Nearly Wordless MayDay

(From our walk on the weekend.)

Sand and Sandy

Marge loves the beach and it's no secret to anyone.  Some of my favorite photos are of Marge running with her tongue hanging out of her mouth up against a ocean blue backdrop; other times, I pose her on sand dunes or rocks.  You've all seen the pictures before.

Since Hurricane Sandy, the beach down the block from my house has been closed.  Quite honestly, under normal circumstances, the closure might not deter me from sneaking a walk in here and there.  However, it is in truly horrific shape, with debris all over the place, so it's closed for good reason. Despite Marge's best puppy dog eyes, I haven't given in and will not cross off of the asphalt on to the sand.

This meant that we missed some traditions - like walking on the beach on Thanksgiving, or in the days before New Year's.  It stunk.  The hurricane itself was bad enough, but the fact that it continues to impact our community and limits our leisure activities so many weeks later is frustrating too.

Tired of walking or throwing a ball in the slightly soggy, still-dirty athletic field across the street, I loaded Marge up in the car and took her to another park that I knew was open.  I thought the sand would be off-limits and expected to simply stick to the paved walking trails.  However, we were in for a very big surprise!

Marge painted the moisture from her nose all over my car windows and weaved back and forth in the back seat, whining her head off.  She had missed having fun with me just as much as I've missed having fun with her.

The sand was loads cleaner than I expected.  It was littered mainly with sea shells, which my sister aided me in arranging in to the letters of Marge's name.

Onward we walked, disappearing from the crowds.  I unclipped the leash but called Marge back to me when this sight appeared in front of me, a solemn reminder of why we were here at this beach, rather than our own, in the first place.  I knew it'd be a prime sniffing target and so did not want to let Marge near it.  This poor vessel has been sitting here, sand-lodged and unclaimed, since the night of October 29, 2012.

That wasn't the only sign of Sandy.  Take a look at how more than a foot of sand has simply been shelved away from the coast.  Marge thought it made a great way to jump up and down, but it kept collapsing under her weight as she neared the edge of it, as you can see in the far right side of this picture.

Marge also checked out a buoy that was supposed to be stationed off shore, but instead lay paralyzed  on its side in the low tide.  It startled her a bit, but with some coaxing, she went to cautiously check it out.

That was it for Sandy imagery - at least until we drove over to the marina portion of the park and saw a handful of boats leaning up against the piers, damaged and unusable.  My phone battery was starting to die at that point, so I have no pictures of that sad sight.

My favorite photo from the day is this one.  Every once in a while, those smart phones can take a really nice picture!

It had been far too long since our last beach excursion and I was so happy to see my dog running in her favorite environment again.  I'm going to make sure that it happens again soon.

These Little Moments

Life has definitely changed the past month or so, now that I'm back in (graduate) school and things have once again gotten hopelessly busy.  It's easy to want to plop down at the end of the day and totally abandon any of the other responsibilities that I have outside of school, but think I've done a pretty decent job so far of balancing my schoolwork with my hobbies and other commitments while still finding enough time to sleep.  That, in part, is the reason for my blog absence, and I'm not sure there's much I can do about that.

Since being a brand-spankin'-new PT student comes with so many questions about how I like the program, how I'm doing with it and how much work it is, I had a person tell me a few weeks ago at an agility trial that I'll have my whole life to do agility and the other things I love - that school should be my first priority right now.  While her intentions were good in making the statement, and while I suppose school should be pretty high on the totem pole, I didn't quite like the notion of completely putting the things I love to do off until a later date.

Marge is five years old; she's still pretty young for a medium-sized dog, and some would say that she's entering the best years of her life. But the gray hairs propping up on her bumpy little chin are a reminder that she will not live forever.  (To be honest, I get a little unnerved when I look at them, even though they are still barely noticeable.)

So, in that sense, no, I won't have the rest of my life to do agility or anything else.   Marge is living her life now, and I will not deny her the joy of doing the things she loves to do because I cannot find the time to do them.

Yes, I've had to make changes, like denying both Marge and myself the fun of taking more than one overnight trip for agility (but we are still taking one this semester!).  We also haven't gone on any hikes or trips to the park, but the high number of ticks we've had here are just as responsible for that as my sore feet are. But, at minimum, I'll always make sure that she gets to go out for walks, run around in the field, go to trials, and play with her buddies.

Some snapshots of the past couple of months:

It may mean skimping on vegetative stretches of time spent on the couch (kind of like the one I'm allotting myself right now...), it may mean passing on the occasional social outing, but the story of Marge will not be put on hold.  We can't afford to let that happen.

Friends on Wednesday

And, this one takes the cake..

Memory Lane

My head is swirling with ideas about different things to post, but because I'm so tired from helping move Phoebe and the other horses to a new barn, I can't even fathom the idea of writing anything cohesive about things even remotely difficult or philosophical.

So, instead enjoy this picture of my first "real" pet (other than my beloved Willy, the goldfish!), a guinea pig named Scooter.

He was kind of mean, to be honest with you; he frequently bit me hard enough that I'd bleed.  We nearly got rid of him once for that.  We brought him to a pet store over night and were really going to leave him there and let them sell him. My cousin offered to "replace" him with two baby guinea pigs that I could keep. But, the next day, I was so upset that I told my parents to go back and, thankfully, he was still there.  (There I go again, being loyal to my animals, even at age 9!)

I don't remember much about him. I can recall clearly the time that he escaped from his harness in my backyard and almost ran away, and the squealing sounds he made when he knew you were going to give him vegetables.

He died in February of 1999, after several bouts with pneumonia.  About two weeks later, we brought home Layla.

You can barely discern the fact that this is a picture of a guinea pig, but sadly, it's the only picture I could find.  Fortunately, my picture-taking frequency has increased with later pets.  I have well over two thousand pictures of Marge in the three and a half years I've had her.  Yep, that's right!

By Land And By Sea

It seems like forever since I've posted photos of any of Marge's outings.  Sometimes it seems like forever since I've taken her on any!

Fortunately, we've actually been able to find some time to have some fun lately.  Just before Christmas, we went for a long walk on the beach.   Nothing about the day suggested it was winter - the sun was shining and it was relatively warm.

Marge frequently gets the freedom of her 20 or 50 foot long line at places such as the beach, thanks to  our seclusion from roads, other people and dogs, as well as her reliability.  I occasionally drop the line altogether and let her burn some steam off by running around me.  Goodness knows she needs it.

When I call her to come back to me, I'm met with a face like this, expecting treats.  Even without the treats, Marge is very attentive to me and I'm so thankful for that.

About a week later, on New Year's Eve, Louie & I went for a hike with my good friend and her dogs, Spirit and Bailey.  Marge absolutely LOVES their company.  I used to often complain that Marge didn't have many doggy friends.. but if she gets to see these two every once in a while, it makes me feel better.  (We actually went on a hike with them today, too, but I've got no pics to show from that).

 She truly feeds off of their confident and friendly personalities when she is with them.

At the top of the trail, the three posed together for a quick pic.

Unfortunately, the dogs weren't the only ones hiking with us, it seems.  After we returned that evening, I could have sworn that I felt something on Marge's neck.  I looked, but didn't find anything.  However, today, I felt it again, and did a little more investigating.  I discovered an attached, but not engorged, tick.  I yanked it off, applied some antibiotic ointment, and checked thoroughly for more (and found none), but now I've got the heeby jeebies!

I've got some free time tomorrow, and I'm thinking maybe we'll head to the beach this time.  I shouldn't have to deal with ticks in December!

Here I Am

Yeah, we're still around!

I have had a ton going on and just simply haven't had the time or mental willpower to post.  Marge, Arrow and I did wind up trialing two weeks ago; I still have to upload the videos and write up a report on that (not sure if I'll get around to it before our next trial; we'll see).   Honestly, agility really isn't going as great as I'd like it to right now, but I'm hoping to correct some big issues with a trip to a different training facility in the near future.

I also got hired by one of the physical therapy practices I've been volunteering at.  I'm now working there one day a week, which takes Thursdays totally off of the calendar.

I've had some other great things going on in my life as well, but I'll save that for another post.

As for Marge.. she's hangin' in there with my busy schedule.  We've been spending a lot of time together, despite the fact that I've been so busy.  Between all of my other commitments, I've been making sure that I do some special things with her, too.  Here are some pictures from a hike we took with Louie last week.

I may have gotten to the point where life will no longer fluctuate between busy and calm; seems like I'm going to be stuck in this "busy" for a long, long time!  But as long as I remember who and what is important in my life, I think I'll be just fine.

A Little R&R

My summer has been extremely hectic, so days out doing fun things have been few and far between, except when explicitly scheduled (like agility events).   The heat doesn't help, either.

However, we did get to sneak to the park a couple of weeks ago with Mable, who I often puppysit.  Mable's mom was away for a few days and I was one of the people helping to care for her.  I decided that she might like a nice long walk in the park. I knew Marge would!

Nothing like a little R&R with friends to de-stress.  It's so wonderful that Mable and Marge get along as well as they do.  Both of them have their reservations with some strange dogs, so it's pretty lucky that they hit it off as well as they did.

P.S. - for those of you keeping track of my academic endeavors - I was extremely pleased with my GRE score, enough so that I will not have to take it again.  I also earned A's in both my Anatomy and Physiology class and my Independent Study/Teacher Assistant gig.  What a wild ride June and July were...

Neon Green Denver Rottweilers

What a shocking sight THAT would be.

The title of my blog post today actually refers to a few separate odds-and-ends that I wanted to post about... proof of why punctuation is so important!

First, I just HAD to show off Marge's brand new neon green martingale.  I have been looking for this color for the longest time because I have a thing for wild and exotic agility gear.  I recently asked a friend in Michigan if she could make one for me, and using photos of my zebra martingale as a blueprint, she sewed up this beauty for me.  I just love the way it pops against Marge's black coat.

It's about a foot longer than my zebra one, which is totally my fault because I must have given the wrong length.  But, it is well made, beautifully colored, and the fabric is sooo soft.  She makes colors with ribbon overlays as well, so if any one wants her information, let me know!

Secondly.. Denver.  (No, Roxanne, I am not moving to your state just yet!)  Denver has now become a part of my Staten Island neighborhood.

Denver in this case is not a city, but a 5 year old Brittany Spaniel who was recently adopted by the owners of the late, great, Buddy.  He seems like a very sweet dog whose main goal in life is to chase squirrels.

He and Marge met through the fence. They didn't seem to mind each other.  I'm not sure what Denver's play style is like, though, so it may be awhile before we try them offleash with each other. I do (heartbreakingly) wonder, though, whether or not Marge knows Buddy is gone or misses him at all.  I sure do.

Lastly, after the trial this past weekend at my dog club, Marge was offleash playing with a few friends.  All of a sudden, in lumbers in a truly massive male Rottweiler - the judge's dog.

Now, Marge has a thing about Rottweilers; she does not like them (a definite fear reaction), thanks completely to two dogs that we encounter in life from time to time that are horribly unfriendly towards her. She generally gets all hackled up, perhaps curls her lip if they approach her.  Instinctively, I went to leash her (because he, of course, went up to her first out of all of the other dogs.. go figure).  However, his owner told me that he was totally OK with scared/nervous dogs and would probably be content to just let Marge sniff him.

Normally, I would have removed her from the situation regardless of what the other people told me to do.  However, since she was already out and they were already checking each other out, I left her be for a few minutes.

She was definitely nervous, because she would NOT play with the other dogs with him there, but she sniffed him several times and was comfortable enough to get right up close to him to try to score some treats from his momma.

L to R: Giant Rottie, Poodle friend, & Marge

Perhaps, if we had nice Rottweilers like this one to socialize with, Marge will feel better about the breed. All I can do is hope!

I Spy

With my little eye..

Something beaked and green..

And one more shot just because I like it.

Frisky Friday

I totally bummed around today and did absolutely nothing productive after going to pigeon lab and running a couple of errands this morning.  I'm continuing that trend here in my laziness to upload an amusing 1.5 minute video of Marge running amok in the field today with her new monkey head squeaky plushie, but here are some screen shots to enjoy while I get some sleep.

Sweet Escape

After judging one Beginner Obedience class of a 4-H show on Saturday, I went home with my next destination already in mind.

It has been FAR too long since I've taken a hike.  Between the snow and rain, roads and/or trails were impassable.  I expected some mud (which there was plenty of), but knew there'd be somewhere to walk.

I'll just shut up now and let you look at the pretty pictures.

(that's the sun.  Marge isn't exploding!)

Being Nice

I'm in a bit of a hurry right now, so I'll leave you with this short-n-sweet post on this cold and snowy Friday:

On Sunday, at the Rally trial, Marge had the pleasure of meeting two Bearded Collie puppies and a Pyrenean Shepherd puppy.  She was hanging out by me while I was putting up scores on the easel, and saw them come in the door about 20 feet away.  She became instantly excited, and started play bowing to them wildly.

The pictures aren't great, but they're proof that she did, indeed, play with these pups.  She's usually not a fan of the young'ns.

We've Got Puppies

I had another post scheduled for today, but it can wait.  I received something special this week, and am excited and want to share it with you all!

This beautiful, hand-knitted, stack of pups was sent to me by Sue from The Portuguese Water Blog.  She sent them to me in celebration of Marge's big 2010, where we accomplished a lot of great things.

There is some backstory, here.  I thought that Sue was sending me a simple Christmas card.  However, it never arrived.  So, I asked Sue about it, and she told me that she did, indeed, send a package.

But, before I alerted her to the fact that I hadn't received anything, poor Sue probably thought that I had received it, but made no mention of it to her (which I would have never done - how incredibly rude that would have been!).

Anyway, long story short, the mystery package finally got here, somehow, after several weeks.  In the box was a nice card and a cute disc toy for Marge (which she will sample when the snow melts), along with my personal favorite item, the hand-made pups.  I think they are absolutely adorable, pudgy little guys!  And they are SO soft.

Marge was interested in them, too.  She thought that they were for playing.  She promptly knocked the poor guys over.

They're too special for her to put her grubby mouth all over, though, so they're safe and sound, high up where she can't reach them, on display (see the first photo).  Of course, I did pose her just once with them before moving them to their new home:

Thank you so very much, Sue, for your thoughtful gift.  It's so nice to have such a caring (and talented) friend.. and proof that blogs can far transcend the pictures and posts.

I'd better go sneak in a snuggle with those pups now.. it sure is cold here in NY.