Alright, I promised a post about my weekend, um, just after last weekend, but here it is now. Better late than never eh? So may I present the short photo essay, How I Spent My Saturday, by Adam Church.
Snake Proofing: Last Saturday was Dallas’ last week of Novice Class at Acoma, and every final week of Novice class involves snake proofing your dog. This might sound a bit strange, but basically the idea is to scare the crap out of your dog and create a link between their fear reaction and snakes. This comes in handy in NM, since you’re never too far from a rattlesnake. (My parents have lots of them on their land). And during snake proofing, we use real live bull snakes.
They let the dogs sniff the snake so that they become really curious, then they set your dog up. As you’re walking by, the trainer slides the snake out at you (while someone’s shaking a rattler in the background) and your job is to freak out and get your dog away from the snake as fast as possible. This involves lots of screaming, shouting and whatever else you need to do to make your dog afraid of that snake. This is a really effective training tool, and it’s saved many dogs and their owners lives, because your dog will warn you of snakes before you get bit. And it’s always interesting to throw 30 dogs and their owners into a room with bullsnakes. Alright, onto #2.
Dog Sitting: Also on Saturday, I was terrorized blessed by the company of all the family dogs at my house. That’s right, 5 Schnauzers, all at my house. You see, my parents had just put their house on the market, because they want to move somewhere a bit closer to my Dad’s job and Church, i.e. The West Side, dun-dun-dun! Anyway, they were out looking at houses that day, and there were people coming by to see their house, so I volunteered to watch all the dogs. Ha, was I ever crazy! For future reference, it’s not a good idea to take 3 dogs out of their comfort zone and put them in a backyard with a big puppy who just wants to play with them. Fighting will ensue. Nevertheless, I enjoyed having them all there, even if dinner time was a bit crazy…
the feeding frenzy. notice that cricket eats alone…
this is because she goes postal when any of the other dogs get near her food.
Baking: I did find some time to make some delicious cookies. Chocolate-Chocolate/Butterscotch Chip w/ Walnuts. Oh, man, they were amazing. I’ll write up the recipe sometime, cause oh man…
heaven, in cookie form.
Real Estate Selling: So I mentioned that my parents were selling their house. Well, while I was watching the dogs, a couple came by and fell head over heels in love with their house. And bought it the next day! It really was amazing, because the house went on the market the Monday before, and sold in only 6 days! My Mom was really nervous about moving, and that really helped to confirm for her that was what God wanted them to do, because it was amazing that it sold so fast, and for full price! And this past Monday, my parents made an offer and entered into a contract on a house out in the Petroglyphs that they fell in love with. It’s a pretty sweet house, and the backyard backs up to the Petroglyph National Monument, so all the land behind them is protected land, so the gorgeous view is there to stay. I’m sure you’ll be hearing more of this, as I will no doubt be enlisted for the moving process.
Spinning: Last, but certainly not least, I did some spinning last weekend! Yay! Noelle was at the Saturday Knitting Group that meets at Napoli Coffee, and she brought her spinning wheel, so I decided to mosey on over for a demo. I did a little spinning with a drop spindle and with the wheel, and really enjoyed it. I wasn’t a complete natural, but I’m sure with a lot more practice I’d get the hang of it. And Noelle assured me that there was plenty of room for my nerdiness with subjects such as gearing, wheel ratios, etc. I’m getting all hot and bothered just thinking about it. I took some pictures of my little bit of handspun green yarn, and those are in today’s Yarn Pr0n Friday, so check it out! Hmmm, Christmas is coming, and I’m thinking Spinning Wheel…(or maybe just a small down payment…). Oh crap, here we go, another hobby to add to the list…
