Can you Touch it with a Stick?

We've been training Snickers since Saturday on the Invisible Fence. I think I mentioned previously that it was finally time to get it going since Snickers feels comfortable visiting the neighbors for any various reasons: stealing toys out of their garage, knocking on their deck door to see if anyone wants to come out to play, and also - relieving himself in their yard.

For the first three days he trains with the protector on so that he hears the beeps, and begins to learn to back away. Today was the first day to take off the protector and allow him to be shocked for the first time. I am proud (a proud mother) to say that he did not get shocked at all today!!! The training manual suggests having one person hold the leash while another person leaves the free area. The dog is supposed to follow the person out of the free area, to experience the shock for the first time and know that is why he's been trained the last few days to back away from the beeping. Snickers ALWAYS follows everything and anything out of the yard. I was the bait this evening......and MUCH to our surprise HE heard the beeping and stopped in his tracks.

What does this mean? Well - we are proud of him - and we'll have to add on more distractions in the next few days to test his obedience. I'm thinking he is going to have to discover exactly why he shouldn't pass the beeping to fully understand. Anyway - we'll use balls, toys, neighbors, and other dogs as bait. Next we will move on to letting him off the leash to have free reign under supervision. Exciting times at the Harder Household!! :)

I was thinking of the electric fence down at my grandma and grandpa's farm - it keeps the cattle, pigs in their restricted areas. I can remember growing up that we learned very, very early on - to NOT touch the electric fence. I always steered clear - typically being lifted over the fence when I wanted to "help" with feeding, or play in the corn bin. As I got older I know I began to wonder what exactly it would feel like to be shocked, or "Can you Touch it with a Stick?" The answer to that question, of course, is no you cannot touch it with a stick..... still get shocked!! It's a weird feeling, not really painful - just surprising. So - I became an expert electric fence hurdler - after all the most fun always happened on the other side of the electric fence. (Playing in the creek, looking for old forts, following my brothers around, and looking for creatures)

Was it fool-proof (or shall I say cow-proof)? Nope, there would be those nights we'd pull into the lane and there a cow would be staring back into the headlights. Soooooo, I suspect Snickers will have to test it out himself - and probably escape once or twice before it is all said and done. We'll keep you updated!!

Lucky Number 7

I have been tagged by Heather to tell 7 random things about myself - and just for fun they will all relate to my brothers. I'm also supposed to tag 7 other people, but since I do not have that many fellow bloggers - I will just skip that part. :)

1. I used to get up at the crack of dawn to watch cartoons on Saturday mornings- actually before the crack of dawn. I was an early-bird!! I was up so early one morning that my brothers were sneaking back into the house while I was watching cartoons. I wasn't sure why they were crawling past the living room!

2. J&J (my brothers) told me that our dad was the Incredible Hulk - and I believed them. Don't make him mad!! They also told me that the boogie man lived in our attic!!!

3. My brother, Jamey, taught me how to ride a bike (no training wheels!). He ran around the entire block with me - which was actually a much bigger block than what you are probably picturing.

4. We played a lot of WAR in the woods behind our house with the other neighborhood kids - we had our own forts that we built...and I don't remember the rules - but I do remember it all went south when the older neighborhood boys brought out their Chinese Stars and threatened REAL violence.

5. My brother, Aaron, "made" me watch a LOT of MacGyver (ok, I liked it, too)!!! I'm certain that I have seen every episode of Macgyver - I can even tell you his first name, Angus. Along the same lines - I can name most of the WWF wrestlers from the late 80's early 90's - I thought all families in America were watching the WWF!! "To all my little Hulkamaniacs, say your prayers, take your vitamins and you will never go wrong. "

6. When all of my friends were listening and dancing along to NKOTB (New Kids On The Block).... I wasn't..... my brothers told me they were gay, so I never listened to them.

7. We walked beans every summer down at my grandparents farm.... I always had special treatment by grandpa the first few years - I was so young! Some of the special treatments included: extra water breaks, snack breaks, - and probably some easier rows. (If you have no idea what walking beans is - to sum it up you have 2 rows of beans on either side of you and you must make sure all 4 rows are clear of weeds as you walk through the entire field. This is basically extinct because of pesticides that now kill the weeds without effecting the beans) Anyway - I can recall a certain time when I was way ahead on my rows and one of them hollered up to me, "Jill you missed a weed" - to which I turned around and the biggest stalk of corn you've ever seen was way back in my rows. So, I headed back to it - only to find that it was a fake. They had thrown a perfect stalk into my rows and managed to get it upright. This trick worked time and time again on almost everyone. We had tons of fun - including seeing who could remember to call first shower, who would get the last weed of the season, and the Golden Hoe award - for the best bean walker...which was created by my Uncle Mike. (I don't think I was ever picked!?!) Sometimes my grandpa would tell me, "there's a button weed just southwest of you." I'd turn in circles, having no idea which way southwest was....and then his next comment "if it was a snake it would have bit you." hahahahaha. Lots, and lots of good memories ---- I can only barely recall the way the wet, muddy jeans clung to the skin and picked up extra weight throughout the morning. And the best part - heading in for lunch and the best smells you've ever smelled coming from grandma's kitchen!!

It is Better to Marry Than to Burn

1 Corinthians 7:9 .... it is better to marry than to burn with passion. ;) Happy Valentine's Day!!!

We have had a very nice Valentine's Day!! I woke up this morning and Dave surprised me with flowers - Tulips - which happen to be my favorite. :) They remind me of Spring - they are such happy flowers. He had hid them in the garage last night, and I had no idea they were even there. Since I am on the road all day, there is no way to "send me flowers".

We have been dating or married for four Valentine's now. It is our tradition to stay in, rather than go out to dinner. My gift is making dinner for Dave. (This is truly a gift because we do not have fancy dinners most nights!! We work hard - if you don't believe me, call and listen to our answering machine!)

For our first Valentine's Day we had only been dating approximately a month. I invited Dave over for dinner (I was living at the Becker house at the time). I made chicken parmesan, and for dessert I decided to make him a special treat. He had told me once that his favorite dessert from his childhood was Brownie Baked Alaska that his mom made for special occasions. So - I went online, found a recipe - and decided that I was being so thoughtful! Unfortunately, this is how it turned out:

I can still remember Dave's first words, "What is that?" hahahahah. It isn't supposed to look like this at all. It is supposed to have a merengue out layer that protects the ice cream, and ever so slightly browns as it cooks. I also found out later that Dave's mom had always made it round, and it kind of looked like an igloo. So, sometime between now and then I have gotten the original recipe from his mom for the Brownie Baked Alaska (BBA).

Fast Forward to our second Valentine's day, and we were living 12hours apart - so I did receive my flowers - but no dinner that year. Fast Forward to our third Valentine's day - married and in PA - a HUGE snowstorm hit and Dave was lucky to make it home that day from Buffalo, NY. (But, that is another story.) We did have a nice dinner that I made that night, and a pretty cake - but no brownie baked alaska.

So, tonight - I decided it was time to surprise Dave with a yummy dinner and the BBA for dessert. Welllllllllllllll - it came pretty close. The merengue is my enemy. I was actually an egg white short, but I didn't think it'd make much of a difference. I'm guessing that is where it all went wrong. The merengue didn't peak, and therefore it dripped right off my Alaska. Dave still enjoyed it - citing that "the brownie and ice cream is his favorite part anyway. Here is what tonight's version looked like:

Oh Well!!! Maybe, the third time will be a charm. I'm sure I just need to master the merengue portion of the recipe.

And, in case you're wondering what a real finished product might look like, here is one from Martha Stewart:

Happy Valentine's To All!!

To Shovel or Not to Shovel?

It snows almost every day here in Southern Michigan. Dave is currently in Chicago for work, and I just got in from shoveling the driveway. We have probably already gotten about 10inches today, and it is still snowing. I believe it is going to snow through the night.

Dave and I both have the same philosophy on shoveling snow --- we have SUV's, therefore it doesn't need to be done. IT will melt when it melts.

The only problem is that guilt puts a damper on our "philosophy" on shoveling. All of our neighbors either shovel or snowblow their driveways....... sometimes they even come over and do ours for us. Great right?? It is very kind.... but now we feel that we must shovel our driveway before someone else feels the need to come and do ours. Should we just share our no-shovel philosophy with them? Probably not.

I went to the Y tonight to the most difficult 60min aerobic class that I have ever been to in my life. I ran into one of our neighbors at the Y and she said she was going to send her husband down tonight or in the morning to snowblow our driveway. SO, when I got home I decided to go out and do it on my own.

So - I feel like I could probably eat anything I wanted at this point....shoveling is hard work. Don't get me wrong - we sincerely appreciate the generosity of our neighbors, and we aren't lazy - we just don't have a legitimate reason TO shovel.

I googled some stats on shoveling, and here is what I have found: The good news is that 15 minutes of snow shoveling counts as moderate physical activity according to the 1996 Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health. We all should aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity of some kind on most days of the week. Brisk walking or social dancing are other ways to fit in moderate physical activity during cold winter months.

The bad news is that researchers have reported an increase in the number of fatal heart attacks among snow shovelers after heavy snowfalls. This rise may be due to the sudden demand that shoveling places on an individual's heart. Snow shoveling may cause a quick increase in heart rate and blood pressure.

One study determined that after only two minutes of shoveling, sedentary mens' heart rates rose to levels higher than those normally recommended during aerobic exercise. Shoveling may be vigorous activity even for healthy college-aged students. A study performed by researchers at North Dakota State University determined that, based on heart rate, shoveling was a moderately intense activity for college-aged subjects most of the time but was vigorous activity during about one-third of their shoveling time of 14 minutes.

Fruity Pebbles & Kleptomania

Soooo - we live in Cereal City..... on any given day you can smell the sweet smell of some of your favorite cereals. Although Fruity Pebbles is a Post cereal, and I'm no longer allowed to eat it (only kidding).... I was pleasantly surprised as I walked into the Y tonight to smell nothing other than Fruity Pebbles all throughout the air. It was awesome. Fruity Pebbles was definitely my favorite childhood cereal. I could eat half a box for breakfast.... let's remember, they are small boxes. hahahaha. I can remember being excited to get out of bed to get up and open a fresh box of Fruity Pebbles. If my brothers were reading this blog, they would tell you that I also slurped my cereal. I think I eventually grew out of this (I did), but I can remember them telling my mom that they couldn't eat breakfast at the same table if I didn't stop slurping. hahahaha. I'm thinking now that it was my innocent way of getting back at them for the beatings, the pillow suffocating, and other gross things that only older brothers do to their younger siblings.

Kleptomania (Greek: κλέπτειν, kleptein, "to steal", μανία, "mania") is an inability or great difficulty in resisting impulses of stealing.

Our dog, Snickers - a kleptomaniac. We still haven't gotten the invisible fence transmitter - we were hoping we could do without it. We will be getting one, very soon, though. It is very cold and snowy here almost every day, so we have been letting Snickers out on his own fairly often. Our neighbors next door like to leave their garage door open fairly often, as well. Snickers has discovered this wonderful treasure. They have 2 younger kids, so there all kinds of treasures inside the garage that he thinks he HAS to have for himself. He has stolen a ball, mittens, stocking cap, socks...and probably other things that we do not know about it. The reason I believe he is a klepto is because of the sheer joy that spreads across his face as he races from their garage back to our yard, as fast as he can, with his new treasure in tow. Unfortunately when he arrives I have to take it from his mouth and ruin his joy, and return the items to their rightful owners. He's going to be so mad when he can't leave the yard anymore!!! It will be nice not to have to worry about our neighbors hating us, though.

Well - that is all for today!

6 Minutes of your Day, 99 Balloons They will Never Forget

What a touching testament to the value of every life....even if it is only 99 balloons worth. Every day is a gift!! I was reading in a magazine recently that if you see a child/person with Down's Syndrome, give them a hug...... because 78% of babies with down syndrome are aborted before they even have a chance at life.