Happy Birthday to the Boy!

Today is Moose's first birthday.  In a little over a year, he has progressed from an unwanted, about to be "disposed of" puppy, to an over-indulged member of the family.  From unwanted to loved.  From unimportant to part of the family.

I had no idea what I was getting into when I told "the girl" she could have a puppy.  But he was so cute, cuddly and playful that he won me over right away.  I may have jumped into this a little quickly,  My only previous experience with a dog was my childhood dog, that I got for a birthday present when I was six, so I had forgotten that dogs need to be trained and exercised, and that they cannot be left on their own for a few days, like cats.

And I had no idea what would be involved with raising a Border Collie before I agreed to let one occupy my house.  I knew he was playful, energetic and loved to be rubbed and scratched.  I found out on the ten-hour drive bringing him home from Kansas City that he did not mind riding in the car.  But what I read later from a borrowed a book on Border Collies from the library, and heard from a couple of friends who know a lot about dogs, I was wondering what I got myself into.  What I read was scarier than a Stephen King novel.

The warnings were clear.  This is a highly intelligent, easily bored animal that will tear up your house if you don't keep him occupied all the time.  He will take a great deal of work, he will push boundaries, he will try your patience.  He will try to herd and dominate everything because that's what Border Collies were bred to do.  He will be a challenge.  Cujo seemed like an upgrade.

The reality of raising this particular Border Collie has been something much different different from the dire warnings about the evil that this dog would bring.  He is a very intelligent dog, and does he like to herd everything.  Some people use "herding cats" to describe the impossible.  Moose herds the cat.  All the time.  Not that the cat cooperates, but it is herded nonetheless.  I would love to see him with some sheep.  He responds well to basic commands like sit and stay, goes out for "necessary breaks" on his own and stays in the perimeter of the yard without fence or chain, and is getting better about being walked on the leash.  If we would walk him more instead of playing frisbee with him all the time, he would be much better on the leash.  Frisbee is just more fun.

There have been reports of Border Collies knowing over 1,000 words.  I don't think Moose is that smart, but he responds on command to finding his red ball, Kong and frisbee.  He knows where to find his "house," which is his crate, knows it is time to go to sleep for the night when he hears "bedtime,"   He, much to my disgust, has not learned that rabbit poop is not food, but knows when to "leave it."  He also has trained us to respond to his needs by doing his "tippy head" thing, where he tips his head from side to side, and whines when he has to go out.

He is also very sensitive to tone of voice and certain noises.  Loud laughing or disagreements among members of the family result in Moose taking to his crate.  When the neighbor next door cranks up his Harley, or when a helicopter goes overhead, he goes from room-to-room looking for the source of the noise.  He responds enthusiastically to praise for catching his frisbee in the air, or when he gets a belly rub.  He wears his mood on his little doggie face.

But, after we got through the puppy stage where he wanted to chew everything, he has not been destructive.  He learned quickly what he could have and what he could not.  And when scolded with a "bad dog" it is a more powerful punishment that I could imagine.  As for needing to dominate, he is more of an overgrown lap dog, wanting more to just be a part of what is going on.

In many ways raising a dog is like raising a child.  They require a ton of patience and understanding when they are young, they respond well to expectations and rules, and they learn at an amazing pace.  They do things that make you crazy, but love unconditionally, if you love them in return.

There have been times, especially during the puppy period, that I wondered if I had what it takes to raise a dog.  If I had the patience to teach him to be a member of the family.  I have been frustrated, angry and impatient at times with Moose.  But I have also been frustrated, angry and impatient with myself at times.  I have learned to be patient with him, he with me.  It has been a learning experience for us both.  I have learned a great deal about his behavior and his needs and how they are connected.  He has learned a great deal about my behavior and needs, and has adjusted as well.

But I still do not understand why he likes to eat rabbit poop.  That is just...wrong.

Poop and the Aftermath

My grandfather always said that if you don't learn something every day, you have wasted your day. Since the day he first said that to me, I have tried to learn something new. Some have turned out to be little things, some that I thought were little things have actually been life lessons, some "big things" have proven not to be, and I will never make macaroni and cheese with a tablespoon of dry mustard even if a world-renowned chef says it is delicious.

Until now, I knew that septic tanks were where waste went when living in areas without large sewer systems.  Until I went off to college I lived in a house with a septic tank.  I knew they had to be pumped from time to time, and smelled real bad when opened for pumping, but I never thought that disposing of poop would be an interesting subject. Sure the whole idea of eat-process-dispose-flush-septic/sewer/hole-in-the-ground can be a lesson in creative engineering, and require more physics than I can wrap my head around, but I never thought it would be the subject of a book that I could not put down.

"The Septic System Owner's Manual" is a book about dealing with what you ate yesterday today.  A combination of technical-but- interesting text and illustrations make it a book that has been hard for me to put down.  The book has everything from design to maintenance to information on the new composting toilets.  I have learned how soil types and bacteria play a prominent role in waste disposal.  I have learned about the good and bad, the right and wrong, the icky and not so icky about septic systems.

The author is one of those people who would make a great dinner guest, or be someone to sit next to on a transcontinental flight.   Lloyd Kahn is the Editor-In-Chief of Shelter Publications, writes a very interesting blog, and from his blog and books I have read, knows a lot about a lot of things,  had a great deal of experience in doing many, and is not afraid to try something new. He has written books on building, architecture, health and fitness and many other subjects.  He is a great storyteller, which is essential when writing a book about septic tanks.

And the way the chapters are written, in short, concise chapters, it could rival People Magazine for what to read when.....

The First Day of Spring

It is hard to believe that tomorrow is the first day of spring. Usually, in our humble little part of the Mitten State, the first day of spring is marked by either snow or freezing rain. Tomorrow, however, is forecast to be much like today, near or a little above 80 degrees.

Which means it is time to put away the snowblower stuff, and haul out the stuff needed for the summer. The lawn mower is out and running, snow shovels put away, but close by because I still don't trust Michigan weather, and the first of the rain barrels has been put out.

This year, the plan is to water the gardens using only accumulated rain water. So the number of barrels will increase from one to four. Possibly five or six, but I am content to see how we do with one.

Rain Reserve 

When I went to re-attach the barrel to the Rain Reserve diverter, it was cracked along the bottom edge, where the light orange stain is located on the bottom right-hand corner of the unit. The repair was easy, with a little pvc cement.  I thought this thing was bomb-proof, as it has seen many winters in sub-zero temperatures.  This year, it looks like it got clogged with the little asphalt particles from the roof, which then froze along with the left over water, and the thing cracked.  Here is information on how the Rain Reserve system works.

Even though the thing cracked, I am still a happy customer.

We bought ours, and the barrel, from Sustain Dane in Madison, WI.  Sustain Dane is a pretty amazing organization, and one of the early leaders in using rain barrels to water urban gardens.  If I remember right, one of the members of Sustain Dane developed the Rain Reserve idea.  The barrel is a recycled Mountain Dew syrup container.  If in Madison, check out Sustain Dane.  But if you plan to buy a barrel from them and take one home in your car, make sure you have a way to get it home.  They take up a lot of space in a car.

More on the barrel system as it progresses.

We have plants!

It looks like this year's crop is off to a successful start. We have four varieties of tomato, three onion (including those from our own seed!), cilantro, basil and even "mystery beans."  The mystery beans may not be a mystery to those who truly know beans, but they were rolling around in the bottom of the seed box, and I have no idea what they are.

Plants as of March 12, 2012

Last year we did not have nearly as many plants sprout as have so far this year.  The only difference between the years is this year I used melted snow to start the seeds rather than tap water.  Our city water here has such a high concentration of chlorine that it often smells like a swimming pool.  My plan is to water only with rain water from here on, and see what that difference brings in plant health and yield.

Better late....

All warm and nestled in their beds.....

The garden planting did not start until today. My best intentions were to have it started two weeks ago, but life happens, and projects jump up. So today it was started. Basil, dill, cilantro, onions, peppers and tomatoes were all started and put on "the rack" in the basement with heating pads under their little feet and grow lights shining down upon them. And to the local enforcers, I AM PLANTING VEGETABLES!!!!!

"The Rack"

"The Rack" is my somewhat custom planting stand built with plant heating pads and two florescent light fixtures that I bought for about $5 each, on an "indoor greenhouse" that we picked up a couple of years ago at Family Farm and Home for under $30. Along with my homemade starter mix, peat moss, vermiculite and a little compost and a bucket of melted snow, we hope to get a good rate of sprouting. I used melted snow because the water here in Mason is very loaded with chlorine, and I think that may have been the reason nothing wanted to sprout last year.

In a week we should have a good indication on how this growing season is progressing.

Tired puppy!

This morning we bounced out of bed bright and early, well it was around 11 for me, and headed out for a dog-walking expedition. It is hard to get Moose any leash time near our house because our neighborhood is small, Sitz Road is busy with cars and no shoulder, and he is too chicken to cross the highway overpass to take us into town.

So into the car in search of dog walking Nirvana. Or at least nothing with disco. And in the winter that means, ta-daaaaaa.....a Michigan State Park. What better place to take a dog who needs time on a leash than to a place where there is a lot of space and few people. So off to Sleepy Hollow State Park we went.

It was a great time. We saw maybe twenty people the entire time we were there. In the summer it would have been a couple thousand, as Sleepy Hollow is a well-used State Park being that close to Lansing. Instead of the drone of motorhome generators, screaming brats and Lynard Skynard, it was just the sound of wind, a few birds and a guy flying his remote control airplane. A rather cool World War II fighter replica (it looked like a Corsair, but I may be wrong), and he really knew how to fly it. Barrel rolls, stalls, dives, and he didn't crash it once. That is far beyond my capabilities with remote-control model aircraft.

But we did end up with a tired puppy, which was the point of it all. We walked 2.43 miles according to the GPS, and he was good on the leash 99% of the time. And wanted help getting in the car at the end of the walk. And plopped right down in the seat to rest.

This may be a regular trip, at least until the weather warms and "Free Bird" fills the air.

I'll see your tech and raise you...

Grant Peterson of Rivendell Bicycle Works is an interesting guy. There are many who find his approach to bikes (friction shifting, lugged steel frames, platform pedals, etc.) to be backward and "retrogrouch" in a world of electronic shifting Dura Ace and the latest in carbon fiber frames and wheels. If you don't follow the latest in bicycles, think of Grant as the guy who still drives his 1965 Ford pickup, fixes it himself and saves a ton of cash because he does not need a mechanic with a computer to tell him what is wrong with it when it breaks.

This week in the blog on the Rivendell site (http://rivbike.tumblr.com/) he talks about modern bicycle lights, and how some of the older lights may be superior in some ways to the newest and greatest. I don't know if I got Grant's point as he meant it, but what I hear him say is that sometimes just because it is new, does not necessarily make it better.

The first thing that comes to mind is Windows Vista. What was supposed to be the latest and greatest at the time, with more bells and whistles than its predecessor, but also a propensity to crash at the worst possible times, and asks for permission to do things more than my 14-year-old.

And with some things, why something was "improved" makes me shake my head. In one of his Rivendell Readers a few years back, Grant had an article about why chasing something "new and improved" does not always pay off. During the space race, NASA decided they needed a pen that could write in space, and spend millions of dollars on development of a pen that would write reliably in zero gravity. The Russians used pencils sad saved millions by going the low-tech way.

I'm not saying new technology should be avoided. The advances in medicine, being able to connect with anyone-anywhere-at any time, digital photographs (I wasted so much money on bad film shots), and other new technology I warmly embrace. But I am not going to buy something just because it is "new" any longer.