Hi Guys! Great to be back with you after the long Labor Day weekend. Yesterday, we all reflected on the meaning of Labor Day, enjoyed family and friends, grilled out and just generally chilled out. Yep, it was a great day in Iowa. Yet a few us are actually rejoicing TODAY. Em, H, MacBlu and others on our street are sleeping in on a Tuesday morning. Why you ask? Our wonderful Solid Waste Agency (aka Garbage Gestapo) always picks up trash a day later on holiday weeks. Can't begrudge them for taking a day off like we do. Our normal Trashy Tuesday mad dash to the curb is delayed by 24 hours. It is amusing to see how many of the people on our street do not understand this; they have theirs out there already. Just cool it people.
We closed the Grandpa Bailey's Fitness Center and Spa for the Labor Day weekend. You just have to step back once in a while, smell the roses, and mow the lawn. I have to admit that I really needed the break. My current wife, Sue, daughters Debby, the younger elder, and Jenny, the elder, accompanied me to the first Iowa Hawkeye football game on Saturday. They were pumped to get the season started, me - not so much. I was volunteered to host the tailgate. The menu included shipwrecks, chips, salsa, donuts, OJ - plain & enhanced, fruit and etc. Shipwrecks for those of you not into tailgating are a concoction of hash brown potatoes, eggs, cheese, meat, onion, and peppers. All of this is cooked and mixed together in a glob. People seem to enjoy them, I however, do not. I do not like eggs, onions, and peppers. I therefore, just cook them.
We strolled to the game with our seat cushions and rain gear in hand. The forecast was for showers on and off during the game. Just as we were entering the stadium, it began to rain. Okay, on with the ponchos. The crowd slowly got to their seats in the rain. The occasional showers were more like a constant deluge. I was sufficiently soaked by half time despite being well covered with the poncho. Poncho's are not really very good in rain. For instance, your rear end gets immediately soaked when you sit down since the poncho is not long enough to cover the seat when you sit. Being made of plastic, they are waterproof, of course, but they are also wind proof. So in about 10 minutes the body heat trapped inside had risen sufficiently that you are sweating profusely. It does not take long until your clothing is soaked in your own body sweat. I have been debating on whether it is better to just get rained on since the result is about the same. I was so wet that I had to dry my money and the contents of my wallet. Jeez! Oh by the way, the stadium was cleared in the 3rd quarter because of lightening, we departed and went home. Iowa won comfortably BTW.
I am really getting pumped with these French Doggie Bidets. I have been playing with them and the remotes all weekend. They are really cool. I can handle any kind of unique needs a dog can present me. I have been trying everything. Like adjusting for a short legged dog like a daschund or a big boy like a Mastiff. You can imagine each breed has different requirements for both male and females. Did I mention the system has 57 presets for different breeds. I punch in LABM and I get the preset for Labrador - Male. Like most presets they are only average or general settings. You need to fine tune the setting depending on the dog. The remote also can store settings for up to 99 dogs. Just type in a dog's name of special initials and it recalls the settings you have set up. Pretty darn sophisticated.
Here is how it works. One dog at a time enters the pre-stage area which is funnel shaped. It walks up to a gate and touches its nose to a sensor, the walls of the Tinkle Area move in or out depending on the dog's body and the gate opens. The dog enters the Tinkle Area. Next, the operator selects a preset, a specific dog setting, or sets the various adjusts manually. The operator can see the dog over a closed circuit TV. While the dog is in the Tinkle Area, soothing music is played, the dog's favorite food scent is blown in and he is entertain with a short video. The dog will squat, raise a leg, do the classic stretch/tail up position, or the #2 scrunch. When finished, the operator presses a button, squirts the warm water and blows the warm drying air. The dog exits to the scratch & sniff area. Here the dog performs his/her paw scratches, sniffs around to see who has been there before them. When finished, the dog punches a button with their nose, get a treat and exit the unit. This is a pretty sophisticated machine. It can be set to be totally automatic but for now, I am having an operator assist the animals so they can feel safe and secure when eliminating their waste.
I don't want to bore you to death with the doggie bidet stuff so I will address the process we use to dispose of the waste. This is a whole other system. I hope this helps those of you that have expressed an interest in learning more about the system. Many of you are pet owners and are looking for a "green" system for your home. We are extremely interested in saving our environment and our natural resources. That is why we go to these extremes in pet waste management. Sure it would be easier to let them go outside, do their duty and come back in. That has its drawbacks also. I can't say too much at the moment but there may be a simplified system available for the home. Really on the drawing board as I understand. Yvette shared a little with me a couple of days ago. Did I mention she has very pretty blue eyes?
The last drip of French Roast is stone cold. I think I should have been more attentive to finishing my second cup. I just get sooooo caught up when talking about the fitness center that I lose all track of time and space. I don't know if my enthusiasm comes through the writing or not. We will explore this whole "green" pet thing in future blogs. I trust you all had a great weekend and are now back slaving away at your jobs because I am not slaving away at anything being retired and all. Let's see, what shall I do? Yep, time for a nap. Gotta go folks, TA!
No comments:
Post a Comment