It’s sad to leave the house without him but we still need to walk for the ‘kids’. When the temperature is above 85′ Colby stays home and guards the nest because the 8-10 mile walk in the extreme heat is tough on him, especially the last 2-3 miles.
Hopefully the weather will cool off soon and we’ll be back together walking the by-ways of Philadelphia’s western suburbs.
For all of you that have contributed ……………… thank you ! For everyone that has beeped or asked where Colby has been
lately I promise he’ll be back in action soon.
Please keep the Kid’s at CHOP in mind as you enjoy a hopefully funfilled and safe summer.
God Bless
Colby & Kurt
]]>Colby celebrated his 5th birthday on Christmas day and has maintained his lean body weight of 82 Lbs. His handler is down to 185.
We both remain optimistic going into 2010, and hope that everyone gets back on a more solid financial footing. In the meantime we will continue our daily walks, spreading the message about how great a place Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia is, and how desperately they need our support.
If you see us walking along Lancaster, Montgomery or Haverford Avenues, don’t forget to beep your horn. It keeps us motivated and let’s us know you support our effort.
For Healthy Children in 2010 !!!
Colby & Kurt
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Hopefully summer will bring with it some good news for all of us, and the beginnings of a much better time. Unfortunately the Kid’s at CHOP continue to struggle and fight against disease regardless of the economic climate we find ourselves in. Please keep them in your thoughts and ‘Walks’.
Well, it’s after 5:00 and Colby is giving me that ’special’ look, telling me it’s time to go. Today (6/10) our walk will be headed to Ardmore and back. If you see us along Montgomery or Lancaster Ave’s please beep the horn and say hello.
Good health and blessings to you all, and especially good wishes go out to our good friend and neighbor Peter Flick.
‘Colby’ and Kurt
]]>We’re getting very close to the 10,000 mile mark with less than 300 miles to go. It’s hard to believe we’ve walked that far and to realize that much time has really gone by. Colby is in great shape and as always he seems to enjoy all different types of weather. He really enjoys meeting other Dogs along our walks and as the weather improves we meet more and more new canine friends.
It’s been a tough economic environment as everyone knows and all charities are suffering. Thanks to everyone who was able to contribute and to those who could only afford well wishes. We appreciate them all.
We did receive interest from a large Manufacturer of Pet Foods to possibly use Colby’s name in their future advertising as well as a well known maker of Sports Apparel. We’ll keep you updated as to our progress here.
The ‘Friends of Colby’ Blog is now up and running. Please log in and register yourself, your pets, your kids, anyone who would like to be Colby’s friend in his walks for the kids at CHOP. On this Blog you can tell ‘your own story’ and we’d all really love to hear it.
The staff at CHOP continues to do their marvelous work and it’s a real priviledge to help their cause in any way we can.
Thanks as always for your support
‘Colby’ and Kurt
]]>It’s been an exciting February with newspaper articles in the Main Line Times, Suburban Life, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. We were also lucky enough to be featured on NBC TV with Tim Lake and Dawn Timmeney. Colby handled his TV appearance like a real pro. His handler was a little more rattled.
The Inquirer actually went with us on a walk to Wayne, and interviewed many of the people we meet on a daily basis along the way. The reporter (Kathy Bocella) and Camera man (Joe Frederick) were both terrific, and we want to thank them again for their interest and consideration. Kathy’s article was great and has generated a lot of interest for the hospital. I want to offer a special thank you to Joe and Debbie Fredericks who recently lost their beautiful daughter Lydia to neurobastoma. Still dealing with his tragic loss, Joe managed to film us, and is an inspiration to Colby and I to keep walking. God bless the three of them!
Kathy and I had a great private tour of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia on February 19th. We would like to thank Tess Boyle, Maureen Mason and Samantha Palmieri for the afternoon they spent with us introducing us to the unbelievable ‘family’ at CHOP. There aren’t words good enough to describe how special CHOP is, and the people who work there. We’re so lucky to have them here in the Delaware Valley. Colby and I plan to have our 10,000th mile end right in front of CHOP’s front entrance in May. We will keep the website updated as to which day our 10,000th mile will happen. The news media has already shown interest in covering the event.
Kathy and I also had lunch with Gavin and Cindy Kerr this month. Their effort ‘ConKerr Cancer, a case for smiles’ has been helping CHOP for some time and Cindy has been making special pillow cases for all the Kid’s in Children’s Hospitals for many years. Gavin and Cindy tragically lost their teenage son Ryan to cancer in 2008, and have been working to brighten the lives of other family’s dealing with seriously ill children. Cindy was the L’Oreal Woman of the Year and also won the Martha Stewart ‘Dreamers into Doers’ contest. Gavin and Cindy are true inspirations.
We have had interest from three corporate sponsors this month and the potential there is very exciting. They all contacted us, and have shown a real interest in what we’re doing.
Thanks to all the neighbors for their encouragement to keep walking, it means a lot! It’s always great to see all of you.
Lastly, I’d like to thank my Uncle Danny (Hemcher) for his unending kindness and support. You’ve always been there for us and that means everything.
Have a wonderful March!
‘Colby’ and Kurt
Links to the Newspaper articles:
]]>Colby and I both feel that the ‘Mainline’ is the greatest neighborhood in America, and this feeling only grows stronger with the more people we meet along our walks. Radnor Township has changed since I was student at Radnor High back in the late sixties, but the flavor and the spirit of the Welsh settlers is still there. The strong sense of community found in towns like Wayne and Garret Hill in unmistakable. Lower Merion has a slightly more cosmopolitan feel, but the energy you experience when walking through towns like Narbeth and Ardmore is so visceral that it makes keep coming back for more.
Colby and I spend most of our time walking between Suburban Square and the Devon Horse Show. Our average walk takes about two hours. Our main routes are Lancaster, Haverford and Montgomery avenues, with many detours and sidetrips down the smaller streets that connect them. From Colby’s perspective no playground, elementary school or senior center is ever to be passed by without his special brand of ‘canine hello’. No ball or Frisbee is ever safe when Colby is in the area. There was a saintly priest, named Fr, Deery, that traveled the Mainline on his bicycle thirty years ago, putting medals around the necks of every kid he passed. I sometimes think that Colby is a reincarnation of the holy man, with his own brand of medal…the sloppy kiss.
The residents of both townships have become our biggest fans and benefactors, leaving men’s rooms open at schools and ball fields, water spigots on so we can refill our bottles, and always offering a dry towel on those really hot and sticky summer days. Several times in a bad lightning storm one of these kind souls has driven us home. To show his appreciation Colby would spend the entire ride shaking the water off himself totally soaking the driver, but to their credit they never said a word.
I’ve now learned to look at the world through the eyes of my 81 pound canine friend, and see it entirely different than I did over 4 years ago. I was a runner and triathlete until I broke my hip while cycling one day, resulting in hip replacement surgery. As part of my recovery my doctor suggested that I not run but I should walk. This was a major blow to both my ego and psyche. What would life be like if I couldn’t run? In spite of this letdown I decided it was something that I had to try. If Colby hadn’t been there to get me through it, I think I would have abandoned walking years ago.
Colby has taught me to slow down and look at and smell things that I had previously missed. During our years of walking together we would experience’ being in the moment’ of where we were and who we would meet. This was something I used to totally miss when running alone. Before my injury I was always in that ‘zone’ that runners get into, focusing on the finish only, and the time you finished in.
Just before my hip replacement surgery my son graduated from the University of Maryland. He decided to move back home and along with him came his new chocolate brown, bundle of joy, baby Lab. It had been a few years since our ‘Westie’ (West Highland Terrier) has passed away so getting used to a larger dog was going to be something really new. Shortly after moving back home our Son got a job, which resulted in his relocation to West Chester county New York. Because of our son’s busy new schedule it was decided that Colby would stay with us, his adopted grandparents, and we would love and care for him, and try to entertain him in proper ‘Labrador’ style.
For those of you familiar with Labs, that means anything that involves motion, so Colby instantly took to accompanying me on my walks. No day was too hot, no distance too long. He was ready on a seconds notice, and you had to be careful not to accidentally say the word ‘Walk’ in another context. He would whine and moan until you finally took him outside for a jaunt, even if you had just gotten back from a 2 hour, 8 mile walk to Narberth and back.
Colby and I would like to share with all of you the many wonderful people we meet and experiences we have every day along our 2 hour walks through Radnor and Lower Merion. Our walks have changed both of our lives, and in my case my way of looking at the world. I like to think we have brightened up the lives of the folks we meet a little too!
Walking with Colby has opened up a window that only the pure joy of an unbridled, freedom seeking, Chocolate Lab on a daily mission of adventure could unlock.
Travel through that window with us as we rediscover the true magic that exists in this wonderful neighborhood we all call the ‘Main Line’
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