Robot Woes

While I'm still very distracted from my nature adventures I want to tell you the story of my vacuum cleaner misadventure. Let's get into it.

It started out wonderful. I bought a brand new robot vacuum cleaner to replace my old Roomba that wasn't quite as spry as it used to be. I told you about it here in this post. It was the Neato Botvac D4. And it ran wonderfully for the first 3 months.

Then one day it began acting kind of confused and was moving a little slowly. The main problem though was that it kept getting stuck and giving an error whenever it tried to return to its recharging base.

I have to admit that I panicked a little. I thought I had spent $500 on a lemon and it would never work right again. I needed that robot vacuum cleaner! I'm much too busy to vacuum the house every day myself. And it had been doing such a great job of cleaning up the dog hair! But not now. A house full of dog hair is a horrible thing.

After I calmed down a bit I followed the links to the chat with Neato Support. The guy was actually very helpful. He asked me to try a few tests, which I did, to see if the machine could fix itself. Which it didn't. At the end of the chat, there didn't seem to be a solution. I was not very happy.

But then the support person followed up on my case through email the next day. He asked me if the machine had improved. I said no. And after a little back and forth he set me up with the information to send my vacuum cleaner in for the company to look at.

I took my machine to FedEx where I paid them about $20 to package the machine securely for me. I could have done it myself for free, but I figured they'd do it better. And they knew exactly what to do. And so my precious investment was sent off for servicing.

After about a week I got a large package delivered to me by FedEx. It was my vacuum cleaner! The great thing was that I didn't have to pay a dime for them to fix it for me. I wasn't sure about that part when I began the process.

I got it all unboxed and took the time to charge it back up, and then I started it up on a good test run to make sure it was okay. It wasn't! The robot acted confused and then errored when it tried to return to the charging base. After a closer examination I saw that they had replaced the filter, and maybe the brush, but they had done absolutely no repair on it. Again, I was not happy. It was time to try the chat support again.

After quite a lot of time and frustration talking to this new person who seemed kind of skeptical about my situation, I finally got it through to them that this machine really needed to be repaired. I learned during the chat that they could monitor the machine over the internet. I'm not so sure how much I like that. But it was time to send the machine back to the company for them to service it one more time. Would they actually fix it this time?

This time I just packed it back into the box it came in. No extra charges for me. I made the trip back to Sioux City to the FedEx Store and sent it off again. Again, they knew exactly what to do. The woman there even knew right away when I walked in that I had a robot vacuum in the box. Impressive.

And so, after another week I got my machine back again. I wasn't exactly encouraged about a successful repair this time because of my previous experience, but I was still hopeful. So, what do you think happened when I was able to do the test run?

Success! It was working! My vacuum cleaner was repaired this time, and it was back to its old great working self. My dog still thinks this second robot is a jerk, but it works just fine now. My dog doesn't like this one because she was kinda best pals with the old one. She loved playing with it while it cleaned. She thinks this one stole its job.

In the end, (and after this long post), I'm happy with the support I received from the company. It took a little too long to figure out that the machine should get fixed, but they did fix it and they did it for free. Free is all I could ask for.

And that's my story. Maybe you don't want to read another one like this, but I think my next post is going to be about the new computer I just built. I'm going to whine a bit about that one too. I hope you can stand it.

I'll talk to you later.

The Ultimate Choice

Every one of us chooses the world we live in. If you think little of yourself, then you will think little of the world around you. Do you think of man as an evil being that is here to destroy all that is around him? Then you must first think of yourself as the same. We each have a choice we must make.

It would be a very bleak and dark place if we thought there was no hope for humanity, if we thought of ourselves as inherently evil. The one great thing about humans is that we have the power of choice. We can choose what we think of ourselves. Are we really here to destroy all that is around us? Are you?

Or are we here to do the best good we can? I know I am. None of us are perfect creations, but that is what makes us special. Each one of us is different. There can be no perfection; only goals of improvement to achieve. We all want to be better, but does that mean we are not good now? No. But what does it mean?

It means that it is our choice. We can be whatever we want to be. We don't have to make ourselves out to be monsters. We can be glorious beings that have the power to transform all that is around us into something great. How we do that depends on each one of us individually.

There is no one way to make things better. The ways are unlimited. That's what is even more special. As long as we do what we think is best, and try our best, the world around each of us becomes our own individual paradise. Of course, nothing is ever perfect, but that is why we keep on trying. Without the need to improve, we would all whither and die. Living is our ultimate goal, so we continue.

Living to the best of our ability can bring us to a fairy jungle garden. We can imagine that the most fantastic creatures live there. These creatures are our friends as long as we treat them with the same respect that we expect for ourselves. Some of them are other humans, and some of them are different creatures of all kinds.

But remember that there is also danger there. To treat others with respect, we must first respect ourselves most of all. It is the only way we will understand how to treat all of the others. We must think of ourselves as the greatest creations that have ever existed, and then strive to be happy. That will then project automatically out to all others around us.

That's when everything will seem like fields of grass and flowers to us. The world is what we make it. It can be good. It can be bad. We have the choice to decide. That choice will never go away. It can be a burden to some, but a privilege to others. It can set us free. We are all destined for freedom. We only have to make the right choice.

And that's my completely different post for today. The message was always there. I just brought it to the front this time. How did you like it?


Nature Center Magazine - Did you ever wonder what what Idaho has to offer a nature lover? Whether you did or not, you can find out today. You might be very surprised.

Another Chance

After nearly two years of holding a grudge, I finally gave it another chance! This nature park that I visited back then left a bad taste in my mouth. The problem happened all over water! After a few things with the water there, I didn't like the place one bit! But I've now decided that I was being unreasonable. Let me explain.

Back then I was new to so much nature. I had just begun to look for a place where I could see a few big bodies of water, other than my beloved Great Lakes. I just wanted a few pictures, that's all. I found the water at this nature park, in the form of a pretty large lake that bordered the park. But it was blocked by vegetation and more inadequate ways to view that water.

The side of the park was the only way to view the lake. All other sides were apparently bordered by very expensive residential property. I hastily, and maybe rightly, determined that the water was blocked by selfish residents that lived around it. I completely agree with the idea of property rights, but why did the public nature preserve need to be blocked from viewing the water?

On top of all of that, there was a very sad incident at this lake that was all over the news. It happened only a week after my angry trip to this park. A man who was visiting from outside the country was found drowned in the lake. Something like that really hurts when it happens so close. It made my negative feelings for this place even worse. I soon decided that this nature preserve was just a bad place that was devoid of life, even though I had some good times there.

With all of that, I began my search for other places to explore. I soon found several, some even being very close to home. One other place was even right down the street from this place, which was soon left forgotten. But a few days ago my memory came back. I decided to give this nature preserve another chance. I wanted to view it with my now more experienced eyes.

With my sight much better in tune with nature now, I found that this place was just teeming with life! The older incidents now finally began to fade into the past. I have since that old time found other sources to view watery lakes, ponds, and streams of all kinds. So this place holds different expectations for me now. And I'm realizing that my old prejudice was probably just foolishness.

I now walked through this place with a new joy, and also with the remembrance of familiar beauty. I now remembered how I really missed this place. From the stone steps you see at the top; to the boardwalk through the swamp, that seemingly goes on forever. To the solitary rest building at the back of the park. And the very large meadow where birds and insects of all kinds like to reside. It's a beautiful place to be. Maybe it can give me another chance too.

The whole park is swarming with chipmunks, even though they were very difficult to see, much less get any pictures of them. There were squirrels, groundhogs, birds, butterflies, and even evidence of deer. Many different habitats here, even if many of them contained poison ivy. A very good place indeed.

I'm very glad I went back. It will be much sooner this time when I go back there again. I have a new happiness as if I discovered something new, but familiar at the same time. Time and experience can help clear a lot of things in a mind. I'm glad it did mine.

Yesterday's post about so many baby geese does seem to have an answer! It turns out that your comments were very helpful, and always welcome. I'd especially like to thank Bill of Wild Ramblings, who once again gave a very logical and reasonable explanation to one of my questions. Read yesterday's comments to see his answer. The geese I studied last year also fit his explanation because I watched them merge their two families together. Go visit Bill's site for me.

I Hate Stupid Jerks

Canada Geese

This will not be the post I wanted to bring to you today. Yesterday's warm day has finally brought out the animals to my favorite nature park. The geese and the ducks have both finally come back to the park. In fact, the whole place was alive with animal activity of every kind. There was one very dark note to my day however, and that's what this post will be about.

Before I begin, I would like to tell you that dogs are my favorite kind of animal; no other animal can come close to my love for dogs. I like other pets such as cats, and I like all of the wildlife I meet along my hikes, but dogs are still, and always will be my favorite animals. Now onto something I'm very very angry about!

I was getting toward the end of a very productive day with my camera. I have more pictures of animals for you from today than I've been able to get for most of the winter combined. I was really happy about it. I decided to go back to the fishing platform because I saw from a distance that there were a couple of geese wandering around out there on the ice. I had to get pictures of that!

This is a video where I attempted to bring to you a couple of geese on a frozen lake, but I was rudely interrupted by two idiots with their vicious dogs.

I started out by taking a few pictures of them walking around out there. Then I remembered to try to bring you a good video of the geese as they walked by. They weren't making much noise, but they were giving me some intermittent honks. The sound is really good here, and not only can you hear the geese, but you can also clearly hear other birds chirping in the background. It was an all around good setting for a video. That's when all hell broke loose!

From behind me I all of a sudden heard very loud barking dogs, and a man yelling at them. The geese flew away as soon as they heard this, and the whole thing interrupted my video! I turned off the video, and turned to see what was going on. There were about four or five good sized dogs running down the hill towards me in a very aggressive manner! Their idiot of an owner stood at the top of the hill yelling at them to come back. You can hear all of this in the video, including the footfalls of the dogs as they ran towards me.

The hill to the left

I was standing on the fishing platform, and the dogs couldn't figure out how to get up there; but they also quickly surrounded me while trying aggressively to get up there to me. I could tell these dogs didn't just want to greet a new friend. There was a very good possibility that I was in a great deal of danger at that moment.

I want to tell you, and I'm not trying to make this sound like bragging, but I know very well how to defend myself against any human or animal. I've done both many times before. I could have hurt those dogs worse than they could hurt me, but I knew I'd suffer a few injuries along the way. I was more angry than I was afraid. But what if I was another person who was not prepared for a situation like this? This was not good at all!

I held my ground, fully expecting to have to do battle with at least a couple of these dogs. I didn't want to do it, but I fully realized that I might have to kill one of them. I'd feel horrible about hurting a dog even a little bit, but I also have to protect myself first. The dogs were gnawing at the metal slats that made up the sides of the railings, in their attempt to get at me. In the end they finally decided it was too much effort, so they finally heeded their master's call and went back up the hill.

It wasn't even worth saying anything to these idiots, so I went back to taking a few last pictures. The two guys with the dogs quickly put them back on their leashes and moved as swiftly as they could away from my location. These jerks should have kept their mean dogs on their leashes in the first place!!! It is clearly written on the sign at the front of the park to do just that.

I completely understand wanting to let your dog run free sometimes, but anyone with any sense should know better than to do this where they know there will be other people, especially if their dog might tend to bite. I cannot count the number of times now when I've had dogs come running up to me barking. I usually just stand still. Most dogs are just curious. The dogs in my story were not! I know dogs very well. I understand them.

On my way out of the park, I met a nice woman who was going in. She had two very nice, polite dogs. One was a very small dog. We talked for a few minutes about the wildlife. Before I let her go, I made sure to warn her about the two morons with their pack of vicious dogs. I couldn't bear to think of her nice dogs or her getting hurt. After we parted ways, I made my way to my truck, and home. I was angry, but still encouraged by the new spring. Next time something like that happens, I'll be sure to keep the video running!

I meant to give you the beginning of some great new photos of the beginnings of the return of the wildlife to this park today. It will have to wait 'til tomorrow. I have some excellent stuff for you then. You really won't want to miss it. Talk to you then!

My Favorite Kind Of Winter

This is a picture of of a typical winter where I live in Michigan. It looks kind of wet in the picture, doesn't it? You might also be wondering where the snow is. After all, I've been showing you pictures that are full of snow. Well, we do have snw sometimes, but we also have other times where the snow all melts away.

I know that in some places when it's winter and you get snow it stays there the whole time until spring arrives. Everywhere you look is white and wintery, and cold. In other places you never, or almost never, get any snow at all, and it stays warm throughout the year. But I sometimes think we get the best of both.

In my particular area of Michigan I think our lakes effect our weather greatly. It can be cold and snowy in the states south of us, but warm and pleasant here. I'm not sure it does that in any other place. Sure we sometimes have just as much, or even more snow than another place, but more often it's like this.

A typical winter in my local area means that we'll probably have snow, but after a while it all melts away and the temperature warms up, giving us all thoughts of spring. This can sometimes happen to us three or even four times in a winter. So even though we have snow, we also get periodic breaks from the harsh weather.

I think this gives us a good sampling of every kind of weather. In my opinion, that's the only way to be. I wouldn't want it to be warm and sunny all year long. That would seem monotonous to me. I also wouldn't want harsh weather all winter long. That wouldn't be very fun either. I think our weather here is just right.

I guess that's all my particular Goldilocks view of where I live. But I'm sure you have your own opinion of how things are supposed to be. So tell me, what is it you like about the weather where you live? What would your ideal winter be like? We all have our own personal opinion. I want to hear yours.

The Dog Whisperer

I was watching an episode of The Dog Whisperer today, when I noticed something interesting. Cesar Millan, the star of the show, was using very similar techniques to get close to a nervous dog, that I use to get close to wild animals. I wrote a few posts about how to do this, not too long ago. And I'll leave links to them at the end of this post, as well as a few links for information about The Dog Whisperer.

I've been watching the show, for a little while now, whenever I see that it's on. I have to say that I've been very impressed. It's an amazing show, and he knows a great deal about dogs. I learn something new with every episode that I watch. I don't usually think highly enough of a TV show to say anything about it here, but there are a few like this one that are exceptional.

I usually only talk about things I find out in nature, but a show like this goes hand in hand with everything I try to put across here. I love dogs very much, and I appreciate seeing someone who has that much knowledge about them. Then when I see that person using similar techniques on animals that I do, it validates for me what I'm doing here. It helps me believe I'm on the right track, and doing something right.

Anyone who's interested in animals at all should give his show a try, if you haven't been watching already. It's been one of my favorite TV shows, and I think it can become one of yours too. I think you can learn some very helpful things if you have a dog. Now go and read my "10 Tips To Get Close To A Deer", and then watch a few of his episodes. You'll see some very similar things there.


The Dog Whisperer

• Cesar Millan's Official Website
• Cesar Millan's Dog Whisperer TV
• Dog Whisperer | National Geographic Channel

Related Posts

• 10 Tips To Get Close To A Deer
• How Close I Got To A Herd Of Deer
• My Close Encounter With A Deer
  

Complaints And Historical Figures

For a while now I've been having to listen to some disturbing things about some historical people. I like reading about history and the great accomplishments of people. But it seems like every time I see something about a persons achievements, someone starts complaining.

While learning the positive thing a person did, I don't want to focus on their personal problems. I don't want to hear about how this person's positive achievement is nullified, because someone thinks they were evil or wrong in some way. If that historical figure did something bad, I agree, it shoudn't be ignored. But the act is not the person. Whether true or untrue, I don't need to be preached to.

Recently, I was reading a post on a Michigan blog about the invention of the Model T. I always loved that story. It was another great accomplishment, and one of the many things that made America great. It was a nice innocent post that made me feel good, so I commented and told the blogger how much I liked it.

Later I was looking around the same site, and happened to see the next comment. It was a huge lecture on how Henry Ford was a Nazi and friends with Hitler. Who cares. This was not a post about Nazis or wars or anything bad. It was about invention. I politely answered as much. I didn't say more, because it wasn't my blog. But now, here I am.

Sometimes it's okay to only think of the good things. The bad things should be remembered too, but in an appropriate place and time. Ease up a bit. What would it hurt?

Top Nature Parks List - 9/13/08

I decided to make a list of my favorite nature parks. I've been to a few more than these, but these are the ones I like. This list may change and expand in the future; so it's not set in stone.

1. Woodland Hills Nature Park
2. Heritage Park
3. Kensington Metropark
4. Orchard Lake Nature Sanctuary
5. West Bloomfield Woods Nature Preserve

There it is. It's in the order of most favorite to least favorite. I left the ones that I didn't like off the list. Maybe the list will change as my experiences change. There are still a lot more parks to explore, and I haven't seen everything in these yet. Onward to the future!

Zombie People

A lot of the people I see most days, don't seem to have very good imaginations. Why don't they seem to care about things? Rational or complex thought seems to elude them. They like to complain and argue with each other, but it's almost always about meaningless things. Things that shouldn't matter, they cling to the most. A lot of them are hooked on some illegal substance, and they like it. I've seen people that are proud to be stupid, and they brag about it. People at work look for ways of avoiding their job, and getting out of doing anything asked of them. Any difficult task seems to elude their minds. If it is physically or mentally difficult, they avoid it at all costs. I understand not wanting to be cheated or overworked, but most of these tasks are part of their jobs. People like this often seem to be rewarded for their laziness of mind and body. I've seen intelligent, hardworking people punished for their skill and positive attitudes. These rational intelligent people are greatly outnumbered by the stupid ones. When they do a good job they are not rewarded; they are just ordered to do more. Meanwhile the slack wits are given more and more reward. Something just seems wrong here. How is an intelligent person motivated to go on in an environment like this. Pride and confidence in yourself is a difficult thing to maintain when you see that there is no reward or benefit for you. Others seem to only see these traits as something to take advantage of. The only thing to do for the intelligent person, is to try to keep searching for their own path to the rewards they seek, and to maintain faith in themselves. Somewhere there must be a place where these backwards rules don't exist. Anyone who knows this place, leave a comment.

Gas - Cash Or Credit

Most of the gas stations around me are now charging a higher price for gas if you use a credit card instead of cash. I may not have all the necessary information, but it seems to me that the stations are blaming the high prices on the credit card companies, and not the oil companies. I won't go into the bigger issue. Everyone else has that covered. This cash vs. credit thing is only hurting people like me. I don't want to carry that much cash. I believe gas stations should have the right to charge whatever they want for their product. I also believe I have the right to choose not to go to them for my gas. I think I'll go to a gas station with prices I consider a little more acceptable to me. Unfortunately, the good ones are dropping like flies.

Hot N Ready...In 15 Minutes

I decided to get pizza over the weekend, so I went to Little Caesars on 11 Mile Rd. and Middlebelt in Farmington Hills. I asked for a couple of their Hot N Ready pizzas. The ones that are supposed to be ready when you get there. I wasn't surprised when they said it'd be about 10 minutes. I don't eat pizza that often in recent years, but this place, about half the time I go, doesn't seem to have anything ready. Well I waited their 10 minutes, and still nothing. Finally after 15, the pizzas were hot and ready. I don't like to complain too much if they're being polite, which they were, but I'm tired of things like this not being as they're advertised. I'm sure Little Caesars Enterprises, Inc. didn't intend for things to happen like this, and probably doesn't even know. There could be all sorts of reasons this continues to happen, but you would think they would fix it after a while. Maybe I'll try Domino's next time.