Travel with Dog

I'm traveling this weekend, and because I'm not flying I brought Molly along. She thought getting to sleep in bed with me was VERY cool. She curled up at 10:00 pm and didn't budge until I got up at 6:30 am. I was concerned she would be up and down and might pee on the carpet, which is the reason she sleeps crated at home. Well, that and the fact that Ivan and Ditzy would be very upset at sharing the bed with a canine.

She was a perfect princess at the Eastern States Hedgehog Show. When she was crated under the table, she never made a peep. She didn't bark or whine once during the entire show, and she thought the children were WONDERFUL! She wasn't sure about ferrets, and she thought hedgehogs were very cool. She sat on a chair behind the booth and other than a few out-of-control wigglefests, she was great.

Making her sit on a chair was a great discovery. Wigglefests are limited in scope when the dog only has an 18x18 pad upon which to wiggle, and she didn't try to jump because she had some height advantage. I remembered to bring a tape-roller which was a good thing. I had to do some fur removal from the chair at the end of the day.

If I can keep her out of trouble until she is five or so, she is going to be such a great travel dog!

She loves the outdoors, so camping with her wasn't a concern. After all, there is no problem if she pees in the campsite. I was very worried about the hotel experience, and I needn't have been. She did bark and whine once or twice while left in her crate in the hotel room when I went to the truck, the front desk, and the hotel internet station (since my laptop objected to the hotel wireless). When I arrived at the hotel room door and heard her whining, I told her "no" through the door, and waited outside for at least five minutes to make her her silence was permanent. Then I went in, let her out, praised her, and took her for a walk.

One learning moment was when I realized that she would have to be walked immediately upon waking in the morning. So I'll need to invest in a sweats rather than pjs or a ratty t-shirt to sleep in, because she's not going to be able to wait while I shower and dress, and I'm not going to parade around the outside of the hotel in plaid flannels or oversized conference t-shirts, thank-you-very-much.

There were two other dogs at the conference: a long-haired chihuahua and a pomeranian. Funny to have Molly to be the biggest dog there.

June is Goat Trauma Awareness Month!

Spread the word.

How I feel after four days of rain and two more to come...

And that, my fair friends, is sweet Hope, caught at a bad moment by Cary, her loving adoptive (and foster) mom, who of course has no shame and shared it for me to embarrass her cat internationally.

Quote of the day

Seen on a t-shirt in a video, worn by The Skunk Whisperer.

"I handle wild animals for a living. If I am running...KEEP UP!"

Love it.

Take two kittens and call me in the morning

I think it may be time for a 100,000 mile tune up. I just posted--and deleted--two paragraphs of whining about my health. Posting about my health is something I swore I would never do in public. So HA, you don't have to endure that, you lucky things!

The kittens have reached the "Gawdawful cute" stage. They are fully weaned but are having a hard time giving up a bottle at bedtime. I'm afraid I give in, because then I know they'll sack right out until morning. I'm out of KMR after tomorrow's bottle, so they may have to grow up and be big kittens.

I AM so tempted to whine, so I'd best just shut this down, curl up, and limp off to sleep.

Late night baking

Aren't tired of rhubarb yet?



Alice sent me a link to this rhubarb coffee cake. It's WONderful. And I did not wait for it to "cool completely before serving." It's already after midnight, and no way am I waiting until morning. I'll have some then, too.

Meditating by the fire

Hmmmm...

This was supposed to be a thoughtful post about sitting around the fire, and making decisions about my next steps.

But it is now 12:04 am and I am just too sleepy.

ZZZZZZzzzzzZZZZZZ

Molly earns her keep

I'm not sure why I got a dog. I guess because it "just happened"...rather like the cats that come into my life (and, hopefully, go out again, into someone else's).

One rationalization was that I would be forced to get out and about, because unlike cats, dogs do not take kindly to being ignored. I can't keep her stuffed in a crate all day, or tied up, so we go for walks.

Well, you can only walk up and down your own road, or up the hill, "X" many times before things start looking exceedingly familiar. So I've been running errands after the blaze is off the sun, so I can take Molly with me without her frying in the truck. In a quick trip to Owego yesterday in search of cheap Tiki-torches (so the bear doesn't fall over me as I sit in my side yard at night), we stopped at a park in Owego, to visit the stony creek. Much to my surprise, there is a nature trail there.

I had no idea.







There were far more human artifacts than natural ones. An old house. A railroad bridge (in use). A small sand and clay bike jump (complete with graffiti-covered bench).



This whole area--and much of Owego--was underwater during the flood a few years ago. My truck would have been four feet underwater where I parked, and I'm guessing this ribcage was washed against the tree far over my head when the waters receded. Whether it was mere bones then, or a dead deer, I can't guess.



I expect to spend the summer finding other places to explore now that I have a furry little midget staring at me with a waving tail that says "I'm bored I'm bored I'm bored I'm bored!"

what do you think?

I think they may be calling me.