12 posts tagged “sarah”

In my head.
I really need to just type it on my laptop and upload when possible.

A month or two ago around June 8th or 9th, Leila's owner found he could no longer keep her. He had been working two jobs and had a new girlfriend and Leila had become a back yard dog. For a dog who needed to be around humans as much as Leila was it was Hellish for her. The problem with finding Leila a home is she is a pit bull. I know that only 1 in 8 pits find a home once they enter the system. I could not let Leila go to the pound. She is a sweet baby who only wants to be with someone. She only needs a look or a word to obey. She knew me and my house she came in and flopped down like she was never going to go anywhere else again. When her former owner called her over to say goodbye she would not even look at him.

Leila has three faults. She jumps on people. She can't hold her licker and she is incontinent. I put a diaper on her when she is in the house and took her to the vet to get medication that stopped the problem.

 I did not get a chance to ask Phil I just took her. Poor Phil resented that. I was also a bit on the forgetful side from the pain meds I was taking. I had left the front door open a couple of times and the cats got out. About two days after I got Leila I went to a taekwondo class and I once again left the door open. This time Leila and Sarah escaped to go have an adventure.

And quite an adventure it was. I got back an hour later and found them gone. I looked all around. A few people has seen them. One of them said she remembered a spaniel (well close enough) and a pit with a diaper going into the canyon. Sarah loves going down there and if let out will go down there on her own. I was looking all over the place I even ran down into the canyon calling to them. I should have driven to the other side of the canyon and called there. Sigh. My friend Barb who is an angel drove around asking people if they saw the dog and gave out my number on some post its. I had gotten my car in order to look for them and was in a nearby park when Phil called me to tell me they had been seen at the Von's (a grocery store) which was nearby. I raced there and no one had seen them. Then he called to tell me they were not at the Von's close to our house if you drive, but the Von's about three miles down the canyon and up the other side. It was a long drive by car but I got there as fast as I could and after asking people in the parking lot if they had seen them, someone finally told me they had gone down a side street. I also learned Sarah stood for a long time in the middle of a busy road. I went down the street and found a woman, who was trailing the dogs, had gotten Leila to come to her but not Sarah. Leila was chained in her back yard. Sarah had gone farther down the street and people kept pointing the way. Finally I was at a four way intersection, not knowing where to go. I asked a young couple with a baby had they seen a dog. The woman replied no. Ugh, my heart fell as I looked at the streets that were my three choices. The man finally spoke up. He did remember a dog running down that street. I thanked them and went forward down the indicated street. It was a dead end street and I called and whistled for Sarah the entire length of the way. Finally at the end I saw her. She was running towards me with the most relieved look I have ever seen on a dogs face. She jumped in the car and cried and I cried and she licked me and I kissed her.

I went to the nice Lady's house to get Leila. She was happy to see me as well. I put Leila in the car with Sarah and they promptly fell asleep. They had been gone for about 4 hours. The Lady who captured Leila I couldn't thank enough. She said that she hoped I would pay it forward by trying to get any dog I saw straying from its owner. I said I would. Then I realized I had 15 minutes to get to Leila's vet appointment. After that we all napped until about 9 pm.

I kept Leila until just recently. Phil was kind enough to keep her and Sarah while I was in Korea. More on that later.
 

  So I left San Diego and got in the Prius with too much stuff and my dog and drove. Sarah is not the best of travelers on her good days.  We stopped frequently. The first stop was at the Dog Park in Griffith Park in LA. I'll give it an eh it was ok, small with not much grass and a very high fence all around. I felt like I was in a Prison. After about an hour, we loaded back into the car, hooking Sarah into her seat belt and drove on, down I-5.
  We stopped again after the Grapevine and I walked Sarah around on the side of the street for a while. Driving through the San Joaquin Valley lengthwise is tedious at best and Sara and I took frequent rest stop breaks. From just after the steep descent of the Grapevine north of LA to Redding it's flat and dull with mostly two lane driving. It doesn't help that the worst accident Phil and I saw was around Coalinga (named because it was Coaling Station A during the railroad times). I was so glad to get to the Residence Inn in Sacramento that evening. I was tired and ready to relax. Sarah was ready to never see my car again. We made ourselves at home for the evening and after relaxing a bit had a good night's sleep.
  We left not so early in the morning and went to a dog park a few miles away. While trying to find this place, I came across a sign that cracked me up. I really wish I had taken a picture of it. The sign read "undulations ahead". I looked for undulations and all I saw were bumps. Sheesh what jumped-up lingo. I suppose the sign was made by some poor soul who firmly believes that the more syllables a word has the more classy it is. Language to these boobs is a no a way to communicate but rather a way to show off. Unfortunately for those who do not understand that language is best when it is clear and precise, polysyllabic words can instead of making one look erudite and sophisticated make them look like an utter ass.
  But I digressed, and my story was derailed, probably by some penny left on the tracks. Although there was a dog park within a few blocks of my hotel, I went to one a bit farther off. Lured but promises of 2 acres by the website, I arrived to find that although indeed this was a relatively easy park to find the Dog park was about the size of my backyard.
  I really should have gone to the one around the corner from my hotel. I must have zigged when I should have zagged  on the way home. I was a bit lost. I had a map on my computer of the area so I was not horribly lost and I did find my way back to the hotel only to find the exits only came from the northbound and exited to the southbound lanes. So I wandered around a bit longer until I found an exit going north.  It took about 1/2 an hour all told.
  But then we were flying down the freeway. Of course Sarah was still not too happy about the idea. We made it all the way to Redding though before we stopped. My sister's house was only 2 1/2 hours away. So we stopped to gas up and then we went to the local Dog Park. Redding Dog Park is pretty nice. The people who go there are very friendly as well. We stayed there an hour.
  The next leg of the journey was up the Shasta-Cascades. Mount Shasta was covered in snow. It was beautiful. In the higher elevations the ground was covered in snow along the freeway but the road was dry. It really is a beautiful drive. I wished I could take pictures of the drive every 20 feet. I would really like to visit Castle Crags in the summer at some point.  Finally we were driving down the steep descent into Medford aka Deadford aka Methford. We were happy to be there. We have been here over a week but I will write about that tomorrow.

It's a rainy day I talked Susie into letting me take Layla to my house for the day. She and Sarah played then napped and are playing again. Personally I loved the nap best.

Sarah B.

2 comments

Layla

1 comment

Here are some pictures of them napping from the other day when Layla spent the night.

Eet ees Sarah's Birfday todays, peepuls.
We has brefast at teh dog park then we went home and napped on the green coush. Then we went to teh dog park a seconds time and played there. Eet was a good day.

I took fruit to the dog park and Susi the uber dog sitter brought Haley, her dogs and a ton of Bagels with cream cheese. We couldn't give enough foods away. Lola a small schnauzer managed to steal part of a bagel and was running away from her owner and chewing at the same time. She was chewing and swallowing as fast as she could while her (rather cute) owner ran as fast as he could after her. Susi also brought little stuffed animals that make whining noises when you squeeze them. Sarah already has one but she took another. She won't let any dog near hers and has not torn the one she already has, although she did bury it for a bit to keep it away from Mia and Dixie the dogs she stayed with while I was back east.

I gave treat packs to the parents of the dogs that were there. Ripley a giant Airedale tried to get treats from everyone. Sarah was jumping on people for treats, but it really was scary when Rip jumps on you which he did to several people. He really is a big softy though. Sarah was happy her BFF Ruby was there to play with so was her "sister" Dixie and her "mom" Mia. Her Haley was there too. Haley, Susi's niece is 10 and Sarah thinks that Haley is hers. Lord help another dog if it goes near Haley. Sarah is staying with Haley and Susi next weekend while I camp. It's Haley's last chance to spend the weekend with the dogs before school starts. I hope they all have a good time.

Well Sarah has come to remind me I need to spend more time with her. It's all about the Brittany on her birthday and everyday.

We got caught in horrendous traffic on the way to Dulles. We were too late and missed out flight. So we won't be back until tomorrow. Sarah is doing well according to Susi but I was so upset when I found I would not be able to see it.
I cried for an hour or more until I heard from Susi and found she was doing fine. I miss that pup. Right now I am in a hotel room waiting for the sleeping pill to kick in so I can sleep. Firefly is playing on my puter. I love Firefly. I will see Sarah tomorrow.
Sigh. I can't wait.

oh man I have put off posting.

First of all I went to Comic Con. It was crowded. The line was out the door, FOR THE PRE-REG!!! Those buying a ticket could just walk in. I saw so many cool exhibits in the exhibit hall. I saw so many nice costumes and some pretty crappy ones. I hurt for days after from all the walking and the weight of my back pack. I was reading the last Harry Potter book at the time and for some reason I lugged the thing with me. I met my friend Matt there. We looked around together. He was in some presentation when I got there so I wandered by myself for a bit, saw the boys from Penny Arcade, Gabe and Tycho. They rock. I love that web comic. I saw Jenny from The Devil's Panties and told her I worshiped her. I saw Aeire who used to do Queen of Wands but finished that comic and has moved on. She gave me a card with the email address of her new comic but I left it at home. Durn.

One the 3rd, I left for Slippery Rock PA to attend Pennsic the mother of all SCA events. I camped with Hunter's Home and they rock. I laughed and had a great time seeing people I only see once a year. Once a year is really not enough to see them. They are some great people. The highlights were Tarl's Little Polearm Tourney, Fryday, The Glowstick battle, Midnight Madness at the merchants row. Fryday was last Friday and consisted of deep fried everything. incliding cheeseburgers and peanut butter sammiches, battered and deep fried. I don't really want to see anything deepfried again but it was fun. But still the best part was renewing friendships with so many people. It was hot and muggy and stormy. There was a horrific storm one night and later we found that a tornado had touched down in Pittsburgh which is an hour south of our location. Luckily my little tent held together and I did not get super wet. Someone in camp had a river running through their tent. It was scary and exiting at the same time.

Finally about two days ago I took a bus down to Baltimore and am now at my in-laws house. I think I need a vacation from this vacation. I miss my dog. She is having a good time at Susie's house with Susie's dogs, Mia and Dixie. Apparently they are running around like crazy. Suzie told me that at first Sarah did not sleep at all, she was so busy playing with the other dogs. Now she sleeps on top of Mia. We leave on Friday to go home. I can't wait to see my dog.

Well it is Saturday night. [edit: it was sunday night. Man was I tired.]
I went out and weeded for a couple hours. Man I let the backyard go and it shows. So I weeded and weeded and saw little green inch worms and gray fat spiders and an interesting snail shell. Not a regular garden snail. but different shaped shell. I killed the inchworms because they will eat the plants I have left in that area and I want those plants to live. There were a ton of them and I am sure some survived. The worms not the plants hopefully all the plants will survive. I pretty much filled the can I am using for the weeds. The city won't pick up greens until next week so I have to figure out what to do with the rest of the weeds I need to pull. When I am done with weeds I will patch the holes Sarah made and spread out some more wood chips. When it is cooler I will plant a few more plants to replace all the plants that died. I have clay soil. Some of the plants are not doing well, some are thriving. I have a zucchini on the side of my house that is doing very well. mmmmm zucchini.

Weeding is hard work so I came in and had a nice cold apple cider and a hot bath. Sarah was puzzled at the hot bath and kept coming in and checking on me. She would lick my face and whatever else she could reach. At one time she put her leg in the water and I was sure she was about to come in with me. I think she changed her mind. She drank some of the bath water and went to the kitchen to "talk to the cat".

Not that the cats ever really listen to her. They treat her like the red headed stepchild. Morticia will vacate the bed is she gets up. Gomez will stay if she minds her own business. I think Gomez eggs her on too. He gets down slowly from his perch walks slowly past her then breaks into a run. She chases him and he jumps on a chair and looks at her as if to say ha ha, can't catch me.