Birthdays and Dogs

As promised, I fixed French toast for Alice Nan for her birthday.

She was able to get on the road early and should be on her way back to Santa Barbara.  We will miss her.  She's such fun to have around, and always looks on the bright side of things, a talent I don't always have.  Polly has accepted her, so there hasn't been a lot of barking, which is a blessing.

I was up too late and up way too early in order to start the French toast so after she left, I was very, very sleepy and, in fact, fell asleep with my head on my desk, waking when the phone rang.  I was so disoriented I couldn't place where that noise was coming from.  I"ve been sleeping so well these past several months that 3 hours just doesn't cut it for a night of sleep any more, though it used to be my norm.

Diana Ross was one of the few "names" that I recognized on the Grammys last night, a vision in red.

Someone said she was 75 years old and I thought to myself "I'd like to look like that at 75," and then laughed since I will turn 76 next week!  Too late!

The tree guys finally showed up to trim two of our trees.  We expected them 2 weeks ago, but their "cherry picker" (the machine that lets them ride up to the top of the trees) was broken and they had to wait for it to be fixed.

But it's fixed now and our trees are finally trimmed.

Norm came by around noon.  The schedule had him arriving early in the morning and spending the night, but he had to work in the morning and has to work tomorrow morning as well, so he just came for a few hours.  When the schedule was set up, we needed a lot more help than we do now, but with Walt close to back to normal--or at least a new normal--we don't really need physical help as much as we have appreciated the mental stimulation of having a rotating number of folks in the house.

Norm and I ended up watching the Westminster Dog Show (Day 1).  In truth, I think contests to see which dog is the most beautiful is as dumb as a contest to see which woman is the most beautiful, but I do love looking at the dogs.  This one, unlike the coverage of the National Dog Show, which only shows the Best of Grou and Best of Show categories, this coverage was of the Best of Breeds.  Polly was unimpressed by the Chihuahuas but I thought seeing so many altogether was cute:

I also decided I want a Xolo.  Not so much because I like the look (or description of the dog) but because I want to tell everyone I have a Xoloitzcuintli (once I learn how to pronounce it!)

We also learned about poodles.  Norm looked up the story behind the silly poodle cut and discovered it's not so silly after all.

The traditional poodle look stems from the 17th century.  Poodles are water dogs and since a Poodle's thick outer coat can get heavy when wet, the bottom half of the body was shorn back to help keep the dog afloat. To keep his organs warm in cold waters, the hair was kept long over the chest and head. Bracelets of ankle hair were left to protect joints from rheumatism, and a topknot was used to keep long hair out of the eyes when swimming.  So now you know it's just not some sort of frou frou affectation on the part of owners.

After Norm left, I watched the Westminster agility trials, which were so much more fun.  Watching dogs competing in athletic competitions made more sense than conformation.  Those dogs are amazing.  Even when things go wrong....

...they pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and continue on.

I believe this dog was in the top 5.  The dog that won was tiny and barked through the entire course.

We are on our own for the next two or three nights, then Norm will be back and Ned will be home.  I think Ned is going to be very pleased to see the progress his father has made during his absence.