birthday trip

i'm going for a little hike in november...

excited for vacation planning!

and sophie's socialization has vastly improved! no more barking and pulling at every dog we see, that only happens with some dogs now. i've been taking her to the park to play off leash. she doesn't really play, i'm not sure she knows what to do. she walks around and says hi to everyone (dogs and people), then stands and watches everyone else play. she really likes men, sometimes she just picks a dude and sits down next to him, staring lovingly until he pays attention. i watched her follow around a girl who was dressed like me for a while today. she's silly.

the crying though, that's still going on. she got lucky this week, having dear daniel around for a couple days, then leilani (totally awesome, thank you!!), has meant very little alone/screaming time.

likes/dislikes

things i learned about sophie today:

likes
pistol (ryan's girlfriend alicia's pup)
heath bars

dislikes
swedish fish
bees

ry, alicia, and i went to the a's game today (more sun on my already crispy post-picnic day skin). i took sophie to hayward to hang out with pistol while we were out, hoping a bit of canine companionship would keep her from crying all day. it worked! the a's lost, but it worked! while there, sophie helped herself to some snacks, carefully selecting a few mini heath bars from the candy bowl on the counter (why not just dump the whole bowl?), and a bag of swedish fish. we came home to empty heath bar wrappers strewn across the living room, and soggy swedish fish sticking to the carpet. shoot. pistol looked guilty, but there's no way she could have possibly done this. sophie expressed not an ounce of guilt. brat!

on an empty bart train coming home from hayward, a bee showed up out of nowhere, possibly crawled out of my purse. sophie was asleep, but the fluttering wings broke her slumber. she looked, did a double take, and then freaked out. she jumped in the air (i caught her), she was shaking like a leaf, she kept trying to get behind me, or just bury her face in the crack between my arm and body. but then she needed to see the monster, so she'd whip her face out really fast to see if it was still there, then bury it again. the bee was hurt, not interested in us, it sort of floated to another seat, but she didn't relax, her eyes were bulging, her body still shaking. i picked her up and we walked to the other side of the train car. guess she's been stung before.

behavior update:
she's still crying when she's home alone, and still barking at other dogs on the street. we're still working on it. she's signed up for obedience classes starting in may.

it's official

i'm a dork.
i made a sophie playlist.
it's over 20 hours long.
apparently classical/mellow music can help calm down anxious pups. we'll see....

and we just went for a short run, 3 miles, she was great! a better runner than walker, less of that zigzagging business. after trying to lick all the sweat off me, and then spazzing out when i wouldn't let her, she's now passed out in a tiny little ball.

roofies

roof butter lettuce!
roof kale!
roof radishes!

fundraising!

it's time again for the tutoring program's annual fundraiser.
an evening of wine and food from local merchants with music and great raffle prizes. it's in oakland (walking distance from bart) on saturday may 1.
if you want to come, let me know and i'll order your ticket ($30, it's for the kids!).

notes

1. it's official, i didn't get into the NYM. i'll try again next year.
on the up side, as long as i stay healthy, looks like i'll be running big sur next april! and in lieu of ny in november, i think i'll go for a few days of summer fun in cutchogue. i think that's a fair trade.

2. sophie has separation anxiety, apparently she cries all day when i'm gone. all day. it's stressing her out, stressing me out, it's got to be stressing claire out. my neighbors have been patient, but the patience it waning, verging on edginess. i stocked up on time consuming toys and relaxing potions. found out she used to listen to a "calming cd for dogs," maybe that modified ipod bit wasn't a joke after all. fingers crossed that something works....fast.

3. denise and i ate the first radishes from my roof garden for dessert tonight. yum! yay!

sophers

first things first:
i have a birthday coming up in 7 months. if tiny dog foot sizes are available, even better.

in case you didn't already know, i love southwest airlines! and i get some of my most useful and useless facts from southwest's spirit magazine. the last few times i've flown i've noticed a great new feature in the mag: dolla bill origami! just a few days ago i flew home with sophie (who, at this very moment is on a slow rotisserie in the living room window). april's origami project?

and here they are today, my darling girls. at first, this looks very sweet, miss claire looking down lovingly at her new little sister....
i kind of think she might have just been trying to block sophie's sun.

they were separated today. sophie's here, excited about san francisco, curious about claire, and i'm sure missing her far away skinny friend.