Little Guy has been dealing with a traumatic event every day at daycare this summer: naptime. He detests naptime, and apparently hasn't taken naps since he was a year old. So, when the teachers turn out all the lights and have the kids lay down, he is active and ready to go on with his day. He has trouble being still and quiet, and he actively wants to play. Hence, naptime is not a good time for him because the teachers get onto him about keeping the other kids up. This is what makes the following a very funny conversation:
0 Comments
We were all outside yesterday evening in the front yard playing around with the dogs. Cosette was putting up with LG's feeble attempts at retrieving with her. He managed to throw the toy about ten feet, to which she'd gamely go and retrieve and bring it back obediently. At one point she walked up to him, and he noticed her tongue panting fiercely in the warm summer air. He held his hand up to her mouth in front of her tongue, spun around to me and exclaimed excitedly, "Her breath is hot! It's the opposite of air conditioning! It's like hotditioning!" The three of us are sitting in a restaurant. I hear Lady Gaga's "Love Game" come on the radio. I turn to Little Guy and I say, "Hey LG, can you say, Lady Gaga?" I don't have a fenced backyard, so I can't enjoy the luxury of letting the dogs run loose in the backyard without supervision. I do have a backyard, and it's a nice sized one, but none of the neighbors have fenced yards so it's one big playground in my Labs' eyes. For the most part, though, they stay in the square that the county has determined belongs to me. Saturday we left Hermann and ventured towards St. Louis to visit the Butterfly House. Guys, I'm using a 18-55mm lens here and managed to get some half-way decent shots if I do say so myself. Trust me, I cannot wait to get my hands on some expensive, beautiful lenses. But if you are in a similar financial situation, it's okay - it's not worth complaining that you just can't get good shots with the lens or camera body you have. I don't have Photoshop or any other kind of sophisticated photo processing software, either, and these turned out okay. Learn to use what you have. :)  Above: The Paper Kite, from Malaysia/Philippines Below: Indian Dead Leaf, from Malaysia   Above: Ruby Lacewing, from Asia Below: The Paper Kite, from Malaysia/Philippines   Above: Thoas Swallowtail, Central & South America Below: an older Ruby Lacewing, Asia (notice the faded color and tattered wings)   Above: best guess is The Postman, from Central & South America, but the colors are non-typical and are fading Below: another Paper Kite, definitely one of the more common butterflies in the House   Above: Small Postman, Ecuador Below: best guess is The Clipper, from Southeast Asia          Heard in line at coffee shop/smoothie bar behind a woman in her 40s: We went and walked down by the riverfront upon awakening the next morning.    Then, the agony came of having to acknowledge the fact that we had to check out of the beautiful, relaxing room. Who would ever want to leave? Certainly not me. But, I left with a renewed calmness, and a vow that I would one day have a bathroom like the one I spent many hours ogling over. Come on, dissertation, you aren't going to write yourself...
After we were done with the wineries, Joel surprised me by bringing me to a bed and breakfast. If you are imagining all B&Bs to be quaint and country-cutesy, strike that mental image out of your head, because look at where we partied that night:     Yes, that is a double shower with multiple showerheads. AND, it functions as a steam shower too. Can you say, HEAVEN. You can pretty much bring a circus AND all of Indiana Jones' posse in there and still have elbow room. It's awesome. Here's a closer look:   The picture above is the B&B third floor. We, for whatever stroke of good fortune, had the ENTIRE B&B to ourselves. So if you are asking yourself, did she take the opportunity to prance and twirl around naked, the answer is most definitely yes. Or maybe.
I cannot recommend this place highly enough - every detail was attended to, right down to the complimentary wine, cheese, and crackers supplied to us. And then you might ask, well did you drink wine in the enormous jacuzzi tub? And the answer to that question is most definitely - YES. And, I had picked up some chocolate covered strawberries at a local chocolate store earlier that day and it went perfect, no, divine! with the wine. Here's the B&B info. Joel was the mastermind behind all of the events you are about to see. He's a quick mastermind too; I believe he planned all this within two days. He wanted to treat me to a nice escape and congratulate me on passing prelims, so he told me to keep my weekend clear. I had no idea what he was planning.    We bought a few bottles, and moved on to Winery #2: Bommarito Estate At this particular winery, we were able to have an extended chat with the co-vintner of the estate. She was really friendly and gave us some helpful suggestions about sweeting wines. I didn't take any pictures of the vineyard, but this was the sky above the fields (I couldn't help but blow out the sky in post-processing, the clouds were incredible looking):  Winery #3: Bias Vineyards We stopped here and had a bite to eat as well, as Joel had packed quite the selection into the cooler: sausage, three types of cheese, apples, crackers, chocolate. There were some train tracks nearby that we had to cross over in order to leave the winery.   Winery #5: Hermannhof Vineyards This is a winery within the heart of the town of Hermann. Their style is old world, and they even have a cheese and sausage shop attached to the tasting room. Some photos of the tasting room and their quaint wine cellars:     We traveled a short distance to Winery #6: Adam Puchta This winery had some seriously awesome wine. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures (I think I was more enamored with the wine). Their tasting room, merchandise room, and outside seating were quaint and low-key, but their quality was amazing. Then, we backtracked a little and went to Winery #7 (phew!): Stone Hill Winery Stone Hill has quite the interesting history, and they give tours every half hour of their extensive cellars.         With tired feet but happy hearts, we went to our next stop: a bed and breakfast!
I have a string of several posts I'm preparing from what I did this weekend, but in the interim I thought I'd share a little love from the Labradors:  This is Trooper's usual method of attack. He'll nab on to Cosette's neck and tug her around. He's never biting hard enough to hurt her, and she'll correct him if he gets too rough, but this routine of theirs is neverending. They'll stop for breaks to chew on toys or chase each other around the house, but sometimes I look at Cosette and can't help but think she looks like a wornout mother with a newborn and a set of two-year-old twins running around. She looks beat, but happy. Sometimes Trooper gets to be a little too much too often for her, and she'll go to the big wire crate we have in the office, paw open the door, climb inside, and then pull the crate door shut with her teeth. Now that's when I can tell she's done: when she puts herself in a timeout.
| AuthorFinished the big PhD this year - I'm Dr. Labradoris! :) ArchivesNovember 2010 CategoriesAll |
RSS Feed