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Thursday, February 24, 2011
Something new to keep the pups busy!
Doogie's a smart dog.
Daisy....not so much.
But they both do well with a challenge - and sometimes we want something to keep them busy - maybe exert a little brainpower without focusing all their attention on us? That's where this new toy comes in...
Ok, so it turns out that, after having the Seek-A-Treat Shuffle Bone Dog Puzzle
for two days, it's not something we'll be able to just load up with food and then leave them with it. It's a one-dog-at-a-time toy that needs supervision. And when we want to give Doogie a chance with it, Daisy's pretty much got to be pinned down or she goes hyper spazz all over it, interrupting Doogie and starting a fight. Not a problem, just hold her and watch Doogie do his brain work.
It's interesting - Daisy's a bit more haphazard and violent with it, and Doogie's better about using a foot to slide the circular tiles around (or sometimes his nose). It's funny listening to them work at it - they can smell the food through the little holes in the tiles, and doing so really amplifies the noise their sniffers make.
We'll have to watch to make sure no one cuts a nose or gums - the edges could be a little smoother. I'm also learning it's maybe something better on carpet than the vinyl, where it slides around A LOT.
I've a feeling it won't take them long where it's no longer a challenge to still figure it out - where they have to work a bit to figure out where the treats are hidden. They'll probably just start going through the motions of exposing each of the little treat-holding slots. Oh well - for about $14.50 on Amazon (cheaper than we've seen it locally), it seems to do the job of entertaining/frustrating them for now, and making them work at something. There are more elaborate puzzles (yes, that cost more), but this was a good cheap experiment, and they like it (well, they like the treats we hide in it!). Plus it was good to shake things up and introduce something new.
Still, the all-time winner for keeping them busy and making them work for their food (like half of the dry food they get for dinner) is the Tricky Treat Ball
(or what I call "Dinner Ball"). We have two large ones, and the older one we got is made of a softer/bendier plastic than the newer one. The dogs have started to think of these as chew toys once they're done with dinner, so we do have to pick them up once in awhile. The harder plastic one now has about a 1/4 of it covered in black duct tape to cover up the holes the dogs chewed in it, which started freeing the food faster (smart dogs!).
Image via WikipediaOh oh oh! And I can't forget their Kong
dog toys. They each have a Kong that's appropriately sized for them, and I've finally figured out the BEEEEEST way to keep the dogs busy for a LONG time (like when we're trying to eat dinner and watch some tv). Put a small dab of peanut butter down in the "bottom" of the Kong first - a plain old table knife works well for this. Smear it inside the Kong all crazy-like, no sense in being tidy here. Doogie gets maybe 3/4 of a Tablespoon, and Daisy a little less. Then we fill the Kong with the other half of their dinner portion of dry kibble - right up to the opening. Then schmear a little more peanut butter to seal the hole. They get through the initial peanut butter seal and the dry food really fast...but that first blop of peanut butter in there? Wow - they really have to work for it! I'm sure the tongue exercises they're doing are a real work out to get to that peanut butter! Brett doesn't usually bother with the first blob of peanut butter, and they finish up Kong time much faster that way...I like to keep them busy longer. ;-)
Daisy....not so much.
But they both do well with a challenge - and sometimes we want something to keep them busy - maybe exert a little brainpower without focusing all their attention on us? That's where this new toy comes in...
Ok, so it turns out that, after having the Seek-A-Treat Shuffle Bone Dog Puzzle
for two days, it's not something we'll be able to just load up with food and then leave them with it. It's a one-dog-at-a-time toy that needs supervision. And when we want to give Doogie a chance with it, Daisy's pretty much got to be pinned down or she goes hyper spazz all over it, interrupting Doogie and starting a fight. Not a problem, just hold her and watch Doogie do his brain work.It's interesting - Daisy's a bit more haphazard and violent with it, and Doogie's better about using a foot to slide the circular tiles around (or sometimes his nose). It's funny listening to them work at it - they can smell the food through the little holes in the tiles, and doing so really amplifies the noise their sniffers make.
We'll have to watch to make sure no one cuts a nose or gums - the edges could be a little smoother. I'm also learning it's maybe something better on carpet than the vinyl, where it slides around A LOT.
I've a feeling it won't take them long where it's no longer a challenge to still figure it out - where they have to work a bit to figure out where the treats are hidden. They'll probably just start going through the motions of exposing each of the little treat-holding slots. Oh well - for about $14.50 on Amazon (cheaper than we've seen it locally), it seems to do the job of entertaining/frustrating them for now, and making them work at something. There are more elaborate puzzles (yes, that cost more), but this was a good cheap experiment, and they like it (well, they like the treats we hide in it!). Plus it was good to shake things up and introduce something new.
Still, the all-time winner for keeping them busy and making them work for their food (like half of the dry food they get for dinner) is the Tricky Treat Ball
(or what I call "Dinner Ball"). We have two large ones, and the older one we got is made of a softer/bendier plastic than the newer one. The dogs have started to think of these as chew toys once they're done with dinner, so we do have to pick them up once in awhile. The harder plastic one now has about a 1/4 of it covered in black duct tape to cover up the holes the dogs chewed in it, which started freeing the food faster (smart dogs!).
Image via WikipediaOh oh oh! And I can't forget their Kong dog toys. They each have a Kong that's appropriately sized for them, and I've finally figured out the BEEEEEST way to keep the dogs busy for a LONG time (like when we're trying to eat dinner and watch some tv). Put a small dab of peanut butter down in the "bottom" of the Kong first - a plain old table knife works well for this. Smear it inside the Kong all crazy-like, no sense in being tidy here. Doogie gets maybe 3/4 of a Tablespoon, and Daisy a little less. Then we fill the Kong with the other half of their dinner portion of dry kibble - right up to the opening. Then schmear a little more peanut butter to seal the hole. They get through the initial peanut butter seal and the dry food really fast...but that first blop of peanut butter in there? Wow - they really have to work for it! I'm sure the tongue exercises they're doing are a real work out to get to that peanut butter! Brett doesn't usually bother with the first blob of peanut butter, and they finish up Kong time much faster that way...I like to keep them busy longer. ;-)Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Melty
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Friday, February 18, 2011
Chick Days
Chick Days: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens from Hatching to Laying by Jenna WoginrichMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
LOVE this book! It might look like it's geared more towards children, and sure it's not overly detailed/complicated and is full of big pretty pictures, but it's still a great book. I could easily see anyone from tween on up reading this to learn the basics about chicken keeping, geared mostly towards a chicken's first few months of life.
View all my reviews
Chicksaws
These are too cool!
Growing Ideas with Johnny's Selected Seeds: Chickshaws
Growing Ideas with Johnny's Selected Seeds: Chickshaws
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Weekend garden talk
Here's what Mary and I will be doing tomorrow morning, starting bright and early...
http://www.bcbgarden.org/lookups/2011sympbroch.pdf
And then March 5 and 12 we'll be going to two MORE all day garden seminars. Good stuff to do when you can't actually get out there and play in the dirt.
http://www.bcbgarden.org/lookups/2011sympbroch.pdf
And then March 5 and 12 we'll be going to two MORE all day garden seminars. Good stuff to do when you can't actually get out there and play in the dirt.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Sure, warmer weather is nice...
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Sunday, February 13, 2011
Footprints in the snow
I took these two pictures Friday afternoon, and have beefed up the contrast in them just so it's easier to see the footprints/trails in the snow...
The bottoms of both of these pictures are right at the edge of the pond, so all the prints you're seeing are actually out on the frozen pond. One of the sets of trails actually start at a hole at the base of a pile of snow-and-ice covered weeds that are bent over on the slope down to the pond...my guess is mouse or vole?
You can definitely see where some are from a much smaller animal, where their hole body made a path in the snow, where the bigger animals just left footprints.
The dogs always get a kick out of following critter prints in the snow - I just have to make sure they're not tempted to go across the pond (even though it's frozen, I'd rather play it safe). So far the dogs seem to be aware and aren't too tempted to walk across the frozen pond...
Just think, it won't be too much longer and the pond will be all thawed out and everything will be green again!
The bottoms of both of these pictures are right at the edge of the pond, so all the prints you're seeing are actually out on the frozen pond. One of the sets of trails actually start at a hole at the base of a pile of snow-and-ice covered weeds that are bent over on the slope down to the pond...my guess is mouse or vole?
You can definitely see where some are from a much smaller animal, where their hole body made a path in the snow, where the bigger animals just left footprints.
The dogs always get a kick out of following critter prints in the snow - I just have to make sure they're not tempted to go across the pond (even though it's frozen, I'd rather play it safe). So far the dogs seem to be aware and aren't too tempted to walk across the frozen pond...
Just think, it won't be too much longer and the pond will be all thawed out and everything will be green again!
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Fighting for good (and fighting for evil!)
Image via WikipediaI haven't had as much DC Universe Online game time as I'd like lately - hopefully I'll find some more free time to play soon... Then again, it's not like I have much success leveling up any one character. There's tons of level 30 villain players out there kicking my level 11 and below heroes to the pavement, and all those people are supposed to be having a lot of fun with the high level missions. Me? I have fun making new characters. And then I have to delete the ones I'm not as hooked on to make room for more new ones. I think there's something like a maximum of 10 characters you can have? (That's total, not per server) Oh well - I should stop making more and work on leveling up!In every superhero game I've played, I've always made a version of The Pink Flame, which I originally modeled after Brett in City of Heroes. He was originally intended just to be goofy, but it turns out I've had a lot of fun with the character, plus he stands out when compared with all the dark and gloomy heroes and villains most players like to make.
Then there's Speed Demon. Not at all what I planned on him looking like, due to the limitations of the costume/body parts/etc in the game, but this guy's turned out really cool. First game where I've ever had a speedster, and I gotta say it's a lot of fun! Really neat to zip up the side of a building, or run across water. And I never planned on him having weapons, but every character in this game has a weapon of some sort (it's all guns, swords, axes, and then there's also brawling and hand blasting...kinda limited). But once again, he's neat running around at super speed chucking his oversized axes at villains...
This next one is Golem Gal. Nope, not one of my favorites in any way - haven't played her in weeks. But I wanted to design something playing off the idea that Wonder Woman was actually clay, molded into the shape of a baby and brought to life by the Greek gods - so basically she's like animated earth if you really think about it. So here's Golem Gal, dark and dirty, with a costume sort of modeled after the Blackest Night storyline characters from DC, and surprisingly tough as hell. She's my only brawler, and man, she can clap her hands together and send people flying from the shock wave!
That's all for now - probably way more geeky than anyone cares to see. ;-)
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Yeah, that's right...
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Saturday, February 05, 2011
Mini!
This little guy is about to try it's luck as French toast. Brett doesn't like French toast, so why make a bunch. Fingers crossed that this turns out good!
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Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Ice, Ice Baby
They were so certain there was something under there! They had a blast out on the ice, sliding around, running and falling through, etc... There was anywhere between a few inches and closer to a foot of space under the ice (1/2" of ice) to fall through, depending on where in the yard/lot they were... The best parts were over weeds in the side lot....lots of space under where weeds had died over and then got covered in snow and ice!
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Here comes the next one!
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