Giant Schnauzers

What Can Two Giant Schnauzers Do?

Two giant schnauzers after what they perceived to be prey of some sort (read some critter fleeing for its life and generally a lizard fleeing for its tail), can do a lot of damage in just a short while.  Roger, our big pepper salt giant schnauzer male was caught with one paw half way down a strawberry planter jar.  He looked up as if to say, "Oh, I am in trouble now!"  He turned and ran full speed away.  When told to come in the house, he only slowed down slightly at the door, hit the rug in the living room, moved it a few feet and went bounding up onto our bed and the door was shut behind him.

After going out to survey the damage, I found most of it easily stuck back in pots and most of all, the night blooming cereus cactus was mostly intact.  That plant has survived frosts and being upended by dogs several times.  I found the beautiful bloom only a little worse for wear and the other buds intact and should bloom in the next few day.

Enjoy!  Too bad I didn't get the picture of Roger with his paw in the "cookie" jar. 

Golden Amulets

          Seasons encumbered

by winds blowing from the heavens

     brown  rusty plants

                  brittle and parched

     clinging to mountainsides

Skies broil under summer's intense glare

     silver buds of moisture build

            swelling the bosom

                   of sky mother

                        sending bolts of silver

      dancing across her palette

            rippling                 crackling

                   teasing and tempting

'

Electricity crawls up the skin

       skies turn yellow

            with swirling flecks dipped

                              from an endless well of dust

      of parched city streets

            teasing and tempting

                        

pressure builds

        letting loose with torrents

            gushers of water

                         winds ripping

      trees tearing

                        lightening lashes out in whorls

            crashes of thunder follow 

                   warning

                        of violence yet to come

              

                liquid gold

                              for desert dwellers

      Driving, blinding

                         gold from the heavens

11/15/96

The RIPS or Giant Schnauzers Having Fun

One thing the Wild Children of the Desert like to do is called the RIPS in giant schnauzer jargon.  They like to run around with wild abandon and make nasty snarling sounds that probably sound like a major dog fight to anyone within ear shot that doesn't know what is going on.  This is Hank our four year old playing with Greta who is almost eight.  She does prefer to have a solid surface under her.  One of her favorite things to do is to egg on the "boys" and get them running the way Hank is doing.

Download hank_and_greta_playing.wmv

A Craigs' List Stalker

I am not certain when we first discovered Craig's List, but we are avid fans of it.  We have gotten barnwood which really wasn't free.  We had to rent a 24 foot flatbed truck to cart all the "free" barnwood home and hire someone to help load and unload the truck.  There is one 18 foot beam there.

We got the leather Laz-Y-Boy recliner on the list.  We got a five piece set of pine tables and TV cabinet.  We also sold another pine TV cabinet on the list.  This evening while perusing Craig's list, someone posted a big tool chest.  Now my hubby has a bigger one and one identical to this one, BUT while straightening up the garage, he found he has even more tools than he thought.  So he needed another tool chest.  I was the first one to email, so the tool chest is ours.  We purchased a huge evap cooler that now cools our garage/workshop for a fifth of what I bought a smaller one for my old house. 

Off Freecycle we have gotten enormous desert plants to help us landscape our new house.  All we had to do was dig them up and move them.  After we got the first two from this gal, she was so happy the plants were going to a good home, that she called and offered us two more from her mother's yard.  What could we say??  Since we have a large yard, two more were gratefully accepted. 

The above picture is two of the hesperaloe or red yucca that we dug up and moved.

We needed more railroad ties to use in the front for the driveway, and someone needed loads of railroad ties removed.  Now how many people are going to load up and move railroad ties when it is 115 degrees outside.  Did you say they are free?  We will do it.  Well, not me, but dear hubby will.  We did have to hire  some help and rent a stronger trailer than ours, but they ties were free.

We do have a few extra but will fine a place for those.  We found a nursery going out of business and at less than $4 for a five gallon pot, bought many of the landscaping plants we needed.  We found heavy duty metal shelving for the garage, a newer fridge when our fridge went out after being in the new house less than six weeks,  a huge TV only three years old, food grade 55 gallon drums that we built a compost bin from and will use the rest for water storage, and the list goes on.  I have fleeting but passing feelings of guilt, but they are overcome with feelings that I earned these treasures!  I searched and found them.  What can I say?  I love recycling and giving castoffs a good home.  Our attitude has become if it costs too much, wait and we can find it for cheaper or free on Craigslist or Freecycle. 

Happy Birthday To Hank, Happy Birthday To You!

Today is Hank's fourth birthday.  Hank is our foster failure in giant schnauzer rescue.  He came to us at about 14 months of age weighing 52 pounds.  He was so thin you could see his ribs easily and he could only run short distances without coughing.  He had been dropped at a night drop box at a kill shelter where he probably got into a fight with another dog as the tip of one ear is missing.  He is afraid of certain male dogs still to this day.

But during the last three years he has filled out and matured.  He has left many of his fears behind.  Today all of the dogs were happy to celebrate his birthday with him.

We don't do dog cakes around here.  We feed a raw diet and they had an extra special one tonight.

Each dog got a piece of chicken leg, beef heart and a piece of beef roundsteak.  They were in Heaven!  In total silence they sat in the kitchen waiting for their bowls to be filled before going to their respective feeding stations.  Having big dogs means they all eat separately.  They have to sit and stay before being released to eat.  This evening I tortured poor Hank and made him stay even longer while I went to get the camera to take his picture.  We put in his bowl the biggest candle we could find.  Hank was NOT impressed and was most happy when it was gone.

That is drool that looks like a spider web coming out of the side of his mouth.  Poor baby! Hank is now a fairly well behaved giant schnauzer clown.  One of his favorite things to do is to open and close doors.  He use to shut himself in the bathroom because he liked the way the bathroom door swung.  But sometimes he swung it with too much force and the door would close on him.  Later we would hear this pitiful whine coming from behind the door.  Hank is always entertaining us.  We just have to remember to do a little obedience reviews so that he knows who is the boss in the house.  And it is not Hank!

 

Nonnie and the Three Year Old Whirlwind

The years have dimmed my memory about how closely one should keep tabs on a three year old when in public.  Today Quinn and I had a great time at McD's where he ate and climbed and played and let his imagination run rampant.  But I had promised him some blue drink for his sippy cup while we continued out running errands before picking up his sister at school.  I let him carry it since he had been so good on everything else.  While walking up the aisle to the cash register, we were chatting about who knows what, when this 48 ounce bottle of blue electrolyte drink tumbles out of his hands and smacks the concrete floor.  Things could have been much worse  than the lid cracking and coming off and half of the blue liquid spilling onto the floor and quickly traveling along the edge of the bottom of the display shelving.  The clerk looked at me with a completely impassive face and I returned the look.  I had a blank mind at that point so the expressionless face was not hard to maintain.  Quinn continued on his way to the counter to buy his loot after I scooped up the remains of the container.  While standing there waiting to pay, he knocked into the life-size display standing there.  I managed to snag that before it hit anything and hold on to him at the same time.  We quickly paid and I kept telling the lady how sorry I was.  I think she figured I was in for more before the day was over and she made no response.

We did continue our excursions and visited a resale shop scouring it for Halloween costumes for the two kids.  We found a heavy green dinosaur costume for him and at the end was a matching one for his sister.  These are heavy and it was 107 degrees in the Southwest deserts today.  When they got home, both put on their costumes and had great fun playing so  it was all worth it.

If you see a kid in a green dinosaur costume, I haven't slightest idea where he came from.  Oh, I am AKA Nonnie.

Giant Schnauzers Run Amuck

About six years ago I had to put my beloved dog Davey down.  His legs and body could just no long support him.  He had seen me through an awful divorce to meeting the love of my life.  Davey completely approved of Tom and it was as if he was saying to me that he knew my life was definitely on track and now he could go. 

Not being one to be without a dog, I was determined to have another dog.  We visited the Arizona Humane Society and found a ten month old giant schnauzer pup so full of energy, it was easy to see why Schultz had been turned in to them. 

He came home with us that day and what a ride it has been with him.  Six years and four giant schnauzers later, we love the breed and devote a lot of our spare time to helping Valley of the Sun Giant Schnauzer Rescue rehome them. 

As soon as I figure out how to use this blog, I will be adding pictures to show the progress of Schultz, our first giant, and others that have entered our lives.

I think I figured it out!  What fun this will be!