Taste Test Take 3

Most people who have visited our apartment have had the great fortune to enjoy several videos of Lucy as the subject of a taste test. Wes holds the dog, I lay down three types of dog treats or whatnot, Wes lets Lucy go, and we see which one she chooses first. The funny thing is, while most dogs would just eat each treat immediately upon arriving at it, Lucy really does sniff each one before choosing where to start. In the first video, she sniffs all three before starting. In the second video, she tests two choices before digging in. This time, we upped the ante. Lucy had her choice of cheddar cheese (Wes's pick), Italian sausage (my pick -- we were having spaghetti tonight), and a Beggin' Strip (which has been the winner when competing against other dog treats). Lucy did me proud and indeed picked the sausage to eat first -- after sniffing the other two choice -- then the cheese, then the Beggin' Strip. Surely I could make money off of this...

Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch changes

A change to the blog worth noting -- I've added two sidebars. The first is a "Books, Not Blogs" list of what I've been reading or am reading or will be reading. I couldn't decide whether to do it as a linked list or regular list, but for now I'm going with this so you can read about the book on BN's website even if I don't write about. The second is a short list of blogs I read daily or weekly. In order, they are:

• Ramblings -- My younger sister's blog about life in (now) Savannah, Georgia. Enjoy posts about her husband's job as a nurse and love of hunting, her own beagle Remington, and her forays into Southern living.
• I Once Was HP -- A friend from Charlottesville's blog about her life as a mother of three, wife of a neonatologist, friend to many, but more importantly, just a smart woman with diverse interests. Enjoy posts about what she's reading, what's blooming in her yards, and the antics of her funny dog, White Dragon.
• Trixie in Transit -- A woman whom I've never met and only know from her blog, which I linked to from Sarabeth's. Random connections -- she lives near Atlanta, just like my parents, and she and her husband have visited Chicago since I moved here. Read about her house, her job, and most importantly (here and on her other blog) her ongoing adoption saga...which hopefully will come to fruition in the new few weeks (pray, pray!).
• A Little Pregnant -- No, I'm not. This is a woman, also whom I've never met and whose blog I found who knows how, who has battled infertility and now has one son named Charlie. She writes really well and passionately about something facing a lot of women.
• Helen of Niles -- A blog devoted primarily to the life and times of the daugher of former Davidson classmates of mine. Helen's dad was a pretty good friend through all four years at Davidson, and we were abroad in Germany together for a year. His wife is a brilliant and well-read English PhD who had the wonderful fortune to marry this great and very tall (it can't be left unsaid) man and who now is a witty, well-written, and wise mother to their most adorable daughter.
• Question Air -- A very old friend, in duration not age. I just today got the link for this blog, and I'm so excited to start reading it. This is a friend whom I met at Governor's School after my junior year of high school. She attended UNC-Chapel Hill (which I don't hold against her), later got her MFA, has taught school, and writes beautiful poetry. Most importantly, she is one of the five most genuinely kind and wonderful women I know.

Read and enjoy. You too can form a kindred friendship with people you've never met.

One expensive hot dog

Everyone I know who has a kid posts whenever their kid gets its annual checkup with weights and lengths and percentages. Well I don't have kids, but I do have Lucy, and after the vet bill I paid today, I'm going to share all about it. Lucy is now four years and three months old. I don't know how long she is, but she weights 27 lbs. This represents a 1.5 pound gain since last year, which I don't know is really advisable at this point. She got four vaccines and took it like a champ -- except for all the trembling, shedding, and drueling. She looks good generally, but she needs her teeth brushed more often. Oh, and the vet confirmed something my sister mentioned recently -- beagles usually HATE to have their paws handled, especially to get their nails cut. Could someone have mentioned that a bit sooner?

Self City Tours -- "See the City by Your Self!"

My parents' visit has come and gone, along with a few more days, and I'm finally around to getting the pictures on the computer. We had a nice time while they were here, due in part to the absolutely wonderful weather we had while they were in town -- much unlike the heat wave we were experiencing last year while they were in town. Our schedule was a little more flexible since they'd already seen so much of the place, and that was nice. They got in on Saturday morning, and we actually took a cab back from O'Hare because of work taking place on the blue line. It took Wes and I two hours to get there on public transportation, and we decided the cab fare -- albeit high -- was well worth it to not suffer through three transfers, with luggage, to get home. We enjoyed a walk around the South Loop area -- out to the Museum Campus and down Prairie Avenue. And of course we went by Soldier Field. Saturday night we went through the park on our way to dinner at McCormick and Schmick (highly recommended) and stopped briefly at the Chicago Summer Dance event happening. They were teaching the salsa that night. We got there 20 minutes late, and it took about 1/100th of that time for Wes and I to figure out we probably needed that first 20 minutes to be able to follow along at all. So off we went to dinner. A Bernstein's Broadway concert had just let out in Millienium when we walked by on our way home, but regardless we got to see more dancing, enjoying the salsa music, and let our stomachs recover from the sumptuous fish and apple turnovers we had at dinner.

On Sunday, my parents and I walked about a mile west to the Sunday market on Canal street to buy a watermelon and to the neighboring Home Depot to buy a tree-like plant. Those of you who know we are car-free in Chicago might ask -- but how did you get it home? I'll tell you. We carried it. My mom and I both took one strap of a Giant grocery bag I'd wisely taken along, and my dad carried the plant, which we named Paul in his honor (plus we can look at the plant and say, "Oh, it's you Paul"). Later that afternoon, all four of us went to Wrigley to watch the Cubs lose to the Diamondbacks. It was the first time in a month the Cubs lost two in a row. I enjoyed the game well enough, but nine innings is just too long for me. After enjoying my salted pretzel (sought out with great pain by my mother) and beer (I'd forgotten how bad Bud Light is), I did some napping behind my sunglasses in the fifth and sixth innings. From what I can tell, I didn't miss much. We had brats for dinner and played a most enjoyable game of Taboo. I learned more about my parents' marriage than I truly ever wanted to know and enjoyed watching my father's brain trying to work through the rules. He actually put his hands between his knees when I kept yelling at him for gesturing.

On Monday, we all went on the Seadog Architectural Cruise. It's pricey (though not more than more in Chicago), but the best bang for your buck. Plus, we got a bonus speedboat ride. And I enjoyed it much better this time when I wasn't having visions of jumping overboard to relieve myself. We ended our afternoon early as I was having random side pain, but enjoyed a nice dinner at home of welding sauce chicken, my mom's potato salad, and the hard earned watermelon.

My parents left early on Tuesday to head to Pittsburgh to visit with both their families before heading back to Atlanta. They've been to Chicago twice now (my mom one more the summer we first came), and it's always nice. They're not people that need to be entertained or to see every inch of the city. And that's welcome sometimes.