2012 Walk for Animals

Okay peeps, this weekend was the San Diego Humane Society and SPCA's annual Walk for Animals. It was so much fun and is such a great cause.

Thank you to everyone who donated to this walk!! I am insanely appreciative! :)

As many of you know, I am team animal. As in, team Edward/whats-the-wolf-guy's-name? in Twilight or team Jennifer Aniston/Angelina Jolie. But instead, in my world its team Human and team Animal. I know, I know, most of you just fell off your stools. How could I possibly be a real live human and choose the animal team? There are many reasons actually. People, in general, tend to just suck balls to me. I think driving in traffic is a great example of the human race. People are pissed, screaming at each other from the comfort of their own metal safety-zone, with raging blood pressure, every time someone changes lanes in a manner that they don't agree with. It's comical really. I am sort of a grandma driver, so people are always pissed at me and my car. I look in my rear view mirror and oftentimes have to let out a little chuckle as I see the person behind me banging their poor steering wheel to death, red-faced and sweaty, all because I didn't turn at the red light in time. On a certain trip to LA, there was a car behind me with 3-4 men inside. As my cousin and I sit at a green light, waiting for a break in traffic to turn left, the light turns red and I do not go. Isn't that what everyone does? I mean, I am pretty sure we learned in Kindergarten when we played that game "Red-light, Green-light" that red=stop. Duh?! Well, these particular men obviously did not play that game because they were in a raging fury that I didn't run the red light so they could go. Complete with bulging forehead veins and all, they proceed to scream and cuss at me from their car. Then...wait for it...they start making sexually obscene hand gestures at us. (Use your imagination) Seriously, do I need to say more? Humans can be quite nasty, and I have NEVER in my life, seen a dog attack a human because they didn't cross the street when they deemed necessary. Case closed.

But hey, events like the dog walk this weekend help me to restore a few slivers of faith in humanity and allow me to continue meandering about the world instead of retreating to a hidden farm and trying to teach chickens how to write and dogs how to chop vegetables.

Zeus and Fritz had a wonderful day among peers. There were over 1000 dogs in attendance and if you know Fritz's history, that was a risky environment to put the demon into, but he actually did super and only snapped at 3-4 dogs the entire day.

Fritz, on his best behavior at the beginning of the walk.
 He's more angelic for Luke than he is for me. *eye-roll*

This is a pig...by the way.

Me and Zeuser, ready to start the walk.

And we're off.
Dog lovers unite ;)

Almost there!
Zeus and Fritz's first dog walk for a cause!

We're done.
And Fritz refused to show anything but his booty to the camera.
My apologies.

Vendor Village and Doggie Activity Booths

There were lots of vendors here and some activity centers for the dogs; including "Bobbing for Franks", "Paw Prints" (dip your dog's paw in paint then put it on a paper), and "Recall Races". 

Zeus and Fritz both participated in the races. They hook them up to really long leashes and the owner goes to the end of a pathway. The dog is timed on how fast he/she gets to the owner/finish line.

Zeus is getting hooked up and ready for the race!
Please disregard that Fritz is in a fight with his leash.

So, I went to the end of the path and Zeus saw me, but was being held until the timer started. When the time had been started he bolted towards me. I mean, like cheetah-after-his-dinner bolted. It was hilarious. He made it to me in 2:10 seconds. Fritz got all hooked up and ready, set, go...and as you can imagine, he trotted off the entire path and meandered for a second before slightly jogging toward me. I think his time was around 4 seconds. Bless his little non-conforming, non-competitive heart.

As for the results, Zeus beat every other dog's time. Can you even believe it? My little sweet mini schnauzer had the fastest time in the race! :)) So proud! I clearly failed him by not putting him in races before, BUT his name isn't Zeus Lightening for nothing ;)

   

"What?! I WON?! You're kidding!?"

"Yayyyyyyy! Victoryyyyy" *smiles*

Thoughts for Thursday

We've been living in California for almost 6 months now and time has seriously flown by. Six months in Korea was like 4 years in America. Although, I must say that CA seems a bit like another country to me as well. People are constantly asking me how I like it...and if you know me, you know I can't really lie very well. The truth is that it's fine. I certainly do not see what all the hype is about. It's actually pretty chilly here to me, mainly at night and the "sunny" portion of "Sunny southern California" has missed a significant amount of work these past months. As of yet, I am baffled as to why its called sunny socal. Regardless, its a really nice place to live, especially Coronado. BUT...

I miss Georgia! I miss the trees, the grass, the night sounds, the houses, the people (wait, no..some of them)...I don't know. I am sure I am glamorizing it, but I guess that happens when you have been gone from "home" for two years. I'm still fairly new to the Air Force way of life, so I am not so go-with-the-flow as some of the more seasoned wives. I love that I have the opportunity to see and experience new places (since I was always that girl who wanted to leave GA forEVER for big city life...Ha!) but I guess we as people, tend to not appreciate or understand what we love and what we have until we don't have it anymore.

Moving on...

Zeus and Fritz update...

Fritz continues to pick fights with pit bulls and other horse dogs at Dog Beach, so we haven't been there very much lately. Cesar Millan, if you're ever in the neighborhood, feel free to come by and do some whispering to a certain 14 pound schnauzer who clearly has a demon possessing him. He also gets very spooked around kids which is not ideal. Going further, Fritz jumped up on the ledge of our rooftop patio, sending me into a frenzy. I mean, picture walking a tight rope and that's what he was doing. He got out of our gate and was trotting down our street following Luke to work one day, and has decided that he will only eat dinner in the middle of the night. In his downtime, he likes to hide behind the couch cushions...

Zeus had a hard time for awhile, one because his brother limits his ability to go to the dog park, and two he has allergies. Apparently, he is allergic to California. Hmm. The vet thought it was his food, so we changed his food a billion times. We are off of poultry, grains, and gluten for him, so we had to try the more rare proteins like venison, rabbit, and kangaroo. Wow. He is not only allergic, but incredibly stubborn and picky, so for a few days he wasn't eating. He does not appreciate the raw foods diet...or either he doesn't appreciate rabbit. Not sure which it is, but after his starvation bout, we brought home several different foods and put it all down and let him choose which one he wanted.

You mean all pet owners don't do this?

This was one of my low points during his hunger strike. Yes, I fed my dog with a fork. While sitting on the ground with him. Begging him to eat the rabbit.

He settled on the venison and sweet potato combo...for those of you dying to know. Haha!

Zeus' vet also scared me to death with a certain blood test that he had to have. Please catch yourself up on the story by reading this little nifty post. The blood test came back that he had NO ANTIBODIES for PARVO. Holyyyyy balls! He was not allowed to go outside except to potty and not allowed to be anywhere where there were other dogs (aside from Fritz). It was a terrible couple of months worrying about him. He had to get the parvo vaccine and then wait two weeks to take another blood test. This blood test would get sent to "one of the leading immunologists in the country" according to my vet, who would do research on Zeus' blood and let me know the results in two weeks. Seriously, high maintenance dog! If he turned out to be a "non-responder" then he would most likely get the virus and die. Thankfully, the test came back that he DOES indeed have enough antibodies to fight the virus. Happy day for me!!..and Zeus, who went to dog beach that day! All this kind of made me want to throw something at my vet though. She is so dramatic about everything!

I think that's about it for now...except that I am on my second car wreck since moving to CA. One lady backed into me...the other lady hit me from behind. Really people? Get off my balls.

One other thing...this Saturday is the 2012 Walk for Animals which we all will be in attendance...Zeus, Fritz, my I-inherited-two-dogs-and-now-I-have-to-go-to-all-these-animal-events-and-smile-because-it-makes-my-crazy-wife-happy-not-to-mention-all-the-donations-to-pets-in-need-that-comes-from-my-bank-account-mysteriously-husband, and myself will all be there with bells on at 7 AM. If you feel like donating to my walk, which, I mean, of course you do!!...here is the link :))

http://www.sdhumane.org/site/TR/Events/General?px=1576111&pg=personal&fr_id=1090

Tootles! 

Sassy Suggestion Quatre

I feel its time for me to continue with my making-2012-count theme since I am not dying after all. Phew! And for the record, no one ever told me I was dying...except for Dr. Google which I happened to listen to more so than say....my real Dr's.

Anywho, folks. The point is, I don't have any excuses at the moment as to why I can't continue to be a productive part of society. And you don't either! So, put that tub of ice cream down and make your mark on the world! And by mark, I mean minuscule-smaller-than-microscopic-mark. But let's not get caught up in the details...size doesn't matter, err...umm, some sizes matter...orrr, ugh whatev. You know what I'm trying to say.

Sassy Suggestion 4

  I found out about this little pumpkin pie organization through Fairy DogParents. It is a place that rescues senior dogs called Muttville.org, Senior Dog Rescue. How sweet is that?! They are in the running for $10,000 that will go to their organization to help them continue to help older dogs. What if nobody wanted you because you were getting old?? Hmm, we would be expecting someone to help us wouldn't we?? Most of the time, that someone comes in the form of a lawyer suing the pants off our ex-husbands after they leave us for a younger woman, but in this case, it happens to be this little gem of an organization.

Do it in the name of everyone who ever has and ever will get abandoned because their face is falling...or just do it because you think it is unfair that dogs get put to sleep simply because they are a little older.

All you have to do is click the link for >>> Muttville.org and watch the slideshow. The number of views will help them win the contest for the $10K.

Please be a doll, or a ken, and help these sweet dogs. If you don't, I will believe that you also wouldn't help a sweet old lady trying to cross the road. And furthermore, I will believe that you would steal her purse as she crosses.

Thankyoucomeagain.

Sassy Suggestion Trois

Not that I'm feeling extra giving or thoughtful or charitable lately, (read why here), but occasionally, I do come out of my dark-filled room where I pout and collect chocolate wrappers. Surprising, I know. Ehh, anyway, the point is....even when stupid/bad/sad things are happening, I (we all) have things to be thankful for. And let me tell you, I know there are people much less fortunate than me. So its time to remember that 2012 is supposed to be about being happy and making the world better in some way. At least for me it is, which is why I write this stuff. So, in order to keep my agenda, I've left my pile of Snicker's minis and my spot in the corner today. Yes, I eat minis so that I can have more than 15 of them and still feel like I have only actually eaten one candy bar. Oh come on, pick your jaw up. There are more important things to do than to plan a chocolate intervention on me today!

Sassy Suggestion 3

1) Donate you old, dirty shoes to Nike! They reuse your shoes for building things like playgrounds. If you don't want to help build a playground then you shouldn't smile, ever again! If you don't have any old shoes, then you are forgiven. This is so easy and I have stared, drooling at my pile of old shoes for so long and just had no idea what to do with them except Goodwill or the trash can. And I'm kind of over Goodwill right now. Just kidding, calm down. But I do think that maybe being a little more creative with your shoes is better.

2) Since I have been in a cloudy mood, well, forever now....Haha, nooo, for a couple of weeks, I need to focus on the reasons why my life is great. And honestly, there are so many reasons. So today, and for as many days in 2012 as you can, you should take a minute to be thankful for what you have. And yes, I know we all do that in November by celebrating the fact that we completely STOLE America from the Indians. And really, as great as that whole thing is and was, I'm thinking something a little different. Maybe you have a mansion, be thankful biatch! (rolling my eyes!) Maybe you live in a shack but have a nice bootay, be thankful biatch! Maybe you have a wonderful husband or maybe you have a father that loves you or maybe you aren't homeless or lonely. Whatever it is, I am sure that you have something that makes you smile every single day. Let's dwell on those things for a while instead of all the bobo things. (repeating this to myself 10 times)

"The key to happiness is realizing that it's not what happens to you that matters, it's how you choose to respond." *Keith Harrell (duh! just a reminder)

"Giving...is a way of saying thank you to the world, and also a way of saying please. A pure, charitable gift will always be returned-many times over." *Suze Orman