Ben Benner’s Blog

I hope that everyone is having a Merry X-mas.

I helped the dogs, rabbits and bird make X-mas cards for Gina. The dogs got her a Starbucks gift card and the rabbits and bird got her an iTunes card. Lula wanted to get Gina a new car, but well Lula is a dog and in these tight economic times she just couldn’t get a loan. I mean, one of these days soon Lula’s modeling career will take off and she will be able to get herself the personal chef she has always been wanting.

Gina got me some clothes (which was cool, cuz I picked them out), she also got me CronoTrigger for the DS-Lite, and she got me a really swanky beard trimmer (my last one broke). Gina and I got t-shirts from my in-laws, Gina’s says that “Everyone loves an Italian girl.” Mine says “Italian, by marriage only.”

I also got a micro-copter (which is proving to be challenge to fly, but one I am sure I will master). Gina got a bracelet.

I got Gina an Apple AirportExpress, so that when she travels she will always be able to have wifi at the hotel. I also got her the latest book by the lady that writes the Harry Potter books, JK Rowling, I believe the title is “The Tales of the Beetle Bard”. It is a small book, I think she will likely finish it in a day (if she reads it straight through).

We were going to see “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” with Jeremy and Nichole. However, it would appear that the movie was TOO popular. For almost evey X-mas for the last 10-15 years I have seen a movie. But both Gina and myself cannot ever remember the theatre being as busy as the Cinemark on 1431 was this afternoon. Jeremy and Nichole got there earlier than us and managed to get tickets, whereas Gina and I didn’t get there in time. I called Jeremy when we got there, to see if they were already in the theatre or if they were in one of the various lines that were outside the theatre (one of which looked like it might have been coming from inside the building.

He said that they were inside already and that it was pretty full. I stood in line to buy tickets and overheard someone say with amazement “It is sold out.” I didn’t catch what movie they were referring to, when I got up to the kiosk myself, I saw the “Sold Out” label on the picture of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

I feel  bad that we were not able to catch the flick with Jeremy and Nichole. Hopefully, it is a good one. Tomorrow night Jeremy and I are going to see “The Spirit”, I am going to see if John can go tomorrow night. I think I will make sure we are there extra early, which should be easy since Jeremy and I are both taking the day off.

On a side note, it actually turned out to be a good thing that Gina and I didn’t get into the movie. Our “Rival 20 Quart (Electric) Roaster Oven” is amazing, it cooked the turkey to our amazement in about 1.5 hours. I mean it seems impossible to believe, but we reviewed various different websites to verify the necessary cooking time and temperatures (and to see if we could figure out the best place to put the meat temp probe).

The movie lasts almost 3 hours. This would have ultimately have meant that the turkey would have been way overdone.

Gina’s dad had told her earlier today that the roaster would could the turkey quickly, but he didn’t say it was going to cook it that quickly. I mean we had put the probe in about 1 hour in and it was already registering at 161 degrees.

Well, Gina just started cutting the turkey, so it is time to go.

Laterz

bdbenner Dogs, Personal, Uncategorized, food Cooking, Dogs, gifts, movies, pets, turkey, xmas

Or at least she thinks she is.

I cannot think of living without a dog in my life, particularly a dog like Emma Lou (aka Lula). She actually brings a smile to my face, just by sitting on my lap. Even when she is being naughty I still love her, though there are times when I am really tired that I wish she would just go back to bed rather than need to go and get a drink at 4am or scratch at the door to go outside.

Before Gina moved in I didn’t have any animals. Now we have ‘The Farm’, four dogs, two rabbits and the bird. For all of those that knew Peanut, she is sorely missed, her raspy little bark was always a sign that the hour was late.

Now back to Lula. Her naughtiness is almost legendary. Like the time she ate an entire baguette. We had bought a baguette at the farmer’s market, and didn’t put it away properly. It was just barely dangling off the edge of the table. Apparently, the baguette was hanging off the edge just enough for Lula to snag it.

Lula had run the baguette through the dog door, which honestly I wish I could have seen her negotiate the long loaf of bread through the dog door. I wonder if she smacked it at least once into the sides with a resounding “thud” or if she was smart enough to drag it length wise through the door on the first try.

Gina and I had not seen Lula in a little while, which is usually the ultimate sign of naughtiness. And when there is naughtiness afoot, one of us immediately checks the backyard. And there it was, a half-eaten baguette (to give her proper credit, she ate somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2). After a couple of minutes of searching, we found Lula, all extra fat and happy. She had plumped up on all that bread.

Then there was the time that she ate that bar of soap from Lush. I was sitting on the couch, and Lula came running up to me. She landed in my lap like she had done a thousand times before, but there was something different. A smell in the air, it smelled sweet and flowery. I asked Gina if she had given her a bath recently, because the flowery smell sort of reminded me of this after bath spray Gina uses on the dogs.

Then I asked Gina if she had mopped the floor, as by that point I had figured out it was a lavender smell. And the last few times Gina mopped she had used a lavender and vinegar solution. Gina answered no on both counts.

That meant that Lula smelled like lavender for some UNKNOWN reason. I started to sniff Lula to determine exactly where the Lavender smell was coming from, it was coming from her mouth. Lula had eaten something that smelled like Lavender!!!

That jogged my memory that I had recently brought home for Gina some soaps from the Lush store in Dallas, one of which was a Shea butter soap scented with lavender. I immediately went into the bedroom to look for the Lush bag and found it sitting on the bed, relatively empty, with no signs of an empty soap bag around.

“To the backyard!!!” (or something very close to that is what I said)

Sure enough, there sat on the ground a plastic bag with little doggie teeth holes in it and the Lush logo stamped on the side. Lula had eaten through the bag and ingested a whole bar of the lavender scented soap.

Gina immediately called poison control and was instructed to take Lula to the Emergency Vet, as there was a fear that Lula could end up with a blockage in her digestive system or worse choke on the soap while attempting to return it the same way it went in.

On the way to the Emergency Vet Lula returned the soap to Gina, all over the front seat of the Vibe (which was still relatively new at the time). Lula didn’t seem any worse for wear after the whole soap episode.

But enough about Lula’s naughtiness. This is supposed to talk about how she like little people.

One thing I would say is, she eats off a fork or spoon rather well.

When she is leaning over the arm of the couch, with her front paws all extended and standing on her hind legs, I can just imagine what she might look like if she was wearing some Osh-Kosh and had pigtails. She likes to be carried over my shoulder (that is when she likes to be carried).

And there are times I think that if she had thumbs she could sit on the couch and work the TV remote if she really wanted to.

She hasn’t done it in a while (I think because I have been going to bed at a more reasonable time these days), but she would sit at the foot of my chair in the office here and grumble when it was time to go to bed. Now curly does a similar thing, but Lula took it a step further, she would stand up and then begin to paw me to signal me it that it is time to go to bed.

Another aspect about her being little people is that she is too smart for her own good. While Curly and Buddy are very good at coming in when they are called, Lula merely looks at you and goes back to what every she was doing. The best is when she looks at you and turns the other way.

Also, she knows when she has done something wrong, yet still does it. That to me makes her more like people than not.

Regardless, I could never think of life without dogs now, especially without my little Lula.

Well, dinner is done.

Laterz

bdbenner Dogs, Emma, Uncategorized Dogs, lula

We arrived home at approx 8pm last night, this was about two and a half hours earlier than my original estimate. My original estimate was off for two reasons.

1. I didn’t know exactly how far away Memphis was from Little Rock.

2. Gina is speedy.

We got to Memphis at a decent time the other night and stayed in a swanky La Quinta. The decor was much more modern and had a mix of carpet and what appeared to be hardwood floors in the room.

I was very proud of Emma Lou, this entire trip she managed not to have any accidents in the hotel rooms. In the past she would immediately christen the room.

We made pretty decent time along the way from Lansing to Memphis. There was this one stop for gas where I thought we might not make it out. The area was a backdrop for an ’80s slasher film. We pull up and there is a seedy, run-down looking motel (a couple of the doors had plywood over it). There was only one other car getting gas and there were some crazy looking clerks in the gas-station store.

Also, I have to mention that the bathroom was possibly the WORST I have ever had the unfortunate pleasure of using. I mean, when I first walked in the stench hit me in the face. I wonder if the place has ever really been cleaned, let alone just a quick cleaning recently.

There were flies, mind you no windows in this restroom. I mean we have stopped at highway rest stops that have flies (or bees) due to the fact that they don’t have A/C and the windows are open. No windows in this bathroom.

Anyway, I got out of there after scrubbing my hands very well (luckily the soap dispenser was completely full). I used my foot to open the door (which had a level handle instead of a round one).

“What about the ‘Burrs within 60 seconds’ ?” you ask.

We got home, let the dogs out into the backyard, unpacked the car. And when we let the dogs back in, they had burrs in their fur. Which means that they immediately managed to run though the few burr plants that have cropped up in the backyard while we have been gone (one or two were likely there before we left, behind the shed).

Emma, Buddy and Curly all have burrs. I will be mowing the backyard today and weed wacking behind the shed. I am also going to powerwash the deck, its a bit dirty.

As long as I don’t have to go into the office on Monday (pretty sure I won’t have to), I will be taking some time that day to replace some fence boards.

I need to get my bag unpacked and get settled in a little.

Laterz

bdbenner Dogs, travel, vacation la quinta, summer 2008, summer vacation, travel, vacation 2008

I just woke up from a short nap to the discussion about how Emma snagged an M&M laced cookie off of someone’s plate up here at the cottage a couple of hours ago.

There was a brief discussion as to whether or not Emma should be forced to return the cookie, you know following the same path it went down. That procedure requires you to feed the dog some hydrogen peroxide.

But given that she is acting perfectly fine and that one time she wolfed down an entire sleeve of those coconut and chocolate cookies (I think they are sometimes called Somoas) and this is just one little Keebler elf cookie, there isn’t really a worry.

I fed her some canned pumpkin, along with everyone else just to make sure that her stomach (and everyone else’s) is OK.

Well, I need to go run some water through my hair and get ready to go to the dinner party.

Laterz

bdbenner Dogs, Emma, travel, vacation cookies, Dogs, pumpkin, summer 2008, travel, vacation, vacation 2008