Happy Valentine's Dog

Who wants sloppy kisses?

The crew from Sunshine Jack was at the Chariots of Fur 5K taking free dog photos. Obviously, their photographer is more talented than Jedi's regular photographer (that would be me).

Happy V.D. everybody! (That's Valentine's Day for all you dirty thinkers. I hear you giggling.)

It's Wordless Wednesday. Hop around and see what others are sharing today. -- K

Fur Real This Time

For several years I've said that I wanted to do the Chariots of Fur 5K. I first mentioned it in 2013. I had originally planned on walking it in February of 2014, but was sidelined by a bout of pneumonia. Last year I was just too fat and unhappy to think about it -- then I regretted not doing it for the rest of the year. Last November I saw this ad and said "We're doing it for real this time." I found a 5K walking plan, put on my Fitbit and stepped off determined. Well . . . yeah. By December I had ditched the plan. To be honest, I haven't seen my Fitbit in a month. But instead of flaking out -- again -- I signed us up to do the 1 Mile Fun Run instead. (I still got a t-shirt and all the other goodies. Jedi got nothing but a day at the beach.) I haven't said anything before now because I didn't want to jinx it. And I really thought last week's cold was going to stop me again but . . .

We did it!!

It was cold and windy. I dressed in layers. I was still congested from the nasty cold. I doped up on Dayquil, stuffed my pockets with Kleenex and put on my big girl panties.

I was worried that Jedi would be an ass around all those dogs. I worried for nothing. Jedi had a ball on the beach. He was excited and kept trying to get me to go faster. I trotted more than I wanted to and he pulled me to the finish line. My butt muscles are still sore. Apparently running/walking on sand is different from running/walking around the track (so say my glutes and ankles).

I don't have any pictures of us (I know!) but here's of the race taken by my friend from Furrie Fotographie. She was on the roof of the hotel. And I thought I was cold!

I'm in here somewhere!

There were half a dozen photographers out there taking pictures. Surely one of me and Jedi on the beach will turn up sometime. And when it does, I'll post it here. I am so jazzed that I want to do the full 5K next year! Who wants to join me? -- K

P.S. I found my Fitbit!

Awww...Double Take

We were in Jacksonville Beach last weekend. It was 40 degrees outside and we saw this weird woman in a bikini, two blocks from the beach. When we got up closer we realized she and her companion were life-size statues! Hubby and I thought it would be funny to get Jedi's picture with them. Jedi wasn't so sure.

Jedi says "They don't smell like people."

But with a little coaxing we were able to get him to sit on the surfboard. Isn't he cute?

Hang 10? Jedi can hang 20!

Once again it's Awww...Monday. We're a bunch of bloggers try to help you start your week with a smile. Did Jedi make you say "Awww?" If not, click around below and see if someone else can. Happy Monday! -- K

Bindi Broke My Heart

WARNING: Don't read this. You will cry. I'm crying as I write it.

This is Bindi. She was adopted from the county shelter three months ago. She was found as a stray. She stayed at a local doggie daycare facility for a couple of weeks and then was transferred to the shelter downtown. The county evaluated her and determined that she was a good candidate for adoption. They spayed, vaccinated and microchipped her. A resident of my city fell in love with her and brought her home.

Unfortunately, the county got it wrong. Bindi may be sweet and funny 90% of the time, but she has a scary dark side. In the past few months Bindi attacked three dogs without warning, and also bit her owner's boyfriend bad enough that he had to go to the hospital. Bindi's been in quarantine at my kennel for the past 10 days. We've played with her, fed her junk food and treated her as best we could. Why? Because this morning I had to take her to the vet to be euthanized. It sucks.

I don't disagree with the owner's decision. Owner says she can no longer trust Bindi around her family and other pets. She didn't want to give the dog away because she would feel guilty if Bindi hurt somebody else. Sure, there may be a no dog, kid-free home out there that would take her eventually, but nobody was willing/able to house Bindi until then. And if Bindi had been returned to the county shelter, she would have been euthanized. Knowing her history, the shelter couldn't rehome her for liability reasons. So Owner made the decision that no one wants to talk about.

I want to applaud Owner for the way she handled the situation. Even though she's only had Bindi for three months, Owner loved her. (I can see why, I adored her myself.) So instead of sending downtown to be euthanized (free of charge) Owner made arrangements for me to take Bindi to her private vet once the bite quarantine was over. Bindi was surrounded by her loved ones and died peacefully. Owner also made arrangements to have Bindi cremated because she couldn't stand the thought of Bindi in a mass grave at the landfill with all the other unwanted animals.

I dropped Bindi off and am hiding in my kennel so I could cry in private. Now I've got a headache and my face is swollen. Did I mention that this sucks? Back when I worked at the county shelter we euthanized animals regularly and I learned to compartmentalize my feelings. Euthanasia is not a regular thing in my tiny beach town so I forget to lock my heart away. Instead, I cry like a baby every time.

You're crying too, aren't you? It's your own fault. I told you not to read the post! -- K

R.I.P. Chunky Monkey. I loved you for the short time I knew you.

Guess Who's Reading My Blog

I use Blogger to publish my blog. It's free and easy to use for computer-challenged bloggers like myself. One interesting features is statistics function. It's fun to see how the blog is being viewed. Blogger will tell me how many hits I get in a day, week, month and since day one. Blogger will also break the stats down by post and the viewer's country of origin. Sounds great, but I think the data is skewed. Take a look at this month's numbers:

Who are all these Russians looking at my blog? And what are they looking for? Do they read my posts in English? As of today I've posted 596 times. Thanks to my Russian readers, these are my top three most viewed posts:

#1: She Did WHAT?! -- My attempt at dog shaming after Roxy pooped in Petsmart. It didn't work. Apparently Roxy has no shame. (10/4/2012)

#2: Jedi Plays Spin the Bottle -- I saw a video on Facebook of a dog playing with an unusual bottle toy. I sent the video to my Handyman friend and asked if he could make one for Jedi. (7/21/2014)

#3: DIY Cavaletti -- My Dollar Store creation to help teach Jedi to pick up his back feet. (11/4/2014)

So, why these posts? I have posted some good things on showing dogs for beginners, have some funny work stories and even some very popular rants. Why not one of those posts? I guess Russians just prefer pooping in Petsmart. Who knew?

It's (not so) Wordless Wednesday. But in all fairness, I'm still a bit speechless thinking about my random Russian audience. Anyway, hop around below and see what others have to share today. I'm sure not everybody is posting about Russians and pooping. -- K 

The Curious Incident of the Dog

I got this book for Christmas. The book is titled The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time but to be honest, there's not much dog in it. It's British and the story is told by a teenager who probably has some form of autism (it's described but never labeled). Calling the story "odd" would be an understatement.

The book opens with the protagonist, Christopher, wandering the neighborhood late at night. While out he discovers his neighbor's dog lying on the lawn. Quote from page 1: "There was a garden fork sticking out of the dog." Quote from Kelley: "WTF is a garden fork?"

Christopher goes on a quest to find out who killed the dog, all while avoiding strangers and anything colored yellow. Christopher loves prime numbers, hates being touched and doesn't understand metaphors. Yeah, it's weird like that.

This book was an easy read, though definitely strange. In the beginning the story was quirky but interesting (think Neil Gaiman) but somewhere in the middle the characters became tiresome and I no longer cared what happened to them (a la Stephanie Meyers). Still, I read the book to the anticlimactic end. This is definitely not one of my favorite dog stories. -- K

Awww...Not A Dog Story?

You'll want to sit down -- today I'm NOT sharing a dog story. I know!

I have a friend who is a Groupon fiend. (Personally, I can never find a damn thing. I don't know what she's doing differently.) She saw an offer for 60% off horseback riding on the beach and told me that we're going. I was doped up on cold meds but went anyway. It couldn't have been a nicer day.

I was trying to hold on to my horse while taking pictures so most of them aren't fit for sharing. This one, however, turned out pretty good, don't you think? By the way, see the teeny tiny blue house on the horizon? That belongs to one of my favorite authors, John Grisham.

This artistic picture was taken by my friend. He's obviously more talented -- and better balanced -- than I am.

This last picture is of the group I went with. By the way, the tour company made us wear those dorky helmets "for insurance purposes." (I know that was code for "We don't want you fat, uncoordinated city folk suing us when you fall off the horse.")

And once again, it's Awww...Monday. This is where a bunch of bloggers get together and try to brighten your day. So start your weekend with a smile and click around below. See if someone else can make you say "Awww" today. TTFN, -- K