Thalia Face Down... Again

We've seen it before, Thalia loves to bury her face in the sheepskin we have in our living room. Below we see her in her favorite position, on her favorite spot to rest.

Where IS Thalia? There she is! Face down in her sheepskin. She almost looks like a sculpture. I envy her. I really do. She has a great life lying around most of the day in a sheepskin. Who wouldn't?

More cats can be found at the Friday Ark at The Modulator, and the Carnival of the Cats this Sunday.

The Morning Walk with Jacqueline and Angel

It occurred to me this morning that I have never written about the morning walks that Angel, Jacqueline, and I perform every morning. Being that I have written about the old walk, and the walk in the park, I thought it fitting to include an entry about our morning walk.

Every morning, save for those involving inclement weather or bad health, Angel and Jacqueline accompany me to the nearby newspaper stand on the corner of the block we live on. It makes for a nice little morning walk that gets our blood moving.

The walking accoutrements include not only the obligatory leashes, but a can of pepper spray as well. I have heard too many horror stories of loose dogs attacking smaller dogs to ever leave the house without it. Both Angel and Jackie are anxious to get going in the morning. Jackie waits as Angel gets ready to go. I swear Angel thinks the door opens magically. I think he gets the idea from watching Star Trek every day. Look at the pretty morning sky. Jackie checks her own news while Angel scouts out a good place to... um.. "go". Where daddy gets his news, and where Angel sometimes leaves some of his own.

And that was all we had room for on the memory card.

Check in next week for a new chapter in The Adventures of Angel and Jacqueline. And don't forget to check out the Carnival of the Dogs at Mickey's Musings, and the Friday Ark at The Modulator for more interesting animals.

You Know You Are A Doggie Daddy If...

You know you are a Doggie Daddy if you use a baby gate to block your stairs, but you don't have a baby.

Jacqueline and Angel and the Big Wrestling Match

OK, so there really isn't much wrestling involved in the next set of pictures, but it was late Wednesday evening, and I needed to get something on film... er... memory card.

It appears that Jackie is going in for the kill here, but actually she's just doing the best that she can given she is about a third as big as her brother. Angel shows Jackie his mouth is also three times the size of hers. And Jackie gives Angel "The Eye of the Tiger". Maybe it's the "Eye of the Wolverine". I'll have to ask. They both realized I was taking pictures, so they take time out to mug for the camera.

For her small size, Jackie is a pretty tough cookie. Of course she grew up in a house filled with cats that were always stalking her, so I guess that helped make her the tough little dog that she is. What I always find amazing, however, is how when the other animals play with her they take care to not hurt her! I have only heard Jackie squeal from rough play with Angel or Thalia perhaps twice in all her life. Pretty amazing given Thalia is sharp on six ends, (and knows how to use them all,) and Angel outweighs her by thirteen pounds.

Check in next week for a new chapter in The Adventures of Angel and Jacqueline. And don't forget to check out the Carnival of the Dogs at Mickey's Musings, and the Friday Ark at The Modulator for more interesting animals.

Jacqueline and Angel Go For a Walk In The Barranca

Yesterday Angel chose to take a walk down into the barranca. The barranca is a very nice, and peaceful place to walk. It is below street level, which helps keep it relatively quiet, and there is a great deal of plant life, so it is also very lush.

Long ago when I was a kid, the barranca was more jungle-like, and only kids like myself with a lack of common sense and self-preservation would explore all the wonder the it had to offer. It was a magnificent place that, in some places, was so thick with vegitation that it would become impassible, even on foot. But several years ago the city came through it bulldozers and lined it with cement, so now any body with a decent pair of shoes can walk pretty far along it’s banks.

However, the essence of the old barranca remains, and since I did spend many a summer day in it's cool protective flora all those years ago, I have a special appreciation for what is left of it.

So, anyway, the dogs and I walk down there sometimes, and here are a few photographs of yesterdays walk...

This is before we got to the barranca. Jacqueline questions the idea of going there. (The rocks hurt her little toesies.) Angel is a macho little guy, and is all for going to the barranca. In fact, he is usually the guy who decides we go. There is a fork in the road where you can choose to either go down into the barranca, or take the path intended for human and canine travel. Often Angel chooses the former. Angel took a wrong turn, and now Jacqueline and I will have to follow him since he refuses to come back around the tree the way he came. Jackie feels a walking stick is necessary for her walk. This is where we will be walking. As I said, it's quite beautiful. Angel contemplates many deep subjects. Once in the barranca, Jackie checks the daily posts. Together our heros explore the barranca floor, much like their daddy did some thirty-five years before. I took this picture while holding two leashes, and it wasn'y until I got home that I realized it was blurry. It had such promise as a decent picture.

Angel loves to go for walks down in the barranca. Jackie I think enjoys it as well, especially after it rains and there is a lot of water flowing through it. She LOVES to go as far up to the bank as she can, and watch the water rush by.

Check in next week for a new chapter in The Adventures of Angel and Jacqueline. And don't forget to check out the Carnival of the Dogs at Mickey's Musings, and the Friday Ark at The Modulator for more interesting animals.

Early Disneyland Pictures

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but I really, really like Disneyland. The reasons why aren't important to this post, but may be explored further in the future. For now, it's just important that you understand that I really, really like Disneyland.

However, Disneyland isn't the same place it was in my youth, so now when I go I inevitably will feel a bit melancholy because, to me, the personal touch of Walt Disney is fading fast at the park. I consider that a true tragedy.

Anyway, in 1993 when I first got an Internet account with a now defunct provider by the name of fishnet.net, (I really loved that domain name!) one of the first things I did was scour the Usenet and Web for ANYTHING Disneyland. At that time, there really wasn't much. But as the Internet grew, so did the availability of pictures, sound files, and most recently Video files. I have collected enough vintage Disneyland material, that I have a 100gb hard-drive dedicated to holding it all.

I primarily look for material from the sixties through the seventies. To me that is the "Golden Age" of Disneyland. I do collect newer stuff, but I have it separated first by pre-1993, and post-1993. Some of the highlights of my collection include the entire soundtrack to such "extinct" attractions as Adventure Thru Inner Space, The Carousel of Progress, Mission to Mars, and Trip to the Moon. I also have the soundtracks to attractions that still exist such as The Haunted Mansion, The Pirates of the Caribbean, and yes, even it's a small world.

Vintage pictures of Disneyland can be worth big bucks. Some lackluster pictures just sold for such big bucks on eBay. But, it is such pictures taken of areas of the park that you normally not photograph that are in demand. There is a blog on my sidebar, Stuff from the Park, is all about vintage photographs from amusement parks, with it's main focus on Disneyland.

That site has provided me with many rare images that I use for my own enjoyment. I have a screensaver on my computer that sifts through all my Disneyland photos, and presents them on my desktop randomly for several seconds each. I can literally sit there for hours watching those images go by. So since Stuff from the Park is responsible for some of the best pictures I have, I am donating this image to their collection.

I took this picture in the fall of 1971. It is a picture of the graveyard that used to stand alongside the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. This graveyard was removed long ago, and is now part of the queue quests wait in before entering the building. It is the type of photo you rarely find on the Internet, or even in private collections, because it is one of those areas that people just didn't photograph all that much.

I have other pictures I took as a kid at Disneyland, but this is the best one as far as content goes. Some of the others may be just as appealing to people who appreciate this sort of thing like myself, but those pictures will be saved for another day.

Tribute For A Friend

This week Angel and Jacqueline wanted to give a shout out to their online pal, Max who's owners run a rather beautiful blog known as Mélange.

Max has lymphoma that currently only affects his skin. He is being treated by an oncology vet, has had his first chemotherapy treatment, and so far is doing well. Max is also a rescue dog, a survivor, and an inspiration to Jackie and Angel.

Max also has a basketball, and evidently Max is quite fond of his basketball. So today, Jackie and Angel present their tribute to Max, and have done so by posing with....

...a basketball. Both Angel and Jackie felt they should show their best sides for their pictures with the basketball, so here's Angel's best side... ...and here's Jackie's.

All of us here at Athenamama wish Max a speedy recovery. We firmly believe that if there is a dog in the world that can beat lymphoma, it's Max.

Check in next week for a new chapter in The Adventures of Angel and Jacqueline. And don't forget to check out the Carnival of the Dogs at Mickey's Musings, and the Friday Ark at The Modulator for more interesting animals.

Thalia and the Pillow

Whenever I find myself watching television, or otherwise relaxing while sitting up in my bed, Thalia and Jacqueline often vie for a position in their daddy's lap. (That would be me.) Often, when I get up for one reason or the other, whoever was on my lap will continue to stake out the spot by curling up in the warm spot where... um... where I was sitting.

Like I would assume many of you do, I use pillows to rest my back on while sitting in bed, and this day was like every other in that respect. But, I am a tall daddy, and so I stack my pillows precariously for relaxing purposes. As a result, they topple when I leave. Sometimes that toppling is delayed, as Thalia has discovered...

It doesn't seem to faze her, in fact I guess it's just another sort of blanket as far as she is concerned.

Different angle, same sleepy cat.

It's been pretty dry here at Athenamama cat-blogging-wise, so I grabbed the camera and looked for a cat doing something interesting. As you can tell, I got bupkis.

More cats can be found at the Friday Ark at The Modulator, and the Carnival of the Cats this Sunday.

Ailments

Lately both of my hands ache quite badly. The worst of this happens in the middle of the night when I am awaken by the call of nature, a call rarely made when I was younger, but now the caller seemingly has lost all appreciation for interpersonal decorum, and insists on calling in the middle of the night while I am trying to sleep.

But, back to my hands.

We are at war, my hands and I, but I am not sure if it is they against me, or us against time, in any case the nightly attacks have the advantage. I try to ball each hand up into a fist, and stretch out the pain, but it's as if I were trying to curl a sheet of steel, and they resist quite fervently. I persist, they relent, but when I answer the call I must turn two sets of doorknobs, and that is when my hands cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war.

On my side are ointments and medication, but on the side of my pains are time and the ravages of arthritis, or whatever it is that causes the hurt. My doctor suggested it might be related to problems previously discovered in my neck . I tend to agree. Why else would it have begun simultaneously in both hands, and to the same degree?

Luckily it has not had any effect on my afternoon walks with Angel and Jacqueline. During the day my hand pains are in full retreat, and I am able to command them with out much protest. They still ache a little, and if I attempt a daytime fist the ache increases, but it isn't as agonizing as grabbing a doorknob at one-thirty in the morning. I can still hold a leash, and I can still pick up after nature has finished with her calls with my dogs. It was during one of these calls to Angel that I discovered the boy is playing host to some unwanted intruders.

While reaching to pick up after him the other morning I spotted what appeared to be a portion of a bean sprout lying across a portion of his excrement, much like Homer Simpson relaxing on a couch. I didn't think too much of it, (this is California after all,) until it moved. Then I knew.

Angel has worms.

I found an over-the-counter medication that addresses Tapeworms, (I guess I would mean Unaddresses them as you shall see in a moment,) but I will be calling my Vet first before administering any of it to him. I would think the worm will get the shorter end of the stick. This medication works by dissolving the skin of the pest. He is absorbed by Angel's system, suffering a humiliating, and coldly ironic end.

My little man also has developed a small, hard growth on one of his toes. It can be seen in the picture below.

As you can see it's reddish in color, but I bet you can't tell it is also hard to the touch, yet seems to not cause my boy much discomfort at all. While I fussed to take these photos he never showed any sign of complaint. I shouldn't let that lull me into thinking all is well though. Angel is very stoic by nature. Approximately a eighth of an inch. We will be keeping an eye on this little guy. Perhaps it's a doggie wart? If anyone has an idea, please, don't be shy, you may share your thoughts either in the comments, or by directly e-mailing me at jeff at athenamama dot com.

So there we are, Angel with his bumps and worms, and me with my achy hands. Together we go down the road of life, and we will weather the annoying little bumps together as well.

How's Tricks?

Jacqueline and Angel are spoiled. Have been from day one. I have never taken them to an obedience class, never read much about how to train them, and rarely correct them when they "exhibit undesirable behavior". I am just lazy that way I guess.

I don't ask much of them, and all I really care about is that they don't soil our floor with their waste. Angel is tops in that department. The boy simply will not pee, or otherwise, in the house. His potty etiquette is unrivaled, and predates his arrival in our home. His first night in the house my wife and I marveled at how he would walk his little self over to the potty pad and make a direct hit. When he got a little bigger, and he no longer needed his potty pad, he would wait until I took him outside before he would do his business. He wouldn't even indicate he needed to go out. He would just wait. There have only been a handful of instances where papa "went" inside the house, and nearly all were because he was sick.

Jackie, on the other hand, had a bladder the size of a pea when she was a puppy, and had to be provided with a potty pad that she could get to at a moments notice. And that was after she learned what it was for! We spent a lot of time watching her carefully for any sign that she might need to go so that we could whisk her over to the potty pad. Unfortunately, by the time we realized we were about to experience "an event" it was over.

We would escort Jackie to the potty pad anyway so that she might better understand where she is supposed to do such things. It worked, and before long she began to get the idea. However, Jackie is small, and so we still need to have a potty pad at her disposal because it's really not fair to expect her to wait over eight hours before someone is available to take her outside.

In any case, potty training has pretty much been the extent of their training. We do try to discourage them from barking at whomever happens to come to the door, or pass by the house, and have also tried to set limits on chasing the resident cats, but other than that I think it's safe to say Jackie and Angel are not the most disciplined dogs on the block.

With all that in mind I still think it's time, albeit a little late, to teach them manners when it comes to meeting other people and animals. However first I thought I should show them who is in charge, and teach them how to take commands from me, their daddy. So we have been working on a few simple commands that earn them a small treat as a reward. I first taught both of them that they simply cannot grab the treat from my hand, but must wait until I say, "OK". Then they may take it from between my fingers. Both have mastered this first step.

Since that first lesson we have been working on a couple of simple tricks. Angel has been a hard sell on this. My first lesson for him was to learn how to sit on command. I started off by telling him to "sit" while I gently pressed on his hindquarters with one hand, while dangling a treat in front of his face with the other. He would generally respond by focusing his eyes on the treat, locking his knees, and refusing to sit. I had to resort to folding his back legs under him, and thereby showing him what I was after. I think he understood what I wanted from him, but he was just being stubborn. After a while we got to the point where I wouldn't have to fold his legs, but I would have to press on his back. That went away after a while, and for a while all I would need do is touch his back. Then I would only have to point at his back. Now I just show him a treat, tell him to sit, and viola! He sits.

Jackie loves to please her daddy, and she learned how to sit almost on the first try, so she was able to advance to sitting up very quickly. She was sitting up after only a few sessions, and now does it as soon as she sees me with a treat. She's so damn cute when she sits up for her treat.

So here are a few pictures intended to show off Jackie and Angel's newly acquired talents. Or not.

This is Jacqueline sitting up. Also affectionately known as "Teacher's Pet". Angel takes the whole training thing less seriously than his sister. He is all about the treat end of the deal, however, and gives his full attention when he hear's the rattle of the treat box.

Check in next week for a new chapter in The Adventures of Angel and Jacqueline. And don't forget to check out the Carnival of the Dogs at Mickey's Musings, and the Friday Ark at The Modulator for more interesting animals.