The gardens at Bellagio

While both sets of grandparents were here in March to see my show, we took some time out to make a trip to the Bellagio gardens — a favorite stop when visitors are in town. We weren’t disappointed with their latest creation using pieces of a giant swamp tree from Florida along with hundreds of flowers and live butterflies. It was very cool!

We returned last night from a trip to visit family in Salt Lake. Vickey and the kids and Tank spent a week at the Snow’s in Holladay. I flew up for the weekend. We spent Saturday at Brian and Melissa’s and witnessed the transformation of their kitchen from white to green. In between conference sessions we had a little birthday celebration, complete with a Carvel ice cream cake for my mom, me and Carter (March/April birthdays within a month of each other), and played some games.

Then Sunday at the Snows we had another birthday celebration for Murriel (her birthday was yesterday) and me. We shared a delicious Normandy Café chocolate cake. And by the way, the Café de Normandie in Holladay (zip: 84117-5264, phone: 801-277-5244) is one of my all-time favorite bakeries. Actually, all their food is pretty amazing!

A highlight of the trip was the visit of Gordon and Murriel’s neighbors, Ted and Katharine. I was guarding Tank, trying to keep him off of the guests, and was told by them it was okay, that they were used to dogs and I could let him go so he could sniff them and say hi.

Innocent people frequently say it’s okay to un-restrain Tank because they’re used to dogs, but what they don’t understand is that they’re not accustomed to Tank and he’s very overzealous when it comes to saying hi.

At any rate, Katherine was seated in the rocker in the front room, holding Tank’s collar with her left hand and petting him with her right hand when all of the sudden Tank decided to leave her side and say hi to Ted. We all watched as Katherine refused to let go of Tank’s collar and began to be pulled out of the chair. In slow motion the chair gradually tipped over, scraping up the wall, and Katherine methodically sprawled out on the living room floor. But Tank was undaunted. He was leaving her to see Ted.

She finally got unhooked and was able to verbalize that her large wedding ring had got caught under Tank’s collar. She couldn’t get her hand free, and like I said, Tank didn’t mind. He just kept going.

Once the shock of watching an elderly woman be pulled off her rocker and halfway across the room by a weimaraner wore off, and we knew Katherine’s finger was still attached to her hand, we all began laughing almost uncontrollably, including Katherine. It was a surreal moment; a real-life situation lived out in slow motion.

Of course after that, I sequestered Tank (that lasted for about 3 minutes until he scaled the 3-foot fence and trotted off up the street) so we could visit in peace and everyone could stay in one piece.

On our drive home yesterday we had another episode that involved Tank rampaging through the Sequoia and me loosing my temper with him. But we won’t go into the details of that episode.

I’m coming to the realization that Tank needs some professional help or we need to find him somewhere else to play.

Of course, my in-laws gave me a birthday card (it’s Monday if you’re planning to send gifts) with a picture of a weimaraner on the front. The dog’s so good looking, just like Tank. I put it on my desk at work and was reminded today of all the positive reasons we keep Tank around.

So, although I can’t guarantee the future, I’d say Tank’s home is still pretty secure … as long as he shapes up and listens up.