Poor Buddy!

Oh sad sad day why have you come? The fact is, the subject of male castration is an easily discussed topic between women. I, however, experience sympathetic pains all over my body when I hear the word. There's only one time it doesn't really bother me and thats when it's in reference to some over-breeding trailer trash. I kind of get a giggle out of it. In Buddy's case, I know it was for the best, but damn..... just damn. Poor fella has been tossed from home to crate to home and just when he thought he'd arrived in heaven...... WHACK... there go his balls. To make matters worse.... he has to wear one of those alien collars. UGHH!!!! How humiliating!! Poor poor Buddy. I hope you're gettin' all the treats you can possibly eat during this. Not to mention how easy it'll be to catch them... LOL.... sorry fella. So Terry and Bob tell me he's doing ok after his surgery. He's gotta have slow walks and no rough play for awhile. I don't remember this specific surgery being so hard on any of our boys, but then none of them had the size gonads Buddy was carrying. I'm not sure what he must be thinking now. Dash was much younger and was over his surgery in a day if not less, and there was no collar. It must have something to do with Buddy being 2yrs old. Poor poor Buddy. I'm sure most of you know how he must feel. Leave him a note... I'm positive it'll get read to him. I can't wait to go see him. I'm gonna bring him Ice Cream.... wait.... that's for tonsils!

An All Around "Buddy" Weekend!!

You know what? I told you on Friday I'd have great news for ya on Monday, but DAMN!! Saturday morning I drove into DC, picked up Ira and Warner and off we went to "South Paws", a veterinary hospital in Fairfax, VA. Warner was scheduled for a sonogram. Don't even ask me what for.... it was so technical my brain STILL hurts. Warner was so comfortable in the back seat of the truck she made it as difficult as possible for Ira to leash her. Turns out however, although she's 10 or so yrs old, she and her internal organs are in pretty good shape. The doctor was so impressed with Ira's knowledge of what was going on, she assumed and asked if he had a medical background.... she almost dropped the little sonogram thingy when I told her, "NO, he's just a nerd" Let me tell you... this place is just "Top Drawer". They have doggie bowls at the water fountain and a Cappuccino machine. Of course we understood how they could afford to give away cappuccinos when they told Ira what the total was.... good god. Poor Warner was like.... please pay it.... they'll use me for experiments otherwise. She gave us one of her pleading bug-eyed looks and drooled a little.... that's all it took and Ira was slinging a credit card at them. Of course I was all about telling him how now she deserved Ice-Cream since she was SOOOOO good and didn't bite a single person. On one of my last walks with Takaani and Dash together, I stopped in front of our neighbors Chris and Miriam's home. I couldn't go in because Takaani just requires too much energy to do the whole "get to know you" thing and they have three dogs. Miriam who just happens to ALWAYS have a camera in her hand snapped an album of pics before we headed back up the hill to home and air conditioning. Dash is forever happy to drool on a camera, but today Takaani was over it and we could tell by his ear-folding attitude. He turns them back when he's annoyed. Well, Saturday came to an end and just like those many nights when we were children waiting for Santa Claus to come.... I didn't get any sleep. Sunday would mean taking Takaani to meet another family that might possibly adopt him, and I wasn't ready. I had written back and forth with this fella Terry and heard all about this great farm where the animals all love living and his 10 yr old Malamute roams free and never leaves the farm. Truthfully, I believed what he said in his e-mails, but I had prepared myself for the sound of banjos playing when we arrived. I had told Steve that if the farm was run down or the dog that lives there was aggressive, we were leaving. I seriously think Steve went with me because he believed I had somehow sabotaged Takaani's previous "almost adoptions", and was going to make sure I didn't screw THIS one up. I won't go into direction detail, but if you ever get the chance.... Go There. Fort Valley, VA It wouldn't have been an outing with Dean n Steve if we didn't pass at least one turn and end up in the wrong driveway, but eventually we pulled up behind the right house. Oh, I forgot to mention the absolutely beautiful and weedless flower beds at the farm entrance.... the long winding road that went up and up and up and emptied out under a sprawling pine that was cloaked by an immense and equally beautiful multi-layered, rock bordered flower garden. Where the hell were we and would Takaani really be living here? Was his luck changing? If they liked him and kept him, could I come visit and STAY? There were all kinds of questions going through my mind, but the one thing that wasn't, was banjo music. Nope, there weren't any backwoods dog skinners here. This was the home of decent folk and I hadn't even met them. Out of the house came Terry followed by Bob, and both of them accompanied by the biggest dog I've ever seen. Trooper had to be at least 5 times bigger than Takaani, but I'm sure it was mostly fur, because he probably only weighed 3 times what Takaani weighed. So, this began two hours of meeting the fellas and discussing Takaani's history and hearing more about the farm and the rescued horses that live there. If it weren't for the gnats I'd probably still be there jawin away. I realized after just a short while, that this was Takaanis new home and that he had found his humans. It had been drilled into my head by the Malamute Rescue people and the numerous websites by those OH SO RESPONSIBLE DOG BREEDERS that Malamutes need a fence to keep them in. I should have known better. Takaani didn't need a fence. What he NEEDED was a reason to never want to leave. He would find that here on this little piece of heaven. Trooper had found it and he was obviously willing to share his wisdom with Takaani. Trooper had been a rescue and these fellas knew what it would take to bring Takaani around. I really hated to say goodbye, because I was sort of prepared for some sort of emotional upheaval and it wasn't happening. Takaani was really going to be fine. I couldn't be sad because all I could feel was happy. I knew I would miss him, but more so I would miss being there when he realized for the first time this was his new home and that it rocked. Some friends of Terry and Bob have a website that has some pretty incredible photos on it. Since I totally spaced and forgot to take ANY pics while we were there, I asked and have for you these two of Trooper. The first one by himself and the second running beside Terry on his horse. Visit Frank and his website It's about an hour 1/2 drive between our homes, but a beautiful one. We arrived back in Harpers Ferry to a quiet house. Although I knew where Dash was and I knew he was having fun, I wanted a puppy hug. Miriam eventually returned with him all wet and smelling like a river dawg.... even Dash got wet... just kidding Miriam!! Dash LOVES the river, but he LOVES even more being at the river with Cane. Cane and Dash have been buds for some time now. They can play for hours... drink and go at it again. I'm happy to have Chris and Miriam as neighbors, but it make it nicer because they have dogs. What better place for two pups to hang out on a hot.... ALMOST summer day!! Sunday evening came.... it got dark we hung out with Miriam drinking wine and eating watermelon. It was WAY past our bedtime when I finally went to the door with Dash. There would be no Takaani tonight. There would be no racing him to the bed. I slept good Sunday night, and I slept that way because Takaani wasn't gone, Takaani was finally home. I checked with Terry today for an update and like I suspected Takaani's fine and he's been renamed. Troopers little Buddy has been dubbed, "Buddy" This had been an all around Buddy weekend. One of those weekends that make you laugh and cry at the same time. Old friends, new friends, our friends, dogs and humans alike. Time spent with a partner a neighbor a pal, doesn't matter if you've known them for years or just met as long as it's heartfelt. These kind of weekends come more and more often for me. I guess I'm gettin sentimental in my old age. As for Buddy, he brought a helluva lot more than puppy kisses into my life. He reminded me that to trust in a stranger is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength of character. His trust is what drove me to never give up on him. His little Houdini butt might have cost him his first two homes, but somehow, I think he knew what he was looking for and refused to settle. Now he's home and I look forward to seeing and hearing about his adventures. Have a great life Boy!

The Takaani continuation...

Well, I'm so afraid of Jinxing myself that all I'll say about this coming weekend in this post is...... read it Monday!!!! I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and the things that happen to us good or bad are predetermined. I'm still wondering why the last month happened!! We've had Takaani for just over 4 weeks now and the people we're meeting are some really super people. These are people that either thought about or tried to adopt Takaani. First there were the Lombardi's who after a week of "thinking" about him decided not to take him, but paid for his vet costs... Very Nice!! Then we met Melanie who already has Lenny, one of the most awesome pups in the world, but thought he might like a playmate. The two dogs got along like brothers, but on the first overnight visit, Takaani, during a walk, had a K9 altercation with a K9 neighbor. Such a sweet face and what a terrific pal, but just like his breed suggests.... not good with anything that resembles a rabbit.... especially in the dark. I've been performing magic tricks on a neighbor and new friends home recently. She just happens to live around the corner from Takaani's possible new mommy. Well when my phone rang at 10:42 pm last Monday, and it was Catherine calling, I never expected to hear the news she was about to give me. Max had been bitten by a neighbors large dog. She's fairly new to the area and needed an emergency vet. I tried my best to calm her down and help with what info I could recall in my half asleep state. As my head cleared and I began to realize I was actually awake and this wasn't just another nightmare, Catherine told me it was Takaani that had bitten Max.... back to my nightmare. How Ironic that just a few days before this Her Dalmatian Jake had held me at bay in her home actually making what hair I have stand on end, and now my dog.... technically he still was.... had bitten her Max. I hung up with Catherine, got dressed and went to her house. I knew she wasn't going to sleep and neither would I knowing that. Jake and Max are good dogs, both of them are rescues and spoiled like all dogs are that have good humans. Jake of course likes me now. That first day, when he barked and growled at me till I left his home, was because I was in his home without his mommy. According to him, I didn't belong there... end of discussion. Now he greets me at the door with a tail wag and a lick!! Together Catherine and I assessed Max's injury and we decide he didn't need emergency care, so we made arrangements to have her drop him off with me in the morning and I'd get him to the vet when they opened. Hillside Veterinary Hospital has terrific Vets. We've taken every one of our critters there for the past 7 yrs. For the most part, it's been a nice experience. Recently though something has happened to his front desk staff. They're always too busy bitching about a customer from earlier or bitching about one of the vets, or just bitching. They're not customer friendly, and they can NEVER find your pets file. This might be directed at me only... who knows. I did make an appt once to see DR Roberts and when she asked what the appt was for, I told her "To discuss your attitude". Most of the front desk staff need a class on how NOT to be so trailer park at work. Perhaps a GIANT SIZE bottle of MIDOL might help. Max got seen by DR Masters, given some antibiotics and sent home. We're keeping an eye on him and he's looking good so far. As for me... I'm taking my critters elswhere from now on. Hillside needs to improve their staff issues. There's even some vet tech like person there that's AFRAID of big dogs....... what a messed up queen!! There were four puncture marks and one pretty big tear in his skin, but Takaani didn't go deep. I'm sure he's still wondering why those rabbits in Bolivar bark. On my way back to Catherine's with Max, I stopped at Melanie's to fill her in on Max's injury. As I pulled up I saw her running across her neighbors front yard..... WHY???... She was chasing Takaani. He had scaled her 6 ft fence and was off on an adventure. I pulled out drove up the hill to the main rd and there he was. I opened the jeep door yelled for him to come and go for a ride and in he jumped. What a goof!!! Melanie leashed him, took him home and later that same day brought him back to us. I agree with her that she really can't take the risk of having him escape again and bite another dog or worse a small child. See, small animals and small children look alike to Malamutes. Trust me, Takaani is NOT aggressive. If he were, we'd be having a service for Max and my cats as well. I'll close now, because come Monday I'm going to have ALL kinds of great news to tell you. Steve and I are taking a little drive on Sunday.... with Takaani. That's all I can say though... don't want to jinx it!!!! Have a Great Weekend!!!!

A Happy Ending.

I thought I'd take this time to remember OUR boys. There's been a lot of talk these past few weeks about Blaze. For almost 7 yrs we guessed at what combined breeds he might be and never got it right. Recently, with the addition of Takaani to our family, we started to realize what it might have been that made Blaze, Blaze. Takaani is a full breed Malamute and his weird talking and growling is exactly like what Blaze used to do. Hmmm! Blaze on his last days got in quite a bit of growling, but he also got in some river time and lots of belly rubs!!! We miss our first and always favorite boy. After we had had Blaze for awhile we brought him home a new chew toy and named him Oberon. We were told he was part Newfoundland and since Oberon meant King of the Fairies we felt it appropriate. Well Oby turned out to be a carpet peeing cockerspaniel mix. We rehomed him to a family outside of Baltimore who had a dog door... a fenced in yard and another cocker mix. Blaze trudged along with us as we introduced one after another rescue pups to him. He was always happy to teach them the rules of the house and share his bowl of food. There was Molly, the only girl dog we ever rescued. Never again.... girl dogs are so sensitive. Molly had been found by a park employee who gave her to us when she got shipped out west. We had Molly just long enough for her to destroy several pillows and cause some major upset in our routine. Molly ran away one day and nobody ever saw her again. We believe she went back across the river to Knoxville. She just couldn't handle the class promotion here in WV. After Molly came Jake. Jake was a quick foster pup. Only a yr old, this Great Dane sat at least 3 ft tall. He really preferred women to men, but because I brought him home he was stuck to me like he was glued to me. I couldn't leave him alone in the house at all and after only a week he was delivered to a home in Martinsburg for troubled teen girls or abused women or something like that. Ultimately he got what he wanted.... a house full of women and a yard. Then came Turk. Turk and Blaze were best friends from the very beginning. Of course Turk was only 1o weeks old when he arrived here. All this time we were struggling with Blazes aggression issues and after two yrs our vet convinced us Blaze was exhibiting aggression because of a pack mentality. While we had Blaze and Turk we adopted two 10 wk old Chow/German Shepherd Mix pups. Named them Chief and Trooper. We only had these guys a few weeks before they were taken off to a farm in Pennsylvania. That's why there's no pic of them. Now we're back to just Blaze and Turk. The aggression in Blaze just kept getting worse and knowing Blaze could not be rehomed, we put Turk up for adoption. It must have been Kismet, because not only did Turk find himself a great new home, but great new humans to go with it. Jon and Steph are great...... I'm so glad we know them. Well we lived with just Blaze for awhile and his aggression never got better. In fact it just got more unpredictable, so along came Dash, our GSD. Dash was 12 wks when he arrived here all potbellied and ribs showing. Again, Blaze took another puppy under his paw so to speak. Dash learned the rules, the routine, and the rewards of being a super dog. Sadly on Jan 5th, 2007 we said goodbye to our Blaze. His suffering took it's toll on his brain and we had to make the decision to put him to rest. Saying I miss Blaze would be a major understatement. There are days I hear him and days I see him and days I just want him back. I have him on our mantle downstairs and I say good morning to him everyday, but it's just not the same. Now only 4 months after he left us, we have Takaani, an Alaskan Malamute. A beautiful 2 yr old, somewhat underweight, absolute reminder of our departed Blaze. You may have read some of my earlier posts about him and his possible placement in a permanent home. I've filtered through a few decent folks and an entire list of FREAKS. Now I believe we've found Takaani his new mommy. Melanie will be taking Takaani on her birthday which is this Tuesday coming. He'll have a new brother, Lenny, a German Shepherd/Rottie Mix that's the same age and the same size. They play together like they were separated at birth. I already miss him, but I have to thank him for what he did for me. He reminded me of Blaze..... his sighs, his fur, his mouthiness.... the way he talked back to me, and now he'll only be up the hill. Melanie's looking forward to having us puppy sit from time to time. I can't wait!!! It's been an emotional 4 weeks prepping Takaani for his permanent home. There hasn't been a day that he hasn't been by my side, and although that was a pain sometimes, I wouldn't change it if I could do it over again. I believe Dash is looking forward to being an only child again. He was such a great teacher for Takaani. Blaze would have been proud of how Dash took control and taught Takaani the routine. So this memorial day week has been sort of an emotional upheaval for us, and I'm glad it's coming to an end. A happy end!!! I threw this pic in for two reasons. One, because Miriam was over this afternoon and told me to photograph it. Two, because it was beautiful and symbolic of the current situation. Takaani came to us a malnourished diseased, untrained dog. In 4 weeks he's blossomed into a well behaved beautiful addition to our family, and even though he'll be living somewhere else, he'll always be my boy!

MemoDay....Day Two!!

Monday started out as beautiful as the day before. What an absolutely gorgeous weekend!! Today we were expecting our friends Chuck n Brandon. Brandon was the unfortunate recipient of a scar, courtesy of Blaze, last Jan. Yes, Brandon is the one Blaze attacked. I still believe Blaze new what he was doing, because had it not been Brandon we could still be dealing with the aftermath of a dog attack. Fortunately, Brandon is a good soul and knew Blaze was not himself, to be so aggressive. He even likes us when we pretend to spit from our patio above him!!! We usually reserve that tactic for ignorant tourists, but it just "came up"... LOL! Chuck was trying to pose for the picture that Brandon was taking and I kept annoying him till he finally looked up. Chucks a great friend too even though he cooks animals for a living and has blue shoes!! We had a most tasty lunch... partly grilled, but mostly roasted in the oven. I totally suggest trying Fish Sauce on your next assorted veggie roast. This may take some getting used to, since fish sauce is mainly Anchovies. Our cats were in heaven from the fish smell and so were Dash and Takaani We didn't share with them though, they had enough puppy treats already. Isn't Takaani just beautiful? Why can't we find this terrific pup a good home? Now, before SOME of you scroll down.... the next few pics are of a slithery nature. We had this visitor late in the day and he startled me as I was taking water out for the cast-away kitties we feed. He stayed perfectly still for me to photograph, but it took a little coaxing to get him to pose!! I waited and waited and waited and changed position and waited and waited and almost fell on him, but he just wouldn't stick that little tongue out for me.

Finally I kept tapping his tail till he turned around and shyly poked his head out from under the Ivy. I'm not sure what he was looking for.... maybe moles. He could have been after a bird too since he was directly under the bird feeder, but he needs to learn those momma birds are kick-ass when it comes to their babies.

So that was our weekend. We got to visit with another good friend Sharon, this weekend, but I didn't get her picture. We DID however get a really cool CD from her of the Dalai Lama chanting. I hope I'm as cool as her when I grow up!!! I hope all of you had as wonderful a weekend as we did!!!!

MemoDay Weekend 2008

Memorial Day Weekend started with a monthly visit to our neighbors house. I keep an eye on their property for them while they're away. This is always an opportunity for me to hang out on their third floor porch and take pictures. Our home always seems dwarfed next to theirs and mostly because it is but logistics have a lot to do with it too. There's is ON the hill while ours is built INTO the hill. Anyhow, it's always nice to be out there on their porch. The train station recently finished a remodel and an addition of a watch tower. We can't see the station from our house because we're so much lower, but we're also buffered from the loud train horns because of that too, so it evens out.

Our home and outside patio is a nice view from their porch as well. At least until I hang the summer awning the whole patio is visible. Once it goes up we'll be shaded and outta sight!! Steve decided this weekend he would make a new bag for his computer. He starts by Ironing plastic bags, which transforms them into durable plastic material which he then cuts into pattern pieces using his cardboard patterns. Then comes the fun part of sewing it all together and adding the clips and truck seat belt for the strap. The bag when laid out.... before being stitched together. You can see his work LOGO on the right side. It's suppose to be the double helix. I really thought this was going to be a quiet holiday weekend for us, but then the phone started ringing, and I'm glad it did. Jon and Steph and her brother Chris came by after hiking a section of the C n O Canal. They had their dogs, Turk and Beau. We were unsure how our new rescue pup Takaani would react to two new dogs, but he did really well. Beau on the other hand decide after awhile he'd had enough of all the tall dogs and we had to separate them. Turk and Beau were the most attentive when they were getting treats!! Turk is such a good boy and I'm so glad Jon and Steph adopted him from us otherwise we'd have never met them. Not to mention he gets so much more exercise with them than he did with us!!! Dash, Takaani and Beau all waiting patiently for something to fall from the grill. This was before Beau turned bad-ass on Takaani. It's funny how it's often the little dogs that have to assert themselves. Oh well, Beau's the oldest and who knows why dogs do what they do???? After a glass of wine and a shot of NC mineral water we got Steph up in front of our shed with the tennis racket. We use it to swat carpenter bees as they approach the shed eaves. She got quite a few, but their numbers were slowing decreasing as evening approached. By the time Jon got up there the bees had almost stopped coming. I'm not sure if he got any or not!!! It's hard to tell in this pic, but Dash is actually biting at the water from the squirt gun. As quick as you can squirt it... he can bite at it. He's actually drinking the water..... it's not hurting him.... and he's definitely not afraid of water!!! Although Stephs brother Chris thought Dash's antics funny, his moment came when he was blowing bubbles from one of the many Mega Bubble Wands I bought and a family with cranky toddlers came by. He immediately went down to the street, handed bubbles to one of the moms and together they calmed and entertained the kids.... not to mention many other tourists passing by.

So Saturday came to an end. Our friends gathered up their dogs and headed back across the river to the lot where they left their car. I heard later from Jon that some christian family had parked in such a way that other cars were blocked in, and had their van vandalized. I guess Jon and Steph were lucky they practice good neighborly Karma. What a beautiful day it had been. The weather was the warmest it had been all spring and sunny and birds and happy people and good food and well.......... just nice it was. I'll sleep good tonight!!! Happy MemoDay Weekend Everyone!!!

Can we get a AMEN up in here?

Good Mawnin, Ole Shawpy from Down County is here with me, and its been what seems like forever since he spoke to you last. His last post was "Praise me some Jesus" in March, I believe. He thought he'd be visiting here more often, but with these gas prices being the way they are.... he claims he's gettin himself a mule. He would like to apologize to all his readers. Until he gets his own computer, he has to wait and use mine. Since his first time talking here was about the election, he's been getting quite a few questions thrown at him... not to mention a few tomatoes. The one question he's gotten the most is whether or not Obama is Black Or White. Now, we know his mother was white. Here is young Obama with his momma Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro. Now you know we looked THAT up!!! Obama was just two when his momma split from his Daddy. Yes, Barack Sr. didn't think he had to stop with just one woman. Here you can see just how different the two Baracks are. Barack Hussein Obama Sr. was born in Alego, Kenya. He herded goats as a kid. He might have been Muslim at one time, but at least he didn't fall prey to any christian cult. He died in 1982 Senator Obama sure looks Black in this photo, but he could also be Hispanic which I'm positive would cause a panic... especially in Texas.

So now you've got to do this on your own. When you look at Mr Bush, do see a White man or an Idiot? You see an idiot of course, and you decide that based on his actions and his uneducated responses. So when you look at Barack you should see a leader. Whether or not Barack is "Black" or "White" isn't our concern. Whether he can lead a country IS!! I'm sure, just like each of you, Mr Obama gets up in the morning, looks in the mirror and shaves or brushes his teeth. I doubt he stands there and frets over who might think he's black or who wants him to act more white. Since I went there, what does "act white" mean? Well we have the media to thank for that. Acting gay means wearing a dress and being girly, acting white means either redneck or corporate, and acting black means anything ghetto or soul related. We've got to end the stereotypes. Barack Might just be the one to do it. So, although he might see himself, and may very well be perceived as a Black man, we don't have to acknowledge it. Giving recognition to his race means empowering the issue. I know the Black Power groups and the whole Black Pride issue would be squashed if we did this, but it's the only way. I don't see Hillary as a woman I see her as a Clinton... again that's based on character and behavior. My only hope is that as a nation some sort of profound change will take place and we'll make the right decision come November. Mahatma Ghandi once said, "We must become the change we want to see" Shawpy agrees with me 100% and in closing would like me to add these famous lines. I said if You're thinkin of Being my baby It don't matter if you're black or white I said if You're thinkin of Being my brother It don't matter if you're Black or white Its black, its white Its tough for you To get by ~~Michael Jackson~~