Ripley -An Update

 

Ripley, our new puppy, is doing well, and growing like a weed.  When I took him to the vet for his puppy shots, they said he was too small and rescheduled for this past Monday.  In just over a week, he had gained a pound - pretty impressive when that gain only took him to two and a half.

We haven't had a puppy in years, but I think house-training is going pretty well.  If we take him out in time, he goes in the yard, and each time he does we tell him what a good boy he is and give him a bacon treat.  He has figured out that we don't want him going on the carpet, so if we don't take him out in time, he will usually crap in the shower.

I haven't quite convinced Honey that this is a good thing.

Were We Ever That Young?

 An old friend sent me this picture last night.  It was taken as we and several coworkers enjoyed dinner at Vargo's. Probably taken in 1976 or 77.

Oldie But Goody

Dogs and Books

“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”  - Groucho Marx

The Jacket

 My God, this is hard to write - and, if you read it, you may wish you hadn't.  This is something that has been on my mind for days and writing about it may be the only way to get past it for now.

Our daughter, Shanna, was easily the smartest person I've ever known, with a natural gift of logic that was scary.  When she was just three years old she displayed an uncanny ability to extrapolate - take a set of facts from one situation and apply them to a totally (seemingly unrelated) set of circumstances.  Her conclusions were always spot on.

In December of 2005, just months before her death, the breast cancer that would take her life in February had metastasized to her brain.  She was no longer able to drive a car, but she was determined to go Christmas shopping.

She bought me a motorcycle jacket, and she was so damn proud of it.  

She reminded me of the old leather jacket I had inherited from my dad and that she had taken with her when she went to college.  Now she was returning the favor.  She had bought this great leather jacket on sale and got it at an amazing bargain price!

The problem was, it was some sort of faux leather.  Some sort of plastic - the label mentions PVC. I told her I loved it.

I've never worn it since she died, but it is still in my closet and always will be.  It hurts when I see it, but I could never throw it away.

What's In A Name

We were at the doctor's office this morning, and I noticed they had a new trash can - a 14 liter can with a lid operated by a foot pedal..  It was sleek, matched the décor of the office, but what caught my attention was the name - Simplehuman. 

I spent the next few minutes riffing on the name - what it might mean and why anyone would name their trash can (or their company) that.

I assumed that it was one of those lost-in-translation things, and it still might be, but a check on line shows that Simplehuman is a Torrance, California company.  It was founded in 2000 by a Chinese immigrant named Frank Yang. The company was originally known as Canworks, but Yang changed the name to Simplehuman in 2001 when the company began to broaden its product line into other kitchen and bath tools, such as touch-free sensor pumps and shower caddies, under the tagline “Tools for Efficient Living."

If you're interested, you can buy a Simplehuman trash can like the one above for $49 at Bed Bath & Beyond or $39 at Walmart.