STUFF

My husband bought an espresso machine. A real one. We had a Mr. Coffee espresso machine and it made espresso that tasted like it had been made in a Mr. Coffee machine: a touch stronger than real coffee but a lot weaker than real espresso.

Starbuck's makes real espresso.
Dunkin Donuts makes almost real espresso.

I drink coffee, when I drink it at all, black. Very black. The stronger the coffee is, the happier I am with it. Most people cannot drink my coffee because it is too strong. And I do not drink decaf. What's the point in drinking coffee at all unless it has some caffeine in it? It's like drinking non-alcoholic beer. (I think beer tastes nasty after the first few sips, so I am biased anyway.)

It was very weird because I had been looking at these very expensive espresso machines but had not said anything to him because they were...well...very expensive.

I kept thinking how much dog food it would buy.

My dogs would not have to eat sticks to survive. I could buy real food for them.

 

I thought of how many dog show entries it would be.

How many books would it have bought.

How many groceries.

How many bottles of my Barefoot Cellars Chardonnay.

 

 

How many Basset Hounds I could have.

 

But instead, we bought the espresso machine.

 

And I have to say, it makes damn good espresso. I will never go back to regular coffee, and my consumption of Coca Cola has even dropped a bit. (I go through a 2 liter bottle a day, usually.)

 

So if you want real espresso, come on over.

 

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It snowed.

Not a lot but enough that there was some on the ground and Doc was absolutely thrilled.

 

He doesn't look thrilled in this photo but he was very happy, and oddly, so were the Bassets for about 15 minutes. Then they all realized ( all the Bassets) how cold and wet it was and that was the end of that. Which is why Doc is looking dejected: the Bassets all went in the house.

 

He laid outside by himself chewing on a stick which is his favorite toy.

This is about how much snow there was. Not enough, according to Doc who, even though he is from Texas likes his cold weather.

 

****************************

 

 

 



DAY BEHIND

I am behind. I did not write yesterday.
But in the morning as the sun came up I looked out my window and saw the light in the fall leaves and went out and photographed. It is hard to get the full impact, but it was stunning. (Not because I was staring into the sun, altho perhaps that had something to do with the headache I had all day.)

This is what I saw when I looked out the window at Dustin/Justin's (not sure-- could be either one) house, or rather, above and behind his house. The contrast is missing because the trees around were still shrouded in heavy dawn, only the tops of the trees had light.

There's not a lot of color choices in the neighborhood. There are a few trees that apparently do not care for yellow raiment. If I knew anything about trees I could tell you why but, lucky you, I know only that they grow, have leaves, then change color and don't have leaves, and that some --like the only two we had-- also have bugs that force you to cut them down.

Looking across the fence in the backyard down the street.

And at Sara's huge pine tree in the front.

 

(Isn't this exciting?) (It really was quite beautiful or I would not inflict it upon you.)

 

This is my favorite. It's a house down and across the next street.

And this is my real favorite: Nigel on his throne in the sunlight.

 

BREEDERS CUP

The Breeder's Cup is today. It is horse racing-- flat racing, not trotters or pacers. I am not sure where it is being held. They hold an entire day of racing and the last race, of course, is the Breeder's Cup,  which is being held this year in Santa Anita, California.

There is a lot of controversy surrounding horse racing, but that is not what I am interested in for the purposes of this.
A few years ago a friend of mine and I went to Lexington, Ky just a few days before the start of the racing season. We went to Churchill Downs where the Kentucky Derby is held, and it was impressive, but heavy on security.

We also went to Keeneland, which at that time was much more open. We ate in the track kitchen with the trainers and exercisers and grooms and touts. It was great. And it was very early morning, very early, the lights were still on, and it was beautiful even without the horses.

 

 

 

Keeneland, early in the morning

 

Then the horses start coming out onto the track, and the trainers standing around, and a few owners. Trainers tend to kind of stand apart from each other, leaning on the rail or standing up in the stands.

 

Trainer at Churchill Downs, watching her horse breeze in the morning.

The horses come out singly, and in groups, some with ponies and some without, the riders are exercise riders not usually the jockeys. Now and then you see one horse really being run, but generally it seemed to me that they were a lot more leisurely. It was clear the horses WANTED to run more, but this was warm up, and
they were moving which was better than not moving, standing in a stall, watching the others...

                           Exercise girls start out together.

The horses work on the dirt track, and also on the turf track. Some horses never run on dirt, others never run on turf, and of course we all know some horses do best in horrible, sloppy, muddy, rainslick conditions.
But not today.
Today the sun is out and this is not a race.

 

 

 

But at the end of the workout, it's back to the stable, and their grooms, and their stablemate cats and goats and ponies, and a quiet evening....

 

 

Good luck to all of them: may none make a wrong step as the Baffert filly did this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAND SIGNALS

I read an article that claimed that if you point at an object a dog will look at the object rather than your pointed finger.

Clearly, my dogs have not read this article, because they insist on staring raptly at my finger: "What? What? What? Where?" I have to practically touch the object, drawing their stares [slowly] from my finger to the object.
50% of the dogs watch my finger anyway, as if I had a hotdog glued to it.

Here are some other hand signals that might come in handy if only I could teach them to the dogs.

Now. This one they know. I have to admit that. This is the "I have no more treats in my hands. See? They are EMPTY. Nothing here but fingers."
 This is the one time when their attention wanders from my hands immediately. By the time they have glanced briefly at my hands they are sniffing the floor, my shoes, anywhere I might have stashed food since, we all understand, I never feed them and they are starving.

This is "Hold it, wait there!"
The dogs know exactly what it means. It means (to them) OBOY THERE'S SOMETHING HAPPENING,LET'S GO!!

This is DOWN. Meaning lay down. It is a movement signal starting up and traveling downward. The dogs watch and then wander off doing whatever they were doing before, snuffling along the ground in case I was pointing at spilled food.

This is "come".It begins out and sweeps toward the body . I have one dog who responds but the rest (short legs) all stare at my hand as if convinced I am having some kind of seizure. The one who responds would also respond if I did not make any hand gesture but simply walked through the room and looked at him.

This is a really important hand signal. It means STOPSTAY. DO NOT MOVE.
Since 3 of 4 dogs are not moving anyway but are sound asleep, this is meant for the 4th dog who stops, edges forward, stops, edges forward.....

The final Hand signal is used after training the former hand signals and consists of a closed fist with one finger extended and will not be shown since the photographer thought I was extending the finger in his direction in response to his photography skills and left the room muttering the same words I am usually muttering after a training session with the dogs....

ONE THIRTY A.M.: 63 DEGREES, DEWPOINT 62%, BAROMETER 29.74 AND FALLING--WIND 8MPH

Goooooooood morning!!!!
I cannot sleep so why should you? If I had your phone numbers, I would call you all. (I wouldn't:most of you have jobs and families and I would give you heart attacks at this hour and some of you have guns and know where I live.)

I took a nap earlier, sprawled on John's bed because my legs were starting to do their thing and sometimes...once in a great while, if I sleep on my prodigious belly for 20-40 minutes, it stops without taking the mediciation. And it did. But four hours of sleep is about my max most of the time, and I went to bed at 10:30 and now it is 1:30 and here I am. Add the naptime on, and I am up.

All alone with a freezer full of Halloween candy.

I have used this before but it is one of my favorite puppy photos. I have clue who it is but John believes it is Nigel, by the small white tip on his tail. Those puppies sure were cute, and a lot of work, and a lot of fun. And so photogenic.

This is me with Prince, the neighbor dog with whom I grew up. Did I have friends? Yes, of course--Prince. Who needed any other friends?
Did he let me get away with terrible things? Yes, of course, he was smart and knew I was a treasured  pet. Did he once, many years later, send a drunk off in short order when Prince and I were out walking? Ohhh, indeed he did. Do we wonder why I like dogs? No, I think not.

This is Mitchell, and probably the single most published photo I have ever taken. It has been in newspapers, contests, blogs, Christmas cards, etc etc. It is maybe the single best photo I have taken in my life. Ch. First Class Ensign M. Bonsai, TD. A true gentleman dog and perhaps the finest Basset I have ever owned. (There is always one.)

This is my friend McBeth and her dog Watson. McBeth is now DR McBeth DVM, but then she was still in school Watson, a Kees mix of some kind or perhaps all Kees, wandered onto the neighbor's yard and was shot in the elbow. It was a terrible wound, really awful. The U of Illinois fixed it up and Watson led a long and happy life with a slight limp and some arthritis later on. He was a fortunate dog.

McBeth is a wonderful Veterinarian, too.

(Watson is now ATB )

 

This is a semi-ghastly painting I did of two Percherons at the Percheron Congress in 2010 I think. The photo is much better, I assure you, but I tried. The horse on the right needs more chest showing, I believe.

You realize of course that I am simply killing time until I can figure out whether I can go back to sleep or not. Thank you for allowing me to do this...

This is my favorite mug in the whole world, and my friend Heidi gave it to me. I am going to have it buried with me.

Good night.

 

TIME OUT

Got up this morning feeling like. Nevermind what. And my lower intestinal tract seemed to agree.
I had a doctor's appointment that I canceled.
John had one that he went to.
Then I talked to Debbie Winchester (Actually I talked to her last night) and she had told me to try some Slippery Elm so I did, and then I began to feel better but not good.

So I took the camera and went out back and sat in the LifeSaver's Chair.

Which really is an extra tall director's chair that John put on a tree stump, overlooking our tiny fish pond.

All the dogs were out, including Nigel.
It was sunny and warm and I nearly fell asleep but the chair is a bit wobbly and about 4 feet off the ground so that didn't seem like a good idea.

Eventually, Nigel wandered over. This is how he travels. It is not good for his legs underneath but  nothing stays on and if I bandage it, It weeps and goos beneath the bandage. (Which comes off the moment he is inside and the leg is washed with betadine and dried and then sprinkled with PredF).

Conley joined us after a few moments, watching to see where his nemesis, Doc, is.

Doc, who has Nigel's towel that I use to help him in and out of the house, is across the yard pretending that he is not paying any attention to the other dogs, especially Conley, who he torments.

Nigel has found something green to munch. All my Bassets are like cows and I have often wondered about the futility of feeding very expensive, grain-free food when they practically mow the lawn for dessert.

The chief Predator remarks the movement of the prey.

The Prey is not totally without insight.

Dun dun dun dun (Hum "Jaws" here.)

The Prey glares dangerously.

 

 

 

Yeah oh well...

WHAT WE FOUND

This is Doc with MomPerson helping.
Lass night me an Conley went out. We caught a monster.
It hiss.
It hab sharp points an teef.
It hidin only not very good.
MomPerson say it a kiddin. Kitten.

Then we fine more.
Two more.
All ofem wooda fit in my food dish. MomPerson made we come in an I don't no no more than whut I just tole youse. I wented to the kitchen an ate da papr towls.
Thenk Yew
Doc


Mom says: I spent from 2 until 5:30 this morning outside in my jammies an slippers with a flesh FLASHlight  (I have been around these dogs too much). trying to catch feral kittens. I wish their Mother ( who has been looking for them off and on all day) had just kept them at home. I was happier not knowing they existed.
I caught two (no I did not touch them. I have scars from "friendly" cats at work, never mind a terrified feral kitten.) and this morning I took them to the Animal Hospital.

I emailed Dr C to thank him for taking in the kittens and to warn them again that these are feral kittens and probably will need a lot of patience and skill.

He wrote back thanking me for sending them "Satan's kittens" so I gather my estimate of their lack of social skills was pretty accurate.
By the way I threw two whole sardines in there with them...