Christmas for the Dogs

I don't have the sort of disposable income that lends itself to showering my dog in gifts, but if I did, let's just be clear: I totally would.  I was tempted to make gift guides for a bunch of folks this year, but most of them read my blog, so I refrained.  My dog, however, cannot read.  Your loss, dog.  So here's what I would buy my perpetually joyful, occasionally anxious, constantly hungry, sleek and pretty black beast (and, to be fair, the rest of the canine parade in this house) for Christmas, if I could:

1. A rawhide bone it would take her more than 20 minutes to devour (bonus for the hilarity which would inevitably ensue when she attempted to carry it triumphantly through the house).
2. A colorful, versatile rope toy which can be tossed (Vista's preference) or tugged (Leilani's forte).
3. The miraculous Thundershirt, to sooth her separation anxiety.
4. A bouquet of Loofa toys, the best plush dog toys on the market (so sayeth the dogs).
5. A Slow 'Em Down pet bowl, to provide a challenge so she'll actually eat her food rather than inhale it.
6. Lots and lots and lots of tennis balls, her absolute favourite toy.
7. A pretty, strong leash to match her collar.

The thing I love about all of these goodies is that they're fun for both of us (well, the leash is mostly for me, but let's pretend).  I've heard great things about the Thundershirt, and something tells me we'll end up with one sooner or later, since we have two dogs of similar height and weight who suffer from very different forms of anxiety (in addition to Vista's sometimes violent separation anxiety, Leilani is a very loud, seemingly vicious anxious barker).  Sadly, my girl's only getting one item on this list this year (hint: it's the thing which will keep her from choking to death on her food), but if Santa brought us bottomless pails of tennis balls and rawhide bones, no one would complain.

How do you celebrate the holiday with your pets?  Our menagerie traditionally get one big bunch of toys to share (read: destroy before the end of Christmas day).  Last year, their cousin dogs gave them each a Loofa toy, which were the biggest hits.  Summer, Devourer of Tissues, mostly steals bits of wrapping paper all day long.

Hovercraft

I was browsing Flickr and I came across this illustration, from a series titled How Could You, by Tatsuro Kuichi.  This is, essentially, a portrait of my dog.  The only difference is the collar.  I call her a hovercraft, because that is what she does: she hovers, she lurks, she frets.  Are you going somewhere?  Where are you taking that box?  ARE WE MOVING AGAIN???

Christmas decorating is tough on dogs.  Apparently.

The other parts of the series are equally sweet (and spot-on like Vista).  I especially love this one:

A Holy War

Last weekend, while I was raking leaves and leaping into them, the dogs were at loose ends.  Everyone was in the yard, but nobody wanted to play!  What kind of world were we living in, anyway?  Who do I talk to about this?  IF I HAD TWO THUMBS AND THE RIGHT TO VOTE I WOULD WRITE MY SENATOR ABOUT THIS.

And then they found the Holy Grail of Sticks.

The Battle of Stick raged for years, dragging on as bleak days became endless, cold nights.

Pax was called just twice, once when they dropped it in some leaves and briefly could not find it, and a second time because, well, even in wartime, butts need to be scratched.

Finally, at long last, a victor emerged:

And so began the process of reconstruction for this poor, war-torn land.

Mo' Pets, Mo' Problems

One of the reasons I've been playing absentee from the internet lately is because every single one of our dogs has had health problems.  All of them.  All three.  Thing 1 injured her leg and had to be carried up and down stairs (Thing 1 weighs 45 lbs and has long, gangly legs).  Thing 2 required a million billion expensive vaccinations for things we never had to deal with in the mountains (no heart worm!  no parasites!  only fleas and ticks in July and August!), and the series of shots left her tired, achy, and nauseous.  Thing 3 had ear infections in BOTH ears which resulted in nerve damage and partial paralysis to the right side of her face (she can no long close that eye and has a perpetual head tilt), and during the treatment we stumbled across a heart murmur which, one very expensive trip to the pet cardiologist later, we learned would require agressive treatment.

His Highness the Cat just has hairballs.

But everyone is up and about again these days, though Summer remains a little tilted.  We spent all day raking leaves and playing with sticks in the yard, and I actually remembered to grab my camera!  Those will go up soon.

Comic by clever Canadian Ryan Pequin.

The Roster

Since moving back here in May, I have been unemployed.  The combination of unlimited free time and almost no money has meant that I have spent most of my time in my parents' house (woo yeah adulthood!), primarily cooking, but also making close, almost scientific, observations of my dogs.  Since (I am thrilled to say) that as of tomorrow I will no longer be unemployed, I thought I would take this opportunity to sum up my findings.

Name: Leilani Moose
Breed: Black Lab/Norwegian Elkhound Mix
Age: 4
Status: Alpha
Nicknames: Thing 1, Lani, Lani Moose, Lei-lei, Sweet Girl, Moose-moose, Twitchy Witchy Girl
Favourite Thing: Growling suspiciously at children and small rodents
Nemesis: That Damn Chipmunk
Greatest Fear: That she'll have to spend the rest of her life with these numbskulls
Claim to Fame: Systematically disemboweling stuffed animals and scattering their limbs throughout the house

Name: Vista Pocahontas
Breed: Cocktail of various black dogs and probably also an antelope
Age: 2
Status: Beta
Nicknames: Thing 2, Vizzy, Vishnu, The Crazy One
Favourite Thing: You
Nemesis: "What did Lani say? What? The chipmunk? MINE IS TOTALLY ALSO THE CHIPMUNK"
Greatest Fear: That you will go away and she will never see you again
Claim to Fame: Can leap upwards of 4 feet in a single bound

Name: Summer Tangerine
Breed: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Age: 6
Status: Potato

Nicknames: Thing 3, Summer Bummer, The Dumb One, Doofus, The Little One, Little Face

Favourite Thing: Eating tissues

Nemesis: The Cat

Greatest Fear: Storm drains

Claim to Fame: Communicates in a peculiar language consisting of snorts and sneezes

colorpack love

A couple weeks ago, before I knew I'd be traveling to the Galapagos, I bought a vintage Polaroid Colorpack II on Etsy.  I have a Polaroid 600 series, which I love, and I've had mixed success with Impossible Project film, but it's pricier than I can afford these days.  The Colorpack II has options, and I like having options.  It works with Fujifilm, which has color and black and white varieties, and Impossible makes film for it, too, if ever I have some extra cash and want to give it a try.

I started out with a box of Fujifilm FP-100c color film.  My first efforts were just sad, really.  I'd never used peel-apart film before, and it just felt like the camera and I weren't speaking the same language.  Today, out walking in the park with my dog and a friend, something finally clicked.  The results are gorgeous and I am completely in love.  And so the Polaroid obsession continues.

real estate

Now that the ball's rolling on my VISTA gig, I spend a fair amount of time looking for housing.  A lot more time than I thought I'd be.  It's not that I'm picky, it's that I'm limited by the amount of information available to me.  Here in NOVA, if I needed to find a place to live, I'd hit craigslist, rent.com, something along those lines.  Easy peasy.  The town where I'm headed, however, is not represented on any online search I tried.  My only relative successes were in vacation homes, since the town isn't far from Snowshoe.  Finally, finally, this afternoon I decided I'd try to find an online presence for the local paper.  The town paper doesn't have a site, but the county paper does.  Success!  And in the small "for rent" section, I found this gem:

The rent is ridiculously low, so low I could actually get it on my own if I didn't have things like eating or filling my gas tank to consider.  Fortunately, I'm in contact with some other local VISTAs and I have begun my campaign for this house.

The inside isn't fantastic--it is a perennial rental--but it's got some good bones.  I never really understood that phrase, actually, until I spotted that gorgeous door and hideous paneling.  I could forgive many things for that door.

There's a lot about this house that speaks to me (it's got a great yard, too).  It's certainly a better deal for the money than an apartment, but it's not up to me, not entirely.  Cross your fingers for me, would ya?