March Madness

It's NCAA Basketball bracket time, folks!

Here are J's picks:

Here are A's picks:

Who would've thought that both J and A would pick Florida to win it all?!

And here are Allie's picks:

Although Allie's handwriting looks suspiciously similar to A's handwriting, Allie had a system for her choices. Schools with veterinary programs ranked in the top 25 by U.S. News and World Report automatically win their matchups.  Higher ranked veterinary programs beat lower ranked or unranked programs.

If neither team in a matchup is ranked, the winner is based on mascot.  Mascots that Allie likes such as dogs and people win, whereas mascots she doesn't like such as birds lose.

And for anyone who hasn't completed their bracket yet, here's some food for thought - using statistical modeling to predict the tournament winner.

Go Gators!

Cool Runnings

We've discovered that Allie is a runner.  She loves to run and does a surprisingly good job of staying in the heel position while running.

To make it more comfortable, we got her a harness to wear.

It will also be nice to use the harness in situations where we might need to grab her quickly since it has a handle on the top.

Purple is definitely her color!

Pope Humor

It's very exciting that the Catholic Church has chosen a new Pope, and I wish him well.  However, I can't help poking a little fun at the selection process.

"Meanwhile in the Vatican"

The Pope of the Gator Nation.

Test Drive

I have a new appreciation for the humor and acting skills of Jeff Gordon thanks to this video.

Partners in Crime

It seems that Allie has found a partner in crime at doggie daycare.  His name is Parker and he's 5 months old (sorry, no photo available).  Not only do he and Allie play together all day long, they've started making trouble together as well.

How can such a cute little puppy
get into so much trouble?!

Today they decided it would be fun to knock over the water bowl and then roll around and get all wet.  Not once, not twice, but three times.

Bless the patience of the sweet girl at doggie daycare who works with them in the "little dog room."

W.W.W.

The warmer weekend weather means it's time to work in the yard!

Our first project of the season is installing a stone walkway around the side of our house where we keep the trash cans.

We found the cutest stones at Home Depot.

Luckily, they passed inspection when we got home.

And we started laying them out to decide where they should go.

The path curves around from our driveway, straightens out past the rain garden, and then curves around to the back door.

J was able to install 11 of the 26 stones yesterday afternoon and here's how the path is looking.

I think it's becoming a charming addition to the side yard.