Thursday, February 16, 2006

another corgi hero

once again, a corgi shows its heroism (and incredibly superiority to naked apes). you're a good guy zippy. in a similar situation i can't promise i wouldn't eat my master. there's no sense in both of us suffering.

Dog can’t save fallen master

The Associated Press
Published: February 15th, 2006 02:30 AM
GRANITE FALLS, Snohomish County – A man who fell to his death east of Granite Falls on Mount Dickerman has been identified as an experienced climber.
[...]

His body was found early Saturday and recovered by helicopter after the barking of his dog and hiking companion, a black-and-white corgi named Zippy, alerted another climber, sheriff’s Sgt. Daniel Wikstrom said.

VD

i missed giving valentine's greetings i've been busy reading all my valentines (my assorted valentines: mawma, ethel, jay, granny, onkel eric, antie ira, harry potter the cardi, willard the clumber spaniel, amy the knitter, glenn the goddamn cat lover, sophie my little naked ape friend, mocha and blue from the park....the list goes on.)

also i watched westminster and ole rufus the bull terrier won. i thought about making him my valentine, even though bull terriers are prone to eating corgis. but then i saw him on fox & friends and he's dead to me. don't ask why i was watching fox & friends.

but i'm not too busy to remind you birthday is less than a week away. that's plenty of time to find an awesome gift.

Monday, February 13, 2006

walleyed and tongue-tied


my onkel eric has kindly pointed out that merriam-webster dictionary kicked off the celebration of the week of wally with their word of the day for february 12th:

The Word of the Day for February 12 is:

walleyed \WAWL-eyed\ adjective 1 : having walleyes or affected with walleye
*2 : marked by a wild irrational staring of the eyes Example sentence:
Being refused service at the restaurant left Trent so angry that he could only manage a walleyed stare. Did you know?
The noun "walleye" has several meanings. It can refer to an eye with a whitish or bluish-white iris or to one with an opaque white cornea. It can also refer to a condition in which the eye turns outward away from the nose. The extended second sense of the adjective "walleyed" came from the appearance of eyes affected with the condition of walleye. You might guess that "walleyed" has an etymological connection with "wall," but that?s not the case. Rather, it is derived from "wawil-eghed" ˜ a Middle English translation of the Old Norse word "vagl-eygr," from "vagl" ("beam") and "eygr" ("eyed"). *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

also:

3. piercing eyes exercise their hypnotic power to force naked apes to do their bidding. As in: Wally used his walleyes to get a slab of lox for breakfast this morning. Now get him some more before he gives you the walleye again.

cover dog

i'm finally getting the national attention i deserve! check out salon's video dog (scroll down).

dogs like you?

On the eve of the Westminster dog show, the dog world's fashion week, the New York Times has run an editorial "dogs like us" that is skeptical that selective dog breeding is something to be celebrated:

In the case of dog shows, a given breed's parent club sets the standard for the breed's look or style. These standards describe an ideal specimen and are supposed to relate a dog's form to the original function it performed. But given that dogs are the most plastic of species, and people are inventive, some remarkable varieties of dogs have been created to serve our notions of beauty, novelty, companionship and service.

Unfortunately, in some breeds, form has trumped function. The Pekingese and the bulldog, whose flattened faces make breathing difficult, are two examples. Such design flaws — often perpetuated by breeders trying to produce a dog with a unique look — have enduring consequences for individual dogs, their progeny and the people who love them.

Of the 180 breeds listed on one popular Web site for choosing purebred puppies, 42 percent have chronic health problems: skin diseases, stomach disorders, a high incidence of cancers, the inability to bear young without Caesareans, shortened life spans. The list is as disturbing as it is long, and poses a question: dazzled by the uniqueness of many of the breeds we've created, have we — the dog-owning public — turned a blind eye to the development of a host of dysfunctional animals?

as nature's most nearly perfect mutt i'm sympathetic to the argument that human tampering has sometimes been beneficial and often has been fueled by vanity, with bad results for man and beast. today dog shows often include components of function as well as form--agility, herding, and my favorite, jumping dogs (i do love flying labs). but these are often restricted to "purebred" dogs, too. i'll never be a show dog, or an agility dog, or even a good herder (of naked apes, maybe) because there's no competition for what i do best, what we canines are really for, being your buddies. see, i probably deserve one of those "championship" cups for being a great entertainer--my bit involving the catching and eating of snowballs is priceless--but i'll take a belly rub of gratitude. the mark of you naked apes is all over us dogs, and especially in your projection of competition. see, we canines compete for important stuff like food, attention, snowballs and the like. you humans have bred into yourselves competition for weird things like silver cups, money, and the accolades of your fellow naked apes (which, unless it comes with a belly rub--what's the point)? competition overrated. mutts underrated.

dick cheney eats puppies, shoots people

sure it was a hunting accident, dick.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

snow dogs


here's my sister making her way through the snow. she's lucky she has long legs!

singin' in the snow


look! i'm so hungry i have to eat snow. here i am in our first major snow of the year helping myself to a little snow cone before makin' a little yellow snow.