SOCIAL - SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Dog Days

By Shirley Woods | Life Happens

Joe and I are not animal lovers. It is not that we dislike them; we are just not passionate about pets. It is hard though, when you live in the country, to raise three children without at least one of them wanting a pet. Our daughter, Dana, is the animal lover in the family so we have had our share of dogs and cats.

After the kids grew up and left home, we both thought our days of caring for pets were over. Then approximately fourteen years ago, a medium size chow-mix dog showed up on our doorstep. Apparently, someone had dropped her on our road. She appeared to be about six months old and in poor physical condition. Even though we didn’t love dogs and I knew it would encourage her, the humane thing to do was to feed and water the poor little thing. Afterwards we tried to run her off and then to find her owner, both to no avail. It was obvious she had been mistreated. Until she learned to trust again, she was easily startled and whimpered anytime anyone suddenly raised a hand in her presence. We gave her the name Jenny simply because our granddaughters had a dog at the same time named Forrest Gump.

Jenny stays outside unless it is storming and then she will do just about anything to get into our garage. Actually, she serves as my weather alert. Long before I hear the rumble of thunder, she hangs around close to the house and pleads with me with those brown eyes that indicate how scared she is.

When it comes to intelligence, there are sharper knives in the drawer than Jenny. When I was growing up, we had a smart collie/shepherd mix named Lady. Upon command, she could herd the milk cows to the barn all by herself and shake hands without being asked to. It was ten years before Jenny learned to shake hands and then only briefly and she has to lay down first. Neither is she a watchdog. Someone robbed us in broad daylight a few years ago, with Jenny right there in the yard. I can envision her wagging her tail hoping for a pat on the head as they carried out a dozen rifles and shotguns, three televisions, my camcorder and jewelry box.

I cannot count the number of times I have scolded her over wallowing in my flowerbeds or muddying up the porches, but she goes right back.

If she has any good qualities, it is that she is a great mole catcher. At the house we lived in when she found us, you couldn’t walk in the yard for the mole tunnels but she took care of that. We watched many times from the porch while she stalked a mole as it burrowed along, then the moment he stuck his head out the hole she made a high leap and came down on him.

Jenny also was a good mother to her first and only litter of puppies. When we finally found homes for all eleven of them, we took her to the vet and had her spayed. Best money we ever shelled out. After the surgery, we brought her home, where we expected her to lounge around and take it easy. Then out of habit, when she saw our brother-in-law’s truck going up the hill to his farm next to ours, she took off chasing his truck. In a few minutes, I heard an unfamiliar sound at the back door. Jenny was scratching on the screen to get my attention. Blood was everywhere. I inspected her incision and her wild chase had torn open some of the stitches. She stood really still while I applied pressure with a towel and wrapped an ace bandage tightly around her abdomen. The bleeding stopped and in a week’s time, she was back to chasing moles, rabbits, and truck wheels.

Jenny used to have a ritual she repeated every day when I came home from work. She barked wildly and ran around the perimeter of the yard but as soon as I opened the car door she was right there nudging my hand with her head. We did this every weekday for years. “Hey, Jenny – how’s my Jenny – what have you been doing today, huh, what have you been doing today – are you glad to see me?” Then she would nudge me again until I repeated it. Occasionally, she tried to keep it up but would get down and go her way when I told her “that’s enough”.

We tried to give her away a few years ago to someone who lived several miles away and was eager to give her more attention than we did. When we came home a couple of hours later, there she was waiting for us. 

Jenny moves slowly now which almost caused her serious injury this summer. I parked my car in the yard and did not know she was lying under it in the shade it provided. When I started the engine and immediately began to back up, I noticed Joe waving at me but I just waved back. When I felt the car bump into something, Joe began yelling and motioning at me. I thought I had backed into a wheel barrel in the yard but that is when I saw Jenny running to Joe and realized what had happened. One of the front tires completely ran over her abdomen. To our amazement, nothing appeared to be broken. We watched carefully for signs of internal bleeding but she has been fine - a little more cautious now around moving cars, but okay.

We were not looking for a dog when Jenny found us, and when she passes on to doggie heaven I will be able to take down the porch gates and the wire fences from around my flowerbeds. I can stop buying flea and tick medicine and dog chow. The only dog-filled days we expect after she has gone are the hot, muggy kind that arrive in August and disappear in a few weeks. In the meantime, we will continue to let her stay in the garage when the weather is bad, and watch more closely to avoid running over her. We will take care of our little friend, Jenny, who is now 98 years old in dog days.

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Habitat Site Visited By Insurance Company

By Roberta Keefe

Habitat for Humanity had an interesting visitor last week.  Larry Walton from our insurer, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, inspected our work site. 

Lockton Affinity is the parent insurance and is a partner with HFH International.  Chubb Group is the worker’s compensation and solutions department. 

Walton was interested in looking at current open work sites.  Once a home is sold it is covered by the owners’ private insurance. He asked many questions and looked at not only the site but also all of the equipment we use like ladders, scaffolds, electric cords, power tools, stored lumber and the site for safety in general.

The criteria Walton used to evaluate the site included a determination of whether or not it was safe for walking, if there were open trenches or things to trip on, like roots or materials in general walk ways, and if anything was in a position that someone could hit their head on. Boards sticking out beyond scaffolds can give a nasty head wound if a person is not looking for them. Those are always marked and taken down at each day’s end.

He wanted to know if we use volunteer labor and did we have a safety talk about how to set ladders safely, nails in boards and open toed shoes.  He also asked if we provide safety glasses, hard hats and nose masks to install insulation or as needed. 

We were able to answer “yes” or positively to all but one area, setting trusses.  Trusses are the big triangles that hold up the roof. The safest way to do that is to have a crane set them but sooner or later you must have someone nail them together at the top. That someone must get out in the middle of the truss and install the stretchers, nailing one truss to the next.

Walton agreed that was not an easy problem to address and we were doing the best we could.  We can use ladders to set each end and could have one on the floor in the middle but still someone has to get up to the top. 

Once the gable end is on, the middle person’s job is as safe as possible. They always have the last truss to hang on to as the next one is set.  Once set, they are stable enough to use for balance and leverage for setting the next one. 

Habitat homes are one-story and usually simple gable ends with a 5/12 pitch.  This means the roof fall or pitch is only five inches for every 12-feet of roof.  That is an easy slope for walking and installing shingles but still steep enough to shed snow or rain.  

Over all, Walton’s visit was good.  It let us know we do have a very safe working environment.  We have never had a representative visit our work site.  Either our size now or our good claim history, which is number-one since our charter, prompted the visit.  

We thank all those who work on our sites for working safely.  It pays off with fewer accidents. 

Please call Roberta at 548-2270 or any board member to donate money, aluminum cans or volunteer time, especially in October.

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Museum Day 2009

McDowell House Museum is the former home and office of Dr. Ephraim McDowell who performed the first successful removal of an ovarian tumor in the world. Personally guided tours are given through the furnished house and apothecary shop, formal garden and medicinal garden.

On Saturday, September 26, 2009, McDowell House Museum will participate in the fifth annual Museum Day, presented by Smithsonian magazine. A celebration of culture, learning and the dissemination of knowledge, Smithsonian's Museum Day reflects the spirit of the magazine, and emulates the free-admission policy of the Smithsonian Institution's Washington, DC based properties. Doors will be open free of charge to Smithsonian magazine readers and Smithsonian. com visitors at museums and cultural institutions nationwide.

Last year, upwards of 200,000 people attended Museum Day, with also states plus Puerto Rico represented by over 900 participating museums, including 84 Smithsonian affiliate museums. This year, the magazine expects to attract over 1,000 museums.

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Ten Free Trees

Everyone from Kentucky who becomes a member of the Arbor Day Foundation in September will receive 10 free trees as part of the Foundation's Trees for America campaign.

Trees for America is a program dedicated to environmental stewardship through the planting of trees by the nonprofit Arbor Day Foundation.

The 10 trees are eastern redbud, white pine, sugar maple, white flowering dogwood, pin oak, red maple, river birch, silver maple, northern red oak, and Colorado blue spruce.

“These trees were selected to provide benefits every season of the year in Kentucky: lovely spring flowers, cool summer shade, spectacular autumn colors, and winter berries and nesting sites for songbirds,” said John Rosenow, chief executive of the Foundation. “They will also add to the proud heritage of Kentucky's 37 Tree City USA communities. For more than 30 years, Tree City USA has supported community forestry across Kentucky, and planting these trees will make this tree-planting tradition even stronger.” 

The trees will be shipped postpaid at the right time for planting, between Oct. 15 and Dec. 10. The 6 to 12 inch trees are guaranteed to grow or they will be replaced free of charge. Planting instructions are enclosed with each shipment of trees.

 To receive the 10 free trees, send a $10 membership contribution to Ten Trees, Arbor Day Foundation, 100 Arbor Ave., Nebraska City, NE 68410, by September 30, 2009, or join online at www.arborday.org.