Marengo, murder capitol of Iowa

There's been another murder involving a Marengo resident. Chris Vogt allegedly (they teach us in journalism school to always say allegedly, because he's innocent until proven guilty, only in this case I probably don't have to say it because he is dead now, too) shot and killed his former girlfriend on Friday, then shot and wounded her brother and another man in Cedar Rapids. Then he committed suicide.

I knew Chris briefly, in that small town way everyone knows everyone else. He worked at the auto service shop across the street from the newspaper office for a few years. His mom worked at one of the Amana wineries with my mother-in-law. Chris had served time in the correctional system several years ago, so was not allowed to own a firearm. There is much speculation where he got the gun.

This is the third murder in or near Marengo of current or former Marengo residents by Marengo residents since June 2009. Guess it's actually the fourth, since Chris killed himself. That's four people dead, all involving relationships gone wrong with spouses/ex-spouses/boyfriends/girlfriends in a town of barely 2,000 people.

That's the only saving grace. They were all domestic cases with very specific targets, not random shootings. At least there isn't a mass murderer running around Marengo.

But I'm not going to drink the water there anymore.

Mama said there'd be days like this . . .

When it comes to proper office etiquette and professional behavior, it is incorrect to shout obscenities in the workplace, even if you’re not shouting them directly at a co-worker or customer. Here at the newspaper office, we feel there are occasional exceptions. This morning from about 8 a.m. to noon was one of them.

The morning started out well enough but quickly deteriorated. I’d proofread a 20-page special section, found out the section had been “jumped” by 4 more pages at the last minute and guess who was responsible for its completion now? Had a quick council of war with the advertising and ad composition departments, generated more copy to fill the extra pages, laid out the copy, edited the copy and was nearly done - and then the power went out for no apparent reason.

I had no idea if I’d hit Command Save any time in the last few minutes and thought I’d lost the whole morning's work. (Turns out I HAD saved, it’s one of those things that has become so automatic over the years I do it without thinking about it, then can’t remember if I did it.)

Actually, I thought I showed a fair amount of restraint by yelling “SON OF A B*TCH!” as the office faded to black. What I really wanted to yell was a four-letter word that rhymes with duck. No, not truck, luck, stuck, buck, suck, muck or yuck.

But I didn’t. I’m not totally immature.

As it turned out, the office was plunged into instant chaos anyway (truly, the world comes to an end when computer screens go dark, no matter what department you’re in) and nobody even noticed my little hissy fit. Or maybe they did but were too scared of me to mention it. It’s not a good thing when the lifestyles editor starts acting bipolar.

And what was the topic of the special section that caused so much stress? Health and fitness. We called it “Fit For Life.”

I’ve since renamed it. It’s now called “Having A Fit.”

Today I’m thankful for co-workers who are polite enough to be occasionally deaf.

Another frosty morning

This is Clear Creek, which I cross on the way to work. The best things about driving to work on country roads are A) seeing cool stuff like this and B) being able to stop in the middle of the road to take a picture of it.

The reason we're having all this gorgeous frost is because we're fogged in both day and night, which, after five straight days of it, leaves a lot to be desired in the weather department.

Today, I am thankful for a fun training session with Phoenix at the club building this morning and for a new cookie recipe to try tomorrow if the freezing rain they are forecasting arrives and I decide to stay home from work. Again.

As seen on TV!

In all my life, I don't think I've ever bought anything that claimed to be "As seen on TV!" In the last month I have bought two of them. Ironically enough, I had never seen either of them advertised on TV. Maybe because I hardly watch TV.

The first came in a weak moment as I was strolling through PetCo to restock up on that Natural Balance semi-moist dog food, the stuff that comes in a big roll and looks enough like summer sausage than an unsuspecting person who didn't know any better might, just might, almost make a sandwich with it. But that happened a long time ago. The Farmer is a lot wiser now.

Anyway, I had just gone nine rounds with Phoenix about his nails the day before. Sometimes he is an absolute gentleman about nail clipping. Some days he is hell on four paws and he doesn't want any of them messed with. Which I can't figure out. He loves to cuddle in my lap and have his paws fiddled with. I can rub his paws and tug on nails and he gives me that sweet, sleepy-eyed look that just melts my heart.

But put him on the grooming table and get out the toenail clippers and it's the Malinois From Hell. Okay. Maybe it's not that bad. We usually have a little rodeo, which I eventually win, then he gives me the hairy eyeball and gives up. I'm just tired of having the rodeo.

So I thought what the heck, maybe this little gadget would be the answer. I wasn't holding my breath but what's another $12 in the grand scheme of things? (Yes, I had a dremmel-type nail grinder once upon a time but do you think I know where it is? Don't laugh. You've lost things like that, too.) I wasn't expecting much since it's been my experience that anything that advertises itself as INCREDIBLE usually falls short of the mark.

It works! The Malinois From Hell could care less about having his nails ground. He stands there and blinks and looks bored and doesn't fuss at all. I wouldn't recommend it for a Great Dane and it probably works better on a chihuahua than a malinois but still, it was worth the money. And to be honest, it worked a lot better after I unscrewed the "safety cap" and used it straight up bare. Yeah, we're livin' on the edge. This thing doesn't have the RPMs of a regular dremmel tool and I think it would be pretty hard to get hurt with it. If I find a way, I'll let you know.

Next came the EggGenie. We eat a lot of hard boiled eggs at our house. There are days when I think all I do is cook, wash dishes, train dogs and boil eggs. Seriously.

I tend to be suspicious of anything labled "Genie." That sounds an awful lot like someone else doing the work for you and while that sounds great in theory, it often ends up being more work than if you'd just done it yourself in the first place.

But if you've ever had an egg-boiling incident, you will appreciate the simplicity of not having to wait for a pot to boil, then . . . er . . . forgetting about it and going off and doing something else only to come back and find eggs exploded all over your stovetop. It weren't purty.

I was hooked. I had to have it. I brought it home, loaded it up (it holds 7 eggs) and fired it up. It took 13 minutes before the little timer went off. The eggs were perfect. They were so easy to peel they nearly jumped right out of their shells.

Do you supposed they make a ToenailGenie?

Frosty morning

Last night's fog and lack of wind created some very beautiful frost this morning. Here's the lilac bush in the dogs' yard. Honestly, I think it looks better here than it does sometimes in the spring. Poor little lilac bush.

Isn't this stuff spectacular? It reminds me of those crystals you could grow in a jar in water back in the '70s. Remember those? I think they were called moon rocks.

I think this is Jamie's pawprint, filled with frost. Or maybe Bigfoot was passing through and walked across our patio. At least it's not a mountain lion. Since that deer hunter shot Iowa County's first (and only?) mountain lion last month, everyone is still pretty wound up about mountain lions in eastern Iowa.

Philosophy and photos

I've gotten some interesting feedback on yesterday's post about perfection being unattainable and therefore, not a worthy or sensible goal when it come comes to training and competing.

Several folks pointed out - and I totally agree - that we should never use the "perfection is impossible so why bother?" excuse for not striving to do our absolute best with our canine partners. If your aspirations with your dog are to earn an OTCh., MACH, 200 score in obedience, agility world team member, etc., obviously you're going to have to train beyond what Susan Garrett referred to as "roughly right" to achieve those goals. Precision handling and training in both agility and obedience has reached levels we never would have dreamed of even 15 years ago.

I think perhaps Susan's overall point was instead of obsessing about achieving perfection in training and competing, remember that the process is more important than the outcome and never lose the joy that comes from training and learning new things with your dog.

I know several well-accomplished obedience trainers who view going into the ring at a trial as nothing more than a chance to see where their dog is in training on any given day. The potential for wins and placements don't enter the picture. It is this ability to focus on how their dog is working and recognize strengths as well as weaknesses that allows them to tailor their training to their dog's needs, which in turn leads to those wins and placements.

Terri Arnold (I think) said, "What you get in the ring is a byproduct of the relationship you have with your dog." How about that, all those titles and ribbons are just "byproducts." I love it.

Here are some pics from the Belgians' romp yesterday afternoon. The sun was already starting to set by the time I got home from work and we got outdoors, so the lighting isn't great and even at 34 degrees, my shutter finger got cold in a darned hurry. But a good time was still had by all.

Phoenix: It's MINE! All MINE!

Jamie: Respect your elders!
Phoenix: No! MINE!

Jamie: D*mn kid. It's MINE.

Phoenix: See! MINE!
Jamie: No respect.

Is perfection worth pursuit?

Once again I’m stealing from other people’s blogs. I need to stop this.

The following is from Susan Garrett’s blog (susangarrettdogagility.com) on Dec. 16. She is quoting Anthony Robbins, a motivational speaker/life coach kind of guy. That’s probably not an accurate description of him but is the closest I could come. (Yeah, I really do write for a living. I get paid to use words correctly. Some days they just escape me.) Oh, wait. I just went back to her site and she calls him a life strategist. Okay. Now we’re clear on that.

Robbins says, “Perfection is the lowest standard a human could ever take on because it is unattainable, therefore you ultimately have no standard at all. You are preparing for failure, because that is your ultimate expectation.” Susan writes, “So aiming for perfection means you will never move forward. For some of you that may be what your subconscious expects and you will never achieve more than you think you deserve.” She also encourages her agility students to exchange “perfect” for loads of fun and “roughly right.”

Whoa.

Chew on that for a minute.

All my life as a dog trainer, since I was age 9, I’ve trained in pursuit of perfection. This has gotten me two OTCHs, multiple invites to the AKC NOI and I’ll admit, a lot of headaches along the way. It’s also made me look long and hard at what’s most important in this journey with my dogs and guess what - it’s NOT perfection in the show ring as determined by a judge with a clipboard. Each dog has had to remind me of this because I occasionally forget.

Believe me, if you train and show in competitive obedience in the upper Midwest (or anywhere else for that matter), you’d think perfection was the ultimate goal. Heel position is an exact science. Fractions of inches on fronts can separate first place from second place. If you want to run with the big dogs, you have to play the game and the name of the game is perfect. Unfortunately, it’s the judge’s opinion that counts, not yours, and there can be a great deal of variation between your standard of perfection and the judge’s.

Agility isn’t exempt either. Even after the most spectacular, time-smashing agility run, most exhibitors can watch their video and find places that could be improved. Turns could be tighter, cues given sooner, body language improved, etc.

So perfection truly is an impossible standard and having that as your #1 goal is what I call “crazy-making behavior.” You’ll drive yourself insane trying to reach it, because you can't.

January is a popular month for setting goals and figuring out what you want to achieve in the coming year. I have goals scribbled on scraps of paper tucked around the house, the van and in my training bag. Some are lofty, others not so much. But I believe in my heart all are achievable, and even better, none depend on any form of perfection to be deemed a “success.”

Go have some fun with your dog tonight. Phoenix and Jamie and I are going to play outdoors in the (melting!) snow when I get home from work, then play some obedience games indoors at home.

Today, I am thankful it is 34 degrees on the right side of zero.