The Ruby Rose and the Big Little Angels 3 Blog

Citizens of the United States have been devastated by three hurricanes this summer, Harvey, Irma, and Maria.  Two of these storms caused Americans react with solidarity, money, and prayers.  The third, Maria, has been termed a near miss to the mainland. But there is still Puerto Rico, the fifty-first stepchild in a fifty child family.  The people of Puerto Rico are citizens of the United States just at the colonists in North America were citizens of Great Britain before the Revolutionary War.  Puerto Rico is in no position to fight the States for independence, but Americans need to remember that, despite not having the right to vote or representation in Congress, they are part of us. My parents have many friends who have family on the island.   Scores of those family members have lost their houses, have no electricity, food or water, and witnessing a climbing death level.  They are living in the worst conditions any American citizens have endured in decades. Not only do our p

Humans don’t like plain walls.  Blank spaces bother them for some reason.  They go to galleries and buy expensive artwork to cover their empty walls. My parents have been very fortunate.  They have framed paintings, photos, and pictures everywhere, but seldom have they paid for them.  Their walls are supported by our friends and family. Daddy's Mom did two paintings in their living room.  He found them in her cellar shortly after she passed away.  She had them wrapped in garbage bags.  Like all artists, she found unseen imperfections in her work that caused her to discard the paintings, but the creator can only see those flaws, and to us the works are perfect. Along two other walls are pictures of her seldom seen grandchildren and, above the television, which all stare at dutifully, are pictures of we three dogs, done by Freddy’s dad Steve and Leo’s mom Eileen.   The kitchen is also the Connie Gross Art Gallery.  There are nine paintings and drawings along hallway and kitc

I came down to tell you I was in labor, but, um, never mind

Do you spin around before you lie down to sleep? Do you kick you back legs after you poop or pee? Do you kick your leg when someone scratches your belly? Pocket: I spin around a few time very settling down. I don't kick my back legs after doing my business or kick my leg. River Song: I spin, shake, spin again, and fuss for five minutes before sitting down. Occasionally I will kick my back legs after doing my business. I don't kick my leg.

She had no name, no home, and no chance.  Her right ear had been ripped off.  The skin was hanging off her face.  She was alone walking down a street in Southern Florida, looking for a place to lie down. Someone found her, near death, and brought her to Miami’s busy city shelter, where she needed a miracle to keep her from joining us angels. Her miracle arrived with the name Victoria Fraizer who saw the poor pup’s picture on Facebook and fearing she would euthanized contacted them.  She named the baby Abigail and brought her to Pets First Wellness Center where her veterinarian, Thomas Jackson, determined that Abigail had been involved in dogfighting. The wrap covering Abigail’s wounds resembled a bonnet, so Victoria bought several headbands for her.  The headbands were placed over the bandages.  Abigail, knowing her life depended on it, happily posed for pictures, which were uploaded by Victoria and a viral sensation was born.   When Abigail was ready to leave the hospital,

Tuesday was National Pirate Day.  There is nothing I enjoy more than taking to the high seas as a pirate.  I got my cocky hat out, put on my eye patch, strapped on my sword, gave Jazzmin some booty to be my first mate, and we boarded the SS Foley and took to the high seas. I climbed the mast, and I pointed us towards the sun.  Jazzmin, a relatively new angel, was nervous about having an adventure but I told her it was Pirate day, what could go wrong? Except for a larger pirate ship with real pirates.  They rammed into us and boarded our vessel.  I got off the mast and ran behind Jazzmin.  “What are you doing?” Jazzmin asked. “You are bigger than me, and I am your captain, so you must protect me.” “Un-uh sister,” Jazzmin said.  “This was your dumb idea.” She pushed me forward.  There was a big, smelly, peg-legged pirate in front of me.  “What are you doing on the high seas little dog?” he asked. “It is National Pirate Day!” I told him.  “My friend Jazzmin and I came

Now that summer is ending my sister, and I have gone back to being common nightwalkers.   Our exercise time is after supper.  With the cooler weather approaching Mother Nature has to save on energy to pay the heating bill, so it gets dark earlier.   My parents enjoy walking us in the dark.  We don’t have any interruptions.  If it is sunlight, there are white walkers slowly roaming the site in packs.  They get Pocket, and I worked up by moving at a slow, steady pace and not paying attention to us.  Nothing causes unrest for my sister, and I like being ignored.  We start barking to get their attention but most of the time the deaf bastards just keep walking. Occasionally a white walker, usually a woman, will pay attention to us, but for some reason, we both get hit with a case of the stupids.  We bark, run to them, backup, bang heads, stagger around, nip at one another, and eventually chase them off with nothing but a mental note in their head to donate to the United Lap Dog Colle

My parents said this was cheaper than a cone

What is your stance on fetch? Do you play or decline? Pocket: I love to play fetch with my red ball. I chase it, and I usually bring it back, but sometimes I just stand over it and bark until Daddy fetches it and throws it again. River Song: I chase but I don't bring it back. I just play with it where it landed

Harvey has been a time for hero rescuers, and a few of the rescuers who saved people had been saved themselves,  not by Joel Osteen, but by people willing to get their hands and paws dirty.   This is the story of a hero dog, with black and white coloring and cute freckles on his snout,  named Rocket.  He is a border collie mix who got extra doses of border collie energy.  That power betrayed him, and the dog who loved to run and play found himself in a cage at a Sacramento shelter with his name on a kill list and his ticket to the Bridge punched. Luckily someone recognized that Rocket’s obsessive behavior could make him an excellent search and rescue dog.   Rocket was removed from death row and trained in search and rescue by the Search Dog Foundation based in Southern California who looks for dogs in kill shelters to train for rescue operations.  He happily showed off all he had learned when he was tested to become a member of the team.  He promptly failed. But Rocket must

When the Internet first began no one knew what to do with it.  You had to use your phone line, people’s importance was verified by a mechanical voice telling them they had mail, they gathered in chat rooms to type at strangers, and, of course, there was porn. We are still in the early stages of the Internet.  Someday people will look back on us using the ‘net as we look back on people using cars for the first time, cranking them up, rolling around slowly in open carriages with skinny tires.  It will all seem so very comic. This week I think we might have found out what this mysterious tool is to be used for.  Certainly giving us pups a way to bark at one another is noble, and bringing friends together is important, but it seems for each positive use for this marvelous apparatus the evil people have used it to spread their wicked beliefs.    Sometimes it takes a catastrophe to see clearly.   The Internet only has one clear purpose, and that is to let us communicate with the on

Parents learn a lot of lessons from us, mostly about loyalty and love.  I know they think that it is reciprocated when they “train” us but we aren’t learning, we just agree to let them think they are in charge.  But there is something important I learned from my parents.  How to cover my ass. Humans use this term a lot but they rarely literally do it.  I know they put at least one, mostly two, and sometimes more, layers of clothing between their ass and the breeze, but that isn’t what is meant by these words.  It means to make sure no one can blame you for anything. While I certainly don’t want anyone to blame me “covering my ass” means making sure my ass is covered.  I want my butt pressed up against something.  When I sleep, I push my behind against one of my parents.  When I sit with one of them, I make sure my butt is resting against the back or the side of a chair.  When my parents leave I go in the crate where my kitty condo is and I back in.  Nothing is getting to my bu

You gonna eat that?

We have just had two terrible storms. What is the worst storm you have encountered: Pocket: When I was three, and we lived in the condo, we got 11 inches of rain in two days and our basement flooded. The rain didn't bother me but all the work that went into drying out and restoring the basement bothered me a great deal. River: My first winter with my family we had a storm and got two feet of snow. The wind slammed against the house and the snow pounded the against the window. When I got up the snow was more than a foot above my head and I had nowhere to pee.

With Irma threatening the lives of our friends, with ceaseless threats of war occurring around the world, with new concerns continually being discovered, and the over riding emotion in the world being worry, it is time for the planet to get its own therapy dog. It is no wonder that people realize that we dogs have a greater purpose than to hunt and retrieve balls.  We are here to help humans, and we are just beginning to reach our potential. An increasing amount of people, businesses are recruiting therapy dogs to help overly stressed out humans deal with the insanity of their lives. There are few places more stressful than the airport.  At LAX hurried passengers, and harried passengers can lower their heart rates and their blood pressure by meeting the emissaries of the Pets Unstressing Passengers (or PUP) program, who are walking through the airport with their human companions to meet, greet, and calm passengers as they wait to board their plane.   Parents traveling with nervo

The deluge of weather related prayers have continued.  We angels have barely had a moment’s rest.  We wish we could do more. I had just settled under the covers after a 14-hour grind of prayer delivery when there was the sound of a giant paw banging on my door.  I crawled out of bed and opened the door.  12, my massive angel friend and his brothers Chappy and Fuzzy Bacon stood in my doorway. “Do you know what my mom did?” 12 asked.  “She got someone to go to Tommy Tunes’ Dad’s house to board up his windows for him before Irma hits.  She is his guardian angel.  We have to help my mom aid our friends.” I invited them inside and made them cocoa.  “I understand you boys want to help people, we all do.  I have even met with Mother Nature.  She is one fierce witch.  But there is nothing we can do.” 12 cleared his throat.  “If Mommy can get Tommy’s Dad’s windows boarded up from four time zones away then there must be something we can do.” “I wish I could think of something buddi

Everyone knows that dogs and human can’t communicate.  Except for a singular moment when humans are on the edge of sleeping and wakefulness.  What happens in those moments are swept away like the remnants of a dream It takes a long time to learn when your parents reach that moment.  It lasts only a few seconds.  If you start too soon, the human only hears barking, and you get shushed. Start too late, and they are asleep. Sunday night I was able to speak to my Mom during that perfect moment. “Mommy,” I whispered, hoping she would hear me. “Yes, River?”  I was in! “Is tomorrow special?” “It’s Labor Day.” “What’s Labor Day?” “It’s a holiday.  Humans don’t have to work.” “What are you going to do?” “Work in the garden.” “But, it’s Labor Day.  You aren’t supposed to work.” “I am retired, and Daddy works weekends, so Monday is our garden day.  We will rest Tuesday.” “You’re a rebel Mommy,” I said. She smiled.  “Is there anything else tomorrow?” I aske

See ya Bitches

How easy have you been to train? Pocket:  Train?  What does that mean?  Many have tried, all have failed.  If I weighed ten more pounds I would be a terror instead of a little ball of cuteness. River Song:  I trained pretty easily.  I can sit, and give paw, and come.  I am not good at being quiet but who wants a perfect dog?

I have had too many new angels to greet this week.  We spirits have been very busy with prayers for Texas, and I would have appreciated if the Big Guy didn’t bring any of my friends to the Bridge, but he did.  I am told he works in mysterious ways, but often it seems like he is not functioning at all.  Maybe more angels were needed.  But I don’t know why one of them had to be an old friend, another a new friend, and the third family. The old friend was sweet Jazzmin.  I have known her for years, going back to when we dogs built the Internet so we could communicate in a manner other than barks and pee mail.  I had no idea that Jazzmin was expected at the Bridge.  I had not heard a bark or sniffed a pee that said she was ill.  But one day this week Jazzmin went to sleep in the mortal world and woke up immortal. Usually, when this occurs the new angel awakens confused, but Jazzmin knew exactly where she was.  She always put her mom, Debi Wallace, first.  When Jazzmin knew her heart

Twelve years ago this week Hurricane Katrina caused massive flooding in New Orleans.  Thousands of people were stranded in the rising water.  The government was ill prepared for the disaster.  Now the country is faced with another epic disaster, the flooding in Houston caused by Hurricane Harvey.  Thankfully, the government has learned many lessons in emergency management during that time, not only to rescue humans but to rescue beloved pets too. In New Orleans, as the city was being evacuated, residents were told that pets could not go.  Many people, acting the same way my readers would refused to leave their pets behind, and they perished in the flood.  It was the sacrifice that these people made that caused rescuers to realize that to many people pets are family, and they needed to be included in the evacuation. When rescuers found Joe Garcia, chest deep in water at his north Houston home, he went back in his house and carried out his German Shepherd Heidi, carefully keeping H