Isn’t that a cute book?

Kory forgot about it for a while, but he recently picked it up while looking for some new things to teach Riley. Hello, Riley.

Kory was a little taken aback, and highly amused, when he reached the chapter on How to Teach Your Dog to Detect Marijuana. Go ahead. Enlarge the photo and read a little.

The reference to the “friendly neighborhood drug dealer” and the claim that “everyone knows someone who smokes grass” were my personal favorites. And not just a little grass, either:

And then there’s the actual training:

I can’t help but laugh every time I imagine Kory out in the yard with Riley and a bag of pot, calling “Where’s the grass? Find the grass!” I’m sure the police station up the road would be enthralled. Either that or the neighbors would think my brain damaged son was trying to get the dog to identify the lawn.

I honestly thought the book would have been published some time in the sixties, but it came out a little later:

Lucky for us, Riley is not interested in becoming a drug dog.

She thought the book made a pretty good pillow, though.

My point is, I had a very uneventful trip to Louisville last weekend.  It was lovely, don’t get me wrong.  I spent some much needed and much appreciated time with my mother, my father, my sister, my niece, and my brother.  But we didn’t do anything special, other than hang out at my parents’ house.  And yet … I took sixty-three pictures.  Sixty-three!

I’m obviously not going to curb my photo-taking habit, but I feel as though it bears mentioning … sometimes it might be better to enjoy the moment, rather than take a picture of it.

That being said, my niece is as cute as ever, and I did come away from the weekend with a few lovely photos.  Thank goodness I wasn’t shooting film – I got roughly five good ones out of sixty-three.

I don’t have photos of girls’ night, but I had a wonderful time hanging out with Laura, Melanie, and Julia. I didn’t even mind the fact that they made me watch U of L play – it was a good game, and I’m glad the Cards pulled it off.

The shower was for Kory’s cousin Matara, who doesn’t much care to have her photo taken, but I told her she’d thank me later. Little does she know I’m a photo addict and can’t help taking pictures, no matter who the subject is. (Yes, I just ended a sentence with a preposition. I’m almost done with the quarter, so deal.)

Anyway, the best photo I have of Matara refuses to upload properly, so I’m using the second best.

And here are all of the lovely ladies who attended:

Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s Chip’s house (where he kindly allowed us to host the shower) but I really like that photo. Everyone looks great.

My absolute favorite photo of Riley also refuses to upload properly, so you’ll have to settle for this:

If you didn’t already know what cute looks like, that’s it. For further proof, see the following:

I would also like to point out that Riley has gone from this:

To this:

Goofy dog.

Riley was ridiculously happy to see him … she keeps dangling toys in front of him as though he’s going to grab on and play tug-of-war, but all Tatie does is look at her disdainfully, as if to say, “Dude. I’m a cat.”

Welcome home, Tot.

Happy Halloween!

Here, she is glaring at me out of the corner of her eye for disturbing her nap:

Here, I am focused on her giant, adorable puppy paws.

Some people claim that puppy paws smell like Fritos. I am not quite obsessed enough to confirm or deny this suggestion.

I can tell you that puppies are like babies – you can watch them sleep forever.

I have never bought a dog before – I always adopted. However, this little thing really captured my heart when I saw her at the pet store, and I just couldn’t let her stay there. I’m not sure what it is about this little puppy, but she grabbed my attention instantly and I couldn’t stop thinking about her … it took me a while to convince Chip and Kory that she needed to come live with us, but they both agreed and Riley is officially the newest member of our family. And dangit, she is CUTE.

Plus, Lilly loves running around with her!

If you hadn’t noticed, I can’t stop taking pictures of her.

Also, Chip is very upset that we now have another pet with an androgynous name. But he’ll get over it – Romeo and Tatie have yet to complain.

My good friend Heather’s cat recently and unexpectedly passed away, which reminded me of how torn up I was when Reese died. I still miss that dog, and I’ve always regretted not having more good photos of her when she was healthy. It just so happened that while I was pondering this, Lilly took up her perch on my overstuffed chair and pretty much posed for me in perfect lighting, so I couldn’t pass it up.

Special thanks to Ree, a.k.a The Pioneer Woman. I was able to use her ultra cool and *free* actions to play with PhotoShop and create some really nice effects – if you are a PhotoShop user, she created a whole set of free actions that make photo editing insanely easy and they are available for download on her website.

I love my dog.

I also love this nutty bird, as much as I complain about her. I took this entire series in one sitting while doing my French homework. A little background: Romeo is a little picky when it comes to her toys. Some things she loves, and others she’ll pretty much ignore unless she gets really, really bored. So last time I was at the Crazy Bird Lady’s place (also known as Wings over America, or Wings over the Rainbow, depending on who you ask) I got a huge assortment of new toys. The first one I decided to try out was a little donkey-shaped pinata. I have not had any luck getting Romeo to say “pinata.”

At first, every time I picked up the camera Romeo would drop the toy and pretend like she hadn’t been chewing on it. But she finally got over her stage fright. Note the appropriate expression of fear on the burro’s face:

Then she started to really go to town on him (and look at the authenticity! This burro is, in fact, from Mexico!)

And the carnage continues (note the open beak):

By the end of the 30 minute period, this was all that was left of our poor little burro:

She eventually destroyed the entire thing and moved on to another toy. But the best part, which I was unable to get on camera, was a point where she was so into demolishing this poor little creature that she actually fell off her perch in her excitement. I realize I don’t get out much, but this was quality entertainment.

Which brings us to our sheep. I’ll spare you the narrative, but I drive past this little farm at least 4 times a day and I was delighted when I saw the little babies. It took me too long to get over there with a camera, so now they’re like little teenagers, but they’re really adorable.

The rest are over in the gallery if you want to peruse them. Hopefully I’ll get better shots one day soon.

Now go hug your pets.

Reese: 1999-2005