Well, Michelle is in India, so it’s just me and the maminals. The Doggs really hate it when they’re home alone with me because they get ignored all day while I sit behind my computer or play music. Not today, though. I loaded the Doggs into the truck and made for Disco Park.
It was cold and windy, and the dogs were as polar opposite as usual.
The coast and the mountains looked amazing as the weather started rolling in.
Michelle, Pat, the doggs, and I all headed up to Whidbey Island on Sunday to check up on the property there and make sure everything is A-OK. (The lot was perfect.) After an unusually long wait for the ferry from Mukilteo to Clinton, we passed through Langley on the way up through Freeland and to the lot. After a quick checkup on the site, we drove the mile north to South Whidbey Island State Park to have a picnic and a walk on the beach. Naturally, we ended up taking more photos of the doggs than of people or scenery, but that’s what we do. Enjoy.
This really belongs on the Velominati since technically it’s from an ad in a cycling magazine, but it’s relevance hits a much broader field than “just cycling”.
For anyone who has ever met The Beenebag, this image will have immense meaning to you.
I think most readers of this blog have come to the correct conclusion that Beene is an oddball. It’s hard to pick just one, but if I 
was going to name her oddest quality, it might be how long it takes her to “wake up”. Most dogs have an On/Off switch. For example, when Mack wakes up, he’s wide awake instantly. There is no third state. He is either sleeping or bouncing off the walls. This is handy for activities like “guarding the house” and “not missing anything cool”. Beene, on the other hand, has to shake the sleep off before she becomes alert. In this context, “alert” means she’s able to recognize that neither Michelle nor I are strangers, and can distinguish between doorways and walls. It’s generally accepted that Beene is in this “alert” state from roughly 2:15 until 3:30. It’s an untestable theory because Michelle and I are at work during this time, but an untestable theory is almost the same as knowledge.
Her worst time is on the morning walk. She’s usually sufficiently groggy that she has a hard time pulling together all the factors that go into squatting to pee. This is more complicated than it may seem, so let me outline the major factors that need to be controlled in order to execute. These are in no particular order, and are of approximately equal importance, meaning that failing to control any of these factors is likely to result in abortion of the attempt. Also note that some are compound factors, contributing to the complexity of this seemingly simple (and biologically fundamental) activity:
This morning was about average, I counted six tries before a successful execution.
What this means is I have lots of time for thinking, but sadly the morning walk is usually before my morning espresso, so I’m not that much better off than Beene. Which explains why I haven’t solved the Construction of a Consistent Quantum Theory of Gravity problem. Instead, I count how many times she tries to pee.
A few months ago we were grilling corn and and, because we totally suck at it, we messed it up so badly that we only wanted to eat 
about half of what we made. What did we do with left over corn? Why, fed it to the doggs, of course. Now, the actual cob is rather unhealthy for a dog since it’s hard to pass. To circumvent this problem Michelle decided to see if Mack could eat corn off the cob like a human. As it turns out, he can. It seemed oddly natural to him, and he approached it as though it was the most normal thing in the world. He must have said to himself, “This cob might not be good for my digestive system; I think I’ll try to bite the kernels off individually. When I am done eating, I shall do Calculus.” Beene, on the other hand, consumed half a cob despite our best efforts to prevent her from doing so.
Naturally, we bragged about Mack’s newfound skill to our friends. Their dog, Bromley, is a prodigy: she can eat watermelon and ring a bell when she needs to be let outside. With their interest piqued, they investigated to see if Bromley’s repertoire could be expanded to include eating corn off the cob. Not surprisingly, it could.
Mack and Bromley rule at eating corn, Beene is confused. Enjoy.
Note: The quality of this version is lower than the Quicktime version available here. For best results, watch the Quicktime verison.
