Relief efforts

Well, relief is indeed at hand! Sighs of relief that damages in New York seem to be quite minor. And relief for Petey in terms of FINALLY getting outside for a nice long walk. And with plenty of limbs on the street, he had loads of places to leave pee-mails.

This car was swamped down near Asta's home. We were walking with a bunch of our dog run friends and ran into George taking Asta out for some relief of her own. There was some flooding on their street, but it's all receded.

About a block and a half away on Bleecker Street, two trees toppled down in the little park near Magnolia Bakery. (No cupcakes were killed in the Hurricane. Well, at least not by toppled trees.)
One fell over inside the park -- the park is under renovation already!

And this one fell across the street and was cut down by the fire department.

While we were looking at it, I was interviewed by CNN! (Note to self: Never go outside following a national disaster without full makeup, hair and wardrobe...) Told them that the dogs were the real victims, as they'd been housebound for hours and unable to get outdoors to relieve themselves. Yes, hard-hitting news! But the camera man did pan Petey and my friends across the street, so keep your eyes peeled for us!

Again, we're feeling very blessed that we made it through an earthquake and a hurricane without much harm here in New York. Our prayers go out to those not so fortunate.

Goodnight Irene!

Looking south towards the tip of the Island. the fourth building from the right is the new tower,
now under construction.

Well, we've been waiting out the hurricane all day today. The streets are eerily quiet, though we did see a couple with their "Nuevo York" guidebooks trying to get in some sightseeing in the Village this afternoon!

Every time there is the slightest break in the rain, I've taken Petey out to "drain his squirt gun!" The city has either removed or turned the trashcans upside down so they'll be less likely to fly around when the storm really hits. Which means that the few available cans are full of poop bags! When Irene starts to blow, the sh*t could really fly - literally!

Looking north towards the Empire State building.

Around 2:00 p.m., I went up on the roof to see what was going on - hence these photos. Eighth Avenue is usually a ribbon of glowing red taillights up to Central Park and today - nothing. The shops on Bleecker Street are closed, some of them taped up with painters tape or masking tape, which I thought was pretty funny. Clearly these people are not up to date on their Hurricane preparations! The Michael Kors store was boarded up, except for two small windows on the side of the building which still had handbags on display. Figure those are the cheap bags!

"Hmmm, how long is she going to expect me to hold it?"

Petey's not a fan of rain to start off with. even more so as he's gotten older. So I bought some wee-wee pads and opened one in the bathroom and am hoping he'll remember what they're for - that they'll stir up a memory from puppyhood. Of course, every time I take him outside, he'll do a quick pee and then pull to come inside. Where he goes to the kitchen and scratches his bowl for water! Nooooooooooo!

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and words as we face this storm head on. We really appreciate all the goodwill you're sending our way!

In our household, this is EVERYday!

Today is National Dog Day - what's new? - it's Dog Day every day at our house! I often think of Jerry Seinfeld's riff that if aliens came to earth, they'd think dogs ruled the planet, with humans as their servants who carry their waste in little plastic bags!

So celebrate like crazy today, Petey and Pals! Because the rest of the weekend here in NYC may not be so much fun.

My biggest concern is not the windows blowing in or the electricity going off but what to do when it comes to getting Petey outside to relieve himself? I think one of my hurricane supplies is going to be some wee wee pads and just hope that he can think back to his puppyhood and remember what they're used for!

The following image has been all over the internet lately, but it's so beautiful and powerful, I felt it was poignant to share it with you on National Dog Day.

(Not meaning to be disrespectful, but unless there's a tennis ball or a doggie treat on my coffin, I don't think I can expect this from Petey.)

Finally, in the spirit of solidarity on National Dog Day, I thought I'd share this photo with you that was taken of Petey and Lil' Lacie this summer on Hilton Head.

And in case you're thinking that "Hey, Lacie's butt doesn't look THAT big," Petey wants you to know that they are not sitting on a cushion, but a pair of Lacie's shell-printed bikini bottoms.

Have a great and SAFE weekend everyone!

Beware the Devil Dog!

Now, Petey has been a devilish dog in the past. Sometimes literally, and sometimes figurately (like when he decided as a puppy that the only pair of shoes he wanted to chew on were my pink alligator pumps, purchased at the Barneys Warehouse at a significant discount from their original price of $1,350. I know. But how many times do you run into a pink alligator?).

However, last Thursday while walking home from the run with our neighbor and her dog Kali (since Rosie has disappeared from blogland, Kali is Petey's real-life girlfriend. She's a sweet black and white beagle-terrier mix with an alluring beagle bay.) we stopped by a neighborhood store where Petey knows he can always count on getting a dog treat or two or three. I looked down and my sweet boy looked like this:

Okay, I exaggerate. Just his left eye looked like that. Like he was possessed by a demon. He wasn't in any pain and his vision didn't seem impaired, but it looked just awful and glowing red so off we went to the emergency vet.

Several tests later, we ruled out rat poisoning, internal bleeding, cornea scratches, blood infections (can you just hear the cash register ringing up this total?) and it was decided that he had a burst blood vessel behind his eye. So, home we trotted with pain pills (as much to keep him quiet as for pain relief) and gooey ointment to squish into his eye three times a day. He's on to me and when he sees me coming with anything in my hand, he scampers away, tail between his legs. The blood started pooling at the bottom of his eye almost immediately and is s-l-o-w-l-y looking better but it still looks quite red when he's outside in the sunshine.

But here's the worst part. No dog run until it clears up. And the weather? Perfect breezy sunshine in the upper 70's. More late September than August. Oh well, we've got a hurricane headed our way this weekend so he won't miss out too much. (Earthquake, hurricane - what's next? A plague of frogs?)

Guess it's as good an excuse as any to let the little mite have some ice cream at the Cafe Cluny ice cream cart...