Monthly Archives: May 2008

Well, that’s one way to cure your Facebook addiction…

Cool Stuff

Laura Houston, Texas, longtime site of the fire ant scourge, is now inundated with a new pest known as the “crazy rasberry ant”. (The spelling of rasberry is correct: It refers to Tom Rasberry, a local exterminator who first identified it as a problem.) Thought to have arrived as a container ship stowaway six years ago, these tiny, flea-sized ants travel in amorphous swarms (hence the “crazy”). Their claim to infamy is their voracious appetite for electronic equipment—they have a reputation for shorting out gas meters, computers and electrical boxes wherever they go. People are understandably concerned that the ants will hit electronics-heavy areas such as Houston airport or NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

Exterminators are finding it difficult to control these new ants because they are willing to uproot and seek out new digs at a moment’s notice, rendering poison bait ineffective. Also one colony has multiple queens, making it even harder to kill off completely.

The upside? Crazy rasberry ants apparently eat fire ants.

Rally-O

Photon

Laura In his May 22 post Jon mentioned that Photon was going to yet another “doggy class”. Indeed she is, and looking over her academic career, I realized that after this one she’ll have completed five courses. Not bad for a year-and-a-half old! What are all these courses, you ask, and what on earth is Miss Photon learning? Here’s a list, with links to our previous posts on them.

Puppy Pre-School taught basic obedience commands (Sit, Down, etc.), but the focus was really puppy socialization—get them used to other dogs, people and objects.

Family Dog covered basic obedience a bit more formally: Sit, Down, Stay, Heel, Leave it, and the biggie, Come. The last class featured doggie games to test the dogs’ training, which were an absolute riot as many of the dogs (and owners) totally forgot what training they had!

Step Ahead was the intermediate-level obedience course, refining the previously-learned commands, and heavily working on heeling skills.

I figured Photon would be a natural at Agility, so we took the beginner Agility class. Yup, she’s a natural, but I am not!

The course we’re currently taking is Rally Obedience, which is a dog sport featuring heeling and obedience commands, but isn’t nearly as stuffy as formal obedience trials. Unlike formal obedience, in Rally-O you can talk to your dog at any time, and at beginner level you can give treats, as well as keep the dog on leash. Like agility, a Rally-O trial consists of a course comprised of a dozen or so stations where you have to complete a given task. The course takes about 2 minutes to finish, and the emphasis is on enthusiasm rather than precision. (Here’s a video of a typical novice course. Edit: Here’s a video of Photon and me doing a practice course. Not quite as smooth.)

Will Photon ever compete in a Rally-O trial? I’m not ruling it out!

More Journal Entries

Jon

Jon
Wednesday
May 7/08

Today I have a folk fest dance assembly in the gym. Roden Public School is performing with a few classes. After that I have gym class. Then I’m off to lunch. At play time I’m going to the Adventure Centre to listen to some music.

VIDEO PREVIEW SECTION
Tonight I’m going to watch Save the Goldfish episdoe of The Wonder Pets with Grandma.

Photon
May 8/08

I love Photon and I like to give her kisses. I am going to play with her and feed her when I get home. Daddy is going to take Photon out for a walk. I don’t want to make Photon cry. I like to cuddle with her. Pets are not aloud at Sunny View School. Photon is only aloud in doggy class. Mommy and daddy are going there on Mondays.

VIDEO PREVIEW SECTION
Tonight I’m going to watch Save the Chimp episode of The Wonder Pets.

(Actually, it’s just me taking Photon to the current dog class. It’s held at 9 pm so unfortunately it’s a bit late to take Jon along.—L)

My Weekend
May 12/08

I had a great weekend. On Saturday I went to art express in the car. I made a resume and I sang some songs. After that I did some painting. Then it was time to go to the music circle. I had a great time at art express. Then it was time to go home. At home I had some computer time and a snack.

VIDEO PREVIEW SECTION
Tonight I’m going to watch Save the goldfish episode of The Wonder Pets. I love the part where they breathe air.

(Arts XPress is a fun, nine-week course held on Saturdays at Bloorview Kids Rehab. It features music, drama and arts & crafts—and not just the usual types: After one class Jon came home covered in dust and happily announced that they had been making bricks!—L)

Three Journal Entries

Jon

Jon
My Grandma
Apr. 25/08

I had a great time with Grandma last night. Mommy and daddy went to a play. While I waited for the supper I was watching a Regional Forecast videotape. After that I had chinese food. I ate dinner very well. After that I went back to the tape. Grandma was finishing her supper. I watched videos with Grandma for the rest of the evening. At nine o’clock I got ready for bed. After I was asleep mommy and daddy got back from the play.

VIDEO PREVIEW SECTION
Tonight I’m going to watch a DVD. It is called Looney Toones.

Jon

Thursday
May 1/08

Today I had music class and a birthday party. Nicholas broght a cake and Mrs. Gallo put some candles on the cake. Everybody sang HAPPY Birthday. After they sang they were blowing out the candles. I used my new computer system to write my journal. I had a great time at school.

VIDEO PREVIEW SECTION
Tonight I’m going to watch Save the Goldfish episode of The Wonder Pets.

Friday
May 2/08

Today I have gym class. I like to see Tamara. I like to do some Bowling. I also like T-ball and to play hocky too. I am going to go for a walk in my walker. Im gym class I like doing stretches. I did a good job in gym today.

VIDEO PREVIEW SECTION
Tonight I’m going to watch A Bug’s Life

Want Mustelid on your dog?

Family Life, Photon

aka

My Owners Filed Their Taxes But I’m the One That Got Otter-ded

PeterDateline, 11:30 Saturday evening, Georgian Bay. Photon is out on the darkened beach for a quick pee before bed, Peter at the base of the steps of the deck. As Photon starts her return, a sleek black blur darts across the beach, making a break for its home in the far rocks. Photon, being a herding dog, immediately swerves and accelerates to intercept, heading into the darkness. Silence. Peter calls Photon two or three times. Then back into the light slinks Photon, slower and decidedly less chipper, smacking her lips as she starts to foam at the mouth…and smelly.

I knew she’d been hit, and I immediately assumed skunk, but it wasn’t long before I was started to doubt it. A skunk had hit our the side of our house a few years ago and the immediate drift from that hit me like a truck, stinging my eyes and lungs from a room away. The smell on Photon wasn’t “skunk classic” (it was more like pure burnt rubber), and Photon was still standing after getting blasted in the mouth.

Laura and my parents and I all went into high gear. Laura got the deskunking recipe—not tomato juice!—and I did my best to scrub her down, though our mix didn’t have much hydrogen peroxide, and it was old to boot. Luckily, it wasn’t critical, as the smell wasn’t nearly as bad as a skunk. It dissipated quickly outside (though it did linger in parts of the cottage for a while).

As to what it was, we have some river otters living in the rocks near our beach, and there isn’t much doubt that it was one of them. They’re in the Mustelid family (weasels, ferrets, wolverines, minks, badgers, etc.) and all of that family, except for sea otters (I have learned in the past 24 hours), have scent glands. River otters only use them in situations of anger or fear. And they’re nocturnal. Proximity, means and motive. Case closed.

It made for a quieter dog for the rest of the weekend, though I don’t think Photon learned any big life lessons. But for us, it was a big reminder to use a leash at night, and stock up on the H2O2 for next time.

Tantrums & Nosebleeds

Family Life, Jon

Peter Ug. Over the past three of four weeks, Jon has descended into another series of tantrums, no doubt as hormones start coursing through his body, and his brain can express some of his physical frustration. These are always related to frustrating activities (reading or video games), but 1) they come out of nowhere and 2) since he is apparently part pit-bull, Jon refuses to give up what is causing the problem. Even if it’s homework.

This is not really new, it’s just that we haven’t seen any tantrums in the past few months, so we got complacent. But they’re back with an added twist.

As a kid, Jon used to get the occasional bout of nosebleeds. I say “bout” because, as with most kids, the cause and recurring of nosebleeds at that age, may be due to, well, mining opportunities in the area, shall we say.

But this new batch doesn’t fall under that umbrella. While neither I nor Laura had bad nosebleeds growing up, it turns out that some of our siblings and parents (on both sides) did. And apparently Jon hit the genetic jackpot—but that ain’t coins pouring out.

The worst thing is, these two storms have hit at the same time. Heck, maybe they’re related. In any case, it’s quite something to be sitting there happily with Jon and suddenly, with no external intervention, suddenly he starts howling at the top of his lungs and seconds later, blood starts pouring out of his nose, straight out of a Hollywood horror flick. When it happened this weekend, I came forward to help staunch the bloodflow and he lunged forward and bit me!

Never a dull moment.

Incidentally, this is special for us. No one else ever sees this side of him. Which is, of course, the lot of the parent.