Alone On A Limb: Collecting Dogs

Friday, August 14, 2026

Collecting Dogs

One of my great joys while visiting my daughter Brannon and her family over the last ten years has been my early-morning (usually solitary) walks through the beautiful hills and dales of Vista, California. There really are wonderful vistas there. From the many hills, you can often even see a bit of the mighty Pacific.

Until 2021, my walks were not really solitary because I used those early mornings as an opportunity to call Mother, three hours ahead of us in Georgia. Mother and I were both notoriously bad at phone conversations, but somehow the early hour, the beautiful scenery, the many activities my daughter always plans, and the antics of my three precocious GrandGirls gave us lots to talk about. I grew to relish those talks with Mother, and I think she really enjoyed them as well.

Occasionally Sheila will join me for a walk, as will Brannon. I relish those walks as well.

But on my last few trips, Clementine has begun to ask to walk with me. What a joy that is! We get some great talking done. We take lots of pictures. We watched firefighters practicing aerial rescues over a small creek in Wildwood Park one time. We come up with great pretends—we grind acorns in the many very real ancient “Indian rocks” (nut-grinding depressions in giant stones). We carefully traverse “swamps,” where we must walk in special ways to avoid the alligators and such. She is a great “noticer,” and we find critters and plants to examine.

We even created a poem orally during a walk this trip—one that fits well with this post:

Dogs at the Park

by Clementine & Grandshaw, July 27, 2026

Sissy and Molly
and Holly and Boo
went to the park
to see what they could do.

They played on the slide.
They played on the swing.
Before they were done,
they played on everything.

They met a new friend
whose name was Tango.
So they offered him some
of their frozen mango.

Another new friend
was named Sunny.
They walked through the grass
and frightened a bunny.

They played in the grass.
They rolled in the clover.
And before they knew it,
the day was over.

And every now and then we make it all the way to the corner of Santa Fe Avenue and Peppertree Drive! That is where Peppertree Ice Cream and Danny’s Donuts reside.

On the last two trips, I have had similar walks with Ruth or Susannah, or both, or with all three girls. What a delight for a 79-year-old Grandshaw!

Collecting Dogs

This trip we began a new hobby: collecting dogs!

I already have a couple of very inexpensive collections. Over at the “Clocktower Collection” on Facebook, you can find my collection of digital images of Rome’s iconic Clocktower. Absolutely free—and there is no shortage of newly found items.

A year or two ago, while driving to Decatur to visit our younger daughter and her family, I got sleepy. To keep myself awake, I began trying to construct an absolutely free mental map of the states represented by the license tags on the cars we passed.

Since then, I have gotten to the point that I cannot help checking the tags of passing vehicles. I loved finding a “state” that allowed me to connect previously separated sections of the country on my mental map. Lots of big rigs are registered in Maine, for some reason, but the other New England states are rare hereabouts. So imagine my joy when I finally found a New Hampshire tag connecting Massachusetts to Maine. At that point, my entire collection was in one piece, even though there were still a few states missing. (Alaska and Hawaii don’t count for these purposes.)

During every road trip, I added to my mental map until I had every state except Vermont. I also collected D.C., a couple of Native American tribal tags, several Canadian provinces, several Mexican states, and one Japanese prefecture. I finally found a Vermont tag a few weeks ago and have now started constructing a new United States map. The GrandGirls have really gotten into that project as well and have several times sent me photographs of unusual tags they have seen.

On our first walk during my most recent trip to California, we enjoyed meeting assorted canines along the way and fell into taking pictures, asking names, and trying to remember them. We decided we would “collect dogs” as we had collected tags. We kept a list, audaciously started conversations with each dog’s human, and learned names, ages, and other information about them.

Now here’s the thing: I’m back in Georgia and walking mostly by myself again—and I can’t stop! Though I encounter a few standoffish folks, most dog owners love talking about their dogs. And while meeting dogs to discuss with the GrandGirls during future FaceTime calls, I have also met some interesting people who love their dogs.

So here is our photographic collection so far, beginning July 22, 2026, in Vista and continuing through my walk this morning, August 14, in Rome. I am afraid I have not kept records as well as I might have, but between the GrandGirls and me, we have remembered quite a few names.

Here is our list, in no particular order. I hope the girls will eventually help me attach all the names to the right pictures:

Alfie and Lewis

They were with their humans, David and Margie, and we met them on two different days.

Dobby and Sadie

Dobby is named for the house elf.

Teddy (1)

Kichi

Lucy

Milly

Ellie May

Chewy

We met Chewy and his human FOUR times during our walks—a very friendly dog and a kind man.

Coco and Chuck

The very nice lady who lives with these dogs told us about their rescue and how she changed their names. We met them twice during our walks.

Teddy (2)

Sky

Toby, Boo, and Holly

We met these guys twice as well.

Molly and Sassy

Harley

Farley

We met Harley and Farley in quick succession, but they are unrelated.

Gunner

Jet

Smokey

Luna

The girls loved meeting Luna since their Gamma also had a dog named Luna—but we lost our Luna a couple of years ago.

Jagger

Jagger is named for Mick Jagger. He accompanied a very nice man at the donut shop who kindly took a picture of Clem and me with our donuts.

I suppose we could have included three other dogs—our favorites—but we didn’t actually see them on our walks. Gary, Charlie, and Sierra are the three rescues who live with Danny and Renata Carlin (Papa and Gamma to the girls).

Each of the dogs I met yesterday and today here in Rome is named in the pictures below.

I think this is Gunner.

These nice ladies had two sweet dogs, Dobby and Sadie -- that is they were sweet till a third strange dog showed up and they started growling!

I think this is Coco

This is Coco with his friend Chuck.

We had a nice conversation through the chain link fence with the lady who accompanied this dog, We were having a tea party in Alice's Tea Room at the Children's Garden at Brengle Terrace Park. Rome

This is Smokey with his owner and the girls' neighbor, Daisy.

Here's Chewy -- we saw him and his human 4 times!

I think this is Coco & Chuck -- our second time to meet them,

Gary is very old and tired but much loved by all the Carlins. Here the girls have given him a well-deserved crown. We didn't get a picture of Gary;s housemates Charlie and Sierra this trip.

Here are Alfie and Lewis and their humans, David and Marge.

Chewy again.

Back in Georgia—on the Riverwalk

I started out to walk for about an hour, but I got so close to the Armuchee Bypass on the Mount Berry Trail that I decided to make a circuit: from our house to the new bypass, across to the stadium, down through the arboretum to the Ridge Ferry section of the trail, on to Turner McCall Boulevard, then across the Oostanaula again and up the levee to home.

I talked a lot, walked leisurely, took lots of pictures—and took almost three hours!

August 13, 202

George Strait

Daisy May

Buddy Dammit

Fergus

Today, August 14, 2026

Today I decided right off to walk the same route as yesterday, but in the reverse direction. I wanted to keep it to about two hours. Despite a better pace, my big mouth and all the picture-taking meant I got it down to only two and a half hours.