Random Things

SUMMARY: About dogs and life and this weekend.

Yes, once again, the magic of Blog-o-scope gives you my very thoughts and words even as I am miles from any known Access Portal.

• I apparently threw out my custom orthotics with that pair of shoes that was annoying me.
• Now is not a convenient time for the light fixture in the side yard to decide to cease functioning.
• Why does Tika bark at every noise, even if she's heard it a million times already this evening? Does it solve anything, Tika? No, the noise keeps happening.
• Boost likes cardboard boxes, but she especially likes them if she's feeling ignored and thinks she's not supposed to have them.
• I can hardly wait 'til next weekend, when we do our next leg of The Bay Ridge Trail, with dogs. 8 miles. I can do that!
• I'm long since out of room on the ribbon wall and it's only Labor Day. Guess I really need  to take down Tika's ribbons from 2010, photograph them, and take them back to the Recycled Ribbons sprite. Mind you, I'm not complaining. 
• How could I have possibly forgotten to charge the camera batteries? Not going to try it now, or fer shure they'd still be sitting here when I arrived at the trial site for a 3-day stay.
• Walk-throughs don't start until 8:15 Saturday morning! How cool is that? I can actually sleep in until 6ish!
• Reports are that it's "freezing" overnight at the trial site. Guess I'll be glad for my thermal underwear, down comforter, and extra blankets. (Translation: 55ish (17.7ish C) and foggy damp.)
• Potluck tomorrow night with friends on site! Fun times will be had by all.

Tsunami and Dog Agility

SUMMARY: Stunning photo

If anyone in the agility world hasn't already seen this photo of the Japanese tsunami about to engulf an agility field--well--here it is.

(Photo bigger with credits here. )

The quake itself registered 8.9. Unimaginable. When the Loma Prieta quake hit in 1989, I was about 9 miles from its epicenter. It rocked us hard. (I previously posted about it.) Difficult to stand up or walk comfortably, although hard to know because most of us were diving under our desks or tables. The Richter Scale is logarithmic--each full number indicates a magnitude 10 times stronger. So--the Sendai quake was 100 times more powerful than Loma Prieta. Really, I can't imagine. It gives me chills. What a disaster.

Consider that the largest earthquake ever recorded (on a seismograph) registered 9.5. And the largest that's likely to ever occur in California is probably around 8. The quake that devastated Haiti? 7.0.

That 8.9 is really. Really. Overwhelmingly big.

And seeing that tsunami sweep across the countryside towards an oh-so-familiar-feeling dog agility field--wow. Brings it all home to me, for some reason, in a way that none of the other photos can.

Questions

SUMMARY: Random ponderings.

1. I just mowed the lawn on Sunday; how can it be over the tops of my shoes again on Thursday morning? Isn't this still, like, winter?
2. I just swept and washed the kitchen floor on Saturday; how can there possibly be piles of dirt and dog hair and, for crying out loud, a cartload of pieces of grass under everything already by Wednesday? Why don't the dogs have the courtesy to wipe their feet and blow their coats outside? On the lawn?
3. After two weeks, I finally picked up that broken fraction of an old plastic pot and hauled it over to the back door to be thrown away; why today does Boost decide that it's the greatest playtoy ever invented and ecstatically run off with it to drop it eventually somewhere? On the lawn? Especially when there are already three--count them, three!--Jolly Balls already waiting neglected on the lawn?
4. Why is Tika sore?
5. Why does she like to take her empty Leo food dispenser outside and leave it on the lawn? The dining room carpet isn't good enough?
6. Why, when I'm out in the yard watching, does she poop in the far out-of-the-way mulched corners of the yard, but when I'm not watching, she leaves it for me to step in--on the lawn of course?
7. Will it please not rain this weekend, when two agility friends and I are planning on taking our SLRs and agility beasts into the off-leash hills for hours of hiking and dog and photo fun? And no lawns in sight? Will Tika please feel better by then?
8. Why is the rum gone?
9. Will Mr. Frog find a mate and raise a family and so my pond will be filled with algae forevermore? Will they take care of any possible evil mosquito larvae?
10. Where's Waldo?
11. I'm guessing out on the lawn with everything else.
12. How can I possibly gain 5 lbs in a week? Stupid easter candy. Stupid potlucks.
13. Can I possibly get back into the swing of getting lots of exercise every day? Working longer hours sucks. Wouldn't it be great if every day I had time to go for a long hike? AND then mow the lawn? If I could get at it with all the stuff lying on it.

Downtown San Jose At and Around City Hall

SUMMARY: Wordless Wednesday.

National Hat Day 2011

SUMMARY: Not at all related to dogs.

Yes, kids, I know you've been waiting for this ever since last year's National Hat Day post! Indeed, here it is, once again, January 15--National Hat Day! Here are a bunch more fun chapeaux--and not to worry that I've used up my collection with the following display--I've found, bought, or received a slew of additional cool hats in the last few months that have me well stocked up for next year!

Signs and Portent's

SUMMARY: At the mall.

If you were having a bad day, would you dare to shop at Downer Square? Or would you risk it to get Lucky?

Come on, folk's, how hard are ARE apostrophe's anyway? If it is a plural, add an S. No apostrophe's needed! Sheesh. 's.

Red Moon

SUMMARY: It's after midnight, and something red is lurking in the dark...

...Without the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart
You try a snapshot, but dark clouds hide the sight before you take it
You start to freeze as cold winds hit you right between the eyes
You search the skies--

'Cause this is thriller eclipse night!
And no one's gonna get that shot unless you do it right
You know it's chilly, thriller night!
You're waiting for a gap among the cloudy, cloudy night!

(Oh, right, those lyrics--you remember Thriller, ya?)

The Merle Girls were thrilled that I was outside with them and started racing around madly with their toy. Who cared if it was half past midnight? Tika quickly assessed the cold wind and the boring Human Mom and retreated inside; The Booster kept hoping.

Tis The Season To Screw Someone Over

SUMMARY: Credit card!

I haven't done much with my credit card lately, seeing as how I've been mostly home sick. I did make some buys online, and something at the pharmacy this morning, and something else lately that's not coming to mind.

I do remember joking with someone at some store about how the dogs getting the credit card would be very bad, even worse than the fact that they're always sneaking into my facebook account and posting annoying things. We laughed. [Where was that? Making me nuts not remembering.]

Who knew that I wouldn't be laughing long?!

It probably wasn't the dogs.

Remember at the end of the October when I thought my wallet was stolen and so canceled my credit card and ordered a new one? So didn't have a credit card for almost a week? And then had to go remember and change allll my recurring accounts over to the new number?

Sigh. Doing it again.

I got home this afternoon to find a partial recording from my credit card company: "...unusual activity on your card. If this is Ellen Finch, press 1." Well, neither the dogs nor the answering machine pressed one. So I looked up their number and called, thinking, yeah, well, this *is* December, and so?

But, sure enough, there were a bunch of things that they listed that I didn't recognize from yesterday and today, one that was hand-written that they had already denied and another that they'd denied for some reason. But a couple they'd let through.

Of course, now my online account is frozen for the moment, so I have to wait until the new card comes in and/or for about 3 days for it to be unfrozen, so then I can go through all the charges and identify what's real and what's not.

Here's the kicker: They have a cool tool where you can get a temporary number that's good for a certain amount from a certain vendor for a certain time period. I used it religiously for online orders, until one day, a few months back, that function no longer worked. I called them to say, hey, I really need a number. And the guy to whom I spoke (I have no idea whether I wrote his name down, because it didn't seem important at the time), said, oh, you don't really need to use that. It's kind of nice, but since you have protection on your credit card anyway, you don't need to go through that trouble all the time. Just use your regular number.

OK, so I did. The thing is: If there is a problem--like now--they have to shut down my regular card and number and I have to go through all this fuss and bother and be without a card. In contrast, if someone tries to use one of the temporary numbers, (a) it probably won't go through, (b) they can probably track better where the problem occurred, and (c) my regular card and number are still safe and usable!

He seemed puzzled why anyone at their company would ever tell me not to use that feature. I assured him that I'd go back to using it and hope that it works.

So--merry Christmas. Guess I'm not finishing my shopping until the very last minute this year! And rest assured that I'll be keeping a close eye on my dogs' spending habits.

Dropping In on Mom and Dad

SUMMARY: Brief visit after the flea market.

Correction: Next morning, 8:30 a.m.:   Oops, got the anniversary year wrong. Fixed below (in red).

I needed to drop something off at my parents' place, and since they live just a couple of miles from the flea market, I headed up there yesterday right after fleeing the fleaing.

Dad was out raking up leaves, but the tree and the wind were conspiring to throw down more even as he worked. He didn't mind, and also didn't go back for the new ones. He's not one to let mere trees dictate his activities.

At Christmas, there's always a wreath on the outside of the front door.

And, on the inside, there's always a set of real jinglebells, from my mom's grandfather's sleigh.

Inside--oh, look, my seeester and her husby from the flea market dropped by, too, and are checking out Mom's birthday cards.

 My parents still have the decoration from their big 50th Anniversary party a few years ago. This coming year will be their 57th.

 It was Christmas decorating time at their house!  All the boxes were out and Mom was supervising.  They always have a bowl of nuts on the table, with a nutcracker. Fond memory from my childhood; I still do that at home for the Christmas season. My youngest nephew was partaking of them--

When he wasn't helping to set up Mom's vast and fascinating village, which runs along about 10 feet of the bookcases. (Almost all of it was gifts. Mom keeps saying "no more!"  but then there's be this one little thing that's just perfect for the village...)

This little tree used to be my Dad's Mom's. It comes apart and stores flat. We used to love setting that up every year, too.

Oh, wow, cool! I made this plate back in--uh--elementary school, anyway, but I no longer remember when or where or why (except that it was for a gift, and was done in either school or girl scouts). It involved laying out little plastic granules on, probably, aluminum foil and baking it to melt it together.

Another seester was helping to find my parents' Christmas music  to play in the background.  "What is this curious big black round thing?"

I couldn't decide which photo I liked best. "Whaaaahnnnnnh??? What dis big black round thing?"

In this one she's just her usual beautiful laughing self. But still with a large black round thing.

I needed to mosey on off into the sunset--well, actually only 11:00, and it was raining, but their street's autumn colors gave me a good sunset-colored sendoff anyway.

I'm so lucky to have so much of my family nearby.

Happy Holiday prep to all of you, whichever holidays you prefer to celebrate.