A winter retreat

While most people seek a warm and sunny beach to get away from the long winter's drag, I choose to head in the opposite direction. My husband and I have been joining a small group of friends for a weekend get-away in the White Mountains for the last 15 or so years. Here is a picture of the Rocky Branch Resort: (full of all our stuff)

 

The lean-to is located in Bartlett NH and is approximately a 4 mile hike from the main road and takes about 3 hours to get there. It is about 2 miles from the road to the trail head and then another 2 miles to the lean-to. We typically cross country ski in and often have to change into snow shoes due to the river crossings and steep inclines and we tow our gear in on sleds.

We spent the day on Saturday trying to cross country ski on the Isolation Trail, but much of the trail system was washed out a few years ago in a big flood that devastated much of the white mountain trail systems. The attention sign under the trail sign tells that the trail to Isolation is closed, it will take much work to get the trails cleaned up from the powerful force of the river. 

 

This year, we were lucky enough to have the warmest temperatures that we have ever had. Although, we didn't have any fancy gear to tell us, we guessed the daytime temps were in the 30's and nighttime's dipping in the low 20s.

Although I missed my dogs from the second we left the driveway, there is something to be said about getting away from every thing and just having some "me time". No one depending on me to feed them, no one to walk or clean up after. But I still missed my critters back home and hoped someone would venture in with a dog at some point.

On the ski out, we encountered dog tracks that showed that someone had been on the lower trail earlier with 2 or 3 dogs. I had hoped to meet up with them for a much needed dog fix, but we did not see anyone on the trails the entire weekend.  

And while it was a lot of fun being out in the woods for the weekend, it was SO good to get back home. Greeted by 3 happy pups, even the chickens in the backyard let us know that they missed us. You really don't know how much we take for granted until you get it back. A hot shower and a warm bed never felt so good.

 

 

The Golden Years

This is Dash:

I got Dash when he was just an itty bitty kitten, probably not even 6 weeks old yet. I answered a newspaper ad that said “free cats and kittens”. When I got to the house, there were dozens of feral cats and kittens roaming the women’s yard. She said she was on her way out, but if I could take any of them that I liked or could catch. Yes, did I say they were feral?

None of the cats would let me get close enough to even pet them, let alone pick them up and take them home. After wandering the yard for a bit, I heard the sound of a kitten crying and found a tiny, sickly kitten under the porch. He was alone and there were no other young kittens to be seen. He was too young to be taken from his mother, but I couldn’t leave him there knowing that he would die without help.

On the ride home, the kitten crawled under the dash board of my truck and I had to pull over to extract him. Hence the name “Dash”.

We took him to the vets immediately, and after two weeks of vet bills to get him back to health, we joked about changing his name to “Bill”, but thankfully, the name Dash stuck.

That was in the summer of 1997 and Dash is an old man now. He has had a heart murmur for most of his life and is on a special diet for hyperthyroidism. Otherwise, he’s had a pretty healthy and vet bill free life.

This past summer, he had an infection in his mouth and needed to have 7 teeth extracted. The vet tech who called to tell me his dental was finished and that he was doing fine, told me that his blood work was amazingly good for a cat his age. And I thought, despite his questionable start in life, this guy could live to see 20 years old!

Well, that was four months ago and things have changed for my Dash. About 3 weeks ago, he started scratching at his cheek and shaking his head a lot.  We went back to the vets and an x-ray showed what looked like a bone spur on his jaw. They ground it down and stitched him back up, but that did not make things any better for him. The vet thinks perhaps he has a tumor that did not show on the last x-ray or maybe just a nerve issue that could work itself out.   

He now spends most of his days trying to hide from the pain that he cannot understand. And it breaks my heart to him in pain and confused. I will not put him thru the stress of god only knows what tests they could do to try and find the problem. At this stage in his life, I feel the right thing to do is to make him more comfortable with pain meds for a week or so and see what happens.

When I found Dash as a sick little kitten, 16+ years ago, I made a life changing decision for him by taking him away from his mother at a young age in order to save him. Now it seems that soon I will have to make another, much more difficult life changing decision for him.

Johnny Appleseed

So, everyone remembers Johnny Appleseed right? He was the guy who, as the story is told, was a frontier nurseryman who established apple orchards throughout the American Midwest in the late 1700's.  
 
Well, now I'd like to introduce you to Shooby Acornseed. Yes, my dog Shooby has planted hundreds of oak trees in his lifetime! I cannot say that I've ever known another animal other than squirrels who bury acorns, but its true. Here is a picture of Shooby ever so carefully selecting the perfect acorn for planting:

 

And, I do mean 'carefully selecting' too. Shooby will wander the yard or in the woods if we are on a walk to find what he considers the perfect acorn. He often picks up an acorn, tests it in his mouth for a bit and then drops it if he decides its not good enough. If I give him an acorn, occasionally he will bury it, but usually he just drops it and goes off to find a better one.

 

 Once he finds an acorn fit for planting, he digs a hole, usually at the base of a dead tree or rock cropping, drops in the acorn and covers it up with his nose. Here is a picture of a planted acorn in my flower bed before he got a chance to cover it up properly.

 

I cannot remember when Shooby started this strange habit, but I know he's done it for at least the last several fall seasons. I wish I could teach him to plant the garden in the spring or maybe I should try leaving apples around and he could be the next Johnny Appleseed!

I really have more than enough oak trees in my yard!

 

Thunder & Fireworks!

Its been a tough going for a lot of pets and pet-owners over the last week or so and its not going to get any better as the storms continue and the 4th of July approaches. At my house, two of my three dogs are afraid of thunder, rain and fire works. Neither Eddie or Onyx are destructive as some dogs can be during a stressful storm or loud fireworks, but both get very stressed.
We have found that the Thundershirts do work well for both dogs. Here is a picture of Eddie sporting not only his Thundershirt, but also what we call his "thunder-ear"!

 

When ever Eddie thinks a storm is coming, or if he hears fireworks, one of his long ears will stand up straight until the threat is over. No need to say that he's been wearing a thunder-ear for the past week!

 

We have tried calming pills and find that they also help, but if a storm passes by without much fuss, then they dogs are dopy all night. So I prefer to just use the Thundershirts unless its a bad storm.

The shirts do not make everything completely better for the dogs, but where normally, Eddie would be hiding in the bathroom and not come out until the next day, during this storm, he chose to hang out in the kitchen. When the storm passed, he joined us in the living room like nothing had happened. So, while the shirt cant make the storm go away, it helps the dogs to deal with it better.

 

For some dogs and even cats, medication is necessary for the safety of the pet. There are several over the counter options available or for sever cases, a call to the vet is required for stronger meds. It breaks my heart to think of all the dogs who will get loose over the next few days trying to escape the firework noise, only to find themselves lost and alone.

In any case, lets hope that pet owners are smart during this noisy holiday and keep their pets safe and calm at home.



Spring chicks!

Meet the newest additions to my back-yard flock! These tiny peeps came home on May 15th. In this photo, they are just 3 days old:

 

 

If I had room (and the time), I would get new chicks every spring. Its so much fun to watch them grow and become individuals with their own little personality.  At 3 days old, they are eating, sleeping little pooping machines. They will live in the house until they are about 1 month old requiring daily cage cleanings and food and water re-fills several times a day.

 

In the two weeks since their arrival, they have already doubled in size. Here is a picture of all 5 girls at 2 weeks old:

 

 

The pic below is Louise and Ginger. Louise is a Buttercup and Ginger is a NH Red. Ginger is by far the biggest of all the chicks. She started out the most shy and easily frightened. But she is getting more brave each day. As you can see she is the first one to be curious enough to check out the paperclip.

Next is Meredith. She is a Black Australorp. She is a brave and spirited little girl. Her favorite thing to do is attach the water bottle each time it gurgles. She also has learned that the view is better from on top of the food and water bottles!

Here is little Pearl who is a Silver Spangled Hamburg. She will grow to look like a mix of a quail and a Dalmatian! Pearl is the smallest of all five chicks but makes up for her small size with her loud cheeps!

 

Below is Thelma stretching to check out my paperclip toy and also showing off all the new downy feathers that she is developing.

 

As the weather continues to improve, they will be able to go outside for small periods to discover the joys of grass and bugs!

Daddy I want to see the dog! (A true story)

My parents moved to Florida in the mid 1990’s, so began my annual visits to the sunshine state. Since my parents were the only ones I trusted to care for my little dog Lucas, he always came along. The first few times I flew down to Florida, I bought plane tickets for Lucas. But no one ever asked to see his ticket or seem to care that he was on the plane. So one winter, I decided to not to purchase a ticket for him. I would just carry him on like I always did.

When the day of departure arrived, I was a bit nervous, but got thru security and onto the plane with no problems at all.  Once the plane pushed off and was taxing down the runway, I let Luke poke his head out of his travel bag, like I’d done on our previous flights. Just then the stewardess came to check that seatbacks were up and tray tables locked away…she stopped short and her eyes just about bugged out of her head. “Is that a dog?” she asked. The shocked look on her face made me decide to play dumb and see where this would go. I simply said “Yes it is”.  She asked for his ticket and I said I didn’t know he needed one.

She told me to put him completely back in the bag and for us to stay put (no problem-where would we go?). And she sped off towards the cock pit area.

Not a minute later, the plane stopped moving. Several minutes later, the stewardess returned. She informed me that the pilot has been in contact with the tower and since no pets were allowed on this particular flight, that my dog would have to be moved to the cargo area.  Well, there was no way I was going to let that happen. I firmly but politely refused to put Lucas in cargo and off again went our frazzled stewardess to inform the pilot of my refusal. As you can imagine, there were a lot of un-impressed passengers around me who knew that my dog and I were the reason we were not in the air yet.

Soon, the pilot came on the intercom and apologized for the delay and informed the passengers that if anyone was allergic to dogs or preferred not to be seated near one, they should inform the stewardess and she would re-seat them. When no one spoke up, we finally began to taxi towards take-off again and I was informed that “that dog” is to remain in the closed carrier and under the seat in front of me for the duration of the flight.

Once in the air, the pilot came over the intercom again and told us all the normal information that they give: how high we were flying and how we stayed lower than most jets because our plane was smaller than others. He told us about the weight of the cargo and passengers on the plane. And since the plane was small, pets were not allowed in the passenger compartment. He went on to say with a chuckle “but it seems that we have stow-away on our plane today”.

When we reached our destination, as I was about to depart the plane, I was greeted by the pilot and co-pilot who wanted to personally meet my little friend. So Lucas finally got to come out of his carrier and say hi. When I held Lucas up so everyone could see him, my fellow passengers clapped and said how cute he was and what a good dog he’d been during the flight.

The pilot happily suggested that I contact the airline before I fly with Lucas again. “Absolutely” I said. “I sure don’t want to go thru that again!” And off we went into the warm sunshine to enjoy a week with family and friends.

A few days into my visit with my parents in sunny Florida, I realized that soon, I would be headed home to New Hampshire without a ticket for the dog!

I called the airline to inquire about purchasing a ticket for my dog’s flight home. I was informed that the flight I was scheduled on (the same as I flew down on) did not allow pets of any kind in the passenger compartment. He would have to fly in the cargo area. Again, I refused, there was no way I would do that to him. I asked about switching my flight. “No problem” she said. She could get me out on the same day, but there would be a $100 flight change charge as well as $50 for my dog’s ticket. “Or” she told me, “You didn’t hear this from me. Why don’t you bring him home the same way you got him here? Just don’t get caught this time”.

I couldn’t believe it, but she was telling me to sneak Lucas back on a plane! I thanked her for her help and said I would have to think about it. I really didn’t want to have to spend an extra $150 to get home, so I decided to go for it and sneak Lucas on the plane again.

When the day to go home finally came, I was so nervous! Lucas’s carry bag was black with screened mesh sides. I put a black t-shirt on him to try and hide him as much as possible.  When I got to the airport and headed to my gate, I had to pass thru a big set of doors with a huge “No dog’s allowed” sign painted across the doors. Of course, now I was even more afraid that someone would notice the dog in my bag and I was sure I looked guilty as hell.

 I tried to keep Lucas’s carry bag low to the ground and stayed in a crowd of people whenever possible. I managed to get on the plane without anyone seeing him and thank goodness, he was a great little dog who never made a peep in the bag! I finally began to relax as the plane began to move away from the gate. Then to my horror, I heard a very young girl say “Daddy, I want to see the doggie!”

I thought “oh my god, here we go again!” That little girl a seated a few rows behind us must have seen Lucas in his bag! I pushed his carrier a little further under the seat in front of me and prayed he wouldn’t make a sound. To my relief, the dad told her there was no dog. “Whew!”

 No stewardess came to investigate her demand to see a dog and we continued down the runway. But the little girl was very determined and asked again and again. She got louder each time. This went on for several minutes: “Daddy I want to see the dog!” “There is no dog, not just read your book”, “BUT I WANT TO SEE THE DOGGGGGIEEE!!!!!” There is NO DOG, now stop it”. I couldn’t believe we were going to get caught because of this little girl. Thankfully, after an eternity, I felt the plane leave the ground and I could finally breathe again. The little girl asked to see the dog several more times but I didn’t really care. We were headed home!

When we landed in Manchester, and we got off the plane, I finally let Lucas out of his carrier without caring who saw him. We made it!

 As I gave Luke a drink of water, I heard the little girl’s voice again. “There he is Daddy, come on, I want to see the doggie!”  They approached us and the dad asked if his daughter could say hi to my dog. As she pet Luke, I told him how I had snuck the dog on the plane and I thought she was going to get us kicked off. He said that they were on a connecting flight and their earlier flight did have a dog on it so he thought she meant that one.

I never found out if she had seen my little stow-away dog or not, but I can tell you that I purchased a ticket for him the next time we visited my parents!

 

                                               Lucas  2/1/1986 - 1/26/2002

 

Anyone for a swim?

It’s hard to think about swimming when we’ve just finished digging out from yet winter storm. But that’s just what we got to do last week! 

We were at the Doggie Dome Swim Spa in New Durham, NH.  I first visited the Doggie Dome two years ago when my youngest dog Eddie had ACL surgery. Eddie had swim therapy for several weeks after his surgery. Swimming is a wonderful way to exercise without the stress of weight bearing.  Because of the increased resistance to movement, a 5 minute swim is equivalent to about a 5 mile run. The buoyancy of water supports and lessons stress on the joints and provides a safe environment for exercise.

Now that my dogs are getting older and all three have issues with arthritis, they are all getting the benefits of swimming in the warm water at the Doggie Dome.

  Swimming at The Doggie Dome Swim Spa can be for therapeutic purposes or just for fun. Also a great place to teach your puppy or adult dog to learn to swim! Please check out Mel’s website at www.doggiedomeswimspa.com