New and experienced climbers over 50 # 25

Andrew Ricewrote:

What about breeder dogs that then get rescued? Dumb with lust for life? Asking for a friend...

I have one. A family living down the street from a friend who lives in L.A. bought him as a bred Jack Russell Terrier from a puppy farm. That's a bad start for a dog, they get ripped away from their siblings and mom way fast. Anyway, they way our friend tells it, something came down and mom and the kids took the minivan and split for good, leaving dad with the JRT and a chihuahua. He was a heavy drinker, and threw the dogs in a pen in the yard at night and went out and beat them when they barked. So our friend, I'll call her Jane, went down early one morning, pounded on the guys door, woke him up and demanded the dogs. She gave us the terrier, we call him Max, he was about a year old. 

Step one was to get his hip fixed. The bastard had broken it, and it was healed crooked. I found a vet who was the official vet of the San Gabriel Valley German Shepherd Society, that's a vet who knows a thing or two about hips. He did a surgery which included a small replacement part at the ball of the joint. That was nine years ago, and he's just fine. Strong, agile, pain free.

It took about a year, maybe a bit longer, for him to get settled down. On the trail he'd try to attack people with sticks or poles (can't blame him for that). He's over all of that now.

Jack's are high strung, clever, strong willed dogs. At 11 he's mellowed some but mostly behaves like a kid. Knowing him as I do, every so often a get a glimpse of a streak in him that tells me he hasn't entirely forgotten that first year though. For one thing, when our friend who rescued him visits, he gets very uneasy. Even though she saved him, he associates her with the bad stuff.

This is him about two weeks ago on a jeep trip up in the Inyo Mountains. To answer your question, he's not as dumb as a lot of dogs, and he has a real zest for life.

Kristian Solemwrote:

I have one. A family living down the street from a friend who lives in L.A. bought him as a bred Jack Russell Terrier from a puppy farm. That's a bad start for a dog, they get ripped away from their siblings and mom way fast. Anyway, they way our friend tells it, something came down and mom and the kids took the minivan and split for good, leaving dad with the JRT and a chihuahua. He was a heavy drinker, and threw the dogs in a pen in the yard at night and went out and beat them when they barked. So our friend, I'll call her Jane, went down early one morning, pounded on the guys door, woke him up and demanded the dogs. She gave us the terrier, we call him Max, he was about a year old. 

Step one was to get his hip fixed. The bastard had broken it, and it was healed crooked. I found a vet who was the official vet of the San Gabriel Valley German Shepherd Society, that's a vet who knows a thing or two about hips. He did a surgery which included a small replacement part at the ball of the joint. That was nine years ago, and he's just fine. Strong, agile, pain free.

It took about a year, maybe a bit longer, for him to get settled down. On the trail he'd try to attack people with sticks or poles (can't blame him for that). He's over all of that now.

Jack's are high strung, clever, strong willed dogs. At 11 he's mellowed some but mostly behaves like a kid. Knowing him as I do, every so often a get a glimpse of a streak in him that tells me he hasn't entirely forgotten that first year though. For one thing, when our friend who rescued him visits, he gets very uneasy. Even though she saved him, he associates her with the bad stuff.

This is him about two weeks ago on a jeep trip up in the Inyo Mountains. To answer your question, he's not as dumb as a lot of dogs, and he has a real zest for life.

There’s a special place in hell for people who abuse animals. Max got super lucky to land with you. 

ErikaNWwrote:

There’s a special place in hell for people who abuse animals. Max got super lucky to land with you. 

Many breeders treat their "breeding stock" like livestock where the momma dog pretty much lives in a cage until she cant force any more $cash$ out, then its off to the shelter or a vet who will put down a good dog. Its a sick and abusive industry that many states have banned including mine. 

I used to have a neighbor who would leave the dog outside on the deck year round and let it bark and howl for everyone with their windows open to hear. A few of us heard an occasional beating until one day a bunch of the neighbors called the police over a particularly loud beating. A few of us would have stolen the dog but the problem was it was locked on a second story deck. After the visit from the police it seems they got rid of the dog. These were the same folks who dumped their grass clippings in a crystal clear snow runoff river every few days...

Max got super lucky.

Mark Frumkinwrote:

Max got super lucky.

So did I...   

M Mwrote:

How much did you pay for your doodle? Asking for a friend.

You've got the wrong guy. Not a doodle owner. But this is my rescue pup.She's smart at dog things like retrieving, swimming, playing. Not so good at physics or economics. 

Kristian Solemwrote:

I have one. A family living down the street from a friend who lives in L.A. bought him as a bred Jack Russell Terrier from a puppy farm. That's a bad start for a dog, they get ripped away from their siblings and mom way fast. Anyway, they way our friend tells it, something came down and mom and the kids took the minivan and split for good, leaving dad with the JRT and a chihuahua. He was a heavy drinker, and threw the dogs in a pen in the yard at night and went out and beat them when they barked. So our friend, I'll call her Jane, went down early one morning, pounded on the guys door, woke him up and demanded the dogs. She gave us the terrier, we call him Max, he was about a year old. 

Step one was to get his hip fixed. The bastard had broken it, and it was healed crooked. I found a vet who was the official vet of the San Gabriel Valley German Shepherd Society, that's a vet who knows a thing or two about hips. He did a surgery which included a small replacement part at the ball of the joint. That was nine years ago, and he's just fine. Strong, agile, pain free.

It took about a year, maybe a bit longer, for him to get settled down. On the trail he'd try to attack people with sticks or poles (can't blame him for that). He's over all of that now.

Jack's are high strung, clever, strong willed dogs. At 11 he's mellowed some but mostly behaves like a kid. Knowing him as I do, every so often a get a glimpse of a streak in him that tells me he hasn't entirely forgotten that first year though. For one thing, when our friend who rescued him visits, he gets very uneasy. Even though she saved him, he associates her with the bad stuff.

This is him about two weeks ago on a jeep trip up in the Inyo Mountains. To answer your question, he's not as dumb as a lot of dogs, and he has a real zest for life.

Beautiful dog, Kristian. He's lucky to have landed in your care!

Kris, I know you got lucky. That boy is a ball of energy & a sweetie.

I know my pups have been lucky to find me but I have been luckier than them. Even the ones I didn't want have ended up forcing me to grow & move forward.

 

Luna says, "Let's play, Max!"

On my mission this week to sit in a lot of water.   South Fork American River. Coloma.   

Brandt Allenwrote:

Luna says, "Let's play, Max!"

Nice!

Enjoy yourself Lori! 

Just got back from a week on the east side.  Got to hike a lot, kayaked some, floated around June Lake in the hurricane and generally had fun and hung with friends.  For a complete change for me, I never even made it into Tuolumne the whole week.  We did get up to the top of the pass but the mozzies were so bad we ran back to the car after only a couple miles of hiking.  It is like July up in the high country and I'm pretty sure the mozzies are going to continue to be awful until it starts to snow.

I came home to find a couple of my tomato plants have decided to have a second life with all that hurricane rain and are setting fruit again - and sprawling in all directions and taking over the yard. Herbs are going full tilt and will need to be harvested for either pesto or to be dried and crushed up and jarred.

I don't know Jan. We climbed Stately Pleasure Dome last week. No Mosquitos.

philip bonewrote:

I don't know Jan. We climbed Stately Pleasure Dome last week. No Mosquitos.

Go up above 10,000 feet and try that.  Everyone was lathering up in bug juice or hiking back down to lower elevation.

No thanks, I believe you!

Well here is our rescue.  She is a good looking dog is all I can say.

Back to actual rock climbing, just lead a new trad  route maybe 10+ or 11-, hard to tell since Im mostly a sport climber.  Down aided the roof ctrack to clean it so I had all the gear dialed.

I was climbing at Donner today. Sure is beautiful

I don’t think I ever stopped to notice the endless vertical walls.

I don’t know why I don’t love it as much as I think I should. Climbing at Donner has always been difficult for me. Today I struggled on a 5.6 crack climb. Maybe it’s because I leave my hotel at sea level and arrive at 7000 feet in an hour or so, and jump right on a hike and a route. Maybe it would go better if I had time to acclimate? 

It was 50° when I arrived in my tank top and shorts, wind, howling so loud you could not hear anything else, and I considered wearing the only other clothing I had in the car which was my beloved robe.  Which reminds me that I was so nervous the first time I climbed Run For Your Life I considered wearing my robe over my climbing outfit. It would have given me great comfort – – robe flapping in the breeze, but might’ve interfered a bit with the climbing.    

Decided to drop into a movie theater when I got back to town to see Oppenheimer. I don’t know what to make of it. Maybe it’s just me not being in the right mood but I missed half the dialogue because the actors accents were so thick. And I was tired. I’m glad I didn’t go with Tony because I think he would’ve been miserable. but the story itself was so timely and riveting.  And the popcorn was great!

I’d just like to say I feel I have a new breath of air, a delightful breeze, I’m downwind of angels. 

I’ve returned to teaching after being in education admin/compliance for years. This time teaching computing in a women’s prison. I’ve worked there before 8 years ago as a business manager for two years and education coordinator for a year, and have worked in a few prisons as well as teaching in ‘college’ (what we call TAFE -Tertiary and Further Education) but it’s been years since I’ve worked directly with our ‘clients’.  

It’s so refreshing helping people to learn. 

I’m also trying to prepare for my climbing competition in a week and a half. I’m currently fat (67 kilos which is plus 3 for me) after winter hibernation and relaxing (i.e. eating and drinking and being merry) and need to lose 3 kilos before the comp and maintain strength (hopefully). I may have gained some mass but I’m 13.2% BF so that could be reduced.

My quiz for my students today (which was day 2) included the question ‘how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?’ (As well as questions like ‘what keyboard shortcut can you use to cut text, go to the end of a document, etc etc’.)
The question AFTER the ‘how much wood’ question was ‘what things might you need to consider to answer that question?  We brainstormed that with answers related to the woodchuck’s strength, how far he had to chuck the wood, whether he had breaks, water, food, etc.  

It was fun. 

Carl Schneiderwrote:

I’m also trying to prepare for my climbing competition in a week and a half. I’m currently fat (67 kilos which is plus 3 for me) after winter hibernation and relaxing (i.e. eating and drinking and being merry) and need to lose 3 kilos before the comp and maintain strength (hopefully). I may have gained some mass but I’m 13.2% BF so that could be reduced.

I did a bunch of comps about 15 years ago.

Really enjoyed them, especially the camaraderie and genuine encouragement and support. 

Will be interested in hearing if the atmosphere is still the same.

Some advice, take it for what little it is worth-

Be sure to know the format of the comp and the rules.
I'm guessing it's a mass event with multiple problems set and everyone mills about and climbs whatever they want.

In that format, typically you only get credit for a send if somebody signs your card, make sure there's somebody watching when you send.

If it's more formal, like with isolation and limited time on specific routes, you should do a practice session using those exact rules.

In some comps, there are categories for beginner, intermediate, advanced, elite. If you register for one category, but climb too many problems in a higher category, you get automatically bumped up to the higher category. You need to know if this is the case and how many higher problems will bump you up. Probably moot if you are in Masters, but check the rules.

FWIW, often the highest scoring problems in any category were harder than the lowest scoring problems in the next higher category.

In terms of strategy, pace yourself. Know how long the comp lasts and exert yourself accordingly so that you can constructively use all the time.

For the same reason, get there early. Sign up can be slow and you don't want to lose climbing time standing in line.

Climb with friends or make new friends at the comp- watch others climb, share beta, ask around about which problems are easy and which are hard.

At the same time, be careful about getting stuck waiting for popular problems. They will often open up later and you can try for a quick send.

I can't emphasize this enough- if you are competing to place as high as possible, then read the rules!

You are not there to determine the best climber, but to decide who gets the most points, so know how to do that.

Finally, you will need to guess your strategy for picking routes to try.

I found that I did best trying to send 2-3 harder routes, then filling in my card with easier routes. That way, I always had done at least the minimum number of problems required.

If I had time and energy after that I'd try to fill in harder problems, but knew that at least I'd place somewhere.

To make this a little more clear- in those comps, your best 5 climbs counted, so you always wanted to do 5 climbs.

I'd try to send maybe Elite 1 or 2, failing that Advanced 9 or 10. 

Once done, I'd go back to Advanced 1, 2 and 3.

If those went, then I'd start trying to send progressively harder Advanced problems to increase my score.

Anyway, have fun! Don't stress too much about your results,, even if you are trying to do well. 

It takes a couple of comps before you actually know enough about how you react to them before you can really expect to perform up to your expectations.