Happy Apple Day!

Alizé is a copydog!

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Thanks to michael j pastor for his comment!

So it couldn't be the Briggs-Briggs-Myers test. But it could be the Briggs-Myers-Briggs. Or just the MBTI. Which sounds kinda like a transportation agency.

Today is Apple Day! Someplace. No apples here, yet. But I'm watching for them!

And happy birthday to Alfred Nobel. He's a famous Swede. Because his father invented the modern way to make plywood. Which can be used to make dog houses.

Also happy birthday to Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He explored near Antacrtica!

And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold:
And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.

And through the drifts the snowy clifts
Did send a dismal sheen:
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken--
The ice was all between.

Speaking of ships. Happy Float Day to the grand old lady of the seas! The USS Constitution! She had a difficult birth and got stuck. But on October 21 she glided (glode?) into Boston Harbor.

Anyway. I was going to talk about Alizé's eating disorder. But I don't really have time now. Not if the Human Assistant is going to get this posted today.

If he doesn't get it posted today then we'll have to change stuff. Like

Happy birthday, Dizzy Gillespie!

So I'll just save it for next time.

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Spotting the sun

Have you spotted the sun lately? Because the sun needs more spots! Without enough spots to cover it, the sun gets cold. Then the earth gets cold. So the sun needs hot spots!

These aren't like doggy hot spots. The sun's supposed to have spots! Like a Dalmation, almost!

Otherwise we get snow in the summer. Like today! Okay, it's not quite summer yet. Because then I would have apples! Not just apple flowers. But we did get the tiniest snow storm today. Which is Saturday. Or was. Depending on when you read this!

The snow is almost invisible in these little pictures. Click on them to see bigger ones! Except for the apple flower. That was two days ago. It wasn't snowing then. But there's snow in the other pictures.

First apple blossom of spring.	But not all that's white is blooming!
I love the smell of snowfall!	Not enuff of it to eat today.
Eat grass!	Yeah, yeah.

(The Human Assistant says there's also the original article about sunspots and a two-part argument against that ... and probably more. For those who like to read about these things.)

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Tree trouble

Here are a few more snow pictures from Wednesday. The Human Assistant took 22 pictures and not one has me in it!

He was going to take me out front with him. He thought he'd attach a 30-foot rope to my leash and tie me to something so I wouldn't go into the street with him. Or wherever.

But look what he found!

Somedoggy chewed this rope!	Closeup of chewed rope

Was it a mouse? Or was it Mystique? You know who gets my vote!

It sure wasn't one of the other seven dogs that lived here this year. Only one of us chewed plastic flower pots, aluminum cans, and furniture!

Anyway. While the Human Assistant was unpacking a new rope, Gremlin peed in the living room. Which H.A. always blames me for.

I'm not sure he has a firm grasp on anatomy. Maybe he thinks I'm a ventrilopissed or something.

Then he said he'd had enough with doggies for a while. He went out front by himself. He found these human-made trees leaning one way and another.

Which way is up?	Are they okay like that?

He said these human trees are called poles.

Well, humans have better eyesight than dogs do. Plus his camera has a zoom lens. But I don't know how you can tell Poles​¹ from Czechs or Slovaks ... or Ukrainians, even.

Then he went in the back yard to take more pictures. Oh no!

Broken branch in apple tree	Poor apple tree!

H.A. told me that one big branch of the apple tree broke off! Right at the trunk! And it's on the red-apple side of the tree!

He said that it's been broken a little while now. The snow wasn't heavy enough to do that in this last storm. Or maybe too many squirrels jumped up and down on the branch all at the same time.

I don't know. But he said this is a good time of year to get the tree pruned. Which he says it needed anyway.

::sigh::

He says there will still be lots of red apples for me next year. And that I hadn't even noticed it was broken before now. So why get upset now?

Well, maybe. At least there are still some apples falling off the tree. I can round up one or two a day. So that's good.

Here are a couple of pictures of other animals pretending to be Siberian Huskies. They cheered me up a little.  ::small Husky grin::



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​¹ In one short story, Isaac Asimov wrote that the smallest spelling change you can make to an English word that will change how it's pronounced is to capitalize polish.

"moar funny pictures" frm icanhascheezburger

Two happy endings

Monday's weather was just how the Human Assistant likes it! Blue sky, cool air, warm sun. Tuesday morning's weather too.

Tuesday afternoon got cold, fast. It even snowed the tiniest bit in the evening.

Monday afternoon H.A. liked the weather but stayed indoors. Well, he did go help a friend with a computer. But they didn't do that outside!

Tuesday afternoon he didn't like the weather, but he worked in the yard. Of course I liked the cold, so I stayed outside with him. But, I mean ... who can figure humans out?

H.A. picked up all the apples that were on the ground. And there aren't many left on the tree. I'm afraid the days of lying around with an apple next to me are about over for this year.

Which was half the point of H.A. picking them up off the ground. (The other half is not wanting the neighbors to tell him the yard smells like vinegar.)

He thinks I may be more friendly to other dogs when I don't have an apple or three to guard. (Three was the most I ever had at one time.)

I don't know about that.

Holly, H.A. hasn't seen any Siberian Huskies in the area lately that are the right age or sex to bring here (except in an emergency).

See, he figures another male and I would get into fights. And he thinks a senior would be better for me and for our yard. A senior wouldn't bug me all the time like that darned puppy, Mystique. And wouldn't jump over our 4-foot fence.

Speaking of Mystique. When H.A. stopped working in the yard, he came in and surfed the net. Look what terrible thing he found! It must be Mystique's southern cousin!

Radar/Happy Welsh Corgi and Blue Heeler	Mystique alleged Blue Heeler mix

I didn't understand Radar's story when the H.A. read it to me from itchmo. So he had to hunt down the articles.

First was the original story that was published Monday:

Family drops off dog with veterinarian and travels out of town;

Vet neuters dog and boards him for several weeks;

Family comes back to get dog from vet;

Dog doesn't act eager to leave;

Three days later dog jumps fence;

Dog travels one mile to vet's clinic;

Dog waits and waits outside clinic (it's Sunday);

Vet drives by clinic and sees dog;

Vet opens clinic;

Dog runs to crate and settles in;

Family says they'd been wanting to rehome dog;

Vet keeps dog as clinic pet.

So far, so good. Dog finds home he likes better. Everydoggy is happy. The end. Until the back story emerges....

Original story published the following Monday;

Another family sees story;

Mom recognizes their dog, missing 7 months;

Mom yells excitedly to dad;

(Kids are at school);

Mom calls clinic;

Mom goes to clinic;

Dog happy to see mom;

Dog goes home with mom;

Dad happy to see dog;

Kids come home from school;

Kids faint and hit heads on rocks;

Story published next day;

Story leaves out fainting because I made it up.

How about that? A story with two happy endings!

And here's a third one. It's snowing for reals now.  Woo hoo!

By the way. The Army of Four inspired me to put weather reports on the blog.

Not that I'm a copy-dog or anything.  ::big Husky grin::   But the Human Assistant agreed it might be fun to play with the map thingies.

The Ao4 shows weather in Archangelsk, a cold place in the northwest corner of Russia. Also Manhattan. Only it seems to be somewhere called Kansas.

I show weather for where we live in Denver, which is in Colorado.

[Is Colorado a state or a state of mind?  -- mr_ed]

Also for Uelen, which is a cold place in the northeast corner of Russia.

Uelen's in the Chukotka region of Russia.

Which always comes up when humans talk about the history of Siberian Huskies.

So I may write more about it. But not tonight.

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-- photo of Steve Walstad and Radar by T. Rob Brown, Joplin Globe.

Not another dog!

diane, we get 12 kinds of apples from our tree! Red and yellow; big and little; and not mooshy, a little mooshy, and very mooshy.

My favorites are the red (not mooshy) and red (a little mooshy). In the last week or so we just started getting bigs. I'm not very used to them. But I like them! That was a big red (not mooshy) in yesterday's post.

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I just about had a cow when the Human Assistant said he's probably bringing another dog home tomorrow!

See, he knows a person who knows a person who has a dog. That person married a guy who doesn't like the dog.

I'm okay with that. I don't like the dog either, and I've never met her! (Any dog that arrives after me takes attention away from me. Bad dog!)

But the guy does bad things to the dog. The doggie jumped on the bed to be with her mama, and the guy threw her (the dog) against the wall.

This is NOT GOOD !!!

::SIGH::  We'll do what we can. But she better not be here long! Her name is Shu Shu. She's a three-year-old Cocker Spaniel from Korea. H.A. says he doesn't know whether she's an English Cocker Spaniel or an American Cocker Spaniel.

American Cocker Spaniel	English Cocker Spaniel

Seems to me she would be a Korean Cocker Spaniel. But I guess there isn't any such dog.

We'll see what happens.


-- photos from Wikipedia

Apple Slo-Time nonvideo

You may know about QuickTime. It's a format for videos and stuff from the company Apple.

So you get Apple QuickTime videos, for example.

The Human Assistant says he's developed a procedure called Slo-Time nonvideo.

All you need is a regular digital camera.

You wait for the pose you want. Wait while the digital camera gets around to snapping the picture. Wait for the flash to recharge.

Wait for the pose you want. Wait while the digital camera gets around to snapping the picture. Wait for the flash to recharge.....

And if you're taking a Slo-Time nonvideo of an apple, then it's an Apple Slo-Time nonvideo.  ::snort::

I try not to give attention to his ideas. You may remember the "What athlete are you?" game.

But in this case, I'm the star of the very first Apple Slo-Time nonvideo, so I'll mention it.

This is raw, unedited nonvideo. Dog knows how long I'd have to wait for the Human Assistant to make each frame "just right"!

In the first frame I'm getting the apple ready to eat. This is called "food prep" in the restaurant biz.

I applied for a chef job once. First they said I was too short to reach the counters. I showed them!  And I had a nice steak and potatoes while I was at it!

Then they said they didn't have a big-enough hair net. Well, that was a stumper. I didn't get the job.

Anyway, in the second frame the apple is getting away from me. I didn't have the right kind of work surface, one for no thumbs.

So in the third frame I've scooched up to grab the prepped-​and-​slippery thing.

It gets away from me again!

The floor must be tilted. I stand up and grab it and turn a different direction.

I settle in and make sure Gremlin knows not to bother me. And then I gobble up the apple.

Hey, I just had an idea! If anydoggy has a picture or a video of them with an apple, let me know! You can put a link in a comment. Or I can get H.A. to post a link to it here.

If there are three or more, we can say it's the Apple Tag Game!

It doesn't have to show a whole apple. Just a piece is fine. All are welcome, not just dogs! Gerbils and hamsters and little fuzzies like that eat apples sometimes, don't they? And birds?

How about adventurous Tia? Do carnivorous kitties ever play with apple chunks?

Let me know!

S'no joke

Saturday night it rained, Sunday morning it snowed. Not a whole lot. And lots of it melted pretty fast, leaving mud.

We don't get Oswald or his cousins in our yard. But in the first picture, I'm checking to be sure. The Human Assistant thinks that cats or 'coons might visit us sometimes. I'd better sleep in the garage more to keep them away!

Also, here's the cart that the H.A. uses to haul apples up the hill. I guess that makes it an apple cart. Why do people say, "Don't upset the apple cart?" I've marked on it. It doesn't get upset.

Remember the doggy den? It's there behind the cart. It looks like it might be snug in weather like this. But the back is chain-link fence. I think the wind would blow through.

The garage is better, really. Or the kitchen. In either place I can block Gremlin from getting out. Yesterday she peed by the front door three or four times and the H.A. ran out of paper towels and clean regular towels.

Sunday he kept the back door closed so the furnace could run. I got too warm a lot and wanted out. Gremlin wanted out a lot too. H.A. had a hard time concentrating on his computer.  ::Big Husky Grin::  I'll bet we get a doggy door this winter.



In the next group are the same dead sunflowers that I was looking under. Just a little different direction and an hour and a half later. The sun is out, yes. But yesterday H.A. sat here in warmer sunshine reading Red Square. Another Martin Cruz Smith Arkady Renko novel.

I've been sorta good and not chewed any of them up. Tiny Terror Tippy, the paper fiber is good for you so keep it up! But even with excellent humans like you have, don't push it too far. I think Maddox crossed over the line!

Be careful! In a little over a week it'll be one year since I got here. I'm trying to make sure the H.A. doesn't have any really, really good excuses to get rid of me! Maddox has a good home, so I think he's safe. You probably are too ... if you don't get Minky too upset.



The wet snow really bent down the branches of the apple tree. It still has apples on it. And under it. And no snow on the ground under the tree, so we picked up apples. (H.A. moved one so it was next to the cart. I don't know why.)

Gremlin and I made the H.A. share the ones he cut up for himself. But I had to have my own apple, too. Then he told me I had to come inside so he could shut the door. Usually he leaves the door open and I leave the apple outside. This time I brought it with me. I wasn't ready to eat it just yet. But I had to keep it close so Gremlin couldn't sneak out and take it.

She's never tried to take my apple. I've heard that vigilance is the price of peas. Well, apples too.



By the way, I'm not trying to grow extra freckles to compete with "Pickle Nose" Dave. I just brought in some extra mud and hadn't wiped it off yet.

The Human Assistant didn't put a time on this picture of me because he says it's "timeless, like his humor."

He's reading Havana Bay now. I'm thinking the next book in the series, Wolves Eat Dogs, needs to be changed slightly to Dogs Eat Books.

Just thinking about it, is all.

Shelter-dog follow-up

The Human Resistant says he has worked hard and is too tired to help me with a long blog. Hah!

Today he picked up apples and scooped poop. Big whoopie-do. Oh, he says he had to wheel the yard cart half-full of apples up the hill. And lift it over the fence to dump it in our trash bin. And then wheel the bin out to the curb.

He's looking at harnesses to hook me up to the yard cart. Again, Hah!

H.A. also says he had to work hard installing an updated operating system on the computer. Hah!

I don't know what that means, but all he did was slide in a disk and answer some questions. He has said before that Linux is much easier to install than Windows. Putting a window in a computer does sound like it would take time.

So this won't be a long blog. Which is okay because I don't have lots to say this time.

Remember yesterday I mentioned some MaxFund dogs? Well also yesterday, MaxFund volunteers got a list of dogs adopted recently. Bo was listed as adopted. Yayyy!  Harry is only listed as in a foster home. Let's hope the foster "fails" and they adopt him!

Speaking of "tails" (heh) I think Harry must be part rat. Look at his long tail!

Harry's LONG tail	Belgian Groenendael

Minky, would you please ask your mom if this is the kind of Belgian Shepherd that she knows about? She can click on the picture to make it bigger.

It looks like there are four kinds of Belgian Shepherd Dogs - the Groenendael, the Laekenois, the Malinois, and the Tervuren. In some places they're all one breed, and other places they're different breeds. Humans get so confused!

P.S. Don't feel any sympathy for H.A.! He has also been surfing for news websites and re-reading Gorky Park. This is not hard work! He loves Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko books! H.A. has threatened to hurt me if I chew any of them up. Hah!

-- photo of Belgian Groenendael from Wikipedia

An apple a day

The Human Assistant has been icky-sick for a day. I think he ate a bad apple. He found out from the Army of Four blog that some animals snuggle with their humans to make them feel better (like Sitka and Tia do). Hmmph!

Ignoring that.... A few days ago H.A. picked up all the apples that were on the ground. He kept a few of them for himself. Gremlin and I can get our own because more keep falling down. But we still stare at him while he cuts up his apples until he gives us pieces.

Anyway, H.A. says he forgets that apples from trees don't last as long as apples from stores. So he may not have gotten around to that apple soon enough.

He wishes he had a dog stomach. He says we have tons more acid in our tummies than humans do. So icky things don't make us sick as often.

But dogs shouldn't eat "herbal ecstacy." The athlete drug police say athletes can't have any. But somebody gave some to this greyhound. All you sled dogs out there - don't take BZP!

Here's another tip. Wearing a dog collar can make you get attacked more! It's true! This story only mentions people wearing dog collars. But wouldn't it apply to dogs too? I would think so.

I need to sleep now. I guess it's allergy season. My breathing parts have been stressed the last few days even though H.A. says he's sneaking me my medicine. Happy dreams, everydoggy!

Picture magic

Tucker:  Here are more pictures from the garden. They are 10 days newer than the first set. But they are still two weeks old. The Human Assistant doesn't want to believe that two weeks have gone by. But I checked.


The first picture is Mystique peeking out from the doggie den in the bushes. She is standing up but hard to see. The first piece of picture magic is to make her easier to see. Just click on the picture and it gets bigger!

You can see Mystique better and you can see little plums. (The plums are on the ground and in the bushes. Mystique is only on the ground.) H.A. says the plums are ornamental, which means they taste bad. And he knows.

The second picture is Mystique lying down in the doggie den. It's dark in there! Compared to out in the sunshine anyway. And the picture didn't come out very well. Another one where you couldn't see her.

But H.A. did picture magic on the computer. It makes the picture look brown, but you can see Mystique. First her doggie tags. Then her shiny eyes. Then her ears standing up. Such big ears for a little doggie!


There is no special magic in these two pictures. Except that I'm in them, of course!

This is another one from when H.A. took my "portrait." Sitka said I look like a beagle in that one. I didn't think so, but....  ::shrug::  In this one I'm keeping an eye or two on my apple.

And here I am looking to see what's so neat about the doggie den. (I still have my apple.) H.A. says about half of the eight doggies who have lived here in four years have used the den. I don't. I don't think Mystique did either. This is the only day I saw her in there.


Here is more picture magic. The bowl of grapes are one color in the sun. And another color in the shade! Also they look kinda big. They weren't that big. H.A. just got real close. He said he used a wide angel on the camera lens. I thought angels were for Christmas trees! And I've never seen a wide one.  ::shrug::  H.A. has seen more Christmas angels than I have.


I don't see anything magical about this picture. (It's a little confusing though. The only grapes are near the bottom-right corner.) Anyway, H.A. says it shows the fascinating drama of the garden.  ::snort::

The bushes with the black berry thingies (which taste icky, he says) are expanding to the south. That's to the right. The grape vines are moving to the north. Here they meet. The perennial clash of the bush and the vine. Can they both survive?

H.A. says there used to be raspberries there. I think they're all gone now. The berrythingies and the grapes must have crowded them out. "Война и мир в саду," says H.A. - War and Peace in the garden.

Around the house

mr_ed:  Before you start, I'd like to send out a couple of October 2nd "Happy Birthday"s.
Tucker:  ::snort::
mr_ed:  Best wishes to Nat Turner, Paul von Hindenburg, William Ramsay, Mahatma Gandhi, and Groucho Marx!
Tucker:  All right then.
mr_ed:  Also "Spanky" McFarland, Johnnie Cochran, Rex Reed, Avery Brooks, and Donna Karan.
Tucker:  Done?
mr_ed:  No, nobody named Dunn. But Annie Leibovitz, Sting, and Tiffany.
Tucker:  Isn't it time for treats?
mr_ed:  Ooh, yeah, I'm hungry. Be right back.
Tucker:  Here I am striking a pose. I don't know what got into me. Fortunately the rest of the picture is crummy. So the Human Assistant won't be showing it around.

There's a food bowl on a white bucket behind me. He put grapes in the bowl to take some kind of dopey picture. Then I came over. He wanted a picture of me poking my nose in it like other Sibes do when a package comes for them.

But it had no treats in it! Why would I stick my nose in there? Instead I lay down in the shade with my apple.

You can't see the apple very well. But it was a good one. These days I almost always have an apple with me. H.A. picked up most of them. He said the neighbors would complain about our yard smelling like vinegar. But there are still lots of apples. And more falling down every day!

When H.A. walks by me he always says "Oh, you have a nice apple there!" But when Gremlin comes near I have to growl and bark at her to keep her away from it. Then a couple of days ago H.A. said, "That's a really nice apple!" And he took it!

And he washed it and ate it! I was so shocked! Gremlin and I stood in the kitchen and watched him cut out the bad parts and start to eat it. He gave in and gave us little pieces of it.

Later, he was lying down and I took a book outside and chewed it apart. He was pretty annoyed when he found it! He said, "Why'd you do that? There are lots of apples for you!" Well, there are lots of books for him, too.

He thinks he's such an alpha. I'm pretty sure that he took another apple from me the next day. After he walked by I looked around for it. I stood up. It didn't roll under me. I looked some more, right where I was pretty sure that it was. But no apple. Hmmmph.

A couple of times I've been relaxing in the garage with an apple. And he picks it up and rolls it out into the yard. I go get it and bring it back, but he's in the way. I can't get back in the garage so I drop the apple.

He picks it up again and rolls it away again. This happens about three times and then I wander off.

I don't know why he's trying to confuse me and annoy me. When he rolls the apple away he calls it a fetch. I thought maybe a moving apple was a fetch. I don't know. I've only been here 11 months.

But no. When an apple falls out of the tree he doesn't call it a fetch. When he rolls one and I chase it down he says, "Good boy!" But he always says I'm a good boy. So I don't know what's going on with him.

Now that the weather is cooler I'm spending more nighttime in the garage. H.A. would like dogs in bed with him, but oh well. Now that puppy is gone I nap on the bed a little in the daytime. Just to make sure that I know when he gets dressed to leave the house.

But nighttime in the garage. I'm in Gremlin's way just as much there as in the kitchen, so it's okay. She looks out the door and sees me and then pees in the living room. H.A. doesn't like that very much.

Oh well. We all have our burdens to bear.