Cape Cod adventure begins

Rain. My dear wife Karen and I don’t mind much waking up to this sight out the front deck of the lovely cottage we’re renting from our dear friends Juli and Lisa. The vision that awaits out in the backyard is pretty sweet, too. Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle obviously agrees. So it’s cloudy with…

The vet’s just like a doctor to a dog, right?

I spend half my life humanizing Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle. I admit it. Our beloved rescue mutt is so dang smart. If she could talk she’s freely engage my dear wife Karen and I in conversation each night about the shows we watch, the Mets games. She’d discuss the merits of wine vs. beer…

A beautiful Friday in May this second

The weather guy is calling for a record high on this Friday, May 8, predicting that it will reach 89º F here in Syracuse, N.Y. On “Today,” the stories from Al Roker and crew are of early tropical storms coming toward Myrtle Beach — first of the season, in particular, by the name of Anna…

Striking skies over Syracuse

As Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle and I worked our way back toward the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood this half-and-half spring Sunday afternoon, we couldn’t help but note the sky above. April prepares to give itself up to May, and the see and the saw of this dance was somewhere…

A walk in the Lake park

Everybody, their cousin and whatever kid they could find was taking advantage of the sunny Sunday at Onondaga Lake Park. The Wegmans area set up with all the play equipment to keep children happy and their parents and grandparents busy watching them was chock full on the breezy, 60º F early afternoon. My dear wife…

Green backyard grass, except for that one patch

The mower will be out of the shed soon in the yard of my dear wife Karen and I’s Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. A good portion of our backyard is looking lush, considering it’s the year-round playground for Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle. Playground-plus, actually, if you know what I’m…

Guarding their galaxies

The things Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle and I spy on our walks beyond our Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhoods of Eastwood and Lyncourt. Tuesday’s eyeful started with odd. Eccentric. Provocative. Well, odd. Anybody can put a basketball hoop at the peak of their garage. And it doesn’t take much chutzpah to hang…

Fancy that, a burst of bulbs

With sun and warmth and spring having claimed Syracuse this week, hurrah hurrah, Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle, and my dear wife Karen and I caught an interesting site up the block from the Little Bitty in our freshening city neighborhood of Eastwood. The varied and beautiful fruits of the hard work of the neighbor…

Big piles persist, and that’s no joke

Taking one last long lunchtime March walk Tuesday with Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle through our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood, we couldn’t help but notice how no matter how high the angle of the sun has become, those 119 inches that fell on our city since October have been just too much. And even…

The Crunch goes to the dogs for a night

I saw two drop-the-gloves fights by men on the ice but no pull-the-leash fights by dogs in the stands. Even though the Syracuse Crunch lost 2-0 to the Rochester Americans Saturday night in an American Hockey League game at the Onondaga County War Memorial, Dog Night was a smashing success. Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle…