Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Adaptation

For many years, my two dogs have lived outside. Their entire existence, except for the rare dash into the house, was the backyard. For dogs, they had a good life. They got fed each day, could explore the yard, bark at passers-by and chase a ball once in a while and got regular belly rubs.

But something was missing.

After my divorce I started thinking about maybe, just maybe letting them come inside more. My daughter moved out to live with her mother and took her border collie with her. The border collie was an indoor dog. So I already knew what to expect—some shedding (vacuum cleaners need jobs too) and the occasional muddy paw print on the tile floor.

The oldest dog, Pongo,, somehow sensed that she belonged inside. She would try to go into the house whenever she was near the door. Nah—she could not really “know” I was thinking about bringing them in.

Besides they have lived their entire lives of 13 years outside. Conventional wisdom said they were not house broken and as soon as nature calls, they would take care of business wherever they are, including the living room.

Then a trip the vet forced me to rethink this. Ariel, the middle dog, tested positive for heart worm disease. The treatment requires that the dog is kept very calm for many weeks, as long as three months. Okay, I reasoned, calm I could do. I could keep her confined to one part of the yard and she won’t have a chance to exert herself. Nope—not good enough according to the vet. She had to be inside, out of our extreme summer heat of 100 degree temps.

Well, that was it—she was going to move in if I wanted her to survive the treatment. This is not a problem—I could confine her to the kitchen area. If she made a mess, it would be easy to clean off a tile floor. Strangely, she never once made a mess.

The first night she was very confused. A lot of crying and pacing. Then she laid down. That was it. As soon as she was able to fall asleep on the “comfort” of the kitchen floor, she was an indoor dog.

As the weeks went by I felt really bad for telling Pongo, the oldest dog, that she had to stay outside all night while her “sister” could come in. Slowly I started letting Pongo come in too. Her acclamation to indoor life was much slower. She was very hyper every time I let her in, so much so that I could only handle about 20 minutes of this hyper dog before I put her back outside.

But I did not give up. I kept bringing her in and tried to let her get used to the space at her own pace. She would explore, sniff and find her way in this new world.

Then one day, it happened! She calmed down enough to actually lay down. Of course, as soon as I noticed this, she noticed me noticing her and got right back up with renewed energy.

Again, she and I were making progress, but she could still be a wild dog that had a habit of knocking things over. Back outside she went. I would tell her as she gave me the big puppy eyes (what other kind of eyes can a dog use on a person) that she could eventually come inside. Yeah she understood zero of that but liked it that I was talking to her in a calm voice.

Meanwhile Ariel was loving her new existence as an indoor dog. She had a bed and slept soundly through the night.

Then I tried giving Pongo her own space too. I put together an old blanket and a sheet. That was the step she was waiting for. Once she knew she had a space to call her own, just like the other dog, she was calm. Well, she was calm-er.

Okay we just lost several readers who closed the browser or headed back to Google to find a less crazy article to read.

Yes I said that Pongo realized Ariel had something she did not.

Now both of them are indoor dogs. Neither one messes in the house. Of course common sense is still needed. I cannot leave them in the house for many, many hours unattended. And I have to keep certain items out of their reach or behind a closed door.

As a writer, I despise clichés. I think a cliché is a lazy way to make a point. But I approached this whole situation with an old cliché in my mind—you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. These two old dogs either were never told to abide by that, maybe they’re not that old, or the saying is not true all the time.

I also learned something about myself. I had a desire to have indoor dogs. I wanted the dogs to be near me more hours in the day. I knew it would be good for them and for me. So, even though I was skeptical, I had a desire to make something happen. I acted on it. I planned. I tried some tactics that did not work. I tried some new tactics until I found something that did work. I did not give up. Now I have indoor dogs.

I wonder what else I can accomplish? Hmmmm.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Internet Radio

A friend introduced me to a new world online that I knew probably existed, but never, for some reason, went looking for it. Private, personal internet radio stations and radio shows. She told me she did a radio show once a week online. She sent me a link and I listened to the show. Her show is whatever she wants it to be. She plays music—any music she chooses—that she happens to own—and talks when she feels like it.

I knew this had to be 'out there somewhere'' in the expanse of the internet and I was surprised that I never had the curiosity to find it. I'll waste at least 20 minutes or more looking for the name of an actor in just one episode of some TV show from the 80s, but did not think to look for gems like personal radio stations.

Anyway, so what is the big deal?

The big deal is that this was happening in the early days of radio in the 1950s and 1960s. The biggest name of course was Wolfman Jack, but there were others too. These were the trailblazers who defied the laws and broadcast whatever they wanted. Later, there were many, many more who did this legally. The legal guys used small transmitters barely capable of reaching 10 or 20 miles, if that. But the idea was exactly the same—play a radio show of whatever you want, whenever you want.

Another friend of mine used to lament the fact that there are so few stations that do not cater to the mainstream but rather play the huge selection of great music that is available but not necessarily popular. If you listen to radio at all, you know this is true. Commercial radio stations play the popular music—sure there are different musical formats—but if it is a commercial radio station, 95% are playing only popular music.

The rationale is not hard to understand. Money is required to operate a radio station. The money to operate a commercial radio station comes from the advertisers. Advertisers want a return on their investment, that is, they want to sell more products or services due to their radio advertising. If only a few people are listening to the radio station, only a few will hear the advertiser’s commercials. No return for them means no money for that radio station.

But remove money from the equation and a whole new world of programming possibilities arises. Not only music, but news, sports, commentary, even public service information can be disseminated freely. However since the people providing such wonderful programming still have to make a living themselves, they won’t do this on a full time basis. It will only be offered as their free time permits.

However, this runs contrary to a need our modern society has created. Instant gratification. We don’t want to wait until the person giving us this wonderful, custom radio experience is able to do so. We want it whenever we feel the need.

Years ago, even before television news was available every day, if you wanted news, you waited until the daily newspaper was delivered to you. You might not know of a dramatic event until 24 hours after it happened. Strangely enough, that was okay back then.

Because of this instant-gratification need of ours, we overlook the fine radio programming that could be ours, if we simply were willing to wait. Teenagers in the 1960s had to wait at least till the next night to hear the music and personality they could not get on a regular radio station. Maybe we should be willing to wait for quality too and just enjoy it while it is available.