stuff that makes you go hmmm....

So, I don't know why I find this so funny, but.... the big initials on the sides of the garbage trucks here - which, you know, must be the initials of the company....

C S I

giggle

it is indeed a crime what I throw away.....

West vs. East ~ Weirdness ~ What's a Yellow Lab??

So here is something I have noticed since living here: East coast people don't know what a Yellow Lab is.... apparently. At least they aren't familiar enough with them to recognize one without it's tail. See, our dog hasn't got a tail - just a silly little nubbin that makes her do what we call "Wiggle Booty". She had a tail once... and she was a voracious wagger! When she got happy - which was mostly always - she would wag from the ribcage back. The problem was her Yellow Lab/Golden Retriever mixing... most of her tail was thick-and-heavy lab tail, but the final inch or two was fine-boned Golden tail.... so when she wagged like that, she'd break the end of her tail open on the door frame or whatever - then the continued wagging would, well, make a pretty gross mess of blood splatter on the walls as she wiggled around. We tried for nearly a year to beat this, with splinting and wrapping and whatever we could think of. Finally, our vet just said our best bet was to amputate her tail. To be honest, I haven't missed that thing, or the constant bruising on my thighs that she gave me with it.


Now, in Idaho, (where Labs are about the #1 or #2 popular breed) when I'd be out with my dog, people would just ask me "Why did you dock your Lab's tail?" I mean, they recognized what she was - a tailess Lab. They may have found it strange, but not, like, frightening.


Here in Virginia, when I'm out walking my dog, people will look at her with obvious fear, and - sometimes - ask me "What kind of dog is that?" What is that about?? I think - and I'm guessing sort of - but I think that they assume she's some sort of pitbull mix, since that is probably a more "popular" breed around this area, and I guess only mean and aggressive dogs have docked tails....?! I mean, seriously, look at this dog's face and tell me how scary she looks, lol! But I can't tell you how often I get the frightened look, or if I have her off-leash and someone sees her, the "OHMYGO_!!" exclamation as though they expect her to be eating their face within seconds. I find it really irritating. 'Cuz she's about the sweetest dog on the planet.




(the blue in the pic above is me - you can kinda see my hands in my hoodie pocket - she's fully laying on top of me!)

Sick men....ugh

Finally convinced my dh he needs to see a doctor. He's only been sick - I mean, really sick - for over a week now! Seriously, I couldn't sleep last night, listening to his labored breathing. He's probably got pneumonia or something! Sheesh.

...uhg....

So, now I am sick. Which is just boring, and stupid. I had things to do today... not the least of which was starting to put away the Christmas paraphanelia. I mean, I love it, I do... but I also love the clean-ness and space you find when you put it all away. Sometimes I like to leave it up until the 6th (Epiphany) but this year I was just ready to clean up. Well, mentally ready. Obviously, not physically ready. Hubby is still sick. Of course he refuses to go see a doctor. 'Cause he's a guy. Argh. Men are dumb sometimes. Lots of times. But, I digress.... I don't want to be sick. It's boring. Poor Kiwi is really bored, what with having both parents sick.... ahh, poor kiddo!

Well, someone still has to take the dog out to potty.... crud. That'd be me.

...and so it begins....

2010 is not beginning in a very good way at my place. Everyone (but me) is still sick. Urgh. Which means sleeping late, laying around, and watching waaaay too much tv. Which to me is kinda like... Hell. Seriously. I am a "need to get OUT" kind of person, and this is driving me crazy. So, I may have to bail on these people pretty soon! I can't believe my husband had 3 1/2 days off work and we got to do... absolutely nothing. I despise that!!

At least I have to walk the dog - that's something. It's OUT. She is loving the snow - she stops to eat big, crunchy mouthfuls of it - like it's a snowcone or something! Silly girl. The cat is trying to scratch his way thru the glass panes in the office door so he can go out, which he would change his mind about if he knew how cold and windy it is out there... think, "blustery".... in fact, I should probably go pick the swim noodles off the balcony so they don't blow away. Yeah, the pool toys are still out there.... in the snow.... so sue me. Lol. It's called "no storage in this crazy apartment".

Happy New Year!!

Wow...2010. When you're "old" like me, that just sounds weird. Almost science-fictiony, huh? Lol.

I watched the Rose Parade this morning... it starts so much later when you live on the East coast! The Parade is such a tradition for me... I grew up in Southern California, and my grandparents lived right there in Pasadena (in fact, my parents actually met while attending Pasadena City College! hehe) Every year we would walk over to Colorado Blvd. and watch the parade... sometimes dad and grandpa would bring a ladder so us kids could sit up there and see over the crowd (which wasn't quite so big in those days!) When I was a teen, I belonged to the "Petal Pushers", which was a group sponsored by the Lutheran Church ( The Lutheran Hour has had a float in the parade for years). We'd get farmed out to all sorts of groups, whoever needed help decorating their float. I've glued hundreds (probably thousands!) of flowers and seeds and stuff to floats in the past! Fabulous fun!! In "lucky" years, if our particular youth group got to work on the 31st, we'd spend the night in some church gym and go to the parade in the morning. A couple other years, I and some similarly crazy friends spent the night right on the sidewalk, staking our claim for a good viewing position the next morning. And yeah, even in sunny Southern California, it gets pretty dang cold overnight when you are in just a sleeping bag!! Once I remember waking up to feeling kinda squished in my sleeping bag - and some people were sitting on me! Absolute strangers! Didn't want to get dirty by sitting on the sidewalk I guess... I think that was the same year I foiled a purse-snatcher.... Good times, good times!

The downside, of course, is that every year it looks so absolutely beautiful there in SoCal, sunny and warm, and all those folks freezing in the gray and snowy midwest would pack up and move there.... it got so crowded my family had to move to Idaho!! Where it's gray and snowy.... huh....


Anyhoo ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!