Sam and LIbby

It's hard to believe I havn't done a posting since I began working full-time. Or, perhaps it IS believeable. Either way, there's so much to tell but I am choosing to focus on a trip I took this past weekend to visit my old college friend Spencer.

DOGS:
He has two crazy dogs. Sam and Libby- at first greeting I thought it was strange that they didn't bark but rather jumped wildly all over me with their short little legs (about 3 inches long). This is because during the day they have to wear these collars that shock them when they bark. Sam and Libby are half Welsch Corgy and Dachsund. They are about as long as a golden retriever and about as tall as a Dachsund, very interesting-- they also have very huge long snouts- oversized for their stumpy legs.

In Spencer's little Fla. apartment there is a whole range of devices, contraptions and inventions he has used over the past year and a half to control these wild animals.-- a collar with spikes, harnesses etc. To calm them down the first evening I was there, Spencer pulled out two doggy backpacks and loaded them up with bags of beans and full water bottles.-- apparently the extra weight on these dogs is supposed to calm them down-- this after a two hour walk, tongues dragging on the ground-- Did that work? Hmm. well you would expect it to but actually n0-- wild as if it were the first of the day.--

Every morning Spencer wakes up at about 6:30 so he can assemble his bone treats for the dogs-- he took these huge bones-- (must be from the legs of a cow or something) and roasted them for several hours until they hardened-- Each morning he pulls down his blender and purees dry dog food into a mush with water-- these hollowed bones are then stuffed with this epicurian concoction and frozen-. A good invention indeed, because at night when Sam and Libby are at their wildest- these bones, (about twice their size) after a careful spreading out of old blankets and smelly t-shirts give any other inhabitants in the apartment about a half hour of peace. With full attention, both Libby and blue-eyed spotted Sammy will concentrate on extracting all of the tasty frozen dog food mush-- chewing and licking feverishly with a guarded corner-of-the-eye gaze over the room periodically.-- I don't think there is any threat that I would have taken their treats. They didn't seem that tasty to me.

Spencer has spent quite a bit of time reading about animal behavior-- I think he probably has learned enough to become a people psychologist. All of my tendencies to take control and be an Alpha female were certainly curbed for some magical reason. Very good Very good.
It was very hard for me not to make direct eye contact with those ridiculous dogs-- one does not need a television or any other form of entertainment. They are the show- and Spencer's computer is loaded with hundreds of photos of these dogs.

HERBERT and CYNTHIA

Spencer's parents live nearby in Sarasota. They are exactly the same like characters out of a Woody Allen movie. I love everything about them-- The big event was this juicer and we all sat around it as Spencer shoved pieces of various things into the shoot to be pulverized into a few drops of precious juice. This after debating for quite a while about how to put the juicing contraption together. All the while Herbert in the background with a pensive tone states that he would rather just eat the fruit.
We had a lovely dinner of swordfish and I forget what else. I liked it though. Spencer made it, which a fresh tomato chutney and a balsmic glaze.

THE BEACH

It is very hot and many people leave Florida in the summer time, but this indeed is alright with me. We made a nice drive to the beach and swam in the gulf it was warm water and both of us are complete chickens when it comes to critters. So periodically you would see us do the crab dance out of the water. The beach was nice though with lots of sand dollars and beautiful shells. After a couple of hours lazing on the beach we headed back to Tampa and stopped just past the causeway at a shack of a place and had blackened Grouper sandwiches. they were great. The place was decorated with alligator heads and one could also order alligator nuggets or sausage on the menu. What could be better?