Spas for Paws, Road Trip!

Doggy Daycare
I don't know who invented this concept but I applaud it!  For dogs that spend a good deal of time crated during the week, or need socialization, or for when their humans get on a plane for business or pleasure.  I realize there are some bad organizations out there, Robyn and I can tell you some sad tales, no pun intended.  But there are a couple of companies who get it right and I'm lucky enough to have them both on my side of the river.  
    
Camp Bow Wow - Burnsville
Has web cams for those separation-anxiety-ridden humans who need to check in the 'kids' during the day...we know who we are ;)


Wagging Tails Pet Resort - Eagan
No web cams but I've been there enough to feel confident that the dogs are in great care and the humans in charge are watching them every minute of the day. 

Buster has been to both, and thoroughly enjoyed himself at each facility.  How do I know? 

1. I stop in during the day, unannounced, and ask to see the monitors and for a tour.  
2. A tell tale sign for me is Buster's face - he gets 'stress face' when he's overwhelmed and confused rather than happy and joyous about his surroundings.  His eyes are slanted, darting, non-focused and his ears are pulled back.  He doesn't have stress face when I pick him up after 8 hours of play and treats and unlimited belly rubs at either of these facilities.  Nor does he quiver or shake the next time I load him into the truck.   
3. The best sign to look for in a dog who's spent a day romping with his new pals is that of exhaustion.  Buster barely has the energy to eat his supper when he gets home.  He's a 60 lb English Springer...he's never too tired to eat - anything.  

Last Friday I couldn't find him before leaving for the hockey game.  I cruised by the 2nd bedroom, where his dog bed is stored during the day and there he was, already curled up - at 5:30 p.m.  Monday night he was so exhausted I felt bad enough to let him sleep on the bed with me.  Good for him, not so much for me.  I'll share bed hogging stories some other time.  He's the master at taking up space on the bed, even while staying on his designated blanket.  

Whether you're in need of daycare for Fido to burn energy and learn doggie socialization or if you need overnight care while you're out of town these are two companies that are definitely doggone good at it, pun totally intended ;) 
Please share your favorite daycare/boarding facilities - most of them give discounts for referrals from existing clients.

On The Road Again
I'm heading to Georgia for the next couple of days.  I'll be spending time with my family there; celebrating a birthday with Vance (my favorite Hawks fan), catching up on all the Newnan gossip with Mel and listening to Kate rehearse for the school Christmas play.  Oh, and we'll be taking in the Wild at Thrashers game on Thursday night.
 
Did you see that?  How I timed the trip?  Could I be more of an open book?  Hey - it's all about the hockey, people!  We should make for a very odd looking foursome at Phillips arena.  Mel will be visibly worried about my hockey mouth, with good reason.  Kate will be confused - the Hawks aren't playing but her dad will likely be wearing his Hawks gear while cheering for the Thrasher's player with the number 33 on his jersey.  I'll be sporting my Wild gear (jersey and Scarf), urging Burns or Falk to kick number 33's butt.  At some point there will probably be a throw down in the aisle that has nothing to do with the Thrashers and everything to do with a Hawks fan vs a Wild fan ;)  I hope Dustin Byfuglien appreciates the support from a couple of Minnesota natives! 

Hey, the Thrashers motto this year is "A Brutally Good Time"  Now there's some genius marketing for sure!  Beats the crap out of "Fight To The End"...for two consecutive years of first round exits.   

Okay - time to run down the packing checklist - my type A personality/OCD is really kicking in now.  Who am I kidding?  I was packed last night!  Just need to toss the laptop and power cord in the bag and I'm ready to go.  But I'll go through everything one more time, just in case.  Then it's time for a shower and an ambien to make sure I'm not watching movies until dawn breaks.

I leave you with this -

Reunited, Stressed Cats, HHOF Inductions

Long Time, No Spam, Huh? 
The bad news - over 500 viruses were making themselves at home inside my laptop.  The good news - extended warranties for both the laptop and the Geek Squad services saved my bacon - and you all know how much I like Bacon.  A complete scrub, rebuild and the latest in real-time virus and spyware protection later - my laptop is running like a brand new machine.  It has much better manners - no sending out spam when mommy's not looking.  Let's see: 3.5 yr old pc laptop with 2 new hard drives, 3 complete scrubs, I've dumped 2 different anti-virus programs and pitched Spysweeper out the window.  I'm now using Kaspersky Anti-Virus which is a combo anti-virus/spyware sweeper.  According to the Geek Squad it is the most exceltastic (the geek's word, not mine) piece of ANTI-EVERYTHING-BAD software out there right now.  Yeah, well, that's okay for now but that small rash I'm developing is what's known as MAC envy.  One more go round with a virus and I'm going for the cure: macbookpro.  Although, seriously Apple - you can't put a friggin' 10-key pad on your laptops??  


Too Much Pressure For One Kitty To Handle
For years, I've been telling folks that I'm coming back in my next life as one of two beings: 

• A Cat - Sleep all day in the sun, eat when I want, dole some love when I feel like it, curl up on a soft bed at night (when not prowling about as I'm prone to do), and best of all - somebody else cleans my bathroom.  
• A Man - Never having to find just the right pair of shoes, no clue - or expectation to have a clue - about relationships, distinguished aging, and best of all - the ability to pee standing up.  I have to admit, up until last week it's been a tight contest for my choice of afterlife existence.  

Then Vicki called and made the choice very easy for me, or rather her cat did. 

The Brousseau kitty leads a great life: house to live in, furniture upon which to lay, unlimited buffet of cat food and fresh water to partake in.  Kitty has toys to play with, laps to curl up in and yes, there's a human who scoops the poop out of her litter box.  And that's where Vicki discovers there may a problem with Kitty.  After $240.00 in tests and a consultation with the vet it's been determined that Kitty suffers from "Stress-Induced-Colitis".  The cat.  The cat who lives inside a house.  The cat who never wants for anything, except maybe a few more hours of sunshine this time of year.  Kitty has always been skittish and somewhat anti-social with strangers in the house.  She'll spend hours under the bed when someone new comes to visit or if there are rambunctious kids running through the rooms.  Apparently this skittishness has taken a toll on Kitty.  She's on medications to help in her recovery and she should be just fine going forward.  Except that everyone knows how much fun it is to give a cat medication by mouth.  Rates right up there with giving a cat a bath.  So, good luck with that, Vicki.       


I gotta tell you folks, after hearing this, it's a no-brainer decision for me on the hereafter...I'm coming back as a man.  Clearly they've got the easier life, er - afterlife, okay - both.  


Class of 2010
Finally, after all these years.  The first women hockey players are inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.  And for you naysayers out there - suck it and stuff it.  At least the women play 100% every game, every night.  How many Wild players can say that, huh?  Women hockey players understand what a privilege it is to play a sport for a living, or to represent their country.  They understand how much harder they have to work at it just to get a 'pretty good' from all of you sexist, armchair know-it-alls.    


Angela James
She's been compared to NHL players: “the aggressiveness of Mark Messier with the goal-scoring ability of Mike Bossy.”  Angela has played every position, including goalie.  She has represented Team Canada in women’s hockey competitions … including in roller hockey.    

• Won four world hockey championship gold medals: in 1990, 92, 94 and 97.
• Won a medal in 12 world championships overall, with a whopping eight MVP awards.
• MVP of the now-defunct COWHL in 1991.
• Other Hall of Fame inductions include: IIHF Hall of Fame, Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and Black Hockey and Sports Hall of Fame.
• Will be the first black woman inducted into the Hockey Hall Of Fame

Cammi Granato
Granato is the sister of current Pittsburgh Penguins assistant coach and former NHL player Tony Granato. She even earned an invitation to the New York Islanders’ training camp by then-GM Mike Milbury in 1997, although she declined it.  Cammi grew up in hockey, played hockey, married into hockey. 

• Earned a gold medal (1998) and silver medal (2002) in the Olympics as a part of Team USA.
• Won one gold and eight silver medals at the IIHF World Women Championships.
• Will join Angela James as the first women to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
• Was also inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame at the same time as James.
• Won the 1996 USA Hockey Women’s Player of the Year award.

Dino Ciccarelli
Ciccarelli played more than 1,200 games with five different teams and accomplished much.  Although he's never won a Stanley Cup he's one of just 18 players to surpass the 600 goal mark and one of 45 players to pass the 1,200 career points mark.  Ciccarelli made four All-Star teams in his career.

• 608 career goals (2 shy of Bobby Hull) and 512 assists.  Say what you will about him, but the bottom line is that he scored a ton in his career - a total of 1,200 points in 1,232 games.
• In 141 playoff games played, he scored 73 goals and 45 assists for 118 points and registered 211 PIM.
• Sin Bin Totals: Ciccarelli finished his regular season career with 1,425 PIM.
• He was never drafted, look it up.
• Nicknamed the 'GarbageMan' - "It's just a matter of getting the puck on the net and getting traffic in front of the goalies. I don't know why more teams don't do it. I still believe 90% of the goals scored are ugly goals, 10% are pretty goals. You won't find many of mine on the highlight films," explained Ciccarelli.
• Also nicknamed 'Dino The Dinosaur' - just happened to coincide with the inflatable green mascot for Sinclair Oil Company.  Those things still have a life of their own.  You can find them on ebay and more importantly, in the State of Hockey Anthem video - check the 0.37 mark. 
• Ciccarelli played 10 seasons with the Minnesota North Stars.  Twice Dino scored 50 goals in a season.  He was second only to Brian Bellows for scoring the most goals in Minnesota North Star history.

Here are a couple of great stories on Dino's NHL career and life: Detroit Free Press,  Star Tribune,  NHL.com


Because I'm always thinking of ways to amuse Robyn -
Walk The Dinosaur

Sea of Green, Looks Are Deceiving, Polls Are Closed

Is There An Echo In Here?
The Wild has taken a decidedly 'glass-half-full' approach to their attendance issues for this season.  Hey, I'm all for being positive about life.  I mean, sometimes all you have is hope.  But when the Wild announces a sellout crowd for tonight there's nothing left for a fan to do but cry SHENANIGANS!  There were gaping chunks of empty seats in just about every section.  I spent the night going between the 2nd row behind the player's bench and the 13th row for picture taking without any fuss.   

The Win Doesn't Tell The Story 
It's depressing, yet predictable, really.  I'm talking about the Wild's play.  Someone asked me how I thought the Wild would do against the Sharks.  Given their history over the last 2-3 seasons I thought it was an easy call.  I figured I was in for another crappy effort by our guys as they seem to string 3-4 of them together before putting in 60 minutes of hard work.  True to form our guys took almost 2 full periods off, got 16 shots off, forced their goalie to make 36 saves but came away with the win - and Richards was happy with it, idiot.    

First Period

• 3 friggin' shots by the Wild in the first period, yep that's right - 3 whole shots.
• Wild absent in all aspects of the game with only Backstrom doing his job, making 11 saves. 

Second Period

• On the 3rd shot of the second period - at the 13 minute mark - the Wild score
• It took a 5 on 3 penalty for the Wild to score that goal
• Wild showed up for about 7 minutes of this period.  Shots on goal for this period: 6

Third Period

• 1 shot on goal for the Wild almost six minutes into the period.
• Wild cough up the puck on the power play and almost get scored on short handed
• Schultz totally tripped Thorton and got lucky he didn't wreck Joe's knee. 
• Boyle totally tripped Madden and the game suddenly got interesting.
• Sharks get two more short handed runs against us.
• Wild show up to play defensively, but Backstrom still faces 16 shots in this period alone 

Rock The Vote
I hope you all did your civic duty and voted today.  Remember, no voting = no whining.  That's about as political as I'll get on a public forum.
Rock The Vote: Not to be confused with...

I live to make Robyn smile!

Now, if you'll all excuse me I must leave you to attend to a sudden and epic allergy attack - gah :(