Bogieblog

Doggiedom

This article is very good for those that are looking for a dog - as long as it is a purebred dog you're looking for. Unfortunately, many people don't have the means to buy a purebred, and even those who do may not want a purebred.

Take us for instance, we've only had one purebred and she was a leftover from a roommate we once had (he left for 3 weeks in California and never came back). Although we loved her dearly, she had problems that are associated with that breed. She also had more problems that were caused by the original owner's inconsistant handling of situations.

We like mixed breed dogs. Why? Well, for one, a lot of times there are problems inherant within the breed that can be very expensive to deal with, or cuts the dogs life very short. Hip dyspasia is very common in some breeds (which can't be detected at a young age, as far as I know); eye problems in others (some of which can be tested for, but others can't); heart problems etc. etc. Sure, these problems can occur in mixed breeds, but the likelyhood is lessened.

We also like that a lot of mixed breeds (read: the dogs we have had) seem to be more adaptable to different lifestyles.

Of course with mixed breeds, a lot of times you only get to meet the mother, and that may not be all the information you need. Also, mixed breed puppies are usually raised by the casual household, so the veterinary care may not be up to the standards that a good breeder will have. However, most people with common sense can tell if the household where the puppy was raised is a healthy environment.

Bank on It

I had to call our mortgage company yesterday and find out what the heck was going on. I was getting ready to pay this next month's "rent" and noticed that we had way too much money in escrow.

Me: I need to find out if our property taxes have been paid.
Customer Service: Certainly, what is your account number?
Me: XYZ1234
CC: Okay, that's for Mr. and Mrs Bogie?
Me: Yep.
CC: Let's see, hmm . . .
Me: I sent the bill in with the last payment and that was credited on June 29.
CC: HMMMM, when was it due?
Me: The 15th of this month. From the looks of the amount in escrow, I don't think it's been paid.
CC: HMMM! Uh, can I get your phone number and get back with you?
Me: Certainly

Alarming

Here it is early in the morning, so what am I doing up? Usually we are up early, but cripes, it seems like the sun just went down. There is something about the smoke alarm going off, that will get you wide awake, no matter what the time is (unless you are WS, in which case you sleep right through it).

I woke up about 30 minutes ago because the smoke alarm let out 3 beeps. I don't know what that was all about, but everything seems to be in order, so I was awakened for nothing. The Wonderful Spouse is still snoring away - I don't know whether that is a good thing (his getting uninterrupted sleep), or a scary thing.

Happiness in the Blogosphere

I hope I don't forget anyone in my well wishes of the day:

It's Jim's Birthday - another year wiser to go with the older part I hope.

It's Broad at Bat's Anniversary - congratulations to a couple of crazy 'kids".

Wowza!

Lance Armstrong has won his record-winning 6th Toure de France. Way to go!

Big Birds

I was reading (and enjoying the picture) of a red tailed hawk over at Fred's place. This got me to thinking how lucky we are, in our little town to have a woman that specializes in raptor and accipiter rehabilitation. In the next town over, there is a woman that rehabilitates other types of birds.

The raptor/accipiter rehabilitationist lives less than a mile away from us, and occasionally brings some of her birds down our road (excercise, training, just for a walk and letting the birds get comfortable with her? I don't know). It is amazing to watch a 60-something year old woman walk down the road with a large, hooded bird on her arm; it must certainly get tiring. She does some educational work with school children, using the variety of facinating birds she has (some can't be let back into the wild because of their injuries).

I remember one time when Nicky and Sampson saw her on the road and ran down to greet her. both dogs were big, 70-90 pounds, and the run to the road is downhill, so they definitely gained speed. They wouldn't have hurt anybody or anything, but Nancy, the rehabilitator, couldn't know this. We were yelling at the dogs to come back, and they naturally didn't listen (this was before we had neighbors, so the training was a bit lax). Nancy stayed very calm - never yelled at the dogs or anything. She just stopped in the road and held her arm as high as she could, so the bird was out of reach of their questing noses. After they had sniffed her once or twice, the dogs decided to listen to us and came back. We apologized to Nancy and she assured us it was no big deal, they were just curious and didn't mean, or cause, any harm. Neither she, or the bird, had any ruffled feathers after the incident.

We became more vigilant about who was walking down the road, and never had another close encounter like that. Nancey still occassionally walks a bird down the road, sometimes with another person who also carries a bird. It is neat to watch, and always a pleasure to exchange howdies with the lady who cares for injured birds!

Race Weekend

This weekend, over 100,000 people are at NHIS (New Hampshire International Speedway) enjoying a NASCAR Nextel Cup race.

The masses of fans! The traffic! The country music! The lack of parking! The race cars, crews and drivers! No, I'm not talking about NHIS anymore, I'm talking about Walmart. We went to the Concord Walmart to get the Wonderful Spouse new tennis shoes yesterday and they had several race cars, with their accompaning road vans, in the parking lot. Fans were there from Nova Scotia to Virginia (judging by license plates I saw).

At least we didn't see any of the weirdness that goes on at the race grounds themselves!

Friends Indeed

Jaqueline has an uplifting story about 2 of her cats. Not only does Bob sound special, the humans involved are pretty special themselves, rescuing Viz the way they did!

Home Again

Specialist Sean is finally back home, safe and sound. It seems like forever ago that I wrote about his leaving!

Mmm. Good

The chipmunks have done a number on the bulbs I planted last year. A myriad of holes developed lately in the cedar mulch, just the same size as the bulbs, but empty. Phooey on this – I scraped off all the mulch and pulled any weeds still there (yes there were a couple of small stinging nettle plants in there again, but I was smart enough to use gloves this time). The only things left in that area were the Irises, Tulips and a couple of other bulbs that I’m not sure the names of. But most of the 150+ bulbs (not counting the iris) I planted in that particular spot last year, were removed from the area by chipmunks.

I went to Agway and picked up 33 perennials and planted them on Saturday, then re-mulched the entire area on Sunday. I also got a couple of bottles of all-natural animal repellant – meant to keep the cats from using the area as a litter box (I think it is the neighbor’s cats doing this, but it might be one of mine). Weirdly enough, when I sprayed the repellant on the area, it smelled like bread and butter pickles.

We were supposed to have scattered showers Monday, but naturally we had a constant rain; racking up 1½” of water through the day. Amazingly enough, I was still able to smell the “pickles” on Tuesday morning, so hopefully the stuff is still doing its thing (It’s hard to tell right now as cats don‘t usually use that area when the mulch is wet).

We are tentatively planning an overnight trip to Niagara Falls this Labor Day Weekend, probably with the usual suspects (Jim and Harry). Once we get firm okey-dokeys from the guys, we will make the reservations. It should be interesting finding a motel room somewhere close by that isn’t all booked up by now. This will be the first vacation that I have taken, that isn’t to go see family, in a couple of years, so I am looking forward to it! Not that I don’t love to see family – mine or his – but sometimes it’s nice to do something a bit different once in a while.