Alice's New Hero.

I heard late on Tuesday that Miss America was going to be doing an appearance at a shoe store near our house.  I immediately thought that it would be AWESOME to have Alice's picture with Miss America.  My thoughts turned to Alice getting to wear the crown, answering questions with  "Alice thinks that....", and wearing a little swimsuit.  Alas, Miss America didn't check with me before they scheduled and I had plans that evening.  It was never meant to be.


Thursday rolls around, and the thought of the missed Miss America picture was still in my mind, when a great news story came on about Miss DC.


Over the weekend, Miss DC was having a night out in Georgetown and some men were acting ungentlemanly to her at a bar.  It sounds like she put up with the first two, but when the third one struck, she blew up and slammed him against the wall.  SLAMMED HIM!


Okay, I'm not condoning violence, but that's FANTASTIC!  Good for her putting a jerk in his place!  And in the report I heard, she said she was worried about the repercussions from the Miss America Organization.  They were entirely supportive.  


So while it would've been fun having Alice's picture with Miss America, I'm kind of thinking Miss DC's the way to go.    

Vincent.

If you watch Lost and haven’t watched the finale, then please go to Cute Overload and don’t read ahead.

Okay, for those of you who have seen the final episode or just don’t care, hello.  I have mixed feeling about Lost in general.  I’m of the camp where my main concern about the show is why there were polar bears on the island, how they were transported onto the island, and where they all went.  My second concern is if the writers would be kind enough not to kill off Hurley (my favorite character; Charlie was another favorite and I stopped watching regularly after they killed him off) and how much I love Desmond and Penny (SO MUCH).  The whole mythology thing... eh (seriously, you expect me to watch every week for six years to find out who a skeleton was from the first few episodes that I completely forgot even existed?!).  But The Human Male loves it and since he watches Dancing with the Stars and America’s Next Top Model with me, I throw him a bone and watch it with him. 

The finale ruined me.  RU-INED.  Part of it was that it dealt with beloved people dying (something my way too Irish heart can’t handle), and the other was the final scene with Jack laying in the bamboo, taking his final breaths, and then Vincent, the ridiculously happy lab owned by Michael and Walt that was on Oceanic 815, came tearing out of the jungle to lay beside him as he died (if you must watch, it's at about 1:43:20 online, but be prepared to be really bummed out for days).  I actually said “Ohhh, noooo!” out loud and started bawling when that happened. 

The Human Male reminded me that Rose and Bernard were staying on the island and Vincent lived with them, and of course there was no way that Hurley wouldn't feed him, so Vincent wouldn’t be alone when Jack died.  So that made things a little better.   He also reminded me that shot was how the show started, but blah blah blah (seriously—how DID they get the polar bears on the island?  Plane?  Helicopter?  Airlift?  Time travel?  Were they born there?  And how many lived on the island?  And how did they get collars on them?).  But my first feeling has stayed with me.

Isn’t it so like a dog to tear over to you and lay down when you really need them?  They may lick your face or bark at you to cheer up, but so often, they’ll just lay down next to you.  It’s like they know that the best thing to do is to just be there.  They don’t need to do anything else.  Sure, it brought the story full circle (except for the whole polar bear thing), but on a highly-dramatic show where nothing was realistic, that moment with Vincent was as real and raw as it gets.

It was haunting and beautiful and heartbreaking, and such a kind way to remember that not everyone you love is human, but it means no less to have them around.  It was so lovely that on a show that dealt with losing loved ones, they brought Vincent back to say goodbye as well.

I’m not doing the scene justice, just trying to get my feelings typed out.  If you’re feeling as bummed, please take a look at that Cute Overload link and smile.  

A Change of Routine.

The Human Male was out of town last weekend.  One of his sisters graduated from college (congratulations!) and he went up to watch.  So Alice and I had a girl's weekend.


Apparently, however, The Human Male did not ask for Alice's permission first.  That little dog pouted aaaaaaalllll weekend long.


First she'd flop by the couch and sigh.  Then she'd flop on the bed and sigh.  Then she'd stare out the window and sigh.  Then I'd give her a treat and she'd poo-poo it and sigh.  She was so dramatic.


Besides the sighing, she was just kind of off all weekend.  She'd tear over to any male we passed wearing jeans or khaki shorts-- apparently Alice has no idea what The Human Male looks like from the knees up.  My arms were pretty sore by Sunday from her yanking on her leash and dragging her back to me.  At the park, she yelled at a rottweiler and pit bull who were vivaciously play-wrestling with one another (which truthfully gave all the owners a good laugh).  We went down to the river to play with a tennis ball (one of her very favorite activities) and she would only wade over to it and, yes, sigh.


Alice was a total piece of work the whole weekend.  The only time she was truly herself was early Sunday morning, after I wore her out on a long Saturday night run.  She was great until about 1P, when she pulled her bed out of her crate, positioned it in front of the door, and started sighing like it was her job.
     
When I went to pick up The Human Male from Union Station, I decided to bring her along.  I don't think we'd brought her over there before, so I thought both the adventure and getting to see her boy as soon as possible might be just what Princess Sighs-a-Lot needed.


I swear, when she saw The Human Male waiting, music started playing in her little puggle head.  If she could've done a slow run, she would've.  Instead, it was more of a high-speed, drag-your-owner scramble to him.


I wonder if she didn't know that he was going and if he told her ahead of time, she would've been less mopey-- or if she's just going to be pouty when one or the other of us leaves now, no matter what.  I'm going to be gone at least half of next month-- including our first trip where we won't be taking Alice-- so we'll have a chance to investigate.


Does anyone else's dog get down when you leave?

Stamps to the Rescue.

Okay, so I'm about two months late on writing about this.  


The US Postal Service released a new book of stamps called Stamps to the Rescue.  They came out at the end of April and feature dogs and cats that were available for adoption (and found homes) from a Connecticut shelter. 


I picked up a boatload of them the day they came out-- and they are freaking precious.  I wish they were like the Breast Cancer stamp, where they cost a little extra and the money was donated, but there's a pet food company that's donating meals to shelters to celebrate the stamps, and they're bringing awareness to adopting (which is better than nothing).  USPS is also doing a sweet little cancellation all this month that touts adopting.  I've gotten three letters this week with the cancellation.  It was such a treat!  The only letter I've gotten this week that DIDN'T have it was one from Lydia & Pugs-- and she used the stamps (I got Willow).


Animal adoption is such a huge issue for me, and I just love having something in "the real world" where I can support and share that, if that makes sense.  I don't enjoy paying my gas bill, but I do like the idea of sending it out sealed with something I do.


I've found another joy in having them: deciding which pet's going out on my letter.  Even better, watching The Human Male decide.  He sent out a letter last week and spent a good two or three minutes deciding who should go out on it.  He eventually chose Teddy-- and then tilted him sideways so it looked like he was peeking around a corner.


Talk about cute.

Run, Puppy, Run!

Sometimes I pretend I'm a runner.  I'm not fast, my endurance kind of sucks, and I definitely don't get out as much as I should if I want to really claim that descriptor.  But I do sign up for races, train for them, and then show up and give 'em a go.


Besides buying running gear (sooooo much fun), one of the best things about running is reading about it.  Serious runners tend to be a goofy and wholly lovable bunch.  There's one writer named Mark Remy who absolutely destroys me.  He wrote a book called "The Runner's Rule Book" that's hysterical, and he also does Runner's World's blog.


A couple of days ago, he wrote about a woman who recently ran the Lehigh Valley Half- Marathon with her formerly-abused shelter dog.  From the pictures to the story to the video, it's all so touching.  I urge you to read it and watch the news report.   





Every once in a while, I'll take Alice out for a mile or so.  A couple weeks ago we actually did a sub-10 minute mile-- and at the end, while I was huffing and puffing, she just stood there, no panting in sight, and gave me a look that clearly said, "Okay, what do we do now?"  She's like 22lbs of pure power.  Oh, to have four legs! 

Found: Rugby!

While we were at Bluemont Park this past weekend, there was an action-packed rugby game going on.  A good number of people on AWLA's Walk for the Animals stopped for a bit and watched the game.  Alice included.
  

A Stray in Haiti.

Yesterday I read a great blog post on The Bark about a dog named Maggie that's been getting loved up by US troops helping with recovery efforts in Haiti.  I strongly encourage you all to read it.  It's located here.  It'll definitely make you smile.


I know soldiers aren't allowed to have pets while deployed, but I love, love, LOVE the stories you hear about it-- and the programs like Baghdad Pups that works to bring the pets home to the US.

Found: A Caboose!

AWLA's Walk for the Animals.

Our local shelter, the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, had their annual Walk for the Animals fundraiser this weekend.  I love this event.  It's held at a the great Bluemont Park and there's a three-mile loop or a one-mile stroll.  They bring over some of the dogs currently at the shelter and call them the Walk VIPs.

Lost: Alice!

Found: Shark!

Found: All Along the Watchtower.

Lark Tavern.

On my way out the door this morning I did a Twitter check and saw some messages regarding Tess’ Lark Tavern, one of my very favorite places in Albany, NY.  Sadly, there was a huge fire there this morning and they’ll be shut down for a while. 

Found: A Pagoda!

Found: A Train.

Ways to help Animals in the Nashville Floods.

With the Times Square idiot and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the news is not spending too much time on another huge issue-- the flooding in Nashville.  It's really, really ugly.  

How I Know Alice is my Dog.

We have a fire station about two miles from our house, and the firefighters spend a good deal of time hanging out in our 'hood.  Like most red-blooded women of Earth, I have a thing for firefighters.  A BIG thing.  And these guys are hotter than the average firefighter, if you can believe it.  I'd totally buy their calendar.  Heck, I'd MAKE the calendar.

Found: A Giant Ice Cream House!

Found: Irony.

Found: Izzy!