Dog-Cat Relations

The relations between the cat and the dogs seem to have gotten better, in particular between Dixie and Dodo. (Archie was never that bad to Dodo.) Dixie no longer goes berserk every time she sees or hears the cat. All it took was for a characteristic plopping sound of Dodo landing on the floor from the counter for Dixie to transform. The transformation was not good. Dixie would tense-up, bring her senses to full alert, jump off the couch and zero-in on where she thought the cat was. Dixie never hurt or bit Dodo, but the amount of harassment irritated and scare the hell out of poor Dodo. Dixie would put her nose on Dodo and sniff him. Also, Dixie would vigorously lick the cat. (I'd hate to think Dixie was "tasting" the cat, but I'll give Doodle the benefit of the doubt.)

I'm not saying Dixie is a sweetheart to Dodo, but Dixie can look at the cat without turning into a whirlwind creature wild as hell.

Dixie On Ice

The "winter storm" was a dud. Instead of snow, we got freezing rain and sleet. Though the wintry mix stuck to the ground and glazed everything, ice is not nearly as fun as snow.

Doodle still hasn't seen snow accumulation. However, we did get a few flakes thrown in the mix. Dixie tried to capture a few snowflakes with her mouth. As cute as that was, snow accumulation would have been better.

"Peak"-ing is a City in China

Archie peaking over the table

I know the capital of China is "Beijing" and not "Peking" like it was called when I was a kid.

I snapped that photo when Archie lifted his head during a nap to see where everyone was. If we are in our places, then he feels comforted and goes back to sleep. But if no one is around, he gets lonely, stands up and finds where everyone is at.

Teethies

Dixie (l); Archie (r)

I bet there will be viewers who think that these dogs were about to tear each other apart. Also, those people would believe that instead of breaking apart an impending fight, I instead picked up a camera to take a picture. It's amazing how many people lack commonsense.

They really were playing. They were all bark and no bite.

Exhibition of the Accomplishments of Expensive Dog Training

This is where the plate for the cat's food should be.

This is where I found the plate

Once again, Dixie has helped herself to the cat's food. Despite the food being on the counter far from the edge, Doodle can stretch that body of hers to get the plate. I imagine the cat food tastes yummy because of the effort Dixie has to go through to get it. This is what expensive dog training gets you in the Raleigh area nowadays.

Judging a Book By Its CoverYes, Law Professors Do That

Dear gentle readers who read this blog for the law school content (as opposed to those who read the content about pets) law school professors do judge a book by its cover. We are told not to determine who and what a person is by what he wears or how he looks. But trust me, this goes on all the time, even in law school.

For example, in the last week of class, my criminal procedure professor saw me hanging around a classroom. The previous class had run past its scheduled end time, so I milled around the hallway with my classmates waiting for the room to open. The professor, whose office is just a couple of door down from that classroom, saw me, waived and initiated a conversation with me. It was the first time we had spoken to each other that semester.

She wanted to know how things were going for me and in particular, criminal procedure. I gave some pat answers. But when we went into detail, I mentioned that there were some cases I did not like which pissed me off such as Terry and Wardlow. She seemed surprised. She actually said that she thought I'd be conservative, "on the right."

I was taken aback she would say something like that out loud. I responded by saying that for the most part, I am conservative, "you should ask my environmental law professor." (What was funny about that remark is that I latter found out that her husband is an environmental lawyer.) I told her what other viewpoints I had and she said that I sounded more like a libertarian. Who knows.

But, people do indeed judge a book by its cover, even law professors.

The irony of this story is that minutes after my professor said that I "looked" conservative, I gave a presentation on a paper in which I took the same side of an issue as the ACLU and Greenpeace.

A Pretty White Cat on a Pink Pillow

Dodo

In another bout of eccentricity, my mom bought a fluffy pillow specifically for the purpose of the cat laying on it on the porch. He hangs out in the porch quite a bit, so my mom thought it would be nice for him to be as comfortable as possible.

Dodo loves that pink pillow. [I realize the pillow may not be exactly 'pink' but that is what it looks like to me] He especially loves to lie there when it's cool, somewhere around 40 degrees. If it's too cold, he wants to come in. If it's too warm, then the pillow will be too hot. Besides, in warmer weather, he wants to sit all the way outside to guard against the interlopers prowling around.