My Mom-Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day!  On this special day I want to take time to recognize one of the most important people I know, my Mom.  Until I met my wife she was the most influential woman in my life.  As a child I remember many situations where even I didn't realize I was learning something from her, but as I look back I now know that I learned many things watching her.  A few things I learned from my Mom:
She taught me compassion by being compassionate with me.
She taught me patience by being patient with me.
She taught me respect by showing others respect.
She taught me perseverance by being strong in hard times.
She taught me self confidence by being supportive of me.
She taught me humility by being humble with others.
She taught me faith by being faithful to God.
She taught me sacrifice by doing for others first.
She taught me discipline by doing what is needed.
She taught me acceptance by accepting me through all my faults.
But most of all she taught me Love.  A Love that looks beyond shortcomings, a Love that is unconditional, a Love that allows me to Love others completely.  A Love that allows me to be a Father and Husband that my wife and kids can be proud of and my Mom can see herself in me.  When people say I'm just like my Mom, I always take that as a great compliment.

Tips for the guys..

Ok, my wife suggested I post something, ummm...errr, "useful".  Something for the guys who may read blogs.  supposedly 99.975% of blogs are written and read by women, so here ya go guys, I'm sending one out for you.

Years ago, we adopted a cute little beagle named Maggie.  As she got older she became an escape artist, many times even outsmarting me.  One time she was getting out of our yard and for the life of me I could not find out how.  The fence was in good repair, there were no large gaps anywhere, I even went and added some chicken wire to areas I felt were not "Mission Impossible" standard escape proof.  Yet she was still able to get out.  I decided one day to monitor her covertly.  I let her out into the yard, monitoring her every move from inside, until she went to the side of the house where we have no windows, dang that dog is smart!!  I ran (as quietly as I could) out the front door to peer around the blind side of the house and waited sure this was where she would make her break.  After about 20 minutes on stakeout duty I was handsomely rewarded.  This dog found a single fence picket out of over 100 that was not nailed at the bottom.  She was able to push the bottom, slip out and it would snap back into place to conceal her escape hatch.  Dang is that one smart dog!  That day she got her nickname of Houdini.  So from then on it was hello "Invisible Fence".  Now we had a huge yard in our last house.  Literally I had to mow using a riding mower so the prospect of installing an invisible fence was not very pleasing to me.  But here's the tip, you do not have to bury the wire on the invisible fence!!!  That is only recommended to keep from it getting in the way.  That saved me hours or work.  I merely stapled the wire (make sure you set the stapler to leave a wire gap) along the bottom horizontal board along the fence line and wa-la, I was done!  Worked like a charm!  It was also clear of the trimmer.  From then on the only escape Maggie was able to make was when we forgot to put her electric collar on, when the battery on the collar died or when a storm tripped the GFC plug.  For gate areas I take some PVC pipe, make a "U" shape the width of the entryway and use brackets to secure it under the gate area.  I fill in around the wire on the top ends of the U with caulking to keep the rain and water out and I'm done.  Of course once in a while (like every 5 years) I have to replace the wire due to degradation from the sun and exposure to the elements but it's an easy job to replace the wire now.  So if you are thinking of installing an invisible fence but hate the prospect of having to bury the wire, you don't have to!  Now you can spend that extra time allotted on a cold beer enjoying your dog-proof yard.

Walking the Dog...

Lately I've been trying to take walks with our beagle Maggie.  I wanted to get some exercise for me and well, she needed some too.  So lately we've been going for walks a couple of times a week.  We started out small with about a 30 minute walk and have gradually increased to an hour.  We have our route we like to take that keeps us at about an hour.  I'm not sure exactly how far it is but we go at a brisk pace, except for the pee breaks.  Seriously, how can that little dog contain so much pee that she is able to pee-mail so many messages to other dogs.  Luckily we've got it down to an agreement between us.  I let her lead out on the extendable leash in front and when she wants to pee-mail one of her friends she does it as I walk by and she catches up before the leash yanks me or her from our pace.  It works out pretty well.  We have a system.  A pee-greement.  A code between man and dog.  One thing I can't figure out is how does she not get dehydrated along the way.  Do her kidneys kick into overtime during walks?  Is there a special 2 gallon reservoir that she has only for leaving pee-mail?  It boggles my mind that she can go 8-192 times during one walk.  If I were to do something like that I'd be a withered twig when I got back, not to mention the legal ramifications.  Anyway, there you have it.  My dog can pee every 12 feet on a 2 mile walk.  Another amazing talent from Maggie the Wonder-Dog.