Diagnosis: Furball

The doctor's report is in and it is official - the blogboy (Dogboy) has been diagnosed with barcolepsy:

Bar·co·lep·sy; Pronunced [bahr-kuh-lep-see]– noun. A condition characterized by frequent, spontaneous and uncontrollable periods of annoying barking for no apparent reason.

This is the only possible explanation as to why he, much to the "delight" of DubaiLori (aka mum), is prone to loud oubursts with accompanying leaps to all fours whenever something traumatic happens such as a leaf dropping from a tree ten blocks away or a car passes on the distant freeway.

The worst of it is that hard to keep him focused when he's working on the computer (e.g. blogs).

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[Origin: 1875–80; narco- + (epi)lepsy]

—Related forms
nar·co·lep·tic, adjective, noun

The Gilded Otter

We'll get back to the rest of the trip later - including the excessive number of tolls between Northern Virginia (NOVA) and Massachusets. The center piece of the trip, of course, was on Tuesday and Wednesday October 2-3 when I became the temporary assistant to the Brew Master. Darren Currier truly is a craftsman and a gentleman. I went in knowing very little and came out alive! Seriously, the process is pretty simple but the craft is in the maintaining hygienic conditions and a consistency between brews. One of my goals was to find out the secrets to being able to recreate a brew once you find the right recipe and mix. And the secret is: document everything, purchase good quality ingredients and temperature/timing control. This all doesn't necessarily come in as handy with my current setup - the single plastic fermenter - but will be very useful to know when I graduate to the system that I have planned for my "special room" in the basement of our home. More on that as the remodelling progresses.

Brew (Ha Ha)

There I was in February just minding my own business and focusing on getting older when lo and behold I was blindsided on my birthday by Phatty and Carol with not one but two gift certificates for a vacation vocation. After some sole searching (I think I stepped in something that smelled beerish) and a good firm scraping, I decided to look into learning a craft that might be of use to me in my later years. I looked pretty closely at a number of options: the sword making and self-publishing were intriguing and everyone knows I always wanted to pretend I was an architect (any Seinfeld fans?). But none of these options would come close to allowing me to achieve the true nirvana that can only be attained through continous, sustained liver abuse.

So, I narrowed down the decision to the options for brewificationary enhancement: I narrowed the choices further to those on the Eastern side of this great nation due to the proximity to my own abode - and my related lack of vacation days accruing (curse these US employment conditions!). Anyhoo, I decided to go with the Gilded Otter in New Paltz, NY. Lori has always wanted to go to New England in the autumn to see the leaves change so we planned a longer excursion to include the two days at the Gilded Otter.

Hey, where've ya been!

Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday it was December 10th and I was wondering why this blog was so out of date. Loyal readers will know that we've had our share of staffing troubles here at the ol' dog blog. Yes, over the years we've hired, fired, restructured, adopted, threatened with neutering (not effective 'cause he already was), and otherwise cajoled and bullied in an attempt to get some regular textification onto this space. Finally the management has simply had to face facts and admit that we're just plain lazy. However, now that there is a hiatus in some of the various other demands (graduate studies, certifications, brewing apprenticeship, etc)...excuse me, did you say brewing apprenticeship? Why yes, that is one of the many ramblings that I just textualized; why, would you like to know more? Oh, yes, I most certainly would! I'm so pleased to hear that - well then let's begin...

Surprise Visit
In January Judi, Carol and I conspired to surprise Lori by having Carol and Judi show up (from Phoenix) at a restaurant where we were having dinner. It was planned since Christmas and VERY difficult to keep a secret. I nearly stumbled once or twice and we all worried that we'd give it away somehow. All went well though and we timed their arrival at Dulles and trip in via the Metro with Lori's travel by Metro (from the opposite direction) to Crystal City to meet me at the restaurant. I waited for Lori at the bar and when she arrived I sent a discreet previously typed email to Judi to let her know. They then made their entrance shortly thereafter. I gave Lori a little box with a note in it that said "turn around" (Carol's idea) and when she did there they were!

The ladies had fun that weekend shopping together. We also went to Mt Vernon for a presentation on George Washington in Bermuda (the only place he traveled outside America). Judi took the opportunity to catch up on her sleep in front of the fireplace with Brin. A well earned rest with all she has going on - arranging to open her own business in March. More on that will be provided after the grand opening in March which Lori and I will be attending.

Dogboy Moment
Here's another example of why we find the boy so entertaining. This is Brin with a biscuit in his mouth. He was given this treat as a reward for being good and staying in the kitchen with dad while mum was on the phone with Heidi. Otherwise he usually finds a reason to bark 'cause he's jealous of mum's not paying attention to him (spoiled). So he gets the treat and thinks he can then go eat it by mum in the formal sitting room. When mean ol' dad doesn't let him go he doesn't know what to do so just sits there with the biscuit hanging out of his mouth looking soooooo forlorn. He wouldn't even eat it there, just sat and pouted because he wasn't able to go where he wanted.

It's a Marshmallow World...
For Lori's birthday present I arranged for her to FINALLY have a "perfect snow" day (her words). The forecast was for "ice storm" according to the media hype-factory tabloid info-mercials that masquerade as "news" programs in this day and age. Anyhow, we looked out this morning at about 9:00 and it was snowing lazily with big fluffy flakes. Then sometime shortly thereafter it started snowing in earnest - don't ask me how that works, ask Earnest (when I hear groans from all over the world, my work is done). Anyhow, we took dogboy for a bound (he was soooo excited!) down to Safeway and back then spent the next 45 minutes or so clearing the driveway of snow (me on push broom, Lori on shovel). Well, she volunteered, what was I supposed to do? We got about 5 inches (12.5 cm) during the day.

So that done we called in to check to see if the historic walk that we were planning on doing today was cancelled (walking in George Washington's footsteps throughout Old Town Alexandria) and sure enough it was. Mixed feelings about this one as it would have been great fun but it also gave us an excuse to have a cozy day in. Lori of course started cooking a fabulously involved lamb dinner that took hours to prepare. I prepared to give her a un-birthday (she's getting 40 days of gifts leading up to her big day)to remember as we had finished setting up the bar yesterday including hanging the sign sis-in-law Heidi gave me for my birthday. Those of the more observant readers will notice that we finally found the absolutely picture perfect place to hang our 1997 Grand Prix souvenir picture.

Well, Lori finally made it out of the kitchen (everyone know one has to force her out of there!) being lured by the thought of a Scrumpy cuddle, a roaring fire and some cocktails (a Martini and a Pirates Bloody Revenge).

Poor Scrumpy was desperate for attention as she had snuck outside behind me last night when I went out with Brin and so spent the whole night alone in the cold and snow (brrr!) I think she's learned her lesson about sneaking out at night (kids!)

Let It Snow

It finally snowed! We've been waiting all winter to introduce our little girls to their first snow experience. Here's Scrumpy begging to be let back inside! Here's the homestead with snow. Here's some stranger that was hanging out the front of the homestead. The back yard with snow looks a lot different than in the summer. With the snow and cold we had to have a fire and then Brin tried to get back at Lori for all her teasing by pushing her in the fire! I warned her he snap some day. Then he was all depressed that he didn't succeed.

The Renos Are Done

We can now settle into the place because we've finally finished the renovations/painting of the guest bedrooms and the basement. The bar is ready for customers, the basement fireplace is ready for cold weather, we had our first guests over for dinner in our dining room and Lori is settled into her upstairs office now that the desk has arrived. The Aussie bed set is in place in the master BR and the Aussie map is in place in the ground level TV room.

The single massive second master bedroom formerly known as green is now two separate rooms, a blue room and a green room. The stripes and the chair rails made for extra special fun. We are thankful for the mitre saw and painters' tape.

Gozo, Gozo, Gozo

When one is in Gozo then one must of course take a cruise around the island.
We were not going to buck tradition so we headed out on a clear, sunny (very) hot day. We basically took this tour. We took a bus across Gozo in the morning to get to the main harbor of Mgarr. First stop was the famous and crowded Blue Lagoon.

Actually, the Lagoon wasn't as crowded as it seems in the photo. The majority of the Lagoon was free of people. The coziness was prompted by the coincidental intermingling of vacationing people and vacationing stinging jellyfish. It seems the stingers have begun to vacation regularly in the waters around Malta. Locals say it's because the Mediterranean turtles have been hunted to the brink of extinction. I think it's just confirmation that EVERYONE wants to vacation in Malta.

Here's our lovely craft - the Gozo Princess. Here's the three queens (Phatty, Lori and Heidi Arbuckle) on the sundeck. Here's a lovely (stinger filled) cove.

We also got to see the famous Azure Window from the sea side and the land side (model - Ms Phatty Arbuckle). And we saw the world famous (supposedly) Fungus Rock (description). Are you ready for a shot of Lori in her swim suit? Here she is! Really - there in the middle. I really need to get a zoom digital...

Aaaauuuuuugggghhhh!!

I (Dogboy)would just like to go on record as being a totally unwilling partici-pant ('scuse the pun) in this little game. I can't help it that I'm a couple of acorns short in the basket and that this gives me a more feminine profile OR that my color is different than that of my siblings. None of this means I'm a girl...(although -gasp - could it be I'm Michael Jackson!?!) nor does it mean I should be dressed up and paraded around the internet.

But don't I look just FABULOUS in this little number?

Dogboy Moment!

Yes, as these photos attest when my darling gets bored the poor boy feels the brunt. You may remember such hits as "Little Blue Dogboy Hood" or "Gee, I don't remember my throat being sore" and the ever popular "let's play".

Well, lately he "volunteered" to play the Headless Dogboy for Halloween. "Where's Brin?" OK, jokes over lady, take it off already.

Finally got it working!

I don't know what's wrong with this thing but it hasn't been working for over two months. Of course, I'm not referring to the blog, I'm referring to my initiative. Yep, gotta lot to catch up on so here goes...

We left off in the picturesque village of Xlendi on the Island of Gozo, where during a series of hikes we saw extensive ruins including these terraces. We walked across this arched bridge along this path and up these steps to get to the Xlendi Point Fort at the entrance to Xlendi Bay. The Fort has seen better days but is still pretty much intact. Below the Fort are these salt pans.

The streets of Xlendi are very narrow, and the steps are long and steep.

I did manage to get some shots of the ladies during our hike. Here's all of them togetherand a shot while going down to the grotto. And here's Lori! We passed under this arch to get to and from the grotto.

The laundry service was definitely 18th century but washer man was pleasant enough as long as he got plenty of beer and wine.

Off With Their Heads!

Yes, I had to make some changes to the team here; clearly leaving the writing up to blogboy Brin hasn't been a good strategy. Here I was keeping busy pulling together all the photos for the blog and when I turn around (a mere 2 months later) then what do I find? NOTHING! So, a change is as good as a holiday as they say - obviously "they" are people who can't afford to take holidays...or maybe they have one or more babies or toddlers, in which case a change could be as good as winning the friggin' lottery (depending on how toxic the nappy/diaper is). So now there's less fur on the keyboard (but just as much drool for some reason!?!) But enough of that, I'm back in charge and we'll kick off with the synopsis of the big vacation in the Med.

We join our travellers in the morning, after they all had a refreshing sleep. And the view that greeted us was Xlendi town, Xlendi Harbor, Xlendi Bay, the entrance to Xlendi Bay, a view (the whitest one with the lift tower on the left) or two or three of the hotel Serena (where we stayed) - we don't recommend it, and some flowers.