Doing retro this week. We are fortunate enough to live close to the original Route 66. Driving around in central IL we can see the signs identifying the route during various times in the last century. Today we moseyed (mo-zeed) part way up to Lincoln on I-55, the Route 66 replacement but could not resist departing the split 4 lane by Elkhart and taking the original as it was in the 40's. For the uncertain among you, yes, Lincoln is named after Abe, who "christened" it with watermelon juice in 1853. And, Elkhart has a hill supposedly shaped like, hmmmmmm, an elk's heart! It happens to be the highest point in IL south of Chicago, which to my knowledge is still in the state and not a state unto itself.

So why were we going to Lincoln? Glad you asked. We were headed for the BLUE DOG INN. And, why would we go there? Admittedly, for the Salmon Creek Merlot. We ate there, of course. I had the house burger which was under the section labeled "Food Bowl". Hubby's blue cheeseburger was in the same section. They had "Water Bowl" "Biscuit Tin" and "Doggie Teasers" and other delightfully named sections. Good as the food is there, for it was not our first time, today's mission was the wine.

You see, recently I was in CO and had that wine and found it so tasty I wrote the name down, legibly even. Upon returning to central Illinois I reported in to the aforementioned hubby that it was delightful. Googled it only to learn it's hard to find around here. Went to one pub that supposedly had it and learned they have had it but only ordered it for personal consumption. Really. So this was establishment #2 because it did involve a drive. The wait person was charming, has two rescue dogs and three rescue cats. We were sold a bottle of the Merlot, "on the side" so to speak. And, we're going to find out how to order some.

It seems I'm on a promotional streak. Well, live with it. I've been running into a lot of good things lately and being who I am I want to share them with you :-) If you were here I'd offer you wine. Your dog could have a newly dehydrated beef heart treat.

On to the dogs...Harmony, previously our only "published" dog, is taking Foundation Agility and after one class and one homework review session is performing beautifully. She's all about pleasing people so is a natural for this. If we can stay clear of skeeters and ticks we will end up enjoying the heck out of class.

But, to the publishing comment, I must announce that Baxter, as a young pup, is now the home page dog on the Quincy K9 Connection web site! He won a contest! And, I'm hoping everyone who reads this goes and makes a donation then passes the site along to friends and family to make a donation. Admittedly he had copped a bit of a woe is me attitude when I told him he'd won but he didn't see his photo up there until today. It was a long three weeks.

Last of all I am announcing that I now have a whole house vacuum system. That's not easily come by when you live in a log home. However, rather than rattle on about it I think it is best explained by showing you the actual photos in a before and after way. So here they are.

Before

After

Hopefully you can see for yourself that this is a distinct improvement and that I will be cutting my vacuuming time significantly. I did take the precaution of removing all the collected dog hair from the canister so your focus would be on the important conversion.
This is not a trademarked item. Feel free to make this modification on your own vacuum if you, like I, use your machine every day to give the appearance of caring that the house is not internally coated in dog hair.

String Ball Has Baby in Time for Mother's Day!

We ventured out to Lincoln, IL last week, to meet people who were bringing pet supplies for our favorite rescue group. Thank you! We are so dependent upon the kindness of strangers.

Before we left for Lincoln we figured out we could go to The Blue Dog Inn*, established 1979, for a bite. Get it? A dog place? A bite? Ha. Dark humor. So we managed to combine good deed and good food. Walking from the car to the Inn though we came upon a sight to behold.

You may see that in taking this shot I happened to cut off Mr. Lincoln's face but surely you recognize the hair, ears and chin. Ignore that though and take note that a giant string ball has given birth to a baby string ball! We were amazed to see that as we didn't even know there was one "in the oven" so to speak! Given their natural shape it is often hard to tell if they are expecting a wee one. I wish it was clearer just how big momma is - don't compare her to the old timie oil lamp, it's too close to where I stood - use the wine bottle on the other side of Abe (I doubt it was his).

So, another happy occasion was marked and I just had to share it with faithful readers. Rather than string this out I'll just wrap it up and tie it off.

*Please note, although The Blue Dog Inn has plenty of artwork depicting dogs, often photos of the dogs belonging to friends of the original owner, there is not artwork by the famous NO area Blue Dog painter, George R. You'd have to come to my house to see that, or a gallery. As I recall, George went after the person who copied his work onto restaurant walls elsewhere.