He was born a travelin' man

This weekend, me and my mutt headed to Pittsburgh.  Chino is great in the car, in fact I don't think that the term "relaxed" does him justice.  Even through the monsoon, with zero visibility, he kept his cool.  If anything, I think that the pounding rain drops and increased road noise were inconveniencing him, more than me.

The Daily Drama

Nick and I have developed a system of signals which help us with our morning routine of mutt management.  If its not a gym or a jog day, I'm normally still in bed when Nick is heading out to work.  If I'm in bed, then my level of cognitive ability is about zippo.  I sometimes think that he tells me one thing, when he's actually said something else.  This isn't normally a problem, since  most things that need dealt with in the morning are inconsequential.  One BIG thing that we need to deal with in the morning is Mr. Mutt.

Chino isn't much of a morning creature either.  When the lights in our room go on, he'll vacate to the spare bedroom or downstairs to the couch.  Chino's 14 hour per day sleep requirment isn't really the dramatic part of this post.  Its the fact that it takes a little begging and pleading to get this dog outside to do his business so that he can resume his long nap on the couch.

Proper Mutt Management means that if Chino has been let outside by Nick, then he's wearing his collar.  Otherwise, his collar is hanging on our bedroom doorknob.  If Mr. Mutt has been fed, then there is some sort of something (candle, toy, etc.) sitting on top of his food container.  This morning, there was no indication that Chino had been doing anything besides snoozing.  First in his bed, then in the guest bedroom and finally down on the couch.

After I was dressed and ready for work, I came down with his collar, gave him some pets and said, "Chino, do you have to go outside?"  He proceeded to bury his head in the couch.

I said again, "c'mon buddy, lets go outside and go pee".  He ignored me.  Finally, I said, "c'mon, lets get up and go pee outside" and he flipped onto his back, stuck his feet straight in the air as if to say, "HELL NO."  This is typical of Chino and seem to be part of the game.  I entertained him for a minute, rubbed his belly and let him stretch it out before he dramatically rolled off the couch, stretched and then sauntered to the back door to entertain this notion of going outside.

This whole drama takes between 5-10 minutes from "lets go outside" to actual "grass watering" and sometimes puts a dent in my already hectically late morning.  Instead of packing my lunch or preparing my coffee, I'm standing at the back door, giving a pee-pee pep talk to my favorite mutt.  Sometimes, I have to go out there and shoo him farther into the yard so that he can muster up enough motivation to do his business.  Its all pretty ridiculous if you ask me, but I really wouldn't have it any other way.  There's something about his attitude problem that just seems to make me love him more.

Piggers, a glimpse into our insanity

After accidentally discovering a toy that keeps Chino interested, our nightly rituals have included a game that we've started calling Piggers.  Playing Piggers consists of flinging the green pig with the bungee snout in the backyard, house, up the stairs, on the bed, etc.  No matter what, Chino goes crazy and will run himself to the point of exhaustion.  Last night was furniture Piggers (due to some inclement weather).  We found out that if you flung the pig onto the couch, Chino would hurl himself at full speed into the couch to grab it, at one point with such force that the couch tipped backwards and hit the wall.  Not only does this provide him some much needed cardio (notice the spaced out look, panting tongue and semi-willingness to pose for pictures), it provides us much needed entertainment. I'm telling you, Piggers will cure what ails you, no matter what kind crappy day you've had.

Awww Schmap

You may have noticed the little widget that has made an appearance on my blog.  I'm trying to avoid going all MSNBC by putting widgets here and scroll bars there and information wwaaaaay over there.  However, I had to make an exception for this little guy. 

A few weeks ago, I received a Flickr mail from Schmap that told me that one of my photos was chosen as a finalist for their Las Vegas edition.  Of course, I was thrilled, so I approved it and waited to hear back.  Low and behold, they picked it - and I'm happy to report that I'm officially a published photographer!!!!!  Iif you're on this widget and you scroll through the images of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas...and you happen to see this one...well I took it!!!!  How fun is that?

Meritage

For my birthday, Nick took me to La Trattoria Roma in Grandview.  One of their wine specials was Meritage, which is a mix of Cabernet Savignon, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and something else that is covered by some wine dribble.  This wine captured the best of the reds with a smooth finish, which made finishing the bottle an easy task.  It went very well with Italian food and will likely be something that we keep on hand at all times!

Flying Pigs

Of course, when I go into PetSmart, I can't just come out with dog food.  Oh no, I come out with a bungee cord fling pig.  I just tried to find a picture, without any luck.  This thing is a green pig with a knotted rope sticking out of its ass.  You insert your thumb into a pocket in its snout, pull the rope back and LAUNCH it across the yard.  If you know me, you know that I bought it for myself and let Chino play too.  Here he is, waiting patiently for me to get it configured and launched into the air.  Two minutes after this photo was taken, he ripped the tags off to make it JUST RIGHT.

A 'speck'tacular Tuesday

See this?  Its a bright spot in my afternoon.  A speck, if you will.  I almost went on a rant about fun size candy bars until I consulted the wrapper to find out that this is actually called a mini.  Thank goodness they don't have the nerve to call it FUN because the only fun that I'd be having with it was if there was full back of its comrades in the background, instead of the pile of papers that requires my immediate attention OR if it was say quadruple in size?