It's a Mutt's Life

Gigi wearing her "hat"

What's the Mutt to do?

Today Andy went to the paak soi (top of the lane) to pick up the vet and bring him to our house. We decided to move up Gigi's annual date with the vet from Songkran, the Thai new year (because that's when we got her 4 years ago) to the New Year. It's a two person job to hold down the Mutt. Though I admire the Dog Whisperer's methods, I haven't got the stamina nor the courage to implement them when it's That Time of Year.

So I slipped the muzzle on Gigi.  Andy and I held her down. The vet jabbed. It was over.  But when he tried to approach her to trim those lady-like toe nails, she screeched right through the muzzle, bloody unlikely, mister! He backed off hastily and that was that. I guess we're going to have to take her out on more walks in our lane as concrete is a wonderful emery board. I'd love to take her to the park but she's deathly afraid of riding in cars, which is why the vet makes house calls now. Soon he'll be much closer than the paak soi. He has just built a house for himself and his new wife at the bottom of our lane in the corner. Andy got the grand tour from him on the way back to the clinic. There's a kitchen with a double oven; the bride likes to bake! Another fellow foodie.

After the vet left with Andy, I fed Gigi the two worm pills he'd given me for her. I did my usual trick and hid them in a dog cookie. Wouldn't you know it, the Mutt chewed the cookie and spat the pills out on the ground. I next tried hiding them in a piece of doggie hotdog. She loves it so much she practically swallows it with hardly any chewing. And that's how she got de-wormed.

We still have a chewed up front door. She's only an inch away from making a hole in it. Every time we have holiday fireworks or a thunderstorm, Gigi the Mutt goes ballistic. Avoidance training didn't work. I bought a $6.00 motion sensor that's supposed to go off whenever the Mutt approaches the door. Well, she figured out that it makes noise but nothing else happens. I've taken to calculating on the calendar when the next thunderstorm or holiday will arrive. We're in the dry season now, so no worries there for another five months. But holidays? Well, Chinese New Year is coming up hard and fast.  All  those noisy fireworks to chase away the spirits and bedevil Gigi the Mutt.

Gigi the Mutt on Skype

Andy brought his laptop downstairs so that Gigi could say hello to me on Skype. I took pictures!

All clean again!

MOCA, High Line Park, and East Village

MOCA

No, that's not a new coffee drink! MOCA is the Museum of Chinese in America. In a city known for a variety of museums, this is a small one located on Centre Street between Howard and Grand. One fine day, we walked from 38th street down Third Avenue, then west through Cooper Square and picked up Lafayette and Centre. MOCA is at the junction of Soho and Chinatown. But all New York neighborhoods are a state of mind anyway. You are where you want to be.

Replica of a Chinatown shop

 The Chinatown shop replica was way too clean, spacious, and well-lighted to be real. Chinatown shops to me are dark and musty and have a particular smell of herbs and preserves. In addition to the shop, the museum has posters, photographs, and film documenting the lives of the Chinese in the United States and celebrating their accomplishments.

Walking the tracks at High Line Park

Besides MOCA, another interesting site to visit is High Line Park. A clever concept that, to recycle some old elevated train tracks into a public park. It begins at Gansevoort Street in the West Village near the Hudson River and continues all the way up to 20th Street. That's just phase one of the park. An extension is planned all the way up to 34th Street. I got onto the park through an elevator at West 14th Street and Tenth Avenue. There are wooden benches and chaise lounges for sitting and sunning. However, owing to the lack of trees and the concrete, it's hot up there!

Getting some sun

People forget that New York is constantly renewing itself. High Line Park is a nice reminder that demolition isn't always the way to make way for the new. Sometimes something old can be turned to another use. New York also has quaint neighborhoods. Not far from Cooper Square is this little neighborhood on Eighth Street where we found a banh mi sandwich shop. I don't know if the bull on the roof is supposed to be a reminder that New York is the financial center to the world.

Bull

The street was tree-lined and a little faded, with that Boho touch that is so fashionable these days and much imitated. In one small block there were several cafés, at least one deli, a yoga studio, and a shop selling used CDs and DVDs that were shockingly overpriced. Haven't they heard of the free downloads at Limewire and Pirate Bay?

Eighth Street's got something for everyone. Like New York itself.