And just because I'm feeling pretty happy today, despite everything

Puppies.

You've heard of the Great Pumpkin?

Sometimes, even a tiny pumpkin can be an archnemesis to an equally tiny puppy.

One last thing of adorable cuteness

Awwww....

By the way

I didn't watch the 'Big Game' with all its hype, commercials, and half-time show, but I did see this a few days ago, and apparently the folks at Budweiser, given their success last time, decided you can't go wrong with puppies and Clydesdales. And you know what? They're right. Here's their 'Lost Dog' commercial from this year's Super Bowl:

Here's something to brighten your day...

A now-departed dog in my life (a beloved Rottweiler) who was otherwise very quiet and mostly just bounced when excited, often howled when ambulances went by. I would have loved to have seen her as a fluffy puppy when she first learned to howl. These are adorable. Thank you Julia Anne Pope for sharing on Facebook. It made me happy.

49 seconds of absolute puppy cuteness

When presented with a human trying to howl, this puppy gives it a try:



Thanks to David Reid for sharing.

A video of a very cute puppy

Post by Pit Bull's.

This gets points for the most adorable commercial, ever, I think

It's also a nice integration of Passenger's 'Let Her Go', which I like so much I have the album on my phone. :) Budweiser obviously realises that you cannot go wrong with Labrador pups and Clydesdales when it comes to Super Bowl ads. :) Thanks to Jill for showing it to me earlier today.

So much for that idea

We're still washing the puppy, anyway. I might as well get going if I have a prayer of getting anything else accomplished today, as between the rent, all the bus riding, and the game notes, that's not going to leave much time to do much else. Oh, well. It's times like this I really wish I did have a car.

PS She loves sunbeams. :)

The funniest thing I saw all weekend

Since it is obvious that the puppy is going to be a chewer, three Nylabones were purchased, one for each dog. Upon being given a bone, the collie-shepherd dropped hers and went off to herd the others. The border collie-terrier took hers for awhile but quickly became bored. The puppy? The puppy collected every single one upon her blankie and then gnawed each in turn like she was playing some sort of strange doggie xylophone.

I didn't see it, but also, apparently, she's grown enough in a week that she can now stand up and look at the world outside, with which she is fascinated. She's also started actually barking at things, especially cranky cats who hiss at her when she wants to play.

So cute.

Here's another picture of the puppy

I'm holding her to try to get a decent shot. I cropped out the huge monstrosity that was me. I haven't had a full on shot from the head down on camera in awhile and I was bent over in a large beach ball formation. I've gained about 10 lbs since we increased my insulin. Definitely have to work on that. But the puppy is absolutely adorable.

I hear that the other dog who was avoiding her last night actually, well, frolicked with her for awhile this morning. The cats are still annoyed with the whole thing, though.

I'm a new auntie!

Isn't she adorable? This was the only really decent picture I got; the shutter speed on my tablet is too slow to really deal with a wiggly puppy. Next time I'll take my video camera with me and then I can take stills from that.

She came from the Lexington Humane Society, adopted yesterday. She's about three months old, so she's still in the housebreaking phase. She was a stray. As you can see, she's just been spayed and still has the stitches. She is very curious and has a tendency to gnaw on things when you're not looking. One dog (a collie/shepherd) is herding her everywhere, and she's bonding with her nicely. The other dog thinks she has cooties and is not sure what to do when she comes near her. One cat has been through this before, and is just, 'oh, damn, you did it again', staying up on the furniture and looking pretty stoic. The other cat (who is the baby of the family), is running around all bristled and has totally lost his mind, that they've brought in this thing that's about his size and it (gasp!) wants to play.

She is very affectionate, just a bit skittish, but I think that will settle down. She seems to be handling her new environment and people wonderfully, and they're already bonding as well. She likes the whole lap-puppy thing, but given the size she'll probably be, she better enjoy it while she can. She's supposed to be part Labrador retriever and part pit bull. You can definitely tell the latter in the face. Most of that is usually guesswork. Sadly, about 80% of those available for adoption seemed to be either pit bull or a pit bull mix, which says something about the people who have dogs with litters and then don't care for them. Apparently if they seem to be all pit bull, the Society doesn't let you adopt with small children, but if they're mixed, they do. That's not an issue here; the issue was dealing with other pets, and I think that will work out well. She already wants to cuddle with the others, they're just not having any of it just yet.

Anyway, I love having a new animal in my life (but I don't have to deal with it on a daily basis, especially as I have never had to house train a dog). But she's a lovely addition to the family.

Okay, time to get ready. I have a podiatrist appointment at 9:15 and want to stop by McDonald's and get a couple of egg and cheese biscuits to start my morning. Fortunately we never got any snow, none at all, and it's sunny and looks to be warmer. Have a great day.

Good riddance

2 Marines disciplined over puppy-tossing video, one of whom--Lance Cpl. David Motari--is being kicked out entirely over the incident. Sgt. Crismarvin Banez Encarnacion is also being punished, but his punishment was not released. My grandfather was a Marine at Iwo Jima. That is the type of legacy that the Marines want to leave--not of callous wingnuts who think tossing a puppy off a cliff is good fun and then are stupid enough to post a video about it.

Don't get me started on what should happen to these men

Puppy-Throwing Video Raises Many Hackles

There's a lot of debate over the authenticity of the video, but in it a man appears to show the camera a black-and-white puppy, talks about how cute it is, then throws it off a cliff, saying that it was a mean thing to do. The video has (thankfully) been removed by YouTube. A name mentioned in the video may be the person shown throwing the dog to its supposed death. Even if the dog were already dead (it didn't move in the video) or if it were somehow faked (the yelping of the dog did not diminish as it got further from the recorder as it should have), it is sick. Really sick. And if it's true, then I think the person (and the cameraman, for that matter) should be prosecuted to the fullest. Oh, hell, I think they should be flung off cliffs, but that's not going to happen. But they shouldn't be allowed to remain in the Marine Corps, and they should serve time for their actions.

Then there's a local story (it'll only be up for 7 days...the Herald-Leader makes stories pay-per-article after that time, which is just annoying):

Alford plea in kitten drowning: Professor gets $500 Fine, No Jail Time

Bill Fountain, a horticulture professor at the University of Kentucky claims that he thought his neighbour's five-month old kitten, which he'd trapped, was a raccoon, and he drowned it because it attacked him. What rubbish. Granted the man's professional focus is plants, but he had to have taken at least basic biology to become a horticulturalist and I think anyone who has should be able to tell a kitten from a raccoon, don't you? And although he supposedly passed a polygraph, I find it interesting that several other cats in the neighbourhood were known to have disappeared--including another cat belonging to the same neigbhour. An Alfred plea is one where a person does not admit guilt but does admit that there is enough evidence to convict. This man should not be working for the university. He shouldn't be around animals or other people for that matter. Again, animal cruelty is sick--and if a person mistreats animals, there's a good chance he or she will abuse a person, too. Think of serial killers who as children tortured or killed animals, like Jeffrey Dahmer.

I'm also disappointed that the Kentucky Kernel does not appear to have covered this story when it first broke or the plea entry. At least Fountain's name doesn't come up online when you search their site.

Here's the original story as posted on Topix, appearing in the Herald-Leader on September 10th.

Man drowns neighbor's kitten in barrel, says he was attacked

Oh, these stories just make me so angry.

I so need to go to sleep, but first, a couple of quizzes

Listening to Matchbox Twenty, 'Unwell'

Butterfinger

They call you sticky fingers for a reason!

What Kind of Candy Are You?

You Are a Chihuahua Puppy

Small, high strung, and loyal. You do best in the city with a adults - young kids could crush you!

What Breed of Puppy Are You?