Keep pets safe in the dog days of summer
http://news.consumerreports.org/health/2013/07/keep-pets-safe-in-the-dog-days-of-summer.html
Apollo and Lexy are so spoiled. AC all day and sunset walks.
Tag: dogs
Apollo and Venus
Soon after I returned home from work Tuesday evening, Terry suggested that we take Apollo to the dog park. I briefly thought of just taking Apollo for a walk around the neighborhood, but my legs kept shaking from the first workout I’d done in nearly a week. I capitulated and led Apollo out to the car on the long leather leash. We arrived at the dog park a bit after seven o’clock. We only saw four other dogs in the ‘large dogs’ side of the park. As I took Apollo off his leash, he loped over to two dogs, one of which was leashed, to make some new friends. Those two were on the way home, so that left only two other dogs to meet and greet.
We wondered around the back half of the park, strolling leisurely through the trees and watching the sun slowly sink in the west. As we continued on towards the southwest corner of the park, I remembered an article I read recently that stated I should be able to see Venus during daylight hours this week. I placed my right hand between my eyes and the sun and looked up away and to the left. For the first few minutes, I could not see Venus. But I kept trying and eventually, I found it, shining brightly more than thirty or forty degrees away from the sun, with the sun still about five degrees above the western horizon. You can estimate degrees while observing astronomical objects by using the width of your fist from top to bottom held at arm’s length, which equals about 10 degrees.
I tried to take a photo of Venus and the setting sun with my cell phone camera, but upon review, I can’t find Venus in the shot I took. I’m not entirely convinced I succeeded in getting both the planet and our sun in the same field of view. My reading glasses were in my purse in the car, so I took a leap of faith and prayed I succeeded when I clicked the shutter (or whatever virtual equivalent my cell phone camera sports). Here’s the photo, but I can’t find Venus in it:
I tried to direct Terry to spotting Venus, but his prescription sunglasses were too dark and too out-of-date to be of much help. I sent a Tweet from my phone as soon as I found Venus and spent the next few minutes enjoying the view.
We wondered back east along the fence and met up with the other two dogs. A squirrel taunted them from a few feet away on the other side of the fence. One of the dogs, some sort of hunting breed, kept barking at the squirrel, who ignored all the dogs.
The sun began setting and we herded Apollo towards the gate. The dog park is only open from sunrise to sunset so our brief play time rapidly came to an end. We made sure Apollo got a good drink of water before loading him back into the car and returning home.
Service Review: Safe Harbor Pet Boarding & Daycare (Basehor, Kansas)
Roxy and Apollo visited a new home away from home last weekend. I planned the day trip to Abilene not knowing exactly when we would get home. Without having a large pet door installed at our house, I can’t leave them at home, trapped in the house, for twelve or eighteen hours. Sometimes, if the weather’s nice and I know we won’t be gone for long (like over night or late into the night), I leave the back patio door cracked just enough so Apollo can nose his way out if he feels like it. But Saturday’s forecast didn’t call for temperatures to climb much above freezing, so I went searching for an alternative.
The place I normally board the dogs doesn’t encourage pickup of pets on Sundays and doesn’t provide the normal bath their slightly inflated prices for boarding include if you pickup on a Sunday. I drive by the Safe Harbor facility twice daily to pickup and drop off one of our vanpool riders. She has mentioned several times how much she likes the place and that they board their dog there frequently.
I called and spoke to the owner and got all my questions answered. Safe Harbor’s boarding rates were much less expensive than my usual boarder in Leavenworth. And, since Safe Harbor allowed me to pickup the dogs on Sunday morning, I only needed to board two dogs for one night (instead of two dogs for two nights). I had her fax me the forms to fill out. I contacted our vet to get them to fax Roxy and Apollo’s records to Safe Harbor, only to discover that Roxy’s three year rabies shot had expired two days before. I didn’t earn myself any favors with my husband when I asked him to take her up to the vet that very afternoon and get her re-vaccinated.
Bright and early on Saturday morning, we loaded up Roxy and Apollo and headed south to Basehor. Safe Harbor opened at 7:30 a.m. and we arrived shortly thereafter. Roxy and Apollo were eager to meet the owners and some new pet friends. I arranged to have Apollo bathed and left the Rotties in good hands while we continued west for a couple of hours to Abilene.
Sunday morning, I wiled away the time reading two books (alternating between the non-fiction The Devil in the White City and the scifi space opera Honor Among Enemies). I left Lansing shortly after 9:30 a.m. and headed south on K-7 to Basehor to retrieve Roxy and Apollo. I paid the boarding and grooming fees and wrestled the Rotts back into the Bonneville. Safe Harbor sent them home each with a bag of doggie treats and, in Apollo’s case, in squeaky clean splendidness.
I liked their location, their facility, their prices and their service. Apollo and Roxy will definitely be spending more time at the Safe Harbor Pet Boarding and Daycare.
Fifth Saturday Wrapup
Funny how things snowball once you get rolling. I had no idea when I woke up this morning at 5:45 a.m. that I would accomplish so much today. I had hopes of a quiet day at home, cleaning off the DVR and actually started on this endeavor before getting sidetracked.
I watched the Smithsonian Channel’s Aerial America Vermont episode, wishing I could visit, especially during autumn. That state has more than it’s fair share of spectacular scenery and vibrant foliage. By the time I was nearing the end of that episode, Terry had woken up and mumbled something about an omelet.
I got up to brew some cranberry tea and remembered I had recently purchased a cranberry scones mix from the Queen’s Pantry. So, I quickly whipped up the scones mix and preheated the oven. While they were baking, I decided to continue stacking firewood my dad had helped deliver earlier in the week.
Once the scones finished, I sat down for a proper British breakfast and surveyed the new Sherlock Holmes airing from BBC via PBS and Masterpiece Mystery. Fun and updated for our times, with only a slightly annoying soundtrack. I’m looking forward to the other two episodes (tomorrow night and a week from tomorrow). It’s a pity the BBC could only afford three episodes for this new series … it looks promising.
I packaged up a couple of books to send to BookMoochers, one in California and the other in South Carolina. While waiting in line at the post office, I ran into an old friend, which made the long wait pass quickly while catching up with kids news, etc.
I spent way too much at the grocery store today, but did save ninety cents on gasoline and filled up both Pontiacs with premium for only $1.899 per gallon. I got back home with the groceries (second trip) and finished stacking the firewood. Then we made a trip to O’Reilly’s because they have a sale on gallons of Mobil One synthetic motor oil. We bought enough to change the oil in both cars.
Once back home, we determined we needed to recycle all the oil we’d accumulated and stored in the garage when the kids lived here and we had four vehicles to maintain. We transferred the used oil to a couple of containers without making too much of a mess on the garage floor. Then we packed up the dogs, planning to stop at the dog park on the way back from O’Reilly’s.
With all the walking, stacking, grocery toting (including the forty pound bag of dog food) and oil purchasing (four gallons) and recycling (five or six gallons), I’m already started to stiffen up and feel the aches and soreness setting in. I’ll definitely be soaking in the hot tub before retiring tonight.
Terry and I enjoyed home-made pizza for dinner and will relax to the hilarious Halloween hijinks of Right Between the Ears live from Liberty Hall in Lawrence via KANU in just a few minutes.
Not bad for the fifth and final Saturday of October 2010.