One Last Visit

Well since it's almost Christmas, and we're getting out of town as soon as possible after work, this was our last visit with the pups until we bring them home. I'm sure it will never actually occur to me that these are the last few peaceful days we'll have at home before our new arrivals. Ah well....

For the first time, the little guys actually look like real dogs! No more guinea pig babies! Their eyes, ears and legs for the most part are working. We've even heard a few barks and growls. Now if I can just get D to stop encouraging them to bark. D, I can growl too, you know.

Here's a few pics of our big boy dogs.
















O.K. Just one picture.....

Oops,
I started this blog more than a week ago fully intending to finish it before Christmas....so much for those peaceful days. The holidays snuck up on us. Suddenly we were packing to leave town! Anyway, we promise to get back on this blogging thing after New Year's. Then we'll be able to update even more because the dogs will live with us!

Hope everyone got some good loot and safely made it home.

Happy New Year.

Sick Again....

I don't get sick often, and when I do, I don't usually mind that much...the sickness that is. What always kills me is the insomnia that comes with sickness. Anyway, so here I am on my sore ass at home watching Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (mendacity!) watching Burl Ives acting very unlike Frosty the Snowman...and during the holidays!

I don't usually have much interest in other people (its my way of refraining from judging), but I couldn't help checking to see if there were any other blogs out of Albany. Just one. Some chode kid no doubt. That led me to look at all the blogs in Texas. I got 7 down when I found http://angeboo.blogspot.com. I only read the first page, but this 18 year old girl from Irving is fascinating. She is like mass consumerism to the extreme mixed with a well-read sarcastic and erudite intellectual. Her posts are so dry that I can't really tell what is tongue-in-cheek and what is in earnest. It pleased me that there are 18 year olds that can actually form a coherent sentence.

It is now nap time. More puppies and party pictures from this non-drinking (sigh) weekend in Austin.

I got two shots there earlier today. No H, just antibiotics.

Its been one month since the puppies were born. Now they can walk, run-kind of, growl and bark. They also have little baby teeth that are very sharp, but their jaws aren't very strong. This week we have puppy-only pics...no people.

Notice in two shots, there are small puddles on the floor. We hope to avoid this in the future. If you happen to drive by our house the first week of January, you are bound to see M holding a confused and guilt-ridden puppy while running out to the yard. She will be training them to "do their business" as the blue hairs call it.




Pictured here are Oscar and Felix looking slightly embarassed. We can already tell they will be great friends, or fiends. See first post...Pinky and the Brain. They have already started ass-grabbing with each other. And when one barks or growls, the other one has to chime in.



You can see my finger there right on the edge. They seemed very interested until they realized my finger was not a nipple. Then they started grab-assing again. The book said that we would be able to tell when they are about to go, but they just kept peeing with no warning. I hope it is because they are still too young. One last photo. Still look like a guinea pig? Please say no!

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This has nothing to do with puppies, but that will happen from time to time. A couple of weeks ago M and I (ooh, context clue as to who is typing!) went to a gallery opening at work (see The Old Jail Art Center) M has reminded me that it was also the 25th anniversary of my museum, so it was called the Silver Ball. Anyway, the photographer, who is a cool dude, took pictures the whole night and took one of M and I all dressed up in front of a most telling piece of modern art. In full view, the art is quite odd, its called "The bag I take to work with me everyday." Here is the photo, see if you can figure out why is it a "telling" piece. To see a larger version, just click on it.

If no one can figure it out, don't worry, I'll post a comment in a couple of days.

Holy Mastercard, Batman!

So D and I went puppy shopping today. Nobody told us dogs cost money!! When did this happen? I know that big pet stores run a racket, but damn.
Warning: If we haven't already bought you a present, you'll have to wait a few years.
No really, I think we're finally realizing what we're getting ourselves into here.

• Replace cute leather boots destroyed by dog: $90
• Deposit on rental house never to be refunded: $500
• Vet bills for shots, neutering, various diseases: $200,000
• Years with 2 little friends to play with after a hard day.........AACK! Sorry, back to the real world.

Whew, we need to watch less TV!

Anyway, we tried not to go overboard with toys and treats and stuff like that. And until they grow, they'll be sharing most of their stuff. I have to admit, it was fun to pick everything out. It's pretty funny to walk around a pet store and realize that everything is marketed to people, with little or no thought given to the animal. D found tons of examples of things that wouldn't matter one bit to even the most spoiled rotten dog, but look cute or feel soft to the buyer. For example: We found bottles of BBQ sauce for dogs and dog beds lined on faux fur. No really, we actually did. Maybe, we're in the wrong business! (This statement is also often said by people planning a wedding.)

All complaining aside, neither of us can wait until they get to come home for good. It's probably a good thing that we are doing all the house training and all that stuff here in A-town, when we don't exactly have a lot on the social calendar. I hope we don't become those crazy dog people that talk about their dogs like other people talk about their kids. Hell, I don't want to talk about my kids like that either!
"Did I tell you what (insert horrible popular name here) did yesterday?"
"No! Did I tell you what (second hard to spell name) said to me this morning?"
"Me first!"
"No, my kid was accepted to Harvard 16 years early!"
"Well mine can speak three languages and isn't even out of diapers!"
Etc, etc, etc.

If we ever force horribly boring dog stories on you, just kick one of us in the shins and run away. We'll get the hint. I hope.

More Photos for you Mofos

Its been longer than we thought it would be for this update. I have been sick with some sort of bronchitis-like cold and am currently stoned on narcotic laced cough syrup. Its real good. I have missed quite a bit of work. We saw the dogs on Monday, and they mostly look the same except they've grown, their snouts are a little longer and they can make noises now. Introducing Oscar and Felixs' mom, Cookie. (left). Love that confused-dog-head-tilt.

She's a sweet dog (and practically still a puppy herself). She let us come right in and handle her babies without as much as a growl. Obviously she doesn't have a mother-in-law. Hopefully we can get her together with her boys every once in a while as long as we stay in town.



As you can see, she was quite interested in what we were doing with her pups. This one is Oscar, if you look closely, you can see he's already developing a sneer. Look out, Walter Matthau. There's a new Oscar in town.

Yes, we did say they were bigger. You'll have to trust us on this one. The next two pictures are of Felix. He looks a little upset in the picture with D. I think he was hungry. (one more of Oscar at the bottom, couldn't resist) Check out the sneer.

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And now for something completely different.

This bronchitis thing really isn't as bad as it sounds. I cough up blood and stuff and blow my nose alot. So much so that the doctor had to put some silver nitrate up in my nose over the scab that kept coming open causing me to bleed from my nose for four days in a row. I collected the fluid in the same glass each day so that it would have layers of decay. I later archived it. Anyway, I had a lot of free time on my hands, so I created the below while watching daytime tv, which is always better when you are sick and unable to think much. I call it $71.30. I ran out of nickels. As for the leftover change, after the art, we had a pretty good haul. Our spare change harvest, which we cultivated for well over a year, came to $120.
Not sure what we will spend it on, but we are open to suggestions. More puppies photos to come next week. Perhaps there will be a marked difference this time, or perhaps their growth will mimic this growth's growth.

To the blogging bloggers that blog:

We have come up with the names for the dogs...none of you win, though I like any name with Mc in front of it.

The names will be Oscar and Felix...the Odd Couple. Decent names (dog and man), and somewhat funny in a way that is intergenerational.

More tomorrow...or Tuesday and with more picures...of our dogs that apparently resemble guinea pigs...sure hope they live longer.

Though it may have seemed like good idea time, I'm beginning wonder about our decision as I sit here with dog crap* on my shoe. D and I are getting not one, but two puppies. Why, you ask? I have no reasonable explaination.
Two weeks ago, I found out a coworker had some unexpected puppies. D and I had once played with the mother of our pups and her brother when they were puppies and could barely keep from taking them home. We decided to get one of new puppies then thought why not get both of them? They'll keep each other company and won't be lonely, right? Sure, then they'll go Pinky & The Brain on us and one day we'll come home to a pile of charred, smoking rubble. It's amazing the things that will go through your mind when looking at a two week old puppy.



















Could you resist? These little guys are two weeks old and irresistable. I have to confess, though, next month when I have to take them outside to pee at 6:30 in the morning in 25 degree weather I'm not sure they'll be so cute. And so begins our Dog Blog Experiment.
Who is being trained here?
Though many control freaks will secretly admit their need to rule with an iron fist, they won't say it out loud. So here goes: I confess....I went out and bought a book on training puppies and read EVERY SINGLE PAGE! I'm not doing this puppy training thing half-assed. At least not in theory. I can hear dog owners out there laughing right now. "Yeah, yeah. You'll have the perfect dogs that never jump on people, steal food or crap in your shoes. Bla, bla, bla."
Hey, I can bend a large group of children to my will, why not a couple of dogs genetically designed to destroy valued posessions and sleeping habits? Perhaps I should mention the best part. Right now as I sit and worry about dog food and house training, D stands behind me and says "Oh, aren't they so cute?! Look at him!" I'm in big trouble, aren't I? These dogs are going to be our training children. We can hash out my need to rule and D's need to spoil. Can this marraige survive? News at 10:00.
Now comes the really inportant part. Long before we ever bring these two little brothers home, we have to name them. Any ideas?
NOTICE: Any names you wouldn't say to your own mother (except you, Adam) will not be considered. We have to walk these guys...in public.

*No dog crap was harmed in the writing of this blog. Besides, it belonged to a dog that's lived out on this ranch much longer than I have, so what right have I to complain about a stinky treat found on the bottom of my shoe?