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Catching Up in Sedona with Harley McGuire

Harley McGuire, Star SedonaEye.com Four Paws Up Pet Columnist gives the Sedona Women organization High Paws on behalf of his pals!

Harley McGuire, SedonaEye.com Four Paws Up Star Pet Columnist

Sedona AZ (April 30, 2015)It’s been a while since we’ve done a “hi five” and chatted about life in the big little city, but as the story goes no news is usually good news.

Now with me, you see, it was another milestone on April 18 because on that day in 2007 my new mom adopted me from that place in Texas and I was “reborn.” So that makes me eight years old in this new life, but no one really knows how old I was when I arrived there. The Oller vet thought I was about five, but Mom didn’t think I was that old cuz I was so little – only 7 pounds and now I’m twice that size! Yep, 14 pounds...if I stay on my diet…which is a must – so as to avoid having a flair-up with that broken part of my back from when I was hit by a car in my other life.

So at age 13, more or less, I’m doing pretty OK for an old gent, but do have my cranky moments. It’s pretty confusing, too, cuz cadillacs in my eyes are making things sort of blurry. Sometimes I gets sort of skeered when Mom gets out of my sight. Then she reminds me of that when I bite at her when she brushes me. Yep, she always threatens to bite me back, but she wouldn’t dare!

Harley McGuire pal Skipper

Harley McGuire pal Skipper and family get a Four Paws Up for helping Harley and Mom!

After all, I’m the one in charge here.

But not so fast! It was a wake up call the afternoon mom took a spill at my favorite park, and afore I knew it, she was whisked off in a big red truck, looking at me repeating, “I can’t leave Harley. I can’t leave my dog!” But my buddy Burt’s dad took charge and said they would look after me. That was after my other buddy, Fallon, well, his dad was the one that called for the big red truck to come get my mom.

My heart still pounds when I think back. I didn’t know what happened, but I thought she had left me forever.

But you see after a while Skipper’s mom met up with Burt’s dad, and so Skipper’s mom brought me home and fed me supper. That was two meals for me that evening cuz Burt’s dad also chowed me up…so my tummy weighed much more than that 14 pound limit!

After Skipper’s mom left me alone in my house, it was dreadful fear cuz I didn’t know where Mommy was! When my other friends, Boo and Napoleon, mom and dad finally brought my mom back home to me and I just shook cuz things were sort of OK, but not the same cuz she looked weird and had black snitches on her nose and head and bloody things on her knees and all over the place.

She was a mess but guess what? We survived that nasty day in our lives.

paw prints for harley mcguire columnThings are sort of back to normal, but we haven’t returned to my favorite park yet and I miss my friends. Mom keeps making excuses like it’s too cold, too windy, too much traffic – all kinds of reasons not to go back to that park where she took a nose dive on the asphalt parking lot. But I have to keep reminding her of something I heered once – which was if you fall off a horse the best thing is get back up on it.

So maybe real soon we’ll very carefully take that giant step and return to the scene of the accident.

~ Lovingly,

Harley McGuire

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12 Comments

  1. There was an underlying reason Harley McGuire was allowed to relate his most recent story.

    First, there are no words which adequately express my appreciation to those who assisted both of us during this unexpected turn of events. Our VOC friends, both human and canine, in addition to the expertise of the responders was top of the line. As was the care at the Sedona Medical Center.

    So what, if anything, was the problem or, more appropriately the potential problem.

    In a word: TRAFFIC

    This incident occurred on March 24, during which time Sedona has and continues to experience a deluge of spring-breakers. This year, however, the number of cars and resulting traffic delays have been excessive. This very weekend, celebrating Cinco de Mayo, we can expect even more traffic which is admittedly a good sign of economic upswing but for locals it sends another message: Keep off the highways and STAY HOME if at all possible!

    What I was offered by the medics was a choice to go to the ER in Cottonwood or Sedona. Because it would be more convenient for whatever good Samaritans I was able to summon to get me back home, I preferred the Sedona location since that is where we live and also the source of our (hopefully) final redemption.

    That’s when the subject of traffic congestion entered but fortunately the option of travelling to West Sedona was reasonably smooth since traffic in general was slightly lighter that time of day and not quite bumper-to-bumper from the Village of Oak Creek to the “Y” in Sedona as had consistently been the case for several WEEKS.

    However, let’s keep in mind my situation wasn’t a matter of life or death. Had that been the case there’s no doubt in my mind the only option was to have headed to Cottonwood via Beaver Head Flat Road, a really handy alternate route from the VOC as well as for those of us living in East Sedona for travelling to Cottonwood.

    Once at the Sedona Medical Center (which was filled to capacity) the attending doctor, who lives in Flagstaff, also commented about the overwhelming traffic. He told me that cases at the SMC had increased exponentially since it first opened, with increasing delays transporting patients to the facility due to traffic backups.

    HEADS UP TO THOSE IN CHARGE! This traffic situation is no longer a maybe, if, when, someday we might do something. The time is NOW.

    No need to respond by blaming ADOT for the new design of 179. The optional plan for a four-lane super-highway would have led to the same spot. A cul-de-sac at the “Y”. So instead of one lane backed up to the Village, there would now be two lanes of clogged traffic to the “Y” intersection.

    Television interviews with ADOT representatives at the time the road was being designed confirmed that. The problem is UPTOWN in Sedona and the unprofessional re-design by the City after taking ownership of the less than one mile portion made conditions worse. That is further confirmed by the back-ups from Flagstaff in Oak Creek Canyon entering Sedona from the north. No roundabouts there to blame.

    PLEASE City Council and Staff. Reconsider how you are allocating public funds. This is no joke. All it takes is a rude awakening by a realistic scenario to understand Sedona priorities are presently being vastly distorted. Hopefully it won’t take a first-hand reality experience for any of you to finally get the message. It CAN happen. Ask those who know.

    Not-quite-so-lovingly,
    Harley McGuire’s Mother

  2. Skipper says:

    Harley,
    You are so brave. Way to go with getting 2 meals on that dreadful day. Hopefully it took your mind off the situation. Glad all is well and you got home safe and sound to familiar smells and your own bed.

  3. Harley…sorry about your mom’s accident at the park. Hope she is OK now and you are taking good care of her. We try to do that the best way we can…after all, she is the only mom we have. Congratulations on being fed twice…that happened to me (Inoch) a couple of times in the morning when my dad fed me breakfast not knowing that mom fed me earlier before she went back to sleep. Way to go my friend!

  4. Nikki & Mojo says:

    Gosh, our Mom was upset to hear about your Mom’s accident, but glad that everything turned out okay. The weird thing was our Mom kept talking about some lady named Barbara who was (at the moment of hearing about the accident) probably screaming about all the traffic and toooooo many people in Sedona. Do you understand what that means, ’cause we sure don’t. Anyway, give our love to your Mom and thank all your friends for helping out. There is nothing like having good friends and neighbors!

  5. Thanks, my buddies, Skipper, Inoch, Dominic, Hudson, Nikki & Mojo. Your sympathetic understanding is – well, you know – like what would we do without our people-parents? Gosh, can’t stand the thought.

    Nikki & Mojo, indeed I’ve heard of the “Barbara” person and for some reason seems she was connected with a guy named “Wally?” Mom asks quite often, mostly to herself but I earsdrop, that she wonders what B, W, and some guy named “Chuck” would think of what’s become of Sedonia. Lots of times it happens when we’re out in the car.

    Lovingly,
    Harley McGuire

  6. We’re cats named after our grandma’s favorite drinks. She says we’re lucky she doesn’t like Glenfidditch and Kambutcha.

    Glad your household is back to normal. Ours never was and won’t ever be. Ever see that commercial of the grandma in the back of the car telling whoppers about her life to the family? That’s our grandma. My parents spend a lot of time in the bathroom when they take grandma to a restaurant and fortunately they leave us at home. My parents drink a lot of wine after visiting grandma spelled W-H-I-N-E. Meow!

  7. Harley, so very glad to hear that Mom’s doing just fine. She gave our mom a scare as well. Speaking of scares, I (Clyde) gave Mom a frightful scare over Easter when I ingested leaves off an Easter lily. Note to feline owners; lilies of all kinds are highly toxic to cats. Mom paid a fortune to rush me to ER where I spent 4 nights, but they took real good care of me & flushed out all of the toxins. She then took me to my vet for follow-up & they declared I had “good pee and blood”. Not to take away from your latest scenario, but this was an ordeal in our household. When I returned home, Bonnie hissed & growled at me; I think she was pissed that I came back. But now everything is copacetic.

  8. Four paws up, Clyde, my pal for the news about your “successful” recovery. Mom read an article in the Arizona Republic about them Easter lilies being poison to pets – especially kitties – so you are one lucky dude. Jus’ keep Bonnie in her place, that’s fur sure. Good to no things are copacetic (phew, that’s a barkful) and I’m happy to report things are ditto here.

    Lovingly,
    Harley McGuire

  9. Martha says:

    Dear Sweet Harley, you sure had a traumatic time when your Mom had her accident as did she. Of course, she was very worried about you, but good friends stepped in and took over. I am so glad that things are getting back to normal except for the traffic issue.

    Love and good health to both of you,
    Auntie Martha

  10. Snickers says:

    Hi Harley McGuire.

    I’m a rescued pup, too, and my name is Snicker’s cuz my mom and dad think I’m sweet. But none of us stay very sweet when we continue to get stuck in them traffic jams. Mom & Pop think the only thing that bout to change things (sadly) is some sort of disaster and then peoples will sue the sox off a council or city or somethin’. Stead of for them to keep throwing good money out there for bad reasons they should put it to good use and fix our street roads and not bring more traffic out on the hiways.

    Glad you and your mom are OK now and sure hope that don’t happen again. Good luck to ya.

  11. Ginger Cat says:

    Dear Harley,

    My adopted home is in Flagstaff. Do you know where that is? Mom says it’s north from you down there in Sedona. Anyways, we want you to know that up here in the winter we have the same problem with traffic when all the cars show up that don’t fit rightly on the road. Fact is, it was on cable news the other night that concern about “first responders” getting through in emergencies is a huge problem and so we understand the sitiation down there. Another fact is Mom & Pop hate coming to Sedona anymore. The relaxing drive they say they once had is now a teeth-grinding horror. Lucky me. Like most of my kitty friends I HATE going in the car so it don’t much matter to me.

    Hope you don’t have no more problems and live a happy life.

    Ginger Cat

  12. Today I wish you a day of ordinary miracles in your extraordinary town. Sedona is beautiful!

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