All photos copyright Jean Spitzer. Please see Copyright and Contact Information page for more information.

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Monday, October 11, 2010

Rico Suave, Lucky Dog: A 10/10/10 Celebration


Rico Suave is a rescue dog who is about as lucky as lucky can be.

This is how he spent 10/10/10, at Bear Creek.

Update November 23, 2010:

Rico has a lot in common with another little guy named Pepe. Pepe lives at the Pasadena, California Humane Society and is in need of a family to make him a "lucky dog" like Rico.


Pepe and Rico also share underbites and the fact that they are mutts, strong and smart and loving.

Pepe is a blue-ribbon winner because he's a perfect companion: great temperament, thanks to his lab and pug genes. (Rico is also a perfect companion, though I don't think he has the blue ribbon to prove it, and being part terrier, he's naturally more feisty.) And he is waiting for his new family. Note: Pepe needs to be the only dog in the family, much like our beloved dog, Ember. Rico is also an only dog.
Update November 26:.

Pepe has been adopted.  And Rico had a fine Thanksgiving, with plenty of table scraps and hugs and nice laps to sit in.  (He's really a bit too large for the latter.) 

Happy Thanksgiving!





About the October 4th mystery of nature, the tree is a crape myrtle. Only one of its trunks (the center trunk) is twisted.

As to what caused this, nature or nurture, see this interesting discussion. It appears this was a harder question than I realized.

But I think we can rule out Paula's vine theory because of where it's located in my garden, because it's surrounding limbs are straight, because another tree in the yard has a vine growing in a spiral pattern around it, yet the trunk remains untwisted and, finally, because of what I know about the folks who planted this garden.

I also think we can rule out injury because trees never fully heal from an injury; the injured part is just walled off.

I also think we can rule out wind conditions because the other trunks are straight.

I supposed it could have been trained this way, but once again, this seems unlikely to have been done by the people who grew this garden.

I lean toward genetics to create this shape, but then, I have naturally curly hair, so I'm biased for that solution.


7 comments:

  1. Just because, my hair was curly...
    Reminiscent of my once curly locks.
    Still there, just calmed down some.

    Ol' Rico's lookin' kinda curly.
    That's one thing me and Dot never did; go swimmin' that is.
    She does enjoy wading, at least as long as her nose is involved.

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  2. Yes, Rico's kinda curly and kinda not. I think he's part terrier. And he's the beloved dog of our friends, totally lucky.

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  3. Thank you, Jean. I'll feast on the sight of total, wanton joy anytime I can.

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  4. Rico's Thanksgiving sounds like a puppy dog's dream day, Jean. I love these happy tails!

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  5. It looks like Rico lives in dog paradise. It doesn't get luckier than that. Great action photos. He's quite an athlete!

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  6. Ladies, it is my thrill and pleasure to participate in this tribute to the joys of pet rescue.

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