Don't Forget: Remember Me Thursday® on 9/22

According to the The Humane Society, only 30% of pets in US households come from rescue facilities. And there are huge numbers of pets out there just waiting for their forever home. That's why Helen Woodward Animal Center (where I volunteer every Monday) started Remember Me Thursday®, which takes place this year on September 22.

Remember Me Thursday® is a global awareness campaign advocating for orphan pets to live in forever homes, not die waiting for them. The goal is to "shine a light on all orphan pets waiting in shelters and rescues right now."

Life's a Beach - Part Deux

I used to have a long-sleeved, pink "Life's a Beach" T-shirt when I was in college. I LOVED that shirt and wore it constantly. Then someone stole it out of the dryer in the dorm laundry room. (People suck sometimes.) Anyway, I've lived the vast majority of my life near a beach and I've always loved that phrase.

When I wrote the title for this post (it started as just "Life's a Beach), I wondered if I'd already used that title, given my love of the phrase. Turns out I did... over 4 years ago - and it was a sad post. It was just a few days before our girl, Abby, died and we knew the end was imminent. Hence the "part deux" in the title. (I'm all sniffly now from re-reading that old post, so let's get on to some fun beach pics of me and Rita...)

Life's a beach, part deux is all about the smiles!

We'd only been at the beach like one minute, and her nose already had sand on it.

"What?"

Yeah... Pretty Much...

I'm a pretty easy-to-please person. It doesn't take much to make me a happy camper. One of the things I really love is just hanging out with my pooch and loving on her.

A Super Scary Thing At Our House

Every once in a while, Rita freaks out over a new thing in the house, which she decides is super scary.

A while back, it was this tiki man.

I guess he is a little scary.

Wordless Wednesday: Here's the Scoop...

Get it? Here's the scoop.

A Post About A Different Kind of Dog

While we were on our recent road trip to South Dakota, my sisters and I saw a lot of prairie dogs! And, heck, I'm always looking for blog fodder, so today I'm writing about a different kind of "dog."

We first encountered prairie dogs at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive and Keelboat Visitor Center (and rest stop!) in Chamberlain, South Dakota.

There were prairie dogs cut out of metal sheeting...

Road Trip! SD to SD

As I mentioned last week, my siblings, my one sis-in-law, and I all met up in Oacoma, South Dakota to bury my mom beside my dad's ashes. Two of my sisters and I drove - from San Diego to South Dakota - in two days, which seemed like a bad idea on the start of day two, but we had a lot of stuff to bring!

On the whole trip, this was the only dog I got to love on - a carved wooden dog.

Pretty Sure The Dog Thought I Adandoned Her

I was away last week on a road trip with two of my sisters.

Beautiful weather for a road trip!

Who's The Top Dog?

Birthday Donations Update: I wanted to thank everyone who wished Rita a happy birthday the other day. I'd said I'd donate $1 to Baja Animal Sanctuary (where Rita came from) for every comment. Well, I decided to include my replies to everyone's comments, which put the tally at 98. Woot! I rounded up to $100 and sent a check off to BAS, so thanks everypawdy!

Now back to our regularly scheduled post...

Frequent readers will remember Rita's cousin Reggie came to stay with us for two weeks last month.

While organizing the gazillion photos I took while he was here, I noticed these two similar shots from different days:

"Scout"ing Out Some Fun Over The Fourth

Hope all our American readers had a lovely long weekend! And hope your pups weren't too upset about the fireworks!

A patriotic pup with red, white, and blue flowers

Dog On A Log In The Fog, Post-Jog

Okay, not really "foggy" but "marine layer" doesn't rhyme.

Are you impressed with my wordlessness?!

Can you come up with more "og" words? I'm all agog to see if you can!

Wish Rita a Happy Bday; Help a Dog in Need!

Last Thursday* was Rita's fifth birthday. To celebrate, for every person who comments wishing her a happy birthday we'll donate $1** to Baja Animal Sanctuary, the rescue in Mexico where we got Rita.

We've been celebrating Rita's b-day all week, culminating with today's donation-fest. It's what my friends and I always call a "Hanukkah Birthday." (What would be really great would be a "Ramadan Birthday"!) Hmmm. Just remembered Hanukkah is 8 days, and we're only celebrating Rita for 7 days. Guess this is technically her "Hanukkah -1 Birthday."

On her actual bday, we went to the beach:

What's On The Telly? Dog Don't Care; He Watches It All

As you know, Reg stayed with us for two weeks recently.

Man, that dog watches a lot of TV! He loves everything - dramas, dancing, sports, cartoons, the news... even commercials.

Here he is watching Peaky Blinders. Not sure if he could understand their heavy Irish accents or not. We certainly can't, so we turn on the captions, so maybe he was paying such close attention because he had to read along like we do.

The Opposite of Bitey-Face

Last week I shared a lot of bitey-face photos, which is mostly what's been going on around here since Reg came to stay with us for two weeks. This week I thought I'd share the opposite of bitey-face: the much-less-often-captured-but-just-as-cute Snuggle Sessions. (Note: sessions are generally brief since Rita ain't much of a snuggler.)

This is Rita's spot on the sofa - the corner of it beside me. Reg would often insert himself between the two of us. Here he is, resting his head on Rita's haunch. (Say it with me: "Awwww.")

Wordless Wednesday: Bitey-Face-Palooza!

Reggie is here! We're dog sitting him while his pawrents are away for 2 weeks.

Pics To Make You Wanna Go To Maui. Like, Now.

Last week I told you about Rita's adventures at the gulag spa while the hubs and I were in Maui. Today I thought I'd share some pics from our trip.

We love Maui and have been several times as it's a not-tooooo-long, non-stop flight from San Diego. And it's so relaxing there!

Here is the view from the lanai at the condo we rented. (If the view alone doesn't make you relax, doesn't the word lanai? So much more serene sounding than balcony.)

We're Worriers. So, Yeah, We Asked for Proof of Life

I took a blogging break last week because we went to Maui for vacation. If we go somewhere that Rita can't join us, she stays with my sis, brother-in-law, and Reggie. She loves them all and they take great care of her, so we have no worries.

Except when we do worry... Which is often for me.

I can't help it - I've always been a worrier and I always will be one. I have this very terrible habit of always imagining the worst - not because I really think that's going to happen, but because I have to let my mind go there for a minute, just to see what the "worst" might be.

So, off we went last Saturday to Maui, secure in the knowledge that Rita would be well taken care of. I snapped this pic as we were leaving. As you can see, Rita looks completely unconcerned about this!

"Oh, you're leaving? Oh. Okay. Whatevs. See ya'!"

Making Our Walking Routine Less Routine

I/we take Rita for a walk pretty much every single morning. We have a lovely 'hood, with lots of different routes that we can take, but still... sometimes you need a change.

So, lately - maybe once every other week - Rita and I hop in the car and drive down to the next 'hood. It's fun because Rita gets to sniff new things, and I get to see new things. (And, since I started running again recently, it's especially good since it's flat, while our 'hood is super hilly!)

Sometimes I find pretty new places to pose Rita...

The Fur Flew, But Everyone Was Happy

Rita doesn't like to get brushed. (I don't understand why. The Kong "Zoom Groom" we use looks as if it would feel like a massage. Plus you end up cooler and lighter afterward. What's not to like??)

Sometimes the hubs brings the brush along on walks, so he can quickly sneak in two or three strokes when she stops to sniff something. But this weekend, she was completely distracted by a lizard in the bushes, so he went to work on her!

Zen Dog

Last year, I gave the hubs this zen dog:

Why I Do Laundry When It Rains

Last Friday, it rained all day. And I spent most of the day doing laundry. It took me a while to remember why I'm so conditioned to think rain = laundry: It's because we lived in Bermuda for 7 years.

Did I ever tell y'all that? I don't think I did, so today I'll share a little bit about Bermuda life. Don't worry - there will be dog pics. (Apologies though: I didn't have a great camera back then, and the images here are snapped with my phone from my photo album. There are some lovely photos of Bermuda on their tourism Pinterest page.)

There are many interesting things about Bermuda, but today I'm focusing on the roofs. Yes, the roofs. They're very pretty - a nice, crisp white, which looks lovely against the greenery of the island and the bright colors of the houses themselves.

Pastel-colored house, white roof, lush landscape? Yep, that's Bermuda!

A Doggy and a Foggy Beach

Certain beaches here in San Diego let you bring your leashed dog in the morning or early evening. Because we are lazy (that includes Rita!) we often don't get up early enough to get to the beach and still have plenty of time for a good walk, but today we managed to get up and at 'em early.

It was really foggy today so I thought about skipping it, but we went for it.

A Dog Named Trixie

If you've been around the blog a while, you know my mom passed away in December. While going through her things, my one sister found 9 letters that my dad had sent to his parents during WWII.

Spring Roll

Sorry this is a bit blurry, but you get the idea...

It Didn't Change My Life, But It Does Spark Joy

I confess, I haven't been writing lately. I've got a book over half done, but it doesn't "spark joy" at the moment.

So, what have I been doing? Well, I spent weeks "Kondo'ing" my house.

My Kondo'd T-shirts

Does Your Dog Have Friends?

Rita has two good friends, Reg...

Wordless Wednesday: Surf's Up

We've had a lot of wind and some choppy surf here in San Diego lately.

Old Snow Is Better Than None - Taking the Dog In Search of Winter

Last week we went to Flagstaff for a little vacation, in search of snow since Rita had never seen it before. Unfortunately, it ended up being really warm, which was nice, except that it was too thawed for any showshoeing, but not thawed enough for hiking. Bummer!

We attempted one very muddy hike in Flag in the trails behind Buffalo Park. (Buffalo Park is a nice spot to walk your on-leash dog, with a nice flat loop trail. At the back of the park, there's also a connection to a much more elaborate trail system. But it was too muddy to go very far when we were there.)

Here are Rita and the hubs in the park, with the arrow pointing out the only "real" snow in the background.

Wordless Wednesday: Workin' It

Rita is really good at looking like she hasn't eaten in three days when you are smacking out on something she wants a bite of. (Note how she sucks in her cheeks.)

I Met My Furry Muse!

If you've been around the blog a while, you might remember I posted this picture last year of our family friends' Labradoodle, Annie, the real life inspiration for Marie, the fuzzy heroine of my third novel, House Trained.

Photo credit: Annie's mom

New Cozy Sheets - The Dog Approves

We recently got new cozy polar fleece sheets. To say Rita approves of them is an understatement.

The Sweet One and the ... Intense One

There are two border collies in our 'hood whose yard we often walk by on the weekends.

There's a sweet one...

Ain't No Party Like a Puppy Party

The other day if you've liked my author page or we're friends on Facebook, you might have seen this pic of me with two cute puppies and a sweet old golden in the background. If so, did you wonder who those pups are?

Rita: Nutty About Chew

I wanted to share a couple of cute pics and a funny video from Christmas and figured I better get on it! Christmas already seems so long ago. (Although our neighbors are still turning their Christmas lights on every night...)

Anyway, here's Rita opening her gifts. Do you wrap presents and let your pup(s) open them?

See Beautiful: Beauty's All Around on a Hike

Belated Happy New Year!

I must admit - I've lost my blogging mojo (hopefully I'll find it since I'm in the middle of a big spring-cleaning binge), but I promised last month when I shared our Sedona/javelina adventures that I'd share some of the other pics I took if I remembered the See Beautiful hop.

And I actually remembered!

It's hard not to "see beautiful" when you're out on a hike with this scenery:

But I thought I'd share some of the other beauty on the trail - all the different trees and plants.