Posted in Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged dogs, friends, pat bean, postaday on June 9, 2012| 6 Comments »
“I talk to him when I’m lonsome like; and I’m sure he understands. When he looks at me most attentively, and gently licks my hands; then he rubs his nose on my tailored clothes, but I never say naught thereat. For the good Lord knows I can buy more clothers, but never a friend like that.” — W. Dayton Wedgefarth.
Friends
My grandson, David, and two of his best friends. Scout and Levi. I didn’t take this picture, but it’s one of my favorites. I think my son, D.C. took it.
Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Dogs, Travel, tagged dogs, joy, pat bean, postaday, Route 66, Travel on May 9, 2012| 35 Comments »
This is how Pepper spends much of her time as we drive Route 66, her chin on the co-pilot arm rest staring at me. I actually snapped this picture as I drove down a lonely stretch of the road. Any guesses about what she is thinking? — Photo by Pat Bean
The Dog
I lie belly-up
In the sunshine, happier than
You ever will be.
Today I sniffed
Many dog butts—I celebrate
By kissing your face.
I sound the alarm!
Paperboy—come to kill us all —
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!
… Sleeping here, my chin
On your foot—no greater bliss—well,
Maybe catching cats.
Look in my eyes and
Deny it. No human could
Love you as much I do.
I came across the poem above and it made me laugh. I don’t know who wrote it. Do you?
Bean’s Pat: Joy http://jmgoyder.com/2012/05/06/joy/ Very true words. I loved this blogger’s thoughts.
Posted in Dogs, Travel, tagged charles Schulz, dogs, pat bean, postaday, Travel, traveling companions on April 23, 2012| 40 Comments »
Note the tail kink -- Photo by Pat Bean
“Happiness is a warm puppy.” – Charles Schulz
Already the Love of My Life
I wanted a 20 to 25 pound, female canine, one to three years old, from the sporting group of dogs, as the replacement for Maggie, my treasured, Cocker Spaniel traveling companion. I got an 11-pound, four-month-old puppy instead.
It was meant to be.
She’s a cross, most likely, between a Scottie and a Schnauzer. I’ll never know for sure because I’m not going to pay the $60 for DNA testing. It really doesn’t matter.
She has chocolate, melt-your-heart eyes, when you can see them beneath her long silky hair – I think we’ll do a little trimming soon. She bounds when she runs, has a kink in her tail and bless my lucky stars, is potty-trained.
Why won't they play with me? -- Photo by Pat Bean
She came from the third animal shelter I visited, it being the Second Change SPCA Shelter in Plano, Texas.
I’m not sure if I picked her, or she picked me. It was as if our eyes met and we both knew we belonged together. The deed was sealed when someone put her in my lap and she nestled down as if this was where she belonged.
Although friendly with everyone, she has already decided she wants to keep me in her sight. For example, she’s lying at me feet right now as I sit at my daughter’s dining room table, and she followed me into the kitchen twice when I got up to refill my coffee cup.
Photographing Pepper wasn't easy. Not only was she constantly moving, her black fur made her look like a bundle of rags in most of the pictures I took. She actually has some red and blonde tints in her coat, the kind women pay a fortune to achieve, that show well in the sunlight. -- Photo by Pat Bean
When I went out to my RV, Gypsy Lee, for our first night together, she eagerly bounded into the motorhome and was soon settled comfortably beside me on the over-the-cab bed. When I got up in the middle of the night to visit the powder room, she greeted me on my return as if I had been gone a week.
I’ve named her Pepper, partly because of the spice I know she’s going to add to my life and partly because she is so full of it. She acts as if that’s been her name all her life, even though the shelter called her Kenzie.
I yelled Pepper yesterday evening when I saw her headed for the kitchen and the food bowl of my daughter’s two dogs. I yelled because her tummy was already full, and I didn’t want her eating more and getting sick.
Face-off with my daughter's Cocker Spaniel, MacBean. -- Photo by pat Bean
She immediately did a U-turn, jumped back up into my lap and gave me puppy kisses.
Pepper and I will be getting on the road heading west tomorrow. She has already tried out the co-pilot seat and it fits her well.
I suspect that when we pull away from my daughter’s home, I will turn to Pepper and quote Dr. Seuss: “Oh the places we’ll go, and the things we’ll see.” That’s what I told Maggie when we got on the road eight years ago. And we did.
Bean’s Pat: Stopping the Wind http://tinyurl.com/cbtkqwo Mostly a reblog of Trey Ramsey’s blog by someone trying to change their future. It includes some hard-nosed, kick-butt advice for all of us who are trying to meet new goals. I took notes.
Posted in Journeys, Travel, Writing, tagged dogs, pat bean, postaday, women's circle network, writing conference on April 12, 2012| 9 Comments »
Folks, we have reached our cruising altitude now, so I am going to switch the seat belt sign off. Feel free to move about as you wish, but please stay inside the plane till we land. It’s a bit cold outside and if you walk on the wings it affects the flight pattern.” – This is the Captain speaking.
I saw blooming cacti everywhere I looked in Tucson. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Hello Austin
I take to the air this afternoon, flying to Austin to attend the Women’s Circle Network Stories from the Heart writing conference.
I’ve been looking forward to this event for months. I will be meeting up with some of the women I met at the event two years ago, and will also be meeting face to face with many women who have become dear friends via the Internet since then.
I will be sorry, however, to leave this beautiful Arizona desert where my daughter, Trish, lives. During my three-week visit here, we have both done some healing. Trish from some physical ailments and me from the emotional stress of losing my beloved dog, Maggie, and then her replacement just eight days later.
I’m finally to the point of thinking again about getting another dog. I will be getting back on the road in my RV shortly after the conference ends, and the thought of traveling without a canine companion is mind boggling.
And each variety of cactus I saw had its own unique beauty. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Just in case anyone in the Austin or the Dallas areas of Texas might know of a dog that needs a lot of love and spoiling, I’m looking for a one to three–old, 20 to 25 pound, female that loves walks, cuddling and car rides.
Bean’s Pat: Life in the Bogs http://tinyurl.com/6lw7u9hAn armchair trip through Amish Country, and great flowers, too
Posted in Journeys, Uncategorized, tagged beagles, dogs, Houston Beagle rescue, pat bean, postaday, rescue animals on March 12, 2012| 31 Comments »
At night she will sleep quietly (but reluctantly) in a dog crate at her foster home, ever hopeful of earning a spot on the “big” bed. During the day she is allowed to be loose in the house, as she does not chew things and she gets along with the other dogs. She WILL sometimes bark at noises outside, and makes quite a racket when the humans are either leaving or coming home — for such a little thing, she does have a very loud bark! Therefore she might not be a great fit for an apartment unless the neighbors can be informed that the occasional squeals are from a protesting dog and not a banshee! (grin)
She knows how to use a doggie door, but little princess that she is, she really prefers not to go outside unless accompanied by a human friend. The ideal home for Meghan will be a quiet one where there is not a lot of activity. She would not be comfortable with young children or super active dogs. There might have been some traumatic incidents in her past that led her to worry about her safety, so she worries about being picked up quickly or being bumped by rowdy dogs. She will be a loyal and loving companion to anyone who can give her lots of love and attention. To adopt Meghan or one of our other rescued beagles, please follow the instructions on our website and complete an application to adopt.
She's got melt-your-heart-chocolate-brown eyes and a regalness about her that prompted me to call her Princess Meghan. -- Photo by Pat Bean
I discovered the above notice on the Internet — and immediately knew I had found a perfect new companion for my RV travels.
Posted in Travel, Travels With Maggie, tagged cocker spaniels, dog grooming, dogs, pat bean, postaday2012 on January 4, 2012| 4 Comments »
Maggie relaxing in my daughter's chair after today's grooming. I can't help but notice after each grooming these days, her once pure black muzzle gets grayer and grayer. -- Photo by Pat Bean
“Anybody who doesn’t know what soap tastes like never washed a dog.” Franklin P. Jones
Travels With Maggie
My traveling companion, Maggie, is a cocker spaniel with thick, fast growing fur that needs to be trimmed and washed every 10 days so as to keep both her ear infections and allergies at a minimum.
My previous cocker could go six weeks between groomings, and when I owned her I had a steady paycheck coming in weekly and a great groomer who charged only $25.
The cost of sending Maggie to a groomer these days ranges from a low of $42 to a high of $53 – and I live on a pretty low fixed income. So Maggie gets home, or shall we say RV-groomed since that is our home.
When the weather is warm enough, and when my RV, Gypsy Lee is hooked up to electricity, it’s an outdoor job. I sit on my RV step with Maggie in front of me and the clippers plugged into an outdoor outlet. The wind usually blows the clipped hair away.
On cold days, I sit on my toilet seat with Maggie propped up a bin in front of me and then sweep and vacuum the hair up afterward. It takes about three days before the last few pieces are finally discovered and discarded.
One or the other of those procedures works everywhere except my oldest daughter’s home, where I have no place to plug in Gypsy Lee. Today, since it was too cool to groom Maggie outside, I used the small downstairs half bath as my grooming saloon. I sat on the toilet and put Maggie on a stool in front of me. With the door closed, her cut fur was confined and didn’t get all over my daughter’s house. Clean up was much easier than in my RV.
I keep the grooming routine as simply as possible, using only two clippers blades for the job, a No. 10 for her back, throat, face and ears, and a No. 4 for the lower body and legs. Neither Maggie nor I have much patience, so on a scale of 1 (great) to 10 (disastrous), the outcome is usually in the above 5 range.
Today’s might have actually been a 4. But that’s not what pleases me. Every single time I have groomed her in the past, which is over 200 times in the nearly 12 years I’ve had her, today was the first time I didn’t have to fight her to get her right ear groomed. It has been extremely sensitive all her life.
I suspect the reason for her cooperation today when I was working on that ear is the new medicine that she was put on two weeks ago to fight her most recent ear infection. That infection was an extremely painful one for her, so much so that if it couldn’t be controlled it might have ended with me losing her.
I felt like shouting for joy when I finished. Maggie just wanted her treat. She always gets one afterward – whether she’s been good or not.
Posted in Travels With Maggie, tagged Christmas, dogs, pat bean, postaday2011 on December 24, 2011| 7 Comments »
Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we’re here for something else besides ourselves.” Eric Sevareid
Yesterday was drab and overcast, but these two blossoms that I found growing beneath a hedge cheered everything up. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
Maggie’s short little tail was finally wagging again last night. And she slept the night through. While all may not be well, my canine traveling companion appears to be on the mend. The new ear medication appears to be working. And that cheers me tremendously.
Christmas is looking brighter. So Merry Christmas all. Have a good one.
Posted in Favorite Hikes, Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, tagged dogs, Lake Jackson, pat bean, postaday2011, San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge, Sea Center, white ibis on December 9, 2011| 9 Comments »
‘An old dog, even more than an old spouse, always feels like doing what you feel like doing.” — Robert Brault
White ibis coming in for a landing at the Sea Center in Lake Jackson on a cold morning. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
I braved the cold yesterday morning to walk the boardwalk at the Sea Center in Lake Jackson. It’s a great place to watch birds, as well as being a fish hatchery, beach/seashore museum and an aquarium.
Check it out at: http://www.texasexplorer.com/SeaCenterTexas.htm
A new sign marks the Bobcat Woods Trail in San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. That's my son, Lewis, in the background. -- Photo by Pat Bean
While I had a pair of warm gloves, I never kept them on long enough for my fingers to warm up. I was too busy checking out the Audubon Bird App on the new smart phone my son gave me as an early Christmas present and taking pictures. I can use my binoculars with my gloves on, but not the phone or camera.
My photo above of the white ibis was my reward for braving the cold. It did warm up later on in the day, and my son, Lewis, and I found about 40 species. After the Sea Center, we walked Bobcat Trail at San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge.
My dog, Maggie, wasn’t happy, however. I had left her home so she could stay warm and cozy in the RV. But the dirty looks she gave me for the rest of the afternoon indicated she had wanted to go birding, too. Or at least gone for the ride.
Gypsy Lee has been parked for a week and Maggie is already getting antsy.
Posted in Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged dave barry, dogs, illinois, kickapoo state park, nanowrimo2011, pat bean, postaday2011 on November 19, 2011| 4 Comments »
My Favorite Places
What I remember best about staying at Kickapoo State Park in Illinois was the tremendous thunder and rain storm that pounded my RV. It was a marvelous concert and light show. -- Photo by Pat Bean
“You can say any fool thing to a dog, and the dog will give you this look that says, ‘My god, you’re right! I never would’ve thought of that.’” – Dave Barry
NaNoWriMo update … 32,438 words
I met my writing goal today, but only my slapping my hands and telling myself to get on with the writing and not get into the rewriting – yet.
I haven’t really gotten crazy with my quickie novel, as many have suggested. I think I’ve concentrated too much on trying to get the plot moving along. I know I will need to go back and sass up the characters a bit.
Meanwhile, the dog inherited by the first person protagonist in my mystery has taken on a more major role than I imagined. I think when I would get stuck writing I could always write something about what the dog was doing.
Would you believe I named the dog, Maggie. But she’s a combination of a couple of dogs, and cats, I’ve owned. No she doesn’t talk, but her expressions and mannerisms say it all.
It sure feels good to have my computer back. How’s everybody else coming?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged comfort, dogs, postaday2011, Travel, weekly photo challenge on October 10, 2011| 3 Comments »
“You may have a dog that won’t sit up, roll over or even cook breakfast, not because she’s too stupid to learn how but because she’s too smart to bother.” — Rick Horowitz
Travels With Maggie
Maggie lives a most comfortable life -- and she gives me comfort. And this was the most comforting think I could thing of to illustrate this week's photo challenge. -- Photo by Pat Bean
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters.” — Ursula K. Le Guin
Pat Bean is a writer, avid birder, hiker and passionate nature observer with wanderlust in her soul. She spent nine years living and traveling in a small RV. She now lives in Tucson with Scamp, a rescue who was supposed to be a Schnauzer mix but turned out to be a Siberian Husky-Shih Tzu mix who is as stubborn as his owner, her granddaughter says. She was also a journalist for 37 years, and can be reached at patbean@msn.com
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