Mystery mutt

Our beloved Duke is a mutt – or as someone once corrected me – a “hybrid.” Because we got him from the Friends for Life shelter, and they themselves found him living on the streets, we don’t really know what breeds of dog he is.

Nose to the ground, brown and black coloring, wiry hair – all these traits tell us he has bloodhound in him. But there’s definitely something else – his face does not at all resemble a bloodhound, nor does his body shape. After doing some searches on the Internet, I realized how much his head and face looks like a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

A couple weeks ago I met a lady at the dog park who has one, and after analyzing his head, hip/back leg area, stride and observing him with the other dogs, she agreed that yes, he probably was one. We even noticed that both our dogs had black spots on their tongues!

Here’s an episode of “Breed All About It” that talks about the Rhodesian Ridgeback, and even better, shows them in action. Sorry – video embedding was disabled by Animal Planet so just click on the link to watch it on YouTube.

So what do you think? Could Duke be part Ridgeback?

First shot

I’ve recently developed an interest in time lapse photography and figured out how to do it using my webcam. Not sure yet how to use my digital camera for this, but working on it. Here’ s my first attempt – nothing tremendously exciting, but still kind of cool I think.

I’ve seen some pretty cool time lapse vids online and will hopefully get some better examples of my own soon. I’m thinking of maybe doing this for a BUNCO night, Justin’s birthday party, cooking Thanksgiving dinner, opening presents on Christmas, etc. Here are some cool ones that I found online from others – Cloud formations are the most fascinating to me, but I will be hard pressed to find much of that in my Arizona skies!

Monday silliness – women drivers

Monday silliness a day late

I really needed a good laugh this morning… and I found it with this classic Monty Python sketch!

Snoop Dogg on Martha Stewart

This is for real, folks – and it’s hilarious!

Football’s over…

Glad to have it behind us, but we did enjoy it while it lasted! Here’s the video I made for our team’s end of the year party – it pretty much sums everything up. Enjoy!

Justin’s #2 – he has some awesome runs toward the end!

Another busy weekend following another busy week!

Thursday night I went with my friend Lauren to see The Secret Live of Bees. We both read the book and loved it – and fortunately the movie was pretty true to the novel, though Jennifer Hudson’s character could have been developed a bit more. We also saw the trailer for Marley & Me which deserves its own video posting:

I don’t know if I can stand the wait til Christmas for that one! I’ve already ordered the book from Amazon. I also have to get going on some other reading I’m trying to get in, Water for Elephants which has been on my list for years.

Friday we went out to dinner as a family to a new restaurant in town called Liberty Market. It’s in downtown Gilbert just across the street from one of my fave restaurants Joe’s Real BBQ, and not coincidentally has the same owner. Liberty Market’s menu has tasty sandwiches (including pressed paninis), wood fired pizzas and fresh salads, but the dining experience is unique and fitting to the downtown Gilbert area. The restaurant has a somewhat nostalgic market feel, with little touches like grocery carts to hold bags of potato chips and bottles of coke. We enjoyed dining on their patio overlooking Hale Theatre and the now-desolate Grain Belt aka Rock City Bar & Grill aka Mahogany Run aka Gonzo’s and a host of other names/owners/concepts. The difference? Liberty Market’s owner knows how to create a friendly, unique dining experience while keeping prices low (sandwiches range between $7 – $12 for dinner). And if you go to Liberty, be sure to visit the unisex bathrooms – it’s a must.

Saturday we got up early and drove to Anthem to watch Justin’s game. They won! All the kids played well, especially Justin’s friend Stephen who has grown leaps and bounds since the start of the season. Coaches say he’s got tremendous potential as a football player.

Saturday evening we went to Lauren & Matt’s house for a lovely Italian-themed birthday dinner. She had a gorgeous table set and waiting for us in her back yard that was reminiscent of a garden restaurant in Italy, complete with flowers, candles, wine adn string lighting. The food was brought in from another restaurant favorite Rigatony’s and the company was just as wonderful.

Tonight (Sunday) we’re getting a visit from Terry’s Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Vern who are visiting from Ohio. Right now I’m simmering the sauce for the lasagna I’m making. We’re really eating like kings this weekend! Tomorrow it’s back to the diet for sure!

Ah, the joy of progress bars