Speaking of Harry G. Frankfurt....

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign

As they made their way along the winding path toward the park, Humphrey noticed something on the fence by the pool. "Does that sign say, 'long-haired freaky people need not apply'?" he asked his guardian, with false earnesty.
"What do you think, Humph?" she asked, not entirely sure if he was kidding.
"Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?" he responded.
"Thought so."
Humphrey was beginning to miss swimming. Just then, he spotted some friendly faces!

Where have you been, Humphrey?

It was KC and Jack-Jack, walked by David! Humphrey hadn't seen them in months.

Once Humphrey got over Jack-Jack's combination of ample size and puppy-like enthusiam, they played in the grass.

Then along came Lucy, in town for a special visit!

By the end of his walk, Humphrey was exhausted, and decided to take a nap in lieu of a coherent end to his blog entry.

Dogs and proposal-writing

Humphrey reads Harry G. Frankfurt's delightful book

The night air is now heavy with the smokey, earthly scent of late-summer flowers, and Humphrey is delighted to be back in Toronto to enjoy them. His guardian has been monopolizing the computer, not giving him a chance to catch up on his blogging.

“What are you doing?” He asked her.

“Remember that research grant proposal….?” She began.

Humphrey tuned out. Oh yes, he thought, that stupid grant proposal, the one which the guardian and Dr. C. spent two whole all-nighters on this summer; the one that spoiled the chances of trips to meet Guido the Donkey at his Essex County farm. Humphrey remembered the grant proposal well.

“But I thought you and Dr. C. won that?”

“Yes,” she responded, “we did.”

“So why are you fussing with that? You won it, so you are done, right?”

“Well, now we have to actually do the research.”

Humphrey thought to himself, dogs can never write grant proposals, and not because typing is a b**ch with no opposable digits (no pun intended). No, it’s because dogs cannot engage in bullsh**.  As philosopher Diogenes the Cynic argued and Humphrey described in an earlier blog post, dogs are honest and authentic beings (and therefore should be emulated).

The routine refusal to speak with regard to the truth, philosopher Harry Frankfurt aptly observed in his book on the subject, is bullsh** because “evasion of normativity—correctness being, after all, a standard external to one’s personal desires—produces a kind of ordure, a dissemination of garbage, the scattering of sh**” (Mark Kingwell in his July 2011 Harper’s article).  In this way, bullsh** is far more threatening, and evil, than plain old lying. As Frankfurt points out, the bullsh**ter “does not reject the authority of the truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullsh** is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.”

The fact of the matter is, Humphrey learned from looking at all these grant proposals, is that they are rife with bullsh**. They sort of have to be, since they cater to what the judging panels want, and also reflect (in many cases) the researcher’s aspirations within the constraints of the funding.

Mikey & Chewey Host Humphrey

Humphrey is anxiously awaiting his trip home, but in the mean time, he is enjoying some very special friends! He was so grateful to Mikey the Bichon for being "the host with the most" recently....and by most, Humphrey is of course referring to Mikey's housemate, a 21-year-old cockateel, Chewey. And an impressive assortment of toys.
Humphrey has come very close to many wild birds on the plentiful Toronto patio cafes he frequents, but this was his first nose-to-nose encounter with a domestic avian friend. Chewey pre-emptively pecked Humph on the nose, just to make sure everyone knows who's boss, though Mikey's guardian pointed out that both Humphrey and Mikey start licking their lips every time they close to Chewey. Despite the chop-licking, it was a civil playtime and Chewey impressed everyone with his vocal abilities.
As a big thank you, Humphrey has prepared a look-a-like for Mikey, and hopes that Mikey will take it with good humour. Since he hasn't a photo of Chewey, that will have to wait for another time.

Weathering a storm: A photo essay by Humphrey

The sights of summer (on a boring day)

By request, for someone very special to Humphrey, photos of the garden....

Humph's pool at night

A rose of sharon in bloom (don't mock it!)

Humphrey's summer playground

A quick romp with Napoleon Jones, Papillion to his Bones!

A lovely cardinal in the wisteria vines....

...and in the apple tree...

...and singing in the twilight (yes, it's digitally enhanced just a little bit!).

A hydrangea near the pool

Again?????

And the day ended with the freakiest looking moon Humphrey had ever seen.

Humphrey makes a splash!

Humphrey likes to be informed before he tries anything. His four-year project of understanding the swimming pool and its contests finally came to fruition.

His project started with a particular interest in chlorinating the pool by supervising the process every night for three summers. For two summers, he conducted a series of buoyancy experiments (see earlier post for a lab report), helping him understand concepts of sinks/floats. Once he was satisfied with that, he began crouching by the edge of the pool, using his right paw to splash water this summer. After three weeks of that, he expressed interest in standing on the top step (see image 2 in the collage), which he performed daily for several weeks, using his right paw to splash. Then, this week, he expressed a desire to venture further into the pool (with assistance, of course, see photo 3 in the collage). Instinct kicked in (or the social learning result of watching humans swim, who knows?), and he swam! He's very proud of his accomplishment, and enjoys drying off in the sun.