Is that a bark I hear?

Oy vey... what a past couple of days we've had! We went on a mission to retrieve the pups this weekend and it did not go as expected! We were originally going to drive back out to PA, but decided to just speed things up and fly out there. We were planning on flying out Thursday evening - well, about 45 minutes after we got to the gate, the sirens started to go off and they began to give commands over the speaker system. They said we were under a tornado warning and that there were two tornadoes on the ground and heading in the direction of the airport! We were to get to the "tunnels" as soon as possible and stay there until the all clear was given. So we did, the storm passed (with no tornadoes hitting the airport thankfully) and we went back to the gate. An hour or so later, our gate changed so we went to the new one.

10 minutes later it changed back to the gate we just came from, so we headed back. 5 minutes later our flight was delayed by 2 hours. 10 minutes later we heard "Sorry, your flight has been delayed until 6am tomorrow morning - we won't be giving any vouchers for hotels since this was caused by Mother Nature." Which was fine with us since we just drove home, but everyone else was not a happy camper!

We get home, check the status on-line and it now said we were leaving at 7am. So we go to bed, get up and check again - now we are leaving at 7:56. We get there early just in case and guess what? At 7:15 the time changed again on the status board and they announced "we are now boarding all passengers and will be pulling out from the gate at 7:35." Geez! I'm glad we were there early because several people missed their flight! But, I digress - we arrived in PA, spent the night with the pups and left yesterday morning at 6am for the drive home.

They did well... Max kept himself busy trying to work on his tan.

Spike just slept a lot and was fairly quiet, except for the couple of dream-induced little barks. He is over 17 years old now!

They did much better than I did though as I'm really feeling it today - I drove (again!!) the entire 15 and 1/2 hour drive - we had several stops mind you, so the pups could have a drink and do their business. Let the settling in finally commence!

I wonder if some of you are wondering about a certain black creature that has not been heard from?

Miss Kitty grew quite attached to Jeff's Mom and decided to protest about riding in the car for 15 hours with the dogs, so she gets to stay in her happy little quiet new home!

Needless to say, after that and then having to go to the market to replenish the pantry, I was not in the mood to do anything but veg out. However, I was also not interested in starving, so I did throw together this Winter Wheat Berry Salad for dinner tonight. Chewy and filling, the only thing you need to do with wheat berries is throw them in a pot with boiling water and leave 'em be until they are tender - woo!

While they were cooling down, I whisked together a snazzy fall-flavored dressing from bright lemon juice, canola oil, maple syrup and a pinch of our favorite Vietnamese cinnamon. For some lively color and crunchy texture, a shredded carrot and sliced Granny Smith apples are tossed with a couple sliced green onions and the cooked wheat berries. Once dressed, the salad is adorned on a bed of fresh tender baby spinach to serve followed by sprinkling of chopped dried apricots for a sweet finish. Light and fairly effortless, I was a little surprised by how much we both enjoyed the cinnamon and sweet maple syrup in the dressing - just different enough to get your taste buds jumping!

Recipes
Winter Wheat Berry Salad