Seaside but still docked...

An update:

I'm now homeless, traveling between friends' sofas in Atlanta, Birmingham, and south Alabama (actually that's my mom's sofa). But it's not as bad as it seems.

My best girl Keely came down to Mexico City at the end of June, and we loaded up the car and drove all the way back to the U.S. The dogs were along, of course, but they were drugged most of the time. The trip was remarkably incident-free, except for being stopped by Mexican police twice in the same day.

Since getting back, I have accomplished several feats:

1. I've gotten a job in Atlanta. I'll be a media specialist at Centennial High School. It's pretty exciting, I know. Who knew it would be so easy? I spent months and months worried about it, then when it came down to it, I had to decide between THREE schools that wanted me. So yes, Sandra, your letter helped!

2. The dogs have been accepted to doggie-day care. I'm not sure it was very competitive entrance exam, but I did get a cute report card for both on their first day. Both got gold stars. So now they'll have something to do when I start working.

3. I also found a house to rent. It has two bedrooms, a yard and a back deck. If you are familiar with Atlanta, it's in Home Park. About halfway between Atlantic Station and Georgia Tech. It's an old neighborhood of little bungalows, and each day there is a parade of youthful Tech students walking/biking to class (yay). I can also walk to the Ikea, Target, and dog park at Atlantic Station. Here's a photo of the deck:















I can't move in to the house until the 1st of August, which is roughly when I start work. So for the next couple of weeks, I'm homeless and jobless. But only temporarily.

Speaking the name of D-O-G out loud...

Okay, yes I know I promised not to be dlogger, but they are exceptionally cute today. I think of it more as a photography exhibition . It's art, not a crazy dog man.

By Popular Demand...

In an informal poll, a full one-third of my loyal readers have asked for a video of the pups (that's you Jenny). I've said that I didn't want to be a full-time dog blogger (dogger?), but with this kind of public response, what can I do? I have to keep the fan happy!



In this video, you can see some of the typical wrastlin' they do. Samson may seem to have the upper hand because of his size, but Lila gives back pretty good. She is also faster and more agile (not to mention more clever and, well, bitchy), so once she gets on her feet, the race is on. The end of the video catches just the beginning of what I like to call the Basenji 500. They'll do laps and laps at top speed.

And yes, we are on the roof, but they are not typical Mexican roof dogs. a) they get to come down. b) they are never there alone, and c) they also go other places. You'll notice on the roof some of the garbage they prefer to expensive toys. They love, LOVE, the paint rollers, but the empty plant pot is also fun too. And no, that is not a pup tent (har har). It's a skylight covered with a shower curtain. My neighbors think it leaks. I reserve comment.

Other than dog stuff, everything in my life is pretty much the same. I've been spending a lot of time at home, partly because I have hermit tendencies, but also because the dogs can't go out much yet (vaccinations) and I feel guilty if I leave them alone too long. I only have a few more weeks until summer vacation (!). I'll be in Alabama and Atlanta for the month of July. I had thought about driving up with the dogs, but three days (and two nights in a hotel) with them might be more than I could stand. Probably not very much fun for them either. So Fernando is going to stay in my apartment for the month, and take care of the kids and I'll fly into Pensacola.

Other good news: when the kids turn four months old (on June 5th), they 'll be able to go to puppy kindergarten! This guy Miguel comes to your house three times a week while you're at work, picks them up and takes them to play with other pups the same age. I don't know if they do arts and crafts or music, but they do get to socialize with other dogs and learn some training basics (sit, stay, bring daddy a beer, etc.) That will be great! (P.S. I shouldn't refer to Miguel as 'this guy'. He's actually a professional dog trainer with lots of experience and references).

If you want to see all the dog pictures, you can look at my web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/the.matt.itat/Dogs

Well, there's been a change...

I don't want to be one of those crazy dog-bloggers, so this will be the last post about the puppies...unless of course they do something extraordinarily cute, pass a major developmental hurdle, or something else equally interesting to the general public. Right.

So, the latest news is that there has been a small change in the naming protocol. The girl pup is still Dalila (pronounced in the Spanish way, da-lee-la) often shortened to Lila (lee-la).

The boy pup has turned out to be at the top of the weight range for the breed, and is generally dumber, less aggressive (although cuter) than Lila. So, he has become Samson (English pronunciation, shortened to Sam).

So there they are Sam & Lila. Most people asked me why I didn't name him Samson as soon as they learned Dalila's name. I had no good answer, so I changed it.

Not that their names make much difference, they don't listen anyway. But now that they have their documents from the vet, it's official at least.

This week has been fun (lots of fun for them) and tiring (for all of us). I'm trying to get them on a schedule of sleepings, feedings and poopings, but of course they have different ideas. I'm still not walking them on the street because they haven't finished getting their vaccinations. Which makes the house training a little more fun.

But they're sweet, and cute, and it's been less than a week since they've come to live with me, so I suppose they'll keep learning, and things will get easier and easier.

Then the fun really begins...

Okay, we decided we should probably take a walk outside to see if anything happens. Jack is busy pulling the couch apart when we start to fashion some kind of leash to each of them.










As you can see, it was a little more complicated. Each one wanted to chew the rope of the other.












Sometimes they wanted to chew their own rope, and the other's rope at the same time.












And then the games truly began....Full Contact Rope Wrestling

Man-About-Town (and at home)

I had a great weekend, if I may rub it in a little. Saturday was nice, and sunny, and I had two delightful companions to keep me company. I was dog sitting for a friend/coworker while she went to Taxco for a day of shopping. They are two tiny little Chihuahuas: the white one is named Chicle, and the black one is named Lola. They have color-coded collars, with diamelles spelling their names. They were fun, but I was a bit embarrassed taking them to the park. Luckily I'm secure in my manhood to do that. I had to carry Lola in her dog-carrier (okay, it's a purse) because she gets nervous walking around cars, people, other dogs, trees, and just about anything else. But I have to say, if I had to worry about everything stepping on me, I'd be a little nervous too.

The doggies helped me paint as well, (which is more than I can say for my pal Jeff). They stepped in the paint and left little paw prints, but Jeff just sort of sat on the sofa. The hall was a boring white color, but since it is dark and long I had a long interior monologue about what color to paint it. This is the before picture. See, it's long and dark. But I decided to be bold, and paint it a gunmetal gray/blue color. I thought it would draw together the gray in the other rooms, the navy blue carpet, and the blue lamps and accessories that came with the apartment. Good plan, right?

So, I hiked myself down to the paint store, and took a good 40 minutes choosing just the perfect shade. The paint store guy thought that I could do it with two gallons (this, of course, after I explained to him that the hallway was smaller than the store, but bigger than a breadbox. Did I have any measurements, or any idea of how many square meters? NO!) So I bought three gallons just in case. You know, three gallons of paint don't seem so much when you carry them from Home Depot to your car in the parking lot. But after a few blocks walking, they got really heavy! I had to stop for a cappuccino on the way back.

But I made it, and with no help from Jeff, started to paint. I had originally planned to do the whole hallway, but one wall seemed sufficient to add color and interest. Plus I was tired of it.

But as I was painting it became clear (as it usually does), that the color I chose was not the color on the walls. I reserved judgment until the second coat, just to be fair, but then I ended up with this:

It's waaay more blue than I wanted. But, the wall looks much better not white, and I did a pretty good job of it, if I do say so myself. But what else could I do? Maybe later I'll get another gallon of a darker color and put it on top, but for now I'm done with painting.

And it only took 1/2 of a gallon! So if you like the color, let me know and I'll hook you up.

----------------
Now playing: Frank Sinatra - Send In The Clowns
via FoxyTunes