Rico Graduates! Hurrah!

"Super Shepherd" by Ken Bailey. Visit his wonderful artwork at kenbailey.com
We visited his studio near the market in Seattle in December and I purchased this print.

Rico the wonder dog graduated from Obedience Level I tonight. No cap and gown were worn but many treats were given and barks were shared. We were all "tested" on sit, down, stand, stay, walking with a loose leash and come - then the dogs had to do these things too. ;)

In case you're new, Rico is our 10 month old German Shepherd. He first went to puppy class and now we just completed Level I Obedience. He is a very high energy dog and is quite a handful. When we first started classes he barked the entire time. The only time he didn't bark is when my hand was frantically shoving treats in his pie hole to shut him up. Thank goodness the instructor gave handouts because I hardly heard a thing the first two classes. Rico was so overjoyed with being with other dogs, he would totally ignore any attempts at obeying a command. He preferred to test my grip while he lunged to the end of the leash to play with the other dogs. My arms ached by the end of the first few classes.

I had thought maybe waiting for a while before the next round of classes would be a good idea. Maybe he would settle down a bit more and we could "home school" him in the meantime. But tonight he did something he hadn't done in all the classes. The instructor held Rico, I walked about 30 feet away and turned to look at him. I then did a little dance and song number called "Rico Come." It involves a high squeaky excited call, stomping of the feet, clapping the hands and zero pride. Lo and behold, he did it. Not running at the other dogs but right to me! And not just once, he did this twice. The second time I hid in the bathroom and called for him. Right to me again! It was then I realized he had made a lot of progress since those first few noisy and embarrasing classes. So, in two weeks we start Level II Obedience classes. To celebrate, Rico pooped in my van on the way home.

Mad TV: The iRack from Apple

Pretty Please?

Here it is, 11:00 pm but because of last nights "spring ahead" an hour, it should feel like 10:00 pm but right now I feel like it's 2:00 am. My inner clock always gets goofed up with the time change. Don't you wish they'd just get rid of Daylight Savings Time?

Hey GW! Can't you do some loopholey, flibbity-flabbity, wiggle-yer-nosey sort of thing with the rules and denounce Daylight Savings Time in the entire US? Maybe you can put a P.S. in fine print on the bottom of Scooter Libby's pardon? Pretty please GW? If you do, maybe I'll vote Republican in the next election. (Ow. My fingers burned a little when I typed that.)

Girls, Girls, Girls

Be sure to check out Actonbell's posts highlighting important women on her blog Tempest in a Teapot. It is Women's History Month after all.

on a side note...

This was on PostSecret this week. They update every Sunday. I loved this one. (read ALL the text)

Planting seeds with Tick-Tock

I was standing in line at the grocery store yesterday and a young girl of about 7 or 8 came up behind me with her purchase. She was holding a plastic toy alligator. I said "Oooo. That looks like a scary alligator." She held it up and said, "Look, it has a dime in it's mouth." I grinned and asked her if she knew the story about Peter Pan and the crocodile named "Tick-Tock" that had swallowed a clock. Her reply was "No, I haven't seen that one." I was saddened that her first interpretation of the word "story" was that of a video rather than a book. I hopefully put a seed in her by telling her she should ask her Mom or Dad to take her to the library and find a book about Peter Pan and Tick-Tock. Maybe she'll read the book before the more convenient DVD gets popped into the player. Are children's imaginations being muted by feeding them the visual images before they have a chance to create their own vision from words?

Work-A-Doodle

An obvious lack of words this week on "born a girl." I have been swamped with work. As a self-employed graphic designer that's a good thing. Sometimes it feels overwhelming and I question my decision of going off on my own. It was nice when someone else took care of the paperwork, the sales calls, the money and the majority of the headaches. I would show up for work at 8 and leave at 5. There's a lot of pros and cons to working on my own.

Without the internet, I think I'd go stir crazy. In the beginning, I missed the human contact immensely. I pestered my friends by calling them probably much too often at first. I then discovered a couple of online communities of graphic designers and now feel like I have some co-workers. Designers are notoriously insecure about their own work and skills so it's important to have someone to bounce ideas off of and ask questions of.

At the old job I would print something out and on the way back from the printer stop at a cube and say "Does this look really crappy or just sort of crappy?" Poor Miss T sat next to the printer so she got the brunt of it. I would repay her by performing puppet shows with my desk toys for her over the wall of her cubicle. I miss the co-workers but overall, I wouldn't trade what and where I do for anything. For now anyways. ;)

I worked most of the night last night and am running on fumes. Sometimes this puts the creativity in high gear with me. I was full of good ideas this afternoon and while waiting for a CD to burn and a large file to print, I did a bit of doodling. From the sometimes strange and overtired brain of balou...

On the fridge

Born in '32, figure it out

We celebrated my Mom's 75th birthday today. All the siblings & a few of their kids met up in St. Cloud, MN for lunch with Mom and Stepdad. We spent a couple of hours talking, eating and admiring her new shiny presents. It was a short, but nice celebration.

Mom turned 50 the year I graduated from high school. That's the age she is and always will be to me in my brain. It still throws me for a loop when I have to stop and realize that she can't do all the things she used to. I've told her this before and she says in some ways, she still feels 25. If only our bodies listened to our brains!

One of my favorite "Mom-ism's" is her answer to the question, "How old are you?" Her stock reply is "Born in '32, figure it out." So here's some interesting tidbits about the year my Mother was born and we all know it was 1932. ;)

in 1932...

• Amelia Earhart is first woman to fly Atlantic solo.
• Charles A. Lindbergh's baby son kidnapped, killed.
• A first class stamp cost $.02.
• Herbert Hoover was the president.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in November.
• Unemployment reported at 24%.
• The Kentucky Derby champion was "Burgoo King."
• Earthquake kills 70,000 in Kansu, China.
• Jazz composer Duke Ellington writes "It Don't Mean a Thing, If It Ain't Got That Swing."
• Jack Benny's radio show premieres.
• Yankees win the 29th World Series.
• Electric-eye enables typesetting machine to scan print without operator.
• Radio City Music Hall opens in Manhattan.
• Others born in '32: Johnny Cash, Elizabeth Taylor, Ted Kennedy, Debbie Reynolds, Jim Nabors, Della Reese, Peter O'Toole, Mel Tillis, Patsy Cline, Robert Reed (Brady Bunch Dad), Little Richard

Open Wide

I had my bi-annual dental appointment last week. A couple of years ago my previous dentist semi-retired so I decided to switch to a closer dentist, Dr. "BCT".

At my first cleaning appointment in this office, the hygienist cleaned my teeth and gave me the "you must floss more often" speech while my eyes were tearing up from the picking and poking at my gums. That was my fault. I hadn't been to the dentist in over a year so the cleaning was particularly painful. She told me Dr. "BCT" was busy and asked if I wouldn't mind if Dr. "SH" would perform the exam this time. She also informed me Dr. "SH" was new to this office and since there was nothing hurting or questionable from the x-rays, I agreed.

Dr. "SH" came in, a young guy and obviously new to the profession as well as the office. He asked how I was doing in a timid voice and proceeded to put his hands in my mouth to examine the choppers. As soon as his hands touched my chin, my eyes darted to him then to the hygienist and my forehead formed it's "What the Hell?" creases. You see, Dr. "SH" stands for Dr. Shaky Hands. His hands were trembling in my mouth and dear God he had pointy metal poky things in there! I was startled, frozen in fear and silently decided at the first painful poke I was going to unclasp my death gripped fingers from the arm of the chair and pull his hands out of my mouth myself. Lucky for him he just looked around for a few seconds and was gone. After he left I told the hygienist that I did not want to see him again and to make sure I only see Dr. "BCT" in the future and explained why.

In case you're wondering, Dr. "BCT" stands for...

About 10 years ago, right before Christmas, I broke the crown on my front tooth tearing open a bag of dog food with my mouth. Hey, I was in a hurry, on my way to a Christmas party and frustrated with the mighty sealing powers of the dog food baggers. My regular dentist was closed and after making a few calls, I found one dentists office that would help me out.

I arrived and the hygienist brought me into the exam room. She proceeded to explain they were having their office Christmas party and apologetically told me the Dr. may smell of beer but assured me he has had only one. I think she had more than one at this point but I was desperate, in a good mood and just wanted some glue for my tooth.

In walks the dentist, Santa cap on his head, a big smile and a hilariously obnoxious blinking Christmas tie hence the name Dr. "Blinking Christmas Tie." After a few jokes about opening dog food bags with my teeth and how funny my smile looked with that goofy stub under my crown sticking out, he put a couple dabs of glue on the crown and got me back into a socially acceptable holiday smile. Why I didn't switch dentists right then and there is still a mystery to me but I have now found my way back there again as a regular patient.

Beware of Snow Blindness

More snow today. This little guy in
my window box can attest to that.