of his front legs for you some time. I think yes to the violin and his feet turn out most of the time like he is in ballet 5th position. (My DD's ballet peeps love him for this.)

Additionally, one of his feet can almost screw backwards! A vet said that he probably had a break at some point that didn't heal right but we had him since he was pretty young and there wasn't an injury that we knew of. Although, if someone is going to break a leg roughhousing and not realize it, it would be Buster.

I don't let DD run with him except for short bursts for joy because of those legs.

His mom, supposedly, was a full sized Weiner dog so I assume that is where his legs come from except that Buster's seem exaggerated. His dad, supposedly, was poodle, which I can only believe since I saw his curly sisters.

Buster's an interesting fella. Love him lots.

Did you know that Buster is a Pooweenie?

LOL, no but now I plan to call him that as much as possible!

So, VSG weight management post here....

LOL!

Valentines, B'day, Dog show weekend celebrating has caught up with me. I drank virtually no water yesterday, so I'm hoping the number I saw on the scale today was a blip. Doesn't matter anyway. The fact of the matter is it is time to get back in the groove of healthy eating. Timing is good.

I replaced the battery on the food scale today. The scale has been out of commission for some weeks (months?) now and I thought I really do need it in the days, weeks, and months to come. Weighing and measuring has always been an important thing for me to stay on track and focused.

I am not going on a "diet", but I am putting down some rules to follow for the next 10 days. 10 days I can handle. Forever, I can not! If you don't mind indulging me, it will be helpful for me to write my rules here, too. Makes them real.

In a nutshell the rules are: If it grows in nature, I can eat it. This includes all fruits and veggies, eggs, meats, fish, fowl, nuts, root veggies, etc... If it is a minimally processed natural food - milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, etc... that's okay, too. What I am excluding are: sugars (all forms), boxed foods, enriched milled foods (pastas, breads, and the like).

So there it is.

Ace became an AKC champion this weekend. He is under 2 years old. He was shown only 7 weekends in a 12 month period, which is very little in dog show circles. All of his wins were major wins (meaning he beat a larger number of dogs to win his championship points). I'm pretty proud of my little guy - especially since he pulled it together after being surrounded by *****es in season all morning! (*****es in heat and a 22 month old male are not a good combo right before going in the show ring. Ace was pretty much a wreck the first few minutes! LOL)

Congratulations !! That's quite an accomplishment ! Ace is a handsome guy !! I'm wondering why females in heat are allowed at shows ?

*****es in heat are allowed only in conformation shows. They are not allowed in obedience, rally, or agility. The scent could really throw off a male's ability to concentrate on working. Conformation, however, is about evaluating breeding stock against the written standard. Males and females are judged separately (in theory****il Best of Breed class. However, waiting outside the ring to be judged the dogs intermingle. A young dog can often be overwhelmed by the excitement of a show. Add girls in season and those young boys simply don't know what to do with themselves! Think 8th grade boy surrounded by topless college women. It's pretty much the same reaction!

It was made a little worse for Ace this weekend because one of the girls in our grooming area was in full heat, but her owner was unaware of that fact. Had we known, I would have set up a ways away. Oh, well.... He still won!

Devon, I like your eating rules. :)

wt up. Not monitored at the house. I think I am going to get another set of scales. My eating has changed. I have eaten N&Y only a few times this week. It is such a weird feeling to not crave as before.

I have been at the house working. I have one room ready for flooring and about half the hall way. All the doors hung. It is a small house about 1100 sq ft. It is half the size we had in AK and we are talking about building about 500 sq ft. Our DS#1 found a site and knows we like the tiny house. It is Clayton Tiny homes (a Brookshire Hathaway company) the saltbox model. I think they are mobile homes but I plan to build it so quality would be controlled.

DD#1 is suggesting that we have papers drawn up for guardianship should anything ever happen to her. Bio father is not in the picture. She views this as co parenting. She does not want her daughter to be a ward of the state like she was. We had her in foster care since she was about 18 months and later adopted her and her 2 siblings one older one younger. She has willing help and we are glad she wants help because being a single parent is hard work for anyone. I fear harder than she can handle. DD#1 has not led a stable life and is trying hard to be the best for her child.

DD#2 is a whole different picture. They have been a couple for years, got married, planned it sort of. Well let s say they did not plan to not have children. Steady jobs. Homeowners. Lots of room for improvement and growth. They will find their way.

Independence is something I have had since I was a kid. I always had a job. Had a paper route in the 4th grade through the 8th grades (Ate all my profits) Mowing yards in the summers to get swimming pool money. I got my own tools from 11 yrs old, did cabinet work for money at 16 and sub contracted at 19 yrs old. I worked like a fiend until I was 50 and life changed. I have to be very careful to mange stress. I used to thrive on it. I am doing the remodel on my house and I have to pace myself. No timeline or deadlines. There was a lot of set up time and prep work. I am resting this week. Puttering in the shop but home time. However, I went straight from Mama to mama n law. I have never been single. I MET my wife when I was 16 and 4 months later we ran off to get married.(shaking my head) Somewhere along the way, I have become and am dependent. Not in a laundry and cooking way. I do my own laundry. And nobody can make nuts and yogurt like me. But I do not do apart well. DW does not either but she does better than me. We have not ever been social except for work and church and I do not do either any more. She picks up some part time Rx auditing at DIL pharmacy so she sees people. And she does go with her mom to church if we are in town so she is not a hermit like me. Emotional dependence.

Shared enough, More later, David

On dog breeds. Most of our dogs were muts. Free if there is such a thing. But we had boxers for a while. I really appreciate and would pay for good breeding. The last boxer we had was aggressive. We also had the littermate. Also aggressive. Vet said to separate them so we gave one away. Wish I had known more about bloodlines. DS#1 has a boxer. He researched bloodlines. Paid dearly I am sure. He is aggressive with our pit and with the boxer we had. He also has the same look in his eye of a child with Down's syndrome. Although I have never mentioned it to him.

Poor boxers!