Christmas Border Collie 2019

I am happy to say that Olive is fully recovered from her broken nail mishap last month. I no sooner took the bandage off than she was jumping around ready to play and make up for lost time.

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Although she does not seem to be a treat-oriented dog, Olive does seem to love her dog biscuits. I have always felt good about the Milk Bone brand and bought them often for my first dog, Smokey, and for Olive. However, I have wanted for a while to make some fresh biscuits at home. While there are relatively easy recipes for homemade dog biscuits on the internet and elsewhere, I had in my pantry a box of a mix that someone had given us. I rolled up my sleeves and gave it a try.

Well, the directions don't look too difficult...

The box stated that the contents would make 14 large biscuits. I had a small dog biscuit shaped cookie cutter and used that to cut the biscuits. Following the box directions exactly and rolling out the dough ⅜ inches thick (10 mm) yielded 44 biscuits. That would make each biscuit about a third the size the box directions intended.

Out of the oven

Baking them according to the directions, I let them cool off in the oven which made them dog biscuit hard. They looked good, but the real test was whether Olive liked them. I rarely use the video feature on my smartphone so didn’t get everything from start to finish (you won’t see her licking the crumbs off the floor or searching for more crumbs); it is clear that she liked them.

She has been getting one each morning with her breakfast. I may have to get on line and order more packages of mix from the company when this batch runs out.

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Some neighbors have two delightful young daughters who adore Olive, while Olive seems to love the entire family. She often will pull me toward their door hoping to see them and play. On Olive’s behalf I bought two children’s alpaca scarves at a wool show that Nanne (Olive’s breeder) participated in. The family gave Olive a plush toy turtle that she seems to love. The family also gave me a holiday themed shirt shown below. Other close friends gave me a pair of socks with dog paw prints on them.

Dog themed holiday gifts

The sad note to this is that the family has purchased a larger home with a yard in a nearby town and is in the process of moving. I think Olive already misses them, though we both wish them much happiness in their new abode.

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At the recommendation of a friend I read the bestseller “A Gentleman in Moscow” recently and found the book quite engaging. It follows a Russian count who was placed under house arrest at a luxury hotel in Moscow not long after the Bolshevik revolution. Early in the book the Count’s Christmas Eve dinner in the hotel’s restaurant is described, consisting of “Latvian Stew” with a Georgian red wine. Intrigued I found the recipe for the stew on the author’s website and two bottles of the wine at a Hartford area wine shop.

Making the stew was a lot of work, particularly preparing and sautéing the white boiling onions. I invited a few close friends for an early Christmas-themed dinner, which meant getting my tree and other holiday decorations up early.  My friends seemed quite impressed with the stew, which made for a very nice evening.

The only wrinkle in the dinner was that the “Gentleman in Moscow” book described the Count’s favorite pastry, called “Mille Feuille”. I found on line a French bakery nearby that made them; when I got there the morning of the dinner, I was told that those pastries had to be ordered ahead. The website did not say that. I bought some other French pastries they had ready on display that worked quite well for dessert after the stew, and no one seemed disappointed. Next time I will know to order the Mille Feuille ahead.

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This year my preparations for the Holiday were done quickly to accommodate some early winter weather and the “Gentleman in Moscow” stew night. Although quick, the decorating worked out well.

During my annual day at the large regional mall when I got all of my holiday shopping out of the way I spotted a winged unicorn tree ornament in the Lord & Taylor department store. My first thought was to get it for a small child who is fascinated by unicorns; I ended up getting it for myself (agreeing with the child’s grandmother that the child is too young for such a fragile ornament). The ornament is now on my tree.

No green alligators or long-neck geese,
humpty-back camels or chimpanzees,
no cats or rats or elephants but sure as you're born,
my Christmas tree has a unicorn!

Speaking of the tree, this year I was finally able to get Olive to pose in front of it.

OK, I posed. Now may I have one of those homemade biscuits?

With that, Olive and I wish everyone a wonderful holiday and a happy new year.

Not another bandage!

Last Sunday during our afternoon walk Olive started limping. When we got home, I noticed her left front dew claw was askew, though there did not seem to be any bleeding. Since I wasn’t going to get anyone to look at it on Sunday night, I put it off for Monday morning. On Monday morning she was still limping, so I mad the call to the vet.

It turned out that her nail had fractured close to the base. The blame is on me in that I had intended to ask the people at Candlewick to have their groomer trim her nails the last time she was there for the day. I completely forgot about it, and resolved to have the nails trimmed this coming Thursday, when I would be riding up to New Hampshire for a game day. So, I was kicking myself for forgetting such an important part of Olive’s grooming. I kicked myself even harder when I got the bill; veterinarians these days don’t come cheap.

At this point the weather was rather wet outside. I was told to keep the bandages dry, and was given a heavy plastic bag to tie around Olive’s paw for outdoor walks. When we got home, I gave her a dose of the pain relief medicine (something called Rimadyl) that the vet gave us with a dental stick treat that she usually gets for her lunch, since the directions are to give the medicine to her with food. I thought it might be a bit easier on her if I used a lighter bag made with thinner, more flexible plastic. That did not work well. After walking a short distance, I could see that the bag was starting to shred. Olive wanted to turn around and go back at that point anyway, so I got her home and took another look at the heavy plastic bag. Using an old shoelace, I was able to tie the bag around Olive’s leg so that it stayed fairly securely. That worked, though Olive did not seem to like it (who can blame her?). She stayed off that paw and hopped along on three legs. Even so, she was faster than I was. At least we were able to have a full walk.

She will get another dose of the pain medicine later tonight, two tomorrow, and two on Wednesday to finish off the six doses we were given. Olive is not happy having to walk with a heavy plastic bag on her paw; I keep telling her it’s only for a couple of days. I also keep reminding her not to lick the bandage with the bag off. I think she knows that she would not like a cone.

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For Halloween I had ordered a sheep costume for myself, so that Olive and I could go out as a border collie and her sheep. Of all days, Halloween this year was rainy all day. Not wishing to ruin the costume, I put the border collie and sheep idea aside for a year. Perhaps next Halloween we will have better luck.

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Here are a few dog cartoons I picked up since the last entry.

Olive is already in the only shape I want her.

I imagine some dogs are like that. Olive is good about it and seems to like Candlewick.

Well, of course!

Happy Birthday Olive

Olive was born on August 1, 2011. That made her Eight years old at the beginning of this month. I hosted a Tuesday night supper at my place; the theme was Olive’s birthday. The night went well, though I had intended to get a video of the group singing “Happy Birthday” around my piano and did not. I wanted to get a shot of her birthday cake (from one of those doggy bakeries brought by my friends Sara and Harry); someone cut a slice out for Olive before I could get my cell phone camera.

The cake originally said "Happy Birthday Olive". No chocolate in it, of course, but Olive and a few other dogs did enjoy it. A piece of the cake was saved for my friend Julie's mixed-breed dog, Freya and a piece for my niece's Schnauzer, Dogmatix. Had I thought of it at the time, I would (and should) have sent slices home for Sara and Harry's two Berger-Picard dogs, Rory and Amelia.

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An update on the last posting: The replacement pole for my tent arrived from LL Bean and fit perfectly. Although I had to pay for the motel room and a few other things, all turned out well.

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While petting Olive I noticed a strange lump on her back. I had to take her to the vet anyway for a canine influenza booster shot, and asked the vet about it. It turned out that Olive had somehow gotten a small puncture wound that was healing, though the scab had formed over some of her hair. The vet trimmed around the wound so that Olive has a temporary bald spot. I was advised to dab a bit of antiseptic gel each day for a week or so, which I am doing, and all seems to be going well. I will be glad when the hair grows back and covers the spot again.

Just a temporary shaved spot on her back.

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On August 17 Olive and I drove up to the Berkshire region of Massachusetts to visit with my friends Kathryn and Mark who have a corgi mix dog named Archie who gets along splendidly with Olive. We perused an arts and crafts show in the scenic town of Stockbridge (where the real life “Alice’s Restaurant” that Arlo Guthrie sang about was). Olive did get into trouble at one craft booth that had a basket of felt objects that Olive took for tennis balls. Whatever it was, Olive destroyed it. I never got a look at what it was supposed to be, but I had to pay $8 for it. Well, no one ever said having a border collie would be a cakewalk.

After that we stopped at a bakery booth for coffee and a pastry, where we got into a conversation with an elderly military veteran who had been a chaplain in Viet Nam. He had moved up from Texas to get away from the heat there, which seemed ironic as the day in the Berkshires was hot and humid.

Toward the end of our walk we came to a booth that had, of all things, a painting of Olive’s great-great-grandmother! She was supposed to have been quite a shepherdess.

Olive's great-great-grandmother?

OK, we really don’t know that this is Olive’s great-great-grandmother, but it was such a great painting I had to buy it. Kathryn insisted on buying it for Olive and I as an early Holiday gift. I conceded, and am now trying to decide where to put it.

Olive and her Human take Vacations

On July 13 I packed up my car with camping supplies, enough clothing for a week, and of course my fiddle to attend Northern Fiddle and Dance Week at Ashokan in the Catskills. Olive was taken to Candlewick for the week, then after a quick last stop at home I headed out.

The quilt temporarily hung from the balcony.

When I arrived, I chose my usual camping spot and set up my tent. The weather was pleasant at that point. After setting up my tent I attended the opening supper and contra dance.  Jay Unger, the camp director, spotted me and told me that the quilt my friend Laurie made from my old camp T-shirts and donated to the Ashokan Foundation had been found after missing for a few years. Temporarily hung from the balcony over the dance hall, it will be permanently displayed somewhere in the main building. I was pleased to hear this and sent an email to Laurie.

Sunday was relatively unstructured. I had a pancake breakfast, caught up with some friends, and spent most of the day relaxing in my tent for the busy week ahead. At 3:00 the orientation and welcome activities began, followed by a pasta supper, an evening dance, and some jamming.

This year I decided to do things a bit differently from past years. David Kaynor, a superb fiddler and dance caller, has been a fixture at camp since its beginning. Last Fall I learned that he has been diagnosed with ALS, aka Lou Gehrig’s disease. The last time I had seen him was in February at the Dance Flurry festival. He was talking slow, though his fiddling was in top form. When I greeted him at the camp it was immediately clear that his voice was now completely gone. At the orientation he used an electronic device with a keyboard to communicate. He would type what he wanted to say, and the words would come through a loudspeaker in an artificial voice. The system is not perfect, but David was able to communicate in that manner. I resolved to take as many of the workshops he was offering as I could.

It turned out that he was teaching a beginner’s fiddle class that would have been pointless for me to take and two sessions that were basically jam sessions. One featured easy New England tunes while the other focused on more complex and difficult tunes with long traditions, some dating to the early 1800s (called “chestnuts” by folk music aficionados). I took both of those plus a class on Swedish style fiddling, taught by two excellent musicians from Sweden.

I settled into the rhythm of the camp life. Breakfast, the New England tunes session, a break (while other classes were going on), the Swedish class, lunch, the chestnut session, another break, then a popular French-Canadian jam session, followed by supper. After supper was a Scandinavian jam session, followed by the evening dance, followed by the late-night snack at eleven.

In past years I have tended to wear leather sandals around camp, made by a fellow named Alan Block who was a popular fiddler as well as a superb leather-worker. This year one of the straps broke, so I was forced to resort to a pair of sneakers and a cheap pair of bargain store sandals I brought because they are easy to slip on and off for late night treks from my tent to the bathroom. I also have taken with me an old TV tray to use as a night table in my tent. This time the plastic clips that hold the tray to the stand broke (three of them), so I was unable to use it. So that was two items that failed this year. Don’t things usually happen in threes? Well, I thought, what else could go wrong?

So it went until Wednesday. It seems that around 2:30, while I was in the chestnut session, there was quite a rain and wind storm. It has stopped before the session ended, so I trekked over to my tent to check that everything was ok. I noticed right away that something was not right. At first look I thought that one of my metal tent-poles had been displaced. As I worked to correct the problem it became clear that the pole had cleanly broken in two, rendering the tent useless. As I started to move things from the tent into my car, we were hit by another intense rain storm. Everything got soaked.

I got an ok to move into the bunk house. Everything, however, was such a soggy mess that I decided I needed some space to sort things out and spread some things out to dry. I reluctantly decided to get a room at a Super-8 motel in Kingston, the nearest large town about a half hour away. Fortunately, a room was available, so I tried to spread things out as much as I could to dry then drove back to the camp.

I got there just as supper was finishing up. Wednesday night is traditionally ice cream night there, so I grabbed a bowl. That night my supper consisted of a banana and a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Not a healthy supper, but better than nothing and it held me until the late night snack when I was able to put together a sandwich.

After driving back to Kingston, it seemed that nothing was drying very well. The hotel has a guest laundry room, but it was closed from 8:00 PM to 8:00 AM. The night clerk would not make an exception and let me use it for an hour to dry some things, so I had to live with the floor covered with wet things, including my sleeping bag and tent.

On Thursday morning I made it to the camp in time for breakfast. I followed the normal routine, though it was strange to not have my tent to read, rest, or nap in. I tried napping in my car with little success. A jigsaw puzzle that was a community effort in the main hall ended up taking a good portion of my break time. I remembered why I avoid doing such puzzles at home: I have a very difficult time pulling myself away from them. Being very tired I left the camp for Kingston shortly after the Scandinavian jam. I might as well have stayed for the dance and late snack, as I could not get to sleep in the hotel room.

Friday was the last full day of camp. On Friday night each class usually does something for the Friday night review. My Swedish fiddle class played a waltz. The chestnut class played “Petronella”, a very old Scottish dance tune and traditional contra dance. One of the session participants, Paul Rosenburg, is a popular and highly experienced contra caller. He called the dance for a sizable group that wanted to dance it. The dance is still somewhat popular, though called rarely these days at modern contra dances.

After the last late snack, I said my goodbyes to some friends and drove back to Kingston. I decided to forgo the Saturday breakfast in that it would add an extra hour to my trip back home. I would have to drive back to Kingston to pick up I-87. In the morning I packed up my car with things that were still damp or wet. The hotel supposedly included a continental breakfast. The coffee was cold and the cereal stale. I forwent the “free” breakfast and hit the road, stopping at a diner that I knew for a vegetable omelet, toast, potatoes, and hot coffee. A far better breakfast than what was offered at the Super 8.

My usual routine is to stop in Danbury Connecticut for lunch at a large shopping mall just off the highway. Since this mall has an LL Bean store, I decided to do something about my three “fails”. It turned out that the LL Bean store could order a replacement pole for my tent. Much cheaper than buying a new tent. I also picked up a pair of good quality sandals and a camp table that folds up into a surprisingly compact package to replace the TV tray. I then headed to an Italian restaurant nearby for grilled salmon with vegetables and a glass of Pinot Grigio. While the food at camp is quite good, somehow the salmon lunch (the tangy sauce served over the salmon was excellent) with wine struck me as something I needed. For dessert I stopped at an ice cream stand and had a scoop of “bourbon vanilla bean truffle” ice cream. It topped off the salmon nicely, but they charged enough to buy a full gallon of ice cream at a supermarket.

Finally, I headed home, arriving around 6:00. The arrangement with Candlewick was that I would pick her up at noon on Sunday after she had a bath. I got there on time Sunday and Olive was ready. She greeted me as if I had hardly been away, smelling fresh from her bath. The groomer added a note that said “Olive is absolute perfection!” Well, of course. As soon as we got home, she showed her appreciation for the bath by rolling on grass. I was relieved that there was no poop involved. She is sleeping near me as I am writing this, back to normal.

A Spring Hike

My friends Kathryn and Mark live in the Berkshires, the westernmost part of Massachusetts. They have an adorable Corgi mix named Archie, who gets along wonderfully with Olive. Occasionally we get together for a hike in historic and presently bucolic Berkshire County for a hike with our dogs.

Recently there was an organized hike through a nature preserve largely in the town of Great Barrington. I met Kathryn at a supermarket parking log just off the Massachusetts Turnpike (Mark had to work that day). We went to a nearby natural food store and restaurant with outdoor seating for a quick lunch, then off to where people gathered for the hike.

There were a dozen or so people and three dogs, including Olive and Archie. The hike leaders were very knowledgeable about area flora, so that I learned a few things about natural and invasive trees and plants in the area.

Archie was very well behaved off leash. I might have taken Olive off leash, something I have done before with her on hikes, as she stays close to me even without a leash. I opted not to this time, however, as Olive almost immediately made a nuisance of herself pestering people on the hike to toss her sticks. I found that a bit embarrassing, but I think Olive enjoyed herself as much as I enjoyed the hike and catching up with Kathryn.

One of the hike participants gives Olive a treat. Archie is the black dog, while the third dog on the hike is awaiting his treat.

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Speaking of chasing sticks, lately Olive has been obsessed with catching sticks even on short walks around our townhouse complex. Virtually any friendly person we encountered was pestered to throw sticks for her.

I found some commercially made rubber sticks for dogs, shaped to look like a natural stick, at LL Bean and bought one. I liked that it was made of a soft rubber so that I don’t have to worry about it hurting Olive’s teeth or mouth. Now all I have to do on walks when she starts looking around for a stick is to say “let’s go home and get the rubber stick” and she eagerly heads for home.

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In the popular comic strip “Zits”, a teenage boy has decided to start a dog walking business as a summer project. It seems that he is in for more than he bargained for.

I immediately related to this cartoon. Yes, border collies can be pretty lively.

I don't do as much folk dancing as I used to, but the experience comes in handy while walking Olive, particularly when I spin around to avoid getting wrapped up by the leash as the young man in the cartoon is finding himself.

Springtime for Olive

This year I spent Easter Sunday at my aunt’s house in Norwalk, about an hour away from my home. Since my cousin Nancy would be there with her dog Harvey, I opted not to take Olive along. For one it would be too hectic with two dogs there. For another, Harvey came up to my place last year for Easter and it seemed as if the two did not get along very well. There was no real trouble between them, but it was clear that Olive did not relish having another dog in her space. Nancy and I agreed that we handled the whole situation wrong: we should have had Harvey and Olive meet first outside in neutral space, walked them around a bit, let them get to know each other, then bring them into the house. At some time in the future, perhaps next Easter, we will try that.

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On the Wednesday after Easter I took Olive along to visit my elderly cousin Dora. Olive had been along to visit Dora once before, and Dora seemed delighted with Olive. This time Dora’s daughter Patricia stopped by and met Olive. Olive seemed to take to Patricia right away. Patricia immediately remarked on what a beautiful dog Olive is. Olive was in doggie heaven with two new people to fawn over her and make a fuss over her.

Olive with Dora and Patricia

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On Tuesday after Easter I noticed a yellowish discharge from Olive’s left eye. I called the vet’s office on Wednesday and made an appointment for Friday. By Friday it seemed that both eyes were affected. The vet detected an infection, though did not find any damage to Olive’s eyes. I was given eye drops and told to put one drop in her eyes every eight hours for ten days.

Olive seems to be very afraid of thunder. At the slightest rumbling, she will hide under my computer desk, in a corner of the living room, or sometimes in the bathtub (that last one I don’t understand). As it happened, a thunderstorm started just as we pulled into the parking area at the vet’s office. Olive huddled under the dashboard; I had a heck of a time getting her to come out of the car and into the vet’s office. The vet gave me a brochure for a product called Sileo, a mild sedative that is designed and FDA approved as a canine noise aversion treatment. I am holding off for now as it is rarely a problem. If she gets worse during thunderstorms, however, I may have to reconsider.

Wouldn’t you know that at 10:00 p.m., the time I had set to give her eye drops, a thunderstorm started again. Right on cue. Olive hid again under my computer desk. Unfortunately, there was not enough room for me to hold her and draw her eyelash up to place the drops. Finally, I had to drag her out into the open and by a miracle got the eye drops in. The poor dog seemed terrified and immediately scooted back under the desk. I petted her and tried to sooth her, then had to leave her there so I could get some sleep. The next morning, she was in one of her normal sleeping places and perfectly fine. She was much more cooperative (though not fully) when I gave her the 6:00 a.m. drops.

I am happy to say that there seems to have been improvement after only one day of the eye drops. There was no yellow discharge this morning, and Olive seemed livelier than the past few days. Well, there is normal dog lively as she was the past few days and there is Olive lively.

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A few examples of border collie humor that I collected over the past few weeks.

Well, how else are the sheep going to know what to do?

As I have said before, if dogs don't go to heaven, I want to go where my dog is going.

Border collies are smart enough to keep up with the latest technology.

Socks with Stripes?

Last Friday I was out for a walk with Olive when I noticed her limping. A closer look revealed that she had broken a dew claw again and was bleeding. I got her home by the most direct route and called the vet. It was late in the day, but the vet staff agreed to look at her leg. Fortunately, all she needed was to have the nail trimmed and bandaged. I was not charged nearly as much as I feared. The wound healed well over the weekend, but I thought it interesting that her bandage made her look as if she was wearing red and white striped socks.

Don't you just love socks with stripes?

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We seem to be making some progress with Olive’s training. When we play Frisbee in the back without a leash she has always tended to stay in the area behind my house, though occasionally she will see one of the neighbors (or their kids) and run over looking for someone different to play with. The last few times that has happened I yelled for her to “get back here:”, and she obeyed. Well, that’s some progress.

Little by little she seems to be learning the names of her toys. Her “squeaky” is a small rubber dog that squeaks. Her “dragon” is a green plush dragon toy, also with a squeak. Both were given to Olive in December by neighbors. Her “ball”, “big ball”, and “Kong” have long been among her favorite toys. She also was given a squeaky plush monkey by some neighbors, but I only let her play with that when I am around, as it was made to be a kid’s toy rather than a dog toy. Seeing my cousin’s dog tear apart a similar toy, and a warning that small children should not play with it unsupervised, made me leery of letting Olive playing with it unsupervised.

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With all the talk in the news about building a border wall, I finally found a proposed border wall I could support.

Now this is a border (collie) wall I can support!