Two Barking Dogs

I like checking out I Has a Hotdog often, and these wild and crazy people and dogs always make me laugh especially when I feel like my “head’s going to explode” from work, or life in general.

Too Darn Funny!

So, yesterday, I started “practicing” my hypermiling skills. I hit the Interstate at 63 miles per hour (the speed limit is 55 mph), staying in the right lane almost the whole 25 miles to work. I didn’t have to hit the brakes for almost 20 miles of the trip. No fast accellerations, no slamming the brakes, just cruising along minding my own business.

How did it go? As far as the gas mileage, its too early to tell since I will do the mpg calculation on my next fill-up. I think that hypermiling takes a good amount of conscious effort, and it will probably take a bit of time to see some results.

So, How did it really go?  Well,

• To the guy in the yellow Nissan SUV that tailgated me for a couple of miles when he could have passed me easily … Were you hypermiling, too?  Trying to save gas by utilizing a drafting technique?  Or are you just practicing being an asshole?
• To the pretty lady in the white Mercedes SUV that passed me with an inch to spare and then flicked the middle finger at me as she cut back in front of me … Right back at ‘ya, Blondie.
• To the idiot 12-year-old driving that big giant industrial sized tow truck (you know who you are) … Do you kiss your mother with that mouth? You should be ashamed of yourself for using words like that.

And, finally,

• Nanny Nanny Boo Boo. My gas tank is more full than yours. Idiots.

I saw a news bit last week on hypermiling and got to thinking. Is it possible to save money/gas by using these techniques? A lot of people that are hypermiling are driving hybrid vehicles, but a lot are driving old fashioned gas guzzlers, too. Hypermilers are drivers that exceed EPA estimated fuel efficiency on their vehicles by modifying their driving habits. There are hypermiler forums and groups all over the U.S.

Here are the basics, which appear to be no-brainers after you think about it.

Maintain your vehicle. Tire pressure, balance and wheel alignment are key factors. Keep the tires inflated to the maximum recommended air pressure as noted on the tire. Under-inflated tires cause lower fuel efficiency. Keep your engine tuned. (I am already doing this.)

Empty out the junk in your car. All of that extra weight (dog food, case of water, laundry detergent, bag of books for donation, etc.) makes your vehicle heavier and heavier means lower gas mileage. (Another good reason to go on a diet. I confess, the back of the SUV has a bunch of junk that needs to be removed.)

Use the cruise control when possible. Cruising maintains your speed which means better mileage. (Kind of hard to do in rush hour traffic, but on long trips, I use the cruise all the time.)

Braking – Not so much. Anticipate what is happening in front of you, slow down on the way to that red light without braking until necessary. Gentle acceleration and deceleration — avoid unnecessary acceleration. (Has this ever happened to you? You are cruising along and someone gets right on your bumper, they swing around and pass you zooming toward a red light. You are maintaining a solid speed, see the red light ahead, lift off the accelerator, coast up to the light just as it changes to green and pass by the doofus that just wasted money by zooming and then by idling at the light?)

NASCAR-style drafting (also known as tailgating). This is one of the hypermiler’s habits that I do not agree with. Its just too damned dangerous and I do not want to cause road rage. Period. I prefer the concept that people who do not leave a lot of space between their car and the car/truck/vehicle in front of them use their brakes more often. Braking causes friction and heat and slows down your car. (Not going to try the drafting idea. Nope.)

Avoid sitting in traffic. You are wasting gasoline by sitting and idling. And, if there were no traffic jams, we’d be tooling along in our cars smoothly which would result in less starts and stops which means better gas mileage. You are getting 0 (zero) miles per gallon when you are sitting at a light. (Easier said than done, but I’m going to make a real effort to do this whenever possible.)

Know your gas mileage. How can you tell if you’re actually saving gas and getting better mileage if you don’t know what your old habits cost you, and what your new habits can bring you. There are a bunch of gas mileage calculators on the net or you can do it the old fashioned way:

My friend Rob would come up with something very catchy like a Polish Pieroge Hound.

Inquiring minds want to know. What kind of dog does this look like? I’m leaning toward a Bernese Mountain Dog. Too bad we can’t run a DNA check on it!

Please, help my friend Lou Ann identify this cute little pup. The painting is by “M. Morgan” and it looks to be about 30-50 years old.

What do you think? Please post your guess here! And, if you know anything about the artist, you get bonus points (redeemable for absolutely nothing except bragging rights).

And, anyone that posts a response to this inquiry gets 3 entries into my Contest which ends next week.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, was first observed on May 30, 1868 in order to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers. It was declared a national holiday by Congress in 1971 to be celebrated on the last Monday in May. I find it so strange that people will wish you a “Happy Memorial Day”. Kind of an oxymoron having “happy” associated with a solemn holiday when we are remembering our veterans, especially those that have died in service to their country defending our freedoms.

The National Moment of Remembrance was also established by Congress and it asks Americans, wherever they are at 3 p.m., local time, on Memorial Day, to pause in an act of national unity for one minute. Congress chose 3 p.m. because it is the time when most Americans are enjoying their freedoms on the national holiday.

This year in Washington (DC) there are a lot of public events that anyone can attend as long as you don’t mind the crowds. There is a concert sponsored by PBS tonight on the South Lawn of the Capital, there is a parade of marching bands and veterans from all 50 states on Monday, and wreath laying ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial National Memorial. In my opinion, the most impressive gathering is the 21st Rolling Thunder.

This year, Rolling Thunder expects to break last year’s participation of over 400,000 motorcycles with almost 825,000 particpants in their weekend-long get-together. I had never heard of Rolling Thunder until I moved to the area. Now, I look forward to the bikes, the noise, and the characters that begin rolling into the Metro DC area beginning the Friday before Memorial Day Monday. The riders are almost all decked out in leather with a U.S. flag somewhere on their clothing and on their bikes. They are loud! And, you can’t miss them. I live about 25 miles outside of the District, and this morning I could hear a large group about 1/2 mile away gunning their engines as they make the trek into Washington. (And, yes, Clover heard the Thunder, thought it was a real storm coming, ran inside and up the stairs and hid in the closet for a half-hour.)

Taken from the Rolling Thunder website:

“The major function of Rolling Thunder®, Inc. is to publicize POW-MIA issues: To educate the public that many American prisoners of war were left behind after all previous wars and to help correct the past and to protect future veterans from being left behind should they become prisoners of war-missing in action.”

Can you imagine what 400,000 motorcycles, mostly Harley-Davidsons, sound like when they rev up their engines all at the same time?

It sounds like thunder.

Someone recently e-mailed me a link to an interesting web site MSN Auto that will help you find cheap gas by zip codes. So, I plugged in my zip code and found cheap(er) gas about 15 minutes away that would take me about 30 minutes to get to. The three or four cents per gallon savings is wiped out by the gas I would have to use to get there and back, along with the 45 to 60 minutes of my time wasted in traffic. Kind of defeats the whole purpose!

Another web page that I’ve used with success and have contributed to from time-to-time is Gas Buddy.

I share these because I am sure that everyone is feeling the pinch these days, and it doesn’t look like its going to get any better. On the news today, it sounded like gloom and doom with the possibility of rolling brown-outs this summer when we all crank up the air conditioning. As if $4.00/plus a gallon isn’t enough of a hint of bad things to come!

Back in the 1970s, during the Arab Oil Embargo and the Energy Crisis, the US Government enacted a Country-wide 55 mph speed limit in hopes of saving fuel. There was rationing based upon the numbers in your license plates. I remember one gas station that would only sell on certain days at certain times to certain people (loyal customers). I do not remember sitting in a long line like they did in California, but I did sell my gas guzzling 1966 Mustang and replaced it with a 1967 Toyota Corona. (Stupid Stupid Stupid!)

I recently saw an article about the price of gasoline around the world. The Netherlands has the most expensive at over $9.00/gal. The UK was right up there along with a lot of other car-happy European nations. The cheapest gas was in Argentina and Nigeria. Now, I lived in Nigeria for 3 1/2 years and I’m not going back just because of the cheap fuel.

So, what’s next for us? Rationing? Slower speeds? More fuel efficient vehicles? Will NASCAR start charging their fans a fuel surcharge? A run on locking gas caps? Another stupid government slogan “Don’t be Fuelish”? Does anyone in charge really care?

I’ve mentioned before that Clover sleeps in the closet. It is her place to hide from noises and people, or a place to sleep the night away. That is, or course, when she’s not asleep on my bed!

Almost three years ago, I had the painters in to repaint my bedroom. All of the furniture was moved to the center of the room, and I emptied the three closets that were bursting at the seams. All of the clothing and shoes went on top of the bed, all of the boxes of junk lined the hallway, and the guys painted my bedroom a nice cheery gold-yellow color. (Ok, I made a mistake with that one, but its better than the bright red that was there before.)

During the time between the painting being done, and me getting around to putting things back in the closets and putting my bedroom back in order, Clover discovered one of the empty closets and moved in. I never prompted her … she just plopped down and went to sleep.

This is a dog that hates being crated. I tried it a couple of times, and finally gave up when she bent the bars on the door of one crate. Yet, she will gladly go into the closet to hide from me, Cosmo, or a thunderstorm. She likes to nap in there while I’m at work or snooze the night away in her closet. I put an old blanket on the floor for her, and then an old pillow. If I forget and close the doors, she will scratch at it until she can get her nose in the opening and then with a twist of her head, she will slide the door open allowing her access to the Dog Cave.

The only time I ever heard Clover growl, and believe me it was half-hearted, was when puppy Cosmo thought it would be cool to camp out with Clover in her closet. He has never stepped paws back in there again.

Thanks to Yogi Berra for the quote. The reason it came to mind yesterday was because I needed to put gas in the truck and almost had a heart attack when I saw the price for unleaded ranging from $3.87 to $3.98 a gallon.

It may not be Armageddon per se, but I do believe it is the beginning of the end to my running about town without a plan or for superfluous trips for this or that. No more running to the dog park in Herndon just because I like it better than the one much closer to home. Must consolidate trips … I’ll only make a trip to my favorite thrift across town if I’m bringing a big bag to donate at the same time.

I will have to save money on ridiculous things so I can still afford to go out and shop the yard sales on Saturday mornings!

I wonder if Cosmo’s stink bombs could be harnessed as a bio-fuel?

Cosmo reporting. Word has it that “she” is taking us out to some yard sales tomorrow morning. I’m getting kind of tired of these early Saturday morning forays. Dude .. what’s with the early up-and-at-em? My attitude might change, if “she” starts buying some interesting things for me once and a while. Or, at least let us out of the truck to have a “look-see” and meet other people and stuff. My time limit for this outing is exactly 2 hours. After that, I WILL let my displeasure known by head butting, whimpering, and if all else fails, floating a smelly bomb once and a while. Check back Saturday for an update.

Clover here. Woohoo! “She” is taking us in the morning at first light to go in the car and check out the local yard sales and maybe buy something fun to play with or something might taste good or something that even smells good or like another dog or something and then maybe “she’ll” take us to the park and then we can play for a while before we come home and take a nap and then unload the car and smell all the good stuff all over again because I love to help her unload the car too and I can carry packages really well as long as they are not too heavy and don’t drag on the floor or anything.

A lot of Evelyn’s rose collection came from magazines, and on the back side of the roses, were some fun advertisements. Some are dated from the 1940’s. I love the bucking bronco, and I would love to have one of those gold Lincolns, too!  (( You can view the photos in a larger format by “clicking” on the small photo icon below.))

I found a large brown envelope at the recycle center when I was visiting my parents last month. It looked interesting, and since it was free … I took it so I could go through it later. Well, later is here, and I am surprised!

The envelope is marked “Roses” and inside I found something signed by Evelyn R. The collection of roses are tissue paper, cuttings from the newspaper and magazines, wrapping paper, and small cuts of wallpaper. Some of the advertisements on the back of the roses are pretty interesting too (another day/another post). A few of the items are dated from the 1940’s.

I have mentioned in previous posts how wonderful a dog Cosmo is. This morning? Not so much. At exactly 4:00 a.m. he jumped on the bed and woke me.

Imagined conversation went something like this:

• Cosmo: “Hey Mom – I’m not feeling so well.”
• Me: “Poor Coz, What’s the matter?”
• Cosmo: “My tummy feels bad. Uuhh ohhh.”
• Me: “Don’t you dare …. “
• Cosmo: “Oops, sorry mom, didn’t mean to throw up on you and your pillow and your blanket.”
• Me: “Gee, thanks for sharing that Cosmo. Now get the hell off my bed.”

Yep. That’s how my morning started — a sick dog followed by me taking an early shower, changing the bedding, and trying very hard not to be annoyed with my boy.

Yuck!

Did I mention it has been raining a lot the last few days? I took these photos yesterday in the rain after walking the dogs. Isn’t it strange — Dogs that won’t go out in the yard in the rain, will gladly go out on the leash and walk in a deluge.  What’s with that, anyway?  Everything is still very soggy, and today has dawned cool and sunny. The weather report says it should be this way for a couple of days. Hopefully, Saturday will be clear and rain-free so I can get my fix of yard sales!

For roses that have been neglected for the last couple of years, they sure are putting out some pretty flowers. I forgot to trim them back this year and really didn’t expect such beautiful blooms. The guy that cuts my little lawn said he would dig out and mulch my flower beds. However, he seems to have gone MIA. I’m afraid I’m going to have to get dirty this weekend in order to at least clean thing up enough so I don’t get a nasty letter from the Home Owners Association.

In the meantime,

If I were a paranoid person, or perhaps a bit more paranoid than I am already, I would be looking for a guy named Noah and see if he’s building a big boat. Growing up in South Florida, I’m used to heavy pounding rains. It just seems out of place here in genteel Virginia. I remember a newscaster in South Florida that used great descriptions concerning rain storms, such as gully washer or palmetto pounder (palmetto=palm tree). I wonder what he would call today’s deluge?  A Peanut Pounder? A Blue Ridge Blaster? or maybe an Old Dominion Drenching?

Now, my two dogs are retrievers. They’re water dogs. They are wash-and-wear dogs. They like to get wet, one of them actually likes to swim just for the hell of it. They like going out in the rain just so they can get wet and come back in the house and get wiped down. Cosmo likes to cozy up to me when he’s wringing wet and pass back and forth as I swipe at him with a nice dry towel. That was then, this is now!

It is raining so hard right now that the water has gotten into the wiring of the security light in my little back yard and shorted it out. My little yard is under water. So cold and wet, that both of my water retrieving, pool/lake/ocean/river swimming retrievers absolutely refuse to go outside!

Clover stuck her head out the door and backed up … walking backwards all the way across the kitchen floor to get to safety in the dining room. Cosmo was brave! He actually went out the door, turned left quickly, hugging the wall. Within 15 seconds, however, he changed his mind, slipped in the mud, Oops! And bolted for the dining room dripping water and mud as he went.

Its a mess out there … in my little yard. And in my kitchen. And my dining room. And on my sofa.

My poor girl. Clover is so afraid of thunder storms that the night before last she literally had the shit scared out of her! (Sorry. Just didn’t work using “poop.”) Its only happened one other time also during a thunderstorm. Its hard to get angry with a dog that is that scared.

We had a round of major storms come through Northern Virginia Thursday night with some tornadoes touching down about 40 minutes south. I got home in the middle of a major thunder and lightning event, running for my life to get into the house. I was met by a very calm Cosmo, and my poor Clover, shaking from fear and nerves over the storm, and mortification over the fact that she had an “accident” in the house.

Anyone that is owned by a Labrador Retriever knows that they like to eat often and on time. This is the first time Clover ever missed a meal without complaining. She was so out of it, that she took her anxiety pill, and headed upstairs to hide in the closet without eating any dinner. After a few minutes, I could hear her pacing the floor and went up to check on her. I put her puffy pillow in the bath tub and she jumped in to lie down, still shaking.  A couple of years ago, she started hiding out in the bath tub during thunderstorms.  Go figure.

I slept with the lights on so Clover couldn’t see the flashes of lightning. About 4:30 am, I heard her jump out of the bath tub and plop down in her closet. Yes, her closet. She took over one of my clothes closets a couple of years ago and while she WILL NOT be crated (even with the doors open) she goes willingly into the closet to sleep or hide from the bogey man.

Clover – Please say over and over in your head …

I try to hit the mute button, but I’m not always quick enough!

My parents recently celebrated their 56th Wedding Anniversary. And “they” said it would never last!

And, Happy Birthday too! Mom is 77 today, and Dad turns 81 next week. I should look so good at their age.

My mother would probably kill me if she knew I was putting this on my blog. But, then again, she doesn’t have a computer any more!

I found a wonderful blog recently and have enjoyed reading it immensely.  Beth’s blog is called Around the Funny Farm!  Well, Beth held a contest, and I won!  The prize?  Books!  I won a puppy once in a raffle a long time ago and my mother wouldn’t let me bring him home!  I’m sure she would approve of the prize of books.  But, only if I share them with her.

North Carolina Trooper Fired Over Abuse of K-9 Partner

I read this article online from the News Observer which covers news in Raleigh/Durham/Cary/Chapel Hill – North Carolina. It was published on April 29, 2008. I know that some people do try to train animals with intimidation and force. I remember seeing a dog training video from the 1970’s where the trainer “helicoptered” a German Shepherd. (Holding the dog by the leash so his legs do not touch the ground. It freaks the dog out and he starts to struggle to get down and he will start swinging around like a helicopter.) The dog in the video quit struggling when he about passed out from lack of oxygen and pain.

You have to wonder about people that treat animals like this, especially police officers that should know better. Is it a Country thing? Ignorance? or an underlying evil streak?

Thanks to Dan Kane at the News Observer for bringing this issue to light. And, shame on you Trooper Charles L. Jones and anyone else that thinks this is appropriate behavior.

Here is a link to the article. What do you think? News Observer Article.

I am tired of looking at the destruction pictures at the top my blog so I thought I would put something pretty up. The only connection these roses have to Clover or Cosmo is, if given the chance Clover would eat them, and Cosmo would pee on them.

After 3 weeks of 24/7 with the dogs, I headed back to work this past week, picking up the old schedule and habits. If I had known Clover was going to go mental on me, I would have medicated her during the day Monday so she would have been fairly relaxed by the time I left for work. Seeing as how we have had no similar problems in about 4 years, I just didn’t think that it might still be an issue. I guess I was wrong.

I didn’t notice the damage until Tuesday morning. Click on the picture to see the damage in its full glory.  (This is the inside door frame to the front door.)

The last couple days, before heading out for work, I have been slipping her a Alprazolam (Xanax) that was prescribed by the vet. In the last 3 years, I have had to medicate her only during bad storms, the 4th of July and any other holiday when fireworks are prevalent.

I love this dog. Some days not so much.