Thursday, May 25, 2006

Peyton Place

Kaylee and I were standing outside minding our own business (well, Kaylee's business) and a couple interesting things happened.

There's an RV across the way from us in which a man, a woman, a pug and a cat live. Whilst Kaylee and I watched the woman came slamming out of the trailer in a flurry. She had on one of her many straw cowboy hats, a black leather jacket with fringes, high black boots and was dragging the pug by her leash. Seeing the pug on a leash was a surprise itself - that dog is never on her leash. Now, this woman comes across as a laid-back California beach babe from 1977. I didn't know people like that could move that fast. BeachBabe quickly disappeared up the road towards the front of the RV park. Kaylee and I looked at each other and shook our heads.

Not ten seconds after this, one female duck attacked another female duck who had one duckling in tow. AttackingDuck latched onto the side of MamaDuck and held on. Both ducks went round 'n' round under the neighbour's RV and into the road and back again. Both ducks were making enough noise to wake the dead. And all the time this was happening the poor duckling was cheeping and following her mum in desperation. AD finally let go of MamaDuck and wandered away.

A couple minutes after the Duck Drama the guy that lives in the RV across from us roared up in his big black truck at a clip a lot faster than the 10kmh speed limit in the park. Ducks who had been sitting in his parking place went scrambling for safety as he pulled to such a quick stop gravel went flying all over the place. He stormed into his trailer slamming everything that could be slammed (truck door, RV door, etc. I think he would've kicked a duck if any of them had remained in reach). He was in there less than a minute, slammed back out, threw himself back into his truck and took off at speed scattering yet more ducks. He hit a speed bump so fast and hard I wouldn't be surprised if something was damaged.

Again Kaylee and I looked at each other and shrugged.

Just then AttackingDuck decided to have another go at MamaDuck who was under our birdfeeders eating sunflower shells with her duckling. I put a stop to that and chased AD back across the road.

Kaylee and I were so overcome by the drama we went back inside our RV and took naps.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Walking Kaylee

I knew having a dog would make a difference.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Bittersweet

Should you get the chance, read The Time Traveler's Wife. I just finished it and it's such a good read.

Next up is The Protector's War, the follow up to Dies the Fire. There's a third and final book but it has yet to be released. Anyway, Dies the Fire was another great read.

Kaylee is sleeping at my feet. She's twitching and letting out little yips. She's so sweet. We really lucked out on getting her.

Friday, May 12, 2006

All Kaylee, All The Time!

Just kidding, but there are more pictures up at flickr. Her potty training is coming along fairly well. I've gotten her to play fetch a bit. She kinda loses it on the fourth or fifth throw but that ain't bad for a 12 week old puppy. When I tell her "no" she stops what she's doing. Kaylee's a genius! (Don't I sound like those annoying parents?) We've been using one of the cat crates for her so we have to get her a new one this weekend. Yet more money out, but that should be the last big expense until she gets spayed.

SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS! /soapbox

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Puppy Time!

I finally have a puppy! I don't know where my camera is so I swiped photos from her previous owner - here and here.

Kaylee's not a pug, obviously, but that was my choice. Pugs can be a tricky breed health-wise and I wasn't sure I was up for it. She's half Shetland Sheepdog (dad) and half Miniature American Eskimo (mum). She was born February 13 which makes her 12 weeks tomorrow. Kaylee's the mostest adorablest puppy ever!

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Weekend Wrap-up

Well, it's a wee bit late to be talking about last weekend, but what the hell.

The meetup went really well. I was much more comfortable and there were quite a few people I had been wanting to meet and they were there! Yay! I never really did a headcount but I think it ended up being around thirty people. There was one person from NoCal, several people from Portland, OR and four from Canada (including Eli and myself). We met up at Elysian again and although they didn't really have the room for us, we managed since people came and went all night and there was room to stand. Eli had a good time and everyone seemed to like him (but what's not to like?).

Eli and I had a bit of a talk last night. It seems we may be getting a puppy sooner than I hoped. I'm still not really walking and, as I've said before, a dog would get me up off of my ass and outside. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.