Shelter Tales
I don’t think I’ve ever met a Bloodhound in person before, and my first view of Duke wasn’t promising. Like some other dogs at the shelter, his approach of saying hello is to throw himself against the glass door of his kennel and bark - deep and loud. His size makes that display all the more impressive, of course. And, an added feature of Duke’s production of “hello, it’s me” is slobber, lots of it, smeared on the glass.
Not exactly the stuff of love at first sight.
But a young woman who works at the shelter got me interested in Duke. A vet tech showed us the technique they’d been using to get this big, eager guy out of his kennel and out to the yard. Three seemed about the right number of people for the chore. We visited with him out in the kennel yard for a while and he seemed pretty manageable.
But the next time I went, the young woman wasn’t there. The vet tech and I took him out. This time two seemed like the right number to get him to the yard. I spent a lot of time with him, and when the vet tech came back to check on us she saw how much hair was accumulating from just my running my fingers through his coat. She brought us a brush, and Duke and I got to work.
Duke, I discovered that day, is an incredible love bug. Loves butt rubs and ear rubs. Loves to be petted and brushed. And, instead of dog kisses, he gently touches his nose to my face. (Given the slobber factor, the nose kiss is much appreciated!)
He’s a complete sweetheart. The next time I went solo to get him from his kennel. I brought him outside, and when he was ready to go back - which he signals by going to the door (see photo above) - he was easy to guide back to his kennel.
Since that time, staff and volunteers have brought him out to the shelter dog park - turns out he’s very good on leash. Good dog looking for a good home!
Resources
The Potsdam Humane Society works hard to offer good care to the dogs and cats they take and and find good matches between people and pets. Here’s their latest listing of cats, dogs, and sometimes other animals, that are available for adoption.
Out in the Yard
Spring is here! It got off to a rainy start, and that’s brought about some amazing shows of beauty from the flowering trees. Whenever this oranamental crabtree at the end of our driveway starts to go into bloom, we’re eager to appreciate every minute.
All too often a heavy rain or serious breeze brings this show to a quick end. We consider ourselves lucky if we get a day and a half in full bloom. But this year, the rains that helped nourish the tree so it could do this show then held off so the show could keep on going. It lasted for days, and when the bloosoms began to lose their hold, we had a gentle, slow-motion drift of petals to the ground for several days.
Now it’s the lilacs’ turn, and, as you can see at the bottom of the photo, the ferns are coming on stage. Every day a stroll through the yard brings another welcome arrival.
When I was young, I thought Spring with its extravegance was corny and its offer of hope was for the naive. Ah, youth. Now I think, “bring it on.” I’ll take all the beauty and hope that Spring offers.
Resources
Flowering Trees in New York City Parks offers a guided tour of urban trees in bloom.
At the Writing Table
In 1999 I traveled to Asheville, North Carolina to take part in a Poetry ALive! week-long Poetry Performance residency for teachers. There I worked with the amazing Allan Wolf to learn elements of poetry performance that I could bring back to my classroom. This month I had the good fortune to help bring Allan to SUNY Potsdam as part of the annual LoKo Arts Festival.
To say that Allan is multi-talented is to just get a start. A poet who juggles, plays guitar and sings; writes historical fiction, poetry, and children’s books, and is as seemingly comfortable writing about spleens and other body part for kids as he is writing about tragedies such as the experience of passengers on the Titanic and the members of the infamous Donner Party.
His latest book, Zane’s Trace, is an amazing tour through the mind of a Zane, a kid not quite old enough to have his drivers license who steals his brother’s car and heads out to meet his fate at the graveside of his mother.
If you ever get a chance to see Allan Wolf perform, jump at it - he’s engaging with every audience he gets in front of.
Resources
Take a look at the list of books he’s published - you’ll find something to fall in love with.