Diego spent yesterday getting groomed, shampooed and generally pampered.

Bud and Sid, the surviving mollies, got their tank cleaned and water freshened this afternoon.

I’m noticing a disturbing trend that involves everyone but me.  I sense the need for a massage in the very near future.

No one seems to be getting back to me on anything today, which makes for a nice recovery day.  We made the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 last night, which was a very good movie, but it kept me up until 3ish, and then Diego alerted us to a ninja intruder at around 6ish.  Siesta will necessarily be longer than usual.

Pride is this weekend, and so is the San Clemente Ocean Festival, and then Comic-Con starts on Thursday.  So much for July productivity.

Randy’s texting me his impressions on today’s mineral water spa treatment in Boston.

Diego would be texting me from his spa if he had thumbs, gloating about how much prettier he feels when he gets his dew claws done.

I’m just hanging out ripping out the old caulking from the master bath.  Right now I’m think about what that’s done to my hands (paint thinner?  you’re soaking in it dear), but I wasn’t when I started typing this post.

Originally we headed somewhere mid-June for a two-fold celebration: school being out (and the start of Spinner‘s summer vacation) and Spinner’s birthday. Then we got married on vacation in June 2008, which made 2009 and 2010 a threefer when you include the anniversary celebration. Now with budget cuts school gets out much earlier, so the vacation is back to being a twofer, but this year we’re back at The Cliffs.  Five days and four nights walking distance to the beach with the dog.  Do you think he’ll be happy?  I think he’ll be happy.

Two new observations on Diego:

- For a dog who’s fearless against ninjas and creatures of the night, he sure becomes a sniveling coward in the face of thunder and lightning pretty fast.

- It didn’t take him long to learn how to make his own fun by dropping his tennis ball down the stairs.

Compare:

The shot of the Grizzly is from today at the zoo. The photo of Diego was taken last year.  But they both seem to be giving me that same stare.  That ‘don’t you have anything better to do with that camera‘ stare.  Didn’t really think about it until the shots showed up next to each other as random picks at the photo gallery, but now I’m just kinda freaked out about it.

If Diego was posting on this morning’s walk:

We were on the final leg when up the hill we saw my most favorite canine movie star and his posse doing the walk of shame *breath* I tried to say hi and I’m sure he heard me and wanted to come over and say hi and be my friend and maybe even trade a lick or two but Chuck’s such a stick in the mud he kept tugging at my leash and then Wile (I call him Wile) got too far away and I missed my big opportunity…

But Chuck is posting this, so…

Shut up you dumb dog, those are coyotes. They do not want to be your friend.