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Happy Birthday Stan!

I’ve been laying low on the blogging since Santa brought us both the Christmas Flu, but I couldn’t allow this milestone to go unheralded: Stan “The Man” Lee’s 90th birthday!

The Stan Lee story is well known: how in the 50s Stanley Lieber was tired of working in comics when he was asked to create a new superhero team. Wife Joan convinced him to just try his wackiest ideas since if he wanted to leave anyway, he had nothing to lose. And what followed were some of the most beloved comic characters and wildest stories ever told. Sure, there’s always going to be some Internet genius who wants to downplay Lee’s accomplishments but we know the truth: no matter how you slice it, without Stan Lee many of the most successful and beloved characters would not exist.

And it’s not just because of his writing ability and creativity. Stan Lee is a force of nature! His own salesmanship as much as anything else is what helped vault his characters from the funny books to the very pinnacle of pop culture and box office success. I’ve no intimate stories of meeting Stan myself, but having watched him in a panel at Comic Con 2010 it’s absolutely clear that Stan Lee wants to share his enthusiasm with everyone he possibly can. He not only has become the most visible and beloved champion of superheroes and comics, but he’s practically achieved superhero status himself. Or at least icon status.

Happy birthday Stan. May your energy and enthusiasm for life keep inspiring all of us for many, many years!

Happy Birthday Shadow!

When my then-girlfriend Michelle first came to live with me 11 years ago, she wanted a pet. The apartment complex we lived in did not allow dogs. They did, however, allow cats. Knowing that I was a dog person, Michelle researched breeds of cats until she found the Maine Coon, a cat known for having a nearly dog-like personality. One was available about 90 minutes away, so after much cajoling, she talked me into getting it. Because some lore suggested they might be descended from cats that came over with the Norse a thousand years ago, we named him Viking Shadow.

Our little viking and I had a very rough beginning. It was annoying, shrill, and I couldn’t stand it. Michelle loved the thing however so I figured I’d let her have her cat and I’d just deal. Remember, I’m a dog person. (I was even born in the Chinese Year of the Dog).

But a strange thing happened. I don’t know if Shadow could tell that he’d alienated me with a few too many scratches, if I was a challenge to him, or some feline reason I’ll never guess, but he made it his goal in life to win me over. He’d come up to me to give me attention, seek out my company, come when I came home or when called. To the point that Michelle noted that he’d become a “Daddy’s cat.”

And it worked. All that sweetness melted my heart. And these days he spends most of his days with me:

When he’s not on top of the speaker, he’s under a chair:

That’s not to say he dislikes Michelle. Before he woke up and moved into my office/studio, he was hanging out in Michelle’s closet, where he likes to make a little den in her dresses:

At 11 years old, Shadow is far from young. But he’s extremely healthy (his only problem really is that he’s extremely thin…yup, we’re jealous too) and I’d like to imagine he has another 11 years (or more) to go. I’ve become quite fond of the little devil.

But I’m still a dog person.

 

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Happy Birthday Luna!

On this day in 2003, our giant schnauzer, registered with the AKC* as  ’Moonage Daydream” but whom we call Luna, was born. As a nine-year old dog, she’s officially a senior. Luckily, she still has spunk and fire and a spring in her step, although she sleeps more than she used to. And she can still roar and lunge like the protective beast she’s always been. To look at her is not to see an older dog. Except for one thing: her left ear:

Why is one ear standing on edge? Let me explain. Like all giant schnauzers, Luna was born with floppy ears.

In the United States, their ears are generally cropped before they are sold, unless you think to ask otherwise (we did not). However, cropped ears still don’t stand up, they’re just smaller. To make them stand, you need to tape them to popsicle sticks or otherwise do various unnatural things to make them stand up. This is not something that is particularly pleasant for the dog, and Luna hated it.

Had we understood about cropping, taping, and so on, we would have asked for her ears to be left uncropped. But even though her ears were cropped, that didn’t mean we had to make her miserable and tape them up. So for eight years, her ears flopped down.

Now she’s older, the cartilage is stiffening, and her left ear stands up as often as not, making her look pretty goofy. But then she’s our goofy “little” schnauzer, so it works. And all things considered, if a stiff ear is all she has to worry about, I think she’s in pretty fine shape.

Happy birthday Luna. There will be some extra treats for you tonight. And hopefully for many years still to come.

* In fact, the beginning of all registered names is the kennel at which the dog was born. So her full listed name is “Lionheart’s Moonage Daydream.”

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