Friday, December 05, 2008

The Golden Age of Ugly


Better known as "The 1970's". Just last night, I was enjoying a latte at my neighborhood coffee shop and browsing their bizarre collection of used books. I happened to see a cookbook from what I guessed was the late 70's (1979, it turns out, a bit late for my taste, but amusing nonetheless) and absently flipped through it. In the dessert section was a recipe for fruitcake, a questionable confection at best, and an accompanying photo showed the "cake", garishly specked with red and green "fruit" surrounded by a looming corps of Corn Husk Angels.

Feel free to check out The Corn Husk Shoppe. For all your wholesome (or wholesomme?) corn husk needs. As long as you don't need more than three varieties of corn husk items.

With the temperature hovering around 30 degrees most days, I was forced to purchase some outwear for my canine statesman. Poor Truman, though he has lost the "skeletor" look he had when I first got him, he still has very short fur and .000001% body fat and therefore no ability to keep himself warm. Truman would spend most of his walks shivering and doing his best to drag me back home where he would then procede to run laps through the house in an effort to burn off excess energy without having to go outside.

I wasn't sure how he'd take to a jacket, or if I could even find one to fit him since most dog clothes are made for the tiny varieties. Luckily, I came across this dashing fleece-lined jacket! Truman wanted tweed, but was willing to compromise on the red fleece. Look, he's so snug and warm that he's not freaked out by the larger than life statue of Sigmund Freud looking at him with calculated disapproval!

As one would expect, people we encounter on our walks are universally moved to "Awwwwwwwww!" at the sight of Truman trotting happily down the street in his little jacket. An added bonus is that Truman seems less motivated to act like a jerk when he sees other dogs. I guess it's difficult to look like a tough guy in a jaunty red coat.