Music Saves (aka "Music for Running Dogs" part II")

Outside the Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, Ohio. Photo by Shannon Miller. All Rights Reserved.

Most who know me know that music is extremely important to me.

I usually have songs that randomly pop into my mind that are apropos for any given moment, and I've been known to make compilation CDs for special people in my life.

Growing up, I adopted a plethora of musical influences thanks to the wide variety of music I heard from my family. Yes, I was born in 1972 and was greatly influenced by the musical tastes of not only six older siblings, but also parents who frequently spun Janis and Rod "the bod" Stewart on the turn table. Alice Cooper, The Eagles, Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Tom Petty, Berlin, Duran Duran: it was all in my early musical repertoire. To this day, I still know every single word to "Maggie May" and my kids caught me dancing and singing "Disco Duck" in the dining room this evening. 

I remember when MTV first aired, waiting up with my older sister, Colleen. We waited anxiously for the crackling glow of that dude landing on the moon to fill the inky darkness of my parents' living room at 11-something at night. That image will forever reverberate in my head as the beginning of musical history. At least for me. It was 1981, and the radio was still playing Nick Gilder's "Hot Child In the City," and REO Speedwagon's "Roll With the Changes."

But MTV haunted me with eerie progressive new-sounds, like Blondie's "Rapture." Who could forget Rapture? Not only was it haunting, it introduced white kids like me to this thing called rap as the first rap video aired on MTV. Wow. We watched in awe as pale, skinny Debbie Harry danced scantily-clad through a graffiti-covered urban area at night with a ballerina and a black man in a white tux, complete with top hat.

I could go on and on about musical influences of my childhood.

One thing I will forever be grateful for in my childhood is having a family who instilled in me early on an great affinity for all types of music and an appreciation for how therapeutic it can be. They fostered my own natural musical abilities from a young age, and were patient as I picked up and learned to play several noisy instruments, including the piano and my five-piece drum kit which still sits in my basement currently.

My love of music goes on today, and I am rarely without my ipod. On my ipod are several playlists entitled "Songs for Running Dogs." I thought I would share with those of you who love music as much as I do what I've been running dogs and generally rocking out to lately. You can look any of these tracks up on youtube, or by downloading a great software called Spotify free on the Internet. Enjoy!

Willie Nelson: "The Harder They Come"
The Allman Brothers: "Midnight Rider"
Wilco: "Heavy Metal Drummer"
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros: "Home"
Givers: "Saw You First"
The Be Good Tanyas: "Light Enough To Travel"
The Black Keys: pretty much anything by this Akron-based band rocks my socks 
Brandi Carlile: "Dreams"
The Budos Band: "T.I.B.W.F."
Ben Harper: "Blessed to be a Witness"
Neko Case: pretty much anything by Neko is good with me
Damien Rice: "Dogs"
Tom Waits: "I Don't Wanna Grow Up"
Jane Siberry: "Hockey"
David Bowie/Queen: "Pressure"

I'll probably add another chapter to this. I could go on and on....

For now, as always...

Puppies in training: the making of a sled dog

Sled dog training starts early: Tak's puppies are only seven weeks old, but they're already learning the basics of how to be sled dogs. I don't know how other people train dogs, but for me, puppy training starts with teaching pups the basics: that people are good and to come when I call for them.

Perry leads the puppy pack toward me down the puppy paths

Because sled dogs must work together as a team, I believe in allowing the dogs free time to interact as a pack daily. They work out their differences and, in general, they all get along very well. It's quite a sight to see a dozen or so dogs running full-throttle through our pastures, playing and wrestling!

I also believe strongly that dogs need social/play time as well as physical training throughout the year, not just during training season, so I diligently stick to a strict daily "free running" schedule for my dogs, and the puppies (especially the puppies!) are no exception. At least twice a day, I turn the pups out and work with them, handling each one, allowing them to run and play, and teaching them to run with me along our puppy paths.

Perry follows Marley, our Australian Shepherd, along our puppy paths at the Ranch

There are so many connections being formed in each of their little brains at this age, and I want as many of those connections to be as positive as possible. Dogs learn so much from each other, too: how to not bite too hard, where each one sits in the pack, how to interpret body language, and where their place is with the adult dogs.

In my opinion and experience, dogs who don't have nurturing and safe "formative" years in these critical weeks of puppihood end up having issues later in life. In order to give our dogs the best shot at forming healthy relationships with the world around them, I really try hard to offer a loving and stimulating environment for them to romp and play early on.

(from left) Toots, Tosh and Rasta explore the ruts in papa Yeti's circle

They are each so gorgeous and curious in their own ways. Tosh is quiet and gentle, Toots is affectionate and loyal, just like her sisters, Rasta and Ziggy. Perry is calm and affectionate, but Wailer - just like his name - is the loud-mouthed runt of the bunch and a mama's boy!



When they are done playing, they drift off to sleep wherever they land. Oh, to be young!
They're so trusting, so innocent. It's hard to believe they will grow up to be such amazing athletes.

It's also hard to believe Tak's beautiful puppies are already seven weeks old. Sweet dreams from sled dogs in training!

Tak's babies are coming!

Birth in the age of technology! Wow, we are super excited to be able to share the miracle of birth with you, live from our streaming web cam! Tak is in labor now and we're hoping for healthy babies tonight. Watch now!


Live Video for Mobile from Ustream

Sometimes it's best to let dogs teach other dogs :)

My huskies love water. Seven and a half month old, Miles, was apprehensive of the water, however. Thanks to his older mentor, Kerouac, Miles gets the hang of the water pretty easily.



It's a dog-eat-dog world out there. Stay safe! Enjoy summer!

In the moment - life is more than a status update

Cell phones, status updates, tweets. Facebook, Hootsuite, Skype, GMail chat, send texts and up-to-the-minute videos of everything you're doing on YouTube.

We're so busy selfishly updating everyone on what we're doing, we are removed from what we are actually doing. By taking time to tweet that we are enjoying a walk in the park, we miss the flowers we pass, the birds chirping, the moment. We have forgotten how to live in the moment. And so-called "smart phones" have made living in the moment even more difficult. Technology is supposed to help us - and it can - but it can also leave us feeling hurried, out of balance and out of touch.

Yes, out of touch. With life. 

Because life is more than a status update. Life occurs outside of a computer or smart phone.

Ironically, I am writing this in a form of social media, selfishly convinced that people care what I think, read what I write. I mean, who am I to wax poetic about jack smack?

I'm not. I'm just a girl in the Midwest living with a bunch of dogs, outside more than in.
 
But, I am fortunate to have Mondays off work, and I try to celebrate this small fact every Monday. Today, I abandoned my own "smart phone" with its constant vibration gnawing at my subconscious, reminding me of responsibilities, and said hello to the moment - as many moments as possible - all day long.

Had I been "connected," I would have missed out on this:

A blue heron fishing along the shoreline of West Branch State Park

And this:

my daughter's beautiful face in the sun

Life occurs in micro-blips of time, tiny moments of preciousness, small jpgs of beauty. The strawberry blonde of my seven year old's hair; the smell of fresh cut hay in the fields that surround the Ranch; the tiny freckles blossoming on her nose in the sun.

Get out there. Embrace the moment.

Whole lotta nothing

As I type, a flurry of lightning bugs flutters around outside like tiny yellow strobe lights. The beauty is, with all of our tall grasses all around the Ranch - a firefly's natural habitat - we have a billion of them. And, with a whole lotta nothing around us, there's no light pollution to dampen their glow.

Fireflies in one of our pastures at midnight

When we first moved to the Ranch last summer, I asked my sister, who was from this area, what was down our road in the opposite direction. Her reply still resonates with me.

"Just a whole lotta nothin'," she said flatly.

I smiled, knowing I was home.

It's true: there really isn't much where we live. I drive over 20 miles round trip just for groceries. The horizon around our neck of the woods isn't polluted with neon McDonald's signs; in fact, the nearest McDonald's is at the same place as the grocery store, over 20 miles from home.

A pasture of sheep about three miles from the Ranch

Indeed, I think this corner of NE Ohio is the only place that doesn't have a reliable cell phone signal. My phone notoriously drops calls.

But, for a whole lotta nothing, there sure is a lot of something going on out here: life.

A bird's nest I found at the Ranch: made of (what else): husky hair and pieces of blue tarp I use for roofs over the kennels!

I recently spent over 12 hours in the city for several back-to-back photo assignments. As soon as I returned home, I breathed a sigh of relief. The city is nice, but I wouldn't want to live there.

I have so many things here that I love. Like, my sweet hens, "The Ladies."

The Ladies leaving the barn for a morning spent free ranging

Acres and acres of space.

A field of winter wheat just about ripe for the harvest across the street from the Ranch

Gorgeous lilies that grow wild and cover the grounds at the Ranch.

More space.

The 150 acre corn field directly across from the Ranch

More flowers...

Yes, it might be a whole lotta nothin' out here. But I will take that "nothing" over the city any day. I can't think of any place I'd rather be!

Home, where my thoughts escape me...

My girls.

They are the impetus to drag me to a waterpark - perhaps the only thing that could drag me to a waterpark.

As a belated birthday present to my girls (their birthdays were both the third week of May), we took them to the Great Wolf Lodge, a waterpark/resort hotel in Sandusky, Ohio.

I admit, this isn't really my idea of a good time: donning a bathing suit and sharing space with a hundred or so other people and their wide variety of body parts that can be described in a vast array of words that end in "y" (pasty, jiggly, hairy, saggy), and sharing a host of other things that come with sharing gallons of water with said people.

But, ah! the things we will do for our children!

Families who have sled dogs - or any animals - make a lot of sacrifices to have them.  We can't take off on a Disney or Virginia Beach vacation like other families. We have animals that depend on us, 365 days a year.

But one night and two days...we could do that. The girls deserve it.

Here are some photos from the Great Wolf Lodge.

Elise was most excited about this long-awaited trip to the Great Wolf Lodge. She had researched the resort online, visiting the web site and watching all of the videos of the water slides, the arcade, and the hotel which was decorated like a giant cabin. When we got there, she said, "It's just like I dreamed it would be, only better!"

A giant totem pole awaited us at GWL

The girls: Sophie (left) and Elise (right) in the lobby of the GWL

So we swam and went down water slides. We played in the arcade and jumped on the beds in the hotel. But, the fun must end, and we adults are happy to return home, and our animals are even more excited to see our return. Ultimately, no matter how many times I leave or how far I go, it is always awesome to return home!

Happy chickens and wildflowers of summer

Happy chickens lay happy eggs.

It's true.

As spring folds over into summer, our chickens are producing a bounty of eggs daily. They happily free range the mornings away, scratching in the dirt, foraging for weeds and fresh, succulent grasses and arguing over bugs and worms.

It's a fact that free range chickens produce eggs that are better for people: they contain 4 to 6 times greater amounts of vitamin D, are lower in cholesterol and higher in Omega 3 fats (the "good" fats that lower cholesterol), and have 2/3 more vitamin A, 3 times more vitamin E and 7 times more beta carotene than store-bought, factory farmed eggs. (For the full article where this information came from, click here.)

Whew! Pretty impressive little creatures, those lovely ladies.

Other hallmarks of summer abound. Memorial Day weekend. The opening of the beach near the Ranch. Baseball games. The campground near the Ranch filling up with RVs.

And wildflowers. 

The surrounding woods and grasslands around the Ranch are full of wildflowers.

This coming Memorial Day weekend, celebrate the beginning of summer. Before you know it, summertime will be "come and gone, my oh my."

Here at the Ranch, we have some quiet reasons to celebrate too. We are celebrating our 500th post and the beginning of our seventh year of blogging!

Thanks for reading!

Some scenes from the Hessler Street Fair this past weekend

Elise in the Hessler Street Fair bus

Dancers center-stage in the drum circle at Harmony Park

My daughter, Elise, joining the drum circle :)

Face painting at the fair

The end result: butterfly face!

Friends: Stephanie Urban's beautiful son, Finn, and his daddy, Eric at the Hessler Street Fair

I was super happy to see my friend Stephanie Urban had a table set up at the fair with her amazing art for sale. I met Stephanie several years ago when we both worked at the same magazine/communications firm in North Olmsted. She was the graphic designer for several pubs at the company - and was amazing. About a year and a half ago, she launched out on her own as a freelance artist when her first daughter, Kaia, was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. You can find her blog - and Kaia's story - here.

Stephanie's art is made from repurposed fabric. It's unlike anything I've ever seen - so creative and colorful. Please check out her art here.

My daughter, Elise, and Stephanie at the Hessler Street Fair

My 12 year old daughter, Sophie, who is somewhat of an artist herself, had fun making sidewalk art

More fun at the drum circle

Hessler is such a peaceful gathering of art, artists and music. I look forward to it every year!

Spring visitors

Spring brings such a flurry of activity. We all begin cleaning our houses, dusting off what winter left behind. The flurry of activity extends even more so to nature in spring. It is a time of vibrance, renewal, birth, and - inevitably - babies.

We have had several spring visitors at the Ranch over the last couple weeks. 

First, the dogs discovered a nest of 10 day old wild baby bunnies in the long grasses in the field by our barn.

One didn't survive. Alas, this is unfortunately a part of spring too.

But several others did! To keep the rest safe from the dogs, we took them inside and kept them under a heat lamp until we could transport them to a wildlife rehabilitation specialist in town.

10-day old wild baby rabbits were among several spring visitors at the Ranch

The girls enjoyed having the bunnies as our guests for a couple days.  

Elise in bunny Heaven!

Sophie managed to feed each bunny a dropper-ful of Ensure® so they had enough nutrients to last through the night. 

We took them back to the nest initially so their mama could come back to feed them, but she never returned. Mama rabbits return to the nest right at dusk for a quick feeding session before they're off again. Surprisingly, mama's milk is so high in nutrients, this is all infant rabbits need to help them grow.
 
The baby bunnies were transported to a wildlife rehabilitation specialist who will raise them until they are big enough to survive on their own, and then release them into the wild. 

But the fun was just beginning....

Last weekend, one of our chickens, Reggae, who is featured in this post, caught what she clearly thought was a large worm while free ranging. As the other hens came near her, she ran away from them, quickly defending her prize "worm." I could see from a distance, however, that this was no worm. As I ran up to her, I wrestled the prize from her beak only to realize it was a baby snake!

The "worm" our chicken, Reggae, found: an Eastern Milk Snake

I took it inside long enough to identify what type of snake it was, then quickly released this little guy back into the tall grasses around our property. It was quite feisty and quick to attempt to strike, despite that the teeth of the Eastern Milk Snake are unable to penetrate human skin.

Finally, we had a visitor of a more domesticated nature.

Meet Ninja, our new Americauna rooster, who thinks he is "all that." Sophie's friend who is involved in our local 4-H hatched this guy on her property this past November. They already have several roosters, and offered us this guy over the weekend. He was hand-raised, and is sweet...once he is caught!

Ninja stepping high beside our barn

Ninja puts on quite a show for our 15 hens. As the lone rooster at the Ranch, he is quite proud of himself and struts around our yard beside our barn boldly, puffing himself up, shaking his feathers and flapping his wings in a valiant display of chicken masculinity.

And, as far as roosters go, he is gorgeous.

I like the novelty of having one token rooster at the Ranch, too.

But don't tell Ninja that. If his ego gets any bigger, he won't fit in the barn :)

Enjoy Spring!