Been a while since we had a nice rescue story, so I dug one out of the email vault:
On Sunday Brad walked by that pet place on 81st and Amsterdam and asked them if they had any dogs (there were lots of cats up for adoption). Doug, the dog guy, said that he would have one in a few minutes when she came back from her walk. Brad called us and said come and see. So we did. They told us she answers to Bella. She was rescued from a kill shelter 9 days or something before and she’d just been spayed.
I thought Bella was cute and sweet but Brad wasn’t quite convinced and Rosie [our 8-y.o. daughter] was just a little shy with her (Bella is young, 8 months, and still in that puppy chewing on the hand stage and she is about 35 pounds of puppy muscle).
We thought about it and then went to visit another dog rescue place on Broadway (they had small, older dogs). Then we talked about it and went back. We took Bella to Riverside Park with Shelly, a woman from the rescue organization. Bella did very well, no dog conflicts, no barking like crazy at squirrels or birds, etc. A larger aggressive dog approached and she turned around, so that’s a good sign.
As luck would have it, Rosie was walking her when Bella ran up to a little white dog and started to play a little. I was jumping in the middle since we didn’t really know how Bella would do with dogs yet, especially little dogs, and I said, “Sorry!” without even looking. The other dog’s owner said, “it’s okay,” and we went our separate ways. Then Shelly said, “Wasn’t that Gloria Steinem?” I looked back and sure enough, it was her (and she looked really good for being about 75 years old!)
Of course we thought about Bella Abzug! A good Upper West Side connection for sure, so I’m liking the name more and more (aside from the fact that it’s quite beautiful!)
By the time we got back, Doug was asking us to foster Bella for the week, with his normal dog kennel place in Brooklyn full. Bella seems fairly civilized, although she did pee in the house a few times. No poop though. Life with a little one. She’s ours!
I’m off to rot my mind in front of the television. No cable news, though!
Cat Lady
Love love love the Sister Bertrille ears.
What a sweetheart.
metalgirl
She’s beautiful and I love the Gloria Steinem encounter!! You and your new dog are charmed!!!!
robertdsc
What a doll!
demkat620
That’s a cutie. What a nice way to end the day after all the Sturm and Drang here.
Love ya John and the rest of the front pagers.
mr. whipple
So, what happened today?
General Egali Tarian Stuck
Charlie sitting in my lap is quite impressed with ms. Bela, and so am I. She’s a cutie!!
JCT
@Cat Lady: Our rescue beagle mix (looks like a black and white version of Lily) has the same ears and when she jumps up and down begging for a snack I usually comment that she will soon take off like Sister Bertrille.
Of course, the fact that I am the only one around my house who is old enough to get the joke is somewhat depressing.
cleek
@mr. whipple:
BJ almost imploded.
Lesley
If you embiggen the picture of that cuteastic dog, her teeny teeth are smiling. Oh my God, I love that dog. (Ok, I love most dogs, I’m a sucker for dogs, dogs dogs dogs…)
beltane
Well, that is a nice story. And it does not mention she-who-shall-not-be-named which makes it even better. For some reason most of my town was without internet service today, which saved me from experiencing all the sturm and drang. I’ll have to go work up a little outrage to complete my day.
arguingwithsignposts
Rescued! And she won’t let me forget it! :) New cloth mice and a catnip bed thing for her tonight.
Luthe
As a way for everyone to cheer up after the chaos of earlier: President Obama Looking at Awesome Things. If that doesn’t make you smile, nothing will.
Carrie
Her eyes are mesmerizing, they look so human.
Joshua Norton
No cable news for me – ever. I currently have “Gray’s Anatomy” reruns on in the background while I work on the PC. (I still don’t get how Dr. McSexy is supposed to be all hot for a high maintenance drama queen like Meridith).
MikeJ
@cleek: I was disappointed I got here after the airing of grievances. I was gonna let some people have it.
Bad Horse's Filly
@arguingwithsignposts: I have been meaning to tell you for days (but I get to the threads so late) that Lady Smudge is looking very grown-up and beautiful in her latest glamor shots. She seems very happy (and in charge).
OH, and Bella is stunning, who could resist those ears?
mr. whipple
Oh my.
Doesn’t a balloon explode?
arguingwithsignposts
@Bad Horse’s Filly:
yep, she is very much in charge, and very vocal when she’s not getting the attention she feels she deserves. :)
I get the feeling she’s going to be a very “big” cat, too – not Tunch big, but very loooonnngg!
John O
Listening to Bernstein’s Bolero cover, and waiting for some friends, Maria Isabel (Bella) among them, to visit.
Reading a good pet story.
Puppy passed out at my feet. Cats cuddling within eyeshot, a perfect weather day here in Chicagoland.
Life is good.
Betsy
@arguingwithsignposts:
She’s so purty. Those eyes!
Also, I love this rescue story. Feminism and pet rescue – two of my favorite things, in one place!
jeffreyw
Finally an open thread and I got nothin. Looking forward to hummer season.
Betsy
@arguingwithsignposts:
Chompers is close to silent, but she is good at using body language to show us who’s boss.
jeffreyw
Wait! I do have somethin! Found some lamb today.
Xenos
@mr. whipple:
Not if the pressure increases enough. Say, by tying it to the rail of the Titanic, or by subjecting it to the wrath of Glennzilla. Or both at the same time.
cleek
@mr. whipple:
a normal balloon would. but not this one. it tried to eat itself.
very exciting.
so sad you missed it.
it’s like a beautiful solar eclipse.
a solar eclipse of snark.
maybe you’ll catch the one i suspect will come around in October.
Betsy
@arguingwithsignposts:
Chompers is close to silent, but she is good at using body language to show us who’s boss.
p.s. I posted this a second ago with several other pics, but there were too many links so I got thrown into the mod queue.
p.p.s. That is the closet door she’s sitting on. She likes to get her head as far above ours as she possibly can.
mr. whipple
@John O:
Nice!
mr. whipple
@Betsy: OMG, that’s so funny. I’ve been calling one of our males Chompers of late.
Annie
@Betsy:
She is truly awesome…
mr. whipple
@jeffreyw:
We had a roofus-sided towhee come through yesterday, but it was too dark to get a pic.
Probably should get the lettuce in and get the hummingbird feeders out.
jeffreyw
@Betsy: Vulture kitteh waits for supper to die in her plate. (S)he hears the death rattle..whirr..whirr.
Pigs & Spiders
iPad! iPad! iPad!
/geekdrool
sfinny
So, I’m sitting out on my balcony having a smoke and see someone walking in from the parking lot. The guy glances up in my direction and actually recoils, and quickly moves on. I’m thinking ‘well that was weird’…until I remember that I’m sitting there in my Deep Cleansing Peat Mask.
And yes, it certainly does look like blackface.
Guess the neighbors will be talking.
jeffreyw
mr. whipple: I had one a few days ago: http://whats4dinnersolutions.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/more-birdies/
Martin
@Pigs & Spiders: Patience, young padawan.
mr. whipple
@jeffreyw:
Cool! They are such pretty birds. They say it’s gonna be 70 here this weekend. Should get some migrants.
Betsy
@mr. whipple:
Ha! Hilarious. Great minds, &ct. Has that been because of behavioral issues on his part?
@Annie: Thanks! :D
@jeffreyw:
I know. It can be a little unsettling.
freelancer
Great Orange Satan himself:
Get out of the boat, the punch line is HILARIOUS.
Betsy
@Pigs & Spiders:
Ok, serious question:
What is an ipad for? What is the point of it? It seems really inconvenient to me – no keyboard, but too big to fit conveniently into a pocket or purse. But maybe I’m just not sufficiently tech-oriented.
Pigs & Spiders
@Martin: The embargo for early reviewers was lifted about an hour ago. I’m watching Andy Inhatko play with one on live.twit.tv
Pigs & Spiders
@Betsy: Honestly, the iPad is a computer/appliance/media-player hybrid. It’s going to be for everything needs computational power but not a whole computer. It’s for everything that needs the internet, but not a computer. It’s for all the content you want to consume, without the heft of a computer and the limitations of a Kindle device. It’s also the perfect computer for the people who don’t get computers.
mr. whipple
@Betsy:
“Ha! Hilarious. Great minds, &ct. Has that been because of behavioral issues on his part?”
No. He has gone through many name mutations and permutations. I was calling him Champ for a while, which became Chompers lately.
He’s been known as Punky, Punkywhip, Orange whip, Whipywhip, stinkbutt, crunchbutt, Mr. Crunchy, Booj, etc etc.
Betsy
@Pigs & Spiders:
Gotcha. I have two things I use a computer for every single day, and one of those is writing. So the lack of a keyboard kind of cuts its relevance to me in half. But I do recognize that most people don’t need that.
Pigs & Spiders
@Betsy: Well, there are a couple of ways to use a keyboard with it. There is a keyboard dock, as well as the ability to connect it to any Bluetooth keyboard.
burnspbesq
@Betsy:
You can use the Apple wireless (Bluetooth) keyboard with the iPad.
IndyLib
@jeffreyw:
Yeah! Did you use Alton’s recipe?
Looks yummy.
edit – try some fresh dill in the tzatziki (pronounced zaht-ziki)
rootless-e
spring is here
happiness on every face
dance and sing
and disrespect the base
out in the fields
the flowers are bunching
and all of us obots
are hippy punching
[guitar break]
[repeat]
[explosion]
Tattoosydney
She’s SO cute.
jeffreyw
@IndyLib: Yeah, I run it down here: http://whats4dinnersolutions.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/gyros/
wonkie
SJe’s a darling. And I am so glad you were willing to adopt a pitbull. They are great dogs, despite the hysteria.
Svensker
And now for something completely different…
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga) worried that Guam might tip over and capsize if it gets overpopulated. He wasn’t kidding.
IndyLib
@jeffreyw:
TY – I should have hit the links on the pic
jeffreyw
Willie is willing. Need a happy puppy?
Mnemosyne
@Betsy:
At Christmas this year, my dad was totally fascinated by both the iPod Touch and the Kindle when G let him play with them, but neither of them on their own really did what he wanted, which was to have a device with a reasonably-sized screen that would let him watch movies and surf the Web.
So, basically, their customer is my dad. Unfortunately for them, he’s not an early adopter of, well, anything.
Martin
@Betsy: For me, it’d be my work have-everything device. I spend a lot of time in meetings where people are expecting me to be an expert on all kinds of things. I could keep all that crap in my head when I was younger, but I’m losing my touch. Being able to call up an email, load a spreadsheet, a web service, and so on is pretty appealing to me. The laptop can be pretty clunky to do this – and noisy. I think people forget how distracting someone typing can be, and how much people get distanced from a discussion sitting behind a screen. A PDA is simply too small.
But to be truly useful for me, there needs to be a pen input for taking notes – I’m pretty visual, so there are usually a lot of little drawings and such. I don’t doubt there will be something in the app store for this before long.
And Pigs & Spiders has it right. For most people that are just surfing the web, doing Facebook, Quicken – this could be a pretty compelling device. It’s relatively cheap and throw on the 3G option and you have a nice go-everywhere, do almost-anything item. No risk of malware. Apps are cheap and dead-simple to install.
ellaesther
@cleek: I saw that, and I thought: Walk away slooowly….
mr. whipple
@rootless-e:
Is that progressive rock?
If so, you forgot the laser show.
ellaesther
Hey, I found out today that my mom was born in Adrian, Michigan, home to the Hutaree insanity.
Apparently, Adrian produces both radical secular humanists AND radical Christianist terrorists. Huh!
Betsy
@Mnemosyne:
Early Christmas present?
@Martin:
That makes lots of sense. I hereby withdraw my cranky question.
Martin
@ellaesther: What’s a radical secular humanist? Sounds like extreme white toast.
Martin
@Betsy: The big barrier for many strong computer users is the keyboard. If you are a fast touch typist (I clock in around 100wpm) then the on-screen keyboard will be a world of suck. But most people can’t touch-type. For them, the on screen keyboard is likely to be no slower than a regular one. We tend to forget that.
ellaesther
@Martin: “I don’t believe in God and you can’t make me! No, I mean it!”
That’s kind of my mom’s approach to the notion of God. And she is many things, but white toast? She is not.
IndyLib
@Martin:
Are there really that many people who don’t touch type? Typing was a requirement in my high school in the 80’s.
Martin
@ellaesther: Sounds pretty normal to me.
Betsy
@ellaesther:
I always liked that bumper sticker: “Militant agnostic: I don’t know and you don’t either.”
Martin
@IndyLib: Yeah, actually there are. Lots of people learned in school, but unless you needed to do it a lot, it tends to lapse.
jeffreyw
@Martin: Yup, that’s me. Last class for me was ’65.
ellaesther
@Betsy: Hey! Are you stalking my mom?!
(Actually she has no such bumper sticker, but if she were to see it for sale, she would very quickly acquire it!).
burnspbesq
@Betsy:
Dyslexic agnostic is uncertain about the existence of dog.
Betsy
@burnspbesq:
Although I would never, ever buy this one, because I am not actually this much of a jerk about religion, I secretly love the one that says, “Jesus loves you. Everyone else thinks you’re an asshole.”
IndyLib
@Martin:
I guess for me it was timing then. When I started college in ’85 computers were starting to be used instead of typewriters to do papers for classes, we had a huge computer lab on campus and I used a Mac for my journalism classes. It just stuck I guess, because by the time I got a PC in ’94 I could still type about 100wpm.
Anya
I was on the road all day and my iPhone was sleep so I had no access. Am I too late to register my disappointment with dear leader for this ill advised offshore drilling?
ellaesther
@Betsy: How about:
“I found Jesus! He was behind the sofa the whole time!”
Mark S.
@Anya:
Yes, it’s already been determined by the Committee of O-bots that this was brilliant 11th dimensional chess.
Martin
@Mark S.: Actually, this member of the committee disagrees. The oil is going to get drilled eventually, and I’m not sure that particular patch is going to be economically viable for quite some time. If there’s a political upside to doing it, then why not?
In the meantime, nobody seemed to notice that at the same time, Obama cancelled a whole mess of leases up around Alaska citing environmental concerns. I guess nobody cared about that.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
Our Obotness is spreading throughout the netroot realm. From a commenter at Open left concerning Obama’s drilling prop.
I didn’t know TGOS was an obot haven, but I never read them.
binzinerator
OT but I got an email from Connie Saltonstall with the subject of ‘I need a favor’. The email was as follows:
I was thinking she ought to give a better reason why she’s running against him other than because he is a fucking asshole. I thought she should have stated what she was running for, not what she’s running against. Plus, it sounds way too last-minute desperate, which ain’t a good thing.
I’m not very reassured by that email that she’s got what it takes to challenge Stupak.
Still, giving 20 bucks to make Stupak sweat was worth every penny. That fucker.
Did any of you Juicers who gave to her campaign get an email like that?
[edit to try to fix blockquoting fail]
[edited the edit to fix extra fail of blockquote fail]
Martin
GOS is hardly an obot sanctuary. I’d argue they’re a large minority at best.
Anya
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: It’s far from an Obot sanctuary. I think the firebaggers outnumber the obots at GOS.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@Anya: That’s what I had thought.
binzinerator
Geez, it just occurred to me that if it hadn’t been for that stupid laughing black helicopter guy I would have never thought of using ellipses to fix blockquote fail.
Wingnut freaks aren’t always 100% worthlessness 100% of the time. Sometimes while blundering in their enormity of stoopit they accidentally fail into discovering something useful.
Imagine that.
Mark S.
@Martin:
And if I understand correctly, the individual states can veto any drilling. My best guess is that this is a mating call to Lindsay Graham, so maybe Obama already has assurances from Huckleberry isn’t going to torpedo this like Grassley did on HCR.
Obot sanctuary needs to be in the lexicon.
Anya
@Mark S.: I am a member of the committee, yet this decision is upsetting to me.
Maybe I should check Sarah Palin’s facebook to see how real Americans feel about this.
Anya
@Mark S.:
Other than BJ and the Field, where else?
Steeplejack
@binzinerator:
Best blockquote practices:
(h/t Monkeyboy © 2009)
The underscores do not show up in the final blockquote, unlike the ellipses. Don’t leave a blank line between the “normal” text and the blockquote, else the blockquote will come out in bold. Typographical “eww.”
Martin
@Mark S.: Even if there’s nothing like that going on, he’s blunted the GOP attacks on energy and let’s face it, it’s not going to have any impact one way or another on other energy initiatives as so many on the left are trying to claim.
binzinerator
@sfinny:
Naw, he prolly thought you were into some sort of scat fetish. Wet pulpy peat looks a lot like excrement. No wonder he scrammed.
RJ
(The open thread’s probably the best place to put this )
I was just on LGF, which has a link to some teabagger photostream. In a fit of masochism, I clicked on it, which includes people promoting a joyfully wingnut site – one that allows you to create your own bumper stickers.
The abbreviation they’ve chosen for this allows you to imagine your car with “Your BS” on the bumper.
Fitting for winguts.
binzinerator
@Steeplejack:
Thanks!
trollhattan
Gracie, typically camera-shy, tolerated my taking a few shots in the park last Sunday. We adopted her about four years ago in a Denny’s parking lot off I-5, brought there from Fresno by a Crazy Dog Lady. She’d been surrendered at least twice: once by the original owner and again by the folks who first adopted her (something about considering the cat to be a pursuit item). CDL rescued her from the shelter for her erstwhile Dalmatian rescue. She hauled her and several other dogs north for our meet-n-greet. Oh intertubes, is there no limit to the troubles you bring us?
Long story short, we’d been morose and dogless for a couple months after losing our first Dal and took Gracie home after a scant 15-minute “interview.” She’s a remarkably good house dog and Mr. Hyde outside, in the real world. We’re still sorting through all that. Good thing for her she’s dang cute.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2731/4480954446_9612971e24_o.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4034/4480306155_4cab1bcd09_o.jpg
Steeplejack
@binzinerator:
You have learned well, grasshopper!
>^..^<
Mark S.
@Anya:
Beats me. I don’t really hang out in the comment sections of any of the big sites.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
Another day, another choice cut of wingnuttery. Southern Fried from the SC Lt. Governator.
Maybe they can convene it on the Appalachian Trail and we can make a piknik of it.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@trollhattan: Your pics have the best color and clarity anywhere. And Gracie is a beauty of a pooch.
jeffreyw
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: Yup, very nice.
Yutsano
@jeffreyw: ME. WANT. PUPPEH!!
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@Yutsano: Willie is a darling!!
trollhattan
@ General Egali Tarian Stuck
Thank you! She’s so darn photogenic, it’s ironic she’s bloody terrified of cameras (and fireworks and thunder and the garbage truck and….).
I’m looking for a camera made of meat and squirrels.
Yutsano
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: One big thing holding me back: I’m thinking about changing jobs in my company to one where I would be traveling for half the year. Not exactly conducive to building a bond with a puppy. I’d have to leave him on my parents’ ranch to grow up. It would kind of defeat the purpose, even if he would have my folks and a border collie to romp around with.
Betsy
@jeffreyw:
Why must you torment me thus?
@trollhattan:
Wow, that is gorgeous color saturation. Very very nice. Woke me right up. And what a great pooch!! That 2nd pic is happiness distilled.
Linkmeister
@Svensker: Aside from the physics, he could be right. When I lived there my father was in charge of the Public Works Dept. and struggled mightily to keep power up and running and sewers working. And that was 1969-1970, when there were about 50K people on that island.
asiangrrlMN
Thank you for the adorable pic of Bella (and the heartwarming story), Cole. Much appreciated.
And, thanks to the commentariat for pics of Lady Smudge, Chompers, Willie (the shelter pup), and Gracie. Nothing soothes me like pictures of happy animals.
Oh, and my boys don’t chatter much, but they are definitely in charge!
Ruckus
@burnspbesq:
lexdysic agnostic is uncertain about the existence of dog.
How can you be a proper dyslexic if you can’t spell it like it should be? Know one to takes one.