Carr Peak with Ellen, Sadie and Minnie

Ellen had contacted me last week while I was still in California about hiking up Carr Peak today. I agreed to that, which was one reason to get back to Arizona when we did. I knew I'd need the exercise after this week.

Meet-up time was 7am. I got up with Kevin at 5am. Getting ready was slow. Since it's only a ten-minute drive to the lower picnic area where the trailhead is, I didn't leave the house until 6:50am, only to discover the left rear window shattered. I only had clear packing tape to secure the glass and got delayed, but a quick message to Ellen via Facebook told her of the news. I was at the parking lot by 7:15am and we made it to the upper trailhead by 7:43am.

As expected, everything was green and water was flowing from the intermittent falls. I had brought enough water for the dogs but they drank only from the flowing water, and other times from water found in rock depressions.


We started from the Reese Township parking lot. No other hikers joined us on either the ascent or descent; we had the peaks to ourselves and the dogs enjoyed the exercise.

The forest is slowly returning to its normal habitat from before the fire of two years ago. Last summer all I saw were goldenrods. Pink penstemons, Red Cardinal capes are now coming back. The only flower that's still missing is the red sage, which should be making a comeback this time of year. Even several landmark trees along the trail, which looked badly burned two years ago, are now coming back to life with new growth. It has taken two years, but I see the rebirth of most of the forest.

There were plenty of Lady Bug beetles in the shrubs near the peak. At first glance they look like reddish flower buds. I didn't even notice them until Ellen mentioned them to me. They are present on the high-elevation shrubs this time of year.

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Ellen and I hiked up at a constant pace. Neither of us had done much hiking since our hike down to the Grand Canyon in May. We made it to the peak in 1:40 hours. This is by no means a personal speed record! We were both surprised at how warm it was on the peak, despite the fog over Miller Peak and lower storm clouds in the valley.

We stayed long enough for a peak snack and some photos. The grey clouds alone were dramatic. The dogs just wanted to relax and get some treats, but with a 40-50% chance of rain in the afternoon forecast, we opted to get off the peak once we had eaten. This was a wise decision as we could hear thunder to our north. We didn't see lightning, though, but that didn't mean we could take our time on the descent.

Finches and orioles flitted about. Amazing how this forest comes to life with water!

We made it back to the truck by 11:20am, just as the first cars were coming uphill. Two hours later, safely back home, we had a downpour. My garden is also coming to life. The cantaloupe and cucumbers I planted before the CA road trip have all now sprouted.

Back home in Arizona

Once we left the air base it was all downhill from there and we were on the "return home" mode. The drive south on Highway 101 was beautiful, but traffic south of Los Angeles on I-405 toward San Diego was slo-mo all the way. We didn't get to San Diego until 5:30pm...and after eating at Sammy's Woodfired Pizza on 4th Street in the Gaslamp District there were no rooms left at the Navy base. That meant another day in a crowded van. Neither of us looked forward to that.

Neither did the dogs.

Getting out of San Diego the next morning was no small feat, either. I lost a good hour driving around, watching the sun rise and noticing how much naval activity there is along the coast. The city is definitely worth another visit. There's lots to see here.

I took I-8 east, climbing to an elevation of 4185' before descending to El Centro and gassing up at the Indian Casino/Travel stop, where an abandoned husky mix dog loitered near the building. Poor dog wouldn't come near me, and once the two dogs jumped out of the window to chase it away, it never came back for food I was willing to set out for it.

Now we were in the depths of the Mohave desert and temperatures soared 30 degrees, hitting triple digits by 10am. When we got to Yuma, AZ we stopped at the old territorial museum to wait out the rain, which cooled the van enough for the dogs for us to walk around the museum. Tucson was also getting hit hard by rain and we still saw the flooded desert hours later. At least our stopovers helped us avoid the flashfloods while driving.

Another quick meal at the Tucson In N' Out burger joint and we arrived at 7pm back home, with Kevin still at the back porch and the back yard grass high. The cantaloupe and cucumbers have sprouted. Sara's grave and the photinia on top of her are growing nicely.

A room for the night at Vandenberg AFB

The alarm was set for 5:30am. I got up to wash a load of clothes, let the dogs out for a short pee break, and go back inside to shower. It was cold and foggy outside but people were coming back to life. The billets around us were quiet. I only heard one other neighbor leave his room.

The dogs didn't seem to mind having the van to themselves all night. It was in the mid 50s overnight. I also promised them a nice walk in the morning, and after the clothes were dry and folded, I drove off with the dogs in the van at 8am to find a place to let them walk.

It turns out I didn't have to drive far at all. Our billets on Nebraska Avenue were next to several non-motorized recreational trails (I'd call them "tank trails") that meandered toward the beach two miles away to the west. We didn't quite make it to the beach, but we did follow the sandy trail through mature eucalyptus trees and damp sage. Both seemed to enjoy being able to run along. I went for time, not distance.

Several signs warned users of this trail to stay on the trail, due to unexploded ordinance perhaps being in the area. Oh lovely!

We never came across another soul while exploring the trails. My red van looked so lonely in that large vacant parking lot when we got back to it. Only a time restraint forced me back to the van, as I had to get back to the room to make sure Eric was up; check-out is at 11am and the dogs and I had been hiking for 90 minutes.

The cool coastal weather these last few days have been a godsend for the dogs. They are used to being in the van and seem to know when it's their time to be let out for a walk. They never had any accidents and made themselves comfy.

Having a real bed to sleep in after three days in the crowded van was also nice. I even was able to fill up the cooler with ice. We checked out right at 11am as the fog had lifted and we finally felt some warmth.

Getting away from it all

Eric and I had talked about taking a quick drive up to Monterey, CA to see his old stomping grounds as a third grader even before Sara died. I wanted to cheer him up since he had been so depressed this summer without a job to preoccupy his mind. After Sara's death it seemed appropriate to take off for a week rather than finding myself staring at the ceiling in disbelief that Sara is no more. I packed the van Thursday night and we took off at 7:10am Friday morning, taking Sadie and Minnie with us. This was Sadie's first road trip since her epilepsy, and Minnie's first road trip ever. But with a second adult in the van, how would a road trip with all these bodies work out?

Better than expected, actually. I drove most of the way as the route to Monterey is known to me. I took I-10 from Tucson to Los Angeles, struggling through the heat of the Mohave desert with Eric and the dogs. Even the van's AC couldn't keep up with the near triple-digit heat.
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We even stopped at an In N' Out Burger joint in Baldwin Park when traffic got too congested. It was Eric's first taste of that California fast food chain. Lucky for us traffic had cleared once we got back on the road and we were able to get on Highway 101 before sunset.

What a beautiful drive Highway 101 is. The golden hills of southern California never fade away, they just transform into different canyons along the way. Eric took the wheel and made it to Camp Roberts before we stopped for the night, only for me to resume the drive before sunrise to see the sun rise above the coastal fog that calls the central coast home.

We made it to Pacific Grove, CA by 7:30am Sunday, stopping first at Lover's Point where I took the kids many times to play on the rocks. There weren't too many people here and the dogs were able to frolic off leash for a few minutes. The town was still waking up and we had a full itinerary. We stopped at the Juice and Java coffee shop in Pacific Grove, where in the late 1990s I'd sit for hours reading newspapers. The coffee is still good. We both got online to check out email and I even gave the dogs a walk along the recreational trail. (They weren't too fond of the leashes).

From there is was a walk to Eric's old school, another walk with the dogs, a stopover at our old apartment on 2740 Ransford where we met our old neighbor Liese who didn't recognize me. She thought I was an intruder walking upstairs. "You have changed!" she told me. Yes, I have. It's called "getting old." We chatted a bit outside her door but then departed.

The fog lifted for a few hours in the afternoon, so we walked down to the wharf, walked around downtown Monterey, peeked into old stores, drove up to the Presidio of Monterey's small PX to discover Anthony's Pizza has been replaced with a Subway and Papa John's. We didn't stay at one place for very long all day; it's as if Eric wanted to just "see" the old places but not take anything in. I prefer to linger at each place. After all, we had three days planned for Monterey.

The two disappointments we learned about was the closing of the old Rocky Coast Ice cream shop in Pacific Grove. The small building next door to Toastie's is now owned by a curmudgeon who does not give out free samples of his ice cream and seems to cater more to aging Beatles fans. The entire interior is decorated with his personal Beatles paraphernalia and it smells of dust and old stuff. It's not the place that welcomes in elementary school children like the previous owner.

The other thing I noticed was the increase in homeless in and around Monterey. The homeless don't linger in Pacific Grove due to the town's strict loitering policies, but the homeless now flock to Fisherman's wharf and the conference center.

The second day in the Monterey Bay area was less hectic. Eric had seen all that he wanted to see in the first day, so there was no need to rush out in the morning. I again walked the dogs in the woods behind the camp site while Eric slept, taking a different combination of trails but still making it an hour long. The Monterey pines in this preserve are slowly coming back. When I was stationed here in the late 1990s many were dying and breaking off like pencils. Again, we met no one on the trail until we made it to the end.

We were ready to leave at 8am when I had to turn around and pick up the white dog bowl at the site, and as I drove up to the site I came across John, our old neighbor and dear friend from 1997. He was so good to Eric and Erin and Eric had even spoken nicely of him last night. What a surprise! He now works as camp host and landscaper for the park and camp site, and always takes time out to talk to visitors. He joined us at our old site for a good 30 minutes, we took photos, and again we departed. We may see each other again in a few years when I'm back in the area. He should be at this job until he retires; he loves what he does and he is good at it.


'll write about those when I'm back in Arizona.

It's hard letting go...

I am still grieving. Luckily I am still on summer break or else I'd be a mess. I also have to think of Sammy, who continues to lay in the same areas now that Sara once claimed. She loved laying by the front door. Now Sammy fills that spot. He also has been laying on the tile floor of the dining area, near the spot where she died, glancing at the area where she died. Perhaps her scent is still there. If only I had a dog's nose. Or maybe not...

I took Sammy on a mile-long walk today, down the dirt road, across Miller Creek. The recent monsoonal rains once again pushed more flood waters from Miller Creek into peoples' yards and the water has greened up everything. More clouds were forming but they didn't amount to much. Sammy did his usual pee stops and unless he took too long to smell something, I let him be. I must focus on this dog's spirits. He didn't bark at any of the other dogs; he seldom did. The barking was Sara's job.

There is no other dog he's ever been close to besides Sara. When they were both younger they did everything together, never straying from each other's side. He was the brawn and Sara was the brains. When I got back from Iraq both had gained weight and never lost it.

Sara had stopped abruptly on one of her last walks and just froze, looking back and around her as if she wasn't sure where she was. I had to gently pull on her leash and call her name a few times before she walked forward again. That was the walk where she only had energy for one block. When we came back to our street, she pulled toward our house.

Sadie is the next oldest dog but neither Sara nor Sammy bonded with her and Sadie felt like an only child, a loner. Sadie is more bonded to Kevin and me.

Eric told me yesterday he's looking forward to the road trip to California. I had forgotten about that proposal. Now I must live up to my promise as he's depressed, too. And I know I am. At least I'd have Eric to help me with the driving. We will leave early Saturday and spend a week there. The drive there is two days but we could drive non-stop with two night owls at the wheel. We will van camp and stay at the Veteran's Memorial Park in Monterey.

We will also take Sadie and Minnie along. That would leave Sweetie alone with Zeke and Sammy. Sweetie has always left Sammy alone. She's attacked Zeke but more out of self-defense and to let him know to leave her alone. Sweetie has no sense of humor, and "play" so easily can turn into "fight" with her.

Sara was buried today

Years ago, when she was younger, she enjoyed sitting at the northwest corner of the yard to bark at the boxer across the alley. Although she had favorite spots all over the yard, the fir tree being her newest fondness, I had decided years ago that when it is her time to go, she would be laid to rest there, either through her cremains or her body.

The pet crematory in Douglas, AZ, I discovered, only deals with animals through a veterinarian. I didn't have the energy to carry Sara's body, which was double-bagged and sealed, into my van to drive the trip to Bisbee. It was in the 90s in the later morning, and her body was already heating up from the bacteria doing its work. I had to act fast.

I researched burying requirements for the area and all I could find was that the body at a minimum must be three feet below ground. So I started digging. The caliche and multitude of heavy rocks didn't make this an easy job, but I wanted the grave as deep as I could get it and have her buried before the forecasted rains were to get here.

I hired Eric to finish the job for me. My upper arms were already tired and he got blisters. I went to Home Depot for two Photinias to go with the rest of the shrubs along that fence. I took Sammy along to cheer him up; he's been looking depressed since losing his companion. We went to the garden center, picked out two small shrubs, and returned home. It wasn't much exercise at all but at least he's getting some attention.

Eric and I were making the finishing touches on Sara's grave when Kevin came home. He looked tired but approved of the work done. I placed two 18" PVC pipes on either side of the shrub to use as watering holes for the shrub's growth and then placed a tomato wire over the shrub, rocks around the top and several pots to keep the dogs from trampling over the small shrub.

I am still baffled by Sara's death and have been thinking about her non-stop. I'm convinced now that she had something else wrong with her, an undiagnosed illness. She had been suffering from incontinence for several months now, and on her last two walks last week she stopped more often than Sammy to pee. And on her very last walk Tuesday she was ready to go home after just one block, after stopping once suddenly as if she didn't remember where she was. I had to speak loudly to her to get her walking again.

She was never tested for diabetes. The DVM never mentioned it on her last two vet visits.

It all doesn't matter now. Sara didn't seem in any other pain or discomfort until early Sunday. While she was peeing inside more, I never got upset because I figured her joints were so inflamed she chose not to have to walk far to urinate. I'm still wondering if that last fight she had with Sweetie caused her trauma that she never overcame? But even Eric said today that Friday, after the vet visit, she seemed in good spirits and even walked around a little on her bandaged knee, even lay in the hallway on her favorite spot before sauntering into the bedroom.

As a younger dog, adopted from the high-kill Fort Huachuca animal shelter, she always had skin issues (itchiness and dandruff) and her fur never had a high shine. It was a dull fur that easily clumped and fell out in patches. She also tired easily after a run and loved laying in mud puddles whenever we'd go on walks. She was never a fit dog, or a true hiking dog, as she tired easily and always needed plenty of water.

I googled various diseases that dogs can die from. Some other dog owners also had similar experiences with their dog dying fast. My comfort is that she didn't suffer for long, she died at home and she's buried outside her home she's had since February 1, 2005. I am comforted in knowing she will always be close by when I walk the yard. Kevin and I were still yelling out her name this morning when we called the pack in.

Sara, 23 June 2002-14 July 2013

Sara died today at 12:39pm...


I wasn't expecting this although I knew I'd have to experience her death as she was 11 years old and had severe arthritis. Kevin took her to our vet while I was on my road trip as she was having incontinence. The doctor couldn't diagnose her problem and put her on Clavimox.

But then she was in a bad fight with Sweetie last Wednesday when I was at the San Pedro River with Sadie and Sammy. When I got back she was bleeding from her front right leg. It wasn't gushing but she had an open flesh wound. I showered her down and lay her down in the bedroom, gave her some Tramadol and separated her from the other dogs. She was in great pain and wouldn't let us examine the wound closer.

By Friday morning I took her to our vet. By then she was allowing me to touch her wounded area. She had no broken bones but Dr Snyder said she had severe arthritis that was causing her the inflamation. She was given more Tramadol, Cephalexin and arthritis tablets.

She looked to be doing well, and even walked on her bandaged knee. But she hated taking her antibiotics. She wouldn't even eat her wet food I gave her last night with the medication stirred inside the food. She knew.

This morning she didn't look too good. I carried her from the bedroom to the back porch so that she could pee outside and be near Kevin, who was on the back porch surfing the internet on his laptop. Instead, she wobbled herself back inside by the porch door and lay down. I was busy working on some photographs and when I took a break around noon, saw that her head was on the floor and her tongue slightly outside her mouth. She had never lay down like that before.

"Kevin, Sara is dying!" I told Kevin.
"Are you sure?" he asked, and got up to look. He quickly agreed with he. He came inside to be with her as well, hugging her around her neck, stroking her and telling her what a great dog she is. Sammy watched nearby. It is as if he also knew Sara was dying. Soon thereafter Sara went through agonal breathing, vomited bloody bile, heaved a few times, and passed away at 12:39pm. I could feel the last electrical charges in her abdomen, and felt her last heart beat.

"She's gone" I said, and we quickly wrapped her in an old bed sheet. Zeke and Minnie, who were outside when Sara died, didn't want to step inside the dining area. They knew.

What a great dog she was. I'm still shocked that her death came on so fast. Did she have an undiagnosed cancer? A secondary infection from the wound? Walking was painful for her and I tried being gentle with her by taking her only on short walks, but other than that, besides her incontinence, I never saw her in any other pain. Her passing was swift. And I am so glad I was back in Arizona to be with her in her final week.

Another dogfight (and this time I lost!)

Yesterday afternoon, after a short visit to the animal shelter (which is probably my last trip there for a while), I stopped by PetsMart to get Minnie a new, pliable Frisbee. I played with her and Sadie later on in the yard. The Frisbee was a big hit, as well as a rubber Kong wheel. Soon Minnie and Sadie were playing tug-o-war with it, but when I got ahold of it and it was just me against Sadie, suddenly Sadie was attacked by both Sweetie and Minnie. Sweetie went for her first, to the throat, and Minnie joined in. Sara came in last. I tried to pry Minnie off of Sadie but instead she got my right wrist pretty good. I screamed, blood rushed out of my hand, but luckily both Eric and Kevin quickly rushed to my side with a bucket of water. That split up the pack. Sadie wasn't seriously wounded and we took her inside, but Minnie and I were panting hard. My hand was a bloody mess and had to grab a nearby towel for compression to let the blood coagulate.

This all happened so fast. I have no ill feelings toward any of the dogs, but it's clear that Sweetie is a swift and effective fighter. Once provoked, she will not let go. Minnie is no worse. Perhaps my playful grunts while playing tug-o-war made the dogs think Sadie was attacking me and they came to my rescue. That is hard to say, but since Sara joined in, that seems most likely.

I now have a deep gash on my right wrist. It's not too serious but it bled all night long, slowly, and stained through the bandages I wore to the Huachuca City budget meeting.

A month away

I had a wonderful road trip. The drive to Chicagoland was scenic, as expected, but wildfires across New Mexico had already started and it was a hazy drive north on I-25. I spent the night in Socorro, NM before driving the Raton Pass, then spending an hour in Trinidad, CO before resuming my drive east on US160, a valley highway that cuts across the southern section of the state. It's also part of the Kit Carson trail, as the road travels the high plains of Colorado with mountains to the south, before even those disappear and it becomes a very remote, lonely drive. Abandoned adobe homes, skinny cows, and dried prairie grasses dot the landscape. This is where having a dog with me would have kept my spirits high, except I know the heat would have been intolerable as I stopped at the Comanche National Prairie for a short hike to Picture Rock Canyon, where ancient pictographs remain on canyon walls. I didn't have proper hiking shoes and always worried about getting too close to a rattle snake.

Kevin and I kept in contact via Facebook. I'd snap a photo of a place and then upload that to my wall so that he and other family members would know where I was during my roadtrip. It was my first road trip using a smart phone. Although the photos my Samsung Galaxy takes are low-resolution 3mp, the photos came out OK for reference as long as I had daylight. What I really enjoyed was the GPS feature; three times I used the GPS to find out where I was along the way and learned I was off-track.

The month came and went. I got to see a few more things that were always on my US travel list to see: the Mall of America, the Effigy Mounds in Iowa along the Mississippi River, and Nauvoo, Illinois. Once in Chicagoland I took a week-long trip with Erin and Ethan to the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. Now granted, this is a man-made attraction but it's worth a stop when in the area. I had this place picked out for Ethan, because as a four-year-old he'd enjoy the amusement park that's in the middle of this huge mall, and get to meet all his favorite Power Ranger characters that show up every day several times a day. We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites on the south side of the mall and walked to the mall from the hotel. The mall itself is nothing special other than being the largest mall in the United States, with 520 stores and restaurants. Some of the chains have multiple stores in the mall. We didn't shop much but we did walk around a lot. We stayed there three days but also took the light rail into Minneapolis to walk around there as well. I've always been a big fan of our American rivers, especially the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio Rivers.

On our return trip to Chicagoland we drove south along the Great River Road, alternating between Minnesota and Wisconsin as we headed toward Prairie du Chien before turning east. Ethan had his first official hike at the Effigy Mounds, Iowa, walking a scenic three-mile loop hike with beautiful views over the Mississippi River, which was at flood stage by then. My third spot I got to see was Nauvoo, IL, a former Mormon settlement where Joseph Smith was murdered. I got there with an hour before sunset so I couldn't see the restored homes. The place is nicer than I thought. Many of the restored homes are now used as private homes for church elders. I am not a Mormon but I do admire the old Pioneer spirit as Mormons and others blazed the trail west, and my return drive was along that same former trail as I traveled across Iowa and Nebraska before turning southwest at Colby, Kansas.

It was great to be with family for the month, but I did miss my dogs. Carol's rat terrier Peanuts had died in March, so her home was quiet; there was no barking dog to greet me whenever I came home. Peanuts had been suffering from a degenerating brain mass to the point where the brain's shriveling mass was giving her seizures. She was already losing her vision as well and was running into things.

When I hiked the Indiana Dunes trails, which is where I developed my love for nature as a child growing up in the Chicagoland area, I really missed Sadie as back in 2009 she frolicked with me along the lakeshore. I missed her as well while hiking a few short trails around Colorado Springs and all throughout my stops in that beautiful state. Whenever I'd see a dog, especially a German Shepherd Dog, I'd miss her even more. I missed just having a dog sit next to me in the passenger seat while I was driving. I never stopped worrying about Sadie, but luckily she didn't have any seizures in my absence.

My drive back was slightly different than my drive to Chicagoland, but both times I drove through Colorado. I drove south across the Navajo Reservation on US191 and saw plenty of "community dogs," dogs that roam the streets near people, begging for food. These dogs are used to being around humans but do not benefit from a gentle human touch. They suffer from upper respiratory infections, are not neutered or spayed, and live outside, sleeping in culverts during the day and resting in the shade of a gas station's overhang to keep cool. I fed one young pair of dogs while gassing up in Sanders, AZ. I had one spare can of dog food in the van for this purpose, but I should have brought a 12-pack because that is how many dogs I saw across the Navajo reservation. And that does not include the two dead dogs along the way, dogs that were killed while running across the roads.

Eric was to walk Sammy and Sara while I was gone. That probably happened the first week, because I saw no weight changes in either dog when I returned. Sara's incontinence could not be diagnosed without a urine sample so the DVM jut put her on Clavimox, but yesterday I saw her peeing again while sitting down. I've taken her on daily walks in the evening, just the .8-mile loop, and she constantly had to stop to pee. She pees as much as Sammy does. This condition concerns me. Yes, she is a geriatric dog at 11 years old, and keeping her healthy will get expensive, but she is worth it.

The big news in my month absence was a scary message I got from Kevin on June 21 at 3:14pm:

"Big ass dog fight this morning about 0600. Minnie and Sweetie. Minnie started it and Sweetie came close to killing her. Sweetie had Minnie on her back tearing at her throat. Minnie was quite shaken by it. I took her inside inspect her; no open wounds to either. Sweetie will defend herself and that is what she did. Minnie has to go. She is too aggressive to the other dogs as well. Including Sara and Sammy. She is a sweetheart but at times, when she growls, she scares me. She does that a lot. Great dog but not here. Zeke is just an idiot but Sweetie is a fighter who doesn't start trouble but will finish it. My opinion from my observations is that Minnie has to go. We need to keep the peace here..."

Minnie has to go? My hiking dog Minnie? Naturally I had a long phone conversation later that day. I told Kevin that Minnie is a high-energy dog that needs constant "work" an as an alpha dog she expects top billing. The dog fight happened when both dogs were laying next to Kevin, with Minnie in the front as is appropriate for alpha dogs. Sweetie tends to lay behind Kevin on the back porch. Both are devoted to Kevin and even when I'm around Sweetie tends to favor Kevin and stay by his side. I told Kevin to keep the dogs separated while he is with them, but to give Minnie her needed playtime. I explained the requirements for an alpha dog and I do think he followed my advice. There was one smaller dog fight the next day but nothing bloody.

I have now been back two days. The dogs were all excited to see me. Only Sara seemed concerned when I came in the front door. She didn't bark but she didn't jump with joy, either. She kept her distance and watched the door from the hallway. She only approached me when she heard my voice. The other dogs did back flips and somersaults on the porch as I gave Kevin a run-down of the trip. He was busy working his crossword puzzles and politely stopped to listen to my chatter but I could tell he really wasn't that interested. His insistence to get rid of Minnie have subsided since we talked about the dog fight.

Pache, Bobby and Mo are accounted for. Pache was gone for a few days while I was gone and that had me concerned. Kevin never did update me to let me know he came back on the fourth day. Pache welcomed me home by sitting on my lap as I chatted with Kevin. He has a few new battle scars around his head, bites from other neighborhood cats. Mo was outside for several days as well and I had to bring him back inside. He had been sleeping in the cat house I have created for Willie but didn't come to me when I called him. Willie hasn't been seen all week according to Eric. I haven't seen that cat yet since my return.

My new concern now is what looks like sarcoptic mange on both Sammy and Sadie. Sadie has a raw bald spot on her rear right leg that she's been biting and scratching and Sammy seems to be scratching all over. Getting them checked out is now my first priority. School starts up in a month and I also want to enjoy the monsoon season with an early morning hike up Carr Peak with my hiking dogs. (That won't be today as the house is filthy!) I came back to Arizona just in time for the summer rains. I love the aroma of damp sage. It's one of many reasons to live here where I am.

The animal shelter I volunteered at is open again and already has eight dogs and six cats for adoption. Yet the staff so far has not photographed them all nor uploaded the pics anywhere. The PetFinder link is void of current photos. A sign on the front door says "no cell phones or cameras" and people are getting frustrated that no animals are being shown. This is sad. I still want to volunteer there, but I need a few more weeks away from that place. The staff needs to get organized and start reaching out to the community. So far it has refused to do so. But all this is for another blog for another day.