Wolves and Dogs and Leonbergers

Image above by Kevin from The Beginning at Last

This is a submission for Kevin’s No Theme Thursday

Canis Lupus Familiaris

Canis Lupus Familiaris, the dog, is a close relative of the grey wolf. Dogs and wolves share a high percentage of DNA and are in fact the same species. They can mate and produce offspring referred to as wolf dogs. However, keeping wolves or wolf dogs as pets is not recommended. Our late Leonberger dog Bronco was in fact accused of being a wolf by a little boy and he was accused of being a bear by a neighbor. The boy was very close to being right.

The left-hand side of the picture shows a grey wolf looking into the camera and the text underneath says : Canis Lupus, the grey wolf is a fearsome and courageous hunter in nature. The right-hand side of the picture shows our Leonberger dog Bronco looking into the camera and the text underneath says : Canis Lupus familiaris, a close relative of the grey wolf, is sometimes also brave. This specimen bravely protects the life of smaller dogs and hamsters.
Leonbergers are big dogs, and little boys may think they are wolves, but Leonbergers are very friendly.
The left-hand side of the picture shows a grey wolf looking into the camera and the text underneath says : Canis Lupus, the grey wolf is a fearsome and courageous hunter in nature. The right-hand side of the picture shows our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo sitting in a stroller and the text underneath says : Canis Lupus familiaris, a close relative of the grey wolf, is sometimes less brave. This specimen prefers to sit in a stroller when he hears strange sounds.
Mini Australian Shepherds like our dog Rollo may look like wolves but are rarely mistaken for wolves. A quacking duck can be very scary to little mini–Australian Shepherds.

Are Big Dogs Wolves ?

The short stories below are from my book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger”. A Leonberger is a large type of dog, a so-called giant breed, closely related to Saint Bernards, and allegedly also Great Pyrenees dogs Newfoundland dogs. Bronco weighed 140 pounds when he was not overweight.


Bronco was a big dog. Once when I was walking Bronco around the neighborhood, a neighbor who always let his black Labs run loose saw us. He shouted to his wife, “Honey, get the dogs inside! Someone is walking a bear out here.” I guess letting your large dogs run loose isn’t a problem until someone walks a dog much bigger than yours.

On a number of occasions, we’ve met people who said to us that Bronco is the biggest dog they’ve ever seen. However, there are bigger dogs. We’ve met bigger English bullmastiffs and bigger Great Danes.

One day I took Bronco into PetSmart, and after I did my shopping, he and I were standing in the checkout line. Bronco was very quiet and well-behaved, but a boy ahead of us in line became quite alarmed when he saw us. He shouted, “Look! A wolf, a wolf, a wolf!” He pointed his finger at Bronco. His mom tried to calm the boy, but he would not stop shouting. He didn’t seem to be afraid of Bronco, but he was really concerned that there was a big wolf in the pet store. I tried to explain to the boy that Bronco was not a wolf. He was just a big dog.

Since our neighbor called Bronco a bear, I am including a second image from Kevin’s post that I think illustrates what our neighbor saw as I walked passed his house. Well, I had only one Leonberger/Bear and I don’t have antlers or a beard, and our neighborhood does not have that many trees. Other than that, it is spot on.

AI generated image showing an old man with a long beard wearing antlers as he is walking his two Grizzly Bears through a dense coniferous forest.
Walking my bear through the neighborhood. Image from Kevin’s No Theme Thursday

Nordic Wolf Lullaby

Finally, a beautiful Nordic Lullaby sung by Jonna Jinton. Jonna Jinton is a Swedish singer who lives nearby Örnsköldsvik in northern Sweden, which is the town where I am originally from (now I live in Dallas, Texas). So, if you watch the video, the nature you see is from my old neighborhood.

The Lullaby is about a wolf who is hungry and cold, but he can’t have the singer’s baby for dinner. But she could offer a pig tail. What some may find remarkable about the Lullaby is that the mother being threatened by the wolf shows the wolf empathy. The existence of the stomach creates conflict between us creatures. To see the English translation turn on subtitles.

Big Events In 2024

This post is about big events that happened to me or my family during 2024 and that I blogged about. I selected six events that stood out to me. They are sort of my 2024 blogging summary. Our pug Daisy died at the age of 15 ½ and we still miss her a lot. On April 8, 2024, we experienced the event of the year, the total solar eclipse. Dallas (where we live) was in the path of totality and the weather was clear. It was spectacular.  Then the largest newspaper trade association in the United States the National Newspaper Association (NNA, 2,300 newspapers) awarded a Dallas magazine that had written a review for my book “Le Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle” an honorable mention for best book review of the year. That was fourth place out of thousands of newspapers and magazines.

In August I launched a new blog, superfactful (please feel free to follow) and in September my oldest son and his wife and me traveled to Sweden and Norway where we saw a lot and encountered magical creatures. On October 21st, 2024, NBC news interviewed me about a tornado that ravaged our neighborhood five years ago.

We miss our Pug Daisy

On April 5th, 2024, our beloved pug Daisy took her last breath. She was 15 ½ years old. She had an enlarged heart, her back legs were giving out, and she had breathing problems. She took lots of different medications. Yet, the breathing crisis she had that morning came unexpectedly. Our veterinary told us it was time. It was a dark day for us, and we still miss her dearly. Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo also seems to miss her and now he is alone. To read the tribute post I made for her click here.

Our pug is leaning on vent located close to our wood floor.
Daisy liked to sit in front of the vent when it was cold or alternatively too hot.

Total Solar Eclipse in Dallas

On April 8th, 2024, there was a total solar eclipse and Dallas, where we live, was in the path of totality, and we were lucky with the weather. A total solar eclipse is a totally different experience from a partial solar eclipse. Despite knowing this beforehand, and having seen a partial solar eclipse, I was amazed. As you approach totality you will have a partial solar eclipse, so you’ll experience both. The partial solar eclipse portion lasted for a few hours and totality lasted only four minutes, but during those four minutes the sun and the moon put on a spectacular show. For the event we had prepared a little party on our backyard patio.

A partial solar eclipse is interesting too. The shadows change during a partial solar eclipse. The shadows of the tree leaves look like moon crescents, but it is not dark, it is still daylight. The sun will look like a bright crescent if you are wearing solar eclipse glasses, but the light is too strong for you to see anything without glasses, and trying to look at the sun during a partial eclipse is dangerous.

When the total solar eclipse happened it suddenly got dark, but not midnight dark, more like late twilight. The stars came out, the birds and the crickets got quiet, Rollo hid under the table, it felt colder, and straight above us Venus came out bright and shining. You usually see Venus in the west soon after sunset or in the east before sun dawn, not above your head in the middle of the day. You could take off your solar eclipse glasses and look straight at the sun, because it was no longer very bright. What you saw was a big black circle surrounded by wispy foggy lights about as bright as the full moon, maybe a little brighter. That was the sun’s corona, which is only visible to the naked eye during a total solar eclipse. To read more about this event click here.

Black circle surrounded by a wispy white fog like light. That’s the sun’s corona.
We took many pictures (see below) but this is a good stock photo. Solar Eclipse Stock Photo ID: 2344355767 by aeonWAVE

Preston Hollow People Magazine receives a National Award for a Book Review of my Leonberger Book

In September 2023 a Dallas journalist wrote a half page positive book review for my book “Le Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. In 2024 her and the newspaper/magazine received an honorable mention for Best Book Review (that’s 4th place) at the annual National Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contest organized by The National Newspaper Association (NNA). NNA has 2,300 members (newspapers and magazines). I can add that Preston Hollow is an area in north Dallas. To read more about this, click here.

The book review of “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Including photos and text.
This is a photo of the page of Preston Hollow People Magazine where the review appeared. If you click on the picture (or click here you can see the online version of the book review in Preston Hollow People Magazine.

Launch of the Super Facts Blog

On August 5, 2024, I launched my new blog superfactful url https://superfactful.com.  The goal of this blog is to create a long list of facts that are important, not trivia, and that are known to be true and yet are either disputed by large segments of the public or highly surprising or misunderstood by many. These kinds of facts are special because they are important and at the same time there is a lot of  confusion around them, or they are shocking. Therefore, I call these facts super facts. I should say that in addition to super fact posts I am also posting about other interesting and fun information. My first post “Bamboozlement Misunderstandings, Big Surprises and My Journey” was not a super fact post. To read more click here .

Image showing a disintegrating brain
Smashing our old beliefs with new surprising facts, super facts. Expand your mind and teach me some unexpected truths. Shutterstock ID: 1685660680 by MattL_Images.

I can add that this site certainly needs more followers so feel free to subscribe. The subscribe button is on the right on a PC and at the bottom on a mobile device.

Scandinavian Adventure

In September 2024 I visited my native country Sweden and Norway with my oldest son and his new wife. We visited Stockholm, Uppsala, Oslo and Norwegian fjords. We saw palaces and castles, the old city in Stockholm (800 years old city on an island), we saw many museums including the Vasa Museum featuring an extremely well-preserved Swedish war ship that sank in 1628. We encountered a Huldra, a female magical creature, in the Norwegian mountains (OK this was a tourist ploy, but a fun one). To read more about our adventures click here, or here, or here.

Three people standing on a boat on the fjord. Left to right, me Thomas Wikman, my son Jacob and his wife Ashley.
From a cruise in Sognefjord, Norway. Left to right, me, my oldest son  and his wife. Click on the image to visit my post titled : “Tourism in Scandinavia on World Tourism Day”.
An image AI-illustration of a Huldra
Imagining how a Huldra would look like. Stock AI-generated image ID: 2400845203 by Shutterstock AI Generator. Click on the image to visit my post titled : “Scandinavian Folklore”.
A Tomte wearing a red hat in a snowy winter forest | Scandinavian Folklore
An illustration of a Tomte another Scandinavian mythical creature. Shutterstock ID: 2060057882 by PLIMPLUM.

The NBC Interview with me about Dallas Tornado

October 19 and October 20, 2024, I got phone calls from NBC Universal. NBC Universal is a large media company that is a merger between NBC news and Universal Studios. I ignored the phone calls, because why would NBC call me. I thought it must be spam or a scam. Then I listened to the message they left, and I realized it was not spam. The NBC journalists had been reading my Leonberger blog, specifically a post I had made about the tornado that hit Dallas and ravaged our neighborhood on October 20, 2019. They wanted some of my photos and they wanted to interview me. You can read more here and you can listen and see the interview here. It is at one minute and ten seconds.

A photo of my TV above the fireplace. I am on the TV screen.
Seeing myself on the TV was a bit surreal. Click on the image to see the interview. My interview starts at 1 minute and 11 seconds.
A neighbor’s house with the roof ripped off.
NBC used this photo. A neighbor’s house the morning of October 21st, 2019. Again, click on the image to see the interview.

Below are some additional photos in from these events in the form of a photo collage.

I wish everyone a peaceful and wonderful 2025

Menu Update

Above this post there are Menus “About Me”, “Home”, “History”, “All Posts”, “The Book”, “Contact”. Today I updated the content of the menu called “All Posts”. This page lists all my blog posts that I’ve ever done. I added headers to the nine categories as well as a banner style image to every category. Below I am illustrating the first category “The Adventures of Bronco and his Dog Friends”. Please check out the new pageclick here. What do you think?

The Adventures of Bronco and his Dog Friends

Illustrations and photos of our Leonberger Bronco

Again check out the updated page and any opinions are welcome. Click here to see the page.

Holiday Book Promotion and the Leonberger Health Foundation

The Price Has Been Reduced

Amazon lowered the price of the paperback version of my book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle” from $19.95 to $17.95 some time ago and I cannot set it back to $19.95. I am guessing that it is because of Amazon’s lowest price policy and that another bookstore somewhere is selling it for $17.95. So, I am thinking, why not roll with it and have a holiday promotion. I also just lowered the price of the Kindle version from $4.95 to $2.99. The prices in all other countries, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Australia, etc., are likewise lowered by the same amount.

I would like to add that the reason I tried to set the price back to $19.95 is not because I want more money. I am donating all royalties to the Leonberger Health Foundation International, which is a great organization that supports health related breed-specific research. However, the research frequently improves the health of other dog breeds as well. You can read more about the Leonberger Health Foundation International below.

The gold and beige book cover features the face of our Leonberger Bronco and the text "The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle. Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger."
This is the front cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com location for the paperback version of the book.
The back cover in gold and beige features a photo of a Leonberger in a snowy forest and an introduction to the book.
This is the back cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com location for the kindle version of the book.
The endorsements say “A wonderful tribute to the author's beloved Bronco. The stories are heartwarming as well as informative - a true glimpse into life with a Leonberger. D'Nae Wilson, President, Leonberger Health Foundation International.” and “A lovely tribute to Bronco, with lots of resources for general Leonberger information. Julie Schaffert, LCA breeder since 1992.”
These are the endorsements for the book. Click on the image to go to the Barnes and Noble location for the book.

In this book you’ll read about some of Bronco’s amazing feats: the night he scared away a prowler; the day he performed a hamster search and rescue; the time he stumped the Geek Squad; and the late night he snuck into the kitchen and ate a two-pound bag of dog treats, a box of pastries, a loaf of bread, a grilled chicken, and a Key lime pie, all in one sitting. You’ll also read about his unflappable calm during a north Texas tornado and his stoicism as he endured health challenges in his later years.

In addition to entertaining stories, these pages contain a wealth of practical guidance, including:

  • a history of the Leonberger breed;
  • advice for the care of very large dogs;
  • breed-specific health and genetic information;
  • training and feeding tips;
  • suggestions for finding a breeder;
  • the official breed standard; and
  • an extensive resource guide.

Below is a list of places where you can get my book.

The Leonberger Health Foundation International

The Leonberger Health Foundation International is an organization that supports science and research impacting Leonberger health, longevity and breed preservation. Examples of research they’ve supported include research on Addison’s Disease, Inherited Leonberger Polyneuropathy (LPN), LEMP research, the Rabies Challenge Fund, Osteosarcoma, Hemangiosarcoma, genetic causes of male (dog) infertility, Cryptorchidism, study of cruciate ligament repair, Glaucoma, cardiac diseases, thyroid disease, neurological disorders, longevity & aging, population diversity, juvenile renal dysplasia, anal furunculosis, the EGFR Immunotherapy Project, and Leonberger inherited Arrythmia. As mentioned above, a lot of the progress applies to other dog breeds as well.

LHFI’s global biobank contains DNA samples from more than nine thousand Leonbergers. Among the organization’s notable achievements are the eradication of Addison’s disease among Leonbergers and the raising of more than $650,000 for research into conditions that affect canine health. Another success is the fact that since 2011, no Leonbergers with two copies of the LPN1 gene mutation (which causes Leonberger polyneuropathy) have been recorded in LHFI’s biobank. LHFI does other things as well. LHFI grants an award called the Grey Muzzle Award to Leonbergers who reach the impressive age of 12 years. Leonbergers and other giant breeds tend to live short lives, something LHFI is trying to solve and they have made progress. One of the recipients of the Grey Muzzle Award was our Leonberger Bronco.

The picture shows our Leonberger Bronco’s Grey Muzzle Award. It says “The Grey Muzzle Award, for Leonberger longevity, is presented with gratitude by The Leonberger Health Foundation International To Bronco, For offering hope and potential for longer lives for Leonbergers throughout the world.”.
The Grey Muzzle Award from the Leonberger Health Foundation International.

Below is an 8-minute video explaining the ongoing research on sudden cardiac death in young Leonbergers.

Dogs and Coyotes in the Neighborhood

Bronco our Leonberger is standing on our red sofa and stretching forward to give me a hug.
A young Bronco giving me a hug

The coyote (Canis latrans) is a close relative of the wolf (Canis lupus) and the dog (Canis lupus familiaris). Coyotes live in every US state except Hawaii. It is estimated that there are between three to five coyotes in the United States.  Coyotes kill a lot of cats and dogs as well as livestock including 135,000 sheep per year .

Coyote standing in snow and looking into the camera
Coyote in Yosemite. Yathin S Krishnappa, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons.

Our neighborhood is generously populated with coyotes. Bronco used to bark at them, so they never got close to us. He tried to chase them, but they ran off. I assume they were afraid of him, but they certainly weren’t afraid of Daisy or Ryu.

A coyote walking across grass.
Wild Coyote – (Canis latrans) Stock Photo ID: 1629174541 by Tory Kallman

One day I saw a coyote coming around the corner at the end of our street as I was walking Daisy and Ryu. He saw us and proceeded straight toward us without hesitation and with no sign of fear. He wasn’t running, but coyotes have long legs, and he was sort of trotting along and moving pretty fast. I wasn’t worried for myself—an adult human can easily handle a lone coyote. I was worried for Daisy and Ryu. I didn’t want them to be the coyote’s dinner.

Our beige pug Daisy is on the left. To the right of her is our black and white Japanese Chin Ryu. On the right is our big Leonberger Bronco.
Our Leonberger Bronco with our two small dogs, Daisy the pug and Ryu the Japanese Chin.

As the coyote came closer, I stopped and stared at him. When he was around fifteen feet away, he stopped and stared back at me. Ryu and Daisy were staring at the coyote, too. I could see that they were frightened, but they didn’t bark. Meanwhile, I was calculating how best I could fight the animal. It wasn’t practical to lift both dogs in my arms and try to fight at the same time. So I had to let the dogs stay on the ground. Before I could strategize further, though, the coyote continued on his way and disappeared behind some houses farther down the road. Coyotes are common almost everywhere in the United States, so if you need another reason avoid letting your cats and small dogs run loose, remind yourself of this story.

Our beige pug Daisy (on the left) is holding Ryu’s leash in her mouth. Ryu is our black and white Japanese Chin.
Daisy getting ready to take Ryu for a walk.

The video below is in regard to an incident that happened here in Dallas two years ago when a two-year-old boy was injured by a coyote.

This two-minute informational video was created by a local news organization after the coyote attack on the two-year-old boy. DFW stands for Dallas Forth Worth.

I should say that I certainly respect the coyotes right to life and I think that they deserve to be treated humanely and with respect. However, they are unafraid of people, they roam our neighborhoods and there are so many of them. You need to be ready to protect your small dogs and cats, and even large dogs. A pack of coyotes can do a lot of damage to a large dog. Don’t let your small dogs and cats run lose and keep your dogs on a leash. You may also want to consider bringing maze with you on your walks.

Puppy Photo Theft on Facebook

A little bit more than a week ago a photo of our Leonberger Bronco taken when he was three months old was stolen and used without attribution. The thief, Valerie, was the founder and administrator of a new Leonberger Facebook group.  In addition, she changed his name and gender. Our breeder (well Bronco’s breeder) Julie Schaffert alerted me to the situation. I was unaware of the existence of this group. Julie knows this photo well since I’ve used it a lot on Facebook and Instagram as well as here. I think the worst part of it was that the thief manipulated the emotions of the members of the group by fabricating a story about the puppy being sick. What a dubious way to attract attention.

Photo of a Leonberger puppy wearing a red scarf.
Photo of Bronco at three months old. This photo was copied without permission and Bronco’s name and gender were changed.
The text says, “My Gracie is really sick please send some prayers for quick recovery”.
His name was certainly not Gracie, and the story about being sick was fabricated. BTW this kind of emotional manipulation has become ubiquitous. Don’t believe these kinds of claims.
Julie’s comment says, “This dog is not Gracie !! This is a stolen picture of Bronco a dog I bred!! I believe this page is a scam page.
This was Julie’s comment.

It is far from the only time I’ve had a dog photo stolen. I was (well still is) a member of a few pug groups and all of them except for one smaller group were photo theft groups. It seemed like the bigger the groups, the worse they were. The founders/administrators of the groups regularly stole the photos posted by the members and then used the Facebook approval feature to prevent the members from complaining about the situation. I had several photos of Daisy stolen.

The photo below was stolen dozens of times and passed around to several groups including groups I was not a member of. I accidentally discovered my photos in other pug groups that I was randomly browsing. Her name and gender were often changed, and it was perpetually her birthday for at least several months. She was congratulated thousands of times, which was a silver lining. At first, I played along and just said thank you to all the people congratulating her even though I was not the one who posted the photo. However, that became unsustainable as there were so many congratulations in so many places for so long and then one guy started accusing me of pretending it was my pug. Well, it was my pug. After a while I just gave up on the pug groups. It seemed to be the same problem everywhere.

Photo of Daisy’s 15th birthday. The photo was stolen dozens of times in various pug groups.

So why do people steal dog photos? It seems like in some cases it is for the purpose of selling stuff, but that is not always the case. It seems like some photo thieves just want to grow their groups and become “influencers”. I should say that one of my old on-line friends told me that he had a popular YouTube video downloaded and re-uploaded (stolen) several times. He was making money off that video so in that case it was a matter of theft of money. YouTube took down those videos when he reported them, but naturally he still lost some money.

This seems to be a problem that’s spreading like wildfire on social media. I did not use to see this, but now I see it all the time. Photo theft happens even in the beer groups I help administer. Apparently taking your own photo of a beer can is too much to ask for. Unfortunately, it seems like photo theft has become normalized behavior.

What Is Good About Having a Pet

Daily writing prompt
What is good about having a pet?

In regard to the daily prompt “What is good about having a pet?” Pets can give you so many things, love, company, adventure, memorable moments, hilarious moments, protection, and playing with them or taking a dog for a walk is good for your health. We have dogs and have had dogs for decades. According to this article from the Mayo clinic dogs are good for your health. Dogs reduce work related stress, help manage stress, increase activity and help combat loneliness.

In addition, our late Leonberger dog Bronco protected us and our neighborhood from a trespasser and a peeping Tom who was terrorizing my wife and other women in the neighborhood. A Leonberger is very large dog, like a St. Bernard. The police could not solve the problem. The private detectives I hired did not catch him, despite the fact they were hiding in our backyard at night. However, one time when the peeping Tom showed up, I sent Bronco after him and that took care of the problem. Bronco probably just wanted to say hello, but a big bear-looking dog dashing towards you in the darkness can be unnerving. That scared him off for good. Bronco saved the neighborhood.

Bronco also saved other dogs and pets on several occasions. He detected when our Labrador Baylor was about to have an insulin shock. He protected our pug Daisy from an attacking German Shepherd. He found our runaway hamsters on a number of occasions. Below are some photos and illustrations of our dogs.

A photo of our Leonberger as a puppy. He is wearing a red scarf.
Our Leonberger Dog Bronco at 3 months old
Our Leonberger Bronco is standing on our red sofa. He is giving me a hug.
Me with our Leonberger Bronco. He was not yet fully grown.
My wife is sitting on a red sofa. Our large Leonberger Bronco is sitting in her lap. He is big and heavy, and she is barely visible underneath him.
Our large but cuddly 167lb Leonberger Bronco is sitting nu my wife Claudia’s lap.
A man sitting on a lawn chair and looking in between the blinds of our bedroom window.
The stalker / peeping Tom is sitting on a lawn chair and looking through our bedroom window at night. Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt.
Illustration of our Leonberger running after a man wearing jeans and a purple shirt.
After the police and private detectives all failed our Leonberger Bronco is chasing off the intruder for good. Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt.
Bronco has puffy cheeks. There is a hamster in each cheek.
Our Leonberger Bronco is carrying two hamsters in his mouth. Don’t worry they were fine. Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt.
Our yellow Lab Baylor is sitting on the left. Our brown-black German Shepherd Baby is sitting on the right.
Our Labrador Baylor and German Shepherd Baby. They were both rescues.
Our son is sleeping on our beige leather sofa. He is holding our sleeping pug puppy.
Our son with our pug Daisy when she was a puppy.
Our Japanese Chin is sitting on the left in suitcase and our pug on the right.
Our Japanese Chin Ryu and our Pug Daisy are protesting our travel by sitting in our suitcase. They want to come with us.
Bronco is standing behind Rollo. Rollo is black and white and very small. They are standing in front of the kitchen.
Our Leonberger Bronco with our new puppy Rollo, a mini-Australian Shepherd.
Our Pug Daisy and our mini-Australian Shepherd barking at people passing by our house. Notice the joke.
Rollo, our mini-Australian Shepherd could be a pest. He loved biting Bronco’s tail and even swung in it as if it was a swing.
The joke in the photos is : Daisy says “Rollo do you want to hear a joke”, Rollo says “OK”, Daisy says “knock! knock!”, then they both start barking “Woof! Woof! Woof!”, “Woof! Woof! Woof!”
Our Pug Daisy and our mini-Australian Shepherd barking at people passing by our house. Notice the joke.

Describe a Family Member

Today’s writing prompt is “Describe a Family Member”. This family member is good looking, fun to be around, and he is a loving character. He loves to play ball, he is very curious, and he loves to eat. However, he is anxious and easily frightened and he can also be a bit of an a-hole, and he hates dogs and cats. Can you guess which family member he is?

Daily writing prompt
Describe a family member.
The picture shows a woman (mother) and a man (father) and their daughter. Planet Hollywood is in the background.
Three family members, but there are more of us.
Rollo as a puppy peering out from behind a sofa chair.
The answer is Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd.

You may ask yourself, but he is a dog, how can he hate dogs and cats? Good question, but I don’t think he knows he is a dog. I think he thinks he is a little person. He prefers human company. He got along well with our late Leonberger Bronco and our pug Daisy, but he hates every other dog and all cats.

Rollo holding a soccer ball with his paw.
Rollo loves rolling and chasing balls.
Rollo biting and pulling our Leonberger Bronco’s tail.
As I mentioned, he can be a bit of an a-hole.
Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd is sitting in a pink stroller.
As mentioned, Rollo is anxious and easily frightened. Daisy’s stroller is a good thing to sit in for such occasions.
Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd is sitting on the floor. He is wearing a big blue cone.
Today and the last few days Rollo has been wearing a cone. He had to extract a tooth on Thursday.

Five Years After the Dallas Tornado of October 20 2019

Today, October 20, 2024, is the 5-year anniversary of the EF3 Tornado that ravaged our neighborhood. Our chimney was smashed by a piece of concrete flying off a neighbor’s house, our roof was damaged and needed to be replaced, our garage door was destroyed, and the wiring and pipes in the attic were destroyed. In addition, our fence was damaged, and my grill flew across the yard. The cost of the repairs was $50,000.00. However, we were lucky compared to many of our neighbors whose houses were destroyed.

A neighbor’s house with the roof ripped off.
A neighbor’s house the morning of October 21st, 2019.
Debris on the street from a neighbor’s destroyed house.
Another neighbor’s house. This house was about 100 yards from our house. It took a direct hit from the tornado.

The house of my wife’s parents was more severely damaged than our house. The wind from the Tornado lifted my 89-year-old father-in-law up in the air and he was hit by a broken marble table that injured his back. He had a sore that was about one foot long. He did not go to the hospital. The school where our boys used to go, St. Marks School of Texas, was badly damaged and the walls of the gymnasium blew away. The neighborhood looked terrible afterwards.

My wife Claudia is walking among the debris in my in-laws house.
Inside Claudia’s parents’ house. This was the morning after. We are walking into their house to check on them (that’s my wife).

It was also a tough time for our Leonberger dog Bronco. He was more than 12 years old, which is old for a Leonberger, and he had various age-related illnesses. Earlier in October he had amputated a toe due to a type of cancer called squamous cell carcinoma. One week after that we discovered a large deep ulcerous sore on the same paw a few inches above the surgical scar. Fortunately, it was not cancerous, as we first thought, but we would have to treat this sore in addition to nursing him back from his amputation. In addition, he also had the first signs of geriatric-onset laryngeal paralysis polyneuropathy (or GOLPP).

Our Leonberger Bronco is in the background. Our pug Daisy is sitting on a chair in the kitchen.
Bronco our Leonberger and Daisy our Pug the evening before the big storm. None of us suspected what was about to happen.

We lost power for four days due to the tornado and about one week after the tornado Bronco had a congestive heart failure. He eventually recovered but October 2019 was a very difficult month for him.

Bronco is laying on the ground facing the broken fence. He has a plastic bag around his bandage.
Bronco had just had a toe amputation. He did not blow down our fence.
Mini-Australian Shepherd standing guard over medical equipment next to his big brother the large Leonberger Bronco.
We had to change Bronco’s bandages every now and then but Rollo, our mini–Australian Shepherd made sure we did it right.
Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd is on the left and Bronco our Leonberger is on the right. He is wearing a bandage on his back leg.
Bronco and Rollo a few days after the Tornado.

I remember October 20, 2019, as if it was yesterday. I was sitting outside in my backyard drinking my favorite SMASH IPA, Yellow Rose, from Lone Pint, Texas, ABV 6.8%. IPA stands for India Pale Ale, a type of beer that contains a lot of hops. SMASH IPA is an IPA brewed with one type of Malts and one type of Hops (Single Malt, Single Hop). The single hop in this case is Mosaic. My phone started making a loud sound. It was an alarm announcing a tornado warning and, in the distance, I could hear a faint tornado siren. At first, I thought it was nothing but when I saw the lightning approaching, I decided to go inside. Two minutes later a hailstorm made things very loud, the wind was strong, and the house shook, and then we heard a loud explosion. That was a concrete block that had smashed our chimney.

A photo of a beer glass next to a can of Yellow Rose IPA. The beer label shows a young woman in a yellow and green outfit.
I was sitting in my backyard drinking Yellow Rose my favorite SMASH IPA, not knowing that a tornado was advancing down the street nearby.

After the wind had died down a bit, I opened the door to the backyard, and what I saw shocked me. My gas grill had flown across the patio. There were bricks and pieces of concrete all over the patio and the lawn. There was a big sheet of metal lying on the patio. Big tree branches covered the lawn. There was debris everywhere. We had also lost power. It turns out that the EF3 tornado had gone through our neighborhood and passed within fifty to one hundred yards of our house.

This house is totally destroyed.
Another neighbor’s house (a bit further away from us).

My wife Claudia asked me to go check on her parents. I drove about 50-100 yards when a neighbor’s roof lying across the road stopped me. I turned around but this time I was stopped by a large pile of trees lying across the street. So, I started walking, but this time I was stopped by a group of firemen telling me that it was too dangerous to be outside. They told me to go back home, and I did.

The entire top of this house is gone.
This is the next-door neighbor of Claudia’s (my wife) parents.

I can add that we got some unexpected help from our congressman at the time, Colin Allred, congressional district 32. My wife left the neighborhood in her car, but the police would not let anyone back in. This made it difficult to, for example, go shopping. I complained about this on Colin Allred’s Facebook page and within hours I received an email from Colin Allred’s legislative director (Judith). They had contacted city hall and the police and now the police would allow residents back in the neighborhood as long as they could show ID. Colin Allred’s office had my email from a previous communication. I did not leave that with my Facebook comment. My wife was happy since she now could go shopping.

Below are some additional photos that I took, showing the carnage in the neighborhood.

The Gap is a big store, but it had the entire backside ripped off.
The remains of the Gap, a store at a nearby shopping center.
The house is completely flattened. A large tree is destroyed. It has no branches.
Destroyed house in the neighborhood.
Crashed cars and destroyed stores.
View of the shopping center in our neighborhood.
The yellow school bus is wrapped around a tree.
This was a school bus belonging to the school where my boys went.
Trees are ripped up, vehicles are crushed.
Streetview from the neighborhood.
A big nice-looking house destroyed by a tornado.
Another house in the neighborhood.
A photo taken from the inside of a destroyed office.
The remains of the veterinary clinic where we used to take our dogs. Luckily there were no animals staying overnight at this time.
A photo of severely damaged house. The roof is lying in the street.
Our street, just two/three houses down from us.

Featured on Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

I am so happy to announce that Sally Cronin is kindly featuring my book on her smorgasbord blog. You can read the excerpt from my book on her blog. I invite you all visit Smorgasbord Book Promotions 2024. Comments will be closed here. Leave all comments over there. Thank you so much.