Blue Eyed Devil

It was a day like any other. I had spent it patrolling the beat. Criminal activity was at a minimal with the usual domestic disturbances on the Southside (Dining-room Window). The squirrels were at it again, fighting over the feeder and who was there first. A daily problem and I'm trying to get the establishment (feeder) shut down once and for all. It's becoming difficult to spread resources for policing efforts between there and the Westside (Living-Room Window) where squirrel activity is also on the rise. I keep trying to tell the Chief (Greenie) that we need more access to the West and South sides, but he still hasn't increased the perimeter. How he expects me to keep things under control is beyond me.

Perhaps it was the monotony of the day that had me idle and unsuspecting. Maybe I'm getting a little soft on the job. All I know is, what happened that night had the stench of insider work. There's no other way to describe it. How else could it happen, if not for the aid of a dirty cop?

So here I was, finishing up my shift on patrol, waiting for my relief to take over when the Chief comes in and tells me I have to stay and work a double. I should of known something was up right then, but I was thinking I might get a little something out of the double shift, like an extra day at the field this weekend. I hunkered down for what I thought would be a long night.

I wasn't more than a third of the way through the shift when the Chief and his partner(Nick) came back. I knew right away something was up, you could see it in the Chief's face. He tried to act like normal, but he rushed me outside too quickly. The jig was up, but never would I have imagined it was something so deceptive as what happened next.

The Chief dropped me off on the Eastside (backyard) and headed over to the Westside. I was out there for a while when his partner showed up to take me back to the precinct. I came in thinking there was some kind of surprise, like a party or something. I came around the corner into the central office (living room) expecting the Chief to be there, but he was nowhere to be seen. I headed for the back office (bedroom) and rushed up to the Chief ready for my surprise, and there she was.

She was as a soft velvet bundle of joy with eyes like violets, blinking with those soft lashes. I could see how they had become trapped under her spell. But my female instincts told me more. This was no ordinary bitch, this was Cuteness at it's worse. I tried to play it cool, pretend like it was nothing, but the little minx tried to be friendly and I wasn't having any of it. I left the room, pretended I had work to do. As soon as I tried to leave though, they encouraged me to stay. I was stuck. I saw through her veil of deceit, I knew this was a lethal dose of Cuteness on a scale the likes this house had never seen.

I tried to warn them, I growled at her, I even foamed at the mouth to get my point across. It didn't do any good. You'll notice it's been several days since the last post. The Cuteness took it's toll from the get go and wore them down over the course of the last 4 days. This morning I woke up to stillness. It's my worst fear come to fruition. The Cuteness proved to be too much for them. They soaked it up, drank it up like it was the elixir of youth. They stopped eating, sleeping and bathing. It's a sad and pathetic sight to see, and now I'm left here to share my story. Learn from my experience, my loss and my pain. The next time you get the urge to indulge yourself in that kind of Cuteness, remember this story and it's painful lesson.

The Big Surprise!!!!

Hey everyone, I'm proud to present to you, our newest member in El Casa de Homo's....(drum roll please)

LUCY!!!





I'll write more later, but you can see more of her on Flickr.com

Pooper Friday!!!

I think this picture was the last day that the Pooper wore a fashionable t-shirt. She is now back to running in nothing but fur, and PETA was up in arms, that is until they realized that it was attached to a DOG. Overall, the Poop is in good shape. She needs to have the staples removed and that happens today or tomorrow, depending on when they can get her in. She is definitely feeling like herself though and is loving the daily ritual of going to work with her Poppa Nick. Unfortuately, when his boss gets back from vacation, things will go back to the old routine.

Mother Nature is throwing us all kinds of weather up here this winter. First, a Month of Rain, then Arctic Blast 2006 (with sunny blue skies though), and now horizontal rain/snow/sleet and back to sunny blue skies. I don't know what to think. Spring is coming, but it's like we live on the battle front of Winters final grip. Did I mention that I work in this weather? OUTSIDE!!! My cheeks are still windburned from the Arctic Blast 2006 event.

So, I'm dying to tell you all something HUGE!!! Well, huge for us. We are about to do something that's going to change things at Casa de Homo. But I don't want to tell you just yet, because it's not final. I don't want to jinx it, but I'm JUST DYING to tell you. You have NO idea. I'm still pinching myself, a reminder that I'm not dreaming, this is real.

Stay tuned folks, I'll be sure to let you know what happens, but I had to say something, it's just too hard to keep it in. I'm just soooo excited.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend. Maybe check back on Sunday night...I might know for sure then.

Just Real Quick

I'm headed to a seminar on Herbicide and Pesticide use. FUN!!! I'm actually an organic gardener myself, but there are still people out there that like the chemical approach. Maybe I'll learn more about the reeally bad stuff so I can scare them away from it.

These photo's are from the back yard yesterday. I've been busy doing design work for a couple of clients this last weekend and met with both of them Sunday and Monday. I haven't had a lot of free time to post or comment much at all and there has been a lot going on in BlogLand of late, of which I'm not EVEN prepared to document here. Catch you all later!

Pooper Friday!!!

Here's proof that she is doing better. She's been lucky enough to go to work with Nick these last two days. She's been a little weird since the incedent, which I kind of expected her to exhibit some anxiety and fear. That seems to be decreasing, but it's still untested at this point.

I'm just glad that she's doing better. She's going to the vet today for a check up and maybe, just maybe having that tube removed, although Nick says that the Vet is keen on keeping it in longer. That just means more dress up for her. Best go find more t-shirts.

You can go to Flickr.comto see additional pics from today.



We are freezing our patooties off up here at the moment. I grew up in colder conditions than this, but this is cold none the less. Yesterday I started coming down with a cold too. Now I'm really pretty this morning. No really, I got a hair cut last night, I'm pretty again. I even shaved off my goatee. But my eyes are puffy, my sore is throat and my right ear is tender. Can't wait to get outside and feel that artic blast on my face. Woohoo!!!

Okay, I gotta finish writing a gardening article. Have a great weekend everyone.

Pooper Update!!!

This photo brought to you by: The Compaign for a Healthy Penis - Get Tested for Syphillis!

Yes, as you can see, she is doing much better. She sleeps constantly and is still the velcro dog, but until that tube is out, she has to wear a t-shirt and cone. I don't make her wear the cone unless she is unsupervised. Shhh! Don't tell my vet, she already makes me feel like I'm a bad parent for the regular stuff, imagine what she would do with dirt on me like this. Our vet is great though, just very clinical and a bit chilly. It's just that when I go over there with Harlow, it's always for something sick oriented, not a normal check up or shot thing. Nick is the one that usually ends up tending to the regularly scheduled maintenance, where as, I'm the critical care end. As a result, I end up with the critical and cold aspect of the Dr. and Nick is the one who gets all the praise for how beutiful and healthy she looks. I mean really, WTF??? lady. It's the same dog, same owners. Who do you think is the primary care taker of the dog to begin with? Don't misunderstand, Nick is a great Dad, but it's true, I'm the one that takes care of the dog and dog related duty around Casa de Homo. But everytime I leave the vets, I feel like I'm not doing a good enough job. Seriously, I left there and called Nick and started to cry because I felt like such a bad parent. Probably didn't need to know about the crying part huh? Ya, T.M.I., whatev.

I gotta wrap this up now. I have to skidattle to the nursery early for a meeting.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! for all the great messages, the laughs and the kisses and hugs. Harlow has gotten everyone of them, sometimes more than once. Trust me, you have only to kiss those ears once to become addicted to there velvety goodness.

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Funny, this photo is my "Most Viewed" photo on my Flickr site. It doesn't even belong to any groups or anything like that. Maybe it was the tags that I put on it. I like this pic a lot. It makes me smile and laugh a little. That kiss...well, it just looks a little funny is all. That shot wasn't planned, it was pretty spontaneous.

All that aside, it is a moment in time that is forever frozen here and in memory, of warm sandy beaches, long walks, and good friends. We get so caught up in our day to day lives and never seem to have many moments like these until we can actually get away from it all. It really makes you long for more of them. That's not to say that the daily routine does not comfort me either. There is a lot to be said for the continuity of our lives, and for someone that is as routine and controlling(okay, anal) as I am, it comes as a great comfort in the end.

One thing that I have realized of late though, and one that I didn't consider too much, but have now, is the fact that I no longer love Nick the same way that I used to. My love has changed and by that I mean matured and grown, evolved, fractured and healed. Our love has little bumps and irregularities, places where little cuts have healed. Our love is not perfect or the stuff of fairy tale. But our love is comforting and strong, the stuff of happiness and sorrow, it's real. It's tangible.

My dearest, sweet Nicholas, you have altered the course of my life to such immeasurable degrees. In some ways, I have fought and resisted, in others I have pulled you kicking and screaming. But always we have found each other standing side by side, holding hands and kissing with sweet 'I love you's'. Thank you for being my forever Valentine. I love you.

Sad Pooper Update

This cone is a new reality for us and her. For all the misery and stress this has been, I have to work really hard at not giggling...you know...just a little. She got herself stuck in the kitchen already between the cabinets on one side and the stove on the other. Butt against one and the cone stuck on the other. What do you call that? It's not high centered.

Thank you for all the wonderful hugs and well wishes. Harlow is being smothered in get well kisses. We both had a long night last night, so I think we'll go take a nap now. She's taking velcro dog to a whole new level with this. She just wants to be cuddled and who could blame her?

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

UPDATE
Pooper is home now, and soooooo groggy. Poor girl, she's miserable at the moment. I finally got her to lay down, but she's fighting it.

Ahhh...looks like she finally gave in. Thanks for the words, thoughts and hugs.

You can go to Flickr.com if you wanna see the photos of her injury

*************************
My sweet baby girl is under at the moment, while a veterinarian busily stitches her up. Today at the field, while playing fetch with a stick, another dog that was joining in took a swipe at her. Micah is young, but she's a full sized German Shephard. It surprised us all really. At first it seemed like nothing, well that is of course except for the relentless screaming coming from Harlow. I rushed to her to get an idea of what happened. I thought it was something like her bones in her leg, but it was two inch long gashes in her hide on her left shoulder. I calmed her down to get her to stop sceaming and once I realized what was wrong, I scooped her up and headed for the car. I didn't even say anything to anyone, I just said a lot of words that are mostly four lettered. I think I said I have to get her to a vet, she needs stitches. It was about 100 yards back to the car and Harlow weighs 47 pounds. My back is not being very forgiving right now. SPASM! SPASM! SPASM!

I'm waiting for them to call us to let us know she can come home. It's killing me to have her there. I'm supposed to be working on a design and documents right now, but I CAN'T FOCUS. This is not how I wanted Sunday to be. I'm just incredibly grateful it's nothing more serious, I know that this is nothing at all, very simple and easy to fix. However, having it happen on a Sunday, makes it hard to swallow, it's fucking expensive to use Emergency Pet Hospitals. FUCKING expensive.

I just realized that I still have the blood stained sweater on from this morning. I think I'll go change now. I'll let you know when she's home...with me...snuggled in. TIGHT!!! Gonna go cry now, but not like a big girl, no, not like that at all.

Pooper Friday!!!

Wow! Can you believe it? I actually got in two posts between Pooper Fridays!!! I don't imagine it will get much better than this.



Hope everyone has a great weekend. It's been sunny and clear here for days now. Freezing in the mornings, but mild to cool during the days. Most importantly though...DRY!!!

Commencing the Blog-o-versary...NOW!!!

Just like any other anniversary, this one would not be complete with out flowers to celebrate. Now look, some of you may think to yourselves, haven't we/I seen these before? NO, you haven't, not really...I mean, these are different yellow tulips than the last bunch, so they really aren't the same. PLUS, the shots and angles are completely different. Moving on now.

Blog anniversary, something that I completely forgot about until Susie mentioned her one year, and then of course Ern-baby had one and then Kelli and of course fertile-mrtl up north. Well, it made me check my archives and find out just when is my big date. Funny how we all started blogging about the same time and we all met over at Dooce.com, or at least I assume that's where we met. If you look at my list of blogs that I have, I can say, that a majority of them were at sometime part of the comment section there. Sigh, good times.

I've been thinking a lot about this post, trying to come up with some kind of frame work to post it in. You know, reference my old posts, maybe my favorite, or most commented post. Landmark moments and blog blunders. Truth is, I just don't want to go through the process of finding all that information. I already know what I feel about them, about this activity of dispersing thoughts, ideas and emotion. This has probably saved me from a lot of loneliness. I know that I have trumpeted the positives about blogging, what blogging means to me, blah, blah. But come on, it's all true.

When I first began, I felt like a kid in a new school. People saw me there, but went flying by on their way to Dooce.com or some other happening blog. Then one day, someone said hi, or complimented me on my comment. Little by little, I became more and more confident, I 'met' new people, learned about others and their humor, their losses, their pain, their hopes and aspirations. I 'met' people just like me who were finding their voice. What started out as a selfish fulfillment, led me towards something bigger than myself. I found myself drawn into other peoples lives and experiences. From the loss of a loved one, to the rallying call for aid to support friends affected by Katrina (the whore). I also found that people were there for me too. Whenever I shared painful or difficult moments, people were there who reached out to encourage, to comfort or just to say I'm here.

I remember in the beginning, I was so focused on comments. Comments were like gold. If you were getting comments, you were there baby. You had arrived. I remember going blog hopping, leaving words behind everywhere, trying to build my network. What I didn't count on was that I would make friends, real friends. Oh sure, we've never met, never even talked on the phone, but I know that I have made real friends here and you know who you are. Even when I all but stopped posting, even thought about pulling the plug, the only reason I kept going was because of you. I knew that I would miss you too much. I know that I have a lot more to say here too. I haven't found the courage or the words yet, but it's coming little by little. I have to conquer the fear of certain people (Hi Mom! Hi Dad!) who read my blog. Some things take time and patience to get out, and I know I'll find a way to do so.

****side note to Mom and Dad
Breath in now and let it out. It's nothing earth shattering, it's just that normal I don't think I could ever tell my parents thing. However, I guess there was that time when I was going under for my tonsilectomy, where you said that I said some things to you Mom. Man I hope it wasn't anything bad. Just breath in and out, nice and steady. Okay? Okay. I love you!
****end side note to Mom and Dad (previously known as the parental units, but they said they didn't like that. sheesh)

I believe that one of my primary focuses has been about my gayness and what that has been like for me. I've not really discussed too much really, but I have touched on some pretty key moments. I still believe that this is an important part of my blog, I just haven't been focused enough to make it happen. I think it goes back to courage and fear. If this were an anonymous place, I might be more raw and direct, but it's not and I'm glad it's not. I don't believe that it has to be raw and direct to make a point. I do believe that talking about my day to day, my past and my experiences can help build understanding about why it's so important not to exclude anyone in our basic rights as citizens in this once great country.

In conclusion, I would like to say thank you for all the friendship and support, even love. I could not of imagined that I would of stuck with this as long as I have, but I did. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere soon. Thank you for all the encouragement along the way. I hope you'll continue with me on this journey.

See you on Pooper Friday!

Kind Regards, Love and Friendship,
Greenie

A Day Off with D70

Monday was a beautiful sunfilled day. Harlow and I spent the day together running around. It's grey and wet again today, but there is hope that more sun is just a day away. I'm not going to post anything else today. Tomorrow is my 1 year blog-a-versary. Crazy!




Click on an image to see a full size version




Click on an image to see a full size version




Click on an image to see a full size version

Pooper Friday!!!

Obviously, not a photo I took and not one of my better moments to be captured, but a moment that I love. Harlow is the best nap buddy.

So in my recent post, I linked to a fellow blogger that I love and find completely adorable and hilarious. Recently and it seems very close to the time of the post, that link stopped working. I've since learned that she's taking a break from it so I have disabled that link from the post and the list. I will not however, remove her completely, I like seeing Spoonleg still there.

Something else that was part of the last post, or rather the comment section was the question of "marriage". Yes Effie, you were jumping to conclusions, there are no wedding bells here at Casa de Homo. The only bell that rings around here is the one at the back door for Harlow. She rings it to let us know it's time for us to let her out...for the 100th time that day. 20 of which may occur during the actual writing of this post...be right back...the bell...ya, it rings.

Where were we...ah yes, the "marriage is love" thingy at the bottom of the site. I got that from Amanda B. who also has it proudly displayed on her site. I didn't realize until just recently that it was a piece of code that you can actually copy and display on your own site. So thank you to Amanda B. for being a staunch and I mean really hard core supporter of Equal Rights. This isn't about just Gay Rights to me, it's that recognition that I'm no different than you or anyone else. I recently read the headline on the local paper at a newstand about how the state passed a Gay Rights Bill (barely) and that there is already speculation that it will go down in the next round of legislation.

I have to say that reading that, well, it made my neck stiffen ever so much. I am not an activist. I'm not. Some may read this and think me lazy, or to passive or that I don't take my freedoms, or lack there of, seriously enough. Okay, that's fine. But it makes me sick to think that 'special' legislation has to be implemented on my behalf, just so I can have the same or almost the same rights as everyone else. I'm no different than anyone else on this godforsaken planet. I work hard, I pay taxes, I buy comsumer goods to fuel the very same economy you live in. I abide by the laws, I vote and even believe that you should be able to worship as you see fit. Where in that am I different than you??? Don't say because I have sex with the same sex, don't. Do not attempt to debase, degrade or even belittle what I have. Because what I have is what a lot of other people just like you and just like me have...LOVE. Heartbreaking, committment filled, trust building and often times frustration filled LOVE. I have companionship, a friend and a lover. Someone that completes me and makes me want to be better than I am today.

Every day I walk out my door, get in my car and head for my job. Everyday I encounter the people in my community and I talk, rub elblows and even laugh with them. That's what I want people to see, that I'm just like them. I don't want them to look at me and say, "It's great that they finally gave you special rights to be like the rest of us." I am like the rest of us. I'm you.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to finish getting ready for work. Things like, clean up my dishes, brush my teeth, comb my hair, feed the fish and the dog. Oh and I can't forget to pay my mortgage, my light bill and my heating too. Probably better pick up the dry cleaning after work, stop and get some groceries for dinner tonight.

Happy Friday Everyone!