One of the little perks of doing what I do happens at Christmastime, when I get to go on Fox 5's local morning show with the Rancho Coastal Humane Society and present "A Dog's Holiday Wishlist." I don't have the video downloaded yet, but I'm working on it because it's really silly but also just fun. I'm with the anchor while each adoptable pet goes up to Santa. They (and by they, I mean one of the producers or camera guys behind the scenes talking in a goofy voice) tell Santa what they want for ... Read more »
Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
The call came yesterday evening, when I was sitting on the couch trying to block the sounds of the upstairs neighbor's daily dance exercises out of my cranium. He or she was dancing to "Firework" on this fine evening, jumping up and down to the beat on top of my head. Do you ever hate (jump) walls so paper thin (bump) Like the ceiling's bout (smash) to come caving in (crash) Neighbor you're a piece (thump thump) of work- (thump thump) C'mon let your ear (tap tap) drums burst - (splat ... Read more »
Next Step Baby Monitors: Exonerating pets since 2012
It's been a long time since I've needed a baby monitor. Not that long, mind you, but long enough that technology has apparently been soaring by me in leaps and bounds since the year I slept with static-y radio by my side. When I was asked by Next Step Baby monitors if I wanted to review their cameras to see what my dogs were up to while I was gone, I agreed, because oddly enough- and this never ever happens- my husband had JUST SAID "We really need a baby monitor or something to figure out ... Read more »
The Long Dark Tea Time of the Brode
This is my life right now: Commute kids to school. Get loan documents. Get more loan documents. Write. Provide more loan documents. I have done this house buying thing once or twice in my life, but it's never been like this. I get it, things are different now. But it feels almost violating, some random 20 something loan intern combing through the minutiae of your life's history, eyeing you with mistrust, as if YOU'RE the one responsible for the current housing mess. While our mortgage history ... Read more »
The 2012 Howliday Gift Guide is here!
Happy Holidays! I've been lucky enough to attend both Global Pet Expo and SuperZoo this year, skulking about the aisles in search of my favorite pet items of the year, and fortunately for us there was plenty to choose from. I've teamed up with the pet enthusiasts at Blog Paws to bring you some suggestions from the BlogPaws Great Gifts for Pets Holiday Gift Guide. (The guide in its entirety is viewable at the Blog Paws site.) Here are some of my favorites for under our tree, which if fate and the ... Read more »
Adopt the net: Transitioning a rescue pet into a new home
We, the collective animal loving internet, have done a great job of telling people to "Adopt, Don't Shop." We do it so much that people say it without thinking, assume without asking, and demand without discourse. Now, don't get me wrong: I absolutely support the concept, and this is why I am here writing a post today in honor of Petside's Pet Net Adoption Week. It's why I've adopted lots of pets over the years. But this is only half the equation. We tell people they should adopt, and why they ... Read more »
Have Fido, Will Travel
Heading out for the holidays with Fido or Fluffy in tow? Bringing your pet with you can be a great alternative to boarding or housesitting, as long as you plan ahead and make sure you are prepared with pet-friendly accommodations. There's few things worse than showing up at Grandma's, dog in tow, only to have her stare in horror at your dog and say, "I didn't know you were brining HIM," while pointedly stroking her Persian cat and glaring at you. Assuming you know what you're going to do when ... Read more »
I am grateful
Normally, I'd be spending today running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Thanksgiving is MY holiday, the one I normally host at my house. My mom gets Easter, my mother in law gets Christmas, but this is the one I take because I love going overboard on things like caramelized squash bisque and focaccia sage stuffing and pretty much every kind of turkey shaped serving dish one can own. Well, all the turkey shaped serving dishes are currently in a storage facility and I barely have ... Read more »
Awkward Massage is Awkward
So I made it back safe and sound from lovely Granda. The Technical Animal Rescue course was absolutely amazing and a fantastic program for anyone who is interested in animal rescue- but before I go into the water rescue, the ropes course, or all the exciting things World Vets is up to in Nicaragua, I promised Sarah I would share the story of the world's most awkward massage so my stories are going to be in reverse chronological order. The last day on our trip was a free day, to wind up loose ... Read more »
Wordless Wednesday: Rescue Me
I've tied more knots in things over the last two days than I have since suture week at vet school. Knot after knot after knot after knot. But we have to: it doesn't matter how brave your rescue attempt is or how fast you make it to the victim, if your knot bites it, so do you. So practice we did. I thought I would show you a couple of teaser pics from our water day. This is Bobby, our willing disaster victim. Bobby routinely tumbles into rivers, falls down cliffs, and needs to be lifted from ... Read more »
Shelter Drive By: Snorgles and Food
So before I left for Nicaragua, I wanted to make sure I got my shelter drive-by done and set in honor of our Shelter Appreciation Week Blog Hop. If you missed the post talking about why we are doing it, click here- please consider featuring your own local shelter this week so Blog Paws can make a $2000 donation! Get your posts done this week and then join the Blog Hop! The whole point of the shelter drive by is to keep it simple. Simple is doable and unobtrusive and repeatable. I brought a ... Read more »
Be the Change with a Shelter Drive By! Small effort, big reward
As many of you have heard, it's National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week, though to be fair the news cycle has been dominated by other events. Such is life. As regular readers may remember, I usually end this week with the Blogathon, a 24 hour marathon of posts with prizes and fun, and potentially zombies. But life happens and things evolve, and as it so happens I will be on a plane on Saturday, on my way back to Granada, Nicaragua. I am doing a one week course in Technical Animal Rescue ... Read more »
Flash Mountain
All right, all right, I know this has been a very emotionally draining week for everyone. Some of you may be hung over. I wanted to talk to you all about National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week, and I will, but I think I'll wait until everyone has calmed down a little from whatever ecstatic/ despairing/ ambivalent coma in which you were left yesterday, and for today, I'm just going to talk about Disneyland in a nice, calm voice. Pretty, pretty lights. Benign Mouse. Yes, I went to ... Read more »
Disaster Response, Sandy, and Good People
It's been a rough week, right? I think everyone can pretty much agree with that. There has been an awful lot of awful going on. That being said, it's also been an earth-shattering shake-by-the-shoulders to everyone mired in the mud leading up to Tuesday's election that maybe it isn't the only thing in the world that matters. Oh yeah, there's an election tomorrow! I almost forgot. Amazing how quickly things become less important when people's lives are getting washed away on a large ... Read more »
Discombobulated
dis·com·bob·u·late transitive verb \ˌdis-kəm-ˈbä-b(y)ə-ˌlāt\ : upset, confuse <inventing cool new ways to discombobulate the old order — Kurt Andersen> We are now in our new apartment. Just like that, I flew out to Atlanta one day, I came back to a packed house, and the next day we said goodbye and left a decade behind. I would have had a little more mental space to process this, but then a hurricane hit and I felt too guilty and concerned about other people's devastation to ... Read more »
Blogger Disaster Response Team-Activate!
I just flew home from BarkWorld and boy, are my arms tired. No, really, everything is tired. It was a great weekend I promise to post about, but for now let's just say that I zipped out under the farthest bands of Hurricane Sandy, came home to a house half packed for movers, and just kind of realized tomorrow I'm leaving my house of the last 8 years. I am myself a bit of a disaster. But in the big scheme of things, much more dramatic events, real disasters, are taking place. My thoughts and ... Read more »
Postcards from Purgatory
I am saying goodbye to my house next week. I didn't think I would be so suddenly sentimental about the place, given how keen I was on getting out of it for the last year or so. But now that it's time, I realize that wow, there's a lot of memories here I'm leaving behind once and for all. We brought home two new babies to this house, celebrating milestones like first birthdays and first steps and first days of school. This is the only place they've ever called home. We said goodbye to two most ... Read more »
Instant Stress Relief: Awesome Penguin is Awesome
I don't do stress very well. I get antsy. I eat too many cookies. I spend a lot of time staring vacantly into space listening to my heartbeat drum in my ears as I resist, with variable success, the urge to overreact to every little thing. You'd think I would be better at dealing with this sort of thing by now, but of all the curveballs I've weathered in life, this particular move has really unsettled me in a way that makes me entirely sympathetic to those who are simply steering clear of me ... Read more »
