History

There's a lot of American history in Virginia, some good, some bad. A lot of it very bad. They say that the winners write the history, but I don't think that holds true in the American south. Losers still dominate much of the political structure of the south. I value history as much as anyone, but many in the south have chosen to fetishize it rather than learn from it.


The Charlottesville area has had a debate recently, as have many other southern towns and cities, about confederate civil war monuments and statues that dominate the city parks and town squares. I am of two minds on this issue, but at the end of the day I believe that a community has the right to have its public spaces reflect the community as it exists today. Although each generation has an obligation to preserve the past, the past generation does not have the right to rule the future. That is the antithesis of progress, although that is a view and a preference espoused by many. Some communities are more progressive than others. Some will change and progress with time, some will remain mired in the past. That's a choice each community is entitled to make.


Today there was a KKK rally at one of the city parks in Charlottesville around a statue of Stonewall Jackson. These people were mostly from out of state but they set their sights on Charlottesville because it's a city that has decided to remove the statues of dead confederates from its parks and to rename the parks. There are legal issues that will work through the courts, but it unfortunately caught the attention of the Klan and neo-nazi groups. About 20 of these low lifes showed up in Charlottesville today, each of them the epitome of pure white trash. The event was indistinguishable from your typical Trump rally.

While I have had mixed feelings about the archaic civil war monuments and statues, I'm beginning to believe that if they are going to attract this sort of element to town, rather than merely moving them it might be better to melt them down and supply the metal to a modern sculptor for a commissioned work to represent what the community stands for today, not 100+ years ago.

Those are just some of my thoughts on today's events. The pictures are of Maya and TJ walking at Pleasant Grove, a historical property, now a park, in Fluvanna County, Virginia.

Deer have been spotted.

Two deer running across the road not far
in front of us.

The Calling

I had a couple of crates that I didn't need. They had been given to me and I passed them along to my friend Jackie who, with her husband Dave, runs an organization called Peaceful Passings Senior Animal Rescue. It's a rescue group ran out of their home that takes in senior pets who have been abandoned by their owners.

I'd like to think that there's a special place in hell for people who dump old dogs, animals that have given their full life and entire devotion to their humans, just to be hauled off like junk. I don't really believe in hell, but I may just believe in karma. People who dump their old dogs because they can't see, hear, or walk very well are setting an example for their children that may just come back to bite them on the ass. We can only hope.

Anyway, Peaceful Passings takes in seniors. They are mostly, but not entirely, small dogs because small dogs live so much longer. Senior dogs are challenging. They have greater than average medical needs and the expenses that go along with them. They are also challenging emotionally because you know from the start that they won't be with you long. In some cases all you are providing is hospice care and the best possible end of life experience. I've taken in a number of senior dogs and I've never regretted it. They have given me some of the greatest rewards imaginable, and many that were never imagined. But to have a rescue devoted exclusively to seniors, that's a calling. It's certainly an unmet need and it's one that I'd like to focus on myself more and more, particularly since Jack taught me that I'm past the age for dealing with young dogs.

Jackie not only runs Peaceful Passings, she is also the adopter of Patch, who has found or joined in on the calling. Patch carries the title of Vice President at Peaceful Passings because of the help he provides to the cause. He's a German Shepherd Dog so he watches, he listens, he keeps an eye on what's going on. He protects the house, of course, but he also monitors each individual in his charge, checking on their health and well-being, providing the security and comfort that can only come from a big, calm, furry beast. Patch knows and understands the calling. He has taken it on himself to welcome the newcomers and make them feel safe and secure. He provides that communicative link between the human and canine worlds that he shares. That ability is his special genius, and he has found a calling that puts it to good use.

Hot weather walks

I had the crates out of the van for cleaning so
TJ made his way up front, completely ignoring
the fact that it was a "no Husky" zone.

I didn't get out to walk on Wednesday, but I did twice on Tuesday. First with Maya and TJ, about 2.5 miles. That was far enough for TJ but he held up well and he wouldn't admit it even if he didn't. In the evening I went out again with Maya and Theo, for a little over three miles. Pleasant Grove was completely deserted, except near the end of our walk there were some kids shooting off fire crackers near the ball fields. Theo beat a hasty retreat back to the van. We hate fireworks. Actually, I like the colorful ones, but the noise makers are pointless and stupid, and they scare the dogs. All things considered, we didn't have much 4th of July panic around here, other than the constant dread for the state of the country, and that's year round at this point.

Maya conserves her strength on hot days for
important events like deer or squirrel sightings.

Water crossings are welcome respites for all of us.

 By the way, I received this picture of Jack from his new home. He's doing well, fitting it, and with a pool and a stick, you know he's a happy dog. He starts obedience training next week.

The holiday yard project

This space had just become a mud pit.

I spent Friday cleaning it out, removing all the old straw.

The space we call the AC yard is a small L-shaped area next to the house where our air conditioner unit once stood. It has since been moved out and I've expanded the fenced area, but the name remains. It's a handy place to let dogs out to do their business at night or in bad weather, but it's used mostly by Maya and TJ because they don't have access to the dog yard. The grass is long gone and I try to keep it covered with straw but it still gets muddy. TJ particularly delights in getting as muddy as possible out there and then tracking it in through the kitchen. I decided that the space needed a makeover and hopefully a permanent fix.

Maya, in her supervisory capacity.

I started on Friday afternoon, digging out several inches of wet, matted, straw and muck. It wasn't pretty. Then I started building a platform of sorts. It's just a series of pressure treated 1x6x8' boards, spaced a board's width apart. The idea was to create a solid level above the ground, which would still allow water and urine to go through but wouldn't be in direct contact with the soil. I built two 8'x8' sections and then cut them in half so I can easily lift them. I covered the ground with a generous helping of Sweet PDZ to absorb odor and I can lift the platform sections to put down more whenever necessary.

It's not really elevated off the ground, but it will prevent
direct contact between the straw and the ground.

The platform was then covered with two bales of straw, which the dogs consider to be a suitable place to poop and pee. I'll still scoop the poop and can rake off the straw in part or in its entirety whenever necessary. The things we do for love.

Very low tech engineering to match my limited
building skills.

This was the end of Day 2. I ran out of lumber.

TJ continued to look for spots he could dig and
make a mess, but there are fewer of them now.

Here it is, almost complete.

Cutting each section in half makes them much easier to pick
up so I can treat the ground under them.

End of Day 3, Clay spreading straw

Maya loves to lay in and play in fresh straw.

Birthday Dogs

What does the guy who has six dogs get for himself for his birthday? Two more dogs, of course.

TJ and Max are making the transition from nominally foster dogs to full fledged members of the tribe. We have considered them to be our dogs de facto for quite some time really, but I'm filling out paperwork with their respective rescue groups today to make them dogs de jure.

We've learned to love them, most of the time, and they've learned to fit in around here, most of the time. I don't think either dog is readily adoptable to most prospective adopters. TJ will be 12 years old later in July, and he's a bit of an asshole with other male dogs sometimes. He's also impossible to crate or contain in a fence or a kennel. But he's very devoted to me and how can I not love him for that?

Max is special, he always has been. He's wound way too tight, but he's learned to cope with things around here pretty well and he's been around so long that all the other dogs know him and know how to cope with him.  He's very routine oriented, and as long as everything sticks to the routine he does pretty well.

Max is my last remaining link to VGSR. I'm still a member and may foster for them again some day, but most of the shepherds I take in now come under Promises. I still plan to foster large breed dogs through Green Dogs too, but having just our own eight dogs around here now seems so easy and rather nice for a change.

The transition from foster to adopted will be seamless for the dogs. As far as they are concerned this has been their home for quite some time. The only real change will be when I swap out their foster tags for new name tags I made for them today, and some new collar bling.