Annie Leibovitiz

Annie Leibovitz was born in 1949, a year before me and the same year as Alan.  I became aware of her through her photography for the Rolling Stone. She became know as the photographer of the Rock Stars because of her work at the Rolling Stone.  An exhibition of her work is at the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University and it is well worth seeing. 

From the Rolling Stone she went to Vanity Fair, then Vogue and now is back at Vanity Fair.  It is probably her work at Rolling Stone that touches me the most.  It was that period in my late teens and 20’s that music meant so much to me.  Annie photographed all the legendary rock stars and provided a window into our knowing them.  They were in a sense defined by the photographs.  But Annie doesn’t see she is capturing a person, she sees a photograph as just a moment with someone. 

The exhibit includes the photograph of John Lennon and Yoko Ono taken hours before he was shot to death.  It appeared on the cover of the Rolling Stone.  In it, both John and Yoko are naked and John is curled up next to her. 

There are photographs from the 16 years she was with Susan Sontag.  A gorgeous photograph of Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace is a part of the exhibit.  It was recently sold at Sotheby’s Auction House for 50,000 pounds.

Also included in the exhibit besides all the rock stars and stars are landscapes.  I hadn’t realized that she had done them.  She did a lot of them while traveling across the county. 

The exhibit provides an opportunity to see wonderful photographs of a living iconic photographer.  

Outstanding In Her Field

I have been spending time standing out in a field, thus outstanding in her field.  This week I’ve been working on cross tracks with Magnum.  We started on Sunday with my friend M laying the track and Alan doing cross tracks.  Now Alan lays the track and I do the cross track.  The track is a total of 860 yards with 4 long legs of 200 yards that are parallel each (except for the last leg) with a turn at the end and a short leg of 20 yards.  The person laying the cross tracks walks out 60 feet past where the tracker layer is starting, then puts flags in at 20 yards, 60 yards and 180 yards.  Then the person laying the cross tracks just hangs out in the field waiting for the tracklayer to get to the last leg.  On the last leg the cross tracklayer again is 60 feet out and walks along with the track layer and put a flag in at 20 yards and 180 yards.  The cross track layer then waits the designated time and then walks from cross flag to cross flag so there are a total of 16 cross tracks.   The cross tracks are aged progressively each day starting with 30 min., 45 min., 1 hr., 1 ¼ hr. and then 1 ½ hr.  The age of the track is double the age of the cross track.

Glen Johnson comments in his book that cross tracks is like starting over tracking with your dog.  Good thing I had the warning.   He also states that if your dog doesn’t pay attention to the cross tracks, then it is a wasted lesson because your dog isn’t paying attention to the track.  Needless to say, it was not a wasted lesson for Magnum.   

First time out, Magnum tried to follow almost every cross track.  The handler knows where the track is and sees the flags for the cross tracks.  So the job of the handler is to refocus the dog, in a positive way, back on the track.  Each day it has been a little easier with him getting back on the track himself without my encouragement for some of the tracks.  I am trying to figure out if he is cueing the cross track differently from following a track and making a turn.  I think his behavior is a little more excited with the cross track.  He looks more serious and focused on the track.  Or as serious as a dog can look who is quite excited to be tracking.

The first time out the track was in higher grass just hitting mid calf.  Second time out on mowed grass.  Third time we went back to higher grass and our 4^th time were in a plowed field.  The plowed field was muddy, so Magnum was a mess.  We’ll try the plowed field on Friday again.  I believe from here on out we’ll be doing cross tracks on all tracks we practice on, but not 16 cross tracks, just the standard 2 cross tracks.

At the Tracking test in September in St. Louis where Magnum passed his Tracking Dog test, 3 of the 4 dogs attempting Tracking Dog Excellent messed up on the cross tracks.  So, it is clear that cross tracks are a major challenge for dogs.  

Indiana, Farms, and Tracking

The Whitted farm has been in Alan’s family through his mother since the 1830’s.  The original farm was 150 acres.  When Maxine’s parents died, the farm was split between Maxine and her sister Margie.  Maxine got the farmhouse and 70 acres attached to it.  Margie got the 80 acres across the road.  About 10 years or so before Maxine died, she had the farm transferred to her 3 children.  Maxine and Sonny had lifetime use of the farm.  Maxine died a few years ago. 

When Alan and I were engaged and then married, we spent at least one weekend a month at the farm.  The farm hasn’t been a “working” farm for about 35 years.  It has pastureland, rolling hills, and lots of woods.  Tim really enjoyed it when he was young and brought various friends to visit.

Last week we drove up for the day so I could track with Magnum.  I want to get more experience tracking in the woods.  Alan laid a track that started in a pasture and then wove in and out of the woods.  The track was 1500 yards and aged 2 ½ hours.  Magnum did great.  He missed an article as he was going up a hill.  He was off the track by about 20 to 25 feet, but got himself back on it.  I think he had been following a recent animal trail.  Then in the last fourth of the track, he wanted to make a left turn.  I was able to get him back on the track and we discovered the problem when he finished the track.  Alan’s exit path had been too close to the track.  When Magnum was trying to turn left, he was following the exit path.  Tracklayers need to walk at least 50 feet away from a track. 

Yesterday, we tracked on the farm surrounding our house, which leads to woods also owned by our farmer friend Joe.  Joe tills his land; so there was bare earth and some ground up corn stalks.  Alan again laid a 1500 yard track, aged 2 ½ hours.  I wasn’t sure how Magnum would do on bare earth, which doesn’t hold scent as well as vegetation.  Magnum was awesome.  His only challenge was near a ditch close to where he was to enter the woods.  Scent collects in ditches.  There are a herd of deer that we see regularly on this farmland and they run along the ditch.  Magnum wanted to go to the ditch.  I thought I could tell from his behavior that the track didn’t go that way.  He struggled with it and kept trying to get to the ditch.  I finally took a step forward and said back to work.  It did the trick and he got back on the track running into the woods.  We zig zagged through the woods and came out into another farm field.  It really is great fun and exercise to get out with Magnum and track.

Elections

Okay maybe it’s a little late to talk about the election results, but suffice to say that I was very happy on Wednesday.  It’s been a long time since I stayed up late to see the election results, but I did this year.  I was concerned about the network reports showing Ohio 49% to 49% for the presidential candidates, even though Ohio had been called for President Obama.  When the local networks said that ballots from Cuyahoga and Summit Counties were just coming in, then I knew President Obama was definitely going to carry Ohio.  Then I decided to stay up to see Romney’s concession speech.  I watched most of the results on PBS because their commentary is so much better than what is on the networks, but I kept switching to the networks to see the actual vote counts.

After a least an hour after the election was called for President Obama, Romney appeared for his concession speech.  Didn’t he look like a deer in the headlights?  The next day I discovered why.  I don’t follow the conservative news channel and hadn’t been aware they had predicted a big win for Romney.  And, Romney was so sure of winning that he didn’t prepare a concession speech.  Actually I can understand not preparing a concession speech. 

So now with the elections over, it appears that the Tea Party or as I like to call it The American Taliban can’t get a candidate elected to a statewide or national election.  They get candidates elected as representatives in areas gerrymandered.  Or so it appears to me.  On the season finale of “The Newsroom” Aaron Sorkin had his anchor, played by Jeff Daniels, who is a moderate republican define the Tea Party as having views as “ideological purity, compromise as weakness, a fundamentalist belief in scriptural literalism, denying science, unmoved by facts, undeterred by new information, a hostile fear of progress, a demonization of education, a need to control women’s bodies, severe xenophobia, tribal mentality, intolerance of dissent and a pathological hatred of the U.S. government.”  Jeff Daniels’ character ended saying, “They can call themselves the Tea Party.  They can call themselves conservatives and they can even call themselves Republicans, though Republicans certainly shouldn’t.  But we should call them what they are The American Taliban.”

Here, here!!

So as our Congress tries to resolve the financial crisis, let us all encourage our representatives and senators to increase taxes on the 1% and to compromise.  It is always compromise that makes governing possible.

Leaving Michigan

The morning is cloudy with a mist of rain.  Not bad with what everyone on the east coast is experiencing with Hurricane Sandy.  We’ve been in northern Michigan for a little over 3 weeks and we are heading home, once again with all the bags on the roof of the car.

We were able to complete most of the projects we planned – new appliances for the kitchen, a new garage door, new kitchen counter and sink ordered to be installed when we are there after Christmas, and Alan installed a new range hood.  Alan also put up a mailbox with a snow guard.  In northern Michigan, most folks have a snow guard for their mailbox due to the amount of snow that gets thrown when streets are cleared.  The snow is heavy and will eventually knock over the mailbox unless it has some protection. 

Alan also built an agility teeter for Magnum.  The first facility Magnum and I visited for agility practice had a really old very heavy metal teeter.  All the dogs were afraid of it.  Magnum has never had teeter problems, but developed problems after going on that teeter.  After visiting the other agility facility, which had an okay teeter, he was still having problems, so Alan built one for us to practice on.  It is nicer than the teeter we have at home in Ohio.  It only took a day of practicing several different times for Magnum to be okay with the teeter again.  It was a joint project, I did the painting and we got it completed in 2 days. 

While in Michigan, the trees lost all their leaves.  Walking in the woods meant sometimes there was almost a foot of leaves to walk through.  The dogs loved the smell of the leaves.  We were cautioned that there had been a bear sighting in Michaywe.  I read in the newspaper that a bear had been hit and killed by a car.  We never saw a bear, but I thought they would probably stay away from good-sized dogs.  We also make quite a bit of noise in the woods, which would have alerted any bear to our presence.

Magnum had his first experience of tracking on concrete.  Concrete is probably the most difficult surface for a tracking dog because it doesn’t hold scent well.   I followed the advice of AKC Judge Steve Ripley and had Alan lay a 200-yard track along a curb (behind Lowes in Gaylord).  Curbs will hold a scent so it is stronger than scent on flat concrete. The idea is to convince the dog that a track can be on concrete, even if it is fainter than on grass.  It was fascinating to watch Magnum and it was just as Steve described in his book.  It took Magnum awhile to figure out that the track was on the concrete and not in the grass.  Magnum kept hopping up on the grass and looked all over for the track, then would return to the curb.  Over all, it was a good first attempt.

Northern Michigan

As we pull out of the driveway on our way to northern Michigan, I think about the Beverly Hillbillies.  I imagine that our car has some resemblance to the truck from the TV series that had Granny in the back on her rocking chair with other possessions.   We will be gone for 3 ½ weeks, so we are loaded down.  Inside the car are 3 dogs and 3 cats.  As a result, our clothing and light items are in 3 large water proof bags (canoe bags) on top of the car.  None of the dogs are riding on top of the car, but I must admit that Magnum’s (17 months) bed buddies – 2 different sizes of stuffed golden retriever dogs are inside one of the bags.  When I put them in the bag, I did question to myself if this was okay.

This will be the longest we have been at our place just south of Gaylord, Michigan.  It is also one of the wettest October’s they have had.  The house is in the woods and is gorgeous this time of year with lots of golden, orange, red, and rust colored leaves all around.  We take the dogs on at least two walks a day following a path from our house to the cross-country ski trail – all in the woods.  So, even when it is raining, we hardly get wet because of all the trees.  Our whole area of Michaywe is on an enormous sand dune, so the water runs right into the ground and rarely puddles.  With all of the leaves coating the paths, even when it is cloudy, the paths are light up with the colors.

When it is rainy, we go swimming and when it is sunny we canoe.  We have found several great places to practice tracking with Magnum.  A couple of the sites have transitions from grass to gravel to woods.  One of the sites provides opportunities for cross traffic because animals and humans walk over the track before it is time for Magnum to use it.  The cross tracks are presenting a challenge for him and I need to read up on how to assist him better.  He seems to have no problem with the transitions.

I’ve found a couple of places within an hour’s driving range to take Magnum to practice agility while we are here.  Jane, one of the facility owners, used to train at Bud Houston’s former facility between Marysville and Delaware where I also train.  She built her facility with Dogwood as her model. 

One of the joys of being here in Otsego County Michigan, where the entire county has a slightly smaller population than the county seat of Greene County, is the freedom from the usual demands of living in a community.  It reminds me of something Alan’s deceased mother Maxine said to me when she was in her mid 70’s.  She told me how much she enjoyed going to her family farm because there was nothing she had to do there, no demands on her time – good or not so good.  At the time it sounded strange to have a retired person talk about getting away from retirement, but now I understand.

Scotland

The first night we met for drinks in the common room of Aigas Field Center at 6:30.  At 7:00, dinner was announced with the striking of a large gong.  This was the pattern each day– drinks at either 6:00 or 6:30 with dinner half an hour later.  We always started with a delicious soup, always something that I and the other two vegetarians could eat.  We three were provided delicious vegetarian entrees.  Lady Lucy, a Cordon Bleu trained chef, oversaw all the meals personally.

After dinner, we went to Magnuson House, the educational center at Aigas, for a lecture by Sir John Lister-Kaye.  Magnuson House is an environmentally green building with the roof covered with grass.  Prince Charles had dedicated the facility several years earlier with a visit and presentation.

On the 1^st full day we had another lecture by Sir John on Aigas and the Estate.  Then he gave us a tour of the House of Aigas, which has three sections – sporting lodge, Victorian section, and an addition by Sir John that matches the sporting lodge.  After lunch we were led on a hike by wonderful young rangers on the property to look at the plantations of trees, the loch and three Bronze Age hut circles, which provide evidence of Aigas’s continuous occupation for over 3,000 years.

The 3^rd day we went to the Black Isle.  Along the way, we walked past the ruins of the Red Castle, on an estate, which will pass to Lady Lucy’s oldest son.  We visited the ruined cathedral at Fortrose and then walked along a footpath by the ocean out to Chanonry Point where we saw bottlenose dolphins.  After that we went to the village of Comarty and walked around.  We had about 50 minutes to ourselves, so Alan and I ran to a museum and gave it a quick tour.

On a number of our hikes and walks, we visited ruined cathedrals that are a result of the reformation.

We also visited the west coast.  While on the way, I noticed that most of the signs are written in English and Gaelic (which is pronounced with a short a).  Then we went to the Inverewe Gardens, which had been privately owned by Osgood Mackenzie in 1862 who spent 40 years creating them.  When he died, his daughter Maree worked on the gardens for 30 years.  The gardens have species from all over the world that do very well by this protected bay because of the Gulf Stream.  Maree gave the garden to the national trust because her son was not interested in keeping it. 

Several evenings, Alan and I went to the pine marten and badger blind/hide on Sir John’s estate. We had to keep absolutely quiet or the animals could hear us.  We sat there about two hours and were rewarded by seeing a young female pine marten and a badger that visited several times.  It was really fun.

Another day we went to Glen Affric, which is a remnant of Caledonian pinewood (one of only three left in Scotland).  The highlands were once completely covered with these pinewoods.   We loved the hiking and being in the highlands. 

The last 5 days of our visit were spent with a day in Glasgow and four days in Edinburgh.  We enjoyed both cities and went to a number of museums, cathedrals and of course the magnificent Edinburgh Castle. The Scots are friendly and very welcoming.  Attached are 2 photos.  One shows several of our rangers in green.  Scot from Glasgow is sitting and Allie from England is in the background.

Tracking at the ESSFTA Nationals

Magnum, my 17-month English Springer Spaniel, and I have just gotten back from the 2012 English Springer Spaniel Field Trial Association’s National AKC Event held at the Purina Farm outside of St. Louis.  On Sunday, Sept. 23^rd, Magnum completed his first Tracking Dog test after being certified in tracking in August by Tracking Judge Steve Ripley.   I am very proud to say that he passed the test and completed the tracking test in less than 5 minutes.  He is a very fast and accurate tracker.  One of the judges told me she had goose bumps watching him track.  I selected this venue because it is very difficult to get into tracking tests.  The Springer Nationals gave priority to Springers without titles and then Springers with titles.  I got to watch all the other dogs – 3 others attempted the Tracking Dog test, 4 attempted the Tracking Dog Excellent test, and 3 attempted the Variable Surface Track test.  Only 2 other passed the Tracking Dog test.  Thank you to my good friend Michele Johnson and her beagles for being our tracking partners and to my husband Alan for the many tracks he has laid and his encouragement.  This was the culmination of 3 months of tracking 6 days a week and aging tracks up to 2 hours.  I followed the schedule of Glen Johnson.  Some dogs might not want to track 6 days a week, but Magnum loved it.

Tuesday and Wednesday were agility.  Tuesday was all breeds and Wednesday was Springer only.  Purina has a wonderful event center.  Agility was in one ring, obedience in another, and conformation in a third.  This was my first agility trial with Magnum and my first in 3 years since Shadow went blind.  I was really nervous.  I will cut to the chase and tell you that Magnum came out with double q’s both days and first place blue ribbons for all runs.  He had a score of 100 for each of the four runs and was well under standard time.  Magnum was awesome!  He was completely focused and ran fast.  I had not expected such focus and accuracy.  Now, I know that it is much easier in Novice and Open to get a first place blue ribbon than in Excellent, but I am relishing this first time out performance.  Alan says that it is so much easier for the long ride home with your partner when your dog has exceeded all your expectations. 

Will We Ever Get Out Of Dayton?

I had been standing in line with Alan at the United Airline desk after the plane taxied back to the terminal due to mechanical problems.  It seemed like we waited almost 45 minutes until it’s our turn.  We are told that all planes for Chicago have left and we will need to talk with American Airlines to see about a flight for the next day.  We have missed our international flight out of Chicago for London Heathrow.  We are tired and totally bummed.  No one is at the American Airline desk and I am told they have gone home.  I get the 800-telephone number for customer service and call to request assistance.  We are able to schedule a flight for 6:30 the next morning, a flight to London around noon, but will need to stay all night in London and fly into Glasgow on Saturday.  Oh boy, we have already paid for room, dinner and breakfast in Glasgow – and it looks like we will miss our coach taking us to the highlands and Aigas Field Center. 

We head home, tired and discouraged.  The day started so lovely.  We walked the dogs and then took them to the kennels.  Everything goes wrong once we get to the airport.  Our flight has been cancelled by American Airlines due to thunderstorms in Chicago.  There is a delayed United Flight that we are rescheduled to take.  The United flight keeps getting delayed.  Finally we board the plane, get buckled in, and hear an announcement that there are mechanical problems so we need to get off the plane.  We wait in line for half an hour or so and learn there is another flight and the airline will reserve seats for us, but they hope to get the plane fixed and hope we can leave on it.  We wait and wait.  We are told we can get back on the plane.  We get buckled and the plane taxies to take off and then we get another announcement from the pilot about additional mechanical problems.  By the time the plane is back in the terminal, all flights have left for Chicago.

After talking with the airline, I call Road Scholar’s 24-hour line and tell a nice man that we missed the international flight and won’t get to Glasgow in time for the coach.  I ask for help getting a room at a hotel in London.  No problem booking a room at an airport hotel and he says he’ll send a message about missing the coach.

We go home for the night and have about 3 hours to sleep.  I discover that maybe it was good we had to come home because I forgot to leave food out for the cats.  Their friend Diane isn’t scheduled to come until the next day.

Everything goes well on Friday and we arrive at London Heathrow.  While there, I check on trains to get us from Glasgow to Inverness, Scotland.  It is then about half an hour to Aigas.  On Saturday we arrive in Glasgow about noon.  We make our way out with our bags and a friendly man dressed in a navy suit holding a printed sign with our names greets us.  His name is John and he insists on taking all of my bags.  He takes us to a new Mercedes and tells us he will drive us to Aigas Field Center.  He takes the Carriageway and gets us there in about 4 hours.  During the four hours, Alan tries to keep him talking and learn his views on the vote in 2014 on Scottish independence.  He has quite an accent and we learn that folks from Glasgow are the most difficult to understand.  They seem to struggle with our accent.  He pulls up to a very large, grand Victorian home with is at the end of a mile or so long drive.  We are greeted by several friendly rangers and invited to relax and have tea.  They will take care of our bags and take us to our lodge after the others have arrived.  Wow, we have beaten the coach.  The others arrive and we meet our 14 other guests.  One of the guests later tells me he thought I was Lady Lucy sitting having tea because I looked so relaxed and comfortable.  The picture is the home of Sir John and Lady Lucy Lister-Kaye.  All our meals, tea, and some of our briefings are held in the great room, common room, library, or drawing room.  More to come.

Wait, Wait, Hurry, Hurry

Does it ever feel like you wait, wait for something, then suddenly it’s here.  We’re getting ready to go to Scotland.  It’s been in the planning stages for 9 months or so.  Lots of time to get ready.  And, for the most part I am.  But there are all those last minute items to complete.  Bags are packed, documents ready to go, arrangements made and suddenly time seems to speed up.

Today Alan and I went kayaking on the Little Miami at River’s Edge.  It’s a nice place that is open during the week.  The river route is lovely going through rural areas. There were three deer getting a drink at the river along the way.  It was my first time kayaking. We plan to go to Hawaii and ocean kayak, so I thought I should practice.  I’ve done lots of canoeing, but never kayaked. The kayak has more control than a canoe, which is good since I almost went through a small rapid backwards.  But, with the kayak, I was able to turn myself around and was okay.  On the way back, Alan said, “This retirement really keeps you busy.”  It does. 

Last week we went to Covington Kentucky to see an exhibit by the Colored Pencil Society of America. We were the only ones there for half an hour, and then several older retirees came in.  Alan works with colored pencils sometimes, so he really enjoyed it.  After the exhibit, we had lunch at 10 West on the Ohio River.  We had a delicious lunch with a wonderful view of the river.   We are doing more fun things since we retired.  Things we didn’t have time for when we worked.  But we are also continuing to do lots of things we did while we were working.    I could spend all day playing – riding my bike, tracking with Magnum, hiking, yoga, and practicing agility with Magnum.  I also like to swim and canoe.  Then there are the quiet activities such as reading. Now, if I want to add more stuff, then I have to let something else go.  Right now my days are packed. 

So we get to the hurry, hurry for the trip.  All the last minute details.   Magnum will go to Wags Inn and Shadow and Kinsey will go to Dillon’s Kennel.  The three sisters (cats) will be staying at the house with their friend Diane taking care of them.

Tracking Certification

Sunday morning August 5, 2012, a little before 9:00 AM, I follow AKC tracking judge, Steve Ripley to an industrial park in Westfield, Indiana for the tracking dog certification.  It has been raining, but stopped.  The certification is in calf high grass and weeds.  I think, “Oh shit, we’ve been training mostly on mown grass.”  I get Magnum out of the car, offer him water and we walk up to Steve.  He tells me the track starts right off the pavement where there is a driveway reflector. I put the harness on Magnum, walk up to the reflector and tell him to down.  I put the lead on the harness and say track.  Magnum takes off after a quick smell of the start article.  I let the lead out to a little over 20 feet and grab the start article.  He locks onto the track and stays with it.  He goes out about 85 yards, begins circling and pulls us strongly to a right hand turn.  We go out 50 yards and he acts like he’s found something.  It’s a part of a plastic bag – trash.  He circles completely around at the bag and goes left.  Again, he pulls so strongly that I have to follow him.  He is moving at a very fast speed.  He would be delighted if I ran, but I continue to walk quickly.  80 yards and he begins to circle again.  He circles another time, so I pull out the start item and have him smell it.  His expression is like – oh yeah that’s the smell.  He turns left and pulls very strongly.  This time it’s longer.  We go about 135 yards, then he circles and turns left.  In my head I’m thinking that I don’t know if I am on the track.  Maybe the judge is waiting till it’s over and he’ll tell me we blew it.  Magnum is looking back at me with a look that says “Can’t you go any faster?”  He is pulling so strongly and is so excited, then he’s lying down – he found the glove, the end article.  We did it!!

Steve said we were great.  He complimented me on my handling, taking time, and waiting for Magnum to figure out where the track goes.  Magnum clearly knows how to track, he just needs me to be smart enough to read his signals.

I am so happy.  It follows a week in which I began to doubt my preparedness for the certification.  Steve had good advice for me about distractions and to begin to work toward our tracking dog excellent and variable surface tracking tests.  Here is a picture of Magnum, Steve Ripley and me after the successful completion of the track.

Now I can send off my certification to the English Springer Spaniel Field Trial Association to see if I can get into the Tracking Dog test at the Springer Nationals in St. Louis at the end of September!!  Magnum and I owe much to my tracking partner M and to Alan.  They lay the tracks for us and give me good advice.   

Another Retirement

I stand as an observer at Alan’s work retirement celebration.  He had friends, co-workers, County Commissioners, the Director of Development, and the County Administrator in attendance.  It’s nice to see and hear people appreciating him for his work. His retirement celebration has heart-rending moments. It provides the opportunity for co-workers and others he worked with to tell him how much they appreciate him and to say good bye.  It is the good bye that doesn’t really sink for quite awhile.  In many ways, the events could be likened to a graduation from high school or college.  It is a moment in time that you desire and work toward.  It arrives and then you realize all the people who have been with you through the experience won’t be coming with you.  What a bummer!

Last night he mentioned that today he would turn in his key.  Turning in the key is hard.  It is the final break.  You can’t return unless you are invited in.  I struggled with turning in my key.  In fact, I discovered I had an extra key and was going to return it when I went back for a baby shower, but then forgot it.  Or maybe I meant to forget it.  It gave me comfort. 

As I have thought about Alan’s retirement and then mine, I realize that in some ways I retired from my relationship with Shadow.  How awful and what a realization for me.  Magnum is now my partner in obedience, agility, and tracking training.  Being a puppy, he demands attention.  Shadow’s blindness and her age have caused her to slow down. She can’t chase after me or demand attention the way a puppy does.  Or maybe she does it in a different more subtle way.   I need to begin to rectify this situation and will keep you posted.

Magic of Hybrids

I walk out of Seasons Bistro where I had lunch with two of my high school girlfriends and use my automatic car door opener.  I try the door and it’s locked.  I push the button several more times, but nothing happens.  I open the car using the key and watch as one friend parked next to me takes off.  The other friend left by the front of the restaurant.  I insert the key and try to start the car and nothing happens.  I try a few more times.  It’s dead.  I panic.  I grab my cell phone, which fortunately still has some battery life and call Alan.  Thank god he answers.  He’s surprised the car is dead and asks if I left the lights on.  OMG, yes I did.

Now this is the real story – It was raining lightly on the way to Springfield so I had to use my wipers and turned on my lights.  I was feeling kind of self-righteous because I heard something on NPR about a law requiring folks to use lights when the wipers are on.  Really, we all should because it can be impossible to see an on-coming car or one you are catching up to in diminished visibility if it doesn’t have its lights on.

Alan said to wait a minute and try to start it again.  I did, but nothing happened.  He said he would borrow jumper cables and get there as soon as he could from Beavercreek.

My car, see photo above, is a yellow green 2000 Honda Insight hybrid.  I love it. I wanted a grey or red Insight.  Alan suggested that if I was getting a strange little hybrid, then I should have a strange color.  Yeah, but the green was so obvious and I couldn’t go unnoticed.  He said, “What do you plan to do, rob a bank or gas station?”  So I bought the green Insight.   I get 60 miles to the gallon.  I feel so environmentally righteous.  So this is the pay back for my self-righteous thoughts – a dead car.

But hybrids are magic.  I try again and it starts.  I call Alan’s office and they get him as he’s heading out the door.  I think it was the electric battery, which is fully charged, that got the car started.  Alan said probably trying to start the car began to recharge the battery.  Maybe, or maybe as I said hybrids are magic.  Oh, where’s my dog?  Magnum or Shadow ride in the hatch back or ride shotgun!

Agility, Tracking, and Dog Day Care

The Weave Poles

I come running out of the garage and grab a multi-colored tug toy along the way.  I wave it around at my side as if it is alive.  It captures Magnum’s attention and he runs after me trying to grab the toy.  We reach the weave poles, I take the toy away from him and say “Weave.”  He races through nailing them the first time.  I turn him around and say “Weave” again and he charges through completing them perfectly.  He’s been doing this for 3 days.  Wow!!  And, I thought he would never learn them.

Tracking

I stop with Magnum about 30 feet before the first flag that indicates the beginning of the track, which has aged for 25 minutes.  I put his harness on him and then we walk within a few feet of the flag.  I say, “Down.”  Magnum lies down so he can get a smell of the article at the flag and I snap the lead onto his harness.  I give the command, “Track!” and he takes off.  He is a fast and enthusiastic tracker.  There are no flags at corners or the end of the track, so I am completely dependent upon Magnum.  We should be working as a team.  My challenge is to be able to read the signals Magnum gives when he loses the track and then finds it. Alan noticed that at a turn, Magnum picked up the direction, but I didn’t immediately follow.  The lead line went taunt and Magnum thought I was holding him or signaling it wasn’t the correct direction.  He eventually went back to the correct direction and I read his body signs – nose to the ground almost being hooked and a strong pull on the lead.  I will have to be careful about letting the lead out and not restricting him.  I must be a better member of our team.

Day Care

Magnum and I visited Wags Inn, where he will stay while Alan and I are in Scotland.  He knew right away that it was a place dogs are left.  He refused to go into the building.  He is also shy when he first meets people, so he was leery of the staff.  Lori, the owner, had me bring him through a side yard with her dog Buster.  Magnum loved Buster and it made the process go smoother.  Lori suggested I bring him to dog day care once a week until we leave for Scotland to get him used to the facility.  Wags Inn is no ordinary kennel.  It is on 25 acres with a number of fenced yards for the dogs to play.  Dogs in day care run loose in the yards in supervised play.  After a couple of hours of play, the dogs nap for an hour or so.

When we arrived on Friday, he started to go up to the building, and then backed off.  Fortunately another dog arrived and of course he liked the dog and followed it.  Magnum was in the side yard playing with 6 other dogs when I arrived to take him home.  He had a great day.  He had a silly grin on his face with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth.  I think it’s going to be okay. 

Heat and Tracking

The last few weeks have been really hot.  The heat impacts not only some dogs desire to work but actually impacts their ability to track.  A dry track is harder for a dog to follow than a track with moisture.  Even though a dog’s sense of smell is 100,000 times better than a human’s, it can still be difficult in the heat.  I get up early most days, but these hot days I’ve been even more motivated to get out early to track with Magnum.  I either try to ride my bike at 6:00 AM and track right after or go tracking and then ride my bike. 

Although I talk about the heat affecting a dog’s ability to smell, heat doesn’t seem to affect Magnum’s enthusiasm.  He is excited and continues to be a fast tracker.  The heat has probably made it a little more difficult for him to find the new acute turns we are working on.   He is following a human scent we lay by walking.  I am now aging the track so that the human body odor has dissipated.  The track is on the ground now and not in the air.

We went to northern Michigan for 5 days and it was about 10 degrees cooler, but still hot.  Magnum got to track in sandy soil, high grass and woods.  He also got to smell a deer’s skeleton and skull, which were near one of the tracks.  He stopped to smell them, but when I said “Back to work.” he continued on the track.  I am tracking with him 6 days a week with one day off following a lesson plan from Glen Johnson.  We have 3 weeks left to complete all the work.  I have already scheduled a day to have Magnum certified by an AKC Tracking Judge in Indiana.  Hopefully he will qualify and then I can enter Magnum in a tracking test at the end of September held at the English Springer Spaniel Field Trial Association’s Nationals.  Springers with no title are given first preference, so I will keep my fingers crossed that he gets certified and entered in the test.

I also work most days with him on agility.  He is doing well.  I am still in the process of teaching him the weave poles.  I have used channels with him running down the middle, and then gradually close the distance between the poles so he is forced to weave in and out of the poles.  The poles are now about 1 inch a part and he weaves great, but I have not been able to close the gap and still have him weave.  I think the biggest challenge is teaching this skill with the dog running as fast as he can.  Shadow was a very accurate and reliable weaver, but was never really fast.  So, I am working with the channels to keep the speed up for Magnum.  It’s a different training method.  I have entered him in his first agility trial, also at the Springers’ Nationals, so he has to weave perfectly before the end of September.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Memorial Day

Last Memorial Day I talked about the dogs I had as a child.  This year I want to remember a current dog – Shadow.  Whenever you look at my blog, it opens with Shadow jumping.  It has been almost two years since Shadow has been totally blind.  I imagine by the end of her life, she will have lived as many years in darkness as she lived in light.  Having my puppy Magnum has helped me to remember so many sweet and cute things that Shadow did when she was younger.  Blindness has changed her life in so many ways.  I can’t say it has changed the quality, but it has limited what she can do.  The other day Alan and I were walking the dogs outside with Shadow in the shade and the way the light hit her eyes, I could see her brown colored eyes that are usually hidden by blue colored cataracts.  It was so wonderful to see her brown eyes.  She is most comfortable walking around the yard on a leash and is then confident walking because she knows we will keep her from running into things.  On her own, she walks carefully and uses bumping into things as a way to guide her. 

The three sister cats I have spend a lot of time laying next to Shadow licking her and being licked by Shadow.  Perhaps due to loss of sight, the tactile experiences seem more important than ever to her.  A few months ago when we had just started training Magnum on the electric fence, I left him in the very back of the yard on a retractable leash attached to a tree while I went outside the dog area to work in the garden.  Shadow was laying in the shade near the house.  After about 15 minutes, I checked on Magnum.  There lying next to him was Shadow.  She had found her way about 100 feet to be next to him.  

Shadow’s life has changed, but she is still healthy and seems happy.  I will continue to rejoice in the years I have ahead with her.

Spring

My garden is growing – several lettuce mixes, radishes, kale, spinach, and peas are up so far.  Three weeks ago I planted in my new raised bed gardens Alan made me.  In the house I have tomatoes, peppers, basil, and various flowers growing from seed in the houses waiting until it is warm enough to plant outside.  I will wait at least until May 1^st for them.  I spent time yesterday and this morning weeding flower gardens.  My yard is gorgeous with 12 redbud trees in bloom, several types of fruit trees, and the lilacs just coming out.  I feel so fortunate to be able to enjoy them. 

Magnum is trained on the electric fence and doing well although he did test the fence last night and got a correction.  He’s the 5^th dog we’ve trained and the only one that hasn’t cried when corrected – he jumps.  He has also received more corrections than the other dogs totaled.  Kinsey and Shadow only got one correction and refused to ever get close enough for another correction.  He’s our second male trained, so the difference is not female versus male.  He continues to do really well in agility.  He will be an awesome competitor.  He really has the sweetest personality and still a little shy around some strangers.  I walked him on the bike path last week and almost everyone had a comment on how handsome he was.  I had a car stop on the road and the driver yelled that he was a gorgeous dog.  It’s fun to hear so many comments confirming my very biased opinion about him.  So many things he does remind me of Shadow, but then he has other aspects that are different.  Shadow continues to well. 

I tracked early Sunday morning with M and beagles.  It’s the first spring of tracking for Vinnie and Magnum and they were challenged by all of the scents.  Shadow and Hank showed the two beginners just how two master trackers do it.  Magnum barks while Shadow tracks.  I yelled at him that he needed to watch Shadow to see how it is done.

Plans for our walking trip to Scotland are going well.  We have decided to stay in Scotland for the entire visit and do England and London next year.  We’ll spend some time in Glasgow and Edinburgh after the walk in the Scottish Highlands.

I attended a writer’s workshop on Saturday and have decided to spend a concentrated effort on writing a fiction story and redoing a children’s story I wrote a while ago.  One of those activities I have wanted to do but needed to make time for it.  The challenge is scheduling a couple of hours several days a week to write.

Picture is of Magnum at 11 months with me.

Canine Good Citizen

Almost 2 weeks before his 10-month birthday, Magnum passed his Canine Good Citizen test.  I think he is the youngest of my dogs to have earned it.  It’s really not hard, but I know many dogs that have to try several times.  There are about 10 areas the dog is graded on – walking next to you and turning, sitting, downing, coming when called, having a friendly stranger examine their teeth, ears, feet, and pet them, meet a stranger with a dog and sit while humans shake hands and talk, and then be left with a stranger in another room for 3 minutes.  The being left does in many dogs.  They can’t jump up or bark/whine while waiting for their owner to return.

It is a challenge to arrange my days to accomplish personnel goals, which are outside of my fun activities by myself and with friends and my commitments to several boards.  It has made me think about Steve Jobs statement “…for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' “ 

It’s not that I am doing things I don’t want to do, but that there are some things I want to accomplish and find my days are busy.  I think this may be the great challenge in retirement for me.  I still have some personal goals I want to accomplish.  So, how do I structure my days and time so that I have blocks of time for my personal goals.  I’m not there yet, but I am thinking about it.

I haven’t been good about writing this blog and was going to quit, but decided I would continue until my one-year anniversary.  Then I will either stop or create a new blog.

Whitney Houston

Twenty-five or twenty-six years ago, I sat around a table in the family violence center’s shelter with a group of women who taught me to French braid my hair.  While we braided, we sang along to Whitney Houston’s song “The Greatest Love of All.”  I remember us all singing “You can’t take away my dignity.”  It seemed like such an appropriate song for all women and especially for this group of women who had been beaten down, but weren’t ready to give up.  I was the director of the Family Violence Prevention Center of Greene County.  It was when the shelter was in a lovely old house on West Second Street.  My office had a door that opened into the living room for families staying there.  That day, in the summer, the women were gathered in the dining room discussing their plans for the day.

When I could, I sat in on the meeting and shared my plans for the day.  It was a great way to model that we all have to plan our time and we are all accountable for establishing goals.  After the goal setting, someone turned on the radio and the group continued in a friendly discussion.   They decided to French braid their hair looking at my head of long hair and offered to help me.  Within a very short period of time, I learned to French braid my own hair.  What a wonderful gift.  And then, Whitney Houston came on singing and we all joined in. It was such a lovely moment of companionship and sisterhood.   

Hearing about Whitney Houston’s death brought these memories back to me.  Whitney was a brilliant star in our universe.  And like Judy Garland’s bright star, she was troubled with addictions that dimmed her star and led to her death.  There are so many women who aren’t stars who suffer the same addictions.  May we fill our hearts with hope that they will conquer their demons.