a nice big field across the street. a dog that does come when she is called. and a dog that does not.
what to do?
make flannery responsible for what happens to ripley -- by putting them on opposite ends of the same leash, and letting go!
crappity crappity crap.
once valentine's day has come and gone, i have no use for this winter thing. so tired of the grey, achey feeling; so tired of the soup and the stew; so tired of the dry itchy skin; so tired of the piles of coats and sweaters and gloves and hats.
what to do?
but huddle up on the couch with a little live courtroom coverage via court tv (ripley has a crush on vinnie politan...)
or, chase the beam of a laser pointer around the room. but it seems i'd be late getting on the bandwagon where that is concerned.
ho hum. we REALLY need some sun, and a few crocuses.
here's hillel with a battery-operated bat from the craft store. believe me when i say hillel needs to learn to be terrified of something in this world. "bats" are apparently topping that list now.
trying to write yesterday morning, i almost threw hillel out of a window. bag bag bag. cord cord cord. box box box. bite bite bite. he seems to be in a constant state of preparation for some production of west side story, fighting and dancing his way through every moment of the day.
then he found the toy i had attached to the office door weeks ago. thank god. catch the refreshment here and here.
here's one of our beautiful mantids, eating a gnat of some sort. see the video to watch him actually bring it up to his mouth again and again, like a kid eating a hot dog. (the accompanying audio will reveal why they do not ask me to narrate nature shows on television.) it was fantastic! i lay on the concrete outside photographing and videotaping, and our landlord stopped by with a member of his halfball team. it's wonderful to see mantids as the glue that holds a community together.
we want to give this little guy (and they are getting so much bigger, and more grown-up looking) a soft-serve cone slathered in mosquitos!
face it. flannery is a huge goober.
but we got these new treats for her that she is mad about, and she is sort of, sort of, rolling over on cue for us now. click here for video. it's a little dark, but she got it on the first take (anybody can get anything on the first take if you keep the camera rolling long enough.)
note, too, her ignoring me totally in the beginning -- because ben was in the kitchen and she assumed he was getting one of the new, precious treats for her.
gibson loooooooves "flashies" -- especially the kind that glint off my watch around two in the afternoon. he waits for them, because he knows i will come into the kitchen around this time, and that they are best then. click on the thumbnail of gibson and his flashie to see the movie version of this phenom.
a weekend at silver maple farm. and that's not all. for your video and audio pleasure: what does a mama goat say? and itchy baby goat love.
what is nicer on a breezy summer friday night than to have a world renowned symphony playing in your neighbhorhood ballpark?
as usual, we have our landlord and city councilman frank di cicco to thank for it. it was one of the nicest neighborhood events we had ever seen. flannery enjoyed it tremendously (mostly because she thought that every time the audience of hundreds applauded, that it was for her.)
free to you here courtesy of notsoswift.com: the rare video and audio clip we like to call flannery: the movie (score by the philadelphia orchestra).
our stroll around the neighborhood provided many sights: a shopping cart full of trophies...
...and a mural of a really ugly baby and the virgin mary covered in money. this is a topic we've brushed on before.
From Japanese House in Fairmount park, and accidental video of two koi passing in the afternoon.