Honorable And Mentioned

I feel a responsibility to explain why I still dress my dog in costume even once a year and how I went about it. Then I went down a bad rabbit hole on the internet and I feel a stubborn refusal to explain myself to anyone about anything.

The short version is that we worked hard to make this costume as comfortable as possible for Ed. He didn't love wearing it but he was comfortable enough to pee and bark and take treats in it. I feel ok about my decision.

Were you to have seen his appearance on stage, though, you might not have believed all the work we did. I shielded him slightly from the audience, walked over to the emcee and borrowed her mic to announce, "And now, whether you want her or not.......HEDWIG!"

The crowd roared!

I carried him downstage center and offered him a piece of cheese.

No thank you.

I walked away from him thinking he might get up.

No thank you.

I offered him more cheese.

No, he replied turning just his head around to give me a look over his shoulder.

I called him and knelt down and patted my knees and....

Nothing.

The audience laughed.

I laughed harder.

It all took maybe 30 seconds and then I lifted him up, toured him past the judges, and left the stage.

He was happy to be down on the ground again where he was perfectly able to walk and pee and bark and eat some cheese.

We didn't win one of the big three prizes. We did get an honorable mention. I think he's had one of those three out of his four years entering. We were, I think, a cult favorite. Several fans of the Broadway show stopped us and asked for photos. We had a good time, cheese equals a good time, right?


Photo credits (in order): Amy Frankel at Gothamist, Fort Greene Focus, Mark Allen Berube.

Photo Challenge: RED/READ

Whew! Sorry I'm so late. I got this complicated and time consuming internet research job tossed on my desk and it scrambled my brain a bit. I haven't even seen who entered the challenge yet. I'm going to be as surprised and excited as you!

New photog alert! Do I know Beekeepers2007 under another screen name? S/he seems to know me really well. Of course I would choose the pic referencing my Sox.

I can't help but wonder if Our Cindy is the first person to read these. Look at the bold NOT HERE notation.

There's something really visceral about the color and texture of these berries in Our Sara's front yard. I can feel them between my teeth.

I love to read. I use it sometimes, though, as a pacifier. I'm embarrassed to say that looking at what's on the pictured pages I can't remember reading this at all. No bells are ringing. What's wrong with me?



Occasionally we get a video. We need a little variety! Here's one by Our Bethany, featuring one of my very favorite storytellers.

It so happens that while I'm doing this I'm monitoring a news story where people are having to shelter in place at the Canadian capitol. So, let's call the next prompt SAFE. That's weirdly appropriate for Halloween and Election Day, too, right?

Please enter by 9am Tuesday November 4th for posting on November 5th. Tag your photos with PHOTO CHALLENGE and SAFE. 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.

Round 'Em Up!

Do you guys know that I've had a tab open in my browser for months? It might be as many as 6 months. It's an old post of Our Bethany's about parenting. I wanted to share it but, I guess, wanted to read all the comments first. Then the comments became hard to read and I stopped and it's just been sitting there, waiting for all these months! Here's the link. The comments aren't like incoherent crappy spelling video of someone getting punched in the nuts comments. They're honest comments and emotional ones and the discussion gets a little heated. That's all.

While we're on the subject of Our Bethany. Her family is embarking on an adventure. You can follow along here.

On being afraid of the word FEMINIST.

Neil Gaiman's thoughts on good people and bad people.

A nice info graphic about how much money is saved when we spend money on family planning.

The dirty truth about what you're saying when you say that we can't raise the minimum wage.

The next like 17 hearted posts in my BlogLovin' feed are from Inkdot so you should probably just make a habit of checking in with her regularly.

Here are some guidelines for napping. I have a very hard time sticking to these guidelines.

In case you haven't been keeping up with the continued goings on in Ferguson, MO I've been doing it for you. It's not very efficient this way, though. You should be all over Twitter and blogs and news sites because this is where the revolution is starting right now and we need to build on this momentum. First job: Learn the name Vonderrit Myers Jr. He was 18 years old. 18. Not even old enough to drink in a bar.

Neil Gaiman boosting the signal on a double standard for religions.

xkcd did an informative panel on the parallel between interracial marriage and same gender marriage. It's not all that fucking parallel.

You should also just follow Neil Gaiman in all his media forms. But I'm sharing this bit about Doctor Who writers anyway because, SERVED.

This is a mildly sciencey article on a science blog about dogs and dog training. However, the subject is turkey and tryptophan so it's relevant to humans as well. The conclusions may surprise you!

Sometimes it's the little steps your kid takes that blow you away more than the milestones you prepare for. Go Schuyler!

I have been cold all summer. Yesterday I heard a dad and daughter on the way to school chanting, "We want autumn! We want autumn!" I had to physically restrain myself from shouting back, "You had autumn all summer! Don't be greedy!" I love the photo of Abbie Lynne at the bottom of this post and I love the way Sueb0b is writing about the heat, both internal and external, so I'm sharing this anyway.

This is a really interesting query about medical instruction procedures for discharging patients. They may have come to a conclusion in the comments but it's still worth reading.

This is a post about baseball songs. Part way through there's a bit about a song called A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request. I want to read the lyrics but can't find them anywhere. I will watch one of the videos as soon as I have a minute.

So, unsurprisingly some FOX News commentators said some foolishly nasty things about a female pilot in the UAE military. A group of US Military folks chose to respond. Their letter is basically what I always think of about 2 days after any argument where I'm totally right and the other person is a shithead. It's really a joy to read the whole thing so click through from the Feministing article to get the full scope.

That's my high note. I'm leaving on it.

Photo: A small portion of a gorgeous installation by my friend, Anne.

Photo Challenge: CONTRAST

I found this one tough. Fortunately others did not. Really interesting stuff.

I see a lot of contrasts in Our Bethany's simple shot. How many do you see?

Found in a box of things Mama Kizz gave me from my old room. Some of its contrast is fading but I can still see it clearly.


Deep contrast of both color and emotion, at least for me, in this one by Our Ana. (Due to technical issues this could not be displayed.)

For some reason the prompt needs to be READ. Could be RED. You decide.

Please enter by 9am Tuesday October 21st for posting on October 22nd. Tag your photos with PHOTO CHALLENGE and READ/RED. 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.

A Few Quickies

If all goes according to plan I will have all of Sunday to myself. It will be the first day I'll have all to myself in three weeks. For some of you that will sound like a horror. Others will understand exactly why I hold the fact up like Simba on the cliff in the opening of The Lion King. I am lucky to be so busy. This means that the dog training is going well. I am learning and teaching and people are liking what I have to give. It's a return to an old way of life, though, and it's taking some getting used to. In addition there's been some sad news, nothing directly related to me but the wolves are scratching at the door so it's a time for care and self-care. I wanted to come over and say hi, though.

Hey, Laura, how's your puppy? We need pictures!

One of the sad pieces of news was that Dr. Sophia Yin died this week. I didn't know her personally and I don't know her work well enough yet but she was a champion of the force free animal training movement and her loss is felt deep and wide. I encourage you to check out her website and all the amazing free resources. This is for dog people, cat people, chicken people, fish people, turtle people, really everyone.

Here's an uplifting story from this summer. It's about dancing and connecting.

I haven't had a chance to read this article about Gone Girl but it sounds as if it'll be quite satisfying to those of us who were irked beyond measure by the book.

In the No Surprises category there's this chart about the correlation between reproductive rights restriction and shitty health care for women and children. I'm pleased and surprised to see that NH seems to be the top scorer here.

Scalzi sums up a problem with atheism quite nicely. I'm glad to say that I know some atheists who are careful not to fall into the religion-adjacent zealotry he talks about. I'm sad to say that's not true of all the atheists I know.

Also from the Scalzi a fun twitter play about an asshole.

My old friend, Leon, blogged all the says of Elul again this year. I enjoyed all his reflections and always seem to find parts of the practice that really speak to me. His final post of the set was something I wanted to share with you.

If anyone around you has screws loosening because the media is playing them about the Ebola situation I urge you to direct them to this video of a young nursing student who safely cared for family members with Ebola by devising protective gear out of trash bags. If she can hold her shit together so can we.

I come from a set of people (both related to me by blood and not) who tend to live healthy lives well into their 80s and 90s. As much as I can see where this article is coming from it made me rageful. It made me want to send the author VCR tapes of Logan's Run.

Schuyler Rummel-Hudson is a kid I've never met or even corresponded with and yet I want all the best things for her in an urgent way. Her dad wrote some lovely words about her experiences as a new high school student.

FYI, if you're anti-abortion you're making it easier for domestic violence perpetrators to keep their victims silent. Just in case you might think that's a bad thing.

Desperately trying to end on a high note here and I think I've got something. A noble response from members of the military to a terrible member of the media corps. (I encourage you to click through to the entire, not very long, response because it is a delight.)

Without a trace of humor I implore you, let's be careful out there.