Christmas season in Chicago

At least someone has their tree decorated!

Does this make any sense at all?

Check out this Washington Post article

Under a tough new Fairfax County policy, residents can no longer donate food prepared in their homes or a church kitchen — be it a tuna casserole, sandwiches or even a batch of cookies — unless the kitchen is approved by the county, health officials said yesterday.

They said the crackdown on home-cooked meals is aimed at preventing food poisoning among homeless people.

So small churches without commercial grade kitchens can no longer help. And individuals who want to donate food from their own kitchens, that's out too. Better for the homeless to eat out of dumpsters than risk getting sick from non-approved food. . .

Winter comes to Chicago

Baby animals

I read this interesting article about Naomi, a baby giraffe born recently in the Miami zoo. All part of a very fancy computer "dating service" that plans and tracks zoo animal breeding. Interesting, but mostly I like baby animal pictures. Awwwww!

Australian labradoodles

I was working with a spine rep yesterday, and he was telling us about the Australian Labradoodle he has just ordered from Tasmania, which as you probably know, is actually an island just south of the mainland of Australia. He wouldn't tell us how much it costs to transport the puppy from his Tasmanian home, but he did confess that it was more than the cost of the dog, which he admits was $1600. Now I was wondering, why can't you just get a labradoodle over here? What's the big difference?

Apparently, there IS a big difference! Australian labradoodles have been carefully bred, and the ALA has been hard at work to get them recognized as a distinct breed. It all started with the Australian Guide Dog Association, when a blind woman requested a guide dog that would not cause her allergies to flare. As time went on, there was more breeding and now they are a very popular "designer dog." But the ALA says the Australian Labradoodles are not the same as an American Labradoodle, the Aussies having a distinct program of carefully tracking bloodlines and producing dogs with all the best qualities. And you thought just anyone could put a poodle and a labrador together and come up with a labradoodle!