Double Duty

Keeping an eye on the perimeter while also begging for food. He’s multi-talented.

Sad Dog, No Herd

Samus is 3/4 miniature Australian Shepherd, thus she loves to ‘herd’ the cat much to the chagrin of Zelda. Last night Zelda refused to be herded and this is the dramatic response of Samus to the situation.

Puppies and Pillows

Some days he makes it both harder and easier to go to work.

Harder, because I want to lay in bed and snuggle him.

Easier, because someone has to the bring him home the biscuits.

Evidence of Defiance

My husband has a strict “No dogs on the back of the couch” rule.

This is what Samus thinks of that.

High Octane Puppy Fun

Snow wrestling is a favorite past time.

Return of the Snow King

This dog loves snow. In fact, he will try to stay out in it until his paws get too cold. At this point he lays down and forces Mom or Dad to come carry his big 75 pound butt back inside.

-.-

Tid Bits

It’s funny how sometimes you just remember some random ass part of your dream from the night before and nothing else.

This morning I remember swimming in a large indoor pool with a baby macaque monkey in a diaper. He kept shitting his diapers and I just kept swimming in the pool with him.

That’s it. Now I’m stuck here wondering why I wasn’t as grossed out in my dream as I am now. Why did I keep swimming in that poop water?

Owl Facts

People post really stupid shit on Facebook. I’m sure you’ve all seen it more times than you care to count. So I decided that on my personal page I was going to start posting interesting facts. This way people learn things instead of reading countless stupid political opinions of people talking out of their asses about things they don’t really know about.

I have what is developing to be, an unhealthy obsession with owls. (See top of blog site for proof. I don’t like the layout of the page but there is an owl so it stays.) My first interesting fact ended up being about owls. I know a lot about owls and there were new things I was still learning. It was so exciting! What is more Halloween than owls? I mean, they puke up the fur and skeletons of their victims, so naturally it seemed appropriate that they get their own blog post.

• The eyes of owls are not true “eyeballs.” Their tube-shaped eyes are completely immobile, providing binocular vision which fully focuses on their prey and boosts depth perception.

• Owls can rotate their necks 270 degrees. A blood-pooling system collects blood to power their brains and eyes when neck movement cuts off circulation.

• A group of owls is called a parliament. This originates from C.S. Lewis’ description of a meeting of owls in The Chronicles of Narnia. (I knew the group name but not it’s origins!)

• Owls feed the strongest baby first. That means if food is scarce, the youngest sibling starves to death.

• In ancient Greece, the Little Owl was a companion of Athena, the greek goddess of wisdom, which is one reason why owls symbolizes learning and knowledge. But Athena was also a war goddess and the owl was considered the protector of armies going to war. If Greek soldiers saw an owl fly during battle, they took it as a sign for coming victory.

• They are also seen as a symbol of death. From ancient times and on, they have been linked with death, evil, and other superstitions. Owls have been associated with witches and other so-called evil beings. While this may sound like Halloween fun, many cultures still have superstitions about owls and in some places, owls are killed based on those beliefs.

• In Japan, there are owl cafes where you can hang out with owls while drinking tea.

Who, who, who’d have thought learning was so exciting?!

Autumn Pup

We brought Samus home on October 18th, 2014. Who remembers the exact day they bring home an animal? This girl. In this case, mostly because my grandfather, who was incredibly important to me, passed away just 3 days before. My husband thought that I needed someone who wouldn’t let me dwell in my grief. Ozzy was an adult and the best grief supporter but his support means snuggling with you while you cry and don’t move for hours. Samus forced me to focus on someone besides myself and I do think, retrospectively, that is was a wise decision on my husband’s part. My depression would have been much worse than it already was and it took a long time to get back to being myself afterwards. I shudder to think how bad it could have been if I didn’t have someone demanding attention of me constantly.

That being said, of course it was the perfect time of the year for adorable sweaters for cute puppies with short fur in a cold environment. Hell, I won’t lie, she’ll probably get a new one this year too.

 

The Hero and the Crown – Book Review

5 out of 5 stars

If I had a daughter, this is the book I would introduce to her the fantasy genre with. There are no preconceived notions of gender here. The main character, Aerin, is never told once that she cannot do something because she is a woman. Not by her father, not by any love interests and not by any of the people in her kingdom.

You see Aerin is a princess. Her father is a beloved king who fell in love with a woman from the wrong side of the tracks. This is the main reason that Aerin gets any grief whatsoever about who she is. The people of her kingdom don’t trust a woman with witch blood in her veins. To them, it is this blood that stunts her from coming into her true power. Royal blood begets special powers and Aerin has none. But dark times are ahead and Aerin will do whatever she can to help save her people, regardless of what they think of her.