Going to the Birds

My apartment is becoming a birdhouse, it seems! I've had a couple nests outside my bedroom window for most of the spring, and every morning I wake up to chirping. This is usually very pleasant--bird noises are a nice and gentle way to wake up. But sometimes it can actually be a bit confusing, because my alarm sound is also birds chirping, and sometimes I'm not sure if the chirps I hear are real birds or just the alarm!

One of the bird nests outside my bedroom window

This week, the bird takeover got even more serious.On Monday, I came home from work to find a pair of ducks acting like they wanted to make a nest under the tree by my front door!

Ducks nesting?!?

They pretty much just sat there and looked at me, until I finally decided I had to move them away so that Jasper wouldn't scare them to death when I brought him outside. Ducks are one of Jasper's favorite things to chase, although he doesn't discriminate too much between ducks, squirrels, cats, mice, rats, chickens, quail, rabbits, lizards, and even flies.

They looked like a happy couple. I haven't seen them come back, so I guess they must have found a better spot to call home. But the chirping birds are still keeping me company in the morning!

One Month in Carson City

I've now been in Carson City for an entire month, and a lot has happened in that time! Life has been pretty hectic, with moving, starting a new job, and learning my way around a new town. Although some days I've felt pretty homesick and have missed my friends and family, it has also been really exciting to start my new life here. Along the way I've tried to snap a few photos to document what has been going on, so without further delay, here is a photo journal of my first month in Nevada!


I spent the first few days doing a lot of shopping for house things like toothbrushes and toilet paper, and Jasper was very excited about the new toothbrush...
 

Jasper was also excited about the quails that live in the bushes outside my apartment, and has been keeping watch at the window.

 

Jasper and I both love hiking in the desert. It is dry and warm, and it smells amazing

 

We were walking in the park by the river and I spotted a coyote in the wetland

Turns out coyotes act a lot like dogs. This one peed, then sat down to scratch its ears.

My parents came to visit during the first weekend in May. We drove all the way around Lake Tahoe on Saturday, then went to a cowboy festival and a historic army fort on Sunday. The weather, which had been sunny and warm, turned cloudy and rainy when they arrived. I guess the Washingtonians brought some much-needed rain to Nevada. I realized once the warm sun returned that I haven't quite recovered from my sunlight-deficient life in Oregon--I was way more excited than anybody else in Nevada for the sun to come back!

 

Thunder and lightning over the desert

Fort Churchill is out in the desert and is mostly falling down, but it is still really cool. Nevada has a lot of history.

Last weekend Jasper and I went for a hike up Prison Hill, which is right in the middle of Carson City, but feels like the middle of nowhere. It was about 85 degrees and absolutely beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

Jaspee

Jaspee is my former roommate Peggy's nickname for Jasper, and it is really a pretty fitting name for him, unfortunately. Although he is housetrained, Jasper sometimes pees inside...he pees when he is excited, he pees to mark his territory, and he pees when he gets impatient and I am not letting him out soon enough. Sometimes I think he just forgets about the difference between inside and outside. On average, he pees inside one or twice a week, and for a long time I have just put up with it. However, this week Jasper peed on my work bag, and this weekend he peed on my sleeping bag, so I decided that I won't put up with it anymore. I am tired of finding dried urine on my stuff or smelling it when I walk into a room. I am tired of scrubbing the carpet with cleaner, but never being quite satisfied with the results. I am tired of buying paper towels in bulk and always being worried that Jasper is going to go inside.

So, Jaspee now gets to wear dog diapers. At first I was really skeptical of the idea, especially since Jasper ate the dog booties I got to protect his feet, wouldn't walk in his raincoat even though he doesn't really like being wet, and fought the head collar that was supposed to easily guide him on walks without pulling. But, maybe it was a good sign when I was walking into Petco and was greeted by an overexcited puppy in the parking lot who dribbled all over the pavement. The pup's owner was extremely apologetic, but I shrugged and smiled and told her that my dog did it all the time, then I walked straight to the dog diaper section.

Jasper did not like the raincoat he got from Aunt Julie

When I brought the diapers home, I was still hesitant to try them out, but I took a deep breath, got a treat and opened up the new toy I had gotten for Jasper. Then I reached down wrapped the diaper around his belly, and gave him the treat. And he did nothing. He ate the treat, took a few steps, looked back, then trotted off with the new toy!

Jasper has now been wearing his new diaper for almost a whole day, and he doesn't seem to even notice it. I take it off when we go outside, and put it back on and give him a treat when we come back in. It looks a little silly, but silly is way better than pee everywhere!

Happy dog in a diaper!

Jasper Runs

 
This is a video I took of Jasper in my backyard in Corvallis on March 31st, 2013. Every time I let him out he runs back and forth along the fence. My landlord's dogs are usually over on the other side, and he really wants to go play.  This was the first time since October that I've let him out without his leash, so he got really excited. He ran basically until he collapsed on the floor next to his water. He was panting so hard I threw him in the shower for a couple seconds to cool him off. Still took him ~20 minutes to calm down...So much energy!

jasper and chickens

Yesterday I took Jasper over to a friend's house for an afternoon party. They had a big backyard and I let him run around off leash most of the time. Towards the end of the party, I was playing with a friend and a little kid in the corner of the yard, near where Jasper was hanging out. Jasper had been pretty interested in the neighbor's yard all afternoon, and was spending most of his time by the neighbor's fence. I thought he was watching the kids next door play kickball...but it turns out there were actually chickens over there, hiding in their coop and not making a sound.

All of the sudden, I looked over to see Jasper squirming under the fence. Next thing I knew, there were chickens and feathers everywhere and Jasper was tackling chickens. I ran into the chicken pen--luckily there was a gate that I could open--and chased him around screaming at him to sit. I eventually caught him, covered in feathers and chicken poop. And luckily the chickens were all fine. Needless to say, Jasper was in the doghouse after than. However, in a weird way I was also kind of proud of him. Seeing him use his natural instincts is pretty cool. After the incident I did some reading about Earthdog, which is an event for certain types of terriers to track rodents underground. It seems like something Jasper could be a champion at, so I'm definitely going to check it out soon!!