nags of a similar ilk

Bella has started doing this every time I sit down at the dining table to work. She sits next to my chair, and stares. If I don't respond, she'll put one paw on my leg and wait. If that doesn't work, she'll start climbing up onto my leg, standing next to me, leaning on me. While I find it remarkably endearing, after the tenth time in a day, the tenth day in a row, its starting to be annoying.

Between Annie's continual whining, Bella grabbing food off the table, Annie's growling and dog issues, and Bella's deafness, I think it may be time to start working full time at the HackerDojo when I'm not at a client's office. It is possible to get too much of a good thing. Well, too much of a Bella, anyway.

Six years ago, we brought Bella home from Sausalito. She agreed to at least eight years on her Krikitt Downs contract, and has been doing pretty well so far with her end of the bargain.

Yesterday was Bella's birthday. Better yet, it was her golden birthday: she turned 14 on the 14th. We really should have celebrated yesterday as an incredible birthday for her, but, well, we pretty much forgot about yesterday.

Fortunately, we didn't forget today. Instead, we celebrated in style. We were originally planning a lamb and rice dish for her, with a dessert of strawberry slices, but realized we ran out of rice. Instead, she celebrated with lamb and her regular food, ending with doggie crack.

She seemed to really love it. Not that she'd really mind eating animal flesh, right? She's not really a vegan or anything

Happy birthday, Bella Girl! Remember, you have two more years to go on your contract!

You know, when they're quiet, they really CAN be cute.

Bella, Kris, Annie and I went up to Fremont Older today.

Kris was going to spend the whole day, starting at 11:00 AM, playing World of Warcraft. I negotiated a hike and time spent with me in return for not complaining about his playing. In reality, I'm completely annoyed that he plays that game all the f--king time. I despise the inherent lack of a productive life that game, and all the other games he's been addicted to in the last 10 years, creates.

Right.

The hike.

I had originally intended on wearing my knee brace for the hike. When I put it on this morning, however, the brace caused my knee to hurt. Okay, not what I was hoping for. I thought about taping my knee, but decided against that, too, mostly out of laziness, partially out of a lack of belief the taping was actually helping.

So, off we went: Bella in her cone and beat up face, I without a knee brace, Annie and Kris with no issues we knew about.

The hike went smoothly. I ran some of the hills, just to get my legs moving and a faster rate than my usual walking. I had a hard time on several of the hills, with a heavy heart and gasping lungs. It's pretty clear that I haven't been exercising aerobicly for a short while now, a fact I intend to change. I figure, I can run around the block (a half mile loop) four times for a easy 2 mile run. I'll never be more than 200 yards from home, should my knee lock up or I need to go to the bathroom.

As well as my knee did on the hike, Bella didn't do so well. We kept her in the cone, since she immediately started scratching her face when we removed the cone. I don't know if the cone was an additional burden or not, but she ended up not moving at one point, so Kris carried her the rest of the way back to the car.

I think she might be getting old. We already know she's deaf.

On the hike, I noticed from one part of the trail near the beginning, you could see the other part of the trail from the end, so from both angles, nominally the same spot: