First Camping Trip

Dinner and cocktail hour by the campfire.




Chasing sticks into the water and learning to swim.












Teaching Ella to chew sticks...











Helping Rhonda hang the solar shower.

Can You Dig It?

Calli is now entertaining herself by digging a hole in the dirt. She digs, then runs in circles, plops down in the hole she has dug, gets up,spins around in the hole and then digs some more!

Couch Potato or Little Spud?

Calli has had a rough couple of weeks with her Megaesophagus condition. She has had a difficult time keeping anything down, even after sitting in her chair for 30 minutes at a time. She has had very little energy, and was clearly burning more calories than she was taking in. After a trip to our wonderful veterinarian, Tina, a prescription for Metoclopramide and trying a new dog food, Calli has, in the past week, turned a corner. She is now eating Halo puppy food which I soak in water and mix with AD Science Diet, canned, wet food. I am also adding Show Stopper a high calorie all-in-0ne coat and body optimizer. She's eating threes times a day and she is able to keep almost everything down with virtually no regurgitation. She is gaining weight and is behaving like a "normal," healthy, nine month old puppy. She runs and hurtles, dodging trees, leaping over logs, bounding through Mountain Laural and wading through mountain streams. She loves dunking her nose down underwater, pulling up wet leaves, tossing them into the air with a shake of her head. She is absolutely a show stopper and she wears her halo, although often askew, with delight.

Calli and her new boyfriend, Deputy

East Ridge Trail, Lost River State Park

Best Friends, Calli and Ella

A Hike in Lost River State Park.

It was a beautiful day in West Virginia and Calli and I had a wonderful hike in the Lost River State Park. When we are hiking and I am able to watch Calli carefully, I allow her to be "muzzle free." At the top of "Razor Ridge," I caught her with something orange in her mouth. I thought it was an orange peel that someone had left behind, but when I took it from her, I discovered it was an orange "Leukemia" bracelet inscribed with "Faith, Hope, Courage, Love." On the ground next to her was a green "Blood Disorder" bracelet. The bracelets where mine! I had been wearing them since last August, when my father was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. I had no idea where I had lost the bracelets, back in January. Calli found them on top of the Razor Ridge Trail! What an awesome pup!

Look How Big I'm Getting!

Calli continues to grow, getting stronger and healthier, everyday. She loves running in the woods, munching on rabbit and deer poop. As a matter of fact, everything goes into her mouth. Since non- food things should not be swallowed and enter her esophagus because it will then be regurgitated (risking aspiration), she now wears a basket muzzle. The muzzles keeps her from eating most things, but she has learned to use it as a shovel and it ends up caked with mud, dried leaves and wood chips. She has to be closing supervised while wearing the muzzle/shovel, so that it can be removed and cleaned regularly. She is pretty well adjusted and now she is relatively safe as she explores all the sights, smells (and tastes) of the West Virginia mountains!

Spring Fever on the Mountain

Call of the wild....


"Nanny, nanny, boo, boo!"



"Catch me if you can!"



A Zen moment

Lovin' the Snow

My New Shades

Calli has two pale blue eyes and she seems to have trouble seeing in the bright sunlight. We're trying these "doggles," but she's not sure she wants to wear them. We'll see how it goes.

Crews Lake Park

Sleepy Dogs

A Hike in Starkey Wildlife Area

Calli had her first encounter with this armadillo. She sat at the end of her leash and watched curiously, as the armored mammal pawed and stuck its nose into the sandy dirt.

Treeing a squirrel

Calli is finally starting to feel "at home" in the dog park, where we go nearly everyday. She has been shy and reserved and very clingy, but today, for the first time, she began to wonder off on her own and even chased and pounced on a few doggy friends. She also made friends with Mason, a three year old boy who loved throwing the ball for her. Normally, she doesn't want to "give up" the toy she has retrieved, but today, she gave it up willingly, for Mason. She even sprawled in front of him, watching him carefully as she waited for him to toss the ball a few yards for her to "fetch." A little later, Mason was knocked to the ground by a small "pack" of romping dogs. As his mother scooped up the crying three year old, I noticed Calli running to them from the other side of the park where she had been busy "treeing" a squirrel. Once she could see that her new friend was okay, she went back to exploring the park. She's such a great dog.

We have good and bad days with Calli's Megaesophagus. Whenever I begin to feel as if we have found a routine that works, suddenly it doesn't work and I'm left scratching my head. There seems to be no rhyme nor reason to the regurge, a difficult reality for someone like me, who wishes to have some control.

Calli's New Friend, Aspen

Proof-reading My Blog

First Trip to the Beach

"The beach is so relaxing."

"That dead fish didn't taste very good!"

Hmmm, chase the bird or guard the Frisbee?