Tree Dragging and Other Fun Weekend Games

So ... we finished splitting and stacking the wood for burning this year. Of course, the spot out back where we pile the green wood to season was empty, so DH had the urge to fill it. He took down three trees this weekend. He has his eye on two more in our backyard, and my SIL has three or four she wants taken down at her house.

I try to remind him that, although HE may have time off on the weekends, I don't. So, my days were filled with humping wood and branches, my evenings and morning with computer work.

Still, it was a gorgeous weekend. I did fit a little time off in -- went to the dog park both Saturday and Sunday. One of my favorite pastimes is watching dogs interact with one another. It's incredible how the bad energy from one dog affects an entire group.

We were there alone with Dakota at first, then a lady came with two big dogs: a red boxer mix and what looked like a boxer/mastiff or boxer/pit bull in tan. The second, tan dog was a foster-to-potential-adopt they'd only had for a week, so they weren't sure how he'd behave, though they'd had no trouble with his interaction with other dogs up to this time.

The first dog was clearly alpha. He wasn't mean, just dominant. He made sure Dakota understood (she did!) then went around on his merry way. The second, tan dog was still young (just under a year) and only wanted to play, play, play. He had a great energy and he and Dakota had a blast.

Then came a lady with a black lab mix who was VERY submissive, but also nervous. Still, all four were getting along fine once the lab realized no one was going to eat her.

Then came trouble. An English Sheepdog who was still young (just a year) and felt as though he should be alpha dog. He came in excited, barking and basically telling everyone how it was. The first thing he did was find the little, nervous lab and start barking at it non-stop, constantly in its face. The lab tried to go away, tried hiding under the table, behind people's legs, whatever, but the dog wouldn't leave it alone. When it started showing teeth, though, it was time to intercede (and yeah, I kinda get involved in other people's dogs).

The first red boxer, though, had had enough. And when the sheepdog decided to assert himself to the tan dog (in the red dog's "pack") the real fun began. No real fight, but some very aggressive posturing. Over and over. The owners of the boxer put him on-leash (as they should have), but it took having the sheepdog leave before things settled.

I suspect this happens in groups of people, too, only we don't have the uninhibited responses that dogs do. We understand we can't just get in a person's face and say "I don't like you." and follow them around, shoving them until they understand their place.

I prefer dogs.

And now, I'm out of time already. Hope you all had great weekends! Tomorrow, a NaNoWriMo discussion.

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You Are Reflective

You are very analytical, and you rarely panic. You know that nothing is as big of a crisis as it first seems. You like all of your stuff to be in its place. It drives you crazy to be disorganized. Sometimes your strong sense of responsibility leads to frustration. You take too much on. You are very introverted, and you prefer to blend in whenever possible.

The Card Test

HAHAHAHA... yeah, mostly. Not a big "blender" but othewise, right on.