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Missing Miss Gwen

Several times a day I think to myself, it’s time to administer the meds. But then it isn’t. Not anymore.

You see….Miss Gwen passed earlier this month, at age 14y1m. That’s quite an achievement for a Labrador. Especially for one that had her litany of issues. I won’t bother to enumerate them, but over time they were many.

Even so, she was a happy grrrl. That was her gift. She loved basically everyone and everything. Except peas. She didn’t like peas. This we only recently learned.

Gwen came to us in February of 2011 by way of Southeast Texas Labrador Rescue. We’re told she had been found abandoned in a Walmart parking lot in Humble, TX. It follows that from the very beginning she suffered from separation anxiety.

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Lights Out, Please! Enlightened Devices Support Darkness

Today, the simple fact is that IoT devices are excessively, unnecessarily, intrusively bright. This is not the first time I’ve addressed this matter. Sadly, the trend does not seem to be improving. All manner of techno-gadgetry has power or status LEDs that typically cannot be disabled. In the hallway of our home, where the network core and IoT hubs reside, there are several devices with status lights that likely made the product designer proud, but they convey no useful information at all. They merely make it impossible to have a dark room.

“You are beginning to damage my calm.” – Jayne, Firefly.

I am recently reminded of this in the course of dealing with our elderly Labrador. She’s had trouble sleeping the past few weeks. This is quite common in very old dogs. We’ve tried many things to help her sleep at night. Anti-anxiety medication only sorta works. Brown noise helps a little to mask the noise of nearby traffic.

Last weekend we installed a couple of calming pheromone dispensers. These are like Glade scented plug-ins, except they dispense a pheromone that is supposed to have a calming effect.

Calming pheromone dispenser

Each pheromone dispenser covers 700 square feet. So, two of them handle our entire home. Further, they last about 30 days under normal circumstances. Pheromone refills are $22 each.

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I Miss The Voice In My Head

voyagerpro_uc_standard-250 This post is about the recent loss of a not-so-old friend and travelling companion. It’s sad when we lose a friend, especially when they’re still young and in their prime.

This past week I’ve been lamenting the loss of my Plantronics Voyager Pro UC V2 Bluetooth headset. After a year of steady use it recently met its demise by canine misadventure.

Yes teacher, my dog ate my headset. I swear its true. She chewed it up good!

It serves me right for leaving the little faux leather pouch within her reach.

It is a pity because I really liked that headset.

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