Canine Casino Night

Jon and I will be in Salt Lake this weekend to attend NMHPU's First Annual Canine Casino Night. Come and see us -- and raise some money for Utah's Homeless Pets!

Canine friends welcome!

Who needs Vegas? Forget Wendover. No More Homeless Pets in Utah presents its hippest high-rolling new dog deal, Canine Casino Night. It all happens on Friday, August 1st from 6:30- 10 PM at the Radisson Hotel (215 West South Temple-downtown Salt Lake City). Tickets are just $35 ($40 at the door) and include signature drinks, hors d’oeuvres and admission for your barking brat pack, too. The ace in the hole is our spectacular silent and live auction and just for fun gaming includes Blackjack, Craps, Roulette and Texas Hold’em. No More Homeless Pets in Utah was recently voted host to “the best parties for the dogs” in the City Weekly’s 2008 Best Of edition, so don’t miss out on this one. Click here to get your tickets now because this promises to be a full house!

An Awesome Weekend

Well, we're back from Vegas -- what a fun trip! Eddie Izzard was even better than I expected -- and I expected a LOT. I have to say I cannot remember the last time I laughed that hard. He is even MORE hysterical in person. I won't reveal too much of the content so as not to spoil it for others, but suffice to say we are really itching for this tour's DVD to come out--a souvenir, if you will. If you have the opportunity to see him in your city (or nearby), I highly recommend shelling out the 50 clams it cost. It was worth every cent of hard earned cash (and we work for a non-profit, so we don't have a whole lot of it to spare).

And with that, I'm off to ignore the bearded guy upstairs whilst listening to my jazz chicken.



[ If you go see him, you'll understand what I mean. :) ]

This is Love

Hummingbird

For the 202nd post of this blog...

We present Ruby Christine Davis...



Just a couple more months before that sweet face sees daylight for the first time. Can't wait to meet my first niece!!!

Pretty sure we will be the coolest Aunt and Uncle ever :)

It was....well....Monky

This weekend was a special treat. Monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery came to Best Friends. They are a band of their traveling monks, hittin' the road and raising money for their monastery as well as spreading their hard to swallow message of peace for all. I mean seriously, who do they think they are?

Kidding!

It was pretty darn cool. For about an hour they ran through what I think was a prayer book, chanting and occasionally kicking up the music.



One of the monks obviously had some kind of voice training as he literally sounded like a didgeridoo. He seemed to be leading the gang, while one played a giant drum that looked like a lollipop.



So every few minutes they would totally go all out. Two monks on some kind of horn, two on what looked like one of those Swiss Horns.



Really pretty incredible stuff. Makes you really hate what the Chinese have done to Tibet.



As if the way China treats its animals wasn't enough to not support the Beijing Olympics, maybe what the Chinese have done to Tibet is?

Our Campaign Has Gone To The Dogs

If you haven't yet heard of our latest and greatest endeavor, then I urge you to visit obamafamilydog.com. The Barack Obama family recently announced that they anticipate adding a canine member to their family. We hope that they will carefully consider their options in selecting the new four legged member of their family.

This is not about politics, it's not about partisanship, it's not about pure breeds versus mixed breeds ("mutts"), it's a conversation about adopting a homeless animal versus buying an animal from a pet store or breeder. (Contrary to popular belief there are many pure breed dogs in shelters that need forever homes). Please sign the petition and pass along to all of your friends and contacts who also support the endeavor of encouraging the Obama family to adopt a homeless dog.

Welcome to the Desert

Hey so in other things that freak me out (not just the UroClub), check out this little friend we had outside the back door tonight.



Yah, a Western Black Widow. Hard to tell from the photo, but insanely large. Looked big enough to kill maybe the entire Dunn family.

We didn't kill it, but we did clean out all the webs it had spun. Hopefully we can make it move at least further away from the back door.

It would be a better photo, but it freaked me out enough that I just could not get any closer.

*shudder*

Cake or Death?

Jon has continued to dominate out on the golf course. This week I discovered my favored summer hobby.

Going to the pool.

Now, you may remember a few weeks back that there was some heavy controversy because the city council implemented some rules for patrons of the Kanab pool (also known as the “Cowboy Water’n Hole”). Well, most of that excitement fizzled, because you can now wear your bikini, although you cannot wear your thong. It’s all subjective though. What happens if I go down the slide and get a giant wedgie? Are they going to kick me out?? And if they do, why are they looking at my posterior in the first place??

All silly rhetoric aside, I am pleased to share that the pool is actually quite an impressive facility. It’s more like a miniature water park complete with a jungle gym for kids (young & old) fountains, water sprayers, a lazy river where the strong current carries you along. While I haven’t actually played in the kid areas, I have observed many children of all ages enjoying it. Mostly I have been hiding out in the lap pool – in the deep end. It’s not typically too crowded with young’uns but the real reason is because I can actually get some exercise if I’m in water deep enough that I can tread. There are designated ‘lap swim’ sessions, but the evening sessions are somewhat limited because there are often private parties on the schedule, which close the pool to the general public. Still, if I’m motivated enough I can swim undisturbed daily from 6-7AM….

Yeah right. I can’t even walk my ass into my shower at 6 AM. But despite some of the time constraints for the pool, I’m still looking forward to jumping in and cooling off, and getting healthy. Win win win.

Another item of interest – Jon and I are getting uber excited to go to Vegas next week. But I thought you hate Vegas, you ask? Well, I don’t hate it, it’s just not my favorite place. We got tickets to see one of our favorite comedians, Eddie Izzard. He’s playing at the Pearl Theatre (The Palms) and we got some decent upper level tix. If you are not familiar with Eddie and his clever brand of comedy, I highly recommend checking him out. Here are some vids of some of his standup – watch them. I guarantee you will laugh.














“But with dogs, we do have “bad dog.” Bad dog exists. “Bad dog! Bad dog! Stole a biscuit, bad dog!” The dog is saying, “Who are you to judge me? You human beings who’ve had genocide, war against people of different creeds, colors, religions, and I stole a biscuit?! Is that a crime? People of the world!”

“Well, if you put it that way, I think you’ve got a point. Have another biscuit, sorry.””

~Eddie Izzard

Haiku Madness

today i laughed much

so hard i started crying

almost peed my pants

The UroClub!

Hey!

Looking for a great gift idea? Wondering what to get the golfer in your life?

Check out the UroClub!

From the website:

Attention Male Golfers! How many times has this happened? You arrive at the golf course, and soon you’re on to 18 holes with your best buddies. After drinking sport ades, water, beer, and whatever, you’re on the 3rd hole with no rest room in sight. There are no trees or bushes around and you just gotta go, what are you going to do?




















This may well be the single, grossest thing I have ever heard of. Maybe save for the Stadium Pal.

Walking In The Dark

The girls and I just got back from our evening walk. Sounds crazy since it’s a little after 10:00 PM but this is the time of year you kind of have to plan things around the time of day & temperature. Today’s high was only 94 degrees, but the next two days will top out around 97. Not as horrendous as it could be, although it still feels mad hot. When we set off it had cooled down to an anhydrous 80. It was a little breezy, but not cool. I thought it would be cool and quiet, and no people would be around so the girls would not bark…. WRONG. It was still hot. It was kind of like walking around a slightly windy oven in the dark. But we experienced a lot of excitement!

A lady around the corner was taking out her trash in her driveway – the girls barked and scared the crap out of her. She made a comment to the effect that the barking scared her (so I apologized), and then she said something about a dog walking this time of night setting off all the other neighborhood dogs. So I’m not sure if she was mad about other dogs barking back to Kona, or if she was just pissed because we scared her taking out the trash. Oh well, we may never know. I tried to usher the two mutts down around the block as Moki had a coughing fit in the middle of the road. I think she inhaled some dirt or sand and got it up her nose. Then a man was walking toward us on the side of the road. Any other city? That might be scary. In Kanab? Not scary to me, but clearly scary to the dogs because they had to bark and yap and carry on until the man went into his house and was therefore no longer a threat.

We rounded the other corner of the block, and a man was pulling a truck into his driveway, and apparently his dog decided he was going to run over to greet us. I promptly turned the other direction and started moving us briskly down the side of the street. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not rude or antisocial, but Kona sometimes gets overly excited when meeting new dogs, which can lead to a an occasional little dust up once in a while. The man finally called his dog back to his own yard, so we avoided any sketchy encounters. We had just approached the end of our own driveway—home stretch! When all three of us simultaneously eyed an off leash yellow lab down the corner on the opposite side of the street. Kona gave out a few final battle cries (whiny barks), then the yellow dog ran off down the road as I steered my girls inside.

Some relaxing evening walk!

Help Best Friends Win!!

Ok, so the LA Times is running a contest in their Travel section. They asked reader to nominate their favorite places to visit in the West. They then narrowed those down based on the descriptions readers sent along with the suggestion. Here's the Best Friends entry...

Best Friends Animal Society
Kanab, Utah
Recommended by: Michele Johnson
What she said: "It's in a beautiful remote canyon with stunning views. If you want you can volunteer to work with the animals there or just take the tour."

So now we are down to the final 12, and the top picks (decided by reader votes) will end up with a nice article! So please, GO VOTE! It will only take a second, just make sure you pick Best Friends Animal Society in the second set!

Click here to vote

A Kanab 4th of July

I woke up with a bit of a fuzzy head (gotta go out to the bar when I don't have to work the next day right?), but decided since I was up in time I would head out to the 4th of July parade here in town.

Best Friends had its first ever representation in the parade, in the form of this:





That's Harley, one of our Pot Bellied pigs. We also had some Equine representation.



One of the groups that was not short on representation, was the local god believers (who make up probably 80 percent of the crowd). In fact, a lot of the floats were branded as such:



**Shudder**

Just to point out, that says, "Honoring Old Glory, and Giving God Ultimate Glory." They did that by chucking tootsie rolls, and Ice Pops off the float.

They also had people handing these out to the kids in the crowd:



Nothing gets teens into God like a starlight mint.

Also this was a good one. This was the float for the Johnson family, who looked like if they had anymore grandkids, they would need a bigger float.



Please also notice the glamor shot of Best Friends Animal Care Division Director, Patty Hegwood. She turned into the photo right as I hit the button.

So after the parade was over, I went back home, and later played golf with Daron. Made a Picnic Caviar (no recipe to be found, it was in our latest Vegetarian Times), and then we went up to the Sanctuary for a party. Good times were had!

Happenings & History

Today marks the official one year anniversary of my employment with Best Friends. Can’t believe it has been that long already – the time literally flew by! This time last year we were living in a roach motel (which happens to be owned by my slum lord boss – and of course I say slum lord with the utmost admiration, respect & endearment)…. The space constraints of the hotel were shadowed only by the fact that it contained only a full sized bed (we are not small people) and we had both dogs and both cats living in the motel room with us. Talk about adventure! The rest of the year to come was no less exciting. What a long, strange trip it’s been. And yet, there’s not much about it I would change. A few things. And well, maybe the heat….

We’ve been blessed with awesome friends. We have no big box merchants, no WAL-ly World within 80 miles in any direction and I’ll tell you, I really don’t miss them. But we do have close proximity to a half dozen or so national parks – not to mention the Grand Canyon, one of the majestic wonders of the world. We have our health (need to kick the cigs dammit!) and of course, the cats & dogs. No human babies as of yet, but the jury’s still out on that one. We are enjoying getting to know our niece Addyson Andrews, and look forward to meeting our niece Ruby Davis this fall.

Kanab is slowly moving into civilization. The summer markets have started. We went Saturday morning early and picked up some things.

Farm fresh eggs and goat’s milk & shea soap – vanilla & lavender scented. We also picked up some smoked salt to add to our spice rack. The soap and salts are made by a couple that lives here locally. We got to the market early, so I’m not sure if it was in full swing. There are not a whole lot of veggies available yet but I look forward to the coming weeks when we can have fresh local produce. I also anticipate stocking up on more yummy soaps & salts next week to keep on hand for gift giving.

Another sign that the town is becoming more civilized: we have a shaved ice shack. Oh, the joy! We went and got a punch card the other night (buy a dozen of these things, get one free). There are few things in this world that make me smile like shaved ice covered in flavored sugar water.

This time last year Jon was in Salt Lake, directing the movers and packing up the semi. He flew down on the evening of the 4th and it was memorable because his plane was supposed to land around 6:30 PM but it was unable to because the surface temperature on the runway was so high. I recall the thermometer on my truck reading 122. St. George usually tops out around 110 but whatever the obscene temp, it was enough to literally fry a farm fresh egg on the pavement. After heading halfway back to Salt Lake, the pilot was given authorization to return to St. Geo to land, but it was still several hours. Inconvenient yes, but better than the alternative of having the thing spontaneously combust from the heat.

So we're here now, and the rest is history. :)