Eva Destruction

And here we thought Esther was adjusting so well. Our 10-pound Chihuahua has managed to mangle two of Michael's books -- Christmas gifts he hasn't even read. Apparently she's either suffering from separation anxiety (which we hadn't suspected) or is undernourished (doubtful in this household) . Then again, Jimmy Carter book; expose on Iraq. Maybe she's a Republican?!

No one beats my prices ... just my team

My friend Curt (a Mizzou alum) has this prediction on Quin Snyder's future. Though I have to admit, that might persuade me to frequent Wal-Mart!

Quote of the day

"She was so jealous, she said she would spend her Valentine's Day with President Bush." -- Conan O'Brien, saying his wife wasn't too happy about his Feb. 14 meeting with "look-alike" Finnish President Tarja Halonen

Lloyd Dobler vs. Jake Ryan

Thanks to Maria for sending this Valentine's Day column by Hank Stuever of The Washington Post (and formerly of The Albuquerque Tribune).

Personally, I liked Jake and "Sixteen Candles" better (though could identify more with Lloyd and am in no way knocking "Say Anything"; it just took me longer to warm up to that one). Jake was cuter (John Cusack had to grow into his looks, if you ask me, and Lloyd's clothes were all wrong) and came along when I was a starry-eyed high school senior. AND they played one of my favorite Thompson Twins songs when Jake went to rescue Samantha from the church. AND he got her undies back! If that's not chivalry, what is?

Funny. While Googling for Jake Ryan photos, I found this Hank Stuever column from Valentine's Day 2004.

Brokeback to the Future

Brilliant! (Thanks, Jen!)

In a similar vein, "The Shining" -- a romantic comedy? (Thanks, Aaron!)

Cute shoes to fill

Mizzou's Quin Snyder has resigned. Men's NCAA basketball has lost its cutest coach! Thanks (?) to Ann for delivering the sad news.

Odds & ends

We took the dogs for a walk in Evergreen, Colo. (about 45 minutes away) , and found this frozen lake that's set up for ice skating and hockey. Pretty cool, though you'd never get me out there. The "Houdini" scenes where he got trapped under the ice freak me out. This is in keeping with Michael's description of me as "worst-case scenario" worrier.


We also found this dam with partially frozen spillover. Pretty cool.


Along the trail, saw this gate behind a home. Someone has a Les Nessman complex, it would seem.


The lovely Kate stopped through on her way from Oregon to D.C. That's us with our 2-year-old friend Emma at Wynkoop Brewing Co. in LoDo (lower downtown).


That's Emma (with mom Franchesca) at our place modeling her "Pimp my Ride" birthday T-shirt, compliments of Little Ginger and family.

See it jiggle

Some people have a lot of time on their hands, but what a result! Bay Area artist Elizabeth Hickok has sculpted San Francisco out of Jell-O and adds effects like dry ice and jiggling to simulate an earthquake. Go see more.

View from the top

Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre offers a stunning view of Denver, plus the drive up and the venue itself are amazing.

City of Lights

Check out this panorama view of Paris at night. Once the image builds, use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of your screen to see the 360 image. (Thanks to cousin Lynyrd for the link!)

Alternatives schmalternatives

"Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology. Since 2001, we have spent nearly
$10 billion to develop cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable alternative energy sources -- and we are on the threshold of incredible advances." -- President Bush, Jan. 31, 2006

***

The Bush administration on Monday again asked Congress to allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), but almost tripled its estimate for the amount of money that would be collected in leasing fees from energy companies.

In its proposed budget for the 2007 spending year, the White House said it assumed the initial tracts in the refuge could be leased in 2008 and bring in $7 billion in new revenues, half of which would be shared with the state of Alaska.

That is almost triple the $2.4 billion the administration said in last year's budget it thought could be raised from the first round of ANWR leasing.

The administration did not explain what was behind its higher estimate for leasing fees, but it presumably reflects the jump in oil prices. -- Reuters, Feb. 6, 2006

***

What an a-hole. This guy makes James Frey look like Mother Teresa. -- Little Ginger, Feb. 7, 2006

The legal tender has landed

The good news just keeps coming! Talked to General Mills today, and they will recoup me for the soup-can losses (two days of missed work, prescription, medical supplies and out-of-pocket medical expenses)! The timing couldn't be better, what with our new addition. You wouldn't think two dogs that weigh less than 25 pounds combined could be be so expensive, but everything doubled adds up quickly!

Dog days

Two peas in a pod? Not quite yet, but things are going surprisingly smoothly between the dogs. Angus has had some minor "Fangus" episodes with Esther, but nothing serious. Mostly he just doesn't like it when she gets near his lap/cuddling space.

The first picture is from yesterday, when Angus kept a safe, disinterested distance from Esther. Today, as you can see, Esther hopped right up next to him, though his body language says it all. This pose lasted about five minutes before Angus hopped out of the frame and went back to his cow chair.

And Esther makes four!

Here is one of the exciting new photos I promised. OK, maybe not what you had in mind, but very exciting to us (and I was planning to post more, but the photo feature on this site seems to be acting up at the moment). Didn't want to spill the beans until we had actual proof, and besides, we didn't get her until today. We met her at the shelter Monday and picked her up today (she was being spayed in between). Apparently her owner had four dogs, was moving and couldn't take them all, so she and another Chihuahua ended up at the shelter. It's a sad story, but don't feel too bad for her. The shelter (Dumb Friends League) is a super-cushy facility with an amazing staff (see the link for an explanation of their name). And besides, she ends up with us, so double bonus!

Her given name was Champy, but she didn't respond to it, so we figured we could change it to pretty much whatever we wanted. Michael thought she looked like an Esther, and I agreed.

We introduced her and Angus at a nearby park to cut down on Angus' territorial response. He seemed really excited to meet her, but she was scared to death. She also doesn't do great on the leash. We think she may have been a lapdog in the truest sense and rarely gotten walks outside. Since we've been home, she has warmed up some, but Angus seems less interested, especially if he's on a lap and she tries to get near it. She is fairly skittish and doesn't trust us yet, or maybe the situation, though she definitely likes to get near our laps to sleep. As I type, Angus is sleeping on one chair, and Esther is curled up asleep in Angus' travel carrier. We thought she might like a spot that felt secure, and she walked right in and fell asleep on her own.

The shelter said she was about 2, but we are thinking she's more like 1, as she seems like she has some growing to do. She's about 9 pounds -- a tiny, dainty thing. We thought Angus was about a year older when we got him, then realized he wasn't finished growing.

That's all for now. Will post more photos once the system cooperates better. Looks like they are taking this site down for a little bit this afternoon, so it could be related to that.

P.S. Contrary to what many of you are probably thinking, that is a dog brush on the newspaper in the background! I noticed it after I posted the photo and didn't want to redo it.

Having my picture taken

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! The camera's back! And it works! Let's hope the third repair is a charm.

Check this space in the next day or two for some really exciting new photos.

Quote of the day*

"We have a lot of animals, but there's no anthropomorphizing. We don't put little ballet dresses on the dogs or kiss them on the mouth. I respect animals. I don't insult them." -- Tommy Lee Jones, The New Yorker, Jan. 9, 2006

Great quote that I just had to share (and thanks to BKP for the clipping!). I don't suppose he would care much for the Chihuahua meetup.


*Not to be a regularly occurring feature

One-hit wondering

A comment I just wrote in the previous post got me to wondering everyone's favorite songs by one-hit wonders. Off the top of my head, I will say Alan O'Day's "Undercover Angel" (1977). The lyrics and sentiment are crazy, but it's still catchy, and I never get tired of it. One of my all-time favorite songs from the era is "You Sexy Thing" (1975) by Hot Chocolate; that one even made our self-produced wedding-reception music. It was their lone hit in the U.S., but, according to the Web, technically they are not one-hit wonders, as they had dozens of chart hits in the U.K.

Winters' passing

Who knew that Shelley Winters was 85? I'm telling you, Abe Vigoda is going to outlive everyone (side note: I realized I did my math based on 2005, and he will be 85 on Feb. 24, not 84 as I'd said earlier).

Anyway, in memory of Winters, who recently died, I urge everyone to check out a couple of her classics: "A Place in the Sun" (1951), a tearjerker if there ever was one (though I can't think of anything sadder than either version of "The Champ," Ricky Schroder remake included). Monty Clift and Elizabeth Taylor are the beautiful people in this one. Shelley Winters is not, and you will hate her for it. Sad but true. Her character is so whiny that you really don't feel bad when ... OK, I won't give anything away.

Also check out "A Patch of Blue" (1965). This was one of my absolute favorites when I was little. Don't ask me why; I was a weird kid. All I can figure is ... I somehow identified with a blind girl who strung beads and fell for Sidney Poitier? Winters plays another unlikable character.

And, no, I've never seen "Lolita," so I can't recommend it one way or the other. But do NOT, I repeat NOT, ever watch "What's the Matter With Helen?" (1971) with Winters and Debbie Reynolds. It still gives me the creeps all these years later.

And now a fun fact: Shelley Winters' given name was a real humdinger: Shirley Schrift.

Broncos spot

It just occurred to me that Blogspot's color scheme is the same as the Denver Broncos' colors. If you lived in the midst of this frenzy, you'd notice it too.

Primate exploitation?

On Thursday night, we saw "King Kong," and, as I expected, I cried my eyes out at the end. Yes, he's a computer-generated ape, but what an expressive one. Of course, it's the message that's the saddest, because you know it's exactly how our society operates.

On the flip side, however, a day later, I laughed until I cried after I went to the Whiplash Rides site. Our friends Barry and Hillary attended the National Western Stock Show and said Whiplash was a highlight of their visit. I asked Barry if Whiplash seemed exploited, and he said, "He seemed like a happy little monkey." Barry is a smart, thoughtful guy, so I trust his judgment. I also read the bios of Whiplash and the border collies and feel pretty confident they are living the good life. Yes, they are used for entertainment, but then, so is Mr. Winkle. You be the judge.

Wild west in the streets

I love a parade! Especially when it's in the middle of a sunny, mild day, five minutes from home and involves cattle and sheep running through the downtown streets. We got just such a parade Tuesday as part of the events surrounding the 100th National Western Stock Show, which is a huge deal in Denver.

The parade highlights were the longhorn and the sheep-herding border collies. Oh, and the rodeo queens and princesses, who wear getups to die for. There was also a tiny covered wagon pulled by two shetland sheepdogs. Talk about cute overload!