Winnie's here !!!!

Franna did a great puppy post, so instead of me re-doing it, why don't you all go read that blog right here... We were not sure if we were actually going to come home with her yesterday, or have to meet up at the airport and get her today... Thankfully the breeder decided that we could take her yesterday when we went up to make our final selection. I decided that she suited the name "Winnie", so that is what it will be. Her "formal" name will be Winroc Winsome Winifred. Lots of new experiences for such a little girl to learn. Stay tuned as she grows up !!!!

New Look !!!

I really liked the changes that Michelle made to her blog last week. Using a different background really makes Blogger look MUCH better. I went and looked at the website that she mentioned, and discovered that they really ARE the cutest backgrounds... But none of them came across to me as something that a guy would use on his site. So sitting here bored this morning I searched and discovered the site that has this little red Corvette. Not much in the world cuter than that IMHO :) And finally, just so we can tie a Corvette into my interests (like THAT would be a problem :), here is a photo from last year's online racing...

-Dave

Puppy catch-up

Well, it has been a month already since I last updated you about the puppies. We have not seen them in person since the last time I blogged about them, but we are going up to see them this weekend. I am sure that we will have plenty of new photos (and videos!) when we get back, so this is just a filler with a few of my favorite photos that I have received from our breeder... Here we see them just one week after my previous posting. In one week, they became much more outgoing and are beginning to be interested in exploring the world around them. I think that these photos will "bigify" if you click on them, but I can never be 100% sure one way or the other with blogger... We are also starting to see some of the traits that will become important in life. While I will never expect or train my dogs to retreive yogurt tubs for me, with a little training, I could expect them to do this with bumpers or dumbbells in competitive events, with pheasant or quail or ducks when out in the field, or with keys and the phone and such when doing service or assistance work. It is all based on the same type of training...

Of course, one of the other nice things is that when you have 8 brothers and sisters, you never have to sleep alone, or get cold when you are asleep :) And by having the puppies get comfortable with being in a crate now, it will make it MUCH easier on the new owners (me included!) as the puppies will know that their crate is a safe and happy place to go, and hopefully, there will not be any major issues getting them to go in and settle down. I know that some people may think that it is cruel to "lock up" a dog in a crate, but I tend to disagree with that assessment. And you can tell by looking at the photo to the left how stressed out they are about being in the crate :)

The following week, mom and the puppies were all moved downstairs to a much bigger area and they were introduced to... the great outdoors !!! Of course, that was all well and good, but as you can imagine, once they were outside, they immediantly wanted to come back inside :) I know when I was a kid, my dad used to complain on Christmas morning that my brother and I spent more time playing with the boxes than we did with the toys that came in those boxes... This must be kind of the same thing :) And now, the puppies are starting to realize that it is a mighty big world out there! Why, there is even water that falls from the sky every now and then. Sometimes it is good to be able to find a safe spot to sit and check things out. It is even better if you have a friend or two to share it with you...

And this brings us to the photo that was taken just this week. As you can see, they don't like people at all :) I still do not know which of the five girls I am going to get. As I mentioned earlier, we are going up this weekend to see them and rank them in our own mind. Then next week on Friday we will go up and decide along with the breeder which one will for sure be ours. At the moment, I do not have a color preference, but if we end up with the choice of two who are otherwise equal, I may go with a black one this time. Unless, of course, I like the yellow one more :) That's it for now, I am sure that Franna and I will have plenty to talk about after our trip, and plenty to share with you in the next week or two... I do think that I have decided on Winnie for a name, unless some other "W" name comes up that fits the puppy to a "T"...

-Dave

Proud "Dad"...

My step-daughter, Jennifer, and I have a great relationship. I came along when she was 15 (she's almost 25 now), and still in the throes of her teenage angst. We decided early on that she didn't need another parent, she already had two, but would prefer to have an adult friend to help her see things and offer truthful advice without trying to be a parent at the same time. I never told her "don't do this" or "do that". Instead, I would explain the pros and cons from my perspective and let her make the choice. And usually, that worked out just fine :) Of course, that didn't lessen the friction that would sometimes come up between her and her mom, but I was in the unique position to see both sides and offer my assessments. Sometimes one or the other of them was in error, and I would let them know that, but usually, it was just a matter of Jenn wanting to fight with someone (anyone !!!), choose her mom (who would not fight with her) and then calming down from whatever had really been bothering her and peace would once again reign. Franna will NOT fight at all, trust me on this. Jenn is (much) more emotional, Franna is (much) more logical and I am somewhere in the middle. That means sometimes I want to pick a fight too, but I know that it is stupid and a waste of time even while I am trying to do it :)


One of the things that I managed to pass on to her is my love for the automobile (and unfortunately the knack for driving a bit TOO far over the posted speed limit :). For her 17th birthday, she had a party and invited many of her school and 4H friends over. That was the year that I bought her a tool kit. Not a cheap one, but a nice big one with lots of tools for a variety of situations. She thought it was great, although I think that some of her girlfriends were a bit puzzled over it as a gift choice for a 17 year old girl. She still has that kit and we have added a few odds and ends to it over time. She always wanted me to teach her how to do things on her or my vehicles, but due to college (first mine, then hers) and living on opposite sides of the state once she left home, we never really got a chance to do this. She learned a few things, she can change her own oil, filters and sparkplugs... Anyway, just before Thanksgiving last year, she purchased a 1991 Firebird to replace her beloved PT Cruiser that was totaled in an accident (not her fault). Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, she started having problems with it not starting all of time, and after replacing the battery (it needed to go anyway, trust me :), we decided that it was the starter. She managed to get it over to our house for Christmas, but with all the snow and such that we had on the ground, we never got a chance to actually get it replaced. So I did what any Dad would do, I bought her a Chilton's auto repair manual, a new starter and sent her on her way back home to the east side of the state. Actually, I was less than thrilled about this turn of events, but there wasn't anything I could do about it as she needed to get back to go to work. Once she got back, she dinked around for a couple of weeks trying to find someone who would help her change it out, but finally this past Monday, she decided just to do it herself and get it done. She called and we talked before she started and reviewed the process a little bit, cleared up a couple of items she was unclear on and I gave her a few pointers about safely putting a car up on the jack stands and such. I didn't hear anything for a couple of hours, then she called and told me that she had the old one out! There you go, that was half the battle! So we talked for a few minutes about the potential gotcha's for putting the new one in. I didn't hear anything from her for a couple hours again, then she called to say that it was done, and I listened to the car start over the phone :) :) :) It sounded just fine to me, no awful grinding noises or sounds like things are about to fly off or anything like that. Thanks Jenn for this proud "dad" moment :)

-Dave

Pre-Puppy Breath :)

Well, Franna and I made the trek up to our Labrador breeder's house on Saturday night for dinner. Actually Saturday was the first time in a week where I took my 'Burb out of four wheel drive, but that is another story. So, back to this story, the Ribeye's were marvelous, as was the pumpkin soup, mashed yams, sliced beets with Italian dressing on them, rolls, wine and great dinner company. Most of the rest of our time there was spent playing with the new puppies :) They are now a little over three weeks old, their eyes are open, and they are starting to play with each other and recognize people. Seeing them, and watching and interacting with them has certainly complicated things for me as right at this moment I would be okay with any of the five girls :) We will wait and see how they are when they are a little older. 49 days is supposed to be the ideal time to test temperment as it is the time when the puppy is transitioning from being bonded to mom to being bonded to people... Decisions, decisions, decisions... :)

-Dave

Long live the Queen !!!

Many thanks for all of the nice comments that were made to Franna's blog about my German Shepherd, Lonie. And as last weekend was a reminder of the mortality that is associated with life, this weekend just completed was a reminder to me of the joy that is associated with a new birth. Thom and Villa's breeder has a female dog named Tripper (not too related to Thom or Villa) who I just think is the "cat's meow". And for some reason, Tripper thinks I am pretty okay too. In fact, her owner always teases about us having a thing for each other.
Tripper was bred last fall to "Mr Right" and on Saturday whelped 9 puppys, 2 black females, 3 yellow females and (I think) 2 each black and yellow boys. I have made my intentions known about wanting a Tripper (girl) puppy for at least a year, and now they are on the ground !!! I received a photo of them at a few hours old. I think that the ideal spacing between dogs is about five (5) years. Thom is coming up on four (4) next week, so it IS a little bit soon. And the planets and stars still need to line up and I could still pass, but the possibility that my next dog is here IS pretty exciting... So stay tuned and sometime between now and the end of January you'll all know what I decide to do... Names for this litter will start with "W". I like Winsome Winnifred and Wicked Wanda so far, anyone have any other suggestions ???

-Dave

Winter Thunder

Well, with the official end of the NASCAR season (congrats to Jimmie J.) , what is a person to do until Daytona in February??? Well, in my own case, it is time to dust off the trusty wheel and go gaming for the winter. I know that many of you don't understand that need, and that is okay. I have worked on and around simulators for close to 20 years now. I mean the real professional ones that cost millions to build and maintain. I also know that some of you won't understand (or care for that matter) just how good the pc-based simulations are that are now available for John and Jane Q. Public to play on their pc at home... And that is okay, because I do understand that and I will play for all of you :)
Anyway, this has been a GREAT year in the simulated racing communnity. New, games, new cars and new tracks have all come out. Each one better than the rest. The community that I am mostly involved with has been interested in reviving all of the cars and tracks of the old Trans Am racing series that I talked about in an earlier blog. So this year, we have had new Mustangs, Camaros, Challengers and Cudas released. And each of these simulate their real counterparts down to very minute details. I have decided to retire the Mustang Shelby that I used last year and will replace it with a 1970 Cuda that was just released about 2 weeks ago. This thing looks bad, drives very close to the real car (I owned a Challenger way back in my youth, so I know the feel is very close) and even sounds bad. I'll try to figure out how to post short video clips here...

Once again, I will be creating a fictional paint scheme to promote our farm and the other things that we do the rest of the year. I started photoshopping a new skin yesterday. I didn't get too far, but it has the Everranch green / Gotland grey two tone that I created last year... Yippee, I can't wait, I started driving again last week and am amazed at how rusty I have become in the last 7 or 8 months. I have probably lost 2 to 3 seconds per lap on my favorite tracks. Gotta get lots of practice in to get that edge back (sorry Dear :)... Now to ask Santa for that racing seat setup I have been drooling over all year :)

-Dave