I’m not on Facebook that often. I used to be on it every day while my kids were growing up. But now I don’t think of it that often. I post my wildlife photos on Instagram and they automatically get posted to FB.
Anywho. I was surprised when my daughter texted me and asked why I had posted something about her pug Waffles on FB. I told her I didn’t. She said the post was getting comments including from my sister-in-law, moms from my kids’ grade school that I haven’t talked to since then. It was getting likes, hearts and hugs.
Next I got a phone call from my dad asking what in the heck was going on with Waffles.
“Nothing,” I said. “He turned 10 years old in August.”
My dad explained that he had seen a Facebook post and that Waffles was having emergency surgery.
Somehow this memory from 2021 was showing up in people’s feeds. I looked at my Facebook page and it wasn’t there.
Five years ago, Waffles had eaten a chunk of wood from a planter and it lodged in his small intestine. He had to have emergency surgery but is fine now except for getting older.
When Waffles was a pup.
Are you on Facebook and have you had an old memory pop up that people thought was current and commented on? If so, what was the post about?
How often do you use Facebook compared to years ago?
Red stayed away for another five days, but Mrs. was here every day. I wonder if Red got into a fight because he has a black spot on the side of his head he didn’t have before. But I did read that Cardinals molt once a year, so maybe that’s it. Or, I have a new bird altogether. Fortunately, he stopped by this week several times a day. My neighbor has promised to keep the birds fed while we’re out of town.
Good news. Red is looking more normal each day and keeps on visiting our backyard.
At least Mrs. is always around which makes me feel good!
A neighbor told me I should name this quail dad “Lucky.”
Lucky visits every day with his wife and three babies. Somehow he lost his tail, but he is still standing strong. That’s how he earned his name.
This is a Mourning Dove at our new bird bath. I left the old one empty when we visited our son and daughter-in-law because I didn’t want it to become a breeding ground for mosquitos. Normally I change the water every day. So the end of the story is that the old bird bath didn’t survive in the heat being dry. A resin coating splintered and peeled leaving an unhealthy mess for the birds.
A Gila Woodpecker hopped on for a ride.
Another look at Red and Mrs. before we leave for our beach vacation.
Last but not least, it was Waffles the pug’s 10th birthday this week. It seems like yesterday he celebrated birthday number one while we were on our beach vacation! These two photos were taken at our friends’ house in Santa Barbara for Waffles first birthday.
My daughter made flyers and held a party for Waffles in a park near her apartment. She gave flyers to friends, co-workers, her favorite coffee shop and hung them on telephone poles in her neighborhood. She invited everyone with dogs or not and promised dog treats for all dogs. She had a crowd that included her friends and families and even a group of eight-year-old boys she didn’t know who wrapped presents for Waffles. Everyone thought it was a perfect family-friendly evening at the park and want to meet every week.
The old man Waffles with gray hair at age 10.
What photos do you like? What do you think is up with Red’s head?
I came home Saturday from helping my daughter post shoulder surgery. To help her more, I traveled home with her pug Waffles. This photo was taken at the airport.
A family who lives near her took care of Waffles while my daughter had surgery and for the week while I was helping out. That’s because my daughter was staying at our son and DIL’s apartment — and our son is deathly allergic to Waffles.
The family sent my daughter pictures and videos every day. One that made me laugh was the mom and two kids in bed with Waffles. The kids were fighting over who got to sleep with Waffles, so the mom had them all sleep together!
Waffles hangs out in the daytime in my husband’s office.
I was a little nervous about traveling with Waffles. I’ve never flown with an animal before. But he was a trooper. My daughter has flown with him lots of times since his puppyhood. Now he’s nine years old and a pro at air travel.
My daughter gave me the low down on traveling with Waffles. She said I had to have him in the carrier when I checked in. I was instructed to call the airlines to make a reservation for him and then pay $125 at the check in counter. He used to travel for free. The fee is a new add on along with $35 for a checked bag — which also used to be free.
She said once I checked in, I could walk him on a leash through the security line. I had to place the carrier in the luggage tub to be scanned along with my purse. Then I carried Waffles through the security check point. Once through security, Waffles was back on his feet and I walked him to the nearest pet relief station — of which my daughter knew the exact location.
While we were waiting for our flight, Waffles jumped back into his carrier and snored. I took him on one more trip to the pet relief station before our flight boarded. While I was walking with Waffles, a woman came up to me and said, “This is so unnecessary! You are adding to the chaos!”
“Whoah!” I thought. I was only walking a 20-pound, well-behaved dog on its leash! I turned to her and said, “I don’t have a choice. My daughter had surgery and I need to take her dog home. This is my chaos.”
I got a half grunted “Oh, I’m sorry,” in reply.
Once on the airplane with Waffles inside his carrier, it fit under the seat in front of me. He slept and snored the entire flight.
Waffles likes to sunbathe on the throw rug by the sliding glass doors. That’s where kitty Olive spent her mornings, too. The first thing we do in the morning is take Waffles for a walk around the neighborhood, to our little park, and back up to our home. He is ready to go! He seems to enjoy a strict routine. So do I!
Have you traveled with a pet? If so, did you find it easy?
What do you think of strangers voicing their opinion on what you’re doing?
Week one was a success. The morning strolls were perfect. I even got hubby to tag along. Waffles met Rascal, a poodle mix his size, who belongs to a neighbor. They’ve played together a few times in the park. Then Sunday morning, not only Rascal was at the park, but also a dog the same size named Ku’uipo, which means sweetheart in Hawaiian. Waffles had so much fun, he was grinning from ear to ear.
Waffles tilts his head when he wants to tell me something.
You know what else was a blessing this week? Waffles began to sleep through the night! Yay! Also, I saw my first baby quail of the year!
The week was so beautiful. I have to share a few photos I took in the neighborhood:
Palo Verde in bloom.
A Jumping Cholla with blooms. You want to keep your distance from this cactus!
Fairy Duster plant in our front yard.
A neighbor’s Aloe plant with beautiful yellow blossoms. We have Aloe, but none have flowers.
Now for a special treat for Waffles:
Waffles gets a treat, a carrot, but doesn’t know how to eat it.
My daughter graduated college and moved to Arizona for a job, before we did. She lived in Tempe for one year before moving to the Bay Area for a swim marketing job.
While our daughter was in Arizona, I loved to visit and spend time with her. We’d walk Waffles at the Tempe Beach Park where there is water and a walking bridge.
Once while we were walking across the bridge, a woman stopped us and asked “Is that Waffles?”
We were dumbfounded. Yes, Waffles had become a bit of a social media star. The marketing team at Utah posted him promoting swim and dive and he had his own Instagram account. But he was no “Doug the Pug.”
It turned out the woman was the wife of a swim coach from my daughter’s team at the University of Utah. So she actually knew Waffles and recognized him. Her husband Herbie Behm swam at ASU, coached at Utah and returned to ASU around the same time my daughter moved to Tempe.
Why am I bringing this up?
Since Wednesday last week, I’ve been watching NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships. I subscribed to ESPN+ to watch (now I’ll cancel because the swim meet is over.)
I loved watching the meet. It reminded me of being at PAC 12 swimming championships cheering for my daughter and teammates.
What was really exciting was that Herbie’s ASU team won their first NCAA championship in history, topping CAL Bears. So the two top teams were from the PAC 12 — during the final year the conference exists.
When Herbie swam for ASU in 2008, the school decided to cut men’s swimming. At the time, we had two swimmers from our Palm Springs club team swimming for ASU. I remember fundraising to keep the program open. In the end, parents and supporters prevailed by raising $1 million and ASU kept men’s swimming. But they had a hard time getting recruits to a program that could be on the chopping block at any moment. They were near the bottom of the pack at PAC 12s.
Flash forward to 2024 and they are the number one team for Men’s Swimming in the nation. How did they turn their program around? Bob Bowman. The school hired Michael Phelps’ coach in 2015 and he built the program from scratch and brought Herbie on board as assistant coach in 2018. Phelps lives in Scottsdale and he can be found on the deck and in the pool along with other Olympians.
Bowman is obviously an incredible coach. He attracts amazing swimmers like Leon Marchand, who is currently the number one swimmer in the world. You’ll hear his name a ton in Paris 2024 Olympics. Unfortunately, he’s from France and won’t be on the US team.
My daughter believes a ton of credit goes to Herbie who is an innovative coach and breaking new ground.
At NCAAs this year, so many records were broken. It was really exciting to watch.
With the PAC 12 dissolving, I’m worried about future Olympic sports like swimming. Travel to meets in other divisions may be cost prohibitive and impossible for student athletes. In PAC 12s the swim programs without swimming include my alma mater University of Washington, my dad’s University of Oregon, and I’m not sure what else. Men’s swimming isn’t the PAC 12, but more like the PAC 5 or 6 — and that was several years ago.
What do you think of ASU’s rags to riches story — from cutting Men’s swimming to being number one?
Waffles, my daughter’s pug, made it on “We Rate Dogs” a popular “pupper” site on Twitter and Instagram. Waffles got 13 out of perfect 10 rating — and more than 75k likes for this photo taken by someone on my daughter’s college team.
The photo above is Waffles the pug. No he doesn’t bite. His snaggle teeth weren’t built to do that. This is a story about another dog from a morning walk last week.
We headed out the door around 5ish a.m. The sun rises after 5:30, but the sky glows pink and gray, waiting for the intense sun to peak over the horizon.
At this early time, we see a few dog walkers in the neighborhood. One is a petite blond lady with a pit bull named Star. We’ve known Star since she was a puppy about a year and a half ago. She’d lay down submissively so we’d come over to her for a pat. Often, she’d roll on her back so she’d get a belly rub from my husband.
I’m not a pit bull fan. As Star grew older, the owner kept to her side of the street. Often Star would lunge, growl and snarl at us. The owner apologized and didn’t know what to make of the new attitude.
I said, “Maybe Star is getting older and more protective?”
Sometimes, she’d say, “Star wants to come say hi.” She’d walk Star over to us with different results. Sometimes Star was good. Other times she’d start sweet and then snap.
From then on (several months ago) we gave up on communicating with Star.
Last week, we spotted the woman across the street. Star laid down. The owner said something to us from across the street. My husband couldn’t hear what she said. I kept walking away from Star at a brisk pace.
My husband walked towards Star and the woman, but stopped six to eight feet away to not invade Star’s space. Star was on a thick leather leash, held by the woman.
The woman was chit chatting about how hot it was and how we have to get out early to walk.
Then Star, without warning or provocation, lunged, snarling from the ground at my husband and bit his hand. The woman didn’t have the strength to pull Star back.
Fortunately, my husband jumped away with only a puncture wound. When he caught up to me his hand was dripping blood. “If I didn’t move away, I would have lost my hand,” he said. “What was really strange is she didn’t say anything to the dog. Not bad dog! or anything!”
I reported the dog bite to the HOA board but didn’t hear back immediately. I wanted to let other families in our neighborhood be aware.
We looked up dog bites on our County website and my husband decided to file a complaint. He had a picture of his hand, the dog bite broke through skin, which were requirements. We don’t want to get the neighbor upset, but we worry about what could happen. Especially because most the people in our neighborhood are older. They might not get away as quickly — or even worse get knocked down.
The dog will be under house arrest for 10 days and tested for rabies. Other than that, I don’t think anything will happen to Star. We may have made an enemy in Star’s owner, but hopefully saved other people. Since reporting, we have heard that someone two houses away from the pit bull was bitten, too.
What would you have done in our place? Would you report the dog and/or ask the HOA board for restriction of some kind? How do you think the owner should corrected Star?
I was looking back on what was going on this time of year in 2022 and 2020. Last year, we made our first trip to Puerto Penasco, the Mexican beach town near us. In 2020, we were in our Palm Springs home working from home with orders to shelter in place. My daughter was staying with us. Here is what I wrote in 2020:
9 Thoughts About Shelter In Place: DAY 21
One of my favorite streets on my morning walk.
21 Days. Isn’t that something? My daughter came home a few days before we got the order. I’m so glad she made it here. She’s been a joy to have around along with her fur baby Waffles. We have plenty of room to have my husband, me and my daughter all working from home — together — yet apart.
Here’s a few thoughts I have about these strange days:
ONE I go from super calm and productive to anxiety ridden from day to day.
TWO I’m losing track of the days and the time. Twice I have woken up thinking it’s 6 a.m. and started the coffee only to look at the clock in the kitchen that reads 11:40 p.m.
THREE My routine of daily three pages of writing, my three mile walk and Bible readings to start my day are more important than ever. All three help me stay grounded.
FOUR I’m reading lots of good books. Sitting in my back yard in the sun reading is one of my favorite things to do.
FIVE 10,000 people have died in our country. My heart goes out to all the people suffering and losing loved ones.
SIX We are now told to wear masks when we leave the house. I’m using a make-shift one from my quilting supplies. It’s hard to breathe during my morning walks, though, and my glasses fog up.
SEVEN My writing jobs are completed and turned in and now I’m in uncharted territory without every minute of my day focused on meeting deadlines.
EIGHT My daughter and I cleaned and organized the food cupboards and the laundry room. It feels good to have clean spaces.
NINE I’m reaching out to family via phone and email. It’s important to stay in touch with your loved ones.
My new morning walk look.
What were you doing a year ago this week? What were you doing this week in 2020?
One of my favorite streets on my morning walk.
