Puppy Up Golf

We all know the famous line from Apocalypse Now, “Charlie don’t surf”, but there’s a lesser known one from my travels, “Pet parents don’t golf”.  
Never understood why really since alot of public courses let you take your companion with you. That’s actually how Malcolm, my first great Pyrenees, and I became eternal mates.  Golf.  

That’s him with Murphy’s mum at the Alsatian golf club. He rode shotgun in the cart, never barked in my backswing, and gave me, ahem, a mulligan here and there.  What more could you ask of a mate?  
Well, he did have a bit of difficulty with yardages.  And squirrels. 
I’ve always wanted to promote golf as another way to spend more time with your companion and coming up in August, we’re hosting the first annual ‘Puppy Up and Putt it In’ golf tournament in San Antonio, TX.  
It’s hosted at the beautiful JW Marriott TPC Canyons Course and the proceeds from the event go to funding comparative oncology research and education and awareness about cancer in dogs.  
Come out and play 18 with us for the cause and to learn more about how you can participate as an individual golfer or sponsor, download the PDF or please contact lorraine.rose@marriott.com 

And yes’m we keep the tradition alive.  That’s Indiana Jones at a golf course in Atlanta GA.  The question I get most about this pic – was he putting for par?  
That and is Hudsy giving him a read on the break?  
Puppy Up and Putt It In.

Killed By Cancer

Today is Murphy’s birthday.  
This photo was taken on our walk from Austin to Boston in McEwen  TN.  We pitched a tent the night before on the grounds of a local church and upon remarking to the pastor about the Bradford pear trees full in fall colors, he recommended stopping at a local farm completely encircled by them just east on Hwy 70.  
It was a magical moment that day perfectly captured in time.  
For whatever cruel twist of fate the Gods graced us with we made it the 2,300 miles to Boston but within only a few weeks of walking the final mile from the Rose Garden at Back Bay Fens to Boston Common, Murphy was diagnosed with nasal adenocarcinoma.
The tumor inside his head must have been growing for many months as evidenced by the CT scan nearby.  
Murphy went down hard and what he did for this cause will never be forgotten. #RememberMurphy #MurphySmiles

Cancer Can’t Keep a Good Dog Down 2016

Hard to believe it’s 8 years in the making since we started the ‘Cancer Can’t Keep a Good Dog Down’ calendar in honor and memory of our canine heroes touched by cancer.  
Damn I remember our first one when I had to carry my 10 pound clunky Dell laptop for miles in my backpack on the C&O trail to upload the photos for the contest cause Erich was still on a 128k modem. Good times…
Unlike cheerleading tryouts in Texas, it’s not really a contest – all are beauties and featured in the calender.  Nearby is the link to the blog about how you can participate http://www.2milliondogs.org/our-8th-annual-cancer-cant-keep-a-good-dog-down-canine-cancer-calendar-contest-has-begun/
Thanks Erich for being the Keeper of the Calendar.  

A Journey Without Tears

I can’t recall
a love without fear

Nor a journey
without tears

So don’t embark
unless you’re clear

On all the costs
across the years

Because love etern
bears a price that burns

A flame forever
astem. astern

Hudson

“With every damn dog I love, I learn something I didn’t know.”

Since I’ve been off the road from the West Coast Walk and perhaps what I witnessed while on it, I’ve been wondering why Hudson has had 3 mast cell tumors in less than 2 years despite favorable path reports and negative genetic indicators.  

Even though we’ve had two allergy tests on him for some odd reason I never thought to consult an allergist.  Until Tuesday.  We met with Dr. Shanley at Hope Vet Specialists in Malvern PA on our way to the Puppy Up Walk in Madison WI and our conversation confirmed that I’m not alone in my suspicions that there may be a correlation between allergy prone dogs and mast cell tumors.  


That Hudson is my third son with cancer, I always feel I’m so far behind no matter how far I walk.  

  

Old White Dogs

I always wondered why after risking our lives on the Pacific Coast Highway for 7 months and 1,700 miles the media really didn’t give a shit and now I know.

Read this article http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-rethinking-muir-20141113-story.html#page=1

Well at least you clarified that for me why we matter so little in your existence.  We’re old white dogs.  

The Endless Winter

Can’t help but find a bit of irony in that I just left San Diego in December, a city that never snows, to record breaking snowfall in New England.  It’s been a long, harsh, unforgiving, and at times perilous winter but it’s impossible not to appreciate the absolute beauty of it.  
There are two photos nearby that embody this dichotomy – the first is of while taking the boys out for their evening constitutional, shadowcasting.  Nothing more than a rustic rotted out fence and a distant light but witness the symmetry and the simplicity.  

The other photo is of Hudson trying to take a piss in the several feet deep of spongy soppy messiness that makes it difficult for him postoperative.  I’m sure there’s a greater metaphor here but right now it’s buried beneath two tons of snow.  It’s been so unending here we’re about to make Winterfell look like the Sahara.  

He’s recuperating super well, we slept on the kitchen floor last night but brother, can you spare some green grass?  
YBD’s Notes 1:  Didn’t post it here but Hudson had a mast cell tumor removed yesterday.  Off social media sites for a spell to prepare for the upcoming filming for the interview.  To get updates here’s the link: Puppy Up Foundation
YBD’s Notes 2: Ginger called me up this morning to complain about the 3 inches of snow they got in TN but in all fairness, she has a Doxie and I’m sure his pecker is snowier than Hudson’s.  

The Little Flower

Fiorella La Guardia once said.  “If even a sparrow dies in Central Park, I feel responsible”.

The Interview.  First Episode.  March 16th.

I’m Badder

I fought you for 4,000 miles. And the fight has only begun. #companionsagainstcancer

Tracing Lines

Sydney didn’t make it.  She was due to be discharged this morning but an unexpected cascade of events occurred last night that was unstoppable.

She never made it home but after she was given rest, we got back to Valerie’s house and found Hudson on the pile of comforters and pillows
meant for her as though he was awaiting Sydney’s return.  And Valerie asked me if I believed Sydney’s spirit did make it back.    
Do I believe in that, she asked me.
As a man of both science and faith, I’ve borne witness to many inexplicable, unresolvable things on my travels. Long ago, I wrote a poem whose opening lines were;
“Cast before a silver sheet,
Tracing lines that never meet.”
Reflecting now back on those words I once wrote, I think what I meant was that a life, a love, a mile, a moment in time can be captured photographically but never truly and wholly represented.  
I believe that there is a spiritual connection between loved ones that does and maybe should defy our scientific understanding.  Energy is an expansive thing that is neither created nor destroyed.  And  though the lines never add up and never meet – that connection may change, it is never lost.  
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