Friday, April 28, 2023

Today’s high will be in the eighties! Maybe spring has arrived, but I’m cautious after living for years in Central Oregon. Experience teaches us to anticipate at least one more freeze. So a casual rule is to avoid in-ground planting before mid-May.

I am bringing home plants, setting them outside in the daylight, and moving them inside in the evening. Besides my caution regarding more freezing weather, I’ve been too busy to garden. Recently, all my energies have been dedicated to keeping corralled my puppy, Chase, a talented escape artist.

I added fence fabric in the dogs’ common area to heighten several hundred feet of fencing. The added material sets low and covers the top rail. That’s to hinder Chase from grasping the rail and hauling himself over it to freedom.

Yesterday, I saw him examine closely the fence’s changes and not attempt to escape. So, I decided to leave him in the big yard while I was away at work. It helped to see Chase remain relaxed when my Jeep’s noisy motor started. I’d be away less than four hours and concerned about his safety.

Later, on arriving home, I saw Chase, still fenced and among the other dogs, running to greet me.

Dear Friends: I hope his behavior is the same today, and he’s still fenced on my arrival home. Diana

Thursday, April 27, 2023

I’m scheduled today to work for three-and-one-half hours. What? Who designed this?

After next week, my hours will increase to the typical twenty-per-week for Home Depot’s part-timers. Spring’s finally arriving with customers starting to flow into the Garden Department, where I work.

Interestingly, I gather that starting now, and throughout the summer months, Garden will be the store’s highest grossing department. Tools usually is highest grossing. That shift lets my brain create fun mental images with “flowers overcoming tools.”

Considering that shift takes me to related larger social issues. For example, Washington State’s Governor has just signed a law forbidding future sales of AK-15 automatic weapons. Today, new reporting reveals that in the last month Washington State’s gun sellers processed a typical year’s worth of sales. So, the upcoming change-law has people gunning-up ahead of its starting date.

Okay, now my thoughts are shifting to children’s lives. Normally, we equate children to flowers, but these days’ children are becoming easy victims to older children wielding automatic weapons. In the old days of social teaching, weapons violence was associated to world wars and large plans for things like, “butter vs. guns.” Now, we need workable plans for something like, “flowers vs. guns.” What will be the solutions?

Dear Friends: As often, I’m stuck with images that ought to mesh, but don’t, and somehow won’t. Diana

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Meet Jake, a six-year-old Belgian Malinois (a Tervuren [long-coated] type). He was perfectly groomed and a great match for photographing at Home Depot among beautiful flowers.

About HD and flowers: Yesterday, the Garden Department received its first huge shipment of flowering plants. Throughout my shift, I removed plastic wrappings from new arrivals, and the fun of that equaled unwrapping Christmas delights. Plus, that day was beautiful, shirtsleeve-warm, drawing many customers. They were delighted to see plants and colors and shared observations with random others.

I couldn’t resist playing around, and as you might guess, later brought home these bright-red Begonias

Next Saturday, my HD manager, Enrique, and his wife, Chrysal, are to remarry, and this time in The Church. Their four-year-old daughter will be their Flower Girl. He’s sending me an invitation, and I’ll be there cheering them.

Dear Friends: Flowers and customers, and finally, our Garden Department coming alive. Diana

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

I was working to modify my yard fencing to contain my escape-artist puppy when my neighbor, Frank, texted, sending a photo of a downed section of my horse fencing. Frank kindly reconnected the top rails and reset the section but said my side of the fence needed staples. I hurried to try containing my puppy (oy vey!) before going to pound staples. My examination of the fenceline revealed several loose posts.

In today’s hasty-home-building economy, one challenge is finding repair experts who are reasonably available and trustworthy. Plus, skilled tradespersons are coming and going. One who has worked here once or twice suddenly disappears. Now my part-time work at Home Depot has acquainted me with a contractor who works there part-time.

He explained that this freezing, long winter severely limiting his business had brought him to HD. I contacted him yesterday, and we will meet to review my property concerns. He’s an electrician and could make such repairs. He says his HD co-worker is a capable plumber and is also available. Maybe he knows someone who can repair fencing.

In accepting my part-time job at HD, I was hoping to meet coworkers or customers who could address various property needs. Maybe this co-worker will be that skilled tradesperson.

Dear Friends: Today’s beautiful weather will have the Garden Department very busy. Diana

Monday, April 24, 2023

Chase is being contained! New obstructive material, stretching over the six-foot fencing, interrupts his climbs and escapes. In another doggie area, a nearly half-acre fenced for them, he escapes from a section with top-rail fencing by climbing up and over until now. An added foot-and-a-half fencing fabric above the top rail can’t support his weight.

After today, my mind can focus on other matters. For one thing, I must prepare to haul my equines over to the west side for routine dentistry after readying my truck and horse trailer. Unfortunately, my escaping dog has captured my attention, delaying the spring start-up activities with the rig and horses.

Also, I’m reading another excellent novel: Lab Girl, published in 2016 by Hope Jahren, an American geochemist, geobiologist, and professor specializing in plant life. Her memoir is well-written and humorous, a first-person description of coming-of-age experiences that moved her toward a deep understanding of plants.

Dear Friends: It’s spring, and now Home Depot will increase my working hours. Diana

 

Sunday, April 23, 2023

Yesterday, I worked all day to get ahead of my puppy, Chase, to keep him confined.

He foiled several of my attempts to block his exits from the dogs’ larger area. He astonishes me with his strength and climbing skills. That puppy found ways to get up and squeeze over the most complicated barriers I could devise. He set me wandering this whole property, opening long neglected sheds, and eying objects creatively to spot potential blocker-aids. Finally, the process is slowing him, but today, he’s clearly aware there’s a weak area and has begun challenging it.

He’s an athlete, and it’s his game. I can’t let him win, and he wears me out.

In the past, I’ve visited shelters and been upset to learn individuals may turn in dogs, claiming they can’t keep the animals confined and/or control their behaviors. However, none of my dogs have been so challenging that I’d consider sending one to a shelter. That’s not saying none have been difficult, as some were, for every living creature has a unique personality.

Chase has challenged me to a new level, but I won’t give up. Offsetting his energy is a personality that couldn’t be sweeter.

He’s a mixed breed, predominately Rottweiller and German Shepard, with the strength, determination, and intelligence of those two breeds (at least, for it’s unknown whatever else might be in him). He could be a great candidate for policing, rescuing, or carrying messages during wartime. His strength and drive seem endless.

His constant escaping needs occasionally have made me consider re-homing or giving him up, but only in my worst moments of struggling to ensure his safety. I will keep trying to control his escaping needs and hanging on while he outgrows his young brain. If, finally, his behaviors don’t change, I’ll do whatever’s needed to counter them.

Dear Friends: This once-itty-pup landed serendipitously in his permanent home. Diana

Saturday, April 22, 2023

More on the same topic of my puppy, Chance, and his escaping skills.

All day yesterday, he was uncontainable, although I had constructed barriers. I couldn’t figure out how he continued to manage to escape. Whenever he showed up uninvited, I added a new physical construct to keep him contained.

At least Chase wasn’t leaving the property. He happily hurried to join me if I were outside and hung around the house if I were inside. Upon my exit, he’d show up, all tail-wagging and body-wiggling.

I did introduce Chase to an e-collar and began to work with him. But the collar is for reinforcement rather than punishment. Zapping him during escape trials would require my continuous presence to watch him. Plus, soon, he will comprehend a relationship between his e-collar and my physical presence.

He has stressed me out for not knowing how to keep him completely safe. He must not happen onto a busy highway that runs near my property. Last night, I lay awake for hours and considered possible options. After running through my mental catalog of observed escapes, I made some decisions.

Today, I will install a gate in my dogs’ common area. It may prevent Chase from accessing the five-foot fencing he leaps easily. Another install will be in the big kennel, a stand-alone, ten- by twenty-foot area with six-foot-fencing, which Chase climbs and goes over. I will add strips of garden fencing that stretch overhead and might prevent him from leaping to complete climbs.

I must be able to keep him safe!

Dear Friends: I’ll be off work and trying to resolve the problem for a few more days. Diana

Friday, April 21, 2023

My year-old puppy, Chase, is an escape artist. He has managed to escape a quarter-acre, fenced area for my dogs. The first time by digging beneath the extra chicken wire laid under strong wire fencing and the second time by climbing over a four-and-one-half foot gate.

Those skills earned him a re-location to my rescue kennel that houses visiting dogs and wandering strays. It’s safe and secure, has housed many dogs, and has been escape-proof. It has a concrete floor surrounded by six-foot-high fencing; inside, its space is ten by twenty feet.

A few days after spending time in the big kennel, Chase escaped it. My housemate, Jan, and I watched in astonishment as he balanced against a corner of fencing, attained firm right and left paw holds, and then climbed straight up and over the six-foot-high fence.

We returned him to the kennel and watched again. This time, he ditched it more quickly and in the same way.

Long story short, into that day’s late afternoon, Jan and I worked to secure in each corner a four-foot-wide sheet of lumber to erase foot-holds. Afterward, we returned Chase to the kennel and watched while he inspected and evaluated the changes. He tested the corners before making a nearly-successful attempt to climb straight up and over the fenced front.

Chase is a challenge. Today, I will strengthen those corner wood slab installations and keep a close eye on the dog. He may accompany me or wait while securely crated inside the house if I must leave home.

Dear Friends: I’ve known many dogs, but none were as strong, determined, and challenging. Diana

Thursday, April 20, 2023

Imagine this: I took my dogs to a BLM to run freely without first noticing that one of my dogs was missing. At the BLM, I freed the dogs, and for an instant, it seemed one might be missing. But they were racing around, and some were already out of sight. So I shrugged off the notion of one missing.

We began walking, and for a quarter-mile, all was well. Suddenly, and I can’t say why, it dawned on me that Osix, my Border Collie, wasn’t visible. That’s unusual, for Osix keeps me in her sights, which keeps her in mine. I paused my entourage and stood calling for her. After no response, I thought back and realized that contrary to my usual habit, I’d not counted how many dogs had loaded into my Jeep’s cargo.

Uh, oh, I grasped something awful: Osix was missing.

Where could she be! My mind ran some awful scenarios. Did she, upon being left, try to follow my Jeep? Had she gone running on the busy highway? Could she be…? I couldn’t let myself picture the worst.

Immediately, I directed my dogs back to the Jeep. Fortunately, they loaded in quickly. While driving home, I scanned the roadway and its sides without sighting an injured or dead dog.

Upon arriving home, there was Osix, waiting and happy to see the Jeep. My relief was indescribable.

I’m usually well-organized. That mental blip astonished me. Simply put, my brain played a trick, letting me for an instant notice, but not realize, a dog missing in the mix. I get it, too, for on reflection, my mind was too full of other matters, and I was tired and careless.

Dear Friends: In the future, I’ll count my dogs obsessively. Diana

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Chase and I struggled yesterday when he was with me at Home Depot. That was his first visit to a busy public place. All the sights, sounds, and shopping carts were too much for him. Regardless, I asked a cashier, Laura, to hold his leash while I took a photo. So today’s header captures lots of tension.

I took Chase to PetSmart to find him a new collar. He was unhappy there, and I thought he might behave aggressively toward other dogs in the store. We were experimenting with collar sizes when a store employee entered the aisle. She was friendly and began playing with Chase. She understood dogs, and he started calming down. He at first refused her treats and then began accepting them. She helped to select and fit a new collar and introduced us to a dog martingale to ease the leading of my strong puppy.

She was a store trainer and had a puppy class beginning that evening. Since Chase had relaxed with her, I enrolled us. Later, during that event, he was a calm, interested, and accepting pup, only mildly interested in other dogs. I was delighted with a new perspective on my puppy’s potential and our future. He’s just fine.

As for me, I must hurry now. This is another six a.m. workday.

Dear Friends: I’ll retake Chase to HD for a more fun version of him “in the Aisle.” Diana