Ode to Cornbread

Joe makes the best cornbread in the world. It's especially wonderful now that it's cold and dark out. A mountain of golden sunshine, even more glorious now that it's made with huge, fresh farmers' market eggs. Bliss. Coney thinks so, too.

Bark Obama

All the dogs were BARacKing in the park on Wednesday and deserve tee-shirts like Fluffy and Mr. Fluffy's Stella has (Bark Obama 08). Well, the Dogs for Obama have it and Bush's Barney is cheesed off. He bit a reporter, a colleague no less. Laura says he's fed up with papparatzi. Well, he won't have long to wait before nobody's asking his opinion and we don't have to listen to his whiney owner. Here's an article that includes Barney's bad-dog-no-biscuit behaviour, wonders who the next presidential doggie will be and looks at presidential doggies throughout history:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96736708

Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! = January 20, 2009, the end of an error and a dog biscuit in every pot.

The Choice Is Clear

Who's Coney Dog voting for? No doubt about it. Obama rocks in dog circles. Obama has an official Dogs for Obama site http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/DogsforObama. The Humane Society Legislative Fund endorses Obama (Sarah likes to shoot at wolves out of airplanes!). The Obamas plan to get a pound puppy after the election. Coney found an Obama pin in the schoolyard. And, perhaps most importantly, the first two letters in Obama's name are the first two letters in the important word BONE. Obama for President for two Big Biscuits in every bowl!

Koni with a K

It's 11PM. Do you know where your dog is? Apparently, Vladimir Putin needs a little help. He put a large a satellite-tracking collar on his dog, Koni, to track the dog's whereabouts. You can read about this and see a picture of Koni at:

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iWP4ZjvNCw4YM9GiSj1JbLPVaKHA.

I don't need such high tech devices. I know Coney's always in the right place at the right time, especially at dinner time.

What I learned on my dog walk

I’m late. I was going to make my triumphant return to the blogosphere when the Car Guys’ Puzzler returned from summer vacation. Been having too much fun getting up to speed on being a Product Manager, camping, swimming, napping and dog walking. Better late than never for keen insight on pressing issues found on Dogma Musings. So, here goes. As we passed by the church/synagogue on our walk the other day, we saw a simple, square temporary structure made of 1-by-2’s and lattice. There were paper chains, decorated paper plates hung with colorful yarn and a hand printed sign that said, “Don’t forget to decorate the sukkah!” OK then. Coney and I went in to sniff around and admire the decorations. I later read an article in the Times that talked about the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot that includes hanging out in sukkahs to commorate the 40 years of living in makeshift dwellings as the Jews made their way to the Holy Land. There’s one taking up prime real estate in Bryant Park for the week of the festival. It’s a place to eat and give blessings and invite your friends. Almost sounds like a bar. They had several events at the Bryant Park sukkah including Sushi at the Sukkah, Jazz at the Sukkah and, my favorite, Pizza in the Hut. What next? Perhaps Wil Shortz will show up for Sudoku in the Sukkah. Cheers or whatever.

Blog Break

Seems like there’s a lot to do—mulching, swimming, camping, spinning up on my new job. Think I’ll take a blog break for a while. Joe’s as prolific as ever, so check out http://woodcharles.blogspot.com/ to see what we’ve been up to. Talk to you later.

Just Like Camping & Sweet Send Off

Just Like Camping: Got the camper van back, nice and clean and fixed up. We took it for a drive to Chelsea and Dexter yesterday. Got carry-out in Dexter, ate in our clean van and took a stroll over to the big gazebo. Then home for a nap after the big excitement.

Bon Chance! Got a sweet send off from some of the folks on my team as I embark on my new exciting job as a technical product manager. Got a beautiful lucky bamboo in an elegant vase

and a beautiful clock with all sorts of great “carpe diem” type sayings including my favorite rallying cry, “Never give up! Never surrender!” Thanks, guys. I’ll miss you, too.

Camper Van Continued, Nice Try TruGreen, Happy DogMa Day

Mea Culpa: My promise to myself and my faithful reader was that I would post an entry once a week. My excuse for missing an entry last week was going to be that I was busy mulching, but I didn’t end up doing much of that, either. Spent the time I could’ve been blogging thinking up excuses.

Camper Van Saga: We spent some of our time last weekend moving the camper van project along. Put the van into the capable hands of Steve at Lloyd Bridges so that he and his crew could fix the damage inflicted by the dealership, summerize it, wash it and ............... clean the inside! Steve was great. He said he’d seen worse. Got a call that day suggesting that we drive out to see the level of damage before he put it back together. Later in the week, Steve called to say the house battery (is that like house cookie or house chocolate?) was dead and would we like that replaced. Yes, please. Then another call to say that the battery housing was so corroded that he’d need to get a RoadTrek part from a dealer. Sigh. Needless to say, we haven’t made any concrete camping plans till we get the van in our hot hands. It’ll be right as rain soon (perhaps not the best phrase to use when talking about camping).

Nice Try TruGreen: Came home to find a 22 by 5.5 inch flyer from TruGreen wedged between the door jam and handle right next to the detailed No Soliciting sign. “Want a great lawn without the work?” “Free First Application” “Call Us Today” “10% Off”. My response to them is ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! We’re just not the types.

Happy DogMa Day: Finally, I would like to wish all you doggie moms out there a Very Happy DogMa Day!

Ooee, everything’s alright

Mulch in my driveway.

Flowers in my yard.

Dog laze in the afternoon.

Ooee, everything’s alright. Ooee, everything’s alright.

(Apologies to Country Joe McDonald).

Camper, Innovation, Aachen

Camper Van Moving Along: We took the camper van out for a little spin yesterday. Stopped by Lloyd Bridges and Service Guy Steve said he could fix the bit of plumbing that got damaged at the dealership. No problem. We’ve got an appointment to get ‘er all ready in a coupla weeks. Took Coney for a ride around the block. Just like camping.

Innovation: Thomson and Reuters just merged into Thomson Reuters. The founder of Reuters got his start by sending stock quotes, via carrier pigeons, between Aachen and Brussels. Innovation lives on at Thomson Reuters. I pitched an idea to the company Innovation Board yesterday; however, it was decided that carrier pigeons would not be a part of any of the recommended solutions.

Aachen: Speaking of Aachen, way back in the 8^th century, the pope allowed Charlemagne to take cool architectural treasures from Ravenna since his dad, Pepin, chased the bad old Lombards out of Ravenna and gave the city to the Papal states. Charlemagne, medieval king and starchitect, used the treasures to build a wonderful rustic version of Ravenna’s San Vitale. Here’s a link about Charlemagne’s chapel at Aachen:

http://faculty.cua.edu/Pennington/Religion402/Topic%20Two%20Carolingian%20Church/LectureTwo/PalaceChapelAachen.htm

and here’s a link about San Vitale in Aachen:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/images/ravenna/san-vitale/san-vitale-center-c-paradox.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/ravenna-san-vitale.htm&h=498&w=750&sz=75&hl=en&start=1&sig2=LjqBX1GGVTiVCNDbxyqvmQ&tbnid=rHdADL0bHKFMwM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=141&ei=F2IKSIqWEIO4iAGO9-n7Ag&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSan%2BVitale%2BRavenna%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

"Spring", Camper Saga, & Brilliant Silliness

“Spring”: I’m sorry. My fault. It’s snowing out and I know it’s because I got the deck furniture out last weekend. It was a struggle. Had a fight with the patio table. One of the legs lunged toward my face and dealt a near-fatal blow to my glasses. Got quick out patient treatment from Bennett Optometry and they were glasses-shaped again.

Never Give Up! Never Surrender!: To paraphrase a former colleague, “Chevy Dealership—Idiots!” In the process of checking out our camper van, an Ypsi dealership broke a piece of it. We’re hoping that Lloyd Bridges will come to the rescue since he was so heroic on Sea Hunt. We’ll get there. We’re keeping this little set back a secret from Coney Dog, the true owner of the camper van.

And Now For Something I Think You’ll Really Like: Thanks to Drea for pointing out this brilliant musical piece of silliness:

http://www.rathergood.com/elephants/

On the Road (Almost), Dogs, Penguins & Bunnies

Hitch Up the Wagons: We’re getting the camper van on the road. Jump that battery! Pump those tires! Move it on into the Chevy dealer for a check up. Pinckney, here we come!

Dog Comfort: The ad for the raised outdoor doggie bed said, “Makes your dog feel as pampered as if he were given a place on the couch.” Ha! We’ve got four couches and I still have trouble getting a spot. First come first served and Coney has this uncanny ability to get to the couch first. We won’t even talk about the bed...

When Penguins Fly: Award for best April Fool’s joke goes to the BBC for their short video of penguins migrating to the rainforest for a little R & R, with Terry Jones doing good impersonation of David Attenborough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23qDl1aH9l4

Inspired Architectural Detail: Copying The Ann Arbor Observer’s "I Spy" monthly feature, here’s an inspired architectural detail:

Joe, Dog Rain Coats, and Champleve

Joe: As a very fine young British director, James McRettin (John Cleese) says on the set of 20th Century Vole’s latest epic 'Scott of the Antarctic', “This film is basically pro-humanity and anti-bad things”. We got the word this Wednesday that Joe’s MRI films showed a lot of pro-humanity and anti-bad things. In fact, there were absolutely no bad things on the MRI at all. We drank to Joe’s health that night, and the next night and the next night and the next night ...

Practical Dog Fashion: I broke out Coney’s Fido Fleece rain coat on rainy Thursday and left a note for her “au pair”, Barb, about it. Barb thought it was the bees knees and took some pictures of our fashion plate. If she can have pics, so can you. Here’s one I took a while back:

Pretty Pins: You say cloisonne, I say champleve. Let’s call the whole thing off and call it enameling*. That’s what Bill Spear does. He creates beautiful pins of realistic birds, dogs, foxes and lots of other things. Peaceable Kingdom on Main St. in Ann Arbor has a selection of them or you can order them from the W. M. Spear website:
http://wmspear.com/catalog.php

* Cloisonne (derived from the French word for partition) is an enamel where the lines which divide the different patches of fields are composed of metal wire secured to the ground, often copper. Champleve is an enamel in which the ground is engraved or scooped out to receive the enamel. W. M. Spear creates a steel die to make the copper ground. Here’s a link to the description of their process:
http://wmspear.com/process.php

Joe, St. Pat's Day, Dog Historic Marker, Like Camping, Pandora

Joe: Things are moving right along. To work in the Z. Home from work in the Z. An occasional detour to St. Joe’s for a diagnostic MRI or two.

St. Patrick’s Day Hoo Ha: In the early 70’s, the only place you could get a drink on St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin was at the dog show. Things have livened up since then. Read all about it:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9902E0DA153DF934A25750C0A9679C8B63

I treated the G35 to a car wash on Monday. I went for the premium wash since it was the same price as a regular wash. They squirted blue gunk and yellow gunk on the car (what is that stuff?!), added water and guess what! You have green gunk for a perfect St. Patrick’s Day car wash!

Make Your Own Dog Historic Markers: I inadvertently made my own Dog Historic Marker this week (see 2/24/08 entry). I pulled out the dog treat bag while on my neighbor’s sidewalk. It had a hole in it, so it was, “Every time it rains it rains Kibble from heaven...”. Coney and I check out this spot every day now.

Just Like Camping: Had a nice chat with Jim at the water treatment plant on Saturday morning after getting an automated alert about a water main break that affected our neigborhood. We had a precautionary boil water which felt just like camping. 1855 is a very comfy camper van.

Paean to Pandora: Try pandora.com, the window into the Music Genome Project that let’s you listen to and create music channels full of music you like for free. I love it. You will, too:

http://pandora.com/

Joe, Lavender Larry, and Math & Science News

Joe: Here’s a picture of Joe’s triumphal return to work:

and here’s a link to a larger version so you can wonder at details like the guy in the front seat and those oxen tailgating on US 23:

https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/citd/RussianHeritage/6.PG/SCMEDIA/4.6.Celebration.gif

Lavender Larry: After seeing the Multipet plush “Loofa Dog” featured on Puppy Bowl IV, I knew Coney needed one. In fact, I knew she needed two. The blue one is being held in reserve, but Lavender Larry is on active duty. Larry is 18” long (they’ve got a jumbo 24” pup now!) and is the perfect recall companion. Coney brings Larry back and forth to Joe and me for our evening recall practice. The squeaker in da rear emits a pleasant honk, the bod bends as necessary to get through tight spots and that smile can’t be beat. An end-to- end favorite.

Math and Science News: March isn’t just for ides or St. Patrick’s Day anymore. I don’t know how I could have missed knowing about Pi Day, 3/14 ... 3.1415926535... There’s a website, of course, piday.org. We celebrated with pie, of course, Achatz Michigan Four Berry, available at Produce Station. We’ve been celebrating a lot with pie lately. “Why is you so obsessed with thoughts of pie?”

The moon of Saturn called Enceladus is getting a lot of attention from the Cassini cameras because it has a cool geyser of icy particles shooting out at 800 mph from its south pole. Cool! Go Cassini! Go!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/science/space/13plumew.html?ref=science

Cute Canids, etc.

Joe: Everything is fine. Well, actually, we’re both really tired of winter, but we’re coping by eating Chef Joe’s Marvelous Meals (like chevre tarts and pork medallions with sweet pepper salsa) and being part of the Netflix Nation. We’re almost finished watching the entire Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett as da man.

Cute Canids: Joe sent me this link with wonderful pics of red wolves (canus rufus):

http://www.fws.gov/alligatorriver/red%20wolf/rwpics.html

The pictures alone make it clear to me why we would want to restore the endangered red wolf population, but here is a FAQ response to why the US Fish and Wildlife Service is doing this: "The essential reasons are to prevent extinction of the species and to restore the ecosystems in which red wolves occurred, as mandated by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973. The ESA found that endangered and threatened species are of aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational and scientific value to the Nation and its people. It is important to save all members of an ecosystem, including predators, if we intend to conserve the environment and be good stewards of the land. Lessons learned in the red wolf recovery program have served as a model for predator conservation worldwide." Wouldn’t it be nice to be of “aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational and scientific value”? The “recreational” and “scientific” parts scare me a little.

Music Notes: My Infiniti G35 is really just a beautiful Sirius radio entertainment center. I love being able to see the name of music I’ve known for years, but didn’t know the name. Like Pilgrims’ Chorus from the Tannheuser opera by Wagner. So, who was Tannheuser and what’s up with this chorus? Tannheuser was a German Minnesänger (a troubadour) and poet who lived in the 13th century and is known through his poetry and in legend. The 1845 opera dramatizes the legend which goes like this: Tannheuser finds the goddess Venus in her underground, undisclosed location called Venusberg and hangs out with her there for a year. Since this is all about sacred and profane love, (i.e., loving Mary, the Mother of God = Good Lovin’ and loving Venus = Bad Lovin’), Tannheuser leaves Venus full of remorse. He travels to Rome to ask the pope for absolution. The pope replies with the medieval equivalent of “when pigs fly”, namely it’s about as likely as his papal staff sprouting leaves. Well, guess what happens three days after Tannheuser leaves the pope, theoretically still full of remorse? Pigs fly and the pope’s staff sprouts. Messengers try to find our remorseful fellow, but he’s already taken the express back to Venusberg, never to be seen again. Poor thing. There are pilgrims going back and forth to Rome all day long. I don’t know what they’re singing in the Pilgrims’ Chorus, but it is undoubtedly sacred and certainly nice sounding.

Dog Bootie Redux, etc.

Joe: Still moving in the right direction. Like Spring, we’ll get there eventually. Joe made the most wonderful braised rabbit this week. Very tasty after a chilly dog walk (Coney thought so, too).

Coney Dog Sets Fashion Trend: You read it here first (see Iditarod Dog, etc. 2/10/08). Blue dog booties are the rage around the world, especially in Duesseldorf, where police dogs need to protect their feet against nasty bits of glass caught in the cobblestone streets.

Here's Coney Dog sporting her footwear:

and here's a Duesseldorf doggie:

Here's the description from an AP article found on Yahoo:

A police officer puts on shoes for his dog in this undated photo provided by police in Duesseldorf, western Germany, on Monday Feb. 25, 2008. Police dogs in the western German city of Duesseldorf will no longer get their feet dirty when on patrol: The entire dog unit will soon be equipped with blue plastic fiber shoes, officials said Monday. 'All 20 of our police dogs, German and Belgian shepherds, are currently being trained to walk in these shoes,' Andre Hartwich said. 'I'm not sure they like it, but they'll have to get used to it.' The unusual footwear is not a fashion statement but rather a necessity due to the high rate of paw injuries on duty. (AP Photo/Polizei Duesseldorf)

Of course, the Iditarod dogs have been wearing booties for years and they’re at it again. Today is Day 2 of the race.

Music Notes: I didn’t realize what a big deal Van Cliburn’s victory at the first International Tchaikovsky Competition, in Moscow on Apr. 14, 1958, was. I enjoyed listening to him speak with Scott Simon on NPR:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87771963

There are lots of audio links on this page in addition to the interview, but I especially liked “How Van Cliburn Took Moscow” by Sara Fishko (scroll down near the bottom).

And, for you movie music buffs, don’t miss Andy Trudeau’s annual review of Oscar movie music:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19251328

Dog Historic Markers, etc.

Joe: Things are hunky dory. Recent outings included a lovely, special dinner at Sparrow Meat Market and Produce (dreamy tiramisu) and another lovely, special dinner at Paesano’s (terrific chestnut puree soup). The Bolognese at Haute Joe’s was a one of several “delicio s” meals this week.

Dog Historic Markers: Dave Barry coined this term in his 1993 article “The Hidden Life of Dogs” http://www.funnytimes.com/samplepages/dogs.pdf The concept, described here, has a lot of resonance for us doggie owners. “... the house contains the most wondrous thing in the world: the kitchen counter. One time a piece of turkey fell off of it. The dogs still regularly visit the spot where it landed, in case it shows up again. There's an invisible Dog Historic Marker there.” Of course it’s invisible, Dave! We’re talking Smell-O-Vision here. Some local favorite Dog Historic Markers include the racoon house at the Summers-Knoll School dumpster and the woodchuck haven recently turned into a facilities building site at County Farm Park. Watch out County Parks and Recreation folks, you may need to “think like a chuck”, as our Antietam ranger friend told us, to prevent wily woodchucks from undermining your foundation. A less frequently visited marker is the Magical Bone Bush in front of a local church. Sniff, sniff, sniff the ground, raise your head and sniff, snatch that slice of cow femur hanging in the bush, trot, trot, trot home proudly. Crunch!

Art News: Parmigianino’s enigmatic Antea in a one painting exhibit at the Frick, “a beauty and a mystery”: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/arts/design/22fric.html?ref=design Some of you may recall from Art History 102 that Parmiginanino is not a famous cheesehead, but rather the painter of the weird Mannerist “Madonna of the Long Neck” http://www.artchive.com/artchive/p/parmigianino/long_neck.jpg. I like Antea better.

Dog Days, etc.

Joe: See Joe’s 20080214 “Health Topics” entry on http://woodcharles.blogspot.com/ “Things are returning to an even keel...” Full steam ahead!

Dog Days: It was a big week for dogs. The mighty Uno took Best in Show at Westminster, the first beagle ever. Arooooooooooooooo! http://www.westminsterkennelclub.org/2008/results/bis/

Naughty Dog Cafe had their Lucky Puppy Bake Sale this weekend with 100% of the proceeds going to the Huron Valley Humane Society. Coney Dog was a lucky puppy who got one of everything. http://www.naughtydogcafe.com/everything-about-naughty-.html

Valentine’s Day is Coney Dog Day. I brought her home on Feb. 14 seven years ago. Joe made a nice dinner of steak and potatoes. Coney had a bone for dessert while Joe and I ate chocolate covered strawberries and drank champagne. I wore the champleve Beagle pin Joe gave me for Valentine’s Day in honor of Uno’s victory (I already have a German Shepherd pin).

La!: NPR aired a story about “a classical treasure trove at YouTube”:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18881714

It includes a famous, favorite duet from Bizet's opera The Pearl Fishers featuring tenor Jussi Bjorling and baritone Robert Merrill. I like the Toscanini video, too. Pavarotti looks bemused during his bizarre “duet” with James Brown.

Iditarod Dog, etc.

Joe: We’re still moving in the right direction! Meals prepared by Chef Joe this week included pork roast, crown roast of lamb with perfect fried potatoes, and (oh my gosh!) homemade pasta with homemade duck sausage in a mushroom cream sauce! We also had a very nice meal at Logan. Tote dat roast! Lift dat fork!

Art History Corner: I love “30,000 Years of Art” by the Editors of Phaidon, the same people who gave us E.H. Gomrich’s “The Story of Art”, first published in 1950. I haven’t found a review by someone with bona fide art histerical credentials yet, but this review by Morgan Meis touches on the “more art, less talk” issue I’ve been on about for years (Don’t strike me down with a thunderbolt, Ilene!):

http://arthistorynewsletter.com/blog/?p=650

This “artist and writer” says, “I imagine a group of art historians sitting around a table with a sixth or seventh bottle of wine giggling to each other like schoolgirls. ‘Take that, art theorists! We give you a book with all art and no theory. We give you a book that says nothing and simply is what it is. We give you description and description alone. Its subject matter? The entirety of the history of art. Take that!’” Hah! I don’t think you know many art historians, Morgan, my friend. They’re all theorists, much more interested in words, their words, than art. I imagine a group of art historians sitting around the table with their sixth of seventh pot of tea, saying, “Grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble. They’re cuttin’ us out of the loop! Art history has been such a lucrative career ... until now!”

Here’s an article on the NPR site with beautiful photographs (I LOVE the Lioness Demon):

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17936982

Iditarod Dog: I kept checking wunderground.com weather to pick the best time to take Coney out for a quick walk so she could do her thing, biologically speaking. The weather kept getting worse! We finally left at 3PM when it was a sunny 3 degrees, with a wind chill of -20. We broke out all the gear, from double layer hat to Sorel boots rated to -25 degrees. Coney was sporting her fashionable Black Watch plaid trimmed Fido Fleece coat and royal blue Fido Fleece booties. I finally read the bootie documentation after having these babies fall off Coney’s feet numerous times (you wouldn’t think you’d need documentation for booties, would you). The secret appears to be in the first instruction, “Place toggles facing out from dog’s legs.” I was on Bootie Watch duty, and all four stayed on for our entire 15 minute jaunt. The documentation says that most dogs take about ½ hour to acclimate to the booties, but they neglect the most important instruction: give your dog at least one treat for each bootie you put on. We had played around with the booties the last time we had sub zero wind chills, so Coney was ready to go after our photo shoot at the starting line. She trotted along the road, seeming to appreciate the bootie benefits. At certain points on our route, it would’ve been nice to have doggie Stabil-Icers Lite, but Coney knows where her feet are, as they say, and she recovered quickly from the slips. What next? Stay tuned for the Skijoring Report! Aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Groundhog Day, etc.

Joe’s Recovery: We’re still eating up a storm and it’s paying off! The doc said that Joe gained enough weight over the last two weeks that he can maintain at this point. Recent training meals included a wonderful braised rabbit a la Joe, lunch at the Northside Grill and dinner at the Earle Winebar.

Happy Groundhog Day: Punxsutawney Phil predicted 6 more weeks of winter. However, Woody, our-closer-to-home rodent at the Howell Nature Center predicted an early spring, so I’m with her! Here she is. Isn’t she cute?

Overheard at the car dealership: From the driver who picked up my car: “So, your car’s a manual?” I didn’t say, “So, do you know how to drive one?” I did linger briefly until I saw him successfully drive out of the parking lot. From the service manager when I asked about the service alert related to the clutch. “It’s the bushing, um, the clutch arm, um, ... to be honest, those service alerts are about 18 pages long and I haven’t read it.” Then he said, “It’s our first one, no, I mean we’ve fixed clutches before, but this is the first one for this service alert.” I told them to take all the time they needed to read the documentation and complete the service. I love the Internet; I was able to find the service alert on edmunds.com and determine that the problem was actually the slave cylinder, which reminds me of the evil, cylindrical robot called The Master Cylinder in the Felix the Cat cartoon. Here he is. Isn’t he cute?

Dog Gear: “What’s it gonna take to get you into these Merrell Women’s Thermo 6 Waterproof dog walking shoes? They’ve got yer Thinsulate, yer Polertec, yer Vibram soles, yer product tags in five languages”. Won’t take much. I’ve test romped them a couple of times and they’re perfect. Here they are. Aren’t they cute?

The Case of the Missing Lemon Curd (Continued) and Other Musings

Joe’s recovery: We’re eating up a storm! Went to Lotus Thai on Friday night (sorry, Fluffy, we decided to go at the last minute). Joe made roast chicken last night. Mmmm. Check Joe’s 1/24 “Health Topic”s entry (see my “Welcome to DogMa Musings” on the right for address).

The Missing Lemon Curd: The Bakehouse sales and service rep basically said that “they meant to do that”, that the Lemon Clouds weren’t supposed to be filled with lemon curd like the web description said, that he was grateful I contacted him, that he had, in fact, heard this complaint before. He was very apologetic about the pain and suffering caused by the incident and offered me a selection of baked goods of my choice to help remove the sour taste in my mouth from unmet expectations. I selected 6 pastries, including another Lemon Cloud. I went to the Bakehouse on Saturday morning, said my name was Linda and I was here to pick up an assortment of pastries. The first woman looked bemused, but the eyes of the two women behind her got very large and one of them said she’d be right back with the pastries. Don’t know how they were referring to me (I imagined “that Lemon Cloud Witch” or something like that but, of course, I will never know). Joe and I did a pastry tasting and found, among other things, that the Lemon Cloud tasted lemony! Did they lace mine with a little more lemon curd? The day after I contacted the Bakehouse by email, they had changed the description of the pastry on their website from “filled with our own fresh lemon curd” to “with a thin layer of our own fresh lemon curd”. The description now says, “These babies have taken the world of breakfast pastries by storm! This airy butter pastry is kissed with a touch of our fresh lemon curd to create a danish that will lift you up in to the clouds.” There we have it. I’d actually buy them again. I’ve promised the rep a review of the pastries and I’m going to suggest that, for Mardi Gras, they FILL those Lemon Clouds with lemon curd, call ‘em Lemon paczki, issue a Surgeon General’s Warning about dying and going to heaven, and watch the customers swoon.

DogMa Musings: This was such a hit with several of my friends, I thought I’d post it here. It’s a video of the ultimate snow dog, forwarded to me by friend, who says this guy puts her Norwegian Elkhounds to shame:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sUL0KCIc48&feature=related

And, watch this! From Joe’s boss who has a talented Corgi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYDLBgz3Lxw

The Case of the Missing Lemon Curd

Joe’s still “ahead of the curve” recovery-wise and, as an added bonus, he’s actually feeling better! We had take-out Thai food last night, went grocery shopping today despite the single digit temps, and now Chef is making dinner. Remarkable Medicine. Remarkable Care. Remarkable Endurance.

Let me tell you the story of The Missing Lemon Curd. I bought some pastries at the Bakehouse yesterday, including a Lemon Cloud. I brought it home and, with great anticipation, sliced it in half while J and C looked on. There was no lemon curd. The pastry was divine and there was a hint that it may have had a brief conversation with something lemony, but the pastry was empty. I called the Bakehouse and asked the apologetic woman to hold 2 Lemon Clouds for me for later pickup (I thought an extra one would be in order for pain and suffering, gas expenditure, and the disappointment of my brunch guests). I picked up my pastries in the afternoon and tore one open in the car before leaving. No lemon curd. I went back inside. I opened up the other one. No lemon curd. The two friendly women behind the counter said that the Lemon Cloud wasn’t completely “filled” with lemon curd. This was beginning to feel a little like the Cheese Sketch. “Do you, in fact, have Lemon Clouds with any lemon curd at all!?” They asked if I wanted something else and I selected a muffin, which I know has muffin inside. One of the women said they were going to bring this to the attention of the Bakers Investigative Unit (Scotland Bakehouse Yard). The description of the pastry is as follows: “These babies have taken the world of breakfast pastries by storm! They look like a paczki, but they taste like heaven. Fluffy rounds of buttery danish dough filled with our own fresh lemon curd.” A bit of hyperbole, perhaps? Rodomontade even? I’ll report on the results of the investigation of the The Missing Lemon Curd at a later date.

I understand why our friend Sarah (of “Sarah and the Elkhounds”) has a closet full of boots. You need ‘em to be a DogMa in S.E. Michigan. You need completely water-proof (as in rubber) boots for icy-water/mud conditions during the periodic winter thaws, boots rated to -25 degrees F. (the F is for Farenheit, although this weather might cause you to think of another F word. Perhaps I should say -25 degrees FF for friggin’ Farenheit), water-proof summer shoes, fair weather jogging shoes, and, probably, a few others for weather conditions I’ve forgotten about since last year (Tsunami shoes?). My Sorel waterproof, thinsulate-lined Timberwolf (or would that be Timberwoof?) boots are nearly perfect for the -17 degree wind chill we had today. They’re a little too tall, making it difficult to jog, so while I’m grateful to have them, I’m looking for a similar, but lower height boot. The search for the Holy Grail of boots continues.

View Haloo!

Unlike Joe, who was blogging before Al Gore invented the Internet, I am a new and infrequent contributor to blogs (last posting Aug. 19, 2007!), but here goes. Some news from Lake Melange de Berger.

Our St. Joe’s oncologist said Joe was “ahead of the curve” recovery-wise. That was good news, but cold comfort considering how dreadful Joe is feeling. They’ve got to figure out a better way to deal with those pesky cancer cells.

I actually got out the skillet and cooked something last night. Scrambled Eggs with Berkshire Ham Bits. Made a dinner theatre meal of this by adding Zingerman’s “Flat Bread” and a shot of orange juice while I watched the animated movie “Ratatouille” (charming). Not familiar with Zingerman’s “Flat Bread”? Here’s how you do it. Take a nice fresh loaf of Z’s Rustic Italian. Instead of eating it right away, decide to preserve it by vacuum sealing and freezing it. It flattens rather dramatically to its pre-levened state. None of those pesky air holes. Not a recommended technique unless you’re interested in a science experiment akin to those done with Peeps.

I had such a bad cold/sore throat last week that it seemed best to rest up. This was the first time since Coney Dog came to live with us seven years ago that I’d been unable to go on our walks twice a day. I was sad. Fortunately, we’d engaged Liz’s dog walking service in December to give Coney an additional walk each day. Liz stopped by morning and afternoon last week and she and Coney went on their tour of the neighborhood, a very good workout. I was happy to “get back in the saddle” this weekend with our daily walks. Feeling much better. Speaking of walks, time for another one. View Haloo! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4jM6OdbW9g&feature=related