"It's sad, but I like it"

With the recent passing of Maurice Sendak, the launch of Stephen T. Colbert's new book is bittersweet.

In an interview earlier in the year, the highly regarded children's author remarked about this forthcoming project, "It's sad, but I like it."
While Humphrey has not quite yet acquired this book, he hopes to very, very soon (having read all of Colbert's books so far!). The reviews so far are generally favorable, so Humphrey's fingers are crossed that it will come his way very, very soon.

May evening walk

It's been a while since Humphrey has been able to enjoy a long, leisurely walk. Tonight, the weather was just perfect for a guy who could really use a haircut (a hint to his guardian).

Somebody was all smiles...

...until a romp in the grass with KC exhausted him...

Lady Gaga supervised...

...while puppy Leo stuck his tongue out at the older dogs.

Molly posed for the camera...

...while Humphrey admired the brickword in the courtyard....

...and was relieved to see the trees all leafy once again, ensuring a shady place to squeak in the noon-day sun.

Welcome to Willowdale, Leo!

Humphrey was playing with puppy Leo in the park - and wouldn't you know it, the young lad stuck out his tongue at Humph. Here's his look-a-like!

The Threat Down: Humphrey's PSA

Truman Capote once said, "The world is not kind to little things."*

*Some people are kind to little things.

In the past few weeks and months, a number of threats to Willowdale dogs have been brought to Humphrey's attention - perhaps even some of the things Capote was talking about! As a result, Humphrey has compiled the top three threats to his local friends as a public service.

Threat #1: Spiders!

As many will remember, last March, Humphrey experienced a brush with death after a spider bite. His guardian arrived from a quick trip to the supermarket only to find Humphrey's face puffed up in anaphylactic shock! She rushed him to the vet, where a pair of spider bites on his neck were identified, and he received Benadryl. Within a day, the walnut-sized lumps had receded and what she believed was a nice, dark scab appeared. Humphrey wasn't well, so another trip to the vet revealed that this was no scab - it was necrosis! By that point, Humphrey's organs were affected, and he was put on intravenous.

The culprit? Most likely it was a brown recluse spider, though whether they have made their way to Ontario is debatable. However, Humphrey's guardian did manage to catch a spider that was definitely dark brown, and she suspects it was one of these.


Brown recluse spiders have a "fiddlehead" marking on the thorax.

Humprhey demonstrates that one should kill the spider before it kills you.

Threat #2: Hawks!

Willowdale dog Webber's guardian has sited hawks in the "Gotham City" condos down the way, and there's no question that hawks are living in the GTA. What is shocking is that they can swoop down and snatch a small dog. Sadly, Taco, a canine acquaintance who lived in York Region, lost his life last week to a hawk-snatching.

Taco's guardian, who was one of Humph's guardian's students last year, is devastated.

Humphrey will be well supervised in the weeks and years to come, giving this highly localized threat. He is devastated to hear about Taco.

Threat #3: Baths!

You'd think this threat is dog propaganda - but over-bathing is a threat to poodles! Humphrey just ran into his pal Lucy, a miniature poodle, in the courtyard.

"What's on your back?" he asked, notcing the shaved patch and skin discoloration on her back. "Are you okay?"

"My guardian never had a poodle - so she bathed me every two weeks, just as she had done with her terrier. But my coat was so thick, it never got a chance to dry properly, and my skin got messed up from the dampness!"

Noboby likes to be wet! Cleanliness is *not* next to dogliness.

"Oh," replied Humph. "I'll be sure to avoid the tub. But not the swimming pool."
Lucy thought for a second. "Just be sure they dry you well, that's all."

On being and spring cleaning

Humphrey spent the weekend in a flurry of spring cleaning activity, which involved a great deal of sorting and purging. This resulted in no less than eight glorious trips to the big blue recycling bin. Once all the activity was over, Humphrey rediscovered Jean Paul Sartre.

Humphrey re-reads Part 4: Having, Doing and Being

The book resurfaced during the cleaning of the library. Part 4: Having, Doing and Being seemed to him just the thing to read, since he and his guardian eliminated loads of old files from their lives.

Sartre wrote that possessions enslave a person - once you own something, you experience a burden of having to take care of that item. In this way, giving a gift is actually a form of distruction, since the receiver takesn on the burder of finding a place for that gift.

Humphrey does not, in any way, feel enslaved by his possessions.

"I completely disagree. What is wrong with this guy?" Humphrey asked his guardian.

"He's right - look at how much effort I have to spend organizing and cleaning all this stuff - we even need a bigger place to house all our possessions, Humph."

Humphrey disagreed. "Are you kidding? Look how much fun spring cleaning is! The possessions make us free to play! They stimulate creativity! Sartre is wrong on this, just he was about his view on 'other people.' If you're going to buy into French intellectuals, stick to the Situationists. 'Sous les paves, la plage!'"

He picked up his duck squeaky and proceeded to play.

Squeakies = Joy