katie allison granju

dog in knoxville needs home July 28, 2004

 

I have the most wonderful stray dog at my house. He’s a neutered male and very cute — well, actually, he’s so ugly he’s cute. A friend tells me he looks like a cross between a hyena and a potbellied pig, but I think he’s actually a cross between an australian cattle dog and a chihuahua. He’s quite small — about the size of a cairn terrier or pug, with the merle coat of an aussie. He has one blue eye. A very unusual looking dog.

He has PERFECT house manners. He is extremely calm and laid back and loves kids. He is fine with my cats and my other dog, but I think he would probably do best as an only dog (cats ok). He walks well on a leash but mostly likes to nap on the couch. He barks an alert when people come to the door but is not barky in the least.He rides well in the car.

This would be a perfect dog for an older person or someone who isn’t home as much as a more active dog might need. He loves my kids and has been sleeping on their beds at night.

Let me know if you are interested.

knoxvillians blogging from the democratic convention July 27, 2004

If you are wondering what your East TN neighbors who are attending this week’s Democratic National Convention are doing, seeing and thinking, check out this blog

gotta love the news in east tennessee July 23, 2004

Stories like this one  make my job a lot more fun.  This one is pretty good too.

don’t touch the blue ball July 18, 2004

The television station for which I am a producer is owned by the Gannett Corporation. For the past few days I was at Gannett HQ in the D.C. area for meetings. I was eager to see the bldg because I had heard it was simply amazing …and it is. It’s huge and gorgeous in a moderne sort of way. Lots of glass and water and cryptic art installations. It’s on a big “campus” with a pond and walking trails.

 

Before I left, coworkers who have been there laughingly teased me to not “touch the blue ball” while at Gannett. They wouldn’t tell me exactly what they meant, so I googled “Gannett” and “blue ball” and discovered that this is what they were talking about. 

I never saw the blue ball. I think it must be on the executive floor. But I made a point not to touch anything

indya kincannon July 9, 2004

There are lots of good reasons to vote for Indya Kincannon for the Knox County School Board, but honestly, I’d probably vote for her even if I didn’t know anything about her views simply because she’s the only political candidate I know of with beautiful pictures of her waterbirth included on her campaign website.

Motherhood is powerful!

martin pleasant July 7, 2004

If you care about the future of Knoxville and Knox County, you should support Martin Pleasant’s campaign

i’m reading…horse people July 5, 2004

funny jane

The other day, my eight year old daughter, Jane asked me why it’s “rude to ask someone how old their horse is.” I asked her to repeat her question because I didn’t quite understand it, and she repeated it; she wanted to know why it is considered rude to ask someone how old their horse is.

So I told her I had never heard that this was considered rude, and asked her to tell me who had told her that.

Well, she said, you have to look at a horse’s teeth to know how old it is and there’s that saying, “never look a gift horse in the mouth,” ergo — in the world according to Jane — it must be rude to ask someone how old their horse is!

(Clearly we haven’t been reading enough of the classics at home)

front porches

I spent the weekend moving from the soulless (sp?) apartment-complex apartment my children and Ihave lived in for the past year into our new house. I still have a lot of unpacking to do, but all our stuff is now relocated.

I never could get comfortable in that apartment, which puzzled me. It was actually a really nice apartment, as they go. Everything was new and clean and worked well. It had a nice little kitchen and even a fireplace. There was a pool and a pond and plenty of green space. But the kids and I just never felt at home there.

For months I tried to convince them that they should like it — that it was really a nice place — but finally I just gave in and agreed with them that it felt empty and cold. I promised that we would buy a house as soon as we could, and now we have.

Our new house is very homey and warm. It is a working class family’s bungalow, built in 1930. It has wonderful wood trim and weird nooks and crannies, and lots of big windows. The yard is nice and the old city neighborhood has sidewalks. But best of all, it has a front porch.

I grew up in houses with front porches and I like them. At my last house -which was a 50s rancher with no front porch where we lived from 1995-2002 — we added a huge, elaborate deck on the back and I loved it, but I now realize that when you do all your hanging out and sitting and talking on the BACK side of your house, you miss seeing the world go by.

I like sitting on the front porch of our new house and I’ve even put a picnic table on it. I suspect we will eat a lot of meals out there and I look forward to meeting our neighbors and watching the activity of the street.

Some day I will likely add a back patio or deck for when we want more privacy, but I sure do like the front porch.