Hi friends,
I hope your weekend is off to a great start. When I got out of bed this morning, I had planned to have a relaxing, stress-free day. Ahh, the best laid plans...

DOGS MAKE A JAILBREAK
My wife and I are being good citizens, electing to be gracious homeowners to two furry guests. We are watching two dogs, which makes a grand total of four dogs in our house at the moment. Besides drool spots here and there, tufts of hair all over the place, two places on the carpet mistaken for a doggy toilet (No. 1, not No. 2), and early morning barking by one guest, the first couple days have been mostly glorious (please note a hint of sarcasm here).

The "pleasant" visit turned a bit "hairy" this morning. I had planned to take our two dogs (Thor and Tasha) for a walk. Smedley and Festus, our guests, were going to stay behind. At least, that was my plan. They had other ideas. I had Thor and Tasha on their leashes. We were just about to head out the front door, when Festus, a small but tenacious little rascal, somehow got around me and hopped out the door. He took a few steps onto the front lawn and began sniffing around.

While still clutching the leashes of Thor and Tasha in my hand, I looked back at Smedley. Smedley, who is something like 14 in dog years and 180 in human years, followed the lead of Festus. Not knowing he would make a break for it as well, I let my guard down. Smedley zipped past me and out the front door.

After uttering a naughty word, I dropped the leashes and took two steps out the door. Just then, Smedley and Festus looked at me...and I swear I think they laughed at me...and then took off down the street. My first thought was, "you know, for Smedley being so old, and for Festus having such short legs, they sure can move pretty quickly."

What I had hoped would be a nice leisurely walk with our two dogs, turned into a brisk jog to catch the two convicts... errr, dogs who escaped from jail... errr, our house. Huffing and puffing, I managed to track down the dogs and lured them to me with delicious Pupperoni treats. My lovely wife had joined in the pursuit with a car, luckily saving me from having to walk all the way back home.


PINOT GRIGIO/CHARDONNAY POPSICLES?
Did you know that wine will explode if you leave it in the freezer too long? Yeah, I'm sure most of you do. I found that out, the hard way, this morning.

Allison (my beautiful wife) and I partook in a little wine while watching the Opening Ceremonies of the London Olympics last night (when it first started, I really needed that wine -- I was downright confused). I put in another bottle of wine in the freezer to chill, just in case we wanted more.

After deciding that we didn't want any more of the delicious fruit-like nectar, we headed upstairs to bed. I had completely forgotten about the bottle in the freezer.

Fast-forward about 16 hours. While heading back inside after checking the mail, I remembered the wine. Whoops! I opened the freezer and, sure enough, the wine had exploded. Blymie!! The cork blew off like on a champagne bottle. Some of the wine spilled out, but something magical happened as well...some of the wine turned to ice. It was like a Pinot Grigio/Chardonnay popsicle!! After letting the wine/ice concoction "defrost," we sampled said-explosed wine. It wasn't bad. It wasn't bad at all. Hmmmm, Pinot Grigio/Chardonnay popsicles... I may be on to something.

If the dogs keep up their shenanigans, you may be reading about a Chenin Blanc milkshake or a Pinot Noir smoothie in my next blog.

 Until next time, keep reaching for the stars...and keep your wine in the fridge.