GOOD MORNING AMERICA! and Everyone Else Out There

Today is the day everyone of you have been dreading - I am back!  A new day, a new computer, a new attitude (maybe not so much), and a lot to catch up on.  It has been probably 3 weeks or more since I began floundering with computer problems.  The new Toshiba laptop arrived last Tuesday and has taken me this long to get everything back to normal, my kind of normal anyway.  This is a sweet machine, it is reasonably fast, has a nice feeling keyboard and some little things that make it a winner with me.  One thing I thought was cool was an on/off switch for the keypad.  At home I normally have a USB mouse installed so I have no need for the keypad.  With it turned on, I am always accidentally hitting it when I don't want to.  The cursor goes off into gaga land until I look at the screen and notice it is gone.  I then have to redo everything after the point in time where I bumped it.  This machine also has its own number pad on the right side.  This is a standard feature on desktop computers.  You don't realize how convenient they are until you don't have one on the laptop.  I missed it a lot.

Since we last spoke, we have had the open house gala at the doggie fitness center.  What a night it was.  I found a guest host for the night who was a hoot.  He really kept the crowd entertained with his jokes and stories, many of them about dogs he has known.  Like the one about the three-legged dog who came into the bar.  The bartender asked "What can I get for you?"  The dog replied, "Nothing, I was just looking for my PAW!"  Kinnick, a joker himself, thought the dude was really funny and was rolling with laughter.  Barney on the other hand didn't see so much humor.  I found that odd because Barney is a consummate prankster himself.  I had the staff demonstrating various pieces of equipment while Sue, my current wife and I led groups through the facility showing off all of the neat features of the doggie fitness center.  We had numerous people come up expressing their complete fascination with the idea of physical fitness for dogs.  I invited people to stop by during a week day to see it in action.  The dogs got a little playful as you can imagine.  There were the usual chases and tug of war going on but for the most part pretty tame.  That is until about 9:30 pm.  I don't honestly know how this got started but I suspect Barney, the prankster pug, may have thrown a hip into Max who was standing by the pool.  Max took a header into the pool.  The next thing you see are dogs diving into the pool, splashing and dog paddling all around.  Max did not think this was funny at all.  Max HATES the water.  Poor thing.  He paddled frantically trying to get to the pool ladder but other dogs kept getting in his way.  By the time I realized what was going on, I looked at Max.  His fear filled eyes were the size of half dollars.  He was terror stricken.  I jumped in and rescued him before he went under.  He was shaking and had a death grip on my neck.  Looking back on it, it was pretty funny.  The dogs played in the pool for a while longer before we closed it for the night.   The open house ended at 10:00 pm.  We were really tired but quite satisfied with the turn out and compliments we received.

Since the open house, the center has been going gang busters.  Kinnick kicked off his visits with a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday daytime stay.  Barney and Max were here for two days straight including an overnight in our penthouse kennel suite.  They left on Friday just before Kinnick arrived for a two day and two night stay of his own.  We barely had time to change the bedding and get the suite cleaned up before he arrived.  It appears as though Kinnick will be a daytime regular for a while.  He mentioned that his Mom has their house up for sale and he is staying here during the day in case the realtor shows it.  Good idea for him to stay here.  That gives us time to work on his conditioning.  We have started him on a conditioning regime that will get him ready for summer and get rid of those extra pounds put on in the winter. 

The picture above is representative of the doggie treadmills we are trying out.  These are not the exact machines but you get the idea.  Kinnick is putting in a couple of miles each day.  He is just walking for now but next week we will speed her up so he can get some runs in also.  In future posts, I will include some pictures of the other equipment we will be using.

The French Roast is almost gone and is cold by now so I should be getting out of here.  I don't want to take too much of your time right away, you know.  Surprisingly, Sue and I remained amicable through this ordeal.  She took over my computer (it was hers that went bad) and I chewed my fingernails, twiddled my thumbs and whistled a lot.  Not a pretty sight if you have heard me whistling.  Until next time, TA!