Me

March

smoredogs6 Comments

March wasn’t what I’d hoped or expected, either in blogging or in real life.  March, quite frankly, sucked.

Dogs

The first problem with March was a carryover problem from February, Hershey and her damned dewclaw.  The cut she’d inflicted on her left paw by punching through my front window had been in a place where it could be stapled.  It had healed up beautifully; I’m not even sure where it was now.  The cut on her right paw had been in the space between her dewclaw and the rest of the paw.  It was in a tricky area, basically impossible to stitch or staple so the vet left it to heal on its own.  It had other ideas.

It was almost healed and then was opened up.  It almost healed from that and opened up again.  It almost healed from that and then it ripped Marsha’s ear open.

Let me explain:

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March

Hershey vs Window

smoredogs4 Comments

I came home a few Fridays ago thinking I would have a nice relaxing weekend.  That wasn’t what I got.

The first indication something was off: Hershey’s celebratory barking was much louder than usual.  I thought she was just extra excited for me to be home…  Then I got to the front door.

It became immediately apparent WHY her barking was so much louder and I had a pretty good idea from past experience what had happened.  If any of the CSI series are to be believed,  all the glass on the outside indicated the force breaking the glass must have come from the inside.

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Hershey vs Window

Totally Non-Wordless Wednesday

smoredogs10 Comments

Large brown dog, small tan dog, and small black dog staring intently into the camera.OK, I’ve been about 98.9% faithful to this whole “Wordless Wednesday” format.  A few times I think I’ve included captions, but for the most part I’ve posted little more than a title and a picture.  Today’s offering is breaking with that for a very important reason, so I hope you’ll bear with me.  If not, scroll down to the end for today’s wordless picture!

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Totally Non-Wordless Wednesday

100th Post!

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We critters with notions of place value and base ten counting certainly love us some round numbers, don’t we?  There’s something about a number with a zero in the one’s place that just makes it more satisfying than numbers without; and what’s better than a single zero at the end?  Two zeroes!

100 of anything seems like an accomplishment.  10 is easy to get to, 1,000 seems too remote and unreal, but 100 is a manageable accomplishment.

So here’s Smoredog’s 100th post!  Granted, over half of those were ‘Wordless Wednesdays’ put up at the last minute, but what can you do?  Now on to 200!!

100th Post!

BlogPaws 2016: Days Two & Three

smoredogs6 Comments

The main thing to know about BlogPaws wasn’t really the workshops I went to or the speakers I heard. The real story is that Marsha rocked it!


For a dog who’s fate was supposed to be to guard an empty house she handled the conference better than I could have hoped.  The first day really was the first day she knew there were so many other people and other critters in the world.

Unlike Graham, who’s reactions to the world are first and foremost ruled by fear and aggression, Marsha’s take on life is one of cautious optimism.  She’s unsure at first, about a new person, new dog, or new balloon animal, but on repeat meetings she much more enthusiastic.

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BlogPaws 2016: Days Two & Three

Blog Paws 2016: Day One

smoredogs4 Comments

I’m an early riser.  Even when I’m not coordinating primates I can’t seem to get off the school year schedule. So going to bed near 11 and waking up near 4 wasn’t that much of surprise to me, even on vacation.

The trouble is, the conference isn’t scheduled for insane people like me.  Registration begins at 9 am, and the sessions don’t start until noon. So I had a few hours to kill.

The first was slain attempting to get back to sleep and then making coffee.

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Blog Paws 2016: Day One

BlogPaws 2016: Day Zero (& Day -1)

smoredogs5 Comments

I had planned to drive from Fresno to Phoenix for BlogPaws 2016 in one day.  It’d only be 10 hours!  It’d only be 600+ miles!  Sure, that would be easy.  Then after telling a few people about my plan (OK, telling my mother) I began to think about wisdom of said plan.  Then after Palm Springs broke its own temperature record, hitting 122 on Monday, it suddenly didn’t seem like the wisest idea to be driving a 16 year old car through the desert during the hottest part of the day.

So after some hemming and hawing and waiting until practically the last minute, I booked a room at the Red Roof Inn in Palm Desert and high tailed it out of Fresno at 5 pm on Tuesday.  I was a bit pressed for time as I had to claim the room by midnight.  There was some wiggle room, an hour or so, so it didn’t seem like it would be that much of a challenge…  But you know the saying “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.”

I am the J.J. Abrams of selfies.

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BlogPaws 2016: Day Zero (& Day -1)