Our Foster Dog Still Looking for a Forever Home

Our cute little foster dog Sprite (a Dachshund) is still available for adoption. He just turned 14 on Dec. 23, so he's a Christmas dog. Despite being 14, he acts like an 8 year old! He's been updated on his shots, tested for everything and he's in perfect health and has another good 6-8 years in him.

STAIRS- He still climbs stairs. We have 13 steps in our home and he goes up and down several times a day, following us. He's just a little slow, but he does it. 4 steps are very easy for him.

HOUSE TRAINED - He is house trained now. He sleeps about 8 hours during the night without getting up. At night, we keep him crated. He is also crated when we go out, although he would be fine if left gated in a kitchen. He always walks to our back door when he needs to go out. Or, if he's upstairs, he just gets up and goes downstairs! Like any dog, you just have to pay attention to him when he gives you the signal! :)
WALKS - He loves walks- especially short ones, and is the only dog I've ever known not to pull!
BIG DOGS - He also gets along great with Dolly, our Weimaraner (who is 67 pounds). Our Weim even plays with him in the backyard and sometimes chases him.

FOOD - Sprite eats dry kibble and I usually put a little water in it to soften it. I also mix tuna, chicken, or turkey, a egg, or cold cuts in with every meal (for all our dogs!). He eats in the morning when we get up, and in the evening when we get home. The dry food that we feed him is Artemis Fresh mix (http://www.artemiscompany.com/).

NOTE: He also starts "singing" for his supper, when he sees me making it, and prances around the kitchen letting out little grunts. :)

**His favorite treats are pupperoni and beggin' strips. He also loves Milk bones.

CHEWS- he doesn't chew on bones or nylabones at all. *I do brush his teeth daily, though, and give him puppy dental treats, which are easier to chew with his remaining teeth.

BLANKET HIM WITH AFFECTION - He also likes being hugged (I don't think he got much of it with the elderly couple who had him since he was born). He sleeps on a round, soft bed, with a couple of felt blankets (he likes them over him when he lays down for the night).

  Sprite is such a good boy. He's got quite a number of years of life left in him, and really needs a loving home.

MD Delegate Tiffany Alston - A lying hypocrite. Vote her out of office

Here's a letter I wrote to  MD Delegate who SPONSORED the bill FOR gay marriage, then listened to HATEFUL "Religious" organizations and VOTED AGAINST IT. *I cannot believe the hatred of churches, and this particular delegate's turn disgusts me. She's a liar and hypocrite. She should be voted out of office for leading the gay community on. *This is NOT a religious matter. It's a CIVIL matter. Church opinions need to be dropped. Period. They don't vote for equality.
Dear Delegate  Alston- I am ashamed of you. I'm disgusted with your vote AGAINST Marriage equality after Sponsoring the legislation. You have let down a large group of Marylanders who supported you.

  
To bow before "religious" organizations who profess hatred and don't understand civil rights is sickening. Gay marriage is a civil matter and the Maryland bill does not force religious institutions to marry gay couples. Besides, there are many religions in Maryland, not just Christian, and there are agnostics and atheists. Marriage is not about procreation (elderly and infertile couples marry daily), it's about that loving commitment between two people.

I am ashamed that you represent the people of Prince George's County and will urge people not to vote for you in the coming elections. To not vote for the matter is one thing, but to lie to constituents and sponsor the gay marriage bill, only to turn on people because of hate group pressure is disgusting.  

From the Baltimore Sun: House committee passes same-sex marriage bill

March 4- The House Judiciary Committee has voted 12-10 to pass the same-sex marriage bill, sending it to the full House of Delegates. The 171-member chamber is expected take up debate as early as next week.
Del. Tiffany Alston, who had signed on to the bill as a sponsor, but wavered and walked out on a planned vote earlier this week, voted against it. Committee Chairman Joseph F. Vallario Jr., who does not support same-sex marriage, saved the legislation by voting to send it to the full House.
Before the final vote, Alston, a Prince George's County Democrat, attemped to amend the bill to establish civil unions instead of same-sex marriage. The effort drew praise from Republicans on the committee, but cricitism from her fellow Democrats. It failed.
Del. Jill Carter, the other holdout earlier this week, voted for the bill. The Baltimore Democrat supports same-sex marriage, but said she wanted to draw attention to education funding in Baltimore and her own legislation on child custody in divorce cases.
The bill's ride through the House already has been rockier than its passage in the Senate last week, raising new questions about its prospects in the full chamber. The House is expected to take up the debate as early as next week.
Gov. Martin O'Malley has said he will sign the legislation if it reaches his desk.
Thanks to Julie Bykowicz, reporting from Annapolis.

Vacation: Puerto Rico Part 4

 

Our Favorite photo in Puerto Rico-on the beach!

This marked the entrance to a coastline walk

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Field outside Fort Morrow for kite flying

Crest over entrance to Fort Morrow

Inside the Fort Morrow courtyard

Giant staircase inside Fort Morrow

Fort Morrow Lighthouse

Looking down to Fort Morrow lower level

Tom descending Fort Morrow Stairway

Tom in the Fort's gutter... a new low! :)

Trying to look excited, when we're already Hot!

Beach through Fort's Barred window-artsy, eh?

Rob at Fort's guard post

Vacation: Puerto Rico Part 3: More Photos

Here are a variety of photos from our trip to Puerto Rico- you can see it's a great place to visit!

Northern coastline

Beach near our hotel... but no swimming! Tide too rough!

Enjoying a Coconut drink at the beach

The beach!!

Tom and Rob at the beach in the wind!!

A great dessert- we went back TWICE!

Dog walker with a Blue Weimaraner

Dog walker Advertisement

One of Rob's Favorite Tourist spots!

Tom shopping in Condado

Nice palm-tree lined streets

Great Mexican Restaurant called Tijuana's!

Ricky Martin poster on a bus stop

The sidewalk on our 3 mile walk to San Juan!

Small cups of tea and coffee are REALLY SMALL!

State House in San Juan

Beautifully Colored Homes of Old San Juan

A beautiful Old San Juan balcony

 We walked through Old San Juan, Puerto Rico on two of the days we were on vacation, because the homes and businesses are so beautifully painted, and some of the interiors of the homes are very ornate. Enjoy these photos of them!

Inside someone's open front door!

Look at these beautiful doors!

The President's Weekly Address:4 min. video

Many people have likely never seen or heard the President's Weekly address. It's a weekly 4 minute video posted on www.whitehouse.gov, and heard over radio airwaves. If you haven't seen one, here's last week's.

Puerto Rico Vacation: Part 2

We visited 2 historic forts in Old San Juan after walking there from Condado (where our hotel was located). The walk was 3 Miles and we passed the abandoned Olympics Park (built for the Olympics and now decaying). The sidewalk paralleled the north facing beach, and there was rough surf. Rough Surf advisories were posted the whole week we were there, so swimming was not allowed on that side of Puerto Rico.

First Floor of the fort

Looking East from the top floor of the fort

Looking across the top of the fort

Front Entrance to Fort San Cristobal

Spiral Staircase

Tom and Rob on the top level of the Fort

Self picture!

Tom in the Haunted Tunnel- where we caught an orb on film!

The North coast beach from the fort window

The beach from the Fort Window

Looking East from the fort's top floor

We reached the fort, also called Castillo de San Cristóbal and paid our entrance fee at the National Park Service desk. We learned that when the fort was finished in 1783, it covered about 27 acres of land and basically wrapped around the city of San Juan

From the ticket area the entrance into the fort was a dimly lit long tunnel that came up onto the first floor. In the middle of the tunnel I felt as if I slammed into a wall of energy and emotion. As you know if you read this blog, I can sometimes sense people who have passed. The energy there in the tunnel actually felt like a blanket. It wasn't an intelligent entity, but a lot of emotion from the soldiers that marched through that tunnel in prep. of defending the fort during wars.

A room used to bunk the soliders

The fort was amazing. The brickwork, the multiple levels, the towers, and the views were spectacular - providing a great look north into the rough waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the colorful, ornamental buildings of Old San Juan to the west. 

For people who don't believe in ghosts, don't read the next paragraph. To me, however, it was interesting.
As we walked through the fort, we did run into an actual ghost inhabiting the fort. It was a Colonel named Rafael who was on the top floor of the fort. Rafael conveyed to me that he was responsible for a group of men who manned the fort. He didn't give me any more information about himself, but he did give me information about the fort that surprised me.

After leaving the top floor of the fort, Tom and I walked through a couple of large rooms painted white and to me, they looked like ammunitions storage rooms. However, Rafael told me that large rooms were used for bunking soldiers. I didn't know what to think.

About 20 minutes later we walked through another area with the same kind of rooms and one of them was set up with wooden bunks on the left and right sides along the walls (PICTURED HERE). The display showed that soldiers would sleep on those long wooden bunks. The wooden bunks had soldier's ammo bags, blankets and what looked like rolls of fabric that acted as pillows.

When I got home I did some research trying to find out who Rafael was. I learned that "Visitors to the park have seen strange apparitions and heard unexplained sounds." Some have encountered soldiers dressed in 18th century uniforms disappearing through the solid walls!

The fort was a marvel in construction and as I mentioned, provided unmatched views of Old San Juan. It's well worth visiting. The second fort we visited (to be highlighted later in a blog) was set away from the city and not as high up, so the view of the city can't compare the the one from Fort San Cristobal. BTW- "San Cristobal" means "Saint Christopher."   The fort was really cool!