Fort-unate Visit

My mom and sister visited us over Christmas. Cabana loved having extra people in the house, and she was great with both of them. She gave my dog-averse sister enough space, never jumping up or being solicitous of her. My mom hadn't been to our house since we got Cabana. She was impressed with Cabana's calm behavior and even said she didn't smell bad! (That was a huge concern of mine--that my mom would say the house smelled too dog-like. I cleaned every inch of my house before she came, scrubbing, vacuuming, doing laundry, using my Pet Hair Magnet relentlessly, worrying that her sensitive olfactories would still be offended. I was thrilled that we passed her nose inspection!)

After dropping my mom off at San Francisco Airport yesterday, Cabana and I seized the opportunity to stop at Fort Funston in Daly City. We had only been there once before, with only 40 minutes to explore--not nearly enough time! This time, we enjoyed ourselves for 3 glorious hours. There were lots of dogs there, but because Fort Funston is such a huge spread-out expanse, the photos make it look like we were almost alone.

I wasn't quite sure where the paths were taking us, but my goal was to get down to the beach. Here, we're on a stretch that overlooks Skyline Boulevard and Lake Merced.

Fort Funston is very popular with dog walkers. It amazes me to watch these professionals, their bodies usually criss-crossed by dozens of leashes, keeping their packs close by, calling out the names of the wanderers. Cabana does NOT like being approached by a whole pack of dogs; it makes her quite nervous. You can almost see the relief on her face (far left) after this pack sniffs her and moves along past.

There is SO much for a dog to do at Fort Funston. Sniff, explore, dig, run, play, romp, pee. Which to do first! It's a sensory overload. Cabana stops to rummage around in a eucalyptus grove.

We found the path that leads down to the ocean, and boom, Cabana was off like a shot!

Running on the beach, in and out of the waves--pure joy.

Climbing rocks, BIG rocks!

The parking lot lays at the top of this rocky ridge that flanks the beach.

Here are the stairs that lead back up to the parking lot. Whew, it's a steep climb! I had to stop a few times to catch my breath. Cabana would stop and look back at me with nary a pant whenever I gave her the command to "wait". Yes, I am a two-legged slowpoke.

I don't normally make New Years resolutions--but I resolve to go to Fort Funston more regularly in 2011.

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Happy Holidays

We wish canines and their humans a wonderful holiday season!

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C is for Cookie (and for Cabana)

Around these parts, all it's been doing is raining raining RAINING. So I spent the weekend, grateful to be indoors, baking and decorating cookies to take to parties and give as gifts. We also made this gingerbread house. My younger daughter got to do the decorating. Didn't she do a fabulous job? I love her gumdrop/marshmallow topiaries.

Cabana is NOT a counter surfer. She has never put her paws up on our tables or kitchen counters (although I have seen her leaping up onto tables at our puppy group--of course, she saves her embarrassing behavior to keep me humble out in public). For some reason, this gingerbread house piqued Cabana's curiosity to no end. I had it on top of a high ledge in our entryway (I only put it on the kitchen table for this photograph), and Cabana would stand by it, looking up at the gingerbread house, wagging her tail, and making little sounds. Because the ledge was low enough that Cabana could easily jump up and reach the gingerbread house, I moved it to the top of a high bookshelf, not wanting it to be too much temptation for her. But even on the bookshelf, Cabana kept showing us with her wagging tail and great interest that she felt the gingerbread house should belong to her. She's never done this before, so I found it quite amusing.

A friend recently turned me onto Bake@350, a blog about cookie decorating. I have always loved making and decorating sugar cookies, but this blog took me to the next level in desiring sugar cookie perfection. I used the sugar cookie recipe posted on the blog. They were so easy and they taste great.

I made a double batch of royal icing. Then I scooped out small amounts and colored them with food coloring gel. I like to use small ziplock bags for decorating. I just chop off a tiny corner of the bag and squeeze the icing out. The top row is outline consistency (thick). The bottom row is flood consistency (thin).

Here are the cookies in various stages of progress. It takes a long time (hours!) and lots of patience. If you rush it, the cookies don't turn out as pretty.

Voila! Some of our finished masterpieces. They still aren't as perfect as the ones on the Bake@350 blog, but oh well. After all, who really wants to eat a perfect cookie? If it's too perfect, you want to save it forever. If it's not-quite-perfect, you don't feel so bad about chomping the head off a snowman--AND it also means they don't have any calories. Bet you didn't know that, did you?!

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Mud Baths

At the park, all the rain makes the grass look beautifully green, but really, it's just a thin veneer over squelchy, thick, unavoidable MUD.

Puddles like this one are preferable to the muddy grass. At least the puddle has a higher water-to-dirt ratio, making it much easier to clean off.

It doesn't help when your pals roll you around in the mud.

"Hmmph, what's wrong with the way I look?" Honestly, I don't know how people with dark dogs manage--I like being able to see the mud clearly so I can make sure Cabana is clean.

Cabana HATES being sprayed with cold water from the garden hose, even in summertime--she barks and skitters around, making it impossible to do a thorough job, getting me drenched in the process. After weeks of battling mud, and with many more weeks of war to wage, I invested in this Waterpik handheld showerhead. What a cinch to install, and it makes life SO much easier! Cabana jumps right into the tub--she loves the warm water being sprayed on her so she's extremely cooperative.

For the past two years, I've been putting Cabana in the tub and using a plastic cup to pour water over her--talk about low tech! It was a HUGE cup, but still just a cup. Not only did that waste a lot of water, it took a long time, wasn't very effective, and provided no water pressure. The Waterpik is effortless, has GREAT water pressure to get all the way down to the skin, and even has a water-off switch to save water while I'm soaping Cabana (which I only do sparingly, usually doing just a quick rinse to get the mud off). My only complaint is why I didn't buy this two years ago?!

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Shopping in Sonoma

One of my favorite places is The Plaza in Sonoma, CA. There are fabulous little boutique shops to browse in and a vast selection of superb restaurants. I worked for a graphic design firm just one house off The Plaza for over three years. I was always too busy working to do much shopping, but thanks to lunch meetings, I did get to eat at quite of few of the restaurants. That was a huge perk.

Today, I had to drop off a few Sheekoo orders in Sonoma. I didn't stop for lunch this time, but I indulged myself by doing some long-overdue dog-friendly shopping on The Plaza, with Cabana in tow.

Here's my little yellow dog among the yellow leaves.

Cabana sniffed the tail-end of this llama (or is it an alpaca?) outside the Native American Secrets store for quite some time. But after I pulled out my camera, of course she wouldn't do it anymore.

The highlight of our shopping trip was Three Dog Bakery. This is a place that I've passed by a million times and had never gone in before (the graphic design job was pre-Cabana). Wow, what a fun place! They have way more than just baked goods, too--lots of toys, collars and leashes, dog clothing, etc. On the door, it says, "Owners on leash welcome."

So many yummy treats to pick from! What to choose, what to choose....

This is what I ended up getting. You fill this Christmas tree with the little stuffed toys, and the dog works to get the little toys out, kind of like a puzzle. I also got two little frosted "pupcakes"--aren't they so cute in the box?

My human family members are going to be rather upset with me since I only bought yummy treats for Cabana and none for them. Ruh roh, guess I'll be the one in the dog house!

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Can't Live Without Cleaning Products

On a cleanliness scale of 1 to 10, I'd say I'm about a 7 or 8 (1 being a slob, 10 being an anal perfectionist). I WISH I were a 10, if that tells you anything about my preferences. I don't spend an inordinate amount of time cleaning my house, but I do keep things tidy. I probably vacuum about twice a week and sweep the kitchen and dining room floors every other day. Still, the amount of dog hair I find in every nook and cranny of the house does not make me a happy homemaker.

Enter the Pet Hair Magnet!! If it's possible to be in love with a yellow piece of plastic that costs $10 (or only $8 if you use your 20% off coupon at Bed Bath and Beyond), then I am.

I have a Miele, which is a very nice German vacuum cleaner. However, no matter how much I go over the same spot, I can't pick up all the Cabana hairs on the carpet. My poor black jeans are a sure indicator of this fact. The carpet may look clean, since Cabana is the same color as the carpet, but the black jeans tell the truth.

Here is Cabana in front of our Christmas tree, which we just brought home and decorated yesterday. The carpet has been thoroughly vacuumed, to get up all the loose pine needles. The carpet looks pretty clean, right? But wait...



After taking the photo, I was able to get this mound of dog hair out of the 2 sq ft space immediately in front of Cabana. Okay, it's not a huge amount, and some carpet fibers are probably mixed in--but remember that I did just vacuum yesterday. Also, this isn't a spot where Cabana spends a lot of time. There would be more around her dog bed, which is another place where the Pet Hair Magnet would come in handy, as well as in the car. Best of all, there are no refills to buy. It's fast, cheap and easy.

While I'm on a product recommendation jag, I'll tell you about one other product that is AMAZING. It's called the Magic Eraser, by Mr. Clean, available at grocery and hardware stores. This isn't necessarily a pet-related cleaning item, but it's just too fabulous not to mention.

You get two sponges in a package. They are made of melamine foam, and I don't think there is anything added to them (no chemical or cleaning agent). The melamine foam itself is the active ingredient. Take a pair of scissors and cut each sponge into 4 pieces (you don't need to use the whole big thing at once). You wet the sponge and use it to wipe away all those stains that nothing else seems to get rid of. I had a few marks on my walls that I had tried to clean before, but they wouldn't go away. A few wipes with the Magic Eraser, and they are gone. There's also a bathroom cleaning version, which is fantastic, too. Think stocking stuffers, people!

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Catching Up

Thursdays are usually quiet at the park because that's the day they cut the grass, although we can avoid the mower fairly easily because the field is so big. For whatever reasons, our usual dog park friends were absent today, but I seized the opportunity to have a fall photo shoot. Here are a few of the better shots I took.

I've been a bad blogger and bad blog reader lately. Things were crazy busy leading up to Thanksgiving. Life has calmed down now, but I've been battling a long-lasting cough/cold thing. I didn't feel sick enough to stay in bed (darn), but just sort of run down and pestered by inconvenient symptoms. Right now, I am on a constant diet of cough drops, and I have almost no voice. It's a good thing that Cabana's recall is reliable now, because I can barely croak out her name.

After several weeks, Cabana is finally using the doggy door on her own!! Yippee! Actually, I think the problem was ME, not Cabana. Isn't that usually the case?! I couldn't break my own habit of taking her out. I was so overly routinized, rarely waiting for Cabana to tell me she needed to go. The answer was for me to be relaxed enough to trust that Cabana would go out when she needed to.

With the colder weather, Cabana has been allowed to sleep on our bed at night. Who would have thunk it would ever come to this in our house? We've sunk another level (or perhaps elevated, depending on your perspective). She loves it and has been really good about not rummaging around or flopping her ears noisily in the wee hours.

I hope to catch up on everyone's blogs soon. Thank you for continuing to visit mine, even if sporadically!!

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