It has been a whirlwind week so I didn't get a chance to update the blog. Nothing to exciting this week, just the same routine but we somehow managed to fill our spare time with various small projects.
We are all doing well. Miele has had a little bit of a limp the last day or so but it doesn't seem to bother her and is better today than yesterday so hopefully it will pass soon. Otherwise we are healthy and happy ; )
Over the weekend we caught up on chores around the house. We got quite a bit of rain Saturday so that kept us in most of the day.
Saturday evening we went out for Valentine's day. Sara had an Olive Garden gift card and we had an AMC gift card so we had a free date. The Olive Garden didn't impress us too much but we enjoyed the time out together. We saw the second National Treasure after dinner and it was very good. We really enjoyed it. Now we just need to rent the first one and see it.
This coming weekend we are headed out to Tom's farm for some fishing and tree planting. We plan to take Miele as well but we will prolly have to tie her to a tree since she can't be trusted off leash.
I am afraid that is about it. I will close with another video of Miele.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
What a Zoo!
Well, we had another great week. This week my parents came into Dallas on Weds and were in town through Saturday morning. They came down with a group of 12 high school students from the Christian school for a leadership conference. We planned to meet them for dinner Thursday night and, after consulting our maps, we were finally able to make the rendezvous at On the Border in Addison. We then caravaned over to the Galleria and spent some time wandering around there. Some of the kids went ice skating but we just walked around. It was good to see my folks and for them to get to meet Miele.
Friday we left Miele at the house (in the backyard) and drove into to Fort Worth to meet the group at the zoo. It was a fantastic day with clear skies and warm weather. Neither Sara or I had been to the FWZ so it was a new experience for us. The zoo is (according to their sign) one of the top five in the country and although several exhibits were closed for the winter it did not disappoint. We really enjoyed seeing all the animals. I especially liked the hippos (although I couldn't get a photo because they were so close to fence). We all enjoyed the male African lion (see video). He carried on like that on and off all afternoon. You could hear it all over the zoo. The gorillas were also interesting. They seem to look at you like you would be fun to beat up, quite intimidating those fellas. Other highlights include the giraffes (always Sara's favorite), reptile house, otters, and many types of birds.
We stayed until the zoo closed at 4 and then went back to the hotel where the group was staying and ordered pizza. Sara, mom, dad and I played Scrabble while the kids swam and ran around the hotel. We left about 8 and headed home to take care of Miele. Sara felt bad for leaving her out all day so Miele ended up sleeping on her doggie bed in our bedroom. A first, which she did well with. She stayed in her bed all night and seemed to enjoy it. Maybe she will get the privilege again some day...
Saturday and Sunday we took it easy. We went on a walk with Miele down a new road (read: lots of new smells). She behaved well except she was a little startled when we passed a yard with several large dogs that barked and barked at her. Sara and I did some pleasure reading and Sara got some homework done. I finally finished the storm door on the back door.
Sara is gone now with Miele to agility class. Miele is in some trouble today for getting a hold of a piece of Sara's clothing and tearing it up. I think it will all be smoothed over tomorrow, here's hoping anyway. Miele has also begun digging in the backyard again so I will have to look into how to break her of that. She doesn't dig very deep just tears the grass off mostly. Who knows what she thinks she will find.
Friday we left Miele at the house (in the backyard) and drove into to Fort Worth to meet the group at the zoo. It was a fantastic day with clear skies and warm weather. Neither Sara or I had been to the FWZ so it was a new experience for us. The zoo is (according to their sign) one of the top five in the country and although several exhibits were closed for the winter it did not disappoint. We really enjoyed seeing all the animals. I especially liked the hippos (although I couldn't get a photo because they were so close to fence). We all enjoyed the male African lion (see video). He carried on like that on and off all afternoon. You could hear it all over the zoo. The gorillas were also interesting. They seem to look at you like you would be fun to beat up, quite intimidating those fellas. Other highlights include the giraffes (always Sara's favorite), reptile house, otters, and many types of birds.
We stayed until the zoo closed at 4 and then went back to the hotel where the group was staying and ordered pizza. Sara, mom, dad and I played Scrabble while the kids swam and ran around the hotel. We left about 8 and headed home to take care of Miele. Sara felt bad for leaving her out all day so Miele ended up sleeping on her doggie bed in our bedroom. A first, which she did well with. She stayed in her bed all night and seemed to enjoy it. Maybe she will get the privilege again some day...
Saturday and Sunday we took it easy. We went on a walk with Miele down a new road (read: lots of new smells). She behaved well except she was a little startled when we passed a yard with several large dogs that barked and barked at her. Sara and I did some pleasure reading and Sara got some homework done. I finally finished the storm door on the back door.
Sara is gone now with Miele to agility class. Miele is in some trouble today for getting a hold of a piece of Sara's clothing and tearing it up. I think it will all be smoothed over tomorrow, here's hoping anyway. Miele has also begun digging in the backyard again so I will have to look into how to break her of that. She doesn't dig very deep just tears the grass off mostly. Who knows what she thinks she will find.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
continued
After church Sunday we bid farewell to Dan and Allison. We spent the afternoon tidying up the house a bit for our Superbowl party. We had invited several couples from our Sunday School class as well as some other friends and we had a total of 10 people. We had a great time watching the game and visiting. Sara created a Superbowl Bingo game with prizes and we made chili dogs. The chili dogs weren't a big hit (I had 2, but not too many other folks partook). Although we had little allegiance to either team we cheered for the Giants as the underdogs.
Monday it was back to the work routine. Sara received a call just before 7 am to come in as a sub so she was back at work as well. I was supposed to have an orientation flight with the flying club at work but it was very windy so we rescheduled for next week. I am planning to do ground school and take the FAA exam for my private pilots license. No plans at this point to do all the flight training but having the ground school will be good experience. We also had our first obedience lesson with Miele out at Paw Power Agility. I was not going to be able to go since I was going flying but since it was canceled I went along.
Miele did a fantastic job and was the star student, at least for the first half of class. There were three dogs in the class (usually there will be four but one was not there). The other two were a very young aussie puppy and a somewhat older aussie. They worked on target training (getting the dog to touch a target) first and Miele and Sara did very well. Then they worked on "rear end awareness" by using a stool to train the dog to be aware and move their back end without the front end. Miele was quick to put her front feet on the stool. Then she was the first to be able to pivot on the stool, keeping her front legs on the stool and moving her back legs around the stool in a circle. The trainer was impressed with how fast she learned.
Then the class worked on going through weave poles that were spaced such that they form two columns (Instead of weaving the dogs can just walk between the two lines of poles; as they get better the poles can be moved in so that the dog has to begin to weave). The trainer held Miele and Sara stood at the far end of the poles and called her. Miele did OK at this but was not as excited as the aussies. She is a little timid with new things like that. They worked on the weave poles for quite a while and Miele got a little better but seemed to get tired as the class wore on.
At the end they tried sending the dogs through the chute. This is a barrel with a sheet over the end that the dog has to run through. The trainer held Miele and Sara knelt at the sheet end and held it open so Miele could see. Miele wasn't fond of this but did come through a few times.
The pictures aren't too impressive because it was after dark and I was afraid the flash might distract the dogs.
Please feel free to leave comments, even if they are anonymous. I can't tell that anyone has visited the blog or read it unless you leave comments.
Monday it was back to the work routine. Sara received a call just before 7 am to come in as a sub so she was back at work as well. I was supposed to have an orientation flight with the flying club at work but it was very windy so we rescheduled for next week. I am planning to do ground school and take the FAA exam for my private pilots license. No plans at this point to do all the flight training but having the ground school will be good experience. We also had our first obedience lesson with Miele out at Paw Power Agility. I was not going to be able to go since I was going flying but since it was canceled I went along.
Miele did a fantastic job and was the star student, at least for the first half of class. There were three dogs in the class (usually there will be four but one was not there). The other two were a very young aussie puppy and a somewhat older aussie. They worked on target training (getting the dog to touch a target) first and Miele and Sara did very well. Then they worked on "rear end awareness" by using a stool to train the dog to be aware and move their back end without the front end. Miele was quick to put her front feet on the stool. Then she was the first to be able to pivot on the stool, keeping her front legs on the stool and moving her back legs around the stool in a circle. The trainer was impressed with how fast she learned.
Then the class worked on going through weave poles that were spaced such that they form two columns (Instead of weaving the dogs can just walk between the two lines of poles; as they get better the poles can be moved in so that the dog has to begin to weave). The trainer held Miele and Sara stood at the far end of the poles and called her. Miele did OK at this but was not as excited as the aussies. She is a little timid with new things like that. They worked on the weave poles for quite a while and Miele got a little better but seemed to get tired as the class wore on.
At the end they tried sending the dogs through the chute. This is a barrel with a sheet over the end that the dog has to run through. The trainer held Miele and Sara knelt at the sheet end and held it open so Miele could see. Miele wasn't fond of this but did come through a few times.
The pictures aren't too impressive because it was after dark and I was afraid the flash might distract the dogs.
Please feel free to leave comments, even if they are anonymous. I can't tell that anyone has visited the blog or read it unless you leave comments.
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