Shake, Rattle and Roll....

Well, I have a working computer. It isn't mine, but it works. If you read my blog yesterday, you know that my old Dell croaked on me yesterday morning. Michael had given us his old Dell desktop and we've been trying to connect it in the basement for Irv to play around on...and haven't been able to get it working. On my way home from work yesterday...I thought.....what if we brought up Michael's computer tower and hooked it up in my workshop. Well, I did it and it is working....for now. I still have to get someone to try to fix mine, but until then at least I can check e-mail and blog and stuff.

Yes, we had an 3.8 earthquake Wednesday morning at 4:03 a.m. I was sound asleep and I woke up to this really loud, loud noise. We were suppose to have very strong winds, so at first I thought it was that....but then the house started shaking and the utility wires on the outside of the house were banging against the house and the TV on the dresser started rattling. It was a bit creepy. It didn't last very long and then it was gone.

Sparky woke up and decided she needed to go out, and then we laid back down. When the alarm went off at 4:30...the radio came on and I heard them start talking about an earthquake and then I knew that was what we had felt.

We certainly don't have many earthquakes here in northern Illinois. There is a known fault and we had a small earthquake a few years ago, but I didn't even feel that one. I would be perfectly happy if we never had another one.

I had to laugh at how many of you knew what a Gentle Leader was yesterday, and how many of you might give it a try. I wouldn't hesitate if I were you. It makes walking those dogs such a joy.

Have a fantastic day today and please don't forget to do something nice for yourself. Go for a little walk....it's good for your bones! :)

The Gentle Leader

No, I'm not talking about my boss or the President. Maggie our rescue pup was ten months old when we adopted her. She came to us with no training whatsoever and a very sad past. She had no idea how to walk on a leash. Training a puppy to walk on a leash is one thing...training a ten month old Border Collie mix is quite another.

I tried to walk her with Wrigley. I tried to walk her without Wrigley. The result was always the same.....she dragged me down the street practically pulling my arm out of the socket! I tried everything I knew and none of it worked. I couldn't keep her at my side, and once she got in front of me she would zig and zag all over the place. I can't tell you how many times I almost ate the pavement.

Michael had a problem training his Aussie and he purchased a Gentle Leader head collar. We have a little family joke about it even. One time when we were watching Teagan for them, Michael drew us a picture of how to put the Gentle Leader on her. We laughed so hard at his drawing....the dog in the drawing looked more like an ant eater!!

Anyway, the idea behind the Gentle Leader is that it puts pressure on a dog's nose in the same manner in which a lead dog communicates with dogs lower in rank. The dog immediately understands her place and considers the owner her leader.

When it's time to walk each day, Maggie sits and waits for me to put the Gentle Leader on her. As soon as it's on her.....Irv and I start laughing because she stops moving. She sits and just stares straight ahead and won't even acknowledge you when you talk to her. It is so darn funny.

If you look closely at this picture, you can see it across the top of her nose, under her eyes. See how serious she looks?

We can now walk every day without any pulling, dragging or tripping. Three cheers for our Gentle Leader!!

(Added note: If I'm not around for a little while it's because my home computer died. Certainly not what I needed right now...but what are you going to do. I'm going to talk to someone at work here today and see what they think. If it ends up being a lost cause, I will need to get a new one. I'll be checking in occasionally while I'm at work. We did get 12 inches of snow last night and woke at 4:00 a.m. this morning because we were having a 4.3 earthquake! I'll tell you about it when I am up and running. Make it a good one!)