Giving Thanks

I came across this hilarious photo of a cat and dog in Thanksgiving garb, so I replaced the other dog's face with Cabana's. I'm hoping the actual photo was also a product of Photoshop--cats can't really stand like that, can they?!


Here's Cabana sitting in front of our house. But tonight after our puppy meeting, Cabana went to the home of a puppy sitter in our group. She's been to this puppy sitter's house before, so I hope she'll remember it and have a good time with their pet dogs.

In the morning, we're heading down to Los Angeles to spend Thanksgiving with my sister. Cabana can't come with us because my sister is extremely uncomfortable around animals. No tolerance for cats, dogs, gerbils, bunnies--she might be okay with goldfish, but only if she doesn't have to touch them. Also, my sister lives on the 12th floor of an apartment building, so it was a double strike against bringing Cabana. :(

My family members are all vegetarian, so we won't be eating turkey. Our Thanksgiving meal will be Thai food and chocolate cake. Yes, I'm very thankful for that! And I won't have to do any of the cooking! Even more to be thankful for!

Wishing everyone a safe and harmonious Thanksgiving!

Good Report from Sitters

This morning, I picked Cabana up from the puppy sitter's. She got a pretty good report. The puppy sitters said that she had very good house manners, but she didn't like getting into cars. In the past week, I have noticed that Cabana has been hesitant to get into our car as well--maybe she hit her leg getting in one day? Part of the problem is that she BOUNDS into the car, rather than calmly stepping up into it. We have a Toyota Rav4, and she sits on the floor of the middle seats, not the far back--so it's not a high step up. I need to work on getting her to go in more sedately this week.

The other thing Cabana didn't like there was getting into her crate, whether at night or during the day. They said she was fine once she was in--she didn't bark or whine. But they had to push her to make her go in. I wondered if this might be because they have 2 other dogs and a cat, and maybe she didn't want to be confined when the other animals were on the loose. At our house, although I can't say Cabana is eager to get in, she does enter of her own accord.



Two days before I took Cabana to the puppy sitter's house, their cat had a litter of kittens! Now, at 5 days old, they are beginning to open their eyes. They were adorable mewling little things. Cabana even got to "meet" one of them--she sat very still and seemed highly intrigued. They've already got homes for all of them, so thankfully, there was no temptation on our part to take one off their hands!

What's with the Poodles?

Cabana is at a puppy sitter's house this weekend. To be a GDB puppy sitter, you must attend half the puppy meetings (or something like that). Our group had a puppy sitter for a while, but then she stopped coming, most likely because no one ever used her services. Not as a reflection of her abilities, but more because no one needed their puppy to be puppy sat. So earlier this summer during my week of alone time, I would have loved to take Cabana to the puppy sitter's, rather than the GDB kennels--but she hadn't been coming to the meetings and wasn't eligible to puppy sit. Last week, she started coming back to the meetings, and I felt that it would be nice to utilize her services. It would be encouraging to her, a respite for me and my family, and good practice for Cabana.

So today, being puppy-less, we decided to spend the day in San Francisco. First, we went to the Renegade Craft Fair, where my daughters and I drooled over all the fun items (and my husband patiently humored us). We stopped at Emily Martin's booth, The Black Apple. For anyone familiar with Etsy, Emily is one of Etsy's top sellers with over 23,000 sales! She's what every Etsian aspires to be. She's even been on Martha Stewart's show. And when I asked if I could take a photo of her and her booth, she gave me the sweetest pose! I felt so privileged to meet her.


Then, we went to SFMoMA (Museum of Modern Art). I personally enjoy abstract art and the way its message is left open to the beholder's interpretation. The exhibit that attracted me most was a pristinely white baby doll, lying on an 8-pointed gold star, and surrounded by hundreds of black poodles.

It was so interesting! I asked each of my family members to tell me what they thought the artist was trying to convey. And I'd like to ask you all the same thing. WHAT does it mean--the white baby, the black poodles, the star, the concentric circles?

In a few days, I'll post what my family members said. Of course, there's no right answer, and I'm not sure what the artist herself meant by it. Please don't do any online research--just post from your own gut feelings!! I'm curious to hear what you think!