Sophie > Sun & Mon (Days 3-4)

Sophie literally has no tail so she wiggles her butt but she does talk and, believe it or not, we had a conversation yesterday. I talked to her, she answered. She also slept with me last night, not so cute because (1) she's a very active dreamer and (2) she takes up A LOT of room.

She now opens the door to my office on her own. She barks when she wants to come in the house if I'm not with her. She has not had a bathroom accident. She wanders the property at will, barks @ the next door neighbor's dog and air sniffs.

She & Stella are on the same schedule & this morning they went out together -- in the dark -- did their thing in privacy, wandered on a smelling expedition & came running home when called. It's funny watching them run together. Sophie lopes, Stella scrambles on her cute, stubby legs.

Yesterday, Sunday, I took Stella on some morning errands to give her some special time with me while leaving Sophie with Carol to bond & get used to my NOT being around ALL the time. Sophie and Carol went for a run.... well, Carol ran while Sophie trotted alongside.

You've got to understand that the Soph has legs that go on forever. In a different life she might have been a Radio City Rockette or a pantyhose model. Instead she's a dog with looooong legs. To give you an idea take a look at these historic photos of the early Bouviers

Then look @ Burton here. Smart.... and what an athlete he was !! And so different from the current crop of American Bouviers.

Anyway, after my errands & Carol's run, we met at a local coffee shop. The shop has tables outside where people walk by, cars drive by, i.e. there's lots of action. Stella is used to this so I had her lie down & told Sophie to down next to her & I watched Sophie's reaction as people walked by & cars moved in & out of parking spots, not 5 yards from her nose. 

She looked on with interest but no real reaction. As it happened some friends came by to chat so I stood up to talk to them while maintaining Sophie in the down position. (Stella I don't worry about as she stays until released.) No problem. At one point there were 5-6 people gathered in a knot, towering over her. Again no problem (Truman might have been growling quietly in similar circumstances). After about an hour of this, we went home where Sophie played outside on her own before choosing to go into the house.

In the afternoon I suggested that Carol & I follow our oft routine of going to the movies. We said bye-bye to both girls & left them with the run of the house. By the time we returned home 3+ hours later, it was pitch black.

As Carol approached the house, we heard barking -- not from one, but from two Bouvs. One in the dining room looking watching through the french doors, the other in the kitchen looking through the little glass panes. Stella exited first, then Sophie.

I was waiting at the end of the driveway & made my presence known with a "Hi girls!". Stella trotted down to my location but Sophie charged, full tilt in my direction. If she had hit me, I would have been flattened by her 110-120#. OMG, what a greeting!! Wiggle butt, talking, jumping around. I had to make room for Stella's greeting as Sphie surrounded me. <whew>

This is a very smart girl, this Sophie. She is very communicative. She will offer a paw if she wants to be scratched. She sits & looks directly in my eyes if she wants attention. She is learning to sit to wait for dinner. With a slight correction She now allows me to exit a door first. She comes when she is called but not yet 100%. She offers kisses in trade for a butt scratch. She was fairly patient when I started to thin out her undercoat although she is a bit sensitive about her upper legs. Well, what girl isn't sensitive about her thighs?

After dinner we comb her non-existent beard (to get her used to it) as we comb Stella's luxurious beard nightly. Then I brush Sophie's teeth w/o a problem, thanks to her foster parents. Finally it's time to rest but she is always attentive to sounds & movement around the house. 

However, when she finally falls fully asleep, she sleeps like the dead. And getting up is a chore. It's like waking a teenager to go to school. Let's just say she's a slooow riser. My hope is that -- should we have an intruder -- s/he will not come in middle of Sophie's REM sleep because there will be no more Sophie/Stella diaries.

Perspective. (originally posted by a friend)

It's Good When You Can Get It

Sophie Rifkinson, a Southern Belle

January 2012

North Carolina Sophie, age 7, has white around her muzzle. She is over-sized, probably at 30" at the withers, she's a little long in body, fully cropped (small ears like old style), has a deep chest, a great black nose, very pretty IMO. Currently her black coat is growing back but I think she will look beautiful & HUGE with a full Bouvier coat by next summer. She reminds me of the early Dutch Bouvs, good head, long limbs, etc

As I understand it, the first couple of years of her life were ok  but then, after a divorce, she was relegated to the back porch where she spent 90% of her day with two other Bouvs. When rescued, she was matted, nails curled under, free fed, the old story.

She was cleaned up, vetted, had her teeth cleaned (she doesn't mind having her teeth brushed), her hair is growing back. It will be a luxurious, probably soft coat but I'll do what I can to thin it out & stiffen it up a bit like Stella.

Watching the two of them together is like watching Mutt & Jeff -- Sophie being oversiezed & Stella being undersized. 

As Sophie has not had any real freedom most / all of her life she is VERY interested in everything. Initially she got slightly unnerved by all the new stimuli but she tries to figure them out w ears pricked, etc. She does not appear fearful, just careful & observant. Bottom line: she LOVES being outside to wander & see new things although she also likes going into the house.

The problem is she has a real FLIGHT fright. At one point in her first life, she ran away for unknown reasons & led a feral existence. After 3 months she was 'captured' in a weakened, emaciated and starving condition in someone's backyard. The animal control folks who were aware of her disappearance, picked her up & returned her to her owner from whom she had fled.

Sophie's foster parents, Deb & Bob Dickerson, very committed & wonderful, experienced Bouvier people didn't have the kind of property to let her roam free but they cleaned her up, stipped her of her matted coat, cut her nails, vetted her, got her shots, cleaned her teeth and loved the heck out of her for two month. They took her on daily 2-3 mile walks to help her lose weight. Seeing a leash immediately causes a butt wag.

To meet Sophie, I had Stella dragging a lead in a forest walking path setting. When Deb / Bob approached with Sophie, who was at full attention, pulling her lead to see who that was up ahead (us), Stella took one look & retreated quickly, fortunately not out of sight. With some doing, I was able to coax her back. There were only a few snorfuls, but not much interaction between them at all, as we stood around. talking. I made sure Stella felt appreciated and that she was a good girl. 

Leaving the foster parents behind, Carol, Stella, Sophie & I walked along the forest path @ Aldrich Park until Deb & Bob were out of sight.

I used a veeeeery long training leash for this exercise so Sophie had the illusion of freedom. She alternated between going forwards with us -- out of interest in her surroundings -- and backwards to look for her foster parents -- but was obedient, coming when called (after a slight tug), sitting & lying down for petting sessions when we rested.

After about 45 minutes we returned to our car (fosters had left). She got in readily & we drove home.

At home I let her loose trailing the training leash behind her to investigate the property. She checked the entire 2.5 acre perimeter probably trying to figure out if she could escape. She also checked the front gate a few extra times as she must recognize that as a connection to the outside & freedom.

Carol took her shopping to Pet store w/o incident.

At home she was calm but curious, always looking out the windows & glass doors but eventually settling down. Probably still looking for foster parents.

Dinner was un-eventful. She clearly likes to go outside, gets very excited when she sees a leash but is curious / startled / interested in all the new noises & lights she sees around the property. She spent the night sleeping on a window seat, the same place where Stella goes when I leave her alone. It's a huge window seat so I don't anticipate any issues.

Sophie shows no outward nervousness, perhaps a tiny show of anxiety w licking & paw raised every once in a while but it dissipates quickly & she does react to commands. She is naturally glued to one of us at all times. She will make eye contact with both of us.

The girls together are like two ships passing through the night. I don't think there will ever be a problem there.

This morning they enjoined a barking session with the next door mutt by running down, just short of the fence but turning around to see if I was still there and / or to see if it was ok. Then we toured the property again, totally leashless. Afterwards she wanted to come back into the house.

She has no hesitation entering the house or the cottage as Stella had at the beginning. On exit (off lead) She started to go out the door first & a very low throat clearing from me caused her to look up @ me & back up. Not one word was spoken & I went out first. 

I think she's very intuitive & communicative & I can see her developing a big vocabulary in time. She has prey drive (un-like Stella), is very sweet & when we peel back the onion layers I suspect -- as did her foster parents -- what will emege will be ALL Bouvier.

I will continue to update her blog here. Eventually I will move it over to the Bouvier section of the big blog. For those of you who have twitter, Sophie has her own hash tag which is #sophierifkinson where I will post 'stuff'

Orchid Show > New York Botannical Gardens

CLICK HERE FOR MORE ORCHID IMAGES

A Very Ruff Xmas 2011

Don't know the origination except that it was posted to FB by Michael A.... a friend with a wonderfully warped sense of humor

Payback

Next step, Newt Gingrich

By John Roach 

After six years and several million dollars, scientists have created a 3-D model of a rat brain circuit.

The accomplishment is a first step toward creating a complete computer model of the brain that will allow a deeper understanding of how our noggins work — and what causes them to malfunction, according to the scientists behind the feat. 

For a starting point, researchers at the Max Planck Florida Institute are focused on how the rat brain processes information gathered by a single whisker. 

They did so because studies in their lab and elsewhere have shown that a single whisker is able to detect, in complete darkness, whether a gap is safe to jump over and, if so, trigger the order to jump. 

What's more, there's a specific region of the brain "that is dedicated to processing information from a dedicated whisker," Marcel Oberlaender, a researcher at the institute and the first author of a paper explaining the research in the journal Cerebral Cortex, told me today.

That region is called the cortical column, a vertically-organized series of connected neurons that form a brain circuit and an elementary building block of the cortex. 

The cortex is the part of the brain responsible for many of the higher functions, such as memory and consciousness.

To build the model, the researchers studied the cortical column in awake and anesthetized rats as well as brain slices and then used computer software and other tools to reconstruct it.

"The model we built is really based on a complete reconstruction of these nerve cells," Oberlaender said. "So how the model looks in the end resembles how it would look in the real animal."

It is composed of 16,000 neurons, each of which can be divided into one of nine different cell types that has characteristic functional, structural and connectivity properties, he added.

The model can now be used to run computer simulations that show, in realistic detail, how signals flow within the brain. So, they can begin to understand, for example, what neurons fire as the rat detects the gap and decides whether or not to jump.

Until now, researchers have only been able to see how a single neuron or a small group of neurons interact during such a process. "We can now, in simulation experiments, mimic what is really going on in these circuits," Oberlaender said.

Going forward, the researchers should be able to use the methodology developed to build this model to add more parts to it, thus incorporating other brain functions such as the motor system that sends a signal down the spinal cord and makes the limbs move so that rat can jump over the gap.

*  *  *

John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. To learn more about him, check out his website.

My friend & colleague

 Annie

My Marie > Fifty Two Years Later

When I was a very, very young and lucky fellow, I dated a dark haired, ravishing, buxom beauty named Marie (accent over the 'e'). We were inseparable at school, after school, movies, sandwich shops, parties and so forth. It was a very serious affair for a pair of 16 year olds.

Finally I thought I'd better bring Marie home to meet my parents just in case we decided to get married. She was okay with this but understandably nervous.

Marie, a dresser as well as a looker and sex goddess, donned one of her finer outfits: a beautiful but modest blouse with a full skirt maxed out by all the undergarments of the time, did up her hair and makeup in demure fashion, to prepare for this august occasion.

When I saw her, I was both pleased and relieved by her appearance. And so I took Marie home to meet my parents. 

We arrived and the folks met us outside on the front lawns along with our boxers Junior and Cleo (as in 'patra'), Rita, the pet black white goat and the mini-dachshund, Chiquita.

And there stood Marie, hand outstretched, greeting first my father (whom I think she momentarily flirted with as this was her way) and then my mother, the Empress.

It was a very warm day and I was sweating it but everything seemed to be going well as I watched the expression on my parents' face for a sign.

Meanwhile, one of my faithful Boxers (it was Junior) ambled up to Marie, walked between her legs, stuck his head under her crinolines, looked straight up and started panting.

For a moment, Marie tried to be 'cool' and ignore it, thinking it was a momentary aberration which would disappear on it's own. But Junior didn't move and the seconds seemed like hours.

It must of been dark under all those crinolines so I don't know what he was doing but Marie was finally forced to step back and gather herself and her skirts, thus utterly destroying this important teenage moment.

Of course everyone apologized for Junior's bad behavior except me as I couldn't blame him for reading my mind.

Anyway, the following year I was away at boarding school and Marie ended up with a different guy.

Last I heard, which was many years later, she was married with five kids.

I've never seen her again.

December 2011

Bootie Call > OMG !!

Annual Event > Annie & Carol 2010

This is why I love her so....

A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney (Written before election day when I lost my bid for a seat on the Board of Selectmen, when it snowed & the lights went out...... for 8 days)

From The Ridgefield Press November 10, 2011
Written by Jan Rifkinson 

Win or lose, I wanted to use this space to thank everyone who gave me a few moments of their time, who worked on my campaign, who signed my petition to get me on the ballot, who voted for me. And to congratulate my opponents who were re-elected.

But this weekend another kind of outage interrupted the campaign. Andy Rooney died & I want to write about the few minutes Carol & I spent with him & how we remember him.

Andy Rooney was a principled man. He made his living writing as a member of the Writer's Guild of America. When CBS technicians struck, he was one of the few who refused to cross their picket line.

After an editorial spat, he left to PBS for a few years but then returned to the CBS family. We all respected these things about him.

I worked with Andy & Harry Reasoner on television specials with titles like "Essay on Doors", "Essay on Women". Andy & Harry were good friends. Andy wrote for Harry & Harry -- also an excellent writer -- read Andy's words beautifully.  Both had old Mercedes diesels .

Years later, Carol's office was opposite Andy's. She was working on a program called "West 57th" and Andy was doing his "60 Minutes" gig. Frequently, Carol & Andy walked to the garage together & chatted about the day's events.

And many, many years later, Carol & I were strolling through an antiquing warehouse in Stamford & we spotted Andy shuffling along.

"Mr. Rooney" I called out. He ignored me (he despised notoriety).

"Mr. Rooney", I said again, introducing myself & Carol. "I worked with you & Harry on the Essay Shows." He stopped & we reminisced for a few moments. Then he shuffled off.

That was the last we saw of him.

He was a principled man.

You can't make this stuff up

Check out clerk @ local Stop 'n Shop to Carol who was next in line:

"Please be patient w me. I have A.D.D. & I just had a hysterectomy. "

Six Degrees of separation or one strange day

The other day I attended a senior lunch at the Ridgefield Community Center, also known as the Lonsbury House. It's a beautiful place,  built by former CT governor, Phineas C. Lounsbury, in 1896. It's right on main street, Ridgefield.

Before lunch was served, I sat down on a rocking chair on the front porch next to a gentleman, also in his 60's. I introduced myself & discovered that we shared a common denominator. His mother was Puerto Rican & I was born in Purto Rico. So we chatted on about Puerto Rico.

As we moved inside for lunch, we found a table with two  ladies. already seated. Soon, several others joined the table. Joe sat to my left. I introduced myself to the senior woman to my right. Her name was Ginny. And I reached across her to introduce myself to her friend, another senior lady, named Carol.

After a few seconds I looked at them both & said, "I will never forget your names. The first love of my life was a beautiful girl named Gini. The second love of my life was a girl named Carol to whom I've been married for 39 years."

We all had a good laugh.

So you tell me, is this what is meant by six degrees of separation?

Fascinating display > Syncing 250 camera flashes to music by Bright Siren group

See the photos taken simultaneously by clicking here.

No Truer Words Have Ever Been Spoken by a Navy Seal Commander

Reported by ABC News/Martha Raddatz:

The top commander of U.S. special forces says he thinks it's time for women to go into combat as Navy SEALS. 

A Navy SEAL himself, Admiral Eric T. Olson said at the opening session of the 2011 Aspen Security Forum that he would like to see female SEALs in combat roles. 

"As soon as policy permits it, we'll be ready to go down that road," said Olson. 

He added that being a SEAL is not just about physical strength. "I don't think the idea is to select G.I. Jane and put her through SEAL training, but there are a number of things that a man and a woman can do together that two guys can't," said Olson. [...]

Problem Solving Video > Canine Methodology (Full credit to his owners who published this video on YouTube)