Amelia can sit!

Check out Amelia's new seat! She can't sit up yet on her own, but this little seat cradles her to hold her up in a sitting position. She is 4 months old already!

ketchup and jockey

Here are the kids on Halloween nite. You can see Gracie's horse and riding crop in her candy bucket. And you can see Drew's hanmburger and fries hanging around his neck.

A girl in charge!

This morning on the way to school, Gracie asked me if the mail lady had come yet today. I said no and asked why....She said, "Because I have not been getting ANY of my American Doll magazines and Drew had been getting ALL his boy mail. I need to find out what is going on!"

That type of take charge personality is going to get her places in this tough world!

Gait Analysis

Yesterday I had a gait analysis done for running. It was really interesting.

They look at your shoe and where it is worn, how you walk, how your arch is and take careful measurements of your feet. Turns out that I have mild pronation and they recommend a certain type of insert to make me run in a more neutral position. This more neutral psoition may help my IT band pain.

But that most interesting piece of data is I have been wearing shoes that are to small! Although they fit fine when standing around, when you run your feet swell (makes perfect sense) and if the shoes are too small it puts pressure on your toes and feet in general....thus that is why I have foot pain.

Well worth the 15 minute investment to go talk to a professional!

Gotta be smarter than the rock monster....

Be sure to read my post from yesterday before reading this one.....

So I decided this morning before my run that I had to be smarter than the rock monster....if the rock monster is putting rocks in your underwear to slow down your run.....don't wear underwear! That was my strategy this morning and it WORKED! Not to worry - I was not out running around the neighborhood naked - I had my running pants on!

So my run this morning went much better than yesterday. I ran my whole route without feeling like I was being held back! I guess after 20 years of running you are due to have days every now and then when you just can't get it together!

Tomorrow is a gym day, so I will see how I do for an hour on the eliptical machine!

Rocks in my underwear

I went out running this morning and I felt like I had rocks in my underwear. Let me explain... I was moving in slow motion and every step was an effort. I decided that when I was not looking someone loaded up my underwear with rocks and that was why I was running so slow and with such effort!

Then I kept thinking....was it because of the time change? was it because I only had a small bowl of oatmeal the nite before for dinner? did I suddenly turn old? or was it because I was loaded down with rocks?

I will have to keep you posted on what the actual cause is. I will go out for another run tomorrow and report back on the problem.

Preparing for Crabbing

Crabbing season opens on November 11. Jim and Drew spent Saturday working on the crab pots so they can drop them the week before. There are 15 pots in all. They worked on the pots, the ropes, the buoys and the bait jars, I was going to help until Drew filled me in that his hands smelled like old dead fish when he touched the pots.

Fred and Wilma

See the complete report on the Halloween party below....

I think Dino was looking for a brontosaurus bone!

Annual Halloween Party

It was Tina and Marty's Annual Halloween party this weekend and as Tina and Marty parties go, it was totally mild. There WAS a significant number of jello shots but there was no streaking and no police being called and Marty never got into the "I love you" mode! Mike, the rockstar, did appear to party like a rock star and ended up MIA....after a search "party" was formed, we found him in the car.

The most disturbing costume of the night was Kyle dressed as the Birthday fairy (it was his birthday so the costume was somewhat appropriate). You can see for yourself in the pictures below. I can't put my finger on what made the costume so disturbing but it could be those massive thighs in short skirt and the size large womens boy cut panties from Tarrget that he wore underneath.... See for yourself.


Dr Evil and the Disneyland tour guide.

The Birthday Fairy and the Cowgirl.
Dino Flintstone
Pirate and Clown
The BirthdayFair -- quite disturbing.

Well....the day is finally here

I no longer have an office....I am working from home fulltime. It is totally bitter sweet. I love to go into work, but I hate to commute. I loved my office - it had the greatest view. Very peaceful. If you did not know, my whole department is moving to an office which is about 15 miles farther away which means a minumum of 45 more minutes of commute time and I was not willing to take that much time away from my family and my self. So I went into the work from home program. I can still go into the office but I have to reserve a flex office when I go. And with the drive to get there, it won't be often.

The kids are thrilled with the new arrangement. They have been counting down the days for weeks. In fact, Gracie wanted to know if I was going to have a retirement party when I started working from home. She obviously doesn't understand the concept of retirement. The dog is going to be thrilled with the new office assignment -- someone to be with her everyday!

I will keep you posted as I make the adjustment.

Who loves shoes?

Check out these new shoes I just got! Your basic black loafers to replace my favorite pair that are so worn they are scary. I love the tall brown boots even though I have NOTHING to wear them with(they look black in the pic above). The low brown suede boots are to wear with jeans. Ya gotta love shoes!

BBQ Chicken

HA! You gotta love the weird chicken pics I post on my blog!!! Did you laugh out loud?

Happy Anniversary

So what does it feel like to be married for 16 years????? (Yep - today is our 16 year wedding anniversary!).

I have been giving it some thought and here is what it feels like:

* It feels like I must be old to be married this long. I am old but not that old! I must have been a child bride. (I was 23!)

* It feels really good that we still like each other after 16 years of marriage and that we can still laugh thru it all.

* It feels good that we have grown together as a couple in the last 16 years so that we are really a fine tuned machine. We have each worked at developing the skills that we are good at so that together our skills compliment each other.

* It feels good that for the last 16 years we have shared experiences that bind us together - including our love of the mountains.

* It feels really good that we have evolved into a strong family unit of four (plus one dog and 3 chickens) that is built on respect and love.

If I had to make a bet, I think it is a safe one to bet that we will still be happily married 16 years from now!

PS - I love you -- my big handsome hunk of husband!

Best Friends

These two are peas in a pod. They are complete opposites that totally complement each other:

tall - short
crazy - risk adverse
will eat anything - is suspicious of new food
eats A LOT - eats a little
would rather be leaping around - would rather be reading a book

The best part is they love each other unconditionally!

Pics from the DIY weekend

This is a pic from the play the kids did - "The Animal Band". Drew was the narrator and a robber. Jerremy was the donkey and a robber. Maddie was a robber and a cat. Gracie was the rooster and the voice of the dog (the dog was played by Daisy Mae but she can't talk so Gracie read her lines!)

We did manage some fun during the wekend - this is a pic of the bass I caught. Drew always takes my fish off the hooks because I don't touch them.

This is what happens when you are bald and don't wear any head protection while operating a paint sprayer! Marty looked like he had spent too much time in a tanning booth!

Here is the final product - a new roof! I love the green color. It makes it looks a ranger station!

Random Acts of Kindness

I was the recipient of a random act of kindness and if feels great! Earlier this week, I went to get the mail and found a padded envelope addressed to me. Imagine my surprise when I opened it up and found a beautiful pair of earrings sent to me - out of the blue - by my Aunt Maureen! She had a pair of the same earrings when we were in Chicago in June and I admired them. So she got me a pair of my own.

The card said "Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas or Whatever"! So thoughtful and they will always be treasured because they came from my Aunt....for no particular reason.

Thanks Maureen (mom to Libby the Boxer)! I promise to pay it forward in some way....

"o" negative - "CMV" negative

FINALLY!

Finally -- I was able to give blood after a 2 year dry spell. I have tried numerous times in the last couple years but always had too low of a red blood count to give. I fixed the issue that was causing the low red blood count and was thrilled that when I went to give blood my hemoglobin count was 13.5 as opposed to the 12.3 it has been in the past. So I am back on the "bike" and today gave the donation that makes me a 1-gallon donor!

So somewhere in the bay area some sick adult, child or baby is getting my blood. ;-)

The blood bank was thrilled to have me back in action because I have "0-" blood which is universal and it is also CMV negative which is a virus that most people have had but I have not. And they can only use CMV negative blood for premature babies!

DIY - final report

We are back from the whirlwind do it yourslef weekend at the cabin and the amount of work that was done was unbelievable! There was a crew of 14 of us and we accomplished the following:

* extended the roof over the deck on both sides of the cabin
* removed the old roof
* put a new roof on the cabin and the garage
* painted the extended areas
* stacked a cord of wood
* cleaned up to HUGE mess that was made

We also managed to squeeze in some poker, horse shoes, nibs and rummikub! We also did a play with the kids - The Animal Band presented at the Pine Cone Theater (AKA the back deck!) Oh! And a short boat ride/fishing trip where I caught my first bass!

We are all exhaused!

There was one causalty from the weekend and that was our camera, so I have no pics to post. The camera was there and used so I have great pics -- if only I knew where it was.

There was also a bit of drama on Saturday nite when we ran out of beer (actually there were seven beers left but that was enough to put the men into a panic!). So they had to beg a sober person to drive them to the store to buy 5 more cases of beer! At least they were being responsible!

My folks were with us all weekend and they played the role of chief cook and bottle washer! They made us great meals! But they were a bit shocked at how much we ate.

Everyone has ideas on what they want the next improvement project to be at the cabin but NO ONE is ready to actually start it!

DIY (Do It Yourself)

This weekend we are putting a new roof on the cabin! We have a crowd of 14 workers (AKA: people who have real day jobs and are playing "weekend roofing contractor") who will be there to help us. My mom and dad are being the cooks for the weekends so we will be eating well. For those of us who are not going to be up on the roof, we will be stacking the new delivery of fire wood Jim just ordered. It is all a lot of work but it will be fun because we will all be together and in the mountains!

Soccer Field Rage

WOW! Did we see a side of Gracie we didn't expect to see on Saturday during her soccer game... The first half, she played goalie and she was like a caged animal that is all pent up. She hopped and jumped continously and ran out of the goalie box and halfway to the mid field!!! It was making Drew and Jim crazy that she wouldn't stay close to the goal. I was enjoying watching her because she had such zest for playing the position....even if she wasn't doing quite right.

Then in the second half, she was a "center forward" which is really the best position for her because it utilizes her natural ability to run. She can run like the energizer bunny at great speeds! We could see she was getting frustrated because she kept getting the ball to the front of the goal but was not getting it in. But her frustration boiled over into full blown rage when one of the girls on the other team tripped her and she fell on her face. She jumped up and went running full speed towards the player from the other team who currently had the ball and basically slammed her from behind!! We were SHOCKED!

The referee, who was our coach, called a penalty (or whatever it is called in soccer) and the other team got a kick. In hockey she would have 5 minutes in the penalty box!

We talked about it later in the day and she said she was mad because they made her fall on her face and get a bloody nose. We talked about her having to control herself and she understands.

Maybe she should be playing hockey!

Riding...

Since the kids each got their new mountain bikes, we have gone on a couple of big rides.

On the first ride we went to Angel Island. Angel Island is an island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. We went up early on a Sunday morning and took the 9:45am ferry over to the island. It is about a 10 minute bat ride to get there. Once we got to the island we headed out to do ride the 9 mile trail that goes all the way around the island. We stopped about 3/4 of the way and had lunch on a bench overlooking the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. We made it back to the dock to take the 12:45 ferry back to SF. On the way back we stopped to drop off some passengers at Alcatraz.

When we returned to SF we rode over the Pier 39 and watched the sea lions that have taken over the boat docks as their napping spots. It is great fun to watch them fight and nap! Then we stopped to get a snack before riding down to the stadium where the SF Giants play baseball. It was cool to ride along the water front and see all the businesses and people. All in all we did about a 15 miles that day.

The next ride was an off road adventure. We brought our bikes to the cabin last weekend and did some mountain biking. We rode on fire trails and even did a creek crossing -- well....ok Jim did the creek crossing and we all watched! No one else wanted to get their shoes wet!

I need to bring the camera along because the place we mountain biked was beautiful!

The BIG Weiner!

So here is the pic of the "big weiner" (AKA big winner)! That is what a TUNA trophy looks like - note the tuna at the bottom. Also shown is the new reel and the $400 check.

Bad Boys Bad Boys, what ya gonna do when they come for you???

Actually it should be bad girls, bad girls.....

My mom is threatening to call the animal police on my chickens. Well, not all of them, just one - Maverick. My mom has a love of animals great an small, just like me. So she has always happily checked on the ladies when over watching the kids.

One day recently, she was out checking on the ladies and talking to them when out of nowhere Maverick started attacking her! You see.... Maverick gets a bit bitchy if she does not feel she is getting enough snackies!

So I come home from work and my mom shows me her foot with a chunk missing and informs me that she has called animal control and reported a chicken bite! After I pick myself up of the floor with laughter, I made sure she was not serious.

The chicken bite is sure to be one of those stories that stays with the family and grows with exaggeration over time. I fully expect that in 25 years, we will be telling stories about how Maverick the chicken pecked off Grandma's foot and it had to be surgically reattached!

Yabba Dabba Doo!

After much deliberation, we have settled on our halloween costumes:

Drew: A ketchup bottle with a hamburger, hotdog and container of french fries hanging around his neck
Gracie: A jockey - complete with riding crop, goggles, cap, horse and boots
Jim: Fred Flintstone complete with caveman club
Chris: Wilma Flintstone (since I ordered the costumes, I ordered the "sexy Wilma" costume!)
Daisy Mae: Dino Flintstone

We are getting into the whole Flintstone theme and have been practicing the theme song!!! And I ordered the 3rd season DVD from Amazon so we have all the lingo down!

There will be great pics!

2nd place

People have been asking about the results of the Tuna Tournament....Jim won 2nd place! We have the trophy and I will post pics as soon as I have a chance - so check back - it is a real beauty!!

Best Doggie Friends

This is Daisy Mae (on the right) and her best friend Toby. Toby lives next door and the two of them play together a few times a week. We can let Daisy out the front door and tell her to go see if Toby can play and she runs next door and paws at Toby's front door. Toby was a rescued dog who was abused by his previous owner. When our neighbor Rob adopted him, he was REALLY timid. But he has learned that whatever Daisy does is safe and he follows her lead. He now plays with the kids, drinks out of the hose and wanders into our house. When he was younger he didn't even like coming into the front yard. They are truly best friends. They play chase and wrestle around chewing on each others ears, necks and legs!

Happy 7th Birthday!

Here are some pics of Gracie's 7th birthday. We did our traditional Japanese dinner with the whole family. Gracie did the very traditional sprite bomb!

Here she is on her new birthday bike - which she LOVES!

Heart Walk is a HUGE succcess!

Thanks to all our fabulous friends and family, the Heart Walk was a HUGE success! With matching donations, we raised $3310! Thank you, thank you, thank you!


As promised, we painted to dog to add to the festive nature of the event! She was a big hit!

It does not get any cuter than this.... Sam and Gracie holding hands, walking behind Grandpa Tom at the Heart Walk!
That dog is a saint! She just stood there and let us spray paint hearts on her!

Thanks again to everyone who opened their hearts and wallets for a good cause!

Matt, eat your heart out....

This may be the winning tuna. Jim was in a tuna tournament that lasted most of the summer and right now he is in first place with this tuna! It was 28.3 pounds! He would win $1500 in cash and prizes. The BEST part though, is he would get a tuna trophy! Can't wait to see what that looks like! We are currently searching for place of honor in the house to hold this glorious trophy! The tournament is over on Sunday so we are praying for high winds so no one else can go out fishing.
This is what a trophy winning tuna looks like when it turns into dinner! Not sure why the beer is in the pic - you will have to ask Jim, who was the photographer. It may be he couldn't hold his beer and take a picture too!
These guys are just a bunch of clowns! Happy, smelly clowns!
Each of these tuna were about 20 pounds - thus the grimacing on Jim's face.
This picture is ridiculous but Jim and Drew insisted it be added to the blog.

PS - Matt is my Kentucky Hillbilly cousin who is probably losing his mind looking at these pics! Hi Matt! November is not coming fast enough, is it?

Fisherman's Story (AKA Good News - Bad Bews)

The day after his wife disappeared in a kayaking accident, an Anchorage man answered his door to find two grim-faced Alaska State Troopers.

"We're sorry Mr. Wilken, but we have some information about your wife," said one trooper.

"Tell me! Did you find her?" Wilken shouted.

The troopers looked at each other. One said, "We have some bad news, some good news, and some really great news. Which do you want to hear first?"

Fearing the worst, an ashen Mr. Wilken said, "Give me! the bad news first."

The trooper said, "I'm sorry to tell you, sir, but this morning we found your wife's body in Kachemak Bay."

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Wilken. Swallowing hard, he asked, "What's the good news?"

The trooper continued, "When we pulled her up she had twenty, five pound king crabs and 6 good-size Dungeness crabs clinging to her."

Stunned, Mr. Wilken demanded, "If that's the good news, what's the great news?"

The trooper said, "We're going to pull her up again tomorrow ! "

Chicken Dog

We were going to have Daisy Mae be a zebra for Halloween but then we saw this costume and we couldn't believe it! Is there a more perfect costume for Daisy??? There will be great pics of her dressed up with Rowdy, Maverick and Betty in the background!

Tuna Man!!!

Jim took the day off of work yesterday because it was a hot fish bite and the tuna were only 30 miles offshore (vs the usual 70 to 80 miles). In case you are not aware: hot tuna bite + less than 50 miles off shore = a national holiday!

The haul was worth it --- they got about 30 tuna!!

Just rest assured while you and I are working the common mans jobs.....Jim is out there doing the important work of making sure there are not too many tuna in the ocean!

Aren't you feeling safer now?

A Dog's Bad Day

Earlier this week, I got up early to go running and went thru my normal routine:
Crawl out of bed and while still asleep, get dressed, put in my contacts and head downstairs. Usually before I have even turned on the bathroom light (which is about 5 feet from my bed), the dog has heard me and is there wagging her tail and ready to go.

That particular morning, she was a "no show" for the first time ever!!! As I was leaving the bedroom, Jim said to me, "the dog is in Drew's room". So I figured she was sleeping in there and was just out cold and had not heard me. I assumed that once she heard me walking down the hall and the stairs, she would be up.

So I go down stairs and put on my shoes....still no dog!?!? So I whistle for her. She can hear me whistle a mile away and stops everything she is doing and comes running.

Still no dog!!

What?? Now I am sure she is dead - must have had a doggie heart attack or aneurysm.

At that point Jim comes to the landing upstairs and leans over to tell me that Daisy is in Drew's room and the door is CLOSED!!!

The poor thing must have been screaming......"WAIT FOR ME, I AM HERE, I HAVE NO THUMBS, I CAN'T TURN THE DOOR KNOB, DON'T LEAVE WITHOUT ME!!!!!"

He opened the door and she came hauling butt downstairs looking very concerned!

I would say that was the begining of a bad dog day --- which got better when she got to go out for a run!

Gracie's a star!

Gracie played in her first soccer game of the season this weekend. It was also her first game on an all girl team, the Wild Butterflies. She was awesome! She scored 4 goals and was mowing over the other players....not being mean just going for the ball! She is totally built for speed and could run circles around others on the field.

Kid Sandwich

Yesterday, Deb's kids (Tyler and Jeremy) were over and they decided to use the couch cushions to make kid sandwiches! The blankets represent cheese or lettuce and the kids are meat! The cushions are "buns"!

My favorite place in the world...

This is where we spent the last weekend - my favorite spot in the world - Cherry Lake. This is a lake that is remote and on the edge of Yosemite. We spent the weekend boat camping. For the first time we slept on the boat - it was great fun laying there looking up at the stars. The days were spent swimming, fishing, hiking and inner tubing. The best part was kayaking around in the water that was like glass. Drew and I had a great time fishing for blue gill at nite with our head lamps.

I can only hope that you find a place in your life that brings you such peace. It is really a little bit of heaven on earth.

Happy Birthday to You!

September 5 was Daisy Mae's 3rd birthday. We had a little celebration at the lake this weekend complete with candles, cupcakes and dog party hats. Unfortunately, she was so tired from being at the lake and swimming all day that she was falling asleep while we were singing to her!

Sam's 1st day

Here is my nephew Sam on his first day of kindergarten. I am pretty sure he is going to go straight from kindergarten to 5th grade because he is SOOOOOO smart! And handsome too!

1st Day of School

Here we go again -- school has started and I am not sure who is more disappointed, the kids or me!

Drew is going into 5th grade and will be in a 4/5 combo class. He is with all the same kids he was with last year because the class was suppose to be "looping" to do another year with the same teacher. However, the teacher found her dream house in Oregon over the summer and retired! BUMMER. The good news is that she is staying until October to help out the new teacher. And the other good news is that Drew had the "new" teacher in the k/1 combo class he was in when he was in 1st grade and she is fantastic and really into science.

Gracie is going into 1st grade. She is actually repeating 1st grade because she had some trouble with reading last year. She has worked really hard over the summer with both reading tutors and speech therapy - so we are hoping that positions her well to excel this year....as only someone with the nickname "Bones and Dynamite" can do!

They both have great teachers so it is shaping up to be a good year.

What the Cluck?

Here is the exact reason why chickens should NOT wear pants!

In addition, if they were going to wear pants, they should wear something a little more fashionable! The shirt does not match the pants!

PS - thanks to Mari for this crazy pic!

Tubing

We spent all day on Saturday at the lake. We would tube a little, knee board a little and then stop to swim a little. The weather was perfect - warm water and warm air.

This is Gracie and Drew on our new inner tube. It was great fun.

Bones and Dynamite

Bones and Dynamite is Gracie's new nickname because that is what she is made of! This is her kneeboarding this weekend at Lake Don Pedro. It is her second year kneeboarding and she is awesome at it! There is a lot of power in that skinny little package!

The view from my office

The view doesn't look like anything special...but you can't see the chickens running around! I have a perfect view of them as they sun themselves and take dust baths.

The words above the window says (in french): "Eat ice cream and run naked". It is to remind us not to take everything so seriously all the time! The saying is perfect for us because Jim likes to eat ice cream and I like to run!

Jim's desk

This is Jim's side of the new office. Note the sticker on the chalkboard that says "I love chickens". What you can't see is the magnet that says "What the cluck?!"!!!

You can see Jim's "ditch bag" under his desk - this is the bag that he uses when he goes fishing. It contains all kinds of emergency gear. I always wonder why it ends up under his desk.... does he think an emergency is going to occur at his desk that will require a gps, bottled water and power bars?

My new office

Here is my new office. I LOVE it! The kids desk is on the right side and my work station is in the corner. See my new Dell flat screen!? LOVE it! We still need to get new chairs but I have not found any that I like.

Chicken Miracle

Rowdy is back to normal - she was on her roost when we went to bed last nite and got there herself. Three weeks ago, I never would have thought she would have made it. Most of the time when a chicken shows signs of illness, it is to late to save them. And she was REALLY sick!

So, you can call me the chicken whisperer, the mother teresa of chickens of Dr F, DVM. Oh - and special thanks to my assistant, Lani, who was responsible for getting Rowdy to turn the corner!

Rowdy's weekend as a chicken.

We put Rowdy back in the coop with Maverick and Betty. She seems to be doing fine. She has been eating with her chicken friends and is interested again in treats (cheese, corn on the cob, etc). The only thing is she is not going up to roost. The first nite, she was on the floor of the coop and Jim put her up on the roost. The second nite, she was trying to go up the ladder but mean Maverick was pecking at her. Jim shooed Maverick with a broom and let Rowdy get up. I think she will be back to the roost on her own in a couple days.

Delight!

Little Amelia cracking up and Big Brother! He is a funny guy!

My niece

Here is my darling niece complete with mohawk!

Where's Rowdy?

2 nites ago we came home late - it was already dark and we figured Rowdy would be frantic at the back door trying to figure out how to get into her bed in the laundry room.

We went to the back door and no Rowdy.

Jim went into the back yard to get her and couldn't find her! So we all head out with flashlights and start hunting around. No Rowdy but also no signs of bird trauma - no feathers, no blood!

We search and search, under bushes, behind the bbq... NOTHING.

I head off to the side of the house looking around the garbage cans - NOTHING.

We had come in to the house thru the garage so we knew she wasn't there, but I decided to double check. I turn the corner, walk in the garage and there she is --- all bedded down on the dogs pillow! I am sure she was there when we walked in thru the garage and no one noticed her!

So now she is a chicken that sleeps in doors on a pillow!

If evolution applied to denim skirts

If evolution applies to denim skirts, in 10,000 years they will all be head scarfs.

Following my thinking:

Everytime I buy a denim skirt it looks great on the hanger.

Then I put it on and it looks good on me - as long as I don't move a muscle!

The minute I start even attempting to take a breath the skirt starts moving up my body.

God forbid that I attempt to walk in it - I think it moves further north on my body at a rate of 1 inch north to every 10 feet walked. Going up stairs increases the movement north by 14.38%!

So once I complete my walk from my car to my office (approx 400 feet) the waist band of my very stylish Banana Republic denim skirt is up firmly placed under my boobs!

Ah ha! The speed bump of female breasts that the denim skirt will encounter will probably slow its evolution to head scarf by 2000 years.

Just remind me not to buy anymore denim skirts. Denim obviously needs to be worn as pants because a crotch is required to prevent them from movement towards a head scarf!

A Fairy Tale: The Ugly Red Headed Princess...

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess. OK, she wasn't a princess but a white lab who does have a sweet princess type temperment. One glorious weekend the princess/lab went to a far away land in search of adventure. (Actually, it was Manresa State Beach right over the mountain.) Adventure was there to be had: chasing seagulls, running circles on the beach, fetching sticks and romping thru the waves. But like all good fairytales, there has to be a bad guy. That guy was a mean, ugly, quasimodo type skunk - this was no "Pepe Le Pu" (alright no one actually saw the skunk but we are sure he was nasty ugly!).

The princess had been sleeping in her castle (AKA tent) when she wandered out to see what was happening in the land of adventure. Out of no where the skunk sprayed the beautiful princess with his hideous skunk juice. The princess was covered with the foul smelling juice, which caused the princess to become the outcast of the family (King Jim, Queen Chris, Prince Drew and Princess Gracie) and their guests.

The Princess was banned to the farmhouse on the outskirts of town (actually it was back at our house in San Jose). It was there that she was given a special treatment of eye of newt, wart of a toad and flowers of a magnolia (actually it was peroxide and baking soda). This potion worked wonders on her princess body but could not be used around her sensitive eyes and nose, so her head and snout (don't be alarmed that the princess has a snout - remember she is a lab). So the princess' head reeked! This led to more banishment from the castle, which upset the Queen who loved the princess so.....

So the Queen ordered one of her servants to wash the princess' head in a new magic potion of juice from a tomato. (Actually the Queen has no servants so she had to do it herself - which meant she had to go to Nob Hill and buy a bottle of Tomato Juice and dump it on the dog's head). This new special potion was miraculous and cured the stench. But it left the princess with a red head! (Red juice on white fur leaves quite a stain.)

This meant that the princess was no longer banished and could return to life within the castle!

And they lived happily ever after....

Rowdy - the perky chicken

While we were off being sprayed by skunks and handling vicious dogs this weekend, my friend Lani and her daughter Madison were taking care of Rowdy (who on Friday, was looking like she was headed for the big chicken coop in the sky)....

When we came home on Sunday, we were ready to do the humane thing and euthanize her - she had been sick for two weeks and was not getting better.

But much to our surprise, we come home to a chicken that is perky! She was strutting around that backyard picking at the grass! Lani had fed her meal worms which she scarfed up!

She is not out of the woods yet but she is definetly looking better. She actually followed me in the house last nite and walked to the laundry room to go to bed!

My Very First Guest Blogger

A faithful friend and reader of my blog, graciously shared the horror of her dog's brush with a skunk.  It was so bad (and funny, in a way) that it made Daisy's situation look like a walk in the park.  So, I asked and she agreed to be my very first guest blogger.  Her story is below.

But before I get to that, this issue of "guest blogger" is now opened and any one of you who has a story to tell is welcome to become a guest blogger.  There is no money, only fame!  Just think - you can tell people you were were published on pontoon mama's blog!  Almost like being a movie star!

Enough about that, here is Teresa's story:

"We moved here in Dec.  In March, we were throwing a house warming party with
50 people including new neighbors, old neighbors, friends and out of town
people flying in from LA.  I was going to get the catering platters from Safeway
but my friend volunteered to do all the shopping and make platters (basically
cater for me since she stays home all day). 

That Friday morning, I get a call at work from my friend.  She had come by the
house to drop off a bunch of stuff for the next day.  She says Blaze got a skunk
in the back yard and killed it and got sprayed. I rush home.  Well.... we had a dog
door so after she got hit the first time, she came in the house and rubbed all
over the carpets and beds in EVERY room.  She continued to go in and out
(because the skunk was actually still alive and wedged in between fence boards
spraying her each time she nosed him.)

So, we hose her off and use Dawn on her and try our best to get her clean (my
shoes ended up in the trash can afterward).  We call Animal Control and they
come immediately to kill the skunk and dispose of it.  He says "did any of you
touch the dog?"  Of course, we had to clean her.  "Well, you are all in quarantine
until we call you in 5 days to determine if the skunk was rabid."  I had to keep
the dog outside during the party and away from Peter (the husband) and Kristen (the daughter) for the five days.  It didn't matter if I touched her again as I
was already contaminated.

The skunk was not rabid and the party went on.  We hired a cleaning crew to
clean the entire house and carpets, did loads of laundry, made numerous pots
of strong coffee to get rid of the smell and didn't let anyone go out to the
garage as it stunk for a long time."

A Stinking Camping Trip

We went camping over the weekend with the kids' daycare to Manresa State Beach. We go every year with the same group and always have a good time. This year was not as much fun as normal...

We always bring Daisy Mae as she goes all over the place with us and travels well. The only thing about bringing her to Maresa is the first nite she is up ALL nite wanting to get up and go for her morning run. But after I take her on the run, she is good to go for the rest of the day and spends all day on the beach with us and is on her best behavior.

This year our friends decided to bring their yellow lab, Jeeter. Jeeter is about a year older than Daisy and one of Daisy's friend. Jeeter is a family dog who hangs around the house, which includes all the comings and goings of a busy family. On Saturday, a group of us were heading down to the beach for the day and the kids and I and the two dogs headed down first. Gracie was walking Daisy on a leash and Drew was walking Jeeter on a leash. I was carrying a bunch of stuff and pulling a wagon. Both dogs were well mannered (ie not pulling at the leash) and we were passing folks walking up the hill. Out of now where, Jeeter lunges for an old man and bites him in the butt and arm!!!! We were shocked! Drew pulled him back and I dropped everything and ran to the old man. We still don't know what made him do it, he has never done anything like that before! To make a long story short, the ranger came and found us later in the day and took a report. I thought Drew would start crying when I told the ranger it was him with the leash! Anyway, Jeeter will have to be quarantined in their yard for 14 days. The good news is that Jeeter's family are responsible dog owners and will do whatever is needed to be done.

That whole event was quite traumatic, but little did we know it would get worse....

After dinner, we were all sitting around the campfire. It was a bout 9:30 and I was going to get our toothbrushes from our tent. Daisy had been sleeping in our tent for a couple hours, so when I unzipped the tent she came out. I reached in, got my toothbrush and called her to come back -- she was in the bushes about 5 feet away from the tent and behind Tina's tent. It was at that point that I heard Tina screaming from inside her tent...."Daisy was sprayed by a skunk". And she was right! The smell was horrific - a cross between rotten eggs and burned rubber. It was so bad it made me nauseous and the dog was covered in it. I can not even explain the chaos of the next hour while we sent Jim home with the dog, we moved tents, moved bedding from one tent to another and lit gardenia incense to help with the smell. Poor Marty had skunk smell on his nose from smelling all the items that came out of his tent to see if they were hit by the spray. At one point, he was rubbing tomato under his nose to counter act the skunk smell.

We really thought their tent was a loss because the stench was so bad in it, but it turned out this morning that it was ok.

While we were dealing with the biohazard of the camp site, Jim went home and did some quick internet searching to see what to do with the dog. The recipe for success was peroxide and baking soda - so at 11 pm he is running around SJ buying all the peroxide and baking soda he could find. He washed the dog 4 times last nite and again today. Her body smells better but her head and snout still have skunk odor. As does his truck and the garage. He read on the internet that if you wait to long to wash the dog, the odor can stay in the skin for up to two years!!!!

Jim came back to the campground this morning and helped us pack up camp and we headed home. NEVER have we been so happy to be home! Now if only the dog didn't reek!

Tuna Time

This is what 2 crazy men who went 78 miles offshore look like the next day! These are albacore tuna and weigh about 10 to 14 pounds each. Once you eat this fresh tuna, you will never eat canned tuna again!

Check out the house behind them. It is right across the street from us and they have been doing the remodel for 2 years and they are on their 3rd contractor. The first contractor is in jail and the second one gave up trying to fix all the screw ups of the first one. The original one story house is still standing inside this house and they are living in it! The poor people - we feel so bad for them.

That is a rare yellow houndus in the background (aka Daisy Mae hunting for fish guts).

American Heart Walk

Just a reminder to those who are interested, we are walking in the American Heart Walk in September to raise money for the American Heart Association. This is a great organization that fights heart disease and strokes - something that everyone one of us knows someone who has been effected by.

We always walk with my Dad and his heart transplant support group and this year we will walk in honor of my Grandpa who died in July when his heart valve gave out. My grandpa had the valve replaced once 6 years ago. That surgery allowed him 6 more years and many more Pabst Blue Ribbons (for those of you who don't know, that is a nasty midwest beer)!!!

If you have not already made a donation and have it in you budget, I would appreciate it. My goal is to raise $3000 and I have $1000 so far. I appreciate any donation you make!

In another life

When you die, if it is before me, you should make a special request to come back in your next life as one of my pets. Tonite when we were putting Rowdy to bed in the laundry room and giving her some food and medicine, Gracie said to me "let's just give her a little buffet"! We had a paper plate with a little pile of grapes, some egg and cheese flan and some shredded cheese! Yep, our sick chicken gets a buffet in an effort to entice her to eat. No luck on the food tonite but I am adding a new medicine to her water and hope it may make a difference.

She has been sick for 1 week now. The kids say she is a little better each day but I think that is a little wishful thinking. She is better then last week but still a pretty sick little chicken. Her only hope at this point is that she is a young chicken.

Oh! another funny thing that happened: last nite we were all in bed and we heard some strange type of dog bark coming from downstairs. We all jump up thinking something was wrong with Daisy. We hunt around the house and find Daisy in the corner of the laundry room afraid to pass Rowdy in her laundry basket. Apparently, she was nosing around Rowdy and Rowdy pecked at her and Daisy was afraid to run by her to get out! That fiestyness in Rowdy is a good sign.

Keep thinking positive chicken thoughts!

Masters Swim

Jim's cousin Bean is staying with us for 4 days because she is swimming in the World's Master Swim meet at Stanford. We went and watched her today and it was an awesome experience! She is 42 so she swam with the other women who were aged 40 to 44. It was awesome to see her swim and she did great!

The biggest thrill was watching women age 80 to 84 swim! Some of them needed help getting up on the starting block but watch out when they hit the water. I am sure ALL of them could swim faster that me.

It is so cool watching people do what they love just because they love it - not because they are going to get rich or famous doing it but because it makes them happy!