Friday, May 9, 2008 | by nathan

Sam Fridays: Moving On Up, To The East Side

Last weekend, in the midst of all our fabulous relaxifyin’ and general laziness, we also participated in our neighborhood garage sale. We’ve been trying to get rid of the last bits of detritus from when we redesigned the back porch, and our first garage sale didn’t quite go as well as we’d liked. The good thing about a neighborhood garage sale is that you have 50 other homeowners putting stuff out for sale the next day, and all your more experienced garage salers - the people who scour strangers’ front yards day and night in an attempt to find used items - will go from house to house. We sold almost everything.

Sam enjoys garage sales. He gets to hang out in the front yard with us and walk up to complete strangers, begging them to pet him. We were worried that some people might be afraid of or allergic to him, though, and so we tied him down with a stake I bought for when we take him camping. He did great; it gave him the freedom to move and walk around a bit without having to be completely immobile and without me worrying he’d get a bit too excited and dash out in front of a car.

I walked across the street to the neighbors’ sale about noon and found something that I knew Sam HAD TO HAVE. I got Sam a Dog-Loo.

MAN OH MAN did he love that thing; he took to it immediately. He went almost immediately inside and didn’t come out almost at all:

It’s basically a doghouse, right? Only MADE OF PLASTIC AND SHAPED LIKE AN IGLOO! It got pretty hot that afternoon, and Sam was able to keep cool. He even managed to catch a nap:

He definitely didn’t want to leave his dogloo when it was time. But he did come out a few times to get some lovins:

Now it sits in the backyard and Sam still seems to enjoy it, though he sorta forgot about it the other day when he got caught in the rain whilst doing his business. Oh well; he’ll get used to it.

Friday, May 2, 2008 | by nathan

Sam Fridays: A Note From Sam

Hello there. Sam here. My guys celebrated their third anniversary on Wednesday, and to celebrate they took Thursday and Friday off work and blogging. No daily photos, and only this one really excellent picture of me to get you through until next week.

They did tell me to tell you two things:

1) I got caught digging in the garden. There was nothing planted where I was digging and so I was spared a flaying, but I was mighty afraid of the one guy who seems to spend all his time out there lately. He was tiny and angry.

2) This is the only time this website will ever feature a cloying "post written by the dog" post.

Friday, April 25, 2008 | by nathan

Sam Fridays: Sam and the Everlasting Gobstopper

This is Sam:

He’s kinda wet in this photograph; we’d given him a bath.

This? This is the Everlasting Gobstopper:

The Everlasting Gobstopper is Sam’s favorite toy of all time. It’s mine, too, because, unlike the first fuzzy toy that we got Sam, this one has miraculously survived being torn apart and having its fuzzy innards splayed all over the yard. Harrah AND Sam have both tried to tear this toy apart, but they just can’t seem to.

This is what the Gobstopper looks like when I throw it in the air, take a photo with a really fast shutter speed, and then photoshop the image a bit:

Makes a great photograph, eh?

Sam really likes this toy; he gets really super excited every time I pick it up and make it squeak. I throw it, and he brings it back to somewhere like my vicinity - usually about 5-7 feet to my right. He hasn’t quite got the hang of ‘fetch’ yet, but it’s OK. Look how much he likes the Gobstopper:

Friday, April 18, 2008 | by nathan

Sam Fridays: He Works Hard For The Money

When we got Sam I was impressed with how well-trained he was, for a dog who was so poorly taken care of. Here I show you a few of the tricks he knows, and the only one he has trouble with, which is "Speak."

Also, halfway through this video, you can see my manly, virile husband come in and squash a bug WITH HIS BARE FOOT. Oh, don’t worry - he washed that foot before getting into bed.

Sam, Tricking Himself Out For Food from Okay City Nate on Vimeo.

Saturday, April 12, 2008 | by nathan

Sam Fridays: With Apologies That It’s Had To Wait Until Saturday

So, I’m a full day late on posting today’s Sam Fridays entry. But I have a good reason, a reason I should’ve let you in on on, say, Thursday, because I actually knew ahead of time that this week’s Sam update wouldn’t come until today. And I know that a whole bunch of you only read this site because of Sam, and trust me, I couldn’t be more okay with this.

Anyway, the reason it’s had to wait is because Sam, Brian and I have had a very big day today. As you know, we are currently repurposing the back room on our house, turning it from an awful storage space into a wonderful garden paradise in which we plan to spend the summer drinking pitchers of gin fizz and laughing with our friends. A big part of this process, as it turns out, has had to involve a garage sale, as the reason we were using the room for storage was that we have more, um, crap than space around here. We are attempting to change our crap-space ratio. Hence, a garage sale.

Sam enjoyed this, as we let him wander around the front yard all day without a leash, greeting our customers and generally getting into a whole lot of trouble. I admit, I had an ulterior motive: I wanted to photograph Sam getting into the aforementioned trouble. And as you’ll see, his shenanigans were a scream. First, he locked himself in the front seat of the car:

"Oh, we need some change for the garage sale? I’ll go get it! Where’s the ATM card?"

Then, the big dummy decided to investigate Buzzard, the friendly cat who lives across the street:

Seriously, I might send this one to lolcats.

Sam had a great time playing with the neighborhood kids, who mostly just tolerated him until I told him to leave them alone:

Then - the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Sam finally got to meet Pepper. This, um, did not go well.

See, Sam has never gotten on well with other male dogs, so after the introductory mutual-ass-sniff, Sam spent most of Pepper’s visit growling at the poor pup and then trying to hump him.

It was like watching an episode of Oz staged with dogs, it really was. Sam wasn’t even willing to let Pepper have his fair share of the neighbor kids’ snuggles:

So, finally, we put him on the porch and made him stay there.

All this happened before noon, and here we must take a Station Identification break so I can remind you that I live in Oklahoma, where at noon every Saturday, they test the tornado alarms to make sure they’re still working. Sam hates this with a burning passion, and hilarity almost always ensues, but it ensues elusively, and so far has proven difficult to capture on video.

Today, however, with Sam confined to the front porch, I thought, this is the day! So I got the little camera ready to videotape my dog hilariously howling his head off and trying to find the source of a sound THAT IS ALL AROUND HIM OH MY GOD WHERE IS THAT COMING FROM WHY CAN’T YOU MAKE IT STOP YOU’RE AN AWFUL, AWFUL PERSON FOR NOT MAKING IT STOP MAKE IT STOP!

But Sam? Not a cooperative dog. So what you’ll see, below, is approximately three minutes of my dog sort of half-heartedly growling at the tornado siren - or possibly at me for videotaping him - and TOTALLY NOT EARNING HIS KEEP DOESN’T HE KNOW THAT THIS WEBSITE PAYS FOR HIS VET VISITS?*

No food for you this week, Sam. But anyway, here’s the video:

Sam, NOT DOING WHAT HE SHOULD DO from Okay City Nate on Vimeo.

*No, it doesn’t. Can you imagine? We’d be going to the Dr. Nick of veterinarians. Seriously, though, that does get pretty funny around 1:30.

Friday, April 4, 2008 | by nathan

Sam Fridays: Wherein Sam Gets A Neighbor (and is actually not featured)

This last month, Sam got a new neighbor of the canine variety when our across-the-street neighbors Moose and Lynde adopted a little black puppy named Pepper. Pepper is a German Shepherd puppy, though he’s the only German Shepherd I’ve ever seen who was almost all-black. Pepper’s a fun, little well-behaved guy who hangs out mostly in Moose and Lynde’s front yard, young and full of piss and vinegar, yet still smart enough to mostly keep from wandering in the street:

Last week I was walking down the street to take some photos of the beautiful blooming trees in the median in our neighborhood, and Pepper followed me about halfway down the street. One of the other neighbors, Ken, tried to help me to coax Pepper back to his own house, but he was far more interested in following me around as I took pictures. But within seconds I realized it was far more fun to take pictures of Pepper than of any stupid flowers:

Because Pepper? He has a bit of a problem, you see. Pepper’s big, powerful German Shepherd ears have grown much, much faster than the rest of his body, and the muscles he will someday use to hold them up to hear when little Timmy falls in the well have not developed yet. So, Pepper is just about the funniest looking little guy I think I’ve ever seen, because his poor ears just lay on top of his head.

Tell me that’s not the cutest thing you’ve seen this week. COME ON! I dare you to look in those eyes and not fall madly in love with this pup.

Friday, March 28, 2008 | by nathan

Sam Fridays: Wherein Sam Has A Showdown With A Grocery Bag… And Loses

Last night Brian went to the store to get us something to make for dinner. It was incredibly sweet of him to do that, as I was feeling pretty tired. When he got home he unloaded all the groceries then put the paper bag on the floor. Then, this happened:

Because Sam? He’s not that bright, and so the bag pretty much won. Brian and I would’ve helped him out of this jam - seriously, we really would’ve - but we were just so damn busy laughing at the hilarity of it all. By the time I regained myself, having snapped a few photos in the process, Sam had extricated himself from the bag. I knelt down on the floor and called him over to me, but he really wasn’t interested in being my friend all of a sudden:

THBPHTHHHHH!

After a few minutes Sam forgave me, and he and I sat on the floor together, him getting some serious love. You’ve just got to love a dog that can’t free himself from a simple paper bag. I’ll tell you, though, when I called him over to me he made damn sure not to go ANYWHERE near that bag. Honest to God, it took him a full 60 seconds just to cross the kitchen to get to me. All this wore him out:

So he thought he’d go see what was for dinner. Or, to be more precise, to see what was for our dinner. As if we’d give him any:

Still, you’ve got to hand it to him: he never gives up hope.

Friday, March 21, 2008 | by nathan

Sam Fridays: Wherein Sam Gets A Visitor

Why is Sam so happy? For one, it’s Good Friday, and this poor dog has a whole lot to be thankful for. But also, he’s got to spend the week with his favorite dog in the whole wide world, his "girlfriend" Harrah, who has been staying with us this week as her owners, Jaye and Laurie, are spending the week in Austin in celebration of Laurie’s birthday. [I’ve been told to say that she’s turning 19 this year.]

See what a pretty girl Harrah is? Also, she’s bursting with life and energy, and the same cannot be said for any other member of this household. Living with Harrah is a bit like living with a big, red-haired tornado. She’s about 3 years old, and her turn-ons include GETTING EXCITED ABOUT EVERYTHING. You want to get up from your seat and go get a glass of water? Expect Harrah to get stoked about it and start running in circles. Want to eat a little cup of yogurt out of the fridge? Expect Harrah to spend the ENTIRE TIME standing on her back legs, her front paws in the air, wanting to get in on some of that. She rubs off on Sam, too, who I think is just trying to keep up to impress her.

The best part about having Harrah around is that Sam does things he’d NEVER normally do, like, say, go in a crate. He’d never do this for us, and believe me, we’ve given up trying, but behold!

He just wants his lady to know that there’s nothing he’s afraid of. Of course, she never heard him whine and cry when he had to go in his crate all by himself. Seriously, people get on to me about it, but giving up crate training with Sam was the healthiest and best thing we could’ve done for ourselves and for him. And yet - here he is. They’re quite the pair, these two, and though Harrah is a hurricane of dog whirling at you day and night, we enjoy having her because of how much Sam loves getting to chill with another dog. See how much he likes her?

Friday, March 14, 2008 | by nathan

Sam Fridays: A Bathing Beauty

This is another of the photos I took while off sick a couple weeks ago, when Sam was very patient and kind with me as I snapped a hundred photos of him as he tried to get some damn sleep in the office and OH MY GOD WOULD IT HAVE BEEN TOO MUCH OF ME TO ASK FOR ME TO JUST LET HIM SLEEP? Yes, it would’ve; he has to earn his keep.

You guys were so stoked about the idea of a regular Sam feature that I decided to throw in something a little extra:

A couple weekends back we took Sam to the dog park and finally dared try out the dog-wash place down the street. It’s almost exactly like a car wash, which provided no end to chuckles as we tied poor, unwitting Sam up on a raised metal grate, inserted $5 in quarters and proceeded to pre-wash, soap, rinse, and hot wax the shit out of him. We had gone to Bed Bath & Beyond to get some cheapy towels to dry him off with, but they weren’t enough, and we ended up running out of quarters before we could get him good and dry. So this was what happened on the drive home:

He’s been pretty put out with us ever since.

Friday, March 7, 2008 | by nathan

Sam Paws

I took this photograph about two weeks ago when I was off work sick. Sam showed an amazing amount of patience with me that day, as all I really felt like doing was taking pictures of him. In related news, I’m going to start doing a sort of "Weekly Sam" photo post - "Sam Fridays," because I have so many awesome photos of this dog that I could easily let this whole website be overrun by him.