July 4th ended up being a very busy day. I had an early volunteer shift that had morphed into doing animal care for the whole place (instead of just the birds) — for me that adds more than an hour to my shift (I’m not terribly efficient with the other animals because I don’t work with them all that often). I had to finish a school assignment that — technically — was not due until today, but I’ve had a bunch of other, unrelated stuff on my plate and just didn’t have time to mess around with it. I have a standing date on Fridays to talk to my mom, and we had a lovely conversation.
And then Lu and I got to spend some time in the evening with friends. It was a comfortable day outside (thankfully), so getting her in the car and spending time in their backyard was lovely. This is her after spending a few hours playing with her special friends Jennifer and Kevin (special friends because she loves them unequivocally, and loves to play with them — she’s more wary around new-to-her people and men):
Lu needed a nap, but she wasn’t *sure* she needed a nap.
We got home kind of early to make sure we were tucked in before the fireworks got going. We’re lucky that (so far, knock wood) Lu hasn’t shown any reaction to boom booms, other than to make a note and go back to sleep, but I wanted to make sure that she was at home and could spend time in her crate if something had changed between last year and this year… thankfully, her experience of the fourth this year was similar to her first two years, in that she could not have cared less about what was going on outside. (I’m not sure how we have lucked out on this front, but I’m grateful we have… at least so far.)
Lu’s special friend Kevin is great on the grill, and I got sent home with a care package that included some bell pepper slices and grilled corn on the cob. Last night for dinner, I “repurposed” both and made a coconut curry with tofu and vegetables, which I topped with chili oil.
YUM.
It. Was. DELICIOUS. And there are leftovers!
The world feels heavy right now; it was a nice reprieve from (waves arms) everything to spend some quality time in community with friends. The leftovers were a nice (and tasty) reminder of our time together.
INFO 282: Seminar in Library Management: Marketing Yourself in a Networked World
OK, so, here’s the thing.
I absolutely suck at this… “marketing yourself” business. This is entirely by design. If you grew up in a particular kind of patriarchal (more than a little bit misogynistic), conservative, Christian household, you may have a similar mental block.
Some of the statements I internalized:
“Work hard, and let the work speak for itself.”
“Don’t call attention to yourself. Be humble.”
“Always obey your elders/those in authority. They are where they are for a reason. Learn from them.”
When I tried to explain this class to my mother (who is one of the most intelligent, thoughtful, competent people I know), this was her response: “I don’t understand. Why would you need that?”
(Because cultural/familial/religious standards generally don’t emerge spontaneously in one generation.)
I mean, sure, there is some truth in all of these statements. it is important to produce work that is useful in some way, and that you’re proud of. Humility is an important attribute to cultivate, no matter who you are. And yes, we should all be willing to learn from those who have more (or more relevant) experience.
But… statements like these can be used to groom people, particularly young women, to believe that they don’t have any agency, that their value is determined by others, and because of those two conditions, their ability of survive in the world is determined by someone else. If, say, a young woman finds herself working for a verbally abusive person with more relevant experience, and end up working for that person for more than a decade… well, let’s just say it leaves a mark.
So in addition to a course about XML (well-formed vs. valid, namespaces, schema… anyone?), I’ll be working on this for the next several weeks. I suspect the XML will be more technical, but the self-marketing will be more… complicated.
To do the work of INFO 282, this blog may be undergoing a radical shift over the next several weeks. So before we get to that, here’s a photo of beautiful and talented Lucy:
When you’re waiting (im)patiently for a new sportsball and your person is TOO SLOW.
Not sure I’ll publish this, or that any of it actually needs to be said, but it’s 9:22p (and, now that I’m old, nearly my bedtime), and I’m thinking about the holidays, expectations, and how to deal…
My fabulous and talented husband is just not into the holidays. Like me, he grew up with a single parent, and for their family, there were more pressing priorities most years.
My family was very into the holidays, but mostly as a performance art. There was church, a tree, a big meal, presents, the whole nine yards. There was also an enormous amount of stress, particularly for my mother, because the expectations, particularly for a single mom raising two children while working full time (and going to school, for a while), were unrealistically high. None of us were much help, so it was hard for her. (Time has dramatically changed the composition of our family — and as grown people, my brother and I contribute a lot more — the holidays are much smaller, and in many ways simpler.)
I actually like Christmas. I like evergreens and lights, red bows, giving presents, making a nice meal and sharing it with whomever. Over the Covid years, I put up lights and trees before Thanksgiving.
If your jackalope isn’t wearing fairy lights, do you even *have* a jackalope?
This year, not so much. 2023 has been a long haul — mostly it was good, but kind of intense. I wasn’t feeling great for a big part of it — not sick, thankfully, but in some pain and generally feeling meh. Add a couple of big-ish procedures and a round of icky medicine, and I’m ready to not see my doctors for a while.
And then, in what seemed like an omen, there was this:
The ornament thing just makes me laugh, because right now, it’s so on brand for this pup. She’s all joyful chaos, and in a way, the ornament is much more reflective of who she is after she “modified” it.
All this to say that Christmas 2023 is going to be mostly a non-event in this household. A tree would be too stressful with Lucy (aka the menace like Dennis), I don’t have the brain space to do a bunch of decorating, and fabulous and talented husband doesn’t seem to notice. Maybe everyone will be more excited about things next year, and maybe Lucy will mellow a little bit? Stay tuned!
The day itself is going to be really busy anyway. My volunteer shift falls on Christmas this year (like the Covid years!). I get to feed the classroom critters along with the raptors, and my fabulous and talented husband is helping me cope beaks and trim talons (and replace some cuffs that didn’t last as long as they should have), so it will be a significant investment of time. Then we’re having supper with some friends who suffered a terrible loss a couple of months ago. We’ll support our friends, and contribute to the Christmas meal with dairy free green bean casserole (if you sub cashew cream for heavy cream, you’re good to go) and a root vegetable tian (also dairy free, subbing the parmesan with a little bit of nutritional yeast).
Then maybe there will be time for some rest…
Speaking of which, it really is my bedtime now, so off I go.
My mom texted me last night, “are you enjoying the break from school?”
Too busy.
Finished school (research paper + infographic + blog post)… I did not procrastinate this semester (unusual), and it still walloped me, because everything ended up coming due over the course of five days.
Fabulous and talented husband caught Covid. He travelled across the country twice this year, to spend time at big sporting events… nothing. Went to the gym after we got back from Portland after Thanksgiving… bam! Poor guy. It’s day 15 and he’s still in a mask at home. (We were both boosted in early October, so his course has been reasonably mild, if long lasting.)
Surgical procedure for me (after consulting with my doctor’s office about Covid exposure), involving stirrups and sedation… unpleasant, but done with (and no cancer!), so that’s good.
Taking care of the household and animals, and cooking and shopping, because somehow I have managed to avoid the Covid (for now, knock wood). Trying to keep up with this in the days after surgery was… challenging… because I don’t know if you know this, but anesthesia makes you kind of loopy, and the stress and anxiety leading up to it did not help.
Volunteering (independently, because for the first time in a while I’m not actively training someone), and a volunteer meeting (Zoom), and a subsequent follow up set of documents about handling new (to you) birds. A dentist appointment (after consulting with the office about Covid exposure). A haircut (in a mask). Christmas planning and shopping. Shipping Christmas gifts to family… catching up from having to ditch last week. My face-to-face appointments are done for a while (thank goodness), and I have one more meeting this morning (via Zoom), and then, maybe I can enjoy time off from school.
Or take a nap, and then enjoy time off from school.
Maybe kick the ball(s) around with this bundle of energy:
Lucy hanging out on the steps… just waiting to find a squirrel being out of line.
Stan (the Harris’s Hawk) waiting for the kids to show up.
Stan and I went to Deer Lake with six other OLC folks (teachers and interns) to spend the day with the Deer Park School District’s fifth graders. They spent the day rotating through seven stations of science-based activities.
I’m just a volunteer, and I have to say, I do not know how “real” teachers do this every day. Give these folks a raise. For real. Between the teaching and the driving (~100 miles, round trip from my house), it was an exhausting day.
Fifth graders are, on the whole, amazing people. They’re smart, curious, and observant, and they ask great questions. (I suspect fifth grade is just before most of the massive social pressure kicks in.) I have a prepared presentation, but if I’m with a group on a field trip (in other words, no curriculum requirements have to be met), and they want to talk about something else related to the bird I’m using, I’m all in for that. Those are some great conversations. Yeah, ok, sure, the kids can be all over the place, but geez, if they’re out at a lake on a beautiful Friday around the end of the school year? Entirely understandable.
Stan was, as always, completely charming. Harris’s Hawks are more social than other birds of prey, and Stan (a retired falconer’s bird with a significant (healed) wing injury) seems to like being the center of attention… so long as everybody keeps their distance. He spent the day preening, and rousing, and jumping onto the ground to foot something, sometimes stopping to watch the kids watch him.
Being outdoors means there are lots of distractions, but there’s also some really great stuff going on! In the morning, there were crows looking (and sounding) like they were getting set to mob Stan (and me), so it was a relief when the kids got there. There was a bumblebee wandering around the space we were in — I suspect we were near the bee’s nest, so the kids and I got to talk about bumblebee life cycles, and how to respect a bumble when they look like they’re wandering around near the ground. A pair of local bald eagles made an appearance around lunchtime. I got there a little bit early, and saw a great blue heron hunting at the lake’s edge (and later some red-winged blackbirds mobbing the heron as they flew across the lake).
It was a great — and exhausting day. And then yesterday, Lucy (the menace like Dennis) “graduated” from puppy kindergarten, part 2. We’re laying a foundation for recall, and waiting/staying (yesterday I learned that those are two very different ideas), and learning how to greet people without knocking them over (work in progress, but improving!). She loves training — the interaction, and the treats — and I’m starting to be able to use a short session of whatever we’re working on to redirect her when her short-circuiting puppy brain gets all wound up.
Lu was so wary when she came to us almost four months ago, I was concerned that she was going to be afraid of other people or dogs. So far it does not look like that’s the case, although she needs a minute to warm up to new people or situations. I’m not sure she’ll be a dog who will tolerate random strangers walking up to her for pets — she has to observe and assess the situation in a way and place she feels safe in — so we’ll have to advocate for her in those instances.* Once she’s determined that everything is OK, she’s all in. (She starts wiggling and whining if she just hears Allie, one of our puppy-K teachers.)
Lucy this morning, just before she came inside, counter-surfed my journal, and chewed up the back cover… sigh. (I’m bummed, but it was my fault. I had to go to the bathroom and I left my journal within reach on the dining room table.)
The thing about puppy school is that it’s work for everybody. Lucy is almost seven months old. Her attention span is short. Trying to pay attention to the wonderful, can’t recommend them enough trainers and keep track of Lucy for an hour and a half is… something. So a session of puppy school, after a long teaching day… I’m going to need a minute.
(One of the things I’m excited to work on is teaching Lucy how to give hugs, so she can have the experience of an intimate greeting in a gentle and orderly way. That’s going to take some work, but it will be worth it.)
* On IG, MyBoyRudder’s person Maddie said something I’ve been thinking about a lot: everyone would be better off if we assume that no one wants anything to do with our dogs. We’re working with Lucy so that she will be attentive to us when we’re out in the world — we want her to notice, and be aware of, other people and other dogs, but to turn her attention back to us. Our goal is to work with her so we can act calmly in tandem, even when other people or dogs can’t. If someone wants Lucy’s attention, they can proactively ask for it and we can mediate the interaction in a way that’s safe for them and for her. We have a long way to go to get there (we’re starting by asking her to sit and look at us when she hears the phrase “can I pet your dog?”)… we will work on it.
We started puppy kindergarten, part 2, yesterday… it was a trip.
Lucy was so excited to be back amongst her best friends in the whole world, Michelle and Allie (the trainers), and she wanted so badly to meet the other dogs (one of which looks like a little bit smaller version of Lu!).
It’s not great to have a dog that’s so excited she can’t focus, but 1) she’s 6 months old, so she’s still very much a puppy, and 2) given that she was found, abandoned, in a laundry basket, our earlier concern was that she would grow up to be afraid of/reactive to everything. Thankfully, that’s not the case.
She still has no recall, loves to counter surf, steals the TV remote (and shoes, and things off of tables and desks) — everything is a game to her. And she’s overwhelmed with excitement when meeting new people and dogs. We definitely have a ways to go before she’s ready for primetime.
But, even in her excited state, she can sit, lay down, sit pretty, twirl, and boop (touch her nose to our hand in exchange for a treat). She thinks that training is a very fun thing to do, and we’re working on the first part of place (having her go to designated spot and sit — we’ve been working with a low agility platform, and the goal is to be able to get her on the scale at the vet’s office, among other things).
Lucy graduated from puppy kindergarten last Saturday. She’s very good at sitting, laying down, giving a paw (without punching anyone), and, if you have the right treats in your hand (string cheese), she will follow you to hell and back.
She has less than zero recall. Despite being very good at jumping onto the couch and the bed, she refused to step on platforms. She’s almost done teething (thank goodness!), and is getting better at not chomping on hands, but she still has a ways to go on that front. She’s still sometimes doing that puppy thing where she’ll go and spend some quality time outside, with us or on her own, and then she’ll head inside… and poop. And, because she’s a 5-month-old puppy (almost), she’s out of her damn mind… the poor girl doesn’t have two brain cells to rub together.
Does it feel warmer to you? Because we’re heating the outside now!
We’ve been assured that this is perfectly normal pre-adolescent puppy stuff, that it will pass, and that she’s developing as she should be. She’s sleeping through the night (from 11p to 6:30a). Her appetite is settling; she has decided that she doesn’t need a separate lunch, in part, I think, because we do 5 – 10 minutes (closer to five minutes, until she gets bored) of lunchtime training with superfun treats.
Our next training class (puppy kindergarten, part 2!) starts in mid-May, so we’re going to work on some leash training and reinforcing some of the things she’s good at… and I just bought some entry-level training equipment so we can have some fun in the backyard.
We love her… I love her. I have to admit, though, that puppyhood is hard, and there are some really unfun things about it.
All that said, I’m not sure how anyone could resist this sweet, funny, very good girl.
Lu loves her blue dragon stuffie. (It was one of her first toys, and it still has its squeaker!)
We wanted a puppy so the dog would learn to leave the bird alone. As it turns out, the dog is a reasonably quick study. The bird, however, seems determined to put herself in the puppy’s way.
LuLu the wonder mutt is a mystery no more! We have always known she is at least part Lab; in profile, she looks like a lab… and she likes to spend some time every day playing ball, no matter the weather conditions.
We suspected there might be some border collie, given her white accents. I thought that she might have some terrier going on there because of her appearance head on (also, in this region, it is unusual for a pound puppy of unknown origins to not be at least part pit bull).
Carmen Yount 