Featured Blog: Vitamin Sea

I have been visiting a blog for several months called "Vitamin Sea." Owner of said blog (Laura) is a mother living in Florida, USA who has quite the sense of humour. Last week she posted a series of stories that motivated me to write her a long comment. In one of her stories Laura wrote of "working like a dog" all day and then stopping, looking up from her computer to see her dog, who she described as having never worked hard (like a dog) for one day in his life. This prompted her to ask, "Where does that expression come from anyway... 'worked like a dog?' " This was my comment:

Okay, I saved your blog offline. While flying from Shanghai to Hong Kong this afternoon I re-read a bunch of your posts because I felt a need to clarify a few things.

First, "working like dogs" comes from Northern North America (that would be Canada - note, only a Canadian would point out such an obvious link, duh!) when dogs used to pull sleds all the time for a living... v v tiring work and a dying pastime, literally. So, YOUR dog has a cushy life in Florida (along with probably half of Northern North America's retired population) because it never snows down there. (There maybe other reasons - will get to them later.) Send your pooch out someday in search of Northern North American dogs, accompanying their retired folk from the Great White North, who might be former sled dogs. The Canine Canucks could share Polar Bear stories with your lazy lab.

Second, pastors and spiritual leaders eat garlic to keep evil away.

Third, I laughed at your daughter's Grocery Rule about the conveyor belt automatically stopping courtesy of the electronic eye. Been there, done that, cause feared the eggs'd roll off the end and upset the new cashier who was OBVIOUSLY having a less than stellar day. The whole moving belt thing would be a v v funny skit for Mr. Bean. Especially if there was NO electronic eye but instead Mr. Bean watching beneath the counter through the electronic eye peephole.

Fourth, getting hit on at Church? Yeah, that's a sin for sure. Nasty. Tell them to eat more garlic bread and stay away from the Pina Colada cupcakes.

Fifth, the US is going to invade Canada for our oil? Should I be worried here? What kind of oil do you need - vegetable, olive, castor?

Actually to be honest, none of those Northern geriatric people are THAT retired... they work for the Northern North American government - a divison called the RCMP (Righteous Carrier of Mountie Petroleum) and every spring secretly haul OUR oil back to Canada... but not on dog sleds now that the Northern North American dogs were forced to unionize. Not sure, but had something to do with the Northern North American dogs finding out their canine brothers south of the border had never worked a Northern North American dog's day in their life. Actually not that either... "worked like a dog" refers to Northern North American dog's working hard to help themselves, and their oil-carrying masters/mistresses, escape from being eaten by Polar Bears. Like teenagers, grumpy polar bears are always at the ready! And you thought Redneck Dogs of the South have it ruff, you should see what Canadian frostbite looks like on fangs, where the snow contains flouride.

Actually, crafting this comment has been very therapeutic... I see common currents in the Vitamin Sea.

Woof!

Vitamin Sea has some funny stories and is worth adding to your daily list... even if Laura IS from Southern North America. Enjoy.

Meanwhile, updated pics of the family can be found here.