Miscellaneous etcetera

Let’s see… right about now I should be somewhere along Mammoth Mountain, hopefully surviving the lift deboarding.  Really, getting off the lift is the most hazardous part of my snowboarding trips.  I can get down the mountain like a champ.  Sometimes, I can even execute a turn without getting stuck.  I still don’t do jumps or hops, though.  But getting off the lift?  Without falling or crashing into something/someone?  Let’s just say that the thought of the ski lift fills me with dread and worry and more stress than anything else on the mountain.

So, Google tells me that a lot of people find my site looking for “american eskimo dog” or some variation of that phrase.  Strangely, it seems like a lot of people are also looking for advice on shaving their American Eskimo dog.  Either that, or it’s just one person and they keep Googling to see if someone else’s page pops up.  I have never shaved Lexi, but we did shave Cassie last year.  She has very thick fur and the undercoat had gotten very matted – beyond brushing.  So, we took the logical step of shaving her fur so we could, in theory, start over from step one.  Let me just say this, if you are planning to shave your pretty American Eskimo, please understand that it may take the better part of a year for her soft fur to grow back in.  Cassie’s coarse fur has grown back, but her silky undercoat, the part that makes her soft and fluffy, is lagging.  She still looks cute, and we just pet her head a lot, but I do hope the rest of her coat comes back in okay.

People also come here looking for information on Mr. Hummos in Poway.  Trust me, I would love to know more, too.  So, if you get there before me, let me know what you think.  I’m trying to make it over there for food soon, we just haven’t had the time!

There are also some contests I should tell you about.  Swiffer, they of the environmentally-unfriendly yet awesome-at-collecting-dust cloths, is holding a video contest.  It’s called the “Swiffer Break-up Music Video Contest” and the Grand Prize is $15,000.  In conjunction with YouTube, you pick one of 10 “break-up” songs for your video and tell Swiffer how you left your old cleaning products for their neato cool stuff.  Upload the video by January 30, 2008 and then the general public will vote for their favorite clip.

The second thing really isn’t a contest.  If you sign up for the Fiber One newsletter, you can also choose to get a free sample of their new cereal, which is supposed to be high in fiber but low in calories.  Sign up here for the newsletter.

Also, the Deep Chocolate Vitatops are growing on me.  They still don’t fill the chocolate chip cookie craving, but they do make for a pretty good snack at work.  I’ve been trying to eat a small snack before lunch and then in the afternoon so I’m not starving at lunch and when I get home.  So, some fruit and a Vitatop are pretty good, especially since the Vitatop is only 100 calories.  Just make sure you have some hot tea or something to help wash it down.  Not that it tastes bad, but it’s a little dense – much like drinking milk to wash down brownies.  I’m still scared of the Fudgy Peanut Butter ones.  Perhaps I will give it another shot next week.

And, finally, if you are looking for information on Siberian Husky puppies, let me assure you that I don’t think my husky is at all typical.  I think most huskies are more energetic and maybe a little smarter.  Sadie is a little slow to catch on (like when the other two are already wolfing down food in the kitchen) and she seems pretty happy sleeping on the couch, but she’s a really good dog.  She sometimes gets a little too interested in Clair, but a bat to the head gets her to back off (Clair bats, I don’t).  So, when you hear people say that huskies and small non-dog animals don’t mix, it’s something to seriously take into consideration.