Meet Frisco
Here are a few photos of the newest addition to the family.. Frisco.
Frisco was adopted from the Oregon Humane Society on September 21, 2008, about three hours after I left for San Francisco (hence the name).
Frisco is a year and six months old, and appears to be an Alaskan Eskimo breed. There isn't any firm assurance that the dog is a pure Eskimo, but if not, he's very close. His fur is white, and he has a very sweet demeanor.
I was initially very against a dog - mostly due to puppy behavior issues and our general lack of follow-through on things we promise to do. Our last dog, Cairo, was a dominant puppy and was next to impossible to train. We gave him up to Basenji rescue soon after Garrett was born.
Honestly, I'm not really sure what changed my mindset. I guess most of the issues I had with a dog were eliminated with him. His age, his size, the characteristics of the breed, maybe the picture on the Humane Society web page. All those facts made me suggest to Marie that she should check him out. It was sort of like when Marie suggested "you should build a layout", and $4000 later I had a train layout. When I got to my hotel there was a message on my cell phone regarding the "new addition", my reaction was "oh boy, what have I done?"
Frisco has lots of good characteristics. He is only 19 months old, 15 1/2 pounds, neutered, and is past most of the puppy stage. He is already showing signs of understanding some basic commands. He is house-trained (at least so far), sleeps in a crate at night, is very comfortable in the car (he stays in the back seat), and has shown a nice calm submissive behavior. He doesn't bark much (except when playing or somebody comes to the front door), and doesn't seem to shed much. We do have his hair cut quite short, a status we will probably maintain.
He does also bear a real similarity in physical appearance with Cairo. Almost the same size, similar curled up tail, long nose and runs really fast.
The adoption papers do not indicate any behavioral issues. If we can believe what we read, he was a great dog, the owners for whatever reason did not have the space to keep him.
Even though I was not here for the acquisition, the dog has showed no issues towards me, and is acclimating himself into the family very well. The dog has not quite bonded totally with the kids yet, and seems almost a little afraid of me. He is certainly friendly with them, but hasn't really become snuggly with them. I'm sure it will come because he certainly likes the attention.
Tags: Family
Self-Inflicted Punishment
Sara was dying to have a pre-school year sleepover, just to celebrate the end of summer.
We went along with it.
Everybody who was invited made it, and we ended up with 11 kids ranging from 6 to 8 years old - 8 girls, 3 boys.
They made some crafty thing, decorated cupcakes, and then made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.
Honestly, it was great fun.
Tags: Family
Miscarriage of Justice
DELTONA, Fla. - An angry Deltona father whacked his teenage daughter's boyfriend with a metal pipe after finding the boy naked in his daughter's room.
The boy was taken to the hospital where doctors closed a head wound with staples.
The father was charged with aggravated battery on a child and bonded out on $10,000.
Bloddy naked teenage boys running down the street sound like a scene from a movie.
I know there is a legal doctrine for Justifiable Homocide. I wonder if there would be a call for a similar, Justifiable Battery doctrine?
Tags: Funny
New Bike
I ordered a new bike with some birthday money I got a couple of weeks ago. It's a Big Easy Deuce made by K2.
I rode the three speed version model a couple of weeks ago and liked it. I've been wanting a new bike with a little more of an "adult" (translated: old guy) profile. Then a week or so ago I was riding with Garrett at an offroad bike park and took a fall when my chain broke - the "last straw".
The industry calls bikes of this type a "comfort" bike, which means that it has a big seat and more upright posture when riding. Not quite a "granny" bike, but more a "Cruiser" but with 21 speeds. It is a wild departure from my mid-aggressive mountain bike I've had since my mid-20's, but I'm not in my 20's anymore and am a long way from climbing those mountain bike trails I did back in the day. These days, I'm much more apt to hit a paved bike trail on the riverbank or a quick trip to the park through suburbia. The days of bumps, jumps, boulders and creek crossings will be shared only vicariously through the kids.
FedEx reports that it was just delivered to my local bike shop. I sure hope they call soon - the weather for this weekend is predicted to be awesome for an inaugural ride.
Tags: Family