Going to be out and about this week. The pugs have apparently survived the experience of a week with the mean sister-in-law. The mean sister-in-law has apparently survived also. The pugs still don't know the ordeal is nearly over, and they probably won't realize it until their mommy and daddy walk in the door fresh from their trip to New York.

The temperature yesterday was indeed a record-breaking 90 degrees F in Seattle. It's supposed to be a bit cooler today. I bet it won't make that much of a difference when I have to take the pugs out this midday.

The Mariners amazing streak is over, so it's not that amazing after all... well, yeah, it was. It was pretty nifty. And, although the Mets aren't doing too well this year, it's much easier for me for the M's to lose to the Mets because I'm a Mets fan too. Well... if you were to divide up my baseball fandom by percentages, the Mariners would get 98%, and the Mets would get 1% and a variety of other teams and players would get a portion of the remaining 1%.

Well, I'm off to work. Good-bye until tomorrow.

The indoor/outdoor thermometer in this room at the Pug House of Horror claims that it's 93 degrees F outside. The record for Seattle on this day of the year is 84 F. While I don't know what the official temp is, I know we stand a very good chance of breaking the record today. The same thermo says it's 83 F inside. This room is a bit over my comfort level, but bearable.

After I got to work this morning, it became clear that the store was going to be unbearable today. It was already hot when I went in. I melted into a puddle of goo about a half-hour after we opened, and they sent me home to take a nap. I needed to take the puggles out for a walk at about 1 pm, so they told me to call the store after that to find out if I was still needed.

I fell asleep quickly once I got home, and what seemed like a moment later I heard a loud *THUMP* somewhere nearby. I woke up, thought maybe I'd been dreaming, when I heard another *THUMP* right behind me, at one of the windows. I glanced at the clock, 1:10 pm, and looked at the window. *THUMP*! Ok, I had to find out what was hitting the window, so I pulled open the shade. A bird was hovering there, and even while I watched it thumped into the window one last time, trying to get at a dragonfly that was just inside the window. The shade opening was too much, though, and the bird took off. As I closed the shade in befuddled-just-woke-up-ness, I heard Buster the pug whining on the stairs. He really had to go, but I had apparently slept right through his whining. Only the bird woke me up.

The walk was too hot to think of. I don't want to go out in this anymore. I want a wading pool to fill with cold water and lie down in.

They are both still breathing and moving. And pooping. And whining. And barking. And unrolling their pugtails.

Not much else to say. It's supposed to be hot today (for Seattle). Maybe even up into the 90s. I have a feeling that the pugs won't want to walk much this afternoon.

Pugs have curly tails. They curl up like a cinnamon roll. Except when they are hot or upset. The pugs tails have been unrolled a lot lately. Especially in the heat of the day the last couple of days. Buddy especially. And there's nothing quite as pathetic as a pug with his tail unrolled.

Hubby-Eric came by and brought this week's comic books, which I have now read, and I will review once I am home on Sunday. It was a good week. For comics, not pugs.

I'm warning you, do NOT read Peter David's latest blog entry. Really. It's not something anyone should be reading. Seriously. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Wow... what a baseball game. The M's should have won it 5-3, but since they won, I won't quibble the extra run given to Philly by an exceptionally poor call by the ump. Despite the run given to their opponents, the Mariners kept their amazing streak alive. A lucky thirteen games win streak on the road, and nine wins since their last loss. Sorry about all the baseball content, I'm just ... well, a baseball fan. I know exactly how boring it is to people who aren't, so don't feel obliged to read my ravings about the Game.

Comments (1)

Dear, you KNOW you're not a baseball fan! You're a MARINERS fan! Woo-hoo! Go M's!

Hubby | 06.05.03 - 10:55 pm

Buster has a beauty bark fetish. If he can nab a piece and chew it up, he will. I think he even swallows. It's had to keep him away from the stuff.

I figured out one way to make Buddy happy. There's a hairdresser who's shop is across the street. When I took Buddy out for his "please poop" walk, he went right up to the shop and stood wagging his tail on the front step, looking hopefully at the door. If the hairdresser is around today I'll take Buddy up to the shop again. Oh yeah, and Buddy eventually did "do his duty". Thank goodness.

I just realized the Mariners have a twelve game winning streak on the road. wow. neat-o.

Happy birthday, Nancy. Your puppies are still alive. No, really.

The pugs do NOT want to go walkies in the heat. They got showered when I watered the garden again, but Buddy made it absolutely clear that he didn't want to walk today, and Buster kept flopping down in the shade every chance he got. Buddy hasn't "done his duty" on the last two walks, so I'm going to have to take him out again tonight and go on poop patrol in the house. Crazy little dogs.

We met another dog on the trip. A very large one-year old named Winston who was a bit skittish. Apparently, just before running into us, Winston and his person got in a small battle with another large dog who bit Winston. Buster wanted to play with Winston, and Buddy did his normal "macho dog" routine until I told him to relax and meet Winston. Eventually the three dogs seemed to be happy with each other, except when Buster started jumping up on Winston trying to play.

I hate loose dogs. I realize now just how dangerous they can be. Yesterday night, a medium size dog passed alone on the other side of the street. I just think about what could have happened if that dog had attacked the pugs. I doubt I could have easily gotten out of it, and I probably would have been hurt along with the pugs if it had attacked.

And congrats on the job interview, Eric. Let's hope it leads to something.

They let me sleep in until 6:30 this morning, which was appreciated. On the walk, they were both very eager to go a long way. Perhaps they've got an inkling of how hot it will be later on or something.

While walking, I spotted an older lady across the street walking a smaller dog (I didn't have my glasses on, so I couldn't see what kind of dog, except that it was dark brown). She called a hello to Buddy and Buster, then said something that was apparently a warning... she said something about a dog at the house I was passing. Just as she said it, a very large dog (I was watching the pugs too carefully to see what type, but I think it was a German Shepherd) jumped out of nowhere, thankfully behind a fence, and started barking at the pugs. The pugs reacted like only little dogs can. Buster wanted to play, and ran back and forth up the fence barking happily at the dog. Buddy stood his ground and stared down the other dog, growling deeply. The dog across the street started barking too, just to join in. It took me a minute or two to get the pugs going again, and then Buddy took the first opportunity presented to paw at the ground and show what a macho pug he was.

Is there such a thing as dognip? Buster found a patch of lawn that he really liked and he snuffled it and rolled around in it while Buddy basically stood there and rolled his eyes. It took forever to get the puggie away from that patch of lawn.

One more note on corked bats. They apparently don't help all that much. It's very unlikely that Sosa would have gotten any of his home runs just because of a corked bat... if he ever used a corked bat in a game before. I tend to agree with Harold Reynolds on Baseball Tonight. If Sosa had known he was using a corked bat, he would've tried to get the bat back instead of jogging right past the barrel of the bat without picking it up on his way back to the dugout. He didn't act like someone who was guilty. I was slightly amused by the juxtaposition... right after hearing the news about Sosa's bat, the next thing to come up on the TV was the Sosa/Giambi home run ad.

I was confused when everyone on Sportcenter kept referring to "The Pine Tar Incident" and Tim McClelland's role in it. When I finally looked it up, I know why I didn't know about it. It happened in 1983, when I was a Mariners fan but had no idea about anything else in baseball. It was 1989 before I started actually paying attention to other teams except as guys that showed up to play the Mariners once in awhile.

I didn't watch the heroes and villains show last night. I did read the list over on Peter David's blog (it's in the comments). I found I wasn't much interested.

Speaking of villains, some folks in the blogosphere have pointed out that Clinton was saying the same things about Iraq to justify his continued bombing. Yeah, so? Clinton lied, so it's ok that Bush lied? I'm not sure what the issue is here. If Clinton was such a nasty dude to lie to justify bombing, he should have been impeached for it. Oh wait... he was impeached, but not for that lie. The Repubs let the more serious lie go unquestioned because it's FAR more important to impeach a president for lying about his sex life than for lying to start a war. Whatever.

Everyone keeps bringing up the mass graves being found in Iraq as justification for Bush Jr's war. I will again point out that those mass graves are the direct result of Bush Sr telling the Iraqis he would support a popular uprising then turning his back on them when they needed him most. Yes, Saddam killed them, but Bush Sr caving to the UN at the worst possible time, and after giving his word, gave Saddam the excuse.

On a happier note, read this article which compares the current Iraq situation to Post-WWII Japan. It's quite possibly the most optimistic view of Iraq I've seen yet, and the comments kind of line up with what Salam Pax has said in his blog. If the Bush administration will actually work towards a positive end, maybe this will be the result. Cross your fingers, and pass on this article in the hopes that it will lead to something better.

Comments (3)

That's a very interseting article about the war with Iraq.

Matt | 06.04.03 - 3:41 pm

Funny you should mention the Pine Tar Incident. My dad had box seats at Yankee Stadium for years and saw both parts of the game...both parts because the game ended up being suspended with the end of the game being played out the next time the Royals came into town to play the Yankees.

I went with him when the Royals came back to the Bronx, so I actually saw the end of the Pine Tar Game (and the game that was played in full that night).

Went to root for the Royals, natch. And to drink beer. Although I tolerate them now, I was a rabid Yankees-hater when I was much younger.

As an aside, did you know that at the moment, about 50-mil in payroll is on the Mets' DL?

But they did take 2 out of 3 from the Braves. We're still waiting to see if they actually get tonight's game with the Brewers in -- it's still in rain delay.

Leah | 06.04.03 - 7:17 pm

Last two M's games have been delayed. The first one they got in yesterday, no problem, but it was wet. The second one is on right now. Still looks a wee bit wet.

Go Mariners! And, until they play the M's, Go Mets!

Tegan | 06.04.03 - 7:45 pm

Sammy Sosa's accomplishments in hitting home runs will now forever be tarnished... even if he's telling the truth and he accidently grabbed a bat that he only meant to use in batting practice. Corking your bat is stupid. Even for practice.

At least interleague play has started out well for the Mariners. Jamie Moyer, the pitcher, had a hit and scored a run. In the end, the Mariners continued their winning streak and got it up to seven. That's still a far cry from last year's best winning streak (10 games), but it's nothing to sneeze at. I seem to recall a 15 game winning streak from the Mariners in 2001... but that was 2001. Everything was different in 2001.

Comments (6)

The most impressive part, IMHO, about the Mariners' current win streak is that it's ALL been on the road! And Kansas City and Minnesota are basically co-leaders in the AL Central, so they weren't exactly pushovers.

Hubby | 06.04.03 - 7:33 am

Hey, I'll give Sammy the benefit of the doubt as far as past accomplishments go...but still, what a dumbass.

I LOVE Jamie Moyer. He was one of my pitchers when I won my fantasy baseball money league two years ago, and I've got him in a free league this year. He's the only reliable pitcher I have! He is, as they say, DA MAN.

Johnny B | 06.04.03 - 8:57 am

Seems to me Sammy's broken quite a few bats over the years. It's odd that nobody has caught this before. If they don't find anything wrong with his homerun bats in the Hall of Fame, this will blow over. I hope so anyway.

farsider | 06.04.03 - 9:07 am

Hey, Laura, since I don't have a blog of my own, can I hijack yours for a moment?

Happy birthday, Mom! If things go well today, I may have a TERRIFIC present for you when you get back from NYC...

Hubby | 06.04.03 - 9:55 am

!!!? Now Hubby has me curious.

Tegan | 06.04.03 - 10:40 am

Read your e-mail then, dear. Or call me later this afternoon...

Hubby | 06.04.03 - 12:48 pm

Buster got an inadvertant shower today when I was watering the garden. He didn't seem to mind. It's so hot out, I don't know how the pugs can stand to wear their fur coats. Buddy looked at me like I was nuts when I tried to get him to go out for the midday walk. He finally came along, but both pugs continually flopped down in any shady spot they could find. It was a lo-o-o-ng walk.

In other news, Lawrence Lessig is still fighting for the public domain. He has a petition up. Basically, he's trying to get the laws changed so that copyright holders must pay a fee after 50 years to keep their work out of the public domain. Thus, if the copyright is important to you, and still making you money, you can easily hang on to it. So Disney can keep their eternal copyrights without restricting every other work made at the same time.

I'm not sure of it, myself. I need to think about it some more before I sign.

...for the week is Buster the pug, who started barking at five thirty this morning, and sniffling up the stairs to see if I was awake, then back down the stairs to bark at traffic again until I finally got up at 5:45 to take the pugs out walkies. I need to scan the house to make sure neither pug left any more editorials anywhere.

I fully intended to go back to sleep after the walk, but it's strange how awake you feel after walking a few blocks with two pugs determined to trip you with their leashes, and picking up their poop. At least both of them "did their duty" this morning on the walk so I don't have to worry, as much, about finding that kind of editorial somewhere.

You've all heard about the new movie that is going to portray Bush as a hero on 9/11, right? Warning, the former link is really anti-Bush, so if you are pro-Bush, you might want to read this one instead, which is slightly nicer. Of course, the film is being made in Canada. After all, why film propaganda in the country it's supposedly about? My personal opinion on the film is pretty simple. Bush went AWOL during the crisis. The real heroes, the police and firemen, the folks on the street who helped people get away, are being insulted by anything other than the truth, and this film will be far from the truth.

Then there is the continuing question of why the inquiry into the intelligence failures around 9/11 is being supressed. The most obvious answer is because those failures would be an embarassment to Bush and his cronies, not to mention the FBI. But the longer the information is supressed, the more I wonder if there isn't something even more sinister about it. No, I'm not buying into the conspiracy theories. Yet. But the longer the facts surrounding 9/11 are hidden, the more paranoid I get about what might have really happened. Just release the information already!

Stupid pugs. They've got me writing a blog before I wake up. I think I'll end this now before I say something I'll regret.

Anyone who has been following the saga of Salam Pax needs to check out Peter Maass' Story about the now famous Baghdad Blogger. See, Salam was Peter's interpreter, and Peter didn't know it until he got home.

Pugs are being good. It helps that hubby-Eric came out and gave them a long walk this afternoon to wear them out. "Little Snuffley", aka Buster, has been wandering around the house licking his nose and making snorting noises, while the more practical Buddy is sleeping happily. Well, he's happy unless grandma comes upstairs to visit, at which point he goes into his "poor little abused dog" routine.

I said I'd mention baseball. The Mariners went 6-0 on the beginning of their road trip, sweeping Kansas City and Minnesota, both really good teams this year. Next up on the M's road trip is Philadelphia, then they face the Mets in New York. While I'm a Mets fan most of the time, while interleague play puts the M's up against the Mets, I have to root for my home team. Go Mariners!

I'm not sure, but I think as of this morning the Mariners had the best record in baseball, just passing Atlanta by half a game. For non baseball fans, that just means that Atlanta has lost one more game than Seattle. They've both won 37 games. While having the Mariners at the top of baseball is no longer as novel as it was pre-2001, it still seems more than a little surreal.

Oh yeah, one more thing. After the Fanfest in 2001, which I volunteered at, I want the Mariners to cream Philadelphia. I was accosted by the Philly Phanatic while walking with other volunteers down to the fanfest floor. I don't generally mind being hugged, but being hugged by scary-looking mascots when I least expect it ... well, Go Mariners!

Because I'm slightly obsessive... Stop laughing, Eric. *ahem* Because of my obsessive behavior, I set up my own page to follow the Mariners schedule. It won't get updated this week, probably, but it's fun. Ok, fun for me. One great thing about baseball is that it allows me to indulge some of my need for obsession without being seen as too odd. After all, baseball seems to be at least mostly acceptable. Unlike, say, Aquaman.

In anticipation of pug provided boredom with my blog, I'm going to put up a couple of rapid reviews in the hopes of staving off mass defections to less focused bloggers. Not that I have a mass of readers to begin with, but I'd rather not complain constantly about the pugs. Just almost constantly.

Here's a couple of books I just read:

A Gift of Dragons by Anne McCaffrey: Hubby-Eric got this for me with the Amazon.com credit from his bookshop. It's basically a gift book. Although it has one new story, the appeal is in the packaging, which includes illustrations. Since I seem to have misplaced my copies of two of the stories reprinted in this book, it was also a nice present to fill in the holes of my collection of The Dragonriders of Pern books. "The Smallest Dragonboy" is a standard Pern tale from the early days of Pern fiction. "The Girl Who Heard Dragons" was one of the first stories to explore the lives of the not-so-lucky people on Pern, and is a strong story. "The Runner of Pern" is fun. The new tale, "Ever the Twain" is a bit on the weak side, but I'm still glad to have read it. All-in-all, a neat little package.

Holes by Louis Sachar: This may well be the first ever case I've found of a movie being better than the book it was based on. The clues and hints in the movie were better placed than in the book. The movie fleshed out the supporting characters better. While both the movie and the book were aimed at a young audience, the movie did a slightly better job of entertaining. Not to say that the book is bad... it's very, very good. But the movie is even better.

And a movie:

My Big Fat Greek Wedding: Little sister loaned hubby-Eric and I the DVD of this movie and we curled up together to watch it with the warning that the story might be familiar to us... from our own wedding. While Eric's family doesn't resemble Ian's in the slightest, Toula's family is even more overwhelming than my own. I laughed throughout this movie, and enjoyed just about all of it, even the bits I cringed during.

Since the piddle incident, the pugs have been mostly kind and a little quiet around me. Of course, they know who controls the food.

I noticed a strange bit of behavior on the walk this morning. Both pugs spotted a section of sidewalk grass that hadn't been mowed, and both pugs plowed into it like jungle explorers. They looked positively joyful. Now, keep in mind that the grass was only about ankle high, but they were both up over their chins, wading through it with heads slightly down, snorting with pleasure. As soon as we walked past that section, they both got back on the sidewalk and walked normally. "Normally" is Buster pulling on his harness as hard as he can, trying to run, and Buddy lagging behind moping because it's mean sister-in-law walking him.

At least they left me alone last night.

More from the Pug House of Horror later.

Comments (1)

When I was growing up, I had a dog that was part pug and part pekinese. Before he was gone, he lost one eye in a dogfight (these were less enlightened times, and he was allowed to wander around the neighborhood) and had an arthritic condition in one side of his hips, causing him to walk sometimes on three legs. He was, as they say, a sight. But he was a good dog and a great friend and 30 years later I think about him sometimes...

Johnny B | 06.02.03 - 1:23 pm

I've gotten an editorial on my presence in the Pug House of Horror. One of the pugs, I'm not sure which, piddled on the bed I slept in last night. Up goes the gate to keep them out of the bedroom. Buddy, the older pug, is looking guilty, which means it was probably Buster, the younger, who doesn't care at all what happens. I expect Buddy to start howling tonight. After all, his parents left him the care of his cruel sister-in-law who doesn't understand what a sweet dog he really is.

I've also been hit by the other danger of staying at the Pug House of Horror: The grandparents. The real reason I'm staying here is to be around for Eric's grandparents, so they won't be all alone with a couple of wild pugs. But Grandma has the overwhelming urge to feed grandchildren, and I've already had some chocolate cake, chocolate cookies, and pumpkin pie. I suspect the onslaught has just started. There's only so many times you can politely say no to someone who is slightly hard of hearing and determined to fatten you up.

Buster tried very hard to get under the fence, too. Out into the traffic on the busy street right outside. I was warned to watch Buster, and now I'm going to have to examine the spot he tried to escape through to make sure he can't fit. Little pugs wandering through traffic is BAD.

The piddle incident brings to mind a saying I heard a long time ago. "Eat a frog first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day." Let's hope this was the frog and I won't have to deal with anything worse.

Comments (1)

Mom and Dad are going to be VERY amused when they come home this weekend and finally get a chance to read your blog, dear...

Hubby | Email | Homepage | 06.02.03 - 11:05 pm

Pugs do not care for baseball.

Comments (2)

Okay, dear, dish on the details!

Hubby, Keeping an Eye on the Other House | 06.01.03 - 8:50 pm

Not much to tell. They just think they should go on their walk instead of me watching the M's sweep Minnesota. Silly pugs. There are more important things than peeing.

Tegan | 06.02.03 - 8:08 pm

Well, I survived the first night of a week-long stay at the Pug House of Horror. So far: three meals, three walks. Hubby-Eric took care of one of the other walks for me.

The pugs in question are Buddy, almost seven years old with a tendency toward moodiness when his mommy and daddy (hubby-Eric's parents) aren't around, and Buster, a wild two-year-old who usually manages to stop just short of driving me completely nuts. Usually.

As it's very early, and the pugs are once again settling down, I'm going to take this opportunity to try to go back to sleep. Wish me luck.