An educational post

In order to correct the photo deficiency in the previous post, Dharma has "volunteered" to be photographed while doing her bat imitation:

Actual bat for comparison purposes:


See, she's good, isn't she? How the heck did they get the little bat to smile for the picture?

Dharma can also do a desert fox imitation:



Actual desert fox:

History trivia question: Who was known as The Desert Fox?

Answer: Erwin Rommel

Bonus Question: Who the heck was Erwin Rommel? (Click for answer.)

Rhetorical Question: Is "Desert Fox" really a cool nickname, or more of an insult?

Summer gardening

I thought I was growing flowers.

And dill.

But, actually, I was running an all-you-can eat buffet for caterpillars.

They are so fat, they remind me of Heimlich, the caterpillar from A Bug's Life.

Maybe they will turn into beautiful butterflies for Dharma to chase. She was so excited about a moth in the house that she tried to climb the wall to catch it.

Even more exciting, we had a bat in the house. It was supposed to storm, with gusts to 80 mph winds. So I asked Derek to bring the patio umbrella into the house. We had seen a wasp around it earlier, so he asked me what I would do if a wasp came with it. I told him, quite honestly, that I would scream and grab Dharma and run into the bedroom while he shooed it outside. Well, we didn't have a wasp, we had a bat. And I grabbed Dharma, yelled "Keep it away from the dog, it might have rabies!" and ran into the other room. Derek yelled "What am I supposed to do with it?"

The poor bat managed to find the open door and escape. I think he was okay. We saw a bat a few days later. Hopefully he is feasting on mosquitos. Allegedly, they can eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour! I tried to find out how many calories are in one mosquito, but Google and Wikipedia both failed me. Maybe I should call the reference desk at the public library?

It was only later that we realized, out of the three of us, Dharma is the only one who has had prophylactic rabies shots. Sorry, no pictures of the bat. I was too busy panicking.

More silly names!

No, not for the dog. For colors. I am thinking about doing some painting, now that we have our own house and aren't stuck with plain white. Some of the names are more fun than the colors themselves.

I think that the wall over the fireplace would look cool painted in a light red or brick color. It will be in between the dark green curtains. (To see a picture of the plain wall, click here.) Some of the colors have names like Earth Mother (I thought that would be green, but no), Chocolate Cherry, Fire Weed, Sarsparilla, and (very descriptive for classicists) Pompeiian Red. How will I ever make up my mind?

The entryway might be nice in a very light sage green, or maybe celadon. One of the paint colors is called Nature, others are Edamame, Limerick, Caesar Salad, and Beanpole.

I am also so tempted by a pale yellow called Cozy Cottage that I will have to find a place to paint that color. It is pale yellow.

I am not sure Derek will go for it, but I would like to paint the bedroom pale pink, with a white molding at the ceiling. The best name for pink? Baby cheeks.

Dharma registered her preference for Rose Pink by biting a hole in that sample. She does look lovely in pink.

Soft-focus picture of a beautiful puppy, showing her "sad eyes." It is amazing I am ever able to leave the house when she gives me this look!

Top Ten List

Darling Dharma.  

Unfortunately, I don't think photo editing software is very good at eliminating "red eye" on doggie pictures.  She looks a bit demented!  Maybe the glowing eyes looked better.

It was 92 degrees today.  I think that qualifies these as the dog days of summer.  So I am posting a list of the top ten silliest nicknames for our little dog.

10.  Lil' Dharma Doggie

9.  Puppykin.  This is clearly what a Middle English speaker would call a cute little puppy!

8.  Pumpkin.  This is what Derek thought I was saying when I called her "Puppykin."

7.  Booger Dog.  Sometimes she really deserves this name!

6.  Hyper Pup.  All she needs is a cape to be a super hero, chasing birds and smashing bugs and leaping tall pillows in a single small bound.

5.  Baby Girl.  What else can you call her when she is wrapped up in a little pink quilt, yawning and blinking in the bright light?

4.  Darling Dharma Doggie

3.  Pretty Princess Puppy

2.  Cutie-pie, the Curious Canine

And the number one silliest nickname for our doggie?

1.  Princess Dharma of the Enormous Ears

Yes, evidently the heat has fried our brains.

Martha Stewart calling

Those of you who know me "in real life" know I am a compulsive perfectionist.  So, I will continue my quest to be the-next-best-thing-to-Martha-Stewart by asking my dear readers for input.  What can a guest room not be without?  What do you consider essential when staying with friends?  I would say plenty of blankets and a reading light by the bed.  What else do I need?  My favorite activities are sleeping and reading!  My recent guests suggested an alarm clock and lotion.  (Um, actually there was a clock, but it was kind of hidden by other stuff.)  My aunt once refused to visit unless there was a television in her room.  So, you tell me:  what does a guest room need?

Curtains!

It has taken us over six months to hang curtains in the living room. We had hoped to have living room curtains in time for Naplover's visit, but it just didn't work out. Our windows are, apparently, a funny size which requires special ordering extra long curtains. We finally got them, but they were a bit long and a bit sheer.

The new curtains, looking a little too see-through.

We washed and dried them, which helped them shrink just enough to clear the floor. Then we ordered sheers to go under them, which will also help to reduce the sunlight filtering through. Of course, THEY were back-ordered, too. We found these groovy curtain rods, which were much harder to install than they looked. At least Derek had a chance to use his super-duper, folding, extending, adjusting ladder.

Derek, with cool ladder.

It took us about two hours to install two curtain rods and two curtain holders (what are they called if they aren't tie-backs? Loop-backs?)

Emilie playing with the new curtains.

It was worth the trouble! The curtains help keep out the sun all day, which makes the house much cooler. Don't worry, Dharma can still sleep without the sunbeam.

Dharma posing cutely on the 30-year-old sleeping bag that Emilie had as a little girl.

Dharma somehow managing to sleep without a sunbeam. Can you hear the snores?

She likes playing little dog in the big forest with the curtains. But she's not too sure she likes the sheers--sometimes they move mysteriously in the breeze and she has to bark at them. Just in case, you know. Just in case they have somehow come to life and become zombie man-eating killer curtains. (Hey, I think I saw that movie on cable one night!)

Yes, we now have cable. We actually had to go to the cable office twice to get past voicemail hell. Each person we talked to told us a different price and package. Then it took the cable guy over an hour to hook up something or other. Then he left a cable line across the front lawn, which helped give Derek an excuse not to mow for several days. When the cable company finally buried the line, they apparently cut the phone line. So we were without phone or internet for several days while the two argued over whose fault it was. Ah, the wonders of modern technology.

We have over a hundred channels. My favorite program? History Detectives on PBS. Which we got just fine before we had cable.