Was Zum Teufel?!
Tuesday, Oct 09 – This week finds some of us bedazzled, some of us bewildered, some of us bemused, with the announcement of Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Regardless of public opinion surrounding Mr. Gore’s prestigious recognition, Oslo + Mies heard the word "congratulations" repeatedly on NPR’s Morning Edition and knew it was time to party.
So, in honor of Mr. Gore and his tree-hugging, ozone-saving, carbon-crediting, Internet-founding contributions, they would both like to raise a pint of Kwispelbier to the almost Commander-in-Chief. What’s Kwispelbier, you might ask? It’s Dutch for wagging tails and also the name of a new beer made just for dogs that just so happens to sport a Weimaraner on its label.
In other news, Oslo’s AKC Champion title came in the mail today. Prost! Zum Wohl!
Wednesday, Oct 10 – In an amusingly entertaining show of sporting dog instinct, Oslo and Mies tried once again to catch a bird in the city. We were clandestinely breaking the leash laws at an undisclosed Seattle ball field when a sparrow started circling above us. Mies caught sight of him first and started running circles around the six-acre expanse. The bird then swooped down, landing smack in the middle of the vast turf. At this point, Oslo noticed what was up and wanted in on the action. The bird saw the dogs coming and, chirping like a strangled two-year old, took flight again. This continued for about five laps around the field with the dogs in hot pursuit. At the end of each lap, the sparrow would land in the middle of the field rather than the safety of the trees or high fence posts that surround the park. The dogs would zoom in and the dizzying laps would start all over again until eventually, they got bored and started sniffing for spent sunflower seeds near the bleachers.
I learned two things about animal behaviour from watching this spectacle: 1). Weimaraners are one of the most graceful, elegant creatures I’ve ever seen; 2). sparrows are fucking stupid.
Thursday, Oct 11 – Not to propagate stereotypes or anything, but today ended with another display of Asian cynophobia. I was walking the dogs down a trail in Discovery Park when we happened upon an older Asian woman. She saw the dogs and just stopped dead in her tracks, staring straight ahead. Luckily, Oslo just ignored her and continued sniffing. Mies woofed a little, but after sniffing her leg, figured she wasn’t that interesting, and turned his attention back to Oslo.
At least she didn’t start wailing and praying "God, no! Please don’t let this happen! Please don’t let this happen!" like the last scared Asian woman we encountered while walking on the UW campus. Boy, that was fun. NOT!
Anyway, when we were out of earshot, I told the Weims that they should be scared of Asians, not the other way around. Because, you know, Asians eat dogs. Medium-rare, no less. Not to propagate stereotypes or anything….
Friday, Oct 12 – Nothing happened today, unless you count the Al Gore announcement (see Tuesday’s post). Oh, and my sister Megan’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Megan!
Saturday, Oct 13 – Another day begins with me and the Weims all scrunched into a twin-sized bed. As we all know, Saturdays are for sleeping in, or for finishing movies you fell asleep during the night before. Such was the case today, so the Weims were given an impromptu lesson in Swedish film noir as we watched Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring.
Oslo was complaining about the subtitles, wishing the film were in German rather than Swedish, while Mies remarked how much more he prefers Scorcese’s work over Bergman’s.
Sunday, Oct 14 – Today brings news of possible hearings on Capitol Hill regarding the continued investigation into illegal holding of prisoners at Gitmo. Mies heard snippets and started questioning me about my practice of holding him and Oslo in the garage kennel for hours at a time, with no human contact, no readily available sucky toys, and minus the presence of a dog-friendly IKEA couch. He wondered out loud if this practice is legal under the Geneva Convention, even though he and Mos (one of Oslo’s many nicknames) are mere canines and could hardly be considered terrorists or war criminals (unless you’re an old Asian woman).
I immediately turned the radio off. This dog is smarter than I thought and should not be listening to NPR. I wish he would just go back to countersurfing.
Monday, Oct 15 – Nothing happened today, unless you count my wish being fulfilled with Mies countersurfing butter out of a cupboard that should be waaaaaaay beyond his reach. Instead, this incident resulted in his third broken butter dish. Was zum teufel??!!