Today My Name Is...Fresh

Spring is in the air! Today is so fresh and so clean. Fresh outside, clean inside. Windows open...and I feel like I should be listening to Outkast having quoted lyrics.

I took advantage of the wonderful weather today and got outside for as much as I could and it felt great. It was so nice to be out wearing sun glasses. I even got out in the evening for a good walk with my husband, daughters and our dogs. Well the two younger dogs anyways. My youngest walked our insanely energetic toy poodle Kiedis and I strapped our big mixed breed dog Bella to my oldest and enjoyed watching the two jog along. Everyone got fresh air and exercise. The best part is always the walk along the ridge and it's always beautiful at night over looking the city and lights.

In spring and summer the ridge is always alive with the activity of birds, coyotes, deer, people and so much else in the evenings however tonight it was still calm as a winter night. Even the breeze stood still.

Walks in the neighborhood are nice but I especially love going to the dog park where our dogs get their social interaction and we get to enjoy a good brisk walk as we follow along. We haven't been going as much lately to the dog park and part of the reason is how pathetic society is becoming. It's concerning when one can take a well trained dog to an off leash yet idiots cause havoc. Too much has been in the news lately about dog attacks, dog bites, aggressive breeds, the list goes on.

Recently a man was walking leashed pitbulls outside of an unfenced off leash dog park and a young girl was walking her 2 unleashed dogs in the dog park and they took off towards the man walking the pitbulls. Short story, who do you think was the bad guy? Guy with leashed dogs or girl without control of her small dogs? Pitbulls always seem to lose regardless of their training. Mention the breed and they are in trouble. It's hard to keep an animal from responding naturally and defensively when approached aggressively by other dogs.

Society is taking less responsibility for everything, you name it. It's really sad in fact. I saw a cartoon showing parents yelling at their child for poor grades back in the day and beside shows a present cartoon showing parents yelling at the teacher for their child's poor grades. See something wrong with that? I'm a young parent, younger than all of my children's friends parents and I see so much wrong in the way society responds and neglects taking responsibility for ones actions. Everyone points to something or someone else. Point being is that Bella our mixed breed is quite possibility part Staffordshire x Heeler per our vet and despite the fact we've put her through training, she listens impeccably well and lives with two small dogs (poodle and chihuahua) idiots at the dog park do not respect others, watch their own dogs body language or call their dog off or back when it shows questionable behaviors. I have left with my poor Bella bleeding from bites from small dogs and larger dogs who really should not be at the dog parks. Thankfully she is a very passive dog and will roll to her back submissively even with an aggressive small dog. She is definitely not top dog in this house.

Per our bylaws we have to have control of our dog 100% of the time. Bella returns to us 100% of the time with recall without fail. More than once we have called her when we've seen other dogs acting aggressive towards her or ganging up (as was the case recently with 2 German Shepards) and the dogs followed without their owner so much as glancing back, too busy on their phone texting! Dog parks and bylaws should enforce distracted pet ownership if they are going to get so petty about natural dog responses and who's at fault and look at bigger pictures. Bella returned to us, but had those dogs bit her or had we leashed her to walk away and the dogs continued their aggression and Bella responded by biting in defense we could be charged. Who would have been at fault? So we have steered clear of the dog park lately and it's a shame but it's bad owners and idiots that ruin a good thing for others.

My .02....it's never the breed it's the owner!

I am curious to know though just what breed Bella is. While striking up a conversation at the dog park a while back, a lovely lady mentioned dog DNA which allowed genetic break down of the possible breeds a dog carries. I may consider this for our Bella.

Enough of my rant and back on track, I keep getting so excited about spring and the snow melting. Plans for landscaping the yard, ideas of flowers, bushes, deck boxes and so much more keep running through my mind and then I remind myself that we are not that close just yet. The forecast for snow is a pretty clear reminder. Hopefully the snow leaves and stays away until next winter soon. I could live without a dump of snow in May or June.

I have been feeling so much more energetic as of late and oddly my internal clock has been waking me up every morning at 5am. I haven't actually gotten up and stayed up at that hour but it's good to know my internal clock may work with me. The test will be next week leading into April.

Today was a get up and go day. Not a dull moment or time for TV. I didn't run errands. It was the one day this week that we had nothing scheduled in the evening. We enjoyed fish, salad and rice for dinner. My oldest made oatmeal muffins for lunches and snack for the next few days. My youngest helped with the scoop duty in the yard from the dogs. All in all it was a busy day and the hive was a buzzing.

Speaking of B words...Budgeting. The hubs and I did our mid month budgeting and April break down. Communication is key. I hold the lock, he has the key and put together we work perfectly. Corney eh? Haha.

With as much fresh air as I've had I'm fading fast so I will say Today My Name Is...Fresh and that pretty much sums up how I aim to have my 2013 go...Fresh start...on the right track. Each day is a fresh new day and today was a positive reflection of the way one should see everyday...fresh, new and ready to take on the world.