We're finally getting some rain!

We also got this:

What? Where?

Oh, you mean this?

And I'd do it again!

We should have named him YOLO.*

(*note for my parents: this is internet for You Only Live Once)

Autumnal stuff

Oh, this made me happy. And I'm not the only one.



Also, a friendly reminder: What season is it?

Family update part 2

So. We went to Hawaii with all sorts of plans of what we would do, many of which we did not do, preferring instead to lounge about and watch Top Chef.

One of the things we planned to do but did not do was go on a horseback ride into the Waipio Valley. We had made our reservations, gotten ourselves up, driven through the rain to the valley, took a look at the fog filling the valley and decided...maybe another time.

Instead, we went to a Horse Expo in Waimea. Not that we know anything about horses, but heck. It was to support the Humane Society, plus...horses.

It was still raining, so we soon tired of standing outside looking at horses. I suggested we go inside and look at the vendors. So all that follows is all my fault.

At the Hawaii Quarter Horse Association booth was a binder. I opened the binder and saw pictures of Australian Shepherd puppies "available August 25."

It wouldn't do any harm to call the breeder, would it? Of course not.

It wouldn't do any harm to see the puppies, surely? Oh surely not.

After all, we're never going to actually get a puppy from Hawaii? Well, who would?

Apparently, the answer to that is: we would. We're the only people who go on vacation in Hawaii, get two T-shirts...and a puppy.

And there he is: Sam Parker, named for the Parker Ranch where we saw the photos. He comes home next week.

Family update part 1

I wanted to bring regular readers up to speed on some comings and goings around here. Starting with the goings.

On August 1, we took our older fellow, Andy, in for what we thought would be a quick surgical procedure to remove a lipoma from his hindquarters.

Five hours and four vets later, we made the decision to end his life.

That was no lipoma. The cancer that had been a small, innocuous tumor the week before had quadrupled in size. Back and forth we went, getting a chest X-ray to see if there was something in the lungs (no); aspirating the tumor to see if it was a malignant cancer (yes).

Andy was a trooper through it all. He hadn't had any food since we'd thought he would be in surgery. So a few short minutes before he died, we fed him chicken from the rest of our sandwich wraps. Then the lettuce. As we wrapped up the rest to throw it away, he gave us a look as if to say, "Really? You think the tortilla is going to kill me?" So we gave him the tortilla too. Then he dug through the trash to see what else we might have thrown away. Andy to the end.

He died very peacefully, with us wondering if we'd done the right thing. It was really, really tough. We felt like we'd been hit repeatedly by large sticks at the end of the day.

Yesterday, we got a condolence card from the vet's office. The first vet who had seen him that day, who had lifted his tail, taken one look at the tumor, and said, "Oh my God," wrote, "You made the right choice about Andy." It was a wonderful gift.

I still miss him, though.

Various & Sundry: The Video

I love movie trailers. So what could be better than a movie trailer for a movie about movie trailers?



Except maybe a few seconds of Gromit:


Or two guys who walk into a bar...which isn't quite what they expect.



Or this beautiful eulogy by Stephen Colbert for his mother.

What is a Gromit?

Since we got him a little over a year ago, the Infusion household has been pondering this question. What does it take to become a Gromit? I mean, besides poise, savoir faire, and someone's clerical collar. Clearly there was some dachshund involved, but what else?

Well, thanks to the Wisdom Panel (R) Dog DNA test (oh yes there is), we have either a) learned about Gromit's mysterious past or b) been sold an excellent story.

First of all, can I just say I cannot believe we got any DNA sample out of Gromit at all. According to the directions, we were supposed to swab the inside of his cheek with a little brush that looks like a mascara applicator for 15 second. If we got three seconds, I'm amazed.

But apparently, it was enough, because here's what they came up with:

Gromit is...(drumroll please)

a Standard Wirehaired Dachshund, American Staffordshire Terrier, English Springer Spaniel, Kerry Blue Terrier, Miniature Poodle Mix

Well, obviously.

Here's the official lineage, according to our results:

Call the AKC! Now that we know the magic formula, we can start churning out Gromits like crazy.

Or maybe we'll just enjoy the one and only Gromit that we have.

Various & Sundry: The cats are unimpressed

I'm kind of tempted to start this week's collection of online tidbits with the Sad Cat Diary.


I hope you are not too depressed to read on.

But if you have made it this far, I hope you will read this terrific article about what we can learn from one of the worst charities in the world. I think it captures some of the key things we need to consider in aid and development work in a way that's really eye-opening. The gist is we need to look at the outcome (what does the charity actually accomplish) rather than focus on the process (how does it go about it -- assuming it is legal and ethical). Take a look and see what you think of the author's arguments.

Meanwhile, over at How Matters (because, yes, this is a both/and kind of a situation), Jennifer Lentfer writes about her recent visit to Haiti and the comments made to her by the recipients of various aid programs. Here's the one that particularly got me: "Is it a political strategy for Americans to come waste their money and weaken us?" Youch.

@pj_blue had a tweet that summed all of this up very neatly:

@intldogooder @pandpvolunteer I think the point being made is that it is easy to be a do-gooder. It's the actual doing good that is tricky.
— Philip Blue (@pj_blue) May 16, 2013

Amen to that.

So...will it do any good to sign this petition to make it easier for musicians to bring their instruments on airplanes? One can always try, and hope. Apparently,

When musicians are travelling by air in the United States, their instruments have no protections under current law. Each air carrier can decide their own rules on how to treat instrumentalists, and this results in arbitrary decisions made down the line.

Here's hoping we can make that a little less crazy.

Congratulations to 18-year-old Jennie Lamere who won a Boston Hackathon (a programming competition) with a code to stop television spoilers in your Twitter feed. Which, if you're a Twitter type, is actually really useful. What's more, she was the only female to present a project, and the only solo competitor. Go, Jennie. Another story on how she got into coding here.

On the other end of the life spectrum, this week I read the fascinating obituary of Marcella Pattyn, 92, who was the last of the Beguines. Yes, I did start humming a little Cole Porter, there, but little did I know that the Beguines were a lay order for women established in the late 12th century.

Beguines took no religious vows. They could leave and marry, if they chose. They could own property and took no alms. Women of all classes were welcomed, and wealthy Beguines often brought their servants with them. They carried on professions, often in the textile industry; they did good works, such as teaching or caring for the sick. They elected women — Grandes Dames — to lead their communities. Each Beguine was expected to support herself and make a contribution to the beguinage, through work or rent payments. They had no motherhouse, no common rule, no general of the order. Every community was run according to its own rules.

Fascinating stuff. Marcella herself, there, was the last surviving member of the order. Do we need something else like it? Or has it simply served its term?

Another who has served his term is Lt. Col. Will Adams, who had been deployed in Afghanistan for 2 years. I dare you to watch this without crying.

Ninja Cats

You know the only thing better than Ninja Cats? FRENCH Ninja Cats -- or should I say, Les Chats Ninjas? Yes, yes I think I should.

Whatcha doing?

Well, I was trying to do research for my write up on Martha, who is one of my peeps for Lent Madness this year. Why? Do you think I should be doing something else?

Irish Wolfhound Fan Club

Here's Liam the singing Irish Wolfhound:



Here's Harper's reaction to Liam the singing Irish Wolfhound:

Feel free to add your own thought bubbles.

Opening Act

You know how I said on Sunday that that wasn't a video of my cat?

Yeah, well, this is a video of my cat.

That sound in the background, incidentally, is the Herbert Lom video from the blog post below.

I promise this is not going to become a cat video blog. Not exclusively anyway.

Sunday Funnies, September 23

This isn't my cat.


But it might as well be.