The DOG

So, I mentioned how Marc and I had rigged up our sprinkler system so that the dog wouldn't destroy it for the umpteenth time. Lemme back up. Our sprinkler system basically has two pipes that come out of the ground - one for supply, which has the master controller, and another that's connected that goes to the rest of the system. The master controller is then connected by these two wires that run to the control box for the automatic timer, which is connected to the side of our house.

Anyways, Bandit has been very fond of chewing these wires, since they're just kind of suspended in air. We replaced them once, he chewed them again. I think we tried to use rubber tubing around them, he chewed that too. We finally got this flexible metal tubing and put one around each wire. He still managed to break the wires at the ends. So this time, we got a 5" diameter piece of aluminum ducting, which fit around the master controller and the wires, and Marc duct taped the whole thing, including to the wall of the house.

Yesterday was the first day we had to leave Bandit outside with the contraption. You can probably guess where this story is going.

That was what was left of the ducting when we got home. He had pulled it off, and then unraveled it into one big metal ribbon. Needless to say, the wires were also destroyed. And the unfortunate side effect of having secured it so tightly to the controller was that he had put so much force on the pipes that he broke one of the joints, and now we can't even run the sprinklers manually.

Marc was pissed off with a capital P.

Luckily, my dad has Tools for Every Occassion, so I called him up and picked up some repair stuff this morning on my way to work. Hopefully it'll be an easy fix, and not something that's going to take hours. He also said he can help us build a big wooden box to put around the control box and wires and pipes, which is pretty much our only recourse at this point.

You can see now why a lot of Border Collies end up in rescue before the age of 2. ;)

The CAT

Well, the cats aren't in trouble. Yet. But we've observed one interesting thing about Stubby (I may have mentioned this before, I can't remember). He actually seems to watch what Marc and I do and learn from it. I mean, cats aren't stupid, but Snuggles hasn't done this (of course, this might be chalked up to simple lack of desire on her part).

Basically, when Stubby wants a door open, he will stand up and bat the door knob with his paws. We didn't teach him this, it's presumably something he's learned from watching us - that somehow touching that knob gets the door open.

This weekend, when we were working in the backyard, he really wanted to come outside. Meowing wasn't working. So he actually stretched up, and hooked both of his paws around the sliding door handle and pulled on it.

Heck, even the dog hasn't done this!

The HAMSTER

Just cause I haven't put up a picture of Hammy in a while:

I also have a video from sheep herding a few weeks ago.