Paws and Claws 2010

A couple of weekends ago, our town held it's fourth annual Paws and Claws pet fair extravaganza. We've gone to the last two events (you can read about last year's fair here). I was especially excited to attend this year since we had a cute new family member to introduce to the world :)

This year's event was different from previous years in a number of ways. First, they moved the fair from a small park off the main highway to the town's large grassy knoll area which is right behind our newly constructed City Hall and Events building.

Although bigger, this year we hardly had any shade to shield us from the scorching sun which brings me to difference number two. In an effort to hold the event during a cooler time of the year, the coordinators opted for early September versus late August - a whopping difference of two weeks! Do ya think it was any cooler? Um, no. In their defense, they did have doggie water coolers with ice in them scattered throughout the event as well as little kiddie wadding pools, but come on. It was already 90+ degrees by 10:30 am! Why can't this event be held during the cool days of spring? I guess I have no tolerance for the lack of thought that goes into the timing of this fair especially when the heat seems to affect Sedona more these days (she'll be seven at the end of October).

Despite the heat, I think she had a good time. Travis was handling her that day, and he kept pouring ice water on her to keep her cool :) He's such a good daddy. At one point, she wanted to check out the little pools.

See that brindle pit bull to the right of Sedona? He only has three legs, and his last remaining hind leg is in a brace! He was just the most precious thing and was as happy as can be. I guess we could all learn a lesson from this little guy.

We bumped into all sorts of critters that day. Our local zoo brought over a few darlings to partake in the event. Cute, aren't they?

The Desert Tortoise Council was on hand, too, raising public awareness about our indigenous federally and state threatened desert tortoise. This little guy is about a year old, and no, he's not wearing pink lip stick :) He had just eaten a cactus fruit and was high on sugar trying to climb out of his little bin! He's about the size of my palm.

After only thirty minutes or so, we were all pretty darn hot. Pebbles kept plopping down on the cool grass. I felt badly that she had to wear her onesie, but she wouldn't leave her hot spots alone. In case you can't read what it says, it says, "I love my mommy." Too cute!

I was so hot I decided to join her on the grass. To heck with grass stains! She had the right idea!

I also posed with my biggest girl. She drew so much attention this year, but that's not uncommon. When you see a small horse walking next to a 5'4" gal (that would be me), people tend to stare and ask questions. I tried to get her to sit on the grass in the shade, but she didn't want to. She's always loved the sun.

We were only at the fair for an hour or so. We had gotten there right when they opened at 10 and we wanted to leave before the real heat of the day set in. I think the best part was spending time with my hubby and my girls and taking our first official family picture together.

As you can see, I put Pebbles up on Sedona's back, and that's where she stayed on our walk back to the car. She was pooped!

As if the pet fair wasn't enough excitement for the weekend, the very next day was our Petco's re-grand opening festivities! They were having a contest for littlest and biggest dogs. Of course I wanted to enter Sedona into the biggest dog category. At 180 lbs and standing almost 40" from the floor to her withers, I figured she might have a good sporting chance of winning. Her main competition was the cutest mastiff puppy named Chloe, but at only eight months old she wasn't nearly as big as Sedona...yet :)

After deliberation by the judges, they concluded that Sedona was indeed the biggest dog there! The littlest dog prize went to Daisy, a tiny chihuahua. I love how Sedona and Daisy are checking each other out, and I love how excited the lady in the back ground (to your left) looks!

I had NO idea that Sedona was actually going to win a prize! She won a $10 gift certificate to Petco which is great since I spend $50 a month on food for her not including her vitamins.

Even though Pebbles wasn't entered in any of the contests, she still made friends :) She's a social butterfly kind of like her mama. She met Kukla, another maltichon that was in the same rescue program that I got Pebbles from. Aren't they adorable together? (Kukla is wearing the white polka dot dress for which she won "best dressed" that day.)

Lastly, here's a picture of just me and the girls.

It was a great ending to a fun-filled weekend.

I actually have some crafty items to share with all of you in my next post, so keep your eye out for it!

Introducing Pebbles

Back in late July, I started volunteering for a local animal rescue organization. I contacted them after I found myself trying to place my cousin's ex-girlfriend's chihuahua, Floyd. Every weekend the group goes to our local Petco to showcase their adoptable pets, and they agreed to accept Floyd into this program to try and find him a forever home. Prospective adoptive families who visit Petco are able to interact with the dogs in the program, but before they can take a pet home they must fill out an adoption application and agree to a home visit. I didn't know what to expect on my first weekend especially since I wasn't allowed to bring Floyd because he was not yet neutered. However, an older couple who was also volunteering with me that day showed great interest in Floyd despite not having met him. Before I knew it, they were at my house falling in love with the little guy. He had found a wonderful new home, and I couldn't be happier with where he ended up.

Although I found a home for Floyd, I decided to continue my volunteer work with the rescue group. I have always enjoyed interacting with the public especially when it concerns animals and animal rescue. One weekend in early August, I was asked to pick up a few dogs from a local private kennel that was boarding them temporarily until the group could find them foster homes. You see, the rescue does not have an actual facility. The dogs and cats in their program are located in loving foster homes until they are adopted out, so it was highly unusual for these three dogs to be in a kennel. When I arrived at the facility and the operator opened up the kennel door, this white little fluff ball came running toward me. I decided to take her to Petco in my car, and the other two male dogs (who were brothers) went with one of the rescue operators.

During the course of the afternoon, I got to know this sweet little dog. She stayed with me the entire time we were at Petco, and on the way back to the kennel facility she fell asleep on my lap. I felt so badly about dropping her off at the kennel. Although all the dogs there are very well cared for, it was just too loud and over whelming for her in my opinion. She had already been bounced around like a ping-pong ball from place to place, so I decided to take her home and foster her until she could find a forever home. Little did I know that this little ball of white fluff would be one of my greatest joys.

The above picture was taken just a few minutes after I brought her home. I hadn't even introduced her to Sedona yet. Oh no! Sedona! How would Pebbles react to her? I wasn't worried about Sedona's reaction. She's pretty mellow. But a small dog and a big dog...eek! What would happen? Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll let the following photos tell the story.

If the pictures didn't answer the question, "Do Sedona and Pebbles get along?" maybe this video will:


So, long story short, little Ms. Pebbles is now officially in her forever home...mine :) The sweet relationship between her and Sedona was undeniable. They took to each other almost instantly, and now they're best buds. They play together. They sun bath together. They eat together. They're just the most adorable and unpredictable pair ever!

In the month and a half that I've had Pebbles, she's been spayed:

She claimed her toy:

Actually, she took over the entire toy box:

She's gotten two "hot spots" on her little body that required veterinary attention and lots of medicine and mama love:

Plus she got to wear an embarrassing baby onesie because she wouldn't stop licking her hot spots:

At least it was cute (and true!):

She stole our hearts:

She got a new family:

I have SO many other things I want to share with all of you including several mini day trips that we've taken as well as the girls enjoying themselves at the pet fair and at Petco. I'll be back!

Bead Storage Station

Thank you all for your kind words about Poker. Since his passing, I have removed all weasel-related items from my house most notably their large luxurious cage that used to stand proud in one corner of my craft room. They always used to keep me company when I crafted, and I enjoyed having them with me. After moving the cage to storage, I wondered what I would do with the empty space. It seemed so sad and barren, and I knew I needed to spruce it up and make it more joyful.

After a few days of pondering, the idea to consolidate my beads into one centralized location hit me! I was bound and determined to find some sort of shelving system that would fit nicely in that little niche of my room. I searched high and low for days combing through thrift stores, antique stores and big box stores until I realized that my good friend had a bookcase that she wasn't using. I called her up and asked if I could borrow it, and she said yes! After bringing it back to the house, the last thing left to do was to fill it up. I ended up buying a bunch more plastic storage containers (lucky for me JoAnn's was running a 40% off sale on their bead organizers at the time), and I spent a week moving beads around and sorting through little caches here and there. In the end, I'm super happy with how my new corner looks. It's both stylish and functional, but best of all it makes me smile.

I also filmed a very short video giving you a more up-close look. Hope you all enjoy it!

I'll be back soon to introduce a new member of the family! Stay tuned :)

Sweet Dreams my darling Poker

It's been nearly two months since I updated my little corner of the world wide web; my last post being June 21st. Four days later on June 25th, I had to say goodbye to the last of my weasel clan, Poker. Poker had been battling pancreatic cancer for about two months. His tired little body just couldn't fight anymore, and so once again, I was left to make the impossible decision to put him to sleep. Although it's been almost two months, I sit here crying as I type this out which is why I couldn't bring myself to update my blog earlier.

A very prominent and happy era of my life has ended for me with Poker's passing. I have no more weasels to care for or to play with. They were a part of my life for the past nine years, and to not have any around was nearly unbearable for me for the first few weeks after his passing. I had to take down their massive cage and put it away in storage. Every time I saw it, my heart would break all over again. I have since made that corner of the room into a jewelry making station which I will share with you in a later post. I still sometimes "hear" him moving around in a cage that isn't there. Phantom noises is what they're called, and it's a normal part of the grieving process. I'm not crazy. I'm just a mama who misses her kids.

With time, my grief has turned to fond memories of my little man. He was such a vivacious little critter. He had the most gentle disposition and the most loving personality. Of course, he was also quite the mischievous little weasel.

I remember one particularly troubling incident that happened in which he somehow managed to tear his little toe nail. I wrote about it in the this post. Poor little guy and his tiny bandaged paw...

He also LOVED to play with the remote control, and it couldn't be just any remote. It HAD to be the one from the living room. We have three other remotes that are exactly the same, but he only wanted the living room remote. Go figure! I made a little video of him and the remote. I hope you all enjoy it.



Attila was always intrigued by the weasels and sometimes he would even play with them. I'm so glad I caught this cute moment between the two of them.

Mostly, though, I'm going to miss his loving disposition.

His sweet little face with his cute little pink nose.

His peaceful personality.

His tiny little paws.

Oh sweet Poker how we will all miss you terribly. You left a print on our hearts that will never fade. Until we meet again over the Rainbow Bridge...


xoxo, mama & papa

I did it again

In the famous words of Brittany Spears it seems that I "did it again." I said I wasn't going to go so long between blog posts, but I fear that it's been over a month since my last update. What can I say? Life gets busy and blogs get woefully neglected, but I'm here to rectify the situation!

Back in early May, Travis, my mom and me decided to head out to Trona Pinnacles National Natural Landmark and Death Valley National Park for a fun-filled day trip. We had just experienced a rather wet Spring season, so we knew the flowers would be at their optimal bloom. We were not disappointed. I was obsessed with identifying every single flower we saw (I think I've been hanging out with my botanist girlfriend way too much). Mostly, I wanted to find the increasingly rare Panamint dasiy...BINGO!

Panamint Daisy, Enceliopsis covillei

Desert Canterbury Bell, Phacelia campanularia A. Gray spp. vasiformis (Note: Some people experience dermatitis after handling Phacelia species. I personally have never had a reaction, but you might want to look and not touch these beautiful blue/purple flowers.)

Desert Paintbrush, Castilleja angustifolia (These are one of my favorite desert flowers. The picture doesn't do them justice. They are brilliantly colored!)

If you're ever interested in identifying desert wildflowers, I highly recommend Mojave Desert Wildflowers by Pam MacKay who happens to be an old acquaintance of mine. Her book breaks down the flowers by color making them easy to identify.

The views of the Trona Pinnacles were absolutely lovely the day we went. You can see them in the background behind me and my mom.

There are over 500 tufa (calcium carbonate) pinnacles that rise from the bed of the Searles Dry Lake Basin. Some of the tufa spirals are as high as 140 feet! They were formed underwater between 10,000 to 100,000 years ago when the Searles Lake formed a link in an interconnected chain of Pleistocene lakes stretching between Death Valley and Mono Lake. Pretty cool, huh?

One day, I'd really like to throw on my pack and just go exploring around these awesome formations. I probably wouldn't get too far seeing as how I lately have an affinity for stopping every few feet to examine some new plant I've found or watch some lizard scurrying across the trail to find shelter under a bush. It would be heaven...*sigh*...oh, let's get back to my adventure!

After visiting the pinnacles (where, incidentally, a TON of Hollywood movies are filmed each year), we continued on to Death Valley. We took the "back way" into the park where we were able to take a slight detour to see the Charcoal Kilns. These kilns were built in 1877 for use as fuel for two silver-lead smelters in the area. They're really quite spectacular and quite big! They're about 24 feet tall by 30 feet wide.

It was the perfect day to visit this area, too, because we could see up and over the Panamint Mountains all the way to the Sierra Nevada's where we could actually make out Mt. Whitney (more on Mt. Whitney in a future post)! Just ignore the goofy couple in the foreground and focus on the snow-capped mountains in the way back right above Travis' hat.

As always, the beautiful colors of Death Valley were on brilliant display for us. Whoever says that the desert is an ugly place is, quite frankly, an idiot.

We stopped off at Devil's Golf Course and Badwater Basin, both of which are always impressive sites.

Devil's Golf Course is a large salt pan with a rough surface that is formed by large, protruding salt crystals. You can actually hear the salt cracking if you listen long enough. Studies have shown that the salt and gravel beds actually extend to a depth of more than 1,000 feet below the surface, and in some places it goes down as far as 9,000 feet! That's so crazy cool! Oh, and here's another fun fact: Devil's Golf Course was named after a line in a 1934 National Park Service guide book on Death Valley that read, "only the devil could play golf on its surface." I love bits of history like that!

Only a few miles away is one of the lowest points on earth - Badwater Basin.

Next to the road is a spring-fed pool that contains a few species of aquatic plant and animal life. The pool used to be much bigger, but years of people trampling over the water have caused it to diminish in size, hence the construction of the boardwalk on which I was standing on when I took the picture below. Interestingly, Badwater Basin gets its name from this very spring where a surveyor came to water his mule, but the mule would not drink the water. The surveyor deemed the spring to have "bad water" and thus the name stuck.

The shifting salt flats actually create these awesome honeycomb shapes in the valley. Underneath all that salt is pure mud. See, Death Valley has water...it's just a bit tied up in the dirt, that's all :)

By the time we left Badwater and drove through Artist's Palette (where I took the scenic pictures I shared with you at the beginning of the post), we were racing against time to get to the famous Scotty's Castle. Unfortunately, we didn't make it. However, we did get to see the "castle" from a distance.

Our adventure ended late in the night and on the way home, we caught a glimpse of a beautiful harvest moon.

I have quite a number of other adventures still yet to share, so I'll be back. Hopefully I won't be gone too long!