Category: Dogs

Picture Parade Four Hundred and Twenty-One

A departure from my normal Picture Parades.

Simply because a good friend, Neil, from my English days down in Devon, sent me a cartoon that I wanted to share with you all.

Wonderful!

A dog in an Arizona desert

For the last day in February, a wonderful story!

This is a post taken directly from The Dodo. It was published by The Dodo on the 8th February this year so it is very current.

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Sisters Driving Through Desert Spot A Lost Dog With Something Stuck To His Side

“He growled at us at first …”

By Caitlin Jill Anders, Published on February 8th, 2024

Vanessa Keating, Theresa Burge and Aubrey Metropulos, a group of full-time RVers and Vanlifers, were wandering around Bulldog Canyon in Arizona one day, looking for a specific type of cactus. They weren’t far from their campsite when they spotted someone tiny and furry, and quickly realized it was a dog out in the desert all alone.

They immediately knew they couldn’t leave the pup out there by himself and began the process of trying to win him over. Thankfully, it didn’t end up taking very long. The sweet dog was more than ready to be rescued.

“He growled at us at first and took some convincing to come over,” Keating told The Dodo. “It only took a few minutes for him to come up to my sister, Theresa, first, but he was still nervous. We quickly realized he had a cholla cactus stuck to the side of him, and once she pulled it off, he warmed up and got excited. So many kisses, and he even had the zoomies!”

Once the cactus was safely removed from his fur, the lost dog felt so much better and jumped for joy that he’d finally be found. His new friends gave him all the cuddles he’d been missing and started asking around their campsite about him, trying to find his family. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any luck, but they refused to stop trying.

The next day, they took the lost dog to get scanned for a microchip and were overjoyed when they discovered he had one. They got in touch with his dad, who told them the pup’s name was Echo, and quickly made arrangements for a long-awaited reunion.

“The reunion was amazing,” Keating said. “Lots of tears. He thought Echo had been eaten by a coyote and was giving up hope … He was so grateful and relieved.”

Echo had only been lost in the desert for a few days before he was found, thankfully, and he was so excited once he was back in his dad’s arms. He knew once the three women found him that they would be the ones to get him back home safely, and he was right.

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Echo is a lucky dog and being reunited with his Dad must have been magical. But then again, the three women that stopped to gain the attention of this lost dog, and then cuddled him and gave him perfect love are really special

So here’s to Vanessa, Theresa, and Aubrey. Well done all three of you.

Keep it Simple – Live the Dream

A guest post from a friend of many years!

Bob Derham is someone I met many years ago, when I was living on my yacht in Larnaca, Cyprus, and I can do no better than to repeat what I wrote in my autobiography.

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I negotiated what I thought was a good deal and sold the company. Inevitably I resigned from what was now not my company; it was the end of November in the year of 1988.

In Tollesbury, I had my annual tax returns done by Peter Michael, also living in the village. Peter was an accountant who also taught accountancy at the nearby Essex University. I saw Peter and we discussed the recent agreement for the sale of the business.

“Paul, there is not a lot you can do, to be honest. You will be liable in broad terms for the tax in the difference between the opening price and the closing price. In your case the opening price was near enough zero and the closing price…” Peter did not need to finish the sentence. I got the picture and stood up to leave. Just has I was going out of the room, Peter added: “Unless you can leave the country before April 15th next year, and stay away for a minimum of four tax years. In other words, leave before April 15th, 1989.”

I walked home from Peter Michael’s house that November, 1988 with the advice I had been given ringing in my ears. I would worry about the tax implications in a day or two. But once again fate intervened.

I was a subscriber to the boating magazine Practical Boat Owner (PBO). In a late 1988 issue I read in the classifieds:

Songbird of Kent – Tradewind 33

Great opportunity to purchase a long-distance ocean yacht designed by John Rock for sea-kindly short-handed sailing.

Well kitted out, continually updated and maintained Songbird of Kent is the yacht for you if you dream of blue waters and serious long distance cruising.

Lying Larnaca, Cyprus.

I knew about Tradewind yachts, was familiar with John Rock. (As the designer of Tradewind yachts he had been featured several times in Practical Boat Owner magazine), and knew how many of his yachts had made world circumnavigations, and, finally, I deserved a holiday. I arranged to go out to Larnaca as soon as I could.

About a week later I caught a flight to Larnaca International Airport; upon arriving I rented a car and drove the few miles to the Marina.

The yacht was easy to find as it was out of the water. I met the owners, Michael and Betty Hughes, who were still living onboard Songbird of Kent. They explained why they were selling. Simply because, as Michael put it, they had been living on the boat for many years and it was time to return to their native Wales. Songbird had been extensively cruised the length of the Mediterranean Sea using Larnaca Marina as the base.

I quietly inspected the boat. Because it was lifted out viewing the boat in detail was much easier than had it still been floating. It was in good condition; very good condition in fact. Then I climbed up the ladder and entered the boat. Again I found everything that I expected, and more. It was clear to me that Michael and Betty had had the boat as their home and, consequently, everything was in order. Or to use the phrase; shipshape and Bristol fashion!

I excused myself, left the yacht and went and sat on a nearby seawall. I wanted to think. To be honest, it was pretty easy thinking. I loved the boat; it was a purchase I could afford, and if everything went to plan and I left the UK before April 15th, 1989, and stayed away for four tax years, there would be no UK tax to pay on the sale of my company Dataview. Nothing: Nada!

So that is exactly what I did!

I went back to Songbird, where Michael and Betty were still sitting in the cockpit, and told them I would buy it. They drew up a contract there and then and I signed it!
My autobiography

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Here is Bob’s story:

Paul and I first met in 1992, when I was working as a contract pilot on the BAC 1-11 for Cyprus Airways.

My last flying post was down in New Zealand, a wonderful place to be, with it’s natural beauty, and lack of aggression and oppression. The joy of life is set around being outdoors, so road trips, camping, sailing, and skiing all feature, but less on big houses, and possessions.

Although I have travelled widely in my career, I now want a simple life, and that amounts to being free of ties to a property, such that all I really need is a warm, dry place to sleep, a suitable place to prepare food, and a place to relax, it is no longer about the big house, which brings it’s own issues, and expenses.

Following on from my time living on Paul’s boat, I was then drawn to living on a boat. I owned a smaller Westerley Centaur, for a few years, and even though small, I had a very happy time when I lived on that. It was down in Lymington, a small market town on the south coast of England opposite Yarmouth, on the Isle of Wight, that I kept my first boat.

The reason for this was simple 🙂

One of the interesting people I met in Cyprus was a man called Les Powles. Paul and I would regularly go out and have a mezze in a side street of Larnaca. Les would be very easy company, and found fun in the most silly situations. I was invited to call by on his boat any time, and have a “ cuppa” What I was intrigued with onboard was a picture of the globe, but cut in half, and opened up. There were a series of lines around the world. I asked Les what this was. His reply was “It’s where I have been when sailing round the world.“

So why I asked are their three lines ?

“Because I have done it three times!“

Les was a most unusual character in that he had started building his boat in 1970. It took him 5 years to complete, and apart from a few short sea trials, Les actually had no other sailing experience, but in 1975, with barely enough rice and water onboard, he headed west. Actually he had intended to go to the Caribbean, but he had applied the variation to his navigation the wrong way, and made land fall 1500 miles from his intended destination. Les only died last year, 96, and his home had been his boat for all those years.

It’s that bit that has been the big thing for me.

Having a home has been ongoing hassle, the fun and enjoyment has been removed, because you are in a trap.

It is important to have a home, but I started to question the point of having a physical building. That brings all the ongoing costs and expenses, where the authorities can milk you for a lot of money!

I first saw Antoinette, in Lymington, and from the first moment I saw the boat, I knew I could make the boat my “home.”

She went to Southwold in Suffolk, England for a major refit, and so there is a new engine, gearbox, and propeller, replaced decking, and repairs have been carried out to the hull.

Inside, I can stand up, and although only 37 foot long, being beamy, there is a lot of room.

There are double cabins both fore and after, with “heads” (bathrooms). The main cabin and galley is very comfortable. It has a lot of mahogany wood, so looks homely, and the “dog house” (bit in the middle), is a very open useable space, either enclosed when cold and wet, or if the weather permits, opened up to enjoy the sun.

The key is that this is “my home”.

I can now travel, and go where I like, but I have my home with me. It has heating, but normally when you arrive somewhere, part of the mooring fees offer a shower unit and facilities. I have space to entertain, but above all, I am free of all the ties that we adopt by following the life society offers us as “the norm“.

It is only now that I see the traps that others face, because I can up anchor and head off, and can see where Les Powles got his freedom, and lived his dream.

In the cabin of Antoinette with Finn the dog belonging to Natalie (on the left).

The collie is “Finn”, Natalie’s dog. I think Paul was one of the first to see her when she was born, so 31 years later, Natalie wants to enjoy the alternative life.

As for Finn, he loves it. Fresh air, plenty going on, and a lot to see.

“Tiny living”, but the release from the way most people live is amazing.

No speeding tickets for me. 🤪

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Thank you, Bob for the story of you and me. That last thirty years have flown by and those years on Songbird of Kent were really special albeit the end of my cruising days were pretty scary.

Picture Parade Four Hundred and Twenty

An addition at the start of today’s Picture Parade!

That is Sharyn’s German Shepherd whose name is Rayleigh. (It is a shame that it isn’t a bigger picture of Rayleigh.)

Wonderful.

Now for the photographs from Unsplash.

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Photo by Poovarasan K on Unsplash

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Photo by Henos Solomon on Unsplash

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Photo by Sofia Guaico on Unsplash

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Photo by Anna Dudkova on Unsplash

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Photo by Tahoe on Unsplash

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Photo by Dustin Bowdige on Unsplash

Pure love!

This article is so beautiful!

As Stephen Messenger, the author of the article, says: “It was a moment of pure awe.” I am not going to waffle on in a prelude to this story, that was taken from The Dodo, so I am going straight into it.

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Animal Shelter Finds A Crate At The Door — And Most Touching Handwritten Note

“It was a moment of pure awe.”

By Stephen Messenger

Published on the 18th January, 2024

Earlier this week, staff at North Carolina’s Fayetteville Animal Protection Society arrived to find that a crate has been placed outside their door, covered in a blanket.

In an instant, their hearts sank.

“Our first thought was, ‘Oh no, not another case of irresponsible pet ownership,’” Jackie Peery, executive director of the shelter, told The Dodo. “We were bracing for an accidental litter dumped at our doorstep due to not spaying/neutering, or someone moving and not willing to bring their pet.”

Inside the crate was indeed a litter of bouncy puppies. But there was more.

“Then we saw the note,” Peery said. “It was a moment of pure awe.”

As the note explained, this wasn’t an act of abandonment.

It was an act of love.

The letter reads as follows:

“Please help! I found these puppies sadly after noticing a local stray dog that I would often feed when I could, dead by the road. She had been hit by a car. I knew from feeding her that she had puppies somewhere and after searching where I would usually see her I found them. I’m sorry for leaving them like this but I myself am homeless and cannot afford to care for them …”

“My heart shatters for them and their mother. I just want them to be given the chance their mother, like myself, was never given. Please do not think poorly of me but it felt wrong leaving them alone in the cold waiting on a mother that would not be coming home. Sincerely, nameless man.”

He’d saved them.

Reading the note, Peery was stunned.

“This nameless man made it his mission to find these puppies to ensure their safety,” she said. “He remains a mystery — our very own nameless hero.”

Meanwhile, the puppies he rescued are now thriving, thanks to him.

“When they first arrived, you could tell they weren’t in the best shape. But now, it’s a whole different story,” Peery said. “It’s like they understand they’ve been given a second chance and are just soaking up all the love and joy.”

In time, Peery has no doubt that each of the puppies will be adopted into loving homes. But she hopes the unnamed hero will make himself known so he can be the recipient of the same sort of kindness he’s shown.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed that he comes forward,” Peery said. “There’s a whole community here ready to support him just as I have supported these puppies. It would be wonderful to thank him in person and perhaps even help him in return.”

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I am almost lost for words that this event, that was written in 2024, is so beautiful.

Are there any persons who would like to adopt a puppy? Because I want to leave you with the address, email address and contact telephone number for the Fayetteville Animal Protection Society.

Email address: info@fapspet.org

The address is 3927 Bragg Blvd, Fayetteville, NC 28303.

The telephone number is +1 910 864-9040.

Thank you, Stephen!

Picture Parade Four Hundred and Nineteen

Picture Parade Four Hundred and Eighteen

Back to more dog pictures from Unsplash.

Photo by Ramin Talebi on Unsplash

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Photo by Ramin Talebi on Unsplash

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Photo by Erin Minuskin on Unsplash

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Photo by Dylan Shaw on Unsplash

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Photo by Anantha Krishnan on Unsplash

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Photo by Hope Frock on Unsplash

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Photo by Karen Mork on Unsplash

That is all for this week. Be safe!

Bye, bye, Brandy

Today, he is taken in for cremation.

Brandy is being collected by Stephens Family Chapel at 10.00 PST.

Brandy has been found

Found drowned yesterday morning.

I went out yesterday morning to walk to the front gate; it is a quarter mile. I decided to take my Nikon with me.

Halfway between the bridge over Bummer Creek and our gate, I wondered if the tiny stream was flowing down that comes from the other side of the Hugo road. Imagine my surprise when I found a dead Brandy.