Monday, September 23, 2013

First Full Day of Fall ALREADY???

As always here is the info on the fundraising page for VetDogs Attention: I have a Personal Fundraising Page for VetDogs Now! Please follow this link and make a donation to help another veteran like me get a service dog like mine.

Another two week version of the weekly blog, hmm, guess I should start to call it a every other week blog entry. I wish that I could say that I was so busy that I just did not have time to sit down and write up the many travels and adventures that we had been having. Of course that would be complete hogwash and not what you all want.

So what has been going on in the not so busy life of Kent and Iris? When I last wrote we had taken some time and enjoyed a great time down on the beach just relaxing. When we returned back to the busy metropolis of Brooklyn CT we we thrown into the rat race of 100 mile an hour, oops there goes that hogwash stuff again. Actually very little of the events that I mentioned in the last blog entry have come to fruition as of yet. The trip to South Carolina was put on a weather hold early on in the week while we were firming up travel plans and then as the week progressed I came down with some minor med issues so I did not attempt the trip. When I find out more of what happened I will let you all know how that went this past weekend.

I have been doing a bunch of online work with growing the twitter following (@kphyfe) which is going very well I think. Yes I am still trying to learn the in's and out's of twitter but I seem to be growing a solid group of followers that grow daily and actually interact with me so that is a good thing. I wish that I could say it was translating into an increase in donations coming in on my fundraising page. I am sure that will continue to grow as projects like the camper wrap come online.  However if any of my blog readers would be willing to go and take a look at the page the link is at the top middle and bottom of this entry, I would love to get feedback on your thoughts about any other comments to help grow donations.

As always here is the info on the fundraising page for VetDogs Attention: I have a Personal Fundraising Page for VetDogs Now! Please follow this link and make a donation to help another veteran like me get a service dog like mine.

Now during the past few weeks I have had a couple interesting chance meetings with some very interesting people. I am a Christian, most people that know me already know that, so when I was at church the other week the Bishop for our church was there celebrating with us.  The Episcopal Church has there Bishops go out to all the churches regularly to make sure that they are in contact and hear from the individual members of parishes.  During this visit he approached me because of Iris and wanted to know more about the VetDogs program. I of course took the opportunity to explain and then gave him some printed material to take back to the main offices and share. Why is this important?  In my travels I have visited churches all over that have wanted to help in their own ways, however having a chance to have a statewide program that is focused on helping Veterans & Services Dogs is something that I personally see as a great way to spread the word. So hopefully over the next months I will be involved in helping get some new programs going that will work here in CT and who knows when something works maybe the National Church will pick it up and start something also.  I have always considered this my personal mission or calling so the chance to line it up with my church in some way is something that really is a great feeling for me.

On Friday I am meeting with a State Rep from CT down in Hartford to discuss PTS and TBI issues and alternative recovery methods. We all know that I focus on Service Dogs mostly but the chance to use any sort of animal therapy has been a proven methodology when treating both these major issues with our returning soldiers.  I have been helping get a non profit started out in Montana that is focusing on Equine therapy for PTS and TBI's and one of the leaders in that has asked me to go along with Iris to speak with this representative.  I only hope that my presence is a positive note and not something that hurts the talks going on currently.  Surely there is always a reason for things to happen and I am looking forward to being in a place to make a difference in others lives.

Tomorrow I will be having lunch with the CEO of Grillie to discuss many ideas we have both been throwing around in hopes to help others.  Life is such a great ride. Stay tuned for more.

As always here is the info on the fundraising page for VetDogs Attention: I have a Personal Fundraising Page for VetDogs Now! Please follow this link and make a donation to help another veteran like me get a service dog like mine.

Here is a great Quote since I do not have pictures to share with you this week.

“Promise Yourself

To be so strong that nothing
can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity
to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel
that there is something in them
To look at the sunny side of everything
and make your optimism come true.

To think only the best, to work only for the best,
and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others
as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past
and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times
and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself
that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear,
and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world,
not in loud words but great deeds.
To live in faith that the whole world is on your side
so long as you are true to the best that is in you.” 
― Christian D. LarsonYour Forces and How to Use Them



Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Rested and Recovered

As always here is the info on the fundraising page for VetDogs Attention: I have a Personal Fundraising Page for VetDogs Now! Please follow this link and make a donation to help another veteran like me get a service dog like mine.

Ok so I admit it, I am not a young pup any longer. So after the Legion trip I was in need of some serious relaxation time. I took that time down in RI at our favorite beach camping place. Charlestown Breachway.


As you can tell Iris was having a good time relaxing with me. We did of course hand out all sorts of info on VetDogs. You would be amazed at the number of people that want to know more about service dogs in general. Of course I am sure there were a few that were also missing their personal pets and wanted to hang near our site in hopes of a quick kiss from Iris.

The weather was great during the day with enough wind to keep the pesky mosquitoes away and the evenings cooled down to provide some of the best sleep I have had in a very long time.

Now that we are home again and I have computer access I will get back on Facebook and Twitter in hopes of getting the word out again. The break was great but I am ready to get on the road that is for sure. One thing for sure that I was able to figure out while relaxing was I am definitely doing what I enjoy and also that I am doing good by others. 

I have no planned trips scheduled for the next week. I am hoping to head to South Carolina for the VetDogs 3rd party Fundraiser being hosted down there as long as all goes well. The Wounded Warrior Hockey Game that I was also invited to has been changed so that will not be happening this month but I promise to get down to the DC area for a game this year.

Newport RI and a couple projects like Grillie and a student article being done will hopefully be on the schedule very soon. I also have a trip scheduled to speak at a school in CT along with a Prison visit for the new prison program coming to CT sometime in the near future. My future is very positive and I am sure that I have forgotten some events especially the ones that I know are coming up for 50' Closer where I will be doing photo work for them while watching my amazing son pull and push really heavy things. Yes I am a proud father!

Here are the latest hot off the press pictures of the artist rendition of the upcoming wrap. The text will be changed to fit based on true size and placement needs. Also the kphyfe.blogspot.com address will be changed to kent.VetDogs.org which will take people directly to the donation page I have. From there I will make sure there is a link to the blog and other pages so people can also follow the travels of Iris and I.