2008 Wedding 1 of 3

This past weekend Jonathan and I went to Hazleton to see his friend Phill get married. The bride and groom made their own pretty and tasty cake (they're pastry chef graduates of the Culinary Institute of America)




Victor was there as well. Ceremony was nice, dinner was good, dancing was ok (the DJ was kind of crappy). Congrats to Phill and Kate!



By popular demand, I've included a video of Cade. She's running around with Jonathan's parents' dog Lady. Cade's about the size of Lady now, which is surprising. She's almost real dog size!

From Girl Dog to an It

Tuesday, 5-month-old Cade was taken up to the vet my mom uses in NY to get spayed. Surgery went well, and she came home a little groggy. Wednesday morning she was back to her old self. Less than 24 hrs after surgery. I was completely amazed. She's not supposed to be overactive for the next week, and it's taking real effort to keep her calm. Can you imagine having some major internal organs ripped out, and then going back to whatever it is you do in a normal day...the very next day, with no pain pills? Dogs are amazing.

Jonathan was calling her a shim, but there's no him part. So now she's a sh-it.

I broke my puppy

Let's see...

Two weekends ago I went home to visit my family. We had lunch at the Democratic Spring Fling with my grandma, aunt, and Maaaaaaa, I visited Pop, and had dinner with Molly at Cheeseburger in Paradise.

Around that time, I broke my puppy. Yep. She was being nice and lovey (which doesn't happen that often, usually she's a gremlin after about 5 seconds), so I was petting her. I was petting her ears, and I heard a small pop, a little whine from Cade, and ever since, her left ear has been floppy. I think I broke the cartilage that supported her ear. Anyone could have done it. Right? Don't worry, there's no residual damage, just a floppy left ear.

Miss Cade and her floppy ear

Last Monday Jonathan scored free tickets to the Yankees vs. Devil Rays game (they shortened their name to the Rays, how lame) from work. The Yankees won 6-1 in a less than thrilling game. It was cold and windy, but we had good seats, and it was still fun to go to a game---I hadn't been since high school.

Say goodbye to Yankee Stadium!

This past weekend, we went to New York to see Becca. She came up from DC with some co-workers. It was great seeing her, and the weather was b-e-a-u-tiful. We met up on the Brooklyn Bridge (how cool is that?), wandered through lower Manhattan, took the Staten Island ferry, went to the farmer's market in Union Square, and then bid farewell. A great afternoon with my wife.


Yesterday we took Cade to her first dog park that actually had dogs. She doesn't really understand other dogs yet. Her tail goes between her legs when other dogs come near to sniff, but toward the end she attempted to chase a dog or two. I think she'll warm up to other dogs as she gets more exposed to them; she still prefers people at this point.

Growing...

It's amazing watching anything grow. Even planting seeds and waiting for them to sprout is really cool to me. Watching someone that has an a-ha moment is also really neat. So, watching a little puppy grow up in front of me is pretty darn cool.

Visiting the grand(puppy)parents in Hazleton and making it down the stairs for Lady's bone

Cade visited the other set of grandparents this weekend in Hazleton. Jonathan's parents' dog was not happy to share the house with Cade. Once Cade is older, Lady might like her a little better. Right now, she's the annoying little sister.

Jonathan is teaching her how to sit (among other things). She sometimes comes when she's called. She likes eating the million acorns on the ground and chasing us around the yard. Cade has already lost the "slow stalk" of last week. She would fall over herself trying to sneak up on a toy. Now, she just charges it (when she moves for it). She actually follows the toy with her eyes now. She didn't do that before. I'll stop gushing about the puppy now, but it's really cool to watch her learn. I won't see her for 2 weeks while I'm in London, and she'll probably be twice the size and even smarter.

Meet Cade

On Saturday, Jonathan and I added a new member to the household. Meet Cade!

We adopted Cade from Purrs 'n Pups at the Rockaway PetSmart last weekend. She came from a shelter in Georgia with her brothers and sisters to Purrs 'n Pups, which operates as a rescue league as a network of foster families. She was the last female available of the bunch, and she had a given name of Cleopatra. We didn't like the name, so we chose Cade after 2 days of name deliberations. Her namesake, Cades Cove, is located in the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. It's a place that Jonathan and I have visited together, but Cades Cove doesn't have any particular significance to us. We thought Cade was a cool name, especially after I found out that a (male) character in Gone with the Wind (set in Georgia) also had the name.

Cade met my mom and Molly, and my grandma, dad, and Scyler. She also met my grandma's neighbor-dog, Amber.

Cade's been scampering around the house, escaping from the barriers we've set up for her. The only damage done so far has been pieces of a plant, and my camera cord. Obviously, I won't be uploading new photos till I get a new one. Hopefully she won't escape from the crate that Jonathan's parents bought for her!