Our Beloved Dog - Chloe

Chloe is our dog and we are her servants. She is a bit peeved that it has taken so long to get her own blog posting. She is a diva dog. She came into our lives in May of 2004 when she was seven months old. She and her brother had been abandoned in a rural area in Northern Virginia.

Our intent, that Saturday when we went to the Animal Shelter, was just to look at dogs. We were living in an apartment at the time and wanted to wait until we had a house with a fenced yard.

When we finished with the front part of the shelter, Mary went to hunt down the ladies’ room. I have limited patience so I went ahead into the area where the dogs were kept. I started walking down the line of cages and I made it to the fourth one. And there she was, our dog – who was named Kisses.

Who would name a dog Kisses? Really? Can you see yourself calling out to your dog at the dog park “Here Kisses” or “Kisses stop that right now." Well not I.  I’m getting ahead of myself here. We had not even adopted her and I already wanted to change her name.

Kisses had her nose right up to the chain link and she looked up at me with an expression on her face of “What took you so long to find me?” I was a goner at that point. When Mary finally showed up, I informed her I had found our dog.

We took her into a side room where we had the opportunity to meet her. She was very hesitant and tried to hide under one of the chairs and her cute little butt stuck out because she was too big to fit under it.

The staff member told us her story. She and her brother had been sighted many times in a rural farming area. On their first attempt, they were able to capture him but not her. A few days later they got her and at this point she was close to becoming feral.

Poor baby. She was covered in fleas and ticks. She had to be washed and sprayed several times. The flea spray that was used was quite harsh and her skin became quite inflamed. She wasn’t made available to be shown to the public for several days. By then, her brother had been adopted.

The way it worked at this shelter was once you made your choice, your dog had to be spayed or neutered before going home. There were local veterinarians that did the procedure at their respective vet clinics. We patiently waited for the call to come pick her up.

She was so scared when we saw her. She was recovering from major surgery and then people she was not familiar with were calling her “Chloe.”  Before we left the clinic, we were given some information about her that we had not expected. When they shaved her in preparation for the surgery, they found a rope burn encircling her entire hip area. They also found a pocket of skin on her side that contained buck shot that had already healed over. Who in the hell would shoot a puppy? We will never know the circumstances as to why this happened.

Our plans were to keep her in a dog crate in the apartment. That thought lasted about an hour. We had stepped out of the apartment and when we returned, we found that Chloe had bent part of her crate in the process of breaking out. What to do now? Luckily there was a doggie day care center within minutes of our apartment! They were wonderful to her there and she loved spending her days with other dogs.

About six months later, we were planning a move from Virginia to Massachusetts. We wanted Chloe to see her brother one more time, if possible, before we left the area. We contacted the staff at the animal shelter, who were kind enough to send our contact information on to her brother’s new owners. They contacted us and we agreed that a playdate was in order.

We made the arrangements to meet at a baseball park near their home. Until the day I die, I will always have this memory in my mind: her brother was already running around the bases when we showed up. They made eye contact and Chloe ran towards him. They started running side by side around the park. They had such happy expressions on their faces. They remembered each other!

Years have gone by and Chloe will turn 14 in November. She has slowed down quite a bit and running is no longer an option for her. But, I will always remember the day that she ran freely with her brother. What a beautiful memory!

Until next time…

2017 Air Show at Barnes Air National Guard Base

This past weekend, Barnes Air National Guard Base held the Westfield International Air Show. I went and I had a blast. I grew up on three Air Force bases and had attended many air shows as a child and I knew that I would enjoy going to this one.

I originally planned to go with Mary, but it’s just not her thing. While I was on the Internet getting all the details for the air show, it was mentioned that there was only room for 12,000 cars. They recommended to get there earlier than later. I found out the lots opened at 6:30 a.m. and the gates to the base opened at 8:00 a.m.  So, I arrived at 6:10 a.m. and I read my latest Harry Bosch series book by Michael Connelly while waiting for the gates to open.

My goals were the following: find big planes; walk around in them; and watch the air show. 

The first plane was a C-5 Galaxy A – a cargo plane that on the upper level has 73 airplane-like seats, two bathrooms and a kitchen. Of course, when flying thousands of miles, that is the only way to travel, especially when hauling huge pieces of equipment that could roll over on you. The backside of the plane had a ramp to get equipment in. Me with my two knee replacements couldn’t make it up. I turned to a man next to me and asked for help, explaining to him about my knees. His wife immediately went to my other side and together they hauled me up. That was so nice of them! I then walked around and asked questions of the crew. That is how I found out about the upper-level passenger seating.

My next big plane was a KC-135 which supplies fuel to planes mid-air. I found out that the plane holds 31,000 gallons of fuel in its wings and belly. I can’t even image how long it takes to fill that up! Touring it required climbing a metal staircase, and, even with my knee replacements, I made it! At the rear of the plane was an area where a crew member would be at the controls to attach the refueling boom to the plane needing fuel. I also went up to the cockpit where I learned the plane has been in use since 1958. Over the years, the instrument panel has been upgraded to keep up with modern technology.

Now, coming down the metal stairs was much more complicated than going up. First, I’m afraid of heights, and second, going down stairs is much more difficult for me with the knee replacements. I need to go down one step at a time, turning my feet sideways. I explained this to the nice crew member and he volunteered to help me down. I accepted his offer.

The air show kept getting delayed due to heavy cloud cover, but finally cleared enough for the show to go on. There was a single engine prop that did loops and dives with smoke pluming out from the rear so you could see in detail what the plane was doing. The fighter jets flew past at a low level like 100 feet so we could get a good look at them. They then pulled up and flew into the sky. Watching that was quite breath taking. My favorite moment was when the C-17, which is a large cargo and troop transport, flew low and circled the airfield several times so we could get a good look at it. For its size, it had a lot of mobility and made sharp turns with ease.

After an hour and a half, I thought the show was over and I started walking back to my car. I heard a lot of oooo’s and ahhhh’s as I was walking. I looked up and there were parachute jumpers coming down to land. Had I stayed in my original spot, they would have landed right in front of me. Drats!

I spent seven hours at the air show and was never bored. There were all sorts of planes sitting on the runway (static displays) that you could look at. Plus, all types of vendors. For food, I had a funnel cake with lots of powdered sugar and a lemonade drink with a whole lemon cut up in it. Not very nutritious, but all part of the day’s fun.

It has been seven years since Barnes held their last air show and I hope that the next one is much sooner than that. I made so many memories that will last for years to come.

Until next time…