The Beahive

The Park

Mona and I have been to the dog park everyday for the last 8 days.  We're going again today, and I don't know who's more excited - me or the dog.  I wish wish wish I didn't leave my camera in NY two weeks ago, but I'm due to have it back this coming Friday.

I have a hard time making friends since I'm so shy, but there's a strange sort of subculture at the dog park that makes it oddly easy to talk to other people.  There are, after all, built-in icebreakers: "I'm sorry he won't stop humping her;" "so, what breed is she?;" "hey, your dog is pooping behind the hill!;" and the ever-popular "yea, he's been constipated/diarrheal lately."  It takes a few meetings before anyone knows the owners names - they're always referred to as "Sparky's Dad" or "Darla's Mom." 

It's also funny how merely being a dog owner (and a dog park frequenter) brings people together who  probably never would have spoken otherwise.  The middle-aged, khaki-wearing mother-of-three and the ruby-haired, tattooed-and-pierced make-up artist come together with the single, young, Paris-Hiltony blonde and the adorable elderly couple.  Fascinating, don't you think?. 

Our dog park is a good size, but while it was once all grass, it's now all sandy, dusty dirt.  Although, while I was talking to some other people about it, there really isn't anything better.  In NYC, many of the dog parks are covered in a crushed-granite gravel.  But that traps the urine and things and just becomes stinky.  In my hometown, the dog park is covered with wood chips and small sticks.  But then the dogs chew on them and get splinters.  Our dog park, when grass, became too-easily muddy.  Now, after all the running and storms and things it's been through, the sandy dirt is so packed that there's never any mud, and it's back in commission the next day after a rain - sometimes even the same day.

It has a place for plastic bags to clean up after the dogs, and it has a trash can.  It doesn't have - but needs desperately - a water fountain or hose of some sort.  Right now, we're taking recycled gallon jugs to the Dunkin' Donuts on the corner, and using the spigot on the side of their building.  But that means someone has to leave their dog unattended.  And, you never know...

The picture is from opening day.  I never got to see it looking that nice - Although, they do have some baby trees in a small fenced off area of the park, so there will be some nice shade in... oh, about a decade.  It overlooks the water, too, so even on the hottest days, there has been a nice breeze.

I'm so happy to have this place.  They're becoming some type of extended family for Mona and me.  And we needed that.

Compounded.

Well, Easter has passed.  Our trip to NY went... okay. Reilly - apparently - hates puppies.  Mona had an absolute ball nipping at his ears, and rolling around him, taking his toys and laying in his bed; Reilly had a miserable holiday hiding from her and growling at her, and occasionally barking at her.  I'm sure, though, that they'll get along fine once she's grown out of the whole rambunctious puppy-thing.  I got only one picture of the two of them together.

This past weekend, I had a visitor!  My friend Caitlin came by bus from NY to see me and to meet Mona.  We ended up, by chance, staying in both Friday and Saturday nights and cooking for ourselves and a guest (a different third party joined us on each night).  And, if you don't mind, I'd love to tell you about our dinners.  They were each so close to unbelievable - especially for a couple of novices.

Friday had begun as a Mediterranean-style idea.  I was thinking stuffed pork chops with feta and pesto, some kind of a rice or couscous side and a greek salad.  But, it turned into a night of tag-team cooking and experimenting and included some green wine.  When we finally sat for our meal at around 9:30, we had quite a spread: feta and pesto stuffed (delicious) pork chops for the two non-vegie's; a yummy tomato, cucumber, and feta salad; a stuffed artichoke each, which had a tasty stuffing, but were altogether a flop; and a plate of sliced, breaded, and fried-up eggplants (yuck), which ended up being thrown out.  But it was fun!

Saturday had a slightly different crowd, with a much different dynamic.  I did most of the cooking, with some help in preparations from my friends.  Everything was a lot less rowdy.  We ended up having grilled steaks with some compound butter melted on top.  Spectacular!  Really, there is absolutely nothing better than a chive/garlic/sage/rosemary/whatever (we had chive) compounded butter on a medium-rare steak.  Nothing.  We amended the meal with crispy roasted asparagus (yum!) and a big big salad with Brianna's dressings: Ginger Mandarin and the New American dressing.  Too much yum.

Everyone loved Mona, of course, and Caitlin took a video of her on her camera playing with Genie from Staten Island, without anyone knowing.  It's poor lighting, and sideways, but it's still a video of Mona in my living room!

Although, we didn't only cook and entertain ourselves with a puppy.  We shopped too.  It was such a nice day Saturday, almost 60 degrees, and sunny.  Totally unlike today: our Nor'Easter has arrived.  So we trotted aroud town.  I bought, and am thrilled with, some new shoes.  They're Vans Slip-Ons.  Checkered (throw back to high school, no?), only not rudeboy black-white, they're multi.  I love them on my feet.  I haven't worn Vans in years and years...

Letting me eat cake

In Stop&Shop tonight, I spotted a Marie Antoinette DVD.  I couldn't resist.  I had been dying to see it, but never had.  I just watched it.  Interesting.  Beautiful, for sure.  But lackluster.

Mona and I are doing great.  I love her!  She makes my life better.  She is, sadly, not housetrained.  But, she is having intestinal problems which makes her harder to housetrain - more unpredictible bathroom breaks, and more frequent pottying.  She is on a "bland diet" (boiled chicken and rice) and a perscription medication for the next 10 days.  Oh well, it's only been three weeks.  We've been to the vet twice, with another appt. in 3 weeks for a Lyme vaccine booster.  She's all rabied-up and rarin' to go.  We've registered for an obedience class series at the RISPCA beginning on Monday; I can't wait until I can get her to behave on leash.

Tomorrow, she meets Reilly, my parent's dog.  Also, perhaps less importantly, she meets my parents and siblings.  I keep asking her if she's as excited as I am for her to meet Reilly, but she just cocks her head and wags her tail.  I will probably take lots of photos of the two of them - a big old Chocolate Lab, and a little young mutt.  I say "little," but she's doubled in size since I brought her home.  29lbs tuesday as opposed to 15 lbs when I got her!  Some of the ladies at the vet's office speculated she might have Great Dane in her!!  Oh my goodness. 

I plan on making her a cotton leash after we return from "Easter in Brooklyn 2007."  Maybe it will turn out so well, and I'll make bunches, and I'll sell them, and they will become the proverbial 'hotcakes', and I will be the new it Etsy Queen.

Nah.

Mona!

So About That Dog...

I put an application in about a week ago to adopt a 12 week old puppy from a rescue called PawSafe in Massachusetts.  It's not actually a shelter in that they have no actual facility, the dogs are all in foster homes waiting to be adopted.

I decided months ago that I wanted a dog, and applied for one in November in NY's North Shore Animal League.  They denied me because I lived in RI.  I was discouraged for a long time, until I saw this puppy on Petfinder who seemed just perfect, and I couldn't resist trying again.

I was emailing back and forth with a woman from the shelter who said the puppy would be ready in two weeks, that I could meet her then and see if she is right for me.  She didn't tell me outright that I had been approved, but since this shelter has such a stringent policy on being approved before choosing a dog, I assume I have been.  They wouldn't let me meet her if they won't let me take her home, would they?

I wish I had saved the picture of her, but they took it down before I had a chance.  She was so sweet looking - they called her, vaguely, a "shepherd mix."  But its so hard to tell - she is just a plain mutt.  It seems like she'll be a little smaller than a lab, she's a salt-and-pepper, silvery color (so, perhaps weimaraner?), and they describe her as calm and attentive.  Oh, I'm so excited about it. 

They are calling her Serena, but I have a few names of my own picked out for her - I'll have to see what fits her best, but I'm leaning toward Mona.  (Or Ramona, Nancy, Eleanor [Lennie], or Amelia!) 

I've already decided what type of food I'll feed her (Wellness), where I'll feed her, the walking routes we'll take, where her crate will go during the day, and where it'll go at night.  I already have a babygate to help confine her since my apartment has only two doors - one to the outside and one to the bathroom.  I've been stockpiling newsprint for housebreaking since I moved in in September and bought a few breakables; I have an arsenal of dog training and behavior books that I've been reading and rereading and underlining, and I've been looking into taking the AKC's Canine Good Citizenship evaluation (in a year or so).  I found the vet I'd like to use in East Providence.  I bought those little metal brackets to tie up the cords from blinds, I've been looking for something to help conceal electrical wires, I've even moved some furniture, so there's plenty of room on the floor to lay where the sun hits directly in the afternoon.

I didn't realize quite how excited I was for this.  And it isn't even definite yet.  I've turned in to some kind of madwoman. 

I was invited to attend the St. Paddy's Day Parade, and for corned beef, cabbage, and soda bread afterwards in Manhattan with friends I haven't seen in too long, who have made the effort to visit me several times in Providence but whom I've never visited since they moved in, and the only thing on my mind is, what if that is the day I need to pick up the dog?

Talk about pre-occupied.

So, anyone know where I can buy Canine Genius toys in Providence?

A Rough Patch

I hit a rough patch early this year.

As some background: I fell into a rather deep depression November 2005.  I left school on a Medical Leave of Absence, started seeing a therapist and was prescribed some medication.  I started feeling a little better and got a job working at a K-12 school for kids with physical disabilities - it was the most fabulous thing I'd ever done, I absolutely loved working there.  The school year ended and an internship in the city fell into my lap.  I had a good time, but it wasn't my cup of tea - I was working in the accounting department (I am an English major and a Studio Art minor).  I decide to wean myself off the medication, I am doing fine.

I get the proper paperwork in, and resume my classes Fall '06.  The fall semester goes swimmingly, except for a D in physics, but who can blame me.  But then, this January, I had a setback, and to make a long story longer, I am back on the medication plus a medication for anxiety that I'm only to take when I think I need it, seeing a therapist in Providence weekly and my old therapist in NY monthly, and taking only two classes this spring semester. 

I feel like a disappointment.  Or, felt like one.  But to be most accurate, too often feel like one.

I'm doing better now, March 9, 2007.  Back on track, and working with the Dean to see what I can do to just finish college already.  Though there's myriad options, they almost all begin with me walking during the May '07 Commencement, pending 6 classes, which is good, I want to do that - wear a cap and gown and make my parents proud.  I hope I don't feel too much like a fraud.  The option that seems most viable (and cheapest) is taking one class during the summer, and then coming on as a Special Status Senior for Fall '07.  That, at the moment, seems to be my course of action.

Special Status.  Not a status I've ever thought I was before.  (Or, a status I'm too familiar with?)  People keep telling me it's not unusual for people to feel the way I do sometimes, that I'm not the first college student to take five and a half years to finish.  They say it's not bad, and its not uncommon.  And it's true, I'm sure.  But I've still got this Special Status creeping up on me, making me feel too special.  I guess, thank God this is the worst of my troubles.

I'm planning on getting a dog.

Long Island

Reilly 003
Originally uploaded by CaitlinRosanna.

This is the home that I, for the most part, grew up in. I was actually born in Brooklyn, where both my parents were born and raised as well as three of my four grandparents, and my sister was born on Staten Island - even though my dad refuses to admit to that year of his life. My other siblings were all born in this town, although only one of them has lived his entire life in this particular house. Still, it's where almost all my childhood memories are... where I learned to ride a bike, where I got my boot stuck in the roots of a juniper tree during the blizzard of '96...or'93?  It's almost at that time when I'll be only a visitor.  How strange and exciting?  But also a bit sad.