Good dog at the park for, oh, 10 minutes

My terrific daughter Elisabeth set up the play date by text. She wanted her wonderful significant George Three’s pooch, Eenie, to meet Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle at Good Dog Park, the fenced-in roaming space with the optimistic title in Onondaga Lake Park. Tell her she has to be good because it’s in the name,…

Done for one day

The peak is covered again. I’m a pro at piecing our increasingly old vinyl siding back up there after it falls down when a big wind blows past the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. It’s been, oh, seven or eight years now since that contractor Patrick put in our “new’ windows…

The peak and the porch

You don’t own your house, your house owns you. Or something like that. Anyway, the darned peak of our vinyl siding fell off the top of the front of the Little Bitty again. Damn, I wish that phone number of the contractor who put the stuff on the house worked. That guarantee he sold us…

You’re on a diet, Ellie B

My dear wife Karen took our cherished rescue mutt Ellie B to the vet last week for her scheduled shots, check-up and nail clipping. I had a late meeting at the library, but managed to squeeze into the examination room before it was all over. Yes, despite my increased walking routine in the park and…

My ukulele-playing fingers don’t bend like that

My Saturday assignment at the Liverpool Public Library fit neatly into my bucket list. I took photographs and shot videos at the monthly Ukulele for Beginners workshop led by Pat Doherty. Earlier this year, my dear wife Karen surprised me with the gift of a ukulele because I’d told her I’d like to learn to…

Peony gone, roses step in

The peony season indeed went fast in front of the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Syracuse. When I got home from the board of trustees meeting at the Liverpool Public Library on Wednesday night, my dear wife Karen had even picked up all the fallen blossoms from our lawn. Two weeks, not…

Kids and dogs and the library

My hand-picked Saturday event at the Liverpool Public Library this weekend was titled Paws to Read. Handlers from the organization Paws of CNY bring their wonderfully trained dogs into the Children’s Room once a month. Children of all ages can sit on the floor and read to them. Three dogs are at their stations. It…

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day to all here in the United States. Let’s honor those who’ve served our country, and the world. I took the photo above at the Veterans Watchfire at the New York State Fairgrounds a year ago. They collected old flags, and then retired them with a proper burning. It was quite the stirring…

Wasn’t it 1986, like, yesterday?

My New York Mets are doing something cool this weekend. They’re honoring the last squad to bring a World Series title to the fans who started that little cheer of “Let’s Go Mets” when they were born as lovable losers in 1962 and the generations since who haven’t stopped reciting that phrase, if not on…

Roof, roof, roof for the Mets

Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle is a Mets fan, just like me and my dear wife Karen. She loves to watch the games with us. I swear. Does your pet show any interest in sports? Does your pet watch TV with you? Does your pet prefer to play fetch in the backyard?