Bacon's Boots Blog: 2012

Felix at Seven Months

He spent a whole week with his grandparents.
He can crawl.
He went to Wild Lights.
Likes Cheerios.
Went swimming for the first time.
Has still never worn pants.
Went to Great Wolf Lodge for Thanksgiving.
Went to ZooLights.
Met Santa (and told him he wants a box for Christmas).
Attended the Enumclaw Christmas Parade.
Sleeps in his own room.
Went to the Enumclaw Public Library Grand Opening.
Has not one but TWO teeth coming in. On the bottom in the middle.
Likes to pat Cousin Chance's head.

What Visiting An Animal Sanctuary Can Do

Ben and I recently had the opportunity to visit our friends in Lompoc, CA who run a non-profit (shadowsfund.org) animal sanctuary for pit bulls senior dogs, horses, pigs and one sheep that thinks it's a horse. I came home changed. A lot, or maybe just a little. Maybe it will wear off. Maybe I'll forget the experience and the impact it had on my whole outlook. But maybe not.

What Visiting An Animal Sanctuary Can Do...

Reminds you that all life has value. Ben saved a family of baby mice. He looked down and saw them wiggling in the grass, all exposed and tiny. We packed a bucket full of hay and put a tarp over it in hopes that they would survive until mom returned. I hugged a five-hundred pound pig. When we came home, I set a giant spider free outside instead of stomping.

This is Hamlet. I love him.

Makes you want to change the world. You see all the daily tasks it takes to create a safe environment for so many lives - walks, food, cleaning. love, volunteers, finances, donors, events, awareness to mention a few - and it makes you want to do something, anything. Even if it's just stitching together a few blankets for the dogs you now love and miss. Or making time to walk pups at a local shelter. Or simply giving money to those people changing the world.

Shows you the uninterrupted joy a soul can have. There is dog at the ranch who is paralyzed from the waist down. She is the happiest dog I've ever met. All she wants is someone to get her toy. You wouldn't ever know she couldn't fully walk for the joy she has scooting around on her front legs. You try telling her she can't keep up. Give her a cart and she'll take on the world, not to mention the other dogs in the house.

Recalls to mind the love you have for your own animal. The dogs that are lucky enough to find themselves at the ranch are the sweetest, most animated animals. They bound around with energy rivaling the Grand Coulee Dam. They hunker down on the couch and just want their belly's rubbed. They love to sniff out deer and quail. They are determined and smart and beautiful. We came home to our one dog after seeing their 30 and just cuddled him for hours. Indy is such a good dog. He is a handful of energy and giant ears. He has a personality all his own. He lets us know when Felix needs our attention. He herds him when he rolls off his blanket. He has simple needs and loves us unconditionally. We love him so.

Makes you want to conserve things. Even more than you did before. Turn off lights, use less water, cloth instead of paper towels. Walk instead of drive when you can.

Shows you how horrible people are. I had a hard time listening to the stories of some of the dogs. I was shocked and appalled by what some humans are capable of. One dog named Honey was a bait dog in a fighting ring. She'd had her paws taped together and her mouth taped shut in a ring to get the other dogs hyped up. I can't begin to tell you how angry and just at a loss for words that makes me. She was the sweetest, and (duh) most nervous thing. All she wanted was pets. She made me cry. She made me remember that people suck. They are horrible and should have their fingernails pulled off with pliers and fed to them in shards. Or at least have to listen to the Small World song on repeat for days.

This is Honey.

Shows you how wonderful people are. Cody and Jill were meant to be the animal saviors they have grown to be. They are the ones that restore my faith in humanity. They remind me that, as long as there are are horrible people out there screwing things up, there will be the gentle, humble, only-in-it-for-the-tail-wags, life-affirming custodians there to clean up the mess.

Cody, Jill and the pups.

It was hard to leave. That's for sure. I fell in love with dogs (and a pig). Ben fell in love with dogs. We fell in love with the ranch and what it stands for, how it is changing the world, dog by dog. It was a trip infinitely worth taking and one we hope to take again.

Felix and Gilmore Girls

Ben distracted him and I pushed play.

Felix at Six Months

He has been taught to stick his tongue out.

Has been herded by Indy.

Can put his bink in his mouth by himself.

Loves avocados.

Was Bambam for Halloween.

Still has the longest eyelashes.

Has still never worn pants.

He will stop everything he is doing, including sleeping, to watch the opening sequence of Gilmore Girls.

Army crawls.

Had his first cold.

He likes to blow bubbles.

Is a ninja roller. We just hear the clattering of blinds or the squeak of his gums on the couch to know he's rolled off his mat.

Has baby stubble growing on his bald spot.

Sabs First Pumpkin Patch!

I have a Sabs. She is from Spain. They don't have pumpkin patches in Spain. Or if they do, she didn't know about them. So we took her to one.

It was quite a different day than the first time we went this year. It was blustery and there were a million people there this time!

Of course, these were the only three people there that mattered.

Well, four, if you could the baby in that belly.

Sabs looks for a pumpkin. She has very specific pumpkining needs.

Yay! She found one! She chose very cute, perfect pumpkins.

I wanted to see if the cinderella pumpkins yielded better or worse seed amounts than other pumpkins. It's worse, if you were wondering. They taste great but it's like a third of the seeds from the jack-o-lantern ones.

Pumpkin smiles!

I do love pumpkins.

Felix at Five Months

Sucks his toes.
Rolls in all directions, usually towards the fireplace.
Went to the Puyallup Fair.
Says "Dada" a lot.
Visited the pumpkin patch.
Sounds like an angry cat/dinosaur.
Met Great Aunt Pam and Great Uncle Walt.
Has still never worn pants.
Has eaten sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, rice cereal, pears, apples and prunes.
Sleeps with his butt in the air.
Likes (to chew) the bumbo.
Loves being tossed in the air by his daddy.

oh yeah, I got this.

monkeys and feet

sweet potatoes

Rocking the fair

Pumpkin Patch!

One sunny fall day, my boots and I went to the pumpkin patch. We had tiny boots coming along, too!

Felix got galoshes and his little fat feet were almost big enough to keep them on!

Dad and his boy are ready to go!

Felix thought pumpkins were great fun.

Even when his mom tossed him in a whole bin of them.

The belly came with us, too!

She's not trying to steal a pumpkin. I promise.

We are so cute. Felix couldn't care less.

Such an excellent fall day. Fantastic friends, looking ridiculous trying to get the baby to smile, tromping through fields finding the perfect pumpkin, wearing our sweaters and scarves despite the warm day, football, hacking pumpkins in half, seeds, and sweet Roman's birthday party. Excellent fall day.

Guns

I am so good at guns.

I know those of you who know me are just reading this in terror seeing as I'm not allowed to even use my sling shot or kitchen shears without supervision. But a couple of months ago, my dad, brother, husband and I went to the middle of the woods and shot guns.

It. Was. Fun.

Aside from the actual shooting which, I have to admit, was a hell of a lot more fun than I anticipated, the drive itself was awesome. Dirt, barely-there roads with overgrown trees and shrubs battled for possession only to be bent back by two manly trucks. That "almost lost" feeling I've grown to love coupled with the desire to see just how far into the mud pit we can actually get before we have to walk home started the day.

The view when we finally arrived was worth the excursion alone. We were high on a hillside and it was a clear day. You could see for miles. I didn't take any pictures, so sue me. I was too excited about the bags of guns my brother pulled from the truck to be bothered with documentation. But trust me, it was inspiring.

I liked the 30/30 rifle best. I could hit targets 300 yards away. I don't know what that means. The boys just kept saying it. So I'm taking it as an accomplishment. It should probably be stated that the targets were stationary. I can't shoot the clay birds to save my life. All my animals would have to stand really still. Or be in a barrel. If I had to hunt to live, I would starve. Partly because of the lack of hitting moving targets but partly because I'd want the little Bambi as a pet.

Maybe it was just intimidation from years of having that damn dog come up and laugh at me on Duck Hunt. Or MAYBE it was just that any desire to try was squashed by my husband exploding anything thrown into the air. All those years of video games came to his aid and I think my dad and brother fell a little more in love with him. He was a dead eye. Again, I don't know what that means, they just kept saying it.

The boys

My baby brother (the biggest guy in the above picture) knows so much about the guns, the ammo, the safety and the skill. He is a good teacher and I was impressed throughout the day. Mostly I was impressed with how much natural skill and talent I possessed. But a little impressed with his teaching. Also his baby feeding skills are coming along, too.