Two Hairy Situations

It was late Sunday morning and I was enjoying lunch in the den with a last cup of coffee. The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm, so Kyle was outside working in the yard.

I had just turned my laptop on when Kyle came in. He went into the living room and came back.

Calmly, he asked, "Have you been sitting there for a while?"

"Yeah, actually, I have. Why?"

"Come see what Murphy did in the living room."

Oh God. I figured she must have peed on the "dog couch" in there again (marking it? Who knows), but as I turned the corner into the front room, I saw a brand-new type of naughtiness:

She had uprooted Kyle's six-foot corn plant from its pot in front of the window, and dragged the entire plant--with most of its soil, apparently--onto the couch. That dark spot on the cushions isn't a shadow--that's dirt.

As we stood there, staring silently, Murphy wandered in. She had this look on her face, like, "Heeeey . . . so, you noticed the plant, huh?"

Stonefaced, Kyle said, "I'm not dealing with this right now," and walked out of the house.

Which was probably for the best, anyway. I yelled at the dog for a while, in the hopes that the yelling would communicate this was not considered appropriate behaviour. She wisely retreated to the back yard to think about her actions.

After thirty minutes or so of sweeping, scooping, replanting, and vacuuming, everthing looked pretty much the same. (Here I insert a shout-out to our "Gardening in a Minute" Flickr photo set, Repotting Indoor Plants) Of course, the plant is now leaning a little, and the pothos plant that was growing at the base of it is much, much smaller. I did take a few pieces of the pothos and put them in water; hopefully they'll root. And while the couch cushions are not clean, exactly--they're clean enough for the dog, anyway.

There are two lingering mysteries: one, why now? That plant had been sitting in that same exact spot for a few weeks. And two, how did I not hear her knock it over? I didn't have the television on or anything. Weird.

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I promised a photo of Kyle in his beard, and I got one just in time--he plans to shave it off when he returns this weekend from his trip down to Polk County (he's helping our friend Greg with a BBQ competition).

I took it with my iPhone last night at Hooters trivia:

He grew that in a week. Seriously.

My puppy's all grown up...

Wow, exactly a month since I last posted. How unprofessional of me! The holidays will do that to you. And by "holidays," I mean "college football."

I was looking at some new photos I took of Murphy, and I can't get over how different she looks now, compared to when we picked her up in July at 8 weeks old.

Her first photo (by phone) on the way home, the day we picked her up:

Later that month:


In August, after getting spade (thus the bandage on her arm from the anesthesia):

In September, at a house party for the UF-Tennessee game with a friend of ours (being silly - he didn't know I had the camera!) :

In October, in our front yard:

In November, another house party, which was ostensibly for the SEC Championship game, but turned into a dog party:

Last night, playing tug-o-war with Reggie:

When we first got Murphy, she was a little puff of fur with stubby legs and tiny ears. A friend called her "something that falls out of the dryer." Many others commented that she looked like a little bear. And then her snout lengthened (and became adorably freckled), her legs stretched out, and her ears grew as well. Our little bear cub is a dog now.

I think she's in an awkward "middle school" look now, but soon, I think she'll look a lot like her mama, Ruby:

Death of a Loquat Tree (with bonus puppy photo!)

We have several loquat trees in our back yard. Also known as Japanese plums, these trees are a pretty common sight around here, almost to the point of invisibility - you kinda stop noticing them. Until something weird happens.

I'm poking around with the dog in the back yard a few days ago and notice that one of the loquat trees is looking, well, pretty bad. Every leaf is drooping and turning brown. What's weird is that there are two more on either side of it - and they look great! They're actually flowering right now.

Not my best work, but here are two of the trees - the dying one is on the left:

A close-up of the leaves:


The other healthy tree:


I brought a leaf in to Kim, our Master Gardener, but it's really hard to tell what's ailing a tree by one brownish leaf. There's no sign of insect damage, which would lead me - in all my ignorance - to believe it's a disease affecting this tree. So why just the one? We must have seven or eight loquat trees in the back yard.

If we were to figure out what the problem was, I hope it's an inexpensive cure. Kyle doesn't really like the loquats for some reason, and has been talking about taking them down. Luckily, he's got an invasive mimosa and some dangerously close pine trees on his to-do list now.

In a completely unrelated story, my puppy!

Just chillin' on the front lawn with Kyle. I can't believe how big she's getting. Not a pokey little puppy anymore, sigh...

Although not a grownup dog, either. This morning I stumble out of the bathroom to see that Murphy has thrown up on the bedroom carpet (for some reason she never chooses to do this on the tile). This is not the first time this has happened, and in fact, it's the same stuff - pine bark, leaves, but with a new addition - some fiber from a toy she destroyed at a friend's house the previous evening.

Not the best way to start your day. But then I look at her and she's just so damn cute.

To use a phrase that's becoming very popular in our household, damn dog.

Puppy Hell

Our puppy is a vampire!

Miss Murphy is slowly draining the life out of us. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: How the hell do parents of real-life babies do this? Kyle and I are exhausted and cranky, and all we've got a dang dog.

A dog that won't sleep at night. That chews on everything except the toys we give her. Whose teeth are like tiny ceramic razors. Sigh...

I'm not sure if I've even blogged about getting a dog, now that I'm thinking about it. Kyle's been wanting an Australian shepherd for years, and I've been putting him off. First a house, then a wedding, then the dog. I can only handle one major life-altering event at a time.

So Miss Murphy Brown was born May 1, and we picked her up June 27. That's right - a little over a week, and we're in despair.

I don't think Kyle really thought about how time-consuming this stage of puppy-hood is. You have to keep an eye on them at all times or they're all over the place, leaving a path of destruction in their cute, fuzzy little wake.

But she's pretty dang cute:

Good night, sweet pup

My family's beloved dog Benson has passed away.

Faithful to the end, and a fierce protector of the family and home as long as he was physically able. My parents originally got Benson as not just a pet, but as a sort of alarm system as well - my neighborhood had quite a few break-in's at the time, our house included.

I could hold him in the palm of my hand when we first got him, but he soon grew up to be a compact-yet-muscular dog, sweet to anyone who made it into the house with our permission, but heaven help the stranger who walked up to our yard.

My mother's third child, he thought he was a lap dog even though he weighed at least fifty pounds. He shed like it was going out of business and would jump on you, sometimes leaving bruises from his heavy paws and thick claws. Until a few years ago, he'd get so excited when he saw me that he'd go into a frenzy. His eyes were the sweetest things on earth. I think he could actually understand my mother, and my brother was his alpha male.

If you're not an animal person, it is probably impossible to comprehend how we could be so emotionally intertwined with a dog, much less sympathsize. But most people understand.

Fourteen years of devotion and unconditional love will leave a gaping wound in its absence.

I've been tagged - I feel like a black bear or something

Bloggers are great at creating a virtual community and one way they do that is through tagging. Another blogger tags you and you're supposed to list ten random facts about yourself. Kim, my coworker and a great garden writer, sort of tagged me recently through e-mail, but I thought I'd post and link.

1. Two long trips: Both were transatlantic flights. In 2004, I went to London for a week with a group of people, including my best friend Janet. That was a seven-hour flight and the high point of that trip was seeing the Roman baths in nearby Bath. Last August I went with my boyfriend to Rio de Janiero for a wedding. Our summer is their "winter," so it wasn't as crazy and crowded as the Rio in our imaginations. That flight was roughly nine hours, and that's after driving from Gainesville to Miami - another five hours. Ugh. The highlights on that trip were the Christ statue on Corcovado mountain - awesome in the truest sense of the word - and hang-gliding, which I almost didn't do.

It's me! And the guy actually doing the work.







2. Two things I really enjoy doing: cooking and reading. I'm a results-oriented person; making something, having something to show for my efforts is incredibly fulfilling to me. To be able to create a meal and share with others is a fantastic feeling. I love it when people enjoy my cooking. Reading, on the other hand, is more of an obsession. I just can't stop myself. I'll read anything - other people's textbooks, random magazines laying around, etc. The web is a dangerous place for me. Cook's Illustrated feeds both passions.



3. Two things you want very badly at the moment: a house, and more time with my friends. My fiance and I (he went from b-f to fiance after Brazil) are currently house-shopping. We're looking for something affordable, with some space. That appears to mean, at least in Gainesville's ridiculously-priced market, something older. Which is fine by me - I prefer homes built no later than the 70s. They're built better, period. We're looking at two tomorrow!



I moved to Gainesville in July. In Jacksonville, I left behind four really wonderful friends. Because they all have children, time is a precious thing - we don't get to see each other that much. And my best friend is in Palatka, of all places. I miss her quite a bit. Most of the people I've met in Gainesville are a lot younger than me and already have a strong circle of friends. Thank goodness Kyle and I actually enjoy each other's company so much.



4. Three animals you have or have had: Two memorable pets are my parents' dog Benson, who is 14 years old. He has been my parents' security system for years, so I worry about what they'll do without 'ol Benson. The second is Blackie, a black Corgi mix that came to my parents and had a few memorable years in our household. But MY dog, my baby, that's Angus.



He lives with his "grandparents," that is, my ex's parents. That dog was my world.


5. Two favorite beverages: beer and Coke Zero. Those who know me have already been subjected to my ravings about beer. I like all sorts of beer: Guinness, Miller Lite, anything Sam Adams, Tucher, Old Chub, Red Hook Blonde . . . I could go on and on. And Coke Zero is my true guilty pleasure. A calorie-free liquid full of chemicals. Yum!

Because I write too much, I'm stopping at five. If anyone's made it this far, I'm sure they're exhausted. Enough!

Now I'm supposed to tag other blogs that I read and enjoy. Tagging etiquette says I should leave a comment on their blog, so that they know they've been tagged. Here are few of my favorites blogs:

• A List Apart - design, development, web content, focused on web standards and best practices.


• Alertbox - Web usability authority Jakob Nielsen's column


• Garden Living: Adventures with Children & Kids


• Cannas and Bananas: Creating a Bold Garden


• Florida Ecomania

(Since ALA and Alertbox are "professional" blogs, I won't be "tagging" them.)