Thinking with your head instead of your heart

/10 Comments/in , /by
Pickle with her red ball (Leah in the background)

Pickle with her red ball (Leah in the background)

I’ve been a bit down all weekend.

As time progressing, it’s becoming clearer and clearer to me that Pickle isn’t shaping up to be a show prospect. Aside from the fact that she still hasn’t quite caught up from her self imposed fasting, her front isn’t perfect and her head is a little plainer than I’d like. All of this is forgotten, of course, when she jumps up into my arms and insists on kisses, preferably right at face level, or when she falls asleep on my shoulder, curled into the line of my jaw.

When I can be impartial – or when I borrow the impartial eyes of friends – I know she’s not what I need to keep from this breeding. Her brother is simply stunning – big and bully and heavy boned, with jaw dropping movement and attitude to spare. Her other two sisters have gorgeous head pieces, dead straight fronts with deep chests, and strong rears. Pickle just can’t compete, other than in terms of personality, which she has to spare.

Being a breeder is all about progress – picking the best of our litters, the puppies that have what we need, complement what we have already and help us to move forward with improving our lines. Breeders are supposed to think with their heads first, their hearts second – but oh, that certainly doesn’t make it any easier.

Read more →

The Jungle in My Yard

/5 Comments/in /by
weeds

"I think that plant ate one of the puppies!"

If there’s one thing yesterday’s outdoor photo session with the puppies brought to my attention, it is the abysmal state of my gardens.

Look, I admit that I am not what could be described as a ‘green thumb’. ‘Sickly beige with bugs on it’ would be closer to the truth, or maybe just ‘Rotten black thumb of plant doom’.

Beyond that, there’s the fact that I just DO NOT have a freakin’ clue what to do with the back garden.

Let me break it down for you.

We have a patio area, which is divided off from our pool. Bumping up against the fence is an area which should, apparently, look like a nice section of landscaped greenery, to provide contrast to the concrete patio area.

Instead, thanks to my ‘hands off’ approach to gardening, it looks like a tangled jungle, consisting mostly of hideously huge dandelion plants and mutant thistles the size of small trees. If a puppy went in there, I’d expect a plant to swallow him whole.

Read more →

Stupid Freakin’ WordPress

/6 Comments/in , /by

If you noticed all my comments seemed to be closed, it’s because I made the mistake of actually upgrading my version of WordPress. This is the second time now that running a WP upgrade has set all my comments to ‘off’ – and no, setting them ‘on’ under the discussions panel does not fix the issue. Your only options are to either:

a) hand set each one back to ‘on’

or

b) run this command line via phpMyAdmin:

UPDATE wp_posts SET comment_status=”open”

Either option is a pain in the ass, but I imagine ‘b’ is even more so for anyone for whom running phpMyAdmin is not an option.

I really wish WP would get this glitch in order, because I am getting tired of dealing with it.

So, while I dick around with this, why not enjoy some lovely photos of Bunny’s puppies, enjoying the great outdoors.

Barring that, enjoy this recipe for red beans and rice, which is what I currently have simmering upstairs in the crock pot, to be served alongside some fresh baked crusty bread.

* 2 cups dried red beans
* 7 cups water
* 1 smoked pork hock
* 3 celery ribs, finely chopped
* 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
* 1 green bell pepper, finely chopped 2 bay leaves ( we skip the green pepper, because Sean thinks it’s the devil’s vegetable)
* 3 fresh thyme sprigs
* 3 oregano sprigs
* 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
* 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
* 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
* 1/2 tablespoon Tabasco sauce or to taste
* 1 lb smoked dry sausage – andouille or similar. I used smoked chipotle turkey sausage.
* 6 cups cooked white rice

Directions

1. soak beans overnight in water to cover. Put beans in crock pot then cover with water.
2. Add all remaining ingredients (except rice) to slow cooker and cook 6-8 hours until beans are very tender.
3. Mash some red beans against the side of the pan, to thicken the gravy. Add sausage to pan, cook on low one more hour.
4. Remove and discard bay leaves, oregano and thyme. Taste, adjust seasoning if needed.
5. Divide rice among shallow bowls, spoon beans and rice over rice and serve immediately. Enjoy!

Pit Bull Blues, by John Shipe

/4 Comments/in /by

Picture 2

Possibly the best song ever about Pit Bulls.

Lyrics:

People see me walking down the street they all run and hide.

I used to take it personally now I take it in strides.

I got nothing against no one I wouldn’t hurt a fly.

People seem to think I’m mean and here’s why, and here’s why

I’m a pitbull, a big brown red nose pitbull, a tooth baring muscle bound pitbull I look like I can tear the seal off a loco motive freight train.

People park three spaces away when I’m waiting in the car.
All the kids in the neighborhood they never walk through my yard.
And there’s a rumor floating around the county that I ate three cats.

But I swear from the bottom of my K9 heart I didn’t do that.

Video below the cut.

Read more →

Delilah Pup Video Debut – and attack of the killer Pickle!

/1 Comment/in /by

Delilah’s puppies, in their very first video appearance.

See it after the cut, or on YouTube.

btw, music is “Elle Panique“, by Olivia Ruiz.

ps: added secret bonus video!

Read more →