All right fine, here’s a picture of the baby.
If you think writing with a cat on your arm is a pain, try it with a 110-pound doberman pressing his chin on your forearm while he stares in your eyes and cries for attention in the same way that a fire alarm gently suggests you leave.
Chat about whatever.
skerry
Adorable
I was driving home from an errand earlier today and had the random thought of how much I miss reading to my no-longer young children. The intimacy of it, the in-the-moment of it. I really enjoyed the bedtime book. I never understood people who tried to rush through a bedtime book.
Cherish it all, in a blink she’ll be grown.
shelley
I remember reading to my nephews; loved it. The one series tho that could never charm were the Barbar books. I know they’ve been criticized for their colonial outlook, but I just found them deadly dull.
raven
Look at dat punkin.
Villago Delenda Est
Those eyes…so expressive!
JPL
What a cutie and I would bet that she has her daddy wrapped around her little finger.
I also miss reading to my sons and I don’t have grandchildren to read to. I’ve already mentioned that they had better hurry up and marry, because I’m not going to a wedding when I need a cane. Not there is something wrong with that, but I want to be young enough to enjoy the festivities.
Emma
Gorgeous kid!
Villago Delenda Est
@JPL: A friend from college, with his first daughter, video taped her during the “no” phase at three answering some questions, like, “Do you want a Ferrari for your 16th birthday?” and her answering “no!”.
The hope being that this could be used in 13 years to deflect any notion of a sports car for a birthday present at 16.
skerry
@efgoldman: I have a daughter getting married next year. My youngest is a senior in high school this fall. I’ve let the older girls know that when the house is empty, I’ll be ready for grandkids. So for now, I have a dog that will cuddle with me.
gene108
My older brother has two kids, sparing me the need to reproduce to please parental units desire for grandkids.
Edit: Tim, forgot to mention very cute kid. I’m sure she brings a good bit of laughter to your house, as small children do.
TriassicSands
My God, that’s the weirdest looking Doberman I’ve ever seen. And I don’t believe for a second it weights 110 pounds.
As far as I can see, it fails to meet every one of the AKC’s breed standards, so, for heaven’s sake, don’t try to show that pup.
If that were a human baby, it would be quite handsome. But, as a dog, I’m sorry. Oh, and you really shouldn’t refer to your Doberman as “the baby.” It’s bad for his self-esteem.
Old Dan and Little Ann
Three years ago today my wife and I took our dog, Mickey, for one last stroll around the block before taking him to the Vet. No day passes without me missing him. Cheers, Mickey. See ya’ on the other side one day.
Violet
Totally adorable!
Ultraviolet Thunder
Why do babies go through a ‘Peekaboo phase’ when playing that is just the most fascinating thing?
They’re natural flirts, but they all seem to respond the same way to Peekaboo games.
Karen in GA
What a beautiful baby!
Kevin McGee
Recent pictures of your baby Max would be appreciated.
Suzanne
WHATTA CUTIE-PANTS.
My respective spawns are dancing around the living room to “Happy”. Spawn the Younger is wearing a dress-up tutu, two different shoes, a plastic tiara, and fairy wings.
Some days, I dream about what it would be like to have a clean house, peace and quiet whenever I wanted it, and I could poop by myself. Then I remember that that would be BORING.
Tomorrow begins my final week at my job. I hope my boss is still stewing about it, like the pissy, whiny bitch that he is.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
That better be the original complete Pooh with the E. H. Shepard illustrations, and not the Disney horror.
Anoniminous
And the sound of Squeeeee!!! echos o’er the land.
SiubhanDuinne
@Tim F: Your daughter is just adorable!
rikyrah
she is adorable. I know she looks at you with those eyes and gets anything she wants :)
? Martin
@efgoldman: Yeah. I’ve also been told that when the game is played in an experimental setting, they determine that a lot of the fun of the game is the energy that the adult brings to it. That is, peekaboo is fun because it entertains the adult.
Violet
@Suzanne:
And while he is you can continue to be your smiling, happy, friendly self to him. It’ll just piss him off more. Win!
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
Fraser-Simpson. I love those songs. Learned just about all of them as a small child.
Iowa Old Lady
An ice cream truck just came down my dead end street. First time I’ve seen or heard one all summer.
A Humble Lurker
Your kid has the biggest, most expressive eyes.
SiubhanDuinne
@Iowa Old Lady:
Isn’t that odd. I saw one yesterday for the first time all summer.
gogol's wife
NewsMax: “Muhammad Top Name for Baby Boys in Britain.” I blame Obama.
Violet
@gogol’s wife: Don’t you mean Barack Hussein Obama?
The Pale Scot
Just…like… Wow:
A Korean Ian Paisley, I would have never thought.
tybee
columbus georgia took out several old dams to create the longest urban whitewater course in the u.s.
at about 4pm, the hydroelectric dam upstream releases water to produce electricity as people get home from work.
that causes a tremendous amount of water to pour through the white water course.
each day at 5pm an outfitter has a bunch of rafts go down the whitewater course through a dozen or so rapids that cut through a series of shoals.
some rafts go down a mild course, some go down a medium course. some go down what is referred to as “the carnage” run through “cut bait rapid”.
few of the medium ride rafts make the run with out being capsized at least once.
none of the carnage rides make it unscathed.
we went friday night on the carnage run.
we flipped our raft about 6 times.
i’m 60 years old.
i have a twisted knee, bruised ribs, skinned elbows and knees, a severely bruised thigh and arm, a sore nose from having my sunglasses slammed into my head repeatedly.
it was a blast. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkAc_ImLcbQ
on our passage through cut bait, there was an empty raft parked sideways in the middle. i pushed it out of the way with my face and it returned the favor by taking me and the wife out of our raft.
i surfaced quite some ways down stream and it took a while to right the raft and round up the crew.
what a hoot.
SiubhanDuinne
@Old Dan and Little Ann:
That”s a sad anniversary. They never leave our hearts.
Suffern ACE
@Iowa Old Lady: hah. A dead end street you say? I believe you could capture it if you wanted. Ice cream trucks are one of the few creatures out there that are less dangerous when cornered.
schrodinger's cat
Thread needs more kitteh!
trollhattan
@tybee:
Sounds like a blast–do heal faster than the average Cole.
Fans of dam removal will want to read the latest account of the Elwah River restoration. A rare environmental victory and something everybody can be proud of.
Iowa Old Lady
@SiubhanDuinne: I think there aren’t as many as there used to be because kids don’t hang around their neighborhoods in the summer any more.
@Suffern ACE: I am a little old lady, but I could probably have stared him down if I moved fast enough. Which sadly, I didn’t.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
with apologizes for the mass cut’n’paste, just turned on MSNBC and if they were covering this, it’s over
Betty Cracker
Gorgeous girl!
My baby is out driving around in my car right now. Enjoy this time as much as you can. It goes by so damn fast.
schrodinger's cat
@The Pale Scot: I knew a Korean evangelist in grad school, he was pretty in your face and obnoxious about proselytizing, Mormon Missionaries and Jehovah’s Witnesses are at least polite when they come to your door.
Sir Laffs-a-Lot
Max pix!!!!!!
Great baby too :)
? Martin
@Iowa Old Lady: We didn’t used to get him to come, but last summer he came through and we all ran out there. Told the kids that he’ll stop coming when you stop buying, so figure out which you want. They buy from him about every other visit, and he makes a point to pause for them. He’s a very nice guy – immigrant from Pakistan – been here about 5 years (this is his 2nd job – does it in the evenings, his own truck). Always offers the kids a discount, and I always tell the kids to tip him so he stays in business.
WereBear
@Villago Delenda Est: That’s fiendishly clever! But it won’t work :)
That’s a delightful peek-a-boo look on the young lady! I remember when she was first hatched… sigh.
On my own nurturing side, Mithrandir is a delightful person.
Click on pics for bigger!
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
That’s a very cute
babykiddo. But are there no pictures of Maxpuppeh? While we’re being demanding. DMDFJr (or is it DMDFII?) looks to be full of energy.Glocksman
When she’s a bit older, the Encyclopedia Brown series is something to buy for her.
Granted, they’re dated but the books do teach the lesson of asking ‘why’.
WereBear
@Glocksman: I LOVED those as a kid!
Another series, even more obscure, was the “Trick” books, I think it began with The Lemonade Trick, and continued on for several more books. Two boys get a chemistry set at a garage sale. And things happen!
Beverly Cleary is still the gold standard for a certain age group. And there’s so many!
Violet
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Captain Ron Johnson was amazing up there. Find the video if you can. Worth watching.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@WereBear: I’m glad Tristan has gotten with the program!
PurpleGirl
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): If you hover your mouse on the right edge of the picture an arrow will appear and clicking on that takes you to another picture, and another, and another until you get to a bunch of Max pictures.
ETA: Kiddo is adorable and as others have said, those eyes. She’ll be a heartbreaker some day.
Burnspbesq
@trollhattan:
Someday we’ll do the same to Hetch Hetchy, although I doubt I’ll still be around to see it.
WereBear
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): It’s pretty funny how Karma has come around and he’s the one getting his head tackled.
But he adores having a kitten. Now.
stonetools
Sooo… I’m thinking of getting a dog as a pet. How are Dobermans?
There was a time, prior to pit bulls, that they were looked upon as demon dogs. Would people recommend them? I ask because you are the political AND pet blog:-).
WereBear
@stonetools: Doberman breeders reacted to the Demon Dog scandal of the ’70’s by breeding a very sweet nature into their current pups.
They are both bright and energetic. They need things to do. A lot. But are also affectionate and delightful in personality.
JPL
@Villago Delenda Est: haha.. A friends grandchild wanted to go to the Lamborghini dealership for her third birthday. Since the parents drive an older model Toyota and are professors, they have no idea where she developed her fascination with cars,
Yatsuno
Pictures of Maxpuppeh too or GTFO.
PurpleGirl
@stonetools: Friends had an old-style big Doberman. He had been raised and trained as a house pet and was sweet. I said his heart was marshmallow. I had to be taught how to handle him. He was a good companion and obeyed me. I was lucky that he liked me and made me one of his humans; he ignored people he didn’t like. Currently Dobermans are being breed a bit smaller; they are still as bright and trainable as ever. And they are sweet. I love them. (Max, Time F’s Doberman, seems to be an old-style big dog like my friends’ Hugo.)
PurpleGirl
@Yatsuno: See my comment # 52. Keep clicking the arrow past the nature pictures and you’ll find Max and Sammy playing and then a bunch of Max in the house.
stonetools
@WereBear: @PurpleGirl:
Thanks. Gotta say Max looks like a cutie. Maybe today’s Dobermans aren’t man eaters after all.
WereBear
@stonetools: They never were.
They were victims of so much of the same “pit bull” problems we see today. Sociopathic owners who mistreated them so they would be crazed defenders of the home.
And that is what they got.
Tim F.
@WereBear: American doberman breeders had been going for a family-style dog for a long time. To see the result of that work search the internet for people killed by a doberman. Compare that with the results you get when you search for people killed by a standard poodle, labrador, boxer or shepherd. Dobermans have only a slightly higher body count than dachshunds.
They still have an instinct to protect people, but they mostly do that by making noise and putting their body in between their person and the threat. And they are incredibly patient/gentle with kids and small mean animals like cats and chihuahuas, almost to a fault. With most dobermans you would need to put him in training to get a dog that would even consider biting people unless you abuse him or your life is at risk.
European breeders go for a personality that is closer to the breed’s origin. They still do not attack random people but they are more standoffish and less likely to warm up to every visitor.
Betty Cracker
@stonetools: My neighbors have had a couple of dobies — very sweet and well trained dogs. They had young children, and the dobies were great with the kids.
We have boxers, which are wonderfully goofy and sweet dogs. Ours aren’t so well trained, but that is entirely our fault. I highly recommend boxers. They are clownish and puppy-like but pretty smart too.
WereBear
@Tim F.: I love Dobies and have always had great experiences with them. And, from a family point of view, they’ve gotten even better.
Bill Arnold
@Tim F.:
First hit for some of these searches is a very long wikipedia article Fatal dog attacks in the United States, with over 500 references.
Tehanu
Oh precious! Gosh, I miss having a little one around. Even my younger grandson is now in 1st grade and huffily sneers at reading books when he could be playing games on the tablet his other grandma bought him. Enjoy her now, and that includes the dirty diapers and the regurging … it’s all gone far too soon.
Svensker
A totally beguiling child. Yay you!
Lydia L.P.
Beautiful child, she’s a keeper! :)