I will be in San Francisco for the next week presenting at a conference. Just wanted to send out a heads up as my service may be sketchy and the Danes are staying home (talk about long faces all around?!)

On a brighter note, we have all survived the latest tragedy to hit our in-person community here in Minnesota.

I well utilized bridge on 35W near the UMN campus went down today at 6:05p during rush hour. The traffic was moving at less than 10 MPH and it was bumper to bumper. The bridge was undergoing superficial maintenance (as it seems to every summer) and so construction workers were on the structure as well. Seven people were killed and sixty were injured. The bridge spanned the Mississippi river and so falling debris as well as drowning were factors in the deaths. Co-workers of mine have all sent around emails to make sure everyone was safe and several added that they had just been on the bridge not half an hour before the collapse occurred. As always, once it fell the Minnesota Nice in people bubbled to the surface and people jumped to aid those in need. The bridge fell 64 feet and took down adjoining sections as it fell, trapping some vehicles like a vice grip. One that narrowly escaped was a bus of 60 kids on a summer field trip. For more info you can check out www.kstp.com.


A sad reminder to cherish everyday.
Be well in the stream and I look forward to returning next week!

You may be familiar with the yoga position of "downward facing dog".
Well, once again we sit and wonder about Ava and think she may have been a yoga instructor in her previous life?!


It would explain her grace and angelic movement... hmmmm?
She will typically stretch in the morning using this position and I swear... she moves directly into Cobra pose!

I stare and think how the heck?
She is a mystery! Makes me wonder what they do all day when I'm away?!
I mean, are the neighborhood canines attending classes in my living room?
(giggle... wouldn't that be awesome? - I mean wrong on many levels but hilarious too!)
She is pictured here using the pose to guard her ice cube treat from marauding invaders (namely Luna).

Luna just stares at her like she's cracked... "like, why would I want to steal a frozen cube of water?"
Nevertheless, she guards it from attack as she sees it as quite the prize.

Wow? I saw this on youtube.com and thought I was watching the lovely Ava?! Serious case of mistaken identity if not for the black spots in place of Ava's lone gray dot. Enjoy!

If you have any trouble watching it... here is the direct link/address to it on the youtube site. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAZD3wWwctU

I tell people we have don't really have TWOOOOO Great Danes... Just one upstairs dog and one downstairs dog.


Ava can't see depth and will not... I repeat- WILL NOT, do more than 3 or 4 stairs at a time so she has yet to go down into the basement on her own, (we have carried her down once or twice but then she doesn't / won't even go UP on her own...). Let me tell you, I have tried to make this happen. I have put black tape on the stairs to make them more visable... I have tried coaxing her with treats, I have tried to leash her and have one person standing directly behind her and "usher" her down one step at a time... slowly.

NADA... Nil, zilch, forget it, aint happenin, can't make me, sorry Charlie, nope not me...


One time during college break (less students) I brought the team to work with me and walked them across campus on my lunch hour. Only, I couldn't take the routes I usually take, I had to find each and every handicap accessible ramp from east bank to west bank because she treats all stairs equally with the same distain and won't give them the time of day if there are more than 3-4 in the crowd?! My lunch hour turned into an hour and a half and spare change. I had a new appreciation for students bound to chairs or scooters and what they do on a daily basis to get to their classes.

Some of you might be thinking "this is no big deal" right? Wrong. True, most dogs are happy to be alone at times without the constant company of people, but danes WANT to be with their people. They are affectionately referred to as velcro-dogs. For the most part, Danes are not the type of dog you tie to a kennel in the backyard and go out to visit during meal time. Most of them have a strong pack urge and that includes humans, so that meant for a long time Ava would cry and cry at the top step until she could see us again. Eventually she understood we would always come back from the depths of the stairwell, but it wasn't an easy road for her, especially when Luna was with us watching a movie or with me in the studio. She does much better now... she waits at the top of the stairs for a while and when she realizes it is not a laundry run or some other quick trip, she heads to one of her favorite couches to catch a nap.

Ahhhh, the life of an upstairs dog.

My cat has a fetish.

He loves straws?...
Or hates them?
I am not sure which feeling is stronger.

Just the sound of a straw being adjusted in the fast food lid will bring him out from the nether regions of the house to sit nearby and plot his capture.

Friends, family, children... have all been warned of the thieving and that there is nothing to do but be vigilant and hold thy cup CLOSE!

There are those that fail to believe the fetish is real, until it is too late and Numa has made off with the goods. But NOW... I have proof. The blog community will be my witness and the doubters will be silenced once and for all! Tonight... I have a rare sight for all of you. Never before caught on video! Numa, filmed live on location in his natural habitat, decided to stay in plain sight and allowed this footage to be taken of him during his most euphoric moments alone with his new captive. Typically we only see the remains left at his food bowl, so here he is...

Parental Warning for those straw-lovers out there...