“Hey Karen?”
Not now, Iggy. I have to list 15 blogs for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award.
“Can’t.”
Well yeah, it’s difficult to narrow down, but it’s not impossible —
“No, you can’t ‘cause I wanna go outside.”
You can wait a little while.
“No!”
Excuse me, did you just say no?
“Gotta pee.”
Oh. Okay. Where’s your leash?
“Where you left it.”
You know, other dogs, when they have to go out, go get the leash and bring it to whoever is going to walk them.
Why?
Well, it’s a nice thing to do. Plus it tells the person when the dog needs to be walked.
“I already tell you when I need to be walked.”
Yes. By getting hysterical and scratching everything in sight. I was hoping you could find a way that would do less damage. Just to save me money.
“My way works.”
Other ways work too.
“Sure! Like peeing on the carpet. I mean, I don’t think scratching smells as much, but if you prefer –”
Never mind. Come on.
“Nice day for it.”
Hurry up, Iggy — I need to get back inside and come up with that list.
“Fine, I’m done. Wait a minute –”
What?
“Well, hello, little mousedog!”
Yip yip yip yip yip!
Oh, no, Iggy, don’t start with the neighbor’s dog.
“It’s not a dog — it’s a barking hamster!”
Yip yip yip yip yip!
Yip yip yip yip yip!
“Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!”
“What, is there a nest of you freaks in a drainpipe or something? Do I need to put out traps?”
Yip yip yip yip yip!
“Hang on, are you snarling? WHAT THE HELL IS THE POINT? Those aren’t teeth!”
Yip yip yip yip yip!
Iggy, come on, we’re going home now.
“Seriously, my groomer has nastier weapons than those teeth, and the only thing she ends up doing to me is making me smell like flowers!”
COME, Iggy. Right NOW!
“Fine. By the way, Karen, we gotta talk about that thing with the groomer and the smells. It’s ‘therapy dog,’ not ‘aromatherapy dog.'”
Oh, do you want to be a therapy dog?
“No. Your issues are your problem.”
It’s not that kind of therapy.
“Don’t care. Can you please do something about that groomer about her smells?”
Hey, I don’t like it either. It’s just a whole new way for you to give me a headache.
“Hey!”
Now go sit quietly while I give people the list of bloggers that I’m nominating for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award.
“Fine.”
Hello, readers. During my walk with Iggy it occurred to me that 15 links is a lot not only for me, but for you. I’m going to link to blogs that I enjoy and that I hope you enjoy as well, but it’s pretty difficult for you to sit back and enjoy them if you get over a dozen thrown at you all at once. So instead, I’m going to do five per day over three days, so you have time to check out all of the blogs.
“Wow! You can rationalize laziness like no human I’ve ever seen!”
Damned right, Iggy! Anyway, readers, here are the first five, in no particular order. Some of them have been nominated in the past, but not by me, so I think it still counts.
The Indecisive Eejit. Because her blog isn’t so much a blog as a party, and she’s the best party hostess on the Interwebs.
Ben’s Bitter Blog. Every post is a new way to view things negatively, and he inspired me to be ashamed to have seen Gravity.
The Mental Mama. A bit about life, a bit about work, a bit about the ups and downs of relationships, a bit about living with bipolar disorder, and a whole lot of humor.
Days and Months. I love reading blogs kept by people who live far away, and seeing their countries through their eyes. Days and Months is by Karen Gosper in New South Wales, who is working on her photography skills, and treating us to the gorgeous results.
Forgotten NZ. In the same vein as Days and Months, but she photographs abandoned and forgotten structures in New Zealand.
Five more tomorrow.
“You’re milking this award thing so you don’t have to think of new stuff to post every day, aren’t you?”
Yes, Iggy, I am. What a smart boy!
The Iggy Dialogues 
Well hell, if that’s all I’ve got to do, I’ll do it this time. I don’t often do blog awards because they always seem to unreasonably complicated and demanding. If all I need to do is make a little list of my pals, I can totally do that.
Well, three of today’s links are blogs that I actually don’t have much interaction with, but like to read. Whereas when I started The Iggy Dialogues, it’s like I moved into a new neighborhood and you and The Indecisive Eejit were my very cool new neighbors. 🙂
Still deciding on the other 10 blogs.
And of course, almost everyone I like has already been nominated, so I was kind of stuck as far as that was concerned. Oh, well.
Thank you Iggy. I mean Karen. I’m off to read Mental Mania. Karen, probably best not to allow Iggy to hear the (historical) phrase “hung like a hamster” as in “you know Ross Douthat is probably hung like a hamster, which explains a lot.”
iggy doesn’t read comments does he? If he does, ooops and sorry.
I keep him away from the comments. There’s no need to expose him to these kinds of things.
Thanks for thinking of me and all the forgotten places in New Zealand! Can’t wait to check out the other nominated blogs too! 🙂
You’re very welcome! 🙂
I like the idea of being a party host, it makes me sound a whole heap more hip and happening than I actually am. Thank you for you kind words and nomination. You and Iggy are s wonderful addition to our family because you have created many laughs in a short space of time, sometimes on days when we needed them the most 🙂
Aw, gosh. Just doin’ my job!
Thank you so much for your support and encouragement!
I never saw a barking hamster…. I only have a barking plushslipper in my village. Butt your hamster looks interesting :o) Is it tasty?
Tasty? That’s a good question, and one that I won’t ask Iggy. Don’t want him getting ideas. 🙂
Oh look at that. You found a way to get a bitter blogger even more bitter. Perhaps you should stop awarding people for being bitter. And yes, you should be ashamed for liking Gravity.
A technical marvel with a good score, dammit! Sandra Bullock’s character needed to STFU, but I stand by my praise of the visuals and sound!
Freakin’ guy comes into the comments on MY blog with this… Aaaarrgghh. Now I’m bitter.
Oh, wait, I see what you did there. Well played, Bitter Ben. Well played.
I marveled at nothing but the improbable way that Sandy kept surviving no matter how much of a dope she was. Techical marvel? How in the heaven did they get all those stars? I’ve never seen a planeterium that could do the same graphics as that movie…
A lot of stuff did get broken, didn’t it? The whole movie was just Angry Birds writ large, with the Russian satellite debris as the birds and the the astronauts as the pigs.
Hi Karen, your blog is super creative and funny. So I follow🙌
Thank you so much. Your son is adorable! 🙂
Thank you 🙂 looking forward to more from Iggy 🙂