Dog Shaming...

The other day we were watching a craptacular Roger Corman chunk called 'Camel Spiders' on TV, mostly due to the fact that it was shot at the old abandoned ore processing plant at Owens Lake, in and around the Alabama Hills and several other sites (hello Ranch House Cafe!) along Highway 395 that we know.

During the movie the kid went and got a couple of her toys to entertain Dusty.

She was less than excited. Dog 'Meh'. So the kid upped the ante. This one at least earned a confused look.

And yes, my kid owns several giant insects, she loves them. No Barbies for her.

The expression here is mostly, 'Oh, is this a thing? Are we doing a thing? What the Hell is goin' on here, mom?'

...and then back to Dog 'Meh'.

In other news, Dusty managed to injure herself up under her tail, then chew the spot raw and would NOT leave the damned spot alone. Yeah, Cone Of Shame time.

Rather that a true cone which she no doubt would have used to knock everything off dog-level tables and destroy furniture, we went with a towel safely wrapped around her neck, it works very nicely to keep her from chewing her sore tail. She gets around, eats & drinks just fine with it, but is horribly embarassed by it.

Plus I got that 'Seriously...?' look out of her. Yup, 'fraid so Dusty, for now.

Fun With Ice!

OK...maybe not so fun. This is what the chicken run looks like every morning for the last couple of weeks. Note that Wiggles the gray mottled Belgian d'Uccle and Linc the Barred Rock are the only ones brave enough to come out of the coop yet. With Wiggles it's curiousity and with Linc it's the possibility of food. The others are grumpily encamped inside the coop where it's warmer.

I like the way the icicles connect to the roof.

Hey, it warmed UP for this picture!

It stays cold enough so that the ice and snow aren't melting yet. I also have a lovely glacier forming on my back porch.

#26 Acts...

So right after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I came across Ann Curry's Twitter, in which on December 16th she posted, "Imagine if all of us committed to 20 mitvahs/acts of kindness to honor each child lost in Newtown. I'm in. If you are RT #20Acts"

The response she had to her idea was explosive. The number has since been upped to #26Acts to include the teachers as well as the kids.

Her Twitter feed is now filled with people around the world--not just in the US--doing amazing, surprising, heartbreakingly kind things for complete strangers, all in memory of the teachers and children killed. I highly recommend reading her Twitter feed, it will restore your faith in humanity:
https://twitter.com/AnnCurry

If you want to participate in #26Acts on Twitter, do it! It's not too late, it's still going strong.

My own tiny contribution (slightly delayed due to my entire family, including me, coming down with a whacking great case of the flu) was to make 26 origami doves, placing special quotes on them, the tags on the back likewise have a special line denoting that they are in response to #26 Acts. Some are large, some are small, some have little origami bows on them...all are special to me. Here are a few:

I really hope they help to brighten someone's day, and just maybe inspire others to participate in Ann Curry's amazing idea. My plan is to take the entire flock of 26 doves somewhere and release them all on the same day.

Happy New Year!

I was putting away the Christmas stuff the other day and came upon Poof, our blind, elderly White Crested black Polish househen quietly sitting on these ornaments, bless her little maternal chicken-y heart.

She carefully scooted in amongst them and was trilling and clucking at them ever so softly...

Sorry Poof sweetie, I just don't think this particular clutch is ever gonna hatch.