Pet Sounds

Danny is not a very vocal dog, until it comes to bedtime. Not a night goes by where he doesn't groan on the way to his bed. He sounds like an old man with arthritis. Last night he started yelping in the middle of the night. At first we thought something was wrong, but further investigation showed he was still sleeping. I wonder if he was dreaming about chasing squirrels or running from something.

He's also a serial sigher. Every now and then he lays down and lets out a big sigh like the weight of the world has been lifted off his shoulders.

We've only heard him bark on two occasions. One day, out of the blue, he started barking at a swallow house we put on the shed. He was fixated on that bird house and we basically had to drag him away although there was nothing in it.

The last time he barked we had just come into the basement. He quickly turned around and started barking and growling at some plywood we have stored down there. The hair on the back of his neck was standing straight up and he was just barking at plywood.

We're not complaining, mind you. He could be a Sheltie...

Trick or Treat

The Halloween preparations start pretty early in our household. We usually start picking up a bag of candy here and there so we have enough when the big day hits. We get candy we like, "just in case" we have some left. Sometimes all the candy makes it to Halloween, sometimes we dip into the stash for an emergency chocolate fix.

Since this is the first year in the new house, we didn't really know what to expect. Our two previous houses were in big young neighborhoods and we knew we would get swamped. It was not uncommon for me to get a call on the way home with a frantic "WE NEED MORE CANDY!!" coming from the other end.

But this house is different. We're in a small neighborhood with mostly original owners. It's a nice quiet street with a couple kids, so we thought there would be a steady trickle of goblins all evening. We were prepared with 36 full-sized Hershey bars and a bag of Baby Ruth's for backup.

The darkness descended at 4:50 and Valerie prepared...

5:00...Nothing.

6:00...Nobody.

7:00...Nobody.

7:57...Ding Dong. Danny rushes down the stairs to greet the ghouls. Two kids dressed up, a Father, and an older kid just accompanying them. Danny almost manages to get out the door, but Valerie keeps a handle on him while she gives out the goodies. It's been a slow night, so she offers a big Hershey bar to the older kid who takes her up on it. Dad passes, knowing he's waiting for the Butterfingers when the kids go to bed.

8:00... Nothing.

8:30... Nobody.

9:00...Lights out.

Three freakin' trick-or-treaters last night. And I use the number three loosely.

Danny Update

Imagine waking up in the morning and having this look back at you.

At some point in his life, somebody introduced Danny to the bed. He jumps up there any chance he gets. The first two nights we brought him home, he was on the bed all night. Two people and a dog on the bed all night long. Oh, did you know we have a full-size bed?

By the third night, he must have had enough and jumped off at about 11:30 to perch himself on his L.L. Bean bed for the rest of the night. He's pretty much settled into that schedule, but when we get up in the morning he's right there ready to jump up, even if he's still half asleep himself.

Danny Update

What a face!

Today was a big day for Danny. First thing this morning he went to the vet. Danny was a perfect gentleman with Dr. Cronin who thought he was a little over one. What a surprise! We've got anywhere from one to five-ish for his age. He certainly acts one-ish, but we'll see. Then he had to go to the tax man and get registered with the town. A couple rounds with the tennis ball and he was tuckered out for most of the afternoon. His dog walker Diane came out to meet him in the afternoon and was impressed how sweet he was.

You forget what it's like having a dog in the house. Like, everything on the floor is fair game for playing. I was awoken this morning by a wet sock in Danny's mouth. In another episode, he... well I'll spare you the details, but lets just say we'll be keeping the lid on the laundry hamper from now on.

Meet Danny

Meet Danny. We went to Portland Maine for a lobster dinner and came back with this beautiful Golden. We can't thank the people at Sunshine Golden Retriever Rescue enough, especially his foster Mom, Linda. We promise to take good care of him. More to come...

Keeping you in the loop

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NordicTrack Pro

Complete NordicTrack Pro.

• works fine
• heart monitor

Hawaii Fauna

Here's Valerie playing host to a Macaw on Kauai.

They have a Koi pond at the Grand Hyatt Kauai. Every day the guests are encouraged to help feed the Koi. These fish go crazy when it's feeding time and it's just a massive sea of orange and white for about 20 minutes.

At the Hyatt, they have Swans in the pools surrounding the grounds. They are graceful creatures, but Hawaii Wildlife law mandates that since they are wild birds their wings must be clipped.

This is not the Geico Gecko, but one we saw in the wild.

A sea turtle.

A spider web.

Blocks to Sticks

About two months ago, we had a big tree taken down near the power lines. I requested that the wood be blocked up in firewood size blocks and put at the end of the driveway so I could split them at a later point. Somewhere in that, the tree guy heard that he should dump everything about 80 feet from the end of the driveway. Sigh. Last weekend we spent about half a day rolling each block the 80 feet to the driveway so we could split it.

I ordered the log splitter earlier in the week and we had it Saturday. From 9:00 until about 4:30, we were out splitting the big blocks into fireplace sized sticks. Valerie worked the splitter and I got to split the wood. It went pretty good, but we're both sore tonight. Yes, all this wood was from one tree.

While splitting wood, it brought back memories of splitting wood with my Dad. The wood season usually started in the summer when we would venture to a friends camp in the Adirondack mountains. My Dad, Bruce, and Reggie would select trees that were dead and take them down. Then the trees were blocked up and left to dry for a few months. When Fall came, we'd venture back to camp to pick up the blocks and bring them back. That's when the hard work started.

I operated the controls as Dad hefted the humongous blocks up wood up on the horizontal splitter (the old kind, that didn't tip up vertical). We'd work as a team, he lifting and either gesturing with his hand or nodding his head when he was read for me to push. Occasionally I'd miss the cue or be daydreaming and he'd look at me for a few seconds before waving his hands. He was probably wishing my brother were at the controls, but he never lost any fingers.

When the splitting was done, it was the kids job to bring the wood to the shed where it lay protected until it was ready to be used. I'd load up the wheel-barrow, wheel it for what seemed like miles (although it was maybe 50 yards), dump, and do it all over again. And again, and again, and again. Once there was enough wood, Dad would show us how to stack it. We built vertical columns of wood on the end and stacked the rest in the middle. All three of us would be out there stacking wood, Dad making corrections along the way so the pile rose 6 feet high as perpendicular as if measured with a square. That wood eventually heated our house in the winter, usually the year after it was split.

Tomorrow, I stack. To this day I can still stack wood without any end supports.

You may call me Sir Electric

Our stairwell has a light switch on the first floor and a light switch at the top of the stairs. Ever since we moved in about four months ago, the light has never worked right. In order to operate the light from downstairs, the switch on the second floor had to be on.

No big deal, you say. Just keep the light at the top of the stairs on all the time. But, when you go to bed you don't want to leave the hall light on, so we would turn it off. Well, when morning came and the sun was out, we just walked downstairs and left for the day. When we got home, flicked the switch at the bottom of the stairs and...nothing. Rassin, frassin, fricking, frackin switch.

So I dug out my trusty Home Improvement 1-2-3 by Homer D. Poe and looked up three-way switches. I've never really understood how three-way switches work and usually relied on my brother -in-law to hook them up for me. But Homer explained it pretty well. So I opened up both switches and the light and diagrammed the whole thing. I then took my diagram and compared it to the book. Aha, the hot wire was hooked to a traveler instead of the common terminal on the master three-way switch. I turned the power off at the panel, made the right connections, and voila! The light can now be turned on from either the top or the bottom.

Four months for something that could have taken a professional 5 minutes; priceless.

Hawaii Flora, Part I

Some of the exotic plants seen in Hawaii. Last one is a coffee tree. Third one is a Palm Tree in bloom. Fourth is a bird of paridise found all over. Not sure what the others are, but are pretty.

Waiting for baby

Anyone who knows us, knows that we are dog people. It has been 3 years since our Golden Retriever passed away and we have REALLY missed having a dog around. Since buying the house, I have been impatiently awaiting the arrival of a new “ baby”.

Originally, we had agreed that we would get a dog after the yard was fenced. However, the landscaping is taking much longer than anticipated and we decided that we would not wait any longer.

We are working with a wonderful rescue organization in CT, Sunshine Golden Retriever Rescue, and have begun the process of adopting a Golden Retriever!

The first step in the adoption process was a phone interview. The SGRR volunteer was on vacation, but still took time to contact me. I was truly impressed. Very few people volunteer to help homeless animals and even fewer would take time from their vacation to talk with a prospective adopter.

The second step was a home interview. The SGRR volunteer came to our house with 2 dogs. It was wonderful to have dogs around again and we were sad to see them leave. We discussed the kind of dog that we felt would be a good match for us.

Now for the hard part…waiting!!! SGRR will review the dogs that they currently have up for adoption. If there is not a good match, then they will review new dogs that enter the program. We do not know when our new dog will arrive, but we are eagerly waiting for the phone to ring.

Mauna Kea

See my post on Mauna Kea.

Driving the Chrysler 300

The first big decision I had to make on vacation was which car to drive. Because of low inventory of intermediate sized cars at the airport, I was given the choice of a Dodge Sebring Convertible or a Chrysler 300. Being a big guy, I opted for the more room of the 300.

The first thing I noticed when I jumped into the 300 was there are two control sticks on the steering column; one for the blinkers & wiper controls, and one for cruise control. I fired up the 300 and noticed the parking brake indicator was on. I was frequently flicking the wrong control for the blinkers. The second time we got into the 300, the parking brake indicator was on again. “Hmm”, I thought, “the parking brake automatically comes on every time?” After a couple more times, I figured out that my foot kept hitting the parking brake pedal when entering the car. Annoying, yes, but once I was aware I adjusted my behavior and the indicator didn’t come on again.

All nitpicking aside, the 300 is a driver’s car. The V6 engine had plenty of power and the automatic transmission knew just the right times to shift. While going up many of the hills of the big island, the Chrysler downshifted at just the right time and stuck there until it made sense to upshift. Compare that to my ’91 Pontiac Grand Prix which would have been shifting up and down the whole hill. I was impressed.

The performance and handling became more apparent one day on the way back from Hilo. I was following a souped up Mustang somewhere around the speed limit when we got behind a train of 5 or 6 cars. After following this train for about ten minutes, the road split into two lanes. The Mustang darted to the right lane and floored it to pass all the cars and I followed him. We passed the cars quite handily and continued on. The 300 kept right up with the hot-rod past 70 and 80 until I eased off and let the Mustang go.

I found myself using the slap shifter on the many downhill runs on the southern side of the island. In particular, I descended about 4000 feet over six miles on Chain of Craters road in Volcanoes National Park and never touched the brakes. The $45 fill-ups were no fun, but at Hawaii’s typical $3.53/gal were partly to blame for the bloat at the pump. It also didn’t help that we got about 20 miles per gallon the whole trip.

I drove the 300 for about 1200 miles over the course of a week and never regretted my decision. It awakened feelings that have been smoldering since I sold my Trans Am many years ago. I can even see myself considering this car when my Honda goes kaput in another 100K miles.

Big Step

It may not seem like a big accomplishment, but the garage is cleaned out enough so we can fit both our cars in. Not totally clean, but clean enough. Three months ago the entire garage was packed with boxes.

The smelly visitor

Looking out the kitchen window the other morning, I saw what I first thought was a black cat walking in the back yard. I thought - that's interesting, I have not seen a cat before and then I took another look. It turns out that the cat was in fact a rather large skunk! The skunk wandered around the back of the shed and then disappeared. I just hope he does not decide to cohabitate with the wood chuck who is living under the shed.

I have not seen the skunk again, but with the windows open you can sometimes smell him when he passes by at night.

Guest room finished

The guest room is finally finished !!!
The new closet shelving and the window shades have been installed.
The only question is, who will be our first guest in this new room ?

Guest room

The guest room is almost finished! The last things left to do are to install the closet shelving and hang the blinds. The new ceiling fan really adds a lot of light to the room. We had originally thought this room would have pink accents, but when we found the blue window treatments, we were hooked.
One more guest room to refinish - but that will be our winter project.

Shark Fin Soup

This from Yao Ming (NBA Player) yesterday:

"I pledge to stop eating sharks fin soup and will not do so under any circumstances."

That's a fight I can join.

Doe with fawns

There is a doe with two fawns who often stops by the backyard for a snack. The doe appears to have no fear of people - she does not run off, unless you get too close. The fawns are more skittish, which makes picture taking difficult. It is a lot of fun to see the fawns playing together - already they are getting big and losing their spots.