they're BAAAck...

in case you were wondering about the recent absence of nutria from this blog, they eventually grew up and migrated out from under our deck back to amazon creek. thank god! and we had a lovely, nutria-free late summer in which otis could run (on his run-rope--not able to let him run freely without a fence just yet) around the yard un-harmed, grace was not afraid to go outside, and i could hang out on the back deck enjoying the twilight and a beer without first having to scrape up rodent shit.

the first red flag came when the house started to smell like cat piss. since neither one of us is secretly operating a meth lab, we blamed it on gracie's old age. she's getting a bit geriatric these days. oh well, i guess maybe it's time for a litter box.

but then the compost pile i've been cultivating all summer started to look like someone had been in it. hmm...

and then this morning i walked outside to find half of my beautiful container garden (i've been growing rosemary, dill, parsley, chives, basil, oregano, and sage) KNOCKED OVER AND BROKEN, and a familiar little pile of oily, oval-shaped droppings on the deck stairs.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

marley (& otis) & me

i just got done reading marley & me (john grogan). ever since i got otis, dog people have been asking me if i'd read it yet, so i finally did. it's about this yellow lab, marley (who reminds me a lot of otis: jumps on people, freaks out and scratches up walls when left alone in the garage, dragged an entire cafe table out from under the people eating on it and halfway down the street), and his human family. it starts with marley as a fuzzy little puppy and ends up where you had better have a box of kleenex with you. it's well-written, and if you're a dog person i'd definitely recommend it (it would probably be pretty boring if you're not).

but the thing about it was, it was just so damn norman-rockwell-y! it simultaneously comforted me and grated on my nerves that, despite the true-to-life gory detail with which grogan described marley's "adventures," he never seemed to get truly furious at this dog! marley did some stuff that was way worse than otis would even think of (got kicked out of obedicence school, chewed up his metal crate until his teeth fell out and he was bleeding, then ran around the house smearing his doggie blood everywhere and destroying furniture), and yet it was written about in this 50's sitcom, "look at that! silly old marley..." kind of way that made me feel guilty about the times i've shouted at otis--not out of discipline but out of pure, blood-boiling frustration--until he cowered in the corner tucking his tail (please don't send Dog Protective Services to come take my puppy away!).

john grogan did write the book after marley's death, however, so i'm sure a good deal of nostalgia and "don't speak ill of the dead" played into his style. and he did talk about the time his wife was ready to take marley to the pound, so he doubled his efforts and got up at ass-o-clock every morning for a last-ditch marley-training-effort until marley was at least as "trained" as he was going to get. maybe he's just an incredibly patient, devoted man. or maybe having marley grew and strengthened those traits in him. i know otis has done that for us. i have said, on more than one occasion, "i'm taking him to the pound!" (though i never mean it). and matt has told me a few times "there is no peace around here! just OTIS!" but we talk each other down from our otis-hating ledges, and we ramp up (however temporarily) the efforts to make him a good dog. and i think having him around for the last year has cultivated our patience tremendously. and that patience has helped us deal more effectively with our jobs, with all the stupid shitty things that happen in life (like weekly flat tires on my commuter bike...), and with each other.

homesick

i've been having a pretty rough time this week. all the rushing around moving and getting married is done and i'm settling in, and it is suddenly really hitting me that i don't live in portland anymore. most of my friends and family (the ones who don't live really far away) are 2 hours north up I-5. and it's really FLAT here. i heard the other day that buildings are not allowed to be taller than 8 stories. i miss the skyline. i miss city lights reflecting off of the river. i miss how the shade of the buildings keeps downtown cool in the hot summer. i miss all the bridges with cars rushing over them in different directions. i miss the endless dining possibilities and all the different bars. i know i'm going to miss the hell out of the christmas tree in pioneer courthouse square this winter.

what i really miss is my friends. i know you guys are still my friends, so i don't feel a total loss, but it is really hard not to be able to just call someone and say "let's go get a beer at widmer after work," or "let's go on a bike ride," or "come hang out with me on my back patio." now it has to be an entire day--if not overnight--planned trip complete with dog-care arrangements if i want to hang out.

i do not regret moving here. i very much support matt and this ninkasi thing (plus there's a good possibility it could make us rich!). and there are so many things i love about this town, like the bike paths, the vegetable gardens in everyone's front yards, the very cool down-to-earth people i'm meeting, and the general way of life. it's just another life transition, and sometimes those are tough.

i know a lot of you guys have, at some point in your lives, packed up and moved away to a new city for whatever reason. anyone have any advice for me?

6 am, pukey dog

i woke up half an hour ago to the sound of otis vomiting right next to my head. then he went around the bed to matt's side and vomited there. matt was already up cleaning the dog puke when i came to full consciousness (it takes me a while). he said, as otis started puking a third time, "why don't you take your dog outside. you wanted to get up at 6:30 anyway." ugh.

we're in the phase in our lives right now where we need to make a very important decision fairly quickly: are we going to have children? i go back and forth on that issue several times a day. this morning i was definitely thinking "no way." not if it means no one ever gets anymore sleep and we're always grouchy with one another. but then when i took otis outside i noticed it had just rained, and that it smelled like almost-fall (one of my favorite smells), and that if i take otis on a long walk east i get to see the sunrise, and i thought "ok, morning is good." and then otis put his little fuzzy head on my lap as i turned on my computer and said with his puppy-eyes "mama, i don't feel good," and it felt good to snuggle him. so who knows?

i'm going to go take pukey mcpukerson outside and watch the sunrise. :)

mycrack

i am thoroughly addicted to myspace. i had a myspace page a long time ago, but i took it down once i realized all the 13 year old girls on my caseload--and several of their mothers--also had myspace pages and i didn't want them to find me out in cyberspace, see all my friends, and know too much about my personal life. since then, all kinds of my friends have gotten on myspace and i have been assured that i can set my profile to private (which i haven't yet figured out how to do) so that only my friends can "see" me. i started up my account again yesterday and played with it for HOURS. i even got up early this morning so i could play with it some more before i had to go to work. i LOVE myspace. now i know why so many teenagers are fat and blind--it's easy to get to where all you do is sit on your butt and stare at the screen! i need to go to Myspace Anonymous meetings or something. i've even got my DOG signed up for his own page (on dogster.com). this can turn into a serious obsession...

who'd have guessed that the internet they had when i was in high school (pretty much nonexistent, and only for serious nerds, geniuses, and rich adults--i had no idea how to use it) would turn into what it has, huh?

honey MOON!

i'm back from my wedding and the four subsequent days relaxing at edgefield. it's kind of hard to pay attention to work (as you can see by the fact that i'm posting a blog at 2 pm). the wedding and reception themselves were gorgeous and everything that i wanted them to be. except for long enough. i'm sure they were long enough for the other people who participated, but i felt like they day went by in a big, happy blur and i didn't get to sit down and spend enough time with everyone who was there as much as i would have liked.

after the reception we went to and then got kicked very politely out of tp and as's room and downstairs into the pool hall. one poor guest had fallen asleep/passed out at one of the tables and all of a sudden, right when someone was saying "it's called a honeymoon because it's sweet and you get to see each other's butts," i looked over and there was a full moon in the form of jk's butt getting it's picture taken next to the sleeping c.

the rest of the week was so nice. we stayed out at edgefield for three more days. it rained on monday, so we stayed in, did honeymoon things (wink wink), watched oceans 13 in the theater there, sat on the porch with a bottle of champagne and played cards, etc. tuesday we tried to play golf on edgefield's 17-hole golf course. we sucked. i kept trying to hit the ball and ending up swinging at air or tearing up the grass instead. we both lost several balls to the blackberry bushes. we got frustrated and gave up to go get a beer about half way through. then we went wine tasting in the little winery where matt proposed a year and a half ago. we had breakfast every morning and dinner tuesday night at the black rabbit restaurant, which has amazing 5-star food and is nothing like a mcmenamin's pub. we ate more meat and drank more wine than we have all year--i'm sure i've gained back the 13 pounds i lost for the wedding! on tuesday night there was an irish band playing in the garden outside the little red shed. it was so perfect. wednesday morning, we got up and got our dog (who had made friends with an adorable little 6 month old border collie, and who also was returned to us with a piece of tape over his id tag saying that his name was "satan" and that his phone number was "666-6666"...), and headed back to normal life.

thank you everyone who was able to come celebrate with us--you made it the beautiful day and great time that it was. :)

try milk thistle...it really works!

i had my first "annual" physical in three years last week and apparently i'm very healthy! my good cholesterol (hdl) is way high, my bad cholesterol (ldl) is quite low, and my overall cholesterol and cholesterol/hdl ratio are both remarkably good. all my blood cell counts are normal, and apparently my thyroid, kidneys, and liver all function very efficiently. my doctor actually hand-wrote "excellent" on my copy of my lab results that i got in the mail. matt recently has his blood work done too and his results were just like mine. now, the reason i'm telling you all this is not just to disclose too much personal information, but because, by all rights, neither of our livers should be anywhere near the well-oiled machines that they both apparently are, and i credit milk thistle. as long as i've known matt, he's taken this obscure supplement. he told me, and several other people have since, that many brewers take milk thistle because it supports and enhances liver functioning, and brewers tend to drink a lot of beer. having similar tendencies myself, i started taking it about a year ago. and lo and behold, it works! so i'm writing this post as advice for any of you who also enjoy ample portions of beer and wine: milk thistle...it does a body good.