OK, I’m a moron. The reason no one is ever at the off-leash dog park at Woburn Park (Bathurst & Cranbrooke in North York) is because there is a way better dog park only about three more blocks farther north, called Ledbury Park. Now in my own defense, I had Google Street Viewed the area but all I could see was a park with no fences, not appealing when you have a yet-to-be-street-proofed puppy. Chris had even gone to that park with Luna a week or so ago and saw nothing. But tucked back in behind a raised walkway is a fabulous and new proper fenced dog park (at the very end of Marmion Ave, which is a dead end street).
Muddy Mudskipper
The park is probably an acre or two in size, fully fenced with a proper double-gated entrance (making it safer for entering and exiting if there are lots of dogs playing). It even has several brand new benches. Signs around the park indicate that all this is new construction, that it was just created back in November/December. How fabulous!!
We met three or four other large dogs there today, and unlike yesterday’s Puppy Play Group at Petopia where she was a complete chicken, she actually started acting like a real puppy and romped and played, even though the other dogs didn’t really care too much about playing with her.
Making the most of the park
Of course like everywhere right now it was basically a mud pit, but hell, we didn’t care. Although if we keep going there I’ll have to devote a whole section of my wardrobe to Luna duty, and our washer is going to get a big work out. And I have to find a solution for quick and easy clean ups for after-work-walks, because we certainly can’t manage to give her a bucket bath every time we come back from a walk (Zeus’s height meant that all we needed to do during spring was towel off his belly and his feet after walks). I felt bad because at the park Luna jumped up on one guy several times and he was clearly not happy about it, but most of the people she met were sympathetic that she’s a work in progress. She’s only 3.5 months old after all!
So it feels like we’ve accomplished a lot this weekend with the banshee. Yesterday’s play group, which clearly totally overwhelmed her, was at least something to introduce her to that she might eventually get more out of. We also stopped into PetSmart on our way home from Petopia, another big experience for her (the store was rammed to the gills with people, kids and dogs and she was pretty great with all of them). We ended up signing her up for some puppy obedience classes which will start in a couple weeks.
Chris and Luna in the mud
So here’s to a fabulous weekend that started off a little rough. More visits to the dog park = tired puppy + happy puppy mama.
Yeah, I know, she’s super cute. She’s friggin’ adorable. She’s smart as a whip. Hilarious to watch. But she’s also a bit of a nightmare at times. A nightmare I was so not prepared for.
Trust me, I love this creature, most of the time (kidding, kidding). But I am having a hard time of it, too. There are so many things Luna is performing incredibly well at. She sits beautifully on command — even off command, as she’s starting to grasp that she must sit before we go through doorways (not bust through them like a rocket). She knows all sorts of tricks now, like “on your bed” to go into her crate, how to shake both paws, how to lay down, even “wait.” We’ve even taught “speak” but we’re putting that trick on hold for a bit because, as with most puppies, it becomes great fun to bark at everything once you realize someone is asking you to do it. She performs nearly everything she has been taught so far seamlessly, with that cute little cocking of her head like, “Yes, what else would you like? NOW GIVE ME A COOKIE.”
The nightmare begins when we leave our yard, to go for walkies. We had a lot of challenges with going for walks when she was about a month or so younger, which is natural. The big wide world is a scary place after all. But after our first weekend at the cottage she suddenly “got it” — that going for walks meant exploring the world, seeing new things, and that this was actually fun. So walks improved dramatically, overnight, with occasional hiccups. Now those hiccups have become explosions of insanity. It’s like I’m walking a dog who’s ass is on fire and she has no where to go. She becomes a twirling, biting banshee at the end of the chain (yes, we’ve switched to a chain for walking because the poor nylon leash is not going to survive much more mouthing and teething; half of my salary is going towards industrial quantities of bitter apple spray). She tends to start out this way, have a dump, improve for about a block, and then become incredibly intensely wound on the last stretch home. Last night, in efforts to have her calm down, I only ended up making her worse, leaping and biting at anything she can get her teeth on (my hands, the flaps of my good leather coat, the leash).
I walked in the door and burst into tears. Because this has been happening the last few walks I’ve tried to take with her, and probably because I was feeling a bit run down, having been home sick with a stomach flu for a few days this week and having thrown my back out as a result of spending too much time in bed. I had a good ball about it, which always, inevitably, morphs into me lamenting the passing of my amazing old Zeuseroo. But I eventually calmed down. I emailed my in-the-same-boat buddy Tahnie, who also has a banshee of a dog named Storm (how appropriate) that she has been battling with training over the last year and a half, and as I can always depend on, she emailed me back with some soothing words, and a pep talk. We both were blessed with incredibly well-behaved dogs in our last go-round, and now we’re both dealing with monster puppies who test us to the max.
I’m going to try using a Halti on Luna. This has actually been the plan for several weeks but the first one I bought her, a size one, while it just fit, seemed a bit awkwardly shaped for her head (it was after all designed for small dogs under 20lbs) so I decided to try to get the next size up, which I fear is just a smidge too big for her. If you don’t know what a Halti is, it’s basically just like what a horse wears for general handling — a halter. It is a type of collar designed for the head. The beauty of the Halti is that it provides perfect control over what the dog’s head is doing, and the muzzle strap gently closes the dogs mouth if they pull. It can act like a muzzle, but is not designed to be one. Rather, it allows you to “check” your dog’s behaviour by gently putting pressure over their nose. As a result, the dog just cannot pull you in the same way. It aids in focus and control. I used one on Zeus when I began to have problems with his aggression towards other dogs (a result of my not neutering him early enough — lesson learned, thanks). I know Luna will hate it. I had hoped to be able to teach her to walk pretty without it. But so be it.
The other major challenge we’ve had is around finding other dogs for her to play with. Good lord. We know that easily 25% of the people in our ‘hood have dogs. But we also know that probably 100% of them hire dog walkers. We have gone to the local, very convenient but small fenced in dog park (called Woburn Park, at Cranbrooke and Bathurst in North York, in case anyone out there is interested in hooking up for a doggy play date) at least half a dozen times now after work, and no one is ever there. A few people in passing have told me that the only people who use it are dog walkers. This is incredibly frustrating. We know Luna needs to get her ya-ya’s out, and play play play, but we can’t find anyone to play with her. Fetch and walkies only go so far.
So I’ve been looking into doggy daycare. Yet another thing for me to blow my meager salary on (I purposely have not kept track but I can tell you with certainty that she has already cost us a few grand in supplies and vet bills). But after several weeks of investigating, I find that most of them don’t accept puppies until they’re at least four months old. Now that’s only a few weeks away, but still. Sheesh. I think I’ve found one that I want to engage with, called Metro Dogstop, although we have yet to see their facilities and meet them in person. But the people were fabulous over the phone, and they come highly recommended by my vet. Since I like my vet, that goes a hell of a long way. You wouldn’t believe some of the conversations I’ve had with people who advertise themselves as pet professionals.
We should be able to set up a consult with them in another week or so. Also, they offer pick up and drop off services for a minimal fee, and since they aren’t super conveniently located for me, this too, is awesome.
At daycare, manners will be reinforced. Playtime will be structured and eventually, as she gets bigger, she’ll be able to join the older dogs on group walks and hopefully, her walking manners will begin to also improve. I’m not trying to farm out her training, but I welcome the added support. And if it leads to happier fun times at home and increased sanity for Sarah, well, hells yeah.
In the meantime, we’re going to check out a “Puppy Play Group” at Petopia today. I have no idea if it will be a good mix of dogs, or how it will go, and we have to drive halfway across town to get there, but it’s something. It’s only $5 but they only hold it once a week, Saturdays, from 1 to 2 p.m. As of last night I also found a place called The Dog’s Park in Mississauga that offers open play groups for dogs of all sizes (indoors), in the evenings, but given traffic, that could be a lot harder to get to during weeknights. But it’s another option. Who knew finding other dogs for my girl to play with would be so difficult?
Anyway, I’m hanging in there. Most of the time. If anyone lives in the Avenue & Lawrence area of Toronto, and has a friendly medium to large sized dog or a large puppy who needs a play buddy, send me a comment. Luna would love it. And so would I.
I don’t know about you but I adore potatoes. I love them fried, mashed, baked, perogied, gnoccied, boiled, scalloped, chipped… it’s virtually impossible to screw up a potato. There couldn’t be an easier food to cook in the whole world.
That said, I’ve never been able to keep which ones are waxy and which ones are starchy straight in my head. You see, while you really can’t go wrong no matter what potato you use, some varieties work better than others in certain dishes. So I decided to do some research and put together a little photo exploration of the potato varieties I found in my grocery store the other day. I think it’s pretty safe to say that these are generally the standard varieties you’ll find in any Canadian supermarket (these are all Canadian grown). I’ve left out sweet potatoes because I think they could be their own post all together, and I couldn’t find any fingerling potatoes at this time of year, but they are also fabulous and if you’ve never tried them, I encourage you to try roasting them tossed in some olive oil and herbs — they have the most beautiful, nutty flavour.
So, about waxy vs. starchy. In a nutshell, waxy potatoes hold their shape better when cooked, whereas starchy tend to fall apart as they are cooked. Waxy potatoes are best for things like potato salads, or even simple boiled potatoes. Starchy potatoes are great for baking or for making mashed potatoes. Then there are a few varieties of potatoes that are considered all purpose. One of those is Yukon Gold.
Yukon Gold - a potato workhorse
The Yukon Gold potato is the workhorse of this tuber family. It works well as a baked potato but it also holds together well for boiling. Sometimes also just called a Yellow Potato, it gets its name from its gold flesh. The Yukon Gold is also a great potato for making fries.
Red potato - my favourite
The Red Potato is one of my favourites, and probably the variety I buy most often. We also grew this variety in a giant veggie garden when I was a kid. I love its light, fluffy texture and its fresh flavour. It doesn’t hold its shape very well for boiling but admittedly, this is one of the ways I love to eat it, just simply with some butter and salt and pepper. And because I’m often looking for ways to shave time off cooking a meal, I love the red potato’s thin skin, which I just leave on when making mashed potatoes.
White potato (also called White Round)
White potatoes, also called White Round potatoes, are a less starchy variety (ie. more waxy). They are great for making potato salad, roasting and using in gratins. They also work well for fries. In my opinion though, this is the least interesting potato out there.
Klondike Rose - so pretty
The Klondike Rose is a red-skinned variety with a beautiful golden flesh. This potato holds its shape very well. I used it to make leek and potato soup the other day and it tasted fabulously nutty and buttery, but it remained fairly chunky in the soup. This potato is best for boiling, roasting, scalloped or in a gratin. And it’s oh so pretty!
Russet potato - fabulous mashed
The Russet is a very starchy potato. It is terrific mashed, creating a beautifully fluffy, dreamy texture. Because it falls apart so easily when boiled, it mashes up extremely easily. It also works very well as a baking potato. It also tends to be the variety most commonly used for making fries in fast food restaurants, because of its very high starch content, which caramelizes to create a dark crisp exterior. I would say the only downside to this potato is that you don’t really want to leave its thick skin on for boiling to make mashed potatoes. It’s a little more work, but totally worth it.
Storing Potatoes
If you’ve ever left your potatoes out at room temperature you’ve probably noticed they don’t last long. They’ll start to deteriorate and sprout. They also don’t do very well in the refrigerator for more than a couple days, as their starches convert to sugars in such cold temperatures. This conversion leads to darkening during cooking — not very appetizing.
The best way to store potatoes is in a cool, dark, dry room with good air circulation. A cold room that hovers between 7 to 10°C is the best place to store them. I always find storing them a challenge, even though I have a house with a cool basement, it’s not a very dry basement, and despite the cooler temperatures I still find they tend to rot. If you have this problem too, it’s probably just better to buy your potatoes in smaller quantities so that you use them fairly quickly after purchasing.
New Potatoes
New potatoes are just that — fresh, baby potatoes that haven’t reached their maximum size. They tend to be much less starchy (lower in sugars) and are generally recommended as the only potatoes to eat if you’re trying to lose weight. Not to mention they are delish.
Growing Potatoes
While my family grew extraordinary quantities of potatoes when I was a kid, I haven’t grown any successfully myself (yet), mostly because I tend to give my limited garden space up to tomatoes. For fun, last year I tried putting some fingerling potatoes in the garden, and slowly one of them sprouted but the plant remained spindly and it didn’t yield any tubers. Fingerlings are very specific in their needs and last summer was wet and cool, so that probably didn’t help. But most common varieties are super easy to grow, needing only well drained soil, lots of sunshine and warmth, so I might try a few again this year. Nothing beats freshly dug up potatoes.
Have I mentioned what a fabulous, incredible, loving and supportive boy I have in my life? So supportive he buys me Qiviuk, not once in my life, but TWICE?
Qiviuk, also called Qiviut, yarn made from muskox wool
This was my prezzie that Chris brought back from his ski trip out to Lake Louise, which from the photos is absolutely friggin’ gorgeous and I have no idea why I haven’t learned how to ski yet, or why I didn’t hide away in his suitcase so I could just hang out and be a chalet bunny regardless of skiing experience.
In case you are going, “kivi-what?!” Qiviuk, also spelled Qiviut (pronounced Ki-vee-uk or Ki-vee-ut) is a very precious fibre spun from gathered wool shed by the muskox in the Canadian High Arctic. It is gathered by the Inuit off the tundra, and used to create some of the most expensive and exquisite garments you’ve ever seen. And it’s sold as yarn, very, very expensive yarn.
Chris brought me back one tiny ball in dark green when he visited the Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta, I think about three years ago. At the time I had never even heard of Qiviuk, and when I told my knitter friends they went completely gaga about it. And suddenly I was aware of what an utterly committed man I have, to support my addiction by not only buying me yarn, but buying me some of the priciest yarn evar!
Considered one of the most precious and rare fibres in the world
Knowing I needed to find something quite special to make with this small amount of luscious yarn, I went out and bought the book Arctic Lace by Donna Druchunas. Her patterns are designed with traditional Arctic designs in mind, and with it, I created my first pair of fingerless gloves, with the first bit of lace I had ever knitted. They are sweet little things, and I wear them every spring and fall. The yarn, while very delicate and thin, is incredibly strong and lightweight, and I still have a teeny bit of it left.
I have no idea what these two lovely, precious balls of spun gold will become, but I adore this colourway, and I’m far more skilled at lace now, so I will have to give this some thought. Suggestions welcome!
Pet Projects: The Animal Knits Bible
Tonight, I also introduced my coworker Larissa to Anthropologie. I don’t think her pocket book or her boyfriend are going to thank me! It was the first time I’d made my way to their new store in Yorkville, Toronto. I’d been to a couple locations in the US but I never purchased anything since I’d have to carry it home on a plane, and it’s their house and kitchenware that completely light me up. Now we have a local store, and it is a seriously dangerous place for me. In addition to their home decor items, they carry the most exquisite vintage hardware, and I have big plans to pick some up if we ever get around to doing renovations in this house (another story for another day). Sadly, Anthropologie’s beautiful clothes aren’t really made with full-figured gals like myself in mind. Too bad really, because I adore the clothes too.
What I did pick up however was this fabulous book, Pet Projects: The Animal Knits Bible, by Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne. While it’s highly unlikely I’ll ever need to make a doggy coat for Luna (who is supposed to be half Saint Bernard after all), there are all sorts of cute knitting projects in here, ranging from cat cushions and bean bag beds to fancy dog bandannas and toys to adorable horsey blankets! How could I have left this book behind? No way.
Oh and no, there will be no Qiviuk doggy toys. I’m not crazy you know.
Dog coats of all shapes and sizes
Kitty bean bags!
Speaking of Luna, we’re into full bore teething now, as evidenced by her OCD, fanatical rawhide and toy chewing. We’ve also seen a resurgence of the mouthing/biting teeth-on-everything behaviour we’ve been working so incredibly hard to curtail. It has seriously tested my patience and resolve over the last week. I can’t tell you how relieved I am to have my boy back home to share the load. Please don’t hesitate to reassure me that this too, shall pass.
Did I mention that at her vaccination appointment last week, the vet asked the technician to re-weigh Luna because she didn’t believe the numbers she was seeing? That a puppy could gain 100% of her body weight in four weeks? That’s right. Apparently the average is 50% weight gain per month. Our Luna grew from 13.5lbs to 26.7lbs in four weeks.
You know that whole notion that we were going for the chilled out, laid back attitude of the giant breed in a smaller dog’s body? I think what we’re really going to end up with here is the complete opposite. Imagine a Tasmanian Devil the size of a bear. That’s our girl!
I forgot! My friend Leanne had her camera and took some really cute shots of Luna and Lola (in the background above) at the fabulous Stratford Dog Park. I just love the flying ears in this shot. Thanks Leanne!
I need to do something to distract me from the terrible officiating of this USA vs. Canada hockey game and the screaming sinus headache that’s been plaguing me all day.
I don’t have a lot of great photos or a lot of great news… I went to the farm this weekend with my pup, all by myself, since the boy is out playing in the mountains skiing in Lake Louise, Golden and Kicking Horse. I really think I need to learn to ski soon so I don’t continue to be left at home on these trips!
Hoarfrost at the farm
Unfortunately I made the mistake of trying to travel with Luna by myself without properly wearing her out first. I had debated taking her to the dog park after work (for the first time when presumably there would be other dogs there) but I decided I’d rather just get on the road and get to the farm before it got too late. I was using a chest harness on her instead of restraining her with her collar and well, that didn’t work so well. She was not a fan, and she gnawed the leash I had tied her with probably within the first few minutes. She did crash out for about an hour, thankfully while I was on the 401 and the traffic was pretty tight. But once I got onto the lesser highways through Kitchener to Stratford, she was quite active and getting into all kinds of trouble chewing things in the back seat. I stopped several times to restrain her, tie her up tighter, etc. By the time I got to the farm I was pretty nearly at my wits end. It was not a good night.
Luna meets Harvey for the first time
So Luna got to meet Harvey, her first real introduction to another member of the canine species. Harv is pretty good with other dogs although he can be a bit possessive and you have to watch him. Luna got “told” more than once for trying to steal his stuff or invade his indoor space. It was good for her to learn to be respectful. Unfortunately I don’t think Harv was too interested in entertaining her by today so they didn’t play as much the second day we were there.
Luna and Harvey
I had hoped that Harvey would wear her out today so that my drive home would be peaceful. Instead I made plans to meet with my friend Leanne and her dog Lola in Stratford at what has got to be the best dog park evar. It’s 6 acres of fully fenced in park land, designed all for dogs. They have a big open meadow section, as well as about half of the park is bush with trails. It was a perfect day to go because while there was snow on the ground and it wasn’t muddy, it was sunny and beautiful. There must have been about 50 some odd dogs there too, so Luna really got a big intro to lots of other dogs of all kinds. Only one was inappropriately aggressive with her — a little Spitz cross, with an obvious chip on his shoulder. Of course I forgot to take my iPhone with me into the park so no photos (and Chris has the nice camera out west with him — mountains trump puppies I guess).
The belly
Thankfully the drive home was entirely peaceful. She snoozed the whole way so she was a dream. But I have to admit I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed with the pup all by myself. She’s got so much energy and even though she had a really big weekend she was rip-raring to go again tonight and I am not doing well with this headache. It’s off to the crate with her (where she continues to snooze — why can’t she do that when she’s out here in the living room?). She’s got it in her head that the living room is where we go nuts, not where we relax. Perhaps we have to consider moving her enormous crate out into the living room to try to give her the message, but space is pretty tight so I don’t know how we’d do that.
Alright I’m rambling. Time for me to sign off.
The belly up close
Oh I should also add that not having the camera this weekend was a huge let down when we had hoarfrost both mornings — that doesn’t happen often and it’s so darn beautiful when it does. Check out my photos from Boxing Day back in 2007.
Chris and I took Friday off so that we could do up a big Family Day / Valentine’s Day weekend at the cottage. It’s the first time we’ve been able to get there this winter, and of course this time we had the added challenge of taking Luna on her first big weekend road trip.
We’d tried taking her on a couple brief car trips a week ago (our failed attempts to introduce her to other dogs at the local off-leash park; I guess it was just too cold for the neighbourhood pooches/owners because no one was ever there). She was definitely anxious about the car but not totally freaked out. She just didn’t quite know what this driving around thing was all about.
For the two-hour cottage drive I opted to ride in the back seat with her, keeping her on leash so I could correct her for things like jumping up on the doors or the seat backs. The car ride for Zeus was such a traumatic experience that I’m anxious to make sure she is totally cool with it. Not that training (or lack there of) had anything to do with Zeus’s take on the car; his anxiety was involuntary and not of my making.
Luna Tuna playing in the snow
She was a bit anxious for the first 25-30 minutes or so in the car, but not in a panting-let-me-out-of-here-claustrophobia kind of anxiety. She was just looking around, trying to get comfortable, investigating what Chris was doing up there in the front seat. Eventually she just kept trying to find the best place to snuggle up and go to sleep.
I had set up the back seat in the standard way that I’d come to prep the car for Zeus and his slobbery panting dirtiness. I draped a heavy blanket over the seats, using a nylon tie-back to secure it to each headrest so it wouldn’t slip down. We have leather seats now, instead of the fabric of my old car, so I’m especially concerned about scratching. Eventually we want her to ride in the cargo area but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
On a trip to the Lindsay, Ontario Canadian Tire store however, we discovered a whole line of dog travel products, under the Kurgo brand, and picked up a very nifty pet car hammock, designed to strap around the head rests of both the front seats and the back seats. The whole thing is waterproof and very thick so it should hold up well over time. You can even unzip it so that a passenger can use the seat without removing it from the car. We had been looking for a barrier for the cargo area of our car but opted for this instead, which was only $60. Kurgo also makes a line of safety harnesses designed for safely restraining your pet in the car. We’ll probably pick one of these things up too, since the next step with Luna is traveling to my parents’ farm when I’ll be driving alone, so restraint will be especially important. Where were all these amazing products when I had a giant, 150lb slobbery, claustrophobic Saint Bernard?!
Because we’re still quite concerned about keeping her off the insides of the doors, we might commission a family friend to sew special snap-in panels that we can put inside the doors to keep her from scratching them. This was an area of the car that Zeus made totally filthy, but that was largely due to his constant panting and drooling, which so far doesn’t appear to be a problem we’re going to have with Luna. On the way home today, I sat in the front of the car, and she was snoozing within about 15 minutes on the road. Knock on wood, but so far this seems to be going as well as the crate training, becoming less and less of a concern for her with each try.
Pay special attention to the super cute tuft of hair on the stubby tail.
As far as my apprehension of how she was going to take to visiting a new house, well that was entirely a waste of worry. She took to the new locale without the slightest of issue. She didn’t care at all that the crate was different (smaller), or that she had to learn to pee and poop in a new place. No biggy as far as she was concerned. She even learned how to take flights of stairs on her own this weekend, a new trick she wanted to practice at every moment, because there were towels to be stolen from the bathroom, and garbages to get into, and oh! the possibilities!
Potato cakes with eggs and smoked salmon for Valentine's Brunch
As far as what us humans did this weekend… We had a lovely dinner out on Saturday night at the diamond-in-the-rough local (Lindsay) resto Little Schnitzel House. It came up with top reviews online, so we thought why the heck not? So what that every other guest in the 30-seat place was over 60? Our host, possibly at first quite skeptical of us, no doubt far outside their usual demographic, warmed up to our utterly sincere appreciation of their home-cooked authentic German fare. Chris grew up eating this kind of food after all, being of Lithuanian-cum-German background, so it all reminded him of his Oma’s cooking. Don’t let the kitschy decor fool you; the Little Schnitzel House may not have the glitz and glam of a polished fine-dining joint, but you won’t care once you tuck in.
They started us with a complimentary onion tart, served in a puff pastry with adorable tiny cookie-cutter shaped pickled carrots. I think this may have been my favourite dish of the meal because it was so unexpected and so delicious. Chris had the goulash soup and I had the onion, both lovely. Chris ordered the house platter, which came with sauerkraut, red cabbage, fried potatoes, spaetzle (a kind of noodle-like starch, made with flour, eggs and salt), bratwurst, ham and schnitzel. I had the jaeger schnitzel, served with mushrooms in a cream sauce, and pan-fried potatoes. Needless to say we were totally stuffed afterward.
My treat for Chris on Valentine’s Day itself was to make Jamie Oliver’s potato cakes with soft boiled eggs and smoked salmon for brunch. They turned out amazing. Potato cakes take a bit of prep time but they are so worth it in the end. Mine were perhaps a bit soft but it doesn’t really matter. Do I know the way to my honey’s heart, or what?
I meant to post about these back in November, when my colleague at work, graphic designer Matt Webb designed them for me. I paid him in pickles.
Custom labels by Matt Webb
He used my own photography as the background and I had him make two sizes, one to fit the standard-sized jars and the other to fit the wide mouth. Aren’t they fabulous?
I’m not using them on every jar, just ones I want to give away, to fancy them up. I have some nifty water-soluble labels that dissolve quickly with water that I picked up from Lee Valley that work very well for home labeling. They just don’t look fancy enough for giving away.
I’ve finally found a bit of time to figure out this newfangled video thang we have called the Canon EOS 7D, particularly to investigate if I could deal with the 7D’s super huge HD video on my own Mac (Chris has Final Cut on his machine and has invested a lot of time learning how to edit video for some work projects, but I felt like I couldn’t really expect him to edit my video for me all the time). I’m happy to say that iMovie has served me fairly well, given that I’ve used it all of twice in my life. While it crunches the HD video down on import, I figure for this purpose that’s just fine. Because really, who needs to see my puppy videos in full, 1080p HD?
Bear in mind that I am no videographer; I’m terrible at video editing and I’m still honing my skills at manually focusing the camera while at the same time following what’s going on on screen. This is challenging stuff for a still photographer! Not to mention that focusing on a small, energetic, all-black dog in low lighting is by itself next to impossible.
I should add here that Luna has easily doubled in size since most of this video was taken. As of today she’s a hefty 10 week old, and while I haven’t weighed her recently she’s easily pushing about 25 lbs or more. She’s an eating and pooping and growing machine with boundless energy (those cute puppy-crash outs of sound sleeping haven’t happened during our own waking hours since her first week with us).
We’re struggling with some behaviours, namely her lunging jumps at us while we’re sitting on the couch, bared teeth and all. This has been a very difficult behaviour to resolve. My theory at the moment is that it’s play related: she is bored and wants our attention, but figuring out how to teach her that a more appropriate kind of play behaviour is one we’ll respond to is a different ball of wax all together. I’m really hoping it’s a puppy-phase related thing that will improve over time (with our efforts as well).
In other areas Luna is a rock star. She’s got the commands sit, down, up, and ‘on your bed’ all down smoothly; she understands what ‘gentle’ means when taking treats and she even knows her own name. She’s a pretty good fetcher too and we’re continuing trying to build on that game with ‘bring it’ and ‘drop.’ Last night she was even getting ’speak’ down, although I only just started teaching her that because she was barking and I was taking advantage of it to my own end (I was able to do the same with Zeus). She’s ridiculously smart and eager to learn, and her focus is developing very well. I’m thinking I’ll have to take advantage of this to keep teaching her more and more complex stuff.
