Monday, June 18, 2007

Weekend Update

Yes. it really is just after 2:00am on June 18. My sleep cycle is completely messed up since the vocal cord surgery. Actually, my sleep cycle seems to have become a nap cycle - 3 - 4 hours at night plus a couple of hour long naps during the day seem to be my norm these days. I must get back to a regular sleep cycle soon or the neighbors are going to think I have gone completely nuts. I actually walked Alex at about 3:00 am on Sunday morning - not many people about and it actually felt a little cool. He certainly liked the extra attention and the fact that I did not have to tug him out of the way of any traffic.

I have been finishing projects and watching a lot of movies. I completed a sweater I started a while ago. It is knitted in the round with sleeves added midway through. Its drying right now and I hoped to have it blocked and any fixes completed today. I will post a photo when I think it is ready for prime time. It has not been knitted by the most perfect knitter in the world but I am pretty proud of it . I don't think too many people will die laughing when they see it in person. I also was on a shop hop this weeked and found some wonderful wool/nylon skiens, at half price no less, at the Hen House out on Louetta. I wanted to try to make a felted purse that would be large enough for all the stuff I put in a purse when I carry one. It is also drying right now and after some blocking/steaming I'll post some photos.

On the voice front, it is still not perfect though it seems I can get out 3 or 4 sentences a day right now in a normal tone of voice. Th rest of the time it shifts from inaudible to a faint ruslting in the wind. I did yell at Alex today and actually got some volume going. I don't like to yell at him but read on for his latest exploits.

My little darling has decided that the backyard is just not the place to do his business. He likes the front yard, the little park across the street or any place that is not my backyard like my office or kitchen floors. I give him unrestricted access to the backyard all the time but he does not seem to get it. He has not learned from my son's dogs, when they were here, on how this is supposed to work. Today, I just about sent him back when he got out the front door during a rain storm and led me on a very wet, one hour chase through the neighborhood. I didn't have the energy to actually chase him and ended up following him until he allowed me to get the leash on him. I also had to wave down at least half a dozen cars so that they would not run over him.

Now we are into serious crate training. I had been told that he could not be put into a crate due to his three months spent at a vet after he was found so I tred to do the training without the crate. I hauled out Lady Jane's old crate, which was previously used by a German Shepherd show dog on airplane trips, thinking that Alex could not construe it as vet sized kennel. If he is not at my side, on a walk with me, in obedience sessions with me or outside in the back on his own, he will be in the crate. No more unrestricted access to any room in the house. No more hiding chew toys everywhere. No more playing chase with his shadow indoors. No more sleeping with me at night. I hate having to resort to the crate but we were both getting pretty miserable. I really didn't want a puppy but accepted him because he really needed a home. Sometimes I feel like I got suckered into taking him. Now that he's here we will just have to work harder to come to some mutally beneficial arrangement. Maybe my difficulty with him is that he is a male dog (I've only had females in the past) and that my voice has not been working correctly.

Only time will tell. Have a great week - my last full work week as an employee!


1 comment:

Bristolcare said...

There are some dogs that just won't go in their own yard.
I have no clue as to why they think its OK to do it in the house but not the yard but a lot of dogs are like that!
Good luck with the crate training.