#dang pandemic :(((

[yeoldenews]

"An honest-to-goodness dollbaby."

(source: The Miami Daily Record-Herald, December 20, 1918.)

[macadam]

this is it. The transformers fandom has peaked and the only way we are ever gonna get this hyped ever again is if we get another movie, i don't want this feeling to end :(

Well, the good news is that this season has 20~ episodes, and I believe a season 2 has already been confirmed and started down the pipeline. So the hype will continue

[raeloganthesonic06fangirl]

Finally got to the dentist and this was the Christmas tree decor

By the way, got to have some teeth pulled over a few appointments in the next few months, and I'm just ouch right now, so heads up on low online activity for a bit.

Got a cute ice pack in the shape of a tooth from them, free chapstick and a $25 pizza voucher. Seriously, my teeth suck bad. The tiny blackened bit I thought was a small cavity on a stray tooth turned out to be a whole butt wisdom tooth underneath that was the size of my thumb knuckle with a deep root and rot underneath the gums, and had to be yoinked. I'm calling it "Iceberg". It's crazy to look at.

Will get back to silliness whenever possible, but teef for now

[lovevalley45]

The fact that the actor who plays Bishop is Talas husband...

She said Hey My Man is Hot getting Beaten Up give him a Job

sjksf it's still so funny to me that he's her husband like. i will say i was so happy that they actually had a plot where young bishop is forced to be babysat by the tarazis in s7 bc of that alone

but also it was a good call! he is great at being beaten up and i love that for him

[thesingingrevolution]

FANCY MY MOST LISTENED TO SONG EVER

[moonraisedsunchild]

I want the Tom nook build a bear (both outfits tbh)... I feel like I am frothing at the mouth. He is so friend shaped and I wanna hug him so bad.

[comm-caribou]

Don’t mind me venting for a minute.

It’s really annoying how I graduated seven years ago from high school, and the “adults” in my life—who I don’t really know—still like to put their two-cents into my life.

Originally when I went to college, I went to this university for English Education major. The goal was to be a high school English teacher, but that wasn’t the whole story.

Let’s cut to the chase. I ended up switching majors to Creative Writing, and I was happier. However, due to the pandemic, I dropped out with the intention of going back later to finish elsewhere.

Fast forward to today, a lady who I personally don’t really know and my parents know through someone else, came through my line at the grocery store.

Barely greeting me, she immediately started grilling me about why I’m not a teacher yet since I should be out of college by now. Then, when I told her I didn’t go to school for teaching, she began berating me. At my job! In front of other customers and my coworkers!

It was like she was disappointed in me for not meeting her expectations, and I don’t really know or remember who she is.

Then, after she paid, she asked what my major was.

What she did after made my blood boil.

She smirked. This lady, who probably only knows me as my parents’ daughter, smirked and said:

“You can’t do anything with that anyways.”

[turtlesandfrogs]

I made this Pre-pandemic for a "Starting plants from the grocery store" class I was teaching, here it is edited down for anyone interested.

For saving seeds, the fruit should be fully mature for the seeds to be fully mature. Therefore, you can use seeds from a winter squash but not a baby zucchini, and the likelihood that the seeds of a tomato (or red bell pepper) will grow are much higher than for a green bell pepper. Unfortunately, many are either going to be poorly suited for your conditions, or hybrid, which we'll touch on later.

Stem cuttings are a great way to start many common culinary herbs! Especially basil!

Some tubers to consider starting from are sweet potatoes and actual potatoes.

And then of course, the bulbs! Green onions and garlic are your best bets!

These are outdoor plants and thus are Somewhat Fussy if you're going to grow indoors. Do not overwater them (eg, letting them sit in a tray of water for days) nor let them dry out completely. Try to keep them evenly moist, with thorough waterings that then pour out the bottom of the pot unimpeded. 

Given that they are outdoor plants, a south-facing window (assuming you’re in the northern hemisphere) or grow lights are your best bet. If they don’t get enough light, they will turn pale and stretch towards their light source. They won’t grow as quickly or as healthfully as they would with sufficient light.  

Examples:

Tomatoes & peppers! Tomatoes are the one that actually inspired me to make this because I saw this clip on starting plants from kitchen scraps, and they buried the whole dang half of a tomato! Don’t do that! What a waste of a tomato half! EAT your tomato! Take the seeds out! 

If you’re intending to grow these outdoors, start them about 6 weeks before your last frost. If you have not grown plants from seed before, here’s some information from another class I taught: https://tinyurl.com/seedstarting2020

If you’re intending to grow them indoors the whole time, you will likely need grow lights for both tomatoes and peppers, and they like it if you keep your house on the warm side. I would suggest growing them outdoors and buying seeds for a dwarf tomato if you really want to grow indoors.

The down side is that most are hybrid, so when you grow out the seed, it's not necessarily going to grow well, be productive, or taste good. Even if it is open pollinated, it's probably been bred to thrive in conditions unlike those you can provide. If you need a successful crop, I highly suggest buying seed, or swapping with a reputable source. Although if you like and can find yellow pear tomatoes, those are an exception to this entire paragraph.

Basil! Basil is a great one to do stem cuttings of, get it started indoors, and then plant out once night time temperatures stay above 50f (10c). I prefer to start them straight into soil, and seem to have a higher success rate this way. To do this, remove all leaves except the top bud, and bury the stem in soil up to just beneath that bud and firm gently. Keep the soil moist and the pot above 60f, and you should have a good success rate. This method works for mint, lemon balm, rosemary, sage, etc, as well.

Green onions- really easy, put the bottom inch or so in soil and they’ll grow very well for you. I prefer soil over water because a) the water gets stinky, and b) they grow better and stronger in soil.

AND MORE:

Sage, rosemary, and thyme (also any stemmed herb): just like basil

Lettuce, carrots, beets: you get the tops, but usually they’ll try to bolt. Easier just to buy seeds. If you want, I usually start in shallow water and then plant as soon as I see roots growing. Again, keep the soil moist, and for these ones, keep them in a cooler part of your house. But really, they almost always bolt in my experience.

Sweet potatoes: Get them in the fall, it takes months for them to start growing (unless you're somewhere warm apparently? ). They will sprout, grow roots, take slips to plant outdoors once night time temperatures study above 50f (10c)

Garlic, just grab a clove and plant in the fall. Boom. GARLIC.

Squash- you don’t know what you’ll get, because they might be cross pollinated with another variety or hybrids. If you do grow it out and it’s bitter, don’t eat it, it’s poisonous. If you want to know more, search “toxic squash syndrome”

Ginger: Plant the rhizome in summer, harvest before frost, or overwinter indoors with a lot of light.

Pineapple: Doable, but it takes three years to get a harvest. Plant in well draining soil, and give it as much heat and light as you can.

Just for fun: (Unless you’re in the tropics or have a lot of patience.)

Mango, avocado, citrus. Take years, and a different climate than I have to fruit. If you’re in the tropics, go for it, but know that avocado pollination can apparently be tricky. I am not in the tropics, so I do not have direct experience with this. Citrus I think I've read also don't come true from seed.

Apples, pears: take years, and don’t come true to type. You do not know what you’ll get, and you’ll probably get something that is not worth eating (but would work for cider). These do need a cold dormancy period in the winter to do well. Of course, you could plant them and then top graft if it does turn out they don’t taste good.

Plums, peaches, apricots: take years, often do come true from seed, but peaches and nectarines are very susceptible to peach leaf curl, so may just die depending on where you are.

[drchucktingle]

what chuck will not write

every so often internet remembers that erotica about sentient covid and chuck is tagged in joking way, so again: making hero out of covid as joke does not prove love. not fun or funny trot about something that hurt so many. try these free tinglers instead

and if you are up for it and enjoy these tinglers it is always good time to donate to ST JUDES CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL or GLOBAL GIVING or other charities listed on link

sorry to harsh anyones trot but there are still some who do not understand my work and think 'oh i could do that i will write MEME EROTICA about this big news topic'. it is fine bud, you can create what you want, but that is enormous and cynical misunderstanding of chucks work

natural disasters that hurt real buckaroos, pandemics, acts of violence may be NEWS WORTHY and get you dang clicks but they are not heroes

[counterintuitivecomics]

Some colorized bits from my recent free printable zine WHY WE MASK: It's Not "Just A Cold"! I purposefully made the whole thing b&w to make printing as cheap as possible, but it's fun to add color especially to the snot-splosions.

HEY COMICS FRIENDS going to SPX or other cons this weekend - MASK UP, EAT OUTDOORS, and REST if you start feeling run down. COVID-19 levels are BAD bad right now (it's currently the worst September out of the whole pandemic) and the government does not have our backs. This virus causes YEARS worth of horrible vascular, neurological, and immune system damage, and each infection raises your chances of gaining fun new disabilities that could prevent you ever making comics again.

I strongly advice cancelling festivals, cons, indoor dining, anything involving crowds indoors OR outdoors, etc. But I know people depend on income from cons, so: PACK MASKS, NASAL SPRAY, and CPC MOUTHWASH and actually use them! If you develop any COVID-19 symptoms (headaches, dizziness, nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea, sore throat, sore joints, etc) don't assume it's "just a cold". Stay in your dang hotel room and REST! You can TRY to "push through" to keep tabling but you are NOT gonna like the long-term results (aka Long COVID).

I care about all you comics people and I want you to enjoy many more decades of making and sharing and reading comics with each other. If you're feeling sick at a show this weekend and don't know what to do, drop me a line! No judgements. Take care of yourself and each other out there and remember, no one can rest your body for you but you.

(Image Descriptions are in the Alt Text. Also please feel free to print my zine and hand it out if you do go)

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S2 Ep8 Musings - Loustat (SPOILERS) Pt2: Reunion

You don't know the HALF of what Lestat feels for Louis, to let YOUR grimy arse steal his man, just for LOUIS's happiness. ANYTHING for Louis.

Am I the only one who felt left hanging? We BEEN knew it didn't make sense, but what's your POINT, exactly? If Louis misremembered Lestat whispering, it's just par for the course about the odyssey of recollection. But if Lestat DID do telepathy, is that evidence of...what? That the vampire bond works differently than what's been explained? That he COULD read Lou's mind? AMC, this is AGGRAVATING.

Your goose is COOKED, my guy.

The copium & denial pack Louis was smoking as he laughed was 🤌

That's right, start sweating!

Master manipulation; cuz he certainly would NOT have, as we soon find out. ANYTHING for Louis. (Dang, Imma have to take back some of what I said about Lestat's character development not having started yet.)

I was shocked. I was NOT expecting this plot twist. I was ready to throw Lestat out with the rest of the TRASH, in the DUMP. Well dang. Guess I'll only leave him rotting in a TINY landfill.

I nearly SCREAMED--@nashvillethotchicken and I were talking about Loustat as Bobby and Whitney ages ago! I cannot BELIEVE AMC threw in a New Edition reference in the year of our lord 2024; y'all are diabolical AF, Rolin, STOP IT.

I wonder if AMC used Hurricane Odette cuz the OG script was set in pandemic!2020, so it would make sense that a year later Louis would head back to NOLA during 2021 when Hurricane Odette last hit.

That looks like NOLA's Pontchartrain Hotel--lemme find out he bumped into the Mayfairs when Rowan & them were in town, LOL.

Lestat got more aliases than the KGB; meanwhile Louis just sprinkles his long AF unique AF name all over the place. 🤦 But I guess it's ok, since the tour guide never mentioned him & Claudia by name. (Not Tom Anderson in another finale, LOL.) Louis so offended the tour guide said he ran a voodoo cult. XD

Fall of the House of Lioncourt-Melmouth.

You're gosh darned right! THEE Louis of Troy is in the building!

You love to see it. "A wearisome fledgling; all the millennials are--" not Lestat making PALE PROXIES of rat-catcher extraordinare LDPDL out of millennials. 😭

Lestat, if you don't get your crazy arse outta here with that bloodstained wooden keyboard Imma ROTFLMFAO.

NO JOKE, I effed up my friend's whole set when I started screaming "Siri, Pause," cuz my friend's Siri started freaking out and effed up the volume! XD

HERE WE EFFING GOOOOOOOO

(Best scene all season, fight me on this)

You know this was TEARING Lestat up, cuz of what happened in 1973--I gave Louis to you so you could do BETTER by him than EYE did, and instead it's NICKI ALL OVER AGAIN.

Imma smack him--this is NOT the time to be self-loathing, Lestat!

NOLA is my home--and the SAINT is not a city--I'm gonna cry.

He did. He just forgot, when reality settled in and the allure/nostalgia/glamour wore off. "I tried to make nights awful for you." Not the whole time, Louis. Y'all actually were happy b4--even Claudia said "the easy times" stopped after Florence died; and esp. after Charlie died. Lou can't be blamed for grieving his mom's death, and he definitely can't be blamed for Lestat & Claudia falling out after Charlie. Everything that happened after that--the 7 years of depression--was ALSO Lestat's fault. "I wanted you to suffer, cuz I was suffering;" I'm glad Les just waved that aside and said they BOTH wronged e/o.

He's not suicidal anymore then! He has nights in front of him to look forward to! So Lou can finally "learn to live honestly" with HIMSELF.

And Lestat dove RIGHT ON IN with that! He's been carrying that with him for DECADES, worried about Louis & what happened.

I LOVE that Les' language changes (the way his voice CRACKS and goes so TINY, oml)--he asked Lou in 1973 if he was "ill," and if something had happened TO him; so as to not spook/trigger or blame him--but he can ask more candidly now in a (relatively) "healthier" 2024 if Lou tried to hurt/kill himself; and get a more candid/honest answer. CLOSURE, y'all, I'm gonna cry.

GOOOOOOD. Don't EVER forget your daughter. Y'all need to have a Claudia Memorial; to KEEP remembering her, as she was in all her vampiric splendour, the good times AND the bad times.

I KNOW this hurt Louis to his effing core. The way Jacob cried FIRE!

I'm so glad Lou hugged him--YES YOU WERE, Uncle Les. And you KNOW it; you FELT that bond b/t y'all, even if she never looked at you. The distance b/t y'all was in name only, cuz a little Black girl couldn't have TWO daddies in 1917 and have one of them be white on top of it. I AM YOUR MAKER, sure, but you were her BLOOD FATHER, and she loved you, which is why she hoped you'd help her.

ANOTHER ROUND IN THE STORMY ROMANCE OF YOU TWO. 😭👏

What are these magical off-mic speeches/pep-talks Louis keeps giving people in Season 2?!? THE PEOPLE WANNA KNOW, gosh darnit!

DRATS.

I get why Jam said they thought the Loustat ending was "satisfying." It was nice, even though I'd've preferred to see Lestat in the Dubai penthouse at the end. :\

I LOVE THIS, AMC, thank you! ❤️

[tragicallyuncreative]

Excerpt From WIP

I know I'm new to Tumblr and ao3 and hardly anyone's reading this, but I'm having so much fun with this little one shot WIP that I had to post a snippet for my own entertainment. Chapter 2 of Before The Fall dropping tomorrow!

A Hectic Morning

Darrel

“Dallas, get down and stay down. Sodapop, you n’ Steve try to jumpstart the Ford. Two-Bit, grab Johnny an ice pack. And Ponyboy, for God’s sake, get off the couch; go to bed and stop spreadin’ your germs ‘round the whole dang house, we don’t need a pandemic on our hands.”

“Paramedic?” said Two-Bit, confused. “I don’t reckon you need one, he’s got the stomach flu. There’s probably one in the ambulance if ya need him though, but you better hurry, they ‘bout to leave.” He craned his neck to look outside, where they were finally loading Mr. Johnson onto the stretcher. “Jesus Christmas, that ol’ geyser’s not lookin’ so hot, ain’t he?.”

“It’s pandemic, you moron!” Dally yelled, voice muffled from behind the door.

[jmdbjk]

Are they or aren't they?

I know I'm not the most jikook-centric blog around here and I don't go on and on about them every time content drops. (Or do I? 🤔)

I am not here to convince anyone of anything. I just say what I think about what I see and that's pretty much all there is to it.

I guess I take it for granted that most see what I see and it’s not necessary for me to point out the obvious all the time.

But for some reason today, I started thinking about Jimin and Jungkook and what they are to each other and how that has manifested itself to us this past year. Even though we see very little of it all, speaking for myself, I still see what I see and its all fine.

A super-long ramble:

The past year's solo era has definitely been an eye-opener for me as far as learning more about ALL the member's individual personalities, of how they work and how they view each other.

As far as Jimin and Jungkook, as time goes on, I don't sense anything that makes me feel whatever they are to each other has diminished at all. If anything, I feel like it is even more intense.

It is not so much what I see between Jimin and Jungkook because dang, there has not been very much to see with them in the same room has there?

But if we aren't seeing them together, I just sound delulu right? I just said I say what think from what I SEE... how can I see anything, you ask?... well...

Hear me out...

I see Jungkook figuring out this new phase himself... he has said in the past he still had some maturing left to do. I think he has shown us plenty of his true self and maturity this past year.

We know all this because he's shared a lot with us via his lives. He's been living his introverted life his way until its his time to get to work.

He likes to cook. He likes to watch TV. He loves to sing. He's keeping up with his boxing training. He has a goofy sense of humor. He's trying to be a normal person and go out in the world and eat at restaurants and attend concerts and hang out with friends. We've seen him being his "rebellious" 25 year old self. We know he has serious stalkers and he is very direct about it. He shows no fear to us.

We know he's most comfortable when he knows we are there with him. Unfortunately we've also seen him suffer through loss and we've seen him working through some feelings that have made him emotional. We've seen quite a bit from JK.

He has spoken to us about serious things and not so serious things. He is very good at phrasing things and expressing things clearly.

Jungkook is figuring it all out.

Kookie has spent a lot of time showing us himself and where he lives. He has had a lot of time to do so.

I see Jimin, on the other hand, has returned to being somewhat more like the Jimin we knew before the pandemic. The perfectionist workaholic. Also a new (to me) layer of sweetness and gratitude that exudes from him no matter where he is, interacting with fans at a radio station, in the audience of a performance, interacting with others in general and during his lives or just walking through the airport, Jimin is thankful for it all. This extra-strength gratitude manifests itself in the way he takes his time to thank just about EVERYONE and how he always seems genuinely surprised to see the outpouring of love.

Earlier last year it was obvious to me (me who pays very close attention to Jimin) that he was not himself. During photoshoots and promotion recordings he was not engaged. His mind was elsewhere. They all looked less than thrilled don't you think?

But since about last October, Jimin has been the happiest I've seen him in AGES during his lives. His music is making him happy. Working is making him happy. He says it at least once during every live: "I am happy."

And the sassy has returned. Jimin is SO HAPPY that we are seeing the re-emergence of a more assertive Jimin during a live broadcast! We haven't really seen this Jimin since... a long time.

This most recent live, I see a Jimin who is doing well and taking control of his life again. A Jimin who knows what is coming and is going to meet it head on.

From what I've seen, I can say that Jimin and Jungkook's time together was most probably curtailed this past year. I think a lot of people agree with that assessment. We infer this because Jimin was working his ass off and therefore he was elsewhere busy with schedules. I think the bulk of this was for his Face album but he was also busy with his new brand ambassador responsibilities. Side note: I saw that Robert Pattinson was getting $12 million dollars for his deal with Dior so I think its safe to say Jimin is getting at least that if not more for his deal. And he also has the Tiffany deal... Jimin is doing very well...

So where does this leave any sort of relationship (whatever it may be) between Jimin and Jungkook? How can they be "together" if that is what they are? Or how can they even be "close"?

JK has made it clear and obvious that he is very thrilled to see Jimin commenting during his lives. We've all seen it. He spontaneously combusts when he would see Jimin commenting.

[When someone commented that Jimin did not come live to tell us the Rainy Day Fight story so Kookie proceeded to spill the tea.]

My opinion from what I see: I think JK started looking for Jimin in the comments after a few times of having him show up there. I think he craved the interaction with Jimin. The knowing that Jimin was aware of him and took the time to acknowledge means something to JK.

And finally it clicked and Kookie realized "wow, turn on notifs and I too can know when JM goes live!" And so he did when Jimin was in the car and JK proceeded to have a full blown conversation while Jimin was on his way home from work.

When Jimin's album release date got closer Jungkook was giving us spoilers of some of Jimin's work via some of the songs on the playlist while doing a live broadcast. We weren't aware those were spoilers until Jimin's album and other songs came out: Muni Long, JVKE, the butterfly hair twisty thingy, playing Letter on the guitar... and then just outright telling us something amazing was coming out at midnight when Set Me Free Pt. 2 dropped.

... something amazing... I'm pretty sure JK knew how much work Jimin put into this first album and what it meant to Jimin to purge some emotional demons that had been plaguing him for some time. I would even say that JK was proud of Jimin and therefore, made sure to hype it up even though we saw that JK had some sort of emotional moment by himself on White Day back in March.

The lives progressed into Jungkook just outright spending either the entire live or big chunks of time totally ignoring Armys and focused solely on Jimin content.

He turns on a live because there is some sort of comfort to him knowing Army is present and then he turns his attention to Jimin...

He does all of that on purpose. Without just saying the words: "I adore Jimin and support him wholeheartedly" he has proven that he feels that way with his actions. He figured out a way to express this even when Jimin was who knows where.

If he didn't want us to think that, he wouldn't have done what he did, would he? Why would he spend so much time focused on Jimin?

We know JK's stopped having a presence on social media except for Weverse. And using just Weverse Live, he's been able to accomplish more visible support for Jimin than any other member has shown for any other member during this solo era.

And if he's doing all of this on Weverse, what else is he doing behind the scenes, in person, with Jimin?

We know they spent time recording Run BTS episodes last year.

We know of at least one instance of JK visiting Jimin while he was working hard.

Having Jungkook's support is probably one of the best feelings for Jimin.

"But Jimin asked JK to visit again and JK said 'no'." And yet JK contradicted himself telling Jimin he'd come to a music show recording but Jimin said it was too late, and that it was ok because JK had already visited him during this dance practice above.

"Jimin said that JK has not cooked ramyeon for him yet." Jimin also said it is off limits, he's eating a high protein diet. JK has also mentioned in the last year that he should be eating less gluten so sounds like they both avoid the type of noodles that are high in carbs and gluten. FYI: "ramen" is technically the Japanese style noodles with a milder flavor and "ramyeon" is the Korean version which is spicier. I have a habit of calling it "ramen" when I mean "ramyeon".

"Jimin doesn't hug JK like he does Hobi." Uh... yeah he does:

And then we have started seeing this pattern... coincidence? Not anymore... of Jungkook coming on live right after Jimin has left the country. And then we get the same thing from Jimin the other day after Jungkook leaves.

My opinion from what I've seen:

These two are very close and have worked out how they deal with separation. They spend time together when they can. When they can't they share things like everyone else does, by texting and phone calling and face timing and all that.

From what I've seen them say during their own lives, I think they spend time together talking about work. I especially think JK has participated in helping Jimin rehearse, practice and just generally hanging out. I think they spend time eating together and watching tv or youtube together.

I think they are fine and are navigating their relationship (whatever it is) very well, regardless of their careers and impending military service, existing as global superstars as well as being normal day-to-day Jeon Jungkook and Park Jimin. They are making it work because they've been doing this for at least ten years already.

So, long ramble to say, I will continue to not state the obvious every time we see something, because to me, its obvious everything is going well for them.

[skuttlesstrawberry]

NSBU Adventuring Party thoughts:

STRONG pandemic Zoom AP energy happening! See: the extended discussion of Cold Stone Creamery.

Jacob Wysocki is again a delight! So grateful and also so grounded. I can’t wait to see more of what he does this season; I think he’s going to be a key part of keeping things vaguely on the rails, which is going to have INSANE consequences in play since Dang is already so out of this world…!

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Have you heard of the 2020 effect? It’s actually really interesting, essentially our perception of time was really messed up by Covid and quarantine and hadn’t recovered, and from I’ve heard, probably never will.

It’s why 2015 feels like 5 years ago, not 9

I can believe it. 2020 was a wild year. 2019 was worse for me, but dang that pandemic sure was something. It didn’t get truly awful in my area until 2021, though.

Though I did find that 2023 was so bad that I wished I was back in 2020, so that was entertaining 🤣

[mayakern]

While you're dog-blogging, I'll ask-

What was the process of choosing your family members like? Did you choose certain breeds because of qualities they're known for? Did your heart melt when you met a particular pup and knew they were the one for you?

annie was PURE luck. we were looking for a dog at the same time our friend’s younger sibling was looking to rehome their service dog, who needed to be retired early for being bad at her job (she tried really hard but work gave her anxiety and anxiety gave her hellish diarrhea).

we’d already met annie and loved her and i personally was an absolute goner because i grew up with a rough coat border collie and i absolutely adore them. i just wasn’t sure that i could keep up with a herder, but annie is the absolute laziest sheep dog i have ever met so it worked out.

here’s one of the first pics i took of annie when we adopted her in 2018

we honestly hadn’t planned to adopt a second dog… until the pandemic hit and annie’s best friend moved about an hour away, so suddenly she wasn’t getting nearly as much doggie social time as she was used to.

then our friend who moved away adopted a new puppy (radish), who became known as the face that launched a thousand puppies because she was so cute she inspired multiple people to adopt puppies…

including our friend/neighbor downstairs who got a corgi named pippin that annie absolutely adored.

he was just so dang cute and annie loved him so much that devin and i decided to get a second dog. we knew we didn’t want to go any bigger than annie and we wanted a medium energy dog that wouldn’t compete for human attention because annie is super clingy, and one of our friends who worked frequently with dogs suggested shibas as a breed. in hindsight this was not the best choice for us since neither devin nor i had experience with hunting breeds but like. i love our little goblin man.

and like once we saw this man, we were goners.

rodeo actually ended up not being a mid level energy dog. he’s much better now, but yeah those videos of shibas who refuse to go on walks? can’t relate. at all. he is a rambunctious and VERY active little man with nearly endless energy. which we maybe should have realized when the breeder described him as having a “big personality” lol

and unfortunately after we adopted rodeo annie decided that she was much too mature and didn’t like puppies all that much. she even stopped playing with pippin!!! needless to say devin and i felt incredibly betrayed lol

anyway she eventually got over her jaded older sibling feelings they actually get along great now. watching them play together is one of my absolute favorite things. they both have SO much personality and are incredibly funny to watch together