And you thought poodle sweaters were bad ...

Lucy has had a recurring wound on one of her paws that I think may be related to the hot pavement in the complex and the harsh gravelly bits at the dog park.

So in order to keep her pads intact, I decided she needed to try out dog boots. Paw Tectors to be exact.

I was planning on a nice discreet black to go with her face mask. They only had pink.

My dogs should really learn to resist or at least rebel a little bit. But no. They just go along with it. My dogs are awesome.

And for those wondering how well she walks in them, video!

Monsoon!

Last night we had some high winds and drizzle. Tonight, the sky opened up. What's always amazing to me is how these huge storms well up throughout the day, unleash their fury in the evening, but only for about a half hour. An hour after it started, it had completely stopped rainin. An hour and a half later, there was a sunset with just the smell of Tucson rain in the air and wet pavement to signal a storm had passed.

Western Bike Trip 2009

Some of you know my dad is on a massive motorcycle trip around parts of America. He got to Tucson to rest his ass last Tuesday, just as Jeffrey and I were getting back from our Nebraska adventures (pictures here).

My dad's friend Bob got here on Sunday around lunchtime. He drove from Raleigh, NC to Tucson in what may be a record for crossing the country for people who are not astronauts on jealous revenge missions. Left Raleigh a little after 10 p.m. and got to Tucson a little after 10 a.m. that Sunday. He eyes were a little bloodshot when he got here ...

So they are now off on their Montana loop adventure. You can follow my dad on his SmugMug page where he has posted maps, photos, and captions that ever so subtly suggest that Denis C. holds them up and that Sedona is a modern-day consumer travesty! 

The Life Cycle of Doves

First there was the egg that I tried to thwart with a forest of plastic cutlery. The eggs would not be denied.

Then there is a giant leap in the timeline because I was afraid they would die like last year's so I didn't want to get attached.

This morning before I left for work, the two babies were hopping around precariously in the rail box.

When I got home, the nest was empty.



I looked to the rocks below, but didn't see any bodies splayed out and broken from the fall. "Maybe they made it," I thought to myself. 



A little sad, I turned around to go in. 

And there they were...

...Crapping on all my stuff!

Those bastards!

Beady Eye ENHANCE!

ding ding Ding DIng DING DING

The microwave at work dings once when it is done and then, if not tended to, it dings little reminder dings about every five minutes afterward. (It also loses all power if you try to make coffee and microwave something at the same time.)  

After about a half-hour of hearing reminder dings, I thought, "hey, that's annoying."  

 I realized that one of my coworkers was outside on her cell phone, so maybe it was hers. 

So I waited. 

 *Ding Ding*

  She came inside and sat at her desk.  

*Ding Ding*

 I said loudly, "Does someone have something in the microwave?"  

"Not me" replied coworker that had been outside.  

*Ding Ding*

  "DOES ANYONE HAVE FOOD IN THE MICROWAVE?" I asked from the hallway. 

 No response. 

So I go to Susan's office and ask her personally (because standing a foot from her open office door in the hallway wasn't sufficient). 

 "Susan, were you microwaving something?" (The following response brought me to my knees. I was crying I was laughing so hard.)

  "I don't know. What is it?" 

What?! WHAT?! I DON'T KNOW! WHAT IS IT?! OBVIOUSLY it is NOT your FUCKING food!  EEJITS!

T-Shirt UpCycling

This morning I woke up with a strong need to redesign some of  my t-shirts. 

First I woke Jeffrey up and had him help me make a body form of myself using an old t-shirt and some duct tape. Here's a tutorial for those inclined to do this as well. We only used one layer and we only did the torso because that's how much duct tape we had.

Secondly, I started putting whole shirts on the form and attacking them with scissors and elastic. 

voila!

Spring!

The Palo Verde's in Tucson are in bloom and I'm dosed up on Walgreen's brand Zyrtec and feeling pretty good.

I went out with my friend Julie to do The "turquoise" trail around the downtown Presidio neighborhood. The trail is a loop around the historic district where the Old Pueblo used to be.



The first stop was a chunk of the old original fort built by war lords (or not, there were live re-enactors there and they were blocking the signage. We don't go near re-enactors. So we had to wait until one of the popped away for water before we could check out the barracks.)

But I did snap a shot of Julie pretending to discuss politics with the local mural men.



And this awesome sign advertising that this old hotel has a swimming pool — refrigerated!




It was a nice breezy day and despite everything in downtown Tucson being closed so that we couldn't get food and water while lost on the trail ...

It was a great walk in a cool part of town on a beautiful day.

Jeffrey was home studying.