The Challenge
Just when I'm all happy about my photography skills, comfortable with my Nikon D3000 and delighted with my new tripod, just when my children, husband and dogs have become inured to seeing me with...
View ArticleHappy New Year from Ivy and Revel
I never go out on New Year's because I'm terrified of the drunk drivers; I usually just wait for it to pass and am glad when it's over. But yesterday was wonderful, my best New Year's so far....
View ArticleFavorites
Places I like to check out when I'm confused about dog training or need to quickly find a dog-friendly coffee shop:Roman ReignWonderful list of dog-friendly places in Austin. This is where I...
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The Sweet Spot
I spent all day yesterday baking for my kids' school bake sale, as in baking until my feet and hips throbbed from standing in the kitchen so long and my neglected dogs put their heads down on...
View ArticleSweet Darling Baby Boy
Someone wrote in to complain that this blog contains way too many words. Well. . .I love words, and you're lucky I'm restricting myself to English! For example, yesterday I learned a great...
View ArticleDancing With a Dog
Ivy learned a cute thing this week called "back," which can be either flashy or useful. The flashy version means I take a step forward and she moves with me, then I take a step back and she backs...
View ArticleBaby Love
We keep a small dock on the kitchen counter for playing Pandora radio through an iPod, and my younger son begs to hit the "thumbs down" feature that means you'll never, ever hear that particular...
View ArticleDo Bad Dogs Have More Fun?
Ever since passing her Canine Good Citizen test a couple of weeks ago, Ivy has been on a tear of bad behavior. She's been whiny, begging at the table, and viciously scolding people who don't...
View ArticleAussie Party at Our House
Early this morning a cold front blew through the Texas hill country, although it would be more accurate to call it a "not quite so hot front." But we'll take it! First day in forever with a high...
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Party at Ivy's House
Lots of exciting things coming up: for example, Ivy's first birthday is a week from tomorrow. I already know what I'm going to wear (my slinky black dress and my beloved John Fluevog black...
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Flyball!
Ivy and I went to our first flyball class yesterday and it was FUN. I took my ten-year-old assistant with me and it would have been difficult to manage without him, especially because we had to...
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Party On, Revel
My family is steeped in Elvis-lore. Elvis's father worked for my grandfather, my mom has for almost sixty years maintained a crush on the King which was not lessened by his death, and my youngest...
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S.O.S. from Austin!
When I moved to Austin in 2003, everyone told me I had a five-year grace period before the cedar pollen would come lookin' for me. Oh not me, I thought. I've never had allergies. Allergies are...
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Mama Always Comes Back
We were talking about the words Revel understands, apart from Sit and Down and other cues that go along with hand signals. He clearly knows "breaklast," which we purposely mis-pronounce in honor...
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The Wave
Just when the "Extreme Fire Danger" signs were starting to pop up again, three blessed inches of rain fell on Austin Tuesday night. A real storm, complete with thunder and lightning and the...
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The Power-Lick
A certain determined young boy in my family likes to make charts of Ivy's and Revel's preferences, the main point of which is to prove that Ivy loves him best. "See, I'm up here," he...
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Old Yeller Lives
We have a hen named Bob who is able to fly out of the chicken yard into the dangerous world beyond. Bob feels terribly superior upon landing on the exotic side of the fence; she scratches...
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Wanna Get High?
On a warm spring night the parking lot of our baseball field is crowded with people walking down to the pool; with no tattoos and at least forty percent of my body covered in clothing, I feel...
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Throw the Ball
One September morning in 2008, my friend Lou called to tell me that David Foster Wallace, my favorite living writer, had hanged himself. Everything slowed, then stilled: tiny hexagons of porch...
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Say Less
Agility class on a cool April morning. Ruby, a smart and focused Jack Russell Terrier, hears her person say, "Walk," trots up the Dog Walk and starts carefully across, a tiny canine gymnast on a...
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