NEWF TIDE’S HERE AGAIN!

Posted on April 2, 2014 by BigFootClub

3/31/14

Monday was another busy day.  Greg worked late and stopped at the office on his way home.  I convinced him to take the dogs to the house with him then finished some tasks and went home to join them.  The dogs would be getting hamburgers tonight, so I thawed the meat and started cooking the burgers in a skillet.  Meat for dogs is best lightly cooked, not overcooked.  Next I started the vegetables, then picked up the new stack of mail on the counter.  There was the usual spam mail, a bill and some catalogs.  But wait!  That last item wasn’t a catalog – it was the new issue of Newf Tide!

We all know that the world comes to a halt when the Newf Tide arrives.  That is, except Banner, who wasn’t informed that it was now her responsibility to watch the burgers.  In her defense, she did seem a bit confused when they began sizzling, and she looked toward me, sitting on the sofa in the living room.  That was enough of a cue for me to jump up and flip the burgers.  I haven’t yet taught the Newfs how to do this.  I continued for 2 or 3 pages more, then turned the burner off.  Fortunately the microwave has a timer.

Jade waited patiently as dinner cooled, but Banner checked occasionally to see if I was still paying attention.  It’s not that they lose confidence, but that they learn that we (or at least I) need to be supervised, or so I tell myself.

I had reached the pages where the regional specialty photos were, checked some photos of dogs who were winning recently, admired Jade’s BOS photo from last fall then stopped to put food in the dishes before continuing to the reports section.  I told Jade that if she hadn’t fooled around so much at the water tests, her picture could have been there too.  She smiled and didn’t seem bothered at all.  Maybe this year.  She’s already been swimming twice, but it’s too cold to convince Greg to get in the water with her.  Good thing I can say that I can’t swim!  <g>  Banner went in twice, but decided that we must be crazy, until I threw the bumper for Jade again.  Maybe we will have two photos in the water tests section next year.  (or perhaps we will just swim for the many benefits of swimming)

What a supreme delight to find the Newf Tide, a nice random reward for checking the real mailbox.

If you’re not an NCA member, but you love to read about Newfoundlands or just look at hundreds of photos, here is a link to a form for subscribing:

http://www.ncanewfs.org/publications/newftide/pdfs/ntsub06.pdf

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READING THE MAIL (NEWF TIDE HERE!)

Posted on April 2, 2014 by BigFootClub

6/24/09

Yesterday I was in a hurry and didn’t stop to look at the mail after I picked it up.  There were some flyers, something that looked like a catalog and also what I thought was one of my business publications in a plastic cover.  (Silly girl!)

Rushing from task to task, to home, to potty dogs, to do this, that and the other before leaving for class, I left the mail on the counter for examination later.  After I got back from class, the dogs had to be taken care of, and the outdoor creatures, then we could retreat inside for the evening away from the recent barrage of heat.  At our house, the responsibility must always be assumed by the newest member of the group (Newfs) for supervising while I’m cooking their dinner.  Jade hasn’t quite caught onto that yet.  <g>  Once I open a Newf Tide, time doesn’t actually stop while I go through page after page, cover to cover, so I count on a little help.  In addition to dinner, I was once again boiling 18 eggs for the rest of the week.  At about the time the water from the eggs began to sizzle and pop, I realized that Jade was not yet fully acquainted with her new duties.  Jumping up, hopping over dogs in a state of alarm, who were so taken by surprise that they stayed down (fortunately,) I rescued the eggs without serious harm.  (Parker will be relieved.)

Maybe those things should come with warnings on the covers!  (or perhaps I need to actually set the timer on the microwave!)

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IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!

Posted on April 2, 2014 by BigFootClub

Written on 5/15/09, in response to a list discussion about fear of snakes

(in Remembrance series)

Parker decided to take me for a walk this afternoon.  As he is a big, gentle, sweet fellow, it wouldn’t even occur to me to refuse, so we walked around to the front yard together.  As we walked along the drop to the road, something that I was stepping across caught my peripheral vision and stopped my heart!  There lay an enormous (in the heat of the moment it seemed so) big black and wiggly thing with a head like an asp and a tail that rattled the dead leaves lying buried in the grass as if it were a rattlesnake!  When my blood pressure dropped back to normal, and my eyes went from Zoom to reality, it was “only” a medium size black rat snake, probably less than 5’ long.  (The red ones, also called corn snakes, are prettier and perhaps they don’t appear quite as intimidating as their larger shiny black relatives.)

I was glad that Parker was on leash still.  He wasn’t intimidated with it or fascinated either at first.  The more he watched it, the more interesting it was.  The more interested Parker became, the more threat posture the snake assumed.  Parker began barking at the snake.  Getting Parker to move would have either meant giving him a serious command or pulling on a ton of bricks, and since we were out for enjoyment at his invitation, I circled him to the other side of the snake so it could climb up the tree.  The tree, a Maple, had very dark, almost black bark, so the snake disappeared into the tree as it climbed.  Parker watched for a moment then looked around, apparently puzzled about how the snake could be in front of him one moment then gone the next.

Another outdoor adventure shared with a Newf!  <g>

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COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Posted on March 20, 2014 by BigFootClub

Written 1/17/14

This afternoon was another example.  He was in a very good mood today, happy and warm.  He, like Banker, works to involve us in his world.  When he’s happy, he will make efforts to entice us to play, to get happy when we’re focused on something else, to be light-hearted instead of too serious.  Today he decided that we should go out and have some fun.  So, when I let the dogs out to go potty, he ambled over to the van.  His foot has another opening, where he had access to a bump before I realized what he was doing (licking), so he has pain walking.  I watched him walk with some pain to the van.  I knew where this was headed, that he wanted to go somewhere.  Sometimes he wants to go for a ride, sometimes he wants to go swimming, sometimes he wants to see the vet.  (fortunately not often, at this point)  Jade knew what he was doing, and she sided with Parker; she stayed on the sidewalk instead of coming inside.  Banner hasn’t been around long enough to “read the map” yet.  This was at around 2 p.m.  So, I shut down the laptop, put on some jeans and joined him.  I wasn’t sure what he wanted, and I wasn’t about to take him swimming (although Jade has been wanting to go swimming), so I took them to town, dropped off some mail, stopped at Braums for a cheeseburger (to share) and drove around the area where the lake is.  I rolled the windows down so they could “smell the air” and tell where we were.  I drove to the dock where I used to take him for swims and surveyed the goose presence.  It’s supposed to be nearly 60 tomorrow and he will get a bath, so I may let him go into the lake if he wants to, and Jade too.  As cold as it is, that won’t last long, but it may pacify them until a better day, and another, until warmer weather arrives.

His requests can be subtle, but clear.  His voice is getting weaker, but his heart is still strong, and he will tell you what he’s thinking about sometimes too.  He is very patient during the week, but Fridays are “fair game” for creating distractions, subtle or otherwise.  His timing is good for the “almost” point, like when the video, or the work week, is “almost” over.

Parker is like a bridge for the other Newfs too.  Jade often doesn’t know what to do to communicate when she wants something, and I’ve seen Parker pick up on this, do the communicating for her while she watches him with an expression of remarkable surprise that he knows what to do.  So, sometimes when he makes a request, it is on behalf of someone else.

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