Art Show!

Our daily walk has certainly changed a lot! Instead of an empty park with lots of places to read the news, talk to other dogs and pee and poop, the place has been invaded by humans with tables and tents. Some of the tables smell really good, like food, but humom won't let me get near those. Others smell interesting, like flowers, soaps and candles. Humom won't let me eat those either. There are tables with nice wood smells that remind me of my Uncle Clay, and others with pottery and glass smells like Uncle Nathan. Humom is most fascinated by the tables with the stones and wires -- she even bought one pair of earrings called "tourmaline," which must be a kind of trampoline. Like she doesn't already have a whole bunch of earrings! Whatever, as long as she doesn't try to get ME to wear them! At least all the nice Art people had a great appreciation for the Malamute, giving me lots of lovins, declaring me a superb work of Art, and taking lots of pictures of the Mallie face. I don't mind adoration from the cognoscenti ...

--- Missy out

Toed Car

Never noticed any paws on the car before, but humom came back all kerflustered yesterday because it got toed. I guess that means she couldn't drive around, and she does like to drive around. She made some calls and tried to find people to take her to the Toe Lot, but ended up taking a Taxi, paying Hundreds of dollars for the Toe and getting a Ticket on top of all that. Whatever. It all sounds like one of those typical human messups: high blood pressure, adrenaline, sweat ... and for what? I prefer a nice walk under the trees myself.

--- Missy out

Manoa campus

Yesterday was my first visit to the UH Manoa campus. Had heard about the extensive construction going on, but found it lovely - beautifully landscaped, set in the spectacular Manoa valley with glimpses of the sharp-ridged mountains ... And there's a nice bookstore with Mac section! Like.

On the Peer

Yesterevening humom took me walking on the Peer. This is not the same Peer where she picked up the car, but a smaller Peer just down the road from our house. I think it may be the one where you Peer around the Corner. Anywooo, I had eaten some misc bones, cig butts, what humom calls "ick gross trash don't eat that" over the past couple of days and wasn't feeling too great. Amazing what hupeople leave lying all over the grounds of the Zoo and the park. Dead rats and birds I can understand, but all this other treasure is just plain wasteful. So I scarfed down some salty sand to settle the Mallie stomach and was looking forward to a nice treat from human Steve, who always has some in his pocket. Too late! When we ran into him, he was feeding some dumb birds, and the sight made me need to hurl. I began to drool, pulled back the lips in the "I need to hurl" smile, and started to heave. The Peer was well occupied by lots of tourists and locals, as always. Everyone backed up in a big circle and up came all my dinner, unchewed, as well as my souvenirs. Humom was embarrassed, but Steve cleaned up my production in a twinkle -- before I could sample it again -- and I had to go home without my treat. No fair!

--- Missy out

A Horse, a Horse!

So there we are, strolling along, reading the usual news, me being yanked away from the dead birds etc, cars & buses roaring everywhere, when what do I feel?? Yes indeed, a certain rhythmic trot trot trot. Head up, ears at maximum swivel. I have the direction, a few trucks move out of the way, and there he is! Even humom can see him now. A big, white friend with hooves, all long mane and leggings, prancing along in front of a frothy carriage. I give him a big Wooooo and prance along at the end of my leash, tail and ears high. Humom doesn't know I used to have friends with hooves before I adopted her. She's pretty surprised, but delighted that I like this guy, and we prance all the way home.

--- Missy out

Ticked at Target

Okay, this isn't about dogs, it's about shopping on-line at Target.com. Since we had to downsize a lot, I looked for clever space-saving furniture I wouldn't mind getting rid of if I have to in 6 months or a year. Found several at Target.com, was very careful to order "free shipping" items, nothing that mentioned a skittish horror of Alaska & Hawaii. Was astonished to see a shipping charge of over $50 for just 3 items. Wrote to Customer Service and a small exchange later, got the reply that Free Shipping doesn't apply to Hawaii. Well, there goes my motivation to order from Target.com!

Rats!

Today we walked by the Zoo as usual, and one of the people was outside!! I had a good sniff in the grass and SNAP! my jaws clamped around a small furry prey. SHRIEK from humom, Drop It and I had to let it go. No fun! Of course it was dead already, so I let it go. Humom yelped that it was a Dead Rat, and she met up with T and they yapped about how the Zoo is poisoning rats and should be careful about dogs eating poisoned rats and getting sick. Do they think we are stupid? Huchildren put everything in their mouths, I see this in the park every day, they should worry about them! I didn't pay much attention to the yammering, since T's yellow Lab was in a down-stay and I was dancing around giving her the eye and trying to get her to break it. She is way too much of a Good Dog ...

--- Missy out

Oh my poor ears!

Mooooooaaaaannnnn!!! I'm lying on the bed with my head shoved under humom's pillow trying to rest up my poor ears. Don't hupeople realize how sensitive doggie ears are? We were in the park, minding our own business, humom wandering along, myself reading the news & being gorgeous, when a group of hupeople came up and did the usual "isn't she sweet what is she can we pet her?" thing. Well, I'm fine with that. One of the ladies was particularly fabulous -- lovely, pillowy when she cuddled me, sweet-smelling, knew just how to pet me right -- but the voice, oh my doG. It was high and just kept getting higher, til I had to pin the ears back just to keep the drums from exploding. "I wuuuv yooooo yes I dyoooo I'm taking you home you're so cyuuuuuute my sweeeeteeeee ..." Every "I" like a knife in my head. Humom finally rescued me and took me home to recover. No praise for not biting the torturer or anything. Sheesh.

--- Missy ouuuuuut

Not Fair

So we were walking on the beach and a really intense huguy stopped to talk. He was almost shaking with energy. He wanted to know a bit about me, naturally, and then proceeded to inform my humom that he really wanted a dog, didn't have a dog, wouldn't have a dog in an apartment, thought a dog should have a lot of space and a big house, thought it was totally unfair to the dog to have a dog in the city in an apartment without a house and a big yard. His voice got louder and louder and more intense! Then he said it was nice to meet her and left. I looked at her to say, "give him the speech about we get a lot of dogs into rescue from houses with big yards who are totally neglected, it isn't the space that counts, it's the attention, and furthermore, Mallies are great apartment dogs," but she just shook her head and took me home. A very unMallie attitude.

--- Missy out

Testosterone

Yet another handyman in the house. It's been three solid days of handymen and plumbers, and today even a cable (okay, DSL) guy. All of them have been really nice to me and appreciated the Mallie, but the place is tiny enough to get a bit claustrophobic with all the muscles flexing in here.

We are living in a hotel. But we are renting from a person, D, who owns the room. Humom says that I have to leave the room to turn around, it's that small. That's not quite true, but almost. I prefer to be outside walking around the park and plotting how to sneak into the zoo, don't tell humom.

When humom came to look at the room a couple of weeks ago, it was small then too, but pretty much everything functioned. Between then and when we moved in, it seems to have been thoroughly trashed. The shower drips constantly, the stall finish is coming off, the toilet was running ... whine whine whine. When Squeaky's friend Daniel brought us home from HNL, he manhandled the sliding glass door to the balcony open, and of course humom can't close it -- there's a mangled piece clogging up the base. D is having freakouts from all the things that have to be fixed, but I don't mind the visits and petting from nice guys.

Even tho so much is wrong with the place -- even her wifi wasn't working -- humom is strangely calm about it. She seems to really like it here and to be enjoying herself, or at least to be taking everything in her stride. Must be my influence.

--- Missy out

Space Invader!

It may be time to get the sliding door fixed. Humom has to leave it open when she leaves, and at all times, since it doesn't slide. Today she came back from yet another shopping trip to find a rather large bird with extremely tattered tail-feathers fluttering around the room. She became rather fluttery herself, trying to guide the avian out the door making squeaky noises the while. I tried to preserve my sangfroid, and smiled at humom's praise of me for not slaughtering the visitor. What happens in Waikiki, stays in ... The flustered creature finally tired of humom's ineffectual wavings and squeezed out between the window louvers. No doubt to visit the Zoo across the street, where it's calmer. What does a gal have to do to get her zzzs in?

--- Missy out

Car is here!

This is so weird. Humom made a huge kerfluffle about going down to the Peer (??) to get our car. Well, dammit, if the car was coming with us, why didn't we just drive ourselves? I bet humom didn't trust herself to drive this far, but the driver she got sure took a long time. She says they put the car on a fairy boat to bring it over the water, which you can tell because the car is covered with ocean salt. Tastes pretty good, if you're in the mood.

Anywoo, humom's friend Sav set her up with L to drive to the Peer and get the car, whole big deal (sheesh). Humom came back all stoked, not just because all our stuff is in the car -- MORE stuff?? Where is she going to put it?? -- but also because she really enjoyed meeting L, who seems to be just the kind of gal humom hopes to have as students in her course. Nice to know they're out there in the wild. I just care if they like Mallies ...

-- Missy out

Arrival

Humom and I have arrived in Honolulu (or as she says, (HNL). I'm writing this because she is POOPED (when I'm pooped, I get a time-out, but whatevahs).
We were greeted by a huge, almost vertical technicolor rainbow as we flew into HNL. Or so she says. I have to take her word for it, being incarcerated in my house in an Aloha Air Cargo flight at the time.

Missy exaggerates. She was safely on the tarmac; her flight was delayed for over an hour. The lovely people at Aloha in HNL were clearly used to dealing with pet parents quietly having nervous breakdowns while conspicuously NOT asking "is she here yet?" every 5 seconds ... They also thought it was hilarious that she had her own carry-on, but a girl's gotta have her stuff. They were all quite as nice as the lovely blonde lady in OGG, unlike the dude, who was a real bastard and desperately needed a good biting or maybe a nice case of mange. Sarcoptic.

I was greeted by many admirers, of course, and my house was sent away with greetings to my Auntie Shel. She is not here. I don't understand that. What is here is rain. For my friends in Kihei, that is moisture that falls from the sky, and not from sprinklers. It is cooler than sun. You cannot drink it, tho, even if it makes puddles on the ground, because Humom says, "ick, no, dirty."
We have a LOT of dogs in the house. I've only fought with one of them, but have chatted with a couple of shepherds and lots of hors d'oeuvres. There's a Sibe named Paradise (snicker) and a boy Sibe named Jake. Right across the street is the Zoo with other people I've read but haven't met yet. We shall find a way, no doubt ...
There is also a beach about a minute away but the sand is grainy and like pieces of shell -- I'll have to get used to it. We walk on it a lot, but try to find times when it is not TOTALLY crowded. I know I'm beautiful, but really, it would be nice to be able to exit the building without being mobbed by popperatsy (sp?). Those are a species of hyena who travel in packs carrying cameras/phones that they shove in my face, taking pictures & grabbing at me without even asking or talking to Humom & screeching & cackling the whole time. Sometimes I have to act like Ghost & just hide behind H's legs ...
-- Missy out

Missy's togs

We're moving to Honolulu this weekend. We'll probably only be there for the semester, and the apartment is tiny -- a former hotel room -- so we have to downsize. Predictably, the place is a mess as I'm going through everything to decide what stays here and what goes. Just discovered some big, Malamute-sized bandanas I'd made out of beautiful, soft colors that exactly match Missy's coat. So yesterday I took her with me on errands and she was strutting around the UPS office, etc, all spiffed up and fancy. Not that she doesn't look lovely all naked!