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You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Dumpster Diving Open Thread

Dumpster Diving Open Thread

by | 136 Comments

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Apparently, Ginger, like many single moms, relishes a night out on the town. At some point between 11 pm and 4:30 am, she hopped her playpen walls and did this:

dumpsterdiving

dumpsterdiving2

She tried to act innocent, but Lily and Rosie were still in bed in my room and I had to spend 20 minutes picking shredded aluminum foil out of her muzzle. She then pissed the floor when I called her a bad dog.

We’re going to leave this off her resume when I try to find her her forever home.

And before you try to take her side in this and guilt me for doing something wrong,no, she was not hungry. She had a bowl full of food.

Reader Interactions

136Comments

  1. 1.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Okay, we get to see pictures of the mess she made, but still no pictures of the culprit herself? In a lineup, maybe, or doing a perp walk? Mug shot?

    Needz moar PUPPEH pix, plz.

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    heeheheheehee…hahahahahahaha…. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…

    Sorry John, can.not.help.myself.

    BWAHAHAHAAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAAHAAHAHAHAA… gasp… wheeze…

  3. 3.

    Mustang Bobby

    [gigglesnort] Oh, yeah, been there, did that with Sam, except it was a pillow. It looked like it snowed in the living room.

    Count your blessings, John, that she only peed when you chastised her.

  5. 5.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @raven: My wife gives our Nikki(the cocker) a nice plush toy and complains that she’s tearing it up. I tell her, “dear, she’s a dog; that’s what dogs do”.

  7. 7.

    Anne Laurie

    Sooner or later, John, those of us who live with second-hand companion animals discover we aren’t necessarily Just Better At It than all those slackers whose rescues leave a trail of raided trashcans, torn cushions, soiled carpets, terrorized fellow pets, and the occasional insurance waiver for reckless biting.

    You got lucky with Lily and Rosie — yes, you worked hard, but you also got lucky that they didn’t have “issues” you couldn’t fix or ignore…

    Make life easier for both of you, secure the food-related trash where she can’t get to it (shut it inside the cabinet, or bungie-cord the kitchen trashcan to the bakers rack). And be prepared to warn the people in her permanent home that she’s “very food-oriented” and will need to be kept away from dangerous stuff like used aluminum foil, plastic wrap, gift boxes of chocolates, and possibly bars of food-scented soap…

  8. 8.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @raven: Who, my wife or the dog; the dog understands that, my wife not so much. She says, “why can’t Nikki just play with the toy”. She is, she’s a dog.

  10. 10.

    Baud

    I would have done the same thing.

    And before you try to take her side in this and guilt me for doing something wrong,no,

    Let’s compromise and blame Obama.

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: @BillinGlendaleCA: The Woofmeister has a number of toys that he flails, chases, chews, pulls, yanks, etc, but he has one, a little fuzzy, stuffed baby chicken that he very gently carries around in his mouth. Never chews, just carries it from place to place, setting it down very gently, and then snugling it for a bit.

  12. 12.

    Patricia Kayden

    Ginger is a mess! My dogs get into things too (my leather couch has been ruined and fluff is coming out from one of its seams). But that’s the price of having pets.

  13. 13.

    Anne Laurie

    @raven: True, but I’ve found it’s easier to lock up the garbage than to be 100% certain that you’ve “contained” the dog. The garbage doesn’t spend endless hours planning how to escape!

  15. 15.

    ThresherK

    Is it just me, or did every other BJer’s pet now earn one “Get out of Jail Free” card after seeing this?

  16. 16.

    Baud

    Daily News (via TPM)

    President Obama was shocked and irritated by Mitt Romney’s concession call in the 2012 presidential election – and claimed Romney insinuated that Obama won only by getting out the black vote, according to a new book by presidential campaign strategist David Axelrod.
    Obama was “unsmiling during the call, and slightly irritated when it was over,” Axelrod writes.
    The president hung up and said Romney admitted he was surprised at his own loss, Axelrod wrote.
    “‘You really did a great job of getting the vote out in places like Cleveland and Milwaukee,’ in other words, black people,'” Obama said, paraphrasing Romney. “That’s what he thinks this was all about.”

  17. 17.

    Randy P

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Never chews, just carries it from place to place, setting it down very gently, and then snugling it for a bit.

    Our cat has one of those. It’s a hard metal mouse with just a thin cloth cover to make it look vaguely mouse-like. It was originally a remote-control mouse, something which made all the humans cackle at the idea but which never worked too well in reality.

    Anyway, the remote control was lost long ago, but we keep finding this metal thing dropped in random places all over the house, next to a softer, furrier more traditional toy mouse.

  18. 18.

    ixnay

    The most important thing to remember about animals and getting into trouble: they have nothing better to do and all the time needed to figure it out, and no way to talk with you about it to find out if it is a good idea. Applying Murphy’s law to pet behavior is always wise, at least when they’re not directly supervised, and sometimes even then.

    And chastising after the fact? I used to make the point to my clients (using my own dog) by pointing at an absolutely pristine piece of floor and making the “baaad dog” face. Dog would cringe and cower and look guilty. The guilty look (and the submissive peeing) is learned behavior to defuse the owner’s anger. – but I’m sure everyone here knows that.

    I’m with the idea of seriously securing the trash, and the litter box, for that matter. As Ginger continues to gain in health and strength, her bright poodle mind will continue to seek new entertainments. Not to mention a growing desire to escape the voracious Thurston and Lovey.

    See, John, it’s because you’ve been taking such good care of her that she has the spare energy to get into trouble!

  19. 19.

    Randy P

    @Baud: It’s what the Romney campaign was all about, so in classic GOP style he’s projecting.

    It still embarrasses me that Romney had a majority of white males. Not a large majority, but I can’t understand how he could draw a majority of anybody who’s not a 1%-er.

  21. 21.

    MomSense

    i thought I had it bad when the pup jumped up onto a chair to get to the things on the table and I had to scramble to puppy proof another level of the house.

  22. 22.

    Betty Cracker

    Poodles are super smart. I look forward to future tales of how she defeated your attempts to thwart her evil plans.

  23. 23.

    satby

    I had to switch to bags of garbage hung up high off the floor and dog proofing all kitchen counters after I rescued Hershey, my lab-pitty mix, who is a huge dog. And blocking all the bookcases with plywood or scrap wallboard to prevent book destruction, because he and Rosie liked to play tug o war with them. Smart, bored dogs can be very destructive. And garbage is like catnip to them, all those lovely smells!

  24. 24.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Baud: But to a certain extent, Romney was right. President Obama did a great job in getting his base to come out and vote for him (Blacks, Browns, young people, single women, etc.). I was irritated that Romney took so long to concede. I had to go to bed before seeing Obama’s victory speech because Romney waited so long to admit that he had lost.

  25. 25.

    Debbie(aussie)

    Not a nice thing to wake up too. But Ginger must be feeling safe and secure, so, John, you must be doing a great job. You can take responsibility for that?

  26. 26.

    Morzer

    She tried to act innocent, but Lily and Rosie were still in bed in my room and I had to spend 20 minutes picking shredded aluminum foil out of her muzzle. She then pissed the floor when I called her a bad dog.

    All she did was go Galt. If you weren’t such a classic repressive liberal fascist, you’d be celebrating her rejection of a culture of welfare dependency!

  28. 28.

    danielx

    PAAAR-TAY!

    Back in the day I saw kitchens like that on the morning after, and there were no dogs involved whatsoever. Count your blessings; at least Ginger didn’t spill pina coladas all over so it felt like you had suction cups on your feet when you walked in the kitchen.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    LONDON — Despite warnings that a new ethical threshold was being crossed, British lawmakers on Tuesday voted to allow the in vitro creation of babies using the DNA of three people, a procedure that could prevent the inheritance of genetic diseases.

    The move would make Britain the first country to authorize an in vitro fertilization technique that involves altering a human egg or embryo before transferring it to the womb.

  32. 32.

    SRW1

    @Baud:

    There’s no way Mitt woulda lost if Obama hadn’t put his thumb on the scale. And then the humiliation of Mitt having to make that call. But, hey, you know, Mitt didn’t really want it all that much anyway.

  33. 33.

    Morzer

    @Baud:

    I thought Alaska pioneered the Palin technique of creating one child from two mothers and a father?

    Perhaps I should have included a Trigg-er warning in case still-blogging not-retired-enough Sully reads this….

  34. 34.

    Baud

    @SRW1:

    It reminds me of the 90s, when conservatives like George Will kept saying that Clinton only won because of the black vote.

  35. 35.

    PsiFighter37

    Just had a vasovagal response (learned something new today) when having blood drawn. That was zero fun at all, and I think I freaked out my nurse a bit.

  37. 37.

    WereBear

    @Anne Laurie: True, but I’ve found it’s easier to lock up the garbage than to be 100% certain that you’ve “contained” the dog. The garbage doesn’t spend endless hours planning how to escape!

    Quoted for hilarious truth!

  39. 39.

    Elizabelle

    Yup. Two bowls of food on the floor, while Ginger rioted nearby.

    Would love to see a pic of Ginger with the aluminum shreds in her whiskers.

    A grrrrrl’s gotta do what a grrrrrl’s gotta do.

  40. 40.

    dedc79

    Our sixteen year old tibetan terrier is losing his eyesight, but not his ability to stand on his hind legs, turn a door handle with his teeth or paw, find and unspool a roll of toilet paper, and then chew pieces of the toilet paper leaving little wet clumps of it all over.

  41. 41.

    Tinare

    But that bowl full of food was not exactly what she wanted and that garbage smelled oh so good. As someone up thread said, you’re doing a great job of taking care of her and she’s obviously feeling well enough to get into mischief.

  43. 43.

    Morzer

    @Alex S.:

    When a True Conservative King appears in America, accompanied by a shining star in the East, three wise men and the Laffer Curve and Bell Curve in conjunction in the heavens. Only then can the Prophet Sullivan lay down his burden.

  44. 44.

    beth

    And in the further adventures of both sides do it journalism, here’s Matt Lauer and Chuck Todd shaking their heads over the NYT saying that the vaccination issue is a problem for Republicans :http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/matt-lauer-liberal-nytimes-vaccines.

    I know there’s a lot of liberals who don’t vaccinate but how many people in power on the left are agreeing with them or even pandering to them anymore? My favorite part though is Chuck’s statement about Hillary Clinton’s pro-vaccine tweet :

    Todd said: “I think that came across as a little bit condescending.”

    Yeah, apparently speaking the truth is a huge problem for Democrats.

  45. 45.

    JMT

    Looks like Ginger had a great time; a nice change for her from dealing with the pups. Obviously she wanted something more interesting to do than suckling pups!

  47. 47.

    Violet

    @heckblazer: One of my all time favorite Far Side cartoons. Perfect.

    John, whatever happened regarding Ginger’s possible breast cancer? Did she get checked out by a vet? Did they determine anything? I hope she’s okay. If I missed that update from John could someone point me to the proper thread or fill me in. Thanks.

  49. 49.

    Botsplainer

    All dog owners know that no matter how much you spend on dog food that is wholesome, nutritious and pleasing to the canine palate, it still doesn’t match the glorious flavor profiles, the delightful differences in texture and the olfactory experience of an elegantly arrayed buffet of kitchen trash.

  53. 53.

    beth

    @Baud: The fact that he’s never said anything like that while the Republicans have done nothing but issue condescending remarks about Barack Obama for 6 years tells me all I need to know about him. I would love to see Hillary or Debbie Wasserman-Schultz demand an apology, just like the Republicans would do.

  54. 54.

    Morzer

    @Alex S.:

    Crystal ball say: fake eye doctor following own prescription easily fall down stairs in dark and break ass.

    Whether that’s a prophecy or just a tired old prognosticating sphere at the end of a long day, you decide.

  55. 55.

    HRA

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Romney did not have a speech ready to concede. He arrogantly expected to win.

    What Ginger did reminds me of what a niece did once she was let out of her baby cage. Ginger’s next step may be to go wandering away outside. That was my niece’s next step after she opened the sliding door in the winter.

  57. 57.

    Hawes

    @Baud: The only reason why Clinton and Obama won is because more people voted for them than the other guys. I mean…the nerve!

    At least we rectified that in 2000.

  58. 58.

    Alex S.

    @beth:

    I just realized that it’s very hard for Republicans to be condescending. I mean, the word ‘condescending’ implies that you actually have to be right about something. But Republicans can never condescendingly point out that they’re right, because they never are.

  59. 59.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @WereBear: Yup. The Terror Twins were sick and starving when the rescue fostered them. Max gets very worried when we’re late with food (like, say, Saturday morning) and does his best imitation of reveille. Miles is more confident that food will eventually appear, but he goes behind the other cats and eats anything they don’t.

    Duchess was severely underweight when the rescue trapped her at a feral colony. She moans like a lost soul when she hears us moving around in the mornings if we don’t come down right then and put out food.

    We don’t know his history, but Pixel just comes upstairs and stares. Before the twins joined the pride, he earned the name Gunny for his obsession with getting us into the kitchen and into bed on time. He now seems to have decided that Max is doing a good enough job that he (Pixel) doesn’t need to bother.

  62. 62.

    Iowa Old Lady

    Went out to go to the gym and got stuck in the snow again. If a cop hadn’t stopped to push me out, I’d be there still. At least I got to skip the gym.

  63. 63.

    raven

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Yea, we’ve had Lil Bit for 6 years and she is, and always will be, food obsessed. I keep cookies in jar on the counter of the restaurant down the way and she always pulls toward it when we leave the house. When we are returning from our two-mile walk in the morning she gets more and more excited as we get near the house because that’s when she gets her morning food.

  65. 65.

    Lymie

    Ugh, no point chastizing after the fact, tempting as it is, she won’t associate it with anything.

  68. 68.

    rikyrah

    Obama shocked, ‘slightly irritated’ by Mitt Romney’s 2012 concession call: David Axelrod
    Feb 3, 2015

    President Obama was shocked and irritated by Mitt Romney’s concession callin the 2012 presidential election — and claimed Romney insinuated that Obama won only by getting out the black vote, according to a new book by presidential campaign strategist David Axelrod.

    Obama was “unsmiling during the call, and slightly irritated when it was over,” Axelrod writes.

    The president hung up and said Romney admitted he was surprised at his own loss, Axelrod wrote.

    “‘You really did a great job of getting the vote out in places like Cleveland and Milwaukee,’ in other words, black people,'” Obama said, paraphrasing Romney. “That’s what he thinks this was all about.”

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/obama-irriated-romney-2012-concession-david-axelrod-article-1.2102383

  73. 73.

    Couldn't Stand the Weather

    Crystal ball say: fake eye doctor following own prescription easily fall down stairs in dark and break ass.

    I like it.

  75. 75.

    john b

    @Randy P: My wife had these small strechy gloves that our cat would always find and adopt as her babies. She would literally put them to bed at night. It was incredibly cute. I feel bad that the last of these gloves was retired a couple of years ago. They really got gross with cat hair after a while.

  76. 76.

    Botsplainer

    @Baud:

    Just went to look at the vitriol heaped on Chuck Todd via Twitter. Apparently, he’s blocked me from even viewing his tweets.

    I musta struck a nerve somehow. I haven’t even thought about him for months.

  77. 77.

    Steeplejack

    @Elizabelle:

    Cool. When I looked up that cartoon I started wondering what she has been doing. She has sort of dropped off the radar, or maybe just my radar. But I see on Amazon she had a book out last year.

  78. 78.

    karen marie

    Anyone who leaves that much garbage in their house deserves what they get. Empty your garbage more often, John Cole. And do not ever yell at Ginger again. Unless she is caught mid act, yelling serves no purpose other to frighten her and distract from your responsibility to not have a shit ton of garbage in your house.

  80. 80.

    dnfree

    Love that linoleum! We had it when I was growing up. I looked it up once and it was one of the most popular patterns ever, still going strong from the 1940’s into the 1970’s.

  83. 83.

    Felonius Monk

    Wow, John, what a messy kitchen. No wonder she got into stuff or is this an excuse to do some more nude mopping and the hilarity that ensues.

  88. 88.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    No fun to clean up, but cute.

    When my recent rescue puppy (that had to go back to the shelter) put his head clean through the screen door because he just wanted to be inside with the grownups, that was cute.

    When he bit me a few days later and then my wife the next day, that wasn’t.

    You’ve been lucky with the issues. I feel like history’s greatest monster (and probably always will) for sending a puppy back to the no-kill shelter from whence he came, but I could not deal with having a dog around that bites people when he gets pissed off.

  89. 89.

    gvg

    @karen marie: Have to disagree. He does need to yell at her at a normal level, just not at super scarey levels. The reason is that I have known pet owners who noticed that their cat or dog was scared of something and then made sure that scarey something wasn’t allowed. This was followed by something else becoming scarey and then another until the pet was full blown neurotic and owner kept “having” to protect from more and more. There have been studies showing that becoming too protective was counterproductive. Once you start to think about it, you’ll see some examples around you.

    It’s better to be very loving to the scared animals and carefully help them overcome their fears gradually. Not ignore fears and say tough, not overprotective, just be considerate. I have known pet owners who had ended up with such fearful animals who were doing just that, overprotecting. I would not have realized this could happen if I hadn’t had others point it out.

    When I got my purebred Angora 25 years ago, she was about 10 months old and turned out to be afraid of dark haired men. We don’t know why. Hurt my fathers feelings I think. We didn’t know what to do about it though we talked about it. Dad stayed calm but kind of ignored her, as did my friends that fit that profile and after a year or so she just didn’t seem bothered any more. She was a cat that liked attention and was good at charming even people who said they were afraid of cats.

    I do know its no use yelling later, but catching in the act and some yelling consistantly is probably called for. Perhaps not right away, but not much later.

    I have not read about studies on overprotective parents effect on children but I bet their are simularities. I know a family whose grown daughter was murdered gruesomely. For a long time they were very paranoid about the safety especially of the 2 nieces. It definately affected those little girls. I think they all recovered after about 15 years. Hard to believe its been that long.

  92. 92.

    Karen in GA

    @Baud: I love the implication that black votes aren’t as valid as white votes, and that black people voting for you gives you an unfair advantage. “No fair! Everyone knows they’re not supposed to count!”

    Why, yes, I am late to this thread.

  95. 95.

    kindness

    How bad is the winter out in West Virginia that you can’t empty your trash more frequently? Must be wicked bad if you go that long.

  97. 97.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    She didn’t piss, she signed her name to her work of art.

    @delk: Peeing while scolding is a mark of submission, and the one time you NEVER want to yell at the dog or correct her for peeing in the house.

  101. 101.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud:
    Mitt Romney rubs everyone the wrong way. Even white people. Remember his trip to London in 2012? He pissed people off by disparaging the preparations for the Olympics. He met with the Foreign Office (the equivalent of the US State Department) and it got leaked that officials there were deeply unimpressed with his ignorance of world affairs and his arrogance.

  102. 102.

    Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)

    My thought is, poor Ginger must be bored out of her mind. She needs moar playtime and running around outside to tire her out. And also what Anne Laurie said about securing the garbage and other tasty treats.

  104. 104.

    Buddy H

    On Monday, New York State’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman instructed Target, GNC, Walgreens and Walmart to immediately cease selling a number of scam herbal supplements. An investigation revealed that best-selling supplements not only didn’t work, but were potentially dangerous, with four out of five of the products not even listing any herbs in their ingredients–instead, the supplements contained fillers including powdered rice, houseplants and asparagus. Fraudulent products include echinacea, ginseng, St. John’s wort, garlic, ginkgo biloba and saw palmetto.

    In total, only 21 percent of store brand herbal supplements contained plants listed on the labels.

    “Mislabeling, contamination and false advertising are illegal,” said Schneiderman. “They also pose unacceptable risks to New York families — especially those with allergies to hidden ingredients.”

    These drugs are not subject to the F.D.A.’s approval because of a loophole in a 1994 federal law (spearheaded by Utah Sen. Orrin G. Hatch who received funding from supplement makers), fraudulent products can easily reach consumers without accountability or oversight.

  105. 105.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Amir Khalid: And then he leaked that he had attended a meeting with the leader of MI6, which was a huge no no. “Mitt the Twitt” was one of the headlines by the British press. Rachel Maddow recalled Mitt’s disastrous British invasion a few nights ago.

  106. 106.

    muddy

    My favorite part of the pic is the bowl of food in the foreground. “But I woke up hungry in the night! I didn’t want to bother you because you were sleeping! I had to forage for myself! What else could I do?”

    ETA: food=dog kibble

  107. 107.

    Elizabelle

    @Buddy H: I wonder if we will ultimately see a class action suit by purchasers?

    And maybe more teeth in regulation. Supplements should be regulated. Good time to address that, with vaccines in the news.

    Albeit, bad congress. Must elect a better congress.

  108. 108.

    pluky

    @Anne Laurie: Secure the trash. Hmm?
    Step 1 – Add lid
    Counter 1 – Dog learns to remove lid.
    Step 2 – Put bin in closet with french doors.
    Counter 2 – Dog learns to kick doors open.
    Step 3 – Put latch on doors
    Counter 3 – Doug learns to lift latch
    Step 4 – Put lock on latch.
    Counter 4 – Dog uses locked latch as jaw gripping point to pull doors off their track.

    Final step – Build shelf in cabinet high enough up that dog can’t get to bin on it!

  110. 110.

    Buddy H

    @Elizabelle: I would LOVE to see a class action lawsuit. I wish I had kept the bottle that sickened me and my wife. I wish I hadn’t tossed it.

    I could have sent it to a lab to find out exactly what was in it, and why we had such a horrible reaction to it.

  115. 115.

    Calouste

    @Amir Khalid: It’s a measure of how deeply unimpressed the Brits were with Romney that it actually got leaked, and to a right-wing newspaper (Daily Mail IIRC) at that. We’re talking about the top echelon of the British Foreign Service here, people who really know how to keep their mouths shut or talk and not actually say anything.

    Of course Romney managed to seriously piss off Cameron and Johnson with his remarks about the Olympics, so there might have been some implicit endorsement there.

  116. 116.

    Buddy H

    @Calouste: If it took Mitt five minutes to stick his foot in his mouth when he visited the UK, how could he be expected to conduct foreign policy as president?

    It’s like when John Bolton lost his temper during the “Salon” interview. If he loses his frickin’ temper during an interview, what would he do talking to Putin??

  117. 117.

    Calouste

    @Buddy H: IIRC, he had stuck his foot in his mouth even before he was on the plane to the UK. Which led to Cameron saying that “it’s easy to organize the Olympics in the middle of nowhere” before they had even met.

  119. 119.

    karen marie

    @Helmut Monotreme: My brother and I tossed around the idea of a line of cat-poop flavor dog biscuits, but we’re too lazy. I envision a factory full of free-range cats fed only quality ingredients to produce the flavoring. It would be great, and everybody wins, most especially the cats.

  121. 121.

    S-Curve

    When we first brought home our 12-lb. Japanese Chin rescue, he tipped over the kitchen trash can, found some chicken fat, ate it, and had monstrous diarrhea all over the guest bedroom. After that, we put a brick in the bottom of the trash can. My wife, on discovering the can again tipped over and all contents distributed throughout the house, called me and said, “We’re gonna need a bigger brick.”

  122. 122.

    Buddy H

    @karen marie: I had an idea for a new yorker cartoon: Dog in a restaurant. Cat waiter. Dog says “I don’t see anything I like on the menu. Can I just eat your poop?”

    Somehow I think my idea would go straight to the rejected pile.

  124. 124.

    Buddy H

    @Amir Khalid: That’s actually a good idea. Revenue for the shelters. The cats could enjoy the profit sharing in the form of healthy food and mouse toys.

    But how long before some unscrupulous merchants sell “100% Pure Premium Cat Poop” and a dog sniffs it and says “Wait a minute…. this is chicken shit.”

    This is why we need oversight, rather than the invisible self-regulating hand of the market.

  125. 125.

    Bob In Portland

    More feelers from the west (via NYTimes and BBC), the latest news is more draft riots in western Ukraine, the Ukraine government about to lose thousands in the latest cauldron. Also, although they haven’t run out of oligarchs they seem to have a shortage of Nazis for the frontlines.

  126. 126.

    opiejeanne

    @Kristine: My parents had it in the family room they added ca. 1957. I have seen different color variations of that pattern as recently as the 90s.

  127. 127.

    daverave

    @opiejeanne:

    My childhood home was built with that flooring in the kitchen in 1960. Truly a classic. Lasted until the mid-80s I believe.
    Perhaps Ginger was trying to cover it up with garbage because she’s a trendier flooring lover?

  128. 128.

    SWMBO

    Don’t hurt yourself JC but what you need is pvc pipe, connector pieces, black plastic hardware cloth and tie wraps. You can make a top for the playpen. You can make a fence for the trash. Just cut the pipe to fit and put the corners on to make the shape. Add hardware cloth with tie wraps. You can make a bungee attached cover for the trash.

    In a similar vein, buy pvc pipe, connectors, and rope. Make a puppy gymboree with an old towel screwed to the top pipe for making a “tent” for them to run under and not get trapped. Hang rope down not quite to the floor for chewing and tugging. This would give Thurston an outlet for his “bully” tactics. Hang a chew toy so that it swings and can be tugged. Basically make a small “table” out of pipe with no top so you can hang or attach stuff on the sides of the table top for them to play and work off energy in the house. It can be moved outside when it is warmer. You can change out what they outgrow or get bored with and still have a great toy. If they get strong enough to pull it over, put sand in the legs and screw the endcaps on. You make it as high or as low as you need it.

    And in keeping with the idea of who I’m giving this advice/idea to, please buy the materials and let the frat boys do the actual cutting/power tools/screwing into pipe so you don’t end up in the emergency room.

    ETA You can give it to your sister to use with the next rescue too.

  130. 130.

    sharl

    Mr. Cole, maybe you could take a page from the owner of the Twitter account kept_simple, and use one of these photos as your twitter account’s background image, and a picture of Ginger as your avi, at least until you adopt her out. That way people who need a Ginger fix can satisfy their cravings by going to your twitter feed.

    Social media marketing/readership-capture WIN!

  131. 131.

    Nicole

    I remember being all smug with our rescue dog- “Oh, she NEVER tries to steal food or begs from the table.”

    Then we got her sensitive stomach issues sorted out.

    Hah. Ha ha ha. (cleans up trash-strewn floor)

  132. 132.

    ixnay

    @Kristine: Now about that tile: we had even worse tile (pink and green large squares) that came with the house and were left in place for years because we feared what it would take to dig them up. After my mother died, and we came into enough money to re-do the kitchen, we started to take up the tiles and discovered that they were not stuck down at all – only laid over loose tar paper. Underneath? 100-year-old rock maple, just waiting for a light re-finishing.

  133. 133.

    Suzanne

    You could just get a step trash can with a locking lid, or get your cabinets modified and have a pull-out trash bin in the cabinet.

    There are easy interior design solutions for YOU!

    BTW, I haven’t seen the fugly end table in a while. Did you get something better?

  134. 134.

    TriassicSands

    Who’s a good doggie? It looks like Ginger snapped. (I’d bet anything that Steve’s behind it.)

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