Play Ball! (Part 2)

Yesterday you got a peak into the world of Poodle Ball, starring Rocket our 10 year old poodle. Today is two-year-old Turbo's 15 minutes of fame. First, let's review. Poodle + Ball=FUN! When we adopted Turbo two years ago, we had to carefully train him how to play ball the poodle way! This training involved paying him with one cheerio everytime he brought back the ball and dropped it in front of us. I'm pretty sure this wouldn't work on, say a Saint Bernard??? He wouldn't even know that cheerio had been ingested...! Treat size: just one more HUGE advantage to owning a small doggy! ;-) Now both of our poodles are ball playing FANATICS! Take a look at this next photo. I'm sure you've seen this same scene on "Wild Kingdom!" Don't you think he looks like a cheetah ready to grab a gazelle?? (Well, except for the fluffy poodle hair cut?...ahem....) The formula is simple: Throw ball Poodles chase it Poodle drops the ball at your foot Repeat Repeat Repeat Repeat Repeat Repeat Repeat Repeat Repeat Repeat Repeat Repeat This will go on for 20 minutes or so, until it is poodle rest time. And how do you know poodle rest time is over......? Guess: "Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot little puppies." ~Gene Hill

Play Ball!

What kind of ball? Poodle ball! Playing ball is the most greatest, super-duperest, coolest, barkalicious, wooftastic, terrificist thing you can possibly do if you are a poodle! All day the poodles watch and wait to see if - by chance - it might time to PLAY BALL! How do we humans know it's time to play poodle ball? Sometimes it comes as a psychic message sent from across the room, "plaaaaayyyyy balllllllll..." Or possibly you might look down and see a ball being carefully placed next to you on the chair.... It doesn't matter when or why, just let the Poodle games begin! Poodles don't just wait for the ball to hit the ground! If you can jump and catch the ball in the air - you get extra poodle points! However, if you miss catching it in the air, you must then shake the dickens out of that ball when you finally catch it! When the ball is in play, you must FOCUS and block out everything else in the whole-wide-world! And IF the ball goes out of play: You give it your best try.... Then you sit down and cry until mom comes to get it. And mom always says, "What Lassie? Has Timmy fallen down the well?" (Mom says that because she is a dork and seems to enjoy the chaos that ensues....) Woof. "The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too." ~Samuel Butler, Notebooks, 1912

Wicked

Went to see "WICKED: the Untold Story of the Witches of Oz" yesterday. And let me tell you- It was fabulous! It was so fabulous, in fact, I just HAD to whip up a blog entry to recommend you go see it! The only problem is they don't allow photography in the theatre. SO.... Here's the only photo you are going to see today that I actually shot. Pretty spectacular photo, right? NOT! Well, since that photo doesn't adequately describe the experience, I borrowed a few pics from the internet for you to check out. (Yep, just borrowed! Don't worry, I'll return them as soon as you are done looking!) One of the things that surprised me about the performance (other than the staging, the set, the beautiful voices, the lighting, the effects and the storyline) was the humor. Sooooooo many funny lines - the audience was laughing the whole time. While I was stealing things from the internet, I found this really nice review from USA Today that pretty much sums it up: "Long before that girl from Kansas arrives in Munchkinland, two girls meet in the land of Oz. One – born with emerald green skin – is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch makes for “the most complete and completely satisfying new musical in a long time.” So next time Wicked appears in your town, go buy a ticket -- you won't regret it! ------------ Glinda: "You're still riding that old thing?" Wicked Witch: "Yea, well, we can't all come and go by bubble!" ------------ "Well... a regime change. Caused by a bizarre and unexpected twister of fate."-Glinda ----------- "What's in the punch?" "Lemons and melons and pears." "Oh, my!"

A different kind...

Okay, we're not talking about THIS kind of watermelon today: Today we're talking about a sweeter, colder kind of watermelon: This watermelon is made of lime sherbert, vanilla ice cream and a mixture of raspberry sherbert and mini chocolate chips. It's very easy to make. Just soften the ice cream a bit and arrange the layers "in watermelon fashion" in a springform pan. Then just freeze, slice and eat! Not only is it a fun little dessert to look at, it is SOOOOO tasty! So give it a try - your family will LOVE it! If you want a more exact recipe, look HERE. "You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream!"

Speedy

We are tortoise-sitting this week while Betsy is on vacation. Meet Speedy. Aren't his eyes just the MOST gorgeous green? (Well, a reptilian gorgeous...?) He's a desert tortoise. (Turtles swim, tortoises do not - did you know that?) Speedy eats all kinds of lettuce, vegetables and fruit. He also eats turtle pellets. (These are apparently DELISH!) Yum! This shot isn't in crisp focus (hey - lemme see you lay on the ground with your macro lens and shoot a moving target!) but I loved seeing his little pink tongue, so I'm posting it anyway! Slurp....yum.... Speedy spends his days in this nice little tortoise condo. The condo has a mesh roof to protect him from marauding poodles and a shady tunnel to run (or stroll?) to if he gets too hot.... One more interesting tidbit about Speedy: He HIBERNATES! Yep. Betsy tucks him in a little box in about October and he gets up in April! "In real life, it is the hare who wins. Every time. Look around you. And in any case it is my contention that Aesop was writing for the tortoise market. Hares have no time to read. They are too busy winning the game." Anita Brookner

Miss Bella

Meet Bella. Isn't she the cutest? You might remember her from HERE? We are lucky enough to be babysitting her this week while Betsy is on safari in Maine. (yes, I said 'on safari in Maine' - can't wait to hear about that!) This is Bella and THE PEAR. The pear fell from our tree and Bella and Turbo spent two days arguing about who owned it. They didn't want to eat the pear, they just needed to hang on to it so the other doggy didn't get it. ...and except for a few vampire teeth marks, that pear looked great even going in to day two! Obviously, right now THE PEAR BELONGS TO BELLA! Besides pear-guarding, Bella can do many other tricks.... Bella has mastered the art of sitting pretty! Admit it, you just said, "awwwww....." Did I tell you that Bella was adopted from the Bichon Rescue Society? Yup. (Until Betsy adopted Bella, I didn't even know you could choose the breed you wanted, contact it's rescue society and adopt exactly what kind of doggy fits your family best!) So, think about choosing a rescue dog next time you want a new pet! Now, if you tune in tomorrow, I'll introduce you to Bella's step-brother (we are also babysitting him)....and I bet you will be surprised, he's a rather unique pet! And lastly, is it just me, or does this next shot make you think: "youuuuuu are getting sleeeeeepppyyyyy and you waaaaannnt to getttt meeeee a boooooone....." "If you are looking for a friendship that is forever loyal, always humble, never criticizing, and constantly listening.... than get a dog.” L.M. Hinds

A picnic by the lake

Well, after all that exercise it was time for our picnic! The feast included a tri-tip steak. (Cooked perfectly, despite what you might think after looking at this photo) And a most DELICIOUS Strawberry salad, So delicious in fact, that I asked Sherry for the recipe, so I could share it with you. Get a pencil, it's complicated: Start with a bowl of lettuce and some sliced strawberries. Then add: Candied walnuts (from Trader Joes) Gorgonzola crumbles (Trader Joes) and finally the most yummy cranberry dressing (from, you guessed it, Trader Joes!) Okay - how great is that? That is MY KIND of recipe! ;-) And if you also add to the feast Sherry's MAGNIFICENT, WORLD FAMOUS pasta salad, sweet watermelon, fresh bakery rolls and a to-die-for strawberry custard angel food cake.... ... you have the makings of a PERFECT PICNIC BY THE LAKE! "Quality of life is important; if you have a place where you can go and have a picnic with your family, it doesn't matter if it's a recession or not, you can improve the quality of life." Jim Fowler

Volleyball

After our little boat tour, we headed for the picnic grounds..... Then out popped a volleyball and the game was on! "Volleyball is my life, everything else is just details." "Carnivorous volleyball, win or be eaten." "Life is short, play hard" "All it takes is a little sand and lots of balls." "It gives us a chance to be competitive in a friendly way."

A one hour tour.....

How would you like to live here? Isn't it gorgeous? We spent yesterday at Mike's sister's house. How wonderful would it be to live right on the edge of a lake? They treated us to a little boat tour.... Our ship was captained by Uncle Carl... We enjoyed looking at the homes along the waterfront, but we saw plenty of birds, fish and turtles too.... Not sure why this song kept popping into my head all day long: "Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale a tale of a fateful trip, that started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship. The mate was a mighty sailin' man, the Skipper brave and sure, five passengers set sail that day, for a three hour tour, a three hour tour. The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew the Minnow would be lost. The Minnow would be lost." theme from Gilligan's Island