Today we bring to you our second Ear of the Week: Yes, the kids are back to school this week, but why should they have all the fun? Just because a dog only has one ear doesn't mean he can't be fully functional. Really, in many ways this ear surpasses the original one. His old ear didn't have a pen holder, after all. He's already learned that the hat and the camera mean fun time and treats, so rest assured no one is more on board with this ear project that Brody himself. Now ... Read more »
Photography
The Long Dark Twee-Time of the Soul
As you probably know, I have a bit of a complicated relationship with the PTA moms. Not moms in general, mind you, just the small subset of Pinterest loving, glue-gun wielding domestic lifestyle experts whose expectations I can never, despite my best efforts, seem to live up to. It doesn't matter what school we're at, it happens every time. First it was the art project/pooper scooper incident in kindergarten. Then it was the Have a Very Agro Valentine's Day episode. And now it's crudite, crudite ... Read more »
Arya of House Potcake
One thing I've learned about going on vacation, is that I don't like to relax. How can I, when there's so much to do and so little time! I want to see ALL THE THINGS! And most of the time I vacation with my husband he responds with a blank stare and a "why would you want to do all of that?" So this time around we went to Turks and Caicos, a small island chain in the Bahamas whose island upon which we landed is only 38 square miles, so I think he assumed he would have me boxed in by ... Read more »
Flashback Friday: Depressed Puppy
So I was looking through old Brody photos for a Flashback Friday and found this one: Which was awesome all by itself, and then I realized he was the perfect candidate for some captions. So I turned him into a Depressed Puppy Meme. Hope you have a better long weekend than this guy! ;) (If I recall the true sadness was not being allowed to chase my mom's hellkitty around) Feel free to make your own caption, they always entertain me. :D ... Read more »
Apollo Chaplin Wishes you a Happy Hairball Awareness Day
If there's one thing that's harder to get a good picture of than a black dog, it's a black cat. At least Kekoa was easily bribed. Apollo- well, let's just say this was an all-hands on deck sort of mission. For National Hairball Awareness Day- which is today, by the by- we were invited by Furminator to participate in their Cats with Moustaches Campaign. The concept was simple: Furminate your cat (cakewalk), glue the hair onto a cardboard moustache (Messy, but elementary), then get a photograph ... Read more »
I want to go where they went
I do not profess to know what happens to us after we die. Even those who have strong faith in what will happen to us after we go are sometimes unsure of what happens to our beloved pets. And to them, I quote the great Will Rogers: "If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." When someone close to me passes on, be it person or pet, I have a dream about them a week or so later. I don't know why, if it is a quirk of my subconscious or an actual visit or who the ... Read more »
The 2013 Rose Parade in Pictures
I was so thrilled to be able to see the Rose Parade this year live and in person. The extras, like seeing Jane as Grand Marshal and getting to meet some absolutely incredible members of the military participating in the Canines With Courage float, was just added icing on the cake. My hosts at Natural Balance were incredibly kind, helpful and amazing to all of us who were fortunate enough to enjoy their hospitality. Hope you enjoy some of the great photographs we were able to take while we were ... Read more »
The Best Moment I Never Saw: The Rose Parade moment everyone’s talking about
January 1, 9:15. I'm sitting in the grandstands on Orange Grove Blvd enjoying my first trip to the Rose Parade in Pasadena. Earlier, in the chill dark morning mist, I and a handful of other lucky press saw the Natural Balance Canines With Courage float lined up down the road, and I got to meet the delightful and utterly gracious Dick Van Patten while he warmed up inside a roadside trailer. When the Canines with Courage float, a full scale replica of the new Military Working Dogs National ... Read more »
Wordless Wednesday: Pooped
One week in Orlando. Flew home to child with, I just learned today, strep throat. And we move on Friday. This is how I am feeling right now: And that includes all the hair and assorted detritus scattered about. ... 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 »
Wordless Wednesday: Bonding
Can't complain about living in San Diego. :) ... Read more »
Get your puppy and kitten fix here. One day only.
Every little kid who wants to be a vet someday says it's because they love puppies and kittens and think we get to play with them all day. And then we smile, trying not to look too discouraging, as we encourage their dream while thinking of all the cancer euthanasias, anal sac abscesses, and "it-just-started-yesterday-I-swear" 10 centimeter pedunculated, bloody masses. Some people thrive on all that stuff. Me, I never got beyond the 10 year old version of being a vet. I like preventive care. ... Read more »
Love Match
I can see a thousand things, and I can go a thousand places, but not a thing brings so much joy as doggie kisses on happy faces. ... Read more »
Going rate for the blond one: 20 cows, plus shillings.
This post is part of a series documenting a trip undertaken by a team of volunteers with World Vets who traveled to Arusha, Tanzania in June 2012 to provide veterinary care for the under (or should be say un-) served donkey population. For the full series of posts covering World Vets, please click here. I think genuine smiles are much more interesting than canned ones. You can tell. You can always tell. And as much as posed photos work in certain circumstances, I tried to avoid overly ... Read more »
The Seven Deadly Sins: Lust
Thank you all for helping me do this photographic series while I'm off in Africa, committing pride, possibly gluttony, but definitely not sloth! You guys really pulled though. I hope you enjoy this series as much as I think you will. Today, I bring you....Lust. Gets you in trouble every time, doesn't it? (If you want to see the full motion 70s music version of the above, Dexter also has a saucy video on youtube.) ... Read more »
The life of a doggy lifeguard
A few weeks ago, I got an email from Peter Noll, one of the local big kahunas in the surf dog scene. He got my name from none other than Judy Fridono, otherwise known as Surf Dog Ricochet's owner, and they were wondering if I might be interested in hanging out at the Purina Incredible Dog Surf Dog challenge last Friday just in case there was a dog in need of a veterinarian. And you know, I would have gone anyway just to watch, so this was icing on the cake since I got to go and tangentially feel ... Read more »
Game of Bones: Casting call
Best show on TV. Only thing better are the books. I tried to convince myself that my life would be complete without doing a take on Game of Thrones, but I simply must. I MUST. Problem is, I have three pets and, as you know if you're a fan, Game of Thrones has about 154,657 characters. I don't need that many, but I do need more than three. So I'm putting out a casting call- a few of you have already noted you have a mastiff that would work as Gregor, that sort of thing. I think this is ... Read more »
Free twins with home purchase
So yesterday my husband walks in the front door with his elbows over his head like he's dodging a barrage of garbage at a hockey game. "The hummingbird had a baby again," he said. "She's divebombing me every time I go out to the car." But he was wrong. She didn't have a baby. She had babies, two miniscule little beaks pressed skyward from the safety of their golfball sized itty bitty nest. It's charming, almost enough to make me sad about the fact that our house hasn't sold yet. ... Read more »
