Giant Schnauzers

It's A Small Small World!

2008-11-24T23:32:15-07:00

A few weeks ago a male giant schnauzer was scheduled to be euthanized through no fault of his own. He had been dumped in the nearest pound in Northwest Indiana and had been there for some time. Being an older big black dog, no one had offered him a new chance at life. Through the efforts of many people, Valley of the Sun Giant Schnauzer Rescue was able to get him sprung. A volunteer drove from the Chicago area to the shelter and got him out on his 8th birthday! What a gift that was. She drove him to the near northside of Chicago to his foster home. His fosters frequently took him and his foster four legged giant schnauzer sister to the park for walks.

My youngest brother lives in Chicago which is the third largest city in the US and has 9 1/2 million people. I add that for emphasis to how small this world of ours really is. My brother runs on the weekends to keep in training for marathons that he sometimes runs. He was on a five mile run a few weekends ago and as he neared the half-way point in his run, a large black dog barked at him. He wondered if it might be a giant schnauzer but didn't check to find out. He turned to head back home and by now the big black dog and his human were directly in his path. So he stopped to chat and ask if this dog was indeed a giant schnauzer. The human replied that is was. My brother told the human that his sister does giant schnauzer rescue in Phonenix, AZ. The human of the big black dog asked if her name was Julie. A slightly stunned brother replied that it was and then learned that the big black dog that had barked at him was Ceasar that he already knew about from my emails. He met Ceasar and then proceeded on his way home. But he did stop to send an email that said, "I just met Ceasar!"

Ceasar will shortly travel across the country to his new home with another giant and loving family.

It is indeed a very small world! This is Ceasar after his grooming today. He is gorgeous!

A Late Happy Birthday to the USMC!

2008-11-15T08:42:35-07:00

The Few. The Proud. The Marines.

Happy 233nd Birthday to the United States Marine Corps!

Catching Up

2008-11-13T09:33:16-07:00

Life has been crazy around here for awhile. With the cooler weather here in the desert Southwest, gardening can start again in earnest. We now have the most expensive home grown, well almost home grown, veggies around here. Why are they expensive? It has taken me 2.5 years to figure out how to fend off the antelope squirrels, rabbits and giant schnauzers! The latter being the most difficult. Schnauzer farmers are determined to get to the final product if they are anything. They leave things alone until they get that wiff of ripeness. So now most things are grown in pots behind a fence, at least for the time being.

So they are getting ready to eat, and I have my fingers crossed. The tomatoes are very prolific.

There are even red peppers forming which is a first for me. Never have been able to get them to grow before.

Burpless cucumbers are actually forming in the cool weather and getting close to being ready to eat.

I have learned that one reason hot peppers are used to season food in the Southwest is because hot peppers are basically weeds out here. They grow almost any place the seed lands. And birds carry the seeds everywhere. They come up in other pots, in between pots, and everywhere that I don't want them. But they are colorful.

The hummers are back in full force....

The sun rises

And the sunsets are incredible!

The giants and one mini are pretty durn cute also.

Roger (above) is only six times bigger than T-Bone the mini!

My grandson and his mini are pretty high on the cuteness scale also. He taught her to jump and now she can jump on the chairs and right on up to the table. She jumps on the couch and takes great delight at jumping on my daughter while she is doing her crunches on the floor below her.

And minis love to get muddy just as their distant cousins the giants do.