The Black Lab with the Cold Water Tail

This is a hard time of year for our dogs, especially Boomer. With the wet weather we've had and the warm days, there is a lot of mud in the yard. When we leave the dogs out all day, we come home to some very muddy dogs. In order to make them presentable, I've had to take them out back and wash them off with the hose. Sadie handles this quite well, sitting and watching; waiting her turn while I wrestle Boomer around to clean him up. And then it happened, all of a sudden we noticed Boomer's tail which was always sticking straight out, and which wags in a circle, was limp as a wet noodle. Hanging between his legs like a sign of perpetual depression. We were in a quandry, what had happened to Boomers tail. Then a couple of days ago, JoAnn and Senta were searching the internet for clues and found the answer in an article entitled "Cold Tail, Dead Tail, Limber Tail". This syndrome is thought to be associated with the dog getting wet and not getting dry soon enough. It's funny that when JoAnn mentioned this to one of her teacher friends at school, the friend gasped and said "it happened to our dog last week after we gave him a bath. Other folks have blogged about this happening to their dogs. So, a word of warning to Lab owners, don't bath your dog in the winter.



Boomer's tail normally looks like this; sticking straight out!

The Red Head is Dead?

The other day, I read an article in the Smithsonian Magazine about the impending extinction of red heads in the world. To quote the article:

"If predictions by the Oxford Hair Foundation come to pass, the number of natural redheads everywhere will continue to dwindle until there are none left by the year 2100."

This upset me a little because some of my favorite people in the world are red heads. In fact, I have been called a red head myself. I remember when we lived in Orem decades ago, I used to go home teaching to a family where one of the little girls called me "the man with the orange hair". Now I don't think I have orange hair, just some auburn highlights.

I guess the reason we have four red-headed children is because both JoAnn and I have have auburn hair. I remember going to the store when they were all small and getting dirty looks and even accusations of evil doing since the accuser had red hair but had been unable to have red-headed children.

Regardless of the article, I'm optimistic that there will always be red heads. I've read articles by other people who think the prediction is hogwash. And as you can see, I've done my part to ensure the long-term survival of the red head. Photo credit: Brian Wilcox.

PJ is Three

On January 22, 2009, Parker turned three. This just happened to be on a Thursday which is when we get to have him over for the evening. The night before, his other grandma and grandpa took him to Chucky Cheese. He must have had fun because when I asked him what he did, he jabbered at me for about 5 minutes. Typically I can understand him fairly well, but he was going so fast, I couldn't understand a word he said. To celebrate his birthday, we had a little party and Senta made a cake with a "Cars" theme featuring Lighting McQueen (click on the photos to get a better view). Parker loves Lighting McQueen. He has a Lighting McQueen bicycle, pajamas, coloring book, etc. etc. We were kind of worried about the cake because Senta called and said she was cleaning up after she had a "cake accident" on the way to the car. But not to worry, it turned out great. To see all the photos, click on my picasa album.