“I know of a black lab puppy if you would like one.” NakedJen was sitting across from the table from Mike and me at lunch this Friday. Mike surprised me with the answer, “A black lab is too big for us. We’re looking for something smaller.” I had no idea that we had been looking for a dog, but I suddenly realized that I was perfectly okay with the idea. I tried to recover. “You know, the other day, I saw a couple walking their dogs and I really missed having a dog. Not that I was able to walk Sid or anything, but seeing them made me wish I could have a dog that I could take on a walk.”

We talked some more about Jack Russel Terriers and Australian Shepherds before the conversation turned to something different, but something had changed. Mike and I were looking for a dog. As of Friday afternoon, we started looking. We lost a lovely Australian Shepherd named Disco to a family with two kids, but I really think that was for the best because yesterday, we found Nina.

She’s a Chihuahua/Dachshund mix, so she’s bigger than a Chihuahua and much more calm. Here is her picture from the Humane Society:

They also made a video of her to try to get her adopted:

I’m surprised that she had to come all the way from Los Angeles to find us. I imagine she was originally owned by a woman who enjoyed carrying her around the posh places in L.A. When she grew up, however, her Dachshund side made her a tad too big to carry around everywhere, so she was sent away for a different trendy pet. She wasn’t treated badly, she just became too large for the flighty woman’s purse.

Well, she’s EXACTLY the right size for us. I took her for a walk this morning around Daybreak. She was good when we passed other dogs, joggers and bicycles.

She’s never been taught the basics like sit and stay, much less the litany of tricks we are planning on teaching her, but she does know come. Most importantly, she loves a treat, so we’ll be able to teach her how to be a perfect dog for us.

Right now, she’s passed out on the couch after her three mile walk with me. It’s good to have a dog in the house again.

Update 06-20-11: Dr. Lynette verified that Nina is approximately four years old, so we’re considering her birthday to be June 12, 2007. She also got a clean bill of health, so we are so happy we will be having her in our lives for a long time.

I found this article about watches in O Magazine October 2010. It’s basically an advertisement posing as content, but it was nice to see a Swatch in there with all the others:

The best part of living in Daybreak is seeing the lovely homes in the neighborhood. I was particularly struck with this home this morning.

Many homes have beautiful red doors, but this homeowner matched the door to their park bench.

Few people would think to match the little birdhouse to the color of the door, but it ties everything together.

Even the glass left on the table from last night’s picnic matched. I really felt like I was looking at a house featured in Better Homes and Gardens.

Thank you, Daybreak Homeowner, for having such a beautiful yard. Your home made my morning walk a joy.

I love Lady Gaga and I love Weird Al, but I’m strangely disturbed by this video.

You can buy his album here:

• Alpocalypse (Deluxe Version) CD by Weird Al Yankovic at Amazon.com
• Alpocalypse (Deluxe Version) MP3 Download by Weird Al Yankovic at Amazon.com
• Alpocalypse (Deluxe Version) iTunes Download- “Weird Al” Yankovic

Our new dog, Nina, is scared and jealous of Elvis, our cat. Elvis just wants to play, but Nina’s having none of it!

I’ve never seen a dog so unwilling to play in my life. She doesn’t like toys and just ignores them. She doesn’t want to play fetch, tug-o-war, or even chew the toys. Elvis has tried in vain to get her to play with him, but she just avoids him or retreats to her bed. Mike and I got her to play with some bubbles a couple of nights ago, but she refused to even look at them last night.

The only thing that makes her smile is a walk. She loves to run in the park and is always surprised when the leash runs out of slack and she’s pulled back. She loves to smell every plant and post along the way.

How can it be that the only play she is interested in is a walk? Is this common?

I found this photo among my grandmother’s things and I thought it was just beautiful.

I don’t know who it’s a picture of. It’s not any of my grandmother’s three husbands. It doesn’t look like her brother or any of the other men in her life. In fact, it’s so entirely NOT posed that I wonder if she snapped it of a stranger.

Hello, Military Man. What are you doing here among the photos of babies and grandfathers? Who are you? Are you still alive today or have you joined the rest of the faces in this old book?

Ernie says: DO YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU LIVE IN A COUNTRY WITH TWENTY HOURS OF SUNLIGHT A DAY? THIS. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS.

I couldn’t stop watching it! What is the matter with me?!

One of the hazards of living in Daybreak is the tourists. We have MANY visitors to our community because of our fantastic amenities, so there are drivers on the road who are gawking at the homes or lake without paying attention to pedestrians or stop signs.

Even worse, when they come to one of our many traffic circles, they don’t know what to do. I have dodged cars going the wrong way on the traffic circle three times in the last two years I’ve lived here and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

For all you beginners, here is how you should drive in a traffic circle.

• You don’t need to stop at the traffic circle: If the traffic circle is empty, you don’t need to stop at the intersection unless there is a stop sign posted. If there is a yield sign, it applies to the cars ENTERING the circle, not the cars within it.

• Traffic circles are ONE WAY: When you enter the circle, you should turn right. If you want to go to the road to your left, you must follow the circle until you reach that road.

• Stay moving within the circle: Too many times, I’ve seen cars stopped dead in the traffic circle, waiting to for an easy merge out of it when they should continue moving and merge out the next time around. This is especially true in the traffic circle by The District.

• Pay attention to the lanes: Many of our traffic circles are multiple lanes. On most of them, the outer lane will be required to exit the traffic circle on the next turn, so if you want to exit the circle later, you should be in an inner lane. On four separate occasions, I have nearly been hit by someone in a lane that was supposed to exit and they have suddenly merged into my lane.

Traffic circles are supposed to be better than stoplights because they slow the flow of traffic. I can agree with that idea, but in practice, they have been a hazard every time Daybreak enjoys a flux of visitors, for example, during the Parade of Homes, summer weekends, and even during the recent Extreme Home Makeover we’ve had here.

If you are still confused, here is a driving video explaining traffic circles:

This video explains it with diagrams, but the rules are for India (they drive on the left side of the road), so the rules are different than in Utah, especially the signaling rules.

Rules of the road via: Roundabout – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I love finding Swatches in the wild. Here is a teen photo of Wil Wheaton wearing a Tonga Swatch from the 1986 Spring/Summer Collection.

I have a nearly pristine version of this watch. I photographed it and posted the photos on Flicker here:

• Tonga | Flickr – Photo Sharing!

I sometimes forget how ubiquitous Swatches were during the Eighties. When I see a Swatch in an advertisement now, I’m completely surprised and it has been years since I’ve seen a celebrity wear a Swatch in a paparazzi photograph.

Photo via: Wil Wheaton SuperTeen, Submitted by lesliecrusher. 

When I heard that Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was coming to Daybreak, the first thing I thought was, “This is the LAST neighborhood that needs an extreme makeover!” All the homes here are less than ten years old, what could they POSSIBLY makeover?!

Instead of demolishing and fixing an old house, they built a new house from scratch in ONE week! I couldn’t believe it! I really thought they would cheat a little by pouring the foundation early since they take so long to cure, but NO! They didn’t start pouring the foundation until the first day. They used a quick cure concrete that set up in two hours, so they were able to move ahead far quicker than a normal contractor. Heck, my patio took twenty-four hours to firm up and that was on a hot summer day, so two hours is AMAZING!

The security is high in that area. Mike’s brother, Matt, lives on the same street and he needs to have a special pass just to get home every night. Police are manning it day and night to keep gawkers out. They do, however, have a place where spectators can watch the work that’s going on and the Daybreak Facebook account has been asking for volunteers and snacks.

Holmes Homes is building the house and Rio Tinto donated the land for the project. The family has a son with two rare blood disorders and taking care of him has been a burden. Today, they receive the house after a mere week. And it looks like it’s ready to go!

I’ve never watched Extreme Home Makeover, but I’m programming my Tivo to record it now. I’m pretty curious to see how they portray my neighborhood!

While Mike and I were taking Nina for a walk this afternoon, we came upon the aftermath of an awe inspiring accident on the corner of Daybreak Parkway and Kestrel Rise Road.

I talked to Marcie Hennessy, who works at Nine Salon, and had a front row seat to the accident. She said that the gray minivan was crossing Daybreak Parkway and clipped the Blue Tahoe on the rear, flipping it over.

Considering that the Tahoe flipped TWICE, I asked Marcie if she thought the Tahoe might have been going over the speed limit and she said probably.

They saw children and the drivers of both cars taken away in the ambulance, so all our thoughts are with them right now, hoping that everyone escaped from the accident without injuries.