(117) Fathers, Men, and Dogs

My Baby is 22 today! Happy Birthday Ben!
Happy Father’s Day Papa and all other Dad's!

Last night Brad and his famous cesar salad requested by Ben. Then we watched the new movie Alice in Wonderland. Fantastic! It is a Tim Burton movie and it does not disappoint. I was enthralled with the graphics and the amazing cinematography. It was dark like all of Tim Burton’s movies and well, anything with Johnnie Depp and Anne Hathaway has to be good. And it was so female positive, I loved it. Check it out!

How two people can pack so much into one weekend is beyond me! I’m exhausted. Here is what we have done today and will do tonight: Ben had to work today (on his birthday no less!) so when we had gotten ready wee left and drove to pick up Jessica then headed to the dog park at Wannamaker Forest Preserve. That’s the park that is right next to where Ben & Jess’s apartment so we let the dogs run for 20 minutes or so. 20 minutes doesn’t seem like a long time but when the heat and the humidity are equally high the dogs (and people) get tired out easily. There were many more dogs playing today and even a Great Dane which Beeker tried to play with. It is a funny sight to see a Dane go down in a play bow. All in all a good time was had by all. By the time we got back in the car we were all hot and sweaty so we took the dogs back to the air conditioned apartment and left them there to rest up.

Charleston has a flee market that is rather large and although it was getting later in the day and hotter by the minute, we went to check it out. I enjoyed walking the outdoor aisles, but the indoor stalls were stifling. After we walked up and down perusing the row after row of secondhand items (junk?) I called it quits. I think I was on the verge of heat stroke. It was that hot. Jessica noted that during the heat of the summer, it is so hot that most vendors close up before noon due to the heat. I can appreciate that. It was 90 degrees with a humidity level of at least 80%.

After a lunch of sandwiches at the apartment, Jessica and Brad took the dogs and me back to the hotel to rest up. They headed off to explore Fort Sumter. This is the island where Civil War battles and the Movie Glory, occurred. It is a National Monument. I was not interested in taking the 1.5 hour boat trip and then walking around the defunct fort. Brad and Jessica both love history of any sort so they were happy to leave an ingrate at home. The dogs and I have had a great time sleeping and hanging out in our cool room. Don’t mind a bit.

Tonight we will celebrate Ben’s birthday with presents and a dinner out to boot! Tomorrow we head home. We will have to get up early and will drive all day to be home by midnight. We’ve had a long weekend and have done many fun things with the kids and the dogs. Bye to South Carolina and to our kids( Boo Hoo!) And Good Bye to one of our favorite dog beaches around (I’m being sarcastic here!)

(116) A Run on The Beach and From the Law

Wow! Its 10:30 AM and we have already had a run in with the Law. We got up fairly early although not as early as I wanted to but the body was just too exhausted. After breakfast for us and the dogs we left to go to Sullivan’s Island where we read and heard there was an off leash beach that had early morning hours for dogs to play in the ocean. It’s true, all that we read was true including the fact that the dogs could be off leach from 5-10AM. However, we had also read that all of the dogs that run on the beach, go to the beach, are seen at the beach must have a local dog tag (this turns out to be a red white and blue striped ribbon). The dog tags are only available fron the Town Hall which is only open Monday-Friday 9-5. Yea. This is Saturday and we are only here for three days. This besides the fact that the tags cost $35 a dog, good for a year. Now if I think about this, it makes sense and cents! It’s like joining a dog park and the residents like it that it makes them exclusive. However, since we were only here for the weekend and the required office was closed for us to get the required tags it makes it pretty evident that the locals don’t want Outsiders to play on their beach. We were told (by folks at the neighboring dog park-free) that “they don’t check”. So we packed up the dogs, the harnesses, the water, the dog bags and we went to the beach this morning. Aw we approached the beach access we were struck by the number of locals that were walking their dogs unleashed and their dog were coming right up to Max and Beeker who were leashed. Our dogs were beside themselves with desire to run on the beach. As a lady with two dogs approached us and Beeks started pulling to roar ahead, engage with her dogs. I made the mistake of trying to be social and said,”can you tell these dogs are from Illinois, and excited to get on the beach?” Well! We then got the lowdown about how we shouldn’t be on the beach without a tag. That each dog needed a tag and that we “Should Be Careful”. As soon as we were actually on the beach we let them run. They had a blast. They were well behaved. They engaged with lots of dogs, played in the water, drank the water. Beeker and Max had the time of their life with the Ocean and other dogs. They were well behaved dogs and they got a great experience off leash. All of the important stuff. We stayed about 45 minutes and the dogs were about ready to go, and I was feeling like the Beach Gestapo were watching us. As we were leaving the City Police on a Gator ATV came onto the beach, made a large loop and then came back to our side and stopped us. We were by then 15 feet from the entrance but with two set dogs and a Newfie we were fairly obvious. Although the Officer was nice enough, he was fairly unforgiving and told us that we needed tags (we pleaded ignorant) and that the office in Town Hall was closed until Monday. He said we needed tags and that was cheaper than a $500.00 fine. True enough! Needless to say we won’t be going back. Just for that, Beeks gave up his breakfast right there in the sand, just as we left the beach, just for the locals of Sullivan Island.

(115) A Very Long Day and into the Night

Arriving at the hotel last night, we were all ready for a rest. Maxie amazed us with his memory of hotels and headed straight to the bathroom to plop his head down in the toilet. We quickly lifted the lid for him and laughed at his ability to find a good cold drink when he needed one. Two walks and more water later we were settled down for the night. The hotel where we stayed was one where we had previously stayed. The Hampton Inn in Lexington, Kentucky, is the place to go if you are traveling with pets. Although the hotel was completely packed, there was an assortment of dogs all getting along peacefully. The hotel has dog friendly easy access and a dog park of sorts in the back complete with bags provided.
This morning we got up early and after a complimentary breakfast of waffles and egg biscuits we headed on our way. As we headed out of Lexington and on through Kentucky I was struck by the amazing color of green and the enormous number of trees in layer after layer of hills and low mountains. Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina have a very different terrain than Central Illinois. We have flat land with fields after fields of corn and beans. And then more fields of beans and corn. We saw valleys and hollers of tall trees, some covered with vines. I’m not talking about trees lining the highway; I’m talking about the Smokey Mountains, flowing hills and fog rising up like smoke, vistas. I was so taken with the extreme beauty of it. The weather started out beautiful, with the temps in the high 80’s. The number of car/truck accidents rise with the temperature. At present we have seen three multiple vehicle accidents, luckily not involving us. It sometimes makes it slow going. We made a number of stops for the dogs and for gas/food but by the middle of the afternoon we hit the rain. Our son called us earlier and jokingly told us that when we hit the humidity we were almost there. Within an hour of arriving at their home we got rain. Multiple rain squalls. Hard hitting large drops of rain that disable us from seeing ten feet in front of our car. We were ready to pull over when it just stops, we drove right out of the rain and then 20 minutes later we see it coming, the grey and dark blue clouds over head and sheets of rain start coming down. By the time we hit North Charleston the rain is gone but the humidity is rising from the highway like reverse rain.

After a warm welcome and a dog walk to relieve the dogs, we see the “new” apartment (the kids moved from a one bedroom to a two bedroom) and make plans for this evening. We decide that since Jess needs to work until 9:30 we will meet her and the go see Toy Story 3. It is just out today and we are hopeful that we will be able to get tickets for the last showing of the evening. We left the two dogs in their air conditioned apartment gated with some of their toys and all of their rabbits, cat and many fish(see past blog). We are so lucky. We did get to see the last show (10:30PM) although it was the 3D version which, Ben and Jess are happy about seeing, but I could have done without. On the other hand it was a very enjoyable movie. I loved Toy Story 1 and 2 so had high hopes for this third sequel. I was not disappointed. It had all of the old characters including Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead and even Slinky Dog. Very Cute! A 5 star for the whole family (there was a part that might be kinda scary for very young kids).

It’s now 1 AM and I realize that this is the first time that I have not published a blog post early day. I am late with this one so I will post another one today as well. We are heading to the beach after we all get some sleep.

(114) We're Off

Finally the great day has arrived. We are on our way. I got home from work after stopping for groceries for the road and Brad had the car mostly packed and the dogs were beside themselves. Beeker kept howling at me and like yesterday, followed me everywhere. When I went outside to put my bag in the truck, he ran outside but stayed within viewing distance so that he would be ready at a moment’s notice. Brad mentioned that they had been over the top with excitement just from the change of routine and his(Brad’s) moving inside and outside all morning.

We left home by three this afternoon. Max got settled fairly quickly once he knew that he was in the same automobile as Brad. There is nothing that makes Max more anxious than being separated from Brad. Beeks on the other hand was another story all together. First off, his usual riding position had been changed because we packed the back seat up with our bags and the dogs’ bags. Brad also put the traveling food box and the cooler in the middle of the seat and then piled it with towels and Beek’s rug. Hence the problem. Beeks kept trying to lie down on his rug but couldn’t get comfortable in the small box. It wasn’t piled up high enough to buffer the sides and his whole body didn’t fit into the small box. He kept working different positions to figure out a comfortable way to settle but he just couldn’t get it to work out. It probably didn’t help that we kept laughing at him either. He would put his rump in the box and then his front legs outside in a sit sort of position. Then he tried to out his rump on the outside of the area, next to the door and put his head on the box. He also tried to lay with his body in the box with his front paws outside and his head bent backward so that it could rest on Brad’s seat back. He’s a contortionist! I’m outing him in Cirque du Soleil next week. At a gas stop we rearranged his throne and he is resting much more comfortable now.
Because we were busy as soon as I got home, I hadn’t eaten lunch and Brad had eaten an early lunch so we decided to check McDonald’s dollar menu in Indianapolis. Before you start to groan, let me rationalize our choice for you. First off, we haven’t eaten McDonald’s food (except for the ice cream) in an extremely long time. However we are trying not to spend much money on this trip so we agreed to check out the choices for a dollar and then if we didn’t like it we would go to Subway (our usual choice…we split the $5 foot long). We ate dinner for $4.35. We decided that we like the change from Subway but although the calories were probably more at Micky D’s it isn’t as mentally filling. After I ate my Mcdouble sandwich and small fries, I was still hungry. It was gone so quickly that I didn’t feel full. Given a few hours I am sure that I won’t be hungry. They say it takes the mind 20 minutes to know that the stomach is full. Whatever! I think we will be going back to Subway next time, but those fries are the BEST! We ordered inside because we couldn’t figure out the drive Thru menu. We also used it as an all stop. When we returned to the car with the sack, both dogs were sniffing the air. Beeks had his paws on the center arm rest. I assumed he was very interested in the Micky D’s bag. I was wrong. As soon as I opened the door to sit down I noticed it. A long forgotten (from my sister’s visit two weeks ago) bag of sweet potato chews from my purse was laying half out on the car floor. “Oh”, you might say… “it just fell out when you left the car”. You’d be wrong. The proof is that it was soaking wet with dog saliva! Beeks had that look in his eye that says, “What? Moi?” Brad wanted me to scold him but I was laughing so hard I couldn’t get it out of my mouth. He’s only a Sneeker Beeker when he is in Brad’s car. Honest! He doesn’t get anything from my car when he rides with me. Something about his past history and his ability to find delicious things when he roots around in brad’s car has positively rewarded him and he continues to get positive rewards for his efforts. As I shared in a previous post, he has found and eaten a whole bag of dog treats, Kleenex in a box, cookies in a bag, and all of Nebraska in an Atlas. I think Brad will be watching him much more carefully now. We have a few more hours to travel until we get to Lexington Kentucky. Free points and they will accept dogs even ones over 3 pounds. We’ve stayed there before and it gives us a good head start for driving tomorrow. I’ll let you know.

(113) Sun Glorious Sun!

Sun Glorious Sun! Although the temperature was warm (in the high 80’s), the humidity was a lot lower, in the 60% range. Beeks and I went on a long walk when I got home from work. He and I needed the exercise and the sunshine felt great! It’s amazing what a little vitamin D can do for a person. I used the harness for Beeks instead of the Gentle Leader. I think it worked great. I didn’t feel like I was pulling him back all the time and he liked having his head available for more smelling. It was unanimous, we were both happy.

We are all getting excited to leave on our road trip tomorrow. When I started gathering the dogs things and cleaning out Beeker’s travel bag, he got so excited and followed me all over the house. Max was highly curious as well. Both dogs kept sticking their noses into the bag. Maybe this had to do with the fact that it had some forgotten old rawhides and puppy food in the bottom. As you can tell, I haven’t cleaned it out in a while. As I repacked the bag, the dogs circled around making sure I added back some treats and the appropriate leashes, towels, food and toys. I think I was successful since, once I finished, he left to lay down near the kitchen door, a perfect position to see what my next action might be. Beeks was not so easily dismissed. He watched my every move. He watched me gather my clothes, make choices for our four day trip. When I walked to the laundry room, Beeks was at my heel like I haven’t seen in a long time. He was my constant pal. I wasn’t getting anything by him. I know he and Max are already wondering when we’re leaving and are hoping I remembered the antlers and sweet potato treats. Chez lays on the bed just watching the business of packing with little acknowledgment. He’ll be staying home so he isn’t invested in all of the excitement. It’s hard to ignore the overall differences between cats and dogs.

Tomorrow I work and Brad will pack our things in the truck, and the Tule box. We probably don’t need the box but it will be more comfortable for all of us if we take it. It will give us more room. We are going to take some luxury items (a small gas grill) that I know the kids won’t have in case we want to use them. We understand the weather has been hot and humid equal parts heat and humidity. So…What difference is there? It’s the Ocean! Brad has researched the dog friendly beaches and has discovered that the one that looks the best and the closest, allows dogs on the beach from 5-10 AM. That’s early, so we are gonna have to get up with the Sun! Then there is the wonderful dog park in the Nature Preserve next to where Ben and Jess live. The dogs love this park and it also has a pond where all the dogs like to swim. It’s gonna be a Fantastic Dog Vacation.

(112) ComputerEnvy or What a Thunderstorm!

Oh, the Rain! For four days now we have had thunderstorms and so much rain. Everyday seems to bring more rain and mosquitoes than a yard needs in a month. The gullies and culverts are swollen to overflowing. Today driving to work, I witnessed a tow truck pulling a car out of a farm ditch half embedded in water. Such an ugly way to start a day. Today started out so foggy from the heat and moisture that it felt like I was back in Costa Rica. Everything is so green but muddy. We have intermittent breaks in the storm and sometimes the sun will come out making it even muggier (is that a word?) but then five hours later we are blessed with another thunderstorm and more flooding. A friend of mine told me that the school yard behind her house was so flooded yesterday she let her dogs go out and take a swim. They had a blast. I know Beeks and Max would have loved that! We haven’t been on a long walk in a few days and I’m feeling it so I know the dogs are also. I did get outside this morning with The Beekster and he got his run around. The mosquitoes were soooo bad that I didn’t even make it all the way around the yard. I think they were hatching while they were biting me. I took the picture of the hollyhock when I got home from work. It was during the little bit of sunlight we had today.

It’s so dark here right now that although it is daytime, by the looks of it, one would think it was midnight. The weather map shows we are in the midst of a deep red oval extending north and south of our area. I watch and the rain comes straight down in sheets, it is relentless. Can you imagine how GeorgeNGracie feel right now. I can tell that the dogs are antsy. Max comes to be near us and then gets up to move again. He looks out the window, then the door, watching to see if Brad will soon be home. Both dogs are starting to pant. An anxiety behavior which I can appreciate with the sound of the rain pounding and the darkness all around. We still have electricity so we are good for now. I’m calling Max up on the bed so he can be near the rest of us (Chez already found his way up here). Oh, the Rain, When will it stop? I heard the Arc was due to arrive sometime on Friday.

I think Beek’s has a computer phobia. He doesn’t like my laptop, and when I pull it out to get working on it, he cowers away from me and it, like it was something to be afraid of. I have seen this behavior (pulling back, turning around to face the other way) before. He does this same action when he is on the bed and I have called Maxie up to sit with us. (like now) It seems he knows that Maxie is dominate dog in this situation and he is fearful and respectful at the same time. Not the “curiously cautious” that Temple Grandin talks about, but more like, “oh damn, here that thing comes again, I’m outta here!” I try to coax him back, to smell the keyboard, but he is still leery of my intentions. Does he smell its evil ability to steal my focus, encompass my brain? Can he feel the electromagnetic waves coming from the computer screen? Does he view my relationship with the laptop with vengeance, or with pity? Does he see it as a rival for “our” time? Can dogs get jealous?

Beeks is settled now, a little away from me but still on the bed. Max came up when I called him, then stood, looking out the window (a view he doesn’t have from the floor) then he laid down for about 2 minutes, got up and got off the bed, to return to the front door to stand and wait for his master. The rain lightens up and Max is down again, lying on the floor, resting more comfortable. The thunder is moving away, and I can see the grey of the sky again. Another storm moves Eastward.

(111) Dog Travel Necessities

When we pack the car, we keep in mind that Max will ride in the furthest part of the truck. He has the most room there and he will not be bothered by Beeker chewing on his tail when he wants to rest. We will make stops every so often for bathroom breaks but we will also take extra water in bottles with us just in case we need it. When we pack we do fill one fourth to one half of the back seat with travel stuff then put a rug over it so that Beeks can ride up top if he wants. He likes to see outside when we travel. We have individual bags for the dogs, in which we put their dog food. Brad likes to premeasure each meal so that it is easy to dump in their bowls. We take extra food bowls so each dog has their own bowl while we travel. Max has such anxiety when we travel that he sometimes doesn’t eat every meal. Beeks will eat anything. Tethers, harnesses, tie outs and and long leashes go into the bags, as well as towels and treats. Brad brings along extra batteries for Max’s collar and that goes in his bag as well. I keep Beeks everyday leash and poop bags inside the car so that they are easily accessible. Some of Beeker’s chew toys I put away so that he has something “new” when we get to the hotel or our destination. Some items we leave in the car to occupy the dogs during the long time we spend on the road. Max doesn’t seem to need much of anything to occupy his time, Beeks needs something to chew. He will chew and then settle down. Beeks has learned from an early age to settle on his rug. This is a child’s sleeping bag that I got Nana to sew into two parts. It is soft and it is dog proof so now Beeks will settle anywhere he sees the rug. We use it in the car and in the hotel or even here at home so it is one of the important things I always remember on trips. Treats such as the sweet potato chews and training chews I mostly keep in their bags but some I keep in the car for easy access. Brad takes the grooming tools for both dogs especially when we are heading to a woodsy area or a water destination. Likewise, we will take the ear medication so that when and if ear irritations begin we can get right on it. We take sheets with us for putting on the hotel bed top for the dogs. I like Beeks to sleep with us so this way I don’t feel bad if he is on top of our sheet. We do take a baby gate so that we can keep the dogs in the bathroom if we need to leave them in the room, while we go out. Sometimes it is too hot to take them with us if we are going to out during the day for a long time. Max especially needs the cooled air and he does better in a kenneled situation where he is on the cool tiled floor, with access to water.

By List:

Food
Water/food bowls
Extra water in bottles
Leashes…long(20 feet), Regular 6 ft
Harnesses
Towels
Beeks Rug
Toys (includes Chew, fill able, lovies )
Treats (sweet potato, training treats)
Meds (if any) For ears etc.
Poop bags (a necessity for any outing)
Grooming tools (important if they are going to get wet or into the woods)
Tie outs (for around trees)
Batteries, extra for Max’s collar
White sheets (to put on the hotel bed so Dogs can sleep with us)
Baby gate (to gate the dogs in the bathroom if we need to leave them in the hotel room)