summer_jackel

Blessed Equinox! We went for a walk this morning.

( Fluff and Flowers of spring! )

Hey there, anyone who might still be looking at this. Waves at the internet

In short: Livejournal remains the best social media site, so here I am, experimenting with perhaps posting more regularly again. For one thing, NaPoWriMo happens next month, and forcing myself to create something that resembles one poem per day in April is a tradition I've found to be useful discipline, even though personally I'd probably choose October. So there will be poems soon.

The most important thing I want to do right now, however, is to share corpsefairy's exciting Indiegogo campaign. She's opening what is going to be a really fabulous, fun, classy brick-and-mortar bra store on Piedmont Ave. in Oakland, CA, offering garments that fit properly in a way that most available to Americans don't. If you wear a bra, care about anyone who does, or just want to see me wearing a pink bra and talking about how much I generally despise the things, go look (and watch the videos). Seriously, only for Corpsefairy would I appear on the web in a pink bra.

Pink bra or no, I'm never going to be as internet-famous as my little dog, and that is probably a good thing. This Tumblr post, visually describing Coba's bathing sequence has, at time of writing, over 4,000 likes, something that has never happened before. I am highly amused. Coba hopes that this doesn't mean that he gets even more baths.

On the subject of dogs, my pack of three and I continue to adventure. Here's a group shot from a recent walk we shared a vineyard. Sadly out of focus, but I love the touch between Zhava and Coba anyway.

I granted an old baked potato to dogs. Coba managed to grab it first, and made off with it, Zhava intent and close behind. Now, watching them on the deck, I am really impressed that Coba still has the whole thing! I would rather Zhava eat most of it...Coba is watching his ounces right now...but hey, if the little guy can keep a prized morsel away from Princess Lots-of-Teeth, bitchlet wolfhound, I'm not going to take it away from him.

Deck the Howls!

( More silly, festive dog pics under the cut. )

Happy news: Zhava has earned the first point toward her championship, and my fluffy little sparklefox is now 'Outlaws Cobalt Gambit CD,CGC' on paper. There was a dog show! We totally won! It was great!

( If you happen to want a whole lot more detail than that, it's under the cut )

I cherish little canine epiphanies. This morning, Coba made the first glimmerings of connection between what I was asking him to do and the movement of ducks, that crucial first bit of mutual understanding, excitement and willing participation that I needed in order to teach him to herd them.

( A long, rambling explanation, with too much detail, of how this wonderful event came to be. )

Captured by paparazzi.

( an affair filled with drama and glamor )

Bliss is of the opinion that neighbors should be met with great joy and wagging, followed by an armful of joyous, wiggling collie, a personal human necessity that he is happy to meet. I am of the opinion that if people want 70+ lbs of collie in their arms (and this only because he's a thin beast), they will ask, and the canine in question is to sit politely until they have indicated this desire.

We keep having this discussion, and it's hard to train him out of it when he is almost never poorly behaved in any other context (other than that 'not liking food' thing). The problem is, the neighbors keep encouraging him. I need to teach them to wait patiently while I correct him, before running up to him excitedly and accepting the proffered armfuls of collie. That's much harder to accomplish than training the dog.

I had a strong ride!

Here is an amazing photostream of antique dog photos. Beautiful.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/libbyhalldogs/5630360714/in/photostream/

This one really captures borzoi-ness.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/libbyhalldogs/5612863406/in/photostream/