That Dog!!!!

Last night I had a couple members of my stamping club over to make a small Christmas album. One of the ladies, Charlee, a friend of mine, just thinks Scruffy hung the moon. She lets him out of the kitchen every time she comes over. Last night I decided that I might as well give him his freedom before she got there since he has been so good lately. Naturally when they arrived his shot out the front door. They called and he actually came back. Then we were standing in a group looking at some photos Charlee brought. Then Charlee noticed a WET MARK going all the way from the computer in the dinning room to the kitchen door. Oh, yeah. He also walked over Charlee’s foot while peeing!!!!! Dumb dog!!! Can you believe she still likes him?????

Trying To Be Good...

I'm

trying to be good. There is a really cool binding machine called Bind-It-All that, amazingly enough, binds stuff. It punches the holes in whatever you want – paper, cardstock, even cd’s – then puts a wire binding on them. How cool is that!!! Imagine all the neat stuff I could make with it! Unfortunately for me, it is $60, so I’m trying to be good. Really. I am.

A PRE-SCHOOL TEST

Which way is the bus traveling? To the left or to the right? Can't make up your mind? Look carefully at the picture again.? Still don't know? Pre-schoolers all over the United States were shown this picture asked the same question. 90% of the pre-schoolers gave this answer. "The bus is traveling to the left." When asked, "Why do you think the bus is traveling to the left?" They answered: "Because you can't see the door to get on th e bus."

Duh!

I'm one of the 55. Are You?

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too. Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt ! if you can raed tihs forwrad it.

Maybe that's why I can't spell! ;^)

Holy Crap!

Seattle thieves swipe truck, toilet-shaped soapbox racer
05:16 PM PDT on Sunday, October 7, 2007
Associated Press
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Thieves who took a truck in Seattle may have looked a little flushed when they found out what was in the back: a 7-foot-high, 7-foot-long soapbox racer shaped like a toilet.
Five friends built the racer in Colorado Springs for the Red Bull soapbox race in Seattle in late September. It was stolen when the truck it was sitting in was swiped from their hotel parking lot late last month.
Neither the truck nor the toilet-shaped racer have been found.
"We're laughing about it," soapbox driver Tom Valentine said Friday. He just wishes he could've seen the thieves' faces when they opened the back of the truck.
"My guess is (they said), 'Oh, crap, it's a giant toilet."' The soapbox car didn't win any races but was second in the people's choice competition.

HOLD THE PRESSES!!! They just reported on the news it's been found! We can all sleep now.

Rain, Rain Go Away

After a sunny fall, the rains have arrived. It isn’t too bad – there is a mix of sun and rain. It was really strange today. The sun was shinning in the yard, but the clouds just to the east were really dark and menacing. If I lived in the Midwest, I would have checked the tv for tornado watches. We are supposed to have a major windstorm tomorrow. All the beautiful fall leaves will be a thing of the past. Hopefully we won’t have the power outages we had last year.

Vote Now!

I can only assume that no one reads my blog since no one voted on my poll. Sigh. (Imagine the sounds of mournful violins playing in the background.)

Bureaucracy

I got a newsletter for the boys’ supervising teacher yesterday. In it we were told that by some extremely intelligent law, we are not allowed to use the boys’ real names in our emails back and forth. Therefore, they will be known as Je and Jo. Don’t you just love how your tax dollars are being spent?

Where, Oh, Where Has My Little Dog Gone????

We had supper tonight and then I let Scruffy loose. He headed straight for Mike, of course, so I didn’t pay attention to him. Later Mike and Josh left for a church meeting and Tae Kwon Do. After I while I noticed that I only had one dog under my feet and asked Jeremy where Scruffy was. We looked all over the house to no avail. I went to the front door thinking perhaps he had snuck out with Mike and Josh. I yelled for him and we thought we heard his tags rattle. The stinker was trapped under the lazy boy! He had been there for at least half an hour before we even noticed he wasn’t around. He must not have minded because he didn't whine. Thank goodness nothing was under there to hurt him!!

The Blue Mouse

Jeremy and I went to the Blue Mouse Theater tonight to see a second run of Harry Potter. The Blue Mouse is the oldest theater in Washington. It has been restored to it’s art deco glory. (Click on title if you want all the details on the theater.)

It's Nice to Keep in Touch. Isn't It???

I left the house today. All by myself. I had to go to Target to get a hair drier. (Mike used mine to dry off Scruffy and some how broke it. But that’s another story.) The first forty-five minutes or so at Target went really well. Then I got the first call. Jeremy wanted Easy Mac for lunch but didn’t want to go into the basement to get it in case there was a spider. I told him to either get it himself or wait until I got home. I was good for another half hour or so. Then I got the second call. Sigh. Same song, same verse. I gave the same reply, adding that I’d be home in a few minutes. I moseyed my way to the checkout. As I was in the process of paying, the phone rang AGAIN!!! Being a nice customer, I ignored it. Finally, it quit ringing, only to start up right away. Sigh. I ignored it until I was done paying at which point I returned the call. I would be right home, I said. I got into the car and pulled out of the parking lot. Guess what??? Yep. Another call. At least that time it was Josh.

The Big Bang

I went to the store today. It was at typical rainy fall day in Tacoma. While I was there the lights flickered. I just figured lightening hit somewhere – a rare occurrence, but it happens.

When I got home the boys got all excited because the lights flickered and they heard a big bang when I was gone and thought someone was trying to break into the house. Now every time I leave the house they call every five minutes unless I threaten their lives. I was amazed that I received no calls today – the one time they should have! Go figure.

Joshua turned on the tv after I arrived. There was a huge explosion at a foundry two or three miles from here. Amazing. Check out the size of the building and trees compared to the explosion.

Spiders, Spiders Everywhere!

Christy has been writing on her blog about her new roommates – spiders! Today Jeremy decided to take a Starbucks cup he’d been saving in the car for a week and actually throw it away. I was gob smacked, but quite pleased. All of the sudden I heard him screaming bloody murder and he ran and got in the car, slamming the door behind him! A spider had crawled on his hand! I honestly have never seen him so freaked before. As I backed out of the garage and looked at the garbage can. It was a big, nasty, multicolored spider. I would have freaked, too. Of course, I would have feaked at a tiny spider! ;^)

RATS!!!

We have a pear tree in the back yard. It bears so many pears that I think the branches will break off. The pears aren’t edible, though. They are covered with black spots. Yuck. Since the branches are so heavy and the tree is touching the house, I asked the trustees to have the tree pruned this fall. I also want it off the house because when we moved in, there was a rat in the attic. The exterminator said it probably got into the house by climbing the tree and accessing the attic that way. Nasty, nasty. The good news is that they caught the critter. The trustees decided that the problem was solved and asked the exterminator to remove the traps. I can’t confess to being ecstatic about that decision.

Joshua had a panic attack the other night after bedtime and said a rat ran across his room. I pretty much thought it was his imagination and said so. But then I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to nag – I mean – enlighten him on the evils of sneaking food into his room and hiding the leftovers because he was to lazy to dispose of them properly. Naturally, Mike, being a typical male, piped up and said he’d been hearing the pitter-patter of little feet in the walls and attic. Gee thanks. That’ll get Josh back to sleep right away!

Yesterday Caleb darted out into the garage after me. I was just getting something from the car, but Caleb had great hopes for a car ride. His hopes were dashed, but not for long. He found a tasty morsel to eat in the garage. I had no idea what he found, and he wasn’t going to give me a chance to find out what it was. That was really strange because he will generally let me take food from him. (The only other time he ever acted that way with me was when he caught a bird in the yard and had a tasty snack.) I came to the conclusion that he would just have to suffer the consequences of his gluttony. Or rather, I would when he got sick on my cream colored carpet. He dropped whatever it was on the floor ever so briefly. It looked like raw meat. I didn’t want to think about it. So I didn’t.

When I got up this morning, I decided to eat some breakfast. I went to the pantry to get some cereal. I glanced down on the floor and saw something that looked really nasty. No – it couldn’t be!!! A rodent dropping!!!!!!!!!!! Just one. Time to call the exterminator.

Whew!

Well, both boys have finally been enrolled in the virtual academy. No more having to make up math and writing assignments! We still haven't received their books, but we can do some of the courses online. We have been doing that in attempt to catch up a bit to where they should be. Jeremy did two week's worth of math in one day. He wanted to -- I wasn't being mean. It was all review for him. I finally had to force him to quit! I didn't have that issue with Josh! ;^)

From One Kid to Another....

The boys did the summer reading program at the library this year. When they complete 25 hours of readying, they earn several prizes. The big prize is a trip to the zoo. Joshua was determined to be bored, but when we got to the petting zoo at the end, he actually enjoyed it!!

Old Growth Tree

This is a section of Douglas fir at the Pacific Science Center. If you click on the picture, you can see a larger view of it. The middle of the log dates it’s beginnings to 1331 A.D. The other makers point out:
1492 – Discovery of America
1776 -- Independence Day
1851 – Founding of Seattle
1901 – First Water from Cedar River delivered to
Tree Cut in 1962

Why Don't Grandmas Look Like Grandmas?

Grandma 

My cousin Jenny just sent me pictures of her oldest child’s first day of school. Among those photos was a picture of Isabel with both of her grandmothers. Have you ever noticed that grandmas don’t look like grandmas anymore? Where has all the gray hair gone? Did their children not give them gray hair? How about those wrinkles derived through years of character development? And my goodness! I can’t imagine either of my grandmas donning a pair of blue jeans. I wonder, do they still make oatmeal-raisin cookies?

Boys Will Be Boys

The boys had a friend spend the night last night. Because his parents both work, he will be here until suppertime. The friend is a very nice boy. However last night, after spending a few minutes on the computer in the dining room while they were in the living room, I decided it was in my best interests to go down stairs – as far away from the noise as I could get. It wasn’t much better this morning. I’m trying my best to be on a different floor than they are. I also decided that it was in my best interests to be nowhere near them while they were eating. If you could call it eating. I think inhaling is a better word for how they consume food. In order to pry them off the GameCube, I told them they could have a cupcake or two. They decided to have a contest to see which of them could shove them in their mouths the first. Let your imagination run wild. It was even worse.

Hot, Hot, Hot, Hot, Hot!!

It is just WAY to hot!!!

Oh, the Places I've Gone!

I was browsing around some other blogs and found this cool site that will show you on a map all the states you’ve gone to. This is my map. I've been to the states in red. Ok -- so the only time I went to New York was to fly into JFK and take a bus to LaGuardia. (It was totally boring and I never even had a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty.) And the only time I was in Florida was to fly into Jacksonville and drive up to Georgia. I was there!

I would really love to go out East and see some of the Revolutionary War and Civil War sites. One day….

If you want to see where you have been, click on the title above.

Mount St. Helens

Sam has business in Seattle next week so he decided to come up and visit for a few days this week. On Saturday we went to Mount St. Helens with one of co-workers. Unfortunately, while we were able to see most of the mountain, clouds covered most of the crater. It was fun to go through the information centers again, but it was much more exciting the first time I went up and saw the steam plume!

(Click on the title above to see a live picture of the volcano!)

The Finch Saga Continues

I never realized how smart birds are. The finches had two more babies a while back. About three weeks ago I decided it was time for the babies to live in their own cage because they were in the teenage phase of their lives. I always know when this happens because it sounds like WWIII broke out. The babies and parents constantly fight and make a horrible racket.

In order to separate the birds, I always put two cages together so they can go back and forth for a couple of days and get accustomed to their new home. However this time was different than before. The parents, especially the dad, got extremely agitated. Then I noticed that the parents NEVER let the babies enter the second cage alone. They could be alone in the main cage, but not the second cage where I have always put the babies. The mother also abandoned her nest full of new eggs to help protect her babies. One day I saw the babies in the second cage and got up to see if I could separate them before they started moving around. The father saw me get up and sped into the second cage faster than I have ever seen him fly. He deliberately kept me from separating them. So much for being a bird brain – mine are smart!

A Taxing Week

Well, it is that time of year again. Taxes. Sigh. On Monday I decided I’d better get with it and get them done. The boys were in school and I wasn’t working, so it should have been a simple. But naturally it wasn’t. After working on it for eight hours and visiting the online help section of my tax program, I had to throw in the towel. The next day I found a tax preparation place that claimed to know how to do clergy taxes. Although doubtful, I made an appointment for Wednesday.

Mike was suffering from the delusion that I would go to the appointment on my own. Silly man. My taxes are easy. His are hard. He could just go suffer along with me. It wasn’t MY fault it was Holy Week! Ok, maybe it was at least in part because I left them for so long. It took both tax workers and me to figure it out, but we finally did it. Whew!

I’m all for a flat tax. If 10% is good enough for God, it should be good enough for Congress!

The New Babies Have Flown the Coop!

Here is one of the two new babies. This is the first batch since the seven that hatched in December. Both came out today and were traumatized by the camera. (Josh is peeking in on the other side of the cage.)

My Day Thus Far…

Today is going to be one of those days. I stayed up WAY to late last night. Jeremy was still up at 10:00. He heard a banging noise outside his window. I told him that it was probably just the neighbor putting out his dog. Jeremy didn’t buy it, so I told him I’d let the dogs out in case there was a raccoon in the yard.

Since Jeremy was still up so I decided that I’d work on some Christmas cards. I went to a friend’s house to do some rubber-stamping the other day. One of them had the most gorgeous Christmas stamp that said “Joy”. I stamped and colored several of them in there and brought them home to mount onto cards. So I did one, then another, and another. Before I knew it, it was 1:30 a.m.!!!

I went to bed and next thing I knew I was having one of those weird dreams. In my dream, I heard the beeping sound a truck makes when it backs up. Now this sound had nothing whatsoever to do with my dream. Finally, it dawned on me that it wasn’t part of my dream. It was Mike’s alarm clock going off at 5:30 a.m.!! Mike, of course, was up at the church working on his sermon. I finally figured out how to shut it off and went back to sleep.

The next thing I knew was Jeremy coming in my room at 7:00 yelling at me that it was time to wake up. I was not amused and told him to go away. He then came back at 8:30 and woke me up again. He had fallen back asleep on the couch and had 15 minutes to dress, eat breakfast and leave for Sunday School.

I decided to take a shower after he left. I opened the shower curtain and saw about 10 spiders. Although I was still not awake I did recognize that they were plastic and managed not to panic. (Such sweet boys!)

On Friday Joshua had gone to an overnight youth group function to see the Seattle Sonics play and then to an overnight indoor amusement place. He slept yesterday morning and this morning rolled out of bed at 9:15 – very late for him.

I made him clean all the spiders out of the tub so I could shower. After telling him to get ready for church a dozen times, I finally had to point out that he had 15 minutes to get dressed, eat breakfast and walk to church. He finally left three minutes before the service started. (I have no voice, a sore throat and a headache, so no church for me today.)

After Joshua left, I decided I’d really better go take a shower. So I went in the bathroom. This time there was pee all over the toilet. Is it really too much to ask to be able to go to the bathroom and not have to wipe off the seat?????

I figure the day can only go uphill from here on out.

Bye-Bye, Birdies!

The baby birds have finally flown the coop. Ok. I kicked them out of the coop. There was just no living with them! I had a nice quiet mom and dad. The babies weren’t bad at first. They were extremely ugly, but nice and quiet. Then they grew. They became cute little fuzz balls. Then they found their vocal cords. (Do birds have vocal cords???) There was no living with them once they reached the teenage stage of life. They could fly and eat on their own. Then the fighting started. It sounded like WWIII was going on. The birds are kept in the basement, but you could hear the racquet throughout the house!! I had a new home all lined up for them and was finally able to separate them from the parents. I left them in their respective cages for a day or so, giving them time to adjust.
Once the babies could eat on their own, the poor mom started taking out her feathers to prepare the nest for the next batch of eggs. (Ok, so I didn’t know I was supposed to provide the nesting material!! She just used the corncob litter the first time!!) We now have four or five eggs in the nest. For some reason they always hide the eggs from me. Go figure.

Ready or Not, Here Comes Middle School!

Today we went to Joshua’s orientation at Mason Middle School. (Click on title for website.) It is a school of about 850 students. I don’t know who is more nervous – Joshua or me. I’m kind of nervous because I had 50 students in my class, not 280. Joshua is nervous because it is a new school. However, he felt much better today. Several people from his old school were there as well as friends from church, Tae Kwon Do and the swimming pool.

Joshua’s homeroom teacher is his science teacher. We talked to her a bit today. It sounds like science will be fun. She is even planning on getting leaches for the class this year. I mentioned that Josh loves science and used to watch Bill Nye. She said she once proposed to him. He was engaged and told him if it didn’t work out, she was available! ;^)

Boyhood Friends

Two years ago Jeremy became fast friends with a boy who lives close to us. They played together nearly everyday after school, and often spent the night at one or the other’s house on weekends. They were joined at the hip.

Last school year Jeremy and his friend were in different classes, but still played at recess and after school. That all came to a screeching halt one day. They had a nasty argument at school. You are probably thinking it is over some trivial matter like sports that boys often get into rifts over. Not these two boys. This clash was over schoolwork.

Jeremy had read more books than the other boy. Kids at school get rewards for reading books. The other boy is VERY competitive and told Jeremy he may have read more books, but HE had a higher reading level. Jeremy decided that he wasn’t going to stand for the unjustness of this comment. The boys quit speaking to each other.

Now this didn’t work out at all well for the boy’s mother and me. We often use each other for childcare. Naturally, we didn’t want to give this up. So, after months of strife, the boys have again established a relationship, albeit a tenuous one. (Mostly because it is summer and they have only each other to play with!)
Now the start of a new school year is quickly approaching. (Nine days, eleven and one-half hours, not that I’m counting!) What will happen, I wonder, if they are in the same class and Jeremy gets a better grade than he does? Oh, joy!

Ah, Modern Technology

Our new church secretary figured out that we could have our pay checks directly deposited. We live about ½ to ¾ of an hour away from the nearest branch of the bank. There are some grocery stores that have mini banks in them, but they don’t deposit the checks for 24-48 hours. There was also the option of putting the paycheck in an ATM. While that is ok in a pinch, but once we lost a paycheck in that process. It wasn’t good. A year or so ago our bank started cooperating with other banks as far as depositing each other’s paychecks. That was much more convenient, and made my life much easier. However, I still had to track down Mike and get him to sign the paycheck. That was not always easy.

Yes – modern technology will make this aspect of my life much easier.

After we had been home from our trip for a few days, Paulie, Jeremy’s parakeet died. We buried him in the front flower garden and Jeremy made him a tombstone.

It reads:

(Polly is under this)
R.I.P.
Here lies Polly
the dead bird.
Please do not
disturb.

We have since gotten a pair of finches. They are very nice birds and have a sweet chirp.

Bubba's Single-Wide on a Stick

Sam is SUCH a meanie!! When I visited last year, I refused on principle to go to the Clinton Presidential Library. (click on title for link) On this trip, we all loaded up into the cars because he was going to show us all around Little Rock. Somehow we all arrived at the Clinton Library. Sigh.

At least it wasn’t a complete waste. They had a replica of the Oval Office and another of the Cabinet Room. That was really interesting.

I still preferred the neighborhood tours of Crepe Myrtles and the game "Guess what the neighbors are like". ;^)

The Big Bang

Mom had a few odds and ends of fire works that she let the boys shoot off, or did for them. The fun really began when Ray arrived. Then the smoke bombs came out. Ray also let the boys get creative when it came to setting off firecrackers – in cans, under rocks, even trying to shoot them with the BB gun!

The boys had a blast in Iowa. Not only did they sleep in the tent, they also got to shoot Rays old BB gun. They spent three hours on that the first day. They started out either standing or lying on the ground to shoot the target. After a while Mom and I went into the house for a while. When we came back out, Larry, Mike and the boys had lined up the lawn chairs and were passing the gun back and forth, not even bothering to get up to shoot! ;^)

Jeremy had a blast terrorizing the cows across the road. When the cows came up to eat, he crossed the road and started mooing at them. The poor things were so frightened of him that they wouldn’t go near the food. Jeremy thought this was great and tried to repeat the process every day.

Jeremy also spent a great deal of the time in Iowa trying to catch a rabbit. This is turning out to be a tradition for him. When we were home last time, he asked Mom to leave the trap up – until Easter. He was worried the Easter Bunny wouldn’t visit if he tried to catch rabbits.

Joshua enjoyed catching fireflies. He had a jar, but was not happy to discover that they generally don’t last the night in a jar.
Larry let the boys drive the riding lawn mower. They had a blast doing that!

Sleeping Under the Stars

(Photo by Jeremy)
Mom thought it would be fun to set up the tent for the boys to mess around in during the day. Then she decided to offer Jeremy $5 if he would spend the night in it. Of course Joshua had to get in on this great deal.
We sent them outside for the night knowing they would last about half an hour, tops. They actually lasted the night! (My boys are serious about earning money if there is no work involved!!)

Little Big Horn

We went on a car trip back to Iowa and then to Little Rock this summer. On the way we stopped at Little Big Horn. (Click on title for link.) We were only able to stay a short time as the park was closing, but it was really interesting.

Family Camp

We had church family camp this weekend. Mike and the boys went for the entire weekend and had a great time. I just went for the day on Saturday and had a great time at home by myself! ;^)

While at camp, Joshua got first hand experience of why he should avoid poison ivy. It was not a pretty sight. Here you see Jeremy on the giant "spider web". It has here he learned about mosquitos. They can't wait to go back next year, of course!

The Last Day of Preschool!

I survived the first year of teaching preschool. We invited the families of the children to a graduation ceremony. I made up a PowerPoint slideshow set to Watercolour Ponies and Butterfly Kisses. We were told we need to provide Klenex next year! One parent even told us she liked preschool better this year than last year. That made us feel really good as we kind of felt like we were stumbling through the year, and the teachers last year were exellent!

Joshua Earned A Stripe!!

Joshua got his first stripe for Tae Kwon Do today!

September 11: Bearing Witness to History

Flag found in the debris of the Twin Towers (CLICK ON TITLE ABOVE)

Tonight we took the boys to the Washington State History Museum. They had a traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian dealing with the September 11 attacks. It was very moving. They had photos of all the crash sites, of course, but they also had objects saved from the Pentagon and the Twin Towers. Nothing larger than a phone book exists from the Pennsylvania crash site. There was also a 10-minute film about the news coverage that day. We were on the road that day traveling home from a trip, so we didn’t get to watch much of the tv coverage. It was very moving to see Peter Jennings break up.

At the end there was a place where you could write your impressions of the day on a card. They would possibly display it there, and would definitely add it to the Smithsonian’s collection. Jeremy decided he wanted to do one. He drew a picture of the towers. One tower was on fire and a plane was heading for the second. He wrote that he was watching cartoons and them someone changed the channel to the coverage. I was surprised at the detail he gave. He was only 4 years old.

Georgia on My Mind

Mike and I went to St. Simon's Island, Georgia for a seminar. We flew into Florida (so I could say I've been there) and drove up to Georgia. This picture shows Fort Frederica. The fort was built as a buffer zone between the English colonies and Spanish Florida. It is of great importance to Methodists as it was where John and Charles Wesley came to be missionaries. They were utter failures!
The picture shows part of the fort in the background. The foreground shows the walls of the storehouse that was also used as the church. (Click on the title for more info on the fort.)

What Kind of Dog Are You???

On Good Morning America this morning they did a segment on a test you could take to see which dog breed you most closely resemble. I decided to check out the website. Click on the title above, then on Game to see what kind of dog you are!

I came out to be like a Basenji.

• Some of it's traits:
  The Basenji is a small, short-haired hunting dog from Africa, also known as the African Barkless Dog, and is one of the oldest "natural" breeds known to man. Ancient Egyptian carvings of Basenjis have been found on the pyramids. (I'm old and don't talk much.)
• The Basenji is highly intelligent but independent. It can be stubborn and difficult to train, becoming bored quickly with repetitive-type training methods. (Hmmm. I seem to remember my mother and mother-in-law discussing how stubborn I am.)
• Forcing a Basenji, or hitting it to make it do something it doesn't want to do, will likely cause it to growl or even snap at you. However, treats, praise, rewards, or sweet talk will almost always get a Basenji to cooperate. (Sounds good to me!)
• The Basenji loves its human family but can be "stand-offish" with strangers. (Who, me??)
• The Basenji is a natural hunting dog, and when it sees a bird or even a scrap of paper flying down the street, it will try to run off in pursuit. It is a strong and fast dog, and its intelligence, determination and highly developed hunting instincts can sometimes cause it problems. Once it sets its sight or senses on something, it is not easily discouraged or distracted. (Ok. So I'm either scattered or have tunnel vision!!)
• The Basenji has not been long out of the jungles of Africa, and is not as domesticated as other breeds. Treat it with respect as you would a "wild" animal, but let it know where it stands in the "pecking order" of your household. (Which, of course, should be at the top!!)