Gardens For Goldens

Shedding the Past

January 5, 2020 by Ogee

The garden was thick with fog this morning – too wet to do any real work in the ground. So I set about removing the last of the apples from our little orchard. This used to be the work of a dog named Bones. With lumps and bumps and infected ears that left him deaf, he was left tied to a tree and abandoned. When he was finally found, he was literally skin and bones. Rescued and made well again, […]

Categories: Dog Rescue, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue, Pets, Rescue • Tags: dog rescue, Dogs and Dementia, Dogs and Forgiveness

The One That Got Away

December 30, 2019 by Ogee

On Christmas Day, I returned to the garden. It has been about a month since I have spent any real time there except to rake and do light cleanup. That’s what happens when foster puppies come to call. Little Daisy—now Gabby—was with us for a month. Arriving at only seven weeks, she had already been passed around and surrendered for the birth defect on her eye. At 11 weeks, she was healthy and fat and strong enough for her surgery. […]

Categories: Dog Fostering, Dog Rescue, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue, Puppies, Volunteering • Tags: Dog foster, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Memorial Garden, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue, Lily, Puppy Foster

Noelle: Our Christmas Joy

December 24, 2019 by Ogee

A Good Samaritan saw her stray and shivering in the rain and mud. She was frightened, emaciated, and would not come. Animal control was called. A catch pole was used; something that can be terrifying to dogs but life-saving when there is no other option. She was covered in mats and filth, and it was obvious that she had recently had puppies. There was no sign of them. It’s unclear if she was turned out after weaning them, or had […]

Categories: Dog Rescue, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue, Humanity, Rescue • Tags: dog rescue, Dog rescue holiday story, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue, Inspirational

Rocket Scientist

December 22, 2019 by Ogee

As I turned the corner at the rescue into the front parking lot, I came upon an elderly man looking a bit lost. It was well before adoption hours. He looked frail and sad. I asked if I could help. He said he had just let his dog go. It turns out that he had lost her a week earlier; he had just returned from picking up her ashes. She was 11-year-old Emily, a beautiful Golden Retriever. He had her […]

Categories: Dog Loss, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue, Humanity • Tags: Dog Loss, dog rescue, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue

The Lab Lift

December 15, 2019 by Ogee

Behind human failing—due to health or incapacity—you can often find animal suffering. This was the case behind a recent large-scale rescue. In Oregon, a backyard breeder struggled to care for his wife with dementia. I don’t know if the situation was ever better than we found it but things had obviously gotten out of control long ago. When he passed, there was no one to care for the dogs or the other animals on the property. A plea for help […]

Categories: Dog Rescue, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue, Rescue, Responsible breeders • Tags: dog rescue, Dogs, Labrador Retrievers, Responsible breeders

Time Flies on Restless Pinions

December 8, 2019 by Ogee

Somehow it became December. Don’t ask me how. The garden does not seem to know, but the neighbors’ Christmas lights are up and the rain they said would not come has arrived. Muddy dogs are a sure giveaway. It feels like we moved seamlessly from summer to winter. I would say that it has been unseasonably warm but I think we should stop saying that with climate change now increasingly knocking on our door. The garden is still full of […]

Categories: Dog Rescue, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue, Rescue • Tags: dog rescue, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue, Passing Seasons

Shasta’s Long Journey Home

November 10, 2019 by Ogee

My human dad raised me from a puppy. He loved me and I brought joy to his golden years. He was old and old school, and believed that dogs should be kept outside. So the yard was my world. My whole world. I didn’t know anything different. I had everything I needed – until the day he was no longer there to care for me. Before he left this world, he needed to know that I was safe. So I […]

Categories: Dog Rescue, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue, Rescue • Tags: Animal Adoption, Animal Rescue, dog rescue

Nature Will Improvise

October 20, 2019 by Ogee

We need new descriptors for gardening in our valley now. Thanks to climate change, “full sun” should be relabeled “scorch-resistant.” Beyond “drought tolerant” should be a new category: “desert-like.” Everything I thought I knew about the garden has changed. “Despite the gardener’s best intentions, Nature will improvise.” ~Michael P. Garofalo Nature will improvise. But our gardens, as we have known them may be forever altered. Plants that once sought daylong sun now shrink from the blazing afternoon heat and require […]

Categories: Gardening, Homeward Bound Memorial Garden, Nature, Nature Photography • Tags: Adapting, gardening, Gardening Climate Change

Live in Each Season

September 29, 2019 by Ogee

“Live in each season as it passes.” ~ Henry David Thoreau Having lived through the wet of winter, the erratic fits of spring, and the scorching heat of summer, it is time to rejoice in the mosaic of fall. I love the chaos of the fall garden. All the little starts and shoots have grown tall and wild. Their well-defined contours are now a tangle of color and cascading form. They lay all over each other like summer camp friends […]

Categories: Homeward Bound Memorial Garden, Nature, Nature Photography • Tags: Asters, Bluebeard, Fall Garden, Garden Photography, In Its Season Henry David Thoreau, Sunflowers

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