Monday, October 24, 2005

What Have I Done

You know the saying "becareful what you wish for"? I think it might be true. The House has a dog once again, this time a puppy. He's an 8 week old border collie that my mom found in Red Deer. His name is Murphy. Now don't get me wrong, I love dogs and this puppy is so cute, but I don't look forward to the next months of house-breaking and training. Well, I do and I don't. Iwanted a puppy because I know I can train him the way I want and I don't get stuck with someone else's dog, but I think it will be harder to train this puppy at The House than at most homes. With lots of people around there's lots of room for inconsistancy and people cheating on rules to garner more love from the puppy. Plus my schedule is not very regular, one night here, a morning there, gone all day Saturday, etc.

I love Murphy already and I know he will be a great dog. He's very smart and will learn well, but I don't relish the midnight pees and accidents along the way.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Bless This Thou Holy Volleyball...

...that with it Thou mayest blow Augustana to tiny bits...in thy mercy. Tonight we drive to Camrose where we will crush the hopes and dreams of the Vikings. Oh, it will be glorious! And then much pizza will be had by all!

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

This Is All I Have To Say

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Mighty Casa Has Struck Out

Turns out Casa has some pitbull blood in her (a fact which I could have been more aware of). She was labelled as a lab/boxer cross at the SPCA, and even though they have disclaimers about not being 100% sure of the breed of the dogs, I feel a bit cheated. I have been concerned about her behaviour towards other dogs, but I thought it was because she was a stray or that she was just protective. Then she attack another dog for no reason. It was a retriever, larger and much older than her, who posed no threat and only wanted to say hello. She was fine and then just snapped and took some fur off his neck before I could pull her away.

Then this weekend we took her to my parents and tried to introduce her to Teddy (a pomeranian, shih tzu, yorkie, mutt, cross thing) and she just about came through the screen door to kill him. Now I know dogs fairly well and I understand that they fight for many reasons (dominance, protection, play) she has done it for none of these. Each time has been totally unprovoked and unecessarily extreme.

It was my dad who commented that she looked to have a slight pitbullish shape to her head and after much himming and hawwing I began to agree. Now I think it is unmistakable. Her body is that of a boxer, but she has the face of a pitbull. How could I have been so dumb? I would never, ever, ever get a pitbull or any dog with any shred of that blood in her.

The problem with pitbulls is that they are perfect pets for people. They love you and love you and want to please you at all times. They are perfect companions and can be the most gentle dogs in the world (if not a little rough just because of their size). But when it comes to other dogs they have been bred to hate them. Period. They hate all dogs equally and will fight to kill any of them. This is hardwired into their genes. Yes, it can be trained out...to a point. Every time you hear of a pitbull attacking a dog the owner always speaks of how gentle she was and how loving and that she would never hurt a fly. And it's true. They are fine until one day they snap and DNA takes over and they kill a dog or get confused and kill a small child. There is a reason why they are so controlled by the City and even banned in some places.

And now I have one in my house. Needless to say I have to take her back because I cannot have a dog that could snap at any time. That means you could never take her off leash to be fully excercised, could never trust her with other animals for a second and would always have to be leary around kids (I may want to have some some day). The worst part is that she is such an amazing dog in every other way. I could train her to do anything quite easily and she would be the most amazing pet at The House...95% of the time. But that other 5% would either kill me, having to watch her like a hawk, or kill something/one else. It's so hard to believe that that sweet face could kill, but I have seen it before and I can see a glimmer of it in her.

It's amazing how you can get so attached to an animal in 10 days, but I am quite heartbroken. I don't know if I want to try another dog for a while.

Friday, October 07, 2005

Thank God

Man, God is good! Westside Auto called today to let me know that my car is fixed already. The tow was cheaper than I thought and the problem was the rotator splint...I mean fuel filter, a cheap fix. I even had time to pick it up before work (okay, I was a little late). Now all is well and I can go home for Thanksgiving.

I was amazed at this because even though I forgot to pray for the car this morning at our House prayer time. I had been praying over the last day, but not at that specific time. And God still answered my prayer in full force.

No matter how hard your life is right now take time today and this weekend to praise Him for who He is. Whether you think He's done anything for you lately or not, He deserves your praise because He is God. Hey, it could be like a giving of thanks or something (there's a holiday in there somewhere).

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Cars Are Great...Until They Break

My car has died. It started sputtering yesterday morning, but I managed to get it running smoothly for the rest of the day. Then it was fine this morning on the way to work so I thought it was the cold or that it flooded or something. Wrong. After work I went to drive home and it died again never to restart. So here I sit at Dabar waiting for the tow truck (chaching!) and the impending replacement of what appears to be the throttle housing (chaching!). The worst part is that this is most likely my own fault for not having it looked at sooner (moving, House, dog, you know) and now a simple thing will cost me an extra $100 or so just to get it to the shop. And I may not be able to go home for Thanksgiving, but at least my morning was good.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Kenow

I just wrote a huge post about the state of The House and how we all need to empty ourselves as Christ did (Phil 2) and it was erased by the stupidity of blogger…arrrrrgh! I even used Greek and everything, as well as an update on the state of Casa's poops. Man, now you all miss out! I don't want to rewrite it so I look forward to all the inquiries (in person) as to the fullness of all these matters.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Puppies! Puppies! Puppies!


Here is the first installment of the puppy named Casa. She is a 2 year old boxer/lab cross with a great temperment and a will to please. She is a lttle bit bigger than I had anticipated but she is gentl and will learn well. Here are some pictures (more to follow).