Who Loves Ya, Baby!

I was playing around with my camera a couple of days ago, taking pictures of myself to fool around with in Photoshop.  It's hard to take a picture of yourself.  I kept getting my eyes and the top of my head, or my chin and chest.  I was being silly and making faces.  These are two of my favorites.  They make me laugh every time I look at them.

SNARL!

GIGGLE!

Cats in the Dog House

It got up to 96 degrees today, and I checked the back porch to see how my two cats were doing in this heat. They have a bed on a small table on the back porch, and that's the place where they hang out most of the day. They weren't there. But I heard a meowed greeting. It took a minute to realize that both cats were sacked out in comfort in the igloo-type dog house! I don't know if it was cooler in there, but the cats seemed quite comfortable. They looked so funny that I just had to take a picture of them!

More Puppy Antics

Yesterday I spent the day with my friends, Jacquie Rogers and Judith Laik. Jacquie has an in-home theater, and we lay in recliners all day watching movies (something we do several times a year).

It was the first time I left the puppy in the fenced yard all day long without supervision. Those of you who read this blog regularly, or who follow me on Twitter will have a good idea what happened while I was gone all day. That's Asterisk above with a sock in her mouth. I was taking pictures today of the socks she'd pulled off the clothesline the day before. She grabbed one and I snapped the picture. The massacred foam pad is something else she had taken off the line. By the time I arrived home, she'd gotten into a lot more things! Notice the picture of her looking so innocent in the foreground, while in the background lie the remains of a hanging wooden planter she had destroyed, along with plastic pots for seedlings, and ivy leaves she'd yanked off the ivy vine.

Here's a partial list of what she did:

• pulled a hanging planter off the deck table (where it was sitting, prior to being hung) and dismantled the planter and spread dirt and plants all over)
  
• chewed on the deck, the steps, the gate, the porch railing, the ivy covering the railing, and probably lots of other stuff I haven't found yet


• pulled an old rubber sink mat from the garbage and chewed it up


• ripped a pair of my socks off the clotheline


• shredded a blanket.
  
• knocked over a water bucket. Knowing her propensity for this, I'd put out two water buckets, since it was a hot day. The other bucket was fine


• climbed INTO a whiskey barrel planter and flung dirt at least 50 yards away. Dead plant bodies lie all over the yard


• got into my empty pots and planters that were neatly stacked on the deck table. She scattered them all over the yard
  

The bottom two pictures show the steps she chewed on, and the rubber sink mat she demolished. You know what, though? I'm just laughing. I see the humor in what she does. It's not malicious. It's just pure puppy fun. And if you can't have a little fun in life, then what's the use of living?

Sunday Puppy Humor

This is just a "for fun" post. I enjoy humorous pictures, and have numerous shots of my dogs being silly and funny. In other words, typical dogs. Throw a puppy into the mix, and you have nonstop humor (though often seasonsed with healthy doses of exasperation!).

The Beware of Dog picture shows Asterisk with her head through the porch gate (like a cow at her stanchion, waiting to be milked!). The sign was given to me by my sister, who has my same warped sense of humor.

The next picture shows Asterisk trying to lick peanut butter off her face. She was making such contorted faces and looked so funny, despite the fact her dark, slanted eyebrows always make her look like she's scowling.

The final picture is Asterisk with a plastic water bottle. She far prefers toys that are made of plastic because they make such delightful crackly sounds when crunched.

Blessed are the Friends

This is a post about Susan Wiggs. (Photo on the right)

But first, let's talk about me. *g* Despite the fact I'm the perpetual optimist, I've been feeling a little down lately. The medical things are getting to me: pending hysterectomy, extreme pain (cause unknown) in my right thigh, constant coughing from allergies . . . and an I-don't-care-you're-just-a-number medical system. Yesterday, I made yet another phone call to the clinic trying to find out if my referral to a specialist had gone through. They had initially said it would take 2 weeks. It's been over 2 weeks. I found out they hadn't even started on it. As I told them 2 weeks ago, this needs to be done ASAP, since I'll be losing my medical insurance in the near future, and I want to be sure my hysterectomy is covered.

So how does Susan Wiggs figure into the picture? Well, she may not be able to build a fire under the medical system, but she sure can do things to make you feel better. Susan is a person who always manages to lift my spirits. She did that today when I opened my mailbox and saw a long, skinny package. What the . . .? And then I saw it was from Susan. Now, Susan has this quirky mind that always seems to come up with the perfect gift at the perfect time. The Screaming Monkey Christmas gift had my family in stitches. My Doberman Nova's favorite chew toy is a big green rubber thing, courtesy of Susan. The Rubber Thing has since been commandeered by Asterisk, my Boxer pup. That's Asterisk above, with the Rubber Thing. (And yes, she is sitting on Nova) BTW, a suggestion from Susan was the trigger to my naming the pup Asterisk.

So when I saw the package was from Susan, I started to laugh, knowing it would be something quirky and fun. By time I got back to the house, I'd torn off the brown paper and discovered . . . a BugZooka! (Where does she find these things???)

What's a BugZooka? Well, it's basically a bug disposal unit--a long vacuum tube that sucks up insects. Better than a flyswatter, because it doesn't leave splats on your walls or ceilings. You can either set the bugs free outdoors, or dispose of them some other way. I get these humongous hairy spiders in my bathroom that hang out over my sink or shower, keeping me from my ablutions for fear of them landing on my head. I don't know what kind of uber-spider they are, but Raid has no effect, even when sprayed directly on them. I find that exceedingly scary. And using a flyswatter is out of the question. I tried that once and it left an extremely gross mess on the ceiling. Now I have an effective means of dealing with uninvited critters in my house. I can't wait for the yellowjackets that invade my house every fall and terrorize me and my pets. Zap! Gotcha!!!

The Joys of Puppy Ownership

Guess what I came home to tonight after critique group? A very happy puppy, greeting me at the door. She was just so excited to see me. She was all smiles and puppy wags. Only problem is, I locked her in her crate before I left for group tonight. Somehow, she figured out how to open the door, and oh my, did she have a good time. Yes, she pooped and peed all over the place. But she was very selective. She only pooped and peed on the rugs. She completely avoided all the linoleum. Thankfully, she did not tear anything apart.

And she got into the cat's water, so she tanked up really well. The throw rugs are now in the washing machine. I’m so glad they are machine washable, because they are expensive rugs. I'm going to have to tear out both carpets in the library. I know from long experience that it's a lost cause trying to save them with urine smells in them, and the bottom carpet is old anyway, so out it goes. The top carpet is relatively new, but it's already had a few previous accidents on it, and though I took it outside and hosed it down really well when it happened, and let it air dry in the sun for a week, it's now toast. I'm not supposed to be doing any heavy lifting, but this can't be helped. The carpets have to go. Too bad, because the top carpet was practically new.

Things could have been much worse. She could have destroyed the furniture. Terrorized the cats. Gotten into the living room with my pale oatmeal-colored carpet (a sturdy puppy gate prevented that). Now the little blighter is in her crate sawing logs after I cleaned up all the messes around the house. I guess all I can do is laugh. *g*

Here are some pictures I took today of Asterisk and Christopher playing hide & seek. For a cat, Christopher is so good natured about the puppy. He doesn't use his claws at all. Are these cute pictures or what?















(Top) Christopher on the other side of my desk, tempting Asterisk with The Paw of Death.

(Bottom) Christopher has just leaped out at Asterisk from behind the footstool with an, "AHA!"














(Top) Ready to play patty-cake

(Bottom) A pounce ready to happen

This picture cracks me up. Asterisk had been jumping at Christopher when Christopher suddenly whipped out his paw to slap her face (notice his claws are sheathed). Asterisk stopped so fast her loose puppy skin accordioned about her neck and shoulders. Too funny!

Puppy Shenanigans

My new Boxer puppy, Asterisk, is making overtures of friendship to Christopher the Assassin, my cat. Christopher likes dogs, and was best buddies with my old Boxer, so he's tolerating the pup pretty well.

The picture above Shows Asterisk under my desk, trying to reach Christopher. And Christopher knows that the puppy can only get her head and front feet through that little hole at the bottom, so he is sitting tantalizingly close, just to tease the puppy. Animals are so entertaining.

I happened to have the camera on the corner of my desk today, so I was fortunate enough to catch a cute picture of Christopher sitting atop the desk, peering sneakily down at Asterisk, who was under the desk. A moment after I took that picture, an unsuspecting Asterisk moseyed out from under the desk and suffered the indignity of a series of rapid-fire slaps to the head (no claws) from Christopher, who'd been hovering like a vulture waiting for the chance to nail her.

Christopher thought it was great fun, but it startled the daylights out of Asterik, who thought the demons of Hell had landed on her head. It was hilarious watching Christopher planning his attack and waiting in tense expectation for Asterisk to get in range. I love my animals. They're better than TV.

Fooling Turkeys

I'm taking a break from recipes to post something hilarious I just heard on the radio. I'm listing to NPR, and they reported on a mail carrier who was unable to deliver mail in one of his delivery areas because of serious attacks from a flock of wild turkeys.

The solution: carry an umbrella. His bosses told him (rather wisely, I think) to carry an umbrella, and as the turkeys are flying at him, he should open the umbrella. This will make the turkeys think he is a dominant male spreading his plummage. I love it. How smart is that?!! A win-win situation.

Mondegreens

I love mondegreens. For the uninitiated, a mondegreen is when a person says something, but you "hear" something else. Such as "What a friend we have in Jesus" being misheard as "What a friend we have in cheeses."

So today I was listing to KPLU, the local NPR station. They're having their annual fall fund drive, and one of the pledge gifts for those who donate a pledge is a KPLU tote bag. Only, I kept thinking they were saying "toe tag," as in a cadaver toe tag. In my vague absent-mindedness, I kept wondering if it was a jokey Halloween gag gift.

Not until they started calling it a grocery tote bag did I realize what they were talking about. This made me laugh. Okay, so my hearing isn't what it used to be, but heck, if you can't laugh at yourself, what can you laugh at?

Life is full of humor. It's there, free for the taking. Have you ever heard a mondegreen?

Have You Seen a Funny Lately?

What's the funniest thing you ever saw?

I remember the time I was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, creeping forward by the inch. I noticed a guy in the next lane whiz by me at 3 MPH, and he was laughing. So was the next guy. Then I happened to glance in my rearview mirror and saw why. A very professional-looking man in a business suit and driving a Beamer was directly behind me. He had a hand puppet that looked like a dog. This "dog" was barking at cars.

I burst out laughing. The "dog" saw me laughing and barked at me. I laughed harder. The dog stuck his head out the driver's side window and barked at a passing car. The driver pulled the dog back in with his collar, so then the dog scrunched up his face and pouted when the man shook his finger at him. Then the dog saw me continuing to watch him through my rearview mirror, so he crept below the dashboard and then slowly peered over the top in a peek-a-boo way. I laughed. He slipped below the dash again, then popped up quickly. Once more I laughed, and he ducked below the dash and then s l o w l y rose up so that all I could see was the top of his head and his eyes. He played peek-a-boo for a while, then rested his chin on the dashboard and did what was obviously an exaggerated sigh.

During the hour I was stuck in traffic, I had a blast watching this puppet dog perform his antics. Barking at passing cars was hilarious, especially as his eyes locked on like radar and he continued to bark as the car passed. You could see his head swivel and his mouth going. It was just too funny.

When our lane finally started moving again, I waved goodbye to the puppet dog, and he bounced around in his car barking excitedly. I've always wondered about that guy in the Beamer. Why did he happen to have a hand-puppet in his car? Did he have any idea how much I enjoyed his performance?

That's not the funniest thing I've ever seen, but it ranks right up there with the best. Have you ever encountered something similar? Or have you ever seen something that struck you as particularly funny? Or did you do something that was funny? Do tell! We need more humor in our lives!

Of Colder Weather and Sneaky Cats

The weather has changed and fall is definitely here. It's cold and rainy, and I've been hunched up all day. I get cold sitting at the computer, as my desk is in a corner, against 2 outside walls. I keep warm by climbing into one of those funky body wrap "snuggle bags" that look like an oversized sleeping bag. You know the kind--you step into it and zip it up to the waist, and the rest drapes around your shoulders like a shawl. Toasty warm, if a bit awkward to get into and out of. I tried staying in the snuggle bag and hopping around when I needed to get somewhere, but that was too undignified, not to mention exhausting, so now I just unzip and climb out.

I had to go to the kitchen to make lunch a few days ago, so I unzipped the bag partway and climbed out. I left it draped over my chair so that when I returned, all I had to do was step in, sit down, and zip up. That's when the fun began, because I didn't realize that in my absence, one of my cats had crawled into the bag and curled up at the foot. So when I returned, I climbed into the bag, getting irritated that my feet seemed to be tangled up in an excess of material at the bottom, while simultaneously marveling at how much of my body heat was still trapped in the foot of the bag. That's when something attacked my stockinged foot in an excess of kitty playfulness. And that's when I realized there was SOMETHING ALIVE in the bag with me!

What ensued next was worthy of a Mack Sennett Keystone Cops movie. Have you ever tried to claw your way out of an overlarge snuggle bag that contained a suddenly startled cat that is also trying to claw his way out before you? I fell off my chair and somehow ended up clinging by my fingernails to the ceiling. My cat was beside me hanging upside down by his claws. We looked at each other, then down at the demon bag. Then we dropped down from the ceiling, straightened our clothes, and tried to act nonchalant. Since then, my cat won't have anything to do with the Snuggle Bag That Eats Cats. Can't imagine why!

Have you ever had an experience where you were startled/frightened by a varmint, domesticated or not? Ever had an encounter with a wild critter? What happened? Do tell!