"¡Es un milagro!"

That's what my friend 'Chita said yesterday when she saw me walking. She remembers me in pain and unable to get up. That was the day she helped transport me to surgery.

¡Soy un perro de milagro! I AM a miracle dog. Perro de milagro. From this time forth I will use the moniker "el milagro" to express gratitude.

If my back surgery hadn't been such a success, I would be wheeling around using a dog cart now. Have you seen how cool dog carts are?

Dog-ma and I learned about dog carts at CorgiAid Cart Program. And we're learning more at Corgis on Wheels, a group on Yahoo.

Kudos to UkiahDailyJournal.com for doing a good job of keeping up with wildfire news in the Mendocino County area of northern California. In their Fire Updates sidebar for today is a link to DIY Smoke Filter from Ukiah Valley TV.

What a great YouTube video showing you how to make your own simple smoke filter for under $30. We all ought to have one of these in every room for the duration of the fires.

Buy more than one filter, if you can, because it needs to be replaced after it becomes clogged with particulate matter and other stuff in the air. The DIY video shows how much stuff their filter collected in 2 hours. Yuck, I hate to think what we dogs and people have been breathing in!

Just tape the filter to the BACK of the fan, making sure that the air-flow directional arrows on the filter face toward the fan — in the direction that the air moves.

It's hard to judge how much protection you can get from the DIY smoke filter, but it's better than nothing. I've been so wheezy that I wish we had one right here in our home office right now.

"Portable smoke filter" : Here's a trick that dog-ma saw for breathing more safely while getting from place to place outdoors in the smoke. Wet a washcloth or small towel, even a shirt. Wring it out a bit and wrap it around so it covers your nose and mouth. You can use a wet cloth to help someone else, too — like a pet, or a young child or baby — but make sure the cloth is loose enough to allow them to breathe.

Today is dog-ma's birthday. Woof! Happy birthday!

Jack corgi, Anisonya Siamese, and I had been planning all week to surprise dog-ma with a birthday cake. Last night we waited till after dog-ma went to bed. Anisonya, passionate young artist that she is, insisted we do a Neo-Synthesist interpretation of a cake. Jack and I just wanted to get something made without waking up dog-ma. Oy. The best laid plans of dogs and cats . . .

Anisonya had it in her head to use raw liver to symbolize a longevity wish for dog-ma's birthday. Ani's a deep thinker, you know, and she's into Neo-Synthesism. So when Ani told us that the cake piece should be called "Long Liver," we thought we kind of knew where she was coming from.

What we didn't know was where the raw liver was coming from. That is, not until Ani dragged long pieces of it around the kitchen. Oh howl, she'd saved the liver pieces from her dinner treat. One by one, she dragged them out of her bowl and carried them across the kitchen as if she were doing a performance piece. There are still little red splotches everywhere she pawsed with the dripping pieces.

Ani's animated performance had an unintended effect upon Jack corgi. He started following Ani back and forth to try to snag some liver. Then he started woofing at her like he always does when he wants to play. I quickly muzzled him with my mouth and reminded him that we didn't want to wake dog-ma. I thought I had things under control.

I didn't realize that none of us can resist raw liver. Before I could say woof, we were all pulling at the pieces until they actually became long liver. . . .

What are we going to use now for a cake? I don't know. Maybe we can hold dog-ma's candles in our front paws as we howl happy birthday.

Sonoma County skies are still smoke-filled from fires burning all over northern and central California. Tens of thousands of acres have burned and hundreds of residents have fled. As I write, residents are still fleeing areas of Mendocino County and animal evacuation centers have been set up. They're in Ukiah at the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds (for large animals) and the Mendocino County Animal Care & Control Shelter (for small animals).

Yesterday I breathed too much smoke while I was out with dog-ma at my vet checkup. (Dr. Gurevitch is pleased with my progress. He said I've got "neuro deficits" but will improve more. Good. I went for a little walk and got a compliment on my reverese mohawk from a human hair stylist. Nice.) But since we came home, I can't breathe right and neither can dog-ma. We learned that health warnings about staying indoors have been issued as far east as Nevada.

Add Lassen, Monterey, and San Benito counties to yesterday's fire list by county. The summary of Wildland Fires by Unit shows reports from Siskiyou, Del-Norte Humboldt, Mendocino, Santa Clara, San Mateo-Santa Cruz, Amador-El Dorado, Nevada-Yuba-Placer, Butte, Tehama-Glenn, Shasta-Trinity, Sonoma-Lake-Napa, Lassen-Modoc (including Plumas Co.), Tuolomne-Calaveras, and Madera-Mariposa-Merced.

There are SO MANY FIRES that I had to google earth and look at USGS GeoMAC maps to comprehend the number. Hundreds of fires are burning just in my region. In Mendocino county, 131 fires have burned more than 8,900 acres. . . . In Lake County, the Walker fire has burned at least 8,600 acres. . . . In Napa County, fire has scorched 4,089 acres.

Firefighting resources are stretched thin. Cal Fire has deployed more than 4,300 firefighters and tons of equipment. Cal Fire Chief Mark Romerao was quoted as saying "We're in fairly dire straits . . ." The California National Guard has been added to the fight, along with personnel from Nevada and Montana.

Firefighters from here in Sonoma County are dispatched all over the North State. Nearby Penngrove's Rancho Adobe Fire District Captain Bill Adams, a 20-year veteran, was quoted as saying he hasn't seen fires like this start so early in the year. "It's crazy," he said. "This is stuff you wouldn't expect to see until September or October."

Here's what an anonymous fire insider says: "The State of California is in the midst of the worst wildfire crisis in modern state history. More than 900 wildland fires are burning, many unstaffed. Incident commanders are making do with skeleton crews in most cases."

What a crazy year this has been thus far. We've gone from record-late spring frost (which hurt winegrape buds and other crops) to record-early major fires. What's the rest of the fire season going to be like?

I hope everybuddy stays safe.

Scooter's keeping an eye on things from his Santa Cruz water truck.

I got a doggiemail invitation to a Sonoma area Walk on the Wild Side. I like these events that include us dogs! The bio about the guide for the walk makes me giggle though: She "has cultivated a passion for plants . . . As a child she developed a very personal connection with the yarrow, nettle, and raspberry. [Ouch!] . . . It is her joy to introduce people to the ordinary weedy plants that are always under foot."

I always watch what's under foot. And since my recent back surgery, I watch carefully.

In other reading, I pawed across a wine blog entry titled "Mothers against Cork." Why would mothers be against the little chewy things that my buddy Jack corgi and I like so much? The blog subtitle tells us "Opening Wine Should not be a Chore." Oh howl, that's funny!

I had to show "Mothers against Cork" to dog-ma. She read, then scowled and said, "This was written by Jim Gordon of Wine Enthusiast. Not someone I usually think of as lame. He's a good writer." What got dog-ma's back up is how Gordon referred to his own mother, making her sound like she's got one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.

Gordon said, "[Mom] started trying to use it [the two-handled corkscrew], but she couldn’t manage. Her grip is not as firm as it used to be, and she couldn’t get the screw started with one hand while trying to steady the bottle with the other. When you think about it, this is a very tough job for an elderly person."

We don't want to think about it. I'm a 10-year-old boy doggeh, and I'll bite you if you call me "elderly." Walk on the wild side of bottle opening: Just dig the darn corkscrew in, turn it, and pull.

Gordon's blog entry seems to be just another corked plea to end the use of cork as a wine bottle closure. It hit a little nerve with dog-ma. She went on and on about it. In part, she said, "I'm still not sure what all the anti-cork crowing is about, especially given that other closures are unproven and today's cork suppliers do massive QA and QC to avoid cork taint. . . .

"You can pull a cork out easily if you're shown properly and have the right opening device — not one of those silly two-handled things! A wine bottle's only hard to open when the cork is dried out or welded into place."

Woof? I have more to learn about human behavior. I don't see why you would waste time welding a wine bottle closed or getting tangled up in a raspberry bush.

This morning I saw a glaring gray haze and smelled smoke as soon as dog-ma opened the back door. A 4,000-acre wildfire, sparked by dry lightning, is burning in Napa-Solano area, 45 miles southeast of here, just east of Highway 29 wineries in Napa Valley. The night of June 21st, a woman who lives on a Napa ridgetop said she watched the fire "come down the road toward our home." They sat in their living room as the "wall of flames" roared past their house.

The fire season is taking off here like crazy. What's made it intense is hot dry weather and thousands of dry lightning strikes that ignited fires all over northern California this past weekend. In addition to Napa, Solano, and Santa Cruz counties, fires are going in Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt, Trinity, and Shasta counties. The wind kicked up and carried the flames and smoke something fierce. By the evening of June 21st, smoke was drifting in the window where I sit at my computer. By the next morning, all I could see of Sonoma County skies was a brown orange haze in every direction.

Fortunately, a marine layer of moisture slowed down some fires overnight. I'm getting used to the almost constant sound of helicopters, prop planes that drop flame retardant, private planes, and other aircraft being staged from Sonoma County or based at the nearby Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County airport. (Yes, named after Snoopy's late, beloved dog-pa.)

The next story won't be easy to stomach: In the midst of all these fires and smoke, I am reminded of the news about two dogs up in Redding, California. Named Little Bit and Freckles, they lost their lives last week in a house fire . . . caused by a smoldering cigarette.

I'm never going to get over that unless I think about something good — like this story in the Redding Record Searchlight: When the chimney of a north Redding house was blown up by a lightning bolt, at home were a mother, her three young children, and their two cats and two dogs. The loud explosion crumpled the chimney to its base and also blew bricks into the neighbor's yard. The dogs and cats? They were fine, and so were their people. They all "rode out" the storm in the family van.

This family's survival story gives us a new concept to chew on: How can we turn the family van, car, or truck into a well-equipped temporary animal shelter!?

I'm holding hope for Midwest pets caught in the recent floods. May they all stay well and be reunited with their people.

On a personal note, I'm feeling grateful today that I've been able — for the first time since my spinal trauma — to raise a front paw this morning to wake dog-ma and then roll over for a tummy scratch.

I'm feeling even more grateful after reading how Midwest humane societies, HSUS rescue teams, the American Kennel Club (AKC), AKC Companion Animal Recovery (CAR), Midwest region AKC clubs, shelter volunteers, and others are helping animal victims of the recent floods.

The AKC and CAR reported in a 6/18 news article that they've donated supplies and coordinated shipments to temporary shelters housing displaced pets. They're also working with officials and their own club members in the region to offer assistance and help coordinate volunteers. Needed supplies have included crates, portable kennels, bowls, leashes, collars, harnesses, food, and other items that help volunteers care for hundreds of companion animals in major temporary shelters. AKC President Dennis B. Sprung was quoted as saying that "Since last week we have been contacting AKC clubs in the affected areas as well as local disaster officials in order to provide assistance for the benefit of any dog or companion animal displaced by the floods. . . ."

AKC CAR has a permanent Canine Support and Relief Fund providing resources, support, and other assistance to non-profit animal shelters and similar non-profit organizations that provide care for domestic animals orphaned or displaced as a result of natural or civil disasters. Woof!

Imagine what it takes to rescue pets and to staff and run temporary shelters that can safely house and feed every little buddy. How many pets must be frightened, or have special needs, or even acute health conditions to be attended to.

For the past day, Ms. Anisonya Siamese has been sculpting up a storm. It's been so hot here that I wish she could literally produce a storm. It is strange that she would choose this awful weather to work in, as she so often feels blocked artistically.

The real surprise came when I went out to do my business this morning (being careful, of course, to place my feet just right, as I'm still recovering). When I got myself sit-uated, I looked up at the sky and saw that the morning clouds were puffy little things quite resembling the shapes Ms. Anisonya is working on. Either the heat's gotten to my canine faculties, or this cat's a genius!

Ms. Anisonya is a California Neo-Synthesist who works in sculpture and painting media, most often in watercolor. Her current palette shows mature restraint and favors the subdued range of early Andrew Wyeth. It has been deemed "quite tasteful."

Even though Ms. A.S. is quite young, she's already being shown locally and is producing works of value to the serious collector of Neo-Synthesist art.

Commenting on the history of couch-derived sculptural motifs in the lovely book Why Cats Paint: A Theory of Feline Aesthetics, authors Heather Busch and Burton Silver tell us, "The widespread domestic use of upholstered furniture, from the turn of the century on, has had a profound effect on the development of a feline."

Oh woof! Now I understand that both the palette and the palate of the young feline should be carefully nurtured.

Detail from Ms. Anisonya's work in progress.

A week ago, Blue dog's mum wrote: "blue will be six months old on june 22, 2008. i have to believe that she will make it. she is such a sweet, adorable girl. her only want in life is to have her belly rubbed! she loves playing with her momma dog and sister. she just learned to sit, shake, stay, and roll-over! and she loves to chase and fetch the frisbee, although she hasn't quite mastered catching it!"

I met Blue's mum on myspace when I was doo-oogling "dog stuff" over dog-ma's shoulder. That's how I got hooked on Blue's story. All this past week I've been cheering Blue on by sending her pawsitive love.

Now somebuddies are gonna need to send her dog-mum pawsitive funds to help pay for more than $3,000 worth of vet care. We know how this is: Dog-ma's got the same challenge as Blue's mum 'cuz I had life-saving back surgery in May 2008.

Blue's mum goes by "grrl" on myspace. So do a lot of other people, but I think you can find her. There's also a donation website to raise a certain goal amount by a deadline. It's on fundable.com under "our puppy with parvo."

Are you a dog headed for wine country? Read on.

The real poop about dog-friendliness here: It's not easy in summer for a dog traveling in California wine country. Where you gonna hang out and stay cool? . . . You can't go in restaurants or farmer's markets, and relatively few wine tasting rooms. There are very few places that'll let you inside with your guardian/owner. Yet you could die from heat stroke waiting in the car.

I gotta pawse a second to 'splain about wine tasting rooms. If I were the manager or gift buyer, I wouldn't want rowdy dogs wagging merchandise off the shelves. And if I were a winery patron, I wouldn't want to run into big rowdy dogs in crowded tasting rooms.

So what's a friendly dog in wine country to do?

First, get to googly pawing. Find dog-friendly wine tasting rooms, not just dog-friendly wineries — there's a difference. Also look for wineries that have shady outdoor spots for us dogs. Don't forget to look for special dogstinations — you know, dog events like Bark in the Park, Graton Day festival Pet Parade, and Healdsburg Dog House Halloween parade. Always make sure you've got your dog bytes right though: Contact wineries, inns, and events to confirm their dog policies!

Second, make a plan for how you're going to stay cool. That means all day long in summer. Don't worry about evenings; it cools off before sunset. How about getting a professional dog walker, doggy daycare, or dog spa visit along your travel route? (Consider a single-run kennel 'cuz you might get overwhelmed by strangers.) Tell your people to see about advance reservations and other requirements!

Third, pack everything you need to stay cool: your water bowl, plenty of water, your leash and outdoor tie-down, cooling bandana neck-scarf, Body Cooler Pet Mats, Pet Wrap Vest, shade umbrella, and a stack of big towels. Towels soaked in cold water can help you and your people stay cool. Remember, too, to pack your food, treats, travel ID, toys, emergency contacts, vaccination records, and other regular stuff.

Fourth, get a good doggie seatbelt harness. I wear my Ruff Rider Roadie harness and wouldn't do car travel without it. Forget the dog crate! You'll suffocate inside that thing in the summertime here!

Fifth, tell your people to sit-stay flexible. Be prepared to change the itinerary on super-hot triple-digit days. We have only a few in a row, then it cools off again. On the hottest days, head for wineries and recreation spots in the cooler Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast.

If you get desperately hot on the wine road: Ask your people to stop and buy bags of ice to arrange close to you — not directly on you!

Remember, even with ice and cooling mats, you cannot survive long alone in the car. If your people park in the sun instead of the shade, you're done for. Warning: You're taking a risk if you even try to stay in the car, so just don't let your people leave you there.

If you have an emergency of some kind: Your guardian/owner should speak up! Go talk to people at the winery or restaurant or wherever, and get them to let you go inside with them while they take care of the emergency!

You doggehs have more traveling suggestions?