Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

Although I 've only been on the writing web site, Fan Story for a few weeks, I'm already feeling inspired. I was walking my daughter's dog last week when I noticed that just like in Hoonah, people here don't always clean up after their dogs. Perhaps they think the snow will cover it up. What they fail to realize is that the snow eventually melts, and all that crap is in the streets where people are trying to walk. It's really quite gross, and so I thought I would attempt to write a poem about it. Here it is.                                             I'm out in my yard, reading verse from the bard,                                             When I see that you're walking your dog            ...

  A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to be surrogate parents to our friends Mark and Sarah's dog, Ra'bano. After losing our dog Rigby, it was nice to have the chance to have one of our furry friends come by for a few days. I can only recall once when he kind of whined a little bit. As hard as it can be for people to be in unfamiliar places and uncomfortable situations, I can only imagine what it must be like for our pets. I know that not everyone has the luxury of leaving a beloved pet with a friend or neighbor when they have to leave for one reason or another. I just hate the idea of having to board your pet at a vet or animal shelter. Maybe I'm full of hoo-ha, but I feel like as much as possible they need to be in a loving environment while their owners are away. As you can see, Ra'bano (which means radish in Spanish) is feeling quite at home on our couch. He's really well trained, and though the food right there before him is enticing, he didn't once...

 Tonight I'm going to write one of the saddest posts that I've ever done. Today around noon, our beloved dog Rigby passed on.  These pictures were taken just over a month ago, but when he passed today, he was just a fraction of the size that he was when these were taken. Over the past month he had steadily been losing weight. His ribs were starting to show and the skin on his belly was hanging. He's always loved to eat, and I indulged him. The kids were constantly telling me he was spoiled, but I don't care. My feelings were that if you were going to have a pet, and especially a dog, he was going to be getting the royal treatment. I've been thinking back over his life, from the time that our daughter Autumn first brought him down from Wasilla in a small carrying case that fit under the airplane seat. He was as cute as a button. For the first week or so he slept in that case in the laundry room and would cry at night. Eventually we purchased a small bed fo...

 A few weeks ago, Jan and I decided to send in our eleven year old daschund, Rigby, in to the vets. He'd been having problems with peeing on the floor, and getting up two or three times a night to go outside to pee. We noticed that he was drinking an uncommon amount of water as well. Needless to say, the interruptions played havoc with our sleep patterns. Jan was gone for a few weeks, so all the babysitting was left to me. I slept with the bedroom  door slightly cocked open so he could push his way in and wake me up in the night. It wasn't any too restful to say the least. On more than one occasion he pushed open the door after he had already peed on the floor outside my room. Lovely. Anyway, we finally decided to send him in and see what the vet had to say. I was reluctant to send him in, I knew the bill would be a doozy, and I also hate to put him through the trauma of going into a kennel and transporting him on the plane. I'd rather be in the cage myself. I know, I k...

The sign kind of says it all doesn't it? How many times have you felt this way... the boss is yelling at you, your spouse is being a jerk, the kids are acting up, you just found out the repairs that your car need are going to cost you the next two months salary. Things happen in life and you just wish that they would happen somewhere else to someone else. I don't think that any of that crossed my daughter's mind when she bought this sign for us. Maybe she was thinking about addressing the neighbor's dogs when she picked it up. I think I've mentioned before that Hoonah has a leash law, but it's not always enforced. In fact it's seldom enforced so we get random dogs running through the neighborhood at times and since they don't like to get their butts wet, they prefer to visit a yard that has been groomed. Namely mine. I don't mind picking up after Rigby, but that's where I draw the line. It would be nice if I could train him to use the toilet like...

The other day my daughter Camille called and was unhappy with me because she was tired of looking at the picture of Jack, on the previous post. I guess I'm going to get a call every few days now because I haven't met my quota of blog posts. Apparently she is sadly lacking for entertainment. So, Camille, this one's for you! This is a picture of our dog, Rigby. He's a black and tan daschund. I had to look up the spelling in my dictionary. Contrary to popular belief, Paris Hilton's dog isn't the most spoiled one in the universe. Oh sure, it may have a diamond necklace and get packed around in an overgrown purse, but I would be willing to bet that Paris has never once bent down and picked up even one pile of poop after her little precious relieved itself. I, on the other hand, have picked up mountains of the stuff. Not because I want to, it's just the right thing to do. Plus, if I don't, come spring, when it's time to mow the lawn, it will be lying in wa...