Irish Coffee for Breakfast

Nope, I'm not in Ireland! I'm at Ida with Rick & Dexter. Rick's making brunch today: fresh strawberries and Irish Coffee. The eggs are gone so it's just fresh fruit and coffee with some toast & jam.
Thanks to Russ May, Rick is learning the art of making the perfect Irish Coffee via Buena Vista Cafe in San Francisco. We've determined a field trip is necessary! Any takers??
Time for brunch, then puppy training and a walk. Gotta love Lake Ida!
Oh! The ice is getting ready to go out on the lake! Lots of groaning and cracking today as it heats up into the 60s. The pock marks on the surface doubled in size overnight. Nice.

Dexter is enjoying the lake, too. He is such a good dog. We are training him to come-a-runnin' when he hears the ships' bell clang. He's doing remarkably well with that. (Treats help). He's learning "sit/stay", "leave it", and "off" this week. We're reviewing "look" and "easy" from last week. We're working on loose leash walking (no tugging). This is not easy for the little guy, but he's trying.
He loves to bird watcy! (See photo). He notices birds flying, birds in trees and birds at feeders. I can hardly wait to get his DNA results back! That will be around the end of April. There is definitely Spaniel in there, probably Lab and mayber Terrier. He has webbing between his toes so he's definitely a water dog. Yay!
Last night we had guests for dinner (Hardine's, Ringdahl's and the Jon/Kathy Peterson's) and Dex was the perfect dog host: no begging, little jumping and doing everything outside that needs to be done "outside". Awesome. Watch for Dexter's blog on blogspot coming soon!
Ciao for now!
N

St Paul, MN

We arrived in the rain at the airport Monday night and I don't think it stopped until Saturday morning sometime. Inches and inches of rain fell. The snow and ice melted (mostly). There was even a thunderstorm in the mix! We must've lost 18 inches of snow this week alone! We have (brown) grass showing in the back yard and today it is supposed to reach 60! Woo hoo!

On Tuesday night, 3/09/10, we welcomed our new puppy home! Dexter is a spaniel/lab mix. He was black when we adopted him, now he is turning a lovely dark chocolate color. He has grown so much this week. He has kept us busy with puppy training and housebreaking -- although he's pretty good in general.

My arthritis has been bad this week. Kept me in bed most of Thursday. I also have a bronchial infection with an associated cough, so the antibiotics have been prescribed. I have been referred to a Phase 3 drug study for a drug currently used for Psoriasis that may have benefit for people with PsoriaticArthritis. We'll see if I qualify and what may occur from that.

In the meantime, it's nice to be in St Paul for awhile. Training a new puppy, facilitating the "get acquainted" stage between cat and dog and discovering the boundaries of my physical wellness.

Casa Grande

Whew. Tired. Lots happened in Mesa this last week. Almost all of it Excellence Beyond Expectations! Now, Rick and I will rest a while with his sister Roxy, her husband, Sanders, their granddaughter, Delilah and Roxy's dad and stepmom at Roxy & Sanders' home before heading back to MN. I needed the break.
The weather is perfect here -- well, a little coolish. The sun is warm, but not hot. The shade begs a sweater or sweatshirt at mid-day. There is no breeze to speak of. Just blue skies and sunshine. Mmmmmmm.
Gotta go outside for a while!
Later gator!

Arizona

Arrived in Mesa yesterday to rain and temps in the 50s. We could see our breath! It is very green in AZ!
This year's sales conference for Midwest is going to be fantastic! We meet (starting this morning) for 3 1/2 days to get revved-up for 2010! There are almost 40 of us here ready to learn from each other. It's gonna be a great week.
Am off to breakfast meeting #1!