Live Another Day

Caption from Sharkteeth: "Don't go towards the light!"

As you might have noticed, I was exceptionally quiet last October. For the entire October, I only posted thrice, two of which were about my blog anniversary promo. Well, aside from my Instagram business picking up faster than I expected (thanks to a great stroke of luck on my part), my dear doggie got sick. And I can't stand it when a part of my family, human or not, is sick -- it paralyzes me with worry and makes me lose sleep, making me irritable and horrible to be with.

Two Mondays ago, I noticed a soft lump on dear doggy's right side, on the ribs, near the scapula. It was acute, as it wasn't there when I gave him a bath the Sunday before. I initially thought that it might just be a case of aural hematoma. He had it a year or two years ago, and with proper medication and wound care, he survived it. (My other dog didn't and died of it years back.)

Come Tuesday, the lump got bigger and I decided to bring him to the city vet, who prescribed high-dose vitamin C. Googling "high-dose vitamin C+dog+lump",  I learned that it is used for canine cancer.

I was crestfallen.

When Friday came, it seemed like the lump was much bigger and firmer. I brought him back to the vet, but she was blasé about it. I suggested excising the lump, but with TheDog's advanced age, she said that it's going to be risky. She told me to wait it out till the following week, and if the lump isn't getting smaller, I should have him X-ray-ed. But last Saturday, the lump was almost as big as my palm. Hard, yet with fluid at the bottom part near the chest. Add to that was his general lethargy, which at any other time I would have attributed to his old age, but that time, it just made his condition look darkly ominous. I sat beside him, and while I stroke his fur, he tenderly rested his paw on my thigh, and I all I could think of was, "Syeeeeetttt, nagpapaalam na yata sa akin ang bruho." That was it -- I couldn't wait anymore for Monday and brought him to a vet near our home. When we got there, he seemed to perk up and looked happier. He even had the strength, and guts, to bark at an English bulldog brought there for checkup. He was very taken with one of the crew holding him down during the examination, licking his hand and asking for tickles. Turned out the crew knows him because TheDog sometimes go near the clinic to loiter around and look for bitches in heat. After some blood tests, he was prescribed some antibiotics and corticosteroids.


His medications and vitamins are given thrice a day, and after I gave him his meds for the umpteenth time, he went to me, rested his chin on my thigh and wagged his tail, and I immediately recognized it as his sweet "thank you." *Awwww...you're welcome, dear friend. So very welcome.*

When Monday came, the lump was already significantly smaller. By Wednesday, there was no more palpable lump and he seemed more upbeat. Everyone in the family is so happy, even TheDog's fierce nemesis, TheHusband. I'd hazard a guess that even TheHamster is happy, well, only because we'd have more time for her again.

Speaking of TheHamster, she sure is one lucky rodent! Sharkteeth cleaned TheHamster's cage and left her running around, not realizing that TheDog was inside the house. Good thing TheDog was sleeping; otherwise, we would have been burying a dead animal, and it won't be the one I was afraid we would.

Update:

I can safely say that he's out of the woods. I left the gate open when we left yesterday and here's what came bounding to me from the fields when I got back:

Who are you and what have to done to TheDog?!

He looked like a dugyot Dalmatian. He must have fought again with the village dogs. Either that or rolled inside a kiln. Tssskkk... Oh well, I'm just thankful his canine hedonism is back.

Kwentuhan Pa More

Kakatapos lang ng fifth season ng Game of Thrones.

Pagod ako, mga teh.

More tired and beaten in spirit than Cersei walking naked on the streets of King's Landing. It was emotionally draining. Maraming namatay. There were more questions than answers, and having to wait for 10 months is unbearable. Meganon? Speaking of questions, haven't you wondered why Cersei's "carpet" didn't match the "drapes"? Or why she even has "carpeting" for that matter? I mean, there was a scene in season 2 (or was it season 3) where Bran's wildling yaya (Osha?) seduced Theon (or was it his guard?) and she had what seemed like a Brazilian, and now here's the queen mother, as bushy as the Amazon. Ewan ko. Baka iba ang body hair convention sa Westeros.

Remembrance Of Youth

There's a forest near our home. Actually, "forest"   is too generous a term. It's just a piece of land with a few trees and overtaken by decaying fallen leaves and weeds. Sharkteeth was complaining that we have stopped going to the fields, and when I asked her to go to the forest with me during the Chinese New Year break, she was of course excited. So off we went -- moi, TheHusband, Sharkteeth, and TheDog. TheDog, with this usual bravado, charged ahead of us. I saw a foot path leading to a cacao tree. There are a number of fallen cacao fruits, but most were worm-infested and I didn't dare open them further. There are others that were sliced open and with pods spirited away, perhaps by the noisy kids who visit the forest every so often, collecting dry wood and fruits from the trees. There's also a breadfruit tree, but I didn't go anywhere near it. There are lots of decaying leaves around it. In short, takot ako sa ahas. Sharkteeth was agitated because she didn't expect the place to be so littered with dry leaves. And she shares my fear of snakes. So we didn't stay long. Just long enough to take pictures. I was calling out for TheDog, but he was nowhere to be found. After we left the forest and crossed the field, I saw TheDog, waiting for us outside the field. Loyalty-schloyalty. Hmmmppp...

I thoroughly enjoyed going to the forest however short it was. It reminded me of the simple and careless days of my childhood when I would go to the forest near our home, picking up guavas, cashews, duhat...then sitting on a low-lying branch of the old mango tree, munching on my finds. I can still remember when that old mango tree fell. It was a humid summer night, and it made a big, loud boom when it fell. Apparently, the huge trunk of the mango tree was already hollow and gave, and inside, there were numerous bee and wasp colonies. We collected honey and a number of orchid-like plants with flowers. Come to think of it, my childhood was so privileged. I mean, how many can say that they rode a paragos or planted corn and peanuts or got chased by a hot-tempered carabao known to have impaled someone. Well, okay, the last one isn't really a privilege. But let me say this, it has got to be the fastest run I've ever done or ever will. [I'm so sorry, Auntie P, but when that carabao was stolen and butchered, I chuckled a little.]  

Needless to say, I'll be back. Besides,  I'm waiting for a cacao pod to ripen. :) Hopefully, it would still be there when I come back.

Munchies

Lantanas?

I think this is a lantana flower. I think lang ha?

Beauty everywhere, even in decay

I'd like to imagine this as the portal to the forest

Canopy of the palm "portal"

Tree canopy

Orb weaver spider

Cacao tree with fruit

Bread fruit
Click this one to enlarge the picture. It's a beautiful tree.

My faithful steed. Weh? Di nga?

Still Alive! August Week 1

Yes, I'm still alive, like it or not. Hehehe. In fact, I celebrated my birthday just a few days ago. Yay for another year! *Thank you for all the greetings and gifts, so touched! Danke, grazie, thank you, gracias, salamat!*

This August, we've been so busy with travels and activities. I'm just thankful I was able to schedule everything before the trip. More importantly, I DIDN'T PROCRASTINATE *fist pump* *achievement* -- which means less stress for me. I don't like traveling with pending work -- di ako makapag-concentrate sa fun, fun, fun.

♥♥♥

During the first weekend of August, we went to Manila to celebrate Sharkteeth's birthday. We took the first flight out. Nasa Dumaguete airport pa lang kami, text na ng text si Madear. Pati si Auntie Dear. May bagyo daw sa Manila. Kebs. Dumaguete was bright and sunshiny naman. But during the trip, sobrang turbulent -- nahilo talaga ako. Meanwhile, ang aking dalawang kasama, tulog na tulog. Hmmmmppp...

Malayogenic. Huwag nyo nang i-zoom. Utang na loob.

We hitched a ride with TheHusband's officemate. Pagbaba namin sa may Roxas Boulevard,  ang lakas ng hangin! As in feeling ko eh natatangay ako. We had so much fun walking, or rather, being pushed by the wind. Buti na lang may cab kaagad. Otherwise, I dread the amount of conditioner I would have to use on my heavily tangled hair. Mahihiya si Bob Marley sa buhok ko.

Love you, anak.

We went to UST for S's pedia checkup. Then kain muna sa family favorite, Pancake House. UST is soooo different na. Ang dami nang relatively upscale food places. Dati mga coop lang ang kainan (miss ko na ang yummy beef mami na amoy aso daw sabi ng friend ko, saka yung siopao meow meow *kidding* sa taas ng Main Building); pinaka-upscale na nun yung Janet's sa Dapitan and Shakey's sa España.

I brought TheHusband and S to the museum. It's on the mezzanine, and walking up the steps always make me feel sentimental (the reason is here). The museum doesn't have too many artifacts, but there are many preserved animal specimens.

Kalasag

Steampunk?

That is one long boa!

Fauna

In the poon wing

There are also a number of paintings from the not-quite-old masters.
 

Amorsolo

Amorsolo

Manansala

Manansala

Nuestra Señora de la Palona (unknown artist)

Portrait of a Young Balinese Girl (Locatelli)

  

Shady...

For a moment there, I briefly toyed with the idea of staging a heist and stealing that tiny Miss Virginia Grace painting by Amorsolo. Kaso may CCTV cams covering all angles. Hehehehe!

JOOOOKE lang!!!

Actually, yung Locatelli painting talaga gusto kong nakawin. Eh sobrang laki, mahihirapan ako.

JOOOOOKE uli! Baka may maniwala and makita ko na lang bukas ng umaga ay may pulis nang aaresto sa akin.

♥♥♥

The rest of the weekend was spent with my family, celebrating S's birthday. After the luncheon celebration in a Chinese restaurant (can't remember the name -- it's the one in Centris, Yang Cha? Yam Cha? Uggghhh, memory lapse...anyway, love the food, but the crew were all unsmiling -- little TIP for you then), we went to SM North EDSA, and I realized that it has been so long since we last went there. May mall-wide sale. Ang daming tao. I'm getting old and grumpy na -- wala na akong patience sa malls na napakaraming tao.

We spent the last night in Manila. Nakuuuu, bago kami nakaalis ng bahay, nagpabaha pa si Madear and S. Iyakan na naman ang dalawa. Lagi na lang. Sumasakit lang ang loob ko pag nakikikita sila. Hanggang makarating kami ng hotel, may shade of sadness pa rin mukha ni S. Buti na lang binigyan ng concierge ng back copies ng Total Girl. She brightened up. We were supposed to visit our home in Laguna, but TheHusband, a mallrat worse than I am, requested that we just go to the mall. Ang dami na namang sale. Got some Martha Stewart glass containers with pistachio green rubber/plastic cover for only 120 each. Sayang, di ko pa binili lahat yung nakalabas na stocks. :( Madami pa akong small anik-aniks na nabili, pero pinaka-value for money yung containers. Saka yung Black & Decker na plancha (500?). Nakakainis kasi yung old plancha namin, sobrang ikli ng cord. Although the new plancha isn't exactly inspiring me to learn how to iron clothes...

Our flight back was early. And per family tradition, muntik na naman kaming maiwanan ng flight. Well, hindi naman tipong nagsasara na yung pinto ng plane... It took us so long to check out because I stained the towel a bit pink, as I wrung my red dress with it. So I paid for the towel and the housekeeper took his sweet time bringing the towel down. And when we reached the airport, we queued on the last call line. Then a CebuPac ground crew told me to get off the line as it was for the last call passengers. When I told her that we're bound for Dumaguete, which was leaving in a few minutes, she said, "Next pa sa last call ang Dumaguete." So umalis kami sa line. A couple (literally) of seconds later, ni-last call na Dumaguete and we had to go back to the queue we were asked to leave. Uggghhhh... Anyway, eventually, with much running, naka-abot din, and we got home safe and sound.

Home, sweet home. TheDog was ecstatic. 

Dog Shaming

Paki-dedma na lang ang wrong syntax...

When we were looking for a dog, I chose Kelly because he resembled my beloved dog, Bastic. Little did I know that Kelly's behavior is like Bastic's as well. Bastic, although very loving and devoted, is prone to jealousy. He never really warmed up to TheHusband and would either bark at him madly or ignore him when he visited. Well, except that one time when we had a new puppy whom I played with a moment too long -- Bastic got mad at me and ignored me the whole time, and when TheHusband, then still TheBoyfriend, came to visit, Bastic welcomed him with so much enthusiasm that TheHusband was a bit stunned of the attention he was getting. When I was back to his good graces, he was also back to ignoring TheHusband. Little surprise he died a few hours after my wedding.

Kelly is pretty much the same. Before he murdered our bunny, he was already showing signs of jealousy. He was always trying to "remove" the rabbit away from us when we were playing with it. He would give it sly side glances when we cuddle with it. Not just with the rabbit. It happens every time when we have a new animal or even when there are guests in the house. Alam nyo yung mga batang papansin and making "pasikat" when you have guests and gusto sila lang ang pinapansin? Ganun sya. Anyhoo, when we moved here, I tried to plant monggo, but when it started growing up, Kelly dug up everything. I thought, he must have liked that area kasi merong bit of shade and cool earth, and besides, okay lang, I can always plant new ones. Ever since last year, when we moved Sharkteeth's playhouse, he dug a hole behind the playhouse. It's the perfect spot. Cool soil, shade from the wall, cozy spot. I started planting again, away from the first spot, away from his spot. After successfully germinating the seeds, I moved them from the potting wells to the soil, an area where full sunshine falls in the morning. The plants took well to the soil -- the leaves were lush and the plants were growing up fast. ABA! ABA! ABA! A couple of days ago, makita ko, may hukay dun sa garden where I planted -- everything, save one plant, was uprooted. TheDog? He was eyeing me askance and wagging his tail tentatively. The very same manner he reserves for when he's guilty of something. When I told TheHusband about it, he concluded, "nagseselos na naman 'yan." And I realized that, yes, perhaps TheHusband is right. That TheDog got jealous of the plants. Why would he deliberately choose those locations to dig on those two separate occasions? Which brings me to my question: If dogs are capable of complex behavior such as jealousy, what other "human" attributes and behaviors do they have? Curiouser and curiouser. Meanwhile, Kelly and I are friends again. I mean, how can you hold grudge when he makes paawa look with his eyes?

Na-Vhong Navarro

You're getting old, my dear doggie...

Etong aso ko, ang hilig makiuso. I was working intensely (intensely daw oh!) when I heard dogs barking, along with loud screeching sounds. Pagtingin ko sa bintana, I saw TheDog being mauled by three dogs. One was biting his hind leg, another was biting his contralateral foreleg, and yet another had him by the neck. Kawawang aso. The b*tch was also there -- watching the gory scene -- unperturbed. Apparently, it's mating season once again. 

It's funny (NO, NOT REALLY) how much the scene mirrors an actual event that happened just last week.  *cough* Vhong, Deniece, Cedric *cough* Tangent thought: Where is Denephew? #CornyAkoPakiNyo

So, heto ang aso. Bugbog-sarado. Wounded. The judge has decided: Reclusion perpetua. Kidding. He's grounded till further notice. He still likes the girls, but he's getting tool old for this. Back in the day, he can take on a pack of dogs and still emerge snarling. Now? Now? To paraphrase Stinger in Top Gun: "Dog, your ego is writing checks your body can't cash."

My Don Juan K9 Edition

It was mating season once again in the canine population of our village. Needless to say, canine pheromones wafted through the air, enticing my little Don Juan. So I was only a bit worried when he disappeared, knowing he'll be back in a forthnight or so, all dirty, battered, bruised, but generally happy. Color me surprised when I saw him last Saturday---just less than a week gone and he has returned? He was also looking less his jovial self, but I attributed it to exhaustion. A couple of days later, his left ear appeared swollen and a lump appeared on his neck, couple that with lack of appetite, which is so strange, knowing he's a glutton. He was also less upbeat, not asking for belly rubs -- AT ALL! TheHusband and I brought him to the doctor, and it turned out to be a case of aural hematoma. He got a couple of shots and some meds. When we came home, he scratched his swollen left ear, which pierced the hematoma. Off leaked blood, pus, and lymph. And the smell? It was so DISGUSTING! As in, so, so, so disgusting! I had no choice but to clean it. Like Sharkteeth, he's afraid of peroxide, but he managed to stay still while I cleaned his wound. The meds were a different story though--he couldn't, or wouldn't, swallow them, but I placed the tablets in a ball of burger patty and it was gone in a blink. After a few days of constant wound care and medication (I had to wake up at 3 AM to give him his medicine!!!), he was back to his old incorrigible self and was again trying to leave the house, perhaps hoping his lady love's waiting for him. Alas, distance makes the heart yonder, and he came back a defeated dog. Well, there will always be another mating season.

Mating Season Once Again, B*tches!

And by bitches, I mean female dogs. It must be mating season once again, as my faithful steed is always on the prowl and hasn't even come home for the third day now. I wonder how he's eating. He's quite the Don Juan, see. Bitches in heat usually stay in front of out gate waiting for him to go out, and they wouldn't leave. One of his, well, "ex-girlfriends," a smelly and mangy dog, never left, that is, until it died. I'd like to think that TheDog "loved" that mangy dog, sores and all. She's the only dog who can eat his food without him growling. If other dogs try that stunt, they might as well say goodbye to pieces of fur. Or ear. That mangy bitch would sleep outside at night, as close as possible to TheDog, just separated by the fence. As much as I wanted to take her to the vet, she wouldn't come near humans. Poor girl. Oh, by the way, he's the baby daddy of a new litter of (hopefully) cute pups. Sharkteeth and I have been wanting to see them, but the mom hid them somewhere deep in the micromini forest near our home. I try to bring the mom some food every so often 'cause she has no human that feeds her and has grown so thin. I should make her some malunggay soup, whatchathink? Hopefully, Don Juan will come home soon. I miss the white rascal.

The Great Move Down, Down South

Gosh, it's already 2012 and I'm still backlogged to 2011 and 2010! Embarrassing I know, but hardly surprising. All the moving and freelancing took up much of my time, okay, fine, I admit, Facebook and making chica did so too. Anyway, I'll try get in bits and pieces.

Let's start with The Great Move Down, Down South. Well, I don't want to dwell anymore with emotions, as it was tiring then and pointless now. To put it succinctly, death sentence and dreaded illness were the metaphors I used to describe The Great Move Down South. Let this be about the logistics of it all. I have friends who moved from here to the United States and from the United States to Oz. Both had to go without their respective spouses, as they either went ahead or was left behind only to follow on another time. When they related how they had to pack and bring everything (one of whom brought a matress to the United States, seriously, a mattress) with them and the kids, sure, I UNDERSTOOD how difficult it was, but I guess I never really EMPATHIZED. You know the saying "before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes," right? It's like that. You will really never know the pain and struggles someone went through unless you experience it as well. During the packing and the trip, I felt empathy for these friends and gave them a whole new level of respect. Yeah, yeah, I know, this would be about logistics, so here it is. First off, we bought lots, and I do mean lots of packing tape and balikbayan boxes, which are freaking expensive (PHP120-140), by the way!!! I should have just bought cigarette boxes for all the small stuff. No, I didn't buy stuffing or bubble wrap, I just wrapped all breakables with clothes, and I'm happy and proud to say nothing got broken, but our rice cooker got a bit dented. Oh well, still, not bad. Sidenote to that though: It took me months (seriously!) to unbox everything, and we kept on looking for our rechargeable lamp but couldn't find it. We looked for it at our home in Laguna when we went home last August and again in September, and only when I unpacked the last box last December did I find it, all wrapped with clothes that I'll be selling over Ebay, and just in time too for Typhoon Sendong. I digress, I swear I have the attention span of a slug. I figured it would be too expensive to put everything, as in all, on a container van, especially because I was not quite sure how I'd cope moving here and I extracted a promise from TheHusband that if I don't like it here, we're going home to Laguna in 3 months. Seriously, that's how self-centered I am. I. I. I. I. I. I. Me. Me. Me. Me. Me.  Kakahiya. I shipped most of the essentials through 2Go, which do not pick up from the province. Why they did pick up our shipment from Laguna is a totally different and possibly ethically questionable story. Some nonessentials were left at home, and all other crucial things that we needed while in Laguna were left for me to bring myself, and that's where the fun began. By crucial I mean three balikbayan boxes of various things, one huge box for the TV and desktop computer, two huge bags of clothes, Sharkteeth, and Kelly, the dog. I hired an airport taxi driven by a neighbor, who, although charged me fair fees for the transport, hit me up for a tip. I'm not being miserly, no. It's just that he owns the cab, and do you ever tip the owner of a salon? I think not. And I'd much prefer that he gave me the exact fee that he wanted instead of asking for a tip while in the middle of the Paranaque. I find such behavior deplorable. Another thing that galled me is that I repeatedly asked him if our things would fit in the car, which is a sedan, and even asked him a day in advance to go look at our packed things just to be sure, and he said it would fit. And yah, everything eventually did after much rearranging, but he was grumbling all along...haaaayyy, were we not in a hurry and had I known there's another cab in the village, I would have changed cabs even if I would have to unload everything myself. Oh-kay, enough with the bitterness. Now visualize this: three balikbayan boxes, huge box with fragile things, two bags, Sharkteeth, Kelly (in a huge cage), and me + driver + sedan. Can't? Me neither. I still marvel up to now how we were able to fit. We had to take the dog out of the cage and tie the cage on top of the trunk door. The funny, and smelly, thing was, we (Sharkteeth) had to sit together on a tiny space at the back of the car. And I don't mean the whole of the back, just a third of it, if memory serves. Kelly, Sharkteeth, and I, all squished together---I could smell the dog, who by the way, was so tensed he kept on drooling. Muntik na kaming magkapalit-palitan ng mukha. Yung driver lang ang comfortable sa upuan. When we got to the airport, there were porters who helped us move our things. No, help is a gracious word, I paid them to move our things. The airport personnel who x-ray-ed our things thought we just got back from abroad (balikbayan boxes, see) and was hinting on a tip, "Ate, ikaw na bahala sa amin," sabay slightly himas(!!!) sa braso ko. Eeeeewwwww...disgusting! All the while, I was thinking, gagah, wala ka mapapala sa akin. Moving on. Not surprisingly, we had excessive baggage. An airport cop told us we can cut cost on the baggage if we ship it through Cebu Pacific's shipment service in the Domestic Airport, but it's gonna be a flight later and he said with concern (right, yeah, yeah) we might be late for our flight if we bring our baggage there ourself. He then proceeded to tell us that if we trust him,  he can arrange it himself, but with a little fee. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand the "fee," after all, it's gonna be an effort to haul all those boxes. When we weighed our things and asked him how much, he said that it's 11K. Whoa! Eleven thousand freaking pesos?! Thank you very much, but NO. So I called my FIL, who lives near the airport. We agreed that he'll go to the Domestic Airport himself and check how much it really is to ship the damned boxes and if totally out of budget, he can just ship it through 2Go. You know what? 7K! That's the amount we paid to CebuPac's shipment service through the Domestic Airport. Unbelievable! That's 4K we saved right there. *Napapailing na lang ako pag naaalala ko*

It was generally an uneventful flight, but Sharkteeth kinda panicked because of the air pressure in her ears that couldn't be released by swallowing. I don't know why, but this always happens when we're on our way south but never happens when we're going north. Once we touched-down, she was fine and was feeling silly. Kelly was with us during the flight, albeit in the baggage compartment down. The poor dog must have been so scared, with no beloved humans around, and especially so because he was in a cage. (By the way, checking him in was a breeze. I just had to present his immunization records and he was good to go. Bloody expensive though. His fare was twice mine.) As I was saying, the poor dog was so scared, and when his cage was deplaned, he first saw TheHusband,  the first person that he knows, and really, he was brimming with happiness (and relief?). Now, their relationship is tenuous at best---you know, after the Bunny Buns debacle, but at that moment, seeing TheHusband, for Kelly, the most important thing was he was "home." I daresay, even TheHusband was happy to see him. And yes, we are HOME.

Happy Friday!

There's no other way to say it, but simply, it's a very beautiful day! The sun is shining bright and the weather is balmy, and staying indoors seems to be a travesty, right? This morning, I went walking with my canine friends, and I swear, the sun beams seem to add a spring on my step, and the dogs' as well, I believe.

Here's my ham of a dog. I'm renaming him Al, in honor of Al Pacino in his movie Scarface. Someone, my dog-hater of a neighbor, I believe, hacked his face. He went amiss one day, and when he got back, he had this very deep wound. I was terrified that it might become infected, but a regimen of hydrogen peroxide, povidone-iodine, antibiotic ointment, and lots of TLC kept it aseptic. He loves the camera, and obviously, the camera loves him too. I noticed lately though that he's, well, maturing. He's not as makulit as before, though he's still that dog that welcomes me effusively when I get home and, of course, he still loves belly rubs!

While TheHusband generally likes animals, he's not as crazy about them as I am and keeps Kelly, ooopss, Al, at arm's length. Al must have been so surprised (I was equally surprised) one night when TheHusband came home, with alcohol in his system and lowered defenses, and gave Al a belly rub. I think it stunned Al because he just stayed there, belly up, I guess waiting for more, even after TheHusband was already inside the house.

This is my elderly neighbor's dog, Maui, a dachshund/doberman hybrid. I like her because, at 6 months, she's still very naughty and inquisitive and is always running around. She's fun to be with and keeps me on my toes. I cannot say though that she's relaxing to be with because she's always on the go. And she keeps on bugging Al, who at first didn't seem to like her at all.

Maui is a patient dog and eventually melted all of Al's resolve to ignore her, one lick at a time.

It's a beautiful day!

My Faithful Steed

He joins me whenever I run.* Any excuse, actually, for him to leave the house. And he's always, ALWAYS, the first to greet me whenever I get home. He got into fights recently with other dogs. A bitch was in heat, see. After a particularly bad battering he got from the other dogs, he refused to leave the house for a week, looking all pitiful and casting puppy dog looks whenever he sees us. He's healing well, thank goodness.

*Mentirosa! Hahahaha! More like run a few steps, pant, drag feet, walk, repeat.

He's Back!

TheDog is back! Apparently, he followed the househelp when she went home yesterday, and she was worried that he might not be able to come back. So she kept him for the night and returned him before noon. Of course, by then, I've given up all hope of ever seeing him again and being the recipient of his ever-exuberant welcome.

Happy day!

(These pictures were taken when he was only a couple of months old. He's so much bigger now.)