Kermit the Frog singing The Rainbow Connection started rolling through my head for no reason at all today.
Don't you just love that song? You can't help but feel happy when you listen to it.
Now I have to watch The Muppet Movie when I get home today.
Had a good time meeting up with people at Mama Brown's BBQ over in Mt. Pleasant. It's not a fancy place (the good BBQ places never are), but the food is tasty and they offer a number of dining options ranging from small to large plates and the all-you-can-eat buffet.
I went for the all-you-can-eat option.
Round 1: Pulled pork (vinegar based sauce), mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and red rice.
Round 2: More pulled pork, ribs, more mashed potatoes and some other kind of rice.
Afterwards, the Digitel folks recorded an episode of their DigiCast podcast and interviewed Chrys, the man behind LowcountryBBQ.org.
Based on this first visit, I'd say it's hard to leave this place being anything but fat and happy.
It's taken a few months, but Barkley has finally been adopted and is heading off with a nice couple to his new home in West Virginia.
I had planned on taking a bit of a break before taking on a new foster, but it looks like I'll be taking on Sazy instead.
Sazy makes foster dog #4 since I started doing the fostering thing. She appears to be some kind of lab mix although what the other part(s) of her might be I can't really tell. She's pretty tall and big bodied, but to me, seems to have kind of a smallish elongated head for her body size.
So far she's settled in pretty nicely with the other dogs, although she doesn't seem to like when they come sniffing too close. No dust ups yet, just a bit of soft growling.
Overall, she's a pretty sweet dog, likes to go exploring and walks pretty well on a leash but could use some additional leash training.
Over the next few days I'll work on figuring out what kind of training I'll need to do with her. She knows Sit but doesn't seem to know down. Seems to know her name reasonably well.
Spent most of the afternoon at the WHLR booth in Marion Square for SEWE. It was a pretty fun time. Everybody stopped to see the puppies, so people traffic tended to jam up going past the WHLR booth.
This wasn't necessarily a bad thing. There were a lot of people that stopped by to ask about our dogs and adopting. 8 adoption applications, 3 foster and 3 volunteer applications were submitted since yesterday. That's a big win for WHLR.
The puppies were naturally the stars of the show.
There was also some more exotic wildlife at Marion Square
Check out the rest of the photos here. If you're wandering through Marion Square tomorrow, stop by the WHLR booth and meet some of the dogs!
One of the great things about fostering dogs is that every dog becomes a learning experience. Each of the fosters I've had so far has taught me something different about the foster dog, about my dogs, and about myself.
Hannah was my first foster and I was learning just what it meant to be a dog foster. The first few days were definitely an adjustment for me *and* the dogs, and for a while I started to wonder if I could really do the fostering thing. One day when I had Simba out in the back yard, he ran to the back porch and sprung both Nala and Hannah from "jail". Hannah took off running into the woods out back and I thought "Oh, crap". I scrambled to round Nala and Simba back up so I could go look for Hannah, but thankfully she decided to come back. Hannah turned out to be a really sweet dog that thrived on some much needed attention and training, and after a few months went to a home with a great family near Rock Hill, SC. I came very close to deciding to keep Hannah, and if it wasn't for the call that said a family was interested in adopting her, I quite likely would have kept her and become another foster failure.
My second foster, Mel, has so far been the most challenging dog I've had. Extremely shy, timid and wary of new people, it took an hour of gentle coaxing and lots of Milk Bones to get her to approach me when I first met her. After that she grafted on to me and never wandered very far away. The dogs also accepted her much quicker than I expected, and it was a lot of fun watching the three of them play together. I spent the next few months researching dog behaviour, trying to learn techniques I could use to get her to be less timid around people. Nala and Simba, well, they learned how to jump a meter into the air when they see me. Thanks to frequent trips to the dog park and the helpful dog owners there, I managed to get her to start getting closer to people and even letting them pet her. Mel ended up gong to a nice home in Virginia about four months after I got her.
Foster #3, Barkley, was just one big lovable goofball. He made you think of a very tall, skinny lab or a very small Great Dane, but his attitude was all puppy. You couldn't help but smile and laugh whenever you saw him entertaining himself with a Nylabone or running after a ball. Barkley wasn't exactly the brightest dog in the pack, but he was definitely easy to love and lived completely in the moment. Training Barkley was an exercise in patience because he was so food focused he usually wouldn't associate getting a treat with what he was doing to get the treat. Meal times were always entertaining, and Barkley always treated each meal like it was the first one he'd had in days. Everybody who met Barkley was always surprised to learn that there hadn't been much interest in him for so long. Eventually though, a very nice couple from West Virginia ended up adopting him and he's living a pretty good life in his new home now. I think Barkley might have been another one I might have kept if nobody showed up to adopt him.
I had planned on taking a break after getting Barkley adopted, but ended up taking on Sazy as foster #4 the day Barkley left. Didn't know anything about Sazy when I got her other than she was a fence jumper. She's a tall lab mix (I'm thinking lab/shepherd), very affectionate and loves to worm her way into your lap. It wasn't until a week after I got her that I learned Sazy has incontinence problems due to her spay operation (I was starting to suspect a UTI), and is also heartworm positive. Dealing with the incontinence has meant a lot of wiping up, cleaning the crate and beds, lots of Nature's Miracle, and sessions hosing her off outside. Sazy is not fond of being sprayed off with cold water. Even with the constant cleanup, it's hard not to love Sazy with half of her curled up in your lap. Sazy loves to run, and loves to go chasing after balls and other dogs at the dog park. She may also be the shortest foster I've had if the people who filled out an application for her during SEWE are still interested in taking her.
Fostering dogs has proven to be one of the more rewarding tasks I've undertaken. Every dog is different, and every dog has something new to teach me. In return, I've discovered that I have a lot I can give to a dog while it's waiting for a forever home.
So with the demise of PalmOS and related Palm gadgetry, I now find myself forced to make a decision regarding my future handheld gadgets.
What do I get next when my T3 dies?
8 years ago when I got my first PDA, a Handspring Visor Platinum, I didn't think I would be using it for much other than keeping track of the occasional appointment and contact info. It didn't take very long for my Visor to become a pretty integral part of my daily routine and for me to become more than a little dependent on it. The dependency only grew when the Visor was replaced with a Tungsten T3.
Now all of the handheld form factor gadgets out there are some kind of cell phone type device. I've survived this long without a cell phone and really don't feel any urgent desire to get one. I really don't need another monthly bill right now either.
What am I looking for in a handheld device? Basically something that will do everything that I can do with PalmOS 5. PIM apps (calendar, to-do, contacts, notes) are a requirement. Some kind of simple database app would also be very nice. Has to turn on quickly and have good battery life (5+ hours continuous use). When I first got my T3, I poo-poo'd wireless, but now I'm thinking it might be nice to have in a handheld.
There's the UMPC world, but those things are pretty freaking expensive and they're not really geared toward what I want out of a handheld device. Plus I'd probably be stuck running some variant of Windows and having to use Outlook for the PIM functions that I want. *gag*.
I suppose I could cruise EBay and gather up a stockpile of T3s or T5s to keep me going for the next few years. I could possibly be convinced to consider an Apple iPod Touch too. Maybe it's time I entered the cell phone world?
I've been getting fairly regular updates from Barkley's new owners about his antics, most of which make me laugh (BTW, if you've ever adopted a rescue dog that lived in a foster home, send them updates...we love to know that a dog we fostered is doing well).
Being a pretty tall dog, counter surfing comes pretty easy for Barkley. I always kept an eye on him when he was in the kitchen and made sure there wasn't anything edible within reach. It didn't keep him from trying to counter surf though. At his new home, he seems to be having a little more success.
this is what happened to the flour i'd spread out on the counter to knead dough ...
when i pointed to the counter and said "no!! no! no barkley!" he just wagged and wagged his tail
I've always been fascinated by network node diagrams and seeing how things are connected. This is my Facebook network generated by an application called Nexus.
According to an article in last week's Post & Courier, the city wants to spend $800k for pedestrian and bicycle lanes for Highway 17 bridge that takes traffic from West Ashley into downtown Charleston.
This is fantastic news, and a much needed route for pedestrians and cyclists to commute between downtown and West Ashley. If the pedestrian/bike lanes follow the proposal outlined in a 2007 feasability study (PDF document) then it would also provide that "last mile" connection with the West Ashley Greenway.
Earlier this year (amid some fuss from a few people that City Council didn't have anything better to do), Charleston City Council saw fit to amend the city's leash ordinances, which become effective March 1, 2009.
Significantly, the new ordinances remove the provision that allowed animals to run at large as long as they were under voice control. Now animals must be under physical control or leashed, with a maximum leash length of 16' (~4.8m).
Further, the new ordinance gets more specific about where animals can and can't be.
No person owning or having possession, charge, custody or control of any animal shal cause, permit or allow the animal to stray or in any manner to run at large in or upon any public street, sidewalk, athletic field, athletic facility, or park or upon the property of another, if such animal is not under a physical restraint or a leash so as to allow the animal to be controlled.
No animal of any kind shall be permitted on any tennis court, fenced recreation field, or athletic field at any time, even if such animal is physically restrained, leashed or otherwise controlled.
Fortunately, the city has opened up several areas as off-leash areas in addition to the three existing city operated dog parks (with possibly more dog parks to come).
While in dog runs or off-leash areas, animals are required to remain under sufficient strict voice control, and handlers must abide by the rules posted at each site. Owners are reminded that they are required to clean up after their pets. During the first two weeks of March, the City's Animal Control officers will be focused on educating off-leash area users. Afterwards, violators will be subject to fines for violations.
That means watch your dog, control your dog, and pick up after your dog.
I guess I'll have to add these new spots to my dog park tour series now.
Tonight's meetup at The Glass Onion was pretty well attended, with about 21 people showing up. Seemed like everybody had a pretty good time, and it's always nice to see new faces at the meetups.
The food? Oh yeah, it was really good. This is the braised pork belly and grits that I had. It was all kinds of yummy.
See the rest of the pictures over in my gallery.
Thanks to Chrys and LowcountryBBQ.org, a group of blogging and tweeting BBQ enthusiasts is starting to grow. Tonight some of us converged at JB's Smokeshack tonight for good company, conversation and some mighty tasty BBQ.
Can't really explain why I've been here so long without making a trip to JB's until recently. Like most BBQ joints around here, it doesn't really look like much, but what it's lacking in appearance is more than made up for by the food.
The buffet comes in two sections, and it's hard not to make at least two trips up to the buffet. Everything is drool-inducing good. At $8 ($11 for dinner), it's tough to find a deal like this that's much better.
To go along with the pile of smoked meat on your plate, there's a variety of sauces on the table. The brisket carving guy recommended the mild sauce to go along with the brisket. Not too much of it though he said, or it will mask the flavour of the brisket. He was pretty spot on too, although I would expect that he knows what he's talking about.
Definitely a place where you'll never leave hungry (unless you're a vegetarian).
The IOP Bark Park is a decently sized fenced in dog park located just behind the IOP Recreation Center, and so far is the only dog park that features a separate small dog area.
The Bark Park isn't very large, about the same size as Ackerman dog park. It's fairly wide open though and offers a lot of room for dogs to run around. Benches provide plenty of places for people to sit, and several trees provide shady spots during hot weather.
The small dog area is a long narrow strip adjacent to the main dog park. There were no small dogs around when I was there, so I'm not sure how often it gets used. Looks like it would be a good place for people with smaller dogs that don't want to risk them getting bowled over by bigger dogs. Most of the small dogs I've seen though play just fine with big dogs.
There's no water fountain installed in the dog park, but a large bucket in each area provides water. The water comes from a hose running from the Rec center to the dog park. Filling the bucket requires walking out of the dog park over to the building to turn the water on.
There are a few sandy areas where dogs can plop down to relax, cool down or work out some of their digging urges.
See the rest of the IOP Bark Park photos in my photo album.
A Google Map to the IOP Bark Park.
