Are all beagles alike?

This is my friend Jenn's dogs - a beagle and a yellow lab. Similar to Chad and Daisy Mae. And it is like a deja vu of Chad in Daisy's bed and Daisy being left to sleep in Chad's bed. Jenn's mom bought them each their new beds. The big striped one is for the lab.....the beagle had different ideas.

Skyhawks!

This is a great team pic from Drew's soccer team. It is from a game a few weeks ago but I liked the way they were going in for a cheer.

He has a soccer tournament this weekend so stay tuned for scores.

Also, for anyone interested, he plays hockey at the "tank" coming up. That is great fun to watch. If you are interested, let me know - it is free!

pre-op appt

I had my pre op appt yesterday and I am all set for shoulder surgery next Tuesday. Wish me luck!

alert!

So when I run really early in the morning, I try to be extra alert because it is DARK and SCARY! So I am on the look out for bad guys, cars rushing to work, coyotes, etc.

This morning, for the first time, I encountered something that actually stopped me in my tracks and made me leap backwards.

I know what you are thinking.... mountain lion, hooded bad guy, vicious pitbull..... NOPE!

It was a shoelace! But in the dark of morning, it looked like a snake and I was about to step right on it! My ever alert brain notified my body of potential imminent danger and I put on my brakes and leaped away. But the part of my brain that makes me react in an instant was ridiculed by the part of my brain that is logical... once I focused and realized it was a big bad shoelace!

At least I know I am ready for ANYTHING!

What a morning

Whoa!

This morning I was out front watering the flowers and I heard the great danes (there are 4 of them) across the street barking a weird bark. Only one of them is a barker but she usually only does a warning bark at a squirrel or some one walking by. But this was not her and the barks sounded weird - sort of like a fighting bark and an old dog bark and a worried bark.

So I run across the street and look over the fence. I can see two of the of the dogs and they are running around looking worried. The fighting barks sound like they are coming out of the house or the garage. I am yelling the dogs names to try to get them to stop the barking but no response.

So I run back home and call the owner, Butch, at work and tell him what is going on. Then I take my cell phone with me across the street so he can hear the barking. I was thinking that he would be able to tell if it was bad or not.

When I get back to his house, his next door neighbor, Stacy is hanging over her side of the fence and reporting that two of the dogs are "chewing on each other". I go running into her back yard and tell her to get the hose out and squirt them from her side of the fence. Then I start throwing stuff at the dogs (a bbq brush!). One had another one by the ear and was just pulling on it and then he had the other one on its back.

While Stacy squirts them, I run to another neighbors house to get a key to Butch's house. My plan is to go into the house and let one of the males into the house to separate them. Maybe....depending on how they were acting. Or I was going to send the neighbor with the key in! That neighbor was not home so I went running back.

At this point they had stopped "chewing on each other" and Butch was on his way home. I listened for the fighting until he got home. He said when he got home they were going at it again and he had to go out and kick them to break them up!

He immediately took the older dog to the vet. He was dripping with blood and had some major gashes and a chewed up ear.

He came home from the vet and cleaned up (there was a lot of blood) and then took the other one to the vet - he had puncture wounds.

This is my neighbor whose wife just died. I feel so bad for him.

The problem is that these are two males who have not been neutered and every once in a while, their pea sized dog brain thinks they are wild animals who have to compete for the love of the girlie dogs. They momentarily forget that they are pampered house dogs.

Butch has been looking for a home for the younger male so that he wouldn't have this problem but has not yet found one. When Judi was alive, she was with the dogs all day and kept them separated. But it is harder now with Butch having to go to work and no one being home.

After my dog rescue, I had to run back home and get on a conference call.....all in a days work!

Jolly Green Giant(s)

That time has finally arrived.... Drew is officially as tall as me! He is 5 feet 4 1/2 inches and is 3 weeks shy of being 12 years old. My little baby boy! I can remember when he was born and he weighed 6 pounds , 9 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long!

In the last 12 months, he has grown 2 inches and Gracie has grown 2 and 1/2 inches. No wonder they eat so much!

It is clear that they have their Dad's body types. No squatty bodies for them!

Grandpa Pete

My 94 year old Grandpa is in the hospital with pneumonia and an infection in his finger.

Apparently the two issues are not related.

He had cut his finger working in the garden months ago and it had been treated repeatedly but just would not heal. So it had become really infected. They cultured it in the hospital and have switched antibiotics. But they have him in isolation because of the the fear of it being an antibiotic resistant staph infection.

He also had a cold and a cough and was really lethargic so that is what got him to the hospital. Grandma Pat called my Aunt Maureen and they took him to the ER. He was diagnosed with "just a touch of pneumonia". They have him on oxygen, iv fluids and iv antibiotics and he seems to be doing better each day. I just talked to him and he sounds strong. And his wife, Grandma Pat, seems to have everything under control.

Hopefully he will be released tomorrow and will be well enough to take a bus trip to the Indian Casinos really soon!

At the cabin

We had a great weekend at the cabin. We did some fishing, hiking, taking walks, playing games and resting. I taught Gracie how to play Scrabble. She is in this picture playing with Grandma Kathy and Tina. The rest of us at the table were playing spoons, the ridiculous game with no strategy or skill -- just plain old violence!

We kicked off the xmas season by going to see the Christmas parade in a local small town!

Thanksgiving Fort

If If am ever stuck out in the woods without shelter, I will have Drew build me something to live in and I will be safe from inclement weather and wildlife. Check out the fort he and Gracie built up at the cabin this weekend. The dog loved it as she ran around fetching sticks and chewing them up!

Thanksgiving in California

I wish I had pics so you could see what we were doing today in California the day after Thanksgiving....We were out in the boat fishing and Gracie was in a bikini! It was a warm sunny day. Not warm enough for a bathing suit for me but Gracie thought it was and kept wanting to jump in to swim.

Of course Daisy Mae did some swimming and came home, curled up and snored! A great dog life.

Speaking of Daisy Mae, I am considering a side business -- renting out my dog to hunters who want a dog to fetch their ducks. In the last month, I have had multiple requests for her to go out with them. The thing is, she would happily fetch ducks if I was there but without me there, she would be a nervous wreck! And there is NO WAY I am going duck hunting. So I guess I need a different side business.

Crab for Thanksgiving

Jim and Drew went out crabbing yesterday so that we would have fresh crab for Thanksgiving. This is a pic of them cleaning the crabs. And that is Betty eating fresh crab gills! NASTY! Raw crab gills - she LOVES them.

Thanksgiving Table

Gracie helped me set the Thanksgiving table. We are having Jim's folks, my folks and a friend of Anna's. We are in charge of pies, potatoes, appetizers and drinks. I have some yummy appetizers planned:

• asiago cheese dip (warm) served with french bread
• avocado and yogurt dip with cumin served with pita chips, carrots and jicama
• mushrooms stuffed with panko bread crumbs and a garlic paste made from two heads of garlic and whipping cream

Jim is doing pumpkin pie and apple/cranberry pie! I am waiting all day for the apple cranberry pie!

I really wanted to do a local run this morning called the "Turkey Trot". It is a 5k run and all the money goes to local charities. I wanted our whole family to do it. But we could not get it together to register, Jim had no running shoes and Drew wanted to sleep in today....so Daisy and I went on our own 5k Turkey Trot thru the neighborhood. I thought it was appropriate that I heard the wild turkeys gobbling in the hills!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Twas the night of Thanksgiving, and I just couldn't sleep
so I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep.

The leftovers beckoned--the dark meat and white
but I fought the temptation with all of my might.

Tossing and turning with great anticipation,
the thought of a snack became a huge infatuation.

So, I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door
and gazed at the fridge, filled with goodies galore'.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
then pickles and carrots, and beans and tomatoes.

I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,
'till all of a sudden, I rose off the ground.

I crashed through the ceiling, and floated into the sky
with a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie.

But I managed to yell as I soared past the trees.
Happy eating to all--pass the cranberries, please.

May your stuffing be tasty, may your turkey be plump
May your potatoes 'n gravy have nary a lump.

May your yams be delicious, may our pies take the prize
May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs.

Taco Salad Dressing

This is a new recipe we just tried for taco salad dressing and it was really yummy!

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

Is it snowing???

My brother's family spent the weekend at the cabin with some friends. Sam thought it was snowing this morning.....but it turned out to be toilet paper coming out of the septic tank!!!! Time to call the turdinator - we have a septic emergency!!!!

Chubby

The dog seems to be losing weight on the new routine of no snackies! However, she is also starving all the time! Jim broke down and gave her part of his left over lunch today! BUSTED! You can see where the weakest link is!

Spring Break

We have decided to go to Washington DC for spring break. We will stay with Jim's Aunt and Uncle and do the whole Washington DC tourist routine. We are all really excited about it.

We decided to fly out one day early and stay a night in Baltimore MD to check out the harbor.

Should be fun!

Soccer Update

Gracie's last game of the season was yesterday and they won! She is going to play basketball for the winter season so it will be another year before she plays anymore soccer.

Drew's team had their end of the season tournament and won the whole thing! They had two shut outs out of 4 games! They really played great and better than that, they totally bonded as a team.

Drew's coach has decided to coach competitive soccer, so Drew and many of the other boys will stay with him. We are thrilled because this coach and his two assistant coaches are outstanding! They are three young men who coach because they had some bad experiences with bad coaches growing up and they want to prevent that from happening to other kids. They are in their mid 20's and work fulltime in high tech. The coach's mom teaches elementary school at a local school - she is known for her positive attitude in the classroom and she passed that on to her son. They are amazing role models for the boys and are so enthusiastic. The boys are truly thriving under their leadership! We could not be happier.

Book Review

I just finished the book A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. It is a story about two women living in Afghanastan in the last 30 years. And I use the word "living" loosely. It is certainly no where close to the term we mean when we say "living". These women struggled every day of their lives. They struggled with things we know nothing about: domestic violence, suppression of women and girls and lack of the basics (food, running water, medical care).

It is a quick read and well worth the time investment.

It seems timely that I read it right before Thanksgiving so that I can give extra thought to how much I am thankful for....

Busy Week

My fans are getting restless and calling me to tell me I am not blogging! I KNOW I am not blogging....I am too busy this week to do anything fun!

My two buddies from my former employer started working with me at my new employer this week! So I have been busy trying to bring them up to speed while also trying to keep up with work.

And in addition, in the "I can't believe they pay me for this" chapter, I have more content to add....

This was the week of our global legal retreat for 216 legal employees from around the world. It was suppose to be held at a hotel on the coast starting on Thursday morning at 9 am. On Wednesday at noon the hotel called us and told us that the hotel had an ecoli outbreak (also known as 80 of the guests had vomiting and the runs!). We put the brakes on the retreat and frantically tried to find another location. On Weds at 4 pm we found a local hotel that could accomodate a crowd that big and by 9 am the next morning we were all there eating breakfast.

Then later in the day, we had buses pick us up and take us to a local park for an Olympic Team Building event, which was a hoot! We had about 10 people on each team and competed in 6 different events:

• jigsaw puzzle building
• matching flags of 30 countries to the correct country
• amoeba race
• building a pipe and moving water thru it to fill up a bucket
• chaos - a volleyball game with three teams and three balls at the same time
• a race moving people across a field while not touch grass and using 2 foam mats and a log to stand on

Our team did either very well or very poorly in each event. We won two medals: one for the amoeba race and one for the field race. However, we never could complete the puzzle - we had two pieces left and couldn't figure out where they went!!!! Bunch of morons with advanced degrees!

Later that nite we did line dancing! There must have been 75 people out on the dance floor being taught different line dances by an older cowgirl with a bad outfit and bad hair!

It was all great fun and again I had to ask myself....they pay me to work here?

Marty Monkey

This is Gracie's new stuffed monkey appropriately named "Marty". This morning before she left for school, I got a full briefing on what I needed to do to care for her monkey while she was gone. And I was specifically told that if she came home and he was in the same place she left him in the morning, that I would be in BIG trouble.

So to ensure I did not get in trouble, again today, (read vet post below) I took pics of Marty's antics during the day.

Doing the Right Thing

I try so hard to do the right thing all the time. Whether it is with my kids, my job, strangers, etc. It is just the compass that I use to live my life...

I even try to do it with my dog! Remember how I made her dog food during the dog food recall? And remember how I get up at the crack of dawn just about everyday to take her out running? Well......I am not doing a good enough job with my dog and I am mortified!

I took her to the vet this morning to get a check up and get shots. What I got was a 5 minute lecture about how fat my dog is!!!! She weighs 80 pound and the vet wants her at about 75. She obviously gets enough exercise with all the running, walking and swimming she does. The problem is that she is taking in too many calories. I can even name the calories:

• 2 batches of banana muffins she ate off the counter, in one week
• a sandwich she ate off the counter
• leftovers from dinner
• leftovers from breakfast
• dog biscuits while playing hide and seek

So......we are turning over a new leaf! No more snackies for the dog! She is going to get weight reduction dog food.

And next time, Jim is taking her to the vet!

Surgery Date

Just in case you have not heard, I am going under the knife on Dec 4! It will be arthroscopic surgery on my shoulder to try to eliminate the pain I have been feeling for FIVE years! They are going to shave the bottom of the bone and remove the bursa. They will also look for tears and clean up the calsification. Healing will take 3 months but then I should be as good as new. The weird thing is that I have been living with this so long that I don't know what "new" will feel like.

In the meantime, I have been doing physical therapy in an effort to be as prepared as possible for the rehab. Doing the physical therapy leaves me in constant pain. I am hoping the pain will be less and less after the surgery.

Wish me luck!

It has been a long time....

since I have had an early morning, gym fashion disaster....but I guess it is time.

This morning I went to the gym, did the whole workout thing ( 6 miles on the precor :-)). And when I went to get ready for the day, I had one catastrophe after another:

• I am wearing black cords that are too tight and feel like they are strangling me!
• I have a black tshirt on that looks too big and like I got into a fight with a giant deodorant while putting it on.
• I went to put on my denim jacket to hide the tight pants and the deodorant covered/ too big shirt and found that the dog must have been using my jacket as a pillow for the last week - I now had yellow dog hair all over my black clothes!
• After blow drying my hair, it looked like straw in the Sahara Desert.

So, if you see me today, it would not be a good day to comment on my appearance.....I am feeling a little out of sorts!

Morning Run

This morning while we were out, we saw FOUR coyotes! They were in a field against the foothills about a 1/4 mile from the house. It is an area I had been avoiding before the time changed because it was so dark. But since the time changed, I went back to that route today. Now I know I was avoiding it for good cause.

They were about 60 feet from me and showed no fear. It looked like they were eating something. Freaky!

New Furniture, Part 2

I have continued to gather furniture for the family room. Latest in my quest was the coffee table and console table. Drew and I put the coffee table together this morning and quickly found that we had to rearrange the room if we were going to be able to use the coffee table. So this is the result. That trunk under the window is going back. It is not well made and doesn't fit into the room the way we have it set up now.

I am still waiting for an ottoman for the red chair and a drapery rod for the window.

Halloween Chicken

How funny is this! Makes me realize that there are crazier people than me out there!

Science Camp

Drew was a "chatty cathy" telling us about science camp last nite.

He really had a great time. His favorite part was the nite hike. He said the food was pretty good: they had tacos, pizza, chicken, spaghetti and corn dogs - total kid food.

He barely felt the earthquake - he said he was inside the dining room in a chair and it just rolled a little bit.

He came home really tired as they were busy from 6:50 am to 9:30 pm everyday.

I think it was a great grown experience for him - he actually said he missed all of us!

Science Camp Update

Drew has had the best science camps of all time:

Monday - Thunder & Lightening
Tuesday - Earthquake
Wednesday - A classmate broke her arm (which has never happened in the history of science camp at this school)
Thursday - ??? we haven't heard of any drama yet

He comes home today at noon, so I am sure we will get a complete run down! Stay tuned!