Bo's New Thing

So Bo has developed a new behavior that is rather cute (but not really okay...) To begin, you need to understand that Bo LOVES his daddy SO MUCH...I'm kind of like the crabby old lady he's stuck spending time with when Dad isn't home...I just don't roll on the floor with him or let him off the leash at the park (for fear of him running away or chasing another dog/trying to play with other passers-by)...I also don't like when he puts his slobbery toys up against me, or when he doesn't Drop the toy he wants me to throw for him. I'm not a big fan of doggie tug-o-war, but I'll play toss-fetch for a good chunk of time IF you follow my rules and Drop It...Rules Rules Rules. Poor Doggie.
Anyhow, I do take him for good long walks around the neighborhood where he gets to smell all kinds of new things and try to pick up every stick he spots along the way (except now, Crabby Me has to tell him to Drop It every time he picks a stick up because he will otherwise completely chew and swallow it...not so good for Doggie Digestion). Crabby Me is not a fan of cleaning up dog vomit, either...I am a very good Petter though. I'll pet for a good long time if you're not trying to bite my wrist or anything like that...
So the newest thing is that anytime Trav leaves, Bo stands at the door droopy eared and eyed for awhile with a look of "I can't believe he left me." He'll then find his way to the bedroom/laundry basket and return with an article of Travis' clothing...usually a sock, although today it was a hat. He lays down with it right at his nose/under his chin. It's cute. Though it's a reminder that I'm just not as cool and fun and loved as daddy is (which I have earned I recognize). Hopefully my grumpiness around him is just a "phase" and I will be more patient with him as he matures (which I understand for labs could be half-a-decade (yes, I consciously chose that verbage to exaggerate just how long puppihood lasts for labs!) Thank goodness Bo has such a good Daddy!!

Books

I love to read. I love to get sucked into a good book so the characters become my friends. I've said this in the past. I just finished reading a book that was such a downer. I kept wanting to stop reading it because it was bringing me down, but alas, I was drawn in too tightly. I needed to know what was going to happen. Luckily I whizzed through it in about a week so the downer-ness of it didn't last that long. The book was called, A Map of the World, and I don't recommend it. It's a NYT Best Seller from a few years back but not worth it if you like books to be relaxing and feel-goody when reading. Other books that sucked me in to their sadness were: My Sister's Keeper (although I DO recommend the read...thanks Jen for the recommend a couple years ago), Lovely Bones (uggghhh! a tear-jerker through and through, but with an interesting message of hope), then there's those I started that I put down usually because it involves someone dying of cancer, Three Junes being one of the titles still on my bookshelf.

Much like television/movies, I look to reading as an escape from everyday. As down-time to relax and veg out. While we don't get regular TV here, I could never understand all of the rapture with these ER type show and the Live-Arrest type shows. To me, that's not entertainment, that's reality, the sad, harsh reality that we live with everyday, that could happen to anyone at any given time (well, maybe not the arrest part, although that Map of the World book is about a woman who is accused of sexual assault on children though she claimed innocence...the scary point was that all it takes is for one whacko to pin you down for something and your whole life can be turned upside-down and inside-out....Not that I want to bring anyone down or anything...)


Oh...another downer that sucked me in was The Pact. That almost ruined my Cape Cod vacation but I just couldn't stop reading it...I'll blame the stress of reading that book on my near break-down in the beach shop trying to make a decision about which beach chairs to buy. That was a moment to remember...right my dear husband??? Always a pleasure to be with I am!!!

Just last night I decided to try out a Nora Roberts book about girlfriends connected somehow through gardening...it's part of a trilogy and I thought that it would be good for me to connect with characters over 3 books...so within the first 5 pages the book got tossed onto the floor when I read about the news report that the main character's husband was just killed in a plane crash. What the heck? A bestselling author has to make someone die or otherwise turn their life upside down to get published? Grrr...

So I dug into a pile of books my mom was getting rid of and pulled out The Poisonwood Bible which I read and enjoyed years ago (and it's good and thick and is written in the perspective of several different characters). I'll start that one tonight, but PLEASE, if you can give me a good title or two to check out that is/are generally nice and feel-goody, doesn't have to be perfect, but close enough, please let me know! If I want the harsh reality of life I'll watch the news or read the paper...

Enough to Make a Girl Go Nuts!!

Iditarod Update: I'm worried-er about my guy. He was in the lead for awhile...but I knew he needed to take his 24 hour rest soon as all mushers are required and some had already started theirs. Anyway, he was in the lead but somehow got off the trail and was lost for several hours. By the time he figured it out, he had lost hours of time and ended up arriving at the midpoint in second place, missing out on the $3000 worth of gold nuggets they award the first to the midpoint with. Poor Paul. That makes me sad. He was SOOO in a good place. In a brief interview, it sounded like he recognized that that one little mess-up may have cost him the race because in having kept the dogs out for so long running, they likely will be more tired for the future runs. It's just an insane race! But who knows what the future holds for my guy. I'm still rootin' for him!


Naturopath Visit: I went for a check-up with the naturopath who was my program coordinator for my grad program the other day and talked a lot about nutrition, etc. She shared with me that you should actually avoid the All Natural Peanut Butters because they contain either pesticides or fungus or something...She actually said that if you're going to eat peanut butter, the "Jiff" type with no added sugar was preferable because it has been heated enough to kill whatever remains in the all natural stuff...who knew??? Any other nut butter was fine in the all-natural state. I also learned that English Muffins contain a fungicide (best avoided) that is used to increase shelf-life. All very interesting.

But the most interesting is that she is also a licenced Traditional Chinese Medicine/ Acupuncturist so she did a quick exam on my pulses and looked at my tongue...While she was feeling my three pulses she said, "Do you have poor night vision?" I of course laugh because I pretty much can't see well at night at all (probably shouldn't drive). Either I don't see stuff OR I see stuff that isn't there...scary, eh? Anyway, whatever she picked up on in my pulses has poor night vision as a symptom...also bad circulation/cold hands/feel...which I also have...So this is called Liver Blood Deficiency and I should eat beets. (Never had a beet before.) She also very politely suggested that I strongly consider eating red meat, chinese medicine stlye--3 oz. serving, as opposed to American 16 oz. sirloin style. Let's see, the last time I at red meat would be 1997. So it was overall a good visit, though I left there with a lot more "food for thought"--ha! than I had expected. We'll have to wait and see how the story goes.

FYI: Peanut Butter info...
"...Aspergillus flavus is a mold found in small amounts in wheat, most legumes, and most tree-based nuts. However, it is found in particularly large quantities in two sources: corn and (you guessed it) peanuts. Furthermore, aspergillus flavus is one of the types of mold which produces a carcinogen known as aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is considered a cancer-causing substance in humans and animals by both the FDA and world health authorities."
"...This means that your safest source of peanut butter is generally your cheap, garden variety Jif or Skippy. The companies that make those generally get the peanuts fresh, roast and grind them immediately, put them through an effective cooking and homogenization process, then seal them in airtight jars. The mold buildup on those will be much lower than your typical "fresh" or "natural" peanut butters."

It's Iditarod Madness Again!

Last year, I picked the winning musher for my class to track during Alaska's dogsled race extravaganza, the Iditarod. This year, I picked the guy who was on his tail last year, figuring he'd really want to take the win this year. I remembered feeling nervous and vulnerable because Lance (my last year's guy) and Paul (my new guy) kept taking the lead from each other. Very stressful for me if you can imagine. At the moment, they're only 2 days into the race and my new guy is in fourth at this very moment, however I must say that I'm worried because his mph is a bit on the slow side AND he has yet to take a rest both for his own needs and more importantly, for those doggies that gotta pull him to the finish line. I understand that he had a couple rough/slow runs up till now so he wants to push it to get a good position. But, but, people and dogs need rest to perform well, no? I guess I need to keep my concerns and criticisms out because, I'm just guessing here, he probably wants to win a little more than I could want him to. Not to mention that he's trained his winning strategy right into those dogs of his. He probably runs 'em good and long, then rests 'em good and long, while others run awhile, rest awhile.

I'm such a dork, but it's fun to get pulled in to the drama of it all!

I'll keep you all posted!!