Not Color Blind

I had always heard that dogs were color blind. It turns out this is NOT true.

Dogs can see color. However, their spectrum is limited compared to human vision. Dogs can see yellow, blue and violet. Reds and greens appear in the yellow-blue spectrum.

It also turns out that a dog's mouth is NOT cleaner than a humans. However, that does not surprise me.

Why I love M&Ms

We went shopping at Cabela's with a coupon that said, spend $200-$299.99 and save $50. Spend $300 and save $70.

We took our purchases up to the register and the total was $299.96!  Spending another 4 cents would save me $20. Luckily for me, there was candy for sale next to the register. I picked up a bag of M&M's. The 99 cent purchase reduced the total bill by $19.

Not bad, chocolate to snack on and a lower total.

Bulb Watch I

The paperwhites are slowly growing. I do not think we will have flowers in time for Christmas.

Party Animal

Otis got in the middle of our wrapping birthday gifts and ended up with a new collar.

Cooper wanted no part of this.

Breast Cancer Walk

In September,  I brought in our garbage can and noticed a letter on pink paper taped to the lid. The note was from our garbage man. He was asking for donations to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.  Both he and his wife wanted to walk and needed to raise  $1,800 each to be eligible to participate.

I immediately sent in a donation for this worthy cause. I wondered how many customers would respond to his request.

In this month's bill, there was a letter thanking everyone who contributed. A whopping $21,000 was raised! Congratulations, Chris! Thanks for helping to find a cure.

More salmon, please

Cooper cannot get enough of the new Taste of the Wild Salmon dog food. Cooper gobbles up all his food, licks the bowl clean and stares at me with his big eyes, waiting for more.

Cooper used to be a picky eater. Cooper would eat what he wanted and then walk away. Otis loved this, because he would get a second breakfast or dinner.

Now, when Coop walks  away, Otis races over and finds an empty bowl. Otis sighs and move on.

Sunflowers

I bought some striking red-orange sunflowers at the grocery store. I thought their color was unusual, but did not stop to consider how the flowers acquired this shading.

The flowers were in a green vase and all died except for one. I put the one sunflower in a clear vase. In the morning, I found the water had turned pink!

I then realized that the sunflowers must have been placed in red dye. When the flowers absorbed the red coloring, they turned orange.

Van Cortlandt Manor

We visited Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, NY over the Thanksgiving weekend.

We toured the manor, ferry and tenant houses.  The guides were dressed in period costumes. We saw demonstrations in blacksmithing, soap and candle making, cider and apple butter making, and spinning.

The manor house had beautiful antique furniture and porcelain dishware. This was in stark comparison to the pewter dishware at the ferry house/tavern. At the tenant house, we learned that there was one main room which served as the kitchen and bedroom for the entire family. I think we live in a small home, I can't image living in a single room with 6+ people!

Natural Fries

While we were out Christmas shopping, we stopped for lunch at Wendy's. As we opened the door into Wendy's I spotted a big sign stating that Wendy's now sold Natural Fries with sea salt.

It turns out that natural fries still have the skin on them. I did not like these new fries. I am not sure why Wendy's ruined a good thing. Jeff said perhaps these fries were cheaper to purchase.

In any case, my trips to Wendy's will be greatly reduced because of these fries.

Look What I've Got

With family visiting, Otis was in rare form. This paper bag which was folded on a table became his latest toy.

The words "Otis, No!" and "Otis, Drop it" rang throughout the house as Otis grabbed shoes & towels  and raced around. It seems that Otis forgot his manners.

Cooper on the other hand was well behaved and outgoing, going up to family to get petted.

Carnival Glass

We received this beautiful carnival glass vase as a Thanksgiving gift. However, we are not sure who manufactured this piece.

The antique shop marked the vase as  Imperial Jack in the Pulpit, but based upon an internet search it appears to be an Imperial Morning Glory vase.

If you know anything about carnival glass or specifically this vase, please email us!

Juicing an Onion

I wanted to make crab dip for Thanksgiving. I found a highly rated recipe on line and  purchased all the ingredients. When I started to make the dip, the recipe said, "collect the juice from an onion".

I admit I am not a chef, but had never heard of juicing an onion. Reading further, it said to grate an onion on the smallest grater hole and collect the juice. I followed the recipe and in 2 minutes, I was sobbing. If cutting an onion releases an odor, grating an onion is 100 times worse.I was crying so hard, that I could barely see to collect the onion juice.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the crab dip, so it seems my efforts were worthwhile.

Thanksgiving Success

Hours of cleaning and cooking paid off with a successful Thanksgiving. I love how beautiful the dining room looked with the fire blazing and the china and crystal sparkling on the table.

Our guests brought side dishes, wine and dessert, which reduced the cooking I needed to do. The turkey took an hour longer than estimated to cook, but no one seemed to mind. Good wine and interesting conversation flowed throughout the house.

Everyone commented on how nice the house looked with all the changes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing all our friends and family a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Christmas Carols

Driving to work on Monday morning, I heard the first Christmas carol on the radio. All I could think was, "I'm NOT ready for Christmas".  All of my energy is focused on preparing for Thanksgiving.

It seems that radio stations, just like stores,  are starting the Christmas season earlier each year.

Sears Never Fails

We've needed a new TV ever since we moved our 14 year old 32" CRT TV to the bedroom.  It still works and has a decent picture, but it takes up a lot of room.

When we renovated the downstairs, we thought about furniture placement and where the TV would go.  We carefully measured so that our older buffet would fit between the two new windows and it ended up being the perfect size for a 46" Flat Panel TV.

We've been putting off buying the TV for about a month, but with company coming it just had to be done.  Valerie did her research with help of her sister who is in the business and we decided on either a Samsung or Sharp with Internet connectivity for downloading Netflix movies.  She found the best price on the Samsung at Sears and saw online that our local Sears had exactly one left.


We arrived at Sears at 10:25 and they opened at 10:30.  We were the first ones in the side door, but still managed to get to the electronics department with four people ahead of us.  I kind of felt sorry for the salesman because there was five people waiting and he was the only one in the department.  Of course, the first person on line had to do a return and then a purchase and he wanted his discount for opening a Sears credit card.  Awesome.  He needed a manager override for the new price, and helped the next person at a register at the front of the department.

After about 20 minutes, we tracked him down at the front of the Electronics department helping other customers.

"Oh, I'm helping people up front now", was his explanation when we finally got to him.

Our salesman's associate was explaining the "Extended Warranty" to his customer when the customer said "It's a scam, no thank you."  Our salesman stopped what he was doing (helping us) and explained the virtues of spending an additional $250 on a $800 TV.

The customer was a little smart alleck and asked the salesman, "Are you saying that my TV won't last three years?  Maybe I better go somewhere else to buy it..."

"No, no, no, it's a good brand, but it's just like insurance!"

The other customer politely declined again and our guy got back to us.

"I see we only have one of your model in stock, I have to go and verify the inventory", he told us.  I kind of appreciated this considering what happened last time.  He came back in about 20 minutes and sure enough, they didn't have the unit.  Didn't even try to sell me another brand, a bigger size, or a different model.

As we were walking out, I said to Valerie that Sears never fails to disappoint me.

Getting Ready

With Thanksgiving only a few days away, we are getting ready for guests. The turkey has been purchased. I wanted a 10 lb bird, but the smallest I could find is 13 lbs. Let's hope everyone is hungry.

Cooper and Otis are freshly washed . Otis whined excitedly in the car and raced into the dog wash. However, once Coop and Otis realized it was bath time, they both tried to head back outside.

The linen tablecloth and napkins are washed and the Lenox cornucopia  is on the dining table.

Quantative Easing Explained

Time to Walk

When I work at home, I do not see much of the dogs in the morning. After breakfast, Cooper and Otis spend the morning napping on the bed.

When it gets to be around 11am, Coop will wander into the office and lay down. By 11:30, Cooper is thumping his tail. If I pet Coop, the wagging stops, but immediately starts again. Cooper is making it clear that it is time for a walk and a snack.

If I still don't take Coop out, he will paw at my arm and head to the door. Looks like the dogs have me well trained!

Taste of the Wild

When Cooper was first rescued, his foster Mom, Linda P fed him Taste of the Wild Salmon dog food. This high protein food was given to Cooper to help increase his weight and muscle mass.

We have now switched the dogs back to this food. I stopped at the pet store and picked up a 30 lb bag. When I paid the bill, I said, "Wow!".  The clerk said, 30 lbs should last a month. I told him I had 2 Goldens. His response was, "See you in 2 weeks!".