Photo Challenge: LAUGH

Folks got inspired by this one. I love when that happens! Be sure to check out our Flickr Pool to see the shots that we didn't have room for here. Also, don't forget to scroll down for the next prompt. Anyone can enter and if you have questions you have only to ask.

Here's Our Falnfenix's pup proving that snoods aren't just for greyhounds anymore! I think she looks marvelous. OK, and a little silly. In a good way!

"My" boys are silly just on a regular, average day. Unclip their leashes in close proximity to the sea and all bets are off. Total goofballs.

I don't know what cracks me up so much about this glorious portrait by Our Cindy, I just know that it makes me laugh every time. I want to title it Regal Cupcakery...or something.

I do know what makes me laugh in this shot of Our Bethany's. Everything, that's what.

When Our Janet said she wanted to marry someone who could make her laugh she wasn't kidding. Nice follow through, lady!

Our Ana's cat looks a little affronted. Hope he knows we're laughing with him.

We kicked off with puppies, it's nice to end with kitties. Our Lisa's boy clearly wonders what we're staring at, he's just doing cat things. Important Cat Things. Yeesh.

I feel like the best thing to do is to proceed with happy prompts. Anything that makes us jump around and move our bodies seems to be the right direction. So, for next time let's do WOO HOO!

Please enter by 9am Tuesday April 8th for posting on April 9th. Tag your photos with PHOTO CHALLENGE and WOO HOO. Check out the wonderful work in our Flickr Pool for inspiration. Also, let me know if you have any questions. The  appropriate email for that is Kizzbeth117 at gmail dot com.

Pets Are Sort of Priceless

I'm going to a new accountant this year. He seems very regimented in his process and I haven't even met him. Despite being more collected about my receipts and information this year I had to take a couple of hours today to line it up the way the new guy asked.

Part of my new organizational format this year allowed for me to keep receipts for the pets. It's not tax deductible by any stretch of the imagination but I was interested in what I spend yearly on these guys. I remember an internet meme from a while ago estimating annual dog food expenses at $200. That just didn't sound right to me but without the proof I couldn't say for sure.

Here are my 2013 results for three pets. It's 2 indoor cats and one indoor-outdoor dog. Dog is 5. Cats are 13. One cat has chronic health problems. The dog has non-debilitating allergies. It's also probably not every single thing I've bought for them but it's close.

Food - $2,084

Dietary supplements - $1,634

Medical - $2,561

Dog walking - $2200

Miscellaneous - $245

*************************

Total - $8,724

Keep in mind that treats are folded into three of those categories somewhere and that I choose to buy treats (and food) that boost health and immunity in my medically somewhat fragile pets. I also choose a dog walker over paper training or dog daycare.

I guess I could be spendier/crazier but I also feel like I'm doing what's best for them and that's not crazy at all. What do you think?

As Prescribed

It has been a winter of getting by. We've all done it. You wore your shit kicking boots to a party. You ate what was in the freezer rather than go out in the cold. You quit trying to dress up your winter coat and just accepted that it was the way you were going to look for the foreseeable future. Really, you just quit trying. Didn't you? Please tell me you did because I did. I really did.

Let me start by saying that I would not classify the past couple of days as warm. Some people would but I would definitely not. They were, however, warmer than it's been in a while.

Yesterday I took the dog to the park in the morning and it was probably his 5th or 6th day off leash in a row. Then we went to the vet and there was a longish wait which we used to work on our please-don't-bark-at-everything protocol. After a short evening walk we had company over and a nice late night walk. This morning we were back in the park for off leash time. We wandered the greenmarket and walked home with friends. This evening we took a long walk, met friends with dogs and friends without dogs, spent time in the bookstore, stopped off to buy some dessert, and headed home.

That paragraph describes the sort of life someone with an energetic young dog, perhaps a terrier, is supposed to live. Lots of input for the brain and lots of output for the body is what keeps the cats (and the sanity) safe. I have not been living that life lo these many months. More importantly my dog has not been living that life.

It's funny how the brain adjusts. I knew that Ed's cat chasing and his barking and reactivity were elevated. I thought it was a setback, though, something that needed hard work. The phrase "buckling down" kept running through my head. Since it has been a winter of (barely) getting by I didn't even try to buckle down because it seemed to hard. Nothing seemed worth it. All of my energy needed to be conserved for staying warm and failing to despair. The extreme difference in my dog's behavior after something as comparatively little as 30 minutes in the park before work in the morning is a revelation.

There's work to be done, to be sure, but it's not as onerous as my winterized brain made it out to be. I mean, a trip to the bookstore? It's like there's something in this for both of us.

A First

Ed has only been to the beach in Maine. It's rocky and he has sniffed a tidepool or two but he mostly leaves the water alone. He hadn't ever experienced sand between his toes and waves chasing him up the beach.

 A couple of times when he's been staying with other people it's been a possibility that he'd go to the beach for the first time with them. For one reason or another it hasn't panned out, though. I'm sort of embarrassed to admit how bummed I have gotten over the thought of missing that first. It hasn't, though, made me at all proactive about getting my dog to the beach.

Yesterday when Alex called out of the blue to see if I wanted to take the dogs to the beach I was at least wise enough to jump on the chance.

 For a few minutes I couldn't stop laughing because both dogs were just so damned happy to be free to run and sniff and bark. Man, the barking, it's so much easier to take when there's a brisk breeze to blow it off shore!

It was bittersweet since Bobby is sick and we don't know what his future may bring but he doesn't know he's sick so it was a smarter tactic to just enjoy his bliss.

 Man I love these dumbasses so much I can barely stand it.

Photo Challenge: OOPS

The first OOPS of the post is how late I am. Jury Duty and a day job can really mess with your schedule!

I especially like that Our Janet made it look like the tiny ceramic dog is happy about the accident!

The saddest part about Our Bethany's photo is that they were already soaked and ready to cook!

Good thing Our Ed can't talk or he'd probably tell me I'm not allowed to post this on social media.

I have not had a fun day. Let the next prompt be LAUGH. I need some of that, please.

Please enter by 9am Tuesday March 25th for posting on March 26th. Tag your photos with PHOTO CHALLENGE and LAUGH. Check out the wonderful work in our Flickr Pool for inspiration. Also, let me know if you have any questions. The  appropriate email for that is Kizzbeth117 at gmail dot com.

Would You Notice?

Several months ago someone stopped following me on a social media platform I use  regularly. Apparently.

You see, I didn't figure it out until last month.

We knew each other personally before we became friends on social media. We've been to each other's houses (that's a pretty big thing in NYC), we have a few purposeful mutual friends and some accidental ones. We like a lot of the same things, even when we like them for different reasons or in different ways. We weren't best friends, certainly, but I thought we were solidly friends, more than acquaintances. I thought things were just basically pleasant and would go along like that foreverish.

But I tend to think that about a lot of things until they stop and then I'm all, "But? Forever? Why change?" and the thing clearly says, "Nothing is forever. Shush now."

I'm not deeply wounded here. Something happened, I'm not sure what, and losing me from the information stream made someone happier. I'm all for happier.

I'm a little concerned for myself, though, because I didn't notice for so long. I mean, seriously, it's not like we met twenty years ago at a conference and just kept the connection because it was polite. There was more to it and yet...I didn't notice. What does that say about my emotional housekeeping?

Recently I've been thinking about unfollowing some folks, people I honestly like in real life but who make my information feed difficult in both silly and serious ways. I wouldn't unfriend them or block them, just remove their posts from what I see effortlessly. Since I really like them I don't want to hurt feelings or even make them feel unheard in some way so I started to wonder. Would they notice? Is it arrogant to think that anybody would? How much of an impact on anybody's life can I possibly be making through my posts about vegetable peelers and reproductive rights and cute dog videos?

This is why I'm asking you today, if one of your combo social media + real life friends stopped following you, would you notice?

I'm asking for a friend.