Trippin'

Good company in a journey makes the way to seem the shorter.
- Izaak Walton

In the past few weeks, our family has been on several quick road trips to visit family in Tennessee. And for one reason or another, our Dynamic Dog Duo, Jude and Cooper, came along for the ride. "Dynamic," however, really only describes one side of the pair. As you know, Jude and Cooper are about as opposite as they come. Jude is the salt to Cooper's pepper; he's the bark to Cooper's bite; he's the Vuvuzela to Cooper's London Philharmonic orchestra; he's the Scream Machine roller coaster to Cooper's Merry-Go-Round; he's the Easy Rider to Cooper's Driving Miss Daisy.

The journey with our 2 dogs is interesting. Cooper -- who's always business -- stands guard near the pilot seat, growling as he defends his family from passing 18 wheelers. Jude -- who's always casual -- prefers to "hang loose" with his head out the window, happily greeting passersby and enjoying the open road and feel of the wind on his face.



Izaak Walton may have said that, "Good company in a journey makes the way to seem the shorter," but I wonder if he may have a different opinion if he travelled 1400 miles with 2 dogs.

Maybe It's the Summer Heat?

Looks like Big Foot makes another appearance. Remember when he "showed up" around my neck of the woods a year or so ago. Here's the post:

Is it just me, or is this photo from Yahoo of a freezer containing what is supposedly the 500 pound carcass of "Big Foot" a little creepy? Never mind that the two guys who have it say that they found the corpse in the woods of northern Georgia in an area which is only about an hour from where I live. To me the somewhat grainy photo is a little suspect and looks more like it might have been taken in the prop room on the set of CSI. Anyway, the two Georgia men held a huge press conference yesterday in California to reveal photos of their findings and to produce definitive DNA samples which were to prove the legitimacy of their "discovery." (Did these guys really have to be from Georgia??? Please, don't we Southerners get enough flack as it is? Why is it that all of the alien abductions and Elvis sightings seem to be from people from our state?) Maybe I'm just a little skeptical because one of the dudes just so happens to own a business and run a website which caters to Big Foot mania; so in my mind their motivation for honesty and full disclosure is perhaps questionable at best. Really, what are the chances that these two men would accidentally stumble upon such an elusive and mysterious (and mythical) creature while on an afternoon hike? I've been on a hike a time or two in my life and I usually only come home with things like poison oak, chiggers, whiny kids, and blisters.
What may be even more disturbing is today’s news that the specimens they submitted for testing were shown to be actually DNA from a 'possum. Okay, so at least I can rest a bit easier now that I know that some Chewbaca-like creature isn't lurking in the woods behind my house, but now I have to worry that there may be 500 pound 'possums loose in our area. I may never go hiking again.
And if by some stroke of luck the Georgia boys really did discover the body of Sasquatch, I’ll be the first to admit I had my big foot in my mouth.

Check here for the rest of the story.