Did It and Pictures

I can't believe MonkeySee is already gearing up for his senior year of high school.

I keep doing the math, but this can't possibly be right. At the same time, I kind of can't wait for the adventure that's going to unfold for him. Senior year is kind of awesome.

And it's going to suck. Mostly for me.

Taking inspiration from the inspirational, I read one of my poems at the last Midtown Out Loud:

The Monkeys went with me to a Summer Soiree and indulged me in a ridiculous amount of Pool Antics Photography.

Totally my favorite.

Here's MonkeyDo wrangling both dogs after their baths this past weekend.

Here's a pro-tip if you own more than one dog: you can totally wash more than one dog in the 25 minutes a dog wash token gives you. Unless one of those dogs is Gomi and you spend a ginormous chunk of time getting all the crud out and attempting to return her to her beautifully white (not yellow) glory.

Eventually you give up, but you still have to ask the staff for more time because that dog takes forever to dry.

Cover Your K9 Fundraiser - This Weekend!

I'd been off track for the last week or more, so, when I got up Sunday (and didn't go do my normal Sunday morning routine), I decided some cleaning was in order.

Unfortunately for the dogs, I started with them.

Bixby has turned into a pretty good bather. Right up until it's time to start drying off, then he wants me to hold his hand.

The bonus, though, was that I found out about a fundraiser coming up this weekend - the Save a K9 Fundraiser!

June 30th and July 1st (Saturday and Sunday), 100% of the cost of each dog wash goes to support a non-profit organization called Cover Your K9, which helps "provide customized bullet-proof vests, heat alarms for patrol cars, K-9 first aid kits and other specialized equipment to keep our hardworking police dogs protected while they are at work protecting us."

Cover Your K9 is working to keep the police dogs of northern California safer while on patrol, and that's definitely a cause I can get behind. If you're local, you're probably familiar with Bodie's story. He was shot in the line of duty at the end of May. While a bulletproof vest probably wouldn't have helped Bodie, who was shot in the leg and the jaw, Bodie's case makes this fundraiser particularly timely.

Pet Food Express also happens to be one of my favorite places to take the dogs for a bath. When you have strong, ornery dogs that really dislike being washed or blown dry, the Pet Food Express setup is really ideal. It's sturdy and everything is one place, so you don't have to manuever your dog to another table for the blow dryer. Most of the time, I don't even get them out of the wash basin when I dry them, because I don't have to and it's just easier.

All 43 northern California Pet Food Express locations are participating in the fundraiser and the funds stay local, helping your local police dogs. So come on out. You know your dog is stinky.

Dogs by the Sea

On Saturday - my first free Saturday in six weeks! - we took both dogs to Bodega Bay.

They were pretty excited.

After lunch, I had the brilliant idea to take a photo of Bixby & Gomi together with the ocean in the background.

This is possibly more complicated than it seems like it should be.

While the dogs were mostly well behaved during the trip, one of them counter surfed the top half of my sandwich. Because clearly I am out of practice with having food in the open around dogs.

After scolding Bixby (of course it was Bixby) and retreiving the parts he stole, I gave them to Gomi.

Who refused to eat them.

Success! Kind of.

All things considered, it was a pretty good day. I hope the dogs had fun. Since they were mostly well behaved, I see more outings in our future.

I have to say that it's kind of nice to finally be able to take Bixby some places without him acting like a total asshole.

Dog parks are definitely still on the "not even kind of" list.

Oh, well.

Rainy Days and Dogs

On Saturday, I took Gomi out & about. I had decided that it was high time that Miss Smelly had a bath. As much as it's been raining, recently, bathing her seemed fairly pointless.

So we hopped in the van, turned on Stella, our GPS, and...


Mom, why is the box talking?
You can totally see her little brain hamster spinning its wheel trying to figure that out.

After her bath, we went to not one but two Big Box Pet Stores (because the first had a great deal on a water dispenser but, apparently, does not carry Miss Priss' Expensive Ass Dog Food).


Gomi is totally the most well behaved dog most of the places we go. Which is cool (for me) but kind of sad (for everyone else). This includes the three German Shephards at the Dog Washery that went completely apeshit lunging at not just Gomi but whatever other dogs came by. Um. I might be a novice, but I'm pretty sure that's seriously bad doggy manners. There were a couple of dogs at the pet stores that barked at her, too. I love that she follows my lead & just walks on past.


This is the face a Gomi makes when you skritch in just the right spot.
I went out later for a quick grocery run and, when I got home, ended up getting trapped in the van by this:




It was the kind of hard rain that makes you check twice because you're sure that's hail.

Nope.

Just rain.

I am so glad that the forecast says we're in for a break from the rain. I'm sure most of California could stand a chance to dry out.

Another Pit Bull Tragedy

I don't have a lot to say about this that hasn't already been said better.

I'm not sure that anyone here doesn't know that we at the Verbosery are big fans of square headed dogs. So much so that we own one.


I can't even think of some stranger putting their knee in her back without getting a little irrationally angry.


If you've never known a pit bull raised by responsible, loving dog owners, you are truly missing out. I don't think there exists a more goofy, blissful, loving dog than a pit bull.


If you don't know about Gomi, you surely haven't heard about Moko. Moko is a service dog. Moko's dogmommy is paraplegic. Moko helps her get around so she can live her life independently. The way she always has.


Pit bulls are working dogs. They're smart, capable and have been bred for generations* to be people friendly.

What happened to Parrot was tragic and inexcusable.

I wish more people would wake up. Parrot's execution is not even an isolated incident. Merely the most recent.

Wake up, America.

These dogs are your dogs, too.



Godspeed, Parrot.



*Even the fighting dogs.