From commentor Michael:
This is Lucy. She is three now. My fiance got her when I went to Iraq. (I am a cat person, nominally, so this was the ultimate outflanking maneuver) Lucy was six months old and 45 pounds then; the shelter estimate she’d grow to be 90. She’s a Boerboel (South African mastiff), probably (some kind of mastiff, certainly). She’s also the sweetest girl in the world, totally content to lie on her back and accept belly rubs virtually all day. A stranger’s just a pettin’ you haven’t cajoled yet.
Looks like Lucy has your number, sir…
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Corner Stone
Which Michael? I am confused.
General Stuck
@Corner Stone:
Obviously, the other one.
Lucy is a doll. A rather large doll, but doll none the same.
Yutsano
ZOMG BIG PUPPEH!!
Dammit AL, I’m locked into a year lease and my Dane shopping is put off until then and now I see a big ol’ baby like that!!
demo woman
The dog reminds me of my brother’s mutt that visits quite often. He’s the biggest wimp and let’s my 18 lb mutt chase him around. I don’t know how Lucy is during storms but I do know that Moxie openly mocks her cousin who is close to 100 lbs larger when he whinces. Sweetness comes in all sizes though.
Yutsano
@demo woman: Most big dogs are total sweeties. Most big Dawgs are too. But I’m personally biased on both counts. :)
abscam
Total love bug, just look at that face!
Corner Stone
Someone re-task the drones:
Dutch teen sets sail in secrecy on solo world trip
I say we sink her ass and just get it over with.
demo woman
@Corner Stone: I did read that Guinness World Records won’t list her if she achieves her goal. Their feeling is that they don’t want to list the lowest age because it encourages record seekers at a young age.
Corner Stone
Mos Def on Austin City Limits for those into that sort of thing.
Linda Featheringill
Family pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48117682@N05/4913828323/
and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48117682@N05/4914438168/
We have a black cat, an orange cat, a white and orange cant, and a white and black and orange cat.
And Tulip is actually sort of orange.
So we have a basically orange family, except for Sally.
[all the animals are rescues, of course]
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
Black on Both Sides is one of my favorite albums.
Night shift checking in. Just got home from work about 20 minutes ago, and I am easing into my weekend (Sun-Mon). Bliss . . .
Steeplejack
@Linda Featheringill:
Nice crowd. And you’ve done a great job color-coördinating them!
LiberalTarian
I do so want a puppeh. But, my house is just one short of a cattery, and I think that would be a bit much.
demimondian
@Linda Featheringill: An orange family? So you’re related to John Boehner?
Linda Featheringill
@demimondian:
“Orange? Are you kin to John Boehner?”
No, I don’t turn orange when exposed to sunlight or UV light. I just turn a redder shade of pink!
suzanne
Oh my God. Lucy is just adorable. Puppehs with the big, expressive eyes like that just break my heart.
ALERT: I’m now about to overshare.
My husband and I were, uh, enjoying a child-free weekend earlier today, and were, shall we say, a bit loud and boisterous, since we didn’t have to be as quiet as we normally do. The dog heard us, and so she came running into our bedroom and started whimpering and moaning, like, “ARE YOU GUYS OKAY?!?!”
It was a bit of a buzzkill.
WereBear (itouch)
I lurve me some bug dogs, but Partner, not so much.
However, I have my revenge by turning him into a Total Cat Person, and we have three rescues. And the baby, one year old. could make him tapdance and make pancakes, he’s so smitten.
Jane2
Lucy’s lovely!!
Violet
Look at that face! What a big sweetie. I like how she’s got her paws wrapped around your boot. She knows where she belongs.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: If you want something to keep you awake you should try some of the habanero salsa I made yesterday. BJ thread inspired.
It will blow your mind it is so tasty. And the other end of you the next morning.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: I hated Mos Def in 16 Blocks but the dude is amazing musically/entertainingly.
Mary G
Aw, Lucy has her paw on your boot to keep you there and petting her.
I just wanted to thank everyone for their advice and support for me when my mother was so sick. Today she was back to her old self mentally, thank goodness. She’s agitating to come home tomorrow.
She’s in a skilled nursing place that was always considered a hell hole because they take Medi-Cal (Medicaid). I was in the closest private-insurance-only one a couple of years ago when I had a knee replacement and it was a nightmare. But this one is great, or as great as a place like that can be.
It’s immaculately clean, even after visiting hours are over, with no smells, and a human being comes to see what she needs when she rings within a minute or two. There’s no intercom where they ask what you want and say they’ll be right there and show up 45 minutes later, and no one comes in, turns off the call light, says they’ll be right back, and you never see them again. Her bed is next to a sliding glass door to a patio, so she can see flowering plants and the sky.
While I was there tonight a lady came in to see my mom’s roommate. She had the worst comb-over I have ever seen on a woman. The part in her hair started at the top of her ear so on one side her hair was 3 inches long and on the other it was 16 inches long or so.
She has to be my wingnut of the week. She asked her friend if she had seen her doctor yet, and when she said no, said
“It’s all because of that BITCH Hilary Clinton. She RUINED our health care.” Evidently, even though she was only the first lady and had no power to get anything through, she ruined health care in 1994 and Obama wants to make it even worse, but Newt Gingrich will ride in on his white horse in November to save us all. The stupid, it makes my ears bleed.
suzanne
@Corner Stone:
THAT’S a ringing endorsement. World’s tastiest ass Drano.
Corner Stone
@suzanne: There is so much I love about you.
Just saying.
Triassic Sands
Mastiffs are great dogs. They have only two serious drawbacks. First, they eat more than a human family, which is both expensive and requires the slaughter of whole herds of animals. Still, the wonderfulness of mastiffs is more than enough to overcome this little problem, but the other one is more serious — longevity. Really big dogs have really short lifespans and the idea of growing as attached to such a wonderful being as will inevitably happen means that the heartbreak of loss is going to be every bit as big as the dog.
Many years ago, I “found” a young brindle English mastiff who, according to the locals was “living out at the dump.” Almost as tall as a pony, the poor thing was starving to death (I guess the dump wasn’t that great a place to live). I was traveling (long road trip), but I loaded him into my vehicle and headed for the city to look for a shelter and, I hoped, a home for him. At the next small town, I called a vet to find out if there were any adoption facilities in the area and he said no, I’d have to go to Phoenix. Next stop? A car wash, where as gently as we could my traveling companion and I washed the gigantic smelly beast. (Living at the dump has multiple drawbacks.)
Any time we stopped, the dog would hunker down on the floor and refuse to get out of the vehicle — apparently he was afraid of being abandoned again. We fed him in the car but fortunately, he was willing to get out to do his other business.
I asked every person we met if they were interested in adopting a dog. Finally, I dropped my friend at the Phoenix airport and went to a convenience store on the outskirts of the city to use a pay phone. When I called the shelter, I got a recording saying it was a toll call, which meant I had to get change. Inside the store, I asked again if anyone wanted to adopt an amazing dog. A young fellow stepped up and said “What kind of dog?” I said it was an English mastiff. He came out to the car to see the monster first hand and immediately fell in love. I told him I wouldn’t let him have the dog unless I knew it was all right with his parents. He called his mother, who lived nearby, and she came to the store. In five seconds she too was in love and the three of them headed off down the street toward their home. It wasn’t the ideal setup for adoption, but mom was nice, intelligent, and seemed to be a reasonably good bet. She said they had a big house with a large fenced-in yard. I made her promise that if things didn’t work out, she would find him a new home and not just dump him. Watching them walk away I felt a pang — I knew I was passing up the chance of a lifetime, but reality loomed and I really had no choice.
I never saw the dog again, but I thought about him often, wondering what it would have been like to have kept him. I really wasn’t in a situation at the time that would allow me to adopt any dog, let alone such a big one. One thing I was sure of, that dog was, for his short life, the most loving and loyal companion imaginable. Mastiffs, by nature, are gentle, affectionate, and loyal, but one that has experienced abandonment and starvation is likely to be even more so. I’m sure, when he filled out, he weighed well in excess of 150 pounds, but he was so friendly and gentle I doubt he ever killed more than a few people. I had to be satisfied that I had probably saved his life and almost certainly had saved him from a shortened life of misery and deprivation.
The saddest thing to me was that from the day he went home with his new family he probably had less than nine or ten years to live. If I’d kept him, I’ve always thought his death would have been unbearable. After spending only about a week with him, it was already almost impossible to let him go.
Yutsano
@Triassic Sands: This. My Newfie when I was growing up died when she was 10, which is how old I was. She survived four moves, two new babies, and our constant wuv and attention and dealt with all of it with a graceful serene calm. I think that spoiled me on big dogs for life right there.
kommrade reproductive vigor
Never owned a dog, but if I was going to get a dog, I’d want a dog with a face like that.
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
Was thinking about a rib-eye tomorrow night with a rub of crushed black peppercorns and Szechuan peppercorns. Saw it on the Cooking Channel and thought it looked pretty good. And I am jonesin’ for something to anchor a gigantic baked potato with all the trimmings. Been a while.
Allison W.
Hey Juicers: you’re favorite war instigator will be on Meet The Press tomorrow.
that would be Jeffrey Goldberg.
Yutsano
@Steeplejack: Szechuan peppercorns are simply one of the most magical flavors to me. But what I really want to sink my teeth into some time soon is grains of paradise. Damn you Alton Brown!
burnspbesq
If you live in SoCal and are thinking about a big puppeh, check this out.
http://www.greatpyrrescue.org/available/Sparkle/index.htm
tofubo
more pictures of puppies please
oh, and can you add this to your online lexicon
Pentarchs
http://www.atlargely.com/atlargely/2010/08/in-for-a-penny.html
Yutsano
@burnspbesq: ZOMG I THINK I’M IN WUV!! That is one beautiful pile of big dog fluff right there!
Oh and FYI: just submitted my final background check to OPM. I haz a happy. :)
suzanne
@Corner Stone: I’m sure it’s my gentility.
Anne Laurie
@Linda Featheringill: Heh. Sadie-the-calico looks like she is announcing “I reject the consensus opinion, because you are all luzer-bots.” She would fit right in as a commentor here.
(If you email me a pic, and some details, I’ll add you to the queue for your very own Pet Rescue post.)
valdivia
@suzanne:
your story made me laugh. good for you.
Yutsano
@valdivia: Do NOT, under any circumstances, change that typo. That is classic even if unintentional.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: Now we’re talkin’.
Rub the pepper mix on and let it sit, then about 30 minutes before you grill it rub in some sea salt on both sides.
My grill burns hot so I go about 2 minutes per side over high, then I stick it in a pan and let it finish in the oven at 450 for 5 minutes.
I use a sauce bottle to spread a little wet mix on in the oven. A mix of Korean BBQ sauce, soy, fish sauce and honey.
I’ve made 2 of the 3 best steaks I’ve ever had that way. But that may be just me. The third was a butter finished fillet in Big Sky Steakhouse in Casino Coushatta in LA.
Although Capital Grille wasn’t bad either.
LiberalTarian
The short-lived-ness of big dogs is tough on the human. But, I gotta tell ya, I will forever be glad we took in Brutus. My friend found Brutus running along the freeway–a big black Great Dane. They kept him for two years, but chained up in the garage. When they were pregnant, they started looking for someone to adopt him.
Well, I fell in love with him the first time I met him. He was huge–like a little pony. But, he had a gentle manner about him, and we had a big, fenced yard. At the least, he was 5 when we met him.
But, Brutus was my first dog, my first dog love. We had 5 kids, a bunch of cats over the years, and two more puppies. Brutus was wonderful with the babies–he let the puppies chew on his ears and hang off his jowls. He used to give the kittens very, very wet baths, and they crawled in and out of his mouth all the time. He just took it.
And the kids? He had such a sense of humor. My kids were pretty little, and a nudge from Brutus would send them flying. They would all go out in the yard and run around. I’ll never forget when my son was 3, Brutus would start running around the yard, around the periphery, and he would freight-train my son. “Brutus! Brutus!” He didn’t hurt my son, he would just run by him really fast. I know, seems odd. But it was so funny, and I swear that dog laughed every time.
We finally had to put him to sleep. His muzzle was all white, he couldn’t hold any weight on him and it was just time to let him go. I cried for a week. We were there with him, and in the end it was really peaceful. I think we kept him longer than we should have, but it was hard to let him go.
In the long run, even though we had him five years (probably less), it was worth it. Yes, big dogs have short lives. But, the amount of love they can give you in that short time is worth the grieving. I’ll never, ever forget Brutus, and I feel very blessed to have had him in my life.
suzanne
@Yutsano: LMMFAO. I suppose after telling a bunch of strangers on the internet about my sex life that some might say I do indeed need me some God, and stat.
valdivia
@Yutsano:
too late :D
seems I always end up on the latish threads when I am traveling so I never get to say hi. so hi!
Corner Stone
Dammit, used the word C@$ino in my reply to Steep. oh well.
burnspbesq
@Yutsano:
Save this link for future use.
http://www.gpcps.com/rescue.htm
valdivia
@suzanne:
LOL. No no, it was a typo, under no circumstance would I be making that kind of recommendation. Quite the contrary!
(for those of you who are wondering, my post said: god for you, not good for you as it was intended)
Yutsano
@valdivia: Hi! Where you at?
@suzanne: Well considering you’ll be screaming like a demon, and not in the good way, in a couple of months, I say take em while you can get em.
Oh and next time lock the dog outside. :)
Anne Laurie
@Corner Stone:
I’ve actually been keeping an eye on Dekker’s saga. Unlike Little Princess Gimme-A-TeeVee-Show Jeebus Sparkles, Dekker actually worked to get ready for her solo — all the tedious stuff like emergency first aid courses, and increasingly rigorous solo cruises of shorter duration, demonstrating that she could pass physical-fitness tests, and preparing a course of study materials that met EU “home schooling” standards. And, frankly, from the stories I’ve seen, her parents have done their best to discourage Dekker from leaping off into the unknown with nothing but a PayPal button and American Jeebus(tm) to support her. She’s a lot better prepared than the last Shiny Media Object, and I hope she succeeds in doing what she’s worked so hard to achieve.
Corner Stone
@suzanne: While I’m sure you are quite the lady, I can confess to you that is not what I find so intriguing.
IOW, your penchant for naughty words, thoughts, stories, experiences strikes a cord in me.
valdivia
@Yutsano:
I am in Costa Rica, but before anyone gets excited about me being in the tropical paradise, let me just say that I didn’t come on vacation but for a family funeral (my grandmother passed away after a long terrible agony that lasted 2 years and we came down for that and the shiva). Sad but it was time for her to rest so it was a relief all around. It’s been trippy though, seeing people I haven’t seen in 20+ years. Will be happy to be home in a couple of days.
And you sir?
suzanne
@Yutsano: We usually do, but we were enjoying some spontaneity! In between her whimpers, she kept on licking my feet. Even if I was a foot fetishist, her big slobbery doggie tongue would most certainly not have been a turn-on. It was sweet, in a way… she was obviously so concerned! But, like… EW.
Corner Stone
@Anne Laurie: While I agree with your commentary, I somewhat rigidly fall back into old man status and wonder exactly why we’re indulging a 14 yr old in something she’s “worked so hard for”?
Not sure about a lot of this.
Yutsano
@valdivia: I am sitting home alone watching the Seachickens after I decided to not go to my brother’s house for dinner. Poor planning on his part, but he overinvited and if I had gone it would have only been worse. I do have a plate of chicken enchiladas coming my way however. Going to Seattle on Tuesday to drop off some stuff and finalize everything hopefully this weekend.
@suzanne: Yeah, definitely file that under the category of yeahno.
Anne Laurie
@Triassic Sands:
When I wanted to get my first dog, 30 years ago, one of the people who sucked me into Dog World bred Great Danes. Lovely, lovely dogs (my first exposure to drop-eared Danes, who look just like the dogs in the Unicorn Tapestry), but the Eventually-Going-to-Be-Spousal-Unit said he couldn’t bear to live with the constant knowledge that we’d only have 5 or 6 or maybe 8 years before getting our hearts broke.
And bless you for going out of your way to save that lost mastiff. I always figure that when my life is over and my soul is weighed in the balance, at least I have a handful of animal companions who’ll testify in my favor… and that mastiff will surely be there to testify for you.
suzanne
@Corner Stone: Naughty experiences? I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Anne Laurie
@Corner Stone: Is a fine line, fer sure. It does sound like her parents, not to mention the nanny states of both the Netherlands and Great Britain, have done their best to discourage her. Which had the salutatory effect of making her work really, really hard to prepare for all the what-ifs the grownups are so tediously fixated upon. If she were my kid, I would never sleep soundly again — but that’s one of many reasons I never had nor desired to have kids!
valdivia
@Yutsano:
enjoy those enchiladas! and good luck with everything you have to do.
ETA: just as a sociological commentary–the little old ladies that came to the shiva are fucking relentless on the matchmaking front. They’re like the Borg, Resistance is Futile. But at least they have the balls to ask, most of the time the shiva became the gathering place of all the Single Divorced Widowed jewish men in the country and while some seemed interested none had the gumption to do anything about it. I’ve been feeling like I’ve been stuck in Fiddler on the Roof meets Jane Austen.
Corner Stone
@suzanne: You just told us all you were boning when the dog broke in…
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Obviously.
Yutsano
@Anne Laurie:
Nope. But you do haz papillions. The challenges can be quite similar, as can the rewards. I think it’s admirable.
Corner Stone
@Anne Laurie: True. Maybe I’m just a softy.
Yeah, I think I’ll go with that.
suzanne
@Corner Stone: Yeah, but we’re totally married! And we’re hetero! And we’re white! And it was missionary! Okay, well, it wasn’t. But that’s not NAUGHTY. It’s my wifely-white-woman’s-burden.
suzanne
I realize this is enormously selfish, but part of why we adopted a puppy this time and not an older dog, which I’ve done in the past, is because I’ve lost three animals in the past couple of years, and I just can’t deal with it for a while.
I am loving the hell out of this puppy. We’re having one of our rare rainstorms tonight, and she is keyed up, with the zooms. About ten minutes ago, she zoomed into the side of the open dishwasher. She was so embarrassed that she immediately ran into her crate to hide. LMAO.
Corner Stone
@suzanne: Laying on your left side is better for your BP and the baby’s.
Just saying.
Steeplejack
@Yutsano:
I love (fresh) black pepper on almost anything, and the mix (50-50) with Szechuan pepper looked really appetizing.
Corner Stone
@Corner Stone: That was a joke in case it wasn’t clear. Although that’s what our OBGYN actually told us, the joke is “on your left”.
Oh well.
Yutsano
@Steeplejack: Have you ever tried 1/2 tsp of freshly cracked pepper in spice cookies? Gives them a very different but fascinating taste that no one will ever guess.
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
Saw an interesting thing on America’s Test Kitchen where they started the steak in the oven at relatively low heat for a while (250°?), then finished it with a sear in a griddle on the stove. Will have to try that.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: Sounds like pot roast.
Haven’t ever tried it though, so please give us the deets if you do.
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
Heh. (Although I do make a mean pot roast.) I think the idea was that it was a good way to get the steak cooked all the way through without drying it out and/or overdoing the sear on the outside (because you’re trying to make sure the inside is done).
Off to bed for me. I see you and mclaren are doing God’s work in the “Trumped Up Charges” thread downstairs. Carry on.
burnspbesq
Having disciplinary issues with Laettner. She refuses to accept that she can’t be on the desk when records are being played.
Steeplejack
@Yutsano:
Sounds interesting. Will have to remember that. Haven’t made spice cookies, or any cookies, in ages.
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
Used to have a cat in the ’80s who loved to sleep on the cable box (mmm, warm). I would come home and discover that instead of a movie I had taped two hours of the Humidity Channel because she had changed the channel via REM sleep movement.
I also learned to watch TV with a paw or tail hanging down into the picture. (Cable box on top of TV.)
Jebediah
She must be related to Otto – besides looking alike, he too expects all strangers (aka new friends) to make with the belly rubs.
Yutsano
@burnspbesq:
I haven’t seen such comedy on the interwebs in a long time.
@Steeplejack: Tweak to your desire of course, the 1/2 tsp is just a suggestion.
suzanne
@Corner Stone: Talk about a buzzkill. Damn.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: Don’t know about God’s work. But it’s clearly something to think about. I think.
Corner Stone
@suzanne: Why? Which side were you on when the dog started licking you?
suzanne
@Corner Stone: I’m a sphere at this point. Not really any “sides” to be found. Sigh.
December 29 doesn’t really seem like it’s getting any closer. Maybe this pregnancy is like Peak Wingnut: constantly growing but never truly reaching an apex.
asiangrrlMN
Hola, peeps. I am a bit melancholy right now, so I am just gonna say, that’s one hell of a dog. Good girl, Lucy!
@Linda Featheringill: I love love love your animals–especially Sally. Got a soft spot for the black cats, I do.
@LiberalTarian: That pic is funnier than hell. Lovely clowder you have (especially, yeah, the black cat).
asiangrrlMN +1
Starfish
@suzanne: This is exactly how I feel.
Someone called and asked how it was going, and I told them I was not sure if the baby was going to be human. It might be a hippopotamus or a giraffe but definitely not a person.
SmallAxe
I love Lucy! And you couldn’t get a better breed imo than a Boerboel and I’ve had a few. I’ve had my Mojo (now 8) a full grown 175 Male Mastiff and he is a wonderball of love. And yes I know at 8 his time is short and it will break my heart but after having had small dogs (beagles, labs etc) I don’t know how I could ever go back. Short life span, big piles of dung and the drool those are the only issues I see. The positives far outweigh the negatives. Good for you may Lucy bring you much joy!
The face of the Boerboel… how can you not love that
Triassic Sands
@Anne Laurie:
“…and that mastiff will surely be there to testify for you.”
Or maybe he’ll still be pissed that I didn’t keep him. Uh oh, if he remembers the car wash, I could be in real trouble. The vet suggested it and it worked remarkably well, although we had to be sure to not hit him with the full force of the stream. When we were finished, he smelled really nice, but because he had no meat on him at all, he was freezing and shivered like it was January in Montana even though it was late April in Arizona. I had to turn the heater on in the car to keep him warm while he dried.
Fortunately, for both of us, our time together was short, but he certainly made an impression on me. I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t been able to find a home for him (or if the shelter had been full, which happens). In the end, I might have turned my entire life upside down to make sure nothing bad happened to him.
@Yutsano:
Newfoundlands were the first really big dogs I got to know and there is no nicer dog in the world (although slobber can be a problem for some). Ten is too young.
Big dogs deserve to live longer.