Final Day

I can't believe I'm going home tomorrow. Have I mentioned that I'm going to come back in October? :-)

Today I worked at Peach's Parlor. I walked Cooper (in photo on left), Poodle Pop (stupid name; he's not a poodle!) and Petra, who is pretty shy and has just recently been allowed out on walks with volunteers. Then I helped to prepare food for the dogs in two of the octagons. The main batch is mixed up in the kitchen sink: some sort of kibble, two cans of Halo's Spot's Stew wet food, and water. Other dogs who have special diets have their food mixed up separately. Then of course there are all the different meds and supplements. This is all written down (see pics in the gallery), but the caretaker (sorry, I forgot her name) had it all memorized. Truly amazing!

When I was done there I went back to the motel for lunch. I returned to the sanctuary at 1:00 to do some shopping in the gift store, then went to another mini-seminar. This one was on jin shin jyutsu, a healing therapy based on energy, a little bit like reiki. The young woman who presented it was wonderful; I could tell that she totally loved what she was doing. I ended up buying the book about it. I'm hoping it is something that can help Wylie. The presenter said they used jin shin jyutsu on many of the Michael Vick dogs.

Going back to the gift store for a moment, I spent time talking with the woman behind the counter. She and her husband both work at the sanctuary. She said she previously lived in Portland, Oregon, and considered that a small town. She never dreamed she could live in a real small town. But now she loves it here. She says she has more of a social here than she'd had back in Portland. We also discussed the conservative vs. liberal issue in Kanab. She said in town people are pretty conservative. At the sanctuary, it's about 50/50. She advised that you just never assume where someone might be on the spectrum, and keep in mind that since it's a small town, you want to be careful about getting a reputation. Hmmm....

On my way back from Best Friends, I stopped in at The Critter Corner, Kanab's one and only pet store. It was pretty well stocked; I was impressed. I talked at length with the two women who were working there. One had lived in Kanab for 10 years, and the other had just moved out here three months ago from St. Louis. She had purchased the pet store, although I am not sure if she moved here because of that, or moved here and then discovered the opportunity to buy it. They were both very friendly, especially the one who's lived here for 10 years. They were suggesting different jobs I might qualify for. They also told me that Best Friends uses Macs for all of their web design, development, etc. (They had a box from a new MacBook sitting there, so we had started talking tech.)

By the time I left there it was almost 4:30. I decided to try out another restaurant, Nedra's Too. (She has her first restaurant in Fredonia.) It looked kind of "divey," but I had a vegetable enchilada that was really good: spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, jack cheese and a white jalapeño cream sauce. Yum!

With my tummy full, I took another drive out to the Kanab Creek Ranchos neighborhood. There are a lot of amazing new homes going up out there, but also many more basic manufactured homes. This area isn't in the main part of town, but rather southwest of it. It has more of a rural feel but is still only a few minutes from town.

Another observation about Utah - or at least Kanab. Despite the fact that we are in a desert, and the motel room has the little "help us save water by not washing your sheets every day" placard, all of the businesses seem to water their landscaping at high noon!

I feel like there are a million other little details, but I'm tired (no nap today!)and have to get up early tomorrow morning for the drive home.

Check out the gallery for more pics and a couple of lousy (and short) videos shot with my digital camera. They are just looking at the rocks, cliffs, valleys, etc. - single photos just can't begin to do this beautiful landscape justice.