PAgent’s Progress

Thought I would drop a post on our new dog, since some of you may be curious as to how he’s working out. Here’s some more pictures:

Things Gus Has Learned:

1. Velveeta tastes awesome
2. The cats are not dog toys
3. If he leaves one of us for a few moments, we won’t actually vanish into thin air
4. He can chew right through a retractable leash, if left alone with one
5. It is possible to pee without soaking your own front paw
6. There is one particular spot in the hallway that is exactly equidistant from every bedroom

Things the Family Has Learned:

1. Kennel cough sounds awful
2. You can hide a pretty big pill in a ball of Velveeta
3. You should not use a retractable leash to tether a dog, even for a few minutes
4. Gus will let us know if he has to pee badly enough
5. This is a truly great dog, and we are fortunate to have found him

The trees on 5th Avenue have been cut to make room for the new transit mall.

I knew it was coming, but it’s still kind of sad.

Over at Neatorama, Miss Cellania posted a pic of a red ruffed lemur:

It’s adorable, I know. And yet I found something disquieting about the image. There was something familiar, yet menacing about that lemur. I scratched my head for a while, and finally, I had it:

spacer

spacer

Resistance is futile.

There are two things you need to know to appreciate this clip.

One, when doing deep-water scuba diving, you can use a mixture of helium and oxygen (heliox) to avoid nitrogen narcosis. The substantially lower density of helium gives you a high squeaky voice.

Two, near Christmas Island in the central Pacific Ocean, there is a thermocline at a depth of approximately 320 feet, where the sun-warmed 85-degree equatorial water meets the 50-degree water welling up from the deep ocean.

Okay, there’s a third thing: This video contains, um, a LOT of profanity. Therein lies the comedy.

Via: VideoSift

And it’s surprising how many people try to patent it. There are a surprising number of patents issued for sex toys, male enhancement methods, impotence treatments, you name it. I stumble across them all the time.

Ah, but now you don’t have to stumble any more. X-Rated Patents has a bunch collected for your handy perusal.

Note: Some contents may be NSFW (Not Safe For Work).

In the past, when I have visited parks that have off-leash areas for dogs I’ve always felt a bit like Moses looking into the Promised Land. I love dogs, and I wanted one desperately, and there were dozens of them frolicking about happily just on the other side of the fence. But going into an off-leash area without a dog is only a little less disturbing than hanging around a playground without a kid. It’s not something you want to be seen doing.

But now we have a dog ourselves, and a trip to the dog park isn’t just an option for us now, it’s pretty much an obligation. We want to make sure Gus remains accustomed to being around other dogs. Plus, he just enjoys the hell out of it. He is more animated at the dog park than he is anywhere else. He may chase the tennis ball for us, trotting across the cul-de-sac and back, but we only see him really run at the dog park. He’s got some kind of supercharger that only seems to kick in when he’s playing chase with other dogs. He’ll be running along the grass, and some frisky lab will come up behind him, and suddenly Gus just sort of blurs into a black-brown-gray streak along the grass. It’s amazing to see.

But that’s not the only reason we enjoy the dog park. There’s those other dogs: Beautiful German Shepherds, Welsh Corgis, Bloodhounds, Huskies, every breed you can imagine. Last night we saw a one-year-old Scottish Deerhound that towered over the other dogs as it loped effortlessly up and down the hills. What an incredible-looking dog. And since you really can’t have an overly aggressive dog in the park, all the dogs are very friendly, most of them perfectly willing to swing by for a quick pet as they pass.

If that wasn’t enough of an attraction, there’s another factor that makes returning to the dog area enjoyable. The owners. By and large everyone we’ve met and talked to while Gus played has been really, really nice. It’s kind of a dog owner social club. Or perhaps Dog-lovers Anonymous. In any event, we’ve met some incredibly nice people while watching Gus play.

I’d like to think that people that love dogs can’t be all bad, and the subpopulation of dog lovers that are willing to take the time to let their dogs play would be the most committed of the bunch. Therefore, dog owners at dog parks are self-selecting for kindness, empathy, and responsibility. I’d like to think that, because I go to the dog park myself.

Nevertheless, last night as we watched the dogs run and tussle and tumble around the grass, as the warm evening darkened into a comfortable twilight, it occurred to the Wife and I that going to the dog park will be a very different experience in the winter. In the dark. And in the rain. It’s best that we enjoy it while we can.