Sometimes you are just plain lucky and on a recent trip to the Napa/Sonoma area, that was the case.
Lucky on two accounts. The first piece of luck was we happened upon a dog, children, family friendly winery. The Larson Family have a beautiful vineyard that was once the home of the Sonoma rodeo. It is rustic, breathtaking and charming with picnic areas, games and labs. The biggest draw for me are the three adorable labs that roam throughout the property. They are the stars of their own signature wine, “3 Lab Cab”.
I am a hopeless sucker for a lab so I just had to meet them. When we pulled up to the winery I expected to be greeted by dogs but not a one in sight. That changed when I entered the winery as Bubba, the chocolate lab, immediately came over to greet me and demonstrate the lab lean. At our Fallon dog park we have all experienced the lab lean ... when you come in labs tend to greet you and lean against you until they are petted. No sooner had I petted Bubba when Pete, the black lab, leaned until he was sufficiently petted. Not to be outdone Buster, the yellow lab, leaned and leaned and leaned. Watch out for Buster he’s a sandwich stealer!
You may never make it to the Larson Family winery but you will have a chance to win a bottle of “3 Lab Cab” which has a picture of the boy dogs on the label. CAPS will be selling tickets for the raffle on Saturday at Walmart. You must be 21 to win.
The second piece of good luck was that we missed the earthquake. Seeing all of the damage made me wonder if animals sensed earthquakes before they happen.
According to the U.S. Geological Service website, references to unusual animal behavior prior to a significant earthquake date back to Greece in 373 BC. Rats, weasels, snakes, and centipedes reportedly left their homes and headed for safety several days before a destructive earthquake. There are many modern accounts of strange behavior in animals from weeks to seconds before an earthquake.
Earthquakes create waves and one theory is that humans don’t notice the smaller P wave that travels the fastest from the earthquake source and arrives before the larger S wave. Animals have keener senses and can feel the P wave seconds before the S wave arrives. As for sensing an impending earthquake days or weeks before it occurs, there is no hard scientific evidence proving that it happens. Hopefully we’ll have an answer in near future.
Upcoming events at CAPS
Saturday at Walmart, Don’t miss your chance to meet, Roxy a Kissing Pup, who is excited to meet new friends. Roxy is a lab who is looking for her BFF. Come meet her and buy a chance to win a bottle of “3 Lab Cab”. Our CAPS volunteers are eager to introduce you to Roxy. Ki, is on vacation but he will return in October in fine form. He loves his job and looks forward to being back in the smooch booth.
Mark your calendar as our CAPS annual garage sale will be held on Sept. 19–20.
We are still looking for items to make this the best sale ever. If you have anything to donate, we would be very grateful.
We would appreciate donations of gently used household, garage, yard, pet and whatever-else items (no clothing please).
CAPS volunteers will be at 1105 Taylor Place, unit 82A, 9-11 a.m. Saturday, to receive your donations.
Our sincere thanks to Spring Valley Rentals, who have provided the storage unit (at 1105 Taylor Place) to hold donated items. The support from our community makes it possible to maintain and operate CAPS.
Do you have questions, comments or a great story? Please contact me at jkwmil@outlook.com
This week’s article was contributed by Kathleen Williams-Miller, a CAPS volunteer.