last week of august 2009 - in 2 parts

1a rain for 36 hours
2a great friend of mojo’s backyard euthanized. we will miss you, jake.
3a bit/bruised by my own dog on the tender parts of my left arm (inside part of my elbow - ouch)
4a muddy white shirts for our photo shoot (yes, plural)
5a boxer puppy found stumbling down road in brunswick georgia with throat intentionally slit open, literally from ear to ear
6a sen kennedy dies
7a 9 dogs at my house for a photo shoot and 1 puncture wound delivered by my crazy big hound dog. lucas was a butt.
8a mojo ate one of chris’s fishing gloves last night.
her tally for the month: 1 boat shoe (the neighbor's), aunt tee tee’s favorite flip flop, 1croc sandal belonging to the photographer we love, 1 of daddy’s favorite oxfords, 1 backpack (only the leather ties and straps), 3 pairs of underwear, all with the same story - waist band: intact. crotch: nowhere to be found) & the glove. if the glove is bit i will not acquit.

meet elvis, Lucas's evil twin(3a)

1b green green trees/grass, bright flowers, cool weather, high rivers to float kayaks down with our great friends susan & jim.
2b peaceful passing with loved ones close by, no more suffering
3b note to self: do not break up dog altercations using my body. it is my temple (ahem...i have 5 copies of this same note to self. will i ever learn?)
4b great photos with an honest touch of dog dirt; methinks if you’re a dog, having fun has very little to do with staying clean
5b puppy healing well physically. learning to trust & play again; for every evil-doer there are hundreds of big open hearted loving tender humans. barc people rule!
6b health care reform is in the spotlight even more. it was his mission. it will be his legacy
7b dinner with 2 of the best people we know, with some of the best lasagna i’ve ever had!

8b it’s a sign to start going green & stop buying leather. or maybe it’s a sign to keep this crap out of her reach!!

dawn, hamish & truffles on the st marks river (1b)
photo by the oc

jerry & o'malley (7b)

fur photos on friday

we had so much fun this past friday afternoon. a photographer came to our home to photograph our dogs.

i was sorta dreading it all week. it’s hard work to have a “stranger” come into a 5 dog pack - get the dogs to play nice, put on their best face, act decent, not bark, not jump, not argue/growl/grump with each other, & to smile, all the time worrying if the house is clean enough, the grass is short enough, if even a single photo will be in focus because not one dog is willing to sit perfectly still long enough for the photographer to exhale.

well let me tell you about ms robin adams, pet photographer extraordinaire. worry about the dogs jumping on her? she kicked off her shoes on the porch, walked into the living room, sat down in the middle of the floor & welcomed every sniff, kiss, nose bump, slobbering lick she could get from our pack. she reciprocated their acts of love by bringing bully stix for all, giggles, treats by the dozen, infectious laughter, enthusiasm & joy to our little pack, including my husband & me.

the dogs were so animated & loved her so much she could barely get far enough away from them to take their photos.

-lucas made all of his funny elvis faces for her
-eiyso stretched out in her “i am the zen dog” pose with those magical soulful eyes gazing deep into the camera lens
-mojo woofed & pranced & kicked in all her longhaired, smiling face glory followed by several vogue poses just to prove she’s still got what it takes for the cat dog-walk.
-sparrow did some vertical jumps, raced like a banshee-fied tasmanian devil & promptly retired to her crate stating “...& i’m spent.”
-ditto displayed the downward dog over & over so that robin could get just the right light while we giggled nonstop about how stinkin’ cute she is. (ditto, not robin. though, yes, robin is cute, too!)
-chris & i were left with huge smiles, feeling proud of our pack & we simply cannot wait to see the woof proofs. (we’ll be sharing once we get them!!)

robin is amazing with dogs. & amazing with the camera.
she’s a wonderful person, dog rescuer, cat lover, compassionate, talented, creative, has a zest for life & spunk that i admire. i recommend her for ALL your photographic needs.
check out her website FUR & Robin Adams Photography

she’s got a pack of new fans with the jones clan!!!

update.....here is the link to our proofs - they are awesome!!!
the jones family

roadie-oh

At mojo’s backyard, we foster dogs. One of the groups we work closely with is boxer rescue. (boxer aid and rescue coalition– you should check them out –great people, love dogs.) we usually have a boxer or two hanging around the daycare waiting for the perfect forever home.

We’re hosting a little boxer man right now named “roadie” I prefer to call him roadie-oh. He’s a jack russell/boxer mix – so they think. a jack in the box for those of you who need a designer dog. [you can read roadie’s story at www.boxerarc.org]

I love him.

this is jean - he works with us at mojo's backyard - holding roadie-oh. too too cute!!

roadie hated me or feared me most likely for a long time & I don’t know why. most dogs get one whiff of me & seem to trust me. this little dude gave me a fit. growled barked snarled lunged backed away for 2 or 5 days. I spent over an hour inching him toward me with treats & when I ran out of food, he ran away. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, he fell in love with me almost as much as I am with him.

Confession: He is a coprophagiac (he eats other dogs crap) but hey, many dogs do it. So he’s got a single fault…

I was tucking roadie-oh in one night (I work at the daycare a couple of nights a week and I always say goodnight to each dog – kisses, calming rubs, telling them they are good good dogs. sometimes I have to lie.) & I smelled light poop on his breath – so I wouldn’t let him kiss me. I kissed him on the top of his head. He laid his head down and accepted all of my affection. This must be why I love him.

Have you ever seen a smoosh face dog’s teeth? Oh my goodness – they are a crooked mess. Underbite-city, crooked as my conniving uncle eric, snaggle tooth from way back. it’s just so comical and wonderful. I love looking at them – it brings up a smile from way deep in my soul. (I had braces many many many years ago – so my bite now is disguised as almost straight – perhaps malformed k9 teeth remind me of my younger days looking in the mirror)

I really wanted a little look at roadie’s dentition for my own personal happiness meter – it never hurts to charge it up when you can sneak a peak at something that makes you feel so amazingly joyful.

When I parted his lips and prepared for my smile I instead felt a little puke come up into my throat. Uppers and lowers caked full of poop, shit, crap, excrement, grey brown burbling and overflowing from the crooks and crannies – just like my ex-husband.

[The only time that mean man ever made me laugh is when he would clog his mouth with chocolate, smile big and say “do I have anything in my teeth?” & that was really only funny the first thousand times he did it.]

Maybe that’s why I was so horrified mortified and nauseous with roadie’s gaping cesspool mouth & the foulness spewing from it….. he reminded me of my ex. Oh roadie-oh. …

or maybe it was just freakin’ gross.