Today's welcome goes oit to Lilly

Today’s warm welcome goes out to Lilly, a lovely young woman who could not resist pausing to greet Donner at our “morning office” outside Starbucks at Washington Harbor.  Lilly gave me a small chance to practice speaking Russian, which served as a reminder to me to get back to studying and using Russian daily. Большой спасибо, Лили

 

ED & Donner

 

Emily

Today's welcome goes out to Emily, the GW student-oarswoman who stopped by to pet Donner today. For showing a compassionate interest in Donner's story, Emily was awarded a coveted On the Road patch.

Hello Kate

Today's welcome goes out to Kate, a delightful young lady from Catholic University who could not resist Donner this morning at our Saturday office outside Starbucks. She, of course, was awarded a coveted On the Road patch for her obvious devotion to dogs. Kate, like i, is one of those many people who prefer dogs to people, readers of my blog excepted, of course.

Triple welcomes today

Donner had a busy day today greeting new friends and, as usual, staying om high alert for dogs to do whatever he hopes to do with or to them.

 

Today's welcome goes out first to the three two girls and their mother (or older sister?) who greeted us outside Starbucks.  I felt guilty telling them Donner's story because they all looked so concerned about his first four years of life chained in several LA back yards.  No need to show concern, I told them, because I kept his original name ("Thunder") hidden from him (Donner is thunder in German) to serve as a constant reminder to me that as a rescued dog, I need to be more patient and understanding with him, and I am. All three of these compassionate dog-lovers were awarded conveted OnTheRoad.camp patches.

 

Soon after we got on our way, we were approached (almost assaulted 😊) by Eileen, who diverted herself from her obviously tough run through the park to ask to pet Donner. I graciously obliged, and Donner welcomed the respite from our walk to search guardedly for dogs in a 180-degree arc.  Eileen was also award a converted OnTheRoad.camp patch for her exuberance.

 

Finally, just after Eileen got on her way, I spotted four young teenagers ahead of us, one of them clearly showing the tell-tale signs of yearning to pet Donner.  I was right.  As we approached them, the one unable to conceal her yearning came up to me (almost blocking my passage) and asked to pet Donner.  Again, I gladly obliged. I had run out of OnTheRoad.camp patches, so I asked them to send me their contact information (edmulrenin@gmail.com) and I would haply send each one.  (As I usually do to such an exuberant group, I asked each of them their birthdays and one of them shared my birthday.)

 

I cannot end this posting without mentioning that Ava, the Shirley Temple look-alike from yesterday, happened to stop by again today with her mother and brother and got in another pet of Donner. I'd like to think she persuaded her mom to return just for that, but I think the truth is that Starbucks's was the real draw.  Regardless, Ava got in another pet of Donner and Donner got still another pet to reinforce in him that there really are compassionate people in this world.

 

Lena & Menola and Ava

... LENA  and her beautiful white cocker spaniel (?) MENOLA who greeted us this morning at what has become my off-the-road morning office, Starbucks on the Washington Harbor.  Thank you for showing such compassion toward Donner on account of his past life as Thunder, including your willingness to bring Menola closer to Donner to let him experience the friendship of a dog, and such a pretty dog at that.  Donner, by the way, first caught Menola's reflection in the Starbuck's glass door and could not take his eyes off “her” until she appeared in reality a few minutes later just a few feet from him around the nearby planter.  Then, for the next five minutes, his eyes and attention darted back and forth between the two Menolas as Donner tried to figure out which Menola was prettier, or perhaps the greater threat to his space.

 Also, another welcome goes out to a beautiful 4-year old (?) blonde girl named AVA who is the closest double for a 4-year old Shirley Temple I have ever seen, and I knew Shirley Temple.  Ava was awestruck by Donner in the calmest, most serene way I have ever seen before. It was almost as if she was thinking, he is a good dog, I am a good girl, and so it is my duty to pet him.

 Needless to say, Lena and Ava were both rewarded coveted On The Road patches for their affection for animals, in this case, Donner. Ava, bless her heart, after holding the patch for a few seconds, handed it back to me as if saying, this couldn't possibly be for me.  It was for her, and I returned it to her.

Prior Welcomes

Click here to see some prior Welcomes