:Iris wins again!
Posted: May 26, 2008 Filed under: FFT Lhasa Apsos 1 Comment
Iris is leaping with joy. Shelley is probably leaping even higher! Iris picked up two more points yesterday. Congrats!
Fernando was awarded Best of Breed at the same show, along with a Best of Breed the day before and a Group 3 under judge Sandra Goose-Allen.
:Echo
Posted: May 25, 2008 Filed under: Gompa Lhasa Apsos Leave a commentRick and Sharlee set up Echo’s area exactly like I recommended. Note the ex-pen surrounding the crate. Echo has two places to snooze; a bed inside the crate and a blanket right outside the crate. Her water dish is also right outside the crate. At the far end of the pen, not shown in this photo, is a puppy piddle pad.
This set-up provides three distinct areas. Sleeping. Drinking/eating. Potty. My puppies are exposed to this concept from the time they’re born. As the puppies grow, so does the area. At first the mother and puppies are in an airline crate (without the door, usually without the top), inside a 2×3 puppy playpen which sits in a corner in the bathroom. When the mother is ready to demote herself from her 24/7 job to…say 23/7…I set up a 2×4 in the same corner, adding another bed just outside the airline crate. Food and water are always available. When the new family outgrows this set-up, I move them to the end of the hallway, which is easily blocked off with ex-pens panels. The entire area is lined with newspaper, with the exception of the area with bedding, food and water. Over the next weeks, I make the newspaper area smaller and smaller, working towards the end opposite their bed, food and water. When the puppies have outgrown this, I make a similar, larger set-up in the basement. That area has light coming in large size windows on three sides, along with a window in the door. Think walk-out basement. The puppies come upstairs in the evening and weekends; again in the same area. At this point, they’re pretty good about finding the newspaper and are allowed more freedom in the house. I’m able to expand this freedom, this envelope, slowly first allowing them access to the bathroom, then the library, then the entire hallway, then the kitchen. And finally the entire house, which takes constant supervision. Right Vickie?!
Looks like one of Rick and Sharlee’s cats likes the set-up too! This photo they titled Sleepover.
And face to face…
Learning the stairs…which took 5 minutes!
Echo’s world has definitely expanded. As has her siblings’ world. Yesterday they made the big move to The Kennel. Gasp! Not the kennel! <g>
Siku and Whisper, in the past week or so, showed plenty of signs they were ready for the big move. Yesterday morning I prepared a kennel run, between the Girl Group and Edmund. The spaces in the fencing are 1″ wide and 2″ tall. For added insurance, I have temporarily snapped ex-pen panels to that fencing. When the kennel settles back down, current dogs accepting the newcomers as permanent residents the ex-pen panels will come down. And the puppies will be rotated between the Girls and the Boys when outside. Full integration will have occurred. At least until it’s time to separate the puppies or Whisper goes to her home.
Right now, even as I type, the puppies’ door is open, allowing them access to their outside run. It’s a whole new Big Dog world!
:Wild eyed…sent by Vickie
Posted: May 25, 2008 Filed under: Lotsa Lhasa Info Leave a commentVickie wrote: Given the experience with Panchen, thought you’d find this of interest. The clinic it references is about 2 miles northeast of my house …
Read Wild eyed at The Reporter-Herald
:Seth
Posted: May 24, 2008 Filed under: Apso Aficionados, FFT Lhasa Apsos 5 CommentsCaroline sent an update on Seth, which I’ve placed below his latest photo. Seth sons and daughters include Roman, Roadie, Willis, Tango, Saul, Ethan, Ruby and Chloe. I delight in his great-granddaughter Jill’s antics daily.
I love lots of things about cyberspace, including this blog. Remember Ma Bell’s slogan, Reach Out and Touch Someone? That’s what the blog, the website means to me. It’s such a cool way to stay connected, including with people that have given the gift of a Forever Home to one or more of our dogs. Sometimes, though, what’s shot through cyberspace by perfect strangers tears my heart. I’m not sure about my purpose in sharing the following, especially in a post about Seth… Perhaps because this update is an example that dogs that have been under my care don’t have issues with human attachment?? Perhaps to repair my heart??
Well, here it is…
You mention that the dogs get plenty of human contact, but all I see
on your photos are dogs in kennels. This is hardly an ideal set-up
for dogs who attach themselves strongly to human beings.
I assume that they see a fair bit of you, and the show ring, though
the latter is pretty artificial for socialization purposes.
You write that you are interested in genetics and as a biologist I am
interested in what you might term behavioral genetics:
What is your program of testing the extraordinary ability to remember
visitors that Tibetan Lhasa Apsos exhibit?
And promoting the human attachment?
Ouch!
:Saving on gas
Posted: May 23, 2008 Filed under: DRambles on Black Mountain | Tags: Debby Rothman Leave a commentYesterday I received an email from Ceese…one of those forwards actually. The very kind of thing I was writing about yesterday, the blurriness of copyright in cyberspace. Saving on Gas was intended to make the cyberspace rounds, so I post without compunction. There’s great tips from someone-in-know about how to get the most from your gasoline buck.
Speaking of gas and bucks… Ah! You knew I’d have something else to say! I drove a 1963 Ford Futura until Rick and I married. Orville Falcon was his name. Orville wasn’t just a Ford Falcon. He was a fancy Falcon, complete with chrome detail that qualified him to be a Futura. He had a three-on-the tree, red interior and cost $200 used. Orville knew the way to dog shows. Once every week or so, I’d pull into Ralph McCain’s Conoco station and buy $1.00 worth of gas. Gas was usually 23 cents a gallon, but once in a while would drop to 19 cents a gallon. A gas station attendant pumped the gas, checked the oil and cleaned the windshield. The really cute attendant once told me if I pulled in and and said fill-er-up, he’d buy me a steak dinner. Never did do that…probably never had enough money to fill-er-up.
A few weeks ago, sorting and sifting for that Library of Memories class, I came upon a group of photos in an envelope. The first photo I pulled out was significant in a totally different way than expected when the photo was taken. I noticed the price of gas immediately. And started drooling! Then I wondered why on earth there was a photo of a gas sign. The price of gas would have held no significance at the time. The sign is like lots of other gas signs. What was its significance?
As I flipped through the rest of photos, I knew. See the cloud in the background? That’s not a cloud. That’s smoke from the Black Mountain Fire. This photo was taken the beginning of May 2002. Black Mountain Fire. We live on Black Mountain. That fire is the reason I’m an Animal Evac Volunteer, but that’s a story for another day.
I am going to change the way I keep my car filled, which I’ve bolded below. The major thing I’m going to do is buy gas from companies that don’t import Middle Eastern oil. Conoco’s on that list, the list that doesn’t import Middle Eastern oil. Whoops! Am I letting my political beliefs be known?! Where I come from people don’t talk about politics. Or religion. Maybe that’s why I moved away! Orville Falcon and I left Nebraska and headed west over 30 years ago…probably on a full tank of Conoco gas.
TIPS ON PUMPING GAS
I don’t know what you guys are paying for gasoline…. but here in
California we are paying up to $3.75 to $4.10 per gallon. My line of
work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to
get more of your money’s worth for every gallon:l
Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose, CA, we
deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline.
One day is diesel, the next day is jet fuel and gasoline, regular and
premium grades. We have 34 storage tanks here with a total capacity of
16,800,000 gallons.
Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the
ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations
have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder< BR> the
ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline
expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening….your gallon is
not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity
and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and
other petroleum products plays an important role.
A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the
service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.
When you’re filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a
fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has 3 stages: low,
middle, and high. You should be pumping on low mode, thereby minimizing
the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the
pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of
the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being
sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you’re getting
less worth for your money.
One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF
FULL. The reason for this is the more gas you have in your tank the
less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you
can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof.
This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere,
so it minimizes the evaporation.
Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is
temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact
amount. Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the
storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up; most likely the
gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you
might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.
WHERE TO BUY USA GAS – THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW. READ ON:
Gas rationing in the 80’s worked even though we grumbled about it. It
might even be good for us!
The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should return the favor.
An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS. Every time you fill up
the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi
Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don’t import their oil from
the Saudis. I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil
companies are the best to buy gas
from and which major companies import Middle Eastern oil.
Companies that import Middle Eastern oil:
Shell……………………… 205,742,000 barrels
Chevron/Texaco……… 144,332,000 barrels
Exxon /Mobil………….. 130,082,000 barrels
Marathon/Speedway… 117,740,000 barrels
Amoco……………………….62,231,000 barrels
Citgo gas is from South America, from a Dictator who hates our president.
Companies that DO NOT import Middle Eastern oil:
Sunoco……………0 barrels
Conoco……………0 barrels
Sinclair……………0 barrels
BP/Phillips……….0 barrels
Hess……………….0 barrels
ARC0………………0 barrels
If you go to Sunoco.com, you will get a list of the station locations
near you.
All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and
each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they
are importing.
Kunza at FleetFire Timbers 