Dudley Down

This was written last night, and then Blogger decided to Go Down for Maintenance. By the time it was up again, I was down for maintenance.

So, last night Girl gave Dudley the hand signal for down, and he did it. Twice. 2 out of 2 times he was asked to do it, he assumed the position. There was no mistaking it, he watched her hand and did what she asked him to do. We celebrated like he'd won the lottery. I don't think he's done it since. I tried it this evening and he looked at my hand like it had turned into a live lobster - How weird is that? What IS that? I think he was just demonstrating that 1) he knows what we're asking him to do; and 2) he doesn't feel it is relevant to his personal agenda. He's totally housebroken, he comes when called, he walks on a leash like a gentleman at least 80% of the time, he sits, he knows Paws Off, Kiss the Kitty, and when he's stepping on Murphy's last nerve and it's time to surrender and take a beating from a dog half his size. (Murphy can make him cry.) He knows that I do not tolerate lunging at the rope when we play fetch the rope and quickly learned to sit politely until I throw it. He's a smart, well-behaved dog with a fabulous temperament. He has no bad habits we need to break. He just doesn't give a shit about that Down thing. I can live with that - though we'll keep working him on it, because as smart as he is, he has great potential as a really well-trained dog.

Murphy continues to hit a down the instant I signal, and then bark in annoyance when I don't hand him the treat because I'm still trying to get Dudley to cooperate. Impressive, since Puppy School was 5 years ago.

The TV stand was delivered today and I'm sure much cursing will ensue Friday evening, because that's when I'm going to put it together. It's big. Then I have to go donate an organ for cash suck it up and buy the flat panel HDTV. But you know, my kids are grown, I have a decent job, and why the hell not?

Knitting: eggplant linen shawl. That Victorian Lace Shawl pattern? So not the right dimensions for linen - I'm sure it would work fine for something stretchy and block-y, but based on my washcloth-swatching, I had absolutely no faith that it would ever assume shawl-like proportions at the stitch count and gauge in the pattern. So I abandoned it and went to a size 4 needle and 116 stitches, a 4 stitch border, and we'll see where we are after 2 skeins are consumed. Maybe it, too, will be a baby blanket. My kids are artsy enough to think a wine linen baby blanket would be nice, and it is an excellent color with a baby's complexion. The legendary EZ was a fan of gray for babies. I have a gray carriage blanket in the closet. So I see nothing weird about wrapping my hypothetical grandchild in a merlot linen wrap, if at the halfway point I am not going to have enough for a shawl.

This is today's update:

I'm feeling like shit, coming down with a cold, probably, and it's raining constantly, and now I have a leak in the fireplace - but not actually down the flue, which would not bother me at all and which I would chalk up to rain-blown wind, but inside the chimney chase, so that it is dripping down the inside of the front of the fireplace onto the hearth. It may still be rain-blown wind, but if it continues I'll have to have the roof guy out to see if we're perhaps having a flawed flashing issue. (It's a roof thing, it does not involve raincoats.)

My dryer won't turn off. We have to use a kitchen timer when we start a load of clothes. But it still works, so I will absorb the TV shock first, since the TV does NOT work, and the dryer will be the next on the things to be fixed list. The leak isn't a big whoop at this point, it's under warranty and I've seen enough leakage in my career to diagnose this. It needs to be fixed but it's also not likely to get any worse.

I'm going to bed very early. I'll leave you with some really good, smart stuff:

M. Kane Jeeves.

One of these days I really have to update the sidebar.