Piper Part 3 – The Heat Is On

Snow. Sun. Cold. Hot. Seasons came and went but I learned one thing pretty quickly. Piper did not like being cold. This became evident the first winter we were together and every winter after that. You see, we had this little space heater and Piper and I both were pretty obsessed with it. Many a’night we’d huddle by the heater to watch TV, read, or just stay warm.

She was my warm weather dog and I loved her for that because I’m a warm weather person, too. It might be that I was born in Key West and Florida weather is in my blood, I don’t know. But she was born in Tennessee so it would make sense if she liked all the seasons. She certainly had plenty of snow days in Tennessee and visiting family in Ohio.

They say dogs look like their owners but in this case, Piper acted like her owner. Give us all the hot days, you can keep your winters. There were times I held her in my arms, belly up, with the sun warming her whole body and she’d tilt her head back, close her eyes and I think she was as happy as she could be.

I tried to do that for her, give her a happy life. I wasn’t always successful but she knew I loved her with my whole heart. And now that she’s gone, all I can cling to is warm (or hot since we both prefer that temperature) memories of her in my heart. Piper, always my first dog.

-Out of the Wilderness

Piper Part 2 – You Make Me Wanna Roll My Windows Down and Cruise

Hi there! Welcome to Out of the Wilderness. I’m posting 15 tributes to my best beagle who passed away last week. She was lovable. She was sneaky. She was Piper.

Piper 🙂

At 15 years old, she had lived her best life whether it was getting a secret extra treat or wandering off the moment I turned my head for a millisecond. “Where’d Piper go?” is a question I asked a lot, usually followed up with, “Oh, good Lord, she’s gone again!” and a search party spreading out to track her down. She travelled by foot (paw?) a lot, going here, going there, going everywhere.

We travelled by car a lot, too, and that’s where things could get a little dicey. I’m talking about motion sickness! Going from Tennessee to Florida and back to Tennessee again, she and I had to figure out how to make it work and there were a few stories along the way. The blanket I had to toss into a dumpster somewhere in Alabama. Piper being so small she could crawl under the driver seat, or her having an upset stomach, tossing her breakfast, but eating it again before I could pull off the interstate. Eventually, though, we got into a good routine. Meaning… I mostly just fed her really early or not anytime close to when we were about to go on a long drive. But she had her ways of coping with it, too. If you ever rode with us, you probably noticed that she sat facing backwards. She literally faced the back seat. She was a smart little thing! One thing I learned is that fresh wind always seemed to help her not feel uneasy on the car rides so as often as I could, I’d roll the windows down and cruise. She loved to take in all the new scents.

I’m going to miss those whiskers and those big ears flopping in the wind. Gosh, I never would have thought “Cruise” by Florida Georgia Line would make me nostalgic but here I am listening to a song about a Chevy with a lift kit and thinking about the great times I had with my car-sick beagle. My Chevy did look a lot better with her up in it. Funny how the most random song can still connect back to Piper.

-Out of the Wilderness

Piper Part 1 – The Beginning of An Era

I saw a picture of a bin of beagles and my schedule for the following day was immediately changed. I’d go visit Happy Tales Humane Society in Franklin, Tennessee and find the one puppy that already had all of my attention even just from that one picture. Somehow I knew that that one, not having met her or seen her in person yet, was meant to be my companion. The next morning I drove as fast as I could and I found her and she sat on my lap for 3 hours right there in one of the rooms of the office. I kept asking myself, should I do this? Is it time to be a dog dad? I already knew the answer, though.

Our journey together began that day. Before showing her her new home, we stopped by PetSmart for supplies and a bed, pictured below.

I had a little bit of an idea that Piper would change my life but I didn’t know exactly what the next 15 years would bring. From naps together to me chasing her through the woods, traveling around the southeast as far south as Key West and as far west as Texas, a million cuddles, and countless meetings by the space heater, we were pretty much inseparable and I have been so blessed and lucky and thankful to be her dog dad. Even when she magically escaped and went on adventures led only by her nose, we’d come back together and be as happy as two peas in a pod.

My time with Piper drew to a close last week. She was 15 so as my way of loving her even when she’s gone, I’ll be writing 15 Piper-related posts to represent the amazing years we had together. Please check in daily for more of my memories and experiences with the loyal and royal Piper Wilder.

-Out of the Wilderness

Are liberals genuinely mad about Sydney Sweeney, American Eagle?

There’s a lot of chatter about liberals hating the new campaign from American Eagle. In the left’s defense, I haven’t seen anything online ripping the ad apart. What exactly is in the commercials that could be so divisive… pro-bullying? Ketchup on mac and cheese? A tax on breathing air? Let’s take a look…

An attractive woman talking about her nice jeans. Surely there’s something I’m missing, right? Is it because she’s young? Thin? White? I don’t remember anyone getting all turnt up when Jeremy Allen White (also caucasian and also my body double, obviously) ran around on a rooftop in just his Calvin Klein underwear. Sydney Sweeney is wearing a lot more clothes than Jeremy so any real backlash she or American Eagle is facing is just a bunch of hooey. Well, that or the ugliness of jealousy in people who aren’t as pretty as Sydney (and Jeremy… and me since he’s my body double, remember?).

What do you think about it? Chime in below and be sure to subscribe, it’ll take you all of 15 seconds. Thanks for coming by today.

-Out of the Wilderness

The Samsung Z Fold 7 Has Me Big Mad

So many screens. So many cameras. You’d think a device like this would delight me like nothing else and yet all I feel is rage. OK, it’s not quite that strong but after watching the video below, OK yes I’m raging. Evidently there are warnings about the phone’s ability to withstand dust, sand, some water, and it can’t go near devices sensitive to magnets? Who is the shmuck that’ll buy this phone? What a goofball.

I bet the Flip 7 is going to send me into a road rage, too. A phone that was originally designed to close it and be present in the moment now has 2 huge screens, inside and out. I guess that whole “don’t let your phone distract you” thing was just a short-lived idea, huh?

I’m raging.

I can’t hate these two pieces of crap any harder. With that said, I can’t burn the Samsung bridge completely. The phone I have now is the Samsung S25 Ultra (a few cameras, one screen) and I pretty much love it more than any phone I’ve had. Mainly because of [this feature] but also the square edges and the killer still photos and crisp videos.

I’m glad I don’t have to worry about sliding a fingernail gently across the screen and leaving a permanent mark…….. LIKE THE IDIOTIC FLIP 7 AND FOLD 7.

RRRRRAAAGGGEEE.

-Out of the Wilderness