Verbless Vednesday

Kitchen nightmares  dreams

Mastication

I gave each dog a carrot chunk measuring about an inch around and half an inch thick. Miró crunched his; Alanis swallowed hers whole. Carrots go out of dogs in the same shape they went in. You have to wonder—or I have to—how Alanis will feel when that chunk of carrot works its way through.  She swallows whole just about any food that will fit down her throat.  Chew treats designed to clean teeth are wasted on her, as are breath tablets designed for dogs.  In nearly twelve years, she hasn’t figured out that what goes around, comes around, or out.

Dogs must trust us to feed them the right stuff because, it seems to me, a dog will eat just about anything. Who hasn’t lost a pair of bunny slippers*, a plant, a sock or a rock to the family dog? If the bunny slippers feel disagreeable later (they did not), the dog cheerfully barfs them up, preferably on the living room carpet. If the dog can’t barf up the offending food or non-food item, we hurry the dog to the vet for some expensive X-rays, sometimes followed by surgery, usually on the weekend. We are happy and grateful when all goes well, even if we have thoughts of murdering the dog on whom we’ve expended so much emotional and financial coin to save. But who’s counting? Certainly not the dog.

*My second-favorite childhood dog, Silver the Poodle, ate the fuzzy bunnies off my prized slippers. I felt betrayed.

Terse Tursday

Seen this before? Project Noah.

I finally figured out how to set the comments so that I can reply. We is slow but we gets there.

39 horses taken from hoarder

You've heard of puppy mills. You've heard about cases of a few starving, neglected horses found in a field. How about 39 horses--thin, living in filth, with untreated wounds, skittish and unused to handling? Stallions and mares, many of them Arabians. Thirty-nine. Pierce County Animal Control took the horses from a property in Graham, Washington this week. According to the Tacoma News-Tribune "some stalls contained compacted manure and urine a foot thick."

Pierce County Animal Control Officer Brian Boman leads a horse from a transport trailer to a stall at Frontier Park in Graham, September 26, 2012. It is one of thirty neglected horses were seized from a Graham-area home. (PETER HALEY/THE NEWS TRIBUNE)

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/09/28/2313562/graham-area-man-to-fight-for-return.html#storylink=mostpopular#storylink=cpy

The owner cooperated with authorities when the horses were being taken. That seems to be "official talk" that means he didn't cause obstructions or get in the way. Now he has lawyered up and intends to fight to get the horses back. Isn't that a typical hoarder attitude? "I'm taking care of those animals; the abuse has been exaggerated; my animals are well fed; I spend every cent I've got taking care of them." Tell me the horse in that photo is healthy and fit.

This was the largest horse rescue Pierce County has ever undertaken and funds are needed for the $40,000 cost of rehabilitating the horses. If lots of people (yes, me too) each send a little, they'll raise the money in no time. The address for donations is Pierce County Auditor's Office, 2401 South 35th St., Room 200, Tacoma, WA 98409. They'll probably have to spend all their budget-allotted money on the legal case.

The world is full of pseudo-intellectuals

Airedales don't observe Yom Kippur because they never atone for anything.



Alanis plays hide and seek

In camo

No one can see me.

The artist at work

While I've been very busy during this week before the start of fall quarter, Miro created several small installations around the main floor of the house.

Applying finishing touches and autographing his work.

Seeking inspiration for the next piece.

The result: an elongated but tightly unified piece representing the movement of water on this first day of rain after an unprecedented 51 days of sun. I call it "La Lluvia," the rain.

A walk in the woods

First we take a slow walk with Alanis. Then she goes home to rest and we go out for a fast walk, meaning the person wants to do a fast walk and I want to pay attention to what's around me. We went to a park not far from home.

Something interesting over here.

It requires further investigation but that pesky leash is holding me back.

Yes, of course, I can sit nicely; but it's boring to be here when something's rustling over there.

So many bushes to sniff; such a short leash....

Wordless Wednesday

What you can't buy at the farmers market

This is post number 450!

You may have seen gift shop signs saying, "You break it; you buy it." While at the Sunday Lake Forest Park market, I thought of one for dogs: "You nose it; mom buys it." I was going to buy the blueberries anyway but told the lady at the booth exactly which box I wanted after Miro sniffed at it a little too closely.

He has a particular code of ethics. He doesn't see a problem with smearing his wet nose all over somebody else's food but he will not steal from a booth or even the ground. I have not tested this theory on meat or cheese! When I was buying green beans, which both my dogs like, Miro and I both noticed several that had fallen to the ground; but he did not eat a green bean until I gave him one I had purchased. Or is he just fastidious?

After I stowed the food in the car, we wandered over a bridge and to the creek that's right next to the shopping center where the market is held.

I am bored but sitting patiently.

People  like to stand and stare at things.

Practicing my camouflage ability.

Mom tried to hold the leash in one hand and keep the camera steady in the other while not getting her shoes wet. If I had pulled just a leeetle harder....