whadda week, whadda life

tiger woods runs over hydrant & golf club saves his life (or did it almost kill him) drama

fancy dinner at white house overshadowed by a tall wanna be a reality tv star lady in red & her wino horsey husband

dawn’s head start on christmas plans gets stymied by nostalgia & 15,000 photos.

yes, i had my shopping done early.

my wrapping was right on time

the tree went up & then a detour….

i had the idea to move all the photos from my big clunky desk top to my svelte lap-top & organize them. distribute them on cd’s that i made. you know - the family vacation photos. the old group shots from multiple holidays gone by (including the easter beer tasting fest.) the candid of you while playing guitar hero like the rock star that you are.

do you have any idea how many memories lie in 15,000 photos? honestly, i’ve only looked at about 3,000 so far & i’ve lost an entire day. like the famous philosopher turned folk singer BREAD says “...a picture paints a thousand words…” & millions of amazing memories. i knew i was blessed, but the details are tntc. (this acronym is not from texting - it’s from science - laboratory microscope geeks - when they look through their lens & see millions upon millions of something important they are said to be “too numerous to count.)

seriously, the fancy french toast in gatlinburg (one more bit of evidence that proves if you add cream cheese to anything it automatically improves the flavor). the mamma bear & her two cubbies. lisa & stephen spending days & days & days helping us get our doggie daycare, mojo’s backyard, open. (that's lisa, below, giving mojo a little ride!)

the moment we met mojo. (she's the little one below & the big fuzzy one above.)

the moment we met sparrow.

the very second that ditto was handed over to me to love forever.

somehow i have about 20 photos of some hurricane katrina dog rescue folks in action. i don’t recognize a single dog or human & don’t recall who sent me the photos, but i do recognize the phenomenal efforts/money/emotion/time that rescue people put into what they do & my respect for them is ott. (over the top - i might have made that up)

the black chunky pug, raisin, she was an early mojo’s boarder - i thought she was dying, but her mom said nope. that’s just how she breathes. i love that raisinette

our many bow-wow birthday parties (oddly enough all 5 of my dogs share the same birth day.) my husband’s eye for the subtly gorgeous (we have so many photos of flora/fauna/shroom photos he could publish a horticultural encyclopedia). an early daycare regular, jamaica, & all the places she liked to rest. ( i hope i can find the one with her lying in the bowl of the water fountain.) when the floors at the daycare looked great (look at raisin's pic above)

omg, i could go on & on & on…..

it’s official, my fond memories are tntc & i’ve got to get that tree decorated.

news updates, overdue just like my gas bill

how do you get so busy in your life that you totally forget to pay a bill? i got the threatening letter from the gas company last week (i think? though i didn't open it until 2 days ago)...i called at 0700 today so they wouldn’t stop my gas flow. the nasty-gram said they would shut it down yesterday. i don’t believe they did ‘cause my water’s still hot.

i have a scintillating scotoma. do you? it’s a blurry, shaky, light bright spot in my vision that lasts for about 20 minutes & then goes away as quick as it shows up. lots of folks will get this visual disturbance right before a migraine. i am so very grateful that i don’t get the headaches...just the scintillating scotoma. (what a fun phrase to say. try it!) this is my third one in 10 years. it’s not a toom-ah.

dog people....love them. we had 4 brilliant women come together this past-past sunday to discuss our dog ranch concept (the bff dog ranch - website coming soon) we chose these woman because we respect each of them & all they do for animals. wow, were they amazing together. talk about synergy. the lives of dogs everywhere in tallahassee are improving daily thanks to this incredible, strong and enthusiastic group. i love dog people. thank you megan, pattie, leigh ann & kate. can’t wait to start those open houses & get the ranch rockin’.

i am so ready for christmas - my shopping is done. wait, let me say it one more time. my christmas shopping is done! wooooo hoooo. all i have to do is sip the egg nog & wrap the gifts. i’m already playing my christmas music. i love those songs. i have the little drummer boy by 7 different artists. if i played my christmas playlist for 24 hours straight i still wouldn’t be through it all. if you’re thinking “thanksgiving isn’t even here yet, why are you thinking christmas?” well, i’ll tell you, thanksgiving is part of my holiday celebration & it all falls under the heading of the magnificent christmas season- peace, love, dogs & nog.

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)

my sister's visit

my sister, anita christy came to visit this weekend. yeah!! i haven’t seen her in over 4 years. she is the mom of 2 gorgeous human kiddos, (abby is 6 & a j is 7, they both stayed up north with their dad) she also lives with a pit-mix GOOBIE, kittens, a horse, 16 chickens, a donkey & probably some other critters i don’t know about. she was very confidant coming here that she would be able to handle living with 5 dogs for 10 days. no problem.

i’m always nervous when we have guests. our dogs are usually very well behaved, but the initial 15 minutes can be very intense with the jumping, barking, racing laps around the house. plus, if you’re not used to it, 5 of anything can be overwhelming....5 kids, 5 pairs of shoes, 5 martinis, 5 choices of dessert, or 5 golden rings - 5 is a lot.

anita did very well...initially. the puppies loved her (our youngest canine fur-child is 2 years old & 70 pounds, but they’re all still puppies to me.) we walked them, played with them, made up voices for them, couch-potatoed heavily with them & photographed them. anita even slept with sparrow the first night.

aunt tee-tee with eiyso. chris has luke and ditto.

i believe it was the second day of aunt tee-tee’s visit when things began to go slightly down the proverbial hill. (all my fur kids call anita “aunt tee-tee” because they can’t say aunt anita)

anita brought with her a fancy pair of flip flops (actually, everything anita has is fancy. even her horse is named fancy. that’s so weird. i never even thought about that until right this minute.) anyway... she was sacheting around our house in her designer high heeled leather fancy flip flops extolling their comfort & i was oooooing and ahhhing. & then we got distracted. started cooking, laughing, remembering when she hit me in the head with the rock & i almost went down. i barely clung to consciousness, only so i could tell mom on her. apparently with all the reminiscent tale-telling excitement of our childhood, she threw off her very comfortable flippies. mojo found them.

by the time i noticed, one shoe was isolated in the dogs’ play room, separated from all other shoes. sitting alone. no living creature in sight. the leather flip had little tiny teeth marks & the the toe tip of the rubber flop was all swiss cheesy.

at first anita whimpered, maybe even cried a little bit. then she got mad. then she got all “my glass is 1/2 - full” & resolved to still wear them.

her thoughts on the matter included:
no one will notice they’ve been chewed when i have them on.
they may eventually break, but at least they should last long enough for me to find another pair.
they rub on the top of my foot, but only a little bit.

while walking the mall the next day, they did in fact give her a little blister & a mild limp to go along with it. that injury didn’t hurt nearly as much as her bloody knee. she broke the vase at the giftshop, but i picked it up to inspect the damage and a huge chunk of ceramic flew out right & away, slicing her knee open, giving her a huge gash that ran red for hours.

i think it was a couple of nights later that anita felt better, had a new pair of flip flops & her knee finally stopped bleeding, so we organized a little party.

we had some guests over for a very competitive game of wii bowling followed by a hard hitting set of rock band. our neighbors walked over to festivate with us; they’re a lot of fun & come over as often as they can. they kicked their shoes off at the front door, cracked open a bottle of yummy red and relaxed into dinner.

just as everyone was changing out of their bowling shirts & into their rock star clothes, i spied it with my little eye.

notice that the drummer has no shoes on his feet.

another lonely shoe in the dogs’ room. it was large & leather. insert 1/2 eaten & separated from the body of the shoe. the lace was missing as well as the leather that the laces ran through. there were, however, several metal rivets, slightly bent & strewn over the floor. mojo does have her standards.

my shopping list.

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

i'm stressed about the stress factor

stress & the effects of stress are fairly well studied & understood in humans. in canines, i don’t know....i think it’s time i learn about the science that may or may not be out there.

the tester for mojo’s “therapy dog re-certification” saw her licking her lips. this was interpreted & scored as a stress reaction. omg, don’t they know she is her mother’s dog. i put her treats up on the counter top. mojo was looking right at them & smacking her lips ‘cause she wanted to put the treats in her belly.

part of her testing was a planned sudden bump from behind by a passerby. mojo looked up at the bumper & kept on walking. again, she was scored lower for her “stress reaction” of looking at the person who bumped her. ms mojo was in NO WAY stressed. big fuzzy girl was looking to see if that rude passerby wanted to scratch her head since she was in the vicinity.

kids wear mojo out quickly * being hungry makes her really grumpy * going to the vet is like being on stage for her - the wag only stops wagging during temperature checks & stool sampling * new situations provide her with opportunities to meet new treat feeders, hinder sc ratchers & head petters ~ she greets strangers in a better mood than she greets chris & me *she hides when she sees the dog brush come out, but still gets excited when we find her.

the only times i’ve seen true stress are when she was on a shoooting range for over an hour listening to her dad & grandpa blast away their guns &, similarly, when thunder storms go on & on. her ears go back, her curly-over-her-back-tail drops down, she ducks for cover. all other occasions just make the moj smile.

this weekend, at a wonderful agility seminar i attended, there was a lot of talk about your dog being able to tug & play anywhere in the world. we’re supposed to proof that ability to play by practicing in many different locations. when we throw the toy the dogs are supposed to be ready to run & get it. tug with them in the parking lot of petsmart, inside petsmart, in the bathroom of petsmart. all of this to “relieve stress.”

trying to make ditto play &/or tug when she is on the prowl for the mice, gerbils, birds & guinea pigs at petsmart is going to be the true stressor for her. distracting her from her work is a bit upsetting for her. she's a concentrator.

her job as a jack russell terrier is to work - tirelessly. to not have a job, to not be working in some way, would stress her out, as it has so many other bored out of their gourd jack russells. to dig, hunt, work - that’s what she was born to do & it brings her true joy.

i don’t think a little bit of stress is bad for any species. if they can’t manage stress, they won’t survive. i don’t know any of this for certain. i intend to begin some research & really try to figure this stress in dogs thing out.

does stress in dogs make their attention span less? their ability to perform worse? in people it can be the opposite & yes, i know dogs are not people.

when people leave their dogs at home alone & the dog is not happy, is that stress? i think that’s a mental disorder - separation anxiety.

i truly believe that some dogs are high strung & need to tug to let off steam (not sure those dogs are thinking of tugging as play & fun)

some dogs are so bored because they can’t get out & do the job they were bred to do or anything close to that & they’re not stimulated enough mentally. tugging & play allows them to release some of that frustration.

frustration/built up steam/ anxiety - is that all the same as stress?
i dunno, but i’m gonna find out.

the return of scat

i learned a new word recently.
wait.
not exactly true.
i was reminded of a word i already knew. the succinct & easy to spell synonym for excrement - scat.

i live with 5 dogs & own a doggie daycare where up to 40 dogs can be under the same roof at one time, hence i spend a lot of time worrying about crap (figuratively and in this case, literally). when i speak (& write) of all my worry, the synonyms run out very quickly. thank god scat has been revived.

i have a great book – very old [you know, like from the 1970’s old]– by rodale press called “the synonym finder.” what a gorgeous title; no mystery about its contents or purpose. i like that. about that book though – i never open it (a rabbit chewed on it once.) [that’s not why i don’t open it – the rabbit chew fact, that’s just a little side note. see photo.]


and as it turns out, just like exercise equipment, it’s not enough to simply have possession of a useful tool, one must actually use the thing to gain the intended benefit. whadda shame.

thank goodness my little memory has been refreshed. i now have scat back in my day-to-day vocab & can add still-yet-even-more dimension to my blog posts. i wonder if still-yet-even-more can be found in the synonym finder?

designer dogs

I haven’t blogged in so long and I have no excuse. I am once again working at mojo’s backyard part time along with my full time job as a physician assistant in dermatology. so I am busy (that’s a BIT of an excuse and true at the same time)

truth be told, I would much rather be with the dogs at mojos than the people at the dermatology joint (shhhh – don’t tell the folks at the derm office…I enjoy that work tremendously as well as the people, but the dogs…..ahhhhhhh the dogs)

I love doggie kisses and nuzzles and the smells (SOME of the smells anyway) and the noises, the fur (when it remains attached – the floating fur is not my favorite) I could watch the dogs play all day. heck I even like watching them sleep. they are gorgeous.

I’m trying to think – have I ever met a dog that was NOT amazing to look at. I have to go with NO. I will say this…puggles are so cute when they are puppies and when they grow up they get a bit….”less cute” shall we say.

you know a puggle is a “designer dog,” right? a puggle is a beagle bred with a pug. I believe it is recognized by some group as being official in some sort of way. to me, it doesn’t matter – I just love beagles and I love pugs, so PUGGLES – what’s not to love?

at my dermatology job I work with a wonderful woman who has a jack Russell and a shih-tzu combo dog. I don’t know if that combo is an “official” designer dog or not. but I have dubbed the breed as the jack-shit. her name is bella and she is a beauty!! so when I say she is a jack-shit, I mean it in the sweetest, kindest possible way.

pictured above is my designer dog, Eiyso, she is a lointer. (lab/pointer mix. some might call her a mutt or a mix. i just say she's my sensitive sweet girl.)

side note: if you haven’t noticed, I’m lowering my grammar and punctuation standards. maybe I can blog more if I don’t try to get things all perfect and pretty. after all, while my life is perfect, it ain’t always pretty.

the STICK

Playing with my puppies outside, I was too busy to pick up the fresh pile of poop. I rammed a foot-long stick in the ground like a flag pole to remind me where to go when I had the scooper in hand.

I had not even turned to leave the flagged pile when MoJo ran up (MoJo rarely runs, unless it’s for food- she is most certainly her mommy’s girl) tipped her smiling little face, snagged the stick out of the ground and took off, just out of my reach.

She growled, hopped, and grinned and teased, begging me to chase her for the prized poop stick….so I did. Who can resist a good game of chase-the-dog-around-the-yard?

[Side note: this is a VERY bad idea – always teach your dog to chase YOU. It’s very difficult to catch most dogs, especially if you’re as slow as I am and some day you’ll need your pooch to come to you and they will only want to play the “chase me” game. It’s aggravating, could be dangerous and, trust me on this one, can make you very late for work.]

The real humiliation is not that my slightly chubby, 5 year old lazy Samoyed beat me in every round of “chase me,” but that I still haven’t picked up the poo. I’m destined to find the pile with my shoe, in the dark early one morning while I’m trying to get MoJo to load in the car quickly because I’m running late for work and she is going to double dog dare me to run around trees chasing after her. I’ll play.