Pedigree Blog Hop: Dachshund Chronicles: Up periscope

Mom and I wanted to join in on the Pedigree Challenge to furnish food to the animal shelter. Today we are re-posting (below) an older post about Toto the Mighty Mini Doxie, who trained Mom and Dad well, thus paving the way for all the pets to follow. Toto was not homeless, but he was in living with less than purrfect breeder. So in a way Mom and Dad rescued him from very, very bad conditions. He was very sick for the first few months he lived with them....BUTT lots of TLC and his mighty Doxie nature pulled him through. We thank Life With Dogs for sponsoring this very worthy event/blog hop. Madi and Mom

There wasn't much Toto hated worse than getting wet and cold. In order to get him to potty in the rain, I had to go out with a golf umbrella held directly over him. As you know, I'm in NC the land of hot, hazy, humid weather. We rarely see more than 3 or 4 inches a snow a year. On a Saturday in March of 1979 we awoke to very unusually cold day for March. By noon, the weather forecast was for several inches of snow. We had plenty of groceries it was a weekend so we hunkered down for the day. On Sunday morning we awoke to 18"of snow on the ground and still falling. I had one very excited child singing no school tomorrow and one wee red mini who need to potty. Why did I think when opened the door he would go willingly? When he got one sniff of the cold air, tucked his tail and ran for cover. I gently reminded him he was German and that his kind liked snow. He wasn't buying what I was trying to sale. Ok, I think I'm the human I'll take charge. I pick him up, opened the front door. I kicked some of the snow out of the way with the expectation that he was about to pop and would quickly pee and be back in. Oh my word was I wrong. All of a sudden his German genes kicked in, he sniffed at the snow, and off he went. He was tunneling through the front yard in 18" of snow with about 14" above his head. Every so often he'd hop up to look for us all you could see was the black nose that looked like a periscope. He was in dachshund heaven he had found his purpose in life. Now, if he could have just found a badger he would have been a happy, hopping mini doxie. This photo of Toto was taken in 1985.

Pot Luck Friday #9: All "OB"Long Raleigh

Mom packed up the pot in the cooler today....we're taking a road trip to the NC State Fairgrounds today to see the

J. S. Dorton Arena.

For more professional pictures of this most futuristic, unique, elliptical building please visit

http://ncstatefair.org/dorton

Statistics on the building

Completed: 1952,renovated in 1979, 1996 and 2002

Architects: Matthew Nowiciki, and William H. Dietrich

Professor Nowiciki was head of the Department of Architecture at N. C. State University. He was killed in an airplane accident in Egypt before the construction phase of the project began. His personal friend, William H. Dietrich was named to oversee the project. It has continually earned an international reputation since its construction, in 1951.

Seating capacity: 5,110 permanent seats, 7,610 with portable seats

Square footage: 25,000

300 ft. in diameter and concrete floor is 221 feet long and 127 ft wide at widest point

Name: Originally named 'State Fair Arena", it was dedicated to Dr. J. S. Dorton, former N. C. State Fair Manager, in 1961.

Dorton Arena was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 11, 1973.

The metal roof, is suspended on a network of cables which extend crosswise from the 90' parabolic arches , is saddle shaped (see picture below). The parabolic arches cross each other at about 26' above the ground. I'm sorry I could not take any interior pictures. Please visit the website above for a look inside.

The weight of the roof is equalized by tension cables with 14 two inch strands connecting each end of the parabola through the stress tunnel.


The exterior walls are constructed of transluent heat and glare-reducing glass above the lobby levels and of heat-absorbing transparent glass on the lobby levels.


Dorton Arena is located on the corner of Blue Ridge Road and Hillsborough Street and is the center piece of the State Fairgrounds.

You might notice the wrought iron gate pictured above and below. It was installed to keep the very brave or very drunk from walking up to the roof.

The Arena is used for sporting events expect for 2 weeks in October

during the N C State Fair. Each evening during the 2 week fair concerts are held in the Arena.

Admission to see well known artists from all genre of music is very affordable. The most expensive I've ever seen is about $15.00.

The Arena can be seen from nearly every vantage point on the Fairgrounds. For as long as I can remember, The Arena has been 'the meeting' place of families should they become separated while visiting the Fairgrounds. The edge of the roof is outlined in RED lights at night. I just saw this for the first time at 5:30am yesterday morning. Sorry no pictues!!

Personal note from Mom: My Dad (Madi's Papa) recently told me my Granddaddy was one of the electricians who helped wire Dorton Arena. He said they had to build scaffolds inside so the electricians could get to the ceiling.
Note from Madi: Papa's procedure wen well yesterday. They are through with doctors for a while. Mom assures me she will not be getting up before the Rooster Crows tomorrow...she said she might even wait until Mr. Sun is out. MOL Mom is a wild and crazy lady.

Thursday Theme Song

This week's contribution is

'If I had a hammer (or The Hammer Song)'

Lyrics: Lee Hays and Pete Seeger

Vocals: the very talented trio of

Peter, Paul and Mary

If I had a hammer

I'd hammer in the evening, all over this land

I'd hammer out danger, I'd hammer out warning
All over this land

If I had a bell
I'd ring it in the morning, All over this land
I'd ring out danger, I'd ring out a warning
All over this land

If I had a song, I'd sing about the

LOVE between my brothers and my sisters...

ALL OVER THIS LAND

Madi and I thank Hootin' Anni for sponsoring Thursday Theme Song

Madi would like to thank all her brothers and sister (pets) who came before her being such good puppies and kitties which has made her life so full of love.
UPDATE ON MY PAPA'S SURGERY: Thank you everyone for your good wishes. The went well...all the cancerous cells were removed from under his eye; however, due to the depth of the surgical area, Mom and Papa will have to go to another doctor today to have reconstructive surgery and to be sure there is no muscle or nerve damage under his eye. Mom and Papa will be leaving home at 5:00 am today...I doubt we'll be able to visit anyone today.

When you are hot you are hot.....

We are tickled 'blue in the face' that everyone was amused by my blue fur yesterday.
We don't have 'blues clue' why it was blue.

Note from Madi: My Papa (Mom's dad) is having surgery on his face today...

Mom and Papa had to leave home very, very early, BUTT she fed me before she left. She asked me to tell everyone she might not be able to visit your blogs today.

Happy Wednesday

Look What I found

Mom guess what I found back here in my hip pocket?

some left over fur...

MOM AND I HOPE YOU CAN SEE THE PICTURES BECAUSE WE CANNOT SEE THEM!! UPDATE: Mom has been investigating the problem...seems there are several ongoing issues with Blogger and Picasa when using "Blog This' function of Picasa when loading a picture from Picasa. They are working on the issues at Blogger. Picasa will only allow 4 pictures to be loaded at a time too. If you load more only the first four will appear.

I thought you sent all my fur to Remington's Mom!!

My Life as I see it....BY MADI

I, Madi, am an only cat...gasp...I know...nearly all the kitties I know

have at least one bro/sis. Quite frankly, it is all about ME and that is fine. All the cat food is for me, all the beds are for me, all the sun spots are for me and all the LOVING is for me; however,

this in lies the problem....There is one of me to put up with enjoy all the aggravation

loving from the two leggers I let live here live with. Evidently everything I do is

PRECIOUS and requires both of them to be present to watch and one of them has the flashy box permanently attached to her hip.

Take the other day...Dad was reading the paper, mom was MIA...whoopee nobody is looking

so I start to dig through my toy basket. I found this adorable little brown mouse that had been

missing for at least 100 years a few days. I start to toss it about, tote it to and fro, chase it across the floor. I'm having a grand old time when lo and behold Dad's head pops up out of the paper, he jumps up and bellows "Ceal (that is what he calls Mom) come see what Madi is doing.

Good grief I'm just being a cat. Of course, by the time Ceal arrives with the flashy box drawn from it's holster and aimed I refuse to look at her.

Why

BECAUSE I was having a Madi moment with my imaginary playmates, me, myself and I and the two leggers spoiled the moment.

They begged and pleaded for me to do it again...but I reminded them that I, Madi, am a cat

I DO NOT DO ANYTHING ON COMMAND. I gave Mom aka Ceal this very blank,

nonchalant stare, did not blink either one of my peepers until she left the room.

Soooooo friends and foes my life as an only cat is very demanding, very stressful, there are no private moments just for me.... BUTT when it is all said and done...

I have two very devoted two leggers at my beckon call 24/7/365,

MY LIFE, AS I SEE IT, IS CAT-tastic!!!

Steeple Sunday #27: Westminster Presbyterian

In 1917 the First Church pastor encouraged members of the Vanguard Sunday School Class to organized the First Church School. It met every Sunday afternoon in the County Home which was located just 2 blocks away from what would eventually be Westminister Presbyterian Church.
The Vanguard Class purchased 40 acres of land in what was known as Vanguard Park.
In 1923, a church was organized form First Church with 33 charter members and was named
North Vanguard Presbyterian Church.


Today's steeple, Westminster Presbyterian and the N. Raleigh Presbyterian Church (#23) steeple posted on August 15, 2010.
I found N. Raleigh Presbyterian's beautiful white steeple to be very intriguing. It was on the roof of the church and seemed to be endless in it height reaching towards the beautiful blue skies.
Westminster's steeple is exactly the same design as N. Raleigh Presbyterian. However, Westminster's steeple is a stand alone steeple beside the church. Unfortunately, the day I took these pictures it was very cloudy...I have decided no more steeple pictures on a cloudy day. The pictures don't do the church justice...it is a very pretty church.

The steeple on the church building is quite small but very pretty...

The stained glassed windows are beautiful in person. I especially love the lighter border framing them.