Ulla's Birthday

I gave Ulla a present for her birthday. I framed a comic strip. It's from the series 'Mutts' and it came out really nice. Part of the money I paid for the comic went to benefit animal shelters. It's all good.

Sweet Pea, pictured here, is doing well. Some of her feral tendencies are surfacing. She doesn't seem to like other dogs with the exception of her roommate Jack (not pictured).

 
Hang in there Sweet Pea. Happy Birthday, Ulla.

SNL / Sweet Pea / AMNH

I took pictures Saturday night and into Sunday morning.

This picture was taken from my window at about 11:30 PM.

I got up at 6:00 AM to watch the Journal Report on Fox. The sun was coming up and I thought I could get some pictures. This is what 34th Street looks like at that time. This is facing East.

Another picture of 34th Street at Lexington.

This is the same location.

'Empire'.

This is taken at the top of Murray Hill which is the intersection of Park Avenue and 34th Street.

Another pretty shot of Lexington and 34th Street.

Later on Sunday I gave a tour of the Race to the End of the Earth exhibit at the AMNH. I felt good about it. I got this snap in the Roosevelt Rotunda on the CPW side. The dinosaur mount depicts a Barosaurus defending her baby from an attacking Allosaurus. The scene is fanciful and it is made of cast material rather than actual fossils. Real fossils are too heavy to be posed this way.

The museum has cut a walk way in the base so people can get under the mount and look at it from a different angle.

Sweet Pea Update! She's doing well and thriving. Sweet Pea is the alpha of all she surveys, but she can be a little rough with other dogs and needs supervision.

Here she has determined that I have nothing to eat.

It's Sweet Peas' sofa and she doesn't mind sharing. I'm not sure she remembers me but she seems glad that I'm there.

Me at brunch in Jersey City. I had eggs.

I took no pictures of the food. I've got to start remembering stuff like that.

That's all folks!

Dog Hunt

My friend Ulla, who I call 'Patty', encountered a stray dog while walking her own dog. I went out there on Sunday for a visit and we decided to see if this little dog would show up. She did. That day she was called 'Harriet' by Ulla, but since then her name was changed to 'Sweet Pea'.

She's probably very young, less than 1 year I would guess. Sweet Pea is very friendly and indescribably smart.

Here's Sweet Pea.

Ulla's dog is named 'Jack'. Here's a picture of Ulla and Jack out for a walk that day in Jersey City, NJ.

Ulla has been leaving food and water for Sweet Pea in an effort to help her out. Thank God the weather is warm. Sweet Pea will even eat from Ulla's hand. That dog knows what's what.

She's a wonderful dog and loves to play with Jack. Here they are having nothing but fun.

This is a picture of Sweet Pea adopting a 'play posture'. When a dog sticks it butt up like that it's an indication that she wants to play.

Ulla and I tried to think of a way to get a leash on Sweet Pea. I had the idea that if we sat down and acted nonchalant, Sweet Pea would settle down. If we then offered food, maybe we could get a leash on her.

The secret of life is acting nonchalant.

This idea partially worked. Sweet Pea hung out with us and everything was very sedate.

As I said, she's very smart and when I tried to put a collar on her she darted away out of reach.

These pictures were taken by Ulla.

This would be a picture that I took of Sweet Pea. Ulla is in the background taking a picture from another angle.

Sweet Pea is very attached to us up to a point. She followed us all the way back to Ulla's apartment, but we could not coax her to come inside. She did edge into the building, but ran out before I could close the door.

Ultimately, this isn't about me.

Maybe if Ulla doesn't feed Sweet Pea so much, she might get hungry enough to come into the building and let Ulla provide her with a home.

Hi, Sweet Pea

I'll update this post as news develops.

'There are 8 million stories in the Naked City and this has been one of them' - Mark Hellinger