Category: Sparky (Page 2 of 5)

I found a deer skull in the woods.  This counts as Sparky’s Christmas present.  We are leaving it outside for now because nobody wants a skull dragged around the house.  Well, Sparky does.  It might get mounted in his crate.  Sparky would like that.

Sparky got his present today, on Russian Christmas, so that may be a cosmic sign that he’s Russian.  That would explain a lot.  He only understands English when it suits him and he likes bread and salt.  Sparky is warm-hearted, fatalistic and reckless, so the epitome of the Russian soul.

Sparky and I have the outline of a good game.

This is the Deadbolt.  An FPV camera is mounted on the front and a tray is placed on the roof rack.  A piece of chicken is placed in the bait tray.

My advantage is that Sparky gets skittish when Deadbolt is coming at him and the Deadbolt can drive under a couch to be safe.

Sparky’s advantage is that he is faster and more maneuverable than Deadbolt and I can only see straight ahead. 

To keep it simple, the video was recorded by the Fat Shark FPV goggles, so the quality is poor.

Deadbolt is hiding under the couch.  Sparky knows there is chicken somewhere, but since he hasn’t connected the dots, Deadbolt ran him down.

This time, Deadbolt is waiting with it’s back to the wall so Sparky can’t sneak up.  Since Deadbolt isn’t moving, Sparky gets bold.  When the screen gets a bunch more interference lines, that is me hitting the gas, but the battery is low.  Too low to escape, so Sparky snatches the chicken.

For the first time in decades, I find myself with no plans for New Year’s Eve.   The party hosts are Covid-positive, but not ill.  It would not have been hard to come up with an alternate plan, but hanging out with Sparky felt like the right move. 

The photo isn’t great.  I used the selfie camera and there isn’t much light.  The living room lamp has been pulled out of rotation.  I wouldn’t have bothered with the photo, but Sparky thought people would think I was a hermit or dead in a ditch, so should take a photo holding a beer while he flashed his winning grin.

During my teaching career, I maintained a nutty professor image.  In retirement, some people think I’m a hermit.  Sure, I don’t do social media, go to the mailbox or text reliably.  I am good at answering the phone, so that’s something, and I do see people every other day or so.  Covid about wrecked me, but even before that, I worked hard as a teacher, and taught summer camps.  As an engineer, I was traveling probably six months per year and did that foreign service assignment for a year.  I like to work.

Now that I’m retired, I love shambling around with my coffee for a few hours, doing what needs to be done to maintain the hound and working on whatever comes to mind here at my compound.  Sparky and I have been working on some trails through the woods.  I’m refinishing the computer table and reinventing the living room lamp.

So, in the new year, I hope you only see as many people as you want.

When I was at the gym yesterday, one of the TV’s kept playing those ASPCA commercials.  I was telling Sparky about how sad those dogs looked in the commercial.

Sparky thought that was pretty funny.  He thinks that I’m a chump and those dogs are lying their asses off.

I called bullshit on him, so Sparky showed me.

It was uncanny.  He didn’t pull out his dentures, I was watching.  Then he holds his head a certain way so his eyes look bereft of hope and his neck looks like he’s starving. 

Sparky is the dog version of Lon Chaney Jr.

Sparky enjoys novel experiences.  Well, I think he does, who knows?  He still runs like mad when we play “Chase the Moose” with the Maxx.  For all I know, he thinks Mr. Moose is being kidnapped.  With Winter coming, we need an alternative.  In snow, the Maxx breaks traction, spins around and is no challenge.  Sparky grabs Mr. Moose, and drags the RC car back to the deck.  On wet grass, we are evenly matched.

I found a 25% off Black Friday deal for an Axial Deadbolt.  It’s a 1/24th scale RC rock crawler.  For $100, it’s pretty nice for a house car.  The game is to hector Sparky as he tries to evade it.  Following the car around the house was awkward, so I put a camera on the Deadbolt and drove it FPV.

Sparky isn’t afraid of the Deadbolt, but doesn’t like when it comes toward him.  Since Sparky is much faster, I have to use strategy to try to heard him into a corner.

Sparky obviously knows something is up when he saw the camera.  On my first attempt, the Deadbolt hit the camera, so I moved into the solarium.

Most of the time, Sparky’s tail is wagging, so he is entertained.  When his tail is horizontal and still, he is on alert.  When he looks at me or comes over, he is telling me that he is in over his head.

Like a magician, Sparky never reveals how he does his tricks.

The fire had burned down in the wood stove, so this morning it was 65^o .  I put a sweater on him until the fire could be stoked back up.  By the time I’d taken my shower, he was out of it. 

Getting him into the sweater was like stuffing a sausage, I can’t imagine how he managed to take it off.

Joanne got Sparky some gifts for Thanksgiving.  Here’s Sparky wearing the sweater he needed when we were camping in Fargo.

When we go on car rides, it’s pretty clear that Sparky wants to drive.  He knows that I’ve folded on most of the rules, so will probably let him drive eventually.  Sparky figures if I can do it, driving can’t be that difficult.

Sparky looks like an attentive driver, but now he understands that driving is harder than it looks.  He couldn’t even stand like this without me holding up his butt.  Sparky doesn’t know anything about the gas and brake pedals.

I put the camera on the shed to get a better video of Sparky’s Moose Run.

Sparky needs exercise and enjoys novel experiences.  I am a problem solver and have a bunch of RC cars.  I tethered Mr. Moose to the back of a Traxxas Maxx.   Better to turn the sound down.  The audio track is on, but just RC noise.

 

 

Sparky knows the game.  He is getting Mr. Moose back whether he runs or not, but he loves the chase.  A dog of his age shouldn’t over do it, so we keep the sessions short.  Sparky would run til he drops.

I am rethinking the camera position.  Onboard the Maxx may not be the best place.