I’ve been shamed into adding some posts by someone accusing me of being “boring”. I beg to differ, but boring, busy … whatever.
What better to start off my “catching up” posts than with this Strange Bird …
Whatever it was, it was hanging out in suburban NJ behind my house a few weeks ago. That’s no little finch, it was about the size of a Canada Goose! Not a clue what it was (some kind of water bird maybe?) – I never saw one before and haven’t seen it since!
Top Story: Santa Missing – Foul Play Suspected!
Sunday, December 24, 2006
With the Christmas just around the corner and millions of people anticipating their presents, the holiday season has taken a strange and potentially disasterous turn with the reported disappearance of Santa Claus!
Anonymous sources tell us that a ransom note, along with photos of the alleged perpetrators posing with an unconscious Mr. Claus, arrived at the corporate headquarters of an undisclosed, dog treat manufacturer earlier today.
In the photos, Mr. Claus appears gaunt and disheveled, but otherwise unharmed …
Stay tuned for more on this late-breaking story as it develops!
Spent a very boring day at Jury duty Monday –
How does the state of New Jersey compensate its jurors? With a whopping FIVE DOLLARS per day! Whoopee !
Oh wait – I almost forgot the voucher for a free small coffee OR 60 cents off any other cafeteria purchase… WOW!!!
I was thinking I really should teach Jayda some formal obedience this winter…
Not that I haven’t taught her anything – I’ve taught exercises in bits and pieces, as a diversion more than methodical, goal-oriented training. Hey – Jayda’s an exceptionally OBEDIENT dog, if not an obedience-TRAINED one :).
I have managed to haphazardly teach her some very nice retrieving skills, so I thought maybe I’d introduce her to metal scent articles ….
BLEH! ICK! YUCK! EWWW! PTHOOEY! You want me to put THAT in MY MOUTH???
Fortunately Bryce is all too willing to retrieve anything (as long as he’s well paid for his efforts) so after a little “monkey-see, monkey-do” training (and LOTS of cookies for Bryce) I had Jayda fetching the metal article. Still not with great enthusiasm – despite the cookies she’s not QUITE convinced that this is “fun” yet. It probably doesn’t help that my articles were sized for Sally’s dainty muzzle. They fit Bryce just fine, but they’re just a tad smaller than ideal for Jayda’s, um, “sizeable” schnozz.
Update 11/27/06: I must have been pretty convincing, because now she’s starting to “table surf” for it! Stands up and “steals” it off the table where I leave it and walks around proudly before bringing it to me. Bryce is jealous – he can’t reach that high!
Here are 2 new photos* of Bryce and Jayda doing agility from the “Fast Pawz” NADAC trial on Staten Island last month – enjoy!
(* Both photos by M. Nicole Fischer photography)
Finally had a “Kit sighting” Friday night, after not seeing him for several weeks. I was starting to get worried – especially having heard a coyote in the area around the time he disappeared!
He’s not sleeping here or hanging out in my yard, but whatever it was I said or did, he’s not too offended to eat the food I leave for him.