Weekend in Review

What a weekend.  Paul took off Friday night to spend some time in Grosse Pointe with the fam.  I took off to spend some time with friends.  A special highlight of the weekend was a fundraiser at the Jolly Roger Ice Rink.  I was invited to watch a game between some local hockey players and the Detroit Red Wings alumni association.   It was all kinds of fun.  

So much fun that I need to go get my skates sharpened and get back on the ice.  

Looking forward, we have Art Prize this week, some time with friends at Victory Life Church, a webinar on interviewing and if that isn't enough, Glee.  Yup, Glee's season premiere is Tuesday.

I. Can't. Wait.

Ah....the weekend

....the Friday happy dance, even if it is after the 5:00 pm hour. It was a nice day and a good week and we got quite a bit done. It was spring break at the college but for staff, we were still working away. In fact, we can actually be busier during 'breaks' since faculty and staff offices that aren't busy try and get things done that they have let slide.

It was also a dirty week for us. The construction crew doing the work down the hall created all kinds of dust and mung, traveling through the halls and vents. Every night that I have come home from work, I am covered in a layer of dust from my hair (ick) to my shoes. :( The pictures here of the hallway in and out, and right to the bathroom. And, my camera lens is neither blurry nor old; that's all the construction dirt in the air!

My friend Lies, sent us (that's the royal 'us') an invitation to go have Samson's herding instinct tested. Now, Mr. Handsome will never be a show dog, nor will he ever be a working dog (at least not in East Grand Rapids) but Paul and I are frequently on the receiving end of a furry little head bumping our calves. When we are outside walking, he will nip at our shoes. It is HILARIOUS. He has this funny look, almost a 'I can't help myself' look when he bites and nips at our shoes. The calve bumping is funny too. He has never hurt us, or our feet/legs but I think that he has a tremendous instinct in him. If so, I would love to be able to give him an outlet. If he is a natural at herding, I would be happy to let him herd a couple times a month. The drawback here is that if your dog hurts or injures a sheep, I think that I am on the hook to pay for it. The sheep, that is. They aren't expensive (sorry sheep) but the whole notion strikes me as rather funny. I hope he doesn't get carried a way and kill a sheep! :) It isn't until May so I have plenty of time to prepare.

We have some TBTB work to do this weekend and some Spring cleaning to start. But the sun is out, no precipitation is in site for 8 whole days and the breeze is starting to warm up! Paul has some wonderful meals on the menu and Samson is hoping for some frisbee! Enjoy the weekend!

The Friday Happy Dance

Oh yeah! It's Friday! Woo hoo.

We had a busy week. Wednesday night, we had the last of our puppy training. Samson also took his 'Good Canine Citizen" test and while he didn't pass, he did really well. The one part of the test that we were both sure he would fail, he passed with flying colors. It was the separation test where we had to leave him alone for three minutes. In the past, it has NOT gone well but the night of the test, he didn't miss us at all! Wow. Where he missed was the 'meet and greet.' He had to sit while Paul shook the hand of another person , who also had a dog. Samson was far too interested in the other dog to stay in a sit. It was never our intent to take the test and we are SO proud of all the progress that he has made. And Paul did a great job walking Samson through the paces.

Our new windows are installed and are AMAZING. The company doing the work, Window World of West Michigan (an arm of HWC Homeworks) did a fabulous job. The six windows were done in half a day. And what a difference they make. In an old house in EGR, it can be drafty but these windows have cut down the drafts, most noticeably in the dining room. The candles at dinner didn't flicker a bit.

It is early this AM. Paul took off about 0530 to go check on Deb and let out her pups. He makes her a latte and gets her meds set for the day. It's nice to be so close. She is going to head to Chicagoland for a couple of days to stay with family. I think it's a good idea for her to take a break and change the scenery. She is doing well but it's still a long road to healed.

Lastly, our hearts are with my boss, Henry and his wife (and our friend) Jan. Jan said goodbye to her mother earlier this week and the family is traveling to New York for the funeral. They have a wonderful family and good friends and our thoughts and prayers travel with them all.

Happy Friday!

Half way there...

...oh,...oh...living on a prayer....(sing along, will you?) After all, it's American Idol and wow, things are starting to heat up. Last night, the guys sang and some were incredible. The gals just finished and they were so-so, in my humble opinion. I think a guy will win it this year.

We had training again with Samson tonight. We enjoy some of it but have noticed that we are stationary quite a bit of the time which for Samson is not productive. He is a high-energy dog and to get him to sit around for the good part of an hour is just that much fun. Hopefully some of the other active trainings will be interesting for him, and us and will keep him engaged. I do like the fact that he engages with other dogs and that is helping his social skills. Another area that needs work is his ability to differentiate between 'play' time and 'work' time. All in good time. :)

Paul is working away on his networking and having a blast. I have never seen anyone have so much fun job hunting - in between networking, phone interviews, talking with recruiters and scouring companies, he has become a Grand Rapids guru. He is as busy as I am, and I go to a job everyday! One position that he was presented with was located in Oklahoma. You know, wind-come-sweeping-down-the-plain Oklahoma. Um, that would be a 'thanks but no.'

And we are expecting more snow. Yes, MORE SNOW. PLEASE SEND US MORE SNOW. ;)

In your dreams

Dreams. They are the darnedest things.

Last night, while we were drifting off to sleep, we listened to Samson sleep and dream. When Allie was still alive, she would periodically wake me up with her dreams. They were hilarious; she would be running, jerking, barking, murphing (a combination of muffled barking) and farting. Yes, farting. And they were some humdingers. Any one or all of these would wake her up from a sound sleep and she would lift her head to cast an eye our way. She was convinced that we woke her up and she was irritated. If her farts woke her up, she would triumphantly sniff the air, snort a bit to let us know that somehow it was our fault, and go back to sleep. With that kind of perfume in the air, it took us longer to slumber. All of life, ours included, revolved around her. But with a dog like Allie, we didn't mind. Not one bit, bit players in her life. She was something.

This time, it was Samson's turn. He was dreaming. In the middle of his sleep, he was dreaming a tad- deep rhythmic breathing, snorting, a squeak here and there and a tiny bit of murphing. We love to hear him sleep and dream; it tells us that he is more and more comfortable in his environment. We had training again tonight and he makes great strides but needs focused work in some areas. We do now and probably always will wonder what goes on in those furry little dreams.

We are also allowing Samson to make some of his own decisions. We leave the crate open during the day and at night. He has the freedom to come and go, move around, explore. He isn't a bed sleeper, preferring his crate but around 4:00 am, he comes and checks on us. Once or twice, he has jumped up on our bed and curls up in a ball. For a 95 lb dog, he doesn't take up too much space! We look forward to the time when we can come and go, the separation anxiety is no longer an issue and he has free roam of the house. Dreamin' but soon enough.

I am a HUGE American Idol fan. We talk about it at work and even have a committee that coordinates its meetings around Idol so we can talk about the singers. I have great admiration for these men and women - I haven't a lick of musical talent and I so enjoy watching people pursue dreams with such passion and conviction. And the music is so fabulous! Big dreams!

It is a balmy 10 degrees outside. It is COLD and crystal clear. The lunar eclipse is about halfway there and we have a stellar (pun intended) view of the entire event. I don't think that there could be a better night for sweet dreams.

Just in time for Valentine's Day - A Heat Wave

Happy Valentine's Day! I can't stand artificial holidays but if you are a lover of the day, enjoy! Wow, it's a whopping 19 degrees and we are looking at 30 degrees today. Amazing. It really is something how much of a difference 10 degrees makes when it's cold. Yesterday, the sun came out and the ice was able to melt, making driving bearable. Of course, we have MORE snow in the offing. Tonight, tomorrow and Sunday. Jeez. Pictures coming.

We had training with Handsome Boy last night. Wednesdays are busy. I work, come home, change and drive to Lowell. We had good fun but best was play time before class. Samson LOVES to play with other dogs. He is so good and I love that we can run his little puppy butt out. In fact, he was SO tired leaving class, that he couldn't jump up into the Landrover. Paul had to help him up. :)

Off to the salt mines!

Wrapping up the weekend

Well, despite us, Samson graduated from Beginner Puppy class! He is making terrific progress and we are thrilled. He passed the 'name' (he absolutely knows his name) short distance come command with distractions, sit, stay, walk with relaxed leash and 'watch me' command. He is becoming increasingly calm and responds to almost everything we say. It's remarkable.

We have never had a rescue dog before and we had no idea what to expect. As many know, the first couple of weeks were challenging but of the late, he is coming into his own. He has realized that we aren't going anywhere and most importantly, he isn't going anywhere. He no longer barks crazily when we get his food, he no longer gulps it down at lightening speed and he waits quietly in the morning when he awakes before us. When we are sitting quietly, reading or watching TV, he will get a bone and come sit at our feet. We can just tell, he feels at home.

We had the MOST fun with our friends and their dogs. Lies gets a lot of the credit for Samson's adaptation. She emailed her trainer when we were having problems and got us involved in the training. She and her husband Phil have two beautiful dogs, a GSD named Kenya and a rescue dog, Coke. Kenya is just gorgeous - she reminds us of Allie. Here are a couple of pictures from our playtime. It looks rough but the three of them are having a grand time.

Paul made me filet mignon with Cabernet sauce for dinner. It was delicious. Today is some pretty wild playoff football. It's a balmy 6 degrees and we are curled up with a fire in the fireplace and some warm coffee.

Brrrr.....

Weather alert! SWEET! This could make for a very interesting day!

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI 407 AM EST SAT JAN 19 2008 ...COLD AND SNOWY... .ARCTIC AIR IS POURING INTO THE REGION AND GENERATING LAKE EFFECT SNOW. ANOTHER 3 TO 5 INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED THROUGH TONIGHT. IN ADDITION WIND CHILL TEMPERATURES WILL FALL TO -15F OVER THE WEEKEND.

We are supposed to graduate from Beginner Training class today but depending on weather conditions, we may or may not have class. No contact from the trainer yet but we don't leave until 10:20 so that leaves plenty of time. I would miss class, since we meet our friends and their dogs Coke and Kenya and have a little play before hand. It's great.

The snow that fell last night is beautiful. It's light and fluffy snow and Paul took care of the driveway without even firing up the snowblower! I did a little shoveling in the back on our patio. We need to be able to make it to the hottub. :) It will be a perfect hottub night.

The second bathroom is coming along swimmingly! Jim is starting to put up the tile and it is gorgeous. I cannot believe how fantastic HWC Homeworks is in every aspect of the work - quality, detail, thoroughness, collaboration and best of all, just plain great people. Frankly, I dreaded the whole project and in retrospect can't imagine why I ever did. The first bathroom is amazing and we look forward to sharing pics of bathroom #2.

So it's out and about for the day. Pics and updates to follow!

Ugly

Oooohhhhhh, what an ugly day. Not even our normally resilient Google could hold up to the freefall. Yikes! I am having flashbacks of the 90s when no one wanted to look at a 401(k) statement. I keep waiting for one of our esteemed presidential candidates to actually talk about HOW to turn the economy around. Specifically, the candidates talk about what Michigan needs, but no one seems articulate how to do it. Clearly manufacturing is no longer a viable option but what can Michigan attract? Business tax, auto industry, high taxes and a state that STILL allows smoking! Wretched. I love it here but I could easily understand what would prevent new businesses from considering this state. We need innovative and visionary leadership in BOTH parties. Period.

Samson started intermediate training class last night. While he doesn't 'graduate' from beginner's class until Saturday, we were allowed to start intermediate class. Lucky us. There is a test at the end of this class that involves a number of complex situations including handlers separated from our dog for three minutes and sitting quietly when meeting another person and dog. Paul and I burst out laughing. I know that Samson will not pass the 'greet' part of the test, nor is it the reason that we are attending but hey, a girl can dream. And it is SO good for him. I have learned that new situations are stressful for him and the best thing we can do is help him adapt quickly and hopefully, quietly. ;)

And its Friday. Woo hoo. The Red Wings are on a spiral down and need a win tonight! They play the Canucks and hopefully they can put a check in the win column. Let's go Red Wings!

Where does time go?

I was once told that the older you get, the faster time goes. I frequently wonder if that's true? I was talking with a friend at work and we both wondered what happened to the weekend? One minute, it seems like it is Friday and in the blink of an eye, it's Tuesday night! It seems like the time just flies...but does it "go" anywhere? Is there a recycle bin or trash bin for used up time? I don't know how or why it passes so quickly but Christmas is passed, we are waiting for the Super Bowl and American Idol is starting back up!

Jim (and Paul) are in the throes of bathroom # 2. As expected, there have been a few surprises along the way. There have dead critters, uninsulated walls, really horrid wallpaper and some smelly piping. Along with Samson's 'dangerous gases" be glad that there is no smell-o-vision for this entry. But Jim is making excellent progress and this weekend, Paul and I have to pick out paint colors. Pictures are available on Paul's excellent blog here.

With the bathroom project in full swing, I do have to say that our kitchen is "ick." That's a technical term emphasizing that dust is EVERYWHERE and make it undesireable to cook. Of course, I don't cook but it makes it undesirable for me to think about cooking and for Paul to actually DO it. So the next ten days may involve some external food resources.

We start training class #2 this week as well. Handsome Boy is doing very, very well both at class and at home.

No efforts on TBTB but we hope to make some progress this weekend. That could be postponed as Paul has had some inquiries regarding his resume but for now, we will plan on sticking around here.

The Red Wings are playing Atlanta tonight. It would be nice for them to win. Go Wings!

Geek Alert!

We had a fabulous weekend. Frankly, I just don't know where the time goes.

Saturday was busy. We had training in the morning with Handsome boy. He is doing SO well. Paul has worked long and hard with him and Samson's heels when Paul is walking him is nothing short of impressive! Samson's 'stay' and his 'come' are super! Next week, we start intermediate training and graduate from beginner's training next Saturday. I am glad that Jeanne our trainer thinks Samson qualifies for intermediate training. :)

Paul made my all time favorite, Tenderloin Deluxe, Saturday for dinner. In between football, hockey and Fiona Ritchie, we had a nice dinner with long grain rice, steamed asparagus and ceasar salad. Deelish!

Geek alert! In between helping friends tweak resumes and redo cover letters, I had a little fun of my own. I *finally* registered my own domain and set up everything in Google Apps. I have to hand it to Google - it is very slick and quite easy to do. Google had all the information for most domain hosting sites and gave step by step instructions on putting it to use. Paul rolls his eyes at me when I get going on this stuff, but I am now in internet infinity with dhonner. How cool is that? ;)

Geek.

The Weekend

It has been a busy week and will be a busy weekend. Today we have training with handsome boy, two fabulous playoff football games, a Detroit Red Wings hockey game and with any luck our friend traveling from her hacienda in AZ will stop by and say hello.

In the TBTB intiative, Paul has made amazing strides downstairs. We have a backup computer in TB (along with our desktop and external backup) and Paul bought a cheapy flat screen for it. Once one has a flatscreen, big honking monitors just don't cut it, even for backup computers. We need to install that and do some updating and maintenance on the machine. We will also need to move some laundry accoutrements around as HWC Homeworks will start working on bathroom number 2 on Monday. They will need access to some space in the basement currently occupied by laundry 'stuff.' We have a lot to sort through and what friends and family can't use or don't need, we will donate to In the Image.

We also need to empty bathroom number 2 in preparation for the demolition that starts on Monday. With any luck, this will be less messy than bathroom number 1. Look for pictures from Paul.

Friday's January Series speaker was enthralling. The program hosted Ishmael Beah author of "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier." This soft-spoken young man told of his experiences being a boy soldier in Sierra Leone, the wonderful people who took him from the Army and rehabilitated him and his life in the US. He read a few excerpts from his book and expanded on some of the stories. It was absolutely riveting. It will be a book on my book list. If you have a chance to hear him speak, I would encourage you to do so.

In the escapades of Handsome Boy, he is doing very well. He has acclimated perfectly to the rhythms of our life. When he wakes up early in the AM, he sits quietly until we are ready to get up. After his brekkie and while we are enjoying our coffee, he sits under the table, chewing his bone. He has funny habits - one of taking his nose and poking us to get our attention! He also LOVES ice cubes. He chews on the ice and when pieces fall out of his mouth, he just stares at them! It's funny to watch.

This is my favorite time of the morning. I have HB at my feet, a fire in the fireplace, the sun hasn't risen yet and I have great coffee in one of my cool mugs. Here's to Saturdays!

Saturday

Oh happy day! We have a "Severe Weather Alert" for Grand Rapids. Woo hoo. Now, we have had promises, promises before but fingers crossed, we shall see what delivers.

We had training this morning with Samson. He continues to get better and better with commands and instructions. He is very chatty and vocal and has quite a bit to say to the other dogs in the class. There is this sweet little dog in our class who does nothing but shake. I think Samson is a little intimidating. Jeanne has us working on helping him not bark so much - by using the 'speak' command when he barks (reward) then the 'quiet' command with a hand movement (reward) he caught on quite quickly. However, he is a very independent thinker and decide that he would tell us what he thought despite the rewards. More work is DEFINITELY needed. Of course, when he comes home, he is silly as a clown.

Paul ran some errands and picked up a few new chew toys for Samson. The entire time that Paul was gone, he pined pathetically at the door. Eventually, he closed his eyes and took a brief nap. Being a German shepherd dog is tiring as he is constantly on alert, following us everywhere and trying to bring us back together if we are separated. His work is never done...

Jim is working on the drywall as I type. Tonight is dinner with Bud and Barbara, weather permitting and we are going to spend the rest of weekend chillaxin' and trying to get well!

The weekend

I love weekends. I love Saturday morning most. I get up quite early on Saturday, turn on the fireplace in the front room and may (on not) have music playing. Right now, it's Christmas music. It is lovely.

Some odds and ends

Samson is sitting under the table, enjoying one of his many bones. He is not a runner, not nipper or biter but he is a chewer. I am so grateful for the chew toys, otherwise it might be my furniture! :o When our dog, Allie died, we put all her toys in the front room with the intent of giving them (along with all her other supplies) to the local Humane Society. Well curiously (or providentially depending on your perspective) the person from the Humane Society never returned our calls or emails. Now, if you are in a fundraising/advancement/development position and you don't return calls, I am not sure how well you can be doing your job. End digression. So all Allie's toys are in the front bedroom and Samson one day wandered in and discovered them! He was only allowed a bone at a time but then we brought out Kong, then the knotted rope, Buddha; then we brought another bone ... So this dog has figured out that essentially the front room holds all kinds of cool things and will periodically go and sit at the door and whimper (oh the drama). Paul and I have started calling the front bedroom "the store." Samson is at my feet, chewing on a bone from 'the store.'

On Friday, I took 1/2 a day of vacation (and it's a good thing I did) because I was driving home from work thinking, jeez, my car is running really rough. That's odd....then this humming sound started. I thought maybe that it was Samson's crate rattling around ...but my gut told me it really wasn't. When I got to the garage, I looked down and I had a flat tire! Egaads! Now, there are two things that are funny with this story. One, in all the years that I have been driving, I have never had a flat tire! I just stared at it, thinking if I looked at it long enough, it would go away. I hate inconvenience! And this flat tire was just that! The second part that is quite humerous is that I am not always that observant about things. I just move through life sort of happily oblivious, focusing only on what is important. In retrospect, I probably had that flat tire driving TO work this morning, too. The wonderful people from AAA sent someone to my house to change my tire. A nice man from Grand Rapids Towing was there in 20 minutes (even though I told them I was in no rush) and changed it right in the garage. He was done in 10 minutes and loaded up the tire in the back of the LR for me. Off to Ronda Tire to see if the tire could be saved. Of course not - so it looks like new tires for Christmas.

Merry Christmas Deirdre!!

I also forgot to write about one of my favorite days at work. Every year for Chapel, we have the Handel's Messiah sing-along and each year, I go with my friend Pat. So many people come that it isn't held in the chapel; rather it's held at the FAC (Fine Arts Center). The Center is divided by voices - soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Many people have their own music but the chapel also provides music too. There is a place for people who don't sing but want to listen (that's me). The orchestra conductor leads the (student) orchestra and there are readings that go along with the music. That last song is the Hallelujah chorus and it is magnificent. It is a special treat for me. :)

Today is a busy one. We have training today in Lowell. I need to start emptying the contents of the bathroom to get ready for the contractors to start. I have some laundry to do and Samson will need ALL kinds of love and affection. He is missing his daddy (he is really a daddy's boy) and is sort of walking around the house looking for him.

TTFN.

Saturday

We are living with the threat (or in my mind, promise) of a major snow storm. It isn't supposed to start until this afternoon, plenty of time to get home from this AM's adventures.

Today is Samson's first training session. We have cut up a bunch of string cheese. That was our trainer's first tip - puppy treats fill up dogs and make them less likely to be responsive since they are full! We also have our clickers - Samson responds to sound and the clickers really help reinforce the good behavior.

We have begun leaving him at the door frame of the kitchen. He is none too happy about being left out - barking at us from the dining area. He is a very dominant personality and we need to be VERY vigilant about making sure he KNOWS who is in charge.

Many more stories to follow. :)

Oh happy day!

For those of you not interested in dogs, this would be a good entry to skip.

Many of you have followed our trials with Samson, and it has seemed some days like two steps forward, and maybe 1 or 1 1/2 back. He has an affinity for socks and we have lost a couple. We are working hard at keeping the basement door closed (laundry) and the bedroom doors closed(other good smelling stuff) but once in a while, I slip and we lose an undergarment of some kind. ;) We also have to watch the Christmas decorations as he is VERY interested in those as well. We have cut way back on the holiday decor as it is much too tempting for him. :o

Last night, we were sitting around the TV watching the hockey game and LO AND BEHOLD, our dog, Samson, the one who HATES CRATES, walked, ON HIS OWN, into the crate. And turned around in it. And plopped down to sleep. ON HIS OWN!! Did I mention ON HIS OWN?? I was doing the happy dance, jumping up and down, shouting with glee, all in my mind. He pieced it together - the crate is a GOOD thing, a safe place, his bed, his comfort, his storage for toys. OH HAPPY DAY!

(Small translation for my non-furry family member friends - this means, in simplistic terms, that Samson no longer sees the crate as transport to another shelter/bad place rather, a good thing, another place where good things happen. This will aid us tremendously with travel to our training classes. Howling for a 30 minute drive could get VERY old)

I know that he was very tired...didn't have much of a nap yesterday, and desperately wanted to go to sleep. Big steps and oh joy, the happy dance! Woo hoo!!