My Old Neighborhood in Shanghai, China in 1999

When I dig up my old pictures on film the other day, I found this one. It was in 1999, in Shanghai, in front of my old neighborhood. I lived there until I was almost 5. At that time in 1999, my poor neighborhood was in the process of swallowing up by brand new high-rise apartments on all sides. Now, all these old houses probably are all gone. But, I guess the Confucius Temple nearby probably survived.
Doris, Donald and Mom, do we all look much younger in this picture 🙂

Ducks.

Jeremy was in Boston for a few days this week for work. He managed to come home 3 hours early on Wed. which meant that he would be home for dinner! I made a turkey pot pie out of the last of the Thanksgiving turkey.

While in Boston, he found a few minutes to find the ducks of Make Way for Ducklings which he has read to both Vince and Edda innumerable times.

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Whenever he goes to Boston, I always want to go with him, but alas, I got a tetanus booster instead (which is rendering my left arm pretty much unusable ’cause it hurts so much!).

Maxi mystery solved.

Maxi has been a part of our family for about a month now. Long enough for us to settle into our daily routines. We got Maxi from a Lab rescue organization and I know she had a purebred Lab mother because both Maxi and her mom came to the rescue together, but Maxi is so not Lab-like that it was driving me crazy. WHO WAS MAXI’S FATHER?

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I’m going to complain a little bit about our dog – it is only because the dog will never learn to read that I am going to do this. Maxi barks. A lot. Maxi is a little stinky. Maxi is not yet housebroken despite being diligently crate trained. Maxi doesn’t really want to do what I tell her to do. Now a Lab generally does not bark. Ruby was house trained in about 24 hours. Ruby is not really malodorous. Ruby might not always do what I want, but she will never give you the hairy eyeball signaling – I know what you want me to do, but I’m going to do this other annoying thing (like knocking all the houseplants over). Even though Ruby is a mutt, I’m pretty sure she’s 75% Lab/Golden. Maxi is great in many ways, very loving, wants to be in the middle of everything, gets Ruby to play during the middle of the day and is an enthusiastic cuddler and tail wagger. She loves the kids/strangers and other doggies. But what genetic weirdness is showing up in our mutt?

So after weeks of fiddling around the internet, with the words, barking, stinky, difficult to housetrain and stubborn, I have discovered Maxi’s father’s identity!

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Maxi’s dad was a BEAGLE. I went to the Lab-rescue and I got a Lab-colored beagle! From everything I can figure out, Beagles are awesome dogs, but they can be a lot of work (at least compared to a Lab). Beagles are great family pets, but hard to train. We are actually not very good trainers. Our main method of training is to wait until the dog gets older and tires of our lame shenanigans. Hence the desire for a Lab who’s only desire in the world is to do whatever anyone tells them to do. Not a Beagle who’s main claim to fame is stubbornness.

Apparently Lab/Beagle mixes are not entirely unknown. This is from the Beagle entry of the Wikipedia.

The Labbe, or Beagador, crosses a Beagle with the Labrador Retriever. The cross arose from naturally occurring crosses adopted from shelters. The Labbe (pronounced Lab ee)is an energetic dog that normally features the Labrador parent’s solid color (Chocolate, Black, Fawn, which tends to be darker than a Labrador) with white on the toes, chest and occasionally the chin. The dog grows to about the same size as a large beagle and tops out at between 30 and 40 pounds. The advantage is much of the looks and skill of a Labrador Retriever in a more compact dog that is resistant to some of the Labrador’s genetic problems, and not as prone to shed. However, Labbes often inherit the Beagle’s famous bark and a healthy dose of stubbornness.

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I guess I’m looking forward to less shedding.  Which is good because we bought all the furniture to match Ruby’s hair.

I am still blogging about the long weekend.

My mother told me that I would never find myself a husband because I didn’t know how to cook. Now I know how to cook – I learned most everything I know about cooking from my husband! Jeremy cooked so much this weekend and he loved every minute of it (including the part where he melted plastic wrap all over a brand new turkey pan).

These are sticky buns for a brunch we hosted:

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