Monday Musings: Loki photos

Kelley Heckart

Otherworldly tales steeped in myth, magic & romance.

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Monday Musings: Lessons I learned from my dogs

This article was printed in our local newspaper back in July. I decided to share it on my blog because I know there are a lot of pet owners out there.

Lessons I learned from my dogs

Besides loyalty and companionship, dogs have a lot more to offer us. If we take the time to watch and connect with them, we can learn some important lessons.

Having dogs helped me through a dark time when I didn’t know if I would be permanently disabled. Crippled by severe pain, it was easy to give in and stay in a pain-medication fog, but my dogs depended on me to care for them while my husband was at work. So, I forced myself to get up and fight to get better.

My recovery had a lot to do with lessons I learned from my dogs. The first one is perseverance. Animals don’t allow an illness or injury to stop them from enjoying life. One of my dogs hurt her leg and managed just fine by hopping around on three, even chasing rabbits, until her leg healed. In the animal world, only the strong survive and unfortunately, this is also a harsh truth in the human one, a frightening reality I came close to experiencing.

Another important lesson is living in the moment. Dogs know how to relax in the sun and watch birds or sniff the different scents in the air. This reminds me to stop and enjoy a sunset or take in the wildlife in my backyard, to put my troubles aside. I’ve also learned the importance of exercise and play to keep physically and mentally fit. Dogs love to play. I have a nightly ritual with my Chihuahua. We play a game where I try to take his toy (a plush chicken or banana) away from him, if I can. He’s very fast. I come away from this refreshed and ready to work on writing or editing. This also helped me heal because exercise and physical therapy was very important to my recovery and for the regular management of my chronic condition.

My dogs have also taught me the importance of taking breaks, letting me know when it is time to eat or go outside—and always at the same time each day. This routine keeps me from sitting too long at the computer and worsening my back pain. After a break, I return to work, my energy restored.

Dogs have remarkable intuitive abilities. They know when a storm is approaching, when someone is coming home, or whether they like someone or not. This has taught me to listen to my intuition, especially when it came to finding the right occupation and exercise schedule that suited my health issues. I kept trying to do things the way I had before my illness. Once I stopped fighting myself and listened to my gut feeling, everything fell in to place.

The unconditional love dogs offer us might be the most important lesson. They love you regardless of your problems, your physical appearance, or your imperfections. This lesson has helped me strengthen my human relationships.

The lessons I learned from my dogs improved my life in ways I never realized until I opened my eyes and took notice, and I can’t imagine living without at least one dog by my side.

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com        

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

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Monday Musings: My Pets: Loki’s world

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

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Monday Musings: Playtime

I wrote this a long time ago when we were living in CA and my two dogs, now gone, used to play every night. It’s one of my fondest memories.

Playtime:

It always happens around 7 p.m. each night. I am usually sitting at my computer, writing or surfing the web, when I see something out of the corner of my eye. Looking up, I see Xena, my American Eskimo, and Hercules, my Chihuahua/Dachshund mix, staring at each other from opposite ends of the long hallway. I know what will happen next and I have the best seat in the house to watch it unfold. It amazes me how they communicate by body language or maybe animals have some sort of telepathy. They continue to stare at each other, Xena looking relaxed, Hercules, his body tense, his brown eyes unblinking. She lies on the carpet closet to me, her elegant body perfectly poised. He stands at the far end of the long hallway, head down.

Suddenly, she moves, a white blur running down the hallway straight at him. He runs for cover under the kitchen table mere seconds before she reaches him. I can hear him furiously scratching the carpet with his front paws. She sits down where he once stood, tilting her head in his direction, a curious look on her face and pointed ears twitching. Bolting past her, he races around the couch and down the hall toward me, stopping at the end of the hall, panting. They face each other once again. His body tense, nails digging into the carpet, ready to sprint at a moment’s notice.

Without warning, she moves down the hall like a white flash, toppling him beneath her larger body. She grabs him by the scruff of his neck with her teeth, flinging him around like a rag doll. To someone unused to their play, it looks like she might be hurting him, but he squeals with delight, struggling to get away, pushing at her with his paws. Growling and flashing her fangs, she continues to fling him around, pinning him to the ground.

Finally, she lets him up and casually walks away to sprawl down on the cool tile by the front door, her pink tongue like a lost rose petal on a snow covered ground. He bounds toward her, brushing up against her, biting at the thick fur at her neck. She ignores him, rolling onto her side. He continues to bite and rub against her. Lifting her head, she gently licks his little brown face. He growls but gives in to her. After walking a few feet away, he plops down on the carpet, rolling onto his side, eyes closing.

Playtime is over.

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

New Release!

Monday Musings: Kelley’s misc. pics

Another Godzilla pic. He let me get really close this time, but right after I took this picture, he darted into his den.

 

Loki patiently waits for me to finish taking pictures outside.

 

My husband playing a gig at the Twisted Metal Cycle Shop in LHC.

 

Me and my sister at the Twisted Metal Cycle Shop party.

 

Me and my husband at the Twisted Metal Cycle Shop party.

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Forbidden love… Broken vows… Betrayal…

A nymph. A centaur. Enemies in love.

Will love be enough to save them?

http://www.kelleyheckart.com/TheBearGoddess.html

Monday Musings: Death amongst the beauty

On the morning I was driving home after watching my dog get euthanized, I couldn’t help noticing all the beauty in the world even though my dog had just died. Inside, my world was bleak and empty of any joy. Outside, the sun was shining and life was evident in the smiling people going about their day.

I thought maybe all that life and beauty was meant to taunt me. And then I realized that I wasn’t the only one that had just lost something precious to me. Every day people and other living things die, which means there are grieving people around at all times affected by death. And yet there is still beauty in the world even when death is present. The sun still shines, painting the sky in layers of light and dark shades of amber rose, the birds still sing as if unaware that death is present—a silent, grim shadow hidden amongst all the beauty…waiting.

While I was driving, this one thought rose to the surface: Maybe all the beauty is meant to help us move on, to be inspired to keep living.

 

 

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Monday Musings: Losing a pet is never easy

On July 15, 2014 we lost our older male dog. This isn’t the first dog we’ve lost and won’t be the last, but it’s never easy to lose a pet. I don’t understand how these creatures worm their way into our hearts. I mean, they are only animals, right? They aren’t human. And I think that is the answer—they are not human. They give us what a human cannot—unconditional love and constant companionship. So we love them differently and we mourn them differently. I always worry that I didn’t do the right thing for them. They can’t tell me what hurts them or what they want, so I have to guess. This time I think I guessed it right. This gives me some comfort, but losing a pet that is a constant in your life is heartbreaking, no matter how you lose them.
Hercules wasn’t like any other dog. He was a chi-weenie, so he was part dachshund—a hound. Hound dogs lead with their nose and prefer to be out sniffing things. Herc didn’t care if he pleased his masters. He did his own thing. So when he was always at my side, I knew he was there because he wanted to be there. We tried a training technique on him once. The idea behind this technique was that dogs don’t like to be shunned by the pack, so they won’t repeat whatever they did to get them shunned. This technique worked great on our other, people-pleasing, dog, but not on Herc. When it came time for him to be let outside and shunned for 15 minutes, he didn’t care. He just went about exploring the yard with his hound nose. And that made me love him more.
In the end he lived up to his sturdy name, fighting for his life as long as he could, and then I told him it was okay to stop fighting. Farewell, my sweet boy, I sure hope we meet again.
RIP Hercules
1998-2014


A few of his many nicknames throughout the years: Monkey Butt, Stinky Man, Peanut, Mouse, Mr. Grumpy Jeans, The Badger, Old Man.

One of the first pics I took of him as a puppy.

He always thought he was a bigger dog.

Hunting in the grass in CA.

1998 or 99 in CA. Happier times.

Can you believe he was red-flagged at the vet? LOL

This is one of my favorite pics of him playing with his sister. Devil Dog!

Even as an old man he still had some fire.

His favorite place was on my bed right next to me.

Patrolling his yard.

Hanging out with Loki.

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Musing Mondays: Pets in our lives

My two boys. It’s strange how pets come into our lives, usually when you don’t expect it. After we lost Xena, we decided to wait until Herc passed before getting another dog, mainly because he doesn’t get along with other dogs. But when we started pet sitting my niece’s Chihuahua, we discovered how well he fit right into our family, and Herc tolerated him just fine. As if it was meant to be, Loki soon became a permanent part of our family. With his lively personality, he fills that hole left when Xena died.

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Memories of Xena

We lost our female dog on 5/5/12 to Lymphoma. After her diagnosis, Xena went downhill very fast, but like her namesake, Xena: Warrior Princess, she was a fighter to the end.
I usually don’t post about anything other than writing related stuff and my collection of hunky longhaired men, but this seemed appropriate since she was an inspiration to me in many ways. We shared the same medical condition, colitis, but while I complained and felt sorry for myself, she never showed any signs of illness, always happy, enjoying the sun on her face and eager for belly rubs. She also inspired my writing. A white wolf in one of my books is based on her.

Xena had a special bond with my husband. She shared my husband’s love of peanut butter and music. She was an accomplished singer. When Mike would strum his guitar, she would sit in front of him and sing along to the melody. She also had an awesome wolf howl.

She loved her stuffed animals and would gather them around her.
At Christmas, she would proudly show off her latest stuffed animal.

At an outside New Year’s Eve party at my parents’ house, she sampled any plates or drinks that the guests unknowingly placed on the ground by their chairs. She was so stealthy, no one noticed her but me.

When she played with her brother, she would make him do all the work. While he ran around and got tired, she would remain in one spot and lunge at him as he ran by.

I will always remember her playing with White Boy the Chihuahua, chasing him around the coffee table at a high speed at my parents’ house.

She loved belly rubs the most, well maybe after peanut butter.

When she hurt her leg and was walking on three legs for a while, she chased a rabbit on only three legs. Her nickname until her leg healed was Hippity Hop.

Sock wars. Xena and her brother would play in Mike’s pile of freshly washed white socks on the bed.

My husband would leave the bathroom door cracked open a little in the morning and she would burst in on him, eager for the treats he would give her later.

While sitting in his recliner eating something with peanut butter, Mike would see an eye staring at him from the corner of the footrest. It was Xena, hoping for a lick of peanut butter.

Xena was strong to the very end and we will never forget her. RIP, beautiful girl.

1998-2012

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
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