One of my favorites, The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, is being made into a television series called Legend of the Seeker. Guess which market it hasn't picked it up? Yep, Greenville. Charlotte has it, Myrtle Beach has it, Columbia has it...but not Greenville. Figures, huh? From what I've seen on the internet and iTunes I'm not sure that I'm going to like it, but I'd like to at least have the chance to see it.
Ah well, how many days till Twilight comes out?
29 October 2008
28 October 2008
To Those Who CLEARLY Know Better Than I...
Okay, I know that I'm just biased or cranky or cold or something, but I think we have an exceptional crowd of Know-It-All's and Animal-Rights-Gone-Wrongers this year at the festival. I've been told that my dogs are too thin. I've been told that they were hit and abused while racing. I've been told that they don't live well with cats. I've been told that I need to cut their toenails.
Only one of those statements is true, and Mills will tell you it isn't the cat one! Jeany's nails are a bit long. So to all those people who leave the "Dog House" or "Hound Barn," as it has been nicknamed, thinking that the lady in the gray/blue/orange dress is starving her hounds and probably is in league with Satan because she is...gasp...a FAN of greyhound racing...
Ummm...
Errr...
Yeah, can't even come up with anything. All I can think of is how I wouldn't go up to another adoption group for a different breed, one with whom I've never lived, and start quoting propaganda and scare-tactic-speech that I've gotten from an internet site containing 20 year old statistics. I'm also not sure about those people who need to tell me about all the umpteenthirty animals they have rescued over the years. Does it truly make you feel better or warm your heart to have "saved" an animal (which, by the way, in case you're keeping score, does NOT make you the same as me because the only one of my animals that was "saved" was Mills, who was adopted from the shelter...) OR do you do it so people will tut-tut What A Wonderful Human Being You Are and praise you as a martyr? I was discussing this with S on the phone and I think they remind me of the Pharisees. Shouldn't we be doing our work to make the world better and just keeping quiet about it? Actions speak louder than words, etc etc?
I know, harsh words, but seriously...it is on my mind. I don't tell people automatically that I adopted my dogs after they retired from racing. I just say they are greyhounds. I don't tell people that I serve as a selfless mediator between people of two cultures and languages that can't understand each other in the interest of bringing our big world a bit closer together, either. I just say I am an interpreter.
If you're hung up on the saving bit though...my animals are the heroes, not me. They've saved my life more times than I can count.
Only one of those statements is true, and Mills will tell you it isn't the cat one! Jeany's nails are a bit long. So to all those people who leave the "Dog House" or "Hound Barn," as it has been nicknamed, thinking that the lady in the gray/blue/orange dress is starving her hounds and probably is in league with Satan because she is...gasp...a FAN of greyhound racing...
Ummm...
Errr...
Yeah, can't even come up with anything. All I can think of is how I wouldn't go up to another adoption group for a different breed, one with whom I've never lived, and start quoting propaganda and scare-tactic-speech that I've gotten from an internet site containing 20 year old statistics. I'm also not sure about those people who need to tell me about all the umpteenthirty animals they have rescued over the years. Does it truly make you feel better or warm your heart to have "saved" an animal (which, by the way, in case you're keeping score, does NOT make you the same as me because the only one of my animals that was "saved" was Mills, who was adopted from the shelter...) OR do you do it so people will tut-tut What A Wonderful Human Being You Are and praise you as a martyr? I was discussing this with S on the phone and I think they remind me of the Pharisees. Shouldn't we be doing our work to make the world better and just keeping quiet about it? Actions speak louder than words, etc etc?
I know, harsh words, but seriously...it is on my mind. I don't tell people automatically that I adopted my dogs after they retired from racing. I just say they are greyhounds. I don't tell people that I serve as a selfless mediator between people of two cultures and languages that can't understand each other in the interest of bringing our big world a bit closer together, either. I just say I am an interpreter.
If you're hung up on the saving bit though...my animals are the heroes, not me. They've saved my life more times than I can count.
24 October 2008
Dropkick Murphys - Amazing Grace (LIVE)
As I'm getting myself psyched up to do my favorite weekend at the Carolina Renaissance Festival (Halloween Weekend), I'm listening to all my "celtic" music in my iTunes...and wanted to share one with you. All my Glisson buddies take note...can you imagine getting the chapel to look like the audience?
PS-if you're at work, you might turn your speakers down. If you're at home, turn them up and sing along!!
15 October 2008
08 October 2008
A Straight Answer, Sorta...
I've been wondering how McCain is going to fund this $5k health care credit that he and Palin keep bringing up. I've been listening too, and not once have they said where the money is going to come from that will be given out as a "credit." Atlanta's NBC affiliate seems to have found the answer...(bold text is my addition)
Thanks to Liz for the article listed in her "What I'm Reading At This Very Minute" feed. Click on the link in the title of this post for more.
In fact, McCain's plan would tax health care benefits people receive from employers in order to finance the $5,000 tax credit. Obama's ads argue the new tax would raise the cost of insurance for employers, forcing millions off the rolls.Socialized medicine, anyone?
Thanks to Liz for the article listed in her "What I'm Reading At This Very Minute" feed. Click on the link in the title of this post for more.
07 October 2008
Schooled, Biden Style!!
Thanks again, Ben..."From an early age two of my greatest loves were Jews and Cuban Food."
06 October 2008
FESTIVAL! Weekend One
Every year I work the Carolina Renaissance Festival with the Hounds of East Fairhaven, and this past weekend was the opening of the season. I took all three dogs, but only Daisy went both days. H and J stayed at a friend's house Saturday.
H and J did very well. We have an xpen this year in a room off the back of our building, and several times I put the Diva back there to rest while H snoozed on the beds out front. Seems his proin is now in the right dose because we had (knock on wood) ZERO accidents yesterday!
Daisy, on the other hand, had a bit of a rough weekend, and she may have secured a permanent place in the xpen. We have two dog beds that are really those one person futon cushion things...you know, that fold up into a chair looking thing without a frame? Anyway, they are the Beds Of Choice and Much Coveted. Daisy finally got her shot at one Saturday afternoon, and was lounging there when an ITTY BITTY kid came up to see her. Kid pats her head and touches her nose...no problem. Kid grabs her nose and kisses it...still no problem. Kid grabs nose a second time to kiss her again and Daisy showed her teeth at the same time that I felt a growl come up the leash. I pulled her up and took her out back for a Time Out.
Now, Daisy has NEVER shown that kind of reaction to anyone, big or little. I took her back in and she got back on that same bed. Another kid came to visit, looked her in the eye, and she did the exact same thing again. At the time I chalked it up to her being tired and feeling threatened by the kid looking her in the eye (and the first one grabbing her nose) and she stayed on her feet and close to me for the rest of the day.
On Sunday, she immediately ran to the big bed again and at the time I didn't think anything of it. I was sitting on a bench next to her when a little boy came over to pet her. He kept moving his head around to look her in the eye and about the time I said "Don't get right in her face sweetie" Daisy's teeth came out again with the same grumble that I could feel vibrating up the leash. This time Miss Thing got the xpen with Jeany for about an hour while I walked around with my Big Man and tried to figure out what had happened.
The conclusion I came to is this: it's the dog bed. That bed is more like a couch than a bed and I think that being on it elevated her status, in her own mind. She reacted as any dog who felt him/herself to be of higher status would to a perceived threat, IE the children looking her in the eye. I could beat myself up and say that I should have been more vigilant, but the truth is that Daisy is the low dog on the totem pole in our pack and I would never have thought to watch for that kind of behavior from her. After her time out, I got her back out but didn't let her on that dog bed again until the very end of the day when most of the patrons were gone.
No more growlies. I'm not anthropomorphizing that fact to say that she "learned her lesson" from sitting in the xpen. We all know that the truth is she'd forgotten the growl by the time she got to the xpen. However, I think that keeping her off the Big Bed was key.
H and J did very well. We have an xpen this year in a room off the back of our building, and several times I put the Diva back there to rest while H snoozed on the beds out front. Seems his proin is now in the right dose because we had (knock on wood) ZERO accidents yesterday!
Daisy, on the other hand, had a bit of a rough weekend, and she may have secured a permanent place in the xpen. We have two dog beds that are really those one person futon cushion things...you know, that fold up into a chair looking thing without a frame? Anyway, they are the Beds Of Choice and Much Coveted. Daisy finally got her shot at one Saturday afternoon, and was lounging there when an ITTY BITTY kid came up to see her. Kid pats her head and touches her nose...no problem. Kid grabs her nose and kisses it...still no problem. Kid grabs nose a second time to kiss her again and Daisy showed her teeth at the same time that I felt a growl come up the leash. I pulled her up and took her out back for a Time Out.
Now, Daisy has NEVER shown that kind of reaction to anyone, big or little. I took her back in and she got back on that same bed. Another kid came to visit, looked her in the eye, and she did the exact same thing again. At the time I chalked it up to her being tired and feeling threatened by the kid looking her in the eye (and the first one grabbing her nose) and she stayed on her feet and close to me for the rest of the day.
On Sunday, she immediately ran to the big bed again and at the time I didn't think anything of it. I was sitting on a bench next to her when a little boy came over to pet her. He kept moving his head around to look her in the eye and about the time I said "Don't get right in her face sweetie" Daisy's teeth came out again with the same grumble that I could feel vibrating up the leash. This time Miss Thing got the xpen with Jeany for about an hour while I walked around with my Big Man and tried to figure out what had happened.
The conclusion I came to is this: it's the dog bed. That bed is more like a couch than a bed and I think that being on it elevated her status, in her own mind. She reacted as any dog who felt him/herself to be of higher status would to a perceived threat, IE the children looking her in the eye. I could beat myself up and say that I should have been more vigilant, but the truth is that Daisy is the low dog on the totem pole in our pack and I would never have thought to watch for that kind of behavior from her. After her time out, I got her back out but didn't let her on that dog bed again until the very end of the day when most of the patrons were gone.
No more growlies. I'm not anthropomorphizing that fact to say that she "learned her lesson" from sitting in the xpen. We all know that the truth is she'd forgotten the growl by the time she got to the xpen. However, I think that keeping her off the Big Bed was key.
02 October 2008
01 October 2008
This time it wasn't insomnia...
Last night I was up reading. Reading. For four hours straight.
I haven't had a book touch me enough or inspire me in that way since I finished the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, and even the last two books of that series didn't hold me rapt like what I was reading last night.
I'm sure those in the know (and I KNOW that Julie over at Seven Impossible Things has) have already read this series when it first came out. I avoided it because it was Young Adult Literature...I never could get into the Harry Potter books and thought that was the cause.
I now think it's because HP wasn't dark enough for me...but I digress. Last night I was up reading New Moon...almost 500 pages in one sitting. I can't say enough good things about it...and I'm going to get the next one in the series, Eclipse, today. (If you're interested in the first book, Twilight, click on this post title for the link.)
I haven't had a book touch me enough or inspire me in that way since I finished the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, and even the last two books of that series didn't hold me rapt like what I was reading last night.
I'm sure those in the know (and I KNOW that Julie over at Seven Impossible Things has) have already read this series when it first came out. I avoided it because it was Young Adult Literature...I never could get into the Harry Potter books and thought that was the cause.
I now think it's because HP wasn't dark enough for me...but I digress. Last night I was up reading New Moon...almost 500 pages in one sitting. I can't say enough good things about it...and I'm going to get the next one in the series, Eclipse, today. (If you're interested in the first book, Twilight, click on this post title for the link.)
30 September 2008
Nancy 1, Insomnia 0
With a little help from a LONG day in the car and my friend tylenol...seven hours of sleep! I know, not really front page news...but for those two or three people still reading the Lettuce...I'm excited!
29 September 2008
In case my last post wasn't clear...
I'm still awake...something about finding no less than TEN flies in one's house and needing them to be DEAD made me a little more awake than I should have been come bed time...
See if you can tell which one is the real thing...
No fair cheating by looking at the opening thumbnails...
Seriously, how scary is it that Tina Fey not only LOOKS just like Sarah Palin, but can sound just like her? Or that Sarah Palin actually said that she watched Tina Fey "with the volume turned down and it was hilarious!"
Or...that she really said what Tina said about a "maritime border between Alaska and Russia..." Also known as one tenet of her foreign policy experience.
A heartbeat away, y'all.
See if you can tell which one is the real thing...
No fair cheating by looking at the opening thumbnails...
Seriously, how scary is it that Tina Fey not only LOOKS just like Sarah Palin, but can sound just like her? Or that Sarah Palin actually said that she watched Tina Fey "with the volume turned down and it was hilarious!"
Or...that she really said what Tina said about a "maritime border between Alaska and Russia..." Also known as one tenet of her foreign policy experience.
A heartbeat away, y'all.
28 September 2008
Sunday Funny
Now, normally I don't care for "pet speak." I see it all over my greyhound message boards, from people trying to imitate how their dogs (and cats) would type if they could. Grammatical errors abound, spelling is horrible...and often you have to attempt to read the "message" out loud in order to get a clue as to the meaning (sometimes even THAT doesn't work). To me, it's degrading to our animals that I believe to be very intelligent. If they could speak English I don't think it would look like that. It annoys me to the point that I don't read posts at all from the people that "speak" that way for their dogs...too much work.
However...this is just plain funny, considering that I just watched the interview in question (well, a part of it anyway) this week. Seriously...you can't make this stuff up.
For more animals with English issues (but sound political statements nonetheless), click on the link in this post's title or on YES WE CAN HAS in my blog roll. Funny, funny stuff.
However...this is just plain funny, considering that I just watched the interview in question (well, a part of it anyway) this week. Seriously...you can't make this stuff up.
For more animals with English issues (but sound political statements nonetheless), click on the link in this post's title or on YES WE CAN HAS in my blog roll. Funny, funny stuff.
25 September 2008
What Dreams had better NOT Come...
For the past couple of nights I've had either bad or jarring dreams, the kind where you wake up suddenly and either don't know where you are or are not sure that whateveritwas was a dream. Last night was the worst to date.
I dreamed that my adoption group came to repossess, so to speak, Hunky. The reason given was that I'd signed a contract that basically promised I would put his well being first and do nothing that might cause him harm, and they felt that my taking him to the UK was dangerous for him. So, feeling justified and strangely enough with a lawyer in tow, they showed up at my door and dragged my heart-dog out my front door, leaving me sobbing on the floor in the stairwell.
The dream went on in snippets, with me trying to figure out where they were keeping him and eventually begging to see him. I was told no, that he would adjust better to life without me if I never saw him again. I woke up, interestingly enough not in the tears I had streaming down my face in my dream, but resolved to get on my email and let the adoption group know that I was coming to get my Hunky.
Weird, huh? I'll tell you this, though, I have NEVER been so glad to be awakened by my old man standing up and turning around on his dog bed. Never.
I dreamed that my adoption group came to repossess, so to speak, Hunky. The reason given was that I'd signed a contract that basically promised I would put his well being first and do nothing that might cause him harm, and they felt that my taking him to the UK was dangerous for him. So, feeling justified and strangely enough with a lawyer in tow, they showed up at my door and dragged my heart-dog out my front door, leaving me sobbing on the floor in the stairwell.
The dream went on in snippets, with me trying to figure out where they were keeping him and eventually begging to see him. I was told no, that he would adjust better to life without me if I never saw him again. I woke up, interestingly enough not in the tears I had streaming down my face in my dream, but resolved to get on my email and let the adoption group know that I was coming to get my Hunky.
Weird, huh? I'll tell you this, though, I have NEVER been so glad to be awakened by my old man standing up and turning around on his dog bed. Never.
21 September 2008
Bye Bye, Beach
We had SUCH a good time. I really needed this weekend. I think I can return to work tomorrow, attitude much improved and jet lag definitely all gone. Ta very much and love love love to Leah and Janet for a fantastic time...and much love to "my" boys, Nee Nee and Bern. How long till Sandy Paws??
19 September 2008
Beachbound Hounds
Well, we made it.
We set out yesterday at 11:30ish with the intention of picking up my friend Janet at the Myrtle Beach Airport at about 4pm. Along the way we slept, fussed, slept and slept...well, H and J did, Mommy was driving.
Somewhere past Florence I found a gas station that was selling unleaded for under $4 per gallon...and it had a sign on each of of the pumps stating that customers needed to limit their transactions to 10 gallons per fill-up because of the severe gas shortage affecting the Southeastern US.
Huh?
After putting 10.01 gallons in my car, we headed on toward Myrtle Beach. Jimmy Buffett on the MP3, dogs blissfully sleeping in the back...and the traffic screeched to a halt. Dead halt. Stopped. Car in PARK.
Turns out there was an accident up ahead...so I rang up Leah and she headed over to get Janet at the airport. Finally, after a 20 minute wait, we headed on down to the beach.
So far I haven't even made it to check in with BBH staff, only into the hotel. Jeany isn't happy about the non carpeted floors in the room, but she's managing.
Best part so far? I have my Daisy Mae Mae Psycho Puppy Girl back with me.
We set out yesterday at 11:30ish with the intention of picking up my friend Janet at the Myrtle Beach Airport at about 4pm. Along the way we slept, fussed, slept and slept...well, H and J did, Mommy was driving.
Somewhere past Florence I found a gas station that was selling unleaded for under $4 per gallon...and it had a sign on each of of the pumps stating that customers needed to limit their transactions to 10 gallons per fill-up because of the severe gas shortage affecting the Southeastern US.
Huh?
After putting 10.01 gallons in my car, we headed on toward Myrtle Beach. Jimmy Buffett on the MP3, dogs blissfully sleeping in the back...and the traffic screeched to a halt. Dead halt. Stopped. Car in PARK.
Turns out there was an accident up ahead...so I rang up Leah and she headed over to get Janet at the airport. Finally, after a 20 minute wait, we headed on down to the beach.
So far I haven't even made it to check in with BBH staff, only into the hotel. Jeany isn't happy about the non carpeted floors in the room, but she's managing.
Best part so far? I have my Daisy Mae Mae Psycho Puppy Girl back with me.
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