I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love.

For me they are the role model for being alive.

~ Gilda Radner

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

poo trap????

As much as I DON'T enjoy picking up after Stumpy or carrying a bag of poo to the closest trash can, I don't think I am ready to subject Stumpy to this,either.



The Stumpy size poo trap and replacement bags are listed below...
Description Price/Unit Total
PooTrap Size 4 - Blue 32.95 USD 32.95 USD
PooTrap Bags 3+4 6.95 USD 6.95 USD
SH Shipping and Handling Charges in the US - 7.95 USD
Subtotal 47.85 USD
Tax 3.95 USD
Total 51.80 USD

NOT CHEAP!!! but amusing.... you can order it here, if you want to really humiliate your dog (and yourself). http://www.pootrapusa.com/

The video is even more amusing...


hmmmm...I may invest to use as future blackmail for the next time she wants to think she's the boss....

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Company!!!!



Stumpy and I live in what's known as "open range." Ranch livestock travel freely throughout the neighborhood and town. It's not unusual to stop for cattle as they cross the road or to see them browsing in the center of town.



My favorite sight, however, are the horses. There is a herd of mustang that travel within this particular range. Glimpses of the mustang are unusual, but not unheard of. The Mustangs from the Cerbat Mountain area of northwestern Arizona are some of the purest Spanish descendants in the United States. You can read more of their history here: http://www.angelfire.com/az/xochitl/Cerbats.html Their numbers are dwindling due to BLM removal, governmental shenanigans and shady loopholes in the law.

Ranch horses,can also been seen and today they spent the afternoon in my "front yard." The horses are turned out to browse thereby saving the ranchers a few bucks in feed. They look healthy and happy. I did notice that most of the horses tails were really short. I thought maybe the tails were caught on cactus, as they swatted flies, and they lost them little by little. I see this particular herd every couple of weeks, usually just passing by, not giving me a chance to take pictures. I've counted 11 in the past, today there were only 8.








Stumpy slept through most of their visit.

Friday, August 21, 2009

eYe watch Friday

In honor of Norwood's "eYe watch Friday," I thought I would post a picture that might help some of you protect your eyes in the future,so we will always be able to enjoy eYe watch Fridays.

It's hot here, my air conditioning went out and my landlord has no funds with which to have it repaired, until after the first. Don't worry, I love her anyways, she's one of my best friends and lives on a fixed income and I live in this nice place at a bargain rate, only so she can insure it. If I paid real rent she would have the $$$ to repair the AC.

But it's too hot to be outside and too hot to move, at all, inside; except to sit right in front of this teeny weeny window unit and find amusing stuff on the internet. Thank GAWD for laptops or I wouldn't be able to do that. And thank GAWD for all you bloggers out there in Blog Land keeping me amused!!!

Anyways, if human idiocy amuses you check out the fail blog at http://failblog.org/2009/08/21/eye-protection-fail/.

It's an endless source of amazement and amusement. Most amusing is the fact that so many people think animals are "dumb beasts." If you follow this blog you might have a hard time believing that humans are the most intelligent life on our planet. I have a theory: opposable thumbs does not an intelligent species make.



If you prefer googly eyes, like these eyes, check out http://googlyeyewatch.blogspot.com/
It's good to know there are people out there with as little to do as myself.



It's going to be a loooooong day .... just barely 7:30 and it's 86 outside already....









I'll have these eyes to deal with all day. I know what she's thinking... same as me... what are we doing here???


Wednesday, August 19, 2009

This blue dog isn't so blue anymore....

But she still needs a home.



Miss Mickey is a female Australian Cattle Dog. She is small for the breed — just under 25 lbs. She is 6 years old, and, over the past few months, she has been through quite an ordeal.

On March 13, Miss Mickey was a stray who ran into a busy street and was hit by a car. The accident was witnessed by a good Samaritan who, along with the help of 3 Philadelphia Police officers, took her to a local SPCA where she was stabilized and treated for a week. Miss Mickey’s owner never came forward to claim her; instead hundreds of supporters rushed to her aid, donating over $4000 to fund her care. Those donations paid for 2 surgeries to repair her pelvis with plates and screws on each side, plus physical therapy to help her build her overall strength. Today she is healthy and full of life; so Miss Mickey is ready for the next chapter of her journey — finding her forever family.

Miss Mickey has very few impairments from her accident. She walks, trots, runs, goes up and down stairs, even jumps up onto furniture. She can even catch a Frisbee. She loves to play with her foster brothers. Her foster sister... not so much — she is an alpha female. We think Miss Mickey would like to have a doggie brother in her forever home. Because of her previous injuries, we would like her brother to be around her size or smaller.

Miss Mickey is up-to-date on all her shots and has been spayed. She is being fostered in Langhorne, PA — just outside Philadelphia. If you would like to see video of Miss Mickey in action, check out her Dogster page at http://www.dogster.com/dogs/1004251. For more information, please contact Miss Mickey’s foster mom at missmickey@acdra.org.

you can read more about Mickey and those who helped here: http://www.ohmidog.com/2009/08/19/helping-mans-best-phriend-in-philly/

or find other Austalian Cattle dogs in need of a home, closer to your area, here: http://www.cattledog.com/rescue/contacts.html

Before adopting an ACD one should make sure their lifestyle is suited to ACD ownership. Australian Cattle Dogs (ACDs) are intense, very loyal and intelligent companions. They tend to be very wary and reserved with strangers and can be very protective and territorial if they feel that their person or family is being threatened. Along with their intelligence, they can also certainly be described as hardheaded and stubborn. They are one of the most intelligent breeds around and when a Cattle Dog puts his/her mind to doing something, you’d better bet that they will do it to the very best of their ability. Most will want to be active and busy most, if not all, of the time. When young they have two modes, 100 miles per hour and asleep. This energy has to be directed somewhere or you will quickly end up with problems. A bored ACD will find ways to entertain himself, usually doing something you won't like, such as redecorating your house, rearranging your yard, etc. There is an old adage, “A tired Cattle Dog is a Good Cattle Dog”. Take this saying to heart.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Stumpy's new favorite toy

Stumpy is mad for anything that squeaks and I am constantly on the lookout for indestructible squeaky toys. Or not so easily destroyed. I love to give her squeaky toys for a few reasons. She has boundless amounts of energy and will play for hours with a squeaky toy. She is so much fun to watch while she plays. And she doesn't stare at me, at least a little while. That is until she is ready for me to play with her new toy, too.

While I was back east I picked up a "loofah" toy. Besides the squeaker, it had no stuffing. A big draw, since Stumpy is a shredder. Well, this one was good for about 3 hours. First the ears were removed,then the legs, and finally, the squeaker. And there was stuffing. Not much; it only surrounded the squeaker. It's only other downfall was the toy's material. I don't know how to describe it, but it gave Stumpy something to grasp with her teeth and there were little pieces of it everywhere.


Yesterday, I picked up a similar toy. This one had a squeaker in the head and the tail. My thinking was simple. Two squeakers are better than one. Twenty four hours later the toy is still basically intact.


I tried for hours to get "action" shots. But Stumpy is too fast for me.







Finally, crashed.


The End.


I hope I remember to put that stupid thing up tonight. I was really NOT happy to hear it squeak squeak squeaking at 2am. Or to have it's wet mushy self dropped in my face...

Friday, August 14, 2009

What the heck is she doing?????

I'm on the deck, it's about 103 in the shade. If I put the thermometer in the sun it takes about 7 minutes to hit 132.


A little warm for sunbathing, in my opinion....

She may want to reconsider her actions, or she could end up with some of the issues I deal with...


...being a child of the 60's and 70's...

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Bustin moves...

Stumpy loves wrassling and zooming with other dogs. Cuzzin Baxter loved having Stumpy over to his house to wrassle.

It was pretty much non stop for four days.



The two of them must have thought we wanted to see the show up close and personal. Their favorite place to tussle was underneath us.

Ok!!! move it off the porch you two...



Fighting would stop, momentarily; the cuzzins in a stand-off...


and then one of them would make a move...and it would begin all over again...


until it was time to go swimming, once more...


we sure do miss our cuzzins and all that water...

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Stumpy learns to swim



Stumpy has loved the water since her first introduction. Even when we aren't playing she would stay in the water, just walking around, for hours.

However, she had always had a bit of trouble staying afloat.



She walked across the bottom of the lake and "bobs" pushing herself off the bottom when she was over her head, flailing wildly with her front paws. The fact that she couldn't swim never stopped her from going out into the water, over her head. I always stayed close, in case she got into trouble.



We spent some time at Cuzzin Baxter's house who happened to have a pool.



Baxter's dad took a few minutes to give both Baxter and Stumpy a swimming lesson. Baxter, being a Shar Pei cross, abhors water, except to drink out of a bowl.



The lesson was not wasted on Stumpy, though. She became a power swimmer in no time at all; swimming the length of the pool, harassing all of us to come swimming with her and in general showing off.



Of course she rested, occasionally, too.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Dog Beats Odds To Return To Family


There's some lessons in this beautiful story about a dog and her people. Traveling with your dog in a crate or kennel and plenty of identification information in the car, on the dog and the kennel are keys to keeping your beloved 4 legger safe.

Dog Beats Odds To Return To Family
Posted: Jul 24, 2009 9:01 AM
see the video by clicking on the link below.
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=10784761&Call=Email&Format=HTML

"Dogs are not our whole lives, but they make our lives whole." It's a quote animal lovers will tell you is true.

After all, dogs are man's best friend, for their ability to show us unconditional love. As NewsChannel 5 photojournalist Nathan Sharkey and reporter Jeff Tang tell us a Rottweiler named Ella is teaching us all, the true meaning of loyalty.

How fitting is it that in the town of Only, Tennessee there is a dog with only one wish.

"She's somebody's baby you could tell," said animal rescuer Kathy Wilkes-Myers. "If her eyes could talk, speak words I mean they'd speak volumes."

Sitting on the front porch of Myers' house Ella is happy but not at home. Ella is waiting for something.

"She seems happy but she has this look in her eye like this is okay, but where's my family?" said Myers.

Most humans would say that Ella is lost, but she'll tell you it's the other way around. Her family has been missing ever since the accident.

"She slammed the breaks and we went into a spin," said accident survivor Joe Kelley.

On July 1, the Kelley family nearly died in a horrific car accident in Hickman County.

"I just remember slamming right into the mountain and I thought to myself well this is it God," said accident survivor Michelle Kelley.

A frightened Ella watched as the medics took Joe, Michelle and their three children away to the hospital.

"The last thing I've seen was her looking straight in the eyes before she ran up into the woods," said Joe.

The family pet, Ella, got scared and ran away from the scene.

"Couldn't find my dog - couldn't find my dog," said Michelle.

She could have wandered east or west, north or south, but she did not. Instead, for 13 days Ella waited.

Kathy Wilkes-Myers drove by the accident the day it happened and two weeks later she spotted a dog near the same spot.

"That's the last spot she saw her family and she was going to stay there," said Myers. "She was starved and covered with ticks."

Kathy brought Ella back to her rescue ranch where the two became quick friends. She also brought back a plastic bag full of clues hoping it could lead her to Ella's owners.

"I found another little nest where she had put all these personal items," said Myers.

Since Ella could not find her family at the crash site, she decided to find everything that belonged to them.

"It just blew my mind and I thought this dog was just trying to find some comfort," said Myers.

While searching the area, Kathy also found a notepad that led her to insurance agent April Bowers.

"I knew exactly who it was, whose dog it was - what's going on," said Bowers.

Just like that the pieces came together. Despite all they've been through, the Kelleys never once forgot their dog and Ella never forgot them.

Myers brought Ella to reunite with her family.

Every member of the Kelley family was expected to make a full recovery. Though the family has faced some major medical and financial setbacks since the accident they said getting Ella back makes it all worthwhile.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

UGH!!! the HEAT!!!

I have known for a loooooooooooong time that I do not belong in the desert, at least in the summer. The drive home from Flagstaff was hell. My friend, Gilbert, came to get me in his 1962 Jeep Wagoneer, no air conditioning and the only window was the windshield, for maximum airflow. The exhaust fumes were absolutely noxious!!! Then about 40 miles from "home," (I'm using the term loosely, because I am more sure than ever that dirtville is NOT my home)Gilbert filled 4 - 10 gallon gas cans, as one does when one lives so far from civilization. We got to enjoy the gas fumes combined with exhaust!!!

About that time Stumpy began freaking out. It took me a minute to realize she was over heating. Poor girl!!! Fortunately, we had a cooler full of ice and I was able to cool her down, pretty quickly.

Here's one of the places we would rather be, and I have a plan, to get there next summer, for the whole summer and then some...

of course we would rather be swimming... Stumpy actually learned how to swim while we were home...more on that soon...

This is Lake Washacum, a beautiful little lake in central mass, where my son, our dogs and I spent every available hour/minute, winter, spring, summer and fall, when I was living in Mass.





I am sooooooooooooo homesick!!!! I miss my family, big green, leafy shady trees, grass and walking barefoot in the grass and water!!!!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Dirtville here we come...

We are back in Az but not home. Hanging in Flagstaff tonight before facing the heat. I am not in any hurry to return to dirtville and I don't think Stumpy is either.

We've been in a car for 2 days, it feels good to stretch our legs. I am sure Stumpy misses the lake, the shady trees, rolling in the grass oh yeah and the family, as much as I do.
Here are a few of her relatives...

Baxter and Stumpy spent hours slobbering on each other.




Booker, my sister's Briard and Stumpy were great friends end enjoyed lots of games together.




Gramma ChiChi, my mom's 14 year old chihuahua and my sister's dogs Molly and Moe. Molly was the only one of the three that was the least a little bit nice to Stumpy.



No internet for almost a month.... I have a lot of catching up to do....