(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Jackal watching my friend eat out of the corner of his eye because he's not supposed to beg. :D

Workout Week Ten

I didn't do anything this week again. I went for a one mile walk yesterday with the dogs, but that's it. I've still not felt great. I think not feeling well has totally derailed me so I'm going to do whatever it takes to get back into the routine of working out. I feel so much better when I do. :)

No Kisses

I worked on Jackal's trick for this month which was supposed to be kisses (a nose touch to cheek, not licking), but I don't think it's going to work. He's never been allowed to touch my face with his mouth or paws his entire life and I just don't think it's a good idea to change that. I'm the type of person who can't stand for a dog to lick me and I think teaching kisses, even as just a nose touch is pushing it. Especially since he gets a little drooly when he's been eating treats and that's gross. He was doing fine with a paper target, when I used it like I did for teaching him to close a door, but he was very reluctant to touch it when it was by my face. I don't really blame him though because he's never been allowed to before. So for this month I think I'm going to reteach stand because he doesn't remember it at all, he never was very good at it and he never knew a cue for it.

Growing

One of my mums looks awesome. The other needs some TLC. I got them repotted so their roots can spread out, so hopefully that will help. Here's the pretty one.

We also spread a ton of grass seed on the lease land and they are sprouting! I got some macro shots of the tiny sprouts.

Workout Week Nine

Week Nine

Strength Training: Tuesday
Yoga/Pilates/Tae Bo: None
Biking: None
Walking/Running: None

Umm . . . I got sick so I basically did nothing. :( I'm feeling a bit better so I'm going to start working out again tomorrow.

Sunday Stills - On the Road

This week's Sunday Stills challenge was to take pictures of roads. I thought it would be too easy and completely boring, but I wanted to do it anyway since I've missed a few weeks. I decided to go for a drive and snap a few photos, thinking two or three would be enough. I took my husband (he drove so I could take pictures) and Jackal along for company and it turned out to be a very relaxing and productive drive. I took 127 pictures! Here are the best ones.

First a picture of Jackal on the way home after we took a walk with a neighbor's horses to visit the cute foals born this year.

He tried to chase down three cute female Beagles so he was panting pretty hard when he got in the car. Brat. :D

I really wasn't expecting roads to be interesting or fun subject matter, but it really was.

This challenge made me slow down and really look for the beauty around me.

And yes there is beauty everywhere, even in roads.

This is actually someone's driveway! Jealous! :D

A picture through the side mirror of Jackal looking back down the road.

Why couldn't this awesome grasshopper have been available during birds and bees/insects week?

I love this old one lane bridge.

Another bigger bridge.

Jackal looks goofy in this shot, but I had to include it.

Thanks for the interesting challenge Ed. I really enjoyed the quality time with my husband and dog. :)

Jackal had so much fun he had to take a nap with me on the couch.
I love how his rope toy and bone are sitting next to the cell phone lol.

I gave him a bath when we got back and he's so soft and cuddly.

Digital Scrapbooking

I love digital scrapbooking because it's the awesome fun of scrapbooking, but for free. :D I've posted some of these before, but it was on my old blog and some of my new followers haven't seen them so I'm posting them again along with the new ones I've done recently. Let me know what you think and which one is your favorite. :) They are in order that I made them. I think I improved with practice. Imagine that hehe. Sorry for the watermark. Also you can click to enlarge.

I did Faran's on Tuesday.

I did these last two on Wednesday.

Video Update Jackal's Monthly Tricks

I posted a video here showing one of our worst training sessions to date and now I have a video update of our progress. This video was done yesterday and there was only one other session between the two videos (see here). It went much better this time! Can you believe the progress he's made in only three sessions?


I'm so proud of my smart boy. :D

Jackal's Trick Progress

Yesterday, I worked on paws in a bucket first. I clicked him once for looking at it and a few times for holding his paw over the bucket and then I only clicked if his paw went in the bucket. It took six or seven clicks before he started putting the paw on the bottom. He was switching out paws, but he's definitely more confident with his left paw. I ended the bucket training with him placing his left paw on the bottom of the bucket and staying there for a second instead of immediately jerking it back out. The bucket is elbow height so it's a little uncomfortable for him. I tilted it slightly to help out, but I want it stable so it doesn't fall over and scare him. I might need to find a shorter one.

Then we worked on Say Your Prayers. When I got his foot stool out he got SUPER excited. Like so excited he wasn't paying attention, so I grabbed some treats, got behind him and placed him in a sit, like I did at the end of the last video. As soon as I had him sitting and held my hand over the stool he plopped both paws on it!! It only took two times before he started doing it without me behind him. He started popping up out of the sit, but all I had to do was remind him to sit and then he'd put his paws up without me having to touch him or get behind him. Such a good boy! I was very happy with his enthusiasm and how much he remembered. It makes me feel better about the crappy session last time. :)

Sorry no video this time. It was a spur of the moment session late at night lol. I was too tire to set up the video camera. :)

Fall Gardening

Since we were unable to make a summer garden we're going to do a fall garden. We're probably coming at it a little late, but I think it will be okay. We're using the area around the front porch for planting. When you're on less than two acres with most of it on a slope you have to get imaginative lol. We were going to plant a big garden on the lease land, but figuring out how to run water and keep deer and other wildlife (not to mention the horses) caused us to run out of time. Hopefully next year. Here are some pictures of our progress so far.

I forgot to get a picture of it when it was still covered in knee high grass,
but this is it after we uprooted the grass with pickaxes and hoes.

Sort of hard to see, but this is some of the grass we uprooted. There was a ton of it.

This is after we put out chicken litter from our chicken coop that
has been aging since our coop was destroyed during early spring.

My husband wet it down really well when we were done.

Next week we will plant (and figure out a way to keep the chickens out of it!).

Workout Week Eight

Week Eight

Strength Training: Monday, Tuesday & Thursday
Yoga/Pilates/Tae Bo: None
Biking: Monday (5mi) & Wednesday (1mi)
Walking/Running: None

My poor dogs. I haven't done any walking. I biked five miles on Monday and one mile on Wednesday, but that's all of the cardio I've done. For some reason I've had no energy this week. I did my Bowflex routine on Monday at 35 pounds (with legs at 40lbs and arms at 25lbs). On Tuesday I did everything at 35lbs, except for the curls I did at 25lbs. On Thursday I did everything at forty pounds, but didn't do the curls. Boy I felt that workout. I think I've had my weight too low. I really hate this routine though so I didn't do anything Friday.

I made a new routine after doing some research. I learned that the reason a lot of people don't like workout equipment like the Bowflex is because the majority of the exercises are isolation exercises that only work one muscle group. Compound exercises that work several muscle groups are a lot more effective for building muscle and burning calories. The Bowflex doesn't have many compound choices, but I don't have the money for free weights so I'll make do. My new routine is going to consist of doing upper body Monday and Thursday and lower body Tuesday and Friday. I'll do my compound exercises first and then any isolation exercises I want to do after. I also learned that mixing the routine up instead of doing the same order every time helps to prevent muscle adaptation so the workout will be more effective for longer. I'll do this routine for three weeks and then switch to something else. :)

10th Anniversary of 9-11

Remembering 9-11.

Tribute in Light

Jackal's September Trick

Kisses won. :) That should be easy to teach since it's a simple target exercise . . . then again it's always the simple ones we have trouble with. I'm getting so far behind on them. I really need to kick it into gear. It just seems like I'm staying too busy. Sigh. I'll get started on it soon (I hope!).

Workout Week Seven

My rash is gone so I started my new workout this week. I missed one day, but I think I did really well (although I really need more cardio!). :) We're having a nice cold front so I'm going to start my intervals again. I was supposed to do it today, but getting up at five am for three days in a row when I'm used to waking up at seven or eight did me in. I'll do it tomorrow instead.

Week Seven

Strength Training: Tuesday, Thursday & Friday
Yoga/Pilates/Tae Bo: None (friend that I do Yoga with has been sick) :(
Biking: None
Walking/Running: Wednesday (1 mile) & Friday (2 miles)

Monday is the day I missed. I don't even remember why now. Tuesday I did everything at 30 pounds because I was learning some new exercises. Thursday I did everything at thirty fives pounds and legs at forty pounds. I only did five bicep curls. I don't know why they have that two days in a row. Doesn't make sense. Friday I did everything at thirty five pounds with the curls (biceps and reverse) on twenty five pounds.

My exercise buddy has been sick with the flu or something so I didn't do any Yoga. I really need her help to stay motivated to do Yoga/Pilates/Stretching/etc. I guess it's just not really my thing. I still need to do better with it though.

On Wednesday I took the dogs for a one mile walk/run. I think I ran about one third to half of it. :) Then on Friday I took them for a two mile walk/run. During the first mile I did sprint intervals, but I was counting it out in my head so it probably wasn't completely accurate. It's still better than just walking. On the one mile back to the house I just walked.

So I really need to get it in gear for the Yoga and cardio. I guess I need to figure out what is motivating me to do the Bowflex that I'm lacking in the other. It might be because I don't have a fixed schedule on cardio . . . Hopefully the intervals will help with that. :)

Jackal's Prayers Progress Video

Okay, I normally only post nice videos of our training sessions, but our first session with learning Say Your Prayers went horrible!! The video is almost fifteen minutes long (sorry!) with very few cuts from the original footage to show how the actual session went. I was going to explain what was going on, but it's late and I have to get up at 5am so I'll write more about it tomorrow. The captions and titles explains a little. Sorry if you can't watch videos. Let me know what you think. It's pretty crappy.



Good night guys.

Jackal's August Trick Update - September Trick Poll

I'm sad to say I didn't work on Say Your Prayers with Jackal at all. I'll try again this month, but I'm going to go ahead and put up a poll with some easy options so I don't lose a month. I want him to know twelve new ones by the end of the year. Please vote on the poll and I'll try to do something soon on the Prayers trick (with video!).