Frank's Birthday!

It's time for our yearly blog post. Today is Franklin's 4th birthday. This was Frank two years ago.

This has been a big year for the Frank. He got eaten by a dinosaur! But lived to tell about it.

At his last birthday ,Frank was just learning to play with toys. He'd chew on them a little. In the last year, he has become a toy-aholic. He'll even bring toys to us to play with him. And guess what. We've figured out fetch. He'll go get the toy AND bring it back. He used to give up after three trips because he thought we were taking the toy away and he wasn't supposed to have it. He still gives up unpredictably sometimes, but it's an improvement.
He's also made some good doggy friends in Max and Pete. When they came over to stay for the weekend, Frank was an excellent host, and he played with both dogs better than I've ever seen him play with other dogs. (Sorry Tim and Ginger. He just wasn't ready for you yet). He's getting more dog-like everyday. We're pretty proud of him.
He's still just about the laziest dog ever (my sister says he's only one step above Rowdy on Scrubs). Frank is getting cuddlier, if you can imagine that. He insists on getting in between us on the couch, curling up into the tiniest spot, and putting his head on one of us. It's the cutest thing ever.
We're still working on our Doggie Degree Plan. We've knocked out a bunch of courses already. Our next trick is to learn the names of his toys. We've been watching Super Fetch on Animal Planet to get ideas.
Happy Birthday, Franklin! We love you very much, Dog-dog!

Look what I did!

For non facebook friends and family (do such people exist?), here's what I've been doing this weekend...

It started with a really bad painting that came with my office at Davis and Elkins. I think it was supposed to depict a car accident. There was a wire animal hot glued over a blob of red paint in the center, and all kinds of fabric was glued willy-nilly. It's bad, yes, but it's also BIG. The canvas is 5ft wide and would not fit in my car! See for yourself.



I couldn't let a canvas that nice go to waste. I cleaned the canvas, but I decided the texture from the paint and leftover chunks of glue would affect my painting. I yanked off the old canvas altogether and stretched and sized a new one.

I decided to make a realistic portrait of Frank, but after a couple of sketches, I did not feel I could do the subject justice in that size. I thought I'd break the canvas into smaller sections; do a number of small portraits instead of one big one.

It was Jay's idea to do the cartoon Frank face in psuedo-Warhol style.



I included Frank in the photo as a reference for the size. It's a big one.
I'm pleased with the outcome, and I think it will be a nice addition to the office, a fun conversation piece. My sister has requested one of her chihuahua...

Too much time on my hands...

I want to be sure you are hearing Styx when you read that title.
Oh, boys and girls. I have run out of fun things to do. Mayterm ended on Friday, and one weekend at home was enough vacation to make me stir crazy.
It's not like there aren't things to do. I started a new stained-glass window that is sitting half-finished in the office (which could use some attention itself). I knitted a baby hat and booties for the brand new Noah Diaz and a scarf for somebody for Christmas (haven't decided who yet). I could be reading the textbook I have to teach from in July. I could be reading books for fun. I haven't done that in months. I could be riding my bike or running or taking Franklin on a walk, but instead, I'm watching marathons of What Not to Wear and alot of HGTV.
In my free time, I am also trying to teach Franklin some new tricks. We're working on some kind of greeting. I would like for him to give a little bark, but that's not working at all. Haven't settled on an alternative yet. Last night we started working on Finding the Shoes. When it's time to go O-U-T, I want Frank to bring me my flip flops. So I put the flip flops right in front of him and said "Shoes" about 30 times. When he put his nose on them, I gave him a Cheez-it. I moved them a little further away and did the same thing, but he got so excited about the Cheez-it behind my back that he would roll over and play dead because he knows that always gets him a treat. This happens every time we try to learn a new trick. I wonder how I ever managed to teach him the ones he knows. I'm in the market for new tricks to teach. Please share your ideas.

A post! A post!

So I haven't made a blog post since January 4th. I make no excuse for myself except, "My bad, y'all."
So there's not a whole lot to catch up on.
Jay finished his first year of school, had a two week sleep-in stay-cation, and goes back next week. He has something like 6 classes in the summer term, and all of the finals are on the same day. I'm actually starting to feel kind of sorry for him.
I finished up school a few weeks ago. I only had 6 Fs this time. Most of those quit coming after Spring Break and stopped turning in assignments halfway through, so I don't feel too bad. I'm still tutoring through Mayterm. I have one student instead of 10 and we work together 6 hours over 4 days each week. We're halfway done already! Finals are on the 29th.
Since we've decided to stay in our apartment for two more years, I have gotten serious about nesting. I know we've been here almost a year, but I haven't really settled in yet. Instead of creating a place for everything, I've just made piles and left things in boxes and stuffed junk under the bed. Last week I decided to rearrange the office furniture and hang up some pictures. I realized that the only wedding photo in our house was one I printed off of facebook. So Jay and I picked out some we liked, made enlargements, and finally put them on display. It only took 2 and a half years.
I felt so good about the new office that I decided I really wanted to paint the bedroom. It was the only room in the apartment that hadn't been painted before we moved in. It had floor to ceiling faux wood paneling, and it was an eyesore. When we hung up curtains to block out the street lamps and early morning sun, it looked like a cave. We got our landlord's permission, and so far I've gotten it all primed and taped and ready to paint. It already feels so much brighter and kind of like a home instead of a place to land for a while.
Jay has gotten into the home improvement spirit, too, but in a different way. He decided a few weeks ago that we were paying too much for cable and internet. When we moved, we thought we could only get that stuff through the city, and we had no choice. Turns out, we can pretty much do whatever we want. So Jay has set us up with satellite TV and DVR, and he's having plenty of fun working on that. I'm having fun catching up on the last year's worth of Bravo reality shows! Yeah!
In other news, Festival Season in West Virginia is well on its way. This weekend is Strawberry Festival in Buckhannon (where I work), and Blue and Gray, the civil war reenactment, is in two weeks in Philippi (where we live). And in case you were'nt sure, my birthday is somewhere in between there.
Now for the super fast final notes update. Running: I'm up to 9 miles at a time, close to 40 miles per week. Knitting: I'm taking a break. I had an extremely prolific "Early Period." I'm calling this my "Blue Period." Franklin: Cute as a button and loved by all. We're this close to an official Fetch. Family: My mom's surgery on her leg went very well, and hopefully she'll be up and running for our road trip in June. Poetry: I'm putting together some stuff for a big contest due June 1st. I have to write about 5 more poems to meet the length requirement. If you don't mind dark and twisty poems, I need a sound board... Weather: When it's not cold and raining, it's warm and sunny.
Hope that caught you up. If you have questions or need more details, you can leave a comment, or join the rest of the Tippen family on facebook.

Gnu

So we're driving and Jay is playing Scrabble on his phone.
Jay: Hey! I just put "gnu" in and it said it wasn't a word!
Me: Oh yeah?
Jay: Yeah. G-e-n-u. "GA noo."
Me: uh... It's g-n-u. The g is silent. (insert half an hour of laughing and insults.) There's a serious hole in your education, dude.

The Climate Emergency

Yes. I believe in global warming. Turns out that it doesn't necessarily make the globe warmer. Just weirder.
For example, this morning I woke up around 8:30, and the weather was just beautiful. The sun was shining and I could actually see it! It was obstructed by neither clouds nor trees. It was the first time I had seen it since the middle of October. The sun was warm, the wind was light and cool, there was no even a hint of rain, and the snow had completely melted.
I put on my jogging togs immediately and went for my first outdoor run in months (I haven't actually run indoors in months, either). It was wonderful. I kept thinking the whole time, "There is hope for West-by God- Virginia! If it can be this warm today, well, then it can be this warm tomorrow! The sun will shine once more!" I was filled with such a feeling of joy. I was resolved not to stay behind in Texas after Christmas, but to return to WV with some hope for sunshine and rainbows.
After I got home and showered, feeling better than I had felt in weeks, I put on a skirt and my new pink heels WITHOUT TIGHTS! Yeah! I know! Crazy! I took Franklin to the potty without a coat! I made plans to go jogging again later that afternoon. Why not take advantage of the thaw while it lasts?
When I got ready to go to my office a little later, I saw that the beautiful sunny sky was covered over with dark clouds again. The wind had picked up and was decidedly colder than it had been that morning. I heard the professor in the office next to mine say that tonight's forecast was for freezing rain, and snow was expected for the morning.
I have learned today just how fragile a thing like hope can be. Where once I saw the thermometer as half full, I now know that the thermometer does not exist. My life is like that little glass tube, and my dreams that slender thread of mercury - dashed about, crushed, and spilled in the snow.
On the other hand, my new shoes look awesome and they don't pinch, so that's good. And who knows, global warming could just as easily bring me back my tropical breeze. I'll be waiting for you, Warm Weather, with bated breath and my insensible shoes.

Frank's Birthday

Today marks one year since Franklin came to live with us, and after one year of coaxing, he has finally, FINALLY, learned how to chew on toys. 

In the pictures, he is chewing on a bat that Carla gave him for his first Christmas. He had absolutely no interest in it. When he went over to play with Tim and Ginger, they would chew on toys and play tug of war and fetch for hours while Frank sat in someone's lap or took a nap under the coffee table. 

A few weeks ago, Frank was playing with us, laying on his back chewing on our fingers, and I put the bat in his mouth. The end. He's been chewing on one or another of his toys ever since. At first, he would only do it when we weren't watching. If we said anything to him or touched the toy, he would quit and not touch it again. 

One afternoon, I thought I'd see if he'd fetch the toy. He did it twice (if I didn't throw it too far away), but when I took it from him the third time, he must have thought he was in trouble, because he wouldn't go anywhere near it again. 

He still hasn't figured out fetch, but now at least he's letting us tug on the other end a little. We're getting closer every day!

I've never been so proud of anything in my life as I was watching Franklin chew on a stupid toy for the first time. Chewing on a toy is just another step in his successful socialization. While he still has some of those homeless dog tendencies - fear of abandonment and a desperate need to please - he's grown so much in just one year.

I was sharing this story with one of my students the other day and he asked me, "How can you tell he has abandonment issues? How do you know he stopped playing with the toy because he thought he was in trouble?" I don't know, but I feel like I can read his mind sometimes. I can look at those big brown eyes and he's looking at me with such intensity, like he could start talking just any minute and we'd have a long and serious talk about French Naturalism right then and there. And we periodically have mind-meld sessions where he comes and puts his forehead against mine and we telepathically share all of our thoughts Star Trek style.

Happy Birthday, Franklin! If you are reading this, then what I have suspected all along is true: you don't actually need an opposable thumb to use the internet and dogs can too see in two-dimension.  You have opened up new places in our hearts where we didn't know we had love to spare. Here's to another year of cuddles and greenies and chicken stock on your food.