Author: hsoi

From the road – dude at the payphone

/ hsoi / 9 Comments

To bring Sasha home we had to drive 2000+ miles to Georgia and back. Spending about 37 hours on the road, we saw many interesting things.

Before we left town, I checked our travel route to see what states I’d be rolling through and what the local laws were with regards to concealed handgun carry. All was good, no problems nor real issues for me to contend with. Good.

Whenever we’d be out and about, especially when we’d pit stop, Wife and I always worked as a team and minded things. While we didn’t expect any problems, why risk inviting problems especially on the road so far from home? Plus we had a specific purpose for this roadtrip, and we didn’t need to have anything get in the way.

I did realize at one point I had been using my “predator” face. Eyebrows down, stern look, piercing eyes, being big and emanating “don’t fuck with me, else I will fuck you up good”. I caught myself and changed from monkey brain “bash skull with rock” mode to a better strategy: ABC, Always Be Cool. I would smile most of the time, but sometimes you have to just “be cool” and give a nod (downward, not the upward “tick”), look folks in the eye, be friendly, say “Howdy” or “Evening”, but still be strong. Stand up straight (and with my cowboy boots on I was 6’5″ tall), emanate strength, but not “asshole”. This was especially important for me because well… let’s be honest. I’m a big tall half-Asian guy with long hair — I look out-of-place in the rural Deep South of the USA. So I’m already going to attract attention and stares, I should emanate that I’m friendly, deserving of respect and will return respect in kind, and there’s no reason to bother me nor my family. Basically, leave me (us) alone.

However this all changed in Tyler, Texas on the drive home.

It was around midnight. We needed gas and bathroom break (including some place that would have grass for Sasha to use). Most of the gas stations lacked one of the 3 criteria so we kept moving on, but we were quickly running out of town and opportunities so I took the next place I could. When we pulled into the fuel bay I noticed a person at the payphone outside. I couldn’t tell if male or female (tho likely male from their size). Hoodie pulled up, very “urban” in dress. They were on the phone, back to the doors, but sideways leaning into the little payphone box so people taking the main traffic route in and out of the store couldn’t see them, but they could watch everything.

I kept my eye on “the dude”, and my suspicions got worse. He wasn’t acting right. If someone was truly on the payphone, they would be using the payphone… you know… talking on it, not just holding the earpiece to their face. While I couldn’t actually see what the dude was doing, you couldn’t hear dude’s voice (you could hear the voices of others walking in and out of the store), nor were there any other mannerisms of talking like use of hands or just animated body movements. So, something was just wrong.

We did have children in need of a pee, so Wife kept her alert up as did I, and they all went into the building to go to the bathroom (other people were around and it was pretty well lit). I kept watch over dude. As soon as I finished filling up the tank, I immediately took Sasha out of her crate so she could pee and poop. I kept watching dude. Maybe he was listening to someone drilling a hole in his eardrum… I don’t know, but it just didn’t sit right.

As soon as Sasha finished her business, it was right back into the car. However, just as I was opening the door for Sasha to get into the car, I see Wife and the kids coming to exit the store. I stopped Sasha and told her “Look! Here comes Momma!”. Sasha turned and started barking. Girl has a big bark, and while I could tell this was a “Hi Mom!” bark, it’s still scary.

Dude jumped.

Big time.

I know Sasha was doing her business, dude was watching us. I wanted him to see big dog. I wanted him to see strong dog. I wanted him to second guess anything he might be thinking.

And I certainly had my sheepdog mode active.

While I got Sasha into her crate, Wife kept an eye on dude. I had to focus on Sasha, and Wife told me while I did that, dude “hung up” and went around the corner of the building. We had seen a car there (a typical “urban” pimpmobile sort of thing) and figured it was his. No…. the car remained, but dude was nowhere to be seen.

We quickly finished up in the car and bolted out of there.

My guess? Drugs. Maybe he was on the phone and making a deal. Maybe he was waiting for someone to sell to, or waiting for someone to buy, or waiting for a pickup. Or maybe he was mentally off. Or maybe he was acting and we were on Candid Camera. Who knows for sure.

But it doesn’t matter.

He raised the alert level in both Wife and myself. And while nothing serious happened, I tell you…. doggie started earning her steak right then and there. 🙂

Lessons?

Always trust your gut. Better to be safe than sorry.

Always Be Cool, except when it’s not time to be cool. (yes yes, paraphrasing Dalton).

And big bad-ass dogs are great. 🙂  Trust their gut.

Updated: Talking about this situation with the kids, I learn that Oldest was watching dude too and had observed he was not talking on the phone at all. He said he saw the receiver was still hung up on the phone, dude’s hands were in the hoodie’s front pocket. So like I said… dude was doing his best to act one way and make people think he was doing something, but in reality he was doing something else. He was acting “not normal”, and that was reason enough to go code orange.

And, I’m glad to see that Oldest is taking to things too. He’s always been a defender, so it’s great to watch him honing his skills, especially of awareness and observation.

Sunday Metal – new Anthrax

/ hsoi

Check it out. A brand new Anthrax song called “Fight ’em ’til You Can’t”

Joey’s singing.

And apparently a new album is coming… I assume with Joey singing, but it’s Anthrax so who knows. 😉

Getting to know Sasha

/ hsoi / 8 Comments

Now that Sasha’s been at the house a few days, there’s been a lot of learning.

I mean, a LOT.

And mostly, it’s us learning, not her. 🙂

It IS exactly like having a child. Well not exactly. Dogs can come with instruction manuals, kids don’t.

I’m wondering what sort of baggage Sasha has. Been talking things over with a friend of mine and I’m coming to the conclusion that something from her previous owner wasn’t right. I don’t know. Did they neglect her? Did they not give her the attention, socialization, and training that a Kuvasz needs (especially as a puppy)? I mean, I know for a fact when she went back to the breeder that her coat was not where it should be, and we need to continue the rebuilding of it. So that’s an indicator of something not right, that the original owner didn’t do (some) things right. But to what extent? just what specifically? No way to know.

Bottom line: girl has baggage.

*sigh*

But she’s not a lost cause. I mean, that our family has been accepted? That’s a good sign. There’s no question from how she behaves that she loves us and adores us and knows we’re her flock to protect. I know that we have “alpha” over her since I can fully manipulate her, we can brush her, I stuck my fingers in her mouth today to remove a rock she picked up (wasn’t going to struggle with “drop” commands, just had to remove it) and I didn’t get bit. I exert alpha when she needs it, and she submits. So I suspect we’ll be able to make this work, but it’s going to take time.

She knows commands like sit, stay, down, come, drop it, leave it, and a few other things. But she isn’t perfect in obeying. Why? I’m not sure. Sometimes I suspect she’s intentionally disobeying because she’s decided working is more important (e.g. she’s guarding the kids and my telling her to “come” would require her to leave her tactically superior position, and she’s decided she can’t do that for whatever reason). Sometimes I think she’s trying to find our boundaries. And sometimes I think she’s just not conditioned to say “how high?” when I say “jump”, each time, every time, all the time. So, I’m starting to work with her on all the basic commands…  let’s go back to remedial work and establish the ground rules. I’m seeing progress, because she’s responding to “come” and “sit” much better this evening than she did before. We’re up to 10 seconds on stay and I betcha I could do more, but baby steps at this point. When I took her outside today, I’d have her got potty then start to work on “loose leash” walking. That’s going to take more work.

Just have to work on it every day. Just have to schedule in time for work and practice every day, at least twice a day.

But apart from all this work and baggage? She’s a sweet girl. Very loving, and has shown a silly, clown side too. I do adore her. I have no regrets (yet?) about this. It’s a lot of work, and it’s likely going to be more work than normal because we’re going to have things to undo and/or reestablish. But you know… the things you do for love. 🙂

From the road – bathrooms

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

To bring Sasha home we had to drive 2000+ miles to Georgia and back. Spending about 37 hours on the road, we saw many interesting things.

Typically when we have to take the kids into a public restroom, it’s just a typical bathroom.

But when you’re on the road, I guess people have a penchant for getting laid while travelling. Almost every bathroom (men and women) had condom machines… typically right above the urinal. Youngest was too short to really see, but no question that Oldest got an eyeful while he stood in the stall.

And then, there’s bathroom graffiti.

Oldest hasn’t said a word to me one way or the other, but I’m sure all sorts of questions (too embarrassing to ask Dad) are now rolling through his head. 🙂

New .38 ammo?

/ hsoi

Looks like Winchester is now making their Ranger Bonded ammo in .38 Special +P, and it seems to be geared specifically towards snub revolvers.

This is akin to Speer’s Gold Dot (GDHP) 135 grain .38 Special +P, which is geared specifically towards snubs.

I wonder how the two compare out.

Meantime, I’m still going to load my snub with either the Remington 158 grain .38 Special +P LSWCHP (R38S12) or Buffalo Bore’s 20/20C. Old school, but well-proven.

From the road – foodstuff buildings

/ hsoi

To bring Sasha home we had to drive 2000+ miles to Georgia and back. Spending about 37 hours on the road, we saw many interesting things.

In our drive across the southern Unitied States, if it wasn’t a chain like Dunkin Donuts, then it was always a “palace” that sold donuts. I lost count of how many “Donut Palace” stores we saw, and as far as I could tell they were all locally owned and 100% independent (at least, judging by the storefront and signs).

What makes a palace go with a donut? Why not a Donut Hut? Cruller Castle?

Welcome home, Sasha

/ hsoi / 17 Comments

Permit me to introduce you to Sasha:

Sasha is an 8 month old Kuvasz puppy. From AKC’s entry:

 

Bold, courageous and fearless, the Kuvasz is an unparalleled livestock guard, able to act at just the right moment without instruction and cover rough terrain for long periods of time. One of the larger working breeds, he is well-muscled and agile. His double coat features a coarse guard hair that protects a soft, fine undercoat. The hair ranges from straight to quite wavy, but must always be white.

[…]

 

Temperament

A spirited dog of keen intelligence, determination, courage and curiosity. Very sensitive to praise and blame. Primarily a one-family dog. Devoted, gentle and patient without being overly demonstrative. Always ready to protect loved ones even to the point of self-sacrifice. Extremely strong instinct to protect children. Polite to accepted strangers, but rather suspicious and very discriminating in making new friends. Unexcelled guard, possessing ability to act on his own initiative at just the right moment without instruction. Bold, courageous and fearless. Untiring ability to work and cover rough terrain for long periods of time. Has good scent and has been used to hunt game.

 

 

And… she’s the latest member of our household. 🙂

She’s 65 lbs and growing. She’s a big dog. She’s just what we wanted.

Background

Wife might be a cat person, but she grew up surrounded by dogs. Me, I had some dogs as a kid but I wouldn’t say I was ever a dog person — without a doubt, I’m a cat person. I have not wanted a dog. Wife has wanted us to get a dog since the day we got married, but I’ve always said no. A few years ago I finally gave in and approved getting a dog, but it had to be a useful dog.

You see, I don’t care for most dogs, or to be honest, most dog owners. I don’t like dogs that aren’t well-behaved, and that’s typically the fault of the dog owner. If I’m going to have a dog, it’s going to be well-behaved. I also don’t like drool, “dog smell” (be it the dog or the house smelling like dog), or a dog that views every random stranger as a friend. Thus, just going to the pound was not an option: any old random dog wasn’t going to work. Plus we had to get a puppy because we have cats and don’t need them to become a snack. Furthermore, the dog has to be substantial, because if you can drop kick it, it’s not a dog. 😉   So I gave Wife my criteria and she set about researching breeds.

Oh, one key criterion? Protection and guarding. People say any dog can provide this, but I’ve experienced far too many dogs that are rather useless in this situation. I want a dog that truly groks the notion of protection and guarding.

Wife spent about the past 3 years researching. It’d be a combination of her researching, finding something, floating the idea by me, I’d critique, then we’d get sidetracked by something in life and couldn’t act on it. But I think that all worked out well because if we acted on some of the breeds we considered in the past, I think we’d be unhappy.

Choosing the Kuvasz

A few weeks ago I was looking at the Crazy K Farm’s website (due to muscovy duck information) and found their link to a website about livestock guardian dogs. That sounded good to me, the sort of dog we’d like. I told Wife about the website and she read up on them (some for the second time). The Kuvasz breed seemed to fit exactly what we wanted, so Wife presented the breed to me and I agreed it sounded just right. So we started contacting breeders — it’s not a common breed, so there are only so many breeders. The first breeders we contacted were going to have litters but it wouldn’t be for 18 months. That didn’t thrill us, but we kept looking around and eventually found a breeder with a unique situation!

A puppy had been adopted by a family, but that puppy wasn’t working out with that family. The family already had an elderly dog and the Kuvasz pup was strong-willed and dominating the elderly one… that wasn’t a workable solution for them, so the Kuvasz puppy was returned to the breeder at about 6 months of age. So the breeder was looking for a good home for the girl. We spoke with the breeder at length about this particular puppy and she seemed to be exactly what we wanted. The breed itself has the temperament and characteristics we want, and this particular girl seemed to have all that we wanted. Plus that she was 8 months old gave a few advantages, like she’s already housetrained, crate trained, and hey… she’s big! She’s already a formidable force. But she’s still very much a puppy.

This, of course, is Sasha.

By the way, we didn’t name her. Sasha is the name given to her by her first owners, but we’re keeping it. She responds to the name, and gosh if it doesn’t just fit her well.

Bringing Sasha Home

So, opportunity presented itself. We did NOT plan on this. I had just come back from California and now had to turn around and drive to Georgia to get a dog.

Yes.

We drove.

2000 mile round trip. 18 hours straight there, 19 hours back (pit stops lasted a little longer on the way home). We drove out, met with her and the breeder for a few hours in the evening. Stayed at a hotel that night, then went back the next morning for another meeting, paperwork, and driving home. So, a lot of driving in a little time.

But it’s been so worth it.

At first, she was in guard mode. She didn’t know us, so she properly kicked in as we expected her too. But after a little time she warmed up to us, but was still wary. While the drive home was long, I think that helped her accept us. She was well-behaved the entire drive back. We would talk to her, pet her through the bars of the crate, and just lavish as much love on her as we could. I am working to establish myself as Alpha, and so far that seems to be setting in. Good thing too, as she’s wicked strong.

We let her trot around the house, on a leash, to explore and get to know her new home. After about an hour we introduced the cats. They aren’t sure what to make of her, other than it’s a big thing with teeth. But they do seem curious of her, just well… understandably on edge. 🙂  Sasha tho, she just wants to play with them. One of the cats got cornered and got very defensive, and Sasha took that as an offer to play. Cat wanted nothing to do with it, but seeing Sasha act as she did I take as a good sign.

As of now? I think she’s accepted us as family. We’ve received kisses. She watches everything we do: when I walked into the kitchen, she kept her eye on me. Movement outside? She was right at the window. I’m sitting on the couch with my MacBook Pro in my lap to type this, and Sasha is resting on the floor at my feet.

I think she likes us. 🙂

She’s receptive to our commands. She has a huge tail wag when she sees “Momma” (Wife). We’re able to hug her, pet her tummy. I also think she’s got a special protection mode going for the kids: when they move about she watches them, and when they come back to her she expects a little hand sniff to say “OK, we’re all fine”. It’s all very good. Even the cats are starting to mellow out in the same room (tho at a safe distance).

I know some people will look at us as crazy for going about things as we did. Picking a particular breed and settling for nothing less than our criteria. Using a breeder (tho this wasn’t like typical breeder purchase… it’s more like a rescue). Driving 2000 miles in 54 hours. But you know what?

You do crazy things when you’re in love. 🙂

Yes… I admit. I’m in love. Maybe I wasn’t a dog person, but Sasha… she’s changed me.

Now, we need to go to PetSmart. Got a few supplies to pick up.

The debate returns

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

I knew it would happen.

That guy goes shooting a rifle on the University of Texas campus, and it revives the whole “concealed carry on college campus” debate.

Dallas Morning News has an article.

John Woods, a UT graduate student who organized an anti-gun rally last year, disagreed. He said that having more guns on campus wouldn’t improve security.

“If there were multiple students running around with guns, it would’ve made the police’s job a lot harder this morning,” Woods said Tuesday. He was a student at Virginia Tech University in 2007 when a gunman killed 32 people, including Woods’ girlfriend.

And your proof for this is where? Yes, you’ve got a lot of emotional investment in the matter, but when we’re making policy we cannot make it based upon emotion, it must be made on fact and reason.

He said gun backers don’t understand that training to get a concealed carry license is “just eight hours in a classroom and a couple of shots at a target that’s not moving in a range – a very, very controlled situation.”

Actually, it sounds more like you don’t understand what is involved in getting a concealed carry license. I’m licensed by the State of Texas to teach CHL courses, so I know exactly what it takes to get a CHL. But I know what you’re doing — you’re minimizing, you’re trying to paint a particular picture that skews favor towards your stance. What would work better? Presenting facts and irrefutable proof.

Nevertheless, you are correct that the CHL testing doesn’t involve a moving target. But have you seen the testing and qualification courses that go on in some police departments? I think you’d be surprised to find out how many police officers aren’t that great a shot, and how many civilians are.

Katy Bacon, a [Bill] White spokeswoman, said “[Gov. Rick] Perry wants to mandate allowing guns on campus” but White believes “students, parents, administrators, and security personnel should decide.”

We mandate allowing guns everywhere else? What makes a college campus different? As evidenced by this past incident, college campus’ are not surrounded by an impenetrable force-field that keeps evil out and away. Evil can and does happen anywhere. Why should people be denied the ability to defend their lives? These cowards choose “soft targets” because they know they will not meet with (equal or greater, or just any form of) resistance. Why do people want to legislated being at the mercy of these evil cowards? What sense is there in that?

From the AP:

“I can’t think of any way that the situation yesterday would have been improved by additional guns,” said John Woods, a graduate student at UT-Austin who attended Virginia Tech in 2007, when a student gunman killed 32 people, including some of Woods’ friends.

Woods urged state lawmakers in 2009 to block a bill that would have allowed guns on campuses. It failed.

If a gunman is on the loose, and people try to shoot back, missed shots can pose their own danger to bystanders. And the number of guns can make it difficult for police to determine “who are the good guys and who are the bad guys,” Woods said.

He advocates preventive measures, like making mental health services available and putting locks on the insides of classroom doors.

There are mental health services available, and already laws on the books regarding mental health status and gun ownership. They help, but they can only do so much. I mean, this Tooley guy… no records of that. There’s always a first time, and no paper-trail is going to help that sort of crazy.

Locks inside classroom doors? To what end? Rifle rounds aren’t stopped by locks nor flimsy classroom doors. Besides, that implies a strategy of sitting still and becoming a victim. Why are you engaging in that mentality? If someone suggested putting locks on doors as a rape-prevention strategy, they’d be laughed out of the room.

Well… elections are in a month, and the 2011 Texas legislative session is coming. It’s going to be interesting.