San Francisco, February 2011

Fun. Yesterday we flew into SF and it was like summer. After this Hard Winter, that was a pleasant paradise. Today is crazy stormy and wet, but maui wowie is a happy treat as is Peter, Teresa and Emerelda. Fun.

Pickles is a good dog

Today is hot and humid and yuck. Thankfully it is Saturday so I can just lounge around the house taking showers. Two, so far.

I'm not lounging 100% however. I got up and started laundry. I did some dishes, watered some plants. I found some alaskan daisy starters half dead in their outgrown clay pot so I gave them a lot of water in the sink and then a little while later, stuck them in the ground next to a row of columbine I had planted a couple weeks ago. Out of a whole pack of columbine seeds I have 5-6 plants popping up. I wish there were more. Now they are in a row next to a row of daisies. I'll report back on their progress.

Just now I heard a cat's meow which is weird because I don't have a cat and I'm sitting in my bedroom on the third floor of my house next to a fan. The meow must have come from the ground but that's pretty great projection for a kitty.

Back to today's progress. I did a little weeding after replanting the daisies and then watered a bunch of stuff but I don't have a hose that works so I tired after 2 5 gallon trips. David went to NH and before I took another shower I pushed the couch out from the wall and vacuumed all the horrible hairballs, etc up from behind there. Only found 35c. I did find a rejected piece of my halloween costume that I had sewn and discarded. It was supposed to have been the ewok hood but was a FAIL. Then I was ready for shower #2 so I called and enticed Pickles up to the bathroom with me and got him in and showered. It was great. I took off my clothes so I could get in there too and managed to sit on the edge of the tub with him (somewhat) complacently standing between my knees as i soaped and rinsed him. He was good and now it is obvious that he knows he is a very good boy and he just looks so shiny and lovely freshly washed.

Just as we were getting wet in the shower I heard thunder but this hasn't followed through yet. Will there be hail? Will there be a tornado? Let's watch.

lovely saturday

im excited to go to fenway park tonight. it's been a long time.

david sleeps on the couch sometimes which is nice for him and the dogs, whatever, but this morning he was there on the couch on the first floor sleeping and the dogs both came up to my room on the third floor to ask me for morning kibble and to be let out to do their morning business. why come to me? David was right there. Oh, yeah, they can't wake him up as easily as they can wake me up.

So I did get up, it was 10 am anyway, and i let them out and it is a beautiful day-they liked it, i made coffee and turned on the radio and did all the dishes. 45 minutes later, David is still asleep and I'm upstairs doing this and drinking coffee.

the dogs are back. Pickles followed me up immediately and Peretz just stumbled up the stairs himself. I heard him pause and stumble on his way up, poor ol' guy. What is hella cute is that Pickles removed himself from the extra futon (where dogs are welcome to sleep, night and day) so Peretz could lay down on there. and so Peretz has. Pickles looks out the window. I drink coffee.

All the news that is fit to print.

Peretz and his temper tantrum

Last night, around midnight, I heard Peretz's distinctive barking. I ignored it for the first minute or two because who cares, right? After a while, it had lasted long enough for me to pay attention to it and this is when I discerned that it was just the old dog, all alone, there was no Pickles joining him. This shows to me that there is no bat or other alarm-worthy reason for his barking so I ignored it some more.

After another minute or two I heard him give a howl. Peretz has a mini-howl that I hear only once in a while and it is associated mostly just with his own peevishness. Since I had to visit the bathroom anyway, I decided to check in with Peretz to see what the trouble is. I descended to the first floor where all the lights had been turned off by me a half hour before when I had decided to go to my bedroom for the night. David and Pickles were already asleep in D's room but I was lucky enough to be still awake to hear Sir Peretz's trouble making. I arrived downstairs to find him on a dog bed all alone with his barking discontinued (probably when he heard me coming in his direction he ceased). He looked perfectly healthy, awake and alert and when I questioned him, he gave me a sidelong glance all of us Peretz lovers know very well.



There was no apparent reason for his bark and howl that I could see, or any human would be able to conclude. He was just lying there looking well. I decided he must have just wanted attention and was feeling melancholy and/or dramatic. I encouraged him to come upstairs and join me in my room. "Come on, Peretz, come on." I bade him as I climbed the stairs. A couple more verbal enticements and he did rise and clamored up to the second floor, joining me at the landing. Pickles had heard my admonishments and emerged into the hallway from David's room and he then led Peretz to the comfort of their man's room, crisis over.

future plans

its nice to think of taking a vacation in September, nice to think of having a summer. sometimes i think of taking all my blogs and ditching them. when's the last time i even dialed up my livejournal? i remember once i was going to download it all to pieces of paper and then put them in a ring binder, etc etc. but i never did. what's the point? and i think, what's the point of doing a blog anyway? so many times i think of something i want to share but don't because it is too depressing.

i think i'll keep the blog up on the internet because i might fall down and break my neck tomorrow and maybe people will have that morbid curiosity about me, that lady they knew peripherally or however and want to take a peek at my personality as displayed by the blog writing. maybe i'll go back and read my blogs and try to imagine being a stranger who heard i was dead and saw the blog link in the obit and decided to spend some time reading it. what would they think? would they be bored? would they be curious? i'm curious. i wish i would spend more time drawing dogs, like i did today, even though P & P would not pose very well, goofballs. i decided to follow this lady who tweets for Ashmont records and on her background there is a drawing, a really nice comic drawing of the pitbull, Charlie, who is the mascot, i think. i'd like very much to draw such things. i think i've drawn something cool once.

another Easter pic

I just looked at DbR's upload from the past week or so and I saw this one of me and the pups on Easter Sunday and I had to include here on my blog. It's Wednesday, 2 am and I still have much I'd like to do in Nashville, we leave Saturday morning. I started reading Team of Rivals which is just an enjoyable history about Lincoln and his cabinet. There is a yukky bug flying around and Peretz is dreaming. David may be too but he's snoring so loudly I can't hear the dream. I had a fun time today making a cake for father in law. It is nice to be on vacation.

"Are there any windows in here?"

the assessor from my mortgage company came and looked through the house, taking pictures! and making notes so that she can go back and (hopefully) tell the company the house is worth more than 90$ thou so that I can get that pmi (private mortgage insurance) taken off my monthly mortgage payment. it actually adds up to 50$ a month that I pay for that shit!!!
i think my house is well worth more than 90$ at least the other bank thought so when they gave me a home equity loan. i told the (nice) lady that i had all new replacement windows (even in the basement!), a new boiler (well, from 2002 anyway) a new roof, new bathroom tile, etc etc. i forgot to tell her about the new chimney (argh!)

She was nice, thank goodness, because she and i travelled around the Bricker for twenty minutes, her making drawings of the floor plan and hopefully taking pictures which show how lovely the house is, me being charming as can be. She was nonplussed by the room on the second floor which was soundproofed but enthusiastic about the pantry, even in its current state of chaos. "that's ok, though, it's a pantry!" "yeah, but I can't find my muffin pan!" I complained.

There is a cellphone on the Bricker's front lawn, thrown there by some errant knave.

wow, it's later than i thought

lately it has been hard keeping track of time. it's dark, it's light, now it's dark again. ok, it's dark but it's still early. no, it's late.
I did all the dishes and some laundry but there are so many plastic and paper bags strewn about the pantry it's disgusting and i wish i knew where my magic wand was put.

bedroom is also a mess. trying to heat the house with the woodstove. doing okay.

Harriet Rules, all dogs drool

Word From Harriet:
FVP, her new roomie reports: "She really seemed to like reclining on the (carpeted cat)perch next to the woodstove. She also fell asleep this morning on top of the dog, who was under the covers, which was pretty cute."
Things are looking up!

6 advil and counting

what a great party and i don't think i was the only one who had fun. thank goodness i am not expected to work today. wonder about all of our gifties. should probably go fetch them from the hope and olive. first time six grownups stayed over in the Bricker. I will not let this absinthe and murphy's headache get the best of me. it's a lovely lovely day. house guests are dissipating. i like lying on the couch with macbook.

Battle of the Lazy Dogs

WHO IS THE LAZIEST DOG OF THIS PRE=Tropical Storm Downpour SATURDAY?
Is it Pickles, the lagabout?
Or is it Peretz, the sleeparound?




Let's let the only one able to really decide, decide.
Harriet: Who Is The King Of Snooze City?



Who do you think she'll crown?



oh, kitty!

dog tags gingerly jingle

Spend most the day away from the house, dragging husband to his first TRANSPERFORMANCE. bully for him.
dogs were very glad to see us get home. DbR had some cheery moments while walking the pups although intermittently complaining about his feet and tiredness. i got him singing a pop song, which is always a treat.
after transp. we ate a late dinner at the new Paradise City tavern. Really liked my burger au poivre. they have oysters there too and after quizzing our server relentlessly i ascertained they were wild from wellfleet! i declined but said i would be back in November to sample the same ilk.
almost feeling cuddly.

whoa

I just put issue 2 of my zine, PAWL BITT, totally to bed in less than six hours. During that time I also assembled some Q+A handouts. I'm a machine, yo.

August 1

whew. Last night was kind of quazy. When us 3 humans came home the kid came downstairs calling, "there are 2 dead bats up here in the hall" which was interesting because in the car DbR and I were telling him about the bat we experienced last weekend in the living room/kitchen. He was curious, asking about bats in general and strangely (or not so strangely?) the husband was full of facts and info about those flying mammals.

no mentions of chupacabras were made

so, then, to come home to 2 dead bats!? Funny. DbR picked up the carcasses and I wiped away the moist leftovers and we proceeded with our night time doings. An hour or so later, while I was in bed listening to the kid play some Radiohead on my computer in the adjacent office, the kid said, "there's a bat! there's a bat!" For some reason I hadn't turned off my light but I had closed my eyes. I opened my eyes and sure enough, saw a bat with yellow tipping flying around the entrance of my bedroom. Yellow tipping-I can't elaborate on this but there were yellow feet? Yellow markings? I'm not sure because I dove under my blanket and chaos ensued for another two hours with the dogs barking and the bat hiding somewhere. The kid went to bed, closing his door. I did the same but the incessant barking (Pickles, not Peretz) was too much to bear. I descended to the hallway outside the bathroom and could see the bat was curled up and poised on the hallway window's upper screen with both dogs below, looking up, bark bark bark. I grabbed Pickles and closed him up in DbR's room, thinking that without the bat in front of him he would stop barking. I was right. Peretz I let wander about the house and he stayed quiet but at one point I heard him whine outside my bedroom door and a flutter flutter of (bat) wings against the door. I expected to find a carcass out side the room this morning.

But I didn't. I haven't found third carcass yet. I tiptoe about.

afternote: I just went upstairs to ask the kid to get up and help me walk the dogs and I jokingly asked him, "Any bats in here?" and he asked, "Did you check my room?" (for those confused with this let me just explain that the Kid is sleeping in the baby room because the bedroom which is his actual room is too hot, on the third floor where the baby room on the 2nd floor is cooler). When he said that I remembered that last night when the yellow tipped bat was flying around the computer room where he was outside my bedroom he saw it fly into his room (adjacent to where he was) and he closed the door, seemingly closing the yellow tipped bat inside. Well, we just went upstairs and looked around that closed up room and no carcass, no bat. I called Pickles up and said, "Go get it! Get the bat!" and he came up empty. Did this yellow tipped bat get out of the room? Was it the one on the window downstairs or was that a 4th bat and the 3rd bat, Yellow Tip, get out of the bedroom somehow?

The bat mystery continues.

wish someone would hire me

to be their best friend. I'll do laundry, too, if the price is right.

bye bye long weekend

I gotta go back to work tomorrow, waah. I like my job, sure, I just like hanging around the house with the husband and our dogs much better. This weekend we saw Wall-E, Get Smart and Hancock. I really liked Hancock very much. I found it entertaining and Will Smith's character believable.

Meanwhile, I just feel like doing very little. Maybe I'll sew this button on my shorts. Last night there was an impromptu singstar fest at the H+O and I sang Hey Ya. It was fun.

dirty messy, pathetic

I look around the mess which is my home and I desperately want it to be tidy and clean. Then I sigh and take a nap. Whoop whoop!

glad to be home..

"hot as fuck,"

name the movie that quote is from.
of course, Nashville.
Getting sick of Peretz jumping on my bed to sniff at Harriet.
Wish Pickles was there, I miss him.
Enjoying this extra ring on my hand.
silver is nice.
need to moisten, repeat.
There's mail to be opened.

saturday nights awright

last night i got a text on my phone and it didn't say who it was and the number isn't in my log and i can't help but wonder, "who?"
it's Saturday. DbR is showering and i am using his lappy. i haven't been on a computer since i was at work yesterday. when i got home afterwards DbR showed up with a nice table and chairs and set them up in the yard, over by the property line/bulkhead. "who is going to sit there with you?" I asked. He was befuddled as to my refusal. "You may as well ask the neighbors over to have a cup of coffee and smoke with you." He shook his head at me. "Space waster" During the 15 minutes it took me to clear off my back porch, sweep and mop the thing and have him bringing the set up on the porch I tried to explain to him how that space was not wasted, it worked perfectly and necessarily well as my buffer. That is the space I need between me and my neighbor's driveway, etc. He didn't seem to understand the McNamara way. Put a fence up!

This morning the neighbor with 2 pit bulls and a puppy had his brown puppy, cocoa, out in the yard. Cocoa ran over to Rosy, the neighbor dog while Peretz and Pickles strained at the end of their lines to be part of the action. They weren't, except as the chorus: "ruff! ruff! woof! woof!" etc.

vacationing in nashville, tn

I worry a little about Pickles as I am surrounded by 3 other dogs who are pretty fun and funny.

I'm pretty sure he's fine and most of his needs are met but I bet he's a little lonely. Little dog.

The vacation is going well. I sang some righteous karaoke and enjoyed some seedy nightlife at the "bongwater" aka Sweetwater, a divey bar near the Parthenon. The Parthenon was lovely to see and DbR + I are leading a fairly relaxed existence amongst the background of his childhood home. It's nice that there are parents out there who stay together and live in the lovely house which they have been in forever. I'll never feel the same way about the house I grew up in, even though my father still lives there, it will always be my mother's home from when I was a child and now it is just kind of cold and empty with him in there. I guess it would have made more sense to me in my heart and head if she stayed there and kept it warm and lovely and he took one of his apartments at Sedgwick Street. But that's not the way it worked out and although my mom has acquired a pretty nice little house, it's not history.

That's okay, I have always wanted to make my own history anyway and although it is too late for that, I can surround myself with things which please me and move forward through the every day as if I belonged somewhere.