pouncey's first day

we were worried that the name pouncey wouldn't stick because he was sooo sleepy yesterday. like he was drugged or "special" or in shock. his alternate name is pants. but today he was much pouncier.

he has not had an accident in the house. he went 6 hours through the night. you take him out put him on grass and he goes. so good. he eats like a pony.

the day started off cold and rainy and he snuggled the morning away in my office with very patient and gentlemanly eli and nacho. 

the sun came out and we all did a lap around the house.

at first he was scared but he got the hang of it. 

pretty soon he was pouncing!

then he fell in a bush

then he collected himself

did some ear biting

did some more pouncing

and then got stuck in a bush. 

  the end.

pouncey

we found some pups on craigslist last week. they were in waynesville and not from a breeder, two yellow labs in a family 'got together' and had a litter.

we were going to JUST go LOOK at them and MAYBE pick one out, to POSSIBLY bring one home next week. 

but then we got there and that was impossible. 

this is pouncey. 

he is very very calm. he was born on the ides of march. he weighs 14 lbs.

eli and nacho have been very sweet to him and vice versa.  

 

spinach and lettuce

we spent the great majority of this earth day weekend doing yard work. 

we made a trail and kevin used some old railroad ties to build stairs down to the river. it's not wheelchair accessible, but it's healthy adult wearing sneakers accessible. 

we planted some greens in the new rabbit-proof garden. it's not bear proof, and it's not SNOW proof, so we'll see how these things fare. it's SNOWING right now. the poor cilantro. gotta love wnc. 

also planted some blueberries and a kadota fig tree. not sure we get enough light for these to thrive, but am hopeful.

also fell in love with some puppies for sale on craigslist. more info on this as it becomes available. 

smiling miss maizey

happy earth day! happy 420!

 instead of driving miss daisy, here's smiling miss maizey.

she's 11. she's sweet like honey. her mom answered an ad in fairbanks alaska for 'black lab pups' and this is what she got.

we're dogsitting her this weekend - lucky us!

breakdance teddy bear 1982

i found some treasures in the basement this weekend which my mom was kind enough to box up and send down here. 

 this is what i was thinking about in second grade. breakdancing teddy bears.

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.

automobiles, trains, and planes

asheville cancelled their direct flights into new york, the closest you can get now is newark, which is not new york and is more shipping containers than anything.

you can still get to new york via fairly easy mass transiting, though, and you can take beer on the LIRR, and they sell a 32 oz high gravity IPA with a straw for $6.50 in penn station.

a "hot sausage" from a hot dog cart does not mean bratwurst, it means a hot dog with fiery red peppers dumped on top.

if your office bans microwaving lunch because disgusting smells and you have a window, you can make a solar cooker. 

a woman who is not at all crazy about animals can fall in love with a dog like my furry brother henry.

a boy as cute and sweet as my nephew willie will be immediately bombarded by cute older girls at the park who will take him by the hand. 

 

and push him on the swings. 

 

he is only a month away from turning 2, but taller than 50% of 3 year olds. the cutest little beanpole.  he likes being thrown in the air and looking at books and putting toy trucks in order. he smiles on command and eats anything you put in front of him.

my other nephew rilan is only a month old and has gained 4 pounds in that month. 2 pounds are in his cheeks. 

 

henry would like some bacon. 

 a great way to end a trip is with a bite or two of a goodbye mcgriddle. 

nursery school picture day

 i gave this vintage western shirt to my friend who has two studly boys under the age of two point five. 

she said this is the outfit he put on for his school pictures. she said he wore the shower cap because he was cold.

littering and

i haven't seen a display of littering like this since the 80's. 

830 am. 

waiting for the light to change. 

girl in maxima goes through the mcdonald's drive-thru. 

rolls down window. 

tosses out some coffee onto pavement. (okay fine). 

20 seconds later tosses out plastic cream container. (not fine) 

10 seconds later tosses out another plastic cream container. (seriously) 

10 seconds later tosses out a stirrer. (no joke)

*****

had i been a male, i would have gone up to her window and confronted her. 

as it stands, i encourage anybody who knows this girl who drives a black nissan maxima, maryland plates 9FL D49, to throw your trash on her doorstep.

just sittin here...with the chuckit in my hands...in case anybody wants to play ball...ever...

new good things

gonna get back on the blog horse from the new house with a list of good things:

1. the internet here is fast and reliable. this may seem like a small deal, but for somebody who had aggravated charter repair visits on a more-than-monthly basis for the last 2 years, this is a Big Deal.

2. the water pressure is awesome. my shower is no longer a clawfoot tub designed for a child. the plastic shower liners do not sweep in and give me unwanted mildewy hugs.

3. kid D's sweet little girl teylor scores a soccer goal.

4. betsy's " great list" - i love this idea. i love her attitude of gratitude. i love her link to our old friend from san diego dr. adam tibble's letter from afghanistan to anderson cooper. 

5. there are surprisingly good restaurants around here in east asheville. who knew? i didn't. east village grille. cafe azalea. pomodoro's (which i mistakenly thought was 1. a chain and 2. like olive garden based on their signs. note to  restauranteurs - be careful of too-slick/clean-looking marketing material!)

6. my biggest t-shirt order of all time came this week: 10 t-shirts to a girl in texas. yee haw!

7. the amaryllis in the photo re-bloomed 1.25 years later. i kept watering it and the leaves kept growing for a year and then a new shoot shot up and now BOOM giant pink flowers towering many feet in the air above the pot.

8. had a couple rugs and couches cleaned today. they look and smell like new, now with 98% less dog fur. thank you five step carpet care

9. eli turned 8 this week. he got a big ball of raw hamburger meat. he enjoyed this. nacho got a miniball. he enjoyed his, too.

run for the river!

we have moved. it is wonderful. 

moving trucks coming this week, we camped out all weekend on an air mattress at the new place. 

happy happy river dogs. 

the tar heels lost. it was a great season.

bonnet shores 1989

packing up boxes i came across some old photos that needed scanning. 

 i'm not going to identify the people in this picture because it's just too ridiculous, but one of them is me, and this is a normal typical scene from my childhood. 

one of these girls had just cut her own bangs with manicure scissors.

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!

what i will miss

this view.

the buildings in front of the mountains are unc-a.

just past that is the french broad river. it's foggy in the morning.

just past that are some blue ridge mountains.

i can sit in a chair on the porch and watch weather roll in across the valley. here's a spring thunderstorm about 15 minutes away.

*****

what i will not miss:

the mudpit next door. 

there is no progress, there is no plan, it could be the greatest dog run of all time, but instead is a pit of mud. 

the construction vehicles grinding gears and beeping in reverse as dumptruck after dumptruck of dirt is delivered day after day. 

the clouds of mosquitoes from the standing water. 

*****

closing on a house friday. boxing has begun in earnest. movers come one week from today. excitement overload. 

sing alongs

the wood brothers put on a great show. 

gotta love when they call for an encore sing-a-long and the crowd is not too pretentious to oblige. 

orange peel on wednesday night such a thing happened. 

so damn heartwarming!

runnin' is useless, fightin' is foolish
you're not gonna win but still
you're the luckiest man
you're up against
too many horses
and mysterious forces
whatcha don't know is
you are the luckiest man

dropped strawberries

newest entry into the flickr "spilled food" group 

downtown asheville last night

squirrel banquet

newest nephew!

rilan wallace mctammany was born on monday. 3-12-12.

he joins his big bro willie who was born on 5-10-10. i like those numbers! 

here he is meeting my dad, big popi, for the first time. 

my brother says rilan looks just like his big bro with chubbier cheeks and a big red nose - called him "a little cherub drunkie!" 

welcome to the party little rilan!

how many times can a man turn his head

commandments

if i were god (or moses) two of my commandments would be 

1. thou shalt not buy old navy pants at the goodwill 

2. thou shalt not get high and tweeze thy eyebrows

queen of my soul

i found this at the value village in gastonia. 

i left this at the value village in gastonia. 

i would like to know:

1. how many of these were made? 
2. how many of these were sold? 
3. did anybody hang this in their house? 
4. where in their house would such a thing hang? 
5. do these people know each other?

the blow stops here

There are some guys who can return good for evil...Every brave man will think so. He will not want to live by passing on the wrath. A hit B? B hit C? -- we have not enough alphabet to cover the condition. A brave man will try to make the evil stop with him. He shall keep the blow. No man shall get it from him and that is a sublime ambition. 

- saul bellow 'henderson the rain king' 

sublime ambition indeed. keep the blow. return evil with good. don't pass on the wrath. is this humanly possible? even if it's not, it feels good to try. 

makeout not war

"A personality without a center throws up a wall and lives in a state of siege." - Tennessee Williams, "One Arm" 

you have a center. 

everybody has a center. 

it's easy to lose sight of it, but it's always there and you can close your eyes and be there in a second.

there the siege is over. 

there the voice is rational and full of love and the voice is your own. 

same as it ever was.

'the centering book' tells you to close your eyes and focus on a spot an inch or two below your belly button. send light there. send warmth there. it's yours.  

first sign

the more positive you are, the more positive you will be.

nacho vs. the guest pillows

could he possibly get more fur onto every single  pillow? 

no. 

at least he's comfy.

he had a traumatic experience with a dental cleaning recently, but things are looking up. i don't want to stir up trouble, but i'm interested in hearing from other people in asheville who have had awful experiences with getting their pets' teeth cleaned. maybe we were the only ones? 

if they say y

tell 'em that is human nature

Contains milk but milk is not an ingredient.

speaking of nekkid basketball

i've said before the local commercials around here are weird, but this is the latest weirdest.

it's a personal injury law firm. two older male lawyers dressed in business suits are on a high school basketball court. 

with a girl in a half shirt and tiny mini skirt. 

inexplicable. 

who is she? why is she there? is she a lawyer too? secretary? just a woman for hire? how is this related? or relevant? in any way?

sex sells. but does it sell lawyers? makes them seem lecherous and sleazy and distracted to me.

save the sluts for the beer ads, i want my lawyers in libraries.

Why do they play basketball nekkid at nc state?

february in chapel hill

red bud trees are already blooming. it was in the 60's and sunny

pasty legs were bared at the beautiful new baseball stadium.

we went to chapel hill for the unc vs. clemson basketball game. my brother gave us tickets for christmas. he said the seats were right behind the bench, and i knew they would be good, but i really had no idea how good.

turns out row b really does mean row b. as in row 2. as in there's the players' bench, a row of chairs for the  jv team, row a and then row b. we were SO CLOSE.

close enough to hear the ref bark at leslie mcdonald 'find your seat' when he was dancing at tip-off.

close enough to hear roy williams scream at the bench after a turnover  "THAT WAS CARELESS AND CASUAL!" i plan to use this phrase in anger for the rest of my life.

the black falcon made this shot, the heels won, played well, i didn't get any good pictures, other than the ones in my head, and those i will treasure always.

we followed the crowd out and somehow ended up in a room with balloons and punch bowls overflowing with brownies. score!

after the game we met up with old friends and new friends for too many drinks and dinner on franklin street.  not much has changed at all in 10 years. it was glorious.

this is a damn shame and some more alcoholic readers may want to avert their eyes - but in classic bob-fashion, he ordered another round of drinks when nobody had finished their first ones, and then promptly left to avoid babysitter-fury when they realized the time. the extra drinks spell "bob."

 

this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and i am so grateful to have a brother who made it possible!

tree e