Monday, December 24, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Christmas Plans
Merry Christmas! Mom, the dogs and I will be packed into the car and driving to Phoenix on Saturday. We will stay at Mom's "new" house and spend Christmas at my sister's house. There will be lots of extended family and friends there so surely a good time will be had by all. Dad is flying down from Canada to join us! Yay! Rich won't be with us as he's heading home (back east) to spend Christmas with his family. Boo. But yay for the family I guess.
I am also looking forward to catching up with friends and having Christmas Eve dinner at Houston's! With Marti working, it couldn't be merrier! Okay, it could be merrier if she weren't working but spending it with us but since she is, so it is...merry (now I'm confused). We'll head back Boxing Day (that means the day after Christmas for you Yanks) or maybe the day after. We will see.
No set plans for New Year's yet. I tend to not get as excited about New Years. Maybe because it doesn't involve stockings and presents. What can I say? I'm a kid at heart!
I am also looking forward to catching up with friends and having Christmas Eve dinner at Houston's! With Marti working, it couldn't be merrier! Okay, it could be merrier if she weren't working but spending it with us but since she is, so it is...merry (now I'm confused). We'll head back Boxing Day (that means the day after Christmas for you Yanks) or maybe the day after. We will see.
No set plans for New Year's yet. I tend to not get as excited about New Years. Maybe because it doesn't involve stockings and presents. What can I say? I'm a kid at heart!
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Sunday, December 02, 2007
DogSpotting
Well, unlike some, I don't have key elements to make my BLOG interesting (toddlers, newborns, or big feet and propensity to blog in poetry...) instead I do get to hang around two dogs. So that's what gets blogged about when all else is relatively calm...
Rich is in Vegas this weekend with a friend from out of town so I'm on dog duty (or dog doodie). I have Abby von Barky Pants with me as always and we have joined forces with Zoe the Destroyer. Staying at Rich's in Hollyweird, life is just a party. This morning I needed to go back down to the South Bay for a while. The plan was to do as normal, leave Zoe in her crate (did I mention her nickname is "The Destroyer") and leave Abby (who will bark inside or out of crate if necessary) and head down on my own. With Rich out of town, one hound crated and me driving across the city, I worried that if I were delayed for some reason, they'd run out of water and I would just feel awful (unless I had died, in which case I'd prob feel okay). So, I had the bright idea (and apparently severe memory lapse) to take them with me. As you may know, Abby is a car dog. She has spent many a day hanging with me in my car. But Zoe...well she hasn't. And I'd conveniently forgotten my desire to kill her when I'm driving alone with her in the car. The rare times she's in the car Rich is there too (we are often en route to the dog park) so he does most of the yelling. But today...no such situation. To keep her from forcing all 60 lbs up into the front seat, I had to keep my right arm stretched across to the passenger side head-rest. As a result of the odd angle and constant Zoe pressure on arm, I've been on Motrin since 8am this morning. Finally I let her sit in the front (this is how kids learn the skill and success of tantrums I think). Once in the front seat, she'd stand, put her front paws on the arm rest and put her huge head cheek to cheek with mine. I can't figure out what purpose this serves except to remind me she's right there.
When off the freeways on surface streets the pressure lessens as I can open the windows for her to put her head out. I have to be careful not to let them down too far because once I accidentally let a window go down all the way and before I knew it she had jumped out the window. Thankfully we were stuck in traffic so by the time I threw the car in park and jumped out, she was racing around the back of the car to me. She's a happy dog no matter what, this has to be said!
Got to my destination where they were left in car for an hour or so. I could keep my eye on them with a mirrored glass window. I could see them...but they couldn't see me...Zoe stayed in the front seat vigilante. Abby, being so used to it was passed out asleep on the back seat - probably enjoying the moments that were Zoe-free...as Zoe usually muscles in on anywhere Abby is.
Once tasks completed and with a new resolve to love Zoe and be nice to her in the car, off we headed. I also pushed the passenger seat up as far as it would go so it'd be really hard for her to jump into the front. However, do not think of me as only cruel, for I had a plan...Redondo Beach Dog Park! Only minutes from where I was taking care of my errands, we headed straight there (with one detour to Starbucks, I admit it).
Dog-park was cold and windy and a bit wet from yesterday's rain. But it was also (seemingly) clean and fresh. So off they went. Zoe thinks her spirit is being stolen when I take her picture (she can even tell with the iPhone what I'm doing...maybe she's not as retarded as I think...) but I tried to get a few shots anyway.
Abby's mental check list:
a) are you relatively non-aggressive?
b) are you approximately my size or smaller?
c) do you have the certain je ne sais quoi?
d) can I dominate (hump) you?
This white dog got a pass on all of the requirements...Abby found the (only) one she wanted to play with.
Zoe on the other hand...I'll play with anyone...anyone? anyone?
Hey, you wanna play? See how I'll bound after you, non-threatening but totally goofy? You can chase me if you want, I like to be chased, try it, I'll show you! Wait, where are you going...?
QUIZ:
Zoe is:
a) touching the electric fence dividing big and small dog parks and being zapped
b) paying homage to the electric pylons that sustain Redondo Beach in their power
c) mistaking the chihuahua (in the adjacent park) for a squirrel
d) believing this fence is so high she'd never be able to make it over (thank god if she does think that, this dog can JUMP).
(answer: c, she wanted that chihuahua more than she's ever wanted any other small game).
What's the big deal? I'm here to help, haven't you read the bumper sticker "DOG is my copilot? That's ME!"
Rich is in Vegas this weekend with a friend from out of town so I'm on dog duty (or dog doodie). I have Abby von Barky Pants with me as always and we have joined forces with Zoe the Destroyer. Staying at Rich's in Hollyweird, life is just a party. This morning I needed to go back down to the South Bay for a while. The plan was to do as normal, leave Zoe in her crate (did I mention her nickname is "The Destroyer") and leave Abby (who will bark inside or out of crate if necessary) and head down on my own. With Rich out of town, one hound crated and me driving across the city, I worried that if I were delayed for some reason, they'd run out of water and I would just feel awful (unless I had died, in which case I'd prob feel okay). So, I had the bright idea (and apparently severe memory lapse) to take them with me. As you may know, Abby is a car dog. She has spent many a day hanging with me in my car. But Zoe...well she hasn't. And I'd conveniently forgotten my desire to kill her when I'm driving alone with her in the car. The rare times she's in the car Rich is there too (we are often en route to the dog park) so he does most of the yelling. But today...no such situation. To keep her from forcing all 60 lbs up into the front seat, I had to keep my right arm stretched across to the passenger side head-rest. As a result of the odd angle and constant Zoe pressure on arm, I've been on Motrin since 8am this morning. Finally I let her sit in the front (this is how kids learn the skill and success of tantrums I think). Once in the front seat, she'd stand, put her front paws on the arm rest and put her huge head cheek to cheek with mine. I can't figure out what purpose this serves except to remind me she's right there.
When off the freeways on surface streets the pressure lessens as I can open the windows for her to put her head out. I have to be careful not to let them down too far because once I accidentally let a window go down all the way and before I knew it she had jumped out the window. Thankfully we were stuck in traffic so by the time I threw the car in park and jumped out, she was racing around the back of the car to me. She's a happy dog no matter what, this has to be said!
Got to my destination where they were left in car for an hour or so. I could keep my eye on them with a mirrored glass window. I could see them...but they couldn't see me...Zoe stayed in the front seat vigilante. Abby, being so used to it was passed out asleep on the back seat - probably enjoying the moments that were Zoe-free...as Zoe usually muscles in on anywhere Abby is.
Once tasks completed and with a new resolve to love Zoe and be nice to her in the car, off we headed. I also pushed the passenger seat up as far as it would go so it'd be really hard for her to jump into the front. However, do not think of me as only cruel, for I had a plan...Redondo Beach Dog Park! Only minutes from where I was taking care of my errands, we headed straight there (with one detour to Starbucks, I admit it).
Dog-park was cold and windy and a bit wet from yesterday's rain. But it was also (seemingly) clean and fresh. So off they went. Zoe thinks her spirit is being stolen when I take her picture (she can even tell with the iPhone what I'm doing...maybe she's not as retarded as I think...) but I tried to get a few shots anyway.
Abby's mental check list:
a) are you relatively non-aggressive?
b) are you approximately my size or smaller?
c) do you have the certain je ne sais quoi?
d) can I dominate (hump) you?
This white dog got a pass on all of the requirements...Abby found the (only) one she wanted to play with.
Zoe on the other hand...I'll play with anyone...anyone? anyone?
Hey, you wanna play? See how I'll bound after you, non-threatening but totally goofy? You can chase me if you want, I like to be chased, try it, I'll show you! Wait, where are you going...?
QUIZ:
Zoe is:
a) touching the electric fence dividing big and small dog parks and being zapped
b) paying homage to the electric pylons that sustain Redondo Beach in their power
c) mistaking the chihuahua (in the adjacent park) for a squirrel
d) believing this fence is so high she'd never be able to make it over (thank god if she does think that, this dog can JUMP).
(answer: c, she wanted that chihuahua more than she's ever wanted any other small game).
What's the big deal? I'm here to help, haven't you read the bumper sticker "DOG is my copilot? That's ME!"
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