The Dogster Daily

Screen porch

2011-07-04T20:55:00.001-04:00

Screen porch, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

Long summer evenings are for snoozing and dreaming of treats.

Evening in the yard

2011-07-04T20:54:00.001-04:00

Evening in the yard, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

Swiffer's not doing so well these days but she can still lounge in the yard.

Kirby, covered in dirt

2011-07-04T20:53:00.001-04:00

Kirby, covered in dirt, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

This is from digging a massive hole under the blackberry bushes.

Bissell and Swiffer

2010-04-29T23:50:00.001-04:00

Bissell and Swiffer, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

She does this all the time...ignoring gravity.

Swiffer: snow bunny

2010-04-29T23:49:00.001-04:00

Swiffer: snow bunny, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

From this past winter. Swiffer never grew out of the silly.

Kirbyfur

2010-04-29T23:46:00.001-04:00

Kirbyfur, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

Just after this, Kirby decided to take out a pitbull. It's Kirby's world. And in that world, he kicks butt.

Mornings

2009-06-13T12:12:00.001-04:00

Mornings, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

They find my work nearly as boring as I do.

This is the look that sold me

2009-06-08T08:57:00.001-04:00

This is the look that sold me, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

Bissell is the only one who behaves at the coffee shop - a sneaky tactic on her part to be the sole dog who gets to go to the coffee shop.

Last winter

2009-06-08T08:56:00.001-04:00

Last winter, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

A little reminder of when it was cold.

Copilot

2008-07-26T16:02:00.001-04:00

Copilot, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

Who is that naked dog?!

2008-06-28T20:41:00.001-04:00

Who is that naked dog?!, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

Dekker in his summer fur.

Swiffer "elephant man" Gibson

2008-06-07T09:15:00.001-04:00

Swiffer "elephant man" Gibson, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

Another look at that misshapen mug. It's nearly back to normal today.

Swiffer says: "Don't play with bees"

2008-06-07T09:06:00.001-04:00

Swiffer says: "Don't play with bees", originally uploaded by map-kristi.

Some of us have to learn the hard way.

Hot and bored

2008-05-29T14:42:00.001-04:00

Hot and bored, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

Still hot and bored...

Dekker (aka I Suffer from Poodleitis) - Day 16.5

2008-05-26T13:55:00.001-04:00

Dekker (aka I Suffer from Poodleitis) - Day 16.5, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

What was I thinking?

2008-05-23T22:42:00.001-04:00

What was I thinking?, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

Dekker (aka GoodThingIHaveNoTailToBite) - Day 6.5

2008-05-17T18:50:00.001-04:00

Dekker (aka GoodThingIHaveNoTailToBite) - Day 6.5, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

Dekker (aka IOnlyHaveTwoSpeeds - StopandGo) - Day 5.5

2008-05-15T21:53:00.001-04:00

Dekker (aka IOnlyHaveTwoSpeeds - StopandGo) - Day 5.5, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

Dekker (aka Almost a real dog) - Day 4.5

2008-05-15T07:58:00.001-04:00

Dekker (aka Almost a real dog) - Day 4.5, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

Here he is exhibiting a perfect 'sit' command. Just like a real dog!

Dekker (aka The Confused One) - Day 3.5

2008-05-13T21:04:00.001-04:00

Dekker (aka The Confused One) - Day 3.5, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

aka Perpetually Confuse, Confusatron, The Confusist

Dekker (aka The D stands for Dork)- Day 2.5

2008-05-12T19:55:00.001-04:00

Dekker (aka The D stands for Dork)- Day 2.5, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

Cuteness is directly proportional to sneakiness.

Dekker (aka IHavePoodleIssues) - Day 1.5

2008-05-12T19:54:00.001-04:00

Dekker (aka IHavePoodleIssues) - Day 1.5, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

Already succumbing to bribery.

Dekker (aka Snot-face) - Day .5

2008-05-12T19:53:00.001-04:00

Dekker (aka Snot-face) - Day .5, originally uploaded by map-kristi.

Mom and Dad are off to Spain for a month. How WILL Dekker survive? Stay tuned for updates.

Morning mosey around the yard

2008-04-25T09:17:00.002-04:00

2008-02-17T17:13:00.002-05:00

Yeah, I'd run too.

2008-02-15T13:59:00.002-05:00

Bissell and Swiffer both have great concentration - for different things

2008-01-23T20:13:00.001-05:00

More sleepin'

2007-12-17T11:33:00.000-05:00

This seems to be a theme....

A quick truce for naptime

2007-12-01T17:22:00.000-05:00

Will she ever grow into those paddles?

2007-11-15T13:18:00.000-05:00

Doubtful.

It eez zee leetle feesh...

2007-10-19T19:28:00.000-04:00

Ring, Ring, Ring!

Seriously bored

2007-10-12T21:04:00.001-04:00

The gang's all here!

2007-09-24T17:24:00.001-04:00

New Home

2007-08-29T22:02:00.000-04:00

Not terribly exciting, but pretty accurate.

Away

2007-08-13T21:49:00.001-04:00

It's terribly boring being up in Connecticut without the dogs. I wonder what they're up to right now?

Super Swiffer

2007-08-02T18:02:00.000-04:00

Swiffer isn't going to get as big as her momma, but it's all in the attitude anyway, right?

Seriously bored

2007-07-02T22:24:00.000-04:00

Swift Swiffer

2007-06-24T16:41:00.000-04:00

As most of you know, Swiffer had a bad tumble when she was about 3 months old. She hurt her back and has been a rather stiff puppy ever since. She's regained a lot of her motor skills in the last few months. I still have visions of paralyzed dogs in little wheelie carts every time she plows full steam into Dekker of course.

Dekker

2007-06-18T21:19:00.001-04:00

While I was away, they were plotting to take over the house.

Trolling for bunnies

2007-05-28T21:50:00.000-04:00

Yard Sharks

2007-05-25T10:28:00.001-04:00

More Jackalopes

2007-05-22T17:38:00.000-04:00

Jackalopes

2007-05-22T17:35:00.001-04:00

Bissell has realized that if she crams herself into a tiny crate, she can hide from her offspring

2007-04-12T09:46:00.000-04:00

Bissell:

Offspring:

Bissel and Swiffer

2007-03-31T13:05:00.000-04:00

Saving the best puppy for last of course

Soccer pup

2007-03-27T14:42:00.000-04:00

What do they fill these things with? Puppy crack? All three dogs are fixated on the furry soccer ball.

Yeah, her head's enormous

2007-03-15T03:03:00.000-04:00

Puppyfur is already howling at me...

2007-03-13T11:18:00.000-04:00

Swiffer has already turned into the angry puppy, demanding all sorts of things. If only I could figure out what.

Doh!

2007-03-06T22:45:00.000-05:00

Now that Bissell has survived all her major illnesses, she's making it her mission to be cuter than Kirby. She just sucks all the cute out of the room! Kirby spends most of his time moping under a down comforter, which is also disgustingly cute.

New Dog

2007-02-13T12:48:00.000-05:00

Bissell we think.

Deep disapproval

2007-01-15T15:24:00.000-05:00

I'm traveling for work at the moment, so Kirby is hanging out with my dad. He disapproves of traveling. And suitcases. And cameras. He only approves of all the treats that people other than me give him.

Snortin' some snow

2006-12-08T12:59:00.000-05:00

The orange delinquents.

Plays well with others

2006-12-02T23:02:00.000-05:00

A Beag

2006-11-30T10:50:00.000-05:00

'Beag' is a celtic word. It means small. So a beagle is smallish.

Kirby dreamin'

2006-11-11T11:26:00.000-05:00

If it weren't about to rain, this is what Kirby would be doing right now - running around the dog park all by himself. Instead he's going to a playdate with some other dogs who will probably give him the 'beagle slapdown.' Its tough being the cutest dog.

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T13:15:00.000-05:00

Kirby decided to dress up as a puppy this year.

Kirby's nemesis

2006-10-29T11:26:00.000-05:00

Kirby is very suspicious of "she who stares at me and probably eats all the cat food." He's on the case though.

Kirby's Blog

2006-10-28T00:25:00.000-04:00

Because Kirby's life is so much more exciting than mine at the moment, he's taking over the blog. Here he is holding down the couch.

Its a snoozeathon around here

2006-10-01T12:12:00.000-04:00

With no Lola to play with, there's really no reason to even get up in the morning.

Strolling down memory lane

2006-09-21T00:23:00.000-04:00

and realizing that I've forgotten all the details and am mostly lost...For those with a better memory, I'm posting Philmont pictures from 1995 and 1996. I can't remember the names of at least 50% of the people or horses in the pictures, so if anyone wants to help out that would be great!

You can check out the rest of the damage here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26381914@N00/

Studying

2006-09-16T01:28:00.000-04:00

On Friday nights is a lonely affair. Which is why its good to pick a book called "Urban Nightmares" with people being stabbed on the cover.

Seller's farm house on Seller's Lane

2006-09-14T23:58:00.000-04:00

Is where my friend Molly grew up and where I spent a pretty big portion of my childhood. I learned to ride horses in the field next to this house and I kept my first (and only) horse there for a summer or two. Its been empty for two years now and it looks like it may be torn down soon. Its starting when your fondest childhood memories start to look like something out of The Blair Witch Project. Poor old house.

Little cat bubble

2006-09-05T21:42:00.000-04:00

Mercedes is so small and light now that she's older than dirt, she sort of feels like a little cat shaped bubble when you pick her up. She takes up space but is nearly weightless.

Shamrock Jews Wedding

2006-08-28T22:49:00.000-04:00

Cara and Michael finally tied the knot this past weekend! Just as soon as Cara is done building the new American embassy in Beijing, she'll be starting her next career as a cover model for romance novels. Everyone needs a dream!

Happy Birthday Adam!

2006-08-17T12:51:00.000-04:00

Today is Adam's birthday and despite all his efforts, he's still 5 years younger than me. Adam's been in the street outreach trenches with me for the last year which either makes him very nice or very crazy. I feel that this picture represents the nice/crazy look well. Happy Birthday Adam!

The lone blueberry

2006-07-30T17:02:00.000-04:00

Everyday, I feed Kirby a scoop of dog food with a little blob of yoghurt on top (very good for dogs). Because I feed him the yoghurt that I eat, sometimes there is a lone blueberry that gets mixed in. He is very careful to leave the blueberry untouched. Yah know. Just in case I want it back.

Prince Street

2006-07-19T23:40:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure why, but I love this sign. I read it everyday, and it's always great. Because there is a sale. On many items.

Siren Music Fest at Coney Island

2006-07-16T13:37:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the Siren Music Festival at Coney Island, quite possibly the best way to eat hot dogs and ice cream and beer while listening to great music and having so many flashing lights going off that you succumb to that psychotic fit that you always meant to have.

The headliner band - the Scissor Sisters - was particulary great. When the power went off, twice, the lead singer was more than willing to entertain the crowd by stripping. We like dedication in our bands. And nice abs.

This is Hrund enjoying the tunes.

Afterwards, we all strolled down the boardwalk to Brighton Beach in a lazy effort to have more fun and avoid the crowds at the Coney Island subway stop.

This is how I feel about writing tonight

2006-07-11T22:09:00.000-04:00

Brighton Beach dissertating

2006-07-11T16:23:00.000-04:00

Sometimes its good to flee Manhattan. The beaches in Brooklyn take some fortitude however. There's nothing like sand, surf and syringe needles. Actually, its not quite that icky. But just that image may prevent me from ever going back now.

World Cup from Spring Street

2006-07-09T22:56:00.000-04:00

There were a few thousand people that watched the first 20 minutes of the World Cup final today on Spring Street. Only the first 20 minutes you say? That's when the police went into panic mode and shut the thing down.

(Go Italy!)

Alexa is moving to the big city!

2006-07-02T23:12:00.000-04:00

Along with her parents of course. Its hard to believe that a mere few months ago, she was this little star-fish/snowflake shaped object. Now she's getting ready to wander around all on her own. Kirby will have major competition in both the cuteness and the 'getting treats from grandma' categories.

Waterparks in the Lower East Side

2006-06-28T19:12:00.000-04:00

Happen everytime someone opens a hydrant. These kids were cooling off with ice creams as well in a park on Chrystie Street (no relation).

Alanna leaving us for Poland. Damn Poland

2006-06-22T11:16:00.000-04:00

At the garden part of the goodbye party (as opposed to the roof part, the bar 1 part, the bar 2 part, etc, etc).

Evening walk

2006-06-14T01:11:00.000-04:00

East (its really a tidal estuary) River and Brookyn Bridge

Midnight walk #4

2006-06-13T00:00:00.000-04:00

Birds in the Bird Park

2006-05-13T16:17:00.000-04:00

There is a park behind where I live that is occupied every weekend by birds and their owners that bring, um, the birds there, to socialize. Sound familiar?

Molly and Kristi in the 'bird park'

2006-05-13T16:16:00.000-04:00

Pigeons

2006-05-10T22:42:00.000-04:00

Yeah, this has gotten sort of random....

The fun part of the day:

2006-04-24T22:56:00.000-04:00

King of the carpet

2006-04-11T23:00:00.000-04:00

Or maybe just trying to get my attention?

Alexa, Ben and Mom

2006-04-07T20:02:00.000-04:00

This is clearly my day of rage, so I'm going to go with it...

2006-04-03T22:23:00.000-04:00

When I was walking Kirby tonight, also back on Rivington Street, an elderly man was sitting on the sidewalk and asked me to call 911 for him. When my cell phone wouldn't work (thanks Verizon, you suck), I stepped into the grocery (about three feet from where the old guy had collapsed) to ask the owner to call 911 for me. He and about 12 other men standing around ignored me. Let’s break this down: this was the second time in the past year that I've tried to call 911 for someone in this exact location and not been able to get through. And this is also the second time that this store owner has refused to call. He makes enough money selling cheap beer to underage kids and old alcoholics to renovate his entire store, but he can't be bothered to call 911 for the people passed out in front. You can be part of this society or you can be a wart on its ass. Guess which one the store owner is.

A few other notes: the old guy was pretty lucid for a 70 year old going through detox. He's also from Madrid, spent a few years in Pittsburgh working for at a factory and tried to explain to me that the reason that the men in the store wouldn't help him is because they didn't understand his Spanish, which is different from theirs. Which is bullshit. An old homeless man trying to save face by forgiving the guys that hang out in this store doesn't sit well with me. They can comment on my ass every time I walk by, but they're too confused to understand "Call 911 please"? I highly doubt it.

On a side note, it was pouring down rain through all of this, so Kirby no longer needs a bath. Bright side to everything.

Ignorant people annoy me

2006-04-03T16:15:00.000-04:00

As I was walking back on Rivington Street this afternoon, I happened to notice that someone had scrawled the words: "This is illegal" and "Destruction of Historic Building" on the fence that now surrounds the old synagogue that collapsed several months ago. I have several issues with this:
1. The building collapsed.
2. It was probably heartbreaking for the (mostly elderly) congregation of this synagogue to realize that the building that had been the center of their religious life for many generations could not be saved.
And finally 3. It’s great that someone seems to care about the local character of this neighborhood, yet it's staggering to me that they somehow missed the coverage of this story which was in every local paper and on every local news station for TWO weeks.

Lola loves Kirby, Part 2

2006-04-01T22:54:00.000-05:00

What dog walking really looks like...

2006-03-29T19:55:00.000-05:00

Old Romanian Synagog

2006-03-29T19:52:00.000-05:00

This is the synagog that fell in on Rivington. Kirby and I were walking back from looking at it the night of his 'great escape'. The woman taking the picture in this picture is a way more intrepid photographer than I.

Sharing the bed, barely

2006-03-29T14:06:00.000-05:00

Darn blobber!

2006-03-27T17:31:00.000-05:00

My blogger account isn't playing nice with the photo options, so for now I'm posting a bunch of stuff on my flickr site instead: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26381914@N00/

Flickr plays well with others.

Calvin Klein adds do Spamalot

2006-03-22T09:09:00.000-05:00

Sarah is responsible to this picture - note the guy on the corner, he seems a little fixated.

The takeout problem

2006-03-19T18:42:00.000-05:00

These are also not mine. But opening 20 fortune cookies at once was good fun for Sarah and I last night.

This family has rice pudding issues

2006-03-19T18:41:00.000-05:00

There is no freakin way these are all mine.

Scientologists at Union Square Subway

2006-03-19T18:39:00.000-05:00

The picture is blurry because they blocked my camera up with thetons.

Chicago

2006-03-15T09:02:00.000-05:00

Homeless kids have a sense of humor on St. Patrick's Day in Chicago (which comes a whole week earlier than the actual holiday, so maybe Chicagoans have had a bit too much of the sause themselves).

All to himself

2006-03-05T12:28:00.000-05:00

Kirby has gone home for a few weeks, while I travel and work. He's already managed to see an enormous raccoon, which probably fritzed out all of his brain cells. I imagine he's also eaten his own weight in dog treats by now. In the meantime, Weegee - my guest dog - has the entire place to himself. Which for him is akin to taking over the world.

Sucker for carrots

2006-03-05T12:22:00.000-05:00

2006-02-25T11:17:00.000-05:00

My Saturday.

Kirby's Saturday (I want to be a dog too).

Sorry Sorry Sorry

2006-02-22T17:27:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't updated this lately as several of you have kindly reminded me. Its because I'm swamped with dissertations and dogs (the deadly double d's). I feel sort of like this:

New dogs

2006-02-17T17:57:00.000-05:00

As we wander through the historical Lower East Side of Manhattan, the sound of snorting fills the air...

Disturbing things

2006-02-14T20:42:00.000-05:00

The shit you see while dog walking. I guess the NYC parks are more revolutionary than I thought...