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We had a little dinner party at Rob’s house this past weekend.
The menu: Homemade, hand-cut pasta with Braised Chicken, lacinato kale and wild mushrooms. Apple Pie

We thought it would be a good idea to get Charlotte a dog walker for when I’m super pregnant, giving birth, and postpartum. Today is her first day with the walker and I’m a bundle of nerves. This week we are starting out slow and he’s taking her only 2 days (maybe 3). That way they (walker human & the pack) can all get used to each other. Charlotte knows her new walker and most of the pack already, so really it should all be fine.

Things I’m worrying about: 

– He is taking her to the fun park that is huge and forested (and I’m afraid she’ll run off and get lost)

– Charlotte being anxious in the van with 6 other dogs

– I feel like i’m shirking my responsibilities and passing my little doggie onto someone else

A puppy picture of Charlotte…

They grow up so fast.

I took the camera to the dog park today (known as the dp around here). Pretty much every picture of Charlotte was not so great. Many were blurry, while some were photos of her back, or the focus was on the wrong object because she moved. With a wiggly impatient dog, I notice the lag of our camera. I guess its just a digital thing? I’ll just have to try more often – I’m bound to get a good one eventually.

Right now (12:16 pm) it is very hot in San Francisco.  We consider a 75 degree day to be hot.  If it hits 75, you can bet people will be picnicking and frolicking in every park and in every bar and cafe with an outside courtyard.  Today, right now, its 98.4 degrees.  

Our black dog doesn’t know what to do with herself.  She is roasty.  I think I might give her a bath in the cool hose water in order to give her some relief.  

 

 

UPDATE:

I just checked the temp again.  4:05 pm and it is 106 degrees!

Every day I take Charlotte to an off-leash dog park. Today, possibly because it is the first day of Spring, I had the urge to be somewhere nature-y. Fort Funston seemed too far, and Charlotte doesn’t behave at Bernal Hill, so Mclaren Park was the destination.

Charlotte had a blast running around on the grassy hills. In some places the grass was so deep I could only see her when she bounded up and over the grass. The wildflowers are blooming and Spring is in the air!

Charlotte went in the lake, but only up to her elbows. She was content standing on the shore and watching the other dogs swim about.

Well, its gone and happened. I got myself a job. After a year and 4 months of living the life of leisure, I have a job.
I just finished my first work week. I’m having a lot of fun there in the kitchen – its a really good pace for me. I can’t imagine working anywhere else right now. My sleep schedule on the other hand is quite off. I’m not used to this staying up until 2am business. I’m more of a morning person. It will probably take another week before I’ve ironed out a routine.

We went camping this weekend. Charlotte the dog came along for the ride. Camping with a dog is not as easy and natural as it sounds. First of all we had to rent a bigger car to accommodate her and her stuff. When we went to pick up our rental “Standard SUV” they surprised us with a FREE upgrade! How fun! usually… The new upgraded utility vehicle was an H3! A hummer! and it was bumble bee yellow! Don’t get me wrong, it was fun to drive and had leather interior, seat warmers, Satellite radio etc. But in SF driving around in such an impractical car leads to disappointing looks. I couldn’t wait to leave the city and get out to the country. Once out in the country, we stuck out even more in our city slicker yellow hummer. To top it off we also had the biggest tent known to man-kind! it has 3 bedrooms!

So for Charlottes stuff we a bag with toys, her bucket with food, all of her dishes and water and treats, a few leashes, her beds, a crate, a metal play area, and a long rope for tying her off. sheesh! not exactly roughing it! and especially for a dog. but it made our life easier having options. she is quite a handful sometimes. All of the new scents and critters had her going on overdrive.

On Saturday we went for a walk which turned out to be a little more adventurous than originally intended. The destination was “The Gorge” (A river-y area). We eventually made it, but we really pooped out the poor puppy! When we got back to camp she dug herself a nice hole in the dirt, crawled in, and slept for a long time.

If you ask me, the only flip-flop worth wearing are the brand Locals. They are exclusively sold in Hawaii where they are called “Slippers”. Whenever i go (which is rarely) i pick up a pair. Or if i can catch someone who is going then i try to get them to buy me a pair or two. The most recent Hawaiian trip was made by Dallas a couple years ago. He brought me back 3 pairs. One pair was too small (which i gave away), and the other 2 pairs i have been wearing ever since. A funny thing about these fabulous slippers is that they only cost about $2. What a deal!

Our puppy, Charlotte, has chewed my last 2 pairs this month. I guess she likes the feel of the rubber foamy stuff on her teeth. I’ve been wearing them a lot recently since San Francisco has started to warm up and feel summery so they’ve been out and about right at puppy nose level. She actually chewed through my last pair a week ago, but i decided to keep wearing them anyway. They looked pretty tattered and had bite marks on them, but hey… Anyway today i didn’t realize in time that she had woken up from a nap and she managed to chew the strap off 8-(

So thats it. The end of my Locals.

Or so i thought!
Likitty-split Dallas found some on eBay.
They are being sold by a college girl in Hawaii. How great!
So click click click, and i should have them by next week! (i love happy endings)

Oh! And here are the new ones which will make their debut in Mexico!

Last night Charlotte graduated from “Puppy Intermediate”. This past week she was to learn a new trick of our choice. We decided to go with the bow. She performed it with a lure to perfection! Some of the other tricks that were performed by other puppies were shake, roll over, and sit pretty.

Here are a couple pictures of Charlotte in class: