Cucumber Peels

Plung! Plung! Plung!

Dropped the cucumber peels into the metal dog food bowl. But hark, what do my ears hear?

Silence...

I did not hear the jingle of her collar as she so slowly lifted her tired, frail body from the floor.

Why?

Because Mayatuk went to Doggie Heaven that is why.

We miss her dearly. She was part of the family; we got her when she was 8 weeks old. Fred is lost without her, but we are now a one dog family. Mayatuk was 12 years old. Part wolf, German Shepard, and Alaskan Malamute. She traveled all over the United States, was a seasoned camper, howled a beautiful song, always new her way home, she loved a good drive thru and beer. Mayatuk, did not play ball or swim like a dog...she was more like a cat in a dog body. She did like to ride in a canoe and cried if we tried to make her swim. She loved to romp and run around, but she was terrified of thunder storms and fireworks. She was special and she will always be a treasured part of our family. She was graceful, peaceful, terribly shy, loved to snuggle with her "Daddy" and would eat most anything you put in front of her.

She loved cucumber peels!

So there they sat in that empty metal dog food bowl. Until Fred decided he was going to try one and then turned it into cucumber peel spitballs.

I never thought peeling cucumbers would make me sad...

Missing Mayatuk...and her sister Wahya who died of bone cancer in April 2005.

RideSafer Travel Vest

Before Princess P was born we knew we were outgrowing our car because three car seats were going to be TIGHT! But being the frugal people we are, we did not want to go buy a new car so we (well my husband) did some research on car seats to see what would fit in our Jetta TDI. We looked and measured and measured and looked but nothing seemed to be a good fit. Then Mister Researcher found the RideSafer Travel Vest. When he showed me I thought "NO WAY". But then I watched the crash test videos over and over again. I also read and reread the safety standards. I finally agreed to give it try, but insisted that if it did not work that we would return it immediately and figure something else out, even if it meant getting a bigger car. Needless to say we are still using the vest and we also got a little bigger car, but in our own style it is a used diesel :)

I really do like it and it keeps her safe.

The things I do not like about it:

It takes a few more minutes to put on and take off, which can be a nuisance with three children and in a hurry to run into the post office for two minutes just to turn around and get right back into the car and put the vest back on. Oh, I forgot to mention she will not wear it into a store even if for a few minutes.

She whines if she gets too hot. Remember we drive an older vehicle and the AC takes a few minutes to get cold. The vest does generate some body heat.

You have to make sure the seat belt is secure in all three of the hooks and that the between the leg strap is secure for maximum safety, but it is not a problem it just goes back to the time thing which I just need to get over.

She likes is that she is more like a big girl in the car by not being confined to a seat and she is more comfortable in the car.

I guess I should also mention she is a very tall 5 (almost 6) year old and according to the safety standards she was outgrowing the high back booster and could move just the booster seat, but we did not feel as safe with that. I really do think that in the few occassions I had to slam on my brakes, that my child in the booster seat flung forward more than the one in the RideSafer Vest. But of course I do not want to test that theory. If it happens again, I will try to remember who did what or if there was even a difference.

I would recommend the RiderSafer Travel Vest.