Pics of Layla Lush (10 weeks)

I realized that I haven't updated with pictures. And its unfair to talk about a cute puppy and not update with cute puppy pictures, right??

Ok, I'll be honest-I staged this one a bit. She was sleeping with the sheep, but her little arm wasn't around it...
No, this isn't trick photography-the soccer ball is bigger than her!

Hallelujah.....tentatively....

Ok, to at the risk of being overly excited....Layla is turning the bend on the potty training. We were having troubles, to be honest. Yes, I know, she's only 11 1/2 weeks old. Its a bit of that and a bit because she didn't know how to let us know she needed out. During crate time, whining/barking doesn't get her anything. So, how does a little puppy let us know she needs to go potty? Well, after some research, we put a string of bells on the back door handle.

Provided we hear them (this is the tricky part) she will ring when she wants to go out. As of right now, 4 the past 5 times she's rang them she's gone out and gone potty. (the other time she wanted outside) That seems exciting, right? Well...lets not get too excited, but its a start.

For those of you who didn't know, I'm a cat person who likes dogs and Mr. Lush is a dog person who likes cats. I told Mr. Lush if she quits peeing in the house while she's still cute, she might win me over....I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, pray that the bells ring loudly. :)

The Power of the Palate Cleanse

In May I posted about the Taria 384 Cuvee and ranted about how great it was. A bit later, I brought it the Luce’s house for dinner one night. We started off with a Cabernet Franc then followed with this. Since there were only 3 of us and the Luce’s are well endowed with glasses, we were able to taste them at the same time. (well, sip of one, sip of the other, not shooting them both) I hadn’t noticed the tobacco before, but wow, it was really prominent next to the Cab Franc. (It was a casual dinner, so we weren’t doing much palate cleansing.) So much so that it almost tasted like I ate a cigarette. But I had loved it so much before- I was so sad that it wasn’t wonderful. It was fine, it wasn't a bad bottle, the tobacco flavor was much stronger than I like.

Then recently I took it to a dinner another night with a different friend. We started with a white, then moved to the Taria. The tobacco, while present, was only ever so lightly present, so lightly that I probably wouldn’t have been able to pick out the tobacco if I hadn’t known it was there. It was great and went well with both my steak and my friend's sea bass with sugar pea and mushroom accompaniment. That's the Taria I remember.

Of course, it stands to reason that the bottle at the Luce’s was some freak of production, but I think it was so different because of what it was next to. It made me really realize the importance of palate cleansing at tastings-honestly I don’t really do much of it unless it’s a vastly different wine (ie a red to a white or visa versa) and then, honestly, shhh… I still don’t always. It just seems so snobby. “I need to cleanse my palate”.

But, after this experience, I really think I’ll take it up again.