this that and other things

So now that I'm getting older (I turn 24 in only 9 short days) I've been doing a lot of thinking and reminiscing. It seems crazy to me that Brian and I have been together for 4 years already and even crazier that 4 years ago the American people decided to reelect George W. Bush on the exact day of my 20th birthday. Talk about a fucking birthday dissapointment. But luckily for me my 24th birthday happens to fall on the day daylight savings time ends which means while all of the rest of you only get a measily 24 hour birthday this year November 2 is the only 25 hour day in all of 2008 which means I get an extra hour of the world revolving around me (and my birthday twin, coworker and friend Emily, who also shares my special day.) I think this is God's way of appoligizing for the last 4 years. He's saying "Shelley, I really fucked you over bad...so to repay you this Sunday I am sending Barack Obama to Fort Collins and allowing you to see him speak for free, I'm giving you an extra hour of birthday fun, and 2 days after your birthday I will make the American people choose Barack Obama as president." OK so I'm not sure about the last part, but lets all hope it's true cuz God only knows we don't need a Sarah Palin rose. But how cool is that that Obama is coming to Fort Collins?!?!?!?!?! And you better believe I will SOOOOO be there. I'll be the girl camping out at the security entrance the night before he gets here with my dogs and their Bark Obama tags...

PS...Just a little snippet from John Kerry to make you smile (you remeber John Kerry, the man who was suppposed to make all my 20th birthday dreams come true..."Barack got asked the famous boxers or briefs question. I was tempted to say commando. Then they asked McCain and McCain said 'Depends.'"

the sarah palin rose

So last week Brian and I took the dogs and drove out to California to visit my family. While we were there we took a walk in capitol park and in back of the state capitol they have a huge rose garden. Every year they plant a new bush containing a new breed of rose. For those of you who don't know my dad let me tell you one thing about him...he considers himself a realist. What he really is is a pessimist. So as we are all stopping and smelling the roses (literally) my dad (a die hard liberal and democrat,) in true pessimistic fashion goes..."just think...in 3 or 4 years they will be planting the Sarah Palin rose, a new breed of rose named after the first female president of the United States." I just got done watching the debate. And all I can say is "Please God, let there NEVER EVER be a Sarah Palin rose." But I'm TERRIFIED. I wouldn't put it past the American people to fall for all this Republican bullshit. And were all fucked if they do.
All I have to say is THANK GOD I'm trilingual. That gives me a much larger selection of countries I can move to before they get started on the genetic engineering of the Sarah Palin rose...

Bark Obama (and no, I didn't spell his name wrong...read on to find out more about the Bark Obama campaign!)

So it's been a while (mostly because I'm lame and have nothing to write about) and chances are no one even looks here anymore. But today I have the most amazing news to tell so for those of you who have been keeping up with me during my 4 month dry spell your patience is about to be rewarded!

For those of you who don't know I now work at a doggy daycare and one of my favorite dogs who comes is a chocolate lab named Riley (which makes me so happy because when I was younger the dog I wanted most was a chocolate lab and I wanted to name him Riley...crazy huh?) Anyways he came into work today wearing the cutest dog tag I had ever seen...it was a button that said "Bark Obama for President 2008." So I asked his mom where she got it and she directed me to a website where I bought my own "Bark Obama" tags for my dogs! I am currently waiting impatiently while they are shipped to me. If you would like your canine friends to support Barack Obama as well here is the link. There is stuff for kitties as well ("demoCATS for Obama"...how cute is that?) as well as some stupid bullshit for McCain dogs and cats (although the republican animals should be sent straight to the pound and exchanged for more liberal pets.) However be forewarned...if I find out that anyone used this link I've so generously posted here to buy McCain tags to put on thier pets I will call animal control and have you arrested for animal cruelty.

Here's the link http://www.politicalshop.com/showitems_new.asp?mainpage=showitems&keysearch3=PETS or you can google "Bark Obama" and it's the first link.

PS...I will post picks of my dogs wearing their tags as soon as I get them!

people can be so ignorant

So last night Brian and I and the two pups jumped into the car and went as a family through the Raising Caine's drive-through to get some dinner. When we pulled up to the window to pay and get our food the second the dogs could smell the delicious aroma of fried chicken there was a frenzy and somehow little Echo ended up in my lap (I was driving!) Anyways when the guy came to grab my credit card he saw her and just loved loved loved her and got all the workers in the restaurant to come look at her and coo over her too. Then it happened. He asked "So what kind of dog is that?" And since most people wouldn't understand if I replied "Well I think she's a pitoxerdoodle, but it's quite possible she's mixed with a little Staffador retrieving hound" I tried the simple "We think she's a pit mix." And just like that his whole demenor changed. He handed me my meal and instead of replying "Have a nice night and enjoy your delicious fresh never frozen chicken!" he said "Make sure you're nice to her." Are you serious? The stigma associated with owning this breed is like nothing I've ever experienced in my life. It's like apartied in South Africa. Just because this breed attracks the scumbags of the earth doesn't mean all of us decent human beings who own pit bulls have dangerous dogs. The problem with pits is that ghetto people are attracted to this beed due to it's history and apperance. Macho ass holes buy these dogs and throw choke chains around their necks cuz they think this will make them more bad ass the same way ditsy socialites buy tiny little designer dogs and buy them their own wardrobes so that they can have the latest "in" accesories. There are no bad dogs...only bad dog owners...

daily pitoxerdoodle

For those of you who read Dooce's blog, you will know that everyday she has a "Daily Chuck" where she posts a picture of one of her dogs (either Chuck or Coco.) Since I'm obsessed with my dogs I thought it'd be a great idea to start my own Daily Chuck. The only problem is I don't have a dog named Chuck. I do however have a pitoxerdoodle, which is what I have decided Echo's breed is. We were told she was a pit lab mix but the more she grows and the more I talk to people with pits the less pit I see in her. So then I was looking at puppies on the internet and ran across a new designer dog (eww eww eww, don't even get me started on designer dogs!) called a boxador (which is just a fancy name for a MUTT thats half boxer half lab.) All the puppies look like Echo and her brothers and sisters and lots of people say they see boxer in Echo. Brian and I have been around our fair share of boxers and she is definately starting to act like one so maybe just maybe shes a boxer. Then I look at her ears and think "my god if this dog isn't a hound then I don't know what is!" So all this speculating about Echo's identity has led to the world's newest designer canine...THE PITOXERDOODLE! Now I know that all of you are saying "doodle" is reserved for dogs mixed with poodle and it is quite clear that while Echo is a lot of things she is definately NOT a poodle, but it's my dog breed and I like the ring of it so I'll name it how I please... All we know for sure about Echo is that she's a mix of 18 different dog breeds 4 of which are extinct and that she is the product of generation upon generation of unplanned doggie sex...

TODAYS DAILY PITOXERDOODLE...is actually a Theodorian Shepherd (that is the name I have given to Ted's breed.) TedTed LOVES LOVES LOVES to lay with his furry little legs stuck out behind him like a frog and for some reason his favorite place in all the world (besides being on the bed when he is not allowed to be!) is under the coffee table.

PS...I've told my Mom to read this and she doesn't but just for good measure...HAPPY MOTHER"S DAY AND BIRTHDAY MOMMA!!!!!

the puppy (and TedTed!) pics are in!!!!!

So here they are...my beautiful babies! Arn't they gorgeous?!?!?!

there's a new kid on the block (and she's got the right stuff!)

For those of you who don't know, Brian and I recently adopted a 2 and a half month old female pit bull mix named Echo from the pound. Some of you are probably jumping for joy saying "Yay! A bully breed! I love pits!" and the rest of you are shaking your heads saying "What the fuck were they thinking? Why didn't they just get a golden?" because with pits it's all or nothing, you love them or you hate them and nothing on God's green earth will change your mind. And I guess that's your perogative. But this is my blog so I'm gonna tell you why people should not be afraid of pit bulls...because there are no bad dogs just bad owners. If you were a 50+ pound intellegent high energy dog who was stuffed in a kennel all day long and only pulled out in order to well, rip off another dog's face before it ripped off yours, you'd be an ass hole too! With responsible ownership pit bulls truely do make amazing pets and are even good with children. And get this for a statistic (and it's 100% true, I did a lot of research before posting this)...The American Canine Temperament Testing Association, which sponsors tests for temperament titles for dogs, reported that 95% of all American Pit Bull Terriers that take the good temperament test pass, compared with a 77% passing rate for all breeds on average. The pit's passing rate was the fourth highest of all the 122 breeds tested. If you would like more information on this wondeful yet controversial breed please go to http://www.badrap.org/. It is based out of the bay area but has tons of great resources for anyone no matter where you live. They have a blog on blogspot as well and so I've posted a link to their blog here on my blog. They also have some great stuff about all of the Michael Vick dogs. The clips and stories about the dogs rescued from his operation made me laugh then cry then laugh again. There is a clip on there from Rachael Ray (a fellow pit lover and owner) that was on her show and is really worth watching as well as all the clips they have posted about the whole process of getting the dogs from Vick's compound out to Cali, evaluating the dogs, and trying to find them forever homes. With that said we can get back to Echo, who sadly I can't post pics of yet (FYI that huge beast pictured above is NOT Echo, you'll find out who he is a little later) but I will have some ASAP (as well as pics of Ted because even though he's been with us for over a year many of you still have never seen him!) So far she is doing fabulous here with us. Her potty training is going way better than I could have imagined and she and Ted love each other (even if sometimes TedTed gets annoyed cuz she thinks his big bushy tail is the coolest chew toy ever!) She is what they call a chocolate tri and we arn't too sure what she is mixed with (maybe lab, maybe nothing at all, maybe squirrel since that's what she looks like right now...all are equally probable.) For those of you who don't know what a chocolate tri pit may look like thats where the pic comes in. That might be what Echo looks like when shes older (minus the balls and of course I left her ears natural.) I know Brian and I will have to face a lot of stereotypes now, things that you never have to deal with when you just have an aussie/border collie mix and I'm prepaired for people to be apprehensive and have faced the facts that no matter what happens I am no longer allowed to live in Denver:) But I know they are a lot of bully friendly people out there, especially here in Fort Collins, and I look forward to meeting other responsible pit owners in the area. So yeah, I guess thats all for now, seeing as I have to go play with my pup so that I can raise her right and prove all the nay-sayers wrong about pit bulls. I'll show them all when they meet Echo, whose gonna get so spoiled and be so sweet that she wouldn't even hurt Michael Vick if he decided to stop by...