Mabel and I went out for a nice walk today. We went to the park near our house, and we ran and chased birds and romped and generally had a great time.

Until we were attacked by an unleashed dog, that is.

Mabel loves everyone and everything. Every dog is her new best friend. Every person is her buddy. She is full of life. So when this large Golden Retriever came charging toward us, I was a little trepidatious but hopeful that they'd have a sniff and maybe a little play and be done.

This Golden Retriever had other ideas. Before I could even act, his sniff turned into a pinning. He got on top of Mabel and Mabel started to yelp. She is NOT an afraid dog. Or at least she wasn't. She's been socialized and plays beautifully. This was not play. I'd never seen Mabel like this. And the yelping.
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We've all been there. We're driving down the highway, singing at the top of our lungs, totally oblivious (or perhaps not caring) about the fact that we look insane to all other drivers. It's a song we've known all our lives, and we know the lyrics by heart. Or do we? We listen to ourselves for a moment, and we hear ourselves sing, "Doesn't matter what they say, in the Dallas games people play, ay ay ay! Alex the Seal!"

In a way, this could make sense.

I'll be honest with you. I can be snarky. All it takes is a quick perusal of my blog or Facebook page to see that I am not immune to snarkiness.

But also I'm sick of it. Really. I'm so tired of how everything in our culture seems to be based on irony and sarcasm and nastiness. I think we've gotten immune to it, it's so pervasive. Ever since 9/11, our culture has become far more cynical. Television comedy is a perfect example.

File this under "Bad ways to motivate young men."

Buffalo, Wyoming high school football coach Pat Lynch was forced to resign last week after a questionnaire he distributed to his players was made public. Suffice it to say his "Hurt Feelings Report," which included reasons for "hurt feelings" such as "I am a queer," "I am a little bitch," and "I have woman like hormones," did not go over well with the public.

Here's the full questionnaire.

1. As a society, it would be nice if we spent a little more time focusing on the alleged victims of Jerry Sandusky, and a little less thinking about the Nittany Lions. I get that Joe Paterno was a living legend and that he's been fired. I think it's terribly sad that this will be his legacy, and I don't feel comfortable judging exactly what happened since I wasn't there.

Given the general insanity of our current political scene, it's always dangerous to say that some new law or ruling is "the most ridiculous piece of legislation" ever passed. But it is hard to top what Senate Republicans recently did to alter an anti-bullying law.

Michael's Safe School Law, recently passed by the state Senate, was intended to keep kids safe from bullying. It was named after Matt Epling, a teen who committed suicide in 2002 after a gay-bullying episode.

I cannot overstate what an odd turn of events this is. While I have always enjoyed eating candy, I have never been one to enjoy kitchen-related hobbies. And yet here I am these days, learning to make fondant from scratch.

Here it is, my first batch of chocolates!

From left to right, that would be orange, peppermint, raspberry, and banana creams. And I'm clearly a biased source, but I have to say they are delicious! I especially like the banana creams.

For those of you who know me, you know that cooking has never been my forte. To wit:

-Chuck has on more than one occasion officially banished me from our kitchen.

-I once made stir fry, and complained that the lettuce didn't cook that well.

-On a first date in my late 20s, I prepared shake-n-bake pork chops. That relationship did not last.

So it may surprise you to know that I have taken up a new hobby: Candy Making.

There's nothing quite like the paralysis one can feel when starting a new novel.

So many choices! And these choices are about your new baby. People generally don't get to choose what their baby will be, but for authors, we have an element of control. Some use it more than others.

Just like with a human birth, we can decide to go natural, or say, "I want to feel as little as possible, thank you very much!"

In my MFA program, I learned much more about writing as a form of exploration.

At our puppy obedience school, there's this four-year-old Peekapoo named Toby who has, for the first three sessions, been the class dunce. He's older than the other puppies, but just can't seem to stop barking at this Chocolate Lab. Toby's mom has to take Toby to the bathroom as a time out. Frequently. She spent the first classes shuttling him in and out of there.

I was embarrassed for her. Poor thing, I'd keep thinking. She's clearly an unfit mother. She doesn't care for her pooch like we do.
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