3 Pecks on the Nose

2 items of business

Corinne flys in tomorrow.  Looking forward to seeing that party animal. 

I had Lasik done on Friday.  Vision is now 20/20 in cat eye sunglasses.  The procedure itself was a bit daunting.  I about near had a panic attack on the operating table.  Something to the effect of  "these people about to slice open my eyeballs... with my full consent."  The surgical staff could sense my anxiety and a delightful nurse held my hand through the entire procedure.  10 minutes later it was finished.  I'm happy with the results.    

Here's a good pic of Boyd standing on the brink of Upper Falls in Yellowstone. 

You will never see more water squeezed into a smaller space than the brink of Upper Falls.  It's an amazing sight.  The water is so loud and powerful.  You can peek over the railing and let the spray hit your face.  Doing so always made the back of my knees weak. 

For context, here's a longer shot of Upper Falls with viewing platform.   

    

Happy Birthday Fergus

Three years old.  You're a great pup. 

Guffy sitting in the sun

Costa Rica

Our vacation to Costa Rica was super fun.  Mark and I spent a week soaking up the sun and cerveza in Latin America.  Highlights included tons of funky animals:

      

      

      We even saw a float of crocodiles in the wild.  A group of about 10 adults were hanging out by a river, which we safely observed from a bridge overhead.  They are amazingly ornery animals.  The biggest croc (10 ft or so) loved to swim around and bite and harass the other crocs, completely unprovoked.  Unfortunately our memory card containing pictures of the event crapped out midway through the vacation.  Mark and I spent 3 solid minutes pouting over our technical difficulties, and then we moved on.

      

      Mark and I are pleased with this picture.  I'm thinking about shopping it to those rodent lovers at Cute Overload. 

      

     Our guide was beside himself with excitement when he spotted this guy – A snouted tree frog.  If you look closely, it does indeed have a tiny frog nose.  I guess this is one of the more unusual frogs for the area. 

      

     Alas, there were no recorded sightings of this animal:  The golden toad. 

Last spotted in the Monteverde region in 1989 and feared extinct.  Our guide holds out hope that the toad is not truly extinct.  There could be some dormant, undiscovered eggs somewhere out in the forest just waiting for the right set of circumstances to reanimate the species.  One can hope at any rate.   

Entire Flickr set for Costa Rica located here: 

God Bless the British

via

Some recent pics...

2 things I'm enjoying right now:

GoPugYourself is offering pug wars.  I think we need to upload some Murphy and Paddy pics. 

You're on Notice!   The below mentioned list had better be minding their p's and q's if you know what I mean. 

Cobalt Blue Tarantulas - Haplopelma lividum

from metafilter comments -  Bighairyspiders.com had a lovely page about the most remarkable spider I've ever laid eyes on - the Cobalt Blue Tarantula.  I love it when crazy, punk rock colors show up in nature.  She looks like the love child of a peacock and a brown tarantula.   

The site owner lovingly says  "the big girl is the psychotic monster."  Apparently this is not a pet for novices. 

See also Flickr pics of the blue beast. 

Gallery of the Absurd offers up a new bumper sticker. 

tanji and uschi

I'm in love with this blog - The Adventures of Tanjiro & Uschi-Swirl.  It's about the madcap adventures of 2 bengal brothers, one spotted, the other marbled.  Gorgeous beasties.   

I heart godless liberals.  Keep your Jesus of my penis by Eric Schwartz. (Note - NSFP...not safe for parents.)  Also, could someone show me how embed the graphic for this video?  I'd rather do a graphic link than a text link. 

the chamber of excellence

The heat in Seattle has been awful.  95 degree days with humidity.  Guffy's response is to lie under the coffee table on his back.  I've checked on him periodically to make sure he's alive. 

Mark came back in town last night.  I totally missed him.  He "worked from home" today.  The fruits of his labor produced what he described as "the chamber of excellence"  which consists of cocooning himself in the living room with blankets and his newly purchased air conditioner.  Mark used his staple gun (favorite tool) to put up blankets between the dining room and hallway.  The results were striking.  Our living room is delightfully cool.            

Actual conversation overheard between the owner of this car and Sally -

Q - "Hey lady, what are you doing with my car?"

A - "I'm touching it." 

I don't know why everything is so smeary in these pics.  It's like we mometarily stepped into Xanadu for these shots.   

Bunny Ears

Please forgive me for the blogging lapse.  I offer up these bunny ears as a token of my apology.   Note they're are set at a 90 degree from that face.  That actually increases the cuteness.  It's unbearable.    

Funny face, I love you

I feel pangs of love for the pooches when I look at this picture.  Thanks for the pic Sally. 

Fergus, you're so Goth

And Sally is a superb photographer.  See entire Pug Gala set and subsequent Capitol Hill picnic with bondage geishas here.   

Breaking News

These pictures just in.  Taken from the duck observatory post (aka the computer room.)  2 Mallard ducks just landed in our pond.  This has never happened before.  Fergus and Guffy are locked indoors as to not disturb the ducks.  Very cool.   

More Guffy pictures

Gnarls Barkley

Beautiful video of  "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley.  Lovely twist on the Rorschach test.  I haven't seen a video this creative since Hey Ya by Outkast.   

Weekend

Here are some pictures from the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival and Kubota Garden. 

Call me Ishmael

Behold, the White Pug - Moby Wuggs:

For those of you practicing abstinence hygiene

Father-daughter purity balls.  Wow, where to begin with this.  I guess it’s possible to become so entrenched in religious dogma that cultural taboos become unlearned.  Yuck-a-doodle-do. 

 

The Lake of Fire Extinguisher

This is riotously funny.  A link from the archives of PatriotBoy which was referenced on the front page.  Glad I followed, because it's highlarious.   

It's an email conversation between The Freeway Blogger and some religious dude whose website I cannot locate. 

Good for a chuckle. 

The Waiter Rule

It's nice to see people talking about what Mark and I have always thought was a good litmus test of character:   The Waiter Rule.   It's pure common sense.  Don't mess with the people who prepare or handle your food.  Don't do it for 1) health reasons and 2) because it reveals what an asshole you are. 

The article talks about the rule within the context of hiring people, but it has another application.  Don't date anyone who's rude to the waiter.  Think of this as a jerk-filter, a quick and easy way to identify the un-dateables. 

Always a good read, Waiterrant offers a response.