Trapped

Sprout usually greets us at the door, wagging her nubbin and flopping on the floor with excitement. The other day, we arrived home from a brunch with friends, only this time there was no dog to meet us. We called her name, but there was no sign of her. The apartment is not that big, and it wasn't taking long for me to get worried. Luckily, Meredith quickly found her in the office, the door shut behind her. When the window is open (which it always is during this disgusting heat wave) a moderately strong gust of wind will blow the door closed. Sprout generally doesn't hang out in there while we're gone, but since we hadn't yet put away the air mattress used by the aforementioned house guests, the office had quickly become Sprout's favorite spot. Poor doggy was probably in there for several hours, although she seemed no worse for the wear. Just a little thirsty, and ready to bound to greet us with an extra amount of glee.

Dog Lovers

I love dogs, like, a lot. If/when I live in the country and not the city, I suspect I will adopt every stray mutt I come across until I have an actual pack. This love is clearly genetic, because my every single person in my family is a total dog freak. Case in point, here's what a recent iChat conversation looked like.

Happy Adoption Anniversary Sprout!

I probably already blog about Sprout way too much, but today is the 2nd anniversary of her adoption, and her faux (since we don't know her actual birthday) 6 year-old birthday. In honor of this special day, here's a nice long Sprout-themed post.


This is what Sprout looked like the day we got her. Note the cut on her little nose from trying to claw her way of the cage at the shelter. My then-roommate Janet and I had planned to have some good friends over for dinner. Meredith (who was in NYC for the summer) and I offered to go to the grocery store and pick up some last minute supplies for the tacos we were making. Needless to say, we got sidetracked and ended up at BARC, where we spotted a cute but terrified dog named Carly. We took her on walk, and while sitting by the East River debating whether she was the one for us, she sweetly put one paw on each of our knees. That pretty much sealed the deal.


On the way home, Carly was renamed Sprout. Although she was Franny for about 10 minutes, which now seems so ridiculous. I had always had the name in the back of mind as a cute dog name, but little did we know how fitting it was. As it turns out, Sprout, true to her name, loves to snack on (most) vegetables and her #1 favorite past time is rolling around in the grass at the park. She likes to find a smelly spot and rub the scruff of her neck in it, which is both cute and gross.


Also, her little nubbin looks quite sprout-like.


It was not at all love-at-first sight with Sprout. I actually had a minor breakdown over the impulsive decision to get a dog, and cried and cried for about 48 hours. I seriously considered returning her. All her quirks were coming out full force during these first few days-- peeing on the floor, trying to slip her collar whenever a truck drove by during a walk, and non-stop pacing. But I guess we were both just adjusting. In less than a week, she had worked her way into my heart and I knew she was here to stay. She has become a loyal and true companion.


Here are a few of the many great things about Sprout. She can sit, play dead, roll over, and give you her paw. She protects us against scary noises only she hears by raising her hackles and making gremlin noises. She is a champion nest-maker, and loves pillows and soft blankets. She's unfazed by her many, many nicknames and has actually learned to recognize several of them, including: Beako, Mouse, MizzFizz and Cheeky. Even though sometimes she attacks the pant leg of male friends, for the most part she's super sociable. She loves to cuddle. She makes really funny noises in her sleep and she twitches her paws while she dreams.


I am so proud of her.

Clean Bill of Health

Sprout had her annual vet visit a few days ago. The vet commented that she looked great, and was "full of vitality." Good dog.

Afternoon in the Park

The weather was perfect on Saturday, and we spent a few hours lolling around McGolrick Park with scary stories from the 1970s and iced chai.

13th of the Month

Slippers

Sprout
Sewing

Merry Christmas Dog

Oh The Places She'll Go

Today Sprout and I will journey from this:

To this:

Bullet Points

Oops. My blogging skills are totally deteriorating. When I noticed it's been well over a week since my last post, I racked my brain for some witty or noteworthy events, thoughts, or observations I might share with you, Internet. But I came up short, and will instead resort to some classic bullet points. Over the past couple of weeks I have:

- Celebrated Janet's 25th birthday with a night of hearty fall food and beeswax candle making. Here's a picture of the birthday girl in action that I stole from her Facebook page:
- Convinced the landlord to repaint the ceilings which were stained after a leak caused by their faulty washer & dryer. A small domestic success.

- Waited in line for an hour for dinner at Westville with Jamie, Ned, Meredith & Lisa. There are about a million other fine dining establishments in the vicinity, but we were a determined bunch. After dinner, we went to Sweet Revenge-- a gimmicky but great cafe that pairs cupcakes with exotic beers.

- Babysat for a (very cute but) fussy, teething baby who could only be consoled by a) repeatedly doing the Hokey-Pokey or b) Schnappi.

- Finally bought a humidifier after several winters of vowing I would buy one for the next year. It has transformed my room from a dry, scratchy nightmare to a cozy, luxurious oasis. Here's Meredith enjoying its wonderful steaminess:If we Photoshopped out the plastic top, I think this would make for fine evidence of ectoplasm in a ghostly encounter hoax. Which, appropriately, is one of Ms. Bak's primary scholarly interests.

- Watched Sprout's nesting tendencies kick into high gear as the weather has gotten colder. It's not uncommon for me to notice she's left the room, only to find she's retreated to the bedroom to curl up on my pillow and snuggle under blankets. How she manages to do this on her own, without opposable thumbs, is amazing and cute. Amazingly cute:

Country Dog Kerchief

Vermont Memories, #4



I remembered last year I visited Vermont right in the middle of hunting season, and that the dogs had to wear brightly colored scraps tied on their collars when we went on walks in the woods so that hunters knew not to shoot should they see them rustling in the bushes. I figured they might like something a little more fashionable this year, and enlisted Meredith's help in a craft project. She whipped up a couple of apple-patterned kerchiefs for little miss Sprout and our host dog Peanut. The only thing Sprout enjoyed more than wearing her new fall accessory was rolling in horse poop, so the kerchief only made it through the first day.

Dog of the Future, Dog of the Past

This is SNIFF

The Thing I Carried

A. Bought a new bag of kibble for Sprout at Petco.
B. Went to Nikki's, forgot bag of kibble, retrieved it two days later.
C. Went immediately to babysitting.
D. Returned home. In time for dinner.
TOTAL: 17.2 miles

Rabbit Rabbit

Well it's September, and perfectly on cue the weather in New York has begun to shift. The past few days have been perfect-- clear and sunny during the day, and dipping down to crisp and cool temperatures at night. After August's heat wave I'm ready for some sweater weather, but it's always bittersweet to see the summer end. Sprout took some time yesterday to take advantage of some quickly fleeting late afternoon sunshine.

Juxtaposition

Sprout has many virtues. Being photogenic isn't really one of them.
Potential caption for this photo: This is your dog. This is your dog on drugs.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

I just returned from a whirlwind vacation: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Phoenix and Sedona all in under two weeks. Admidst all the to & fro, I did manage to secure at least a couple of days comprised of nothing but TV watching. I am now officially obsessed with HGTV's Property Virgins and My First Place. I didn't do a very good job of photographically documenting my time, but a few highlights (I'm sure I've forgotten plenty) include:

- Korean foot massages with Meredith and my mom. Don't let the name fool you, they massage way more than your feet. Their techniques include pressing pressure points incredibly hard, rotating bones in the sockets, and scratching the tips of toes with their finger nails. Fantastic.

- Watching Meredith present at Visible Evidence XVI, held at USC's very fancy, brand new George Lucas and Steven Spielberg McMansion buildings.

- Getting to see Nat's new bachelor pad in Koreatown.

- Eating bimbimbob with Hye-Jean in Koreatown (do you see a theme here?)

- Meeting baby Theo, who squawked a bit and then promptly took a nap in my arms. He made me ponder the question: do babies dream?

- Dinner at Garland's with my dad and Laura. Such a magical place-- an old wooden lodge adorned with Navajo rugs and deer heads. Cocktails are served to you on picnic benches outside while you wait for the dinner bell to ring. Dinner involves things like crab apples and honey bourbon BBQ sauce. You have to drive over a little stream to get there.

And now, the one and only event that got properly documented, walking along Oak Creek with the pack. It was great to see Sprout getting in touch with her desert-self.


She got a cactus spine in her paw but didn't even whimper. Her white hair was stained with red dust for a days.

I (Still) <3 U Internets

With the exception of the incredible Kitten Loves Puppy video, I've been a negligent blogger lately. And I probably will remain relatively MIA for the next three weeks. This is due to a new summer job that involves waking up at 6am for 9 hour work days spent with 30 young children and 4 sassy teenage counselors. At least I don't have to wear shoes at work, which is a great perk. So my motto for the summer is "work hard, play hard" and there have been lots of fun times, such as: Megha's birthday in Prospect Park, Harry Potter on opening day, burritos at Benny's, haircuts, discovering kohlrabi, and many, many trips to the dog park with Sprout. There's more on the horizon for this weekend, including a rooftop party at Maggie's and a visit from Marina. All this working hard and playing hard doesn't leave much time for blogging, but to make up for my absence in the blogosphere, here's a Kitten/Puppy follow-up:

Does Sprout Need a Kitty Too?

The Great Rat Caper

Part I
While still in California, the roomie and I exchange a series of frantic text messages something along the lines of:

I think there is a mouse or rat under the sink
What! Did u see poop?
I hear it, it sounds big
[and later]
Saw the tail!

Landlord (who tends to forget that buying and renting out units in this building requires more than just luxuriating in their renovated top floor apartment) is contacted. His response is basically "what do you want me to do about it!?" After several minutes of snarky comments, he agrees to schedule the handyman to come and patch up any holes through which the mouse/rat is entering. When they show up, they laugh and roll their eyes, essentially accusing us of being silly girls who overreact.

Part II
For a few days, it seems the handyman's repairs have done the trick. But then the roomie hears some familiar scuffling and scrabbling, and upon investigation, discovers several chewed up bags and wrappers dragged from the trash to the back of sink. We purchase various types of traps and set them up. Within ten minutes of setting them, we hear the loudest sound ever coming from beneath the sink. I am not exaggerating when I say, it sounded like a cat was trapped under there. By the time we stopped screaming like silly girls and summoned up the courage to look, it was gone. Here is us investigating from the safety of kitchen chairs.
And here I am trying to convince Sprout that she should catch the mouse/rat (she's a rat terrier after all)So we never found the mouse/rat that night.

Part III
I spend a lot of money at the hardware store assembling what I thought would be a sure fire mouse/rat protection system: 3 more large traps, one of those sonar deterrents, and a new trash can with a lid. Again, within 10 minutes of installing my new system, it's back. And again, it manages to steal the bait and escape. I write a strongly worded email to the landlord, requesting immediate action on his part, and by immediate action, I mean calling a professional exterminator.

Part IV
The next day, The Exterminator (my hero!) arrives. Landlord continues to deny the possibility of a rat until The Exterminator peers under our sink with a flashlight and proclaims, "Yup, rat shit." This made me feel both proud (for being right about the mouse/rat) and disgusted (for having a rat). In a jiff, The Exterminator set up a serious looking trap and spread poison around, promising that the offending rat would be dead within days. He assured me that the rat was not diseased (not sure how he knows, but great) and that Sprout would be safe, unless she happened to someone get a hold of and eat the poisoned rat. I have been checking her jowls for rat blood, but thankfully nothing.

Part V
No more sounds or sightings. I'm glad I never actually saw it firsthand. That way "the rat" can remain an abstract idea, and not an actually furry, warm-blooded reality. I'll continue to imagine this guy instead:

Getting to Know You

Oh, Miss Jody

Sometimes watching The Dog Whisperer reminds me that Sprout is a good dog.