Chris and Jody Are Asking for Your Help

Abbi on the day that we found her.
Abbi getting comfortable in the house - turns out she is crazy for laundry baskets! We have given her her own where she spends many hours either snoozing or watching the household around her.
Happy Abbi.
Post-op Abbi (hence the "Cone of Shame"). On this record-setting cold October night we're thankful to have found Abbi, and that she is curled up in front of a warm fire, recovering from life-saving surgery.

Dear Friends,

This post is dedicated to our foster dog, Abbi. We found Abbi two weeks ago, running around downtown in morning rush hour traffic. She gave us quite a chase, and we are very thankful that many morning commuters patiently stopped their vehicles out of concern during our frantic pursuit of this small, frightened dog. When we caught her and got her home we discovered that she had no collar, tags, or microchip. We also discovered that Abbi was much older than her elusive chase through downtown Baltimore would have led us to believe. We could tell that Abbi was a good-natured dog who had a lot of love to give, and some really great years still ahead of her. We feared taking Abbi to a local animal shelter because of her age; older dogs don't get adopted as quickly as cute puppies, and they are usually euthanized. We contacted Recycled Love, a Baltimore rescue group (http://www.recycledlove.org/), and they agreed to admit her into their adoption program if Chris and I agreed to foster her. Deal.

Being a Recycled Love dog also entitled Abbi to discounted vet services and boy did she need them. Abbi had fleas, a bad ear infection in both ears, was missing many of her teeth, had an entirely rotten molar that was exposed down to the root, a mammary tumor, and had never been spayed. Her perky demeanor and loving nature never betrayed how much pain she likely experienced on a daily basis. Her condition was most likely a result of an owner who did not seek or could not afford medical care for Abbi. Despite the daunting expense of Abbi's necessary medical treatment, Recycled Love elected to move forward. As a result, Abbi had a big day of surgery this week with a tooth extraction, tumor removal, and spay. The vet found that her uterus was very unhealthy, and that she had a condition called pyometra, which can be fatal if left untreated. Her tumor and the pyometra are both the result of having never been spayed.

Abbi is home with us now, and despite not being happy about wearing an e-collar, is perkily recovering from surgery. Once she is healed Abbi can start meeting families, and will eventually go to a new forever home. However, Abbi's vet bills are significant. In addition to fostering and covering Abbi's day-to-day costs, we have made our own gift to Recycled Love; yet, they are ultimately responsible for her vet bills. Groups like Recycled Love are never able to cover their operating costs with adoption fees, so they must rely on the gifts of generous friends to support their work.

Because we are grateful for their help in getting Abbi critical medical treatment and for the great work they do for animals in Baltimore City, we have committed to raise $500 which will cover most of Abbi's vet bills (Swan Harbor Vet Hospital deeply discounts their rates for Recycled Love). I am hoping that our friends and family will help us with this endeavor. We are aware that most of you already give generously of your time and money to a variety of worthy causes, and we are asking will you join us in supporting Recycled Love by making a gift to help cover the cost of Abbi's care? Many gifts of $10 or $25 will add up and make a huge difference to Recycled Love - they have already made a difference for Abbi. Larger gifts are of course welcome. ;) Your gift is tax deductible, and Recycled Love will send you a thank you letter and receipt for your taxes. Checks should be made out to Recycled Love, and can be sent to our home address.

Please consider making a gift. Abbi is a wonderful dog who will bring love and joy to her forever family; she deserves an opportunity to be healthy, and to have a second chance at life.

Thank you for reading, and we hope to hear from you soon. Please check the blog often for photos and updates on Abbi.

best,

Jody and Chris

PS - Please share Abbi's story with any of your friends who care about the welfare of animals, or who might be considering end-of-year tax-deductible donations.

Happy 8th Birthday Caele!

Fabulous birthday treats from Doggie Style. Yes, that is the name of a real store located right here in Federal Hill.
Caele sports her new game day look.

Mmm. Frosty Paws.

Caele turned 8 years old on October 1. I am having a hard time believing that my little girl is 8 years old now. She wears it well. Poor girl though - instead of getting a cake and frosty paws for her birthday she got us dragging home a stray old dog. Not the birthday present she had been hoping for (she's been asking for a Ravens jersey all year long). Tonite we finally celebrated Caele's birthday as well as Jack's. Jack's birthday is July 4, and was completely lost in the hustle of our move and renovation. We celebrated tonite by having our friends Matt and Heather over for dinner, then some special doggie biscuits and ice cream (BTW - special shout-out to Matt - congrats on 26.2 yesterday!). Caele also got an antler (which both doggies chew on non-stop) and that Ravens jersey she's been begging for (Jacks got one, too).

On a final note, many of you know that we have an extra friend living with us right now. Abbi Bock is our foster doggie, and she is fabulous. This week is a big week for Abbi as she will have some final medical tests, and some long-overdue medical care. I'll be posting more information on little Abbi Bock soon . . . stay tuned.

Dog Swim 09

Caele is a good swimmer, but she is a better treat hound. She likes to cozy up to folks with treats in their pockets, and show them her doe eyes. It works on us, right?
Waiting for dad to throw the ball. You can also see the heiny of another dog that adopted our toys.
Caele is still a fish even as she approaches her 8th birthday. I love watching her run and jump into the water.
Jacks always forgets how to swim, so when he first gets in the water he doesn't move his hind legs and really pumps his front legs. This is him after he got the hang of it again.
Jacks and his pops.
Caele Armstrong enjoying a mild fall day at the pool.

What a busy weekend for the dogs! Their social calendar has been booked solid. Today was the annual dog swim at the pool at the gym. On the last day that the pool is open for the summer they reserve the last two hours of swim time for four-legged friends. It is always a lot of fun, and this year was no exception.

We Heart City Life

Jody, Jacks and Caele with Rec and Parks friends Mary Sue (Partnerships Director) and Ms. Wanda Durden (Director of BCRP).

We love this log. Jacks loves to jump over it.
Caele is on top of the log- she's the king of the world.
CDW and the kiddos.
Fantastic shot of C-Monkey.
This tree is right in the middle of the dog park - we think it is so cool. We found out that it came from Druid Hill Park, which is where BCRP main headquarters are located - and where my office was this summer.
This is the water channel in the park. When you push the button water comes out and flows through the channel which weaves across one side of the park. The dogs think this is very cool.

This weekend is off to an awesome start. This morning we finally checked out the new farmer's market at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. We picked up all kinds of goodies like Japanese pears, smoked salmon with candied ginger, fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, Dangerously Delicious Peach Pie . . . and we topped it all off with a freshly made crepe.

After the farmer's market we headed down to Locust Point for the grand opening of the Locust Point Dog Park. This has been a long time in the making - until today we've had to drive all the way to Canton (on the other side of the harbor) to the only dog park in the city. Locust Point is just one neighborhood over from us down here in SoBo (South Baltimore).

Caele says that the new dog park is "da bomb." Mayor Dixon was at the opening to say a few words, and we ran into some of my old friends from Baltimore City Rec and Parks - Rec and Parks was instrumental in making the LPDP happen. Caele wasted no time snuggling up to the Mayor's Press Director - he was quite enchanted with her. Caele and Jacks had the best time meeting lots of other doggies, and checking out their new fave hangout.

And finally we want to send a shout out to the Sullivans who added to their family last night. The Sullivans adopted a stray pooch that was found by the side of the road in Essex. We think he's about a year old, and a beagle/basset hound mix. This little guy is so cute - and though shy at first seemed right at home with his new family and new digs by the end of last night. He also had his first play date with Jackson last night. Congratulations to the Sullivans on their new addition and for giving a homeless pet a home, and to their little guy for going from roadside homeless to Federal Hill Yuppie Puppy.

The Good Times Keep Comin'

Lucy.
Spritle.

We had some other great things happen while we were in Tennessee this weekend - all of our foster kittens and cat got adopted! Our good friend Heather was kind enough to shuttle them to an adoption fair on Saturday. By 5PM everyone had found their new forever home! It must have been that pep talk we gave them Friday morning at 4A. We heard that Sophie (mama kitty) was adopted along with Spritle.

Thanks to Heather for all of her help and support with this litter, and to the Feline Rescue Association (FRA) for fielding my frantic emails and advising me on absolutely every aspect of handling kittens. The FRA is a fantastic organization dedicated to saving cats in the Baltimore metro area. If you're looking for a new charity to support you can rest assured that every dollar you give to the FRA does lots of good for homeless kitties in this city. Check out their website at: http://www.thecatrescue.org/

A Visit to the Volunteer State

This was an action-packed weekend for us. At 4:30 AM Friday morning we hopped in the car and set the GPS for Knoxville TN. The next 8 hours involved a lot of driving for CDW, and a lot of napping for me. Check out this very cool marquis in downtown Knoxville.

I digress when I eat apples. Anyhow we were visiting UT-Knoxville for the UCLA UT football game. Every year CDW and some of his Bruin Alum friends take a trip to support UCLA football. This year I got to go.

Our arrival Friday afternoon was followed by a very unhealthy lunch. It involved many fried and cheesy things, and some things smothered in BBQ sauce. They also put pork on a lot of stuff here without telling you - beware to my fellow non-pork eaters.

Saturday morning the tailgating started early. Someone had a connection with some locals, so we were invited to a fabulous tailgate right on the river. This tailgate was off the hook - we had the fanciest Bloody Mary's ever - our host grows his own tomatoes, and makes his own Bloody Mary mix. Each year has different flavor nuances. I preferred the 2003 vintage. Delish. Above check out our Bloody Mary host, Rich, and CDW.
CDW and Rich at the stadium. We tried to leave our tailgate in time to see the team come into the stadium. We heard that this was a big deal. I guess we enjoyed our drinks a little too much, because we missed the team. We did make it in time for something with the band called "Fever Pitch." I still don't know what that means. I hope it's not some dirty thing a local told me to play a joke.
The crowd during the so-called "Fever Pitch."
The stadium crowd looks out over "Fever Pitch."
Neyland Stadium offers beautiful views on the river side. CDW, Michelle and Rich pictured here.
JS and CDW.
JS and CDW in the stadium. There was a lot of orange in there! The attendance was a little over 102K. We think that there might have been 1K UCLA fans. We were the tiniest sliver of blue in a sea of orange.
The band at UT is called something like "The Pride of the Southland Band." I am fascinated by college marching bands mostly because my college (not naming names here) only had the stinkin' Pep Band while I was there. They finally got a real band a few years after I left. Anyway, UT's band did some very cool stuff. See above it says VOLS - you have to read it upside down.
This is a big T. I'll bet it's for Tennessee.
This says USA. Sarah Palin would be proud of these Americans.
This is the final score. Sad day for the Volunteers and their Rocky Top.
Happy day for Bruins fans who travelled from all over the country to support their team!
These are the UCLA flags.
Can you see the doggie in this picture? He's pretty small because we were high up. The doggie's name is Smokey, and he is UT's mascot. He's a Blue Tick Coonhound. I think Smokey is awful cute. I caught him rolling around on his back in disgust a few times when Tennessee was blowing their fourth downs.
These are out of order - this is the UT team as they came out of the locker room before the game. Very exciting. The entire stadium shook.

I was sad that Peyton Manning wasn't on a recruiting visit to TN - that is the only possible improvement I can suggest for my future trips to Tennessee. But we had a pretty good time anyway.

Lettin' Em Know That You're Money

What do you bring to a bachelorette party in Las Vegas? Banana bread!! Seriously. Jess and I both made banana bread for the party which we discovered at the airport when we were both offering the travel-weary a post-flight snack ("Oh really, you're hungry? I just so happen to have a freshly-baked loaf of banana bread here in my purse if you would like a slice . . . ")
Sara, Jess and Mickey at the pool.
Jehan, Sara, Anne, and Veronica on our day bed next to the pool. We scored it for F-R-E-E. Awesome.
Girls at dinner at Pink Taco.
Sundays at the Pool at Hard Rock. Rehab. There are no words.
The bride-to-be.

My 2-week break in August was jam-packed. There wasn't much downtime between our litter of foster kittens, mom's visit, and my trip to Las Vegas for my cousin Jessica's bachelorette party. Admittedly Vegas is not my place. I prefer a book and a glass of wine at home to loud clubs and $20 martinis - but hey, I had fun anyway! I got to spend time with 2 of my cousins, and as it turns out the bride's friends were also really great girls. Viva Las Vegas!