The Second One is *Definitely* a Gate to a Portal World

Well, space rats, I had a nice ol' blog post all planned out for today, but to tell you the truth it was not a little grumbly and contained more than a dash of Get Off My Lawn. And after supper I took a lovely stroll around the neighborhood with the Blonde Wonder, who spotted rabbits and braved trotting past an old armchair left for bulk collection tomorrow and "heck?"ed at a bird chirping on a wire, and I smelled the clover that grows all along the side of the road and marveled at some flowers and appreciated some golden dappled evening light. And after all that, I'm just not very grumbly anymore. So I leave you with a handful of pictures from our walk and wish you peace.

Maybe I'll share the cane-shakey post another time, but for now I give you a semi-rural southeast Virginia evening in June:

Gratitude and Joy: Dog Helpers and Really Good Television

Gratitude and Joy: Day 16

I am grateful for:

Excellent Dog Services
We've had our golden retriever for just shy of a year and a half. It's been an adventure, trying to get her  trained to be a well-mannered dog and to help her be the healthiest she can be physically and emotionally. Along the way we've encountered truly excellent vets, dog trainers, and day care facilities. I think we are truly blessed to live somewhere with so many choices for dog things and to have access to such good ones. The day care facility we take Thursday to is especially wonderful. She loves playing with other dogs, and we are not in a position to get her a friend right now, so it is fabulous that we have a place we can take her near home where they love her like we do and where she can play most of the day. She's a happier dog because she gets to go there (and I'm a more productive human, because I can actually get stuff done at home while she's away), and our cat is a happier cat (she has *not* warmed to the dog) with a few hours of dog-free house in her day. As Thursday grows up, I imagine we'll scale back how often she goes to "school" (it's expensive, and it's nice to have the dog around during the day, of course), but for now, I'm so grateful that I found such a great place for her to socialize, exercise, and get tired.

I feel joy watching:

Good Television
I love watching really excellent television, especially on demand. Growing up I had my weekly TV shows I Did Not Miss, but once the shows I was watching at the end of high school finished up, I pretty much stopped watching regular TV. Sports, sure. The news sometimes. But as an adult I haven't been much of a regular TV watcher. Even the stuff I DVR often sits there for year before I get around to it. What I do do, is watch a lot of TV shows on streaming services. I like to get really wrapped up in a show and watch multiple seasons over the course of a couple of months rather than several years. And it seems like there is so much good TV out there these days, both from the cable networks and from the streaming services. I love a good story told through TV or film almost as much as I love a good book, and it seems like what's on offer just gets better and better. The shows making me happy most recently are The Crown, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Father Brown. 

Gratitude and Joy: Thursday and Ceehke

Gratitude and Joy: Day 4

I am grateful for:

Thursday:
Thursday is my golden retriever. She is a year and a half old, and she is made of equal parts adorable, twirl, and buttface miscreant. I can just about remember not having a dog as a kid, but only just. I was six when we got our first one. But when I moved out, I wasn't in a position to have a dog--apartment living and long, looong hours away from home in graduate school. I got a cat as soon as I thought I could manage one financially, and I adore her. But I missed having a dog. So once we got a house and got settled into it and got a proper fence in the back yard, the search for a doggo began. Thursday is work, I'll tell ya. She has all the energy. Have you been feeling run down lately? Mmmhmm, it's because my dog took all the energy for herself. And she wants all the attention, always. And, oh hey, did you know that a dog has to be taken outside to do its business where a cat just saunters off to its box and leaves you alone? But I wouldn't trade her for the world. My mom calls pets our "furry blessings." That couldn't be more true, and every evening when I get the dog settled for bed, I try to remind myself how grateful I am to have the Blonde Wonder in my life. 

I feel joyful watching:

This scene from episode fourteen of season two of All Creatures Great and Small
The set up! The unhurriedness of it all! The constant mooing and birdsong in the background! How serious they all are!

What are we DOING here?

I am waiting for a return phone call. And debating how soon is too soon to just call again.

I am reading Lindy West's Shrill. Well, in the sense that I have read some of it and I intend to read some more of it soon. I'm not actually reading it right now. The day I figure out how to read and write at the same time, man, watch out. I will be unstoppable. (You guys. Shrill is so good. Go find a copy and put your eyeballs in it.)

I am wondering if licking the refrigerator might hurt the dog (golden retriever, four and a half months), and if so, how much? Because while she's licking the fridge, she's not attacking my toes or asking to go out AGAIN or stalking the cat or climbing a bookcase (true story). This is the third time there has been a four-and-a-half-month-old dog in my life. I had forgotten the part about needing CONSTANT ATTENTION when they're not asleep. So. Licking the refrigerator. Probably fine. Right?

I am weighing my options for dinner. I'm probably going out in a bit. I could go to the store, get some pork chops, some applesauce, maybe a veg. Cook. I could do that. Or I could order pizza. I should make the pork chops. But. Cheese. Cheese is a miracle; melty cheese incandescently so. Cheese always wins.

I am regretting the decision to lounge in bed with a catalogue this morning so that I didn't have time to get a shower before the dog woke up. (It featured artificial Christmas trees that fold up into position like some Victorian lady's upside-down hoop skirts. What is this strange magic and is it a threat to the children?) So I'm still unwashed. It's 12:42 in the p.m., and I haven't bathed today. Livin' the good life.

I am trying to remember my password to the NBA app so I can make it tell me when the basketball starts. I have spent approximately 3,412 times more temporal units on this exercise than it would have taken me to Google "NBA Fall 2016 Schedule." But now it's personal.

I am starting a blog. Again. I am determined to stick with it. I will be erudite and poignant and on point. I am going to post book reviews and pop culture nonsense and maybe some junk about politics and stuff. I'm going to be eloquent as shit.

I am.