My Bit of Earth

Monday Afternoon Fluff: When Beautiful Women Wear Bad Things

I have long ago accepted that I have a slightly binge personality.  When I love something, I love it all the way.  I love Harry Potter, so I have the books in 15 different languages.  I love red wine, and have been know every so often to drink a bottle.  I love my doggies, who are commensurately spoiled to a degree that I think sometimes scandalizes my family. 

And lately, I love the TV show Grey's Anatomy.

So, even though I boycotted the Emmy's because Grey's was nominated for only one award, (evil fascist Emmy nominators) this morning I had to look and see what the stars of the show wore.

Oh ladies....

To be fair, Katherine Heigl was completely gorgeous--perhaps, not quite as beautiful as in the puffy pink dress in the Grey's season finale, but wonderful nonetheless.

And Chandra Wilson's dress wasn't bad--maybe a little boring, but I did really love the color.

And Sandra Oh's dress wouldn't have been bad if she could have chosen just one necklace instead of forty.

But Ellen Pompeo . . . ouch. 

I often catch myself picking at my flaws and thinking that if my hair were a little longer, or my nose a little different, or if I lost a few pounds, it would be so much easier to put myself together in the morning.  Ellen's ensemble just goes to show that even drop-dead gorgeous women--the one's that you think never, ever could possibly do anything to themselves that would make them look less than fantastic--can do bad, bad things.

A Rainy Sunday Morning

Raindrops collecting on one of my newly repotted banana trees.

Moe Speaks: Dock Divin' Dog

I got to do something really fun today!

There was a dock diving contest near our house, so Mom said we could go try it out. I thought it sounded like fun--water is my thing, in case you're new here.

When we got up on the dock for our practice jump, I wasn't sure if I wanted to get in the water or not. The dock was a little higher than I thought it would be--it made the water seem really far away. 

Then Mom threw my Squeaky in! I barked and barked for my Squeaky to come back--I was so worried about him! Mom got down on her knees and splashed her hand in the water to show me it was ok, but I still wasn't sure.

I was a whole mix of emotions all at once! I wanted to be in the water. I had to save my Squeaky. And I certainly couldn't let down all my fellow terriers by being a coward in front of all of those Labs. I got as close to the edge of the dock as I could, counted to three, and took a flying leap.

It was great! I liked the water so much that I kind of forgot about my Squeaky, and I definitely didn't want to get out when Mom grabbed my collar and said it was time.

Fortunately, I got to go two more times. Each time Mom made me sit-stay back a little ways from the edge. Then she said "Ok" as she threw my Squeaky in. I feel a little bad admitting it, but I was still a little nervous. I ran to the edge of the dock each time, but I had to pause for just half a second at the end to sum up the courage to jump. 

Mom didn't seem to mind though, she said I did very respectably considering that it was my first time and I was half the size of all the other dogs. I jumped 4' 6" the first time, and 6' 6" the second time. That means I earned one leg on my Novice Jumper title.

I hope we get to do that again sometime soon. Now that I have the hang of it, I think I could be great!

Proud Parent of a Dock Divin' Dog

There was a dock diving contest at Cabela's in KC today, so we decided to take Moe--just to see what he would do.

We did a practice jump first.  As you can see, it took a little encouragement to get him to jump.  It's against Dock Dogs rules, but otherwise it would have been very tempting to give him a nudge!  Fortunately, he eventually decided to go on his own, and after that the difficulty was getting him out of the water.

We got two "competition" jumps.  I put him in a sit-stay just a little ways back from the edge.  (I was actually just thrilled that he did that, with all of the distraction!)  When I released him he ran up to the edge really well, but both times he paused for just half a second at the end of the dock before jumping.  He went 4'6" the first time, and 6'6" the second time; not as far as the Labs were going certainly, but still very respectable, I thought, considering he was half the size and it was his first time.

As I said, the real challenge was getting him out of the water.  Once he was in, all he wanted to do was go for a swim!  Between me, Sweet Husband and the Water Wrangler we were able to splash enough to attract him and grab his collar.

Moe really had a lot of fun, and so did we.  I've uploaded a few more pictures here.

Quick Quotes Quill Friday: Favorite, Non-Dumbledore

"I want to fix that in my memory forever. Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret..."

--Ron Weasley, Goblet of Fire

Juxtaposition

One of my favorite words.  I think I like it so much because it tells so much so succinctly.  The Google definition is, "the combining of improbable elements in close proximity to each other, the effectiveness comes from the shock created by the combination."  In other words, two impressions, each made stronger and more poignant by the presence of the other.

Today we were at the vet.  The pups are having allergy troubles, and our favorite vet, Dr. R, had just finished looking them over.  While we were waiting for the bill, we started talking with a lady who had two, obviously younger, dogs there to get their shots.  I asked her what kind of dogs they were.  She explained, "Well that's a good question.  Their mother is a purebred Keeshound, but you'd never know it from these two.  She was pregnant when we rescued her from a puppy mill.  Evidently, the father was quite the mutt--the puppies all look entirely different." 

Turns out this lady had been surprised with, not two, but five little girls--Anise, Licorice, Chamomile, Marjoram, and Cardamon--the Spice Girls.  She had managed to find homes for three of them, but Marjoram and Cardamon were now four months old; well beyond the cute, roly-poly, easy-to-find-homes-for puppy phase and tending toward the eating a lot, chewing on things, needing shots once a month period.  Despite all of that, it couldn't have been clearer that the lady was overjoyed with her little girls.

I hate to use the cliche, but, truly, she warmed my heart.  Life is going to be good for those two puppies and their mama, and it so easily might not have been.

As we were chatting, the receptionist got a phone call.  Engrossed with the Spice Girls, I didn't hear the whole thing, but something was said about an emergency trip.  It didn't sound good.

A few minutes later, a man came in followed by his wife and son.  The man was carrying a limp dog covered in a towel; only it's tail was sticking out.  It was feathery, like Porter's.  As they came in the door, the receptionist called back to a vet tech, "The car accident is here." 

But when the tech rushed up to take the dog, the man shook his head, "He's already gone."  Trying to be hopeful, the tech gently lifted the dog from the man's cradled arms, "Well we'd better let the doctor look, just to be sure."  Even Moe seemed a little quiet as they went to the exam room--we were all hoping that just maybe . . . .

It was not to be.  A few minutes later the tech came up and darkly told the receptionist, "The doctor says no charge for this one."  The family sadly walked back out, and headed home to bury their pup with the feathery tail.

So, in the space of five minutes, there you have it.  Life and death; hope and none.  Juxtaposition.

I Dream of Harry

It's true, I do.  Not all the time, just every so often.  Usually they're very nonsensical dreams--stuff the doesn't really make any sense at all.  But the real magic happens when I wake up.  I don't know what it is, but whenever I have a Harry dream I wake up and have all kinds of new thoughts about the books.  It's like the dreams--silly as they are--knock something loose that's been simmering in my subconscious and allow it to float to the surface.

For instance, last night's dream. . .

. . . started out with Harry and Hermione fighting Voldemort.  They were loosing, but Voldemort kept kind of playing with them rather than killing them.  Finally, Hermione said, "This isn't right, this can't be Voldemort."  "Voldemort" then morphed into Draco, who informed H and H that Voldemort wanted to see them back at his headquarters.  Kind of a "come face him if you dare" sort of thing.

Harry took this information back to Tonks and some other vague unnamed aurors, who then told Harry that he was going to be in for a shock--Dumbledore was not dead.  He was alive, and strangely enough he looked like Patrick Stewart (or rather, like Captain Jean-Luc Picard).  But, the events on the astronomy tower had taken their toll, and Dumbledore had a horrible heart condition that left him unable to fight Voldemort any longer.

So between Harry and the aurors they hatched a plan wherein Dumbledore would show up at Voldey's HQ and ring the doorbell.  Dumbledore would then quickly be driven away by Hermione, and the aurors and Harry would sneak in while Voldey was distracted.  So Dumbledore went up to the main door, did some bit of magic, and then quickly hopped into Hermione's waiting car and began to have a heart attack.  Just before I woke up, a frantic Hermione told Dumbledore, "Just so you know Professor, I've never really learned how to drive."

Silly? Yes. 

First of all, as we all sadly now know, Dumbledore is dead.  And really, if JK brought him back only to have him die a few hundred pages later--of a heart attack, no less--it would make for a very, very crappy story.

But, on waking I had two thoughts . . . .

1. Even if Voldemort is a hugely powerful wizard, assuming all his horcruxes were gone, wouldn't a sheer, huge number of wizards (possibly lead by Harry) be able to take him still?  After all that's why he hides, right?  If the Ministry knew where to find him they could just send tons and tons of aurors and overpower him.  So maybe Harry needs to find Voldey's hideout.
2. I don't even know where this came from, but I love it!  Jo has said that she values bravery above all other qualities.  Wouldn't it be a very interesting commentary on bravery if we (the readers) found out that Snape was good, but Harry never does?  Leaving us to contrast Snape's silent bravery with Harry's more conventional "charge in and shoot 'em up" brand of courage.

Bugs Bite

I'm paying a heavy price for my burst of industriousness outside the other night.  To put it simply, I look like I have chicken pox.  I'm covered in bug bites from the knee down.

I was thinking they were probably from mosquitoes, but wondering why in the world they would only bite my legs.  Sweet Husband says they have to be chigger bites.  It's possible we both could be wrong.  A third option was presented in the LJWorld weekly garden column today--Oak Leaf Gall Mites.

"Oak leaf gall mites (Pyemotes herfsi) are a species of itch mites that first appeared in 2004 in several Midwestern states. The oak leaf gall mite is a tiny, 0.2 mm (1/125 inches) long mite that is barely visible to the naked eye. It is related to the straw itch mite, which has pestered farmers handling straw and stored products for hundreds of years. When the mite bites a human, it causes a raised, reddened, 1/2- to 3/4-inch (diameter) welt with a hard crusty vesicle in the center — itchy, but painful when scratched."

That sounds about right.  And apparently they're tenacious little buggers.  I'm a little leery of bug spray anyway--I don't generally use it unless I'm literally going to be out all night--but according to the article even bug sprays with DEET have been shown to be ineffective against these pesky little no-see-ums.

And I'm kind of wondering if they didn't get to the Wee Welshman too . . . .

Leaping Toad Stools

I was cleaning up around the yard tonight when I found this massive mushroom and his two friends.  I was afraid one of the genius twins (i.e. the dogs) might try to eat them so I went ahead and pulled them, although I would have liked to see how much bigger they would've gotten.

I also finally put my tomato plants out of their misery.  Yes, they probably would have hobbled on for a bit longer.  But to tell you the truth I was kind of sick of looking at them.  Square foot garden or not, next year I need to plant them further apart.

But the melons are still growing nicely, we have some peppers coming along, and I'm thinking of planting some radishes and greens to fill my empty spaces.

Bella by the River

We took the dogs for a walk on the levy this evening.  It was surprisingly like taking a walk down an old country road.  Next time we hope to avoid gnats, but I did get a beautiful shot of Bella in the sunset . . . .

The Plot Thickens

The great thing about the Harry Potter mega-sites (i.e. the TLC, Mugglenet, Lexicon trinity) is that they're never-ending.  No matter how many times you visit, there's always something you didn't notice before.

For example, today I was scanning the headlines at Mugglenet when I saw a link on the left to the "Plot Thickens Discussion Forum".  I knew that the creators of Mugglenet had a book coming out discussing theories for Book 7, but I hadn't noticed the accompanying discussion forum.

It's a treasure trove!  I generally skim a lot of the discussion--generally it's the same old subjects and same old theories being rehashed ad nauseum--but there were really some original ideas and topics of discussion.  I especially liked the section regarding Lily Potter, and I think some of the guesses made there aren't far off. 

Very grown-up writting (as opposed to the all smalls, no punctuation stuff that makes me nuts) and well-supported theories (as opposed to just stuff people are pulling from nowhere)--a very plesant place to while away a few hours.

Moe Speaks: Frosty Paws

Apparently, Mom and Dad were walking through the freezer section at the grocery store when Mom saw something new. It was called "Frosty Paws" and the box said it was an ice cream treat made 'specially for dogs. 

And after a nice walk by the river tonight, Mom thought they'd be a nice cool treat.

Porter licked hers very daintly, but I ate mine in two great big bites. 

Ice cream headache!

But it was very good.

Tigger Melon Hiding

The cucumber wilted away in the heat, but my bargain bin tigger melon is starting to make fruit.  And now that everything else is gone, it has plenty of room to sprawl out and make itself comfy.

Spinner's End--More Death Speculation

My very favorite of Mugglenet's "World Famous Editorials" is a column called Spinner's End, written by another fan of a certain age who writes under the name "Lady Lupin".

In her latest editorial, entitled "Two For One", LL discusses who she believes will die in Book 7.  I made my speculations here, and I thought it would be interesting to compare notes.

First, thank goodness, she also thinks things are looking good for the Trio and Ginny.  Sadly however, we both seem to agree about Hagrid being a likely candidate for death.  LL and I also both agree that either of the Weasley twins are targets.  I think her idea of only one twin dying is dead on.  As she says--very poignant.

LL widens her speculation a little more broadly than I did though, including ideas about Professor McGonagall, Neville, Luna, Lupin, and Tonks.  Funnily, I was never really worried about any of these characters.  But on second thought I do agree with LL that Neville and Bellatrix have a showdown coming, and I'm not so sure Neville can win.  But I really hope he does.

I hadn't even really thought about the bad guys.  LL thinks that Snape will live, and I don't think I can agree with that.  I think that, if Snape is bad, he'll have to die somehow; if Snape is good, I think he'll ultimately die protecting Harry or similar.  In fact I think that's the only way he'll be able to prove that he's good.

As to Wormtail and Malfoy--ehh, who cares?  Well, I take that back I'd rather Malfoy live.  And I think there's a good chance he will--after all he did manage to get the DE's into the castle.  That's something to keep him in Voldemort's good graces.  Wormtail can and should rot.

Moe Speaks: A Handsome Welsh Lad

Mom's been stripping my coat every now and again, but--between her working hard to bring home the kibble, and my mission to rid our yard of all small critters--we just don't ever seem to have the time to do a real, proper job of it. So Mom decided to follow some advice she got from the Nice Welshie Lady in St. Louis, that is, to strip as much as possible to get out my undercoat, but to clip also to save time.

Since Mom is a butcher with clippers, that meant a trip to the groomer. 

If you've been following my diary, you'll know that I've had some horrible experiences with groomers. Mom and Dad only moved to Lawrence about a year before they got me, so they don't always know where the best places to go are. Even Mom still goes back to Pittsburg (where Mom and Dad originally came from) to get her hair cut because she can't find anyone she likes here. And when it comes to my hair--forget it!

For starters, they always clip off my nice, fuzzy beard. And one time--the last time I went to that particular place--Mom came to pick me up and I was screaming on the grooming table. Really, it wasn't just a temper tantrum, I was seriously in upset. Mom didn't know if it was something the groomer was doing or not, but she decided that I did not need to be put through that again.

Luckily, by taking me to my Rally-O class through the Lawrence Kennel Club, Mom has met some very nice dog-people who told her who the best groomers are. She made me an appointment with them.

They were the greatest! Dad took me in yesterday in the morning and picked me up at lunch. When he came in they were finishing me up, and I was behaving very, very nicely. The lady who groomed me was quite the sweet heart. She told Dad that I had been a "doll" and I "didn't have a mean bone in my body." 

And she left my beard! What's more, my face looks great and my coat is ever so smooth! When Mom came home and saw me I think she about cried. She scooped me up and held me and called me the most handsome little Welsh lad ever.

Quick Quotes Quill Friday: A Good T-Shirt Slogan

"NEVER-INSULT-ALBUS-DUMBLEDORE-IN-FRONT-OF-ME!"

--Rubeus Hagrid, Philosopher's Stone

Tomato Report

So, this year was not the greatest.

The bad first:  I didn't get more than a handful of Midgets, and I only got one or two each of the Hillbilly Potato, Amana Orange, and the Cherokee Purple.

The kind of good:  Despite the heat, the Yellow Pears did . . . ok.  But the real hero of the summer was the Aunt Ruby's German Green.  Even though it's been hotter than hell and I gave up on watering over a week ago, I walked outside and found three huge Greens this evening.  And they were so pretty and tasted so good.  A definite winner.

Moe Speaks: Why You Won't Be Seeing New Pictures For Awhile

I did a bad, bad thing. 

Oh, don't worry, I didn't eat the whole camera--just it's brain. You know, the part that Mom pulls out and plugs into the computer in order to post my pictures?

Mom was using the brain part to put pictures on the computer and accidently left it out. I really didn't mean to hurt it--I just wanted to taste it a little. Unfortunately camera brains are really fragile.

Dad says we'll have to get a new one, but for now there will be no pictures.

Volunteer

I've been watching this sunflower--growing just up the street--since it was a wee seedling.  The people who live in the nearest house plant sunflowers along their fence every year; I think the wind must have caught one of the seeds and deposited it perfectly in a crack in the sidewalk.  I kept expecting it to get run over or pulled, but it's still pushing up nicely.  It's almost as tall as me!

(Update 8/18/06:  Of course, I jinxed it. Last night I was driving home and saw that my pluckly volunteer had gotten run over!)

Home Safely With Pictures

Sweet Husband arrived home safely last night. 

I don't know if I properly explained--he was in San Francisco this week taking an intensive stone setting class at the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts with a friend from school.  Here are some pictures of their (long, uphill) walks around San Francisco, as well as a few shots of the school they went to, the outside of which is pictured left.