Month: June 2015

Leaves of Hope ~ 2015

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 31 Comments

On Sunday we participated in this year’s Leaves of Hope Walk/Run Cancer Survivors Celebration on the hospital campus. A number of other pet therapy dogs participated along with us. What was supposed to be a 1 mile family walk ending up being pretty much being a 5K for Sam and me so he was pretty tuckered out after the race and with the visiting with the other volunteers and runners. This is the largest event of its kind in nearby Jefferson County where everyone celebrate cancer survivors, support their families and reach out to communities affected by cancer as part of the National Cancer Survivors Day, a world-wide annual event held in hundreds of communities around the world. Although it’ll be a few days before we know how successful the event was monetarily, there are the fun aspects of the event worth sharing. We participated last year as well and clearly proved once again, I have no skill for juggling leash, poop bag, camera, swag tote, cell phone, car keys, pullover jacket and backpack very easily with only a couple shallow pockets to try and organize all that stuff (how do people manage handling that amount of stuff belongings and do it so effortlessly). And can anyone explain why women’s pants have such dinky pockets? Naturally, Sam took every opportunity to try to pull my shoulder out of its socket to filch treats and breakfast items set up for runners. I swear his name should be “Hoover” sometimes. But as usual, he made up for it by being sweet as can be.

image Meet Joyce, one of the many volunteers who helped put this great event together. Joyce is also a trainer with the Denver’s Children’s Hospital pet therapy program (the model for our own program in fact) and a dedicated enthusiast of pet therapy. Can you tell that Sam fell in love with her?

While the race for pet therapy entrants was designed to be a 1 mile walk with kids and family, we ended up doing pretty much the full 5K race since I apparently missed the mile marker. It was such a gorgeous day with pleasant temperatures and blue skies, something we’ve seen on such a limited basis here in the 303 lately so I guess I was just enjoying myself a little too much. Sam seemed to have his motoring wheels on too. He almost went the entire way without having to stop and check his pee-mail or Twitter feeds (talk about a red-letter day–that never happens!!). He did however have the need to drop a deuce along the race route. Nothing like trying to look cool in a race and having to carry a full poop bag for half a mile till you find a trash can. #keepingitreal. 😉

After the race, we hung out catching up with other therapy members and their dogs. Roxann brought all 3 of her wonderful retired Greyhounds, Lily, Little One, and Munchkin. They were a big hit with everyone-they are so patient and gentle.

image These absolute sweethearts managed to captivate everyone’s attention who walked past our booth.

One of the coolest things I’ve ever seen at this event is a miniaturized version of a fire truck which the Fire Dept. uses as a training tool to introduce kids to fire trucks. Little kids were able to wear replica Fire Dept. clothes and helmets and can pose with the truck. Everything on it works (including the siren alarm) and all the gauges are just like on a real full-sized fire truck. Sam met one of the fire marshals who graciously allowed us to get in the cab. Seems this vehicle (built on a golf cart) was originally the brainchild of a local inventor whose son was handicapped but wanted to be a fire truck for Halloween some years back. His dad made it to accommodate his son’s wheelchair and then gave it to the Fire Dept. shortly thereafter. This fella continues to maintain, update, and freshen it up for the Fire Dept. every year. I was so touched by this story and his generosity, it just made my heart swell knowing someone was so creative and thoughtful. Sam was freaked out about getting into the cab and his fanny bumped the siren button and set it off which made him even more wigged out, but when I called his name he poked his snout out the window. If there was one of those convo bubbles above his head, I’m sure it would say, “help me.”

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Sam met with Deputy Fire Marshall Sprenkle and let him know what a cool thing it is they are doing but mostly to apologize for setting off the alarm which sounded just like the real deal. 🙂

When we left the course some 3 hours later, Sam was pretty well spent (guess all that walking and warm sunshine got to him). I on the other hand needed to get some ground covers planted in the garden. Here he is napping supervising. He is a relentless taskmaster.

All tuckered out pup.
All tuckered out pup.

So how was your weekend? Did you set off any alarms? Got any tips to keeping gear organized and accessible? 🙂

Live, love, bark! <3

It’s Mil-ler Time!

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 25 Comments

No,  I’m not talking about the ‘champagne of bottled beer‘ or Beer Thirty…I’m talking about the invasion of Miller Moths otherwise known as army cutworms.

Bastard bug (Miller Moth)
Bastard bug (Miller Moth)

After a wet and cold May, these little flying bastards moths have hit the Front Range like a stealthy Kamikaze air battalion. Usually they congregate by an entrance, ready to swoop in all Ninja-like but so far I hadn’t noticed them so much. They don’t bite, don’t carry disease or eat clothing but man…they are n.a.s.t.y. and g.r.o.s.s.

Sam can get twitter-patted about the strangest things. Like he’ll be casually walking across the living room as if he were going to get a drink of water or a few bites of kibbles and then suddenly coming across one of his elk antler pieces and then…BAM! First comes the crashing pounce and then a haphazard toss of an antler being flung across the room. Like most moms, I’ll confess to ignoring that kind of white noise the ‘fur-kid’ makes. I just presume he’s ‘being good’ (more like goofy) until a certain strange noise reaches that “danger center” deep in my brain and then I fly to the scene of the crime like Superman or when that dead quiet lack of sound suddenly triggers the mom radar. Since Sam frequently entertains himself with antler tossing and then pounces on them for a good old-fashioned “dog flossing” I really didn’t pay close attention to him until I saw something small and darkish flit past him and head straight over to a nearby lamp. Moths are naturally drawn to light and drapes I’m afraid, constantly leaving funky brown splotches of that dusty gunk that covers their bodies like flour covering a miller’s apron-hence the nickname. As soon as I looked up and investigated closer, it hit me, no, I mean it literally hit me, right square on my forehead.

Ok, picture this for your entertainment since I can’t seem to easily find an non-copyrighted image.  My arms are flailing about like a mad person as if I just walked into a gigantic spider web, all the while trying like crazy to keep that nasty bastard from getting between my glasses and touching my skin. Now hear the dialogue of a drunken sailor being spewed by yours truly upon realizing I’m being bombarded by one of those notorious villains. I HATE those dang beasts and because I’m dealing with a rather dimwit of a dog, got worried that they might be toxic should he actually catch one and try to nosh on it (a photo of him tasting a bug could be priceless with his eyes all wide, the tongue extended and his lips smacking with a certain WTH was that foul, nasty tasting thing look on his face but I digress). Googling the topic, I was grateful to learn they are not, though I’m still going with the presumption they aren’t good for Señor Doofas and gave the “leave it” command.

If you read about my level of success with certain commands recently then you’ll appreciate the reaction I got from Sam. He just looked at me, gave me that double blink (proving he’s a complete idiot and doesn’t understand English at all) and then he strolled over toward his bed, circled around and then flopped down and gave out the biggest unhappy sigh I’ve heard in a long while. While I was sort of pleased at the success for him actually leaving it, I felt like I was some kind of ogre judging by that not-pleased look he gave me. Not the reaction I had hoped for but I’ll take it.  Who am I kidding? I was crestfallen he was miffed and called Sam over for a friendly “let’s make up and be BFF’s again” ear scratch. Thankfully that dog cannot hold a grudge and happily pounced up on top of my lap for the promised affection. Well, at least he wasn’t pouting anymore. I just need to figure out how to turn on that button that distinguishes commands like ‘come here’ with ‘jump up and pounce on me.’ Sigh. Baby steps, grasshopper, baby steps. 🙂

Live, live, bark! <3

May Showers Bring…

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 30 Comments

DSC00531It’s been since March when the temperatures reached the 80’s (I know, crazy right? I mean that’s still technically winter). Finally in the past couple days though, we started experiencing some of our gorgeous Rocky Mountain spring weather and the forecast for this week will be right back there. For the past 4 days, we’ve actually woken up to trademark glorious blue skies and I for one couldn’t be happier. Maybe finally we can get the complainers to shut up and quit fussing about grey skies and rain (in 6 weeks, those same folks will be grumbling about the dog days of summer and the whining mantra will be “it’s toooooo hot and dry” to which I can only say:  please go back to wherever it was where you came from but that’s for a totally different rant post). While I didn’t mind the rain too much, the idea of having to keep the furnace running in May was not cool but thankfully here we are now…fabulous sunshine and…wait for it…glorious gardens.

Though just on the other side of all those lovely lupines lies the vast wasteland former grassy area I refer to as the not-so Great Plains (otherwise known as dirt). Said wasteland was removed late last Autumn and is slowly being replaced with ground cover and perennials. And to think all those lovelies came from only 2 plants–talk about prolific re-seeders! The bees have been very busy pollinating as this is the first year that I’ve ever seen a red lupine. Usually there’s just purple and pink.

Sam loves it when I garden; it allows him to spend time in the yard and welcome the passing world of strollers, dog-walkers and neighbors out and about. Here’s where Mr. Canine Concierge is in his total element. A master of social skills, no one is allowed to pass by without the Swiffer tail wagging or a bouncing dash along the fence line to check out who exactly is in that stroller. “Wait, that’s got to be my bestest buddy ever that I absolutely have to check out” (even though I’ve never seen them before). And if I don’t give him the amount of attention he thinks he deserves, he’ll come by, lick my face and pester me till I stop what I’m doing and dote on him. That dog can be very persuasive a pest at times. Needless to say, it always takes longer to do yard work with him around. 😉

So this weekend Sam decided to ‘help’ me even though he’s short on thumbs. Note the scratching out of a couple of nasty Sumac tree seeds. One of our neighbors has one of those bad-boys bastards that send those disgusting seeds EVERYWHERE all year long that if the tree doesn’t sucker, will sprout babies wherever they land (I’ve had one try to sprout between bricks at the corner of the house a few rows up from actual soil–and yes I’ll admit, I totally went nuclear with vinegar on that one and am delighted to report it is quite dead). Everyone despises those disgusting trees-they have a most foul scent plus the fact that they are so cotton pickin’ invasive puts them at the top of the short list for 99.99% of us who live around here (the .01% being that neighbor who considers that tree wonderful “because it’s very tall and has a lovely branching appearance and provides wonderful shade”). Blech, gag me-that tree is in league with the devil and I rip those seedlings out whenever I spy them and ash-can the seeds! For the record in case you couldn’t tell, I am very OCD when it comes to removing all traces of the nasty Sumac.

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Sam’s way of helping out though consists of laying in the middle of wherever I’m working at which makes gardening a lot like trying to vacuum around him. He always manages to be right in the way but it gives him the perfect spot to check out the neighborhood goings-on and still be within paw’s reach of me. When I ask him what he thinks he’s doing he gives me either that ‘come hither” look with furious tail wagging or the ‘yeah, I’m in the way…so…you gonna make something out of it?’ look. Ironic how a New Jersey attitude is cute on a poodle even if incongruent and makes me smile. 🙂

I just wish he had thumbs and could rake or at the very least, pick up and haul off weeds, Sumac leaves and sproutlings, but apparently that’s asking for the moon. So I guess I’ll just be content with the benefit of his company and leave it at that which isn’t the worst thing when you’re gardening–finding Sumac seeds will fill that role. 🙂

Live, love, bark! <3