Blackford Farm/Canadia

I believe most of my readers have heard tales of my mini-farm dream, and most folks are also aware that I plan to have only all-black animals on the farm (some white spots will be allowed, but not so much that the animal would be called “black-and-white”). Someone once wrote a message to me in which they described coming to visit the farm with all the black-furred animals, which I thought was a cute way to describe it, so I’ve decided to call the place Blackford Farm. Now, I do not think I have to register the farm name in the states of Ohio or Florida, but some states do require name registration and the name has to be unique. So, I basically have to hope that those rules won’t change, and that if they do, no one takes that name before I can register it.

 

Thanks to Rachel for the latest inspiration for black-furred farm animals. After reading about these Kent critters on her blog, I sent a message to her and Heidi saying that we need to trap some of these and bring them down here so I can start a scurry of my own. {Yes, scurry. For some reason, I had thought a group of squirrels was called a “clutch,” but the only options I found via the internet were “dray” and “scurry”. While both are descriptive of squirrels in general, I think “clutch” sounds better.}

 

At any rate, I was delighted that Rachel and Heidi each replied separately with a suggestion that we should go to Canadia to snag the black squirrels. I have long thought that Canada should be referred to as Canadia, since her peoples are referred to as Canadians as opposed to Canadans. Although this opens a door that would have us using expressions like the “Bostonia Tea Party,” which sounds not nearly as good. So. I was trying to figure out how the term Canadia became popularized and I still don’t know, but what I do know is that there are a LOT of people who feel the same about this matter, because there are THREE separate urbandictionary.com entries for Canadia, and then I found this great site which has given Canadia a 49% evil/51% good rating*. I guess I can concede that Canadia is a little more good than bad. But only a little!

 

*Apologies to you if you, or any of your loved ones, are Canadians, Canadans, or Cangophiles. No animals were harmed in the making of this post. The US Surgeon General warns that smoking is hazardous to your health.

 

 

 

Cry for Help

I know most folks already have various plans for the weekend, including trips out of town and othersuch. However, I am in desperate need of some laboring help. Magnus needs an outdoor run in the worst way. He has a tie-out right now, but he HATES it, and I want to be able to leave him outside (weather permitting) while I am at work. It seems better than being in his little crate all day. So, I have plans to build one stretch of fence in a strategic location of the backyard that’s already fenced on 3 sides. The project will basically be: digging approximately 10 post holes using a clamshell digger and possibly a 2-man auger; putting crushed gravel in the bottom of the holes, placing the poles, making sure they are plumb, and backfilling with hard-packed dirt; painting the fence parts; nailing the “stringers” – the horizontal bars between the poles; cutting the pickets; nailing the pickets to the stringers; and hanging the gate. I am hoping to get the bulk of this done over the long weekend, but I could really use some help. Please let me know if you can stop by to help, even if it’s just for an hour or two, or if you can help with picking up materials, which is another area where I’ll also need help. Know that your assistance will help a Great Doggie have an even happier home!!

 

 

magnus' little brown beaver

we went to the pet store today to get a seat belt harness to keep him in one place and from flying around the car if we should ever have a wreck. as a treat and because i read that he needs more toys, i let him pick out his own squeaky toy. i held up several and this is the one that he was most excited about. he was sitting on his haunches with his jowls quivering like it was the most magical thing in the world. bonus points if you caught the primus reference.

magnus mix

this is a bowl of our new favorite snack, magnus mix. it's cheerios, 2 kinds of soft cat treats, slices of doggie pepperoni sticks, and a cup of cat food. we went to watch a training class on tuesday, and the instructor ave me a handful of her mix and showed me how to use each little piece to get him to do things. mostly, just sit, since we were there to observe the class. we liked the instructor and her dog, so that's where we'll be taking classes in september. in the meantime, i'll be packing this on our walks and to the backyard for trainin sessions.

buckets of happiness

i love my pencils and markers!

Weeessst-Siiiiide. Ahhh.

Someone mentioned to me that they had to go to the West Side and they way they said it made it sound like it was a trip to a foreign country, like, “I have to get my vaccinations and exchange my money and find my passport” or something, just to go there. I mean, it’s only on the other side of I-75, people. But that’s how it is around here whenever people talk about the West Side. So I mentioned this to Heidi and her response to me was so funny that I just copied it here for everyone to see. West-Siders and all.

 

“Going to the Westside is like a foreign country in that you almost always have to have a reason for going beyond, like, just wanting to go or something. I mean, if someone's like ‘I'm going to Kenwood,’ people aren't like, ‘what? whhhhyyyy?’ But that is the response to the west side.”

Sometimes, you just shake your head and sigh

You know, I don’t think this whole Michael Vick dog-fighting thing is funny. There’s nothing even remotely funny about anything related to the dog-fighting world, including all the peripheral problems it brings into a neighborhood, like guns and drugs, or the fact that they use other small, helpless animals like kittens to “train” the dogs.

 

But this is funny. You must read the article AND the .pdf file to see just how funny. Man, is it funny.

 

The Name Game

If you pay a kind of keen attention to what I’m up to (which, who doesn’t, really), you may have noticed at this point that it’s been 5 days and I haven’t picked a name for the dog yet. Juxtapose that with the fact that I made a decision about my last car purchase in under 24 hours, including picking the exact vehicle from the dealer stock online before I even arrived on the lot. In my mind, the car I drive is of little consequence – I just need something to get me where I need to go, whereas a name is VERY important. It conveys something about the person or pet in question, and I do think that people and pets tend to live up to their names. So, I didn’t treat this lightly.

Before I get to the dog’s name, I’m going to do a run-down of the dogs I’ve had and named, because there is a bit of a trend, or pattern, if you will. I’m a little fuzzy on the order of dogs, and I’m sure I’ve left one or two out, because we had a lot of “disposable” pets when we lived in the country – strays or dumped critters that would stick around for a while and then wander off or get killed by cars or each other. That kind of thing.

The first pup I remember getting was a little black-and-brown mix of something. I wanted to call him Blackie, but my parents dissuaded me for what might seem like obvious reasons until you consider that they had a black cat named Spook. Since I couldn’t use Blackie, I went with King. King was a terrible dog for a little kid, because he wasn’t mindful and I was too young to teach him manners, so he jumped on my and scratched me whenever I took his food or water out. But I loved him even though he was bad. King got off his chain one day and ran out into the road and got hit by a car, all while I was watching. Thankfully, I don’t remember seeing him get hit, but I do remember the whole thing happening. When my dad arrived home shortly thereafter and found me crying inconsolably, my mom explained what had happened. He and my brother Pat went down to the road to get the dog while Mom made me drink a glass of milk to calm me down. When they got back, Pat succinctly explained that “old King’s part of the road now,” which, not surprisingly, set me off on another crying jag.

To make up for the horror of what happened to King, my parents got us a new puppy, a Retriever pup that I named Zeus (I read a lot as a kid!). We had Zeus for a few weeks, or just long enough for me to be completely and totally attached, and then we found out that he had a heart problem and he had to be put down. We did get another pup from that litter, though – and this one we named “Nibbles,” because, well, he nibbled on us. Nibbles was a great dog – he grew up to be quite beautiful and sweet, but he ran down the road a lot and got into all kinds of trouble. I remember hearing some boys on the bus one time talking about him and how he had been down to their place and they had shot bottle rockets at him. I believe this may have been the first time I was filled with rage and if I had been anywhere near capable of it, I probably would have beaten those boys with my fists. Nibbles took off one day and never came back and my parents said someone had probably picked him up on the road and decided he’d make a good hunting dog. That was a great story and I wish my dad had stuck to it, but a few years ago, he and I were talking about all the pets and he said something about how Nibbles was a good dog and he wished that guy hadn’t shot him. Uh, what? Yep, that’s right – some guy SHOT MY DOG because the dog was always getting in his trash and tearing it up. There are a couple lessons here: 1) Obedience Training is your dog’s friend, and 2) when you are an adult and you find out that your childhood dog was SHOT and killed, it fills you with an avenging, murderous rage that is only resolved by finding out that the guy who did it is already dead, so you’ve missed your chance.

But I digress. When we moved into the city, we got new mongrel dogs. Yes, plural. I have no idea what these dogs were, because they didn’t even look like each other, much less like any recognizable breed. Pat and I each got one (they were small!), and my friend Holly got one, too. I named mine Bizmarck, after the Admiral. Holly named hers Rommel. Pat named his Big Daddy, after Big Daddy Kane. The only real problem with those names is that all 3 of them were girls. So, there was always some confusion about their sex based on their names. Big Daddy. Heh.

When I got my first apartment in college, I got a new pup with my then-boyfriend, Tim. This pup was a Chow/Spaniel mix, but he stayed pretty small – about 35 pounds as I recall – and he was all black with a fluffy neck like a chow but the rest of his fur was wavy like a Spaniel’s. I named him Akeem, because he looked like a prince and he looked a little exotic, and Akeem was the name of Eddie Murphy’s royal character in Coming to America (which I require that you see if you’ve never seen before – it’s just that good!).

So basically, with the exception of Nibbles, my dogs’ names have been after kings, gods, and warriors. I like names that convey a bit of larger-than-life quality, and I especially like Latin names (Stella!). But also, I wanted something to fit his personality, and of course, 2 syllables, easy to say, and all that kind of stuff you have to consider. So, after going through a long list of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Egyptian, and Arabic names, and vetting them with J-Dubb, our Classics expert, I am pleased to announce that I’ve selected a name for the dog. Side note: you know you are dealing with a different kind of person when you suggest the name “Anubis” for your dog and she says “kinda common”. Ah, Jenn. I laugh when I think about the friends you must have. J So, to seal the deal, I slept on this last night, and when I woke up, it just seemed like ‘the one’. So, without further ado, allow me to introduce…Magnus, meaning “great one”. This is also apropos, because when I went to the shelter, the tag on his cage read “This is a great dog!”. Great. Underlined. So, yeah, Magnus it is. And I’m looking forward to some great times with this great dog. Rock on!

closure

thanks to assistance and direction from the lovely and talented brian, i now have a fully fenced-in backyard. yesterday, brian came over to help me re-hang the side gate that had come unhinged earlier this year. so now, dog can host parties for his little doggie friends. hooray!

i realise now she's just been humouring me

in case you can't tell from the pic, this is stella, crouched and clinging to the top of the window frame in the kitchen. poor thing. it all happened so suddenly. we were all just sittin in the livin room, me on the loveseat, dog on the sofa, stella in the window. i was just thinking, hey, this dog-and-cat thing isn't so bad. look at us, all being quiet and still. and then, something changed and before i even knew what was happening, stella was shooting around the house, bouncing off furniture, walls, and floors like a pinball in hyperdrive, and dog was chasing her, slamming into everything with far less grace, kind of like a bowling ball rolling after that pinball, and i'm spinning around trying to predict the next trajectory, intercept the missiles, and figure out a way to contain the destruction as much as possible. i finally got dog under control and contained in his crate, and when
i made it back to the kitchen, this is how i found poor stella.

Hot Dog!

I have really gone and done it now. With only one vacation day left (yesterday), I ran over to the Cincinnati SPCA and picked up this little booger:

He doesn't wear that silly-ass bandana in real life, though. He has a pretty red collar that looks nice next to his shiny black fur.

Note that his current name is Ace, but I am considering changing it to something with 2 syllables.

Stella is none too happy about this.

Erin's Miscellany

1) I am home now, having been defeated by the Perfect Storm of camping mishaps: sunburn, saddlesores, and torrential downpours. By Monday night, I had already thought to myself that I might pack it in on Tuesday, but then I was awakened on Tuesday by the most terrifying thunder-and-wind-storm that I've ever been in. As soon as the storm passed, I ran around like a madwoman, shoving everything into my car and tearing out of there. And now, I'm home. And it's hot. But not wet. So I've got that going for me.
2) Although I was at Lake Erie, I do not think I was near Kent. Sorry, Rachel.
3) Jenn - I was able to do all that blogging using my amazing Internet phone. I can send a PIX message directly to my blog. You can do that, too, if you set it up on blogger. I can help you do that sometime if you like.
4) Re: The Hibachi. Heidi came over to my place last night for S'mores and she thought that the Hibachi was much bigger from the picture than it is IRL. That is because, those hot dogs in the picture that I used for scale, are actually half-dogs. Yes, the Hibachi is so small that I had to tear the hot dogs in half to cook them. A little impractical, but not any more so than firing up a full-sized fire for one person. :-)
5) I'm back!! And with a new-found respect for climate control and protection from the elements. Although I am considering going to the pool today. It's hot, even to me. I guess my upper limit is somewhere in the mid-90s. At that point, even I think it's ridiculous...

Product Alert

This is another toy i picked up for the trip. by the by, my gear doesn't get used much, so if you want to borrow, just ask. unless you live far away. i don't ship. anyhoo, this little gadget was at target.com and once i saw it, i had to have it. it is a ceiling fan - for your tent! how cool is that?? it also has a dual-function light, 4 white LEDs to illuminate your tent, plus 1 amber LED for a nightlight. which i love, because i'm afraid in the dark. the fan has 2 speeds, and the fan and light are on separate switches, so in these ways, it's pretty much like being in my own living room. which is probably hot as hades right now, so i guess this is actually better. my one complaint about the fan is that it doesn't really circulate the air (with those tiny blades, how could it??) and since i don't sleep with my face in the center of my tent, it doesn't keep my face cool.
i might try movin it around later. it's held up with a super-strong magnetic plate.

exhibit A

ladies and gentlemen of the jury, i submit to you exhibit A as evidence that Joe D is the coolest. not only does he own this gem of a tiny hibachi, but he also loaned (lent?) it to me for my camping trip. pretty frickin' sweet.

Creative Writing Exercise

the lake is shallow, so i'm lying on my belly in order to float as i look back toward the beach. from my crocodile-view, i see him coming toward me, half-running, half-swimming, droplets cascading from his lean form, the stubborn ones clinging and glinting in the sun. My heart skips a beat as I take it in and in an instant I've pictured how the whole thing plays out - him falling in front of me, me splashing him back, then the heady feeling of being swooped up in his beautifully tanned arms and just as suddenly dropped, squealing and squirming, back into the water.
In the same instant, I realize that I'm myself, not 17, but on the brink of twice that, and I realize he's lived his entire lifetime within the span of my adult life. and with this, I recall and acknowledge a dream from so many summers ago, played out once again in my mind. the hope at the start of each summer that this would be the year I'd meet him. that yet-unanswered dream keeps a part of me trapped at 17.

what you need to know

about this pic is that i took it right after i set up my tent (including the extra tarp bc it's sposeta rain all week) and just as the torrential downpour started. like a good camper, i got in my car. and left. when i came back, everythin was still standing. so as of right now, i'm 1-up on my last camping experience.
you may be saying to your self right now, "self, i'm pretty sure erin doesn't camp. i think she's even said as much out loud before," and your recollection would be correct (and thank you for remembering!). but, i decided to camp, and the reasons are 3-fold. 1-cheap lodging at lake erie is hard to come by. 2-my dad gave me a new tent some time ago and i wanted to use it. 3-i was out under the stars in urbana 2 wks ago and it struck me i hadn't been on vacay in a long time and that i wanted to do something outdoorsy. so, here i am. btw if you're reading randomly and thinking "i could go steal erin's stuff" - don't. the reasons are 3-fold, and i'll post them tomorrow.

"The" shirt for Rachel and me

Get your own shirt here.

Peace.