Dogs; Good for What Ails You

How Dogs are Replacing Drugs in the Treatment of PTSD

Skye Demands a Recount!

Top 5 Dog Breeds that Can Land You a Date

For Men:

#5 French Bulldog

These pups are strong and muscular, and they make excellent companions. No wonder they make men more appealing in women's eyes.

You must be kidding me; but then again it's women who are doing the choosing here.




#4: Siberian Huskies

Their striking blue eyes and outgoing personalities make these animals -- and their owners -- a draw for many women.

Now we're talking.  Frankly, I'm sure that the only reason they're not #1 is the shedding thing, and since women do most of the cleaning...

#3: Labrador Retrievers:

It seems that both sexes are turned on by people who own these playful pups!

I know, I know, lots of people like 'em, but I find them a little mundane.  Joel likes 'em though, and they get almost as much attention on the beach as Skye.

#2:  Golden Retrievers

The kind, loyal golden is another animal that has cross-gender appeal.

Meh, a slightly hairier version of a Golden Lab with less personality.  Good for someone who's naturally depressed though, the Golden Retriever has enough high spirits for two or three.  Not the sharpest knives in the drawer though.

 #1: German Shepherds

Topping the list of dogs that attract women are these iconic police dogs, which are fearless and protective by nature. No surprise there!

OK, I suppose, if you can't handle a Siberian.  Still, they have a reputation for being a bit nippy.




As for what dogs help women get dates?  Who cares....

But any way, here's the list:

#5: Beagles - At least a girl with a beagle might let you take it hunting.
#4: Poodles? - Actually, Standard (large) Poodles are a pretty neat dog, and no shedding...
#3: Chihuahua - All the skanks seem to keep one around, so if your looking for someone easy...
#2: Labrador Retriever - I hear the women who keep Labs aren't quite as easy as the ones who own Chihuahuas...
#1: Golden Retriever - Everybody loves the dumb blonde...

Last July Beach Report, 2012

Only one beach report this weekend; with Alex and Kelly staying yesterday morning on their way back from the Left Coast, we didn't get ready until it was way too hot and muggy.

It was a pretty nice morning; a bit of a front last night left us a lot cooler (in the high 70s) and less humid, with a decent NE breeze.  The breeze set up a nice "wave" over the cliffs, and the Ospreys and Eagles were out taking advantage of it.




A young Eagle, in a sort of mottled plumage.  It was all up and down the cliffs all morning  I wasted a lot of pixels trying to get a decent picture of this bird.  This one isn't great, and I stepped all over the brightness and contrast to bring out the pattern.  He might be this years fledgeling.

A family preparing for a jaunt out in their little inflatable boat, equipped with an electric trolling motor.

 And out on the bay.

A woman hunting fossils with a and held strainer.  It looked like it should be a good day, with lots of shell hash exposed, but Georgia and I found very few.

I did find this fossil fish vertebra though, which is pretty rare, so it wasn't a total wash.

Skye was feeling pretty energetic, after a day off from competing with a smaller and more energetic bitch...

 She even managed a run now and then.

An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly in flight.












The probability of Sea Nettles is still 100%.












A Great Blue Heron trying to find a bid to eat on a beach full of people.  Feeling squeezed between us and the oncoming walkers, it flew away a few seconds after this.









By the time we were done with the walk, the beach was starting to get busy.

Hendrix Goes Wild

Yesterday, Georgia had a dentist appointment in the morning, so rather than drive two cars to work, Georgia stayed home after the appointment, and tele-worked.  When I came home at 5:30, I expected to be attacked by both dogs, Skye (our aging Siberian Husky) and Hendrix, (our son's Mutt, who is staying with us while they represent the East Coast of the clan at the reunion in Pismo Beach).  Georgia was diligently working on data analysis on the kitchen table.

Skye ambled out and said hi, but Hendrix was nowhere to be found.  We scoured the house, we went outside and checked the fenced yard, and walked the immediate neighborhood calling.  No dog...

We still haven't quite figured out how she got out of the fenced yard, but we have a couple of theories, that we likely will not test. 

We went into full panic mode, and started combing the neighborhood in our cars, asking if anyone had seen a small black and brown dog.  Georgia got one "hit" about 3/4 of a mile up the road, and we both searched the area thoroughly, to no avail.  We called off the search at dark.

Georgia reluctantly called Alex, to get the details of what were on her tags, so we could tell the Animal Shelter if they found her.  He and Kelly were both concerned but utterly unable to do anything from the distance. 

We got up at first light, and started the hunt again.  Georgia got a second "hit" somewhere near the previous one, and as I was leaving to meet the carpool, a woman pulled up and reported she had just seen the dog (we were pretty sure by then) on the same road but closer to home, so back she went, while I went to meet the carpool.

About a half hour later Georgia called to report that she had tracked Hendrix down, only a block from home, sitting in the weeds, wet from the nights dew, and with some new burrs stuck in her coat.  She seems none the worse for her night out on the big town of Long Beach (MD), although a little less bouncy than normal.  But that's probably for the best, as she'll be under house arrest for the remainder of her stay.

A One-Off Beach Report

The first and only beach report for this weekend.  Yesterday was a full day.  Rainy and cool, we had to drive Alex and Kelly to the airport to catch a flight to LAX to represent the East Coast side of the family at the annual reunion in Pismo Beach, Calif.  They also dropped off their dog, Hendrix, for a stay with us.

After dropping them off at BWI, we did some other errands, including taking my mid 70s J-45 Gibson guitar to a luthier (not a necessarily a Lutheran), to have it examined and possibly repaired.  Alex insists it needs to have it's neck reset.  By the time we got home in the afternoon, it was still raining, and a beach walk just didn't better than a nap.

So this morning, we bundled the dogs into the SUV, and headed off.  It's still cloudy, and the weather is quite tolerable.  Above, Georgia tries to wrestle with Hendrix, who thinks it's completely unfair for Skye to be off leash while she's stuck.  But it's for the best; on her own Hendrix will swallow enough bay water to get a bad case of diarrhea.

We saw the usual assortment of Ospreys and Eagles (I saw an Eagle being harassed by some small birds when it soared past "their" tree).  No photos though, but I did get the Mourning Dove above, sitting in a tree hanging over the beach, and the Great Blue Heron fishing along the shore.

Probability of encountering a Sea Nettle?  Still 100%.

Something a little odd, at least here.  A group of Canada Geese, probably expatriates, since any sensible goose has gone back to Canada by July.  Of course, in Maryland we have lots of geese that stay, so called resident or "golf course" geese who decline the annual trip to the Motherland.  I've never seen them around here, though.

Some fishing going on around the mouth of the harbor.  I didn't see any fish coming up, though.

Have I Told You It's Hot at the Beach?

Well it is.  84 F (and extremely sticky) here at 8 AM.  No breeze at all.

The couple in the water had biked 60 miles down from the north last night, and camped on the beach over night.  More power to them.  When we came back up the beach, they had cleaned up their camp completely and were on their way back.

Time to get a little sun before it gets completely miserable. 

We've met Theresa and Roy plenty of times before.  They're serious shark's teeth hunters, using scoops and wading out where the big ones lay.  They usually have a pretty nice collection when we see them and today was no exception.  Theresa said she found a big Megalodon a couple of weeks ago.

A pretty good handful of big Snaggletooth and medium Mako teeth, not to mention a whole baggie full of small teeth.

 Have I told you it's hot here?

Probability of Sea Nettles still 100%.  They were so abundant today that you had to be pretty careful walking in the water.  I got one little sting.

Sweating at the Beach, 7/7/12

Another hot, muggy day, well into the lower 80 F when we left for the beach at 7:40 AM, and up to 89 F by the end of our walk.  It was also pretty close to breeze-less so there wasn't even much relief there.

But the Ospreys and their young have to eat even on the hot days, and since they have to mostly supply the eagles too, they don't get a break from the heat. Notice the fish in it's grip.  We also had a bunch of dragonflies again, but not as many as on July 4.

We had the beach pretty much to ourselves. Only a few people were out to enjoy what was likely the best weather of the day.  I might have to visit later today just to see if it gets more use later.

Bait fish, probably Menhaden, schooling in the shallow waters.  No sign that anything was chasing them,

The shallows were busy today, lots of small crabs and small fish scurried away when we walked through.

Blackberries, some ripe, growing amongst the other vines on the cliffs.

OK, that's enough, can we go home to the air conditioning now?

Baby, It's Hot Outside...

Another 90+ F day.  Still and muggy, too.  We met Joel around 8 AM, but even by then the heat was getting obnoxious.  Still, we managed the usual distance.

Joel was among the lucky who got their power back within one day.

 Sea Nettle probability still 100%.

 Red trying to beat the heat.

Oh, mom, it's just so hot!

Another Morning After

As you may know, if you have power, the mid-Atlantic states including Maryland and Washington DC were hit by powerful thunderstorms last night.  Winds of up to 80 mph were reported, there was widespread damage, at least four deaths, and a millions of people without electric power this morning. 

My own experience was that at about 11:00 PM, I walked Skye.  The night was hot and muggy, but air was totally still, but we could hear and see lightening in the distance.

Within 5 minutes, the winds went from zero to astonishing.  You can see it in the wind data from Cove Point (just down the beach a few miles).  Sustained winds on the water jumped from about 10 to 35 knots sustained, with 55 knot gusts. 

 It was a very impressive thunderstorm, with lots of lightening, but I didn't see or hear any very close.  We also received about a half inch of much needed rain.

Things are much calmer this morning.  On our way to and from the beach we saw lots of downed twigs, and a few major branches, but no trees down on houses.  As of now, SMECO reports approximately 5,000 homes out of power.  We are among the fortunate to have it.  Joel isn't.  But we met him anyway at 8:00 AM, in an effort to beat the heat.

 We were pretty successful; we managed the usual walk, north about 1.5 miles, and back, and only got a little sweat in the old eyeballs...

As post storm days usually are, it was gorgeously clear, and a bit breezy, enough to offset the gathering heat.  It was already 92 F at 9:30 AM this morning.

The dogs found this male Box Turtle being washed around by the surf.  Since Boxers aren't aquatic, I suspect he got washed into the Bay in a gully washer last night, and was trying to figure his way out.  After taking his picture, I put him back up by the Kudzu.  Now it's all up to him.

Joel found this nice Mako Shark's tooth literally in my footsteps; I must have been concentrating on something else.

I found this large Snaggletooth lower tooth a few minutes later.

Welp, the Sea Nettle probability is 100%, and I didn't even need a million dollar oceanographic buoy to tell you that.  All I had to do was look at the beach.