Connies in the 21st Century

Virtual at the time of this post, soon to be real and on Sheila's feet.

Sheila's yerba mate lemonade cooler for the dog days of summer

1. Brew a cup of yerba mate tea^* (one rounded tablespoon of yerba mate in a tea ball, say, with 12 ounces of nearly boiling water for five minutes).

2. Fill a tall, colorful summertime glass with crushed ice. Sprinkle with a packet of Crystal Light "natural" lemonade mix.

3. Pour the mate into the tall glass and stir. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint and a slice of real lemon if desired(a virgin aspartame lemon yerba mate mojito?).

4. Sit outside and sip through a straw.

All of the health benefits of yerba mate with the delicious lemon flavor that only the industrial food chain could produce!

^*Randy recommends Canarias yerba mate in the bright yellow kilo bag (buy in Uruguay or online from Amazon.com), or you can purchase Nativa mate at Whole Foods.

Dogs are smarter than computers

Here is the current state of computer voice recognition. Run the sound clip to see what was actually said(note: in fairness to google, they do as good a job as anybody of voice recognition. It just doesn't work as well as it does in the movies).

hi there it just rang couple mailbox i still make it i'll stop %ah i know i was wondering how you would translation bandaged you trash with the mailbox i'm coming home now %ah i'll there's a little bit of this ht i was just by i've waiting for my given a and i will see you soon possibility stuff baby {click}

She's home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where's Sheila?

Needlemania update

Since this is the finale of Sheila's six month veterinary acupuncture course, there are tests: an oral exam today and a four hour written exam tomorrow.

The oral exam consists of identifying twenty requested acupuncture points on a greyhound. Sheila says finding points on a greyhound is a lot easier than finding points on a Bernese Mountain Dog. Unfortunately, this doesn't stop her from stabbing me with needles.

Anyway, she passed that one, so one more to go.

After tomorrow's exam she is going to drive up to Gainesville and check out a Birkenstock sale, and then back to dry ground on Monday.

What's in a word?

woof

How gauchos and some alpha dogs stay awake

Yerba Mate is THE beverage in the neighborhood of Uruguay. It has lots of stimulants, antioxidants and no caffeine hangover. Personally, I prefer napping.

Needlemania finale

Sheila left for Ocala this morning to wrap up 6 months of learning about small animal acupuncture. I think I'll just lie here for 5 days looking at the place where her car used to be, at least until I get hot or hear the first peal of thunder or it's time for dinner (whichever comes first).

Math in the USA

Lockhart's Lament

Randy thought this was an insightful article. Go figure.

I don't need to count any higher than three (the number of treats I get after breakfast).

However, I am also intimately familiar with the relatively abstract concept of zero, as in "You don't need a treat right now".

Responses to Lockhart's Lament

Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock

This is no fun at all. Randy keeps beating me because all I can throw is Paper. I'm thinking about reporting him to the SPCA.

Santa Fe County Fair

The alpha dogs brought back pics of a cool chicken, big bunnies and Sheila's sweater, an Incan design knitted with wool and alpaca using a stranded technique. I didn't get to go along, which is probably just as well because it's hot today.