Back to Business

I bought a new camera today. It's exciting, for both myself and for you, because a working camera means more pictures which means more blogging.  Yay!

Or maybe you've been relishing in this beautiful silence that has been my broken camera.

Regardless.  My last camera 'broke'.  Not so broke that it didnt work anymore.  But broke enough that I have to manually pull out the lens and it wouldnt always focus, and the zoom is flat out not working.  Its just a pain in the butt, especially when my main subjects are flying dogs.  To photograph dogs, you need ease and speed and working focus.

So we'll be getting back to business here soon.

Our friend LB left last Saturday. He went on to a Dachshund rescue, who is having their fair share of difficulties with him, as I had predicted.  He spent the first few days trying to bite everybody, same as he did here.  He also got a little sick, but he's now doing just fine. 

For your viewing pleasure, here is LB's version of 'hang dog'.

Addiction or Obsession?

I think it's both. I'm addicted to them, I'm obsessed with them, I'm in love with them, I can't live without them...
They're Aussies.

I need these dogs like I need oxygen.

Now don't get me wrong, I love all of my fur kids equally. But my passion for this breed can't be dampened. 

I find it hard to believe now, but there was a time when I hated them. Okay, hate is a strong word. But my first encounter with an Aussie was not a pleasent one. His name was Buddy.  I pulled him from a kill shelter. He was red listed and had one day left to find rescue. The reason he caught my eye was because he had spent his life chained outside before being dumped at the shelter.

He was truely a beautiful dog. Some crazy kind of merle with a wonderful coat. He was sweet most of the time. But he had these weird moments where he would do this growling scream thing and bite. And his coat, which was gorgeous but in deseprate need of grooming, when brushed would set him off into a biting, chattering mess. 

I wish now that I had known about Aussies at the time when Buddy was with us. I didn't even know what the breed was. I had to compare Buddy to the pictures in my breed book to find out what to list him under on petfinder. And once he was gone, I vowed to never have anything to do with the breed again.

I don't know what changed or what I needed to have Frankie. I'd wanted an agility dog, but I didn't purposely go out to find an Aussie. And there's a good chance that if I had remembered Buddy, I might have passed on Frankie.  But she called to me from halfway across the country.

Now, in present time, I have two Aussies, and I want more. I look on petfinder daily, I search craigslist for unwanted Aussies. I check out the Aussie rescue websites to see if there is anyway I can help these dogs without actually fostering them.  But oh I'd love to foster them. After having the Doxie boy for a week and a friend's retriever mix the week prior, the fostering bug has bit again. It's a tough thing to supress, especially with a man who is barely tolerating my small zoo as it is. 

I sort of feel bad for Red... I mean, when he met me I had one calm, quiet Lab mix and there was no pressing hint that I would ever be the obsessive dog person I am today. I was a cowgirl at the time. But after my riding accident, dogs took over and before he knew it, Red had 4 dogs and a cat living in his house, as well as a crazy girlfriend who brought home strays without thinking twice.  And now that crazy girlfriend of his has become addicted to the one breed that Red would be happy to live without... Aussies. 

I won't ever be without them. There will always be an Australian Shepherd in my life. 

photo courtesy of dooziedog.com

I love them.  I love them I love them I love them. 

Really, PETA??

In response to PETA's rude interruption of last night's Westminster Dog show... Really, PETA?

I didn't see much of the show or the actual interruption take place. But I read about it. Two members of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals group surged the ring with signs saying "Mutts Rule" and "Breeders kill shelter dog's chances".

Now, I'm a strong rescue advocate. Super strong. I'll never buy a dog from a breeder.  All of my dogs are rescues and my future dogs will be rescues.  And yes, I am against irresponsible breeding for the sake of personal gain.

But would PETA be happier if all we had left in this world were mixed breeds? Would they be thrilled if our purebred dogs disappeared completely?  I know I wouldn't.  I have a love for my Aussies and for the breed. I fully support responsible breeders who breed to show, who breed to keep the breed pure, and who use the breed for what they were originally bred to do. It takes a special person to do that.

The word 'breeder' makes rescue people cringe. It made me cringe at one time too. And there was another time when I wanted to 'grow up' to be a dog breeder.  But I have since 'grown up' and realized what it takes to be a good, responsible one, and I don't have it in me.

It's the actions of organizations like PETA that turn people off to dog rescue. There is a difference between wanting to help animals and throwing paint on people wearing fur.

So again I say... Really, PETA??

Little Buddy

Sunday evening produced a nice little winter storm that paralyzed roads for the following 24 hours. Red and I stayed home from work Monday for this reason. We were in the living room when Red points out that there is a weener dog running down the middle of the road.

I watched him for about 10 minutes. The company across the road from us often brings their dogs to work with them and since he was hanging out around the parking lot, I thought maybe he belonged to someone there. But soon after, he headed out of the parking lot and disappeared behind a building. On the other side of the building is the highway and nothing but snowed down farm fields. I threw on my boots and followed him, leaving Red to shake his head.

On a side note, if Red thought that he could point out a dog running down the road without his woman taking action, then he really doesn't know me at all, does he? 

The little dude didnt want to be caught. When he saw me behind him, he took off.  Great. I didnt have a coat on. I ended up tracking him about a quarter of a mile before he got tired of the chase and dove into what I am assuming he's been using as his burrow. When I approached, I was greeted with snapping teeth and lots of growling. The company where he was burrowed was letting out of work, so some of the guys stopped and offered me crackers from their lunch boxes to help me lure him out. One guy tried being brave and grabbing him, but that only resulted in him getting bit a half dozen times.

I decided my only option was to go home and get a leash. If he was gone when I got back, than at least I could say that I had tried. But he was still there when I got back, and I was able to toss a looped leash end around his head and drag him out.  I took him by the company where we first saw him as well as a few of the neighboring houses, but nobody recognized him.

So long story short, he's with us for the time being. I've been calling him 'LB' for Little Buddy.  He's skinny and only weighs about 7lbs. He curled up on my lap last night for a nap under the blanket. I think he's just grateful for a warm place to sleep and some real food.

Cross your fingers that LB's owners can be found soon. The outside winter world is a scary place for a lost little weener dog.  But he's coming around. He is getting along with our crazy crew and has even offered himself as a lap warmer a few times now, which I am taking to mean that he is beginning to trust us a bit. He also tried jumping into bed with us a couple of times.  Poor kid.

Fast & Easy $20 DIY Headboard

My new bedroom was missing something. The deep blue/grey color I choose for the walls only needed white accenting to really pop. So a white headboard was my goal.


I stopped by Lowe's and picked up a sheet of the cheapest, thinnest plywood they had. I also grabbed a 4x8' sheet of insulation foam and had them cut it down to size for me.  That's the great thing about home improvement stores is that they will do all that pain in the butt stuff for you.


I started with my materials.

I grabbed a roll of duct tape and taped the foam to the front of the board.

Flipped it over on top of the fabric I choose. It's a soft amish weave that was on sale at the Wal Marts and had that weaved look, so I thought it would be perfect for the headboard.  Grabbed my trusty staple gun and started stapeling the fabric to the back of the board.

I also bought a package of those picture hangers with the teeth that you nail onto the back. I added one on each end so I could just hang the headboard on the wall behind the bed.

Voila!

I personally preferred the lower look. But you could customize this easily by having the wood and foam cut to whatever height you want. I know a lot of people like the higher headboards. But I don't.

Cost Breakdown:
Plywood ~ $5
Foam ~ $6
Fabric ~ $6.50
Hangers ~ $2.50
I had the tape and staple gun on hand. So this homemade headboard cost me a total of $20!

Linking up to:
Metamorphasis Monday at BNOTP!

Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts
DIY Day at ASPTL

$155 Weekend Bedroom Makeover

I had to redo our bedroom. It was a mis-matched disaster. My room has been a disaster area since I was like 11 years old, that definately hasn't changed. As an adult, I've been better at keeping things organized.  But the room itself needed help. We were still using a mix of 'bed in a bag' bedding from our high school days, two walls were wood panelling, and the other was a weird brick red color that I was obsessed with 4 years ago when we moved in. I've never had a perfectly matching, organized, lovely bedroom that felt like a real sanctuary.

The before:

Messy. Uninspired. Drab. It was comfortable, but that's about it.

The first step was to do something about the wooden paneling.

So I turned to my trusty Valspar primer.

The cracks were pretty deep, so I had to take an extra day just to fill each line with caulk and use a paint scraper to spread it even. Ulgh.

Finally I was able to start painting.

This color is called 'Crucible' by Valspar.
If you recall the wall of drawers and shelves, the hardware was a brushed nickel finish. Rather than replace them, I just sprayed them with some Valspar primer.

Before all of this could begin though, I needed to find a new bedding set so that I had something to pick my colors from. I found a brand new set on ebay.

The result???

But something was missing....  A headboard.

Appx Cost Breakdown:
Bed Set ~ $70
Paint/Primer ~ $50
Caulk/Gun ~ $10
New nightstands ~ $25

Linking up to:
Metamorphasis Monday at BNOTP!
Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts
DIY Day at ASPTL
Power of Paint at Domestically Speaking

Dogs Deserve Better...

...than life on a chain or in a pen.  It's not just a motto.  It's the truth.

When I first started rescuing dogs, it was through a national rescue called Dogs Deserve Better. I was a state rep for almost 3 years.  Then I got antsy and decided to start my own rescue.  I found out the hard way that I'm not a good personality to run a dog rescue, or anything else for that matter. I'm a natural follower and I'm not ashamed to say it.

Long story short, I burnt out before I even began.  Fostering dogs wore me to the core. I took on so much that I overwhelmed myself more and more until finally I just had cut all the strings to take the pressure off.

But as it turns out, you can take the girl out of the rescue, but you cant take the rescue out of the girl.  My eyes are naturally peeled for dogs living outside in these brutal northern winters. DDB is a rescue that was built soley to rescue dogs who are living outside, either chained up, penned in or lose in a backyard, ignored and lonely. Before, rescueing meant I had to take dogs into my home. But I have 4 dogs now, and it's not possible.  But that doesn't mean I can't keep fighting the good fight against chaining. 

As of today, I am officially a Minnesota state rep for DDB again. I'm so happy to be back. My goals this time around are to work with chained dog owners to educate them and help them find ways to bring their dogs inside.  I'd also like to work on legislation for the area. I live in a very rural, good-old-boy town. It's a small farming town and animal welfare is surprisingly non exsistant.  Of course there are some fabulous dog owners around here. There's a lot of them. But until it's all of them, I can't stop trying.

Much Randomness

Lots of random, because I don't have enough of one subject to talk about to make a really good post!  I mean my last post was about gum.  Gum.  Really?

It snowed yesterday. Not much snow, but the drive home last night was aweful. Probably one of the worst drives I've had yet this season.

Freakin Punxutawny Phil saw his stupid shadow this morning. I shouldn't put him down like that. It's not his fault. And really, I kind of want a groundhog to keep at home. They are so fat and furry and cuddley looking. Less the teeth I guess. I'll have to make due with Sylvester.

I got my living room carpet shampooed last weekend. The house smelled so fresh and clean and I'd opened the windows briefly to get the musty cooped up all winter dog smell out. It was wonderful. But short lived. Red came home from fishing and got right to frying up his catch on my clean kitchen stove. So instead of fresh and glorious clean, my house now smells like old fried fish.  Whatever.

My house in currently in complete disarray. There is stuff crowding my living and dining room. I started selling some stuff on ebay recently. And in my ventures, I came across this bedding set that I decided that I needed to have. We are still using a mix of JCPenney's Bed-in-a-Bags from mine and Red's high school years. Nice. Nothing matches.  And I've been so into this DIY stuff lately and seen so many beautiful, clever bedroom redos that I decided it's time to do my own.

I told you that story so I could tell you this short story.  Last night I spent caulking my bedroom walls. You see, two of the walls are wood panelling.  Yay. And I dont want the crevices showing through the new paint. So I bought my own caulk and gun and I began the long process of caulking the cracks. I didn't get very far. It turns out that one tube of caulk, while taking almost 2 hours, only covers about a 10th of the wall. This project is already ticking me off.

Kirby and I are playing a new game. Tag. Every morning while I stand in the kitchen to say goodbye to Red, Kirby stands at the kitchen threshold. As soon as Red is out the door, Kirby begins barking at me. I take a quick, threatening step forward and bounce back, which sends Kirby into butt-in-the-air play mode. I take more steps towards him, which sends him into a butt wiggling, barking frenzy. Then I run at him and he makes a mad dash through the nearest escape hole (which usually begins under the end table and between the two recliners. I growl and threaten to 'get him' while pretending to chase him while he sprints and dodges and barks around the house. At first I thought this a dangerous game. I wouldnt want him to be loose outside and decide not to be caught because he wants to play tag. But I dont see the harm, considering that he only plays the game so that he does get caught. Getting caught is his favorite part and I've noticed that he runs for less and less time the more we play. When I catch him, I make a huge deal about it and give him lots of scratches and hugs and I pick him up and swing him around. He loves it.

Wow, I had more to say than I thought. Still complete randomness though. Can't believe you're still reading!