Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Rubricizing, Lost a Close Friend, and Recent Wiki Articles

I've applied my rubric to two courses and have tried a third course but have had trouble finding the lesson materials. But, fear not! I have other alternatives! I started writing my report last weekend and shouldn't be a problem to complete it by Saturday.

Last night I came home, got Dakota (our half German Shepherd half knothead, and God knows what else) his dinner, went out to give him supper, and I had a stiff pup on my hands. Dakota and I had become very close, over the past 6 or 7 years especially. Kath (my wife) is always close to her pets. He was almost 14 years old. Lessee, that's somewhere in his 80s for a dog his size. He had a good life. We had a lot of good times...still doesn't make it easy. Dakota was with us since weaning as a young pup. Josh picked him out and reminded me how Dakota's mom, Gretchen-who lived next door, used to come to our back door and whine 'cuz she knew we had one of her pups. There are a lot of good memories. Kath reminded me of the time he had a cat treed and the cat wasn't gonna come down for love or money. Dakota just sat down at the foot of that tree until the cat decided to come down and promptly chased the cat into next week! He was a smart dog. We had a grey cockatiel named Mosby. Mosby got outside one day and flew away or so we thought until we heard Dakota barking from the back yard. Kath got out there and there was Dakota with his paw on Mosby gently pinning him to the ground and a smile on Dakota's face! Then there was the time he shoved the kitchen chair up against the counter, got on the counter, and drug down a bag cheese flavored chips and had a feast. Kath came in the kitchen as he munched the last of the chips and asked, "Would you like some dip with that, Dakota?" Then there was the Christmas he ate a whole box of chocolate covered cherries. And once when the fridge we had had a bad seal on the door and he nose that door open and helped himself to a whole, thawed out, uncooked chicken with a sheepish grin on his face! At least he died (we say moved) easy and we didn't have to have him put to sleep. That'd probably be worse. He had the typical German Shepherd problem of bad hips and arthritis in his front right leg. Still he was always game for a car ride and a walk along the Mississippi. Buried him in one of his many holes he dug in our back yard, right near his dog house. No other dog will ever replace Dakota...we know that...just the same we're on the lookout for a Scottish Terrier pup. May have found one out southwest of Iowa City for a very reasonable price. Kath would really like a Scottie.

Earlier yesterday a couple of articles about Wikis came to me via email...thought I'd share them here. They both came from eWeek and provide some worthwhile reading. Here's their links...
25 Tips for a Better Wiki and Wikis While You Work

8 comments:

Sue McDaniel said...

Joe, I'm so sorry to hear about your dog. But I laughed out loud at your stories. Pets are wonderful, aren't they? (Especially the smart ones!)

Were you able to get into those two courses?

Unknown said...

Yeah, we've got a lot of good memories from Dakota. Pets, dogs particularly, are wonderful...not that our other pets haven't been. It's surprising how close I got to Dakota in the past 5 or 7 years.

Was able to get into the Accounting class but the speech class still turned up negative on the lessons. I don't know what I did wrong. Sent you my eval earlier or later last night...don't remember now.

Jim West said...

Sorry to here about your dog. I have a cat that I'm pretty fond of. Thanks for the wiki articles.

Leslie Roberts said...

Sorry about your dog. They do get to be a part of the family. I have gotten into working on my project over the holiday and will finish it up tomorrow. There just isn't enough time during the week to get into anything too deep. Hope you find a nice terrier.

Unknown said...

thanks for your condolences and kind comments.

We did find a Scottie pup. Picked him up last night. We named him Jacques. The price was right and he's a great 10 week or so little boy with a very gentle and loving personality. Will post a picture this weekend...my son in Carbondale is anxious to see what Jacques looks like. He's pretty much black but you can see brindle in his coat. Pretty well paper trained, too, which is a big help. Lucky our gray tabby isn't too happy about him but hope they'll make good playmates eventually.

Mariann said...

Joe,
Jacques? Mais Oui!
Sorry about your loss.

Anonymous said...

So sorry about Dakota's passing. Pets do become part of the family.
I really enjoyed the photos on your blog. I wish I had the time to learn about photography; I think I would really enjoy it. And it would give me an excuse to pull out all my scrap booking materials and finish some (okay, one) album!

Unknown said...

thanks Mary...it has been fun! Go for it on the scrapbook. It'll make you feel good!