"Save Bill and Buck" Manatee County wants them dead (Thursday 3-27-14)

I found this posted this morning on facebook:

"Status Update

By Save Buck & Bill from being killed

Due to the untimely filing by attorney Thomas Ostrander, of the petition to the second district court of appeals, Manatee County is upholding it's decision to murder Buck and Bill.

They are siting that because it wasn't filed on time, thus not abiding by the law, this is a good reason to kill the dogs.

Anyone in the area, please go to the shelter as Karen need all the support she can get."

http://www.examiner.com/article/buck-and-bill-two-dogs-sentenced-to-die-manatee-county

For an entire year I have followed this case. The owner's entire last year has been spent driving 200 miles each way as often as possible to visit her pups in jail. She is limited to 1/2 hour visits. Karen's last memories of her dogs will be like the above pictures, living in a cramped cold dirty concrete prison.

You see, I own Aussies. I own Aussies just like her. They are my heart children. I don't know that I would be able to pick myself up off the floor if this happened to me.

Kona and Torvald

Professor Jones, Indiana!

I think Bill and Buck may die today. And I can't get there. I wish I could. I've tried to help, sent money and prayers. I never pray. I don't believe God works that way. But in this one case I broke my usual mode of operation and asked the universe for help. I really did. I have poured a huge amount of positive energy into this, someone else's struggle against injustice and inequality. I've sent her my lunch money over and over to help in some small way defray the attorneys' fees. And all for naught? Really?

I am just heart broken for Karen. She could be me. I could be her. If they are to die, I fear I can't help her anymore. She's going into territory I've only had nightmares about. It is hard enough to lose your companion to age, disease, accident. But to lose your buddies through human incompetence? Through unequal application of poorly written standards and laws?

The death warrants are typed up and signed for yesterday (3/26) but they had hand written over them today's date. Today they die, "before 11:59 pm." She will be allowed "no more than 1/2 hour" with them before they are euthanized. She is not allowed to take any photographs or make any recordings, or even conference call with any of her friends and supports as this goes down. 

I know they are "just dogs" and really nothing but property in the eyes of the law. They have no more value than a flat screen tv. A friend's dad just died tonight. And another friend has had both parents in the hospital doing poorly. When I weigh these things in my mind I understand that the unjust death of a pair of dogs does not hold the same weight as these human examples.

 And yet I know that to have a dog (or cat), to be privileged to experience their love, is so special and has such a high emotional value, that really only having and loving a child compares. Human lives are so long and our companion animals so short. Baring an accident, my son and I will enjoy another 1/2 century (!) with each other. My dogs will be gone in a decade or less. It is this fleeting joy that raises the emotional stakes of risking love. You know they will be gone so soon.

To love is to lose, this is what I've learned.

Shame on Manatee County, Florida. Shame on the officials and county employees who have lied, and told wild tales that have no factual basis. The death of these dogs suits their own private agendas. They just want to make sure their own incompetence is not revealed, and the potential profit achieved. After all, now these dead dogs can be labelled "vicious and euthanized." Maybe the suing family will choke on their profit.

Shame on you, Manatee County. Shame on you. Oh, and by the way, my husband and I won't be moving to your lovely state after all. Too backwards. Not that you care, not that your state cares one wit about anything but money. You've really out done yourselves. Good job, guys.

Canes as fashion accessories

I need a cane. I can't walk very well anymore. This is a tragedy. Ok, a personal tragedy, not like an-epic-tsunami-that-ate-Japan-tragedy, more like a well-this-sucks tragedy. It's no big deal to anyone except myself, maybe my family, and on a more limited basis, my co-workers and clients.

Luckily, I don't think it will affect my kayaking friends at all. They don't give a damn whether I can walk as long as I can paddle, and perform an adequate self-rescue. And of course, lift a beer at the end of the day. They won't help me with that. We are a self-sufficient crowd when it comes to consumables.

I can still get my boats out of the garage and on to my newly christened "handicapped accessible Thule Hullavator" installed on my Outback. I can still walk a few steps with my boat. So I can still paddle, which is of the most importance for my quality of life. Because, let's be honest, when I can't paddle anymore I am hanging this crap up.

Walking any distance early in the morning, is possible. I typically walk with my dogs a couple of miles near dawn. Towards the end of the second mile I begin to limp. By noon I can barely walk down the hall at the clinic to the staff area in the back of the facility. Both my hips are uncooperative. Lately both legs are just in knots, like cramps but less painful, really stiff.

I am seeing a chiropractor my orthopedic surgeon recommended. He is trying myofacial release from my knees through the hip areas. It's really painful, and I wasn't really seeing any improvement until this week. This week on Wednesday I felt great, before my appointment. After my appointment, maybe less so. And then I missed my Friday appointment. It's getting hard to drive an hour, get an hour long treatment and then drive an hour back, three times a week. I think I'm going to scale back to just Mondays and Fridays.

When I saw my surgeon on Monday, after another session with the "mangler," he said my hips had the best rotation they've had since he's been caring for me (over a year). Man, I have two different dudes regularly groping me in the hip area, and both are swell to look at, might I add. And then I get home and am too exhausted to function, aka: take care of the hubby. Sad.

So I ordered my first cane. Hopefully not one of a series. But if I do need more than one I am getting this one next: http://www.fashionablecanes.com/3456.html
Don't worry, it's work safe and all. Just a carbon fiber cane with FLAMES!!! Did I say that with enough emphasis? FLAMES MOFOS!! Because it's so hot it's on fire! Yeah. Plus, it folds so it will be easy to store on the deck of my boat. I think I'll make a little padded bag for it to protect it if I flip and have to slide the boat over my buddy's deck to dump the water before I slither back in. Also, I think it will be fun at work. I can accidentally crush coworkers' toes with it. Oops, did I say that out loud? Yeah.

Let me leave you with some recent photos:

Water lily on the Mattawoman

Cool little catamaran leaving the canal in Avon NC

My Kona Bee

Kat on the Mattawoman

How do I cover three weeks in one blog? Answer: I don't! One or two days at a time...

I see the last time I wrote was June 1st. My my. I just went off line and on water. Life is about doing for me, not reading or having cyber connectivity. I've been listening to Thom York's AMOK and Alt J's Awesome Wave, a lot. My memories of waves and wind, wakes and snakes are colored by the music I listened to on the way out to the launch and afterwards as I dried and chilled out.

But I know a picture paints a thousand words or more so let me look through my catalog and choose some photo shots for those who come here to read or peruse:

First dip in the water 6-9-13

Kat and the Fiddler on the Beach

Selfie!

Water was rougher heading back into our canal.

Ok, not sure what my honey is doing here. Throwing ball for dogs isn't usually so serious.

It would not be an exaggeration to say I come to Hatteras Island to play in the water with my dogs.

And this is just the first day! It's gonna take me a while to edit all the photos. But here's a couple more:

We both have our eyes on the ball (Credit Kathleen)

Kat started Kona on football. Reminds me of another Aussie friend I once had who was an amazing goalie in spite of her lack of hands.

And that's all I have time for today. Must run but stay tuned for more!

Catching up

So I guess keeping up with a blog isn't as easy as I supposed it would be. I have less trouble keeping up with my tumblr blog as it contains mainly just photos and very few words. That blog is really dedicated to art and so I tend to only post stuff I have just made or good pictures I've taken.

Let's see, last time I was here I talked about a bike ride. Since then I have paddled a bunch. The water has warmed up nicely and I am able to sit in my boat comfortably for about two hours at a time. At about the two hour mark I start needing a stretch. After a little stretching and walking around I can paddle some more. But I'm afraid the days of sitting in my boat for hours on end might be drawing to a close. As I said in an email to a kayak instructor I have great respect for, "Sucks getting old. Youth is wasted on the young. And one last cliche, if only I'd known then what I know now I would have done it all differently". To which he replied, in kind with cliche, "fight the good fight, never surrender."

Words to live by sir.

Some pictures. Work, play, love:

Jojo Bob, our office mate, creating a work stoppage allowing me to stretch and laugh

gathering for a Full Moon Paddle 4-26-13

Pulling away from Bull Run Marina as dusk falls

Taking photos with available light from a moving kayak  isn't ever easy 

Just as the moon clears the tree line

Happy Hour Paddle 4-24-13

Sculls everywhere, river right river left...5-3-13

Becky's fabulous new (to her) boat 5-3-13

5-5-13 Paddlers at Jug Bay on the Patuxent

I always love wandering back into the log jams and strainers of the western branch of the Pax

Going just a little bit further

Our furry "love children." Such it is with empty-nesters in our country. Work, play, and love.

Spring forward, and I will!

I have climbed the last surgical hump. I put my great fears aside and went for the pelvic organ surgery to deal with the bit of mesh, or suture, that had been causing me such pain and misery for the last year. Today. And now, a week of bed rest more or less, and I will finish PT for my hips and I'm free.

Release me into the world! I'm ready for the spring's muddy trails. (note to self-get new rims on the Tri-Cross) And the rivers all around the DC area are calling me on to the water.

This year I start the year with a full quiver of boats well matched to my needs and abilities: A Wilderness Tsunami 120 for those playful days in the shallow rivers with rocks, and branches; my beloved Current Designs Solstice GTS for those long days on the bigger waters, rivers, bays, sounds, and long point-to-point paddles; and my new Necky Elias, perfect for playing in surf, moving between rocks, and navigating some of the closer waterways in the area.

Each boat has its pros and cons. I have considered selling the Tsunami. I am interested in taking some white water classes this year and could be talked into getting a more appropriate river boat. There's only room for three so the Tsunami would be the logical boat to sell. I am supremely confident in the boat. Its primary stability, large cockpit, and thick poly layup make it practical and practically indestructible. It makes a great loaner for visiting friends and family. It's also the heaviest boat I own pretty much guaranteeing that I can't get it out of the garage by myself. And being a shorter wider boat means I pay a hefty price when out with the big boats.

The Solstice, well, I could sing its praises all day. Its beauty, incredibly fine finish, and very comfy fit make it ideal for me. It's light enough for me to move in and out of the garage by myself and with the help of the Thule Hullivator it's no struggle to load it on the Subie and take off. Its composite glass/kevlar layup has held up very well to 6 months of non-stop paddling. I'm in boat-love. It's also, true to Greenland style, tricky in choppy water with swirling currents. I busted plenty of sweat in Cobscook Bay in Maine last June. I wasn't yet fully familiar with the boat, mostly my own fault. By the end of the paddling season, when the doctor kicked me out of my boats and off my bike, I had come to a sure place with it. My comfort zone had expanded. But much like with my female Aussie pup, I can never fully let my guard down. Or I will find out why "they" say : a sea kayak is a long, thin, elegant paddle-driven boat with a cockpit on the underside.

My Necky Elias, well, just one paddle old is a charming poly boat with a ton of rocker. It will turn with just the paddler's turn of the hips. Its plastic layup is thinner than the Tsunami, but this means it's lighter. Again a boat that I can get to the water without help. There's a lot to like about it. Its down side is simply that on a long paddle, point to point, the rudder is a necessity to reduce fatigue piled on by the need to correct its course. I'm good with that. Not a big issue. I was already used to the Eliza having the exact same characteristics and I got an entire year of paddling, a whole twelve months, before I sold it.

I am not a prayer, I don't have any belief that the universe operates that way. But I am thankful to whatever mechanisms operate this complex bio-physical machine we inhabit. I've been handed some very tough lessons and had my down-and-outs. But I am also lucky, very very lucky. For my lessons, my growth, and my happiness and joy, for this I am grateful. Good night mates, see you on the water soon!

Our club getting ready to clean up a little local lake called Lake Accotink in April 2012. Catching the trash here means less trash flowing into the Potomac. That's me on the far right in the white hat.

A Full Moon paddle on the Potomac near Old Town Alexandria. What a gorgeous night!

I have surprised myself

I am actually glad that I had the labral tear fixed. I have had many days since the surgery where I can mostly walk well. It has been less than thirty days and the benefits of the surgery are obvious. For example: I can get out of my office chair and walk like the biped I am! Before it was an ordeal just to get out of my office chair and navigate the obstacles in my office.

People take this walking shit way too casually. Sure, it's something you do every day and you pay absolutely no mind to it. Until you can't walk, then the shit hits the proverbial fan I say! Yeah, I can see you are impressed. Try not being able to move because it felt like your butt tendons are tied too tight. Say, try that for about a year. Then, magically, some thing loosens said bun strings and voila! you can walk.

Now I am in physical therapy twice a week and the therapist I got this time was a lucky draw. He's great! Say that like Tony the Tiger! He stretches my hips and pelvis out (sounds dirty but it ain't) every visit and has begun adding balancing and strength exercises to my home practice.

At the same time as I was lame, my puppy went lame as well. She is only 14 months old but has barely been able to use her front leg now for 4 months. That's nearly 1/3 of her life. So my limp has nothing on hers. It's all very mysterious, this limp. We found a jagged hole in the third metatarsal of the lame leg. We have run every test possible on this dog, short of anesthetizing her and sending her into the MRI tube. During these four months the foot has occasionally developed an abscess between the affected and adjoining toes. Last week we sedated her, flushed out the abscess and x-rayed the leg again. No real improvement. In desperation, I finally asked my cats's homeopathic vet for a "Hail Mary" remedy. Can't hurt, might help.

The homeopath also asked me to re-evaluate what I am feeding my dogs. She suggested substituting 50% of their commercial diet with real home cooked food. First up, they started getting scrambled eggs and spinach for dinner. This weekend I will be making my first people-edible happy-dog stew. My husband loves beef stew. I myself don't care much for it. The husband says he will eat all of the stew himself before the dogs even get a bite. I am cooking a gallon or more, so he has his work cut out for him.

Soon I will be able to bike and hike again. Soon I will be able to paddle. Soon I hope my Kona Bean will be able to ramble on long walks with me (my favorite!) But for right now I will spend my time reading, crafting, researching, and cooking. It is really no surprise I have gained 15 pounds and she has gained 5. We will lose it together when we are healed. Finger crossed!