Puros animales aqui.

We've had some recent visitors from the animal kingdom. First there was the garter snake we found while out walking the dog.

And the day after we let her back into the wild, we had this little fellow stop by.

Potrillo

Here are some pics of the new mama and foal. The baby was born about two weeks ago.

What's in a name?

I am driving myself completely crazy trying to come up with a name for my company. It doesn't seem like it should be that hard--after all, I didn't have any problem naming Solo Vino (although I think we should change his name to Eeyore, but that's another story).

I have tried English words, Spanish words, Spanglish words and made up words. I've tried colors and animals and plants. I've gone back and forth on whether I should include the words "digital" and "interactive" (is "digital" sooooo 90s?). I've tried anagrams for crying out loud. ANAGRAMS!

I tried to give myself a deadline of this weekend to pick a name, but I don't know if I'll stick to it. I mean once I name it, that's the name, right? Maybe it's because of my own name that I feel such pressure to come up with something perfect. My name has always, always, always been a topic of conversation when I meet people, which makes the whole idea of a name seem really important. And at the spa for the last eight months, I've been meeting dozens of new people every week, and every single one of them asks me about my name. So HOW am I supposed to come up with the right name for my business?

I have the same problem with all kinds of naming. I don't have any kids, but I have a hard time thinking what I would name any potential kids I might have (yes, I know someone else would likely have input, but still). Fortunately, I don't think I'll be facing that dilemma for a while. I also have a really hard time naming characters in stories I right. It's torture. And I usually change the names at least once in the revision process.

I am pretty good at naming animals, or at least small animals. I named a cat Seldom, which I think is the coolest name ever...although I have to give some credit to my then-boyfriend for that one. His dog was named after a character called Hayduke, and Seldom Seen Smith is a character in the same book. But I also named cats Baghira (from the Jungle Book), and Fermata (a musical symbol indicating "to hold"). I named my budgerigars Honeysuckle and Avocado. I named a beta fish Cobalt Permanganate Iron III. I named a puppy Luna (okay, maybe not brilliant, but she was the color of moonlight with gold paws, and she died when she was a baby so she's very special to me). I'm not as good with naming horses--I've named three: a big black stallion I named Cheyenne, a young male I named Canelo (masculine of Cinnamon), and a gorgeous moro I named Silver, which I admit is VERY unoriginal.

The point is, I am capable of coming up with really good names. I've even contributed good names to friends' baby-name discussions, although I don't think I've ever submitted a winner. But then again, I don't expect to.

So why is this so difficult??

Oh, Solo Vino

There are a lot of dogs at the spa. Some are permanent residents (Preciosa and Lucy), some have owners, (Panchito, Max, and of course Biscuit), and occasionally there are other dogs who pass through (Percy, Falcor, and many others who've been adopted by guests and taken to the States).

A new dog showed up in September sometime, and he's trying to make himself a permanent resident of the spa. He's white with black ears and spots, and bigger than most of the dogs here--he's probably 75 pounds and pretty tall. He's sweet, gentle, and ultimately VERY lazy. He goes on the hikes with guests in the morning, and the rest of the day you can find him sleeping. Sleeping on the lawn, sleeping on the patio, and mostly sleeping on the lounge chairs at the pool.

When he first showed up, someone told me he was Fernando's dog, so when I saw Fernando with the dog I said "¿Como se llama su perro?" I don't speak much Spanish, but I can manage that, at least.

Fernando replied "Solo Vino." So the dog's name is Solo Vino.

Except...it's not. Because "Solo vieno" basically means "He came by himself." So when I said "What's your dog's name?" Fernando said "He came by himself." As in, he's not mine.

It took me about three months to figure this out.

I think Fernando calls him Kujo.

Well, that answers that question.

Of course there are snakes here. It's the mountains. In Mexico.

Here's a pic of the charming fellow who was just peeking in my casa window.

And by "charming" I mean "eek! that is a real live snake! Biscuit come inside!"