Veterans Day Crush

Stella and I shot Nashville's Veterans Day Parade this afternoon. It's a pretty big parade but we overheard (and joined in on) several conversations about why so few people showed up to watch it. The weather was gorgeous and since the CMA awards were tonight I thought there would be a massive turnout. I was wrong. It's too bad the music business entirely overlooked it as they appear to be so supportive of veterans in their videos. Another suggestion someone had was that all of the school kids should have been invited, not just the ones in the parade. It's fun to be in the parade and all but not if nobody's there to see you. It seems like it would be pretty good field trip/history lesson. Somebody call Mayor Dean's office.

Moving on, we had a lot of fun. Stella got her groove on with a variety of dog-loving veterans, cub scouts, homeless people, a gang of squealing little girls, two guys in wheelchairs and a clown dressed like a cop. Oh yeah, and a Bulldog. Not just any Bulldog either. He was in the parade and they spotted each other at about the same time. Stella laid her head on my shoulder and watched him walk all the way down the street. I wish I had a picture of that, it was very sweet. I could say she had a crush him but it's just as likely she wanted to be in the parade.
Overall, I was proud that she managed to endure the sirens, the drums and a hundred Harley-Davidson motorcycles without incident so when we left after two hours, we headed for the dog park. There she met and wrestled with a great rescue dog named Finnegan, a Husky, and a gigantic St. Bernard who nullified that last bath with some of the most powerful dog slobber I've ever personally encountered. More on that another day.


Meanwhile, Happy Veterans Day and thanks to all the veterans out there.

A mile from home

Last week Stella and I were taking one of our regular walks at Ellington Agricultural Center. The landscape looks as if it's been dipped in squash blossoms and Thanksgiving dinner this time of year. Aside from the police horses that live there, an occasional turtle, and one small fox, we've not had as many wildlife encounters there as one might imagine. If we had, I expect the dead cat would've been more of a tip-off.

It had been there for a good long time. Stella's nose was clearly off-duty when we walked up on it and praise Jesus, I was able to steer her away from it before they met. We crossed paths with the coyote shortly thereafter.

I saw it in the distance and thought it was a fox. Stella saw it too. Pretty color, I thought. It matched the tall sandy grass and then it turned in our direction and moving at a steady clip, it began to get a lot bigger. I ordered Stella to stop and sit. Her immediate response confirmed my suspicion that it wasn't a fox at all. When it saw us, it froze. Me and Stella were already frozen.

When the coyote decided to turn back I was relieved and we headed for the big field at the bottom of the hill. The coyote did too but we were paying close attention now and when we walked into the field it stepped out of the tall grass (about 150' feet away) and sized us up again. This time, it was Stella and I that turned back.

I hope that makes us even.

Today we went back again and although we walked with a renewed perspective, the only wild critter we ran upon - used to be a possum. Much like the kitty, it had been professionally killed. Surely there's a hawk or a big owl cutting in on that coyote's gravy train, it's doubtful the coyote would've left enough of the carcass to identify.

To be honest, I hadn't planned on writing about the coyote encounter at all. The idea for this post started with the (profound) observation that Stella was so excited when she got out of the car this afternoon that her butt was moving faster than her head, but I guess I can write that one anytime.

Landscape Artist

Stella helped me rake leaves in the front yard on Thursday. Okay that's a lie. Stella mostly rolled around in the leaves gnawing on a pig foot and giving chase occasionally to imaginary villains. You'd think she didn't get any exercise at all.

I considered getting a bicycle recently just to keep up with her and trust me that would be a whole new level of training medical expense for both of us what with her prey drive/herding instinct confusion. It's like what happens when you mix Hip-hop and Country music. You know there's gonna' be a train wreck, you just don't know when it'll be. Since we're on the subject of exercise, what in God's name are those skates that Cesar Millan wears to exercise his dogs? They look like something I might have built in the basement one time except that mine would've fallen apart on the first skate and his seem to hold up pretty well. I'd love to try on a pair of them just to see if my vintage ankles would snap immediately or later on.

Okay, hold on - after an exhausting five-second search it seems the answer (as usual) is a just a click away. Clearly I'm behind in my skating technology (these skates have been around for five years) and have only recently acquired the National Geographic Channel. I know there are some dog lovers who run and ride bikes with their dog, but are there any skaters out there?

Getting back to the leaves, it was already late when we started so...five down twenty-one to go. It's like spitting in the Grand Canyon.

The Pooch Plunge

Here's how it started.

I saw an ad for a fund-raiser for Nashville Public Television (NpT). It said bring your dog and swim all day at Nashville Shores. It sounded like fun. I can't remember the exact date, sometime in September. The forecast called for rain that day and organizers (basically) wimped out at the last minute and postponed the thing. It was stormy that week so I'm sure they thought no one would come. Anyway, they forgot to call me and Stella so we drove thirty minutes only to find a sign at the gate that said they'd rescheduled it to October 17. Come back then, it said. The weather cleared and we went walking at a different part of the lake that day. We splashed but we did not plunge.

The morning of October 17 it was cool and rainy. I checked the (Nashville Shores) website to make sure the event was still on and it said that it was. Seems I should've checked Twitter or the NpT website - two weeks earlier. We missed the memo. Again, we drove thirty minutes and again they were closed. Not a dog in sight.

So we broke in.
It just seemed like the thing to do. Trespass. With a Pit Bull.

We took a walking tour. We shot some pictures. We saw two deer and chased a few geese. We barked our asses off at some little concrete fishermen. We did not support public television (that day), nor did we plunge.

Next year.

Weekend escapade

There are a couple of ways to get Stella's undivided attention. One of those ways involves messing with her personal stuff. It didn't take long for her to figure out that if I take her crate apart, it's something serious. While I'm sure there were visions of corn dogs dancing in her head it turned out, we had a party invitation from my old friend Marian and Stella's soon-to-be friend Belle. This involved a three hour drive from Nashville to Knoxville and an overnight stay.

When we arrived, we all met up in the driveway for introductions. I'm happy to report that initially, things went well. We'll revisit that word, "initially" in a little while. Stella was excited but well-behaved and Belle being the smaller of the two, was a welcoming (and tolerant) hostess. I say tolerant because once inside, Stella managed to round up and begin chewing on every single toy in the house. Rather than engage in some unladylike physical confrontation, Belle chose the high road and raided Stella's food supply - knocking back two zip-lock protected servings in under five minutes. Her execution was brilliant.

The following morning we put both dogs into the back yard hoping they might play together. I should add, we don't have a fenced in yard so Stella's never been left outside alone before. She's not clear on what to do so she spent much of the next hour crying at the gate and feeling abandoned by her pack which (technically) she was. After breakfast, we decided to bring the dogs back in and go for a walk at a nearby greenway but when we went outside we realized that Stella had orchestrated some type of escape. Before I had a chance to be thoroughly traumatized by this little piece of news, Stella came barreling around the side of the house to reunite our pack. Belle meanwhile, romped around the neighborhood for the next hour smelling stuff, hunting squirrels and all manner of hound dog activity. An hour I spent, mostly thanking God that my own dog hadn't run off in a strange city.

Here's a photo of Stella and her new friend Belle looking slightly pitiful but very well-lit, prior to their offense. Saturday was National Pitbull Awareness Day. We missed the parade (if there was one) but feel free to help us spread the word; Pitbulls are precocious and grand.

Stick Hunter (the underwater edition)

So..I guess her eyes are open right? This isn't an illusion created by the camera either. She stayed under the water searching for something like six or eight seconds (it was all I could do not to call out her name). She finally came up with a stick and ran like hell in every directions before she finally slung it out of reach and went back in for something else.

Today we took neighbor Judy to a doctor's appointment at local hospital where people were using Stella to soothe a crying baby from a third floor window. Eventually the baby and her grandparents came outside to meet us in person and Stella (after some random craziness) licked the baby pretty much from head to toe. Shame I didn't get a picture of that. We also passed some time with a mom whose son was getting his second round of chemotherapy. She actually gave me an idea about getting Stella a job as a sort of indirect therapy dog - because moms and other family members need some support occasionally too. I wonder if you have to be certified for that. I guess it wouldn't hurt to just go back up there and ask.

Crash and Splash

Not having had a great deal of experience with dogs, I had no idea they could (or would for that matter) run at full speed through standing water, biting it continuously the whole way through. I tried to capture this sport on film but was unsuccessful in my attempts. Something to do with her running and my laughing. Oh, and four-foot rooster tails of rain water splashing all over me and the camera. While those variable affected my performance, they only served to enhance hers.

Now that we've been using a thirty-foot leash for training purposes, this field is one of Stella's favorite places to walk when when it's been raining. It's like a giant Slip n'Slide. Sometimes, instead of attack mode, she'll get running and throw herself into the ground chest first, skidding through the puddles all the way to the end. Turns out that leash has some entertainment value as well. She was pretty much wet the entire month of September.