The Unleashed Dog Blog

Niagara Falls

2010-09-07T02:41:00.000-04:00

Well, I have a ton of amazing photos from Niagara Falls; however, I am out of time- I must go to sleep as I need to wake up and go to work where I must add our new location to my insurance, file a bunch of bills that I am behind in filing, move the entire supplement and canned food section as we are to receive a new walk-in freezer "tomorrow," and so much more. I hope that I can finish catching up before Halloween!

This is where we walked the dogs! Amphitheater overlooking the falls!

A few photos, before I go to bed- these are the photos of our morning before we headed on to "Maid of the Mist." Note the glare- that's because we are looking out of the window of the dining room of our hotel!!

JP and I at lunch overlooking Niagara Falls!

After breakfast/lunch at the hotel, we headed out to "Maid of the Mist." I have a lot of amazing pictures, but no more time, so next post will be beautiful waterfall pics . . . and much more. Have a great day after Labor Day!

2010-09-07T00:19:00.000-04:00

OK, so I know this is a lot in one day, but let me remind you, I won't get another opportunity for quite some time. So, our summer trip continues . . . we leave our family behind in Bayfield, Ontario, Canada, and drive to Niagara Falls, Canada!

We stayed at pet-friendly Sheraton Hotel right on the Falls. Directly across the street was an outdoor ampitheater:

JP with the dogs in the park across from the Niagara Falls.


Benny looks at the USA Niagara Falls!


Benny sits on the couch at the Sheraton on the Falls!

Vixen says goodbye as we head out to see the Falls.

We did the Fury(video intro,) Maid of the Mist and the Journey Behind the Falls. The dogs had to hang out at the hotel while we toured Niagara Falls.


JP and I (he doesn't want his picture taken) at Niagara's Fury, a 4-D preview the night before we did the falls.

That night, we watched the moon set over the falls and headed back to our room.


Benny eyes the "Sheraton" bed . . .

Vixen rests his head on the "Sheraton" bed.

And thus we went to bed ourselves, and awaited our visit under the falls the next morning. To be included in the next post . . .

2010-09-06T23:49:00.000-04:00

Wow, I can't believe how long it is taking me to share a single vacation- good think we don't take many! Well, I'm enjoying it, and I hope you are too.
So, the next morning I woke to this . . .

Add caption

and a ray of sunshine with Vixen!

Little Ava of Sunshine shared her morning with Benny . . .

Kitten, Ernie

And before we knew it, it was time for us to leave . . .


Ava helps put in the dogs' West Paw Eco Naps, and Jackson wants to come with us too!

And so, we say good-bye and head on to our next stop, Greene, NY.

More Canada Trip

2010-09-06T23:34:00.000-04:00

Ah, it's been fun posting the pictures of our brief stay in Canada- it's like reliving all of the best moments from my home here in Raleigh, and not thinking about the days (months) of work ahead. And so, I carry on . . .
And here is a picture that is made possible by a high-school best friend of mine who has a great blog, in which she created "GPOYW" which means, "Gratuitous Picture Of Yourself Wednesday." It's not Wednesday, but who knows when I'll actually blog on a Wednesday, so here is another picture of me, despite my not liking pictures of me, thanks to Julie, and to my favorite round-the-clock photographer, Ava. I have just woken up, showered, and donned my pinkest shirt for Ava (again, no makeup and my hair's still wet- I'm on vacation after all!) (Oh, and when the wine I'm currently drinking (a local, Cypress Bend, NC Table Wine) wears off, I will totally want to delete the pictures of me, but I won't because I'll be too busy working!)

Jackson, the un-tire-able Weimaraner!

We took over the table! Instead of their normal raw diet, our dogs dined on Ziwi Peak or Stella & Chewy's, & their supplements- Bug-Off Garlic, Whole Dog Daily (we shared with Jackson who had an upset tummy,) and Healthy Motion (for Joints.) My niece was awesome at feeding them and making sure they had enough water!

Ernie the kitten! Smokey, my parents' dog that I found for them at the flea market, discovered this kitten during their Bayfield stay! And now, he's an integral part of the family!

Again, Benny and comfy spots, there is no separation! (Please ignore the laundry, it was a very small room!)

We headed to the beach, which was warm, but super windy; so, there were lots of people on the sand, but only crazies (like us North Carolinians, in the water!)

Jackson fetches the Zisc!

It was extremely windy, and JP and I swam out to the ship, which was actually purposely sunk to help with erosion. Since conditions made it like an ocean it took us an extremely long time to swim out, and we even thought about turning back; but if you know us, you know we never give up, and would have made it there if one of us needed the other to drag them. We jumped off of the ship, swam back and went back to the cabin, to relax in the hammock. (Karen, if you have those pictures of us jumping off, when others wouldn't, could you send them to me?)

Hammock, Vixen, Jackson, Cabin, and kids in the background.

Vixen, in his swimming, Dublin collar, watching a bunny in the distance . . .

So, if swimming is not an option, laying in a hammock in the warm sunshine definitely is . . .

ME, as taken by AVA

JP, as taken also by Ava. Now, see the vacation in this photo, and revel in it: tie-dye shirt, hammock, book, beer, bluff overlooking lake . . .

Now, just add Vixen . . .

My niece, Ava, with my boys!

Vixen, at my hammock, wanting some lovin!


My cousin Ava, with my boys! I love them all!

Benny, tired as he is, won't give up a tennis game!

Benny was worn out by the much younger, Jackson Weimaraner, but is never going to admit it!

Laying in a hammock on a bluff, looking at my most noble, regal, mutt . . . what could be better?

And thus ends another wonderful vacation day . . . until the next post . . .

Bayfield, Ontario continued

2010-09-06T22:28:00.000-04:00

A few weeks before we went to Bayfield, my parents did. They experienced a super heat wave (while we had one here in Raleigh.) Now, a heat wave at a beach (it may be a lake, but it looks like an ocean) would be OK in my book- lots of swimming! But, when we got there, we instead got a "storm-wave" instead. Lots of overcast skies and a lake that was wavier than an ocean- literally, should have brought a surfboard! So, we did some Main Street shopping (we have some great new wall art in our house, and, most surprisingly, a kitchen hutch- you'll have to ask if you want a pic or more details about that one) and some book reading, and we visited a Mennonite Farm, and the "city" of Goderich, and we hung out, played games, and Ava practiced her photography. I have lots of pictures, so feast your eyes . . .


Benny and Vixen lounging around the cabin, with Brendon in the background!


Brendon could at last use his Canadian umbrella hat! There's a reason to like rain!


This one's for you, Karen, a face only a mother could love. . . just kidding, my adorable niece passes the time! (Looks kinda like me, doesn't it?)

We found this "Canada" shirt at the store, and thought maybe it will fit Ernie . . .

While you're feeling either happy or sad for the kitten in the Canada shirt, you can also see the screened-in dining room overlooking the grassy yard and Lake Huron (those chairs in the distance is where you sit to watch the sunset.)

The busy screened-in front porch: Jackson, Benny, Me, JP, Brendon- screened-in porches overlooking lakes in cabins with no air get lots of action!

A picture of yours truly; I don't like pictures of me, but this one is courtesy of my favorite photographer, Ava! But, as a note, I am wearing NO makeup, have been swimming, and taking walks (and not showers due to the limited well-water,) and the bump on my left cheek is actually a scar (where I had skin cancer removed- another of those if you want more details, please write to me and I'll be happy to share more.)

And my photographer, my niece, my favorite little girl, Ava! This photo was totally her idea- taken through the open window over my bed in the cottage!

Benny finds himself a comfortable spot in any bed!

Vixen awaits the sunset (you may notice that we got the three boys matching bandannas before we went to Canada, from our Christmas in July sale!)


The boys watching the sunset over the bluff!

The sun sets on another vacation day in Canada.

Bayfield, Ontario

2010-09-06T21:45:00.000-04:00

And so we finally made it to Bayfield. Bayfield is a picturesque small town on the coast of Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada. There are no stoplights, no malls, no movie theaters, no . . . well, instead of what there is not, it is shorter to say what there is. There is a lovely center of town which is a park, including a gazebo, a playground, and some grass. Around it there are a couple of lovely, quaint, churches, a small convenience grocery store, and a community center. Just next to the center park, is "main street" which is complete with two ice cream shops (and the commercial part of main street is less than a mile long,) many boutiques, restaurants, bars, a library, a bookstore, several art studios, and an inn (oh, and a dog store too, which we were sure to patronize, several times!) You can get internet in front of the library (in it I'm sure too) and that's about it. A couple blocks away from this "main street" is Lake Huron, with many beach accesses, a cute public park overlooking the lake, and a marina. On a bluff overlooking the lake, sits an adorable cottage, and that is where we were lucky enough to stay, with our two dogs! My brother's wife's mother owns this cottage, that was passed down to her, and is a super sweet lady and was generous to let us stay for a week in their paradise. The cottage is rustic and charming- no internet, no air conditioning, just a breeze off of the lake and some lovely sunsets! The dogs loved the very flat, very green yard that encircles the house- they ran many laps round and round the house with their "cousins." The first night we spent with our "mother of our sister-in-law" whatever you call her, beyond wonderful (we call her Margie,) my niece, Ava, and Margie's dog, "Missy." It was a bit stormy, but all of the dogs had fun anyhow.

Water Wubba is Vixen's love!

The next morning, Margie headed back home to Michigan, and shortly after, my Brother, Stephen, his wife, Karen, one of my nephews, Brendon, their 1-2 year old, rescued Weimaraner, Jackson, and their brand new kitten, Ernie, joined us at the cabin. My other nephew, Spencer, instead embarked on a boyscout adventure to Jamboree! Anyhow, you're probably ready for some pictures by now, so here they come. It was stormy most of the day, but we got a couple of hours to play with the dogs down by the lake (well, and in the lake too!)


Benny retrieves his "West Paw Zisc"

Vixen retrieves his Water Wubba!


My nephew, Brendon, throws the ball for Jackson, while Benny brings back the Zisc!

Jackson swam until we left, Vixen has his Wubba, and Benny has his Zisc!

The sun sets . . .

The dogs had so much fun, but eventually the sun came down, and we went up (the hill, to the cabin.)


My niece, Ava, and her dog, Jackson, in front of the sunset!

My niece, Ava, found a new passion in photography and took many, many pictures with my camera, including this family shot in front of the cottage:

In front of the cabin, watching the sunset (from left to right): me, Jackson (look over my chair,) Stephen, Karen, and Brendon

And so, that day ends, and I move to the next post (in the interest of keeping things from rambling on and on . . .)

Oh Canada

2010-09-06T20:52:00.000-04:00

Once we got back to Detroit, it was back in the car and off to the main part of our vacation- Canada! And the best way to get there (after driving a couple hours that is) is by ferry!

Benny and Vixen are officially world travelers- or at least have been out of the country!!

And, if you're interested in taking your dogs to Canada, it was easy! We just handed over our passports and their proof of rabies vaccination (paperwork only, we don't know where Benny's tag is.) The "Bounty woman" asked us to roll down the back windows, patted Benny on the head, and that was it! But, we also went to a very small border entry. You had to get there by a ferry which could hold, at max, 9 vehicles, but we rode next to a semi-truck which took up an entire row, so we had even fewer cars on our ferry, and really no wait!

So from there, we drove about two hours through corn fields, to our somewhat main destination, Bayfield, Ontario. And since I have tons of pictures to weed through for that part of our vacation, I will make that the next post. (See, aren't you glad I don't do this everyday? Or maybe if I did, the posts wouldn't be so long, but I didn't take my laptop to Canada!)

Summer Vacation Prologue

2010-09-06T20:34:00.000-04:00

My life is currently hurtling ahead at the speed of light, and I'm doing everything I can to not lose my sanity! Meanwhile, the kittens are cuddling, Vixen's snoozing on the floor, and Benny's intently, but calmly, staring out the window. They have no idea that their "work" is about to expand. If you ask them (well, the dogs mostly, but the kittens are catching on,) if they "want to go to work," you get the most excited, enthusiastic set of wagging tails and excited eyes. And soon, by November, there will be two places for them to "go to work," which means twice the fun for them, and a million times the work and stress for us, the people. It also means that this is our last day off until after Christmas, except for Thanksgiving (but we won't be vegging then, we'll be roasting a turkey.) I always love Christmas, but this year I'll be paying extra attention to the Christmas countdown. So before I get caught up in Fall, I will share with you our summer vacation/business trip!

We left right after our "Christmas in July" sale at the store, so we loaded up with some cheap Christmas toys and hit the road. The boys mostly don't play in the car, but with a couple new toys, they had a few minutes of fun before settling in for the long drive.

We left Raleigh, NC and drove all the way to a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, where my brother and his wife live with their three young kids, even younger Weimaraner, and brand new kitten. We spent the night there, and the next morning they graciously let Benny and Vixen stay, while we headed to the airport.

We boarded a plane at the Detroit airport, and flew to Omaha, Nebraska where we met up with the team from Nature's Variety (the manufacturer of not only a brand that we sell, but our dogs' and cats' primary diets.) That night they took us to dinner where we got to wine and dine with everyone from the CEO, to the CFO, and most interestingly, the founder of the brand himself. The next morning we awoke early and boarded a bus which drove us to Lincoln, Nebraska, Nature's Variety's HQ. After touring the administrative parts of the building and seeing the testing labs, we donned our hairnets, white coats, goggles, and shoe covers, and went into the raw diet manufacturing plant.

Cameras, phones, jewelry, and such were not allowed inside. Everything was super sanitary and they probably don't want someone dropping something in the mix! No cell phone in their dog food! However, I took mental pictures and will always remember the experience. Even though we put on shoe covers, as you enter the door, you walk through a puddle of sanitizer- that's how clean it is!

So here's the best picture I can paint for you with words. Now, we have been to a dog food manufacturing plant before, and usually, the meat is already ground up, and you see big bins full of red, meaty stuff, and read the label to know what it is. Well, on this tour, I walked up to a big bin- imagine a barrel about shoulder height that would take probably five people to hug- and I looked in expecting to see a typical "slurry" of meat. Instead, I saw hearts. Literally, a bin of countless hearts. If you ever need a basis for a horror movie, this could be it. I'll let your imagination take you there if you want. This was definitely not a scene for a vegetarian. So, I looked at the label, and there it was, "Venison Hearts." We then watched a forklift take the bin of hearts and dump it into the grinder which added them to the total mix. It doesn't get more real than that!

There were many more interesting parts of the tour, but, I have to remind myself, that this is a blog, not a book! After the manufacturing side of things, we toured the spotless distribution center. Rows and rows of dog food, and not a bug in sight!

After the tours were complete, we were bussed back to Omaha for lunch, and then to the airport to fly back to Detroit, and begin the actual vacation part of our vacation!

So, in the next post, we'll go to Canada and beyond . . .

Back on the Blog

2010-09-04T13:29:00.000-04:00

Well, the summer has flown by and I finally have a spare moment! Buttercup is currently slowing my progress by walking on my keyboard, chewing cords on my desk, and just being the curious kitten that she is! She is definitely the adventurous one, while Wesley has turned out to be pretty lazy- he's probably napping near a window right now. Benny's sleeping next to me, fully healed and recovered from his summer incident- hardly a scar to show. I do have a picture from during the healing process (I finally figured out how to get the photos off of my new iPhone; now I just need to figure out how to blog from it!):

Well, that concludes my spare moment for right now. It's time to visit Lowe's, Sherwin Williams, and eat some lunch. I am hoping to have time later today to share the dog's summer vacation to Canada! I have lots of fun pictures to share and to revel in how much fun it is to be a dog.

Start from the beginning.

2010-06-17T00:45:00.000-04:00

OK, so I have just started posting this blog's link and if you have just found it, I recommend starting from the beginning. I have been blogging about our vacation with the dogs to the NC mountains, and we had some drama in the middle, so if you don't start at the beginning it will be confusing, and some of the pictures quite shocking. It would be like missing the first half of a new series on TV. But that's just while we were on vacation. From here on, I imagine each day will be able to stand alone; as long as we don't encounter any more crazy drama. Here's to hoping for boring.

Wednesday

2010-06-16T22:17:00.001-04:00

A day of rest (for the dogs):

And a reunion with our kittens!

Buttercup

Wesley

Kitten playtime:

Tuesday

2010-06-16T22:05:00.001-04:00

Check-out day. Our somewhat relaxing, somewhat stressful trip is finally over. Here’s a look at the inside of the cabin we enjoyed our week in.

One last sniff for Benny:

And when we got home, this was there to greet us:

Monday

2010-06-16T21:59:00.001-04:00

Monday we had reservations to tour the Biltmore House, which gave Benny more time to rest. It is actually easier for him to rest when we are away than when we are home. See our dogs love to play when we are home, but when we are not, they sleep. Not a toy moves while we are out.

In our dogs’ absence, we did find another to take our picture with:

And although there are no dogs in these pictures, here is what we did while they were sleeping.

And of course we did the wine tasting too! Look at the size of this grape vine!

Sunday Recovery Day Continued

2010-06-16T21:45:00.001-04:00

Sunday Benny was doing fine. He was a little drowsy but most people would never have noticed a difference. But, Vixen was ready to play and Benny will never turn down a tug challenge. So we decided to hike Mt. Pisgah, as originally planned, except Benny would stay home and rest. This way we could wear Vixen out so that Benny could rest. It was sad not having him along; he would have loved this hike. It was very steep and rocky and Benny would have bounded from rock to rock with enthusiasm. Instead, Vixen lead the way alone.

It got very narrow and very steep:

We got pretty sweaty, but we all made it to the top:

Then back down to get a much needed drink (of water.)

From the parking lot looking out at what we had just climbed:

Mission Accomplished: A very worn out Mr. Vixen (enjoying the whole backseat!)

A happy reunion:

Benny’s Battle Wounds (warning: graphic pictures)

2010-06-16T21:07:00.004-04:00

Benny fought the bone, and the bone won! But he is recovering well and acting like nothing has changed.

Here’s where the IV went in his freckly arm:

And here’s where they cut him open, took out the bone, and sewed him back up:

Now if we can just keep the crazy man calm for a couple of weeks. His stitches will dissolve, but we will have to have the staples removed. We’re just so happy that he’s feeling fine. But he won’t be going back to work for a couple of weeks.

The cause of all our stress- this is really biting off more than you can chew.

Sunday

2010-06-13T21:32:00.000-04:00

Recovery day. Benny was pretty close to normal this morning. A bit drowsy, but hungry as ever and still wanting to hunt anything that moves. After letting him sleep in the bed and doing our very best not to disturb him or make him move one bit, we woke up a bit sore. Not to mention all of the stress from yesterday, so I placed Benny's bed by the spa and we started our day out relaxing.

Benny enjoyed the sunshine and watched the yard for anything that moved.

Then the dogs soaked up some sun on the back porch, where Benny continued to drowsily watch for any movement outside.

Tomorrow I will post pictures of Benny's stitched up belly and the bone that caused it. Plus some more pictures of our day today.

Saturday

2010-06-13T21:17:00.001-04:00

So Friday night, Benny puked up his dinner. Vixen sometimes will puke, but Benny rarely does, so it was a bit disconcerting. Then, he woke us up at 5:30 am puking some more, even more disconcerting; not to mention I was super sleepy and didn't feel like standing out in the dark with the dogs, but of course that is what I did (while JP cleaned up.) And let me say, standing outside in the dark in the middle of the night in the middle of the woods, was a bit creepy. So, we went back to sleep. Now, Benny loves to sleep in the bed, and sometimes we let him, but many times we tell him to go to his own bed and he does. But this particular night when I would tell Benny he couldn't get up in the bed, he stood next to the bed and let me pet him. It was a slightly odd behavior that only a parent would notice. So, when he woke us up at 8:30 am puking again, we started getting worried. But what made matters worse, he was puking up blood. So we drug our tired selves out of bed again and watched our baby boy wretch in the front yard. And we knew why. It was those bones that he ate so quickly and vigorously. So, we grabbed the hydrogen peroxide and poured a little bit down his throat. This is a safe and effective way to induce vomiting. We were really hoping that the bone that was irritating him would come up. But, it didn't. It was an odd situation because his appetite was completely normal, his stools were completely normal, but the bloody puke was not. We had a bad feeling that we knew exactly what the problem was- an obstruction. So, 9 am Saturday morning I do a Google search to find the closest holistic veterinarian and see if they are open, and if they can take in our Benny. The first place we called, Haw Creek Animal Hospital, is open until noon on Saturday and tell us they can fit him in. So, we load up both dogs, with the hopes that we are being over-reactive and will get to walk them after. We arrive at the vet's sometime around 10 am and begin our wait. That place was a zoo. The one vet on staff that day didn't get to see us until sometime around 1pm. During the exam, she felt that Benny seemed very healthy but agreed with us that we should do x-rays as a precautionary measure. When they called us in to see the x-rays, my heart sank, and I knew it couldn't be good. If there was nothing to see, they wouldn't bring us back to show us, right? So there it was, on the screen, a large piece of bone in our baby's stomach. Fortunately, we caught it early and it was just in the stomach, not the intestines.

So, here we are at a random vet hospital in Asheville, on our vacation, on what was supposed to be the day we hiked Mt. Pisgah, and the vet is asking us if we want her to slice open our baby's chest and stomach and do exploratory surgery. Now let me remind you that the vet hospital at this point is closed and we are the only people there. This is not an after hours practice, so we are very lucky that Dr. Marchitelli, the weekend vet, was willing to stay and operate and keep some techs on after hours as well. She had the practice owner on call. So, we sat in the lobby while Benny was put in pre-surgery. The good news is that his blood-work came out perfect. His liver and kidneys were functioning great. She said that he was in great health and the risks were low. We went next door to have lunch on the patio with Mr. Vixen while Benny was being put under anesthesia. This was not the easiest time to eat, but we hadn't eaten all day, so we were able. From the patio of the cafe, I could see the lights on in the back room of the vet hospital where I knew my Benny was laying with his chest open. After lunch, we decided to go for a walk. We found an Ingles (like our Harris Teeter) and bought S'mores supplies and some movies so that we could spend some time in. Of course all the time worrying like crazy about our first son. So much for a stress-relieving vacation.
When we got back to our car, we ran into a tech leaving. He told us that the surgery had gone great and that she was stitching him back up. He also told us that they removed a large piece of bone from Benny's stomach.
We knew that we would have a little time left to wait, so we went to the nearest pet store to get some extremely easy to digest food for our pup when he woke up- the raw diet, and some more freeze-dried raw food. Raw is especially easy to digest as it has never been cooked, has no grains, and is already basically broken down. If you're not familiar with it, it resembles uncooked hamburger. We also stopped at a doggie bakery and bought Mr. Vixen a cookie.
So anyway, we get back to the vet's as Benny is waking around 5:30 pm. We got to go back and give him a hug and kiss while he was still really doped up. He tried to get up and leave with us, but he could barely lift his head. It was really sad, but we were really happy that he was awake. It was terrifying waiting for the surgery to be over. We still couldn't take him though. The vet wanted to let him stay on fluids a while longer, so she made arrangements to go and have the practice owner meet us back there at 10:30 pm to discharge him.
So, we rushed home, dropped Vixen off, showered, and had a quick dinner. Then we stopped by a drug store for one of Benny's drugs, got some gas, and went back to the animal hospital (we chose one that is about 30 minutes away.)
Benny came running out to greet us, a bit wobbly, but happy nonetheless. We are very grateful to the owner, Dr. Heather Sinclair and her husband for meeting us there to let us take our puppy home.
After a long, stressful, day we finally got back to the cabin with both dogs, and went to bed, with Benny sleeping between our legs.

Friday

2010-06-13T20:33:00.001-04:00

We decided that Friday would be a good day for the dogs to catch up on some rest, so we set out early in the morning to go whitewater rafting on the French Broad River. We had quite a good time, and were ready to take it easy ourselves by the time we got done. These aren't pictures of the dogs, but here's what we did while they were sleeping.

We are in the middle row- JP on left, me on right.

It was a fun and beautiful day. We made it home before the rain!

Thursday Night

2010-06-13T20:20:00.000-04:00

After our hike, it was back to the cabin for some R&R. JP grilled up some very cheesy burgers . . .

. . . and the boys got their bones to chew on.

Vixen got about half way through, before calling it quits, while Benny chewed away. Notice Vixen behind the rocking chair.

Before we knew it Benny finished his and made his brother's disappear as well. So then it was sleepy time.

Thursday

2010-06-13T19:36:00.000-04:00

Thursday we set out for another hike, with the same potential forecast, so we decided to hike down instead of up. We chose "Graveyard Fields Hike and Waterfalls." This hike took us down into the valley and back out without any high mountain summits. There was a good combination of steep and flat areas.

We started on the trail, but then we decided to follow the creek; we figured if we were going to get wet later anyway, we might as well have some fun.

Vixen especially loves water!

But Benny is still the leader!

In the wild, these two know no limits. At home, Vixen avoids walking across the kitchen floor, but give him a rocky river and he's all over it!

We only let them look down these falls:

But we couldn't keep them from following me to the big ones!

On the way back, we found a nice grassy area where people often set up camp. And there was only one thing for these wet doggies to do!

And before we left, one more attempt at a family photo:

The dry path back- we made it out with no rain!

Wednesday

2010-06-13T13:01:00.000-04:00

Looking at the weather maps, we knew there was a chance for a thunderstorm every single day during our stay. But, we figured a little rain wouldn't hurt us so we set out for our first hike on Wednesday. We started down the Blue Ridge Parkway looking for a not too busy, good looking hike. We ended up at the Art Loeb Trail, which had this sign of warning:

In case you can't read it, that black diamond, in hiking and skiing, says difficult. Now, maybe it wasn't the best idea to head up a "difficult" trail with a thunderstorm approaching. Little did we know that this part of the Art Loeb trail is in fact, the Black Balsam Knob, the trail's highest peak at 6214 ft in elevation. And it is called a bald due to logging and fires that have left the peak wide open with no tall trees, i.e. no shelter from the rain. But, we didn't know any of this and had lots of fun climbing this and two other peaks.

The dogs head up the trail, Benny in front, Vixen following. That's usually the way it goes.

The dogs love their freedom and will race up and down the trail if we let them. Although with stories of bears, coyotes, and other wildlife, they don't get to go very far away from us at all.

View on the way up:

This was a narrow trail, so there was a lot of single file hiking.

The top of the bald had perfect grass for rolling around and enjoying the views.

While the dogs rolled in the grass, the rain rolled in as well.

So, we call in the pups and decide to keep going; maybe we'll outrun the storm? Or make it down from the bald into some trees to wait it out?

Oh, and if you have been wondering what crazy things are on the dogs' feet, well those are "Pawz." They are a rubber bootie to protect the pups' feet; lots of people thought the dogs had on rain boots, but they would wear them rain or shine. Benny especially needs them, because he is so confident and such a maniac that he will run until the pads of his feet literally fall off. But the Pawz completely protected them, and stayed on the entire time. On long hikes like these they do suffer some holes, but they are "disposable" and inexpensive and we usually get a couple hikes out of each. And that's way better than hurt feet to mend!

The sky is showing some potential problems . . .

While we stop to put on our raincoats (well, I packed a rain coat and JP made a poncho from a garbage bag,) Benny stopped to check out a bee on the pretty rhododendron (maybe.) It had a bee on it trying hard not to get blown away, but not being very successful as it was getting pretty windy.

He also decided that this would be a good time to roll on the ground, and where better for a wet dog to roll than on the dirt trail?

Not long after this, as we are headed down the other side of the mountain, we hear what we think might be a coyote, and the storm continues to get worse. So we have two options; head down towards some trees on the other side of the mountain, further from our car and closer to that noise, or head back up the bald to the crest of the mountain, but towards our car. We decided to go back up the bald and head towards the car.

As we head up the peak of the over 6000 ft mountain, we start to get stung by what we quickly discover is hail. A hailstorm on a midsummer's day. The temperature is dropping and the hail is being flung by some heavy winds. If you look close you can see JP is covering the right side of his face as that is where the hail is coming from, with no trees to stand in its way. The dogs however, didn't seem to even notice.

When we made it off of the bald and down the trail, we found many trees had fallen during the storm (which was still going on.)

We hurried down the trail into the woods quickly. Then we came across this calm spot, but it was eerie because we didn't remember passing anything that looked like this on the way up. Had we come down the mountain too hurriedly and taken the wrong trail? The woods were still and calm, unlike the rest of our trip, but that made me nervous that we wouldn't be the only ones seeking refuge here. I tried to take a family picture, but Benny was too occupied looking for what else he was sure was in these woods.

So, we let the cold, stormy weather and the fixation of our shepherd/hound into the woods, get us a little bit scared. These woods were just so different from anything we had seen on our hike we convinced ourselves that we had taken the wrong trail. So in the cold, freezing rain/hail, we turn around and head back up the mountain.

After passing some vistas that seemed familiar, and one view that we could see the road from, we decide to head back down the mountain. We could see a bathhouse, so we figure it must be where we parked, but if not, at least there's some shelter. Fortunately, it was the way back to our car. We all toweled off a little bit standing under the trail map board's overhang and put these soaking wet dogs into our really new car (thank goodness for seat covers.)

One last view, before hitting the road:

Then we got in the car, put the heat on full blast, threw our boots in the very back and hit the Blue Ridge Parkway. But not before noticing this:

And this was at the bottom of the summit, not the top! By the time we got back to our cabin, the temps were back in the 70s!

Although the hike wasn't as long as we had hoped for, it was enough to tucker out the pooches.

Vixen lays down and get comfy, but no matter how tired he is, Benny doesn't want to miss a thing. He's stubborn and just falls asleep sitting up!

Oh to be back at the cabin, dry (or in the hot tub,) eating some yummy treats (or drinking some fine NC wine) and chewing on a raw bone (or eating some charcoal grilled fillet mignon!)

Tuesday

2010-06-13T11:28:00.000-04:00

We arrived at the cabin on Tuesday and spent the evening stocking up at the local Fresh Market, after hitting the local dog supply store. What did we need to buy you may be wondering? Well, we brought tons of anti-flea and tick sprays, wipes, supplements and more, but failed to bring a brush and a flea comb. We realized we would need these after our short "hike" Tuesday morning. See, the hotel wasn't very nice, so we woke up early (I know what you're thinking mom) but really, we were at breakfast at Cracker Barrel at about 8am. We were ready to get out of there. The earliest winery openings were 12 noon, and we were only 5-10 minutes away. But one of the brochures boasted walking around the lake and going on the nature trails. So, we figured we could pass three hours hiking. Well, there was no way around the lake, although very pretty to sit by (but not for three hours.) The "nature hikes" were well, not very developed. We managed our way through the woods to another very overgrown lake and headed back. It was hot and buggy and not going to fill three hours. Luckily, we ran into the winery owner who told us the wine-maker would be coming in soon and could give us our tasting early. So, that is what we ended up doing.

OK, so the point of all of this was that we realized we could benefit from a brush.

While we were at the pet supply store, we decided it would be nice to buy the dogs some raw meaty bones; we didn't bring a cooler so those we could not bring. Benny is quite an aggressive chewer so we usually stick to femur/marrow bones, or large solid knuckle bones, but the store we found only had small knuckle bones. We thought this could be a special treat since we are on vacation. A good treat after a long hike. So, now on to the first hike.

The Cabin

2010-06-12T20:15:00.001-04:00

OK, so there is a lot to tell about today, but I am really a stickler for chronological order, so here are some pictures of the cabin in which we are staying. It allows dogs and is in the middle of the woods. We are close to Asheville (about 20 minutes) and close to the Blue Ridge Parkway (about 15 minutes up a sickeningly winding road- thank goodness none of us, people or dogs, gets really car sick.)

On the way up the mountain to the cabin. If we came in winter, we'd make sure to have plenty of provisions.

One of the views from the cabin:

Our front porch (ignore the mess; this was just after a rainy hike, details in the next post.) In the far corner is the hot tub; really roughing it here!

Dogs at the Wineries

2010-06-09T20:53:00.000-04:00

We made it to three wineries. So many are closed on Tuesdays, so if you ever head out to taste wine in NC, make sure to bring a winery map with hours, or just don't go on a Monday or Tuesday. At least the three we made it to all had great wine!

I tried to get a group photo at Sanders Ridge, but balancing the camera on the entrance sign and pushing the self-timer isn't always easy. We're all there if you look close.

Sanders Ridge: Here's the pups waiting on the porch for us to finish our wine tasting!

Next we went to Rag Apple Lassie. The dogs stayed in the car with the AC running while we were tasting, but they still got to check out the grounds. Here we all are in front of the winery and vineyards.

Next I'll post some pictures of our lovely cabin and our first hike. But right now, the hot tub is calling my already achy muscles.

On the Way to Asheville

2010-06-09T20:37:00.000-04:00

We left a day before our cabin reservation so that we could see a few wineries in the Yadkin Valley. Here are some pictures from the trip to Yadkinville/Boonville.

Vixen, on left. Benny, on right.

The dog's first evening in a hotel was fun. The hotel wasn't awesome, but the dogs got their own queen size bed!

Packing the Dogs!

2010-06-09T20:09:00.000-04:00

OK, so we found a Best Buy and bought a handy little tool to let me connect my camera card to my old laptop. So here's the packing pictures!

The first Post!

2010-06-09T10:23:00.000-04:00

I am starting this blog to share the very awesome life of my dogs, and kittens, and possibly live vicariously through them for a few minutes whenever I write. I have been meaning to start this for a while, but the motivation finally struck me when I was packing for our family trip to the mountains. As we piled the supplies on the table for the dogs, it became quite impressive. The other reason is to share our vacation with our families. Just when you take phone reception for granted, both me and my parents are in two different locations without reception. They are in upstate New York, and we are about 20 minutes outside of Asheville.

So, how do two people who own a complete dog supply store pack for two dogs to go away to the mountains for one week? Well, I took a picture. The funny thing is, more was added after this picture, and, we actually went to a pet store here on the first day to pick up a couple of things we forgot!!

OK, well, the picture will have to wait. My computer is too old to take the SD card from my camera, and I brought the wrong USB connector cord. We might pick one up while we're out today, so perhaps I can post tonight.