Slacker

I've been called a lot of things in my time, but "slacker" hasn't been one of them.  I do feel like I've been neglecting this poor blog though, and I feel bad about it.  I love writing here and posting pictures, sharing my life's mundane details, etc.  I'll try to do better going forward, but no promises.  It seems that life is busier than ever nowadays, and while I'm not complaining, I do wish that there were just a few more hours in each day.

Now, in an attempt to catch you up on what I've been doing - I'll share a few photos of the last couple of days with you.

Never a dull moment...that's for sure.

Monday was Dad's birthday. He would have been 84.

 I've been doing lots of fun stuff with the dogs, both with my Love on a Leash group, and my Golden group.

 Temptation...

 We've received some very touching memorial gifts from our friends, including this plaque from Jill and Jeremy.

Someone sent this to me anonomously.  Pretty cool, but I wish I knew who to thank.

 And of course we've been missing Jack.

 My friend Teresa and her Mom, Pat, had this pillow made for me.  I just love it! That's my boy!

Zoom Room Video!

This was my project for the afternoon.

The Canine Cancer Walk

On February 23rd I'll be walking in the San Diego K9 Cancer walk, benefiting the Morris Animal Foundation.  We walked last year with my Golden Retriever Meetup group, and we were thankful that we had 4 very healthy dogs.

Shortly after the walk, one of our girls, Jill (aka GiGi) was diagnosed with a hemangiosarcoma on her front right paw.  We were lucky and caught it in time.  We had her toe amputated, and she recovered 100%. She runs around, no worse for the wear, and is again, a healthy, happy girl.

Up until the 1st of February, we were planning on walking in her honor. She is a cancer survivor, and we felt lucky. Then, as you know, we lost our boy Jack. Sudden, shocking, and sad. He had a massive splenic tumor that ruptured. Most likely another hemangiosarcoma. This time we weren't lucky. 

So, on February 23rd, we will be walking both in honor of Jill, and in loving memory of our beautiful boy Jack.

If you have the desire to make a donation to our team, we would greatly appreciate it.  Any amount is wonderful.  I am the team leader. Here is a link if you are interested. 
http://support.morrisanimalfoundation.org/site/TR/Events/General?pg=team&fr_id=1310&team_id=5702

I had some special shirts made up for the event for Hubby and I to wear.  I was very happy with how they came out, and how fast they shipped.  I ordered these late last week and they arrived today.  Thanks CafePress.

The List Grows

What do:
Gadsen, Alabama,
Abilene, Texas,
Wichita, Kansas,
Albany, New York,
Southbend, Indiana,
Honolulu, Hawaii,
Salt Lake City, Utah,
Ashland, Defiance, Wooster, Cambridge and Alliance, Ohio,
Stamford, Greenwich, and Danbury, Conneceticut,
Washington DC,
Denver, Colorado,
San Jose, California,
Huntington, Pennsylvania,
Atlanta, Georgia.
and Halifax, Nova Scotia all have in common? 

So far these cities have all run my photos in their newspapers! I don't mean to sound like I am bragging, I honestly don't, I am just so darn surprise and freaking tickled pink!

In case you missed it, here is the link to the article in the Washington Post.

This is one of the 5 pictures I took that the associated press picked up.This is Bronzon, our winner from 2010.

Seriously Cool!

OK, so a couple of days ago (I think it was Thursday) I got a call from Sue Manning, of the Associated Press. She wanted to interview me about the Halloween Parties I organize for the San Diego Golden Retriever Group I run. We had a lovely conversation, and at the conclusion she asked if I ever take pictures at the events.  Well, OF COURSE I DO!  I went through my albums of photos, and selected about a dozen that I thought we good.  Out of those, Sue and her editor chose a few to include with the story.

Well, I'm tickled to say that the story ran today, and was picked up by The Washington Post, The Denver Post, newspapers in Albany, NY, Greenwich and Danbury, CT, Cambridge, OH, San Jose, CA, and several online publications, including ABCnews.go.com. 

It's a super cool feeling to see the photos I took of some of our awesome group members in these publications.

If you are interested, here is a link to the story with the photos.  The Washington Post

(Nearly)Wordless Wednesday - Wet Dogs!

I took Kona and Harley to a meetup at Del Mar Dog Beach today. It was fantastic!

Perfect Day for a Parade

Our Golden Group participated in the Oceanside Independence Day Parade today.  It was absolutely a perfect day to go out for a nice walk with a couple of our Golden friends!

The waiting around is always the hard part...the dogs are anxious to start walking. Sometimes you just have to find ways to pass the time...as AJ did here.

 Once again, we had a very nice turnout. We all was said and done, and the last minute folks showed up, I figure we has about 40 members show up.

 Finally, we were on the move.

 Oceanside is a very patriotic town, and their parade it a BIG one!

 Most of the dogs in the group were sporting red, white and blue of some sort.

 The street was lined with several thousand viewers. It was fantastic! They waved and cheered as we walked by.

 Who wouldn't love a big gaggle of Goldens strutting their stuff?

 It's so fun to see the crowd light up when we come by. 

 And, of course one of the best things about walking in a parade is having very pooped pooches afterwards!

**(Thank you anonymous, for proof reading this post and pointing out my error....)

Memorial Weekend 2012 Wrap Up

It was a busy weekend, and a nice kick off to the summer season. AJ got off safely to Germany, and is enjoying his 10 day vacation with friends in Munich. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share when he returns.  (If he knows what's good for him, he'll be taking LOTS of pictures - it's the ONLY thing I asked him to bring home for me.) 

After taking him to the airport early Saturday morning, we went to the cemetery. It was a spectacular site to see all 67,000 grave adorned with American flags in honor of Memorial Day. Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, along with other volunteers start placing the flags at 6:30am on Saturday morning. We arrived before noon and they we long done. It was a beautiful, solemn site to see.

 As far as the eye could see...

 Ah...Poppa.

 I always loved to kiss my Dad on his bald forehead.  This will have to suffice from now on.

After a party at a friend's house on Sunday afternoon, we had a full day ahead of us on Monday. We started off bright at early at the Kensington Memorial Day Parade with my Golden Retriever group. It was the 6th year in a row we've walked in the parade and as always, it was a ton of fun. It's so cool to hear people say "Oh, here come the Goldens! They are the best part of the parade!" Of course I agree!

 What a great looking group!

 Kona working the crowd-what a shock! The therapy dog in him always comes out!

After the parade we headed home and got ready for a last minute BBQ we'd thrown together. Another friend had a party planned but had to postpone due to a sick pup, so we basically moved the party to our house, added a couple of neighbors to the mix and had a fun, relaxing afternoon.

Before the BBQ got rolling, I took my annual Memorial Day pictures of the pups in their patriotic bandannas.  I don't know exactly why I started taking pictures of them on Memorial Day, but I've done it every year for the last 4 or 5 years now, and these are always some of my very favorite pictures I take of them all year long.  Here are the best from this year's batch.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the back yard with friends, and family, enjoying the food, fantastic weather, and a little time for reflection.

Miss you Pops, and I know Jill does too.