Writing the good read
We always want what we don’t have, right? I have long complained about the irrational exuberance of my dog, Ruby. She bunny hops on my toes to say hello, squeaking at an ear splitting pitch. This happens not just when I’ve been away for days, or even hours, but if she saw me two minutes…
I spent this evening hanging out with the extended neighborhood. We were remembering one of the most colorful of our number, Jack McPherson, who died a couple weeks ago after a brave battle with cancer. A few score people showed up with food and drink and stories tonight. Most were from the immediate neighborhood, but…
Ruby is a giant dog. She seems to be smart — she learns quickly, and loves to work for food. Her trainer Ali at Kinship Dog Training says she’s not stupid. But the things this girl is afraid of, even after nearly three years with us, never ceases to amaze me. Consider her top 10…
The late great Katie, our beloved dog for 14 of her 17+ years, got a bath about every other week until she was quite ancient. It kept her sweet smelling, kept her shedding down, and although we had to chase her down and carry her (with a pathetic look on her face that screamed: “Not…
I know animals live in the moment, but the last 18 months with the four legged beast I call the Moose have really brought that home to me. Tonight I was trying to imagine her as an old lady dog, calm, serene, a distinct absence of exuberant bounciness. Couldn’t do it. I sit here on…
I found this great blog, called Hyperbole and a Half. The whole thing is hysterical, but the author, Allie, is especially funny when talking about her dogs. Especially the “simple dog”, whom she fears may be, well, mentally challenged. I have always thought our pup Ruby the Moose Dog is smart and large and therein…
I do my best writing when I should be sleeping. Usually, there is no computer or paper and pencil. As I drift off, I write — ledes to the stories I have due later in the week, very clever blog-posts, 140-character masterpieces of Twitter, and some of the most scathing (and of course effective) letters…
I plan on finding the energy to floss my teeth and moisturize. Aside from that today is a loss. My son, who learned to share young, has shared his bad-ass spring cold with me and I have literally spent 30 of the last 36 hours in bed and don’t plan on being vertical again for…
When our late lamented dog Katie died a year ago, we had known her for 14 of her 17 years. We missed the unruly puppy time, the my-feet-don’t-fit-my-body months, and the angst of a dog’s teen years. I hadn’t had a puppy since I was four years old. That has made adjusting to Ruby, the…
Yesterday I wrote about some older dog books — all published more than 50 years ago. Today, four books published in the last couple of years, all non-fiction, all dealing with how pets fit into our world or their interior lives. Top of the pile — and I mean that literally, not in terms of…