Well... to add to my ghost post... here's some interesting tidbits!

Last night we put La down in his cot after he fell asleep and around about the time he usually wakes before we go to bed, we heard an odd noise, sort of like a musical tone or warble sound and then the sound of Laurent waking. Both of us heard it and neither of us can figure out what it might be. We both agree it wasn't La and it wasn't anything on the television or anything outside as when I looked the ducks were sound asleep and if anything had come by the Runner Ducks would have alerted to it.

Then later last night Nic was sitting on the sofa in the livingroom and reading a book. All of the sudden his hair went on end, he heard what he described as a "murmur" that sounded feminine (he thought it was me but I was in my study on the complete other end of the house) the temperature suddenly felt freezing, a slight bit of fear and then was overcome with emotion and started crying. He says it wasn't happy or sad, just an overwhelming wave of emotion that came over him. He was pretty freaked out by it.

Then this afternoon, Laurent went down for a nap and slept a good while. Normally when he wakes up he cries for me and wants bibi. However, when Nic heard him stir this time, he waited for the wail of "muuuuummmmmmmmmmaaaaa!!!" and instead La was calm and started babbling as if he was having a conversation with someone. When Nic went in, La went suddenly silent and blinked at him as if a bit dazed.

So. Maybe our resident ghosts? Or maybe just our resident overactive imaginations? LOL But interesting either way! Up until now the only thing we'd experienced is the hearing sounds we thought were our neighbors talking nearby despite not being able to locate any signs of them and the occsaional sense of someone being there when no one was. (Not sinister, just like how you turn around when you sense someone enters a room if you know what I mean.)

Random Cute La Photo:

In love with putting on shoes, La has branched out to boots as well. Unfortunately we haven't found any like ours in his size yet so he's keen on his dads!

In other news, one of my runner hens was waddling about the pen at a good clip after her penmates and tripped on a sticking out root bit of the tree in their pen. That made her panic and she tried to run faster, hitching her foot on the root for a second. The result is that apparently she strained or sprained her foot.

She can walk on it with a limp but is favoring it, prefering to lay down often and making soft "ouch" sounds when she does put weight on it. I checked it and didn't see anything obvious so I simply penned them and kept them warm and quiet for a bit. It still seems the same a few days on, though she's otherwise well and still no swelling, reddness/loss of colour, abraison or cuts, any abornomal heat/coolness at the site and I can extend and gently manipulate without any fuss. She is able to give resistance and bear weight if she has to, balances fine if I gently rock her or move her off balance to test equilibrium and I can't feel anything that I shouldn't when I am touching the leg. Game plan at the moment since vets who specialize in ducks are as the saying goes "rare as hens teeth" (and probably twice as exxy) is to give her more rest and comfry poultices as I've had good results with that herb in the past.

Ghosts (and chook photos!)

We had a visit from the previous owner today, who is a lovely guy, to help show us a few things around the place regarding the water tanks, electric fencing (for the livestock) etc.

The previous time we'd met him, he'd talked to me a little bit about the houses history and one of the things mentioned was that this place was a very tranquil one spiritually. He'd also said that he didn't mean just in the sense that the surroundings were tranquil but that the energy from all the happy families who'd lived here for all the many years still resided. After enquiring if I was a spiritual person, he also mentioned that a number of psychics had come to the house and commented on the spirits that were here. I had a bit of a hard time hearing him as he was speaking low, thinking that as Nic's surname is Italian he might be a strict Catholic and not inclined to want to hear such talk. However he'd mentioned something about a psychic and a lady in the garden. I wasn't sure if he'd meant that specific psychic was a lady and had been in the garden at the time she'ddone the reading or if he'd meant there was the spirit of a lady still haunting our garden. So when he came back today, we queried him about it further and he clarified.

Apparently, three different psychics have come in and all have commented on the same things very consistantly.

First that there are a *lot* of spirits who are still in this place and they're all lovely ones. They're all friendly and very warm and want to protect the place. They're quite active but peaceful, happy, warm, welcoming souls and we shouldn't worry if we hear or see them as there is absolutely no malice in them. It's their energy, their love for their happy lives here which makes the place feel so warm and welcoming. Two psychics said specifically it was the warmest, welcoming place they'd been.

There are three specific spirits that have been seen a number of times:
1.) There is the ghost of a lady who appears in the front gardens. (Remember, these gardens were planted in the very early 1900's and the family lived here since the 1800's, staying until the 1950's with much of teh garden not changing much since then.) Apparently she's been seen a number of occasions and simply likes walking around the gardens, enjoying doing what she presumably loved in life. My personal feeling is that this would be Katherine, the wife of the original owner of the property in the 1800's who was Scottish.

2.) There is the spirit of a little boy who runs to the bus stop in the early mornings. Apparently there used to be a short cut from the properties behind us through our front garden on the right side of the house to the bus stop. There is no bus stop there any more and hasn't been for years but he is sometimes seen in the early morning dashing along the lawn, disappearing where the bus stop would've been.

3.) There is the spirit of an old fashioned minister in his garb in the rear room, who sometimes also walks up the hall. The room was built as the husband was Catholic and the wife Anglican which just was Not Done in those days and neither could worship at the others place of worship. There was a piano in the room which was played for Sunday services and it was the area where the local services were held, so effectively it was the local church.

The other thing he said is that you quite often hear people talking and the sound of voices chatting amiably in a small group nearby you. This is most frequently around the area where our garage is, up the hall from the back room (where the people would presumably be leaving from Sunday services and where the minister walks) and in the side of the garden where the entry to that area of the house is.

The funny thing is both Nic and I have heard voices at various points but had always both assumed our neighbors must have been the ones making the noice despite never seeing anyone around when we went to look to say hi to them. (We still haven't met 2 of our neighbors so hearing them thought to introduce ourselves.) I haven't seen anything yet but I kind of want to and I really like the idea of our house being looked over by guardian spirits who loved it so much in life they never left. All in all pretty cool!

On a semi unrelated note, here's some recent photos of the place:

"Our" kookoobura. As anyone who reads knows, I love them and am happy to have our own personal one I see most mornings!

I've got the chooks run mostly finished! So they can go in it during the day but have to go in the hutch at night until I build one in the run. They are busy clucking, scratching and enjoying new greens and as many bugs as they can stuff in their crops!

Since they're obviously in such dire danger of starving though (with both what they hunt up and the feeder full of pellets) they also get a treat, which I've got them to the point of taking from my hands and allowing brief petting by me.

They're still not quite sure about La and I have to hold them and tell them it's okay. He's pretty gentle, touching her topknot and saying "fluffy chook chook, cluck cluck cluck".

And of course, La's favorite bit... tossing them food and watching them come running pell mell to get the choicest bits!

Going to be a longish post guys, getcher selves a cuppa... first is non-dog stuff, so dog folks feel free to skip down. Second is dog stuff, non-dog folks feel free to skip that! :-D

As per the last post we missed out on the Birdwood house. Majorly bummed about that. Went to Jayne's that afternoon for a psychic reading and drink tasting party. Sounds like an odd combo but made for a rather nice break.

I had quite a long reading and a lot of it was about Nic and really confirming what I already knew and had been saying and most of you have probably heard about that stuff before so I won't bore you! ;-)

I will say it was absolutely spot on and at times she was using exact words and phrases I've spoken to Nic. So that was the main bit but there were a few other interesting things that came up. Laurent and I apparently were best friends in our past life and that will follow us through in this one as well. He is going to be a real ladies man and charmer. (Did anyone whose seen him flirting shamelessly with every passing stranger not know that?) She apparently saw him in a white shirt, maybe in IT type job. She did say that while one of my fears is that our money will run out, I am protected and will never be without resources. I am apparently going to have 3 children - another boy and then a girl. My paternal grandfather came through and was acting as an extra bit of strength for me. Nic's maternal grandmother came through, complete with the stroke paralysis, to say she loved Laurent and was watching over him. (I said Nic would not be amused by that... he didn't like her to put it very mildly...) His mother came through as well and appologized for doing him a disservice by mollycoddling him as a child, say Laurent was the apple of her eye and that she liked me as well. Interesting since that's always been a concern of mine, with us both being very strong minded (and mouthed... *cough*) women. I'd always figured we'd either get along famously or be at absolute loggerheads. She also said that I very much felt the shadow of Nic's mum hanging over me and apparently his mum asked (through her) why I was fighting so hard against her. I replied that I didn't want to be in her position or follow the patterns that had been set up in that relationship. That was their relationship, this was ours, two different things and I don't want to play the role she did to him. She said there were a LOT of wish cards in my reading, lots of things I wanted coming true, lots of spiritual backing in my corner from the sounds of it but the bug-a-boo was that there was the Tower card which definitely had to do with Nic. So the long and short was I have pretty much everything I wanted in life or am on my way to getting it but there is a big gaping bunch of hurt emotionally which was sort of compared to feeling very battered.

So that brings us to today. We woke up late and had to dash to Croyden. Had the hardest time trying to find my instructor on the field! Our instructor was standing in for the normal Basic 2 teacher and had us fall straight in line and begin drilling. Egh. Sierra needed to settle in so I did a little focus work.

I'm not sure how today went. I was put off by a few of the techniques used. Not that they were unduley harsh but dogs were being lured or failing that induced to down and restrained to keep them down. One Staffie was on it's back and looked on the verge of shutting down because it simply didn't understand what was being asked of it. Cues were being given when the dogs hadn't even learned the behaviour. "STAND!" Well you started 1 minute ago. The dog has NO idea what stand means anymore than if I started giving you orders in French or Sign. It hasn't been taught, the dog doesn't know it and it's not fair to expect them to. If you worked on it a couple of weeks, got the behaviour fully fluent and then attached a cue which you reinforced, betchya you'd get better results.

Okay... so not how I'd do things, not how I'd teach things... but it's not my class, these are not my students, it's not my place. She said something about how you didn't want to "pussy-handle" a Staffy, have to know your breeds, you could pussyhandle a little fluffy dog but a Staffie would walk all over you. Yeeahhhh, you do need to understand breed traits and some breeds in general have different traits but regardless good leadership is based on respect and understanding. There are lots of ways to cement the idea in a dogs head that the way to get what IT wants is to do what YOU want which don't involve stressing the dog. :-/

Upside, we DID get some nice critiques... ie keep your dog straight, mind your hands, watch how when you use that motion you're pulling her forward and that will detract from your later work... that sort of stuff. YAY! That's what I want! I figure we do basically what we can at class and just teach it at home, fine by me as that's my prefered way to work. Gimme my homework, tell me how I've come along and let me go work on it. I think I frusterated the teacher because I didn't understand what she wanted me to do and couldn't easily hear her from a couple meters away facing away from in a biiiggg field!

The trouble for us came when the instructor had us sit the dogs in front of us. Easy peasie, Sierra did a nice job, click and treat.... Sierra stood to get the treat. "Don't treat her! She's out of place and she's broke the sit before you commanded her to do something else!" I figure she probably didn't see I'm using a clicker and it's an i-Click so it's quiet. I said she hasn't broke the behaviour at all because she was clicked. The behaviour was marked, the behaviour ends with the click and so she was effectively released to get her reward. I don't disagree with treating in position and am happy to do that (generally do except in free-shaping) but I don't click and not treat. If I'd wanted to use a "you're doing good, keep going signal" (I generally don't - I prefer to build up slowly to the point the dog doesn't need reassurance because it's confident this is how it's done) I'd simply reward without clicking and then when I was satisfied, click and treat. I'm told, no, no, have her do it again and then click and treat her. Eep. No... she's already been clicked. I'm happy to do it again but after she's been rewarded for this click. Instructor says Ah... you do things that way. (Uh oh.) Who trained you? We do things the Mary Ray way in this club. (IE click multiple times, treat sometimes, the idea being that the click is used as a 'go on' signal which contradicts current long-standing scientific data and which is NOT the Mary Ray way at ALL!) Eep. First day and having to contradict instructor twice. Okay, okay, being polite, being respectful, being veerrrrryyy mindful not to appear to be 'sassing' the teacher in front of her class which is disrespectful but at the same time I'm my dogs advocate. So am trying to project that into my voice while saying that no, this is how I do things with my dog. I always reward after every click. My training is from Janet White, along with techniques based on the Bailey's and the studies of Karen Pryor, Kay Lawrence, Steve White, Ken Ramirez, Emma Parsons, Kathy Sdao, Jesus Rosales, Kellie Snider, Morgan Spector, Steven Lindsay, blah blah blah..." Sooo not wanting to step on toes but my dog is mine and I don't let anyone do anything with them I'm not totally comfortable with. Likewise, I don't have to do something the way someone wants simply because they want me to, especially when it flies in the face of what I know to be true and have experienced with my dogs. No disrespect but I've seen too much evidence that clicking and not treating is counterproductive and as far as I'm aware she has no formal education in the field or any related field. (IE Precision training etc.) There are plenty of things I simply won't do to my dogs but I'm not here to disrupt, to contradict you in front of your students, to be disrespectful, be preachy, push my methods on you or otherwise cause trouble. I am here to learn, like everyone else, though perhaps different things than others at my level of progress. I'm hoping once that gets across everyone will be more comfortable when I do things somewhat differently.

At any rate, we got through class with some nice critiques and some nice praise as well. She asked me into the clubhouse after and basically asked who had assessed me (no one...) and started talking about a 'blue ribbon' (pass certificate?) you need and if I want I can do a Basic 2 Assessment next weekish or opt to continue in this class. Hm. So... I pass that and then what? Go on to the next level????? I look at the list and it's not horribly difficult but I'm not just gunning to get to the next level. The whole point for a basic class was so that I was working with skills she KNEW fluently enough we could do them with the class while working on being relaxed and focused in high distraction settings since Sierra tends to still be a bit wired in those settings - her focus and her latentcy turn to a pigs breakfast. I distinctly didn't want a bunch of new skills to be mucking around training while trying to focus on that! Sooo.... not sure what to do. She also said something to the effect (her back was turned, my hearing is crap) that I probably wouldn't want to/be suited to the instructor training program because I wanted to do things my way. About that time she mentioned she's the Head Instructor. Oh. Ohhhhh... Joy. Two sessions in and I've already been switched twice and the probably cheesed off the Head Instructor. Not that I'd have said anything else if I'd have known... but wow... this is just doing wonders for my batting average. o_O