What is YOUR Sleep Number?

David has been complaining for several months that when he gets up in the morning his back is sore, yet on any night we have been travelling and staying in hotels or with my parents, he did not have the same problem. This led us to suspect it was our mattress (and yet, its was only 3 years old, but I think we chose the wrong one when we bought and that the extra soft pillow top was not what we should have got.

So with nothing else to do on a dreary Sunday afternoon we headed to the Mattress shop and spent the next couple of hours lying on mattresses - soft, hard, foam, tempurpedic and every other variation in between. Eventually we decided on the Sleep Number Bed

This is a bed with air chambers in the mattress and you can adjust the amount of air in the mattress (separate controls for each side - Yes!) and you can adjust infinitely - from 1-100 (with 100 being the firmest)

The mattress was delivered yesterday and on our first night - I was at 70 and David 65, we will play with it again tonight and find our personal "Sweet Spot"

Quiet Weekend

We had a lazy weekend, as we did not go to shows in Seattle - but you can see pictures and a report on Team Beagle Blog.

We went to a wine tasting on Friday night - always an interesting event at our wine shop - this week was no exception - he had a vendor challenge and invited them to bring their 5 most interesting wines. One vendor brought in several Portuguese Wines, which were totally unfamiliar to us, but very good and enjoyable. The first was Esporao Alandra Blanco (obviously a white) made from Mantuedo and Diagalves grapes - which i had never heard of before. The same vineyard also made a red wine Esporao Alandra Tinto from Periquita, Trincadeira, Bastardo & Moreto grapes - again all the varieties are new to me.

We may have to go to Portugal!

Staying Home

This picture is of the closed freeway I-5, which is the main route between Seattle and Portland. The freeway was closed last night about 6pm and is expected to remain closed for 3 or 4 days, due to flooding. We had 3 shows near Seattle this weekend but will be staying home, as there are no detours as all the East/West roads are closed also, due to mud slides and avalanche danger, over the mountain passes.
So another weekend off, and thats not all bad - we have been so busy over the last few weeks, that doing nothing is relaxing.

A Quick Visit

Today saw me to a quick visit to the dental school to have yet another mold made for the implant that they hope to do in about 2 weeks. This has been a VERY slow process - just over 2 years ago I had a bad toothache, that resulted in a root canal, followed by a bone graft, then an implant of a steel pin in my jaw 10 months ago and now apparently all is healed and they are ready to make the tooth.

We have had 3" of rain today and everything is pretty saturated around here, but its 50 degrees - so not too bad.

Back to Rain

Here are some pictures from our trip to Palm Springs this past weekend. We start off with the hotel, where there was a Happy Hour each evening (free drinks and snacks for everyone at the hotel from 5:30 to 7:00) David, Carrie and I were enjoying the warm weather (while the sun was up - but being a desert, it does cool off once the sun goes down) but it was still dry and enjoyable.
The weather for the dog show was perfect - sunny and dry and not too hot or cold. It is held on a Polo Fiel and so the grass is short and smooth and there is plenty of tenting, in case of inclement weather.

I only took a single Beagle photo - this is the 13" variety and the winner is the second dog.

I saw some new AKC breeds - the first is the Redbone Coohound and the next is the Treeing Walker Coonhound.

When we were all done in Palm Springs we drove to Fresno, California to see the litter of puppies that Terri has raised. The drive from Palm Springs took us through the dramatic scenery of the Mojave desert (desolate, and unusual - not the garden center of the USA!)
Then we stayed overnight and Oohed and Aahed at the puppies, who were just wonderful.
Then we drove to Sacramento and flew home to Portland.
We are home for a couple of days before heading off to Seattle area for shows this Friday through Sunday

Off To Fresno

We are leaving Palm Spring today to drive to Fresno to see the litter of puppies raised by our good friends Dan & Terri. We have not seen these puppies yet - except in pictures and they look fantastic - very excited to see them.

Palm Springs Life

We arrived here on New Years Eve (along with our good friend, Carrie) we arrived at about 2pm and it was just superb - not a cloud in the sky and about 72 degrees. We went to our hotel, which is actually in the nearby town of Palm Desert, settled in and then tried to decide where to go for dinner on New Years Eve. We settled for an Italian restaurant on the main street of Palm Springs - which was very busy and crowded. We saw the New Year in on TV (the New Year in New York - that is - which is 3 hours ahead of us in time!) By the time we had dinner and returned to the hotel, we were sound asleep by the time it was really midnight in Palm Desert.
The next 2 days I was judging on the beautiful Polo Fields, which is set up with many long huge tents, sufficient to accommodate the 3300 dogs entered for the shows each day. The weather remained fantastic on Thursday & Friday.
Today (Saturday) I was at leisure, but we still went to the show to watch and meet up with friends, but it was a little cooler and cloudier - but still no complaints from ANYONE.
I took some photos, will hopefully upload them on my return home.