Wienerdog Wednesday

Just a nice little watercolor wienerdog, with its nose in the air like it just don't care. 

(Via Anne Watkins)

Monday Meh, Post-Jonas edition

 It's c-c-c-c-c-cold out there, but the sun came out during the day yesterday and made for perfect icicle-growing conditions. They are beautiful, though -- at least until they decide to try and escape their place on the eaves and go crashing to the ground. 

Here in the mountains of Upper East Tennessee, we got about a foot of snow between Wednesday morning and Sunday morning. And snow is a normal part of winter here, yet businesses don't bother to shovel and plow -- although you can be sure all the church parking lots were cleared yesterday. I surely didn't appreciate having to wade through ankle-deep slush when I had to pick up my presription! My feel finally thawed out by bedtime, though. 

At any rate, I had my winter experience fot this year, thank you.

Wienerdog Wednesday, with bonus Weimeraner

Hope you have a friend to snuggle with on these cold winter nights. 

(Via Harlow and Friends)

Monday Meh, Cold Enough For Ya? Edition

Heating Season - Jacek Yerka 

Wow - according to my Weather Channel app, the wind chill is -4F this morning. Fortunately I do not have to go outside to verify that. 

Keep warm whever you are, my friends!

(Visit  Yerkaland.com for more fantastical images )

Wienerdog Wednesday, Sew What edition.

Artist Sarah Walton uses her sewing machine to create fun "sketches" like this one, and she admits to being "slightly obsessed" with dogs. I'm glad she counts dachshunds among her favorites.

See more of Sarah's work at her Flickr page.

Monday Meh, Nothing I Can Do Edition

Sad news this morning. RIP David Bowie. 

It's 11 degrees outside, and I just want to stay inside and drink tea and listen to his music all day. Meh.

(See this wonderful tribute here.)

Wienerdog Wednesday, Scoo' Revue

Scooter Pie looks back on 2015:

Monday Meh, Winter Classic Edition

New Year's was a sad day for the Boston Bruins after their loss to the Montreal Canadiens in this season's Winter Classic. That's a hockey game, in case you don't know. I'm not judging. I'm only judging myself here, because as an avowed pacifist and someone who's criticized the excesses of professional sports, my guilty little (former) secret is that I like ice hockey. And I'm not entirely sure why.

Of course, hockey is superior to American football in many ways. It's more athletic. Hockey players play a long season - 82 games in regular NHL season play, compared with 16 for the NFL season. Hockey's fast pace is more appealing, too. It's the fights, though, that leave me most uneasy with my affection for the game and the players.

It's hard to defend some fights as justified while others are dirty, but that's pretty much how it goes. Defenders of the fisticuffs that break out during games will say that fighting is a means by which hockey players police each other, by letting things get a little out of control, safety and sanity is maintained:

 Conducted honorably, between combatants who understand that physical punishment is the consequence of unacceptable behavior, it’s a relatively safe, constrained and consistent form for players to hold each other accountable. It’s a grassroots solution for a gap that can’t ever be filled by referees or league authorities.

There are certain players, certain rivalries that can be counted upon to provoke this sort of "accountability," and I can pretty much overook the occasional donnybrook because I get pulled in by the excitement of cheering on "my" team, through good times and bad. It's a distraction, a diversion, and, for me, at least, a harmless foray into fandom. For the most part, though, witnessing a fight on the ice makes me uncomfortable. 

But not as uncomfortable as losing to the Canadiens on home ice . . . . Grrrrrr!