We had a quiet West Seattle weekend: Friends over on Friday and we all drank no small amount of great Italian wine and ate the last of our French Comte cheese. I worked around the house and in the shop (me and the lathe are friends) Saturday morning while Stamps-With-Foot nursed a touch of a hangover and snuggled with the Brodie – He didn’t complain. Sunday was lazy with Brunch at Meander’s in White Center (Go For the Chicken and Waffles!) and afternoon coffee at C&P. After coffee and reading, there was a trip to Trader Joe’s, home for left-overs, some quality hottub time, and then we finished the evening with glasses of port, sitting in front of a fire.
Posts Tagged Snuggling
Someone call PETA…
Feb 4
Our dog lives a hard life… No one loves this dog… Mistreated he is…
We make him sleep in the bed, nap on the heating pad with a blanket, his food is warmed up, there is a bushel basket full of toys, someone is with him all day and he has a drawer full of vests and sweaters. Treats fill his life and Stamp-With-Foot forces him to snuggle. I am shocked that the neighbors have not called the Department of Animal Welfare on us.
A list of stuff and things that I want currently – not that I necessarily need, but that i wuold like to have or see done/happen:
1. More time to read, write, build, snuggle, climb, bike, run, laugh…
2. A twin Murphy-bed in my office disguised as a mid-century modern wardrobe so that we have more guest space.
3. For my year-long kitchen project to be finished
4. To remember the password for my old laptop so I can have access to 10+ years of pictures…
5. My very own spending money that I can do with what I wish without submitting to a vote/need analysis
6. To have my FVCKIN’ tools back that some asshat stole…
7. A few new t-shirts for summer and a flat belly to reside under them.
8. For my Mother and Sister to find the perfect place in life
9. For all the dandelions in my yard to cease to exist
10. I would very much like for the really sad, really pregnant girl I say in Seattle yesterday to find someone/something/someplace that makes her warm, happy, and safe.
Since Brodie follows my wife constantly and they are near inseparable, every time I snap a picture of Stamps-With-Foot, Brodie is there. When I leave this life I hope that I am reincarnated as a new frenchie puppy for my wife. She is fully involved with her fur-baby: he eats lavish hot food, has more toys than he can play with, a warm comfy bed, a yard free of crap, other dogs, unlimited snuggling, and bacon for snacks. In short, the life all Frenchies dream of – well except for the occasional romp with a toy poodle – there could be more of that for Brodie…
I am slowly being replaced.
May 12
I have mentioned previously that my relationship with my wife is a Polaroid of happy modern love, with a side order of belligerent puppy. Her dog REALLY wants to be alpha-male in our house ! He wants prime the snuggling position when TV watching. If I get up off the couch or chair, he is immediately in my spot. Brodie tries his dead-level best to sleep between the wife and me – sneaking into the blocking position in the middle of the night. I ofter wake up to jowles and puppy breath sharing the pillow with me. If we have to leave him in the car for a minute while we run in somewhere, he waits for us in the driver’s seat. My bathrobe is now his bathrobe, etc…
So night before last, I got up to pee and got caught up for like 30 minutes writing a work e-mail on my iPhone. I came back to bed and I found that not only does Brodie share a love for firm pillows, my side of the bed, high thread-count cotton sheets, and cute girls, he apparently also has a deep affection for presidential biographies…
That dog has some sort of diabolical plan formulating between those big ears… I feel that he is trying to slowly replace me – you know, like some morning he will dig a deep hole out back, help me into it, and trot back into the house to have his morning coffee, read the news, and get ready for a hard days work, all without Stamps-With-Foot ever knowing the difference…
Trip to the vet
Mar 1
We had to take a trip to the vet early this morning. I was reading the West Seattle Blog and there was a post about a couple of dogs dying of something called leptospirosis. As I read the article, I grew increasingly alarmed and upon seeing that we live two blocks from where the deceased dogs lived, I was on the phone to our vet immediatly. Come to find out, Brodie had been given the first of two boosters for leptospirosis back in July, but we missed the second. Crap…
Look, I really like that dog. He may be the best dog I have ever had. Even our friends who are cat people let him come to their house and chill. I would be beside myself if something happened to him that I could have prevented. Stamps-With-Foot is bordering on insanity when it comes to this dog. She will tear up as we carpool from work, thinking about snuggling with him when she gets home. She is SUPER puppy-narcissistic: takes every opportunity to show an album worth of pictures to perfect strangers (“…and this is him sleeping…”) and will go on at length about how sweet/smart/handsome/cuddly/soft/smart/amazing/laid-back/handsome/etc… he is. If something happened to Brodie, she would be inconsolable. Things would be ugly! I already had to have the, “No, we can’t clone the dog! Do you know how expensive that would be?!?!”discussion.
So, off to the vet we went. The Wife made me call her after the visit to let her know that he was OK… He got his first round and our dog walker (STOP judging me! I swear we are not those people) is also aware of the outbreak and is watching him closely when he is out and about for his mid-day stroll.
The following pictures are how every night of my life now goes. Cute sleepy wife goes to bed and puppy follows her. I follow mere seconds to an hour later and this is what I find:
Stamps-With-Foot sound asleep, Dog (Brodie) on my side and in my spot. Wife snuggling dog. I walk in and without fail this is the reaction I get:
Wife: ZZZZzzzzzzzz….ZZZZZzzzzz
Brodie: “What?! You got a problem monkey? I was here first, this is my spot! Don’t even think about disturbing me, I’m comfy and set for the evening. You should have got here first…”
I ignore him, walk around the bed to hop in and turn off the lamp and I am greeted with this face:
Brodie: “If you touch me I am going to EAT YOUR FACE OFF – I swear by all that is Holy (salmon kibble, the stuffed monkey, & chasing kitties) that I will FVCK YOU UP if you… Hey!… NO… Stop… Damn it!!… Fine, I will sleep on the other side of her, but tomorrow night I am going to attack balls if you try this sh!t again…”
With that pronouncement he then makes a couple of turns, flops down with a huff, snorts a couple of times, may pass some gas just because and then begins to snore like a fat old guy with sleep apnea and a deviated septum. Modern love with a dose of belligerent puppy.
Our Second Wedding
Sep 9
While most people wait until their 20th anniversary to marry their spouse again, we decided to move the time-line up a bit and do it on our 3.75 year anniversary. We is just sort of roll like that… No really, we eloped those long many years ago in Southern California just before our move to Germany. We had planned to have a get-together for family and friends the next summer, but life got in the way. Life kept getting in the way. There has been some increasing pressure from a couple of friends and my mother-in-law to get it done already.
During a visit at Christmas last year (I was still heavily medicated from the latest shoulder surgery so I was in an agreeable mood…) my father-in-law and I went running at Camp Long and happened into the lodge, a WPA built stone and timber craftsman beauty. Donald and I talked about it being a perfect place for a wedding reception and then enrolled Laurel in the idea of having our “DO” close to home (the park is 1.5 blocks from La Maison du Talley) this would simplify planning and logistics and with the rental of all ten cabins on the site, there would a place for everyone to sleep off what promised to be a beverage filled evening. Simple was the plan… Stress was the eventuality, but to see Laurel dressed in radiant white, surrounded by our family and friends was worth every hypertensive moment.
With the amazing help of those gathered, the day of our ceremony went off without a hitch. Our caterer was GREAT, the beer was cold, wine flowed, Donald made killer appetizers, Herbert was on flower and wine delivery duty, Matthew delivered the Nana and was a terrific MC, Henrik was took more pictures than Matthew Brady and Annie Leibovitz combined. Michael delivered the beer, Dani played the violin as if she were truly an angel, Beckie made the cakes beautiful, Gin read the poetry with great flair, Emmy arranged the flowers was Laurel’s rock, Sarah remade the dress, Miguel added the sweetness, the Aunts decorated the hall, Jan was maestro of our crazy little orchestra, Bob the photographer was on time and worked it, Leif was the official dog walker extraordinaire, Brodie was an awesome ring bearer, Nick steamed dresses, Nana folded programs into the wee hours, and the entire Brezynski family was the oil that made it all run smoothly.
The ceremony was held outside in the large meadow and an old Burton family friend was the officiant. I saw my beautiful bride being walked by her father and I cried like a little girl who had her Princess Pony taken away. She looked amazing and graceful and so happy. We said our vows, everyone cheered and at some point I stopped crying. Pictures were taken and we all retired to the lodge for drinking, eating, speeches, dancing, and laughter. As the evening closed, I gave my bride her wedding present. A gift that will always remind her of me and will speak to our journey through life together: a restored 1967 red Schwinn Twin tandem bike. She wanted to ride it in her wedding dress – one of the 10,000 reasons I love her.
St. Paddy’s Day/Anniversary
Mar 18
I can’t be the only man to notice that instead of just one anniversary he has to remember 3-5: the day we met, our first date, the first weekend away, engagement, wedding, ect… All this on top of birthdays, Valentines, Christmas, Easter and all those other occasions when your wife expects acknowledgment, a card, a gift or all three. I see a conspiracy here…
It just so happens that I can never forget the day we met as it was St Patrick’s Day, which means one less chance for me to forget something and get in trouble. I really like not getting in trouble at home. My day was thus:
Alarm at 7:15
Shower and dressed by 7:45
Laurel made coffee J and cereal
Told each other “Happy Anniversary”
Smooched
Took truck to work
Listened to NPR on way to work
At my desk at 8:30
Pinched for not wearing green
Revised drawings
Submitted change orders
Refilled my coffee
Pinched again
Work on 3 quotes
Went to lunch
New battery for watch
Bought 2ga green ear plugs
Ate chicken strips
Called wife on break to say ‘love you’
Back to work and meetings
Revised another drawing
Had more coffee
Lots of e-mail
Had apple snack
Pinched again – they didn’t see the green plugs
Chased the assailant down/exacted revenge
Worked late
Got home at dusk
Went for a walk with Laurel and the puppy
Ended up at the pub
Had a pint with Laurel to celebrate anniversary
Puppy got into a fight
He won
Walked home
Realized I left debit card at pub and tab open
Went back to pub…
Downloaded a couple of iPhone Apps
Came home to home to happy and slightly tipsy wife
Turned in early
Cuddling
Up at 2:30am – puppy snoring like a grown man…
A new addition to the herd
Feb 11
There is a special place in Hell for people that wantonly abuse animals. Seriously, a small metal closet where Hitler holds their hand and whispers sweet nothings as they are tater-holed by a Santa suit-clad Mephistopheles.
Our first puppy was rescued after being mistreated and dumped at a shelter. He is such a lover and we questioned why anyone would ever part with him. He does get lonely sometimes with just the “bald apes” to hang out with so we started looking for a girlfriend for him (he is fixed, but two boy dogs in the house is a bad idea). We had met a female Frenchie in foster-care (Bulldog Haven NW) named Jasmine, who was extra sweet, but she had some serious problems and wasn’t adoptable when we briefly met her. Fast forward nine months and we were able to arrange a play-date between Jasmine and Brodie. They didn’t immediately try to eat one-another so we brought her home for a weekend visit that has now stretched out to a full blown adoption. There were a couple of initial scrapes – he wants to be Alpha and she outweighs him by 1/3. Size wins. They are both attention hogs as well and it took a few days for them to work out that it was OK for the other one to get a little scratch or rubbing.
We remembered that Jasmine was turned over to foster-care without any hair, she was under weight, and had a small scar on her rump, but we were unprepared for the reality of the extent of her mistreatment. She was a puppy mill dog and had two litters before she was a year and a half. At some point she was infected by the mange mite and started losing hair. She was thrown outside and someone attempted to get rid of the mites by pouring boiling water on her. It gave her a massive 3rd degree, full thickness burn on her rump. The “Treatment” didn’t kill the mites and she was left outside to die. Her wounds and ears were attacked by flies and she suffered terribly, but held on until she was rescued. The people at Bulldog Haven nursed her back to health and showered her with love.
She has to wear clothes all the time because she gets cold really easily – her hair will never grow back on her scars, so only her head and legs are fuzzy. It sickens us that someone would damage an animal like this and not do serious jail time – this is where the knowledge of the Karma-closet in Hell comforts us.
Jasmine and Brodie have a love connection and for the first time ever Brodie is playing like a puppy without escalating the play to a full on fight. There are still some jealously issues over the “apes” but they are working it out peacefully. If you look past her scars, you would never know she was ever mistreated. She LOVES to be with her people, sits in your lap, is super free with the kisses, nuzzles and shows her tummy as often as possible. We couldn’t be happier and now Jasmine has a home where she will never be mistreated again. A home filled with yummy bacon and salmon flavored snacks, a soft bed, warm food, and an annoying boyfriend that she cuddles with when they think no one is watching.
Lap dogs | Jasmine sleeping | They HATE cats together | Her scarring…
A normal day:
Sep 3
Alarm at 6:50
Snuggling for 10 minutes after the snooze
let the puppy out
shower/shave
make coffee
have breakfast
Kiss Laurel bye
Hang out with puppy for 15 in front of CNN
Get clothes together
Pack bag
Forget belt
Ride to work
Change
Discover belt missing
Say dirty, hateful things
Get dressed
Shirt untucked 
Sit at desk and e-mail/draw for 4 hours
Quick lunch at desk
Walk to Starbucks
Coffee, coffee, coffee
Make a few calls about new house
Back to work
More e-mail, meetings and drawings
Work late
Change
Bike home
Kiss Laurel
Play fetch with Brodie
Talk about our day
Eat dinner
Clean up kitchen some
Watch part of DVD
Work a little on computer
Laugh at puppy
Organize some writing drafts
Get ready for bed
Catch up daily journal
Read a little
Lights out
Serious snuggling
Pass out ~12:30