Tag: dogs

We like Thursdays

Rex and I, we like Thursdays. On Thursdays, Rex goes out to Green Acres with Tim for a play date with Sparky and sometimes Sue and Seig. (I don’t include Greta because the Dowager Doberman doesn’t “play”; she observes. From a distance. With a haughty attitude.)

Then Sparky gets to come back to The Compound with Rex and Tim. Sparky loves the car almost as much as Rex. Lynne comes here when she gets off work, we eat dinner, and we watch Survivor. Thursday is also the only day that Margot likes Rex, because Sparky becomes Disturber of Margot’s Peace No. 1.

As for Guinness, she’s excited about the menu. She never gets anything, but Guinness is a dog of Great Hope, always. Tonight, I’m trying something different. Baking a hen with orange slices and crushed cranberries. I’ve never had cranberries that weren’t jellied or at least drowning in sweetness. Too bad Tim wasn’t holding the camera when I bit into one earlier. “Tart?” he asked. “Who knew,” I replied. “Anyone from New England,” he said.

Today, I’m finishing a short story. Hopefully it, too, will be a little tart as well as a little sweet. We’ll see.

Rainy days and…well, Sundays

They don’t really get me down, though. Rain rarely bothers me except that it bothers Margot so much. Even though I did have to get out in it this evening for a grocery store run, and I’m still all damp and icky feeling, the grocery store was a pleasure. I’m currently mad at Kroger, so I went to Fiesta, not the best grocery store in the world. However, the guys who rang up and bagged my groceries exchanged witty banter of the gay variety. Better than TV, always.

Also, Lindsey and Rhonda came by for a bit today, and what’s better than being safely inside with friends on a drizzly day? This time next week, they’ll be on their honeymoon, the Wedding Bitch will be decompressing, and Rex will be saying, “Can we go somewhere in the car, can we, huh, huh?”

Between bouts of writing today, I’ve been putting music on my computer. I’m the last person on the planet who has figured out how to transfer music from my CDs into an iTunes library and buy music from iTunes. I keep marveling over the wonder of it to Tim, who occasionally walks through and gives me another nugget of iTunes wisdom to keep me happy for a while. And Tom figured out a bunch of stuff with my clip art, so I have plenty of diversions to keep me from writing now.

Still, I must get back to it. Hopefully, my fiction is better than my UnLively Journal.

Bonus dog photos, just because.


Margot: “Is that a squirrel?!?!”


Guinness: “If that’s a squirrel, there are pecans buried somewhere…”

PETS Act

Proof that everyone gets it right occasionally, this was just passed to me from Cousin Ron:

“This past Friday at the White House, President Bush signed the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act into law.

“This landmark legislation, which was strongly backed by The Humane Society of the United States, requires local and state disaster plans to include provisions for household pets and service animals in the event of a major disaster or emergency. When I was in the Gulf during Hurricane Katrina, I saw the government’s failure to have a plan for helping animals. Tens of thousands of animals suffered terribly and were lost or left behind because our communities and responders didn’t have a plan in place.

“With more than 358 million pets in the United States residing in 63 percent of American households, the PETS Act will help ensure that Americans never again are faced with the horrifying choice of abandoning their pet and finding their way to safety, or staying with their pet and remaining in a hazardous, and potentially life-threatening situation.

“Some states and local communities have already engaged in disaster preparedness for animals, and with a federal law now in place, the future for you and your companion animal in a disaster is much brighter.

“Thank you for helping us pass the PETS Act, and for all you do on behalf of animals!

Sincerely,
Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States”

Corporate America

Two things might have kept me in corporate America (which I finally left permanently in 2002). Being able to Instant Message my friends on my work computer. And this…

Dogs at Work: A Perk That Pays Off
Some Companies Find Furry Companions Keep Employees Productive

(Sept. 21) — There’s something about where Ryan Hayes works that millions of Americans would love.

Replacements Ltd. is a large china and silverware retailer with cookie-cutter corporate contemporary looks — until you look closer. As CBS News correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports, Hayes has company in his cubicle: Coco, his beagle puppy.

He’s not alone. There are dogs all over the company, which encourages its 500-plus employees to bring them in. It’s a perk that pays off.

“You do work better because if you’re maybe having a bad day, you can just look down at your feet and you smile,” Hayes says. As for the barking, he says, “It doesn’t bother me because I’m used to it.”

Bob Page owns the company and has built it into a roughly $70 million-a-year business. It was his idea to allow dogs.

Dogs are welcome in the office, in the warehouse, and even in the showroom.

Bringing dogs to work might make good business sense, according to one survey that found 46 million Americans would work longer hours if they were allowed to bring their furry companions into work with them.

So what used to be unheard of is now becoming almost commonplace. About 20 percent of American companies, including giants like Google, allow dogs in the office. The theory is that dogs reduce stress — and that’s good for business.

“Anytime you have an employee that’s content, I think they become more productive in general,” Page says.

By and large, the dogs get along and express themselves only occasionally.

But have the dogs ever had an accident in the store?

“Well, they do occasionally have accidents,” Page admits.

Coco got a little overexcited, but Hayes handled it. He went on with his day, Coco went on with hers — and throughout the office, it was business as usual.

9/21/06
Copyright 2006, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Land spreading out so far and wide…

Still out at Green Acres: the Satellite Office. Tim thinks when he and Rex got here on Sunday night, Rex may have either been bitten by something or eaten something in the yard. Because his throat seems a little swollen and his skin is all lumpy, as if he has hives or some kind of welts under his fur. Of course, this has meant that we keep singing, “Your lumps, your lumps, your lumps, your lovely doggie lumps.”

Rex does not seem to be a fan of the Black Eyed Peas, though.

photos here

Dog Dads

A while back, someone sent dogrl an e-mail with the following information:

In a press release today, the National Institute of Health has announced the discovery of a potentially dangerous substance in the hair of dogs. This substance, called “amo-bacter canis,” has been linked with the following symptoms, especially in female humans:

Reluctance to cook
Reluctance to perform housework
Reluctance to wear anything but jeans or sweats
Reluctance to work except in support of a dog
Physical craving for contact with dogs (may be an addiction)

Beware: If you come in contact with a female human affected by this substance, be prepared to talk about dogs for hours on end.


This has been a Public Service Announcement.

Hmph. I suggested that this substance is just as likely to affect men. I then threatened to provide photographic proof. Ms. Dogrl was on that like amo-bacter canis on a dog. So, as evidence, I present the following photos.

click here for photos of proud dog dads