Memes

Don't you just love--and hate--memes? I know what a meme is; but I don't really know what a meme is, do you?

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about computer memes: The term Internet meme (/ˈmiːm/; meem)[1] is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet.[2] The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information. The earliest known usage of the word meme is in the book The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins published in 1976.

I still don't know what exactly a meme is, but I know that I've been sent plenty of them to complete and pass on and I've read plenty of them on the (too) many blogs that I read.

What if our dogs were to do a "Tell Us About Yourself" meme?  Maybe Darby's and Pumpkin's would go like this:

1. What was your favorite pastime when you were young?

Pumpkin: I used to like....
Darby: Wait! Let me answer first. I'm the oldest. I should go first. I used to like running after The One Who Feeds Us and nipping at her heels.
Pumpkin: I liked to rumble with my brother Bailey and the big dogs at Leda's. I wish Darby-do-goody would play-fight like Bailey and I used to do.

2. What do you do for play now?

(silence)
Darby: Well, aren't you going to answer, Pumpkin?
Pumpkin: I thought you wanted to go first because you are the oldest. What I do for play now is chase lizards in the backyard.
Darby: Not fair! That's what I was going to say!

3. If you could have one change in your life, right now, and have it stick, what would it be?

Pumpkin: You go first.
Darby: I would have The One Who Feeds Us stay home with us every single day, all day long, not just on those two days that come after the five days she leaves for most of the day.
Pumpkin: Oh, geeez, Darby! What a suck-up.  You don't even know if she is going to read this!  I would get a fresh marrow bone every day.

4. What was your most memorable meal?

Darby: Wait! Let me, let me! I remember the time The One Who Feeds Us and The One Who Doesn't Feed Us were talking REALLY loud during our dinner time. They didn't notice that the lid was off the dog food container and I got to eat as much as I could reach! Pumpkin didn’t get any because she is too short to get into the bucket. She also can't drink out of the toilets.
Pumpkin: Yeah; that was a bummer. My most memorable meal was that lizard I caught and didn't drop when The One Who Feeds Us said "Drop it!"

5. If you could go back in time and tell yourself one thing, what would it be?

Pumpkin: "Don’t worry, Girlfriend. That cranky Darby will come to love you."
Darby: I’m not cranky and I don't love you.  I just tolerate you.  I love The One Who Feeds Us.  I would tell myself, “Don’t worry. Some day you’ll actually like it when The One Who Feeds Us wants to hold you on her lap."

6.)You find a $50 bill but you have to spend it right now—what do you buy?

Darby: Well, of course we aren't physically capable of buying something, but if we were, I would by something nice for The One Who Feeds Us.
Pumpkin: Marrow bones, marrow bones, and MORE MARROW BONES!

8.) What are the top 5 things on your bucket list?

Pumpkin and Darby in unison: What's a bucket list?

Pumpkin:  So, aren't you supposed to DON'T BREAK THIS CHAIN, send this to five thousand people including the one who sent it to us, in the next five minutes, so that something WONDERFUL will happen? Hurry, hurry! Do it and maybe marrow bones will rain from the sky.
Darby:  That isn't very likely, Pumpkin.  Still, it won't hurt to send it; you never know!

I think I'm gonna make it

I sent an email to my coworkers this morning with the subject "Ma! I think the fever done broke!"  Remember old-timey shows like Little House on the Prairie?  It seems like at least a couple of times each season, someone had reason to rejoice over a fever that done broke.

Well, I'm rejoicing today, too.  I went to bed at 7:30 last night and when I woke up this morning, my fever was gone and I felt a whole lot better.  I stayed home one more day to keep my nasty, gross cough to myself and treated myself to a bowl of steamy-hot oatmeal, a middle-of-the-week, day-time TV show and the company of my dog-girls.

I like the steam in this photo better than in that one, but Darby isn't in the photo and the bowl is just as badly overexposed.  I need a photography class! 

Flu

I stayed home from work on Tuesday
with what I think is the flu -- chills, aches, sore throat and headache.

I was lucky; I had two nurses taking care of me. Interestingly, my Velcro Dog spent the least time on my lap, preferring to curl up next to me.

Sweater knit (by me!) of grown-in-Montana Beaverslide Dry Goods wool and decorated by hair being shed by Pumpkin. 

What is it about flannel that makes it feeling-poorly go-to clothing?  I love that freckle on Darby's cankle.

I never get tired of looking at her paint job. 

Signs of spring

Morning sunlight in this part of the house.

Daffodils that need dividing.

Pruning that needs doing.

More -- and different -- birds in the trees.

Lavender blooming.

Day lilies blooming

Sun lighting the sky not too long after we wake up.

Grape vine waking up.  Please let this be the year we get grapes. 

Birds making nests.  Looks like this one forgot to measure the doorway.

Playing catch. 

Hey, Mushers!

So.  As you may or may not know, Sunday was the start of the 40th running of the Iditarod Dog Sled Race.

Of course, I've heard about the race, but I didn't really know much about it.  So, I went to the official Iditarod Dog Sled Race site for a little info.

I was happy to learn that it was a woman, Dorothy Page, the chairwoman of the 100th Anniversary of Alaska Statehood Committee, who conceived the idea of a dog sled race on the Iditerod Trail.  Dorothy's idea met a champion in fellow Alaskan Joe Redington, Sr. and his wife Vi.  Together, their hard work and enthusiasm produced the 1967 Centennial race. That first race ran the 56 miles between Knik and Big Lake, Alaska and "commemorated the part that sled dogs played in the settlement of Alaska" where, during the late 1890's and early 1900's, the only means of transportation during the winter was dog sled.  The trail used by the early settlers -- the Iditarod Trail -- became a major "thoroughfare" in Alaska, a route used to move mail, supplies and people and now the route of an incredible dog sled race.  

In 1973 the first "official" race was run with an expanded route of approximately 1,100 miles.  1,100 MILES.  Race teams travel from one checkpoint to another, just as the mushers who carried mail and freight did in the early years.  The winner of the 1973 race finished in 20 days, 15 hours, two minutes and seven seconds.  To date, the fastest running was in 2002 when the winner crossed the finish line after only 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes and 2 seconds.

Check out the website for lots of information about the race including trivia and some "Mushing Terminology."  (I especially like the term "Swing Dog."  The swing dog runs directly behind the leader and his/her job is to help "swing" the team through turns and curves.  I think there are a lot of people who are "Swing Dogs" and our lives are better for them.)

Before the Iditarod comes around next year, I think I'm going to let the mushers up there in Alaska know that if they need to replace any of their dogs, Erika and I have some they might be interested in borrowing: