hot, Hot, HOT!

I feel sorry for all the people that live east of us. We are in the midst of a bubble of HOT air passing over us causing record highs: 92 at the airport, 100+ in several areas around us. As a matter of fact, the low last night was 56, which was the high for last weekend. It has cooled off some today; only suppose to hit 88 this afternoon. But, this little heat wave is moving east. I’m sure it will hit the mid-west in the middle of next week. In the mean time it will cool off and start raining again here. The forecasted high for next Tuesday is only 54 degrees. Back to the cold, wet spring we’d been having right up to this little break.

This morning we went out to the car dealer we ordered the new truck from and got our old one back. It seems that the factory refused to accept the order for my new truck. They don’t have enough parts to build more 2008 Frontiers. They aren’t scheduled to build any more before they switch over to the 2009’s in September. I’m just SOL! So, we got the old truck back. It seems that it’s been sitting on the car lot for two months, just collecting dust, waiting for the deal for the new vehicle to get sorted out first. This is a bummer! I ordered what I wanted instead of settling for what they had. I didn’t really have a plan B. We are starting all over again, two months later, except we know we can’t get what we want! This will require some thought, some cogitation and some readjusting our expectations. Maybe we won’t get a truck, rather some other type of vehicle. P has been saying that she’d like a car with automatic transmission… Like I said, this will take a while to figure out what we are going to do.

I have one more week to the long Memorial Day weekend, and the shutdown week after it. We don’t have anything special planned, except to prepare for and have a Garage Sale at the end of the week We have been going through closets and cupboards already, but we will be going through the house, top to bottom. After 23+ years it is time for a lot of this stuff to go. Our plans call for moving to a smaller house in the future. It is time to downsize. What doesn’t go in the Garage Sale will go to the Goodwill. We hope to pull in a tidy sum from the sale and should have one heck of a charitable contribution deduction on our taxes next year. It’s all good, right?

It’s time to freshen my drink. We are celebrating Janet’s birthday this time. Seeing as she is many miles and several states away, this will have to suffice for now.

Happy Birthday Janet!

It's been a quiet week...

It’s been a quiet week, with just Scott, me and the dogs. I came home everyday at lunch to let Shakespeare out of the den to do his “business” and run around some while I have my lunch. The only problem was/is that it’s been wet most of the week. Shakespeare is so happy to see me that he runs around some and then come over and jumps on me. I’ve had dirty paw prints on me every afternoon when I returned to work. I have to do some wash today if I want clean pant’s for work this week.

Yesterday I took the boys for their walk first thing, got it out of the way. They BUG me when they realize I’m not going to work, follow me around everywhere, watching my every move. “Not going to work, Dad? Good! Take us for a walk, NOW!!” The weather was cool but nice in what little sunshine there was. I waited until after 10 to start in on the lawns. Scooping poop, pulling dandelions, trimming with the weed wacker and actually mowing the lawns, it turns into a big production. The sky was turning very dark by the time I finished and sure enough, it started sprinkling when I was having lunch half an hour later.

I packed up the boys around two and drove to the other side of town, through half a dozen rain showers, to R’s. Gabby and Shakespeare started in with the playing and rough-housing right away. Bailey tried to stay out of the way until they calmed down some. R fed me drinks and dinner. He’d put up a hummingbird feeder right out side the door to his deck several days ago. He gets a lot of activity. The dogs going in and out and chasing each other all over the backyard must of spooked the hummingbirds, but we did see a number of them before the day was over, pretty cool. It’s surprising all the different colors they have. R told me the feeders are on sale, now that he’s already bought his, and I picked one up. I just have to figure out the best place to hang it so we can see it and can get to it easily. R says he has to refill his feeder every three or four days, a cup and a half of sugar water at a time. They’re thirsty little birds.

P called me while I was on my walk with the dogs this morning. Two leashes, the kind that extends out to 16 feet, listening to my ipod when my phone buzzes in my pocket. I was able to pause the ipod and answer it in time. I had two leashes in one hand and the phone in the other with the ear bud handing down, swinging all over the place as we walked down the street. It was a little awkward especially when the leashes got tangled and the dogs trying to go in different directions. I had to tell P to hold on a couple of times while I sorted the dogs, the leashes and the lamppost out. Obviously I should have had my Bluetooth hands free ear piece on like you see so many people wearing these days. Maybe next time… P and DJ are on the road, taking the long way home. They were outside Sacramento when P called, on their way to the coast. They’re going to see a lighthouse tomorrow and then head north towards Portland. They won’t get back until Tuesday afternoon. We’ll sure be glad to see them back home again!

Another year gone by

The week started out wet, grey and cool. It ended up fairly nice, despite predictions by the weathermen to the contrary. Friday was P’s birthday and I scheduled it as a vacation day to take her out for lunch on the Portland Spirit, and a cruise up and down the river. It wouldn’t have been any fun if it were raining and the like. After listening to the forecasts during the week we were resigned to going on Saturday, and then putting it off until the end of May, during the first shutdown week. Friday, when we got up they’d changed their tune to no rain until late Friday evening so we decided to risk it. It turning out to be a nice day – partly sunny, mostly clouds with sun breaks now and then, and not too cool, not too warm. We were seated right by the second window from the bow on the lower deck. We had a nice view the whole way. P grew up in a neighborhood not far from the river. It was a little trip down memory lane but from a different perspective.

Yesterday was very nice too. I got a chance to mow the lawns and work in the yard a bit after we did our running around. R brought Gabby over and DJ came up from the coast in the afternoon for drinks and dinner. The Shakespeare and Gabby played and rough-housed all afternoon, used up some of their seemingly endless energy. I didn’t bbq but we spent some time out on the deck. The maple tree is working hard on growing it’s leaves! It will be very nice later in the summer when it really gets warm.

DJ spent the night and this morning she and P left for Reno to visit DJ’s mom who retired there. It’s Scott, I and the dogs, just us boys, on our own while they’re on the road. It’s going to be quiet around her this week. I’m sure we’ll manage. We still don’t trust Shakespeare with the run of the house while we’re gone, he gets shut up in the den, with the sliding glass door that looks out on the cul de sac. He gets to watch all the activity, the cats and squirrels walking around with impunity. I’m sure he gives them a piece of his mind when he sees them. I’ll be coming home for lunch every day to let him out, give both he and Bailey some company for a while before I go back to work.

The nest in the eave, just out side the computer room is full. Every morning I hear the babies chirping their tiny lungs out when mom and dad come back with something to eat. Spring is in full force around here.

This is Spring?

What a crazy spring we’re having. A high pressure area swept down from Alaska late Friday and yesterday the temperature didn’t get over the mid-forties. It was/is very cold for late April. It rained some last night and the car is covered with ice this morning. The fruit farmers in the area are scrambling to keep their orchards from freezing the blossoms. Yesterday morning I was just sitting down at the computer, P was starting on her breakfast when the power went out! I called the electric company - thank goodness for cell phones (VOIP – voice over internet phone – technology doesn’t work very well when the electricity to your internet router is cut off) They were aware of the problem, but didn’t know what caused the outage to some 5000+ customers. P and I sat around looking at each other for a while before the dogs talked me into taking them for a walk. I got dressed, bundled up with gloves and scarf, grabbed my ipod and off we went. When we got out of the cul-de-sac I could see that the traffic light a block up was out. We meandered through the neighborhood for about an hour. The traffic light was back up and running when we got back home. P reported that the power came back on about 10 minutes after we left. She got a call from DJ, who lives at the coast who reported that she woke up to snow and it started mixing hail in with the snow as she was talking to P! Early yesterday afternoon, as we were heading home after our Saturday running around, it started to hail and then changed to rain and that changed to snow by the time we actually go home. It wasn’t sticking to the ground but we were in a real snow flurry for about 10 minutes. It looked pretty neat, all that snow swirling around. Shakespeare loved it, running and jumping around, trying to catch the snow. It eased up, changed to light rain and moved on. About an hour and a half later we heard from R, P’s brother, who lives on the east side of town. He was experiencing the same hail – snow – rain mix sequence. Like I said, crazy weather. This cold air mass is suppose to move on to the east, out of our area, some time late to day and we will warm back up to the 50’s or so. Still below normal for this time of year, but at least warmer than this weekend! I read in the newspaper that a track meet at the state university got hailed on before it was over. It reminded me of running cross country when I was in high school back in Wisconsin. One year it snowed during the conference championship races. We were running the course around a golf course in our little 2 oz nylon track shorts and top. We were running around naked for all intents and purposes in that weather. I didn’t really care how I did, I just wanted to finish and get my sweats back on!

We packed and shipped a tool last week at work. Just in time, this is the last week of the quarter coming up. We have a few other items to take care of to wrap up, and then it’s on to the next one. The bar always gets move up each time: more, new, greater accomplishments are expected. It’s the corporate way, isn’t it - insatiable.

Sunshine!!

We are finally experiencing some Spring-like temperatures this weekend. Glorious sunshine Friday, Saturday and today has resulted in a lot of aches, pains and sore muscles. It got into the mid 70’s yesterday for the first time this year. We have had a cooler than normal spring up til now, 10 to 15 degrees below normal! The weatherman says that it’s returning this evening again, with cool, rain and snow levels down to 2000 feet. More snow in the hills again. At least the lawns got mowed and some bushes got trimmed. It’s a start. The big maple tree in the back yard should break out it’s leaves any day now. I thought it would be last week so it’s got to be this week for sure. The tree out side my window at work has finally unfurled it’s leaves. I saw that a robin has built a nest two trees down from “my” tree and is sitting on some eggs. We can see it now because the leaves are so small; it may be different once those eggs hatch. It makes for a pleasant diversion from the work day routine. We need it these days. We are affected by the downturn in the economy, just like nearly everyone else. Tuesday we got an email from the company president announcing two weeklong shut downs for two divisions of the company, including the one we report to. We will be off the week after Memorial Day and again the week before the Fourth of July. Luckily I have enough vacation saved that I can use to cover the days off. So, we know when vacation is this year, now we have to figure out what we will be doing. A lot more house cleaning is penciled in for now. We have started on a campaign to go through everything we’ve accumulated and held on to over the past 20 plus years we’ve been in this house. It’s amazing, all the stuff we couldn’t manage to part with over the years. We look at it now and ask ourselves “What was so special about THIS?” It’s causing a lot of memories, laughter and head shaking. I guess its one of the draw backs of having a large house: you just have more space to put things.

And for those of you who are really into this sort of thing, here is a link to the Molecule of the Day web site, thanks to Growabrain.typepad.com

This was the week that R got the tube removed from his ureter. He went in on Thursday for the procedure. He said they started out with a sheet with a hole in it. As you can imagine his business end went through the hole. They shot some gel up his urethra to numb it. Next they used a syringe to fill up his bladder. They wanted it expanded so they would have room to work. They had a camera and light to see what was going on and a grabber to do the deed. When they got to the bladder and looked around they didn’t see the end of the tube sticking out of the ureter. I’m a little fuzzy on how they found it. R said that it was about then that he started looking at the monitor and associating the words the doctor and assistant were saying to the movements on the screen and the occasional twinge he felt. They did find it and were able to get a good grip on it. Out it came. It took a couple of minutes all told but seemed much longer, R said. I can imagine. The tube was plastic, over a foot long with curly ends. He said something about being preoccupied when I asked if he got a picture of it. Rats! Now that’s something you don’t see everyday. You’ll have to just use your imagination. R said that he had some “air in the line” afterwards; it took a while for the system to become fully primed. R has a final follow up appointment in a couple of weeks to double check the kidney function, make sure it’s as expected.

We had some very nice days this week, but it’s grey, cool and raining off and on this weekend. I caught a break this morning: it didn’t rain while I was out walking with the dogs. It was a nice walk. The blossoms on the trees create clouds of fragrant air to walk through. Of course, the dogs were more interested in other smells.

Spring???

This has been Spring Break Week but it certainly wasn't what everyone expected. We've had a lot of precipitation which is normal. What isn't normal is the snow! Somehow a couple of nice cold low pressure systems moved into the area dropping a lot of moisture, snow above 500 feet, rain mixed with snow below that. There are a number of places between here and the coast, a favorite Spring Break getaway, that have had the roads shut down due to snow and ice. A lot of people staying a little longer than planned rather than risk an accident. The good part of it all is that it doesn't stay icy for long and the roads clear up in the afternoon. There is a window of opportunity for the travelers. This is a weather record for us: the latest measureable snowfall (at the airport) for this area. The previous record for the latest snow was March 8th some 57 years ago. It's interesting in a novel sort of way, but I wouldn't want it to be a regular occurrance, if you know what I mean.

It has been quiet at work, many people taking time off to supervise their children during the break. It's nice to have the more relaxed atmosphere for a while, a chance to concentrate for longer stretches on tasks you might not normally get to. I have windows right out side my cube so I have seen the snow these past several days. Thursday we even had dark cloud pass over and drop hail a little smaller than pea size for about five minutes or so. We could see it collecting on the lawn and roadway but it was gone ten minutes after the cloud moved on. The air may be quite cold but the ground is well above freezing. There is no chance that any snow or ice that makes it to our level (263 feet above sea level) is going to stick around for long.

So, the cold front is suppose to move on to the east early next week. It will warm up to the 50's but continue to rain for as long as the weathermen care to forecast. Last Saturday was a beautiful day, sunshiny and warm (50's). I had to mow the lawn as parts of it were starting to get out of hand. The cold seems to have pushed it back to the dormant stage, it hasn't growm much since then, thank goodness. Plenty of other things to do besides that.

Spring Cleaning!

It’s been a quiet week in the neighborhood. I didn’t have any reason or excuse to take any part of Friday off and so worked a full five days this week. It was the first time in a long time. I fully expected to be contacted by the Red Cross for a platelet donation but then I guess they didn’t because it was Good Friday. It was also the first full day of spring and J S Bach’s birthday (323rd). I hope you celebrated all appropriately. There’s nothing like some Brandenburg Concerto in the morning to rev up your day.

The Spring Chinook Salmon season starts Monday on the Columbia River, for TWO weeks. That gives you some indication on how bad the runs are. The poor conditions for the past several years in a row are having a big impact on the number of fish returning this year, which in turn will affect the runs several years from now. It’s a viscous circle. Next week is Spring Break around here, so there are already a number of people taking off work. I expect that more than a few of them will find time to go down to the river and “wet a line”. R is still recovering from his surgery and is not suppose to lift more than 10 lbs which means he can’t take his boat out. He still has a couple of weeks before the tube comes out. Just thinking about that gives me the willies.

We are planning to do some(more) spring cleaning this weekend. There is a garage sale in our near future. The question is becoming where to stage the stuff for the garage sale while we clean up everything else. We recently received a large recycle bin from the garbage company. It couldn’t have come at a better time. We’ve been filling it with the years of stuff saved in the filing cabinet: manuals and paper work for toasters and lawn mowers and VHS players and old computers and what all that broke or was donated to some good cause years ago. We’ve been running the paper shredder a lot too. The ultimate purpose of all this is to clean out so we can downsize. This house is a lot of room for the two of us. There is just too much room for the dogs to mess up, that we have to constantly clean up. The cleaning up won’t change, it just would be nice if it was contained to a smaller area. I know, I know… good luck with that!

Spring Cleaning?

I am happy to report that R is recovering nicely from his kidney stonectomy, or whatever the official name for the procedure is. He’s still not supposed to lift more than 10 lbs, but he’s not letting that stop him from getting back into the swing of things. After all, he is a homeowner and it is the time of year for winter clean up/spring cleaning. We have a bit of that to do ourselves. P is planning to have a garage sale in several weeks. We have over 20 years of accumulation stored in the nooks and crannies of this house. There are lots of treasures for other people. We just have to figure out how much all these things are worth, sentimental more so than dollar-wise. When you have a garage sale you have to get it into your head that all the stuff is already gone, that you don’t want to have to put it back in storage again. You’ve already said your goodbyes to it all, it’s time for it to go…

The experts have closed the commercial salmon season from Washington all the way to California. A combination of circumstances over the past several years has reduced the salmon runs to very low numbers. The cost of salmon it going to go sky high. I’m not sure exactly what the effect will be on the sport fishing season. I’m sure R has his finger on that pulse, and he can’t be happy about it. I think they’ve stopped salmon fishing in the Willamette and severely restricted catching native salmon in the lower Columbia. I’m not sure what the limits are for hatchery salmon. I’m sure we’ll find out soon.

It’s time to get on with the events of the day. Hopefully I can get the dog’s walk in before the rains start today. It has been grey and raining off and on all week. With luck this little dry spell will hold until we get done. There’s nothing like the smell of wet dog all day long.

As Well As Can Be Expected

R’s surgery went well yesterday. He felt fine early last night when he got to his room. We’ll see how he feels this morning when the pain medication wears off. He could go home as soon as Sunday if all goes well.

The doctor said his kidney looked like a stone quarry. Apparently R’s Crones Disease predisposes him to kidney stones. It’s been 20 years since he’s had problems with kidney stones but this may be the reason for his recent back pains. They made a larger hole than his nephrostomy, higher up his back with a sheath to protect it from the tools, camera, light and stones. Apparently a lot of bacteria get released when you break up kidney stones. “Blast scoop and scrape” is how the doctor described it. They got them all, including the big one blocking his ureter. A tube was inserted down the ureter, from kidney to bladder, to keep it open while it recovers from the trauma of breaking up and removing the stone. R will experience some pain and “discomfort” from the tube according to the doctors. It will have to come out in a couple of weeks and when it does, it won't be the same way it went in. They will be pulling it down, out through the bladder and subsequent male plumbing. R is NOT looking forward to that! At least they removed the nephrostomy. No more tubes sticking out of his back. R is looking forward to having all this done with and things back to normal so he can get back to being retired. And going fishing!

After the doctor talked to us I drove out to R’s house, in rush hour traffic, to feed Gabby. A little later I packed her up with her blankie and drove across town back home. She was real happy to see Shakespeare and Bailey when I unloaded her. Shakespeare was beside himself: someone to play with! It took a couple hours for them to calm down enough to even think about going to bed. We put her crate next to Shakespeare’s cage. Normally she sleeps on the bed with R, not an option with us.

Bailey got up before 5 this morning and then came into to see what Shakespeare and Gabby were up doing and wake everyone up. I think Bailey saw the memo on Daylight Savings Time but misread the date as today instead of tomorrow. At any rate, we’ve been up for hours. We aren’t doing anything except supervising the dogs today, making sure they don’t tear the place down with their rough-housing. We will take the dogs for a walk in the park when the forecasted sunshine chases the clouds and rain away this afternoon. I don't think Gabby gets a lot of walks, just a lot of running around in the backyard. She can follow the others. It won't take long to get the hang of it, I'm sure.

Wish us luck!

Way To Go Royals!

Last night Eric's cousin, Vance (Jody's sister's boy), a sophmore at Portland Christian High School, helped his team, the Royals, win the Oregon 2A State Basketball Championship!! (2A is schools with an average daily attendance of 116 to 235) The game was played in Pendleton Oregon. We listened to the radio broadcast on the computer. They beat Western Mennonite in convincing fashion: 70 to 38. The Royals led after the 1st quarter 22 to 2 and never looked back. It helped that they shot amost 70%, a very high percentage for a basketball game. Congratulations to Vance and the Royals!

The month of March is suppose to come in like a lion, go out like a lamb. Well yesterday we had some nice rain storms pass through the area, drenched us good. The weatherman said we might get some lightening and maybe even some hail. If so, it wasn't in our area. It actually cleared off in the afternoon and turned out to be a nice day. R and Gabby came over for a visit in the afternoon. Gabby and Shakespeare chased eachother to whole visit with short breaks for food, treats and naps. Bailey got in the action for a while but stayd on the sidelines and watched for the most part. It's hard to keep up with the energy of 11 month old dogs.

P changed the dressing on R's nephrostomy for the last time, his surgery is this Friday. He won't know exactly what time his surgery will be, morning or afternoon, until the day before. If it's in the afternoon we'll pick him up, take him to the hospital and wait for the results. If it's scheduled for the morning, P will go out the night before to take him first thing. I will take care of the morning routine around here and meet her at the hospital. The surgery is suppose to take up to four hours. They will go in throught the nephrostomy hole in his back, break up the stone, pull out the pieces and see what else needs to be done. Hopefully it will clear the ureter and his kidney will be able to function properly again. Once R is out of surgery and recovering, we will go back to his house to pick up Gabby. She's staying with us until R gets released from the hospital, up to four days depending on how quickly he recovers. It's going to be general mayhem around here until then! Wish us luck, all of us...

Presidents Day, 2008

It's the extra day off this weekend, President's Day. We are having nice weather for the long weekend, very spring-like with temperatures hitting the low 60's. I saw a couple of purple and yellow crocuses peeking up through the ground. The first signs of spring! We're ready. That and the birds singing first thing in the morning. We're waiting for the birds to start fixing up the nests in our eaves pretty soon and start the mating ritual once again.

Tab and Tyf stopped over Saturday to say hello, pick up birth certificates so they can get passports for trip to Mexico a little later in the year. And to show off their smiles:

Please note that Tyfini no longer has braces! Unfortunately, that didn't happen until after senior pictures for her high school year book were taken. I guess those will show what she looked like for most of high school.

Later on Saturday, R and Gabby came for a visit too. (A busy weekend...) R goes to the doctor tomorrow for a final pre op visit. Take care of the final details for his surgery in three weeks. He had P change the dressing on his nephrostomy. I got a picture of his external plumbing this time:

Looks a little sore from taking the old bandage off
Now, hold still, this won't hurt a bit....

All set, ready for another week or so.

Other than having to be careful, no sudden movements or twists of the torso, no lifting anything of consequence, he is just fine. No fishing for a while either. We've had a lot of rain and the rivers have been a bit swollen, but this weekend, with the nice weather (no rain and a bit of sunshine) would have been perfect to take the boat out just to make sure it still works. My boss, Eric, is an avid fisherman also, was thinking of taking his boat out and seeing if the sturgeon were hungry. I'm sure I'll get a full report if he did.

Well, the sun is shining, the fog is starting to burn off. Time to start planning the day. I think a bit of yard work is in order: trimming some bushes, raking out the flower beds, just generally getting ready for warmer weather. Naturally, the forecast calls for rain the rest of the week.

While the unfortunate people in the Midwest are experiencing a typical mid-winter storm with lots of snow and sub-freezing temperatures made worse with biting winds I just wanted to let you know that I'm hearing the birds singing when I go out for my paper in the morning now. That started along with the nice weather we had last weekend: no rain, a little blue sky and temperatures that got all the way up to 50. The forecast calls for a little rain today and then cloudy but for the most part dry through the long Presidents Day weekend. I'm not so sure the groundhog was right when saw his shadow earlier this month. It's amazing what a couple of dry days can do for your disposition.

We visited R over the weekend to help with some technical problems he was having with his gadgets and change the dressing on his nephrostomy. He has a blockage keeping one of his kidneys from draining to his bladder. It relieves the pressure on the one kidney until his surgery early next month to remove the large stone blocking his ureter. He's waiting for the "Pro from Dover" to do the cutting. In the mean time he has a tube about the size of a straw sticking out of his back connecting to a little larger tube going down his leg. It's secured with some nifty surgeons knots on the tube and stitches to the skin around the hole in his back. R has adjusted to it pretty well. He's not in pain because of it, but he has to be careful and he's not suppose to lift anything of consequence. His other kidney is operating normally. He went in for some pre-op work last week. When asked for a urine sample he asked which kidney they wanted it from? That stopped them for a minute. They had to ask to find out - the "normal" one.

Now, if I could just figure out my taxes.

Crazy Weather

Yesterday we were suppose to get a bunch of snow overnight. It was foggy here when we got up but eventually that burned off and we had a nice, partly sunny day. Not so for the rest of the area to the east, north and south of us. R, who lives on the other side of town to the east reported several inches of snow for the dog to frolic in first thing in the morning. The news shows on tv reported lots of snow and ice and accidents on the roads all around the area, except for the west side. Weird.


The weather report said rain/snow mix over night for the area. And this is whats out there waiting for me this morning:

Not much compared to what the rest of the country has experienced but for around here pretty exicting. Not something we get every year, so it is enough to cause major headaches for the adults and fun for the kids.

The forecast calls for temps in the 40's this afternoon, so we will undoubtably lose all of this but, the forecast also calls for more rain and below freezing temps over night so we may see somemore tomorrow!

Cold!

The Northwest getting part of the artic blast thats covering the rest of the country. We're experiencing an easterly wind yesterday and today. That means the wind is coming down from Canada rather than the warmer, western wind off the ocean we normally get. It's suppose to continue tomorrow but some it's suppose to change Wednesday. Even the weatherman isn't quite sure exactly whats going to happen: snow, freezing rain, or what but they're sure something will.

It was nice and clear today, and cold. This is the fountain in our back yard.

Despite the cold, it didn't freeze all the way through because the water was still flowing after work this afternoon.

We'll see if it's still going in the morning...

Go Packers!

Lets hear it for the Packers!
It looked like they were having fun, playing in the snow.
Now, are they going to beat New York or Dallas for a chance to play New England in the Superbowl?

We are heading into a stretch of days were it isn't suppose to rain every day. Maybe the back yard will dry out some. You can clearly see the path the dogs take across the family room and up the stairs when they come in from outside. It wasn't too big of a problem with just Bailey, he doesn't like to get his feet dirty. Not so with Shakespeare. It doesn't matter what its like, grass, dirt, mud, puddles, he goes running straight through it. We have very clear evidence of how high he can put his paws.

Washing walls is becomming a regular task now, just like vacuuming.

Who Me?

I go to the dentist Wednesday to get one of my back teeth prepared for a crown. First major dental work in a long long time, maybe twenty years or so. I've been lucky I guess. The dentist always attributes it to the hard water and floride when I was growing up in the Mid-West. Whatever it is, I'm glad. I just hope it will be another twenty years to the next time.

Milestones

Another donation to the Red Cross this afternoon. I've been working up to this one for a while. Here are some of the other tokens I've gotten over the years.



They've been calling me to come in every three weeks since this summer. I used to make my appointments once a month. I don't mind the process, I'm not squeemish about having a needle stuck in my arm for an hour and a half. I schedule the appointments for Friday afternoons, makes for an early start to the weekend. Work has no problem donating my time, giving back to the community in this way. It's one of the company's "Core Values". I watched the the first half of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon today. They have quite a collection of movies. It's the hardest part of the whole procedure, choosing the right movie.

There's a storm moving in. The remnents of a couple of typhoons are heading our way. Should hit us Sunday evening/Monday morning. We're talking winds up to 70 mph for over a day. There is a good chance there will be wide spread power outages. This is one time all the trees here just may be a handicap. Especially when they fall on and take down power lines. Oh yes, just for good measure, the storm thats coming in before hand, Saturday afternoon could drop up to three inches of snow on the valley floor. Never a dull moment around here. Our friend DJ lives at the coast and was planning on coming to town this weekend. It's her birthday. Instead shes staying home and battening down the hatches. Better safe than sorry. There's sure to be snow in the costal range passes. She has studded snow tires but there's no reason to tempt fate. It's just too costly, money and time, if you make a mistake trying to get through a snow covered pass.


Here are the boys. We took Shakespeare in to get neutered a couple of weeks ago. There will be no little Shakespeares in the future. Bailey has been on a diet for almost three months now and has lost about 20 lbs. A shadow of his former self. He has more energy, can move faster and jump higher now. He hasn't been real happy about it but you can tell that he knows he is in better shape than he has been for years. Now, if he can just get that pesky puppy to leave him alone when he's trying to take a nap. Shakespeare, on the otherhand has energy to burn. Exactly what you'd expect of a puppy. He goes out to the backyard many times a day and races from one end to the other looking for squirrels in the trees. He hasn't caught any yet, but it sure isn't from lack of trying!

Listened to some Rossini an the way to work this morning: Maometto Secondo Overture. Nothing like a little Rossini to pep you up in the morning, get you ready for the details of the work day. I heard it on the KBPS, the local "listener supported" classical station. You can listen to it on the web if you like at www.allclassical.org. And they have just finished their Fall Pledge Drive so you won't have to listen to the endless pleas for $, at least not for several months. Check it out, they have their play lists on the web site. They do more that the usual "Top 40" classical numbers.

We're winding down the fiscal year. Only two and a half more weeks. One of the accomplishments this year was consolidating the space we occupy in the building. That ment moving the warehouse. Corporate policy dictates that a full, physical inventory be done after such a move. So, that's what I and the rest of the Operations team get to do tomorrow and Friday: come in early, stay late, touch all the parts and compare it to what the computer says should be there. Hopefully we will come close.

This is a test to see if I can post to my blog from Google Docs & Speadsheet, a web application, albeit within the Google family of stuff.

This is a test. This is only a test. If this had been a real emergancy you would have been contacted by the Homeland Security Department... We're from the government, we're here to help....

So, now, theoretically all I have to do is click on this PUBLISH button...

The Addition

Meet the newest member of the family: Vanity Fair's King Lear, commonly known as Shakespeare.



He's an English Springer Spaniel. A regular ball of energy when he's awake, angelic when he's sleeping. Just like any baby I suppose. Bailey seemed a bit annoyed to begin with, but now I think he's realizing that he (Bailey) is a dog too. He's starting to put up with Shakespeare's antics and actually play with him occasionally. Kind of hard not to when you have this little ball of energy jumping on you, nipping at your ears and just generally getting in your face. Bailey weighs almost 60 lbs, a bit overweight. Shakespeare clocks in at about 20 lbs and growing daily. Bailey is like a big old sumo wrestler shifting his weight around to knock Shakespeare off his feet or get the right position to keep him from getting to his ears, a favorite target when they're playing. Like all baby's, he has a very short attention span. He has toys and anything we can think of to keep him busy strewn about the house.

This all started when Randy contacted a breeder about getting a puppy to replace Hanna, the basset hound he lost just before last Christmas. Pat went with him to visit the puppies after they were born. It didn't take long before "we" had to have one. And there just happened to be one left when she talked me into it.
How can you say no to a face like this?



R's has a female named Gabriella, also known as Gabby. We've gotten them together a couple of times for play dates. If you could only bottle that energy: running all over the place, chasing each other and just generally having a good time. Separately, their frantic energy spurts might last 20 to 30 minutes before they take a break. Together it lasts an hour or more. Just when one thinks it might want to rest for a minute or two the other senses weakness, attacks and they're off to the races once again. Whatever one has the other has to have it too.



R and Gabby start Puppy Training classes on Monday. We will start with Shakespeare soon. And Bailey? He's got someone to play with and is actually loosing some weight, finally. All the extra activity is paying off.

Now, for something totally different:
Books currently on my nightstand:

The Road to Ruin Donald E. Westlake
The Vintner's Luck Elizabeth Knox
The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll Alvaro Mutis
Under the Tuscan Sun Frances Mayes
The Story of Civilization Vol. 6 The Reformation Will Durant
The System of the World Vol 3 of the Baroque Cycle Neal Stephenson
Memoirs of a British Agent R.H. Bruce Lockhart