hola sugarhoney!

well that was quick!

there was a retriever-sized hole blasted into our hearts last week, and we stuffed it with a puppy. i have always said that the only cure for the dead dog blues is puppy shopping, and this weekend i put my money where my mouth is.

like the griswold's pilgrimage to see a moose, on friday we took a pilgrimage 7 hours in each direction to ohio to see a puppy.

I-75 north

kevin grew up with a black lab female - night - and he really wanted another one of those. i grew up with crappy rabbits and really just wanted another lab - any gender any color.

after some sleuthing, we found her online, decided we are crazy but who cares, and set off to bring her home. 

she is black, she is 8 weeks old, and she is bred to be mellow. her mother, princess, looks just like nacho with teats. her father, bear, is a sweet, calm, waggily boy.  we met them both and wanted to take them home with us, too. awesome dogs.

sugarhoney and her mama princess

the clincher was she was born on june 6 - nachodoggy's exact birthday! i mean really.

sugarhoney in the heartland

here we are at a truckstop where she had a drink out of nacho's fiesta bowl.



for all 7 hours, she slept quietly on my foot. at this point, she almost had her name changed to slippers.



when we got home, the introduction went well, and pouncey and eli were cordial, though not yet snuggly.  pouncey finds this exciting.



i am not sure if she is a dog, or a bear cub. what kind of animal is this?



she was not afraid of the river, and jumped in the middle of the rapids. and sunk! kevin was right there, and she scrambled to the side just fine. 



it has only been 2 days, but we are head over heels for this pup. we have a long way to go with house training, crate training, and chewing, but we can already tell she is calm and smart and she has a heart of gold!



nothing could ever replace nachodoggy, but it feels like some sweetness and light has returned to the house and harmonious balance is restored. aaaaahhhh!

with a name like sugarhoney, she has to be sweet

brain damaged cardinal flying into window repeatedly

brain damaged cardinal flying into window repeatedly a video by skippy haha on Flickr.

the internet tells me that this male cardinal sees his reflection in the window, thinks it's a rival cardinal, and tries to air-fight him.

over and over. 

for hours every day.

this idiot cardinal flies face first into the window, smacks his face, goes back to a branch, and flies again face first into the window.

the internet tells me to put a piece of paper over the window so he can't see his reflection.
i think maybe i'll just let darwin take care of this guy.

the brad pitt of dogs

my friend lindsay called pouncey "the brad pitt of dogs."




i cannot argue! 

i have always thought brad pitt resembled a cartoon puppy. so there ya go.

16 seconds of sucking

here's pouncey sucking on grammie's bed:

dun dun DUNNNN...dna test results are in!

the official results are in.

pouncey is a full labrador!

despite the fact that he has a black spot on his tongue, and the shape of his head and eyes sometimes resembles a pit bull, 

or a chow chow, 

 

he is 100% floppy droopy goofy lab. 

what breeds make up your dog?

last year kevin's sister did the DNA dog test to figure out what her "lab mix" birdie was really made of.

turns out she is not a labrador retriever whatsoever, but she is a fox terrier and american bull dog. that explains a lot of her behavior. poor little birdie.



after being asked by a man in the woods "is that dog mostly lab with a little pit?" about pouncey, we decided to test all 3 dogs and see if pouncey is in fact a pit bull.

they send you a swab kit, with 2 swabs, you rub each one in between the dog's gum and cheek, send them back, and in 2 weeks your results are ready.



nacho was the control. nacho has his papers. even though he was massively discounted due to his labrador overbite, and looks a little funny, he's a full blooded lab from decoy labs in oxnard california.

DNA test - confirmed!

next up, eli. kevin got eli from a litter down the street in charlotte. he doesn't have papers. he was supposed to be all lab, and he pretty much looks like a lab and acts like a lab. but he has a white 'star' on his chest, so something doesn't quite add up.



turns out eli is MOSTLY lab.

but hellloooo otterhound!

please meet elidoggy, our little doberman spaniel. he is happy to be related to his cousin henry the king charles spaniel.

last but not least was pouncey the potential pit bull. unfortunately they were unable to get clear results from pouncey's swabs. they are sending another kit for a re-test.

stay tuned!

pouncey as 'evita' in community theater

dressers of a feather

could these dressers be any more similar? 

identical size. 3 drawers. top drawer opens with round pulls. bottom drawer pulls are 95% identical. 

 the one on the right was in my bedroom growing up in rhode island, the one on the left in kevin's while he was growing up in tallahassee. 

i was shocked when i went to visit him for the first time in 2008 and saw it. 

i think it's so strange that we both kept them, and ended up with them as adults. 

they're old and scratched and dinged and heavy and his is missing a drawer pull, but they're sturdy as hell and i love them.

best chant ever

don't even worry! 

we gonna make it! 

[repeat] 

2005 carolina basketball national champions, led by david noel in this fantastic chant. 

 what a way to start your day! 

don't even worry!  

we gonna make it!

wattle?

person #1: would you like some more porter? 

person #2: does a fat turkey have little...gobblers hanging down from its mouth?

primary

last week kevin & i celebrated the 3rd anniversary of our first date.

december 10, 2008. wednesday night. i was living in asheville, he was living in charlotte. we met at a bar that neither of us had ever been to in hickory, about halfway between.

we hadn't seen each other for more than 10 years. we were friends in college in chapel hill in the late '90s. 'friends' might be pushing it - the truth is he was friends with my boyfriend, and i was living with his girlfriend. the 4 of us hung out together throughout that year, and i always liked him.

we reconnected through the magic of facebook in november and then decided to meet up for a drink. we ordered hawaiian pizza and didn't touch it. we had beer and eye contact and laughs and sparks and made plans to see each other asap. i drove to charlotte two days later with holden and nacho and stayed for 3 days at his fantastic house on a lake and the rest is history.

i can't say it's luck or destiny or hard work or familiarity or timing or what. we like to do a lot of the same things. our energy levels are about even. he is smart and funny and kind and honest and responsible.  he is curious and adventurous and makes his own health and mental health a relative priority.  i love his hair. i love his smile. i love making him smile. his family is funny and generous and eerily similar to my own, and he has excellent taste in friends.

i don't write about him or love or relationships too much here, maybe thinking sharing will dilute it, or maybe jinx it, or maybe because i know the anonymity of the web has evaporated in the past year or two and i am not comfortable with who is reading. i don't want it to seem like bragging, or sillyfluffy, or gag-inducing. i'm not very social and i'm not very open to the public, and i am glad for this blog to be a creative outlet, but if you're looking for deeply personal stuff, and you're not one of the 2-3 close friends i am able to maintain at any given time, you should probably watch some reality tv instead!

i put the picture of the tee box markers on top since there have been 3 years, which is by far the longest relationship i've been in.

there's been a lot of golden moments, and some blue, and some red. but mainly when i look back, they have been gold.

conversations with sugar

scene: kevin driving, me passenging. see the white squirrel in the tree. stop car. roll down window. 

us: (yelling out the window) hey sugar! what are you doing? we love you sugar! yeah we love you sugar! 

sugar: (looks at us. nibbles acorn. twitches cotton puff tail.)

us: hey sugar, wanna come home with us? we will feed you peanuts! you're a good boy sugar! we love you sugar! yeah we love you sugar! 

sugar: (looks at us. nibbles acorn. hops further up the tree.) 

us: you are so handsome sugar! you are the most handsome squirrel in the world! we love you sugar! yeah we love you sugar! come home with us! follow us home! you will be happy there! we will protect you from the dogs! we love you sugar! 

sugar: (hops further up tree, out of view) 

us: see you later sugar! we love you! (driving away so happy)

nachodoggy!

nacho's fame grew exponentially last night when the dj on wwoz (new orleans jazz &  heritage station) said his name, no fewer than 4 times, on the air in the middle of a blazing blues guitar set.

it's their pledge drive time and they had a roller girl on air reading new pledges in between songs. she said "we have a new pledge from kevin radey in asheville. and the comment is somewhat perplexing." 

the dj said "what is it?" 

she said "it says nachodoggy!"

"nachodoggy?"

"yeah nachodoggy!"

they went back and forth for seriously a minute about  it laughing and wondering what is a nachodoggy, saying they didn't know but somebody out there was probably laughing about it. 


hell yeah. 


nachodoggy! labrador overbite!

stool samples on ice

why are there two pieces of poop in an ice-filled styrofoam cooler on the front step, you might ask?

nacho & eli have their yearly checkups today and the vet said we have to bring in a stool sample. 

when kevin & i were talking about the logistics of this ridiculous task (shouldn't the vet do this?) yesterday, i said "i guess i will take them on walks after their breakfast and pick up some poop in a ziploc bag with their name on it. and put it in the refrigerator until the appointment."

he said "NO! not in the refrigerator! you know taste is 75% smell!"

i said "you have to refrigerate it so the parasites don't die, i will put the bags inside a tupperware which i will then throw away" 

he said "can't you put it in one of the extra styrofoam coolers in the basement?"

and so it was done.

why it's okay to rent part 75

 

somebody's gotta come fix this and i don't have to pay for it.

(if i don't break my neck first)

(just kidding, it's not as bad as it looks)

(and most of that ivy is gone, in an afternoon fit of garden shearing frenzy)

scene: lying on the couch watching tv