Welcome to August

Glenda I am so shocked to hear about Theo. I am so sorry for your loss. Yes you certainly have lost a lot of your critters since you moved to where you are now. Then to have lost your son as well. Tough times for you. Sending healing thoughts your way, some hugs and some kitty snuggles and purrs and some sloppy Corey kisses and Gus banging your hand with his head for some petting. Speaking of Gus, things were all negative when they took a swab of inside the bladder. Still have no idea why the thickening of the bladder wall. It was possibly from the infection. I'm finishing off this last round of medicines and hopefully things will be okay. Will probably do a urine sample every few weeks, since he never really had any signs of problems when he did have the infection. I want to be sure and catch any problem early on.  He still enjoys his agility at 11. He goes around the course with his bouncy gait and a big smile on his face. I was waiting for news about Gus before I committed to Nationals. If there had been bad news I would have been staying home with him. I've found myself a Team for Corey and come October some time, Tennessee here we come. Hey Doug, I'm trying that one finger typing and having a hell of a time. I finally got where I could type fairly well and now I'm better to type with one finger!! i can do it on the phone but my computer keyboard not so easy. Though  I'm pretty much forced to do something different with the trigger finger hand. it has gotten bad again quite quickly and it is just too awful a feeling to use it. So I'm doing 4 finger typing with my right hand.

Glenda, I, too am so sorry to hear about Theo.  *sending you guys hugs*

Beautiful day.  Wife went to watch grandson play hockey, so I took Jr to the dog park.  Spent a long time there, sitting in the sun and watching Sky greet every newcomer and play with every body.  He was having a great time with a big headed low slung pit bull, rolling, chewing, slobbering all over.  Shepard apparently didn't want the other playing, so he kept separating them.  Jr tried boxing with a Great Dane, until the GD played back and sent him rolling.  New game-Jr at "stay" and I walk away a couple of hundred feet, put my hand in the air and gesture.  He comes by like a little sports car, gaining speed..  When it's time to leave, I can walk him off-leash through the gates and to the truck.  He is a good little boy, most of the time.

Witnessed the reason I have a smaller dog and feed premium  food.  Big herding dog dropped a pile at the park. owner cleaned it up, with a big bag.  Must feed him corn.

I'll have to get him to the vet this week for a blood test, maybe his rabies vac.  See if his liver is back to normal.  He eats like he's never eaten and is afraid it won't happen again.

The strangest thing happened this weekend.  When we went out to bury Theo a grey cat was outside.  We've seen him before and in fact, he's walked right into the sun porch and joined us several times.  But, he's always left for days on end before we would see him again.  This time, he's being very persistent about sticking around.  When I got up Saturday morning, he was waiting for the door to open on the back steps.  He has spent the past two days on the back porch, either curled up sleeping in a patio chair, or curled up on someones lap.  He goes outside now and then, but always comes back. I've repeatedly told him that he's not my cat and that he doesn't live here, but he seems not to believe that.  How weird.  Again, he's been around for months, but never been so heck bent on hanging out with us.  It's almost as if he saw our grief on Friday night and figured he'd stick around to give us someone else to love.

This morning I went out to do some garden clean up.  Dug the last of the taters, pulled out the defunct lettuce and the non-producing broccoli, altho I did leave a couple plants to go to seed so I'll have some seeds for next year.  Pulled some red onions, picked a ton of stuff, then put in a few last taters.  They should have plenty of time before a hard frost and we like the smaller spuds anyway.  Then I picked some herbs and processed them for drying, froze some tomatoes and green beans and squash and by noon had run out of things to do.  So I spent the day with a book and a not mine cat who thinks he is.

Doug, you should see the size of a GSD pile on the less than stellar dog foods.  You almost need a front end loader!  One of the biggest selling points of a high quality food....less poop to scoop!

Glenda, that's pretty cool that the kitty decided to spend more time with you this weekend. Maybe your crew of critters at the Bridge decided you needed a special fur friend to bring you comfort. And even without that "guidance," the kitty is smart: he knows where a good home is, so maybe he's decided to hang his hat with you more permanently now. Keep us posted.

Maureen, I'm relieved to hear that nothing serious was diagnosed with Gus. Hopefully the thickening of the bladder wall is just a side effect of infection and nothing that will cause any future health scares. Good news that you'll be able to go to the trial in October. Tennessee should be beautiful that time of year.

I bet I've got most people beat when it comes to having to clean up large piles. Even on super premium food, at 125-130 pounds, Tonka's piles were a challenge for some of the "less accommodating" poop bags. We had to be sure to buy extra long ones for our dispenser! Edited to add that Tonka weighed 125 -130 pounds -- not his piles. Ha!

The weekend was so smokey -- the biggest fires are miles and miles from us, but the weather/wind brought the smoke right to the valley. My eyes were itchy and my throat scratchy all weekend. The sky was such a bizarre color, too. I was running errands on Saturday afternoon, and at one point as I looked down the road, it looked like we had some fog ahead -- that's how hazy it was. Air quality is better today, but no rain in sight, so no real relief yet. What a summer, I'm telling you!

Took Sky for a run through the reclaimed sand quarry that is now a WMA.  Apparently, the quarry section is open and providing sand for our new 4-lane highway.  The usual entrance area is busy, and seems to be getting bigger day to day.  We used an entrance about a ¼ mile down the road.  Uphill both ways, through a poison ivy patch.  Cool, with a nice breeze.  Dog is sleeping by my feet right now.  It was a good walk.

We have apples.  Three (3) apples.  Wife spotted flashes of red in one tree, and there are three ripe apples up there.  Almost hate to pick them.

Thanks Tracy. It sure was a relief. I've sent my entry papers in for Corey. I'm debating about maybe entering Gus as well. I wouldn't enter him in the classes that we team up with others. It'd be too much for him. The real truth  is more like it'd be too much for me. I could enter him in two classes which both fall on the first day. Corey would be in those classes as well, but those would be the only classes for that day, so I might be able to handle that. Gus really does enjoy it and i feel bad when I don't run him. I think too much though, cause I also look at it in another way as well. If I run him the first day is he going to feel worse when I don't run him the other days.

I really hope Tennessee has some good weather this time around as 2 years ago they had unseasonably cold weather. The stalls where we kept the dogs were cold and damp and I had a terrible time with my joints and muscles from the dampness.

Got a kick out of your edit note Tracy. I didn't even think of it that way until you mentioned it. That'd be some serious pile of dog poop that's for sure.

Glenda sounds like maybe kitty is deciding you are his new home. He may be a stray and now that the weather is getting colder he's looking for some place to keep warm.

Cold and damp sounds uncomfortable for you AND the dogs, Maureen. Living in a climate where it's cold and damp many months a year, I know just what your mean. Fingers crossed that you have sunny, dry, crisp fall weather while you're there. That will be best for everyone's joints and muscles.

And speaking of dampness, quite a storm came through this weekend. Winds yesterday were downright scary at times. Lots of leaves and tree debris around the yard, and our power went out for a couple hours in the afternoon. I was at work, and it stayed on there, so maybe a tree limb hit a transformer in our neighborhood or something. There was some thunder and lightning on Friday night, but just a bit of rain. Today there was more rain -- some heavy downpours this morning -- but the sun came later in the afternoon. The news showed some major damage due to winds and falling trees, but luckily we didn't see that severe result right in our area. I swear, I could hear the plants and grass saying, "Aaaahhhh! A nice big drink of water!"

Hard to believe tomorrow is the last day of August. Seems like the kids were just getting out of school!

Tracy, we sure do need some rain here--but not the wind, thank you! Are you getting a lot of smoke from the fires? Maureen, I do hope it's better weather in TN this year!  Glenda, has the kitty decided you're its new home? It sure sounds like it knew where it was supposed to be when Theo crossed.

It's hard to believe it's the last day of August--I feel like I my summer "to do" list is as long as it was at the beginning of the summer!  We're in crab grass and ragweed pollen season and Ronnie seems to have developed allergies.

Doug, didn't you have a huge crop of apples last year? We have tons of fall raspberries this year--I think the snow last winter and the early rains helped.

OK--it's going to be a warm day today, so I better get going. Happy end of August everyone!

Last year, we were forcing apples on anybody who stood still near our yard.  Give them a bag and the pole to pick with.  This year, 3 apples, no crab apples.  Birds beat us to the cherries again.  We do have cucumbers and some squash, good grapes (had fresh squeezes grape juice with pulp included) and tomatoes  were good.

Running Jr a lot, getting him back in shape.  Spent about an hour yesterday at the big WMA.  He was tired, but happy.  The big WMA is about ½ a mile square, and we were the only ones walking there.  Quite, just the sound of the wind and an excited dog.  

Going up to Minneapolis today, with JR, to picnic at Minnehaha park.   Haven't been to this park in a really long time.  Once upon a time, "The Song of Hiawatha" was popular.  Lake Nakomis, Lake Hiawatha, Minnehaha park , creek, and waterfalls  showed up on the map.

The lakes region in Minneapolis is really a beautiful area.  A chain of lakes, surrounded by parks.  Used by a lot of people for walking, biking, swimming, boating and fishing.  Some of the finest fishing in MN, right in downtown Minneapolis.  Even have Tiger Muskie., which have been known to chew on dangling toes.

Just got e-mail working right on the new Mac.  I downloaded an update, and couldn't transmit.  The settings were the same as on the old Mac, but the mail program changed.  I don't know how the tech service people keep working with people like me..

Sky has a deep racking cough.  He spent the night gagging, then looking for comfort.  The vet said their is an upper respiratory  infection making the rounds, so into the vets again.  See if I can get his liver follow up, vaccination boosters, toe nail trim, and cough on one trip.  

Sky met a really nice Airedale yesterday.  Same age and size and temperament.  They had a great time slobbering on each other, and I spent time talking with the owner.  He suggested a dog trainer about an hour from here.  Teaches obedience and/or  hunting skills to dogs.  Pricy, but the video of the Airdale pointing birds was impressive.