neon mattie
Originally uploaded by memyrcscunningham
Mattie is dog park perfection and Stevie is enthusiastic and off task frequently but neither have ever shown aggression towards anyone or any dog when out with us at the parks. Good jobs doggies.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
in a kayak
you are looking where you are going. Rowing..you have to look behind you every now and then and this would be my problem.
I was paired with another non type A personality. It seems we are in the minority. She asked me if I was like the dog in UP...."squirrel!" that dog..and I said yes and then off we went.
Even as nice as she was she didn't act like she knew me when I finally decided to look behind me and noticed two boats of 8 and their coach yelling at me to pull right which would make my boat go left and then they could continue their training. I don't know how long they were there? Did I stop/slow their workout? Princeton crew I am kind of sorry. You were described to me as the truck drivers of the river...not very nice and extremely aggressive. I don't think our nice coach was saying it to make me feel better...a double was flooded with water by these guys. So, I'm kind of sorry...won't wear the blue shirt next time in case someone noticed and I might disguise my pony tail and Mizzou hat with something different.
And what I know: water and quick is not what I do. I guess I could if I thought it was important. Same with swimming. Water and fast is an oxymoron...for me. There was a tree covered in beautiful white birds today, and a fascinating noise under the train track...and some yelling from out of town boats.
I was paired with another non type A personality. It seems we are in the minority. She asked me if I was like the dog in UP...."squirrel!" that dog..and I said yes and then off we went.
Even as nice as she was she didn't act like she knew me when I finally decided to look behind me and noticed two boats of 8 and their coach yelling at me to pull right which would make my boat go left and then they could continue their training. I don't know how long they were there? Did I stop/slow their workout? Princeton crew I am kind of sorry. You were described to me as the truck drivers of the river...not very nice and extremely aggressive. I don't think our nice coach was saying it to make me feel better...a double was flooded with water by these guys. So, I'm kind of sorry...won't wear the blue shirt next time in case someone noticed and I might disguise my pony tail and Mizzou hat with something different.
And what I know: water and quick is not what I do. I guess I could if I thought it was important. Same with swimming. Water and fast is an oxymoron...for me. There was a tree covered in beautiful white birds today, and a fascinating noise under the train track...and some yelling from out of town boats.
Met up with Stevie and Mattie and after the dog park went to Redbud. Stevie wanted to swim and Mattie had to keep an eye out. Stevie seemed to aggravate the locals today. Lots of flashing teeth and growls. Mattie likes to wait until needed and I think Stevie would like a little more immediate intervention on his behalf.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Cowboy Steve...Stevie Ray rides again.....Steve wants to play....Oklahoma Steve
Very few people know how much money I actually spent on the purchase of this magnificent creature. Thank you Katy, Cassie, Rory, Glenda for keeping my secret even if I never said it was a secret...the amount was wrong on so many levels it is information that should be held close to your belt. I was mourning the loss of my sensitive and beloved Bart. Money was not going to keep me from getting the future dog of my dreams, even if I secretly knew no dog would ever live up to Bart. I liked the white paws, the white chin...he had character. We gave him a name with character and also the name of the neighbor pastor (just by accident) but humorous when you go outside and tell Steve "potty outside"..."potty outside" in angry voice because he just decided to pee in the kitchen and notice the neighbor pastor/wife is out in their backyard. (that was puppy Steve) Big boy Steve doesn't do that.
Much documented is Stevie's love for RC. I am slowly coming to accept that it was better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. Stevie is not bringing sensitive love my way anytime soon....but he likes me a lot. Stevie is his own man. He's Cowboy Steve from Oklahoma. He wants fun. He's resting up beside me now because soon this morning sock and shoe Olympics with RC will commence. That's where the human tries to put on socks and shoes while Stevie grabs the toes and tries to rip/bite/pull the sock off the foot. Most people put their socked foot on the ground while tending to the other foot. Stevie believes toes should be seen and wants the sock.
If sock Olympics don't go as planned, next up will be snack race, or toy chase, or bite the big girl's paw, jump on the big girl's back, or chomp the big girl's ankle from under her belly so she can't reach me and bite back or just the traditional pug race where the pug races wildly around without a point. Bart was a quiet, sensitive, thankful guy with big seal eyes and he loved.
Stevie loves.....he loves everyone and everything
He sleeps hard...then starts his loving all over again.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Baby Boat Rower
I want to talk about it and the blog says Mattie and friends and while I'm not DADDY...I think I am part of the "and friends".
I have about 10 years in the baby boats. Real rowers or (cough cough) scullers or crew people or whatever they call themselves don't spend 10 years in the baby boats.
Baby boats are wider and not as long as the others. They don't call them baby boats...just label them with neon green names like Coco and Sparky. I made up Sparky. Coco is my boat. Not mine...but the one I like to use.
Saturday it was cold, ice particles on the dock Sandra wore the wrong shoes cold. I fell down the ramp and except for the slightly yellowish, bluish color of my swollen pinkie, I'm good and I wasn't carrying a boat. PARTICIPANTS accept ALL RISK ASSOCIATED WITH AND IN CONJUNCTION WITH............AND IF YOU BREAK THE BOAT.........OR HIT THE BRIDGE.....YOU GIVE US MONEY. I like the baby boats. But the rower people....not really so much....except for the nice woman who keeps trying to coach me into a racer type baby boat rower. Nicely I've told her that I'm not really that type. I race for coffee. I race to get Stevie outside first thing in the morning. I would even race to go get Mattie (been there done that in my pajamas, in the dark on day two of being her mom). I race to get to the cafeteria on days I'm late with my class. I don't have the "I'm gonna beat you" type A personality. That would be college girl (who will be swimming locally at the BIG XII champs in 4 weeks)wipe the tears of joy aside!
Back to boats. I like the water, the swans, the silence, and maybe on Saturday I liked the mist coming off the water which for a moment blocked my view of the bridge I was terrified of hitting. I feel slightly on the edge of disaster every time I go out on the water. Have run my boat aground, bumped the bridge going slowed down speed after I executed a phenomenal emergency stop which left me wondering . (I didn't do all this recently...but over time as a baby boat rower.) I get distracted by the things around me. \
The dock I'm giving my monthly dues is the least competitive of the three docks on our water way. I started at the most competitive almost 10 years ago. They talk in port, bow, starboard, and I need front, back, left, right.
It's subtle class warfare. I have strong legs and a lovely stroke she said Saturday and to not let that girl go by me...as I slowed and watched the girl go by. then the swans....and the boat of 8.....and the ripples from the coach's launch who was disgusted with the "RECREATIONAL ROWERS".
It was cold and I wore 4 pair of socks, two pair of tights, 3 shirts, a hat and some gloves and some odd little things called pogies which fit over both the oar and your hand at the same time. I threw mine in the bottom of the boat because they were odd and confusing...and I needed more coffee and it was 26 degrees.
Next Saturday it won't be so cold...and I'll be back in the baby boats trying to appear confident and assured....until the swans go by or someone yells "you're on the wrong side". Traffic rules for all boats coming soon.
I have about 10 years in the baby boats. Real rowers or (cough cough) scullers or crew people or whatever they call themselves don't spend 10 years in the baby boats.
Baby boats are wider and not as long as the others. They don't call them baby boats...just label them with neon green names like Coco and Sparky. I made up Sparky. Coco is my boat. Not mine...but the one I like to use.
Saturday it was cold, ice particles on the dock Sandra wore the wrong shoes cold. I fell down the ramp and except for the slightly yellowish, bluish color of my swollen pinkie, I'm good and I wasn't carrying a boat. PARTICIPANTS accept ALL RISK ASSOCIATED WITH AND IN CONJUNCTION WITH............AND IF YOU BREAK THE BOAT.........OR HIT THE BRIDGE.....YOU GIVE US MONEY. I like the baby boats. But the rower people....not really so much....except for the nice woman who keeps trying to coach me into a racer type baby boat rower. Nicely I've told her that I'm not really that type. I race for coffee. I race to get Stevie outside first thing in the morning. I would even race to go get Mattie (been there done that in my pajamas, in the dark on day two of being her mom). I race to get to the cafeteria on days I'm late with my class. I don't have the "I'm gonna beat you" type A personality. That would be college girl (who will be swimming locally at the BIG XII champs in 4 weeks)wipe the tears of joy aside!
Back to boats. I like the water, the swans, the silence, and maybe on Saturday I liked the mist coming off the water which for a moment blocked my view of the bridge I was terrified of hitting. I feel slightly on the edge of disaster every time I go out on the water. Have run my boat aground, bumped the bridge going slowed down speed after I executed a phenomenal emergency stop which left me wondering . (I didn't do all this recently...but over time as a baby boat rower.) I get distracted by the things around me. \
The dock I'm giving my monthly dues is the least competitive of the three docks on our water way. I started at the most competitive almost 10 years ago. They talk in port, bow, starboard, and I need front, back, left, right.
It's subtle class warfare. I have strong legs and a lovely stroke she said Saturday and to not let that girl go by me...as I slowed and watched the girl go by. then the swans....and the boat of 8.....and the ripples from the coach's launch who was disgusted with the "RECREATIONAL ROWERS".
It was cold and I wore 4 pair of socks, two pair of tights, 3 shirts, a hat and some gloves and some odd little things called pogies which fit over both the oar and your hand at the same time. I threw mine in the bottom of the boat because they were odd and confusing...and I needed more coffee and it was 26 degrees.
Next Saturday it won't be so cold...and I'll be back in the baby boats trying to appear confident and assured....until the swans go by or someone yells "you're on the wrong side". Traffic rules for all boats coming soon.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Just now...
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When?
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Thursday, January 20, 2011
Class size
According to a reserach organization that's part of the Department of Education, one truly proven method for improving learning is smaller class size. One teacher to smaller amounts of learners is hands down superior to one teacher and hoards of learners. It's one to one around our house. Thank goodness for that or we would likely have had more than the 1 Mattie escape over this past 18 months as Mattie's parents. She had one on one almost daily walks to build bonding and trust and in my defense, I tripped and the leash came off and she didn't know us yet. Stevie...he just doesn't listen yet. But we're still trying.
I struggle to imagine what will happen in my classroom next year. A large percentage of my students come ill prepared for life in the classroom and I am hopeful every year that I'll be able to make a connection that will hook a 5 year old on a reason to come back beside mom and dad saying "GO".
25-1 is the newest projection from our state leaders. Look at the classrooms where your children are learning. Right now districts ask for waivers to get around 22-1 so some places, including my classroom have more than 22. Will that waiver granting policy be allowed when the cap goes
to 25-1?
I don't have answers (some ideas maybe) but I do know that school districts listen to parents. Yet, very few parents ever voice their opinions outside of yearly conferences or report card concerns. There is a life altering dilemma (catastrophe is probably exaggerating but that was my first choice) knocking at the door of your child's classroom. While I would currently like to blame the Toyota Highlander for the ills and problems of my classroom, truth be told the problem is silence. Silence about what we are about to loose. The squeaky wheel method works. Promise. Public school will listen to parents if parents will speak. So start speaking and don't stop speaking. Be nice. Please, please be nice. Budgets in our schools are being written. Sit down and write your school board a letter. Write them an email. Talk about what is important to you, your child, our future.
And don't buy a Toyota Highlander with personalized entertainment areas for each person in the car. Yep...the add says your two children can watch a video...or one a video and another can plug in their games or ipod and then you never ever have to talk to them on a drive to HEB ever ever again. If we've stopped speaking in the car, then maybe asking people to speak and write to the strangers who run our local ISD's is too much to imagine. But I'm hopeful.
Speak up now before what you have is lost.
Mattie and Stevie's mom says,
thank you...thank you very much. (elvis's birthday was a weekend or so ago)
I struggle to imagine what will happen in my classroom next year. A large percentage of my students come ill prepared for life in the classroom and I am hopeful every year that I'll be able to make a connection that will hook a 5 year old on a reason to come back beside mom and dad saying "GO".
25-1 is the newest projection from our state leaders. Look at the classrooms where your children are learning. Right now districts ask for waivers to get around 22-1 so some places, including my classroom have more than 22. Will that waiver granting policy be allowed when the cap goes
to 25-1?
I don't have answers (some ideas maybe) but I do know that school districts listen to parents. Yet, very few parents ever voice their opinions outside of yearly conferences or report card concerns. There is a life altering dilemma (catastrophe is probably exaggerating but that was my first choice) knocking at the door of your child's classroom. While I would currently like to blame the Toyota Highlander for the ills and problems of my classroom, truth be told the problem is silence. Silence about what we are about to loose. The squeaky wheel method works. Promise. Public school will listen to parents if parents will speak. So start speaking and don't stop speaking. Be nice. Please, please be nice. Budgets in our schools are being written. Sit down and write your school board a letter. Write them an email. Talk about what is important to you, your child, our future.
And don't buy a Toyota Highlander with personalized entertainment areas for each person in the car. Yep...the add says your two children can watch a video...or one a video and another can plug in their games or ipod and then you never ever have to talk to them on a drive to HEB ever ever again. If we've stopped speaking in the car, then maybe asking people to speak and write to the strangers who run our local ISD's is too much to imagine. But I'm hopeful.
Speak up now before what you have is lost.
Mattie and Stevie's mom says,
thank you...thank you very much. (elvis's birthday was a weekend or so ago)
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVIE!
Happy Birthday to meHappy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday bring me presents....
Happy Birthday to me.
Stevie had a quiet birthday since we forgot...his birthday is January 17 and he was born in Oklahoma. He remains a naughty pug just like that day last March when Cassie, Dad and Karson picked him up at the airport.
The vet sent him an email (thank you Dr. Sunbury), but a trip for new toys is coming along with new dog treats. For now he loves his empty water bottle because it makes lots of noise.
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Monday, January 17, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
shhhhh.
we're planning on letting Mattie try out sleep overs without her daddy in about 6 months. daddy will need support along with counseling and Mattie will need therapy when it is over....but it is going to happen. Stevie will think he has a new fun family for a week...anyone can be his family, he's easy, but not cheap.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Better than last time
Stevie had a new chance to shine yesterday. The leader brought the doggies down to the dock yesterday. The plan was to meet up when I finished rowing. They met the dog on the dock, and then we were off to the dog park. Hesitant at first, we just let Mattie go. Mattie knew what to do...but she didn't know why Stevie was still on the leash. She kept coming back and checking.
Stevie was released right in the middle of auditorium shores. Lots of dogs. A Mastiff, two Standard Poodles, a Doberman....most..no pretty much all of them were bigger than Stevie. He was more cautious this time. He played some and when he was scared he sat down beside a set of legs. I saw him choose a few different people. He didn't look up, just sat down. I believe he thought any set of legs would provide safety. A few times I called him and he came. That was new.
THEN the brothers Olaf and Willie arrived. Olaf and Willie are fawn pug brothers. Mattie saw them first. She ran towards them and started sniffing. It was as if Ollie had returned as a twin. She smelled each one, a couple of times. She hoped, she smelled. It wasn't Ollie, but they were fun and cute. Then Stevie found them and he did the same thing. Olaf's dad let him off the leash and Stevie had a friend until Olaf decided he was going to dominate this new young black pug. Stevie not so happy and he went for a new set of legs and even managed to find the right ones. We stayed a little longer, declared Stevie's outing better than his previous attempt and drove home.
Stevie was released right in the middle of auditorium shores. Lots of dogs. A Mastiff, two Standard Poodles, a Doberman....most..no pretty much all of them were bigger than Stevie. He was more cautious this time. He played some and when he was scared he sat down beside a set of legs. I saw him choose a few different people. He didn't look up, just sat down. I believe he thought any set of legs would provide safety. A few times I called him and he came. That was new.
THEN the brothers Olaf and Willie arrived. Olaf and Willie are fawn pug brothers. Mattie saw them first. She ran towards them and started sniffing. It was as if Ollie had returned as a twin. She smelled each one, a couple of times. She hoped, she smelled. It wasn't Ollie, but they were fun and cute. Then Stevie found them and he did the same thing. Olaf's dad let him off the leash and Stevie had a friend until Olaf decided he was going to dominate this new young black pug. Stevie not so happy and he went for a new set of legs and even managed to find the right ones. We stayed a little longer, declared Stevie's outing better than his previous attempt and drove home.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Move over...
This couple....... This bonding happens daily. It happens as soon as he sits down. If I happen to sit there she paces, jumps on the other side of me and glares at me, jumps down and paces again.
I put them on facebook. I wasn't suppose to. I did it anyway. They are in love.
She has struck me with her paw when I wouldn't move. I think she is doing it in a good humored way...but maybe that's why she only chews the cushions I buy for the couch. Come to think of it she chewed my sunglasses, my Ipod docking cord, my Asics...off hand I can't think of one thing she has chewed that belongs to HIM. I think it's certain that she's
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Thursday, January 6, 2011
Top 10 Names for barkers and meowers
Pet owners choosing more human names accessAtlanta
Mattie, Stevie, our old ones Bart and Ollie nor Elvis from long ago made the list.
Try wandering your neighborhood looking for your lost Boston Terrier and yelling "ELIVS' out the window.
Mattie, Stevie, our old ones Bart and Ollie nor Elvis from long ago made the list.
Try wandering your neighborhood looking for your lost Boston Terrier and yelling "ELIVS' out the window.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
run Stevie run
this time he stopped and amidst all those strangers, found the ONE he loves most......his mom. his adventure was over, but Stevie decided adventures alone were scary and not as fun as he had expected. Next time, he thought, I'll get Mattie to go with me. She always knows what to do.
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Saturday, January 1, 2011
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