9.27.2009

A Lotta Greyhound This Weekend

A cold-y sore throat laid me up the end of this week, spending Thursday afternoon and Friday sleeping and rereading Gotham Central (I've yet to, knock on wood 'cause I'm tempting the fates, find an illness I just can't sleep through). But it threw off our plan to get Cheyenne back to the vet's to follow up on the four-week course of antibiotics for that UTI she couldn't seem to kick.

So, off first thing Saturday morning, before breakfast or anything to get her tested. And, when we emerged an hour later, it was so beautiful (the overnight freezing temperatures have passed), that going out to the dog park seemed a great idea. Since California Pastrami was again closed — for the third time in a row we've tried — we just grabbed bagels and headed out.

It's 22 acres, fenced, and usually folks head out with their dogs and walk the perimeter, meeting and collecting a pack on the way. Cheyenne's gotten better about leaving the lizards alone and actually walking the path with us. When we met up with a Beagle pair and a black-and-white Akita named Lotus, she was pretty happy to go along with the group and actually play, dashing off and running around occasionally.



And then back to the shelter by the entrance for water and shade; we were ready to head home, but a new group arrived, and Cheyenne wanted to follow. Included a beautiful Ridgeback puppy, a couple hounds, and an Akita(?) mix named Jack that she was, again — and to our surprise and delight — happy to play with. But they got to running, both cornered hard, and everybody went flying and skidding; Jack, all muscle and fur, bounced back up, ready to run some more. Cheyenne, a bit more shaken and with thin skin and no fat, was all scraped up from sliding across the rough ground, and with a quarter-size chunk out of her back.

Our parking space at the vet's was still open.

Stitched up and at home, glaring at at us for trying to keep her from licking it, she then had to suffer through the vacuum and the afternoon of chores preparing for Andy's arrival.

But today — the great big annual Greyhound reunionGCNM brought together New Mexico's Greys and their humans. Should we go? Would she be up to it? Would they see the stitches and repossess her? Given the opportunity and the beautiful day, we hurriedly got our stuff together and drove off.

We signed is as #229 and, though I suspect they started at 100, that still meant quite a turnout. All kinds of thin, tall, pretty dogs ignoring each other (not entirely true, but certainly much more sedate than your average canine gathering).



(click for much larger, find Mon and Cheyenne — pretty much next to, as it turns out, her fosters, who we were trying to find all afternoon)

Passed the afternoon meeting other dogs (nobody even bothered to introduce themselves, just mentioning their dogs' names). A few hours, then back home (via Sonic, of course).

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Watching the Ken Burns national parks documentary now (I've never actually watched a Burns documentary, y'know). Pretty amazing, isn't it? Time was, before we moved to the West, vacations were often planned around being able to make it to a national park in a day's travel, and preferably staying somewhere on the park. Our travels have taken us to (including monuments), let's see, off the top of my head: Shenandoah, Big Bend, Badlands, Wind Cave, Devil's Tower, Guadalupe, Carlsbad, White Sands, Bandelier, El Malpais, Petroglyph, Tent Rocks, Olympic, and Hot Springs (my regret about the drive out here was bypassing Smoky Mountains).

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Also: those spindly plants in the front yard are asters. Overnight temperatures have taken their toll, but we've got an amazing wildflower meadow out front now.

9.22.2009

Telling Stories Around The Fire



And in a nice bit of meta-ness, we were probably telling stories about telling stories. Our comics-making friend Marc was in town for an all-too-brief visit; we collected him at the airport Saturday around 5:30 and had him out on a noon flight Sunday.

We'd only finally met him for the first time — in another whirlwind visit — at STAPLE! this past year, after years of email exchanges, a bit of collaboration, and the occasional phone call.

So we spent plenty of time just hanging out and talking. And having dinner at La Choza, where Marc won the "guess the server's name" game. The first time in, like, ten years that's happened.

Anyway. I'd spent the morning at Tripleplay, a seminar presented by our local AIGA group. Good fun, a nice break and view on design. In the meantime, Monica had walked over to Sanbusco, where I joined her for the monthly GCNM meet and greet.

Sunday morning, breakfast with Jamie and then the run to the airport. Left us some time for the dog park before heading to Stacy and Jim's for a dinner party; she's got some friends in town, so it was another big night of visiting.

Good thing we enjoyed that fire outside when we could. Hit around 33° last night, and there's danger of a hard freeze tonight; the green tomatoes are in the house now.

9.12.2009

Cheyenne, Not So Sure About This Zozobra Thing



Opted to watch Zozobra on one of the new digital channels this year, after bringing Whole Hog to M+D (and returning with many, many … so many peaches they'd been picking at the house they're sitting).

Anyway, the sound seemed to be plugged directly into the PA, so there was no crowd noise (kind of weird) and Old Man Gloom's moans were really loud. Which sort of freaked the dog out. Our assurances that he was about to meet a fiery end didn't help.

Coverage, including some multimedia, at the New Mexican and, of all places, the WSJ (via Andy).

Update: and more coverage at the LAT (as of Sunday morning, the main story on the home page). Big news this year, apparently.

Further update: and at SFReeper.

9.09.2009

Cons and Parents and Thunder, Oh My!

Bubonicon 41
So, then, the annual sci-fi con Bubonicon was two weeks ago, and 7000 BC was there (though — grrr — not in our usual spot … we fear change) to sell comics. Arrived in Albuquerque around the time the show opened on Saturday and got the table — set up the previous day by a few others — up and running for the day.



(More photos at the 7000 BC flickr stream.)

Jamie was on one side of us, our friends from Hadrosaur on the other, with Robert on the corner; other members joined us throughout the day, helping out at the table and leading some comics-making activities. Felt like traffic was lighter (even though Bubonicon notes record attendance), but our sales by the end of Saturday already topped last year's showing at the three-day event.

Dinner outing to Viet Taste for a little pho (!), and then back the con hotel (where we had a room), staying up way, way, way too late. Still managed to get up early enough on Sunday to get Robert out for a big Flying Star breakfast; stuck around a couple hours, then said our goodbyes and handed the table over to go home and collect our dog because …

M+D In Town
We actually saw them a bit on Saturday night; they arrived into ABQ on Friday and spent Saturday out at Acoma, then stopped in at the con for a bit. Sunday, we took our separate ways up to Santa Fe and met for dinner at J+J's, where M+D will be housesitting for the next couple weeks. Wonderful grilled fish dinner and, though our plans to eat outside were thwarted, some pretty amazing thunderstorms in the distance.



We caught up with them a bit over the course of the week, and then decided on a hike up to Aspen Vista on Saturday morning. Beautiful up there, though no leaves turning yet.



And just as we got to the point where we usually turn around — but were feeling like pushing on a bit more — there was a roll of thunder. And that was as far as Cheyenne would go. Back down the mountain, drove out side road to avoid all the goings-on at Fort Marcy Park, and lunch at Tarts Treats.

Monday, looking for a little outdoor activity, finally made it out to Audobon New Mexico.



Short loop trails in the actual center, but followed a well-used path that heads off into surrounding forested open space. Good for an hour-and-a-half or so out and then off to California Pastrami which was, inexplicably for the second time in as many weeks, closed. So, Tune-Up Cafe for a real local (in a good and bad way) lunch.

In there somewhere was my birthday dinner outing, an evening with an epic stack from True Believers and more of the conclusion of BSG, an interview and article about NMFF and then plenty of subsequent skipping of fencing (though there for the annual
repainting
), and a couple lunches with M+D when they headed downtown to the museums. It may not seem like much all summed up, but it's been a pretty busy couple weekends. And we've got more to look forward to, with Marc's visit, the gathering of the greyhounds, Andy's visit, and a whole bunch of other activities taking us into October.