This was our whole intention for going to visit Papa in Big Lake back in September. It was not to turn the evening into a very exciting and scary adventure with a porcupine!
Dock Dog!
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A Tribute
Design by Jonathan Mak
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Address
The world lost a brilliant man on Wednesday. Someone who knew how to dream big and live life to the fullest. You have put a ding in the universe so rest in peace, Steve Jobs.
How Do You Spell Relief?
P-A-P-A…who came home last night, even though he left yesterday morning with packed bags and surveying equipment.
See, there was no need to stress-out, be a little hellion most of the day, and refuse to settle down once you were home. He came home, just like I told you he would.
*Sorry for the poor picture quality: low light and taken with an iPhone.
It Could Have Been Worse
Everyday, Pongo has been sitting at the front window waiting for hours for Papa’s truck to pull into the driveway; disappointed when it doesn’t. He has really been missing Steve this week so Reid, Pongo, and I drove out to Big Lake last night to spend some time with Papa. Our moping, miserable Cattle Dog turned into a bouncing, yelping, fiend who could barely contain himself when he saw Papa walk out of the rental house!
Steve and I decided to take the dogs out for a short hike after dinner. We chose somewhere where we knew we could let the dogs run free, where no one else was going to be around. We drove to a quiet, deserted area Steve had recently surveyed and walked into the woods. Both Pongo and Reid love being in the woods: running free, jumping over logs (that would be Pongo, not Reid), and exploring all the smells that come with hiking in a new place. It was refreshing to be in the woods, after a long work week, spending time with Steve and watching the dogs enjoy themselves.
As we were hiking along, Pongo began frantically running around in wide, sweeping circles with his nose to the ground. I commented, “He’s on the trail of something,” with images of cute little squirrels foraging in the area going through my mind. We called Pongo to us. He came but caught the scent again, and was off. Then, what was suppose to be a peaceful evening hike turned one of my biggest fears into reality: Pongo + Porcupine = DISASTER!
I look over to where Pongo is sprinting around and see a porcupine, ever so slowly attempting to climb a Spruce tree as Pongo is closing in on his prey. Steve is running toward the tree with the climbing porcupine, in hopes to intercept Pongo. Steve is on one side of the tree, Pongo is on the other, the porcupine is in the middle c-l-i-m-b-i-n-g at turtle speed. Pongo jumps up to grab the porcupine. He misses. He gives one last adrenaline-fed superman jump as the porcupine continues to work its way up the tree. As this whole scene plays out before my eyes, I hear myself screaming, “Pongo, leave it!” And when that doesn’t work, “PONGO, NOOOOOOO!!!!!” knowing well enough that when Pongo is in prey-drive, there is no stopping him: listening ears are off and wild dingo mode is on.
Steve is finally able to grab Pongo, leash him up, and carry him to a safe area away from the porcupine. We check him over not knowing if he was able to make contact with the porcupine. No quills protruding from his face–check. No quills on his underside–check. Then we see it…a paw scattered with porcupine quills.
Steve immediately pulls out his Leatherman and gets to work.
I’m more than sure it hurt like hell having those quills pulled out but Pongo was a trooper–keeping one eye on Steve’s Leatherman and one eye on the porcupine sitting in the tree 50 feet away. He sat quietly as Steve pulled out each quill, for the most part giving an occasional flapping of the paw or yelp. And all I could think of to myself, as Steve pulled each quill out is…It could have been worse.
How Do They Know?
Pull out the luggage and Reid starts pacing. Pack a bag or two and Pongo’s whole mood swings from Mr. Happy Go Lucky to Mr. Melancholy. Pongo doesn’t do well when his pack isn’t together. He becomes a whole lot more barky and turns into a super pill: testing, testing, testing. Basically, driving Mama crazy.
To Pongo’s dismay, Steve spent most of last week working out in the field at Port MacKenzie. He came home on Saturday night and you could visibly see the relief in Pongo’s eyes. He plopped himself down between Steve and myself happy as a clam. Unfortunately, Steve began packing again last night to head back out into the field this week, and Pongo knew exactly what that meant: Papa’s leaving again.
I now have one depressed dog on my hands.
Road Trip!
It’s been one week since we returned from our road trip down the ALCAN. We drove from Anchorage to Seattle to Eugene, OR to Seattle and then back to Anchorage. Over 6,000 miles total and all in 15 1/2 days! It was a whirlwind of a trip but a fun way to visit family and spend some time exploring.
Pongo came along with us and did surprising well for being in the car so long. He made himself comfortable in the backseat of the truck and entertained himself for hours looking and most importantly sniffing out the window.
I can’t believe for all the time we spent in the car, and the time we had on our hands while driving, we took very few pictures?!? Some of the wildlife we saw on our way down and back up included: bears (over 10 black bears and maybe 1 grizzly-hard to tell she was pretty mangy looking), bison herds, elk, caribou, moose, a wolverine, rabbits, coyotes, deer, and Stone Goats.
While in Oregon, it was hot…a lot hotter than us Alaskans are used to: 85+ degrees. I loved it but both Steve and Pongo were melting. In order to cool off, Pongo enjoyed some time romping in rivers and in the ocean on the Oregon coast.
We were anxious to get home, once we started back to Alaska but did take some time to stop and enjoy the scenery, stretch our legs, and let the ol’ behinds recuperate.
Bonus Points
Pongo earned a few bonus points for creativity this morning. Instead of chewing on his bone like a good boy while Papa and Mama ate breakfast, Pongo decided he was going to bury his bone. That would have been fine except the location of choice was not the best choice he could have made…
It was definitely hard to keep a straight face knowing all he wanted to do was bury his bone!
S.T.A.R.
It’s been a long hiatus since I’ve last blogged. My parents and Uncle came to visit us and we’ve been going, going, going full speed ahead for the past two weeks. This task-master sure kept us busy…
We tiled.
We corked.
We staired.
(I know that’s not a word but it’s all I could come up with for putting in wood stairs).
We shrunk a window…
and door frames.
We hung doors.
We painted the laundry room, the gym, the hallway and I never want to see a paint brush again!
Dad and Uncle Art took a break from slaving away on house projects and went fishing on the Kenai. Unfortunately, the fishing wasn’t so good.
We even took some time to get out and enjoy the sights.
Uncle Art left on Sunday; Mom and Dad left last night. Today is my first day of “down time” and I am having a hard time settling back into a routine and relaxing. I need to heed my own advice that I give my students when they are not able to calm themselves or relax: be a S.T.A.R.
Stop
Take a deep breath
And
Relax!
The Bionic Dog
This is such a heart-warming, tear-jerking story I just had to share. At 5 weeks old, Naki’o a red cattle dog lad was left behind in the cold Nebraska winter to basically die. He ended up stepping in an icy puddle of water, which froze his paws. He lost all 4 of his paws to frostbite. A kind soul took him in and raised funds to have his back 2 paws fitted with prosthetics. Orthopets, who fitted him with the prosthetics for his back legs decided to donate 2 prosthetic legs for his front legs. What a lucky dog and he seems to be getting around like a champ!
Click HERE for the full story.
The Birthday Boy
Pongo turns 2 today and I don’t know who is more excited about it: him or me?
I told myself I was going to keep things simple this year and avoid the crazy lady label of last year, when it came to making goodies for Pongo to share with his daycare friends. But, that idea was quickly thrown out the window. I actually think I out did myself this year which makes me even CRAZIER and possibly the laughing stock of doggie daycare!
Last year, I spent hours looking for dog biscuit recipes and cookie cutters, and then making 3 different doggie treats with some pretty rank baby food. Luckily this year, I was able to avoid putrid baby food by using recipes out of The Organic Dog Biscuit Cookbook by Bubba Rose Biscuit Company. I found this on the clearance table at Barnes and Noble this winter and what a gem of a find!
So instead this year, I spent a good chunk of time choosing which receptacle to place the dog biscuits and party favors in, and then deciding how to decorate the receptacles. I guess I have to obsess about something, right? After much thought and consideration, Pongo’s daycare friends are receiving: 1 Ohm My These Are Good dog-shaped biscuit, 1 Dragon Slayers bone-shaped biscuit, and 1 tennis ball all enclosed in a very cleverly (in my humble opinion) decorated chinese food box.
A very Happy Birthday to our sweet boy, Pongo!
The Pongo Experience 