Sparky

Posted on December 14, 2011 by TheJessicaness

my ball trick

Hi, I’m Sparky. I came into the world in April 2007 and met my amazing new parents at just 12 weeks old. They thought I was cute – boy were they in for a surprise. I would pretend at times to be potty trained – waiting by the door, but other times I would pee right in front of them. If they were at work I would hide my pee behind the couch – like a game of hide-n-seek; more fun for me than them. My mom loved me so much she felt bad about leaving me alone for hours – or she was tired of my pee game.

I got to play with the neighbor’s rabbit and the dog-sitter taught me to sit if I wanted a ball to play with. I would develop my first trick and my life long love; I now collect balls. As a puppy I would walk between my mom’s legs and sleep on her pillow. I would scratch her legs with my claws and freaked her out once when my mouth started bleeding. She simply forgot that I had puppy teeth to lose. She wanted to be my puppy tooth-fairy but my little teeth were too fragile in her rough hands.

that's me standing on the right, Piggy on the left

Soon I will learn to make all kinds of cool noises – most seem to annoy others but they are great at getting squirrels, cats, and small children to run so that I may chase them. I get taken to the park frequently to improve my ball-catching and speed-running skills; sometimes I have trouble using my brakes and have had a few torn pads. All the time spent in the car I will learn how to roll my window down. I jumped out after a squirrel, luckily at a stop sign, hit some rocks, and when mom saw blood she was nervous my brain fell out.

My parents travel a lot and love bringing me along to keep a snot-film on the windows to protect them from UV-rays. I like long walks on the beach and in the woods, except when there are ticks. I’m embarrassed of my mom’s love to play dress up – with me. It usually doesn’t take long so I sit willingly through most photos. I have been on a boat and flown on a plane. I’ve been driven across the country and don’t mind sleeping in strange beds.

I'm in a box!

(Seems someone is due to upgrade their account. I made a video of me and a turtle but am not able to load it, so I uploaded it to YouTube. I know soon this place will be covered in videos; I can’t wait.)

Sometimes my parents abuse me for my love of balls but usually what seems like abuse and torture to me means more delicious meaty treats when we’re done. I prefer to have my teeth cleaned than have my nails messed with. I know better than to bite, learned that as a pup, but I’ve been known to pinch. Not much for baths, but throw my ball in the ocean and I will be the first to rescue it. I may be a momma’s boy but me and dad have a love/hate relationship; and he throws the ball farther.

Sometimes mom goes on trips without me, or dad, so they decided to get me a girlfriend when I was three. She likes to eat and sleep more than I do and she is secretly crazy but I like having someone around that I can chew on. Dad made us some awesome coats for our wintery trips and likes to buy me bones to chew on so that I don’t chew the hair off my tennis balls. I also have ones that squeak and talk and will play with lemons, not for too long, and snowballs too. What’s your favorite toy in the world?

a sample of my toys

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Passportopia

Posted on December 13, 2011 by TheJessicaness

Caleb let me know yesterday that he had us scheduled for a 12:30pm appointment at the Pottsburg Post Office to submit our passport paperwork. Online lets you know all the required documents and the qualifications a self-portrait must have. We had our mom’s send us our original birth certificates. I had trouble last year having the correct, updated, certificate when I had gotten motivated to have a piece of paper allowing me to come home in case I just wanted to leave the country for lunch.

We showed up an hour early, to get pictures taken, and hoping there wouldn’t be too long of a wait. We were the only ones there upon arrival as three others showed up. I attempted to take the pictures myself. I have this neat program, that I know practically nothing about, but I also happened to get a new number last night and shared that fact with my Dad over Facebook. He let me know that Magic Lantern has a ‘passport photo’ setting and it worked amazingly with Caleb’s face.

I used another setting – motion sensor, to take my picture. I could’ve used the timer as well but that wasn’t the issue. In Lightroom I noticed we had shadows on our faces and I couldn’t get my face centered just right. I would’ve let Caleb try but I was supposed to have them sized down to 600 x 600 pixels when he got home so we could go to Walgreen’s to print them. After our appointment he has to go back to work so before that we detoured to T-Mobile to get our plan fixed; now that I don’t need a cell phone.

They put Caleb on the phone and cut our monthly cost in half. He will be getting my cellphone when I put all the contacts into the land-line phone. He currently holds his screen in place with new applications of scotch tape depending on frequency of use. Back at the post office, the lady said we could send off everything to the Department of State today, and pay, but most likely they’re going to require me to get yet another updated birth certificate.

Last time, the form ID was no longer used. This time, the same department that will charge me for the information they have, wants my parents’ names on the document. I could be someone else entirely until they charge me another $50 to send me a form that I will have to send right back with the information they have at their fingertips. It’s a good thing that we started this process early but the current paperwork from their website says the one we turned in might work too.

It might be a small hassle but everything that is worthy isn’t easy. We were told we should hear from them in a week about whether or not the form will work and they will send us our originals back. I was worried about doing it over the holidays because I figure soon they will be closed for two weeks. As soon as our passports get here I am going to want to visit Mexico and Canada; they are close and Canada has polar bears! Then it is off to see the world one bucket-list item at a time.

As we were leaving with our passport receipt, money order receipt, credit card receipt, and picture receipt Caleb wondered why we had been given a copy of our passport photos. Caleb is used to posing for military photos. Mine looks like I have jaundice or maybe I am finally developing a tan from living by the beach for over five years. I told him they were for our overseas driver’s licenses; he said they would be good for a year. I was going to try to get us international student IDs but neither of us go full-time anymore. Know any other cool clubs we can join? What clubs have you been in or are still with?

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Peeing in the Rain

Posted on December 12, 2011 by TheJessicaness

 

 

It’s raining. It has rained before. I tried to let the dogs out on their own but Piggy wouldn’t even go down the stairs. I carry her down with an umbrella and escort her under a tree. Even though she was dry she knew there was wet all around her; like pre-shower when she’s already in the tub, she knows what comes next. I let her run back up the stairs and put their jackets and leashes on. Sparky was quick to go; he knows the drill but Piggy was willing to suffer that extra minute to drag out the moment.

Because it’s raining I let her sleep in, not that she wouldn’t by herself but I know her fear of rain. She does finally stand in the tub without total resistance and will walk in the smallest amount of waves on the beach, especially when birds are there. But her fear of rain made her pee in the house once. She tried to act all cool and let me know she could hold it, for five seconds, before she became relaxed and let go. But we weren’t the only ones out in the rain this morning. Is this how squirrels take a shower?

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Magnetic United States

Posted on December 11, 2011 by TheJessicaness

Some Americans travel to Disney World or the nearest relative for the holidays or for the weekend. Many websites claim that only 30% own a passport but when compared to Britain and Germany that get more vacation days perhaps the workaholics are doing the local economy some good. If we work our citizens ‘overtime’ and let the media influence bad behaviors, then they will never save enough to experience other states in America, other countries, or other continents.

And why would they? The media tells them it’s too dangerous, so is driving your car to work. It’s too expensive, so is the car you drive, the cigarettes you smoke, and the cable you watch every night. Life is about priorities and Americans are taught that they are superior to other nations so they have no need to waste their time learning about other cultures and languages. I feel shamed that I have attempted to learn multiple languages but then have difficulty finding someone to help keep me fluent.

Anyways, the magnets are another one of my collection ideas. I like to collect things in small amounts, like 10. I have some rocks, snow-globes, stamps, and coins; none that are too overwhelming. My biggest collection yet is now tickets, not the kind given by police, but tickets to museums, concerts, and parks. Notice the states are incomplete. There are three that we shouldn’t have but six that we’re missing. They were not made to fit together which will make it easier for me to continue to forget about them and finally let them go.

I will soon be joining the third of Americans that have a passport. I don’t know what kind of trinkets other countries sell to increase their revenue but I have moved on to buying experiences and equipment to help me capture them, for my blog of course. There is plenty to see in America that could take a lifetime, or two, depending on your interests, but there is also the rest of the world that I think deserves a bit of exploration. I look forward to the day that the dots on my virtual world map are as spread out, but just as close, as these states are supposed to be.

 

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Bloody Pomegranate Breakfast

Posted on December 10, 2011 by TheJessicaness

This morning started out a different way. Usually the alarm sounds, I turn it off and roll over, and then the dogs trample my kidneys until I get up; then I can take them out. This morning, the alarm was making noise, I turned it off, but couldn’t roll over because there was a dog pinning me down. Soon he would bark letting me know Caleb was home from work; now we could all get up. Caleb was on his way to Frisbee-golf and we went for a morning stroll.

The dogs ate while I showered and then I was hungry. I love buying fresh, non-packaged items, but sometimes packaged things can be eaten more quickly. I had gone to the fridge and had multiple fruit options and chose the pomegranate. Had I chosen any other fruit I would have filled my hunger quickly. 20 minutes later and I’m about to give up and eat something else but I can’t just leave it lying there, half done, so I take a picture instead.

I finish the job and notice I’m getting better at tearing this fruit apart for consumption. My first attempt years back left the kitchen splattered in fruit blood and it stains better than beets do. Half of the fruit is on the tiny cutting board, probably just for cheese, but I like it for individual fruits and veggies. In the green bowl are the seeds I have successfully detached and the other bowl has the skin for composting.

As I make more dirty dishes I realize it’s time to wash them and start the washer. I get a bowl of sticks (healthy cereal) ready to eat with my seeds and as earthy as this sounds I get soy-milk to moisturize the mixture instead of river water. Breakfast was waited for but well worth it. This fruit is liked and perhaps that’s because it comes ready-to-eat from the store, like most, we have yet to have the same luck with persimmons. New cookbooks equals new recipes equals new foods; this happened to be one of the many.

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