Garages: Not just for breakfast any more

SUMMARY: Well, that title makes no sense...

More copied from Facebook, my [long] comment on a friend successfully cleaning up their garage.

I love having a garage that I can park in. Get in and out of the car during rainy weather without getting wet. And it protects the car from the elements. And fewer worries about breakins/thefts. And can put the dogs into and out of the car without worrying about leashes or distractions. Heaven! One of the biggest bonuses, IMHO.

Not all garages offer all the benefits, however.

The two apartments I rented before becoming a homeowner

First one: Just a parking lot. No benefits at all. In the rain, run down the long walkway and up the stairs. (No dogs, so not an issue there.)

Second one: Enclosed (2 walls and ceiling) detached carport. Could get into and out of the car in the rain and take time getting things into and out of the car, but then would have to run down the driveway in the rain, carrying whatever you had.  Sometimes instead I used an open parking spot directly across from my door to shorten the trip. Still no dogs.

My first house (townhouse)

An open  carport. Ugh--detached from the house, so still rain was an issue, but it was just a few steps in the rain, unlock my private door in the fence to my patio and unlock the uncovered door into the house, so a quick trip. But wet. Had a dog by then, she'd just follow me (advantage of doing a lot of stuff with the dog from 6 weeks old).

This is a current photo. That car is parked in what I think was my spot.
My door through the fence was where the light-colored wood is, above the right side of my rear-view mirror.

From inside my back (sliding) door, looking at the door thru the fence.
(It's messy because I had just spent the morning putting in new sod.)

My second house 

A one-car attached garage in which previous owners added the living room fireplace. If we had nothing else in the garage, we could squeeze one car in, but we'd have to inhale deeply to be sure it didn't scrape. At least, if we parked there, we'd be out of the rain and dogs could get into the car with no worries.

But, mostly, then, we used it for storage. So across a short sidewalk to the covered front door. Also then could open the front garage door and carry things into the house through the garage.  The husky was the dog we'd have to worry about getting safely into the car, the other dog was fine.

Wow. I hope I have better photos of the house (and garage) somewhere.
This is all I seem to have scanned in so far.
See the chimney coming out of the roof? Who does that?!

Next house

Detached garage (Still running through the rain) with no door for several years.

We'd try to use it for parking, but the challenge was opening the big wrought-iron gate, and if the dogs were loose in the yard, we'd first have to put them away somewhere, open the gate, drive in, close the gate, let the dogs out. So we'd often park outside the gate, which left the whole driveway and garage as places to play, have BBQ or party guests, do workshop things and, yes, just toss things on the floor to store instead of putting them properly on the shelves.

But then we'd put things away and park in the garage again for a while.

Rental between houses for most of a year

Huge detached 3-car garage, although the path from the side of the garage to the house was a small patio.

HOWEVER--the owner stored a lot of his stuff in a good part of the garage, and I stored all my stuff from the move in the other side, waiting to find a new place.

So, park in the driveway, unlock the gate, across the patio, unlock the uncovered door while standing in the rain... 
And dogs had to be managed. *Mostly* they were eager to go places, so if I had the car doors open, when I opened the gate, they'd hop in.

This astonished the neighbor. "How do you get them to do that?!"  I asked, do you ever take them anywhere other than to the vet?... No? Yeah, well, that's your problem.

The Crappy Rental and its garage.
It would astonish you to discover that the house roof leaked like a sieve. 

The landlord's side of the garage ... 
You can just see Jake behind the tire.
I wouldn't let them loose in here unsupervised.
Um. Now I'm thinking it's the basement? Might have mislabeled photo.
(Worrisome that one can't tell the difference. Except I think the basement was much lower and had a partial dirt floor?)
Time to go back to the photo albums...

Current house

A spacious attached 2-car garage. Until three years ago, both sides were clear enough for cars, and I've parked mine there for all of the last 19 years but the first few months while unpacking from the move. Then, when the renters weren't using the other side, I started putting things there "temporarily", and clearing them out, and putting more in, and clearing them out--but and now there's a lot of temporary stuff that needs to be processed in one way or another. 　

But still plenty of room to park MUTT MVR. AND no running through the rain! AND easy to put the dogs into or out of the car.

I really really want another one like this (attached) when next I move. High priority!

(I know I have photos--somewhere--but apparently not labeled. So maybe tomorrow I'll try for an appropriate shot.)

And We'll Have Fun Fun Fun...

SUMMARY: No TBird, but a few other vehicles

Backfill: date

That I can recall, I've fallen in love with only two cars in my entire life. One I was lucky enough to eventually own, and the other, never did.

But, kiddies, let's talk about the actual four-wheelers with whom I've shared my life. See Human Mom, see Human Mom drive. Drive fast, Human Mom! Not too fast!

ONE

In college, the ads for Le Cat Black caught my heart like almost no other car ever had. I mean, boys and girls I knew would talk about 'Vettes or Sting Rays (also a Corvette, but at the time, who cared?)  or TBirds or Lamborghinis.  But this car--its secret identity being a Mercury Capri--was all black with gold gold GOLD accents! The wheels, the pin striping, the fabric on the seats. Dunno, I just really wanted that car.

When I left college for a full-time job, I found a used one for sale in the paper by a young man in the military who was transferring to Germany, and it eventually came home with me! My heart filled with joy!  (Thanks to the Financial Bank of Dad, whom I paid off over a couple of years.) I washed and waxed that car by hand often, and used vinyl protectant inside. Everything was shiny! And it felt so good to drive, too. Standard (manual) transmission, on the freeway I felt like I could drive anywhere. Probably 1976 model.

This was the only photo I've found of my car. Was sure I had more.
Look closely for the gold and black and chrome in the rims.
Pinstriping starting to fade. [sad face]

TWO

Dragons live forever, but not so little cars...  Memory is blank on why it was time to replace Le Cat Black, but it clearly was, and income was good enough to afford payments on a NEW, yes NEW, car.  Looked at several similar cars by different makers--the Mitsubishi (model?) we liked but the salesman was so obnoxious that we left (with him yelling after us what idiots we were to pass up the deal and we'd never get that deal again) (you can see why we left). At Toyota, we could drive this one off the lot or we could order a black one and wait for a few months.  Opted to take this one.

I loved my 1983(? or 2) Toyota Supra! My dad used to joke (time and again, when boats came up in conversation) that if he had a sloop, he'd name it Chicken Noodle Sloop.   So now I had a  Supra. What else could I do?  License:  CKN NUDL.

New Supra! We got all the paraphenalia--bra, car cover, blah de blah.
I believe the bra ended up in the garage after maybe 2-3 years.
Difficult to put on, couldn't leave it on for washing.
Car cover probably lasted my patience less than that.

Supra (note CKN NUDL) at Yosemite.

THREE

I loved my sporty cars. Again, I don't recall any more what was going on with CKN NUDL that it was time to replace it, but a co-worker just happened to be moving to Singapore and was selling his cherry (excellent condition) Acura Legend.  A luxurious four-door sedan. My Adult Car.  At a reasonable price; financed it, and it came home with me in 1991.

Same colors as my Supra! And... now I don't remember whether it was standard transmission! How could I forget?

My luxurious adult car, right after I got it, before the custom MYOWNTM license plates
(Legend--(in) My Own Time, get it?  Most people thought it was My Own Trademark)
In front of my fabulous driveway gate--always wanted one like that, and had this one custom made from a drawing!
(Note "F", my last initial, in the middle. So cool! Loved that gate!)

The Legend was nice, did a lot of traveling, but getting to overnight agility events with 2 dogs was crowded enough (once at the end of the weekend I attracted a crowd of other agility folks wanting to see how in bejeesus I'd get all the things stacked around CKN NUDL in there. Had to pack the trunk like a jigsaw puzzle, with each piece having its specific place. Dogs on seatbelts on seats, other items packed on floors in front of seats. 

FOUR

But, yep, it had a lot of miles and was showing it, PLUS I had just gotten a THIRD DOG (Tika)! No was gone fit.  So, time for another used one, bought thru Toyota dealer and financed again.  My 2000 Toyota Sienna.

The quintessential agility and traveling car!  See what I said about The Quintessential Agility Car.

Automatic transmission; couldn't get it in standard, they didn't make 'em!

Tried to come up with a pun for Toyota Sienna or Van or Minivan
but, perhaps for the good of the world, I didn't.
Came up with about 30 possible dog and/or agility related ones.
Mutt Mover was way down in he list, but it was available.

MUTT MVR got around. This, at a dog agility trial at sunset,  about to go home.

Poor old MUTT MVR was slowly decaying--one speaker didn't work, the automatic door didn't work, the rear windows wouldn't open, things were falling off inside and outside, and then when the catalytic converter failed, I desperately wanted to get rid of it before my next smog check.  Turns out that a 17-year-old Sienna with nearly 250,000 miles on it was worth virtually nothing. I donated it to a local animal shelter (for whatever money they could get).

FIVE

But first, I needed a replacement.  Looked at things other than minivans. Looked at other brands of minivans.  I had been carrying 2-3 dogs and gear around with me for nearly 20 years by then and it was perfectly sized for that; I had traveled on my own and slept in it and it was the perfect size for that; and it had been remarkably reliable, which was good for my pocketbook AND for the long distances I traveled to sometimes remote places.  So I got--  SAME car, BRAND NEW model. Paid cash! (And there went THAT stash.)

2017 Toyota Sienna: Came in only boring colors.  The least boring was this blue.  (See Meet MUTT MVR II for details.)

Put 15,000 miles on MUTT MVR the 2nd in the first year. So much fun to drive!
Here, near Las Vegas.

THE OTHER CAR I FELL IN LOVE WITH AND WANTED BUT NEVER HAD

1970s Pontiac Firebird Trans Am , yes with the big firebird across the hood. So sleek! Could probably go 400 miles an hour and 0 to 60 in 2 seconds!  (I dreamed big.)  In sparkly blue or black.

BONUS CARS

Seen in parking lots.  Might have gone home with either one of these! Because of the color! (Well, the old Chevy because it's awesome, too.) I think the colors would've been hard to maintain, though.

Circus Dog Class!

SUMMARY: Tricks, week 1

Fetch Sam is a dog-training indoor facility near downtown San Jose. Main focus is dog agility, but that means that it's plenty big enough for a group of dogs to work on tricks, too.

Mackenzie and her Human Mom, Zorro in his crate. Mackenzie is a tres wee dog.

Saturday was our first class out of 5 spread over a month and a half. I had asked whether I could do both dogs at once (paying for both of course), but the instructor suggested that I could maybe alternate weeks, but not both at once. When class got going, I could see what that wouldn't have worked with 2 dogs, one handler.

Had to decide whom to take to week 1 and opted for Zorro.

He did very well even with other dogs around; only one brief HEY STOP LOOKING AT ME barking session, but mostly seemed comfortable to be there, not too overly stimulated, and briefly met a 6-month-old lab nose to nose. Mostly we were all maybe 20-30 feet apart from each other, working on the assigned tricks.

First week we did an intro to clicker training (which I've been using for ages) and the following:

• Target training: (which this week was really "go to your mat" for which she supplied towels) I've been doing "go to your bed" with the dogs with a bit more than casual intent for a while, so they have the basic idea and Zorro had little problem with this from up to a few feet away.
• Shake: Both dogs already do "shake" (with right paw) and "shake left" (with left) very well.  So in class I worked on getting him to give me both paws first with shake, then with shake left; he was reluctant to get both paws off the floor at the same time although lordy knows he does that often enough at hom.
• Spin: Both dogs do "left" and "right" spins already; zorro has "right" on voice command almost all the time and "left" almost on voice command; Chip isn't there yet with just voice command, but the finger reminder is almost faded away. During class, I worked on having Zorro do 2 or 3 in a row before getting a treat (so, like 2/treat, 1/treat, 2/treat, 1/treat, 3/treat, 2/treat, 1/treat...)
• Take it: Haven't worked on this with these dogs ever. Zorro of course will grab a toy in my hands when I tell him to Get It at home, but he has no interest in toys at all away from house/yard, so this will take some work; in class, he was starting to open his mouth instead of just butting it with his nose, yay.
• Roll over: I think I worked with them a bit on this when Zorro first arrived, but not much and not since then, so we're really at square One, or maybe one and a half. But much more willing to go over than, say, Remington, with whom I had to start by first lifting one foot slightly and rewarding, and going very very very piecemeal.
• Sit pretty: Definitely worked with them a few times, again, back when Zorro was new here, but not really since. He was getting it in class after initially wanting to stand up on his hind legs, not sit up.

Mackenzie and her Human Mom (friend Arlene) also already knew some of the tricks but were just learning others.  I think that some of our other classmates also knew one or two of some of these ahead of time, but we all have things to work on.

Like, for example, THIS vast display of naughtiness, Mr. Zee!!!, which I found this evening on my effing kitchen table, my beautiful all-white CLEAN kitchen table, after being gone all day:

So SOME of us have a few more things to work on outside of class than others.


Ya think we're dog people? With mostly nonpurebred dogs, both?

Meet MUTT MVR II

SUMMARY: I get only one inheritance, ever. So I should spend it profligately.

Meet MUTT MVR II! (AKA just plain MUTT MVR, because there's no room on the license plate for a II or even 2. I'll have to ponder possible solutions.)

They call it "Shoreline Blue Pearl."  In sunlight it's metallic--well--dark gray/silver, really. But I like this marginally better than the actual metallic dark gray/silver ("Predawn Gray Mica"), and the color choices are all prosaic anyway (essentially white, gray, black, and I don't really want a burgundy car).

So, I have a nominally blue car for the first time.

Hoooo boy, bells and whistles up the kajinky!

Only my 2nd new car evah (out of 5 cars). I put 10 of these 12 total miles driven on this car. Woot!

Ringing the "Sold another car!" bell. First me, then the very helpful salesman, Gerry, because I insisted. We're both happy.

Back Sides of Cars

SUMMARY: (Almost) wordless Wednesday-- A collection from driving and walking around the last couple of years.

Disneyland license frame and Mickey ears. Where's their next vacation?

Yes, I guess it was.

I would, too.

Color.

I often ask myself the same thing.

Because, well, you know what always wins--

The team mascot is the Sea Otters

Does it kill demons or is it a demon that kills...spooky.

Exclusively Volvo! What kind of car is it?

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