Old Weird Ward
Unless otherwise noted, that which is posted here is opinion, which is protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. If you don't like my opinions, go somewhere else. Nobody is forcing you to actually read this drivel.
The presumption exists that you can read at all.
That may be a large assumption.
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Tuesday, March 09, 2004
- - - - - Bush's Campaign Ads - - - - -
I waited to comment on Bush's campaign ads until now, until I'd seen one. It took a while, 'cause I don't watch much TV.
There were a variety of images, evoking patriotism, Mom, apple pie, and a partridge in a pear tree, AND an image of the World Trade Center wreckage. Each image was on screen for about 2 seconds.
I did NOT see anything for anyone to get bent out of shape about. Certainly nothing worth frothing at the mouth about.
- - - - - Dogs - - - - -
Tiny, who is our Ferocious Beast, is a bit of an escape artist.
For example, the neighbor lady, Sharon, came over to ask a question on Saturday afternoon. As I opened the front door, Tiny dashed through the opening door and made a break for daylight. Twenty minutes later, as I was puffing along trying to get within five feet, and she's dancing in the middle of the road, in front of a stopped car, she trotted up to Mrs OWW, sat down, and calmly accepted a scritch behind the ears as her due.
Damned dog.
So.
Two of my neighbors, Charlie and Jacob, each have one of those "underground dog fence" jobs (see the blurb HERE), which work like a champ to keep Charlie's four dogs on his property, and Jacob's one dog on his property.
Last week, I ordered one of the dog fences, to enclose the entire area of our property. It arrived yesterday, and I spent all day installing/testing it.
That is to say, I did the grunt-work while Charlie (Sharon's hubby) told me which way to do stuff. I'm not knocking Charlie at all, he really does know this stuff. He's successfully installed about a dozen of these things. With his help, installation took one day, instead of two or three.
Well, after much grunt work of laying wire underground, connecting stuff up, testing, installing, and basic training for Tiny, I have a working fence.
This thing works by burying an 18-gauge insulated wire around the perimeter that you want the dog to stay in. There's a control/power box for the wire installed in the garage, which applies 12 volts AC to the wire, which generates a magnetic field in the wire. After setting the desired field strength at the box, use the collar (powered by 1.5 volt batteries), which beeps when you're close to the wire, to set out some little flags to mark the boundaries. Then put the collar on the dog, put the dog on a leash, and walk her around the perimeter to show her the safe zone.
While taking Tiny on her journey about the perimeter, as soon as she heard the beep, her ears went up. I pulled her back and had her sit. We did this three or four times at various places, always at one of the flags. Then I let her go into the control zone just a little further. "Yip!" and she bounced back out of there. This happened two or three times. She really doesn't like that (very small) shock that she gets through the collar.
Well, she might not like it, but it will keep her from getting smacked by a car. Still, it's a little sad to see a dedicated escape artist give it up.
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