lawn equipment

Lawn equipment and I do NOT get along. At all, in the least, *ever*. The battery died so I went to jump it and stuff started boiling out of it. I took that as a bad sign. I have to figure out how to get it back to the store (bought it this spring) without burning my skin off.

I've been in tug making world for quite a while now. Finishing that big store order, getting things together for the next store order, making online orders that come in. All good things.

My cousin came by to help me get the accounting software set up correctly so I'm not screwed royally come tax time. Can I tell you just how much I dislike that accounting crap? I have no idea in the world how people can try to figure that crap out all the time. Yikes.

Yesterday I went out to breakfast with Sue & Cameron, then went to Elissa's so we could go shopping at iKea. I need to make some mugs for the next disc competition and didn't have enough in stock.

Next weekend is the Ron & Apryl seminar in VT and a disc competition the next day. I'm not sure if I'll stay overnight for the disc comp or not. Still deciding. :)

Short and sweet because I still have like 20 tugs to make!

D

the sound an elephant makes...

....is called trumpeting. I do what I can to share the useless information banging around in this head of mine. :)

Soooo, last time I was in NJ I met somebody. We've been talking but I'm kind of hesitant to say anything more than that because if you've been reading my blog for any length of time at all, you know I pick men about as well as I pick lottery numbers. Since I'm not independently wealthy....yeah. I'll just say we'll see what happens and leave it at that. In the meantime, we'll call him Scooby. :)

Facebook is a pretty amazing tool when utilized properly. For example, I'm in the market for a cartoonist for a small project I have. I asked if anyone could recommend someone in my status and I got 5 people to check out. Pretty darn cool.

I have a couple of big orders to get out the door in the next couple of weeks. One of them I've very excited about and once it's done, I'll tell you all about it. Scooby has some great ideas on business which I'll be trying out after I get these off of my plate. He owned his own business for 20 years and learned a lot in that time, which saves me from making some of the stupid mistakes I'd be probably make. Hopefully, anyway.

Tweak and Ash have been swimming 2 or 3 times a day. Tweak is very cautious, very meticulous when getting in the water. There's a right way to do it (the way I shaped her into the water) and that's the only way she's going to do it. Period.

Ash, on the other hand, is a freakin' maniac. He may not ever win at it but he will certainly be my dock diving dog. He doesn't care, doesn't have a fear in the world when it comes to the pool. He'll dive off any part of the deck for any reason at all. Thankfully both of them are very well trained on the proper way to get out of the pool so I don't have to worry about my liner anymore.

The way Ash learned how to swim? I was in the pool vacuuming it one afternoon and the dogs were in the yard. I was close to the edge near the yard and said hello to him. Next thing I knew, he jumped 4+ feet in the air, landed on the edge of the pool and jumped over to me not knowing it was water. They say dogs don't have that many facial expressions (as humans know them) but I'll tell you that his expression while in mid-jump into the water was so priceless it's burnt into my memory forever! After that, I started training him on the ways in and out of the pool in case he decided to do it again.

Now, if I open the gate to the pool area (which doesn't keep him out anyway since he just jumps over the damn thing), he's at the edge of the deck in a down/stay waiting for me to throw the frisbee for him. I'll have to get some video of him at some point.

My hands are sore from tug making but that's a pretty common thing these days. A friend of a friend runs an agility site and asked about carrying Tweak's Tugs on their site. Sweet! I just got another re-order from one of the other stores that carries them locally so I'm pretty optimistic about how the business is going.

Tug making time...

D

4 months...

It's been quite a while since I last posted. I guess I was just going through a phase of not wanting to write. But, I miss it and so I'm back (not sure how consistently, we'll see).

The weekend before last I was in Canada for a flyball tourney. I love catching up with friends that I don't often get to see. The teams Tweak and Freddie were on both got 1st place in their divisions, which was cool.

Last weekend I was in New Jersey giving a couple of disc dog demos for a huge 4H fair they have. Tweak and Ash both did very, very well playing with the kids too. I'm not surprised, they both have very nice temperaments, unlike their mother. LOL

The dogs are all doing very well. Millie is really starting to show her age, which is kinda sad. My once super obedient dog now gives me the furry FU pretty regularly. I'm not sure if it's because she's losing her hearing or she just doesn't give a crap. She has to go back on drugs to stop her leaking or else she'll have to start wearing diapers. I'll also have to get some senior dog pee pads for her if I'm out of the house for more than 4 or 5 hours. Sigh. I hate it when they get older. :(

Freddie is starting to get a little more gray in the muzzle but he's not slowing down really. He's such a trooper. :) Tweak and Ash, being the youngest, are doing the best. They swim a couple of times a day now that Tweak isn't afraid of the pool any more. :) They're both trained to use the stairs so my liner is safe. I have a few videos and will post them at some point.

Back to tug making. :)

D

another good thing

This happened last week but forgot to blog about it. Shoot me.

So I went to visit the manufacturer of the hockey balls I use, Mylec, so I could become a customer and purchase directly from them. It's so much easier when you have a consistent supplier for things.

I brought some rope tugs with the hockey ball on it to show them what I was doing. They liked them a lot and are going to offer them on their website, which is really very, very cool. I found out they have a glow in the dark hockey ball available as well and picked up a case of them. If I could get the tug to flouresce, that would be awesome!

I found out today that one of the sheltered workshops I've been meeting with had a successful trial on making the tugs. Woohoo! I officially have help! I've only met with a dozen so far - I guess 13 IS a lucky number! So now I'm cutting tubing and rope for 30 tugs so I can drop them off tomorrow.

I've done a lot of planting - way more than I should, because I know I'll eventually and unintentionally kill most of them. With my luck I won't and I'll have more beans, peas & veggies than I can handle. I potted 25 strawberry plants, think that's enough? lol

I can hear Tweak snap, snap, snapping out on the deck. That means she's playing tag with one of the carpenter bees. Thankfully the males can't sting her and the females are too freakin' busy drilling holes into my house. Fuckers. Once I find out where their nest is, Dave the exterminator is coming for a visit.

Ok, I have to get these tugs together today so I have the afternoon to play in the pool. Temps are supposed to get up to 95 and you can bet your ass I'll be in pool regardless of how cold the water is!

D

lots of stuff

I've been thinking lately how fear is a bigger motivator as you grow older... at least for me it is. Now there are so many things I have going on in my life that I want to continue, where as before, I didn't really understand what I'd be losing if something happened. I'm not as fearless as I once was and that's a good thing. 

The other thing that happens as you grow older (and have more experience) is that your not so quick to react in an emergency type way. 10 years ago if Millie came in the house limping or had a bump on her, we'd be at the vet within an hour. Now, I rest her up, ice her down and wait to see if it's something simple like a sprain or something that needs vet care.

Before, I'd be at the doctor for any weird pain. Now, eh. I'll head to the doctor if it doesn't clear up in a few weeks or so - sometimes months. I just think it's funny how things change over time.

I've been slowly getting things done at the homefront. This weekend was phase one of my planting. I planted in containers:

25 strawberry plants, 1 blueberry plant, 2 pepper plants, 1 oregano plant, 2 tomato plants and 1 flat leaf parsely plant.

I have seedlings started for canteloupe, big beef & cherry tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, romaine, eggplant, lettuce, more parsely, rosemary, basil & sage.

I'm doing everything in containers and will pick up 2 large kiddie pools once they come out for the may plantings of corn, squash, cucumbers & whatever else I bought seeds for that I can't remember.

Oh, I also have to plant the raspberry and blackberry bushes. Unfortunately those can't be in containers and I don't have any really good places to put them where the dogs can't get at them. It looks like they're going to have to be planted along the fence in the dog yard. Oh well, I just won't pick from the bottom. ;)

I'm sure someone, somewhere is taking wages on how much stuff I'll unintentionally kill. Better get in now!

Sunday we headed up to Jo's house for an outdoor flyball practice. The great outdoors changes everything for the pups when they're completely used to running indoors. But, they all held it together wonderfully - especially with a loose chicken in the area. I thought for sure a few of them would be tugging for a drumstick.

We did some power jumping in teams so they were racing against each other while power jumping with the dogs that currently race. Then we worked with Fury over some jumps and Ash on the flat. 

Ash decided he does, in fact, like tugging now. I had his attention the whole time and he was on the tug when it was out. Good boy! 

I threw some videos up on youtube of all of the team kids. Unfortunately the videos for Tweak & Jigger didn't come out. Doesn't it just figure!

I've got a rope order coming today, I have a hundred title awards to make, a couple of suppliers to call and job searching to do. Busy day.

D