On a Break

Versailles Kitty, 2006

I'm working on something new for the web and taking a break from Living Vicuriously. Just living curiously for the moment.

Forest/Trees

A previous owner of our house tex-coated the place and that has always kind of bothered me.

Wilma: Home at Last

I'm not goin' nowhere, she sez. Sez she's stayin' right here. Don't even ast me to budge. Don't even.

Please?


(After two shelters and two other homes, this sweet, receptive, trained and trainable Boxer mutt deserves to stay. She settled in quickly and is willing to keep us. We're introducing her to our lives little by little, and she takes everything in stride. We're saving the trauma of bathing for tomorrow, but that's the limit. Think she'll like it? I don't either. She's spent a long time getting her girly-dog stink on, and she won't like losing it. But honey girl, it's got to go.)

Falling in Love Again

Long-time readers will remember Boz, the internationally famous, boxer/pit bull mix who stole my heart and -- wait. That's a cliché. He never stole a thing, not even treats. Maybe the occasional tidbit on the kitchen floor, but that's not stealing.

I willingly gave Boz my love, and he grew old and died, and that's the way it goes. I grieved hard. I'll never get over him but I'm finally ready to move on and find another dog to shower with love.

(More cliché. In my experience, dogs don't like the shower. So I'll just love him or her, and give her the occasional bath.)

Those who followed the Facebook saga know that John and I adopted Selkie a couple of weeks ago. We fell in love with her at the Pasadena Humane Society (another cliché, but we did fall, it's impossible not to). We didn't consider some things: her youth, mostly. We consulted a pro, and after less than a week we decided we had to take her back to the shelter. Her needs were beyond our power and expertise. After five days together, all three of us were emotional wrecks.

That wasn't Selkie's fault. We made the wrong decision and she suffered for it.

This, too, is cause for grief, though it could have been worse for everyone if we'd waited longer. (If you visit the shelter and want to meet her, ask for Kaylee. I think that's what they call her. She is a beautiful, loving dog.)

We took a few days off to recharge, and we're ready to look again. We're taking it slowly, watching for the dog we can share our lives with. Some of you have sent suggestions. They're all great. We're being careful, meeting with the dogs who seem like possibilities. There are thousands within driving distance who all need a home.

We know we're not going to find another Boz. But dogs are individuals and we might find an adult, short-haired mutt who is low key, laid back, even repressed (that's a plus!), who just needs love, security, and a bit of happiness in order to come into his or her own.

Stinky

Stinky, photo by Joel Skelton

You can change his name when you adopt him. "Stinky" refers to the aroma he sported when he showed up looking for food and shelter at my neighbor's place. It's better than "All Bones," which would also have suited him.

I met Stinky out walking in the neighborhood. He's learning the rules of being a good dog. He doesn't need to learn to be around people. He loves people.

Here are some links. Check him out (and be sure to watch the videos).
* A full page of photos and video at http://joelsk.smugmug.com/Stinky
* A public facebook post here: http://goo.gl/5JPqUU
* A more professionally worded page here: http://goo.gl/EpEDxd

Stinky needs a home where he's the only child and only dog. He's young and powerful and you will need to be his alpha.

And by the time you meet him he will have had his shots and some of his male accoutrements will be long gone.

Poor Stinky. All he needs is love and guidance. And maybe some painkillers, just for today.

Zen Monday #274

What's the picture about? Zen Monday is the day you tell me.

Zen Monday #273

It's Zen Monday and Christmas is coming! Anything else? Let us know in the comments.

Happy Christmas, and we'll talk before the weekend.

Poopy Love

Somebody sure loves their dog.

I know how they feel. And our pets need our love, especially on those evenings when they track poo into the house on their toes. You know, just as an example.

Kitty Heaven

Nosy.

But a pretty kitty, poised on his matching pillow and posing behind a picket fence, is impossible to resist.

This post is dedicated to Pasadena Adjacent.

Leash Laws

They just crossed the street from Pasadena into Altadena. I didn't notice if this big dog was on a leash, but I think so. After all, we do have laws, and a leash comes in handy for leading your dog across the street, regardless of his size.

Boz loves dogs like this. He wants very much to meet one and would gladly present himself if we allowed him to. Once again, the leash comes in handy.

Helping

Today, we're making chicken soup.

(photo by John Sandel)

Worm Kayak

It rained here most of the day yesterday. The neighborhood kids took advantage of the streams running in the gutters and made a couple of kayaks for the worms.

These are the girls, mind you. I'm not sure what the boys were up to.

This worm is fitted with its own kayak, oar, umbrella and seat belt. The way things work around here, he/she/it was about to head east. Bon voyage!

A Day Off

I haven't taken a day off in a long time, perhaps months. I don't remember how long it's been. I've been getting the book ready, plus I stare at the computer screen a lot and trying to drum up ideas (which, in my line of work, is the hopeful equivalent of drumming up business).

But Bellis knows my weakness: "Would Boz like a day at the beach?" she asked.

Boz doesn't have as much energy as he used to, but he's still a dog. Dogs love routine, but they also love novelty (go figure). When I spend all that time at the computer, he naps in his sunny spot. He gets walks, he gets playdates, but he doesn't often get novelty. And he loves the beach.

Who doesn't love the beach?

Huntington dog beach is pooch paradise. Thank you, Bellis, and Abby, too. If I'd gotten a better picture this shot would've had two happy dogs in it.

Update: Kalei's Best Friend sent this fascinating link about the 1960's oil boom at Huntington Beach.

Look Closely

Enlarge the picture if need be, and look again.

Beautiful, and perhaps too habituated for its own good. But around here, we share the space. I think that makes us lucky. Us humans, at least.

Stay tuned. We're about to have a contest here on the ol' PDP! Everyone can enter and everyone can vote. There will be several winners and I will give actual prizes.

Tomorrow I'll announce the details.

Our Elderly Toddler

Today marks the end of nine years of our life with Boz. Better yet: the beginning of ten. It's not his birthday, as far as I know, but I think of it that way. It's the anniversary of the day he came to us, when he was already about five years old.

That's not quite right. He didn't come to us. We plucked him out of Boxer Rescue and took him home. He had no say in the matter. He was scared, maybe even terrified. He didn't know who we were or what our house was or what we wanted him to do, but at least we were nice and the house was bigger than the cage and we gave him a soft bed. The food was also pretty good. He could have done without the bath, but that was a deal-breaker.

From the beginning he took the attitude of "Please don't kill me. Whatever you require, I will attempt to obey." He was and still is easy to train. We've never had to do anything but ask. (I've said this before: you can teach an old dog new tricks.) He walks off leash, stays on the front porch unsupervised, and has recently learned to "show me" when I need him to communicate what he wants. He never barks, though I wish he would. He has, or had, a beautiful bark. He might have lost that part of his voice in an illness a few years back. We haven't heard it since then. Like people, dogs go through stuff that changes them.

I'll stop here. We all love our pets and, like parents, we can go on and on about them. I love him more than I can say.

Boz is about fourteen now. I hope he will stay with us long enough to enrich our lives at least another year.


Another dog needs a home. I've posted about Coco on my Facebook page. If Coco's not for you, a variety of pooches await at your nearby animal shelter, wanting only to be your love bucket.

Cloudy

Sun today, maybe? Please?

I need sun for equilibrium. That's not the word. For energy, mood. When we go for too long without sun it's as though the clouds have found a way to tap my energy right out of my pores, and lately I am drained.

Boz, our dog, has energy. (You can't see it because he's saving it for when it's sunny.) He hates clouds. He wants something. He wants anything. He follows me around the house, breathing. He wants me to fix it. This is awful. THERE MUST BE SUN.

When he's not following me around the house he's lying on his bed under his towel, waiting for me to fix it.

The critter on the leaf likes cloudy weather. He and Boz will never get along.

Too Charming

Bungalow Heaven is a Pasadena Landmark District. Many homes there fit the description of a Craftsman bungalow, a style that was hugely popular (and economical) in Pasadena in the early 20th century. We have bungalows all over town. My own home has many Craftsman bungalow characteristics. But there's an especially high concentration of charming bungalows in Bungalow Heaven.

The Bungalow Heaven Neighborhood Association sponsors a home tour each spring. I finally went this year. So did everyone else. Surely you were there, and your brother and your aunt and your third cousin's cousins and their kids and pets. By noon the lines outside the eight featured homes were as long as the lines at Disneyland on a temperate summer Saturday.

So I saw five of the homes. They were lovely, and the gardens were lovely, but the lines, well, the lines were not lovely and I couldn't bring myself to wait in three more of them. (If you look closely at this picture you can see lines of people on both sides of the street.) The docents did a great job (and I hope they at least got a free lunch for their pains) but there were just too many people. If I want to see inside more Bungalow Heaven homes I'll have to meet more people who live in them and get invited over. Do you live there? Hi! What's up?

I'm glad Bungalow Heaven is popular. It's becoming more popular all the time, and that's well deserved. That being the case, however, I wonder how they'll handle the amusement park crowds next year.


Reminder: tomorrow's post will be a little different: it's a contest entry, consisting of a pitch for my novel and the first 250 words. There will be a photo, as usual, but the copy will be, uh, unusual. Feel free to comment! We'll see how it goes.

Snacks

As I type, I'm sitting on the porch. I hear buzzing. It's not the neighbor's gardener, not this time. It's bees.

Maybe they're feeding on the rosemary, or having their way with the night-blooming jasmine. I'm not going to look. I'm going to leave them bee. I'm not going to touch their blooming victuals. All I ask is that they grant me the same courtesy and leave my cookie alone.

Happy spring. I hope the day is just as filling where you are.

Theme Day: Animals

Well, I think it's very weird that a month of 2012 has already passed and it's February 1st, but it is, so it's time for another City Daily Photo theme day. This month's theme is animals.

How do you like my flare? I like it. If you enlarge the picture you might see a couple of contrails in the sky, too.

I'd love to give you exotic animals but Pasadena doesn't have a zoo and I'll be damned if I'm going up into the hills to chase mountain lions. However, if you click on the other participants in today's theme, I bet you'll find some fantastic animals! After all, City Daily Photo is now 1444 blogs strong, worldwide. Our newest member is Jersey Photos from the Channel Islands. And as far as theme day and Jersey Photos goes, let me just say great minds think alike.

Zen Monday: #158

In Zen, the emphasis is on learning through experience as opposed to books or lectures. Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo and tells us what you've learned, rather than me lecturing you about it.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good book. It just happens that Monday is the day you write it.