Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

My Devious Mind

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My Devious Mind

We have a pretty nice park at the top of the street. Yes it does have a LaCrosse field and we do have to share it for about three months of the year, but it’s very easy to work around their schedule.

There are some lovely hiking trails surrounding the park.  One of the trails leads out of the park and from their, you can hike to any number of lovely areas.  The other trails are fairly short.  You could wander for some time following all the different trails or you can make a quick lunch time walk pretty easily.

Most of the trails are marked but there are some trails the deer and other wildlife have made and if you know the woods well, there’s no issue with following these other trails.

While the dogs and I absolutely adore the woods, the park does not come without its challenges.

  • As I’ve mentioned a million few times a lot of people walk their dogs off-leash up there.  I’m not without some guilt myself, as I’ve let both dogs wander free when the park seems deserted.
  • A good percentage of the dog walking people do not pick up after their pets.  The town has installed a poop station at the entrance to the park and they provide poop bags and dispose of the bags and yet, you still finds piles of poop throughout the park.
  • Local kids love to go into the park and party.  This pisses me off to no end.  Not that they party, but that they smash glass bottles, leave their debris and have bonfires.
The mess in my park.

Those are trees that have either fallen, or the kids have broken them.

I worry about animals getting a hold of the debris, or cutting themselves or worse, swallowing the broken glass and the bonfire….well some of the area around this park does not have public water, they are on wells.  Should the fire get out of control, well it could burn a neighborhood down.

When I stumble upon this mess, it gets my writer’s mind wandering as to how to rectify the problem.  I mean, apparently the kids aren’t afraid of fox, coyotes or fishers.  I’ve thought about pranking the kids.  Is it right?  No.  Is it funny?  I don’t know, you tell me. 

The kids are all sitting around the bonfire, they’re swilling alcohol, smoking cigarettes, maybe a little pot.  They’re laughing, maybe telling jokes or ghost stories.

All of a sudden, they hear a chain saw start up and then the sound of a woman screaming.  The screaming gets louder, whatever it is it’s coming closer, then suddenly a woman bursts from the wood line, she’s got blood dripping from her face and she’s screaming “Help me, help me!”  She stumbles out into the field, followed by a man swinging a chainsaw.

See I told you it wasn’t right. 🙂  

BUT while I was thinking about this post, I came up with another idea for a book.  Honestly, now all I have to do is write the damn things!

Blog Paws in Nashville

I’ve mentioned before I’ll be doing some one on one table sessions on blog engagement this year in Nashville.  Will you be going?  Have you bought your ticket yet?  If not, don’t wait too long.  Every year I see people posting trying to find tickets.  To help make it easier for you Blog Paws has given speakers a code to pass along to their readers that will get you 10% off.  All you have to do is enter this code BP15-Speaker-10off  when you purchase your ticket.

AND speaking of Blog Paws, their Nose to Nose award nominations are open through the end of January.  Nominating your favorite blogger is easy, just click this LINK and nominate your favorite blogs/blogger in the appropriate category.

Heart Like a Dog

Welcome to Thursday’s Barks and Bytes hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like a Dog. The Barks and Bytes hop is for anything at all and all bloggers are welcome. You don’t have to be a dog blog to join. For new blog hoppers, a blog hop is list of links that is shared on multiple blogs. In order to be fair to all participants Linda and I ask you to please use the linky list. If your blog does not support a linky list, please link back to either Linda or I.

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The Wicked Wind Whispers and Moans

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How’s the weather been in your neck of the woods?  Ours has been crazy.

Saturday it snowed.  Just a titch.  Maybe a couple of inches.  Then it turned to rain.  And it got cold so everything was a wee bit icy.

Sunday it got warm and all the snow and ice melted and was absorbed into the ground, leaving everything dry.

Yesterday it was windy and cold.  Oh so cold.

It wasn’t too bad in the morning, we managed to get our walk in and the only really cold bits of me were my face and my hands.  Seriously, if any of you know of a good pair of gloves that will withstand a chomping, drooling lab, please link to it in the comments.

Yesterday afternoon when I went home at lunch to walk the dogs, the wind had really picked up.

One of my Christmas lamp posts had been blown over.

Rather than risk it falling over again, I simply left it there.

Rather than risk it falling over again, I simply left it there.

I threw on some snow pants, my down jacket and my boots, got the dogs ready and gathered my gear and we took off for a walk.

Sampson headed straight for the woods.

I love the woods, I really do.  But I’m a little leery when it comes to walking in the woods during high winds.  In the past we’ve had some storms that weakened trees and branches and it seems like every time we have a storm with wind, more trees/branches come down.

 

The trees are left where they fall.

The trees are left where they fall.

The rising sun only adds to the beauty.

The rising sun only adds to the beauty.

I get that, it’s nature.  I’m just worried that some might come down on me or the dogs.  

Picture it.  Delilah is running willy nilly through the neighborhood, looking for open doors, open garages, garbage cans.  Sampson is scouting the streets, homes and cars parked on the side of the road for people.  Anybody that might give him some attention or some rubies.  Meanwhile, I’m lying on my back in the woods with a tree across my chest, gasping my last breath.

Thankfully we made it through the woods without any branches or trees falling on anyone, but when we got home Sampson was a titch (GAWD I love that word) clingy.  As I got all the gear off the dogs and myself, I listened to the wind whistle around the house.   

Sampson despite having come back from a 35 minute walk went to the back door.  He checked out the yard and all around the house.  

I’m pretty certain it was the wind that was disturbing him.  Have you ever heard wind where it sounded like there were voices on it?  I swear there were a couple of times I could have sworn someone was out there.  

Mountain Laurel….Barks and Bytes

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I love walking in the woods this time of year.  Yes on the surface it looks bleak and dreary.

Not a lot of green, the skies are overcast.

Not a lot of green, the trees have lost their green and the sky is overcast.

Once you get into the woods on a trail, you notice there’s still a bit of green going on.  There are not a lot of pine trees, but there are tons of Mountain Laurel.  Mountain Laurel happens to be our state flower and as such it is protected.  There are hefty fines if you are caught picking Mountain Laurel.

Follow us, we'll lead you through the Mountain Laurel.

Follow us, we’ll lead you through the Mountain Laurel.

Sadly a lot of the Mountain Laurel in the area has been hit with some kind of fungus.  You probably can’t see it from the pictures but the leaves are all speckled with brown spots.

Before I started walking in these woods I didn’t realize that Mountain Laurel retain their leaves throughout the winter.  But they do.

SO WHY with the bleakness, and the spotted Mountain Laurel do I like walking in the woods this time of year?

Simple.

Even with the Mountain Laurel retaining their leaves, you can still see ahead to watch for other people and dogs.

Shit, there's an off-leash dog! Oh wait...that's my dog.

Shit, there’s an off-leash dog! Oh wait…that’s my dog.

Besides, not a lot of people walk their dogs around here in the winter.  They must think dogs don’t need exercise in the winter, either that or they’re wimps. 

Considering the dumb ass dog owners in my neighborhood I think either theory works.   What do you think?

Next week our Barks and Bytes hop falls on Christmas Day.  Linda and I realize people are busy with family and traditions, so we invite you to add a holiday wish, tradition, memory or greeting and link it up to the special Christmas edition of Barks and Bytes.  We’ve made a button especially for this occasion.  Of course, if you have a traditional blog post, feel free to add that as well.

A Special Christmas Barks and Bytes

A Special Christmas Barks and Bytes

Speaking of Christmas, welcome to Day 18 of the #Advent4Dogs Giveaway hosted by Kol’s Notes, Dogthusiast, Heart Like a Dog, NEPA Pets & Wag’n’Woof Pets. Today’s give away is sponsored by Inkopious. Enter to win T-Shirts for dog lovers!

Inkopious Day 18 Today’s trivia question is hosted by Dogthusiast, you can click HERE for the trivia questions and click the image to go directly to Kol’s Notes.

 

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