Checking in from the Sofa

Happy New Year, everyone!  We've been fairly scarce on the interwebs* because I've been as sick as a ...well you know...for the past several days.  I don't think Ray has minded it much because it meant a lot of nursing Mom back to health  laying on Mom's chest and cuddling on the sofa. 

We've done a whole heap of sleeping this week punctuated with some serious rerun watching on television.  Have you ever noticed that there are some shows that you rarely watch but it seems like every time you flip in on you're watching the same episode over and over again?  We found that to be true yesterday so we decided to scroll through the dvr list for a fresher rerun to watch.  Movie maybe?  Comedy, no.  Sports documentary, no.  War movie, no.  Musical, no.  It was looking like we were out of options when I found an old PBS recording of The Dogs are Alright that I hadn't watched in ages. 

While Ray is at home during the day we sometimes turn the TV on for "company" for him.  Usually it varies between Nick jr and classical music and he has a recording of Marmaduke that we sometimes turn on for him but I've never seen him very interested in the little talky box that sits on a stand.  Until last night.  I was watching this episode and Ray was standing by the door wanting to go out for the bazillionth time last night when all of a sudden his ears perked up and he rushed to the TV and started watching...


Ray loves that handsome Jonny Justice!

 

 

 

Although I didn't catch it with my camera, these were followed by a play bow at the TV!  I'm not sure if it was just that the dogs on TV were "speaking Ray's language" or if those charming good looks captured his attention, but Ray loved watching that show.

 

All in all, it was very cute and rather touching to see.  (And yes, Kevin, he got down right away) I find it ironic that I first watched this show and started following the Vick dogs and BAD RAP etc way before adopting Ray and I was actually looking for a brown or black dog.  One  that looked more like Hector and Handsome Dan or Cherry and Audie...definitely not one that looked like that funny little  Jonny Justice!  Ah, karma...you got me again.

 

 

 

*I did want to send a huge thank you to our friend, Ann, of  Pawsitively Pets for adding us to her Top 10 coolest pets with blogs of 2012.  We are honored and Ray is so flattered that is already big anvil head might not fit through the door anymore.

Blogging for Good

Sometimes figuring out how one began to read a certain blog can be like engaging in a rousing game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.  I’ve followed one blogger for probably a decade now and there’s another whom I’ve missed reading for quite some time and yet another whom I’ve only been reading for a couple of years.  I have friends who blog on various platforms and I find it a good way to keep in touch.  My own blogging history includes a few different looks and genres with the current manifestation being more of a “dog blog.” 

About a year or two ago, I began feeling that urge, you know the one, the nest feels a little empty and your cats remain singularly opposed to jumping in the truck to go bye-bye with you so you begin to yearn for a dog.    But this post isn’t about that, it is about blogging itself.  I’m a sports fan, a football fan.  If Michael Vick hadn’t had a great game on a certain Monday night, I never would have seen a certain article that changed my life.  I had read this article about Mel and it broke my heart reading about how scared he was.  I couldn’t get that article off my mind and one evening, embarked on a Google adventure to find the article again to re-read it.    Until I re-read that article, I hadn’t ever given much thought as to what happened to those “Vick Dogs.” 

The article mentioned Best Friends, so I started there and found The Vick Dog Blog, that led me to BAD RAP, and so it went.  From there, I somehow managed to stumble on this post with the most adorable video of a veggie eating Pit Bull and down another fork of the path I went.  It lit a fire in me.  I wanted to foster and if that wasn't in the immediate future, I would volunteer.  And I would learn.  I began reading more and more in an effort to be fully educated on what is happening now in the world, the rescue world and the Pit Bull world which led me to even more great blogs.

When I started this blog, I wanted to write a little again and of course we all hope to connect to others in some way.  We hope to find a connection and make some new friends and be inspired, at least those are my hopes.  Every time we gain a follower (we're up to three!) we do a little dance.  Each comment makes us squee just a little (ok, a lot) and every day we are inspired by the works and words of others.

With that being said, I'd like to share with you Our Waldo Bungie.  We've been reading there for almost a full year now, and are inspired by their mission.  They foster when they can, they transport, they are involved, they give back by making their corner of the world that much better.  As a bonus, they have some pretty spiffy contests, too.  Speaking of that, presently they are engaged in Blogging for Good.  What's the scoop? 

"The grand prize is $1,000.00 for the blogger’s favorite charity and $500 for the blogger to continue his/her advocacy work. The charity I will contribute to if I win is Unleashed Pet Rescue – a Kansas City rescue group that focuses on rescuing dogs who have run out of time at local shelters (especially pit bulls) and reaching out to neglected dogs and their owners in the city by providing lightweight tie-outs instead of heavy chains, medication, food, and dog houses. " (OWB)

It's a win-win.  Now I realize this little corner of blog-ville isn't a mad center for traffic, but I hope anyone reading, will consider voting for Our Waldo Bungie in the Bloggers for Good contest.