Heart Like a Dog

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

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At the Southern Tire and Muffler

August 5, 2013 By Jodi

Saturday morning we packed up the car and the dogs and hit the road for home.  We left Tennessee around 9:15. We’d been driving for just over three hours when a truck driver passed us and honked his horn.  We knew the flaps for the car top carrier weren’t tucked in so we kept on driving.  A few minutes later a car passed us, beeped and pointed down, like we were dragging something.

Hubby pulled off the road and into a gas station and we had a tire going flat. After examining the tire he determined there was something in there and we should be able to get it plugged.

There was a visitor center not far off the exit and one of the volunteers gave me the phone number and directions to a local garage that could take care of the problem.

They were closed.

Hubby wanted to put air in the tire and while he did that, I asked my assistant Siri to find me a Wal-Mart which just happened to in the shopping plaza across the street.

We limped over to the Wal-Mart but because the object in our tire wasn’t perfectly centered within the tread, they couldn’t plug it.  (Who knew Wal-Mart required such perfection?)

They sent us to a BP down the road, which turned out to be the original service station which was still closed.

Hubby was getting (ergh….what’s a nice way to put this?) pissy.  He asked a gentleman at a gas station if he knew where we could get a tire fixed and he directed us to Main Street.  On our way I happened to spot Southern Tire and Muffler and their bay doors were open!!

photo (8)

Southern Tire and Muffler

 

Hubby hopped out of the car and went inside.  It was now close to 1:00 pm.  When he came back to the car he said, “They closed at 12:00.”

“You’re kidding!” I exclaimed, “Well can they tell us where we can get it fixed?”

“They said they’d fix it for us.”

Yup, Heart like a dog found someone with a Heart like a dog.

photo (7)

He said his name was Cookie, does that mean he has some?  Will he share? Inquiring dogs want to know.

photo (9) Here it is.  The thorn in our side nail in our tire.

While Cookie was fixing our tire, Delilah was making friends with Mike.  This is odd.  Delilah does not typically gravitate towards people.  She will check them out and then she’s on her way.  BUT she loved Mike and he loved her too.  He told us he has two black labs and always wanted a chocolate.

I thought for a second I was going to have to wrestle him for her.

Cookie had our tire plugged in no time flat.  (he he, pun intended.)

We loaded BOTH dogs in the car and were soon on our way.

So if you’re ever in the Wytheville, VA area and find yourself in need of a muffler or tires, make sure you head on down to Southern Tire and Muffler, ask for Cookie and tell him Heart Like a Dog sent you.

**This is not a paid or sponsored post, simply my way of thanking Cookie and Mike for taking time away from their families to help a couple of complete strangers.**

Cookie and Mike, you guys rock!!

Have you ever been traveling and found unexpected kindness?  How do you thank someone for going above and beyond?

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Filed Under: Heart Like A Dog, Southern Tire and Muffler Tagged With: Heart Like A Dog, Jodi Stone, Southern Tire and Muffler

Life on a Llama Farm

August 1, 2013 By Jodi

Most of our days are spent relaxing on the front deck.  Oh and when the horses come out the dogs run down to the fence to bark, or in Sampson’s case, whine at them.

Since today is This ‘N That Thursday, (many thanks to our host the 2 Brown Dawgs) I thought I’d share a few photos.

  photo (1) Here is Hubby getting cozy with one of the llamas, I think her name is Breezy or is it Rose?  I’m not sure.

photo (2)

Here I am with the same Llama.  She was the friendliest.

photo (3)

Here is one of the three donkeys on the farm.  I have a very cute video of the donkey running the fence line and playing with the dogs, which will have to wait until I can upload it.

photo (4) This was on our walk yesterday.  They call them paved, two-lanes roads.  I do not.

photo (5) Delilah is desperate to get into water, any water.  She’s even considering the hot tub.

I have more photos which I’ll work on posting once I get home and get my computer issues resolved.

This morning it is pouring.  So we will stay hunkered down on the porch and hopefully we will get a break in the weather so we can take a walk.

The Dogs of Blogville Calendar Contest

I had every intention of getting this contest going last Monday, but the computer issues have really put a damper on it.  I hope to have it up and going early next week.  Please bear with me.

Co-hosted Follow-Up Friday

My co-hostess for tomorrow is the one and only, Pup Fan from I Still Want More Puppies.

That’s it for me, many thanks to our friends at 2 Brown Dawgs blog.

If the linky code won’t work you can get it here.

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Filed Under: Delilah, Dogs, Sampson, Sampson and Delilah, This 'N That Thursday, Uncategorized Tagged With: Delilah, Jodi Stone, Life With Sampson And Delilah, Sampson

Free To Good Home

July 31, 2013 By Jodi

Free to good home. We just had a baby and I don’t have time for the dog.

You’ve seen the ads on Craig’s list or the local papers.  And if you’re a dog lover it raises your blood pressure, gets you all kinds of pissed off and spouting lines like, “Are you going to get rid of the first child once you have your second?”

The sad reality is people get rid of their dogs far too frequently when they have children. Or the dog simply becomes a nusiance, just another responsibility in a busy and overwhelming life.

My darling AJ (Pup Fan to you, Thelma to my Louise) sent me a message on Facebook on Monday with a link she’d read that fired her up.  (I don’t wish to provide the link as I don’t want to give this blog any more traffic.  Pup Fan has some awesome quotes and summarizes the post quite well in hers.  Go read that.)  In this post the woman who absolutely adored her dog had children and her poor little Velvel fell by the wayside.  He became somewhat of a thorn in her side.

Pup Fan wrote a beautiful post, “Do you have to choose between having a dog and having kids .”  There is some great discussion on this post and I encourage you to read the post and comments.

Pup Fan asked me to weigh in, as a person who has had a dog and children.  The sad thing is, I could see so much of myself in the post.

Remember yesterday’s post where I said to Sampson, “Before there was you, I wasn’t me”?  Sampson changed me from a dog owner, to a dog lover.  And yes, there really is a difference.

Before I had Sampson I owned dogs.  Now I am owned by dogs.

I’ve had dogs my entire life.  As an adult I’ve had four, Buffy and Roxanne (at different times) and Sampson and Delilah.  And if I could turn back time, I would want do-overs for Buffy and Roxanne.

There is no nice way to say this.  I was a shitty dog owner.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 The last picture of Roxanne.

Hubby always said she was a stupid dog.  But I say we were the stupid ones.  We had three kids with active lives and we put absolutely no time into Roxanne.  She was loved.  Yes, she was.  But she didn’t have the life she deserved.

And poor Buffy.  We were kids having kids raising a puppy on old school traditions.  I don’t need to say anymore.

After reading the original post my heart broke for Velvel and it broke for Roxanne and for Buffy too. And if it’s any consolation to Pup Fan, some day AB will feel badly too.  Because there are many times I cry for Buffy and Roxanne and for the lives they could have had.

I’m past my child-bearing years now (thank God!) but we do have grandchildren.  And our grandchildren came after Sampson and Delilah.  Our grandchildren are being raised around our dogs and our grandchildren will know Sampson and Delilah are part of our family.  As our grandchildren grow and develop interests and participate in different activities our lives will change.

But not our love for our dogs.

I see Pup Fan’s post as well as the original post as a good thing.  It is encouraging great conversation.  People are thinking.  Adding a dog or a child to your life is a big responsibility.  It is a life long commitment and one that you should have discussion about! How will things change for the child/dog when the dog/child arrives?  Who will assume what responsibilities and for whom?  These are important questions people.

Yes you can have children and dogs, but it requires time and commitment on your behalf.  But I can assure you, it is time and commitment well invested.

Did you read the original post?  Pup Fans?  Is there anything you can add to the conversation?

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Filed Under: Hot topics, Social Responsibility Tagged With: Jodi Stone, Writing

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About Jodi

jodiHi, my name is Jodi. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog! I have all kinds of fun writing about my two crazy pups, Sampson and Delilah. Find out more!

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Heart Like A Dog by Jodi E. Stone is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.heartlikeadog.com.

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