and an update on a dark day about personality plus

Today, with a darker day, insomnia last night, etc. here's the profile. I wonder if it changes depending on mood, where you are in your life, that sort of thing.

Personality Plus Your Result: Choleric   Choleric - the extrovert, the doer, the optimist. To view further information about the Choleric personality type, visit personalityplus.awardspace.info
Melancholy
Sanguine
Phlegmatic
Personality Plus Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

personality plus

Thought this was interesting, I just read Florence Littauer's book, Personality Plus at Work. Really helpful (I hope!) in future work interactions. Very interesting book & I took the personality test online. The results follow.

Personality Plus Your Result: Choleric   Choleric - the extrovert, the doer, the optimist. To view further information about the Choleric personality type, visit personalityplus.awardspace.info
Melancholy
Sanguine
Phlegmatic
Personality Plus Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

long time no post

I have not posted for a while because I thought Blogger was being merged with another system. So it is good that it is still working. I would miss Blogger if it went away.

Update: I'm now a member of Goodreads.com thanks to Kate. It is a really fun place, because you can keep track of what you've read and when. I doubt I'll ever be able to put in all the books I've ever read in my lifetime, but it is great to be able to record what I'm currently reading, and to look for other books that I would like to read. With the local library's wifi, I should be able to bring up that list of 'to-reads' and look for books I'm interested in far more easily than using a list on a piece of paper.

Much is going well in life lately. Mom is doing so much better, and I am thankful. Dad celebrated his 80th birthday, and we all had fun. Got him a balloon, put the numbers 80 on his cake, which he thought was funny. Such great times with the family. Rosy continues to grow and get more beautiful every day. Annie is loving and affectionate. I think she enjoys having me home so much, just as much as Rosy does.

Surveys

I've been taking a lengthy survey online, and finally finished. Way too long, and they tended to ask the same question multiple times. One set of questions was about whether our household members went grocery shopping too and what they did when they went grocery shopping.

Too bad there's no space on the survey to write free-form responses. I could have said, "Rosy would go stand in the refrigerator for the meats section and snack out of the meat packs. She'd probably go for the most expensive steaks. Annie would probably go look for catnip.... "

Just momentarily interesting to think about what they would do if they went grocery shopping. Buy new kitty litter? buy canned meat? Tunafish? Probably.... I'm sure they would have fun.

spring update

Really need to get a pic of Rosy in her tracking harness up and will. Right now we've gone to one tracking test (and failed before the 3rd corner, so she started well, did well, got distracted by a coyote den and couldn't get refocused) and will be in another one soon.

Hot here today. daffodils & those little blue shooting stars are out now. Lots of raking in my future, but not today. Will be going home for Easter, to Wisconsin next weekend, and then Night for Notables (Michigan Notable Books) on the 17th. Should be exciting with the National Book Finalists speaking that day, David Small and Bonnie Jo Campbell.

Missed tracking test, will try again

I have another list of tracking tests to enter. Missed the one in Oak Ridge, due to hurting my back by falling in a hole. No, Rosy wasn't involved. :)

Nobody passed in Oak Ridge on Saturday the 13th, so maybe it is just as well. I think Rosy would have passed however... she's that good. We'll try again later. Meanwhile I'm making stuff for the week ahead and am very thankful that I do not have to go to work tomorrow. President's Day.

Rosy is just glad to have me home & all toherself. She had a great time yesterday, playing with two standard poodle puppies and is pretty tired today, still. Good girl, Rosy.

belated update on Rosy & other things

Rosy certified a while ago, and how is entered in various tracking tests, mostly down south in places in TN & Kentucky. We'll be in Oak Ridge February 13. Should be fun! Should be entertaining!

She's in another agility class, and also in a class called Control Unleashed. This is designed to teach dogs to hold still for a while and to learn to relax while in the presence of challenging things. Some dogs are reactive, some dogs are overly excited by certain things. Rosy is a high drive, high energy dog, so she gets happy & excited about all kinds of htings. This will teach her focus.

Also met new puppy Hubbell, a brown standard poodle and they are getting along well.

Here are some lyrics to a favorite song, just to make all this a little more interesting. ;)

Lyrics of Morning has broken

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the world

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day

Winter update

Official start of winter isn't far off! We have snow, but apparently not as much as North Carolina & DC area, which is too bad. We're more used to it than they are, poor souls.

Rosy & I went to the obedience club to practice with friends, one with a Papillon and one with a very large black standard poodle. The Papillon after a while decided that it needed to nip Rosy several times. I guess she was annoying him. She didn't seem fazed by it & in fact behaved very much the way she does when Annie snarls & smacks her. We broke up the melee, and took Rosy off to practice outside the ring by herself. She's learning how to walk on a loose lead (very difficult in that building with the distractions of two other dogs) and how to wait/stay for a few seconds. She's getting there. Very smart girl. (do I sound biased? )

Showed how to teach down (as your hand goes up in the down signal, and played the recall game with the big poodle as well. That was actually kind of interesting, since he's almost too tall to play this game & has to duck between my legs to fit through. I'm used to playing with short dogs. Then we played with gloves for the utility directed retrieve. Rosy's problem is that she grabs the glove & goes gallivanting off to show it to everyone in the building before she comes back. Then she drops it half way back. She's such a puppy. (and a really fun one).

Off for birthday lunch with a friend at Aladdins.

fall posting

It is now the one year anniversary since bringing Rosy home! She grew up so fast. I really wanted her to slow down a little & not grow up quite so fast. She's a darling, and looks grown up until I see the full grown Welsh Springers. We are doing Rally class now, which, in case you don't know about it, is a more fun version of obedience. She's by far the least experienced dog in the class, and her heeling is still a work-in-progress. But last night, after we had done some practice routines, then practiced heeling and finishes, and all that fun stuff, she looked up at me, jaws agape, tongue lolling out, and eyes all lit up. I think this is her favorite class. Her agility class is ending next week, so I need to find one closer to home. She loves that too, so it is great to see that she also loves working with me in more obedience style stuff. She's a honey.

I'm also thinking that I need to rename this blog Rosy's blog, since that's pretty much all I talk about. On the book level, I'm reading Michigan books like the new book from Kent State University Press, about Orlando M. Poe. Fantastic book, and what a marvelous job of research & hard work. Very painstaking. Poe was the guy behind the Sault Ste. Marie Locks and the one who built many of the Great Lakes Lighthouses. Pretty darn cool stuff. We're still getting books in, and so many of them are so good. One recommendation: January's Sparrow. it is for the older child, possibly juvenile & is a 97 page book. Patricia Polacco wrote this one, and it is based on a real life occurrence in Marshall, Michigan. Really amazing piece of work, as she did both the illustrations and the story. No more time to write, but suffice to say that I'm very busy, yardwork (20 plus bags of leaves, despite the ten I've already taken out) and very involved in tracking sports right now. And planning for Thanksgiving.... much cooking. Mom's asked for my cranberry relish & I will look forward to making that again. It smells so delicious.

With me (and Rosy)

Great class on Friday. I asked for a private training session, so that I could work with some issues with Rosy. The main things were grooming (tolerating it), heeling and casual heeling, and ability to tolerate being handled.

Interesting thing about Rosy is that she prefers that people not handle her head. She also likes to look at what's happening around her. She's very attentive to sound, movement, etc. And yes, most dogs are, but she is particularly so, to a degree that is interesting to work with. She will actually turn her rear end to most people, and lean on their legs (just a little, not hard), so that they can rub or scratch her flanks.

So, since that doesn't go over big in the obedience ring (stand for examination) or in the conformation ring, we'll work on her allow that to happen when I ask her to. The heeling work is particularly important, as I really need her to walk nicely with me so that my back doesn't get yanked out of joint. She's very smart, and learned quickly what we wanted her to do. We'll work on it in the house, in the backyard (those squirrels tease her a lot, so this may be a challenge) , and then driveway, then side walk, and onward. Also did a little bit of obedience work on heeling. The casual heel command will be 'with me' which will let her know she doesn't have to look at me, etc. while we're walking. The heel command will be reserved for the more military style heeling used in the obedience competition ring. I'm very pleased with her progress already.

Also working on attention, which just means the dog looks at you & pays attention to what you're saying. Sound easy? Not for Rosy, who prefers to lean on me (which keeps track of me) and look elsewhere. She definitely wants to keep track of me, which is really fun. She's a good girl.

Had a great track today, and for the first time, I did it without much assistance. I looked back at the first corner to see if she really was indicating the corner & my friends said yes. Did as suggested (and as I had done several times before on tracks) and just called her to me when she started galloping, and held her for a moment to settle her down. Each time she refocused & showed me where the track was. Boy, she's fast! I need to practice my sprinting. Good day for tracking. I put down two tracks, and one went through treelines & the other was a road crossing plus a really difficult tree & plant area, that was a set of bulldozed ruts. When you walked in there, it looked like you were climbing a mountain, but it was actually very easy to go up the hill. Very nice working dogs made short work of them.

saying

When eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the tree.

- Vietnamese saying

Deborah Frontiera's books

Two really wonderful books, both by Deborah K. Frontier. Deborah is a native to Michigan, growing up in Lake Linden in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. She has lived away from Michigan in her adult life, but has a cottage in the UP where she spends her summers.

I especially wanted to mention two books that were recently submitted for the Michigan Notable Books program. One in particular, I especially liked & this one is LIving on Sisu: The 1913 Union Copper Strike Tragedy. The story is written in journal format by the oldest daughter of a Finnish immigrant family at the time of the miners strike, where Big Annie of Calumet plays a prominent role. The story is a remarkable one, encompassing the decision to unionize, to join the strike, the long months of not working, and the ending of the story. Frontiera manages to put a very personal face on the miners' strike, including the effect on people's families and what people did to survive. As well, many details that are missing from modern life, including canning, preserving food for the winter, children having to work to help support the family are well presented here. She does a wonderful job of showing, not telling about these details as well as accurately portraying this long ago time.

I recommend it highly, and this book may be of interest to young readers who like the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. Parents whose children are sensitive to violence should be aware that the Italian Hall Disaster, where over 70 people died, including many children is talked about in this book, as the main character is there in the Hall during that time.

The second book I wanted to mention by Frontiera is Copper Country Chronicler: The Best of J. W. Nara. What an absolutely charming photographic book. Nara took many pictures in the Upper Peninsula, and his photos are full of family details, details of buildings, children, places & scenes of the UP. Really well put together, interesting, and the captions put together a historical perspective on the region.

Enjoy!

Closeup of Rosy's pretty face at 1 year old

I think her tongue is always out. She enjoys life & looking at every thing going on around her.

Rosy's getting ready to show!

Picture says it all! She's growing up nicely.

Ricky passes

Ricky was Gingerwood's Partners In Crime. He's the little guy at the top of the picture, and Bridie is below, with the happy face. His other names were Rick, Ricardo, Richard the Claw (for his habit of pawing whatever he was near to get people's attention). He was an absolute sweetheart, and his only goal was to be near the people he loved. Since he had severe anxiety (separation and other kinds), he was retired from the show ring early on, and my parents had him for the last ten and a half years. He turned twelve on the 3rd of July this year.

I called him Grumpy Old Man, because he was the disciplinarian. Fiona, the black lab took great delight in teasing him gently. He'd bark at her & she'd lick his face gently. He'd get grumpy & you could tell from her demeanor that she thought this was funny & it looked like she was saying, "I know you're grumpy, but I love you lots." They were best buddies when she came here about six years ago. He adored Bridie and his huge stuffed teddy bear with all of his little doggie heart.

Just a couple of weeks ago, he started to lose control of his hindquarters. A doses of prednisone seemed to help, but he developed seizures. The vet believes he had brain lesions or a brain tumor. He went gently to sleep on Friday, one of the best good old boys I've ever had in my life. Rest in peace, dear Ricky, your only goal was to watch over us all, and you did a very good job of that.

Rosy's update

Rosy now has a new harness and it is in dusty Rose to fit her name. She looks cute & this new harness isn't as big as the old one, purchased nearly sixteen years ago. She's also going great guns & getting more & more confidence in tracking. She's great to track with & a great deal of fun. Growing up by the day.

And I can see her from the window, digging a hole to bury her rawhide in. Remarkable that both she & Bridie both liked to take their rawhides out to season. Although in Bridie's case, I think Bridie also wanted to take the rawhides out so the cats wouldn't look at them. As if the cats even wanted to chew on them! (they didn't but she was firmly convinced they had nefarious plans on her rawhides).

Books read yesterday

Finished Pandora's Locks by Jeff Alexander. If you're at all interested in the environment & in protecting it, this is a book well worth reading. He lays out the problems of biological pollution (introducing creatures, plants, etc. from other places into new places), some solutions, and writes with passion about the issues. Very good book.

Started Mystery of the Copper Turtle by Doris Kelly (Arbutus Press), continuing with Real life & liars by Riggle, glanced through the new Supremes book by Ribowsky, finished the Red Squad by Broner (excellent book, interesting take on the 60s & those who were protestors at that time).

Have more to read, of course.

Nice headshot of Rosy at ten months

Isn't she cute?

Rosy's tracking day and good people

Had a blast yesterday with the people I was with from 9 until nearly 3pm. Some of us went to lunch, partly because I said I was ready to eat Rosy's treats. ;) Rosy was to get certified, but didn't manage it. I think she had some difficulty with the pull of the line in the tall grass, and I'm sure my nerves affected her a bit, although I was trying not to be nervous.

Beth Lange who was there took some lovely pictures of her & here they are!

new books and soon to come photos

New books: Just looked over Execution 13: The Last Hanging in Michigan by James Hopp. And have been reading Dead Dancing Lovers by Elizabeth Buzzelli, Pandora's Locks by Jeff Alexander, My Germany by Lev Raphael, The Red Squad by EM Broner, and Recovery of Gray Wolves in the Great Lakes REgion by Wyleven.

Pandora's Locks is an excellent book, very well written. Jeff Alexander writes an account that is both scientific & accurate, while intermingling it with the personal accounts of how the damage to the lakes from invasive species started and is continuing. I had not realized that the monetary damages far surpass the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska nor that most of the native fish species in the Great Lakes have been extincted.

Also reading Moon's travel guides to both Upper Penninsula and Michigan (lower peninsula). Both are really good guides and very easy to follow.

Scanned through Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard, Running Home by Jennifer Ward (semi-autobiographical story of rescuing a German Shepherd), and scanned through Wade Rouse's At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream (memoir about a big city boy who moved to Michigan in quest of Thoreau's utopian ideals, only to come face to face with reality. Humor).

So as you can see, I've been busy. These are only some of the books I've been reading. Meanwhile, in the background, Rosy keeps me running. I have some new photos of her that I need to get up. She's gorgeous, still growing, and still very silly. Picture above taken after I play bowed to her & she play bowed back. She's going to go for her tracking certification soon & I'm looking forward to it. I need to keep my big feet out of her way though & just follow where she's leading. Wish us luck!