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A dog on vacation

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Trixie took her first vacation since 2013 this past week. We stayed on St. Simons Island in Georgia. Fantastic place!

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She made herself right at home in our cute little rental cottage.

SSI is known to be very dog-friendly and we did find that to be the case.

We met a bunch of other great people and dogs, both travelers and locals. We were having lunch one afternoon at Sandcastle Cafe when two women walked into the seating area and one of them said, “Is that Trixie?!” We had met this woman the day before on the beach. Turns out she had lost her black lab, Megan, a bit ago to cancer. Getting to see and pet Trixie was a source of comfort for her. Dogs are the eternal icebreaker, making people into friends that otherwise would not have glanced twice at each other.

We also met a young couple with their therapy dog, who was very young and still in training. Sorry that we did not get any of their names. Sweet couple and sweet pup!

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Ate at numerous restaurants – hot dogs, burgers, chicken, fish. Our vacation motto is: if we are eating good, she is eating good!

On one occasion while we were walking around in the village, we heard someone call out as they were driving by, “Trixie!”. It’s funny when your dog has more friends than you do, lol! This was a couple we’d met one early morning on the beach, with their yellow lab named Tripp. They had helped Trix to get over her fear of the ocean. Trixie is fine going into ponds and even lakes, but has always been a bit afraid of the ocean. There is something about the water coming back in towards her and making a roaring sound that chases her out. Her new friends were so patient and encouraging with her and even gifted her with a blue bouncy ball. By the end of the trip, she was comfortable going in a short distance. Thank you, Kathy, Randy & Tripp! We do hope to see you again!!

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Spent some time on the beach!

It was such a nice trip! So relaxing. Eric and I both agree that St. Simons is our favorite of all the beachy places we have been to together (Outer Banks, Cape Canaveral, Kiawah Island, Maryland’s Quiet Waters, even California). It was just so laid back and of course, dog-friendly! I will try to post some additional photos from our trip soon.

What is your favorite dog-friendly vacation spot?

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Short walk after the eclipse

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Hope all of you lovely people were able to view the solar eclipse today, if that is your cup of tea. We were not in the path of totality, so it did not get extremely dark here. Just kind of “twilighty”, seemed as if I had sunglasses on. Our place is surrounded by acres of woods and there is always lots of bird noise throughout the day. The sky change was enough to make the birds get quiet and the cicadas stop their drone. Once the sky was getting back to normal, Trix and I went for a walk.

For me the highlight of the walk was hearing the birds out again, was so strange when they went quiet in the middle of the day. For Trixie, I’m pretty sure it was finding a dead snake.

I was a kid in the 70s and the changing sky reminded me of some sky event that I must have seen, or maybe a science fiction movie, or even a filmstrip that we might have been shown in science class. Sounds really vague, I know, but it just took me back to my childhood in some way.

Tried to get some pictures of the sky as it was getting darker, but the camera did not really capture much of a lighting change. Did any of you get to experience the full eclipse? If you would like to share your experience, that would be fantastic!

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Special delivery – goodies galore!

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We recently signed Trixie up for BarkBox and she received her first package last week. Of course, we had to video the unboxing to capture her surprise and delight, lol. Unfortunately, I don’t think my WP plan allows video uploads, but here are some photos pulled from the video. Apologies for the poor resolution.

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Is this for me?!?

We were very happy with the quality of the items in her box. There were 2 toys and 3 treats.

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All my favorites!

We got the first BarkBox free by using a coupon code from one of my favorite podcasts, Astronomy Cast. Thanks Fraser and Pamela!

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She can’t wait to dig in!

Hope you are having a wonderful summer (or winter)!

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Goodbye sweet Holly

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We said goodbye to one of Trixie’s housemates today – Holly. She was my baby for 18 years and thankfully was very healthy up until recently. Here she is in one of my favorite photos of her.

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She was a funny little character and sometimes I think she should have been the “star of the show.”

I miss her so and it feels as if there is a hole in my heart now.

Rest in peace, girl.

 

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The best gift – Trixie in 3D!

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So I came home from work today and my husband had a sweet, sweet surprise for me – he’d had a 3D Trixie stuffy custom made!! He worked with a company called Budsies and they did a Fantastic job! It arrived today and he video’d the unboxing. Apparently the Budsies folks like to see the reactions from their customers who are seeing their artwork come to life for the first time. I am still smiling hours later. This company did such great work  – all they had to go by was the one image Eric had sent them. There are some cool pics on their website of the work they’ve done and the happy recipients.

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I am so intrigued with this company, had never heard of them before today. In addition to creating custom plushies which resemble actual people and pets, much of what they do is turn the artwork of children into plush toys.

As an artist I love writing/drawing Trixie’s Tales, but my first love was sewing – everything about it, choosing fabrics, drafting patterns, creating beautiful dresses, draperies, and yes, even stuffed animals, over the years. I am thinking that working for Budsies must be some kind of a dream job. Imagine getting to take a very simple crayon drawing of a fantastical monster drawn by a wonder-filled child and creating a real toy from it. Then imagine the look on that child’s face when she sees her drawing come to life, to have for her very own. Just wow!

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After I’d come down from my smiling high, Eric shared the process with me. The whole thing took about 2-3 weeks. The Budsies team was in constant contact, informing him about what was happening during each stage of creation and shipping. I’m not quite sure how he was able to keep this a secret. He said he had a very hard time. He’s always been such a thoughtful gift giver – somehow knowing just the right thing. I told him that he may have reached the pinnacle…it sure will be hard to top this one!

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Trixie’s poison scare

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We are doing some home improvement projects this week, one of which required the use of spackling compound. After using up the remainder of the spackle from the container, we set it aside and ended up having to get a new tub to complete our project. We never thought twice about leaving the empty tub on the floor where the rest of our mess was waiting to be cleaned up.

Later in the evening, while taking a break, I heard the sound of one of the dogs licking something in the loft area just outside my studio door. Thinking it was our little elderly dog, Holly, who likes to lick her paws, I thought nothing of it. A couple minutes later I got up to leave the room and saw Trixie just lying there licking the inside surface of the spackle container. I ran over and grabbed it away from her. There was some dried spackle compound remaining in the container. We looked at the label and saw that it contains ethylene glycol. Then we proceeded to freak out.

We called the emergency pet care center here in town, who referred us to the animal poison hotline – ASPCA Animal Poison Control, to be specific. We called them and they were extremely helpful. After the rep took our information (dog breed, weight, amount of substance ingested, how long ago, etc), she put us on hold to presumably consult with colleagues or a database, and got back on the line with us. She gave us great news – because of the very low concentration of ethylene glycol in the compound, and Trixie’s weight and the small quantity we estimated that she ate, the rep reported that we should not have anything to worry about. Trixie might have some stomach irritation, if that. As it turned out, she never developed any noticeable signs of irritation.

Whew! Just never even thought a dog would go for that. A google search shows that it happens frequently. It was a hard way to learn a lesson – we will be much more mindful about this type of thing from now on!

 

 

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Garden, anyone?

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For any of you who enjoy the posts about gardening, I’ve started a new blog centered around the garden and home life. I’d mentioned splitting this off a while back and finally have done it. I still plan to post comics and dog-related things on the Trixie’s Tales site, although these may be a bit more sporadic now. This is the time of year when the garden and nursery start ramping up and taking over my entire life. Lucky for me, I really enjoy the outdoor work :)

Here is the new blog: The Woodland Gardener. I would love it if you might pay it a visit.