Current Date Feb 25 2015:
Followers, if there are any of you left, will know it has been some time since I’ve posted anything on these, or any pages. I think about writing constantly. Even with a full life and many changes I struggle to find anything to write about. And when I do think something is interesting to write about I can’t make it interesting in my head. So today for the first time in forever I took a look at this blog. I found the entry below that has been sitting as a draft for three years. The biggest change since this post is that Sequoia our beautiful Husky has passed away and is greatly missed. We do have a new dog now who may just make an appearance in this blog, provided I can figure out how to write again. Until then, I hope you enjoy this trip back three years. And yes I am checking the flux capacitors.
3 Years ago:
We purchased some new living room seating. One of which is a massive two seat recliner. The seats recline at the touch of a button. I was worried about having to stand up if there should be a power failure. Turns out the designer already though about such an event as there is a battery backup. But what happens if you are cheap and don’t want to spend 8 dollars worth of batteries? Besides we live in the woods in the middle of almost nowhere what are the chances of a power failure?
The other day I did learn how we would get our lazy butts out of the chair in case there should be a full power and battery outage event. My wife was on her side of the recliner playing a video game on the computer, half asleep with three of the cats piled on top of her. I’m on my side, playing a computer game on the ole’ Xbox, half asleep with two cats zoned out on my lap. The dog is outside on her lunge line. Suddenly peace is disturbed by dogs growling. Pressing the button on the chair would take too much time. I tossed the Xbox controller and just leaped off the end of the recliner which remained in its upright position, my wife was hot on my heels.
When I stepped outside Sequoia was nose to nose with a German shepherd and no, not a guy with a heavy accent herding sheep but the four legged dog. I’ve got to give the shepherd credit, he stayed just out of reach of Sequoia they could touch noses but that was it. The dog took one look at me and headed for home.
What is the moral of the story? We don’t need no stinkin’ batteries. A shot of adrenalin will work miracles in just about any situation.
PanningForGold 
Greetings! I discovered your blog about three months ago because I am a 20 year customer/friend of your parents (who I think are two of the most wonderful people that God has placed on this Good Earth.) Because I am a new follower, I’m looking forward to reading through your many previous posts. So sorry to hear about the loss of your dog. I haven’t mentioned this to your parents yet, but I will be getting my first dog EVER in about three months. She is going through beginner and advanced training as my Mom lives with me and she is 89, so I need a very well behaved “Fur baby.” Her name is Harper, and I mention her only because she happens to be… a German Shepherd 🙂
My two cents worth of advice about your writing (I’m not a writer,) for what it’s worth is: “Don’t force it… When the time is right, the words will come.” However I also agree with your Mom! Keep writing! Even if you choose not to post what you write, it will get those creative juices flowing. These thoughts and five dollars might get you a cup of coffee at the nearest Starbucks 🙂
Warm Regards,
Paul K.
(Northern Vermont)
Congrats on the shepard. Wonderful dog and I agree getting them trained is essential. My question is are you getting trained as well? Your new dog may listen and heed the commands of your trainer this does not always mean the dog will listen to you. It is best if you take some training together. We had a Husky and now we have a Great Pyraneese both of which were rescues. Thanks for reading and thanks for commenting. And keep up the magic!
Indeed! I am going to get 1-2 days of training. Not sure that’s enough, but the woman I’m working with (who is both the breeder and the trainer) is a “nationally certified trainer” (whatever that means) and also is qualified to train police dogs. She moved around the country doing training until she got married. Now she has 4 children (oldest 8!!) so she is VERY settled down in South Dakota. I’ll be flying out there to get “owner training” when Harper is ready. This woman (Candice) now breeds long haired German Shepherds for a living since she is a stay at home Mom. She is doing me a favor by training Harper, as she doesn’t have much time to fit training in any more. She wants to start training again, but how she’s going to fit that in with 4 kids and several litters of pups to raise every year I have no idea! I’ve read a couple of training books and had a lot of fun training a couple of small dogs that my ex girlfriend owns. If I didn’t have a “senior” (my Mom) in the house, I might try the training myself…but no way under these circumstances! Candice described “advanced” training as “obeying commands outdoors off the leash.” If I don’t feel that I’ve had enough training when I’m out there, I will push her (and no doubt pay her…which is fine…) to let me stay longer.
Did you train your own dogs? Have you had dogs prior to your Husky?
Thanks for your reply to my comment, and enjoy your day!
-Paul
PS: I believe I read in one of your posts that you were born in 1965…if I’m right that makes me 3 years older than you are. I find it useful to have some idea of how old the person on the “other end of the blog posts” is…gives you a basic feel for how much life experience that person has had.
We went with the dog to a trainer who trained us all at the same time. Our trainer is wonderful. We had four private sessions and four group sessions, we learned a heck of a lot. Our dog is also borderline special needs in that she had a rough time for her first two years and now has lots of anxiety which we are working through. Sequoia our husky was our first. When I was very young we had a husky for a short time. If you want to make my mother cry just aske her about Misty.
I was so happy to see that you started writing again. I’m sure Paul will love your posts, especially that Christmas one. Your post brought back memories of Sequoia. She was special.
Keep up the good work!
I enjoy reading your blogs and I’m looking forward to new stories
Thank you Grace, I certainly hope to post more.
Thanks for sharing the dog training info! … and well done for making homes for rescue dogs! They often have anxiety issues. I was certain I wanted a German Shepherd and looked into rescue dogs. Surprisingly (to me anyway) Shepherd rescue dogs don’t show up in northern VT very often. So I bought a dog. Maybe I’ll try the rescue route down the road. The problem with dogs is they don’t live long enough! I didn’t know there was such a thing as a “long haired” German Shepherd until I started doing online research. There are far fewer long haired Shepherds than short. Apparently there’s a recessive gene that allows the long coats to exist. Currently the A.K.C doesn’t recognize long haired shepherds which I found interesting. Doesn’t matter to me as I simply want a companion animal. Oh…btw…the last thing I ever want to see is your Mom in tears…so I’ll pass on mentioning “Husky #1” !
Best,
-Paul
Have you seen the shilo shepard? Beautiful. Of course it’s hard to find an ugly shepard.
Nope – I’m not familiar with the Shiloh Shepherd… So I will now turn to my old friend: Google 🙂
I have no pictures of the deck so it would be great to see the ones you have. And it really did end up being an awesome deck.