Family Funk

Damn Dog

Animal Issues, Family Funk /

Yea, I’m blaming the damn dog for me missing ANOTHER day of blogging this month. Gah.

This will probably be the last time I blame that particular dog for anything… which is weird. I’m so used to blaming him for stuff that I’m all out of sorts at not having him around to blame.

~~

Really though, I didn’t blog because my day was muddled. I’m not good with things being muddled. I like my routine. Waking up to a dead dog throws the entire day out of whack and I never managed to recover.

Which is also how we found ourselves at Chic-Fil-A last night for dinner.

Chic-Fil-A is not close to us (though the one we went to last night is closer than the one we usually go to.) Normally, it’s a big deal to take that much time away from work/home and go to Chic-Fil-A — never a spur of the moment sort of thing. Well last night, I said what the hell, the day could not get any more muddled.

~~

Here’s hoping we can get back on track with our lives. Soon.

Though I suppose that won’t happen if we find ourselves with a new dog ….

Yea. I said new dog…

Yea. We’re crazy.

Damn dog.

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Moon Spotlight Savannah & the Georgia Coast

2013, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction, Travel Log /

When I started thinking about where we might move next, and started thinking maybe it would not be Gainesville, I realized I didn’t really know all that much about the coast of Georgia. I like the idea of the Georgia coast but that’s only from looking at some houses that are for sale and the prices of those houses.

I figured a guide book might be a good place to start to learn more about Savannah, Darien, Brunswick, St Mary and all points in between.

And it was. I really enjoyed the Moon Spotlight: Savannah & the Georgia Coast. I kind of want my next vacation to be a week traveling up and down the coast of Georgia.

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Dog Travelers

3 Comments / Animal Issues, Daily Dose, Travel Log /

When we took Skeeter with us to Philadelphia and roamed around the Sheraton with her, we didn’t see a lot of people with dogs in the hotel. We heard one dog, a few doors down for us, but I don’t think we ever saw it.

People generally looked surprised to see her in the elevator or wandering around the halls. They would often comment about how unusual that was. One person wanted to pet her because she really missed her own dog while she was traveling for business. Another man had recently lost his dog and really enjoyed getting to pet her for a bit.

It was an interesting thing, to take her along to a pretty nice hotel in a big city. It felt crazy weird and we felt super crazy for doing it.

Flash forward nine months and we’re on our second trip without her and dang, we miss her. Worse yet, this hotel is full of dogs. I’m not kidding you. There must be a dozen different dogs checked in here, and those are just the ones we have seen.

We’re also right across the street from a little park (and O’Henry’s home, but that’s another post entirely) and it seems like everyone in Austin has at least one dog. Totally different from Philly where we rarely saw people walking their dogs.

We’ve had a lot of fun here but we’re ready to go home because WE MISS OUR DOG.

We are officially THOSE weird dog people. Gah.

Do you think I can bring her to BlogHer ’13 in Chicago????

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Deja Vu

1 Comment / Daily Dose, Travel Log /

We’ve been staying in the Austin Hilton for BlogHer Food and it’s kind of freaky.

The decor is very, very similar to the decor of the NYC Hilton where we’ve stayed twice for the main BlogHer conference.

We’re on the right side of the hallway, walking away from the elevators. Our room is just about the same place as the room we stayed in last time in NYC.

And… Sassymonkey isn’t here. That’s weird enough — Sassymonkey is ALWAYS here when we’re at BlogHer Food. Always. And she should be in that room, closer to the elevator.

When I carried my coffee back to my room this morning, it seemed super odd not to be bringing her (and the fake husband) a cup.

So weird.

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Ooops. I Did It Again

Daily Dose, Travel Log /

I forgot to blog yesterday.

Sigh.

So dumb.

I almost blogged in the morning, before we went to the airport — just in case. But I didn’t. I figured I’d have plenty of time and plenty of things to say.

Then, last night, shortly before I shut down for the night, I was heading here to write something and then… I got distracted and didn’t do it.

So here I am, six days into June and I have already missed two days — after blogging every day for more than seven months.

Poop.

~~

Austin is nice. I like it here. It’s hot. And oddly enough, the sun doesn’t come up at 4am like it does in not sunny Chicagoland. Why is that? So I slept (badly) til 5:30. An improvement but not an improvement. Which makes no sense to anyone except TW probably. Sorry about that. You’d have to be here.

Seeing Michelle is nice. Meeting her boyfriend is nice.

It’s all nice. Except apple maps which sent us on a wild walk to a bakery that was actually a mile in the opposite direction. But hey, it was fun wandering around a little bit of the Ladybird Park Trail and the lobby of the Four Seasons.

Later today… hmm… I”m not sure what’s in store but I’m pretty sure it will be nice. And, hot. I like it hot.

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Long-Legged Beagle

1 Comment / Family Funk, Pets /

I took Skeeter to the vet for her scratched cornea re-check (and also to have the weird lump thingy on her face looked at) — the receptionist went to the back and told the vet tech that a beagle with the longest legs EVER was waiting.

When the vet tech came out, the receptionist said, “SEE, doesn’t she have long legs?”

I laughed, “If she was a beagle, yes – those would be long legs. But she’s not a beagle.”

Then there was much discussion about Treeing Walker Coonhounds and whether that was a breed available in their database (turns out, it is — and Skeeter is their first TWC! yippeee, she feels special.)

She’d feel more special if she could just wander around looking cute, maybe stand on the scale for a minute, and then just get all of the treats. That whole standing on the really tall table while people look at her eye, put stuff in her eye, look in her again… well that part is dumb. Skeeter would prefer not to do that again for her treats.

In fact, she’d be happy if everyone just stepped back and let her get the treats all by herself. She’ll even eat the buckets the treats are in. No problem. She’s happy to do it.

Those long legs of hers make it a piece of cake to reach the treats. All of the treats.

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Poor Poodle

2 Comments / Animal Issues, Family Funk /

Skeeter is not a morning dog.

She’d lay in bed ’til noon if nothing forced her up (or piqued her interest) and as soon as she gets up and uses the bathroom (barks at whatever piqued her interest) she’s ready to go right back to bed.

Unless you’re going to take her for a walk or to the dog park. She’s happy to get out of bed for that.

So this morning, when she was forced out of bed at 6am, she was sluggish. I also noticed she had gunky eyes. Fairly common for her — so I wiped her eyes, took her outside, and went about the business of getting the kids to school.

I noticed after we got home that Skeeter, (who did not get to go with us on the school run), had gunky eyes again. So, I wiped them and took her outside to use the bathroom — wondering aloud about why her eyes were so gunky this morning.

And then I went about my business, while Skeeter went to bed.

When she woke up a few hours later, her eyes were gunky again — so I looked closely and not only were they gunky, one of them was not opening all of the way and looked a little swollen.

Darn dog.

She has a scratched cornea.

No idea how that happened but $150+ later she has medicines and has to go back to the vet for a re-check.

I swear we’ve taken this dog to the vet more times in 9 months than we took Jake or Chanel in all of the years we owned them.

Poor poodle puppy.

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Eating All The Things

7 Comments / Animal Issues, Daily Dose, Family Funk /

I’ve cursed this dog all damn day. ALL day.

She’s eaten a whole lot of things she should not eat and it’s making me crazy.

I was in the laundry room making a pot of coffee. She followed me in, as she usually does, and then she left. No big deal — except she took one of TW’s brand new water shoes. I didn’t know this until she’d had it for five minutes and I heard her chasing something around the living room. She was chasing the little plastic slidey thing that allows you to tighten the shoe.

Sigh. We got those shoes YESTERDAY.

I was on a phone meeting when I noticed the damn dog had a mouth full of… fur. Grey fur. Or maybe it was grey feathers? I don’t know, I was ON THE PHONE and she wouldn’t come to me so I could take whatever it was away. Because she KNEW she should not have that.

I’m trying to figure out a new thing at work and TW is off picking up the kids at school… I hear some banging noise… Skeeter, who was JUST on the bed with me, is in Prince J’s room eating the last bully stick (and she also shredded some paper while she was there.)

If she’s not laying here on the bed asleep, she’s eating SOMETHING. Eating ALL THE THINGS.

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Hanging Out at the Dog Park

Animal Issues, Family Funk /

Ya. We joined the Dog Park circuit. (And I do mean circuit, since there are four parks we can visit — and we plan to visit them all.) Joining a dog park is not something I ever thought I’d do. Really. But, this is a nice park — not just a fenced in dirt/dead grass lot. That’s why I decided to join Prairie Wolf Dog Park rather than one that’s closer to us.

– The one we’ve visited is a little more than 40 acres. The ones closest to us are 2, 4, or maybe 6 acres. That’s a big, big difference.
– This park has trees and ponds (a really big pond that seems more like a lake to me), hills, flowers, weeds — and yes, it has a lot of mud holes. There are trails to walk. The photos and videos of the ones closest to me have pretty much none of these things.
– The one we joined is open year round and the others are not. I know, much of the year it’s frozen cold and snowy and odds are slim that we’ll take Skeeter to the park very often (ever?) once that happens but it’s nice to have the option.
– The cost for a non-resident to join the nice park (that allows you to visit three other parks) was about twice as much as the park closest to us.

After two visits, I’d say it’s worth it.

Skeeter thinks so, too.

She’s most anxious to visit the Duck Farm park next. Look at that mud.

Then again, Independence Grove looks good, too. Skeeter really likes the woods and this one looks nicely wooded.

LOL Lakewood looks like it’s got plenty of mud, too. Good thing I’ve learned my lesson about the towels, eh?

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