Discovering Koi Pond

Some friends that live a couple of towns away have a beautiful Koi Pond.  They have a stone bridge that divides the pond in half. The fish are so tame you can feed them Cheerios right from your hand.

Cooper investigated this wonderful pond with intense interest.  I think if I didn't have him on leash, he may have gone right into the water with the fish!  He watched the fish eat and swim under the bridge.  Cooper watched them for as long as I could allow.  He still wasn't done exploring yet when it was time to leave.

I think there are no better words to enter in this blog than pictures can tell, so just enjoy these pictures today.

See what I mean?

Cooper's Comforting Nature

When someone is sick, Cooper tends to stay close.  He barks sometimes when someone is crying but mostly he sniffs and stays close to the sick person.

One day when my daughter Desiree was over my house, by grandson Lucas was sick.  He was snuggling with me on the couch.  Cooper sat by for a while just watching.  when I told him he could come see, he came right up to Lucas and smelled his face.  Lucas wasn't sure he wanted his face sniffed, but it was really sweet to see Cooper's puppy style of concern.

Another time, we were over the same daughter's house, and this time it was Desiree's turn to be sick.  She was laying on the couch.  Again, Cooper looked at her a little so I told him he could get up and see her.  He got right up on top of her and just laid down on her.  As if to just be there with her.

He's very good about making people feel better.  He feels good, like a warming, soothing presence when he comes to share your space when you're sick, sad or upset.  He's usually not sure what to do when someone is crying.  He tends to bark more at someone than he should, but I'm sure that's from not really knowing what else to do.  He will stay with the upset person even though he's a little uncomfortable with the whole process.  He's not sure what to do to make the person feel better.  Eventually he lays in or next to the person's lap.  What ever he does, it's always good.  He's a special little guy.

Thank You Card

A few years ago we went on a 'rolling dinner', one of our motorcycle events explained in another blog entry on 4/7/11.  The first course of our dinner was at Lisa's house.  She was a little nervous to have Cooper there because her cat had been traumatized a while ago by another dog.  She said her cat Sidney had beat up the other cats in the house after another visit by a different dog.  She was afraid that the presence of yet another dog would trigger that behavior again.

We decided to try having Cooper in the house since we both knew I could keep Cooper still and non-confrontational.  The visit was uneventful and when it was time to go, Lisa came with us.  She left the cats not knowing what was going to happen next.

Here is a Thank You card Cooper received in the mail shortly after that day.

Dear Cooper,

Thank you for your visit.  I am a renewed and happy cat since your therapy yesterday.

After being chased by a dog a few years ago, I became very afraid, and sometimes that made me mean to my cat friends.  I guess the other dog just wanted to play, but I did not know that.  My mom Lisa was thrilled when she came home last night to 3 happy cats.  She says your mom, Paula Jean, is a very special person, and she is glad you have each other.

Please come back together soon.

Thank you. 

Your Cat friend Sidney

P.S. Isabella & Antonio like you too.

I guess he did ok, huh?

Skyping with the family!

For anyone who hasn't Skyped yet, I think we recomend it for anyone with young grand children.  It's so fun to let them see me, Cooper, Gabrielle, my mother and Jesse. 

Gabrielle was NOT happy to participate in this activity.

 Cooper was ok with showing his face, but he would NOT look at the screen.  Maybe it's because I woke him up to get in the picture for the grandies.




There is no group chatting unless you pay, but I'm on a free trial and was able to talk to both my daughters and the kids.  They wanted to see Cooper, so he had to make his appearance.  

Dog Fancy Magazine!!!

I got my complimentary copy of Dog Fancy Magazine.  It's a great article written by Becky Blanton.  They didn't use any of my pictures because they were all poor quality.  That's why I have LOTS of pictures and little videos here on my blog for you wonderful folks!

Enjoy the pictures.  Post comments.  Watch for the June issue to Dog Fancy to hit the stands.  Write to the editor and tell them how you love the story.  Follow my blog.  Share it with friends.  Thanks for your support.

First BLUE DOO of the season!

I've been waiting to do Cooper's hair in blue again since last fall.  When his hair grew out for the winter I stopped coloring it because it would have been WAY too hard to keep up with.

Today we did a lot of work in the yard, cleaned out the shed and the barn to get ready to sell the house.  Cooper had a great time 'helping' with all the work.  He was filthy at the end of the day and needed a shower, so I decided to do his hair too!  

He sat with me for half an hour while I colored his hair.  He doesn't mind the sitting still part.  He just snuggled and waited till the next step.  THE SHOWER!  


Since I was filthy from all our work too, we showered together.  First I sat in the shower and laid him on his back on my lap so I could wash the blue out without getting it all over his face.  Then I sat him on the bench so I could wash the rest of him.  He's so good while I shower.  He  will sit on the bench while I finish showering, then I rinse the conditioner through my hair and all over him so he gets a diluted conditioner rinse.  He just waited till I was done with my shower, dried off, got my robe on and then picked him up with towels wrapped around him so I could keep him from dripping all over the place.  


I rubbed him with the towels a bit and held him for about five minutes so he's not quite so wet.  I lay a big towel on the floor and put him down.  He rolls all over the towel for a few minutes rubbing his face and wiggling all over on his back trying to rub the water off.  THEN HE RUNS!!!!  And Runs, and runs, and runs all over the house like a maniac.  He's so funny!


Once he gets all that out of his system, he's done and konks out for quite a while.  He's very cute, and seems to feel GREAT when he's clean.

Each Blue Doo will last about 3 weeks.  I redo it about every month or so.  I don't like to do it too often.  I think if I did Cooper would learn to hate it.  It's fun to do but not too often.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter 

Everyone!

We hope all have 

a great day!

And don't eat 

CANDY 

for 

BREAKFAST!

The Weather Is Getting Nice

I tend to shut myself in all winter when it's cold.  Cooper gets excited when I go out in the sun.  He spends time with me sitting in the sun and he also likes to walk around the yard.  We spent some time outside the other day.  I brought my new camera out to try to learn how to use it.

Being outside attracted both cats who came to investigate.  I got some nice pictures of my magnolia tree all in bud.  The buds are beginning to open so you can see their pink flowers peeking out.  I also got some cute pictures of Cooper interacting with the cats.  His favorite chase friend is Valentine, the black cat.  I got them on video chasing and playing.  

Video won't load  :0(

It felt great to be outside in my tank top and bare feet.  I enjoyed the feeling of the sun and gentle breeze while I experimented with my new camera.  My goof-ball animals were the perfect subjects to shoot.  Enjoy the pictures I took.

Reading My Book At Night

I'm ready to read to you Mama!






I enjoy reading at night if I'm not too tired to do so. Sometimes I think I'm reading, only to wake to my book falling on my face.  When Cooper sees me with my book he gets above my head on my pillow or between me and Jesse so I can pet him.

I like this time at night.  I cuddle with Cooper and read until I'm ready to go to sleep or until he gets up and goes into his own bed.  Sometimes I wish I didn't have to put him in his won bed.  Sometimes it's nice to keep him on the bed with me, but with the snakes, there is no room for that kind of thing.  Also, Cooper is so accustomed to going to his own bed that it's nice to listen to him relax when he settles in for the night.

For the time I do read and get to have him next to me, I can imagine him and me in the story.  Sometimes the feelings inspire an idea in me that may cause me to write a note on a scrap paper.  I have notes that will come together in just the right way and at just the right time someday.  Things are going to come together in telling Cooper's story like no other story ever told about a little white dog.  Wait and see.

Meeting Dee Gagnon

Last year I borrowed a book from another member of my chapter of SSWOW.  The book was written by Dee Gagnon.  She used to be the director of my chapter before I joined the group.  I had read about half of the book before going to the 2010 National Ride-in in VT.  I was enjoying the book that was an account of Dee's solo travels across the US on her motorcycle.  She had written in a journal almost every night and logged her miles daily.  She slept in a tent, at hostels or as a guest in people's houses if offered.

Her story was so inspiring and exhilarating.  I felt a connection with Dee because we know some of the same people and we both ride.  I want to do what she was doing in the pages I read.  

At the ride-in, someone made sure we got to meet.  I got to buy my own copy of her book, "Dee Tours", and she autographed it for me.  We took a picture and she and I wrote back and forth a little bit, sending photographs  to each other.  In her letters she inspired me to 'just do it' when I talked of taking the summer off to do as she had done.  The unfortunate thing for me is that I still have my mortgage to pay and all my utilities to keep up with as well.  To just leave would allow my whole world to crumble while I was off playing.

No, I need to sell my house first.  I hope to do this soon.  Dee has invited me to visit her during my travels.  I totally plan to take her up on the offer.  As things stand now, I see my summer as follows...

School ends June 17th and my house sells before then.  I will pay off my bills, pay up our storage for the summer, and Jesse is trying to get an unpaid leave from work for the summer (or he'll quit).  I have been already acquiring needed items for me and Cooper to pull it off in the most comfortable way.  I plan to carry basic camping supplies, all of Cooper's needs and basic needs for me.  Jesse will pack his bike with only his needs since his bike won't hold as much as mine does.  I would like to leave around June 20th to go to the 2011 National Women On Wheels® ride in in CA.  We can take the full two weeks to get there.  When that is over, we will have the rest of the summer to do with as we wish.  Visit, sight see, take pictures, write some of the stories that will be contained in my book about Cooper.  

With any luck, this will all be a reality soon.  I'm really looking forward to my first summer off in 16 years.  This will be awesome. 

Burping Cooper

Cooper has a bad habit of swallowing a lot of air when he eats or drinks too fast.  He will gobble up whatever it is he wants, then burp a few minutes later.  Unfortunately, when he burps he often throws up what ever it was that he just gobbled up.  With this being an all to frequent event, I needed to figure out what to do to avoid having him vomit all over my carpet, bed, couch, motorcycle, wherever he was at the time of the very messy burp.

A couple of years ago I decided to try to get him to burp in the bathroom or somewhere where it wouldn't matter if he threw up.  Having to keep him in one room until he burped was becoming a punishment to cooper so I had to find some other way to keep him from throwing up all over the place.  I started to pat/burp him more as a matter of giving him attention than to actually 'burp' him.  Through the course of following successes, I found an effective method.  After he finished gobbling his meal or drink, I could call him to me so I could stand him on his back legs.  I thin tapped his ribs until he burped.  He doesn't mind this so much.  He can give a better burp when he is upright.

I feel silly when I do this in front of people.  They already think I've got a strangely mothering relationship with him.  I can tell you about the one time when we had stopped for ice cream when I decided I would rather feel weird than to clean up vomit all the time.  Especially in public.  I had given him ice cream with some water in it because he hadn't had enough to drink.  He had been very thirsty and LOVES ice cream, so he ate quickly, then got on my bike.  I guess I don't have to tell you what he did next.  He puked all over my bike seat, down the side of the bike, all over the parking lot.  GROSS!  From then on, I didn't care what people thought.  One burp is all he needs.  He can burp my way with no mess and go on our merry way, or he can burp his way and get it EVERYWHERE.  

My choice is to seem a little silly and pave the 'Merry Way'.