Walkin' The Dog(s)

Where we live we have a multitude of mountain,river and creek walking places. You can't ever run out of somewhere new to go! But what has been really hard to find are flat areas with no obstructions. Obstructions such as low branches and twigs and scrub. With Henry being blind, and young, and as he just crashes and thrashes his way in the bush, I am constantly fretting over him getting his eyes scratched, or breaking a a limb.

There are plenty of flat cleared farmers fields, and I thought a few times of stopping and asking permission to run my dogs, but never did. And if I go a half hour to the east I can find cleared areas, but really wanted something closer to home.

A few days ago I drove past a spot I have driven past thousands of times. It's off of a bi-way that I like to travel instead of the highway....because I hate all the traffic. It's a sand and gravel pit. But not a *pit* in the traditional sense....more of a flat graveled area with mini hill of sand/grave/ and grass. We've been twice and have only seen bear scat once, and no other animal tracks. So I feel pretty safe taking the dogs there.

The dogs all love it and leap out of the Van and race across.

Henry circles back, as he always does, to find me

and overshoots, as he always does

And yay!! this spot is only a few minutes out of town! But I know I'll be knockin' on a farmers door soon enough when we tire of this place.

Heading home, this mountain range tells of the snow that will soon fall. YAY SNOW!!!!

My Alarm Clock is Cold. And Wet.

Without fail, between 7 and 7:15 every morning, I get this rubbed all over my face.

But it's accompanied by this


So I don't mind.

And I didn't mind seeing this yesterday....

I Love Fall!

Winter is my absolute favorite season, Fall is second. You just can't beat the mother earth colors.

I went out grocery shopping and ended up taking the long way home so I could capture some of the beauty around here this season.

Kris Kristofferson Concert

The lights dimmed and Kris walked out. No fanfare, just the man and his guitar.

His voice was in great form, he joked, he told anecdotes from his time spent with the "losers" as he obviously lovingly calls them, Johnny, Waylon and the boys. Sang some hauntingly beautiful songs written for his "babies and their Momma's", some classics like Me and Bobby McGee, The Silver Tongued Devil & I, Darby's castle and a whole lot more.

As well as some really wonderful material that doesn't make the airwaves as often as others. One song was written for Layla Al-Attar, who was an accomplished Iraqi artist. She, along with her husband and housekeeper were murdered by a missile attack directed by Clinton after the attempted assassination of the senior Bush. The song is called The Circle.

People were snapping photos all around me and I cursed myself for not bringing my camera. I just did not expect that it would be allowed. At the end of the concert I rushed up to the stage and stuck my hand out. KRIS KRISTOFFERSON SHOOK MY HAND!!!!! Although, I guess he didn't have a choice. It was either a shake or a slap, and since there were witnesses he went for the shake. He's got a nice firm handshake...just in case you were wondering. :))

My fantabulous cousin Denny, who treated me to the evening, took some pics with his cell. Here's Kris....*swoon*

Seeing him last night means I can cross one more thing off my Bucket List!

Back Up Baby!

The last 2 days I've been unpacking and putting away the very last 3 boxes of stuff. And so there have been a few things out of place. For instance, in the bathroom I placed a flattened out box between the toilet and counter til I took it and the others outside. It stuck out of the bathroom about a foot but left just enough room for the dogs to get in the washroom and have a drink of water. ( I have to leave their water dish in the tub or else Henry thinks the dish is his own personal water park and well, you get the idea )

Henry's first trip in to get a drink was a disaster. I heard him in their drinking and then heard what sounded like a dozen dogs in with him thrashing and crashing against the walls and flattened boxes. I run to go see wtf is going on and see him caught between the tub and the boxes. He had tried to turn around in an area that no other dog would attempt. I got him turned around and told him he was silly when it was so easy to just back up as the other dogs did!

A couple hours later and he is again thrashing and crashing and stuck. It was then that I realized he doesn't know how to back up! There was never a problem where he needed to. I made sure that where we lived he had open spaces. Nothing for him to crash into.

Crap man, it was hard enough teaching him stairs, now I have to teach him to back up!

My cousin Denny, who's blog is Running With Safety Scissors is taking me to see Kris Kristofferson tonight!!! Front row seats....I may just pass out from delirious glee when he walks on stage. I can now cross seeing him off my Bucket List!

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs....I was reading a blog a bit ago written by a self proclaimed dinosaur. She's an animal rescue person who is my age. In the beginning she rescued cats, and for the last five years has been a multi-species rescue. Or, as she told me once, she now has the hobby farm she has wanted since she was a kid.

My immediate thought when I read her proclamation, was to think of the lady whom I met one day while she chasing a dog down my alley. I helped her finally catch him and we introduced ourselves to each other. She was Nancy Mason and she ran one of the very few animal rescues in B.C. which was called Mercy Volunteers For Animals. We talked for a bit, she explaining about her organization, and me immediately volunteering to foster. I fostered dogs for her for 8 years, then moved to Manitoba. I was 20 when I met her and she had to be in her mid 50's.

She did more work in the name of rescue than the self proclaimed dinosaur ever has done, and can ever imagine to do. Nancy passed away a number of years ago, she had to be in her 80's. Back in Nancy's day there wasn't the ease of the Internet. It was snail mail, horrendously expensive long distance phone calls where you waited till after 6 pm to call to get the cheapest rates, personally driving dogs across the provinces, not the free airline deals they have now. The fund-raising was almost nil, not like the $20,000 + the *dinosaur* can raise in one evening. Funds were for the most part, paid out of pocket by foster people like myself.

Now, Nancy was a true dinosaur in the rescue world.

Or the 2 elders on a reserve near Princeton. One is 87, her sister is 91. They STILL spay/neuter/feed/foster out of their own pockets. I met them in 1982, through Nancy. I cannot say how many dogs they have tended to, but the number might be 3 times as high, or probably higher as the year I met them! They've been rescuing since they were in their late teens! And there isn't any fancy fund-raising for them either. Or internet. I visited them 3 weeks ago and loaded them up with some kibble kindly donated by a grocery store in town. They are still rescuing, with the help of a few family members now.

They are dinosaurs in the rescue world.

So, until the self proclaimed dinosaur does even a smidgen of what these 3 ladies have accomplished, she should quit her ceaseless whining and just freaking do what she has chosen to do. What with the mass of volunteers, the few staff and fund-raising her rescue has, this is a cake walk compared to what Nancy did, and Mabel and Lorraine still do.

And here's a raspberry for anyone who thinks that they are all that and more!