When Paul and I travel, our dogs stay at Mile High Mutts, a fabulous doggie day care and boarding facility in Denver. They don't miss us one bit!
Yesterday, they sent me this picture of Mae, so happy with a Kong:
As I write this, Mae is just outside... but I miss her!
... he acquires it for himself from the fridge:
(Via Wimp.)
We got a foot of snow yesterday... and the doggies had extra extra extra fun wrestling in the snow.
This porcupine is not only ridiculously cute in his insistence that the corn cob should not be eaten by anyone but him... but who knew that these creatures made such awesome noises? They must be the inspiration for some alien languages.
As a kid, we had two turkeys that were quite territorial, often chasing some poor frantic neighbor kid down the driveway at top speed. (Yes, that was funny!) At least those kids were in genuine danger, but this reporter has no such excuse:
We've had a lot lot lot of snow and cold over the past few days here, and snow is always a great opportunity for pictures and video of my wild and crazy doggies. First, the pictures:
As you know, my ancient horse Tara died on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Lila seemed to adjust to being alone well enough, but horses never like to live alone. So I wanted to find a companion for her sooner rather than later. 
Happily, I was able to do just that in just a few days, on Saturday. One of my neighbors told me that another neighbor was looking to find a home for an extra horse. Our neighborhood has a stupid three-horse limit, and this horse put her owner one over the limit. So she had to find this horse a new home.
This horse, originally named Espy but now renamed Elsie, is a 14.2 hand mare and 22 years old. (Like dogs, smaller horses live longer than older horses.) She's friendly and quiet, although with a touch of that bitchy mare-ish streak. (Lila doesn't have that, but Tara did.) She's healthy, sound, and even rideable, so she'll likely make herself useful in more ways than just as a companion for Lila.
Like Lila, Elsie is an easy keeper, needing just hay, and she's very food-oriented. That's highly useful, because I don't need to separate them for feeding. I had to do that with Tara since getting Lila last year, and that required four to six trips down to the barn every day. And she and Lila seem to like each other well enough.
So... welcome to the family, Elsie!
I've not done any new training with Mae for the past few months, but this inspires me!
I had to put down my elderly horse Tara today, very unexpectedly.
She was fine last night when I fed her. This morning, I found her lying down in the pasture, unwilling to get up. I called the vet immediately, and he arrived within an hour or two. She had colic -- not an impaction but a twisted gut. Nothing could be done for her, other than to end her suffering. She died quickly and quietly.
Tara was about 28, and that's very, very old for a horse her size. Colic is often the way that such horses die, even if they've never had any history thereof.
I'm very sad that she's gone. I knew that her death was coming, but I just didn't know that it would be today. So I'm in a bit of shock.
I'm so grateful that she gave me so many good years as a horse to ride and then as a companion to Lila. In return, she was well-cared for until the very end.
A funny story about breaking the rules about pets in dorms:
(Via Star)
I have so many things that I want to blog, but I've been short on time lately. For now, I just can't resist posting these pictures of our ever-so-cute beasts in today's snowstorm... including a video of Snow Doggie Wrestlemania!
This new Simon's Cat video was laugh-out-loud funny, probably his best one since the first. It's so lovely to see Simon's Cat get get bested by... Simon's Kitten!
Pets eat the darndest things. No really, they do!
Read more...Some killer whales seem to have learned how to kill great white sharks! Go killer whales!
Last weekend, I shot this video of our wild and crazy doggies wrestling outside. Conrad is the black-and-tan German Shepherd, and Mae is the smaller black dog. The barking dog is Red Dog, who we were watching for Kelly and Santiago Valenzuela of Mother of Exiles last week.
Conrad and Mae wrestle exactly like in this video a few times per day. Although it looks completely wild and crazy, they've never injured themselves.... and they love it!
Mae is definitely the instigator, and Conrad often gets very frustrated by his inability to control her. (Hence, his growling and occasional barking.) Mae is just a hair slower than Conrad, but she's also far more clever about using obstacles to slow him down. She does seem to love to be caught and rolled over -- to the point that she rolls herself over twice in this video to try to get Conrad to come after her.
So, now you know that when I say, "my wild and crazy doggies," I'm not exaggerating!
I recently took some pictures of my fabulous horse Lila. See for yourself just how lovely she is! She's been coming along very nicely in her training, both in dressage and cross-country. Soon, I'm going to start jumping her, and I'm super-enthused about that!
I've posted amazing dressage videos before, but I don't think I've ever posted any videos of the jaw-drawing performances seen in show jumping. However, since I'm just about to buy some jumps, I thought now would be an excellent time!
Here's two videos from a "puissance" competition, which is an high-jumping elimination competition. The record is for seven feet ten inches. That's just mind-boggling, because neither horse nor rider can see over that solid wall.
Personally, the tallest that I've ever jumped is four-foot fences, back when I was a teenager riding my fabulous horse "Paint." It was fun!! In jumping the more ordinary height of three feet, the horse has leveled out by the time that his hind legs leave the ground. In jumping four-foot fences, the horse is still headed upwards as he leaves the ground. That's a pretty awesome feeling, and I can only imagine what six or seven feet would be like!
First, here's a video of many puissance jumps, including some minor and major failures:
Second, here's a video with the progression of a puissance competition. I've seen one of these in person, and the videos just don't do the excitement of it justice.
As for me, Lila has done a little bit of jumping, but I imagine that I'll be training her basically from scratch, as I've done with her dressage work and cross-country trail riding. I love to jump, so I'm really looking forward to it!
Too funny!
Update: The original video had been removed, but here's a working version.
This video of a penguin being tickled is sooo much cuter than I ever thought possible!
I want a penguin to tickle!
I'm Diana Hsieh, a philosopher specializing in practical ethics. I received my Ph.D in philosophy from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2009.
Paul Hsieh is a physician specializing in orthopedic and emergency radiology. He blogs about science, technology, and random humorous items at GeekPress. He's a co-founder of Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine (FIRM) and regularly writes for its blog, We Stand FIRM. He has published a slew of op-eds and essays on health care policy. You can e-mail Paul at paul@paulhsieh.com, and follow him on Twitter @PaulHsieh.
Greg Perkins is a software architect working in the R&D labs at Hewlett-Packard, Boise. His degree is in mathematics and computer science. Greg hosts The Objectivism Seminar. Aside from work and philosophy, he plays jazz saxophone professionally with groups such as The Sidemen and Onomatopoeia. You can e-mail Greg at greg@eCosmos.com, and follow him on Twitter @gregperk.
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