Three!

Well howdy folks.... hope you are all enjoying this three day weekend which is only a two day weekend for me. I'm gettin' ready to head in to work here in a few. Since when does President's Day fall the day after Valentine's? I'm confused by that one.

So this was Rudy's birthday weekend. He turned 3. In years past we have had more of "a party" for him but this year we kept it more low key. We just took him out to a local dog boutique where you can buy cashmere sweaters for your mini-she-poo-shizzle-wizzle (new designer breed) or a $250 dog bed made of pure organic cotton candy and satin. We let Rudy loose in this wonderland of silliness and waited to see what he would go for.... "pick out" if you will. After a few minutes of frenzied sniffing and confusion it was clear we had a winner....




It's a platypus. What a fabulous choice right? I mean... it would have been between the platypus and the armadillo for me personally so I support his decision whole heartedly. We also let him pick out a dessert treat from the case full of weirdly real yet fake looking baked goods. Cakes for dogs. Why not?



The green cupcake was devoured after dinner and the platypus got it's ass kicked all night long. So all in all I think he had a fine birthday.

I decided to bake a brown butter raspberry tart for the VD holiday.... it sure was pretty but I can't say it is a recipe I would make again. I pulled it from an old Bon Appetit magazine. It was simple to make but turned out kind of bleh. I would have rather eaten those gorgeous berries straight outta the package.






Looks good huh? It's such a fake out. Maybe it will be better once it has had a chance to think about who it wants to be in this world over night. It needs to pull itself up by the boots straps and get a better attitude. Yeaaahhhhhh...... Who am I kiddin'? We will eat it even if it starts bad mouthing it's grandma and throwing rotten eggs at nuns. Even lack luster baked goods get fair treatment in this household. Sad but true.

OK. Gotta go polish up my chocolate stirring muscle and curl my eyelashes for work. Cheers all!

TWO

Forget Valentine's Day. February 14th is Rudy's birthday which is so much more important, don't you think? We think so. People have asked me "How do you know it is Rudy's birthday?" To which I respond... "SHUT UP. It's today. Don't question the date." I know it is his birthday because he woke up this morning looking so much older, wiser and more worldly. My goodness, he was even wearing a tie!



He clearly has a vision for his future. You can see it in his eye. He knows what he wants and he knows how to get it now that he is TWO.



This morning we had several hours of ass kicking new toy action to celebrate the day.



We refrained this year from partaking of any weird birthday food treats (last year he had a dog birthday cake) due to the fact that we are guests in my parents house currently and they have carpet. Carpet and dogs with baked goods don't mix. Well, they DO mix but not in a way that your Mother wants to see in her living room. No worry though, Rudy was in a fine mood for his big day.



We had a fresh snow last night and then it warmed up a bit today so we decided to go for a walk at a nearby nature preserve this afternoon. Beside falling on my ass on ice covered by snow it was really pretty and it was good to be outside for awhile. We walked as far as we could before we were cut off by a flooded area where the ice was to thin to cross. Here are the best shots from the walk.

A bird's nest topped with snow....


Prairie grasses...





Lovely shadows and snow patterns....


The end of the line....


Happy Valentine's Day. Give you dogs an extra belly rub in honor of Rudy today...

And Somehow It Got Even Better

Just when you thought Rudy's birthday had been fun.... something happened to smash yesterday's fun to squalid, embarrassing bits. Yesterday we had dog cake and all that, but today..... today the real action hit the scene.



We had a delayed birthday dinner party for Rudy tonight and no... we did not have Siegfried and Roy as dinner guests... but we did have Michelle and Casey over and they were the ones who delivered unto Rudy this majestic gift of a Tiger. A Tiger which got it's ass kicked all night long. A Tiger whose days of having a recognizable face are now numbered. Whose guts will soon be spilled on our living room floor.

At first there were tender moments.....



But those moments did not last long. It was all out domination, humping and beatings for the poor old cat for the rest of the night. Except for the two minute break he took to eat a slice of his birthday cake around 7:30. He knows how to party. Please note that Billy is not possessed by the devil as seen below... I tried to fix his red eye in photoshop and I may as well have added goat horns and flames around his head at the same time to finish off the fine job I did.



One more notable item of the night was this...



After drinking several bottles of wine Michelle serenaded us on her new sparkling blue accordion. She plays beautifully and it was a true joy to listen. But wait.... actually she has no idea how to play at all and that is our neighbor's accordion that Billy has borrowed so he can learn how to play. Michelle only held on to it long enough to make it squeak and I took her picture. But really... how much more fun is it even legal to have? Tigers, accordions and Billy all in one room on a Friday night? Pure magic.