Beauvoir – …on the B.L.

Walks on the Levy

March 12, 2020March 12, 2020 RaeAnna

20200301_111146 — Photo credit: My eight year old cousin.

20200301_111048 — There’s nothing she loves more than a good exploratory sniff.

Last week, Beau and I were in New Orleans. She wasn’t supposed to come with me, but extenuating life circumstances meant she ended up in NOLA for the first time. I wasn’t bummed to have her all to myself for a week, and she wasn’t bummed to be the sole receiver of all the attention plus an eight year old new best friend. About a year ago, I agreed to spend a week watching my cousin’s daughter while she and her husband went on a cruise to celebrate her 50th birthday. Allison and I get along great, so I was happy to spend a week with her. We did a bunch of really fun things, but Beau had a blast chasing her around the house and getting loved on.

One of the first things we did was go for a walk on the levy. If you don’t know what a levy is, it’s a big retaining wall to keep a river – in this case, the Mississippi – from invading homes, businesses, and causing utter destruction – think Hurricane Katrina. Allison’s house is a couple blocks away from a levy running along the Mississippi. You can walk along the top and even go down to the water’s edge. The river was incredibly high, which made it even more enticing to my water-loving dog. After a forty-five minute stroll in one direction, where I received quite the arm workout keeping Beau from swimming with the fishies and potentially alligators, (No me gusta.) we decided to turn around and head home. Beau was sufficiently tired, and Allison walked her the rest of the way home… I don’t know why she can walk in an almost straight line for an eight year old, but zigs, zags, and bounds when it’s her mama. Oh well, at least she didn’t drag Allison head first into the river.

Beau loves exploring and being outside. If she could sit in the backyard with me all day, she would. We always try to take her for a walk shortly after arriving at our travel destination. These walks put her at ease and let her know we will not be abandoning her to strangers in a foreign land. Although, these strangers came with cats to poke, so it wouldn’t have been as bad as strangers with a house sans cat-beings.

She’s happy to be home and in her own chair, but she had a great deal of fun in NOLA and walking on the levy.

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Blog + Dog

Water Dog

August 14, 2019August 13, 2019 RaeAnna

Beau really hated the pool float. | Swimsuit | Hat | Floatie |

She did a lap around me to make sure the floatie wasn’t eating me, then said “See ya, Mom!” | Swimsuit | Floatie | Hat |

I have loved water my entire life. I’m happiest sitting by the ocean. I used to crave summer for days at the pool or on a boat at the lake at my grandparent’s in Wisconsin. My brother and I could spend all day playing in the pool.

I’ve had dogs my entire life. Some have loved the water even more than I do. Some have hated any water outside of their drinking bowl. Some have been ambivalent except on the very hottest of days. They are living breathing beings with emotions, preferences, and dislikes just like people. You can’t make a dog like the water.

I didn’t really give much thought to if Beau would be a water dog or not when I brought her home. It didn’t matter either way. The first couple of months going to the dog park, she was pretty tentative about the dog pools and lakes. She loved romping through the muddy puddles. The muddier the better. It wasn’t until a gaggle of ducks started goading her one day that she dove into the water proving she could swim and wouldn’t take crap from anyone let alone a flock of audacious ducks. Ever since that day, she has been my water baby.

Our first summer together, we went to Southern California. After 26 hours in the car, we drove straight to a dog beach at Ocean Beach in San Diego. We hopped out of the car, let Beau off the leash, she ran head first into the ocean, and had explosive diarrhea all over the place. So great….

We have friends with pools, and Beau LOVES going for swims and running around between her water adventures. So much so, she even knows what routes we take to get to their houses, and she perks up the moment we make certain turns. She’s hilarious. Always cautious with her first toe dips, she’s soon jumping in and taking a spin around. I can’t keep her out, which I don’t want to. She loves to jump in after me and swim a circle around me before hopping out and running a few laps around before jumping back in again.

Beau loves lakes, oceans, puddles, streams, rivers, and pools. Anxiety riddled and cautious, she never has a probably enjoying the water or a good swim. With the Texas heat on full blast ten months out of the year, water is a great way to have fun and stay cool.

bisous et обьятий,
Beau and RaeAnna

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I was being eaten, and Beau didn’t care. | Swimsuit | Floatie | Hat

Blog + Dog

Starbucks

October 24, 2018 RaeAnna

Starbucks is a beautiful thing. We love it because the service is always good, the drinks are Starbucks, they treat their employees well. Oh, did I mention there is one right next to my apartment? Convenience factor is high.

When I adopted Beau, one of the first outings was to Starbucks. Beau had a hard life, and she deserved Starbucks. If you’re not in-the-know, Starbucks has puppaccinos – or puppy-lattes depending on the location – perfect for your puppy friends. What is it? Whipped cream in a cup. Honestly, I’ve thought about getting one for me. How much do they cost, nothing.

We go on a frequent enough basis, many of the employees know Beau. I’m pretty unnoteworthy, but Beau is memorable. They remember her cute face!

Beau is very neurotic from her years of abuse. There are so many things she is terrified of. Including straws. EXCEPT the green straws. The green straws mean Starbucks. Starbucks means puppaccinos. If, for some catastrophic reason, there are green straws in the house without a puppaccino, Beau whips out her sassy teenager attitude. Dogs are red-green colorblind, so she must have a system for being able to tell… She’s a smarty-pants.

Anyways.

Today was grey and kind of rainy, which has been the case for a week, so I haven’t been able to take Blog + Dog pictures I wanted. So we walked the 532 steps to Starbucks to cheer up my rained out pooch.

Blog + Dog

October 17, 2018October 17, 2018 RaeAnna

Hi I’m RaeAnna! I’m a freelancer and a blogger. This is Beauvoir, my dog; she goes by Beau. We’re almost inseparable. Why? Because!

Honestly. This is our usual! (Don’t those pumpkin scones look delicious?)

Being a freelancer and blogger means, for me, I work from home. It’s a great gig. I have pretty much zero complaints. My constant companion and the being I spend 90% of my time with is Beau. I absolutely love being a stay at home dog mom. It’s the dream. (Actually, it’s been a huge blessing after rescuing Beau, which I’ll explain another time.)

My life is very dog centered. I have always been surrounded by dogs, but Beau is my first dog on my own as an adult. There’s a certain bond that comes with being the sole financial benefactor, health manager, food distributor, love giver, exercise provider, leisure planner, plaything procurer, and everything else she could possibly need. Yes. I am the crazy dog lady. No shame. I have a bunch of mugs to help with the announcements.

I blog about books and travel and food. I love these things very much. Something has been missing from the narrative. The mundane. I want to start writing about the things which make my heart sing on a daily basis. The things that are important to the essence of my being. I want to bring you into the beautiful ordinary of the things that wouldn’t necessarily be highlighted on Instagram. These things are no less spectacular and perfect. I don’t need an oceanfront mansion in Miami or a mountaintop waterfall behind me to have a great blog post. Those are awesome and fill my heart with joy, but it’s not my daily life.

My day consists of working, blogging (also work), and my dog. Those three things are constants. I also realized: Beau rarely shows up in my posts. What??? She’s always with me. How is she almost completely absent from my digital footprint? Time to make a change.

After discussing with my best friend, Wednesdays will be, henceforth, Blog + Dog days. I’m going to write about the ordinary things Beau and I do together. I’ll probably share some tidbits on our favorite toys, our heartworm adventure, being a rescue mom, traveling with a big dog, and everything in between. It’s a crazy dog life, but it’s my crazy dog life. I love it! Hopefully my photogenic boxer-mix will bring a smile to your face every Wednesday!

Feel free to drop a comment with requests or suggestions! I’m always looking for new things to write about or fun adventures to go on with my white shadow.

Tag: Beauvoir

Walks on the Levy

Water Dog

Starbucks

Blog + Dog

xoxo!
Beau and RaeAnna

xoxo! Beau and RaeAnna

xoxo!
Beau and RaeAnna