When Beagles Fly

When Beagles Fly
Originally uploaded by buckyreed

Holly took Rufus and Apple to the Dirty Dog Pet Wash and Boutique to get a bath and have their nails done. Rufus HATES getting his nails trimmed and is such an absolute freak about it that I try to take him to a different groomer every time. The owner of the Dirty Dog apparently specializes in high maintenance hounds and had a very effective trick up her sleeve: the floating harness! Rufus dog-paddled in mid-air and chuffed while the trimming was going on, but seemed rather calm when he was allowed to just float unmolested. Holly theorizes that the compression of the harness has a calming effect, but I prefer to think that he was overcome with dreams of ear-powered flight. I can't wait for his next visit.

Rufus and his den

Rufus and his den
Originally uploaded by buckyreed

Rufus and Apple are still really freaked out by the construction in the condo. Rufus has decided that the closet is now his lair and has spent the better part of the weekend in here with his herd of cows. He has dragged most of his toys into this closet and is extremely reluctant to leave. I had to bribe him with back scratches and ground beef to get him out.

The great flood of 2008

Moisture sensor (40 is the max)

Ripping up the Pergo

living room and closet
Originally uploaded by buckyreed

This past Monday morning I woke up at 6:00 to get ready for work. I turned on the shower and waited for the water to heat up, and waited, and waited, and waited, and quickly realized that Holly and I were in for an interesting morning. We ran downstairs and stepped off of the last step into our new indoor swimming pool! Our water heater had burst and flooded the entire first floor of the condo. She ran outside to shut off the water and I grabbed the shop vac. 40+ gallons later I had cleaned up most of the water and we managed to get everything off of the floors and out onto the patio.

The ServePro repair guys were sent by the insurance company to mitigate the water damage and promptly started ripping out ALL of the Pergo flooring, removing the baseboards, and cutting drywall off of the walls. They used a really cool moisture sensor to determine what got wet and where they needed to hack apart our home. It took them three half-assed days to finish cutting out all of the walls and set up their drying equipment to dry the walls. They managed to let one of their dehumidifiers drain back onto the floor on the first day. They had to remove our downstairs toilet and the washing machine, but they didn't bother to shut off the water supplies to both of these when they did this. We of course only discovered this when we turned the water main back on and re-flooded the bathroom on Thursday. The plumber was laughing his ass off at their attention to detail.

Rufus's Herd of Cows

Rufus's Herd
Originally uploaded by buckyreed

Holly's sister Katie originally gave me the cow that Rufus has adored so much over the last year or so. The cow has been bathed several times, but is still suprisingly grungy. Katie mentioned that the Petco in La Mesa had several more of the same cows for sale so we stopped by and cleaned them out yesterday. I was shocked at how white and aroma-free they were! Today I presented Rufus with two additional cows and watched his little doggie brain implode as I squeaked them and teased him with them. He chuffed and bayed with delight, but soon decided that the well-seasoned beef was still the best.

Apple's Altruistic Birthday Present To Me

Apple's Altruistic Birthday Present
Originally uploaded by buckyreed

For my birthday a few weeks back Apple and Rufus managed to buy me a present. I'm not quite sure how they got to the store or used the computer to purchase online, but it was certainly clear by the drool and general messiness that they wrapped it themselves. When I unwrapped the remote controlled car Apple feigned disinterest, but she had obviously picked it out for herself! As soon as I tried it out Rufus started baying and Apple freaked. She chased it, but would scramble away in terror when I backed it up into her feet. Rufus grew bored after a while and took the opportunity to steal Apple's rawhide while she was busy chasing the car. It took a while for Apple to get the courage to actually pick it up in her mouth, but now the car is happily covered in drool, hair, and teeth marks.

Gray Whale Encounter

I've seen gray whales from the shore in Oregon and have seen them several times on whale watching cruises in the San Diego Bay, but this Saturday I saw one up close while sailing with Holly's family. We were sailing out towards the ocean and passed a navy sub being towed out of the submarine base. We watched the sub get hauled out to the ocean and then head down south towards Mexico. We were excited because it was cruising on the surface and we were hoping to see it dive. We made it out to the open ocean and were starting to turn back when I saw a large gray hump surface and disappear. I started gibbering excitedly about a whale, but no one else saw it. It was heading south towards Mexico, so perhaps like the sailors on the sub it was hoping for some lovin' south of the border. We turned back around and criss-crossed over the path it seemed to have been taking, but we over shot where it was. Holly and I saw a blow spout and we headed towards that. After a few minutes it surfaced again about fifteen feet away from us! It showed us its barnacled and scarred back and then showed us its tail before it disappeared for good.

Granny's Sewing Machine

Granny's Sewing Machine
Originally uploaded by buckyreed

Mom and dad brought granny's sewing machine and mom's rocking chair down with them from McMinnville. The sewing machine is a Davis treadle sewing machine that my great-grandmother bought second-hand in the 1930's for $25. The Davis company went out of business in 1924, so this machine has to be close to a hundred years old. When I was a kid I used to love this machine because it was so funky looking and because granny was so protective of it! She took excellent care of it and would only let me pump the treadle when she was present. I'm sure it still works because I remember her sewing things with it. This sewing machine is a reminder of my visits with granny in Kentucky, of my childhood, and of my family's past all rolled up into one beautiful thing.

Chew Toy?

Chew Toy?
Originally uploaded by buckyreed

We had an unexpected visitor come into our lives while mom and dad were visiting last week. This little guy was hanging out across from the doggies' food bowls and was trying to hide behind a piece of rawhide. Fortunately the dogs were passed out upstairs; Otherwise there would have been a bloody mess. As it was there was plenty of excitement! Mom freaked out when she saw the lizard on the floor not ten feet from the hide-a-bed where she was sleeping, I hesitated as I debated on how to best pick it up without touching it, and then Holly came downstairs to save the day. She walks up bold as brass, says "Oh, a lizard. I'll just take him outside", and scoops him up with her hands while mom and I are wigging out. Apple comes running downstairs to see what's happening and gets so interested in where the lizard had been that she is almost licking the floor. Rufus, my boy that he is, could have cared less.

Spring Training with the Ecks

Holly surfing at the game
Originally uploaded by buckyreed

I went with Holly and her family to a spring training game in Tucson this weekend. We saw the Oakland A's play against the Chicago White Sox. I'm not a baseball fan at all, but it was fun seeing pros play in a tiny park while eating good mexican food! Holly could have cared less about the game and spent most of her time soaking up rays while surfing on her iPhone. I focused mainly on sampling as many unhealthy food as possible while fending off dehydration with Nimbus Red Ale.

Sailing with Rick and Ken

Three layers of clouds
Originally uploaded by buckyreed

I helped Rick and Ken move the boat further back in the slip this past Saturday while the weather was nice. It rained like hell all day Friday, but was beautiful for several hours on Saturday before getting ugly again. We used that window to go out into the ocean for a quick sail. The rainstorm was blowing in from the north, but clouds seemed confused about what kind they were and the wind didn't know if it wanted to blow or not. By the time we got back the temperature had dropped and the storm was clearly on its way.