Life With Poppy the Puppy

Today I learned that it is National Puppy Day and to celebrate, I have a black eye. Well, actually its more of a green and purple color, my eye that is. This is a special National Puppy Day, because I actually have a puppy, which is why I also have a yellow/purple eye. We have had Poppy the puppy for one week and we are in love with her! But she has changed our life. If you haven't already, click to Meet Poppy the Puppy.

Poppy can not yet go out walking or meeting other dogs until she gets her third round of shots in a few days. There are a lot of dogs in San Francisco so I don't want to take too many chances. But we did take her to a kind of remote corner of Golden Gate Park to let her run around on three leashes we connected together. Other than that, she is kind of confined to our house, our small backyard and our car. This can sometimes make Poppy a bad little puppy.

A bad puppy?

Inside, Poppy likes to chew on Paul's power cord (causing his computer to turn "off" and almost losing two days of work), furniture, throw rugs and her bed. She likes to eat the leaves off of my house plants and poop on Paul's pile of "important" papers on the floor in his office (how important can they be if they are on the floor?), and on the rug where my piano and guitar live. She loves her new puppy bed but has peed in it twice! I make her stay in the same room with me all the time to monitor her bathroom and chewing behavior.

Eating Grass

Outside, Poppy likes to eat grass and chew the flower buds off of plants in the garden. She likes to dig holes and eat mulch. She also goes CRAZY when she hears the neighbor's dogs come outside one each side. She has tried to escape to get to them (where she could fall about five feet - but we fixed that). She also likes to go up the deck stairs to our upstairs neighbor's place (who has not been home all week, thankfully). She likes to play "You-Can't-Catch-Me" or "No-I-Won't-Come", which results in the loss of outdoor privileges. Sometimes, she also likes to wait until we come inside to go to the bathroom. I did several hours of gardening and I think when she saw me using the hand shovel she thought it was a free pass to dig to her heart's delight.

Trouble in the Garden

Despite all of this (I have to laugh silently to myself when Poppy is in the other room hanging out with Paul and I hear, "No Poppy! No, Poppy No! Poppy Stop!"), Poppy has been a great joy to have. She curls up by your feet. She cuddles with you when you watch television while lying on the floor (no puppies on the couch). She licks your toes and is excited to play. She has finally learned to play fetch and is getting better at walking on a leash (we practice inside). She follows you around the house and sits down to show that she is good (sometimes). We play "Chase" in the hallway. She is so damn cute!

The Constant Gardener

Playing Fetch

That brings me to my eye. Bad Poppy wants to run out the front door, even when I am blocking it with my leg. But one day, Poppy managed to get past me and run out onto the porch. Fearing she would run out into traffic, I dove after her and hit my cheekbone on the narrowly opened door. My yell stopped her in her tracks and I grabbed her and after that, a bag of frozen corn. I guess it is good Poppy can't really go out yet, because I haven't been going out either (without sunglasses), not until some of the purple and green color has left my eye area. We have added front door training to our puppy obedience regimen.

Obedient by the Front Door

I'm So Good, Right?

Running on Pillows

Today is the first game of the World Series, which is going on across town. When I walk out of my house, I can look in the downhill direction and see the glow of the lights from the stadium three miles away. I will say one nice thing about the Giants, because I can only think of one nice thing to say about the Giants, no I'm kidding, sort of, yes, no. Ok, I don't really care about the Giants one way or the other. But I will really extend myself and say three nice things about the Giants. One, I like their orange and black colors because they remind me of a sports team from my hometown with the same colors. Two, they have a nice stadium. Three, I like their pitcher, Tim Lincecum, I like watching him pitch. But I don't really care to watch the World Series. So, during the fourth inning, which I was not watching, I decided to go for a walk.
It was a lot warmer outside then I thought it would be and I quickly become hot as I walked uphill towards University of San Francisco. The fog had come in some time in the morning, chasing away the dry winter chill. It was strangely quiet as I walked except for an occasional outburst of cheering I could hear coming from some of the apartments and houses. When I got to the top of the hill in front of USF, I walked the steps up to Trinity Mountain. From there, you can enjoy nice views of the city, although often obstructed by trees. The best part about this hill that USF sits on top of is the grass. I seriously think they have the nicest grass in the entire city covering their hill. It may even be the nicest grass I have ever seen anywhere. I started walking downhill on that grass. It is thick and feels like it has airpockets underneath it to cushion it and make it springy. It is like walking on pillows. It also leaves your footsteps imprinted, like snow. It was obvious, from the lack of footsteps, that no one ever walks on this grass. Maybe it is against school rules or something like that? Cool.

I looked down the long hill stretching down toward the street. I wanted to roll down it and I would have if I didn't have my camera with me. There were very few people out on campus. The grass smelled so good. Gravity was pulling at me to head downhill. I put my camera back in its case and secured it across my shoulder. I checked my pockets and secured their contents. Then I pushed off. It only took one or two pushes of my legs before the hill, gravity, the air cushions under my feet, took over. I was running, no floating, downhill on pillows at a delicious speed. My strides were long, longer than I expected and effortless. I felt like a gazelle. Not a joint in my whole body felt anything other than air as I was propelled across the grass, gliding toward the furthest corner. The air rushed passed me, it was exhilarating, it was like running that was laughing. When I reached the bottom I hopped onto the sidewalk and I couldn't stop smiling as I walked towards home. Then I started laughing out loud. That was the most fun I have had in a long time.