One Week

It's amazing how things can change in one week; and how much they can stay the same. We had over a foot of snow last Saturday, had a thaw Monday through Friday when the temperatures soared into the 40's, and now on Saturday night we're having yet another winter storm.

Actually winter storm is an understatement. It is snowing, icing, and blowing all with thunder and lightening. I would guess we've gotten 1~2 inches over the last two hours. Which makes Vincent all the happier. Vincent loves the snow - I think he's going to be a little disappointed when he discovers that most of the year there is no snow to eat and play in.

Speaking of eating the snow, I noticed last week that Vince absolutely loved the icy crust on the snow. He wouldn't quit crunching on it when we were out for our walks. So since Thursday was the one month anniversary of Vince joining our family I decided to give him a little treat. I broke out the blender and crushed ice to make a snow cone to put in his water dish. After checking the bowl to see what I had added he bounded out of his cage and made two laps around before settling in to eat his unflavored snow cone.

For those of you that didn't catch it, the Boilers held on for a road win at Northwestern today. Grady, Chris, Eileen, Sabrina, and I took in the game at a sparsely populated Welch-Ryan Arena. Good win, but very ugly at points. I fear that the blow out on Wednesday at Iowa may have been the death blow for Purdue's NCAA tournament chances, but you never know.

On a side note we had a boy's night "in" (as opposed to going "out" to a bar) on Friday. It's probably a sign of us getting older that we just don't want to deal with the smoke, noise, and crowds at a bar with the justification being that "I already have beer in the 'fridge." We played a little Phase 10, had more than a few beers, and generally enjoyed ourselves. It was Andy's first event at our place since his relocation from Indy so that was kind of cool. The only downside to the whole event was the hangovers that Saam, Grady, and I were nursing this morning on the way up to Evanston.

Vincents Big Saturday

Paula left on Thursday for an 11 day trip with her Mom in the Galapagos Islands - so Eric and Vince are on their own for quite some time. Their first Saturday together was quite eventful - and all before 1:00 p.m.!

The day started with a visit to the vet. The vet only takes walk in appointments on Saturday so we were there at 9:00 to ensure we were at the front of the line. After two hours in the waiting room it was decided that maybe we need to make a weekday appointment from now on! Not that Vince minded that much, he got to meet lots and lots of new pooches!

Vince doesn't generally mind trips to the vet. I mean sure, they stick things up your bum to take samples and to get your temperature but at least you get a cookie to chew on while they are doing it! Vince didn't even squirm as they gave him his two booster shots, he was a very good boy. (Of course the cookie he was chewing on helped take his mind of the needle.)

They say that over time pets and their owners tend to reflect each other's personalities. There was proof of this at the Vet's office on Saturday. The first instance was the corpulent man that came in with an absolutely round border collie. I mean they were spitting images of each other. The second instance was our very own Vincent reflecting one of his owners (I'll let you decide which one.) Vince was given a cookie to gulp down at the start of the appointment and after he snarfed it down in record time he raised his head up and let out a very loud belch. ('Atta boy Vince!)

After the vet ordeal was over Vince and Eric headed out to the park for the first time. They went to the North Pond area of Lincoln Park for a walk in the winter wonderland that is Chicago! Vince got to experience a lot of new things, kids on sleds, people on cross country skis, and even a person on snow shoes.

The biggest thrill for Vince though, other then diving head first into snow drifts, was the flock of geese that he was very anxious to go and meet.

By the time we got home Vince was so tired that he plopped down in the first sunbeam he found for a nice long nap.

Snow Day

Like the rest of the midwest Chicago has gotten pounded today with snow and general winter nastiness. Eric is stuck in Michigan City so Paula and Vinny have been hanging out at home watching the snow pile up.

Vinny is pretty happy though - normally on Tuesdays he has to spend several hours alone while both Eric and Paula are at work but today he had Paula home with him all day long.

Opening Post

Hello all, Paula and I have finally decided to enter the "blogosphere" as the case may be. We'll have to see how this goes and how often we actually post. We thought this would be a good way for people to keep up on what's going on in our world.

As for the name, well for those of you that don't know we just recently got a puppy named Vincent. Over the last couple of weeks our lives seem to be centered around "Chasing Vincent."