Doggles for Doggies

I could hardly believe it when Kelly came home from the mall recently, having spent some of her hard-earned money on a pair of Doggles. These are some goofy looking dog goggles that make each of the 3 dogs look something like Snoopy, the Flying Ace. (She only purchased one pair – each of the dogs have been forced to try them on in turn.) Here’s how they look when sporting the Doggles:

Tango was a little curious but tolerant of the experiment; Tandie - well, you can see by the look on her face that she was disgusted that she had to put up with such abuse, and Tyson couldn't wait to dance around and paw them off his face.

From the official Doggles.com site:

So what are Doggles, anyway?
Doggles are protective eyewear for dogs. They are actually goggles for dogs, hence the name. Unlike ordinary sunglasses for dogs, Doggles actually protect dog’s eyes from foreign objects, wind, and UV light.

For dogs with the increasingly common eye disease, Pannus, Doggles are proving themselves very useful. It is well known that dogs with Pannus should stay out of direct sun and get protection from UV light. Doggles are a great alternative for those dogs that can't stay inside during the day. Doggles also provide protection from wind and debris. Whether your dog rides in a sidecar, on a motorcycle, or in the back of a pickup, he/she needs eye protection.

In the aftermath of the World Trade Center tragedy, we were one of the few companies that the ASPCA contacted directly for protective gear for the Search and Rescue Dogs.

OK, so I can understand why a search and rescue dog might need goggles, but honestly, how many self-respecting folks would put these things on their beloved dogs in public - while riding in the back of the pick-up, for instance? I don't think so. And what's this about putting your dog on a MOTORCYCLE or in a sidecar? Huh? I don't get it. They're hilarious in the privacy of your own home, for just a minute or two, but beyond that we're talkin' wasted money! Sorry, Kelly, you probably should have spent that $20 at one of your other favorite mall stores!

Who Says Cats Are Useless??

Hero cat apparently dials 911 to help owner
Responding to emergency call, police officer finds feline next to phone

Updated: 10:20 a.m. ET Jan. 2, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Police aren't sure how else to explain it. But when an officer walked into an apartment Thursday night to answer a 911 call, an orange-and-tan striped cat was lying by a telephone on the living room floor. The cat's owner, Gary Rosheisen, was on the ground near his bed having fallen out of his wheelchair. Rosheisen said his cat, Tommy, must have hit the right buttons to call 911. "I know it sounds kind of weird," Officer Patrick Daugherty said, unsuccessfully searching for some other explanation.

Rosheisen said he couldn't get up because of pain from osteoporosis and ministrokes that disrupt his balance. He also wasn't wearing his medical-alert necklace and couldn't reach a cord above his pillow that alerts paramedics that he needs help.
Daugherty said police received a 911 call from Rosheisen's apartment, but there was no one on the phone. Police called back to make sure everything was OK, and when no one answered, they decided to check things out. That's when Daugherty found Tommy next to the phone.

Rosheisen got the cat three years ago to help lower his blood pressure. He tried to train him to call 911, unsure if the training ever stuck. The phone in the living room is always on the floor, and there are 12 small buttons — including a speed dial for 911 right above the button for the speaker phone. "He's my hero," Rosheisen said.

Way To Go, Kitty Kitty!

A Walk in the Park

We took the dogs for a long overdue walk in the park today visiting our favorite area known as Cottonwood Meadows. We go here because it's only used as a reservable picnic site, mostly in the summer, by families who want a big space for a family reunion or whatever. When it's not being used the rangers keep it locked up so visitors can't drive back into the parking area. Over the past few years this site has become known as an unofficial dog park - by word of mouth, dog lovers have begun to use this out-of-the-way quiet place as a dog-walking area. Many of us let our dogs run free without leashes and nobody much minds. Once in a while we come across someone who freaks out when they see the dogs running towards them - what they don't realize, however, is that our dogs could care less about THEM, they're only in pursuit of the sights and smells of the park. We come across many of the same people with their dogs on our visits and all the dogs seem to get along just fine as they roam in the great outdoors.

The 3 T's (dogs) have an uncanny sixth sense that tunes them in to our preparations to go to the "P" (we can't say the word "Park" out loud - they know what it means). When they hear the rattle of the leashes it's all over - they get whipped up into a canine frenzy, yipping and yapping and dashing around the house like fools. They know what's going on! They pace and jump and bark by the side gate until I let them out to run to the car.

On the way to the park the chaos continues - three dogs in the back of the Tracker, whining, yelping with excitement, trying to look out the window. We must look somewhat like one of those circus cars as we make the (thankfully) short drive to Cottonwood Meadows.

As we pull into the drive to Cottonwood Meadows the dogs get really spastic, so we get out of the car as quickly as we can and set them free. They take off running, sniffing, dancing with glee because they're at the park! We hike up a side path that takes us through the woods and eventually into an enormous open field that's kept partially mowed. This is actually privately owned property adjacent to the park but it all blurs together and makes a great walk. The field is mowed around the perimeter, so we can walk a couple of laps around, the dogs racing ahead, then behind, dodging in and out of the woods along the path. They're in doggie heaven!

As much as I dislike winter - the cold weather, the sunless days, the bare trees and empty gardens - I have to admit that's there's still some natural beauty to be found. When we walk through the woods in the winter there's a whole new landscape to ponder - we can see all the way through the trees for quite a distance, we notice the gentle slope of the terrain, up and down ... it's all in shades of brown, gray and silver, with the occasional moment of color to be found. Bright green moss, yellow and red berries, purple-blue vines, a blue winter sky. It's all there in the small places that you really have to look for ... not the "in your face" colors of the spring and summer seasons, but there to be enjoyed nonetheless. Here's what I saw today.

There's beauty to be found everywhere, in every season, if we just slow down, open our eyes and enjoy what's right under our noses. The simple things in life, like talking the dogs for a walk in the park are really the best things in life.

Closed For Repair

If you've ever owned an older home - or even if you own a newer home - you've probably found that the maintenance never ends. Something breaks, something wears out, something floods or starts to sound funny .... endless possibilities, especially if your house is like ours, a 1950's era bungalow (sounds better than "ranch," doesn't it?) I'm blessed with a husband who can tackle any home improvement project, given the right power tools and a little bit of free time. The project this week is our bathroom: hang a small pendant light over the sink (we've had it for 2 years, just never put it up during the original remodeling phase); install an additional vent over the shower; and re-paint the ceiling over the shower once items 1 and 2 are done. As usual, the parts of the project that he thought would be easy are a Pain, and the vent (which he thought would be the Pain) went pretty smoothly. He's spent the past 2 days running up and down the attic stairs as he's rigged up the box for the pendant light - up and down, up and down, mumbling, swearing (just a little ...), yelling for help, then whistling to himself when it's going smoothly for a minute, then more mumbling, etc. You get the picture. But now the light is in, the vent is installed and he's sanding down the ceiling - door closed, mask on, sander humming loudly. (Cats and dogs hiding downstairs because of the noise.) Progress! I'll say it again - I'm so glad I have a husband who has the skills and is driven to do these projects. He's so good at figuring out how to do anything around the house - electrical, plumbing, painting, plastering - whatever. And because he's a bit of a perfectionist (it's OK for me to say that - we all know it by now!) the job always ends up looking wonderful. We've saved hundreds (probably thousands) of dollars over the last 6 years by not having to pay people to do these jobs. Life is good with a "can-do" hubster - all things are possible for him and his trusty DeWalt!

Adult ADD

Famous People With Attention Deficit and Learning Disorders ... though not all these famous people have been "officially diagnosed," they have exhibited many of the signs of ADD, AD/HD & LD. The point of this list is to inspire those of us who have similar challenges. (We thank the Kitty Petty ADD/LD Institute for this valuable contribution to One ADD Place.)

Albert Einstein, Galileo, Mozart, Wright Brothers, Leonardo da Vinci, Tom Cruise, Charles Schwab, Henry Winkler, Walt Disney, John Lennon, Winston Churchill, Henry Ford, Jules Verne, Alexander Graham Bell, Woodrow Wilson, Nelson Rockefeller, Tomas Edison, Gen. George Patton, Agatha Christie, John F. Kennedy, Pete Rose, Robin Williams, Louis Pasteur, Werner von Braun, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Robert Kennedy, George Bush's children, Prince Charles, Gen. Westmoreland, Eddie Rickenbacker, George C. Scott, George Bernard Shaw, Beethoven

“The ADHD adult may have the same challenges as the ADHD child with the main difference being that adults have more sophisticated coping mechanisms than children. Behaviors may include: difficulty staying organized, difficulty finishing a task, procrastination, trouble maintaining relationships or controlling their moods, very impulsive, and/or poor financial management.”

If you think you may be an adult with ADD (or if someone who loves you thinks you have ADD) you can take a short diagnostic test and see how you score. Go to http://www.oneaddplace.com/addcheck.htm to find this test. If you read through the test and think, "WOW!, that sounds just like me!" you should consider talking to your family doctor. Adults can have ADD and they can benefit from medication such as Adderall XR. Life can become much different - and much better - with appropriate medication. Been there, done that in our household and life is good.

Christmas Day 2005

Our Christmas Day started not too terribly early. Chris is always the early-riser, every day of the year, so he was up long before the rest of us. I woke up about 8:30, got dressed and ate a breakfast muffin (courtesy of Teresa - yum!) and then woke up the sleeping beasts (teenagers). We were opening gifts by 9:15 or so - a very civilized event compared to the days of old when frenzied children could hardly contain themselves. I won't try to list all the gifts, but some of the favorites seemed to be: for Kelly, her Petz game for the computer and an electric blanket; for Matt, his set of Legos (a Star Wars X-wing fighter) (yes, he's really 19 years old and still likes Legos); for Chris, our new digital camera and his G. Gordon Liddy calendar (if you know what that means, you're grinning!); and for me - I love the new camera too, and the set of watercolor prints that Chris had framed for me. (My mom painted these portraits while in art school in 1945 or 1946. My sisters will be green with envy when they see these!) Matt gave me some incredible Godiva hot cocoa mix and Kelly gave me a bundle of GREEN bracelets that I had admired.





Shortly after we finished opening gifts I called Mom and invited her over for a few minutes so she could see the watercolors. We visited and talked for a while, then she had to dash back home to get ready for the afternoons activities. We picked her up a little after noontime and headed out to the Liberty Township homestead for an afternoon of fun. We had a great time visiting with everyone, opened more gifts and ate a wonderful meal around 4:00. By the time we packed up and turned for home it was about 6:00, but felt like 10:00. One of the more relaxed and less stressful Christmas Days we've had in a long time!

These pictures were all taken with our new camera which we're still learning to use, hence a little bit of fuzziness on a few of them. It's got a lot of cool features, many more than our other digital camera, so we'll become more proficient as time goes on. Stay tuned for dozens, or probably hundreds of great pictures in the months to come!

A Christmas Eve Feast

You most likely think I'm going to launch into a lengthy description of a delightful holiday meal enjoyed by our family. In reality, Chris and I just returned from United Dairy Farmers where we purchased our favorite ice cream - he, a giant chocolate chip milk shake, and I chose a peppermint-stick ice cream cone. Yummy. Not exactly the nutrionally-correct dinner chosen using the food pyramid as a guide, but tasty and filling nonetheless. Don't know if we'll really eat much else this evening.

The dogs in our family, however, were lucky to have quite a dinner tonight. Chris roasted a chicken earlier today then let it cool for several hours. The dogs have been on an "elevated alert" status all day, from the time Chris popped the chicken into the oven until it was pulled apart and served at 5:00 p.m. They've been pacing in and out of the kitchen, sniffing the floor, sniffing the refrigerator door and yes, unfortunately, getting into the kitchen garbage while we were out at UDF. (Our fault, we obviously forgot to put the bag outside in the garbage can. No self-respecting canine would walk away from a perfectly delicious bag of chicken-y garbage.)

As soon as the chicken came out of the refrigerator, the dogs congregated in the kitchen. Tango always has to weasel her way into the action, as close as she can get to the source of the food. She likes to supervise (and be in a good position to snarf up anything that accidentally falls on the floor - didn't I say she's the smartest one?).

Tyson was doing his own idiotic version of the "chicken dance" as he waited impatiently for dinner to be served. For the most part, Tandie stayed back and tried to act cool as she waited for dinner to be served (even though chicken is her absolute favorite thing in the whole world).

As Chris filled their dishes the excitement grew. He added some green beans and potatoes, and dinner was served! As usual, Tyson inhaled his food as though he hadn't been fed in days, Tango sniffed and licked and finally started eating, and Tandie worked through her food at a dignified pace.

The plates were licked clean in under 5 minutes. Don't you just love an appreciative audience when you cook? We don't do this kind of meal very often, but we figure if they're "fat and happy" tonight they'll sleep soundly and not scare Santa away. Good plan, eh? Merry Christmas Eve to All!