A Friend in Need…

If you follow this blog daily, you know I’ve had a rough week. My tummy hasn’t been exactly normal as of late and today, I had to go back to the vet. Bummer. The doctor’s really nice and everything, but man, do I hate it when they put that thermometer where it really shouldn’t go. Turns out, I do have a bit of a fever and so the doctor prescribed antibiotics along with more probiotics and doggy Pepto.

But today’s visit to the vet wasn’t as horrible as it could have been because Gretchen brought Monty with us. Monty doesn’t mind the vet. In fact, Monty doesn’t really mind much of anything (except maybe having his tail brushed out) so it was comforting to have his steady presence holding my paw when the doctor put that thermometer where I begged her not to.

Anyway, the whole experience got me to thinking about the importance of friends. Ironically, this came up in class this morning with Gretchen’s students. “Sometimes,” Gretchen told her class, “Sometimes you get settled in your friendships, which isn’t a bad thing, but it means that you often don’t reach out to others, you don’t take risks to get to know someone else.”

Nini, her teaching partner added, “Remember how we talk about how the things you do aren’t nearly as powerful as the things you don’t do?” All the students nodded because it’s been a theme for the past month. “Well, when you don’t reach out to others, it can send unintended message.”

"Hey, Oshi...where are the cheerleaders?"

With that little introduction, the students wrote down three other students in class they’d like to get to know a little better. The plan is, over the next few weeks, to create opportunities to sit next to, work with, and perhaps even plan some out of school play time with these new people.

"Hey, how'd you score better seats?"

"Monty! Don't move!!!"

While I think this is admirable, it made me realize how many really good friends I have — human and canine. Being a dog dog walker means I get to expand my zone of friendships all the time welcoming in new dogs with every new client. True, we haven’t taken on too many new clients of late, but I have no doubt that once the school year is over, we’ll sign on some new dog friends and I’ll have the opportunity to expand my circle of friends.

Still, the whole friendship discussion this morning, spending the day playing with my friends today, and then having my best and oldest friend support me in my stressful visit to the vet clinic got me thinking about the importance of old friends as well as new ones. Monty made me feel a whole later better this afternoon and I know that that’s not only a testament to friendship, but a it’s also a testament to the affable quality of Monty…or, as we like to call him, Uncle Monty. Everyone loves him and he, in turn, loves everyone and everything.

A newer friend on my shoulder!

Playing with the younger set!

Everybody's Uncle Monty!

For instance, when the vet tech met him today, he nuzzled her hand out of her pocket (where there were treats) and then gave his goofiest, friendliest look. The vet tech laughed and turned to me and said, “I can see why you such a friendly guy around, Rubin.” It’s true. Monty makes every moment special and frankly, that’s what good friends do whether they be newly met or long-time buddies.

Your friends always want what you've got.

The old man still has the moves!

Yeah, I know Saber is figuring out if he can fit through my legs to get to the ball. Fat chance, buddy!

I might be a bit under the weather, but friends can sure make me feel better!

I didn’t talk much about today, but hopefully the photos and the captions explain it all!

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

Do I Hear Robins?

Robins are resident birds. They live in our area all year round and often, on our walks, we see them flitting from one branch to the next occasionally giving a chirp or two to announce their presence. But this morning they were actually singing! Loudly.

What does this mean? Well, I fear that it means the groundhog was wrong when he predicted six more weeks of winter. Robins, in these parts, only sing like that when winter is ending and spring is springing. I have mixed feelings about this.

First, when I look longingly to the west and see snow in the Olympics and then look east at the Cascades without much snow at all, I worry that snow may be something I’ll never see again. Gretchen tells me not to worry, but I guess worrying is in my nature.

Next, while warmer weather is nice, warmer weather often brings more rain before it brings no rain (as in summer). We’ve had an awful lot of rain this winter and, according to the weather forecasters, the warmest January on record. I don’t mind the rain, but I seriously mind my raincoat and I fear that days and days of rain may require Gretchen to pull that evil thing out of the closet.

Warm weather is also not good if you’re a dog (or a cat) because it means more fleas. If it doesn’t freeze in the winter, all those dormant eggs hatch and man, fleas are a bummer!

But warm weather has its points. It means swimming in the lake, long hikes in the mountains, hours in the garden, and hanging out in the sun on the back porch. It means light late in the evening and early in the morning and all those flowers blooming and birds chirping.

So, while I want to complain about the lack of snow, the robins are singing in some just as fun (well, almost) as a crisp wintry day. Today those robins chirped sporadically since the sun was out and then it wasn’t, blue skies followed by sprinkles.

Fickle. That’s just about the only word for today’s weather that started with morning teaching session and then a nice long walk with Monty. We ate a hearty brunch after that while Gretchen grabbed the boys next door and went for play date at the tennis courts with a little orange and blue ball. Perrito liked that very much.

Oshi, on the other hand, was worried about rain so he hung out with Gretchen while Perrito raced after the ball on the shiny, wet courts.

After the boys went home, Gretchen picked up Gemma and walked her over to Saber’s house. Man, those two. It’s just exhausting looking at the pictures!

Once they got their jollies out, they went for a long walk up on the ridge and posed with Bellevue behind them. Yes, the mountains are there, too, but you really can’t see the snow 1) because there isn’t much and 2) because Gretchen’s still trying to figure out the camera. (Hint: Read the instruction manual!)

After they went home, Gretchen picked up Monty and me again first for a game of fetch at the little park…

…where Monty almost lost Or’ange in the undergrowth (see him there all worried that Monty will distractedly walk off?)…

…and then the rain came though it was still sunny. Not sure if you can see the little white flecks, but those are photographic defects…it’s rain!

…then we went on a long walk down by the lake whereupon we posed by the water.

"Shall we go in, big guy?"

Yes, the weather was warm. Gretchen was in a short-sleeved shirt. I love to swim, but I wasn’t quite sure the water would be to my liking. Not Monty!

“Warm weather? Cold water? Dude!!!! It’s time to swim!!!!”

I watched from the shore.

I make Monty do all the work!

Does that make me a chicken?

I don't look like a chicken, do I?

Actually, I think I’m just looking forward to tomorrow when Gretchen’s going to take me to a doggie spa. I know, I’m spoiled rotten, but she figures he gets a massage every few weeks and I work probably harder than she does, so I need a little pampering myself. The spa water is supposed to be 98 degrees! I think I might like that more than the cold lake on a warm day.

Stay tuned…I tell you all about it on Monday!

Until then, have a great weekend!

Rubin

A Weather DADT Policy

In other words, if you don’t ask about the weather, I’m not going to tell!

Instead, the weather is closeted today (ha!) and photographs are few and far between, I’m going to tell you a story about Or’ange (pronounced as if you were French).

Or’ange was a small, roly-poly kid who loved to play with his dog friends whenever they wen to the park to play fetch. When I say he was roly-poly, I literally mean completely round with absolutely no corners or edges on this guy. While that was one distinguishing feature, another was the blue streak in his otherwise orange hair.

Well, one day, while the dogs chased after Or’ange at the park, Monty picked him up by the back of his pants and carried him off. Monty meant no harm, he was just playing, but as Monty often does, he got distracted and dropped Or’ange along the way. When Monty returned to play with all of his other friends at the park, they noticed that Or’ange was no longer with him.

“Hey, Monty,” I asked, “Where’s Or’ange?”

“Huh?” was Monty’s enlightened response. Instantly, we all got worried and scattered to all four corners of the park look for Or’ange.

We called his name, we searched in the bushes, we looked down the hill and up the street. We looked in the most unusual places (up trees) and even created a grid pattern to search the area like they do on CSI. But no Or’ange.

Monty felt horrible and for days and days we walked through the park calling for Or’ange and retracing Monty’s steps.

When we were just about to give up hope, we walked the edges of the park one more time hopelessly whimpering Or’ange’s name. He must be cold and hungry and very scared, we all thought to ourselves when all of the sudden, out of nowhere, Or’ange came rolling down the hill!

“Or’ange, Or’ange,” we all yelled and raced to him. We hugged him again and again and finally asked, “What happened?”

“Well, I got stuck in a gutter. I’m so embarrassed. That’s never happened to me before, but there I was for what seemed like weeks stuck in the drain. I heard you all yelling for me, but every time I yelled back, my voice just carried down to the sewer system and not up to you. I was so scared and so worried that no one would find me that I had to do something.

“So the other day, when it rained, all the old leaves from autumn started moving up and down kind of waving at me. That’s when I got the idea. I could move back and forth, but I couldn’t get enough lift to push me out of the gutter. So these past few days and nights I worked tirelessly to build a ramp out of the gutter using the leaves.”

“That’s brilliant!” Monty exclaimed.

“Yes, I suppose it was, but man, I was desperate. Eventually, with enough rain and enough leaves, I made a perfect ramp out of the gutter and up on to the street. But the next part was the hardest of all. I had to roll super fast and launch myself up the ramp so my momentum carried me out into the street. I’ve been trying for days, but when I heard you all walk by again sounding so sad, I just knew I had to try one last time.”

“And it work!” I shouted.

“Yes,” said Or’ange, kind of proud of himself. “It worked and lucky for me, once onto the street, I could roll downhill to all of you.”

The friends embraced again and I got to carry Or’ange home where he rested with a huge smile on his face.

(Please note that all the photos are from today’s rainy activities! You can only keep things in the closest for so long! More photos from today’s wet activities below:)

Until tomorrow,

Rubin