addicted to power

once again this year, we gleefully celebrated valentine's day with arby's. 



power went out during a wild windstorm saturday at 830 pm, and it was restored at 5pm on sunday. generally i spent the outage railing against humanity, researching generators, calling duke power for updates every 15 minutes, scampering through neighbors' yards looking for signs of progress, rage-cleaning the stovetop, and going to creekside taphouse for many dranks.

sugarhoney spent the outage sitting like a human.



i hope everybody stays safe, snuggly, and warm during the forecasted ice storm!

daily sugarhoney: sugarsnow

2 days ago it was 80 degrees.

this morning it's 30 with 5 inches of snow.

sugarhoney says that's okay!



she has already peed on the deck and learned how to make snowballs.

daily sugarhoney: sugarfoliage

USA Today has just named Asheville one of the top 10 brightest fall foliage destinations in the US.

i must say it's pretty spectacular.

sugarhoney had some fun in the leaves this weekend.

more than leaf peeping, she enjoys leaf eating.

 she also likes leaf sniffing.

and don't forget leaf snuggling.

east asheville pet care

east asheville may not have the bustle, buskers, award winning dining, and hippie vibe of downtown, or the creative grit and cat head biscuits of west asheville, or the gingerbread craftsmen and prestige of north asheville, but it DOES have a fantastic vet and a wonderful petsitter!  don't call it least asheville!

having had a string terrible, awful, no good experiences at the crystal palace of doggy dental care in north asheville, we were thrilled to try a new vet when we moved the the east side 2.5 years ago.

redwood animal hospital is a freakin godsend. it's like stepping back in time 30 years - picture the anti-banfield - they even have a counter cat - big fluffy black cat named Buddha. the vets are smart and kind-hearted and get on the floor with the dogs and really, really seem to like them. the vet techs are so friendly and knowledgeable and just sweet and kind with the animals. the prices are unbelievably low. i mean like half what they charged in north asheville. for better, more personalized attention. they are not open past 5 or on weekends, but we have had a few emergencies and they had no trouble fitting us in during the day. when nacho's kidneys failed they were so patient and kind and compassionate, walking us through the terrible process with the minimum of stress. the vet tech hugged me.  they always consider cost and do not make you feel like a heartless ogre for doing so. dr. elledge and dr. reason are both smart and have huge hearts. we love going to this vet!

here's a link to redwood animal hospital.

the BEST dogsitter we have ever had is rhonda turpin at sit, stay, bark & play. she is also a dog behavior expert and trainer, so unlike previous dogsitters, she really can handle the energy of 3 big dogs at once. she posts videos of the pups playing while we are gone!  she leaves detailed funny notes about what they were doing. she is extremely flexible and even came over 3 times a day when we had to leave sugarhoney in her crate overnight. she has completely relieved us of worry about the dogs when we travel. she covers the east asheville - black mountain area, and is just wonderful to work with.

here's a link to sit, stay, bark & play.

here's a video rhonda took of sugarhoney stealing the tennis ball.

so, you see, there may not be a music venue or an arts district, but east asheville is not a bad place to raise some dogs. 

sugarhoney agrees.

highest puppy on the eastern seaboard (6692 ft)

sugarhoney broke a record this morning, becoming the highest puppy (i think) on the eastern seaboard.

she summitted* mount mitchell (6684 ft).

plus kevin is 6 ft. 3 inches.

plus they are standing on a 2 ft. bench.

6692 ft puppy. 

mark it dude!

 

*all but the last 25 ft or so were summitted via motorcar.

WTF Wednesday: Fallen Tree, Crouching Unicorn

Good morning, Wednesday! Good morning, WTF-ery! Let's scratch our heads. 

First here are some weather-related WTF's. 

A major storm blew through here and knocked a neighbor's white pine tree across our driveway yesterday. 



The rain gauge had a field day - 2.25 inches in 24 hours! 

WTF!?

Now a couple more vintage record albums:

Looks like a normal 60's religious singing record, but with an Indian twist. Her dress is slightly Bollywood, and the scene is definitely Eastern, but her hair is 100% Mississippi Gospel. Barbara Maharaj.

WTF?

This lovely family donned matching rodeo gear, sat in a pasture, and looked longingly at roses. JL and the Country Squires - Living in the Present and Loving (roses) in the Past. 

WTF?!

Here's a nice example of rustic native art:

Koko the coco gorilla?  WTF?!

Finally here's a ceramic unicorn. What is he doing? Dying? Kneeling? Sharpening his horn?

WTF?!


As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions.

For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf

New WTF this week:

•  1974 Male Chauvinist Desk Organizer Jewelry Box
• 80's Fox Hunt 3-D applique sweater
• 70's Teddy Bear in Floppy Hat Short Sleeve Sweatshirt 

 

daily sugarhoney: sugartricks

we had a stormy, rainy columbus day weekend. 

sugarhoney took this opportunity to work on her tricks. 

 she has known "sit" for a couple of weeks. we didn't teach her this, she just picked it up.

  

and now she knows "lie down!"

she will do anything to get a treat, which makes her easy to train. i've never successfully trained a dog to roll over, but i might try with sugarhoney. 

we took every break in the rain that we could to enjoy the fall colors outside. 



golden gold gold.

sugarhoney likes sitting on laps. she is awesome at ipad scrabble. 



i'd like to thank the wonderful, honest people of asheville. i dropped a leash in a parking lot last week, went back 4 days later and - voila! thank you honest people!

here's a picture of pouncey and me under a red tree. 

happy fall!

daily sugarhoney: sugarhike!

sugarhoney has her walking papers! she got her final vaccines on tuesday and is good to go.

yesterday was one of the nicest days of the year and we took her for her first hike.

she loved it!

she followed pouncey. when pouncey went too far too fast, she followed us.



we went about a mile, up and down a hill. on the way out, she would do 6 hops, and sit down. 6 hops, sit down. she is a sweet sugarchunker!



she is okay riding in the trunk, but really wanted to get in the front with us. i think she'll enjoy it much more as she grows and is less tossed around back there. 



when we got home, she basically slept until morning.  

 first sugarhike = success!

daily sugarhoney: sugar persistence

and now for the next exciting installment of the 'sugarhoney wants to get on the couch' series:

   
ready to leap, pouncey's nose wrinkles

   
no way jose

   
the end.

WTF Wednesday: Sassy Souse, Neuticles, Safari Teddy

Hello Wednesday, hello WTF!

If you tuned in last week, you may remember reference to livermush, and a livermush festival.

  
Perusing my grocer's freezer, I happened upon an entire section of liver loaves and was intrigued by its neighbor named "Souse." 

Marketed as "Sassy Souse." Upon investigation, it's also known as head cheese. I cannot imagine a more disgusting food label than "head cheese." I can see why they are going with "souse" instead.

 It seems to contain, pork, pork tongues, pork hearts, pork skins, a bunch of carcinogenic preservatives, pickles, and wheat gluten. Fully cooked, ready to eat, a delicious sandwich meat.

WTF?!

 Moving right along to dog balls. Neuticles (slogan: "It's like nothing ever changed.") are prosthetic testicle implants that you can get for your male dog when he is neutered. There are some hazy allegations that they may help the dog's self esteem, but the main purpose seems to be the owners like the way they look, and owners who would not neuter because they want their dog to have balls, will now neuter and implant these fake balls instead.

As if that weren't WTF enough already, they sell neuticle-related items like...earrings. Dog ball implant earrings. 

WTF?!

Ending on a more vintage note, here's a late 80s to early 90s crop top half t-shirt with a Jeep Wrangler-driving, pith helmet-wearing Teddy bear on African safari. 

It's a size XL and in glorious condition.

WTF?!

As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions.

For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf

daily sugarhoney: sugarbounding

sugarhoney is doing great. she's gone a few days with zero accidents, and has slept through two nights. progress is her middle name!

 

WTF Wednesday - Lion Bottle, Livermush, Butt Hiding

Hellllllo WTF Wednesday! Let's celebrate some cray-cray!

How about a glass bottle, maybe an empty bottle of rum. Cover it with some papier-mâché type mess and paint it like a lion?

WTF?!

Thank you, Brigid Keenan for this self-esteem boosting coffee table book from 1977. Perfect for when you'd like to spend an afternoon just wallowing in jealousy.

WTF?!

I thought I was the barkeeper's friend! Not the cleaning scrub. Hmmmph.

Here's a clip from the Mountain Xpress back in June. Livermush. Festival. Dad are you seeing this? It reeks of scrapple.

Last but not least, here's a rear windshield that would be hard to see out of. It's been modified with adhesive letters which spell: "Show your mind, Not your behind."  Excellent!

WTF?!

As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions.

For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf

Behind the T-shirt: I Heard That

This one goes out to the two older gentlemen who work at the Tunnel Road Goodwill, bringing out the racks of "new" items from the back.

They are friendly with all the customers, but especially with the little old ladies shopping there. 

Their two responses to almost everything they hear is, "I heard that!" and/or "You know that's right!" 

I think these are fantastic sayings, both.

So fantastic that I ironed fuzzy flock letters onto a soft, thin, broken in 80's t-shirt.

vintage 80's i heard that t-shirt

just the hits

we had 3 row dead fuckin center seats for beck.

downtown at the thomas wolfe auditorium last saturday night.

we were 15 feet away from the guy. he was doing high kicks and moon walking. knee slides like marty mcfly in back to the future. the fly on his black jeans was halfway down. his tips are frosted. he is tiny. but the dude has moves! kind of prince-like in his dance style. it was a fantastic high energy show, and the seats were unbelievable. no xenu sightings.

went to a very different show this saturday night. chris smither at the grey eagle. sit down show. started at 8. walkers in the front row.

he is a fantastic storyteller and guitar player, and the show was full and happy.

our garden overfloweth with yellow cherry tomatoes. i don't know why they are yellow. they taste red. there are 10 new ones every day.

pouncey is still suckin on pillas.