talbotlucas.org: a word to the wise is sufficient

Juanita Swendenburg, r.i.p.

Juanita Swedenburg, 82, the Middleburg winemaker who won a U.S. Supreme Court battle to allow wine shipments between states, died of congestive heart failure June 9 at her home.

Mrs. Swedenburg, who operated one of Loudoun County's smallest wineries, became the lead plaintiff in a David-vs.-Goliath battle over interstate wine sales after becoming annoyed that she could not ship any of her 2,000 annual cases of wine to customers in New York or Michigan.

This was one of the two cases which occupied a good part of my attention in 2004 and 2005 as I wrote my law review comment. They also provided my first opportunity to attend oral arguments at the Supreme Court, an experience for which I'm very grateful.

The full obituary is on the Washington Post's website, at least for a little while. I love reading obituaries that give you a sense of a person's life; this is one of those.

Wallace is five

Happy birthday, little guy.

I passed the California Bar Exam.

Many thanks to Aime Guibert and associates for making a Mas de Daumas Gassac that was perfect--perfect--for celebrating tonight.

Although we already have much to be thankful for, we are especially thankful for this good news. And we may have to make a double batch of giblet-sage-bacon gravy to mark the event.

I am now going to collapse with relief.

darwin's tortoise

Harriet, a tortoise that (who?) Charles Darwin supposedly brought back from the Galapagos, has turned 175. That's 175 years old.

tripped up by the baggy pants

This tidbit from the AP made my day:

wallace's kind of concept car

Wallace did not attend the preview of the Toyko auto show, but he does approve of Honda's concept car and its friendliness toward the canine traveler. (But Wallace does have family members who live in Japan, so maybe the corgi model is one of them.)

Wallace thinks there's far too much emphasis on baby seats, in-vehicle DVD systems, and GPS devices. More room for corgis! Wallace would also like a view, and he'd definitely want good air circulation, but at least this is a step in the right direction.

Perhaps we won't tell Wallace that there aren't any plans to actually manufacture this particular concept car for the market...

"do dogs think?"

That's the title of an excerpt from Jon Katz's latest book, Katz on Dogs, and it's available on slate.com.

And the answer? Yes, but probably not like we do.

daycare for wallace, pt 1

Since Wallace has been with us practically 24/7 since the day he joined our family, we realized some time ago that we should find a place where he could stay for a day, overnight, or for several days and nights should we need to be out of town or otherwise canine-free.

We started to ask fellow dog-owners in the neighborhood for recommendations. We checked out the places that were written up in various dog-friendly publications and the Los Angeles media. And I became more nervous with each investigation. I couldn't swallow the idea of Wallace being in a cage or a crate with only a few breaks during the day. That's a 180-degree change from his normal life, and not something I wanted to try. It's not that he needs pampering or constant coddling, but he needs some stimulation and interaction. A few of the services that come to your home to check on the dog and walk/feed/play with him weren't impressive, and some seemed to be rip-offs. So...we're trying the one place that make us relax and think, hey, this might be ok after all: L.A. Dogworks. We were immediately and positively impressed when we first visited a few weeks ago. Wallace had an "evaluation" to make sure he knew how to behave appropriately when introduced to a park full of off-leash dogs of all shapes, sizes, and breeds. (He did very well.)

So today is his first all-day session. The house is strangely quiet. Wallace definitely has a presence, and it's missing. I keep looking at the clock. I've vacuumed, sent off a few resumes, washed the breakfast dishes. I'm working on a friend's book proposal, and testing the baby beta of Terrence's software application. I might also have time to run a few errands and organize some of the mess that's colonized my desktop (literal and electronic). I've posted the latest news to slowfoodla.com.

If I keep this up I might actually have a productive day...