All you dog-lovers beware, there are dog-haters out there!

I usually try to refrain from being negative on my blog. I don't want to damage my reputation or anything ;) BUT I have had it up to here (imagine my hand drawing a line a foot above my head) with strangers getting in my business about my pooch!

Everyday in my neighborhood park someone has to come up and tell me what I'm doing wrong, and warn me that my dog is going to get big and out of control. I always try to remain polite and let them know he is just excited, and that he is in behavior lessons, and yes I have watched Cesar Millan's The Dog Whisperer before, and Yes, I work with him everyday on learning new skills, and Yes, I work on socializing him (in fact he has a whole crew of puppy friends). Everyone wants to tell me how to raise my dog. Yesterday someone went almost on an entire walk with me and Garb trying to convince me that I should let him run off leash while he is young. While, I would like Garbanzo to learn to go on walks off leash, I don't think he is ready for that, especially in an unfenced area!!!

So, today I decided to take Garbanzo to a different neighborhood for a walk. A neighborhood with a bit more shade, and less of the usual know-it-alls I run into in my neighborhood. The walk started out nicely, but the further we got from the car the more Garbanzo wanted to turn around. Our trainer has told us this is normal behavior for a puppy. He says puppies get anxious when they leave a safe area, and it is common for them to plop down and refuse to move. So after 15 mins of trying to convince Garb to go farther I decided to turn around because I was losing my patience.

Garb-a-licious was very excited to turn around, and was prancing along having a lovely time. We passed many houses with shaded grassy yards, all of which Garbanzo felt the need to roll around on. So when we got to a particular house with just such a yard (and no exterior fence), Garbanzo got on his back and rolled around a bit, he looked so happy. I usually let him roll for a second or two and then call him to come. Sometimes he comes, sometimes he doesn't. At this particular house I was just about to call Garbanzo to come when I heard a rapid knocking on the window. I look up to see an angry, grandma-looking lady yelling at me from the inside. I waved and proceeded to pick Garbanzo up to physically remove him from the yard. As I did this a grumpy, grandpa-looking man steps out the front door to see that I leave and don't cause any more trouble. As I get to the next house (only a few feet away) I can hear that the grandma was now outside. I turn around to look and she is pointing out every spot of the yard to her husband where "that dog" had been. She was purposely speaking loud enough for me to hear. I was furious. I was thinking, "look lady, he's just a puppy, he didn't poo or pee on your lawn. He didn't dig. He didn't even eat a strand of grass." He was there for maybe 30 seconds. About five minutes later I reached our car. I decided to drive by the house just to get a good look at which house it is. When I drove by the grandma was still out there looking through the grass trying to find any spot where Garbanzo might have peed or pooed. For heaven's sake lady! Calm the hell down! She obviously is a dog-hater (and possibly a people-hater), and has way too much time on her hands.

I don't know why that particular incident made me so mad out of all the others, but I feel so angry. I can totally understand how annoying it must be when a dog uses the bathroom on your lawn and the dog-owner doesn't clean it up, but I always clean up after my dog. I carry bags with me. Plus, Garbanzo didn't do a damn thing to her lawn. If she really doesn't want dogs, cats, people, or whatever to go on her lawn she should really invest in a fence. I feel vindictive. I want to go yell at the lady. I wish I had. I want to take Garby there to poo on her lawn every damn day for the rest of her life!

Ok, I feel better now. I'm not usually so vengeful. I'm just sick and tired of strangers telling me how to care for my Garby, and to be wrongfully accused by this grandma-dog-hater put me over the top!

Seriously, how can you hate on this little fella'!?!

Night of Mayhem

Tonight Greg and I went to dinner with Surabhi, Ziga, and Mick at Koh Samui & the Monkey in the city. It was yummy, and the company was wonderful. You could say it was a night filled with good conversation, yummy food, and cheer, but then we went home-- dun-dun-DUN!!!

When we got home Garbanzo was not where we had left him (fenced into the kitchen), but the fence structure was still firmly in place, he must have jumped onto his crate and over the fence. That is all I can figure. Our shoe closet by the front door, which was closed when I left, was open. Shoes were spread out everywhere. And what was Garbanzo doing? He was peeing on them. That's right, he peed on my new Simples (see today's previous post)! Argh. Bad Dog, BAD! The good news is that he didn't chew any of the shoes he pulled out. He only spread them out around the room, and peed on a few of them. Oh the joys of having a puppy.

I still love him even though he peed on my new shoes. :)

More New Shoes :)

I'm really loving the sandal trends this season! So I got another pair, once again from Piperlime, it's my favorite. I also got some new casual shoes. They are Simples. Simples are the best, everyone should own a pair. LOVE them! Check 'em out:

Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

Picture taken in the Marin Headlands, made me think of 'The Raven'

'Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! -
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -
On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore -
Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore -
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked upstarting -
`Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!

--Edgar Allan Poe
Partial Poem

First Beach Trip

I've been meaning to post these pictures for a while now. A few weeks ago we took Garbanzo to the beach for the first time. He went wild in the sand! I think the pictures say it all:

This is as close as he would get to the water

Content

Being a mommy, cleaning the sand off his nose.

Can it be Thursday yet? PLEASE!?!?!

Tomorrow I have my last final...it's a complex test on chemical dependency and it's many forms and treatments. I just want to be done so I can spend all my time, and focus all my energy on these two faces:

Milly-Billy

My sister Amelia came to town recently :) We had sooooooo much fun, however, I think she might have been disgusted with how obsessed Greg and I are with Garbanzo! I thought I'd document our time together with some pictures and stuff.

Day 1:

Amelia meets Garbanzo!

Day 2:

We spent the day at Half Moon Bay

We bundled up, it was so cold!

Day 3: We walked to the Farmer's Market near my house then came home and made our first ever home made strawberry pie!


Then we went to China Town, followed by Pier 39

We thought this Truck crammed full of boxes was an interesting sight!

Amelia, The Pier, and the Sea Lions

S.F. Tour :)

Giant Cruise Ship

I love me some Greg!

We went back to San Mateo and ate the yummiest burgers at Jack's Prime Burgers on El Camino Real....I highly recommend this place! Then we went home and ate our pie! Yum!

Day 3: Next we headed off to the Marin Headlands. We hiked with Garbanzo for 3 1/2 hours, and he walked the whole way! He loved being with the whole bunch of us and didn't want to miss a second of it! I think Amelia had fun too ;)






After the hike we went to Sausalito for dinner. We met the owner of a restaurant that was talking all politics with Greg and watching Fox News. He seemed a little misguided in his views ;), but he let us bring Garbanzo into the restaurant.

After dinner we headed over to the Golden Gate Bridge. We were on the side with the army barracks. We hung out there until it was dark enough to see the city light on the other side of the bridge.




Day 4: Greg headed back to work and Amelia and I headed to Palo Alto :) We spent the day shopping at the Stanford Shopping Center, touring downtown PA, and eating Sprinkles Cupcakes, YUM! I recommend the Red Velvet cupcakes.

Amelia bought some super cute outfits, and I wish I had some pictures of how she looked in them. Then I took her to the airport, and I was so sad to see her leave. We all were.

Come. Back. Amelia!