November 2015 ramblings

Haven't posted in a long time. I hate posting this.....Jolene died in June of 2014 from complications of Cushings Disease. She was being treated and her kidneys failed. I miss her to this day. Stephanie Bilger rescued a black GSD mixed with a tad of heeler. Molly is an older female that had been in rural Saluda county, and lived outside with virtually no shelter and fed only rarely. She gets to live inside and I thought she would bond with Mickey who was missing his Jolene. NO....Molly bonded to ME. She tolerates and BOSSES ( a good thing) Mickey. Gallman, the black Lab / Border Collie mix I got from the shelter decided he would rather be inside than the outside pen. He, when he needs to go out in the AM or PM, has a special bark. My friend Kevin Redding says his bark is like an old Chrysler car with a weak battery trying to start. Yep.....that's stuck in my head. 

     October and the start of November has been really wet. Leaves this fall have been not nearly as pretty as the NC mountains. 

     As I get closer to 70 (October 2016) I feel myself getting feeble.  I guess it is due to the scar tissue from repeated bronchitis events. Though I have not had one in sometime, the damage is there, and asthma has returned.  I guess I am not going to be a sled dog racer in Alaska now. Mickey is 10 and he would not have the stamina to race with JJay Levy. In 2011 I told her he would win races for her. In November 2013 he got to race with her Alaskan race dogs in a demo and he showed them up. Jolene was busy flirting with the biggest dog she could find.  

    Well that's all for now. 

Dogs and more dogs.....

     I have not written about my Siberian Husky I got from Chapin Burgess. He was under 40 pounds when I got him. Can we say neglect? I thought so. He hangs in around 55 pounds and immediately decided he loved living inside. He loves everybody, and loves to go to places and he greets folks like he is your long lost friend he hasn't seen in years.  He and Jolene are bonded.  Both dogs love to ride. The get in the back seat of the car and curl up. The rarely even look at the scenery going by. They just love to ride.  They love going to Tractor Supply. 

Now I have a foster dog who resides in my foster kennel outside. He is from the Newberry Shelter. 1 year old  Black lab, some Border Collie and tad of GSD maybe. He is 1 year old and still wide open. He loves to be with people, but he has never been taught any manners.  Pictures on my facebook page, and Newberry County Animal and Care...................... 

A roller coaster spring and cold !

It's been a roller coaster ride Spring.  Cold and warm. At least this is the first time since 2007 we have had above average rainfall, and the trees are the greenest since I moved here in 2007.  Rainfall has been above average and we are out of drought.  Yestereday morning the low was 38, but the low this morning was 54. From barely cracking 70 ( if we actually did) early in the week, highs across central and upstate South Carolina should be in the upper 80's.  

28 years ago today

"The Carolinas Outbreak" started here. It actually likely started just a few miles from my current back yard and did severe damage to Newberry. If the tornado had been "mature" it is likely that downtown Newberry would have been completely destroyed. We don't have outbreaks like this very often, and thank goodness for that.

Spring is trying to be early

Many plants have already bloomed. The Bradford Pears in Newberry are about finished, but out here they have just started. It's still dry.

The last blast of weather had a doppler indicated tornado in a severe thunderstorm sail by at 60 miles to my north by about 6 miles. It was 4 AM and I dressed and had the dogs on the leashes, but it was already by me as I was on the phone to the weather bureau.

Daytime temperature readings have been in the mid 80s multiple times. Too warm too early.

It's ALMOST Christmas

This year it is much warmer and there will not be snow and a White Christmas as we had last year.

This morning Carol Murray played The Singing Dogs doing Jingle Bells. Mickey, my silly sibe was asleep on the sofa on his dog bed. He got up, walked over to the radio on the mantle and howled along for the entire song.

Jolene, my heart dog has really learned a lot from him. He so outgoing and loving and she now will sit on the sofa with me and I can rub her paws.

Not much going on. I am going to get a cart or 2 wheeled something so they can learn to pull me. Mickey has done sled dog racing, and I would have loaned him out to be able to race in Alaska, but Jolene would have to have been part of the team. The lady that has Chapin Burgess' Kenai would not take his "Bear" who looks like Jolene so that means Mickey stays home.

New stuff.

Well, I surely didn't keep the 2006 Ranger that long. The 1996 Ranger, AKA the Gutless Wonder was QUIETER on the road and rode better than the newer one. I now have a Ford F150. It's a 2009 XL 4X4. It had only 6000 miles when I got it from Stokes Trainor. $16,900. It's like new.

I am so glad I have Mickey, the Siberian Husky from Chapin Burgess' rescue. I have made him an inside dog and he has done so well. And Jolene is happier and has learned from him. He's Wolf Gray and White with blue eyes. At least he is not wide open as he was when found in Savannah as a stray.

He's a working line Siberian, and if you show him a racing harness he goes wild. Now, over Christmas, we also taught Jolene to race. They were both in a team who brought Santa into town.

If gas gets to be $6.00 a gallon ..... HMMMMM !

More later!