tis the season
thanks to auntie cwee for the doggles' hannukah gifties! and for the seasonally inclined, a little flashy sno for your enjoyment (yesh, it impairs your ability to click on some of da links. sorry. lemmeno if you're annoyed...).
Labels: dogdogdog, dogs, flash, hannukah, sno, snow

:: ewee 11:20:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Thursday, December 10, 2009 ::

More fishcake!
Worked on a few more little paintings. There's also something strange happening with another set of these boards. I'm not happy with how that set is turning out, so no photos yet. More to come soon.
Labels: art, dogdogdog, dogs, doodle, drawings, fishcake, illustrations, one-a-day, painting

:: ewee 11:06:00 AM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Monday, November 30, 2009 ::

proof positive
photographic evidence that i have not been neglecting the little one of great brattiness. (the tiny dot in the middle of the first photo is toki at fort fun--and i needed it as much as she did...)
Labels: dogdogdog, dogs, fort fun, toki

:: ewee 4:53:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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The cone of shame...
Since Kehoe proved herself to be too adept at removing the various e-collar alternatives (thanks Becca! thanks Dr. Dunn!), we have resorted to the cone of shame. Kehoe's clearly not happy about it, but she's quickly learning to smack us with it, when we're not being responsive enough.

The second photo is of Kehoe in one of the cone alternatives. This one, she can get off within 5 seconds (even when sedated).
Labels: dogdogdog, dogs, kehoe, the cone of shame

:: ewee 4:41:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 ::

kehoe update
Well, good news and bad news. (ain't that always the way?)

So far, what i know is that it's a grade 2 mast cell tumor. That's vague enough that the doctor sent the info to the oncologist, who gave her more detailed info. I'm hoping to talk to the doctor on Friday, and get a clearer picture. But, basically, it could be worse, and it could be better. It's not benign, and it's not crazy aggressive. We might be in a holding pattern of just watching for any sensitivity that might indicate that there's more going on, or we might have more aggressive options to pursue. Either way, i won't know a whole lot more for a bit.

In the meantime, I was feeling all tough that Sy and I were able to remove Kehoe's tension stitches (supportive extra tubing and stitches that helped keep the main stitches from having too much stress during the critical first 3-5 days). Sy's been taking photos, so I'll post them when I can bear it.

Just now, I found out that Kehoe manage to tear out some of her head stitches. The ones I wasn't even worrying about. Sigh. So they're back at the vet now, and I'm just waiting and hoping that it isn't too traumatic for them all.

More when I can. But at least I'm glad we're here this weekend, and not heading out of town. Good time to reflect on all that I am thankful for, and to spend some time appreciating all the good shtick that's around me everyday. (Likely, if you're reading this, this includes you--so thanks!)
Labels: belly palace, dogdogdog, dogs, heartbreak, kehoe

:: ewee 12:51:00 PM [+] :: 1 comments ::
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:: Monday, November 16, 2009 ::

Sunny Kehoe
We found out this weekend that a tiny bump on the inside of Kehoe's back leg is a mast cell tumor. Fingers crossed that it's benign, it's coming off on Thurs, and we'll know more afters.

Update 11/22/09: Both bumps (nonscary one on her head, and the mast cell lump on her leg) have been removed. She also received a spa treatment (ears and teeth cleaned and nails trimed) while under. So far, the recovery is slowly improving everyday. Now the challenge is to keep her relatively still for the next week and a half. Oh, and I'll be removing the tension stitches myself. Wish me luck.

There's a few photos on flickr, I'll post more when I can bear it.
Labels: belly palace, dogdogdog, dogs, heartbreak, kehoe

:: ewee 1:52:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Friday, May 01, 2009 ::

For Better or Worse
Been thinking a bit. lots happening offline these days. There's plenty of flak that happens everywhere, and I know that randomness means that anything can happen anytime. Yet, the killing of Marlon Mayorga gave me a bit of pause. A guy walking his dog a block away from his home, on a block that I love. Senseless and close to home, literally and figuratively. And been feeling overwhelmed and hopeless with all the changes at work. Decisions are made, people are discarded, and I don't expect business decisions to make sense to me all the time, but it's hard to keep rolling when it keeps happening, and things don't add up.

So I'm finding myself, on this rainy beginning to a rainy weekend, hunkering down, and thinking about living a right life, and how to appreciate and live life meditatively. We can't control how we enter or leave this world. Shoots, I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't want to have that kinda knowledge or power. But then what can we do? And what a perfect time to read my Buddha books. All we have, all we can do is now. In this moment. There's so much anxiety that drives me. It's good, in that it keeps me working hard and pushing to keep ideas flowing through me. It's bad, in that it can cripple my ability to enjoy the moment, to be here and now.

And to tie it all back to the posting-drawing schedule. Looks like posting once a week is about my speed, tho I'm still drawing nearly daily. It makes sense. Drawing comes to me easier, because it's the way in which I can reach that good crunchy present moment meditative state. When I draw, the constant dialogue is still there, and the lists of things I must accomplish are still there, but none of it is pushing on me as much--it flows, and sometimes, when it flows, it untangles and gets solved on its own. But mainly, it just flows, and I'm able to sit and look and truly see what's in front of me. And if I'm working on something that means something to me--a sketch, a painting--it can move me. Drawing my dogs makes me calm, and sometimes moves me to tears for loving their sweet true dogly selves so much.

So most of the sketches I'm posting this week are of my dogs. I'm working on a couple other paintings and bits, but this week I really got back into spending time seeing my dogs. Kehoe curled up tiny is how I imagine my pup--tiny and curled up and in need of protection. Funny thing is, she's a formidable looking rotty mix, and she's busy with her own defenses for herself and us against all manner of dangers--real and imagined. So many things worry her, and I wonder if she would've been better with an owner who wasn't so predisposed to anxiety and worrying. But dog and people are for better or worse (at least that's my theory), and so we keep on keeping on together.

The other sketches are of the mischievous little Tokimonster at rest. Despite all my defenses, she's carved out her own little curled up spot in my heart.

Labels: art, dogdogdog, dogs, doodle, kehoe, one-a-day, sketches

:: ewee 1:47:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 ::

snuggly kehoe
she's got her come hither* look down pat. (*or more precisely, "come hither and feed me kibbles, foolish human!")
Labels: dogdogdog, dogs, kehoe

:: ewee 1:25:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 ::

Toki does osoji
Good day at home--Cleaning house, planting greens, walking with the pups. Toki's accidentally helping by throwing her toy into the trash.

Had one of those intergenerational/twinkie moments...I asked my mom if there was a Korean word for cleaning house/self for the New Year. She looked at me like I was slow (yes, I could see her look over the phone), and said "chung-soh," which means cleaning. When I pressed her for a more specific word, she said "dae chungsoh," which means big cleaning. And I could hear the look on her face--if I cleaned properly all year, I wouldn't have to look for special words to describe it.

Since I didn't make it to a Korean bathhouse, I scrubbed about a pound offa myself this morning (guess it's a traditional thing). I didn't bother to ask my mom if there was a word for that tho.
Labels: 2008, dogdogdog, dogs, toki

:: ewee 2:02:00 PM [+] :: 2 comments ::
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:: Monday, December 29, 2008 ::

whirlwind
It's nearly 2009, and much has been neglected lately. Thinking about a little osoji tomorrow before the New Year begins.

2008 has been a good year, and I'm considering how to sum it up. Looking forward to 2009 (hello, day after tomorrow!) and hoping for good change.

So best wishes to all and good end/beginnings to all.
Labels: 2008, art, change, dogdogdog, dogs, doodle

:: ewee 2:24:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Thursday, October 16, 2008 ::

Curled up tiny
...or why i run late most mornings.
Labels: belly palace, dogdogdog, dogs, homey, kehoe, photos, toki

:: ewee 9:49:00 AM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Monday, October 06, 2008 ::

Too cute
Pau hana time. Gotta get home and get some snuggling time in with the pups. I'm fried. Phew. Whadda monday...
Labels: belly palace, dogdogdog, dogs, homey, kehoe, pau hana, toki

:: ewee 5:30:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Friday, July 18, 2008 ::

tgif

Ah home at last. Toki barks at Kehoe. Kehoe pulls the big sis routine and (mostly) ignores her. I'm enjoying some downtime in our yard. It's a bit chilly and barky, but very very nice way to tgif.
Labels: belly palace, dogdogdog, dogs, tgif

:: ewee 8:44:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 ::

workin for the kibble
Tired, and sloughing through work...and these wide-big-loping grinning dogs are what keep me working for the kibble. Sweet pups.

Before work this morning, I sat and soaked up our warm-cool breezy garden out back with toki, and the sunny patch of bed next my sweetly snoozing kee-de-hoe. Some mornings it's hard to leave our little belly patch and face the day. But ya gotta keep on keepin on to get paid. And getting paid is what keeps our pups in the kibble. So I guess I'm not workin for the man so much as I'm workin for the kibble. Or at least, that's what I like to tell myself.

It's feeling somber at werk. No, that's not quite right. It's more sober than somber. We're all keeping our heads down (right next to our morale). And you know, even the promise of happy hour no longer helps quiet the dragons of worry and fear. But there's cats to be herded, and details to be oriented, and sometimes a paycheck is enough.
Labels: belly palace, dogdogdog, dogs, homey, inspiration

:: ewee 8:30:00 AM [+] :: 2 comments ::
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:: Monday, June 02, 2008 ::

can you say procrastination?

ugh. i'm doomed. why's my site so large and outdated? sigh.
Labels: dogdogdog, dogs, toki

:: ewee 4:11:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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toki looks at my resume... kehoe's not interested

today's a homey-work day. guess what, laundry's going, the largest of the hairballs have been captured...and I went to brunch. sigh. distractions distractions. but it is nice to have a random mellow day...ok. back to my attempt at work.
Labels: dogdogdog, dogs, kehoe, toki

:: ewee 2:24:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Thursday, May 22, 2008 ::

apron strings

Things have been fairly stressful at work lately, but this is the real reason it's so hard to get up and leave the house in the morning. Aren't they gorgeous? I love our girls...
Labels: dogdogdog, dogs, homey, kehoe, toki

:: ewee 2:35:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 ::

sleepy dogs

part one of lovely day off: tired dogs (after a lovely ramble through redwoods). they've been unwillingly hosed off, and are mostly dry, and mostly clean, so i'm loathe to kick them off the bed (there's also no more sun on the deck, and i can't have my dogs sleeping outside in the cold shade or on our cold hardwood floors, can i??--oh, well, i guess they have their own beds. and the guest bed...)
Labels: bay area, belly palace, dogdogdog, dogs, go stay come, homey, kehoe, toki

:: ewee 5:06:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Monday, February 18, 2008 ::

dogs gone wild

kehoe and toki look so good...they're F-I-N-E.

(excellent song by chi chi palace. i hope they don't mind us using it. if we make any money, like when we come out with the uncut version of this, we'll totally slide ya a nice cut of it, ok??? but meantime, it's all for love.)

this whole dang ting was shot and edited on my fine-a cellphone. dats how come we gots sucha cool gritty effect and all. yeeeah!
Labels: dogdogdog, dogs, kehoe, toki, video

:: ewee 12:12:00 AM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Sunday, December 30, 2007 ::

Happy dogs

Smiley Kehoe and happy dogs (photo thx to karin).

Being an ultra nervous mom, it's always hard for me to leave the pups. Especially during the holidays (travel during the holidays gets traumatizing, and c'mon, I wanna be home with my doggie family!). But Karin did a great job (dogs, home, neighbors all still there when we returned), and she sent us a photo (or two, plus sometimes an email) most days we were gone. It was wonderfully reassuring to see that (at least for as long as the pose) no one was squabbling or whatnot. Plus, we missed our babies so much, it was hard not to compulsively check for d-txts (doggie texts! quick! should i patent it?) throughout the day.
Labels: dogdogdog, dogs, kehoe, toki

:: ewee 12:30:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 ::

Sweet pups

Waiting to play fetch...
Labels: dogdogdog, dogs, kehoe, toki

:: ewee 12:01:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Monday, December 24, 2007 ::

kehoe wants a cookie

(photo by lpba.net)
---
second photo from our dogsitter (yay!). note the line of drool on the side of her face? happy sweetie...
Labels: dogdogdog, dogs, kehoe

:: ewee 8:21:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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smiley!

this cute sweet lil service dog is smiling despite airport stress and tons of attention from strangers (including hyper bored kids...) and he helped with the interminable delays in houston. (really, he looks fierce, but he was smiling!)
Labels: dogdogdog, dogs

:: ewee 6:10:00 AM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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toki!

first photo from our fab dogwatcher. looks like toki is about to launch. and notice the bed? that's the last time it'll be made...but they're safe (and we miss them!)
Labels: dogdogdog, dogs, toki

:: ewee 6:05:00 AM [+] :: 2 comments ::
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:: Thursday, October 25, 2007 ::

kehoe offering

Kehoe offering from homey (she approves).
Labels: bay area, belly palace, dogdogdog, dogs, go stay come, homey, kehoe

:: ewee 10:17:00 AM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Friday, July 27, 2007 ::

keep oakland clean!
a little doggie commentary on the foolish waste management folks. way to be anti-labor AND anti-business-sense at the same time! i hope the schmucks have to pay, and i hope we get a new sanitation company in town. sheesh.

Labels: dogdogdog, dogs, kehoe, toki, waste

:: ewee 3:46:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Thursday, June 28, 2007 ::

dogs make family
lookit toki's crazy stare. it's the calm before the tokiwhirlwind storm! this might end up having to be our christmas card. it's so cute, and it sums up our two-dog family so well. toki is looking slightly deranged and ready for lift off ("i can eat that! what is-was- it?!") and kehoe's looking happy and calmly mature by comparison...

Labels: dogdogdog, dogs, kehoe, toki

:: ewee 11:19:00 AM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 ::

crazy puppy
[toki the little insane puppy circles my sweet kehoe. video "borrowed" from miz sy.]

more on toki's dogster page.
Labels: dogdogdog, dogs, kehoe, toki, video

:: ewee 2:06:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Monday, May 14, 2007 ::

puppy monster

here she is. the latest disruptive force in my life...kooky coookie kuky. or as i like to call her, THAT puppy.

best part is, Kehoe and Puppymonster (Kucky, kooky, cooky, cookie, kuky...) managed to kinda sorta work out things on their own. We've been all cautious and careful and studied about it. Managing them separately indoors, keeping toys and food separate, separate spaces, indoor hanging out on leash and strictly supervised (basically, watching tv, and each person snuggling one pup). yeeagh! lotsa work, and waaaay more walkies, as she's not totally housetrained, so we're being very strict about her access to the apartment.

but yesterday, they took it into their own hands (paws?)... we left them at home (apart, but Cookie was uncrated in a small area), ran errands (including a lovely paddle that was just like last week's run, but with more wind and current). and lo and behold, came home and were greeted by *two* wiggly dogs (and kehoe was happily brandishing a toy!). Other than pee (on the cement floor--yay!) and a little bit of shredded trash in the bathroom (again, yay--not a book! not anything else in our non-puppy-proofed apt!) it was all ok! Since then, kehoe's been strict (cornering kookykookycookie in her area, till cookie finally just went to bed in her crate), so it's not yet easy, but with kehoe being the reactive dog that she can be...yay!
Labels: dogdogdog, dogs

:: ewee 12:41:00 PM [+] :: 2 comments ::
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:: Friday, April 27, 2007 ::

remembering baskie
after a lifetime of adventures, snackins, and snoozin... bask (baskie, basque, baskieboy, buddy, budster, lovechop, bladder of steel, breath of death) passed away on apr 6th, 2007.

he is very missed.
Labels: bask baskie dogs, baskie, dogdogdog, dogs, heartbreak, video

:: ewee 5:20:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Friday, March 23, 2007 ::

transitional birdys
[kinda weird image, i know. but bear with me a sec...]

so, i saw this bird on the sidewalk on the way to work this (friday) morning. it was a strange and sad little moment--not sure what happened to the pigeon, but it was deader than doornail when i walked by. something about it made me stop, walk back, and take a camera photo.

at least part of it was a reminder from my graduation from college (15 years ago! and yes, i graduated, who knows how...). i'd just finished my last final ever. can't remember what it was, but i do remember leaving the building (it was big and red and relatively modern). everything was a bit surreal, as i'd just gotten through a sleepless week of finals, a huge chapter in my life was coming to a close, and the future was completely unclear. i didn't even have a place to live yet, never mind a job or anything. needless to say, i wasn't one of those graduates going on to successful $60K careers (not even close...my poor parents!).

it was in this frame of mind that i walked out and saw a dead bird. a pigeon had flown into the window and died. not sure why, but i wrapped the bird in paper, picked it up, and took it to the studio, and started an etching from it. i never finished that etching, but i still have the copper plate somewhere.

later that night, i went to the cafeteria (relax, this isn't that kinda story), and found a friend (more like a carload of friends) to drive me to pick out a puppy at someone's home. our town was small enough that there wasn't a proper pound. instead, the pound (where the lost critters went) gave me a phone number, and that number hooked up people who wanted animals with people who had too many animals. turns out that a family an hour away had a litter of puppies that needed homes. when we got there, there were 4 puppies left, and each of us gravitated toward a different pup. i don't remember much, except getting lost near a place called the lunchbox (i think), and satchmo's big belly and smushy square face of cuteness. the kids had named her satchmo, and despite having a list of names (and not knowing the first thing about jazz), the name stuck. the other puppies, stayed behind (not a bad setup: country to run in, kids, a lineoleum floor to pee on. i'm sure they all did well), and satchmo rode back with us to campus.

it was the beginning of my adult life (such as it is). and it all started with that dead bird. weird, but that's how i remember it.
Labels: change, dogdogdog, moley, noho, roadtrip2k, spring

:: ewee 4:39:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 ::

sweet baskie
(i can't even explain this. suffice to say, he's a lovely, beastly, lovechop...)
Labels: bask baskie dogs, dogdogdog, heartbreak

:: ewee 5:31:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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