We Love Lucy

We had severe weather earlier in the week.  Extremely high winds and 7 inches of rain before the storms subsided.  Seeing our trees swaying back and forth like blades of grass was a bit scary.  Fallen leaves and tree limbs were everywhere as the storm blew away much of the colorful Autumn foliage.

On the first nice day, we decided to take Lucy to the Biltmore Estate to walk the trail along the French Broad River.  It is such a lovely place and especially beautiful this time of year.  As we drove down the mountain the day became more gray and foggy.  We decided to go somewhere closer and ended up at the Pink Beds in Pisgah National Forest  (HERE).  The area was deserted except for us.  So we broke the rules and let Lucy run off lead in the large grassy picnic area.  We feel safe doing this because she immediately runs to us if she sees any other people and she is consistent at recalls.  She doesn't chase squirrels or other animals and the picnic area is sufficiently far away from the parking lot that we could see anyone approaching.  And we are always prepared for poop patrol.

She took off like a rocket, smiling all the way.

(If you enlarge the photos you can still see the shaved area from her hospital visit.  The hair is finally filling in)

 She kicked up her heels

 She stops every now and then to see where my husband is.

 We made her stop and rest, but she wasn't going to take it lying down.

We love the fact that Lucy is well-behaved enough to be allowed some freedom to run even if it is technically illegal.  One place we would never break the leash rule, no matter how empty the area, is at the Biltmore Estate.  When you arrive with a dog in the car, the staff will tell you very politely about keeping the dog on lead.  And then he/she gives an additional cautionary statement...that if you are caught with your dog off lead, they will confiscated your annual passes.  'Nuff said.

We are absolutely thrilled that Lucy has not had any seizure activity and nothing abnormal at all.  We are getting more content that it was an isolated occurrence and idiopathic in nature.

Our thought for today comes from our beloved friend, the late Fred Rogers:

We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility.  It's easy to say, "It's not my child, not my community, not my world, and not my problem."  Then there are those who see the need and respond.  I consider those people my heroes.

We all share this planet together.  What affects one area, affects us all.  We, here in the richest country on the planet owe our help to those less fortunate.  It IS our child, it IS our community, it IS our world, and it IS our problem.  Try to do something to help, no matter how small.  A lot of people doing small things becomes very large indeed.

HAVE A SAFE AND WONDERFUL WEEKEND EVERYONE!