Relax, dude

Riley is getting jumpy and nervous in his old age.  Since the weather was so nice today, I tried to take him on a pleasant outing to a nearby park.  I was sitting on a bench, he was on the leash – usually, he’ll settle down and people-watch.  Not today.  I gave up after about 20 minutes of whining, pacing, and nervous drooling.  We came home and settled on the deck, still in the sun, still enjoying the weather, but no strange people or animals.  Or so I thought.  He settled down immediately, but was startled out of a nap and onto his feet by a trio of geese who decided to announce their presence directly overhead with some very loud honking.  He looked completely freaked out.  Poor little guy.

 

I’m not a weirdo, I swear

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but we live in the very definition of suburbia.  Cookie cutter homes, sidewalks, kids, schools, playgrounds, the same shopping centers with the same grocery stores every two blocks.  Completely developed, practically overdeveloped, and looking to do more.  So imagine my surprise when I see two people riding horses on the bike trail overpass near the house.  Who’s got horses around here?  And where on earth do they keep them?  And will they be my friends?  I should have abandoned the car and chased them down.  Because you know how much they’d want to be my friends if I did that.

Deeply uncool

I wasn’t going to talk about it (I was trying to be cool), but it just got so much better, and I can’t help myself.  The other day, The Bloggess came to visit my site.  How do I know?  She commented (TWICE!  Sorry – still trying to be cool), and I got all excited and happy and stuff, but you know, that was it, and I moved on because I can be cool about it (I can try to be cool about it – I may have told half a dozen people already).  BUT, three days later, she posted her weekly round-up, and in her list of shit-I-didn’t-come-up-with-but-wish-I-did-because-it’s-kind-of-awesome is the link to the leaping llama!  That she saw here!  Yes, I know I didn’t create it, but I found it, and she came here and liked it, and that’s small and not a big deal, but she’s cool and it’s nice to know she liked it enough to share it with her followers and…I don’t know where I’m going with this.  I’m glad I could help?  I feel like I’m part of that?  Something like a combination of those two things and just yay.

Also from her most recent weekly round-up (linked above) is this list of really funny theoretical moments just before GIFs start.  And here’s the subreddit they came from and where more can be found.  (This is another one I think is really funny.)

LOVE this (from Hank Green, Vlogbrother).  I had to listen to the one about the kleptomaniacs three times – he mumbles the beginning, but it’s so worth it.  Literally.  (Hee!)

Because I don’t know how to post gifs on my blog, here’s a link to an adorable one from Reddit.  And because I DO know how to post pictures, here’s the cutest killer kitty you’ve ever seen (also from Reddit):

And that’s enough stuff I found on the internet today.

Guys, you have to see this

How they survive is beyond me. It doesn’t seem like they could get enough to eat.

Riley just ate a giant bowl of dog food and chicken fried rice (with gravy on top, HEATED UP – I’ll get his weight back up if it’s the last thing I do) and then tried to climb into my lap while I sat here at the desk.  First, it’s all “oh, how sweet, my darling dog loves me and appreciates the delicious dinner I put together for him,” and then it was more, “whoa dog, you can’t actually get into my lap, but sure I’ll scratch your head and pet you and hug you and love you,” and then, “OH.  Right.  You just wanted to burp in my face.”  And then he walked away.  This is not the first time he’s done that, but I fall for the “I love you so much, pet me, pet me” routine EVERY DAMN TIME.

He knows I’m talking about him.  He’s curled up on his new dog bed giving me the Stare of Death.  Hey, man, this is what you get.  Being down one leg and having cancer does not excuse the in-your-face-burp.

Oh, who am I kidding?  Of course it does.

A picture wouldn’t have done it justice

I saw an oddly shaped cloud on my way home from work today.  It looked kind of like a wolf or a coyote with its head thrown back, like it was howling at the moon, except it looked nothing like a wolf or a coyote and an awful lot like an alpaca.  An alpaca howling at the moon.  Made up of clouds.  Too bad I was driving.  A picture would have been awesome, even though it probably wouldn’t have looked anything like an alpaca howling at the moon.

*Howling Alpacas is the name of my next band.

It doesn’t take much

We had some excitement at work the other day.  I looked out the window (onto the always lovely back of the parking lot) and saw some of my coworkers hanging out by and IN the dumpster.  I couldn’t imagine why they’d be doing that – yeah, that’s not true. I can imagine all kinds of reasons why they might be messing around in dumpsters, but none of them are realistic (or good).  It certainly didn’t occur to me that they might be trying to rescue kittens.  Kittens!  (I’ll stop you now.  No, we are not the proud new owners of a kitten.)  The news raced through the office, and the crowd outside the dumpster doubled.  I took pictures.
Poor, adorable, terrified kittens.  They weren’t starving or anything – the theory is that someone dropped them in the dumpster the night before.  What kind of person would do that?  One of my coworkers heard some squeaky meows as he came in, or we might never have known they were there.
They all had new homes within an hour of being pulled out of the dumpster.

Goats!

Did you know goats are evil?  It’s their eyes.  Their eyes give them away.

All of that adorable playing and attention-hogging is just a ruse. What adorable playing?  This adorable playing!  (Please bear with me through this 2-minute video.  They really do do some cute things.)

Clearly, I met some goats last weekend.  And fed them and played with them and picked a favorite.  (Baxter, the brown one, is my favorite.  Dad’s favorite is Bruiser (black with blue eyes).  Trixie wasn’t all that interested in us.)

Baxter: “Whatcha doin’?” Or possibly, “My plan to take over the world begins with you. Look into my eyes so I can take over your brain.”