11.02.2008
Three times this week I've caught myself walking through the house shouting "GODDAMNIT!" and turning off unused lights. Whats next? Powdered fiber and a walker?
Holiday Travel Advice
5 hours ago
Cayenne the Catahoula
10.11.2008
We got our dog, Cayenne, in October of 99. She is a Catahoula Leopard Dog (mix). At that time when we looked on line there was only about 3 links that you could go to and none of them were all that informative or updated. None of the book stores carried any information on Catahoula's either.
We knew that the breed was named after Catahoula Parish in Louisiana and that these dogs were the decendants of French fighting dogs that the explorers brought to guard their camps and were bread into domesticated lines that the indians had.
Back when Hurricane Katrina and Rita hit, my Dad remarked that in the news footage of people evacuating he saw lots of pick-ups headed north with a strange dog in the back that looked like Cayenne.
Fast forward to today…
I was in Boarders Books and I saw a book about dogs. I was shocked to see that it had a little chapter about the Catahoula! It was a short but interesting read (just that few pages), so tonight I Googled "Catahoula Dog" and found that there is almost 1 Million links on the topic!
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4DKUS_enUS251US251&q=Catahoula+dog
The dog lover in me finds this incredibly cool! There is now more information about the Catahoula Dog (Leopard's and Cur's) than there is information about Catahoula county for which they are named.
But there is a social side to it too. Did the popularity of these dogs incease as a result of them being displaced due to the Hurricanes? More exposure to new markets and buyers who had not seen the breed before? If so, how does that apply to our cultural values and ideals? What else came out of the South since Katrina and Rita?
That's what I'm thinking tonight.
Hurricane IKE
9.23.2008
WOW! What an experience. I think I'm going to start a new blog (with the hopes of eventually publishing quasi-professionally) that just covers the topic of Hurricanes preperation and survival.
UPDATE:
New Blog Started...
http://gulfcoasthurricane.blogspot.com/
That Nervous Twitch...
8.17.2008
Growing up, Mom always had a little nervous twitch. I never knew where it came from, but I do now. It was from my sister and I. Mom stayed home to raise us. Occasionally she would take a job some where, but I think it was to get away from the house.
Dad never developed the twitch. The only two reasons, I suppose, was that he worked all day and would unwind with a little Old Charter at night. I know that makes him sound like a workaholic alcoholic, but nothing could be further from the truth. Dad was a practical man and knew the twitch was contagious - you get it from your kids.
I experienced the twitch the other day. I took Friday off from work to spend the day with my daughter. With out the requirements of work I decided to sleep in a little before we got off to the mall. The offspring had other ideas and was up with the chickens ready for her big day with Daddy.
While I was in the shower getting ready, I left her to watch some harmlessly innocent entertainment brought into my house courtesy of those fine people at the Disney Corporation. She laid peacefully in her beanbag, glued attentively to the "Boob Tube." I hopped into the shower and was just starting to find that "zen-like" trance where the warm water massages your tired muscles and the blood starts flowing to your brain.
That's when it happened...
I heard a sound coming from the den. It sounded like a helicopter landing? In my den? Nahhhhh! Then it progressively got louder. I thought my helicopter had turned into a large 747 landing in the den.
Now quite obviously, helicopters and 747s do not land in my den, so there was no need for me to be alarmed. There is a perfectly good explanation for the sound, and I'll figure it out after the shower. Now back to the hypnotic trance of relaxation and contemplation.
No sooner had I put the sound out of my mind, I heard what could only be described as the house being ransacked. Was "The Who" closing a concert in the den, and I'm missing it?
I was contemplating the need to abandon shower and investigate when the sound of wild chimp's being tortured with a branding iron emanated from the den. That was it! I was going to get to the bottom of this and SOMEONE HAD SOME EXPLAINING TO DO!
I rinsed off, dried off and put on the minimally acceptable amount of clothing required to be in the presence of children and went storming into the den.
There was my precious little girl, sleeping in her bean bag in front of the Disney Channel with the volume barely audible. She looked so sweet and adorable, the house was clean and in a pristine condition, and the dog was curled up in her crate, still blissfully chasing rabbits in her sleep.
I looked around, in front and in back, looking for the source of the huge ruckus.
Finally I stopped. Having found no viable explanation for the noises I heard I was left to assume it was all in my mind. I returned, partially unsatisfied, to brush my teeth. That's when the twitch started.
