Whats going on lately?

Not much.

I am attempting to teach Conker how to pull open my door with a piece of rope attached to the handle.  So far he's just grabbed it when I flap it in his face then drop, but today he pulled slightly and got the door to open enough that he could go out.  I hope that with a bit more work I won't have to stand there and wave the rope for him and that he'll grab it and pull on his own.  The whole point of this is so I don't have to let him out of my room, which I keep the door sitting shut but slightly open to retain heat.

Conker doesn't seem to much care about getting dirty.

He makes dirt fashionable and dignifying.


In other news...
I can jog a mile!  Not consecuatively, unless it's entierly downhill, but I am slowly getting back in shape.  It's neat though, that when I first began I couldn't even jog a half block and now I can go something like 7 before I need to slow down and walk for a block or two.
Also, Conker didn't like jogging at first.  But now, after the warm-up walk (about a half mile) he doesn't want to slow down once we begin jogging!  I'm glad he's finally decided that jogging on-leash is fun (he has no problem zooming around on hikes) and he kinda encourages me to keep going. 

Rules:
When walking, we go at my pace.  If Conker wants to stop and sniff something, we do that.
When jogging, we go at Conker's pace.  If he wants to slow down we will, but he rarely does.
Always look both ways before crossing a street at a jog.  If there are any cars, slow to a walk.
No chasing anything, including cats.

Speaking of cats...  Conker chased one across the street the other day and completely ignored me.  The dumbass cat was on our property (so it deserved it) but when it saw Conker it took off across the street to it's house.  The woman who owns it came out and yelled at Conker, "Git! Git you!"  Which I don't think she realized that "git" means "get", as in attack to him. So that didn't help at all and he didn't break off from chasing the cat until the woman stepped after him and he finally heard me bellowing at him.  He comes trotting back like nothing happened... at least he did come back, and at least there were no cars.
So now Conker gets zero off-leash time unless properly enclosed and is gonna get some serious no-chasing-cats training.

Cats are EVIL

I was attacked by a cat.  My neighbor's cat, who was wanting to be pet so I pet her.  Then she attacked!  I think it's because Indie suddenly ran over to where we were and Nala decided it was my fault and savaged my hands.
Cat scratches and bites really hurt.  I haven't been attacked by a cat for years, and I'm convinced I don't want a cat for a long time now.  Even if I did get a cat it wouldn't be for pet reasons, it'd be because there were too many pests around my property.
Anyways, she didn't actually hurt me that bad.  It was just really surprising, and it felt exactly like the time I got a jumping cactus stuck to my leg, except it was my hands this time.

On the right hand: There are at least seven punctures above my thumb, a gash on the inside of my hand, a deep puncture on my wrist and a couple smaller punctures and scratches down my arm.
On the left hand: There is a deep puncture in the middle of the heel of my hand, three punctures on the outside of my hand, two scratches on my wrist and a puncture on my arm.
There was a lot of blood all over my hands and I was surprised at how small the wounds were after I'd washed it off. They are healing fine but the puncture on my right wrist still hurts. Everything else I don't notice unless I smack it against something.

What did I learn from this?  That Nala is evil when she decides to attack.  She wasn't like Angelina (my sister's former cat) who would just swat or bite lightly first and if you persisted to annoy her, she'd attack. But Angie always warned first, there was no warning from Nala.
She went all-out and grabbed hold of my hand and savaged it with her teeth and claws.  I tried to get her off my right hand so she went for the left, then took off after I yelled several bad things at her.  It all happened in about 1/2 of a second.
Oh, and to watch out for Indy while petting Nala.  That is after all, what set her off.