Palm Springs - A Shopper's Mecca

Like most affluent communities, the desert paradise of Palm Springs, CA, offers a wealth of shopping options to the throngs who visit each year. Besides the obvious choices of the malls and name brand shopping centers that line Highway 111, there is variety to suit every taste and budget.

When Dog Days Are Literal

Halloween was a bit of a disappointment at our house this past year as there were significantly less trick or treaters in years past. While the weather wasn't perfect, I still thought the turnout was low. Maybe I'm just getting old, but when I was a kid Halloween was a race to get your hands on as much candy as possible and you'd go to any extreme to make sure that you did. Regardless, I don't know if it's the general media-induced fear of kids being out at night (even with their parents), but things were slow and that left me with a bunch of leftover candy.

Of course, in the shopping trips I made preceding the candy holocaust that was not to be, I found a lot of good deals on assorted sweets I would never buy under other circumstances. One of which would be jelly beans. I can eat about five of them, and then I'm done. So I figured, why not leave them out in a bowl for guests? Good idea, right?

Well, it is until your schnauzer decides to climb on your furniture in the middle of the night and devour an entire pound of them. The aftermath was not pretty...at all. We're talking, carpet cleaning time here. Ugh...

Anyhow, note to self: Left unsupervised, even an otherwise well behaved dog will find his way into accessible sweets. If you're willing to do this, be prepared for the very gross aftermath.

Other pooch stories you might relate to:

• http://www.theunmom.com/the-un-mom/2012/4/23/oh-hello-are-you-still-here-heres-a-story-about-my-stupid-do.html
• http://harvestmd.com/pets-stress-relief/
• http://imgur.com/gallery/l9Jlw