Red and Jamie Sarna's Home Page

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Changes in our pack:

Bliss, our Blue Tick Hound / Lab cross

Bliss was a sweet little girl that came to us from a shelter in Camden. She had apparently been (barely) living off the land for some time. Neither Red nor Jamie thouht she would live to ride all the way from Rockport to our home, but didn't wqant to tell the other. But live she did, gained back a reasonable weight, and was with us for over two years.

Bailey Rose, our Newfoundland

Bailey Rose came to ua from the police, who freed her from a bunch of bad guys. She was always afraid and spent much of her time hiding under the bed. Now she has passed over to, hopefully, a more peaceful and less stressful life.

Ben, our Boerboel

We've lost wonderful friends in the last couple of years.

On 27 May 2014, We lost Buddy. He was a great dog, our great, great friend, and very much loved. He was the first of his breed we had ever met, and he was just the dog we desperately needed at the time. Among the other things he did for us—he helped Red to walk again. He was our friend, helper, protector.

Ben, an abandoned fellow, now lives with us. No dog can fill the hole in our hearts that another has left, but Ben has definitely become part of our family. Amazingly, Ben appears to be the same rare breed as Buddy.

We never knew what breed Buddy was, but after trying to figure out what Ben is, we now think we know—we think both Buddy and Ben were/are boerboels. This appears to be an exceptional, if rare, breed. They're very loyal and loving to their family, fearless, strong, fast, agile, independent-minded, and incredibly smart. And much as we love Labs, there was no Labrador retriever in them..

Boerboels are a breed created many years ago to provide Livestock Guard Dogs. Boerboels come from South Africa, where they are used to protect stock from lions, hyenas, etc. (Ben has not yet attained the usual full growth, he only weighs about 140 pounds, but has the bulging muscles of a weight-lifter.) Boerboels have always lived closely with their families, so were bred to be not only fearless protectors from threats from outside, but inside are gentle, sociable, family dogs—to their own families only.

Unless you are familiar with large, heavy, very strong dogs that need a lot of exercise and socializing; dogs that are intelligent enough to figure out how to open locked doors and get into food storage areas—even moving furniture as necessary to climb up to that area; a dog that is extremely independent—to the point that they may not do what they are told to do (but will probably gladly do what they are asked to do); this breed is definitely not for you. (I'm reluctant to say that, for fear that some idiot will take it as a challenge. Please don't; give the breed a fair shake.)

Where did Ben get his name? Back when Red was very ill and had an exceptionally bad seizure, Peninsula Ambulance was called from Blue Hill—but two students from Maine Maritime Academy, Sandy Bendixen and Myles Block, brought the Castine ambulance along too. Jamie thought that they should be recognized, so when we got our next two dogs that had no names, we would name them after Sandy and Myles. Since all our dogs have names beginning with 'B', we'd use their last names. Benny is named after Sandy Bendixen. And the next dog will be Blocky!

In November of 2016 we lost Brunel, our black labrador retriever. He was a friend to all and loved everybody. During one of the bad ice storms, he stayed with Jamie at the fire station that had been turned into a shelter, meeting and cheering up all the people staying there. He also was a hit when he visited the local nursing home. He had the softest, blackest fur we have ever seen, and it stayed that way for all of his life—he never had even one gray hair! And he was Ben's buddy. They slept curled up together and ate out of the same bowl without fighting. Ben was ready to protect Brunel at any time. Even if the only "dangers" were noisy ruffed grouse, there was no doubt that Ben would have taken on anything for his friend. Ben was searching around the house for days, then whimpering when he couldn't find his friend.

And then...

Ben had a friend again for a while. The P.A.W.S. Shelter in Camden, Maine had a dog they could not place. A former MMA student who happened by told them that his old calculus teacher took in black dogs. The shelter had just adopted her out, but the hoped-for new home sent her back within a couple of hours! We drove down immediately and got her.

Introducing Bliss:It appeared that this dog was abandoned (possibly after being beaten). Winter in Maine is not a good time to try living off the land. This dog was extremely emaciated. (Neither Jamie nor Red thought she would live for the hour-and-a-half drive home -- but each didn't want to tell the other.)

Alas, Bliss left for the Rainbow Bridge after only a couple of years with us.

[Please note that we do not ordinarily condone adopting anything except excellent dogs. As training expert and writer Gary Wilkes has pointed out, every hopelessly-sick and/or bad-dispositioned dog adopted means a good dog will be killed. Just think: there are just so many homes for dogs. And they are filled. if you take a "bad" dog, there will be no home for a "good" dog. And you're giving up the pleasure and companionship you could have had.]

The shelter named her "Joy", but as all of our dogs have names beginning with "B" (In honor of Bear), "Joy" wouldn't do, so we renamed her "Bliss". We had decided sometime before that the next dog would be named "Block", after Myles Block, but that didn't seem feminine enough for this sweet little girl. Besides, Kell Bliss is an MMA graduate who distinguished herself in her career with NOAA as a Station Chief in Antarctica. She is now the Laboratories Manager for NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. She is also studying to become a trapeze artist and learning to play the ukulele!

Just what breed was Bliss? As usual, we can't be sure. We were told that she was an old, old Labrador Retriever, and she was the size of a Lab. But we don't think she was full Lab. We think she was a Blue Tick Hound cross/Lab cross. While she may have some Lab in her, in some of the references we've found on these hounds we have seen some that are colored very much like her. The white muzzle seen on older Labs may have been her natural hound coloration. She was deaf and her right rear leg had trouble now and again, but she was very sweet and we loved her -- "we" including Ben. They were often found curling up against each other.

Rules about Daylight Savings Time: (from the U.S. Navy site):
Starting in 2007, daylight time begins in the United States on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. On the second Sunday in March, clocks are set ahead one hour at 2:00 a.m. local standard time, which becomes 3:00 a.m. local daylight time. On the first Sunday in November, clocks are set back one hour at 2:00 a.m. local daylight time, which becomes 1:00 a.m. local standard time. These dates were established by Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Pub. L. no. 109-58, 119 Stat 594 (2005).

In Maine, studded tires may be used from 1 October to 1 May

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My background includes a lot of things. Originally, I was trained as a forester (and I take the courses, etc., necessary to retain my forester's license), and at one time ran logging operations. Then I got involved in modeling logging operations with computers. From there, I became more and more a "computer nerd", working in technical and support positions for several software firms. I've also spent a fair amount of my life in writing illustrated articles—first writing up new logging methods, and then for outdoor magazines. And I have just retired after 18 years teaching mathematics and computer science at Maine Maritime Academy.

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And these days...

I like to play with our dogs...

Want to train a dog (or cat, canary, dolphin, fish—or person)? Look here: http://www.karenpryor.com.

If you're a teacher, do you know about Precision Teaching? Read The Precision Teaching Book. You can download the first chapter free

If you'd like to learn more about Precision Teaching (as well as Direct Instruction, a technique which is a great teammate for Precision Teaching), here are a few good places to start:

precisionteaching.pbworks.com Stuart Harder's site: free charts, instructions -- A great resource!
www.fluencyfactory.com Richard McManus' Fluency Factory -- (my "Chart Parent"!)
http://www.morningsideacademy.org/ (Morningside Academy)
http://www.celeration.org/ (The Standard Celeration Society)
http://http://precisionteaching.blogspot.com/ (Scott Woods PT blog)

If you need some practice sheets for learning math, either extra practice for a math course you're taking or for use as sprints in Precision Teaching, go here.

And I like to play with computers...

Want to be a hacker? Go here.

Join the Free Software Foundation and support Free and Open Source Software!

Are you using the best in operating systems?

I like taking pictures. Here's a photo link:

I like target shooting. Here's a very important link:

I like playing with my old truck...

Like old trucks? Here's the home site of the American Truck Historical Society.

I'm a member of the Brooksville, Maine Volunteer Fire Department

And I like working in the woods...

Here's a great site on logging and forestry.

Here's my site on logging research I'm doing..

And I've restored chain saws for the Leonard's Mills Forest and Logging Museum.

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Smile!