Dreams and nightmares!!

Dave had a dream last night that he was out on the farm with Duffy and Lanny.  Both dogs were on their own disc shaped contraption that hovered just above the ground.  They just had to put a paw on it and off they went!! And the 2 of them were busy picking up scraps of metal,  sticks, plastic, all manner of things.  The items were carried on the disc and then over to a pile where the junk was being collected, then dumped onto the pile.  Duffy had to show Lanny how to dump the disc--no surprise there!! Hahahaha!!  Cool dream--and would be very useful to have all that help!!



Maybe it was something like this??????



On a less light-hearted note, Lanny has lost his privileges to be free at night--it's back to the crate.  I woke up around 3 with a coughing fit--a couple of my meds have that side-effect, like I don't cough enough.  Anyway, I decided to go the bathroom and now with the light on in the hallway, I can see a streaky trail on the living room floor, of what can only be poop.  Ack!! Found some plops on the old flannel sheet by the door.  Was not pleased as you can imagine!  Cleaned all this up, got out the shark and washed the floor, put the sheet into the washer with bleach and on the soaker cycle, lectured Lanny. and eventually went to bed.  I kind of wondered why there wasn't more, but thought maybe I was just lucky.  This morning I went down to the basement to get my big winter boots, as I had to rescue a number of plastic garden pots Lanny had distributed around the yard the evening before, plus do some poop pick-up duties.  I looked down the hallway to where the ping pong table is--and yes, you guessed it, there was the rest of the poop!! Kind of dried now and hard to clean up.  I poured some water on the areas, let that soak in, then cleaned it all up.  The good news, I suppose, is that he went to the basement for the largest part of this pooping excursion.  The bad news is--what the heck is wrong with this dog? He'll be okay and then out of nowhere he 'forgets' the rules and goes wherever. He's over a year old--there should be none of these 'accidents' in the house, ever!! I watch him all the time--which is annoying to have to do at this point.  But I do have to sleep occasionally. So, the crate is back up in the hallway, where I can hear him whether I'm asleep on the couch or in the bedroom. That's if he actually barks or whines, but he doesn't seem to know to do that here. He does fine on the farm and barks or whines there, but what's the deal here? I won't even go into his peeing on Duffy's 'tablecloth' just after Dave left.  Guess he was all excited and didn't remember to hold it and go out. Is he ever going to be totally house broken? I wonder.... 

John F. Kennedy

On November 22, 1963 John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.  Today, November 22, 2013 is the 50 anniversary of that terrible event.

One of the questions always asked, was "Where were you when Kennedy was assassinated?" I remember that day like it was yesterday.  I was 10 years old, coming up to my 11th birthday in December and I was in Grade 6. I came home for lunch as I usually did, as I lived one block from my school.  My mother was upset and agitated and the radio was on. I learned that Kennedy had been shot, but he was still alive, or at least that's what we were being told.  The Governor of Texas, John Connally, had also been shot. Neither my mother nor I could believe that this had happened--it was so shocking. I went back to school for 1 o'clock and there was a sombre mood through the whole school that afternoon.  No one could believe what had happened. When I came home at 4, I learned that Kennedy had died.  Again, I couldn't believe it, no one could.

That night, as I lay in bed and couldn't sleep, I felt sure or at least very hopeful that Kennedy was alive after all.  That his death had been reported as a ruse to draw out the people that had tried to kill him.  I envisioned him at the hospital with Jackie.  He was injured, but very much alive.  I didn't want to believe that he was really gone. In the days that followed and culminated with Kennedy's funeral, we all had to begin to grasp the fact that he was really gone.  The bravery and strength of Jackie during those awful days is etched in the minds of everyone who watched the funeral on TV.  Every one's heart broke for those 2 little children whose father had been so horribly snatched from them.

The other night I watched the TLC program. "Letters to Jackie: Remembering". It brought back a lot of memories and feelings and was very emotional to watch.  In the 40 days after Kennedy's assassination, Jackie received over 800,000 letters--from people of all walks of life and all ages. There was such a wide sense of loss across the American nation.  And it was the same up here in Canada too. People related how they heard that Kennedy had been shot, where they were at the time, and they expressed heart felt sorrow and sympathy.  Interestingly and tellingly, there were comments that they felt that much bigger concerns than Oswald were responsible for Kennedy's death.

As far as I am concerned, John Kennedy's presidency was the last time the United States had a real President, a man that was prepared to stand up for what he knew to be right.  That's why he was killed.  Yes he made mistakes and yes, as we learned later, he had lead a less than stellar private life.  But in that he was not alone.  Some of the world's most brilliant leaders over the centuries have lived just that same way. It must be part of that brilliance. If only there were still men of his calibre today.

On November 22, 1963 the innocence of our lives was shattered forever.  This is how I have always felt and I know others have felt the same way.

Sad, sad news

Got up this morning and checked my blog and my blog roll and learned some heart breaking news.  Essex, the 10 year old tri girl of Key West Collies (keywestcollies.blogspot.ca) had crossed the Rainbow Bridge during the night. This is such a shock. Dog Dad and Sherman have my deepest condolences and are in my thoughts.  I am so sad for them. Essex was the matriarch of the household and the dog park and her loss will be felt by so many people and doggy pals. Cyber Hugs across all the miles.

Lanny Turns One!!

I've been a bad blogger.  But in my defense, I've been in the hospital, diagnosed with Grave's Disease, suffered a thyroid storm--that's why I went to Emergency and was kept in hospital for a week.  Now I'm having reactions to the meds--dizziness, weakness in arms and legs, have to try not to fall when walking. Did you know that at the turn of the 20th century if a person suffered a thyroid storm, the mortality rate was close to 100%?  Now it's down to 20%.  That's still pretty high, so this a serious condition.

But I digress--yesterday Lanny turned 1!!  And I realized we will be having our first Christmas with him next month!! I wondered, "How can this be?  Where was he last Christmas?  Oh, yeah, he was 6 weeks old and still in Minnesota!! Duh!!"

Lanny is so different from Duffy in every possible way. And some of this is good!!!  He sticks by us on walks, his recall is excellent, and considering all the stuff he could have got into, he's been a pretty good boy.  He only liked to take Kleenex out of the garbage and unroll toilet paper!!  He does chew--he chews through every leash, even the double heavy duty one that I had ordered and lasted the longest.  We have to use a chain now, when he has to be tied up. He's not, however, the sharpest tack in the box, the brightest bulb in the package, the sharpest tool in the drawer....you get my drift. His approach to life is "Dumteedum, dumteedum, huh?"! He is not an independent thinker!!!  He will not push a door open without coaxing, will stand forever saying nothing when he gets himself tangled up in a leash, and scares himself if he thinks too much!!  Two weeks ago, I heard Duffy giving that yip bark that means something is not right, and went out to look and Lanny had hog tied himself by one back leg to the bench and was just standing there.  Duffy was likely saying, "Hey, Dummy has himself caught!!" He is scared of his reflection in a mirror.  Bizarre.  When Duffy was shown himself in a full length mirror, he went up, touched noses, and wanted to be friends with that other dog.  Lanny backs away and turns his head.

Lanny spends most of his time on the farm with Dave.  It seems to work well at this point to keep Duffy and Lanny apart.  I'm hoping that as Lanny gets older, maybe he will be better behaved toward Duffy. Other than that problem, Lanny is a big, lovable lug.  He leaps in the air as if on pogo sticks, crashes and shoves himself around, pushes toys into us to play with, and knows how to sit and not much else!! It's so different from having a smart pants dog like Duffy. But hey, that's life!! We love him anyway!!!

The Collie Club of Canada Specialty is out west in 2014--March, in Camrose, and I'd like to have him shown there.  He's a fine looking boy and moves well.  It's just to find someone to show him--potential candidates are all acting like dipsticks over planning the specialty and are not impressing me!!

In the meantime, here are some of my favorite photos of Lanny.  Happy Birthday Big Fella!! ♥♥