My Week

 

Last Monday afternoon, a little girl wanted to pet Sophie on a walk and Amber jealously attacked Sophie.    Of course this angers me for at least 24 hours.  So I put Amber in a harness since this slows her down and mellows her out.   This feeling carried over into my evening Nose work class.  I've already been disappointed in Amber's alert to the "hot box" odor in the past.  I had been given advice that another dog knew the task by what was worn including a harness for nose work.  Knowing Amber had a new harness, I tried that and it slows her down especially after an aggressive afternoon.  Well the harness did mellow her out Amber to the point she didn't perform or alert on the hot box.  Sandra told me to try without the harness and she did better.  She told me there was a difference between the way she had her tail down when she was wearing the harness.  Now I'm both mad at Amber's performance in nose work and her aggression toward Sophie.  Amber prefers to be naked even when it's cold.  I took her to class in a sweater once and she shut down also.  She is vengeful.  You may recall the video from my last blog that Amber finally learned the correct pressure to open a little trash bin.  Today she won't open the can because she's mad at me for making her wear a harness. She's punishing me.  I took the harness off and all of a sudden, she can pop the lid again.  Grr.

I ordered a new dog bowl that I don't need to bend over and pick up like this one.  It arrived on Monday.

I had one 3 years ago when I had my surgery but that one is getting plastic brittle.
 
Wednesday I took Amber to Agility practice in Mechanicsburg.  Initially she wanted to run around and do a zoomy but after a few exercises, she made me proud.  I had to give Amber a bath after agility practice in the barn. There are 5 other dogs and she's the only dog at practice that rolls in horse and cow dirt in the barn.

Despite my request NOT to get a Keurig coffee maker, my son forced one on me for Christmas.  It's a Hamilton Beach FlexBrew dual 12 cup pot and a single cup side.  I was happy with my 4 cup little pot similarly found in hotel rooms.  Filling that 12 cup carafe would be 2 days of microwaving cold coffee.   As for the single cup brewing, what sense is it to go through all the steps to make a regular pot of coffee for just one cup?  My other pot I put the plug in the wall, got a filter and ground and water and ready in a few minutes for a person that lives alone.  Now I have those same steps but have added it for each and every cup plus have to select between carafe or single, then push the brew button.   Oh, and the countertop space it takes up with an already crowded kitchen increases the clutter I really don't need.  I've been trying hard to downsize  and this doesn't help.

Friday morning I was in the color guard for an active veteran or our community, Joe Flemming.  It sure doesn't take long to get cold fingers during a brief ceremony.

 I would have been happy with fireplace logs.  

The patio sliding door that I ordered is in the warehouse at Lowes and scheduled to be installed Feb 3d.  Meanwhile, I picked up trim and stain that matches.  I'm really not good at staining or painting.  I didn't take the upc code of the boards so that happened between the 1st and 2d coat.

Monday after exercise, I was planning to go to the funeral for a fallen AmVets member and my car wouldn't start.  That kinda ruined the day.  Everything was flashing lights like it was about to explode. I called Nissan service and got an appointment for 2PM but the tow didn't come.  After seeking remote advice from my brother-in-law and friends on Facebook, I put the charger on the battery.  The needle hardly moved but an hour later it started and I got my ass over to One Stop Auto Shop.

A few errands to the bank and gas station and pick up Sean for his birthday dinner.  

Alan met us at El Mazatlan, a midway restaurant, that seems to be a recurring meeting place.

Here are my shrimp fajitas in a pineapple shell.  It's important to eat the accompanying salad and rice because those items don't do well in a carry out box for tomorrow's treat.

My 44 year old birthday boy.

I was asked to thank all those that wished him a happy birthday on Facebook to reply on his behalf from Facebook jail.

After I got home, I took Amber to her second last Containers Nosework class. She still sniffs everything in the room since we started this series of classes in July.  But tonight, Amber did better than previous weeks just sniffing around and not indicating the hot box. This was first time we used the word "alert" and did not know where the hot box was.  She had one false alert but Sandra said she noticed my hand near my pocket and thought she could trick me into giving her a reward.  I called "alert" and was told no.  The other 3 dogs in class indicate the hot box by either a sit and stare ore nose pointing to the box.  Amber indicates it with a single paw on the hot box.  I repeat "show me" to make sure.

I renewed my membership with CPE but was also disappointed that this coming weekend's trial was canceled.  Now I have to wait until May 22-23.

 In the wake of what was intended to be a peaceful support rally for our president, turned out to be a mob infiltrated by a paid busload of Antifa.  Some of the peaceful crowd mingled with the violent protesters and. Censorship in this country is real.  Done with Republicans and Democrats, it’s time to walk away from both parties. The Democrats hate the country and the Republicans hate their voters. We are headed toward a "single party" system as supporters drop the Republican party.  We war left to Satan's culture.