Twilight Sky Over Dog Park

We are now stuck in that part of the year when it is too hot to go to Dog Park before 8:00 at night, but the sun is already setting before 9:00. Recent rains have helped cool things down, however, and we have witnessed some spectacular twilight skyscapes. Here's a slideshow of the sky over Dog Park during sunset last Saturday night. Enjoy. -z

P.S. Muzzy and I are taking a week off. We'll be back to blogging after August 8.

More Muzzy Movie

Action! I said "Action!" Alas, there's not much going on in this video of a dramatic post-rainstorm sky over Dog Park and Muzzy grazing. The fun—for me—was all in production.  My camera's audio recorder is shot, and it makes every video sound like a bowl of cereal after the milk hits it. So for this clip (52 seconds, for those of you who are in a hurry), I reconstructed an ambient sound track. I scavenged the sound library on my computer and fiddled with audio levels in order to recreate the aural delights of Dog Park. I think it sounds pretty authentic. Enjoy. -z

She Can't Hardly Contain Herself

Every afternoon, I take Muzzy for a short walk around the block before I feed her some dinner. It's usually pretty hot outside and there's nobody around, so I often let her walk off-leash. Lately, one of our neighbors has been out in her yard at the same time. Each time Muzzy sees this neighbor, she gallops up her, her tail spinning, as if this woman were her long-lost mama.  Muzzy soaks up some goo-goo talk then dashes back to the sidewalk, races past me, and, a few yards down, takes an enormous dump.

The first time this happened, the neighbor was amazed. She had gotten into her car and was driving past just as Muzzy was getting to work. The woman rolled down her window and said, "I didn't know I had that effect on her." Apparently it was quite a stimulating effect. I laughed it off at first. But this greet-n-poop dynamic has occurred twice in the past week. I'm getting kind of embarrassed about it. When I told the woman's daughter this story, she said, "That's okay. My mother has that effect on me, too."

The idea that certain people make other people want to poop is an old joke. In fact, I came across this anecdote in Lincoln, a biography of the U.S. President written by David Herbert Donald (Simon & Schuster, 1995). According to Donald, Lincoln liked to tell this story when there were no ladies in the room.

[Lincoln] recounted an anecdote he attributed to Colonel Ethan Allen, famed for his role in the American Revolution. Allegedly making a visit to England after the war, Allen found his hosts took great pleasure in ridiculing Americans, and George Washington in particular, and, to irritate their guest, hung a picture of the first President in the toilet. (In telling the story, Lincoln called it 'the Back House.') Allen announced that they had found a very appropriate place for the picture, because 'there is nothing that will Make an Englishman Shit so quick as the sight of Genl Washington.'"

It makes me smile to think that our sixteenth President liked to tell a story like that one, but Muzzy and I are definitely taking a new route on our afternoon walk for a while.
-z

Oh, Foul Calumny!

Okay, okay, okay. It's time to take this blog back from the asylum inmates. I had no idea last week, when I posted my review of the book The Dogs Who Found Me, that I would provoke such a poop-storm of controversy, both online and at Dog Park. First, some thanks are in order.

Thanks to "Ken," presumed author of the book, for leaving a comment that stated the blindingly obvious: "This review says more about you than it does about my book." Snap! If I may respond: No, duh. I think that in my entry I made my biases perfectly clear: I like books that are smart, funny, ironic, and well written. Ergo, yours didn't move me. Better luck next time. (If I may offer a bit of advice: Before you write your next memoir, take a look at Mary Karr's Lit. It's brilliant, poetic, funny, compelling, and insightful. Try that.) But thanks for jumpstarting the comments.

Also, thanks to Teddy and his alter ego Tex for your comments. I think now you understand how tough it can be to write the funny bits.

To Grumpy Broad, I say thank you for standing up for a blogger chick's right to not like a book. (You have learned well from the master—Judge Judy.)

Finally, thanks to my loyal readers and regular commenters, especially Mixette and Cranky Girl. When I write this blog, I never assume that more than five people will read it. Heck, my mother doesn't even read this blog. So I am always gratified when people respond to my posts in person at Dog Park or online--even when they are busting my chops.

Stay cool everybody. -z