Through observation and keen intelligence, Kona has determined that the cats are not allowed to be on the kitchen counter. In other words, when one of them hops up there, we scold and remove them, and Kona has taken notice.

So now, she has taken it upon herself to police this activity for us, to much hilarity. For example last night Sasha jumped up onto one of the bar stool chairs, and seemed to be making a move to continue toward the counter.

Kona leaped off the sofa and ran over to the chair and started growling in Sasha's face. I told her to knock it off and called her back, but she kept an eye on the cat. Every time Sasha peeked over the edge of the counter, Kona was on the case again.

I don't know where she gets this from.

The boat was relatively on time today. Two minutes late is a good day. The sky was a high, cool curtain of white clouds -- a nice break from what has seemed like five months of heatwaves. I sat in the top deck quiet room and listened to a podcast.

It came time to disembark, and I stood near the front of the crowd, knowing how slow I walk and how tight that connection to my bus always is. We were released into the cattle chute and I started my march eastward to Third. On the way, everyone had to go around/step over some homeless people who had just laid their stuff and their bedding right across the narrow bridge that connects the terminal with Marion Street.

I missed a couple traffic lights and started to fret about my bus. As I waddled down Third toward Columbia, I saw it down the block, approaching the red light. So I waited across the road. I waved my arm to get the driver's attention. I was ten yards away.

The light finally turned and I started crossing, still waving to the driver. He ignored me and pulled out into the lane. HEY! I shouted. HEY!! The bus blew right by me. I couldn't believe it. Because I am eight and a half months pregnant and hormonal, I had to sit down and cry for a minute or two. Fucking asshole, I thought. Fuck this pathetic, provincial backwater of a "city" and its joke of a transit system.

So that's why I was late to work, again.

But today is the penultimate day. It's to be expected. I think every day this week I have been presented with some kind of public transit incompetency in my commute, or at the very least something irritating. Maybe the coup de grace tomorrow will be a 45-minutes-late ferry that causes me to miss my doctor appt!

Anyway. Eating lunch at my desk now. Leftover green beans and mashed potatoes from last night. Mmm. Snack later will be a pear and a slice of cheese. I will attempt to avoid being tempted by the junk food. I realized today that being at home will vastly improve my diet. No more eating out, no more desperation candy bars. It will be lots cheaper, too.

Last night I did not sleep well, as always. Woke up multiple times to pee or change positions or otherwise sit/lie there trying to get back to sleep. At some point around 4am, Kona woke up from a bad dream and started howling/crying like she does when she has one of her little doggy nightmares. Brian and I both got out of bed to go hug her and pet her. I feel bad for thinking this is the cutest thing in the world.

I think everyone on my friends list stopped blogging. Oh well, I am still here, keeping livejournal afloat.

For the next ten days, we are supposed to have highs above 80 degrees. I wonder if this means my tomatoes will begin to blush.

Sometimes when the baby is squirming around inside me, I am able to discern actual limbs. I think. I mean, I feel like, a "long thing" kind of sliding along my tummy, like a lower leg perhaps. Sorry if that sounds gross. She still has enough room in there do do all kinds of tricks. Pretty soon it will get a little more crowded and she won't be able to stretch out as far.

I think I felt a contraction last night. Of course I was half asleep at the time, but I just felt this dull crampy pain along my abdomen for a minute or two. Totally normal, don't worry. The uterus has to practice for labor, too.

Brian's in SF and Kona misses him a lot. Probably even more than I do since I know where he is and can talk to him on the phone. She was all mopey last night and when I went to bed she lay down at the top of the stairs for a while. Then this morning after she had breakfast she ran upstairs and peered at the empty bed, hoping she would see him. Pobrecito!!

Should I buy a full-sized watermelon? They are like 58 cents a pound, but of course weigh ten-plus pounds. Then I would have to lift it onto the cutting board and chop it up. Oh but I love watermelon. Kona loves it too. It's her favorite treat.

I think dinner tonight will be open faced tuna on rosemary toast. Or spaghetti and garlic bread. When Brian goes out of town I totally bust out the garlic (he is allergic to it).

Okay time for a noon meeting. How dumb is that.

Last night after dinner, as the sun was setting, we took Kona on a little walk. We ended up at this run-down old quarter mile track that lies well behind the middle school. In the center of the oval, Brian unclipped Kona from her leash, which always makes me nervous, and they ran about for a while.

The field was teeming with evening bugs, so a few swallows were taking turns skimming the surface of the grass, chasing insects. Kona, who is always excited by birds, zeroed in on one of them and gave chase. She made a wide arc across the field, stretching out to a full gallop. It was impressive; she is a very fast dog. She made it all the way to the edge of the oval, which I considered too far, so we called her back. It was good to see that even with that big distraction, she still came running toward us.

She really is quite an amazing dog.

Incredibly, our little Kona-bear has been with us for one year. We feel so lucky to have such a sweet, happy, loyal, smart, awesome doggie. Took her on a fun after dinner walk tonight, followed by a little backyard fetch.

One year ago



A couple weeks ago

Two of Kona's raddest tricks:

1. Kona and I are chillin on the couch. I make a "quack quack" sound like a duck. Kona perks up, jumps down, and goes to retrieve her duck doll, brings it to me. Good girl.

2. Kona is hanging out with me in my office. I look at her and say, "Where's daddy? Go find daddy!!" She gets all excited and runs around looking for Brian until she finds him. Sometimes when we do this Brian hides in the bedroom and she has to find him. It's cute.

Another two things:

Do you like: crib in espresso, or crib in white + espresso? The nursery has pale blue walls with white wood trim and white wainscoting that goes halfway up the wall. I mostly love this crib because unlike most others, it is low to the ground making it easy for short moms to place their babies inside without needing a drop side or step stool. Plus it converts into a toddler bed, then day/full bed.

Ok, going home now...

A couple of photos from today... click on them to enlarge to full size.


 

One of Kona's favorite activities



We took her to Olympia yesterday. It was her longest ever car ride and she was very good, slept much of the way. When we got to town we had to leave her in the car while we went to lunch, poor baby. But after we ate we took her out and walked her around my old college town. She was pretty excited and freaked out about being in such a totally foreign environment. But overall was a very good girl as usual.

I visited my old pal Quitty at Orca bookstore. What a rad bookstore it is, too. I could spend a lot of time in there. Good mix of new and used, lots of obscure stuff, very large, and just a great vibe. I used to shop there when I was 19, too.

I was impressed by how (obviously) Olympia is a billion times cooler than the town where we live. For example, they have Indian food. In fact they have a huge variety of places to eat and drink and shop in the relatively tiny downtown. I didn't appreciate Oly as much as I should have years ago; I was too young and dumb and obsessed at the time with retarded punk rock shit. But it's a pretty awesome little college town, beautiful even. We should visit more often, and try next time to go when there *isn't* a major fair or festival in town, as has accidentally happened to us the last two times we've gone.

Okay. I'm off to enjoy a hard-boiled egg, then clean the house a bit, and walk el puppo in the sunshine.

I had a dream last night that I was in a basement and looking across the dimness at several gigantic, kitten-sized spiders sitting in their webs. I am not as scared of spiders as I used to be, but in my dreams they always tend to be monstrous. These ones were yellow, and fast. Of course one of them came running toward me.

I decided we had to move, so I found a seventh-floor apartment in Olympia that rented for $1100. I took a tour of the place, it was very large inside and spider-less, but awkwardly laid-out, and dark. I dunno. It's hard to remember now.

I woke up and had strange abdominal cramps. I had to pee a lot. There's something going on in there alright. A special construction project. I feel like my tummy is unsettled, but not yet to the point of nausea. Soon it will be bathed in hormones. I sipped a little coffee this morning and it tasted gross. Maybe it was just a bad pot.

On my way off the ferry today I was walking behind this large, masculine woman who was holding an unlit cigarette in her right hand. She swung it back and forth as she walked, in huge exaggerated motions, like a member of the Red Army. It was pretty annoying.

I have tomorrow off, hooray. I am going to attempt to sleep in. We'll see how that goes; Kona loves to lick my hand when I am in bed and she is awake. Then she whines and wags her butt. This morning she carried her cry-bone all over the house for a while.

Kona's cry-bone is her rawhide chew. She loves that thing. But for some reason when it's between her jaws and she is carrying it around with her, she whines tragically. Thus its name. It's hilarious but inscrutable. She doesn't do this with any of her other toys. Funny dog.

Running out the door in five minutes to Kona's first agility class, I'm typing this in fingerless gloves.

If we take the back road to the class, she might start whining; she knows where we're going. She loves going to school.

Was saved this morning by Brian's spare headphones, though the ones he loaned me were exceedingly crummy in sound quality and design. Whoever thought it was a good idea to pinch the top of one's ears to hold a headphone in place never actually wore them for more than one minute.