Klingons in tights

Some things just shouldn't happen.

According to the Human Assistant, one of those things is Klingons in tights. I haven't seen this. But you might have. If you were a fan of the TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation.

One time (says H.A.) Captain Picard wound up as Robin Hood. And the rest of the gang were Robin Hood's cohort(s).

Worf, which is a Klingon, says "I am not a Merry Man!"  Well, DUH!

Klingons

man

And neither am I!  Look at this!  Something else that just shouldn't happen!

"Big Happy Family"	Is this really necessary?
Can you believe this?	Forget it!
I'm blind.  I can't look at the camera!	What a thing to do to a guest!

No further comment is necessary.  I hope.

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Oh. That last picture shows Cheyenne. I'll talk about her another time.

-- photos of Klingons and man from Wikipedia

Happy Diabetes Day!

Remember when Sinjin thought we had orange puppies? I don't know why he thought that.

But here's a field of orange puppies. By some guy named Claude Money. Or something like that. And some puppies that are more red. By somebody else.

"Puppies Blooming"

Save Toto!

Anyway. Happy Birthday Claude whoever!

So, things have been kinda slow without Alizé around to chew stuff up. The Human Assistant has been on the computer looking for more dogs! I have to claw him. Which he doesn't like too much. But it gets his attention.

Then I jump around and woooo. That makes him laugh and think I want a treat. (Why, sure! Thanks!) And he forgets about getting more dogs for a while.

I think he's also been happy to not be getting up every two hours to check Alizé's blood sugar. And all that other stuff.

But. Today was World Diabetes Day. Was everyone supposed to go out and get diabetes? Sounds kinda dumb to me. Which makes it sound like something humans would think up.

Also Happy Birthday to some guy who invented jackets.

Okay. That's it for now.

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Happy birthday, Seabiscuit!

(referring to Friday, May 23)

Winners!

You got the Molson, eh?

People thought neither of them would race again. But a crippled jockey and a 7-year-old stallion that had had a ruptured ligament won the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap.

Their time would have won the same race last year! With a million-dollar purse! Old? Injured? Don't count us out!

Oh yeah. Also happy birthday to the North West Mounted Police!

On King!   On you Huskies!

I may be the last dog on the internet to play the Japanese name game. But I was tagged by Thor. And by an entire Army of Four.

OOF!  That's a lot of tagging!

If you don't know the game, tag yourself and then visit their blogs!  ☺

Real Name	Game Name	Tease Name
Gremlin	ji-shi-ku-rin-ta-ki-to	Taquito Bandito
Lucy	ta-do-mi-fu	Lucy-fucy
Sinjin	ari-ki-to-zu-ki-to	Ricky Toe
me	chi-do-mi-me-ku-shi	Cushy,  Yak-a-Story

-- photos from Wikipedia

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Summer and smushnoses

The Human Assistant spent lots of time lately writing long posts for the MaxFund volunteers forum.

Here's his latest one. I decided I should get some benefit from all that work! But he took a long time reformatting it for the blog. I thought it would take all the rest of the week!

Maybe you've already read it. (Like Mis Minky and her loyal subjects.) Don't worry! There will be a new post later!

Summer isn't here yet, but May is normally the month of Denver's first 90° weather of the year, and that means being careful about overheating animals with mushed-in faces.

As cute as brachycephaly is (and I had a beautiful blue Persian with copper eyes that, I'm pretty sure, was stolen), smushface breeds just can't handle the heat as well as animals with more normal snouts.

The classic breeds are Persians and Pugs:

Persian

Pug

But there are others, including Himalayans on the feline side, and Boston Terriers to Japanese Chins to Shar-Peis on the canine side. At the other end of the spectrum are dolichocephalic breeds such as Greyhounds and probably all of the sighthounds:

Borzoi

Pharoah Hound

Anyway, no long walks on hot days for the flat-faces. Here's the forecast:

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE 30-DAY OUTLOOK MODEL INDICATES THAT DENVER WILL HAVE AT OR SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION DURING MAY 2008 AND THE MODELS INDICATE THAT DENVER WILL HAVE NEAR NORMAL TEMPERATURES.

This seems consistent with predictions that we are coming out of a La Niña cycle (data on pages 26 - 30 of this pdf file) - which anyway seem to have less impact here in summer than in winter.

Now in case you were wondering how global warming will affect brachycephalic breeds....

(You were, weren't you?  ​No?  ​How about now?  ​No?  ​How about now?)

There's this story from Peter Munro at Australia's The Age:

You thought penguins were in gravest danger of extinction from global warming.

Now bulldogs, boxers, Pekinese, pugs and French mastiffs are among the breeds of dogs that may not see out many more Australian summers, experts say.

Rising temperatures could also cast aside Persian cats in favour of fuller-faced felines.

Citing Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, RSPCA chief veterinarian Chris Thurgood said forecasts of frequent 40 degree [104° F] days would gradually deplete local stocks of short-nosed dogs and cats, which typically suffer from respiratory problems and heat stress.

"Darwin's theory will take care of them," he said. "They won't be around in the future; they won't last."

This is probably the most ignorant thing I've ever heard a vet say! In the first place, theories aren't able to act on their own. But what's more important is that most breeds of domestic animals exist because of human design, not natural selection.

As long as humans want Persians and Pugs, there will be Persians and Pugs. Even in Australia! If heat-related deaths go up, I'm sure that breedings per year will go up, too. (Not that I'm saying that that's the right thing to do. I'm saying I think that's how humans will respond.)

The director of Melbourne University's veterinary teaching hospital, Mark Davis, said dog owners should act responsibly by opting for long-nosed or long-tongued breeds such as greyhounds or golden retrievers. Dogs cool themselves by panting, which makes summer more difficult for breeds like bulldogs and pugs, which typically have squashed airways.

Yes, let's all act responsibly, shall we? But could we start with chipping and neutering, please?

Boxer Association of Victoria president Lionel Bleakley owns 14 boxers and three French mastiffs, which are also counted among the Brachycephalic dog breeds, with shortened or squashed faces.

"My dogs have been lying quite comfortably on the concrete," Mr Bleakley said.

"Dogs adapt and people adapt to how to raise dogs correctly, such as not walking their dogs on a hot day."

Tucker loves lying on the concrete. We'll see how Sinjin responds to our summer. (He's from Indianapolis ... compare our climate with theirs.) Sibes are out in storms at -60° to -70° F at the Iditarod (when suitably conditioned, of course).

Well, anyway. For those who want to stay on top of all the changes global warming will bring about, I found a link to this story on a page with links to reports on a variety of topics from acne to yellow fever. Note the warning about dead links, and enjoy!

-- photos from Wikipedia

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Closing Pandora's box

Sinjin here!

Okay, so Lucy won't be going to live with Wally the Corgi. His family's concerned about Wally getting into that pond, which would be not good at all!

The Big Guy suggested filling it with sand and a rock or two, à la karesansui (which Wikipedia's article says is "sometimes mistakenly called a Zen garden" ... by the Big Guy, for example!  ☺).

But this is no good either because the family wants a moving-water pond, and they just installed it last year.

Even as I dictate this to BG, I can hear Sibe people clucking their tongues and even laughing. Gardens (and the landscaping in general) belong to dogs, and people are only occasionally allowed to work in them!

Wally-type dog

Badger Hound

I think maybe these low-slung dogs (and Wally is lower to the ground than the one in the picture) could be kept out by a low barrier. A Wally Wall!  ☺  And unlike hounds that go digging into tunnels to chase badgers (which you can see cute pictures of here, here, and no doubt elsewhere), Wally probably wouldn't be a risk for digging under the wall.

So now comes the question: Will Wally stay out of the pond now that he's seen Lucy in there?

Hope so!

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Lucy's bad example

Pembroke Welsh Corgi Sinjin here!

We need to change the name of this blog!

How about, "Sinjin Lets Tucker Talk Back!"  ::Arr arr::

I'll admit that I went grazing in Lucy's and Gremlin's dinner bowls, and the Big Guy surprised me, and I swung around real fast, and Lucy got a bit excited about that.

Well, hey. It happens.

I'm not for-sure certain that Lucy bit Tucker, though. Maybe she snagged him with a claw. (Or, as Agent 86 would say, a craw.) But as Tucker would say, Anyway....

Hey ... does that dog in the picture up there look like a herding dog to you? The breed comes from Wales, and that's what it's supposed to be! Maybe the pre-Celtic Welsh had armadillo ranches, or something!

Okay. But! Does it look like a water dog?  These are water dogs:

Duck-Tolling Retriever	Flat-Coated Retriever	Portuguese Water Dog
Irish Water Spaniel	Newfoundland	Labrador Retriever

Lucy went to visit a family that might be interested in adopting her. She and the Big Guy met Wally (like the Corgi up top) and his mom, and then they went to their house and met the dad and daughter.

What a great place! Too bad BG forgot he had his camera in the car!

The house is next to a lake, and Lucy watched ducks swimming around! Their fence is only 3 feet high, and Lucy stood up and put her paws on the top rail. She probably wouldn't jump over, but that's a bit of a question.

Then when she ran ran ran from the fence back to the house, she was so happy to be stretching her legs! And she rolled and rolled in the grass! It was like all those happy photos in her dogster portfolio!

And then...!

The family has an itty-bitty pond about 5 or 6 feet across. Lucy just waded right in! The scene looked just like that Flat-Coat in the picture just above here! (Except for not being as large a pond.) Water up to her tummy and everything!

And then...!

Lucy walked on out of the pond, and Wally started to walk right in! If they'd let him, he'd have looked like a submarine with legs! If you could've seen him, but you couldn't have because he would've been all the way under the water with no periscope. That wouldn't have been good! Although maybe, if he could keep his eyes above water, he'd look like a Corgidile!

Wally's mom said he had never tried to go into their pond before!

Was Lucy being a bad role model, or what? Later she waded through the pond again, and Wally tried to go again, and his mom stopped him again. Poor little guy! Led astray by a female!!!

The family wants a companion for Wally. They said he doesn't really pal around with other dogs, but they don't want him to feel lonely while they're away from the house. Well, I'd say he was kind of interested in palling around with Lucy. Not tons. Not like he wanted to play with her. But he did follow her around some and ran across the yard behind her.

Lucy was the Ice Maiden, like always. "Oh, hello little doggy. Nice to meet you." Then off she goes. So that may not be enough palling around to suit the family. Plus, there's the fence. And the dad doesn't really want another dog.

So, who knows what will happen? The BG was a little worried about the fence. He's not sure how Lucy will deal with ducks and geese once she gets used to the idea of them being there. Watch them? Chase them? Jump the fence? Dig under it or push through? It's not a super-sturdy setup.

We'll have to wait and see.

Speaking of MaxFund foster dogs ... and Tucker doesn't know yet and you didn't hear it from me ... Simon.  Shhh!

-- photos from Wikipedia

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Unfairness!

Pikes Peak!
west of Colorado Springs The Human Assistant has to drive to "The Springs" and back this afternoon.

And he's not going to take me!

Phoooey!

Sunday night and Monday night H.A. was playing with hot dogs.

Jumbo dogs! (No jokes about my weight!  ​Grrrrr!)

He took 'em out of big bags and put 'em in little bags.

We sat around and woooood and barked and begged.

But he didn't give us any!

Then Tuesday he took 'em out of the fridge. Again. We sat around and woooood and barked and begged. Again! But he still didn't give us any!

Then he took 'em to the shelter.  ​82 pounds of hot dogs, beef patties, and Milk-Bones!

Woooo doggies! The four of us coulda had a feast! But H.A. says there are 20 times more dogs at the shelter than here at the house. Some of them don't feel like eating.

I can't imagine that!

But they get the beef patties. And maybe kitties do, too. The hot dogs are for hiding medicine. H.A. tried that here, but he was pretty clumsy at it.

The Milk-Bones ... well, some doggies at the shelter can't have treats. But most of the rest of them like the Milk-Bones.

H.A. took Large ones to the shelter. Lucy and I like those. Sometimes Gremlin does, too. But Sinjin doesn't. He holds out for the Senior ones. Sometimes Gremlin does, too.

But Senior Milk-Bones only come in a box big enough for one medium-size dog for one month. So it's easy to run out. Nyah nyahhh, Sinjin! H.A. brings home Large Milk-Bones in gi-normous boxes! Ten times bigger!

So I guess the shelter doggies got a couple of those. Plus beef patties in four huge bags. And what really got our noses twitching - 40 little bags of jumbo hot dogs!

Wieners for the wiener dog.  ​Heh!  ​Or whoever needs 'em.

I guess we can't complain about our medi-treats. Turkey slices and peanut butter. Can't complain 'cause it doesn't do any good! H.A. just thinks we need to go out!  ​Sheesh!

-- photo by David Shankbone from Wikipedia

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Trans-prairie Siberian Railway

Today we're driving to Kansas!  The Human Assistant says we'll be on the Trans-prairie Siberian Railway.

That doesn't make sense. We'll be in a car! Which can't drive on railways. Which are for trains! Which he spelled wrong!

Anyway. We're going to get Sinjin. Then we're coming back. Then I don't know what we're doing with him, but I'll worry about that later.

We had to get up very early this morning. Next we'll rent a car that will hold two big crates for me 'n' Sinjin. That big honkin' van we had would transport an Army of Eight, easy! Too bad the Ao4 didn't have it so the doggies and their Mom could come too!

And then we're off!

We'll post some updates along the way. Nothing fancy. Just phoning a text message to Blogger. H.A. spent time trying to figure out how to post to Blogger from the green laptop computers. We might be able to post a picture from Kansas! We'll try!

We'll drive to the north side of Denver (which is in Colorado) to get to our I-70. Which we'll take until we get to Oakley (which is in Kansas).

The Army of Four's human guy will drive from Manhattan (the one in Kansas) to their I-70 and then to Salina (also in Kansas). He'll pick up Sinjin there and then drive some more to meet us in Oakley (which is still in Kansas).




main Colorado roads




main Kansas roads



→  →  →  →  →

We're on our way !



-- maps via Wikipedia

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More goings

Tucker:  Gremlin isn't really going to get much better. But all the medical stuff confuses me. So the Human Assistant will explain.


Gremlin Sweetie Pie! mr_ed:  Gremlin's back is bad, with damaged disks and fused vertebrae and bone spurs that may be poking into the spinal cord or nerves.

This seems a likely explanation for the loss of function in her back legs.  Her hips are fine.

She's getting some pain medicine now, but our veterinarian doesn't want to risk cortisone because she has bad urinary tract and bladder infections, and cortisone would interfere with healing that.

The infections will already be hard to get rid of due to her loss of mobility and any nerve damage that might affect bladder and bowel function.

When I don't notice that she's peed on herself and is lying there wet, the infections will get worse.

Also, her kidneys are going, and her liver isn't in real good shape. And she's somewhat anemic, which the doctor thinks is due to one of the other problems - kidney decline, maybe?


Tucker:  So Gremlin is just having Old Dog Stuff. (She's almost 14.) But she's walking again. A little anyway. When there's smelly food in the kitchen, she can get up on her own and walk through two rooms to get her share.

H.A. helps her get up about half the time. Then sometimes she'll walk to the kitchen to get a drink, hop down 3 steps to go outside and pee, and sometimes she'll come back inside without help, too. Other times she lies down outside and waits for H.A. to help her up again.

It's been colder than I like out on that ground! But if H.A. forgets Gremlin, she'll just stay out there and doesn't bark like she does when she's inside and wants something. He has to count noses to make sure we all get back inside. Boy does Lucy get annoyed when he accidentally shuts her out!

Anyway. That's what's up with Gremlin.


The Land of Oz! H.A. and the Ao4's human dad will bring Sinjin from Kansas on Monday.

They were all set to do it tomorrow. Which is Sunday.

But H.A. rented a van so he'd have room for two big crates.

He decided maybe Sinjin and I could get to know each other on the trip.

But tomorrow will be windy in Kansas. And the van is big and tall. Full-sized. And H.A. doesn't want us to get swept away to the Land of Oz!

So Monday it is! Unless H.A. chickens out again! He may have a looonnng trip with a couple of Grumpy Old Sibes!  Heh!

::koff koff::  Especially because my old new monia is acting up. But I'm trying to a good boy and not too grumpy!

I don't get treats when I'm grumpy!  ::Big Husky Grin::!

-- map of Oz from Wikipedia

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THE Christmastime home video

What makes a good holiday home video?

Nice trees?  ​Lots of pretty decorations?

Camera time with your family?

With your mom and the grown-up kids home to visit?

Your busy dad who has the weight of the world on his shoulders?

Playing on the floor with a Christmas decoration?  ​Running through the house with your sister?

Playing in the snow?  ​Your sister with snow on her face?

Ignoring a command?

Making your dad look silly when you run off?  ​One of his buddies making a dumb joke?  ​People he knows from work acting stiff for the camera?

Nice background music, not blaring?

Check out this home video!  ​It's 7 minutes and 19 seconds long.  ​So it will take a while to completely load.

Yes, the starting image while it's sitting here is strange. You can see what it really is around 3:37 to 3:43 into the video.



Or you can see it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shxz48hEFJ8.

Maybe you want to see it bigger.  ​Maybe the second time around so you can see more: http://www.youtube.com/v/Shxz48hEFJ8  ​(The quality isn't quite as good when it's bigger.)

You can also go to a page that has the video and the script.  ​Or download the video yourself.  ​(48 MB!)

Happy home-video howlidays for hounds!

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-- thanks to itchmo for spotting the video!
-- photo from Wikipedia

Things not what they seem

Blogster tried to say this was blog #200.

Nuh-uh. Couldn't be. It was counting the posts that got posted and the posts that didn't get posted.

I made the Human Assistant erase the drafts. So now this is #190. Unfortunately, #100 is now #99.  ☹

​ Turning now from draft blogs to draft dogs... some anniversaries!

Happy 96th of Amundsen reaching the South Pole!

It looked like he was going to explore the North Pole but he changed his mind.

It looked like Scott would make the South Pole and back, but he didn't.

Happy 49th of the Soviets reaching the South Pole of Inaccessibility!

It might seem hard to get to the real South Pole, but it's even harder to get to the SPoI.

Treshnikov's expedition also went to the South Geomagnetic Pole.

It might seem like this is the same as the South Magnetic Pole, but it's not.

Also ... happy 2nd of the Spanish Transantarctic Expedition reaching a slightly different SPoI.

Whew!

By the way, that first picture (see ↑ again) is a fake South Pole!

It's not completely fake. It's the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

You can get your picture taken there.

It might be a more convincing view than at the real South Pole.

Anyway.

We shoulda posted this earlier.

So everydoggy could spend the day celebrating!

But hopefully the humans will hand out treats anyway.

Happy expeditioning!

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-- all photos from Wikipedia

Lucky dog

I'm a lucky dog!

Especially since the Human Assistant is mad and didn't want to help me tonight.

Doubly especially since he's mad at himself and not me!  ::big Husky grin::

But I'm getting the sled in front of the team.

H.A. was thinking about going to MaxFund on Tuesday. That's because we went to a store called Wag N' Wash on Monday. So Gremlin and I went for a rare ride. And ... I got to go in!

So actually, I was lucky on Monday too!

Anyway, they gave us bags and bags and bags of dog food to take to MaxFund. They said it was expired. Dead? I don't know. But H.A. was happy to take it.

So he was thinking about going to the shelter on Tuesday. Then they called him.

Uh oh!

They called about one thing that wasn't important. Fund raising, I think.

Then they talked about something else. Ten baby puppies were coming in!

Not as young as the newborns in the picture. But only 17 days old!

They asked if he would foster some of them, and he said yes!

Oh wooooo!

Now, 17-day-old puppies would not be getting in my way - yet. But they would take attention away from me!

Plus, getting up every 25 minutes or whatever to feed them would make H.A. very sleepy. He forgets things when he's sleepy. I don't want him to forget to feed me!

I mean us. Gremlin and me. If he fed her and not me, of course I would eat her food. So that would be no problem. But if he forgot to feed both of us ... big problem!

Now, the H.A. did not sleep well Monday night. So he was forgetful Tuesday morning. He got to the shelter and didn't have his camera. This was a good thing! A lucky thing!

No camera meant not spending time taking each puppy's picture. And fixing each puppy's picture. And putting each puppy's picture here on the blog.

Not spending time on puppy pictures means not thinking about them. Which means not getting all mushy about how cute they are. And how helpless. And how much they need their Human Assistant.  Ptooie!

Of course it also means having more time to spend on me! So that was lucky thing number one for me.

Lucky thing number two was that their human mom only brought in six puppies instead of ten. At two puppies per foster home, that meant that MaxFund only needed three fosters. And four volunteered. So H.A. backed out. No baby puppies here!

Later in the day he realized that he did have his camera at MaxFund! It was in the car. He was too sleepy to remember - see what I mean?

So that's why he's mad at himself. Coulda had pictures. He says they really were cute puppies. Maybe one of the foster homes will take some.

While he was at the shelter, mr_ed also walked Medusa.

You may remember that I mentioned her last week.

Once again, H.A. stopped at the car to get his walking stick and glasses, and in jumped a dog!

I guess I'm lucky he didn't jump in too and bring her home.

One other lucky thing.

He took a long time getting home. That doesn't sound lucky, but....

He found out that the big dogs at MaxFund like a particular treat that I like too! So he bought three big boxes of it. He brought one of them into the house. The other two will go to the shelter.

Maybe today, he says. I sure hope I'm lucky and MaxFund doesn't call and ask him to foster somedoggy else!

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p.s. -- no word on dropping the blog yet.


-- photo of Medusa by Nicole Howard
-- photo of newborn puppies from Wikipedia

Endangered blog

African Wild Dogs are an endangered species.

Isn't this one cute? Maybe it's a puppy.

This blog is also endangered!

The Human Assistant doesn't want to help me with it anymore.

He says it's not worth his time. Never mind both of ours.

He's been reading stuff at Google by someone named Anna Littix. She watches everdoggy's Google blog and can tell you things about yours. Like, we get 10 visitors a day. Pretty much every day.

H.A. says this isn't very many visitors. I think he's jealous because I have more friends than he does!

But Anna also says that all of our visitors combined spend less than 11 minutes a day here. Maybe everydoggy's a speed reader! Or they read the blog on a reader site and don't come here.

I don't know how that works. But I think it means we could have a bazillion friends spending ninety-eleven hours a day reading the blog but Anna wouldn't know about it.

If you read the blog, please write a comment. Otherwise H.A. may find another way to spend his time. Like bringing home more foster dogs. That wouldn't be good!

Thank you!

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❅-☹-❅-☹-❅-☹-❅-☹-❅

-- photo of African Wild Dog from Wikipedia

Giving thanks

It's hard to even know where to start being thankful!

There are so many humans and animals who have to struggle just to live from day to day.

Timber was an old gal who lived here before I came.

She had been dumped in the hills.

But somebody caught her and brought her to town. The Human Assistant got her from the rescue group.

Timber didn't ask for much. In fact, she didn't ask for anything.

But she was grateful to be part of a pack that got food in their bowls.

Sometimes she would eat from somedoggy else's bowl, but Gremlin and Zot would let her.

For sure she lined up with them when it was time for treats! And she loved walks. Like we all do, of course. But the H.A. says she was very well-mannered. Never pulled on the leash! Can you imagine?

And when he took all of them out together, Timber picked a spot beside Gremlin and would walk right there. Until Gremlin would head to one side or the other to sniff things. Timber kept going straight ahead. But when Gremlin got back in line, Timber lined up with her again.

H.A. says it made him sad to think of such a pack-loving sweetie being out on her own, all alone.

He is thankful for the basics. We're so lucky to have food and a home! Then he is very, very grateful for his family and friends. Some have four legs, but some have only two.

He took this picture of his family about 12 years ago.

Mutzger and Gremlin were buddies, sorta.

They did like grooming each other.

It looks like Mutzger doesn't want her ear licked, but actually she loved the attention.

And she loved giving it back to Gremlin. Who is the one with touchy ears she didn't really want licked.

As for me ... I am grateful for cars and clothes and collars and leashes.

If H.A. didn't have those things, he would stay in the house all the time! And I would never be able to get out and see the world!

And we would run out of food and treats! That would be terrible!

I'm thankful that humans think Siberian Huskies are handsome and beautiful.

[Especially fluffy Meeshka. Whose picture is on Wikipedia. Which Amber noticed!]

And that hardly anyone thinks I'm a wolf.

So people are nice to me.

And I almost never hear that I can't be a Sibe because I'm red instead of black or gray. ::SNORT!::

I mean, shouldn't an "Irish coat" be red? How many leprechauns have you seen with black hair? Heh.

Anyway. I hope you all are having a good day! A good Thanksgiving holiday if you're in the U.S. A very good other kind of day if it's not an official holiday where you are!

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-- photo of bi-eyed, red Siberian Husky our friend Meeshka from Wikipedia Penny Blankenship's flickr page via Wikipedia

-- edited 23/11/07 to credit Penny Blankenship for Meeshka's photo

Al-Can Highway Day!

Okay, this is a little late in the day. But on November 21 we can celebrate the Alaska-​Canadian Highway being finished - 45 years ago!

Al-Can Highway map	Porsche Cayenne SUV

Not that the highway was completely finished on November 21.

I mean, there was a through road by October 28. But it was a "pioneer road," says that Wikipedia article. You wouldn't have wanted to drive your $90,000 Porsche SUV over it, probably.

If you had one then.

(But it would have cost less than 1/10th as much back then​¹. So why not?)

Anyway. There was a road of sorts on November 21. It cost a lot of hard work and even a few deaths. It's been improved over the years so that now it's almost an Arctic Autobahn.

Someday maybe the Human Assistant will say "Tucker! Ride?" And we'll head North to Alaska!

Alaska-Canada Highway ~ It's a long way to Tipperary ~	Dartmouth Avenue looking west Where's the mountains?

Al-Can Highway ... Dartmouth Avenue. Some subtle differences.  

For example, one is in Denver, the other one isn't. The Human Assistant can take pictures of one of them without even going outside, the other one he can't.

So this is just to show you how much snow we got last night. Not much. But every little bit gives the suburban farmers more water for next year's crop.

Not the snow that falls here. That water will be used and gone by then. No, the snow in the mountains. It builds up over the winter. Skiers get drunk and barf in it. Wild animals do their thing in it.

And next spring it will melt. Everyone who drinks water from surface sources (like, about a million and a half people in this area) has it flow into their sinks.

And people wonder why dogs aren't very choosy about what goes in our mouths!  ::BIG Husky Grin:: !

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​¹  inflation estimates:

$8748 using Gross Domestic Product data for 1942 and 2007 (estimated);

$7740 using Consumer Price Index for 1942 and 2004 (latest figure available);

$6414.80 using Consumer Price Index for 1942 and 2006 (latest figure available);

-- photo of Porsche Cayenne, and map & photo of the Al-Can Highway, from Wikipedia

Dogs in the news

The Human Assistant didn't feel like being responsible today. So he went to Google News and just typed in "dogs." I picked out some stories.

Maybe next Halloween you can be an African Wild Dog! They are cousins of ours that are endangered. H.A. found an article about a rescue program.


Or you may want to dress like a Capuchin monkey. That will really fool people!

Except in North Carolina. Apparently people there think that monkeys are dogs. So you wouldn't fool anybody.

But a woman is trying to change people's opinions. Maybe next year people won't think that monkeys are dogs. She also warns that

[T]his monkey poses a health threat when given access to the public, as depicted in this picture. Monkeys can inflict serious bites and other injuries, and can carry diseases that are transmittable to humans.

And dogs don't do that!


But if you decide to inflict a bite, don't go to New South Wales (Australia) to do it. They will take your DNA away from you. (How do they do that?) And then they check it with any you left on your victim.

Your humans might have to pay $55,000 in Australian money ($49,000 in U.S. money). Or they might have to live in a kennel for two years!


Have you ever heard of dogsledding? In the lower 48?

Think dog-sledding, and the image that comes to mind is Alaska or the Yukon Territory, the Iditarod race, and cold, rugged conditions.

The Hartford, Connecticut, newspaper ran an article saying that it goes on right there in New England!!!


Finally, a Colorado group is rescuing dogs from puppy mills. They "invaded" Missouri last month. With help from a Denver TV station.

That's all for now!

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-- fist four images from Wikipedia -- photo of puppy-mill dog from Mill Dog Rescue Network

PREY:\>

What is a DOS?

My Human Assistant says about a hundred years ago personal computers didn't have disk drives. (Neither did canine-al computers.)

When computers evolved to have disk drives, their operating system had to evolve to become a Disk Operating System or DOS.

Long, long before THAT there were wolves.  Which had Wolf Operating Systems!  They evolved into the dog.  And we have a Dog Operating System.  The original DOS!

Model 100 no DOS	OLPC(​1) has DOS	Wolf has WOS	Sibe has DOS

Lately, some computers come with no disk drive! But they still have to have a disk operating system because you can plug in disk drives. When you don't want the drive, you unplug it.

Dog Operating Systems do not work that way.  We have prey drives, and you can't unplug them!  Well, we are wolves after all. Especially us Siberian Huskies!  ::Big Husky Grin::

It doesn't occur to some people that handsome, fluffy dogs like us still like to chase other animals. And catch them. And ... play with them, maybe. After all, we are not from the "mighty hunting group" known as hounds. So why would we have a prey drive, right?  Wrong!

Irish Wolfhound	Dachshund

Do dogs with floppy ears have floppy drives? Maybe as an add-on feature for their DOS. Heh.

Okay, we may like to harass little dogs.

"Yappetizers," as some of our more cruel humans call them.  ::Big Husky Grin::

But this picture was obviously posted by a cat-lover!

Someone who loves cats who want to get revenge!

Well, dogs chase cats. It's part of nature. It's our ... all together now ... prey drive!

Zim, do you see what happens when you don't chase cats?

When they aren't put in their place?

They start thinking they can push dogs around! They take our jobs!!!

Here are pictures to help get your fighting spirit going! We must scare cats! Chase them into small spaces! And otherwise abuse them!



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​¹ The OLPC project started out as The $100 Computer. Now it's One Laptop Per Child. And it costs more like $200 now that you can get one.

And you can get one for a very short time - just until November 26! Which you can do by donating one to a child in a developing country.

They look like toys but have some very advanced features. This looks like a worthy project to me and the H.A.  Please check it out!

-- photo of Model 100 from Club 100
-- photo of OLPC computer from One Laptop Per Child
-- photos of wolf and dogs (except Chihuahua) from Wikipedia
-- loldog and lolcats from I Can Has Cheezburger?