Search Results for: Rocket dog

Found 38 search results for Rocket dog (this is page 3 of 4).

Canine connection

There was a quite curious phenomenon I noticed with our dog, Rocket, that took place while I was in the last days of my previous job. I could see at that point that things weren’t going to work out for me but I still continued to forge ahead and do my best. This put me under unbelievable stress, the likes I’d never felt before. The day before I lost my job I was such a nervous wreck that I could barely speak.

At this very same time, Rocket began to repeatedly smack his lips. Not just once, though, he did it all day long, something he’s never done before. I joked at the time that he must have gotten into some peanut butter or something, but in looking back I had an interesting thought.

Rocket smacks his lips when he’s feeling stressed. At the time I was feeling more stress than I ever had before. Was our dog simply reacting to the stress I was feeling? I never found any evidence he had eaten something he shouldn’t have, nor did I treat our dog any differently than usual. I can’t help but wonder if there might be something to the theory that dogs are innately attuned to moods of their masters.

High Bridge Trail State Park

High Bridge Trail State Park


I write this from cabin 4 of Twin Lakes State Park, located near Farmville, VA. It’s Saturday evening, November 24th, 2012 around 8:49 PM. Kelly and I are here alone tonight, the kids preferring to sleep in their grandparents’ cabin a few meters away from ours. As there is no Internet access here (nor no phones), I am writing this to post later.

We’ve been here since the day after Thanksgiving, having felt the urge to go camping one more time this year but not having the guts to tough out another camping trip when temperatures dip to the mid-20s in the morning. Cabins proved to be a good compromise, with the added bonus that Twin Lakes is closer to home for we Turners (we spent Thanksgiving with Kelly’s parents in Warrenton this year).
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Hornbeam Hill, 2012

Hornbeam Hill swing and pavilion


We just got back from a visit to Kelly’s parents and a weekend spent at Virginia’s Twin Lakes State Park. I wrote this post last night.

On the way down to the park on Friday, we detoured to visit Hornbeam Hill, the rural patch of land where Kelly and I got married 13 years ago. It had been probably a decade since we last saw it, Kelly’s parents having sold it soon after our wedding due to their desire for something more suburban. The kids had never seen it and we had no particular time schedule so we turned on to Bell Farms Lane in Palmyra and brought the van to a stop along the side of the property.
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Twitter Updates for 2012-10-08

  • The big goofy dog and I ran 4.3 miles through downtown Raleigh this morning. Felt good! #
  • Getting ready to watch @SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launch at 8:35 PM tonight. Go SpaceX! #nasa #iss #
  • Congrats to @spacex on a successful launch! #

Twitter Updates for 2012-10-08

  • The big goofy dog and I ran 4.3 miles through downtown Raleigh this morning. Felt good! #
  • Getting ready to watch @SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launch at 8:35 PM tonight. Go SpaceX! #nasa #iss #
  • Congrats to @spacex on a successful launch! #

Raleigh Tornado, Part I

Boy, that doesn’t happen every day. A huge tornado roared through the Triangle yesterday, leaving a path of destruction across Wake County. Skywarn spotters reported that the Lowe’s hardware store in Apex was smashed. Other reports told of brick buildings on South Saunders Street being busted. Downtown, there are streetlights out everywhere and trees blocking many streets on the east part of town. Here at home, I’m fortunate nothing happened to our home but we’ve been without power since about 3:45 PM yesterday. I’ve been keeping the dog company while Kelly and the kids are in Virginia for a few days.
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Needle recovered

We recovered the needle Rocket swallowed this morning, thanks to my father-in-law Neil’s metal detector. It was in the “batch” Rocket provided yesterday morning, so it had actually been out of him a full day.

I had checked that bag at the time he provided but thought there was nothing in it, as I had been looking for a 2 inch long needle rather than the one inch kind that it actually was. At any rate, I’m glad we’re not taking that particular “gift” home with us!

Back from Virginia

We arrived home from Virginia yesterday afternoon after spending some fun time with Kelly’s parents. Kelly took the kids up in the middle of last week, with me joining them Saturday morning. I took the train up to Fredericksburg, where Kelly met me for some food and sightseeing in town before we headed west to Warrenton. The Oskar Blues Gordon beer at the Capital Ale House was quite tasty!

Sunday, we participated in the Leesburg Independence Day parade, with the kids on bikes and dog in tow. Rocket’s tender paws didn’t enjoy the blazing asphalt we encountered on that hot day but the rest of us had fun.

Monday was spent underground at Luray Caverns in Luray, Virginia. It was quite a respite from the heat wave, where temperatures have been in the mid-to-upper 90s.

Good to be home now, though I’m already looking forward to the next holiday!

Week of meetings and sickness

It’s been a very busy week for us all. First is the weather, with this past weekend’s snow it’s been tough to get outside for any meaningful exercise. Plus it’s my meeting week, with the East CAC, RCAC, and Parks Board. To top it off, Hallie got sick this week, followed shortly by Travis (and our dog, Rocket, too). There have been a few nights with shallow sleeping, listening for the sound of kids in need of assistance.

The weekend’s approaching, though, and it might be a nice one with sun and temperatures close to 60. Just in time to save the day!

Camping trip

Family_Camping-20091114

Last week’s rainy weather had all of us itching to get out of the house. In spite of the dreary rainy week I knew the forecast promised a nice weekend: with clear skies and mid-70s temperatures it promised to be perhaps the best weather of any weekend until spring. I decided it would be a good time for us to finally take the kids on the camping trip we’d been talking about the whole year.

It had been four years since we’d camped anywhere. Travis was then just a baby and woke up wailing. It was high time we tried again. I was considering both Jordan Lake and Umstead State Park but chose Umstead this time around. After a few minutes of booking online, we were all set to go.
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