Heart Like a Dog

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

Riding the Storm Out

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Last year we had Snowtober this year it’s Frankenstorm.

While thankfully there is no snow predicted, we are in for some heavy winds.  We also have a lot of trees around us, trees that were weakened or still have broken branches from last year’s storm.

Two weeks ago one of those branches came down with some wind.  Luckily for us, it landed on our gate, and wedged itself between the chimney and the side wall of the house.  Miraculously, there was no permanent damage.  I told Hubby, the Lord just keeps providing us with wood to burn.

Hey big branch! Yeah I’m talking to you. Get off my fence!

 

It looks like it’s touching, but really there is about six inches between the end of the branch and the house.

 

If it were just Hubby and I, there would be no problem. Since we have pets, we need to make sure they remain safe.

The first thing we did was tie down everything that can’t go inside.

Ghetto Grill

 

The storm is expected to last through Tuesday. The dogs will have to go outside to potty, that last thing we want is for something left out in the yard, flying through the air and striking one of the dogs.

On the off-chance that happens, we have hydrogen peroxide, EMT gel and vet tape handy.

It’s important to have plenty of food on hand for your pets.  We feed raw and I currently have five days worth of dinners and about three weeks worth of breakfast.  If need be, we will use the breakfast supply for dinner.

Luckily for us we have city water, but should contamination occur, I have six gallons of bottled water handy.

We also stuck some empty soda bottles in the freezer to use for ice if we need it, or defrost it and use for cooking or washing as the case may be.

Since we live on the side of a hill, it’s highly unlikely we will need to evacuate from flooding, but if we need to evacuate for another reason, the dog’s medications, their medical records, food bowls and going outside collars are all within 15 feet of each other and their leashes are hung by the front door.

Bob is on canned food, which is in very close proximity to the dogs items.

The important thing in any natural disaster is to have a plan, know what items you need to take with you and where they are.  If possible practice a dry run.   Having a plan of action in place for emergencies gives you peace of mind that nothing else can.

If we have to leave in an emergency I feel very comfortable saying we can be out within half an hour…..forty five minutes tops.

Where we’ll go, I’m not really sure, but I did hear on the news that the shelters are taking dogs. 🙂

What types of weather related issues do you need to be prepared for where you live?   Do you have a plan in place to evacuate your pets?  What if the situation springs up suddenly, have you and your family discussed who will get the pets?

What Was I Thinking?

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I’m freaking out a little bit as well as second guessing myself.

Have you heard of National Novel Writing Month?  Those in the know, refer to it as NaNoWriMo and their motto is, “November 1st-30th Thirty days and nights of literary abandon.”

My friend Donna, from Donna and the Dogs Just Toby asked me if I’d participate with her.  And in a moment of folly, I agreed.

The challenge is to write the rough draft of a novel, (50,000 words) in a month.

The month of November. You know the month that’s currently four days away.

The same November which includes the last 30 days in my personal challenge of writing a blog post every day for two consecutive years.

Now I’m sitting here saying, what was I thinking?

  • I’m 33 days away from completing my two-year challenge.
  • I’m in the beginnings of hosting a fund-raising calendar event.
  • I just started a Co-Hosted Follow-Up Friday Blog Hop.
  • I’m helping throw a baby shower in three weeks.
  • I’m going to visit my sister for three days over Thanksgiving.
  • Delilah and I are signed up to start a tricks class on the 13th.

Just where the hell am I going to find the time to write 50,000 words?

You may remember the success I had with my previous novel.  Yeah, you know, the one that’s stalled at about 27,000 words.  27,000 words that took me MONTHS (that’s a plural right there) to write.  The same novel I haven’t touched in months.  Now I’m no mathematician but I know damn well 27,000 is way less than 50,000 and 90 days is way more than a month.

I have to tell you, I’m kind of stalled with the first novel and the second novel is rolling around in my head, in fact it’s been rolling around for months, which I think is exactly why I haven’t been working on the first one.

Donna messaged me Friday night and asked if I still wanted to do it.

I’m pretty sure I do.  I’m also pretty sure I won’t get 50,000, but I won’t know unless I try. 🙂

In order for this to work, something’s got to give.

You guys know I love comments right?  I love your comments and I love responding to your comments.  It can however be very time consuming sometimes.

It pains me to say this but, I may have to stop replying to every single comment.  I may have to lump them all into one single comment or (HORRORS) not reply at all. 🙁

That’s my plan for the moment. If it changes, I’ll let you know.

By the end of November I’ll probably look like this.

Permanent expression after NaNoWriMo? I sure hope not.

 

What is that saying?  If you want something done, give it to a busy person. 🙂

Any tips, thoughts or suggestions?  I could use the assist. 🙂

 

Carte Blanche

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As you know, Sampson, Delilah and I have a pretty sweet area for walking.

I’ve also seen cross-country skiers and non-motorized bike riders. It’s a perfect area for these types of activities.

It also has another appeal though, one that’s not quite as nice.

The local kids like to go up there and drink, smoke pot, build bonfires, have sex, experiment with explosives, etc.

I get it. I was after all a kid once myself.

What I don’t get is why they leave evidence of their debauchery and why they have to leave things lying about that can hurt others.

I’m speaking specifically of food, broken glass and empty containers.

Really? If you’re that freaked out about what your parents will say when they found out you stole a bottle of Captain Morgan from them, then take the bottle and stick it in your neighbor’s recycling bin. Stick it in your backpack, and throw it in a public place. Hell, I really wouldn’t even mind if you left the empty bottle in the woods, just please, please don’t smash it on the rocks!

Not only can this cause harm to domestic animals but think about the wildlife. Death from swallowing glass is a horrible way for ANYONE to die.

I bring all this up to set the scene for our current story.

The lovely kids in my neighborhood broke at least 10 bottles on a ridge of rocks up in our woods. Not just dropped and broke, SMASHED.

Way more glass than I could show in the picture.

 

The falling leaves are covering the glass and this has me concerned, not just for my dogs, but for other dogs whose owners let them run rampant and for the wildlife as well.

Since the days are shorter now, it’s harder to get out into the woods after work, the days that I do, I’ve forgotten to bring something for clean up.

I got home a bit early on Thursday and hurried the dogs out for a romp. I remembered my small broom and dustpan as well as a paper bag to place the glass in.

We went up through the field and into the woods where I knew the glass was. Delilah was on the 15 foot leash and I secured her to a tree while I started sweeping and picking up the glass.

There was much more than I had remembered so after about 5 minutes or so I thought this isn’t fair to the dogs, they came up here to walk. I left the bag on the rock, unhooked Delilah and off we went.

I’ve been working Delilah really hard on her recall, so I let her off leash. Except for a brief moment when I thought I’d lost her, she did amazingly well.

We headed back to the rock so I could pick up the bag and then I realized how much more glass was there.

We’d been in the woods about 20 to 25 minutes and hadn’t run into anyone, visibility was good because of all the leaves that have fallen and I was feeling a bit cocky (or pissy, considering I was picking up someone else’s mess) I said, screw it, leave her off leash and let her have Carte Blanche.

I fully expected her to run off helter skelter.

Instead, I spent the next 10 minutes or so, picking/sweeping up glass, and yelling at Delilah to ‘Get Off The Rock!’

I’m actually considering this photo for the calendar contest (minus the bag of course.)

 

Neither one of the dogs took advantage of my lapse in judgement, in fact how you see them in the photo is exactly how they stayed. 🙂

I picked up almost a full bag of glass.

It’s hard to pick/sweep up glass when it’s covered in leaves.

 

Yesterday I called the Parks and Recreation Department and had a really nice chat with the woman who answered the phone.  I’m not really sure there’s anything they can do about the kids going up after dark, but at least my concern was heard.

Delilah really surprised me when she didn’t take advantage of her freedom opportunity, have your dog’s ever surprised you by not taking advantage of a naughty opportunity?

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