Category Archives: Dogs

Dog days

Dear New Yorker merchandising department:

Please bring back your Dog Cartoons calendars.

DogCartoonAlexGregory

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have bought these wall calendars for years. Last year, I couldn’t find that version, but I started shopping in January…so I blamed it on a lack of inventory.

Now I realize they weren’t made in 2012. And early shopping reveals they aren’t around for 2013 either.

This is not a good way to start the year, New Yorker.  I need my monthly dose of doggie humor.  Now, be a good boy and bring them back…okay?

I’ll give you a treat.

Misery has company

I spent my Saturday morning in the dentist chair.

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I lost a filling. My dentist had a replacement.

This is notable only because my dog Rory is scheduled for dental surgery on Friday.  He has an abscess, and has been dealing with it for a few weeks because the doggy dental surgeon was booked.

I felt bad for him before, and after having a sore, sensitive mouth for only three days, now I feel worse.

My dog is a much better person than I am.  This isn’t the first time I have been painfully aware of the fact.

We’ll make it all better soon, bubba.

And counting…

14 diamonds14 diamonds

 

 

 

 

Apollo14patch 14th flight

 

 

 

14 celebration14 minutes of fireworks

 

 

 

drum 14Drum ’14′ (no clue)

 

 

 

 

Rory Dog 14The best dog on the planet for 14 straight years…

Happy Birthday, Rory Dog!

Flight of fancy

Rory and I had company on our walk today.

And it wasn’t the first time, either.

We were meandering down one of our usual paths in Central Park when, about halfway down, I saw a sparrow waiting.

He turned when I drew near and hopped forward slowing, as if escorting us up the lane.  At a break in the fencing, he hopped through and flew upward to a nearby tree branch.

Standard bird behavior, right?

Except this is the third time that a sparrow has met us halfway down that path.  The third time he’s turned and led us forward.  The third time we’ve parted company at that same break in the fence.

Is he trying to tell me something?  Trying to get me to go to that tree?  To see something in or near it?  You’d think at very least he would chirp loudly to signal the alarm.

Hasn’t he ever watched Lassie?

Dog days

Is Snoopy happy here?

That strategically placed leaf gives the appearance of a smile. But what is the greatest spokesdog of all time really thinking?

I’ve decided he’s happy.

Possibly not at being blown around by the wind at that particular moment…but I was none too pleased at getting caught in a surprise shower yesterday before my trip to Boston, and I’m still awfully glad to see the arrival of fall.

In fact, I’ve been celebrating all the firsts. First socks. First pair of boots. First sweatshirt, first fleece jacket, first quilted vest.

When I can put on my flannel jammies — well, that will be a real party.

Welcome autumn! I’m so glad you’re here.

Hear ye

On the surface, Hit and Run doesn’t look like a message movie.

But then again, I didn’t really go to learn anything.

I like the story of how this little movie, written and directed by Dax Shephard — who also stars in the film with his girlfriend Kristen Bell and a lot of his friends — was made for a song and then got picked up by a major distributor and is now in theaters.

The little engine that could.

So while the plot isn’t my normal cup of tea, I went to see it to support indie film making…and actors that I enjoy watching.  And then this tiny sub-plot pops up half-way through the movie –

A message for dog owners, no less.

How you shouldn’t tie up your pets outside stores and restaurants where they could easily be stolen.  And the big difference the type of food you feed your dog makes, both in their health and happiness.

And who taught these lessons in the movie?

The “bad guy”…in a really funny way.  It’s worth the price of the film just to see this short segment.  I applaud Dax for finding a way to make those points in such an entertaining fashion.

Here’s hoping folks get the message.

Mystery number

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Rory and I happened upon this number on a path in Central Park today.

We walk there a few times a week, but this is the first time I have noticed it.

There were no visible pipes or drains that might link it to gas, water or electricity work.  No broken cement.  No upturned earth.

Just these carefully penned numbers…what could they mean?

It’s probably something quite mundane, but much more fun to think otherwise.  A Castle case or clue aka Pretty Little Liars.

We’ll check it again in a few days…

Will the plot thicken??

Frequent flier

Thirteen years ago, Rory and I made our first airplane trip together — from Kansas City to Craigsville Beach on Cape Cod.

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As we arrive home tonight from Kentucky — on what is easily Rory’s 30+ flight as an ‘in-cabin pet,’ I never take for granted his zen presence and sunny predisposition that make him an easy, breezy traveller.

Good dog.

The whey

My dog Rory has had some digestive issues this past week, and a friend recommended adding a dollop of yogurt to his food.

Probiotics, don’t you know — the ‘friendly bacteria’ that Jamie Lee Curtis gets all giggly about.

But my dog is a picky little shit.  You change his food one iota, and he won’t touch it…which makes any change in his diet a real pain in the probiotic.

There are some animals, though, who are real fans of the yogurt cure.

 

Maybe Rory will listen to the bird.

I can see clearly now

Central Park is green.

No more pastel buds of spring, no more varying shades of color — just a solid canopy of green.

 

As I was walking Rory Dog this morning — and gazing upward at all those green leaves — I was reminded of the day I got my very first pair of glasses.

I was in the fourth grade.  My teacher Ms. Laws had noticed I was squinting at the chalkboard, and ratted me out to my mom.  When the optometrist did the eye exam, it turned out —

I was pretty blind.  Who knew?

I wasn’t very excited about getting glasses; I was the first in my class and would be teased for months.  But I still remember wearing my new glasses on the ride home from the eye doctor, and staring in wonder up at the trees.

“You can see individual leaves?