e's Blogspot

Another 50th Anniversary

2010-09-14T17:27:00.011-07:00

My parents had their 50th wedding Anniversary on September 2nd. I flew into town (unbeknownst to them) and my sister, Cori and I treated them, my Uncle Lee (Dad's brother who stood up for him when they got married) and wife Doris as well as My Aunt Jill (who stood up for my Mom) and Uncle Steve. Of course, Cori and her sweetie Al were there. It was a small but memorable dinner at the beautiful English Inn just outside of Eaton Rapids, Michigan. The English Inn allegedly has some beautiful gardens, however, it was bit rainy so we didn't really tour them. We did get to tour the Inn guest suites as they had all the rooms open. Apparently, they didn't have guest staying there on a Thursday evening. I like the place so much that the next time we go home for a family function, I may talk Matt into staying there a couple nights.

Table cam... Uncle Lee, Mom (Joan), Doris and my Aunt Jill

My Dad (Neal)

Dad and his brother, Lee (a.k.a. "Sam")

Mom, Doris and my Aunt Jill (Mom's Sister)

Mom & Dad at the English Inn

It all started with...

2010-06-28T17:38:00.004-07:00

a statement that I made to my high school friend, Edie, at Ironman, Florida (Panama City--see previous blog about that). I think I said something like "There is NO WAY I would do that swim!!" Well, time has passed and it seems that when I say stuff like "No way!", "NFW!" and "Why would anyone do that to themselves??" — what I really mean is maybe I'll try it sometime. It also helps (or doesn't help) to have an uber over-achieving friend to plant the seed. Now that I've run a few marathons (and will run a couple more this year), I think this next adventure will really tell me how much farther I can go.

Today I signed up for Ironman Couer d'Alene, 2011, along with my friend, Edie. I'm truly looking forward to the training, the challenge and being able to experience my first Ironman along with Edie.

This fish has been out of the water a long time and I'm looking forward to getting back in and learning to swim for LONG periods of time. The bike will get dusted off and I'll fit that into what will be a pretty active exercise schedule.

I'm by no means a super athlete but I like to think I'm persistent and well... like the video says, I WILL do this!!

R.I.P. Chance

2010-06-25T20:34:00.007-07:00

It's hard not to love a little Shih Tzu and especially Chance. My Mom and Dad got Chance after losing their first Shih Tzu, Teddy. I kind of brought Teddy to them and they loved him and discovered how much fun the breed's feisty attitude could be. They hand picked Chance and he was a suck-up from the get-go. He soon was the boss of them and where ever they were he was. He particularly liked to be where my Mom was but he his loyalty to her would go out the window if Dad was going somewhere in the truck. He loved truck rides! He also loved his white kitties that slept with him on the couch, eating at the dinner table, and herding his people on the big farm. He was extremely lucky to be a farm dog, and even luckier to be REALLY spoiled farm dog.

Chance all snuggled up with my Dad's jacket on the tractor in winter.

Although I've lived in Arizona throughout Chance's lifetime, I always enjoyed visiting and having him run in my bedroom to wake me up in the morning. He was well mannered, well behaved and lovable. I tend to get attached to my parent's animals because I feel like when I'm there, they are an extension of our family. I also just love animals and especially cute, smart dogs.

Chance passed away in his sleep just two nights ago. My parents really didn't see it coming and so they are really quite a mess losing their beloved little dog. Chance was 12 years old. So again our family has lost a special pet and family member in a short period of time. There is comfort in knowing that he was at his favorite place in the whole wide world when his time came. At home on his farm with his people.

R.I.P. little Shih Tzu. Your canine family is waiting for you in doggie heaven. Zach, Zoe and Kobi will all be happy to see you.

The First 50th...

2010-06-18T16:05:00.013-07:00

This year is a big year for all things 50...

It's all starting with Wanda & Matthew's 50th wedding anniversary. It's also my Mom & Dad's 50th anniversary year as well. PLUS, Matt Jr. (a.k.a. the spouse and Cricket) is having his 50th birthday along with sister-in-law, Karen. Whew!!

We had Matt & Wanda's party on May 15 at Dan and Karen's beautiful home in Paradise Valley. It was catered by one of Wanda's favorite places to dine, Sophie's Bistro and the band with lead singer, Dennis Rowland, was great (Click through to his website for a few You Tube videos). They had played at Dan and Karen's wedding and they really know how to get everybody dancing.

We kept it a surprise for Wanda and she was certainly surprised to learn that we were not taking them to a fancy restaurant but bringing all the "fancy" to a place where friends and relatives could celebrate with them.

Here's Wanda with her "Queen" glass.

Group photo of family & friends

Matthew, Wanda and their boys Cricket (Matt Jr.) and Dan and the Daughters-in Law, Karen and I

The cake cutting, 50 years later!

Wanda with her siblings Jonni & Frank

Taking a break from the dance floor. Wanda, Dan, Matt & Karen

Wanda & Matthew looking good 50 years later.

Singer Dennis Rowland. He and his band were great. Really made the dancing fun seen below in photo of Cricket and his Mom. He hates to dance! But I think he enjoyed dancing at this party.

Cricket (Matt Jr.) & his Mom having a dance.

The lovely couple enjoying their party.

Daisy's Blog

2010-05-07T11:30:00.003-07:00

Daisy has decided to do her own blog. She's decided to let everyone know about her adventures both at home and during her travels. Check out her blog, at daisydogtravels.blogspot.com.

Daisy and Lulu

2010-04-24T19:17:00.004-07:00

Lulu is Daisy's squid toy friend. She's likes to carry Lulu outside with her. I got this toy off of Etsy when I was looking for a cute crate bed (I ended up getting some cute daisy material at JoAnn's and neighbor Jan sewed a bed for her). It's been a busy week for Daisy. She had to go get a rabies shot and thus her first visit to my vet. It was kind of weird taking her after taking Kobi there for his final hour a few weeks before. A bit emotional for me. I love my new puppy, but I miss my old "puppy" too.

This past week was also Daisy's first dog obedience class. I am taking her to the same dog trainer I took Kobi to 16 years ago, Dan Brutsche. Dan has a great memory with dogs and he remembered me and Kobi. Kobi was a great dog in part because I trained him with the basic commands within a week of getting him. My plan for Daisy is no different. I think all dogs need training to be well mannered around humans and other animals.

I have to admit that Daisy is a very quick study. She is heeling and sitting as soon as I stop. Tonight I decided to get a jump on next week's session by teaching her "stay". It didn't take long. I had her staying with the leash dropped and walking circles around her without a problem. I even got her to do "down" (lay down) on command. We had a backyard play session of Fetch with her new tennis ball afterwards. I think she's now actually starting to put the word "fetch" together with the play time and she "gives" the ball back quite nicely.

She's a lot of fun and I'm enjoying an active puppy. I'm looking forward to 16+ years with this little dog. After dog obedience, she be old enough to go up the street to Partners for dog agility. I think I'm going to give that a go. We'll both have a blast!

Puppy time...

2010-04-13T19:17:00.010-07:00

It's day 3 since Daisy arrived and she's already showing lots of puppy "tude". There's not much that can make this little girl's tail stop wagging. She plays and sleeps very hard. She is my little shadow and has to be where ever I am. However, she likes the fact that she can still see Matt—when he is in his office through the french doors. Kobi's Cool-A-Roo bed is like her play area while I'm working. Somehow that's soothing to me to know something I got for Kobi is still useful. She just loves to lay on it and play with her toys and take naps while I'm working during the day.

She's getting lots of walking time around the neighborhood too. Today Matt, Daisy and I walked across the street for lunch. We had a slice of pizza from Brothers and coffee at Scooter's sitting outside with Daisy. I'm taking her on a little adventure each day to get her used to being around people and places. Yesterday she had a REALLY big adventure going to Bonnie's Barkery. She got a new harness, collar, crate bed, ID tag and toys. She loves her toys. In fact, she made a point of pulling off the displays the toys she wanted. Plus she had to wow the customers with her cuteness. One girl was trying to describe her to a friend on her cellphone and she just said "I don't even know how to describe how cute this dog is... and I certainly can't describe what breed it is!" That about sums it up. To me she is 100% purebred mutt. But she sure is cute and smart too! She's not my Kobi dog, but she's going to be another one-of-a-kind for sure.

We'll see what tomorrows adventure will be. For now, I thought I'd share some Cool-A-Roo photos.

I got this Blow Pop stuffed toy out of the sale bin at Bonnie's Barkery. It's her favorite now.

I don't know what toy to play with first. So I'll play with all of them at once!

I love my toys and my Cool-A-Roo bed.

Meet Miss Daisy...

2010-04-11T20:15:00.011-07:00

After saying goodbye to Kobi there was a huge silent void in our house. I'd start tearing up as soon as I saw my neighbors walking by with their dogs or crying when I walked by a bush Kobi liked to leave pee-mail on. I just felt lost without our dog in the house. I really miss Kobi. He was one-of-a-kind. On Saturday I accepted that I would always miss Kobi and that we had given him the longest, best possible life we could. Another dog deserved the same... For the last few years I toyed with getting a Cairn Terrier but I didn't really want to go through a breeder and I wanted to help a dog that otherwise might not have a chance. Plus, I decided I wanted another "one-of-a-kind" dog.

I found Daisy (formerly Chloe). First off, I want to mention that I changed Chloe's name to Daisy because I have a friend who has a dog named Chloe and several other friends with little girls named Chloe. So I kind of felt funny about keeping her name Chloe. She had Daisies on her collar and I thought that fit her perfect. She seems to respond to Daisy just as she did Chloe so I think it all works out.

I found Daisy after surfing the web and ending up at 4 Peaks Animal Rescue site. I was about to end my search and put off a new family dog for a couple of months when I saw Daisy's (know as Chloe) photo. I knew this was the dog to bring back doggy life in the Diethelm household. I contacted 4 Peaks and learned she was not adopted yet. Today her very nice foster Mom, Deb, brought her to my house and she proceeded to fit right in. The cats have all sniffed her over even though they have that "WHAT IS THAT??" look on their face. Nobody's hissing and they're all keeping a respectful distance until they decide to get closer. I can tell Daisy's on her way to eventually having cat buddies. She doesn't bother them at all and they seem to keep inching closer to her.

Daisy is 5 months old and all puppy. She was on the euthanasia line but was saved by 4 Peaks. Personally, I can't even imagine how a cute little puppy could be up for euthanasia but I do know that I'm very glad she was saved and I was lucky enough to adopt her. She is so cute. She plays hard and she sleeps even harder (she snores a little). Her first quasi day here has been really good. She follows me every where just like Kobi did. She's quiet and her tail never stops wagging. She's already gone for a neighborhood walk with her new next door neighbor buddy, Teddy (Pomeranian) and she's learning that the backyard is where she is suppose to go to the bathroom. She loves her Nutro puppy food I bought her and she is constantly slurping down cold water from the big water dish. She is such a happy-go-lucky little girl. I'm really looking forward to taking her to dog obedience, hiking with her and taking lots of neighborhood walks.

So... with a new puppy, I was quite distracted and my eyes stayed drier longer. I think Daisy helped cheer up my neighbors Tom & Jan too. They miss Kobi too.

Here are a few photos of Daisy's first day. I'm sure there will be more to come.

My brother Alan and his grandson Logan stopped over. Logan played tug-of-war with Daisy. She really like him. She ran to the door to watch him leave. So I guess we add "good with kids" to her list of good traits.

Here she is laying by my desk while I'm doing computer tasks.

This is a bed I bought for Kobi that didn't work for him. However, Daisy really likes it. Especially with her blanket and all her toys on it.

She likes to lay on my feet. Right now she's sitting in my Herman Miller chair and is getting way too comfortable!

This photo is one Tom took when she first got to our house. She's just too cute!

Saying Goodbye to Kobi....

2010-04-08T18:21:00.010-07:00

With great sadness Matt & I said goodbye to our beloved dog of 16 years...

He was such a big part of our family and I will miss him terribly. Kobi lived 100% up until the night before we took him to the vet. He was struggling to walk and I knew his arthritis was getting bad. Even so, he attempted to follow me where ever I went and he would not let me out of his sight. This morning he could not walk--even though he tried.

Kobi did not cry or whine. He just kept looking up at me with his big Kobi eyes and I knew that I might have to make a decision I wasn't ready to make. The vet confirmed my suspicions that he had neurological problems and his back legs had become paralyzed. He also said that it was unlikely he could ever regain the strength. He was a 90 year old man.

It's true what they say, that it never gets any easier. I think it was especially hard to say goodbye to Kobi. He was my first dog of my adult life and for 16 years he guarded our house, left "pee" mail on his daily walks, befriended all the neighbors (Tom & Jan--his 2nd parents--who were there to say goodbye as well. Bless their hearts, they rushed to the vet to say goodbye. Tom even did an illegal left turn in front of a cop... ), shared his dog bed with the cats, awaited Thursday "steak night" like a puppy—running back and forth from the garage to his dog dish when Matt pulled into the garage, and he provided an infinite amount of unconditional love. He was a beautiful dog. Matt and I used to joke that he was the "Brad Pitt" of the dog "hood". He was truly a really GREAT dog. I loved him dearly and I will continue to love him in memory. R.I.P. Kobi Dog.

R.I.P. Zoe the farm dog....

2010-02-16T17:41:00.006-07:00

My Mom and Dad's last little Aussie/Border Collie mix farm dog, Zoe, passed away today. She was such a sweet little dog. Zoe lived to a good old doggy age of 14 and had a good life on the farm. I always gave Zoe a bath when I went home to visit in the spring and I will miss her this year.

Totally sucks that we out live our best friends... sorry Mom & Dad!

Ironman Edie, October & November

2009-12-05T19:48:00.018-07:00

Again, I'm woefully behind on my personal blog. That has a lot to do with all my RC3 Running club activities. So first I want to say that if you want an October update, please see the RC3 blog about my pacing duties at the Javelina 100 (100 mile endurance run). In November I made a trip to Panama City, FL to "sherpa" my high school friend, Edie, in her second Ironman event. To preference the magnitude of physical and mental strength one needs for such an event, an Ironman triathlon is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike AND a 26.2 mile run. I've been lucky enough to reconnect with my friend Edie who I shared lots of high school time with on the basketball and volleyball court. I went out to Edie's house in July to just "hang" and we did a 9 mile training run. It kind of killed me then... but I think I'm better for it now.

Edie was always an all around athlete with a great deal of will and determination both in sports and academics. It was NO surprise to me that she would continue to be the awesome chick I've alway known her to be. Edie's spouse, Nathan, is in Iraq and when I learned she would be going to Ironman, Florida alone... I couldn't in good conscience let her do that. I know how important it is to have that point person to handle the minor details and provide support. I was happy to help her with that. A true friend pays it forward and I'm excited to say that Edie is going to pace me for the last 23 miles of my first ultra marathon in April (American River 50 mile endurance run). I can't ask for more. She knows from her Ironman experiences exactly what it takes to push through the mental and physical obstacles. She inspires me and thats the person you want to tell you to "Stop being a baby, suck it up and finish!"

That being said, I'd like to share a few Edie Ironman photos with you...

2.4 mile ocean swim. This is the only thing keeping me from doing an Ironman. Look how crazy it is! Can you imagine 2000+ people in the water with you?

The swim to bike transitions. They run through this stream of people and go through the "strippers" who peel off their wetsuits. Then they run to the bike transition.

Here is Edie on the 26.2 mile run. I sprinted in front of her to get her photo. I wanted to run with her, but apparently the Ironman rules penalize you as they feel you are "pacing" and that's considered outside help. So all I could do was be there to watch her run by on her out and backs and sprint in front of her snapping photos.

She finished with a PR! Look how great she looks after doing ALL THAT! Edie knocked off almost 3 hours off her previous Ironman time. How awesome is that??

Edie and I had a nice time sitting out on the condo deck area each night, chatting , sipping a glass of wine and enjoying some really nice sunsets. It was a thing of beauty until Hurricane Ida decided to venture into the gulf the day before we were to go home! We were lucky she turned into a tropical storm and had lost some "umph" so our flights could leave on time.

September Updated

2009-10-11T10:14:00.013-07:00

Time to get my blog updated. Looks like there was nothing going on in September when in fact, lots went on in September. I'll start off with the quick weekend trip to Michigan for my cousin Katie's wedding day. The wedding was on September 5th. That morning I checked off my marathon training run. It was a nice long run from my parents house to my friend Audrey's house in Onondaga (15 miles). The weather was perfect and I started off at 7:00 a.m. There was a morning mist and the roads are very quiet out in the country. Matt drove ahead of me and took some photos as I progressed towards Leslie where Kayla (Audrey's daughter) met me for the final 8 miles. She's a FAST girl so I told her just to go on ahead. She came back for me for the last few miles. Matt met me at Audrey's and she made us a waffle breakfast (Yummy... Thank You Audrey!)

Here I am turning off of Fitchburg Rd.

This was about 5 miles from my parents house.

More photos on the RC3 Running Club blog.

Then there was the wedding that evening. I was very bad about taking photos this trip. However I did get this very nice photo of the Newlyweds.

Newlyweds Katie & Christopher Wolcott

Matt & I stayed at my Parent's house and the farmhouse I grew up in. I still love that old house with all the big trees, flowers and my Mom's awesome gardens. Matt just loves the sweet corn and he like the donuts that we picked up at Gee Farms to take to the after wedding, gift opening brunch at my Aunt Jill & Uncle Steve's house.

Brother, Alan, took this photo of the farm house that we grew up in.

One of the great things about growing up on a farm was that we were never bored as children. Especially with so many chores and things to explore. My brother and wife, Debbie, took their Grandson, Logan (I guess that makes me his Great Aunt—talk about feeling OLD!). Needless to say, the farm was a big, new world for Logan. He had a blast going on tractor rides, exploring the farm from corner to corner and getting his first up front and personal with the farm sheep.

Logan and my Dad feeding the baby lambs. More photos of Logan, family and farm can be found by clicking here.

The trip to Michigan was the highlight of September. I got home and immediately went on a HOT 16 mile long run the weekend after. It was incredible how difficult that run was after running a cool Michigan morning run. Luckily, those hot mornings are behind us now and I'm enjoying some of the same weather here. Next up, Matt and I are going on a weekend trip to Moab, October 16-19. Matt's going to do some mountain biking with some buddies and I'm going to run the Moab "Other Half Marathon" on October 18th. I'm looking forward to the run as it will be a nice training run with some beautiful scenery. Look for some photos for that soon.

Note: September was a big month for the running club I helped start. RC3 is now an official non-profit and we are a member of the RRCA (Road Runner's Club of America). We're now up to 50 women and still growing! I'm quite proud of all we've accomplished in such a short time. You will see most of my blogging about running by visiting the RC3 Running Club blog.

Age Is NO Excuse

2009-08-06T21:09:00.004-07:00

It's been awhile since I've been blogging on my personal blog. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I've been so involved in establishing a running group and blog. I've been preoccupied but one thing always leads to another. I find that my personal blog is a place where I can be a bit more candid. Today my new found running experience is foder for personal reflection and thus here I am...

First if you don't know about RC3, the running club I helped start you can see that HERE. Currently we are very close to becoming a non profit organization and a member of the RRCA (Road Runners Club of America). The incorporation paperwork is at the Corporation Commission and we're just waiting on approval notification. And we are now introducing NEW women into our running group on a weekly basis. We are growing like crazy. Which brings me to today's post.

I can no longer use age as an excuse...
Today, a new runner joined us for our Thursday track workout. I make it a habit to run with the new people to get to know them and make them feel comfortable. Today it was the other way around. Our new runner, Susie Kramer (who just moved to Cave Creek a week ago from Pennsylvania) made me feel more comfortable. Susie and I ran around the track and I discovered—at a much slower pace than she is used to. I found out that Susie has been running all her life and runs 4 marathons a year. Typically in the sub 3 hour time range. She is my new inspiration. She ran without effort and talked to me and spoke encouraging words the entire time... even when I wasn't sure I could talk. I found that we had a lot in common in our personal lives. She is just a really good runner and I am still struggling to improve. Maybe it might have been easier to accept if she was younger than me. I've always found it convenient to use my age as an excuse when I wasn't running that great or was working through various aches and pains. Most of the girls I run with are 3+ years younger than I am. But not Susie. She is older and she runs like I hope to run someday. She has quite a few years of running behind her and I've only been running for a year. That gives me hope that you can get better EVEN as you get older. Now I have a whole new mindset. I'm never going to use my age as an excuse and I am going to keep running and get better. I look forward to the day where Susie isn't doing all the talking and I converse with her without being winded. I may never do a sub 3 hour marathon, but I'm not going to rule it out.

Thank you Susie!

Refined Felines

2009-06-28T19:37:00.008-07:00

Thought I would share a few photos of the new kitty condo. It's very nicely made and sturdy. Looks like a little piece of art—especially with Sparky the cat model. Chili was on it as well, but then he got all belligerent when Sparky wanted on, so we had to pull him off and let Sparky give it a try. Needless to say, Chili is off trying to figure out our early demise.

Sparky is always the first one to try out the new stuff. He settled in as soon as it was assembled.

I like it!

Pepper & Sparky checking out the cubby and padded cushion.

Shameless Promotion...

2009-05-22T21:22:00.003-07:00

A little promotion for the other blog I set up for my running group which is now becoming a club. We got to where we had 8-10 girls showing up to run and 20 on our e-mail list that were all actively participating. We were all thinking it and then I just said it. "We should just start our own running club". EVERYONE was on the same page. They just needed the suggestion...

I set up a new blog and we are on our way. Now we're talking shirts, events, and all the other things clubs do. I think it's fabulous. That being said check out RC3 (Running Chicks of Cave Creek).

Home Improvement Update-Matt's Office

2009-05-12T09:59:00.008-07:00

Matt's office was the last room that needed some paint and flooring. I completed that task along with fixing a lighting issue by putting in French doors. I loved how this room turned out and I now think he has one of the nicest rooms in the house. The results are below.

Here's a photo that shows the paint colors well. It also shows the solid doors that were replaced.

A view of the floor and with the old doors on.

With the new doors. What a difference they make. My neighbor, Tom, helped me hang them. They were unfinished pine doors from Home Depot and cost $100 per door. Tom and I routed out the hinges etc (I now know how to use a router--which means I'll probably be doing some window sills next). I contemplated staining them but decided to just paint them white to match the other doors. We've had to go with round door knobs (you can see one of the old door knobs on the closet door) because our cat, Chili, can open up the lever type. He's still trying to figure out the round knobs as he is annoyed that he can't just get into the rooms whenever he likes.

Good Dam Run

2009-04-04T14:18:00.004-07:00

This morning I participated in the Lake Pleasant, Good Dam Run/Walk/Hike with a couple of boot camp girls. Wow... what a beautiful morning it was. The weather was nearly perfect and the run was certainly a change of pace as a good chunk of the 7 mile course was through rocky washes, and over streams. It was a quasi trail/road run. We also got to run across the Waddell damn that is not open to the public. Really the run was called a run/walk/hike as it wasn't competitive. However, my BC instructor Jodi and husband Craig both came in first from the 4 mile course and they did give out medals to the first place finishers. I'm proud to say that Jodi kicks my butt at boot camp at least twice a week.

I did the 7 mile course with BC friend Heather. We certainly were not pushing it and enjoyed the hike/run. I have a long run tomorrow and so today was a perfect warm up for that. AND I made sure I took my camera this time (forgot it at the St. Paddy's Day run).

Kim, Heather, Me & Jodi

Mark (Kim's Husband), Kim, Heather & me again. Oh and what's with other people cutting off our legs in the photos....sheesh!

Bountiful Basket Morning

2009-03-28T13:17:00.009-07:00

This is my second week participating in Bountiful Baskets. It's a produce food co-op that buys organic and/or conventional vegetables from the growers/distributors at deep discounts. For a participatory contribution of $15(conventional) or $25 (organic) you can get a basketful of produce. One would pay much more at the grocery store for the amount of produce received. Every other week they distribute the baskets to various Valley locations.

Below are a couple of photos of what was in my basket this week(I purchased the conventional basket). I had a friend that got the organic. She got beets, raisins, zucchini, kale, oranges, apples, peaches etc. I think I got a bit more in the conventional basket, but am going to go organic next time to mix it up. The fruits and vegetables vary depending on what can be purchased and what is in season. I was happy with my basket this week because I got strawberries and lots of bananas. I also got a huge bag of potatoes that I'll have to divvy up between the neighbors. Way too many for Matt and I. You can also purchase bread (However, you get 3 or 5 loaves and I don't have enough room in my freezer to store the extra loaves). They had rounds of cinnamon bread, a tuscan crusty bread and multi-grain. Something else to try but maybe after I clear some room in my freezer. At times they will offer extras like an "Asian Pack" with bok choy, green onions, snow peas and more. They had that the first week I participated and the next time they have it, I'm definitely getting one. It looked fantastic.

What I love about my Saturday morning pick-up is seeing all the different people that show up to pick them up. People really do see the value of eating healthy.

Sparky is our farm kitty. I think if he were still on my parent's farm he would be lying in the garden, all summer long, nibbling on all the vegetables.

Ragnar Del Sol Relay Run

2009-03-03T10:16:00.009-07:00

Last weekend I ran Ragnar Del Sol with 11 other teammates. Our team, Adventure Boot Camp Dos, ran a total of 202 miles from Friday morning until Saturday afternoon. We started in Prescott and ended up in Mesa. There was little to no sleep, but lots of time either in our vehicle or running. Now that I look back on it—it really was a fun experience—even though I managed to fall during the night and skin myself up pretty good. I think we were all sore and thrashed afterwards.

I flew Kayla out from Michigan to run on our team. She was definitely the superstar in our vehicle and I was quite proud of her. She had her best run at night running 7.5 miles through Wickenburg in 55 minutes.

I thought I'd share a few photos and as I get more (I have none of our teammates in the 2nd vehicle) I'll post them. Click on photos for a larger, up close view.

Here is ABC Dos vehicle 1 runners at the start line. From left to right: Me, Heidi, Kayla, Nikki, Dave and Brianna

Heidi waiting at the start line.

Heidi on the first leg of the race.

Nikki halfway through her run to Skull Valley (near Prescott).

Kayla on her last run between Rio Verde and Fountain Hills (Note the two dudes she passed behind her).

Those Were the Days...

2009-01-27T18:32:00.026-07:00

I borrowed a high quality slide scanner from a photographer friend to scan in a couple hundred old slides that my Aunt Jill had. Although a long process, it's a rewarding one. The slides come to life in nice big photos. I loved looking at the photos and feeling like I was there for the moment. In today's world of cell phones, computers and constant interruption, it's so nice to look back to simpler times. The photos made me happy and sad. Sad to no longer have my Grandparents but happy to see them when they were young and full of life with family. Please click on the photos to see a more detailed and larger view. I think some of the expression gets lost with the template sized photos.

Here's my Mom on graduation day (from High School). People always say I look just like her. This photo might have convinced me. I can only imagine how proud my Grandparents were. I'm a bit like my Mom as I'm not one to "shine" for the camera. Keep those things away from me! However, my Mom showed a sincere smile for this photo and it definitely made her shine.

Wow! I really love this photo. I'm not sure who was taking the photo. I suspect it might have been my Grandfather. I'm not sure that the double exposure was on purpose, but what a perfect mistake. Look how the baby's eyes (cousin Chris) are closed and in the double exposure they're open. It's as if the baby is dreaming about it surroundings. Look how the mother (Aunt Julie) is looking at her baby. One can only imagine all the thoughts... excitement, joy and worry of being a new Mom.

My Grandmother and my Uncle Tom. Grandmother was a great Mom and it just shows in the beaming face of Tom. I love how beautiful, young and vibrant my Grandmother looks. She was such a soft hearted person and I can't help but feel happiness when I see photos of her like this.

By the hammer on the deck of the raft, I suspect my Grandfather just completed this raft on Portage Lake where their cabin was. As a child, I spent a lot of time at their cabin as well as jumping off that raft. He built it to last like everything he built (including the cabin). Our family spent lots of time doing water activities in the summer. On the raft from left (in the striped t-shirt with short sleeves) are Aunt Julie, my Mom (Joan--in the large stripe 3/4 length striped shirt), Aunt Jill, Grandfather, Grandma, neighbors at lake, Isabel Snyder (lady in green sweater) and Irene and Dick Dressel (Dick is leaning over a boat motor and Irene is in the blue sweater).

The beach scene. See we really are a family that likes to be near water... even if it's freezing. I'm sure my Aunt Jill has the story. If she fills me in I'll update the caption. I thought it was a cool photo because I know my Grandfather was taking the photo with my cousin Tim in his arms. I'm sure the others were wondering why the baby wasn't in photo. From left to right, my Grandma, Aunt Jill, her little brother and my Uncle Tom, and Uncle Steve. Clearly, there were no such things as beach shoes.

The Spare Bathroom Completed

2009-01-27T10:57:00.009-07:00

I admit it... it took me FOREVER to finish the spare bathroom. I think I gutted it over a year ago and then procrastinated for a very long time. I found it useful to use for a closet. I'm not sure my house guest in February would find that convenient so I started working on it in December.

I cut down the floor stone to make the shower border. If you buy the border separately, it's quite pricey. I saved big bucks by taking the extra time to cut the sheets of rock.

The new toilet is a Toto. I've never been into toilets but I have to admit this one is really cool. I love the half and full flush option (like in Europe) and it has a soft close seat. It's not super compact but the shape and design opened up the space a little.

We put in a mirror that can be tilted up or down. This is nice for personal preference and height differences. The towel bar on the pedestal is really nice. I put hooks on the back of the door and the "invisible" towel holder on the wall. That eliminated the need for a towel bar.

Exciting Day in The Valley of the Sun

2009-01-18T16:47:00.002-07:00

Wow! Has this weekend been action-packed. First, the Cardinals are actually going to the Super Bowl. Matt went to the game, so I'm sure I'll hear all about the craziness when he gets home.

Then the East Valley (Phoenix, Tempe & Scottsdale) saw record numbers of runners for PF Chang's Rock-N-Roll Marathon & Half Marathon. Being amongst the crowd of runners, I can say that this event is just a little too big. Did it, got the shirt and I'm done. Before I even started, my heels got stepped on about 5 times. I think that was a sign of things to come. The water areas were slow and slippery. When I realized I wasn't going to meet my time goal (2 hours) I checked out mentally around mile 8 or 9. I decided not to beat myself up. I probably shouldn't have attempted a half marathon only 6 weeks after doing a full. I finished in 2:15 (unofficial--that's what my Garmin said). Considering my time was 2:08 at the halfway point of The Tucson Marathon (which I ran the full or 26.2 miles), it was not a good time for me.

The best part of the event was participating with some of my boot camp buddies. We had some good laughs. I'm happy the run is over and looking forward to getting the Cardinals game review from Matt over a nice dinner and a glass of wine.

Next up is the Ragnar Del Sol. I'm really looking forward to that event as it will be relatively short (but challenging) runs. My legs are a total of 18.2 miles.

Glorious Day...

2008-12-25T10:20:00.012-07:00

The nice thing about being a pet in our household is every day is like Christmas. We spoil our pets rotten. Luckily, pets are pretty easy to please. Kobi is quite content this morning after having his Christmas egg and sausage for breakfast. It's rainy and cold today so he also got a dose of his prescription medication for arthritis. I can always tell when he is a little lame. He's doing pretty good for a 14 year old dog. He has no issues eating and he still sprints to the door if he thinks Matt is bringing him steak from Durant's.

The cats are happy to have a nice fleecy blanket to cuddle on when it's cold (Chili and Pepper).

Sparky lives up to his name each and every day. Here he is modeling Matt's snowboard.

Merry Christmas! May your holiday be filled with small comforts and great happiness.

I DID it! Check another thing off the list...

2008-12-13T20:34:00.005-07:00

Last Sunday my running buddy, Heidi and I completed the Tucson Marathon. It was my first marathon and for Heidi it was her 5th.

First, I just want to say that it's an incredible feeling to have finished my first marathon and it was so nice to have Heidi there with me all the way. We finished together in 4:31 and a few seconds. I'm totally happy with that.

The day started out with a traffic jam of runners trying to get to the buses that took us to the starting line. Heidi and I had to bail out of the car (Matt was driving us to the buses) and walk to the buses for fear we weren't going to make it on time (they said the LAST buses would leave at 6 a.m. and it was 5:50 with traffic not moving). Luckily, we didn't have to walk too far and the buses were waiting because lots of participants were stuck in the jam. Then our bus driver wanted to drop us off at the half marathon starting point. Everyone on the bus was doing the full marathon and so the bus driver figured it out after people started freaking out. We made it to the start in Oracle 40 minutes before. We had enough time to stand in the porta john line and stretch out. We started on time at 7:30 a.m. It wasn't that cold so I took off all my throw-a-way layers right from the start. The weather was really nice for the marathon. A little overcast so we didn't have to worry about heat later in the day but warm enough that we weren't freezing at the start.

Then we ran down, down, down then up, up, up... down, up, down, up for awhile. Finally it flattened out between mile 6-11 until we did the Biosphere loop. That was mostly up with a little down. We were relieved to get done with that and I think that our best running was between mile 13 and 18.

Matt was a trooper and was at mile 18 (they didn't let spectators go to the start and there were no spectator spots until mile 18) with a nice sugary Coke for me. He also saw us at mile 20 and 22. I think we still looked ok then but our bodies were screaming bloody murder!

I took a peek at our times at certain checkpoints and we were running a 10 minute and under pace for the first 18 miles. In fact at the 15 mile we were running a 9:39 pace. However, that last 6 miles is everything it's rumored to be... We really started to slow down as our bodies were starting to really hurt and break down. We started stopping at every water break (They were our savor towards the end). Still with all that, there were lot's of positives. We passed people carrying batons (so we were passing the relay teams) and we really ran the whole marathon comfortably until the last 6 miles.

We learned that the Tucson marathon had as much uphill as it did downhill. My personal opinion (probably Heidi's as well) is that one cannot call the Tucson marathon a "downhill" marathon anymore.

Would I do it again? Absolutely! Now I know what to expect and how to prepare. Maybe there will be another marathon for me sometime in 2009.

Now my focus will be to recover and focus on the PF Chang's half marathon. My goal is to work on building some speed and getting the half done under 2 hours. During the marathon, I took note of our time at the 13 mile mark and Heidi and I were at 2:08. We were running conservatively so I think my half marathon goal is pretty reasonable.

Here's a few photos taken by Matt in between mile 18 and 22 and one at the finish.

While Heidi and I were getting started, Matt took a nice photo from our hotel room balcony. As you can see it was a nice overcast day and the perfect temperature for running a marathon.

Geesh... we look pretty happy here. I think we saw the water station! Matt took these photos so we had already run at least 18 miles.

The last part of the marathon we ran in a lane blocked off on the highway. It was kind of nice seeing all the people waving and honking in their cars. Towards the end of the marathon, any encouragement is greatly appreciated.

Just after we went through the finish line together. Huge smiles of relief. Please forgive my disheveled look and forgetting to take my goofy sunglasses off... after all, I did just run a MARATHON!

Home Improvement Update

2008-11-30T18:51:00.011-07:00

After gutting our spare bathroom a year or more ago (I can't even remember when I did it... kinda scary.), I decided to get the ball rolling. My goal is to have it done by Matt's birthday (December 17) as he has suffered long enough sharing a bathroom with me.

My goal for this project is to make a tiny bathroom appear a bit more roomy. It previously had a vanity that took up one whole corner, a not-so-nice looking tub and fixtures that were a bit ugly. There's no natural light to this bathroom and we got a "no can do" from the Solatube representative. Apparently, because of how our roof is and the location of air conditioner there wasn't a way to feed tubes through and get direct light. Without natural light, the room is needing some light colors and fixtures that help brighten. To help make the room feel bigger we're opting for a pedestal sink and a more compact toilet.

That being said, in between all my other weekend activities, I've been taking a few moments to work on tiling the shower.
I did some grouting today and the results are below. Next up is tiling the floor and walls with perhaps a wall project (also below).

The border tile is actually my floor tile as well. Cutting down my floor tile saved me quite a bit of money and it will tie in nicely. I'm also waiting on an order of bullnose from the tile store. I can trim out the top and the sides a little. The tile looks a little darker in the photos than it is.

Here's a photo towards the back of the tub. My brother, Alan, made a box for me to insert into the green (or in my case, purple) board. It was very nice of him, as my carpentry skills are lacking. However, it was a bit tricky because how I had intended it to fit was not how it ended up fitting. I had already done the other walls and gone half way up to where I wanted the recessed box but I had extra inches because of the thickness of the box base and top. I decided to continue with my brick pattern and just cut out around the box. Framing it with one inch pieces would have looked awkward as some of the frame would have been thinner than other parts and I'd have 2 grout lines right next to each other. I put the soap box at the back so it wouldn't get wet and gooey. It also keeps shampoo bottles and soap off the tops of the tub. Plus a recess box doesn't take away room by sticking out.

And yes... I do realize there is an area on the side of the tub not tiled. That will be later when I tile the floor and the walls.

Sorting through my home project idea book (I clip out things I like and stick them in a home improvement file) I found this recessed shelving unit. I'm thinking this would look really nice in the wall. Instead of the glass shelves (which would require more cleaning), I'm more likely to put in a towel bar above the toilet paper holder and reading rack. I'm good at cutting out holes in the wall, so I think I may give it a go. I may even attempt to do the carpentry myself this time.

Thanksgiving Turkey Trot

2008-11-27T12:18:00.006-07:00

This morning I ran the Anthem Turkey Trot with a few of my boot camp buddies (5K and 10K—half of us did the 10K and the other half the 5K). It was fun albeit a little trying for me today. I really need to stretch more... especially when the beginning of the race starts uphill. Nonetheless, we had a good time and only got rained on in the final 1.5 miles. It's also my Birthday today and I can't think of anything better than going out for a run to forget that I'm OLDER. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I will definitely be eating dessert this year!

Here we are all nice and wet and happy to be done with our run. From left, Jamee Hubler, Kim Rodgers, Me, Nikki Kuretich, Bridget McCormick and Claire Baud.

What's Next...

2008-11-12T10:30:00.009-07:00

Just thought I would mention that I'm STILL running. I'm only 3 weeks away from the BIG ONE (marathon). Yikes! I get more and more nervous the closer it gets. This weekend is my last super long run before I start giving my body a little rest by cutting my mileage back. However, I don't want to totally slack off and so I'm doing a Thanksgiving/Birthday morning run. I'm signed up for the Anthem Turkey Trot 10K. My marathon training schedule says I should be doing 4-6 miles that day anyway. So I'll do 6.2 miles and practice running around people before my marathon. I have a few gals from boot camp that will be joining me and perhaps making me run a little quicker. It will be a nice way to spend my B-day morning AND not feel guilty about a big helping of mashed potatoes later.

One week after the Turkey Trot I'll be doing the Tucson Marathon. We start in Oracle (4000 ft altitude) and end up in Tucson (2000 ft). There's a lot of downhill and I've been told that it's a "fast" marathon. There will be lots of people trying for their Boston marathon qualifying time. Certainly, I will NOT be one of them. I've got a running buddy and we will be pushing each other to the finish. I suspect if we run like we have in training that we will have a respectable finish and one we will both either be proud of or want to improve on. I'll fill you all in when my epic day is over.

I could quit there but I figure I should just keep going and sign up for the PF Chang's Rock-N-Roll marathon 6 weeks later. I'll bypass the full marathon (that would be insane) and do a "short" run. (a.k.a the half marathon).

No stopping there... February 27-28, I'm signed up to run and co-captain on Adventure Boot Camp Dos' Ragnar Del Sol Relay . It's a team run from Wickenburg to Mesa, Arizona for a total of 187 miles. Luckily I only have to run 3 legs for a total of 15-18 miles. However, I will have to force my body to run 3 times within 24 hours and sometimes at an awkward time (middle of the night) without much sleep and there will be some evil hills to run up. We've got a good team and I think we are all competitive and will want to finish towards the top. Last year, there were 152 teams signed up so that will give you an idea of the competition.

In between all that, I will find a day or two during the week to re-bond with my scull. My boat has been neglected and I miss my quiet time on Tempe Town Lake. I think rowing will help my body actively recover after the marathon. It's going to be interesting to see how my boat handles sans the 20 lbs I no longer carry and I'll be bringing a renewed sense of confidence with me. There's always Desert Sprints (regatta) in March. Perhaps I'll "test the waters" again.

High Hopes...

2008-11-05T13:50:00.003-07:00

Regardless of who you voted for, one can't help but feel proud of the reaction around the world upon the news of Barack Obama's win. It's pretty apparent that Barack Obama has given hope of peace all around the globe. Here's to the next fours year. It's time to start the healing...

World Reaction

Trip to Burgundy

2008-11-01T15:15:00.015-07:00

Last week Matt and I went with his parents and Aunt and Uncle to the Bourgogne a.k.a Burgundy area of France. We stayed at the same place that we were two years ago near Macon (the closest large town with a supermarket). I really love this area with vineyards all around, rolling hills and farm country. The wines from the Burgundy region are wonderful and inexpensive and sans the extra sulfites that get added to the imported wines. Needless to say, we enjoyed a bottle or two and sometimes three every evening. The fun is the "degustation" or tasting at a Caveau (cellar) or driving up to small vineyards where the family winemakers let you taste.

I also got to experience running down the narrow country roads as I needed to get in some marathon training runs. I was a bit worried as my only recourse would be to jump in a very deep ditch if a driver didn't see me. After the first day, I learned that the French drivers are WAY more courteous than American drivers. They actually would turn on their signal to let me know they were moving over to the next lane and in the early morning, when it was still a little dark, they would give me a quick flick of their lights to acknowledge that they see me. I felt very safe and managed to get in a couple of shorter runs and a long run. The driveway to the condo we stayed in was a run in itself. A half mile all uphill which I did several times for the a good "buns of steel" workout.

Friendly, fat and happy French Cows. We met them on a walk to a chapel being restored close to our condo.

Jonni and Roger having a taste at a wine Caveau in Beaujeu with several wines from the Beaujeu area.

Matt and a view looking down on the town of Cluny.

Brouilly wines are hard to come by in the United States. They are in my opinion the best of the French Reds. Mont Brouilly is close to Beaujeu and we drove up to this small vineyard. Our hostess (behind the bottles) was very nice and we really enjoyed this vineyard and their Brouilly.

Matt Sr. and Wanda trying to decide what Brouillys to buy. This wine shop had all Brouilly wines. If only we were so lucky to have this selection in the U.S.!

Quick "e" Update

2008-09-30T16:27:00.014-07:00

Every now and then, I'm reminded how lax I've been on my blog. Apparently, people are keeping tabs on me—which is kinda scary. But who am I to disappoint? So here's a few quickie comments on what's happening on the home front.

Arizona Weather
Still HOT! Although, we are enjoying cool mornings and now some cool evenings.

Running
It's official. I've actually paid money to run in the Tucson Marathon on December 7th. Now I'm going to be totally paranoid about getting injured. My longest training run so far has been 13 miles. At least I know I can complete a half marathon! October is the month where the training really gets ramped up. I'll be adding quite a bit more mileage. Who would have thought I could even run as far and as much as I have.

Travel
I just got back on Friday from a week in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. I was cat sitting for my Aunt and Uncle. Good weather and a nice little hang out. The leaves were just starting to change when I left. Bummer.

Next trip is at the end of October to Burgundy, France. I'm looking forward to that. My marathon training will get me down some long country roads and fall should be in full swing. I'll make sure I get some photos to post.

Home Improvements
I'm finally tackling the "closet" or what is really the spare bathroom that's become a closet. It will be a bathroom again. Hopefully, I'll be able to eek out enough days between training and traveling to get some tile on walls and floors. We had a new tub installed last week. A new sink, toilet, lights and accessories will be installed after I get the tiling out of the way. My goal is to have it done before the holidays if not sooner.

We also got a new roof 3 weeks ago. We're quite happy with the roofing company and the roofers. They did A+ work!

A Job Change
Matt is now on day 2 of his new job at DDCI. He got recruited to help DDCI take a product they bought from Honeywell (that he formerly worked on) to the market. He'll have a couple more of his former Honeywell pals join him next week. Matt's always wanted to work on useful things. This will be his opportunity to finish something started and work for a company not afraid to get it to the market.

The Economy
Oh geesh... I made the mistake of taking a look at my portfolio yesterday. Yikes! The economy is in a freaky state. However, I'm not worried about it—the market will come back and I'm only losing if I'm selling. I'm slightly torqued that the government is attempting to bail out the banks and sub prime lenders. I can go on about that forever.

So my friends that's my quick "e" update. Lots of exciting stuff coming up for the last few months of 2008. I should have some nice photos of France, the holidays and maybe Matt can get a shot of me as I throw up at mile 20 in the marathon.

I'm Still in Awe

2008-09-14T11:31:00.005-07:00

...of Lance Armstrong. He is arguably one of the greatest athletes of our time. I admire the determination he takes with the Cancer cause and how he uses his athletic abilities to keep the focus on what's important.

Gals... if you haven't been into cycling or the Tour De France—perhaps the Vanity Fair article and photo will make you want to watch next year. I know I am!

Labor Day Weekend at Zion National Park

2008-09-04T08:59:00.011-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend we took a hike in Zion National Park. It was an EPIC hike to say the least. Almost 10 miles of pure uphill with some spectacular views. We camped over on Saturday night and hiked back on Sunday. There's so many more hikes to do and I think Matt and I will go back for another adventure for sure. We had a group of seven organized by Matt's co-worker, Jeff Getzlaff (a.k.a. Happy "G"). Also in our group were Andy, Suzanne, Quan and Larry who are college buddies of Happy "G". For all the photos check out my Web Gallery.

Larry coming up the switchbacks on our way to Angel's Landing.

On the way back from the hike, Matt takes a short break. His legs were really sore from the uphill climb the day before.

Matt on Grotto trail. We're still going up on our way to our campsite.

Quan and Matt crash and burn after reaching our campsite. It took us almost 7 hours to get there.

Because I Can...

2008-08-06T18:57:00.007-07:00

Like most people, I have a list of things I'd like to do in my lifetime. Some of those things are personal challenges that I feel I need to mentally and sometimes physically conquer. Back in April I was feeling tired and bored with my routine. Rowing wasn't really helping me keep off the unwanted pounds that kept creeping on. It was getting harder to invest the 4 hours per day I needed for sculling (driving, rowing and boat maintenance).

One morning, while walking the dog I was lamenting how I had let myself go. I got home and was just about to pitch the flyer on my front door in the trash—and then I saw it— "Cave Creek Adventure Boot Camp for Women". I thought to myself "Man do I NEED boot camp". So I looked up the website and the next thing I know I'm heading to 4 weeks of 5:30 a.m. workouts. That very first day I realized that although I thought I was in shape... I really wasn't. What I learned over the course of the first 4 weeks was that I am capable of doing more than I ever thought I could and the physical improvement in just four weeks was amazing.

Four months later I'm still going to boot camp 3 mornings a week and have found a fellow boot camper, Heidi, to run with 2 days out of the week. We're now training to for the Tucson Marathon on December 7.

It will be my first marathon and for Heidi it will be her 5th marathon. We'll also be accompanied by a two boot camp relay teams. The relay teams split the course amongst 4 people. Some of these gals, including Jodi—our boot camp trainer—are using the Tucson marathon as prep for the PF Chang's marathon in January. Heidi and I have a jump on the training so we should be ready in December to go the full distance. We'll have the benefit of having some other boot campers there to help cheer us through the last grueling miles.

From time to time, I'll blog about how training is going. I'll have a "shoe" follow up as I test my 3rd pair of running shoes on a couple runs this week. We did a 10 mile run last weekend and I'm learning a thing or two about the right gear.

And for those of you that haven't seen me for a few months...I can tell you that boot camp really changed me. Both physically and mentally. I'm quite a bit lighter and my muscles are taking shapes that are pleasing. Mentally, I feel tougher and I try never to say "I can't do that". Instead I plagiarize the Nike saying "Just Do It".

Kobi's New Bed

2008-07-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

Kobi has been sleeping on the hard floor because the cats keep taking over his stuffed bed and I think its just too hot. I wanted him to have a cool place to lay down that still supported his joints. I found this Coolaroo bed online. It's just high enough to get him off the floor and give him support as well as make it easy for him to get on and off. I think he likes it!

Farm Life

2008-07-11T15:27:00.000-07:00

Going back to the family farm for vacation is not all rest and relaxation. However, it can turn out to be a gratifying experience. Not only did I get fresh vegetables from my Mom's garden, I also got a nice farm work out by helping my Dad unload wagons of hay. My brother Alan was also home for the 4th of July holiday and he got to partake as well.

Here's how it works. My dad drives the tractor with the baler that shoots the bales into the back of the wagon. My brother walked along side picking up the bales that get over shot or under shot. Once the wagon was full, I threw the bales out of the wagon and my Dad picked them with his little bulldozer like tractor and took them into the barn where Alan stacked them. I have to say that my job was a bit "easier" than Alan's as I wasn't inside the dark enclosed barn. He also got to do a couple extra wagons while I was visiting friends.

You can see a bale being "shot" into the wagon in this photo.

The hay before it's cut and dried.

Kobi's Not So Great Day...

2008-07-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

My dog Kobi has always acted younger than his age. He's 13.5 (He may be 14 but I think 13.5 sounds better) and for a bigger dog that's getting up there. He's has a pretty pampered life and still loves his walks, herding his cats and running out to scare off a bunny or squirrel in the yard. I'm optimistic that he has at least a couple of quality years left...so at the advice of my vet, I had his teeth cleaned—and while they were doing that—they removed 4 lumps that were in his armpit area. Eventually those lumps were going to be an issue with movement. Not to mention, it was important to know exactly what those lumps were.

The verdict was no cancer. The lumps were lipomas, which are common in older dogs. That's good news. I was also lucky that he had no tooth fractures, infections or dental issues other than a nice coat of tartar that got removed. His teeth are now all shiny and white. He has the teeth of a puppy now.

That being said, the bad part is that it's just harder for an old dog to bounce back from anesthesia and drugs. He was pretty pathetic when I brought him home yesterday. He would cry and whimper when Matt or I were not in immediate proximity to him and he couldn't stand on his own—letting out big yelps when we tried to move him. We finally got him to the bedroom and on a thick rug so he wasn't laying on the hard floor. I woke up at 1:30 a.m. when I heard his collar shake and looked over to see him sitting up and then he rearranged himself to be more comfortable. This morning he got up on his own and is now walking around pretty good. He took a nice drink from the his water dish (I put ice cubes in his water—he loves that) and snarfed down a little doggy sausage. That's always a good sign. He follows me from room to room and lies down somewhere between where Matt is and where I am, so he can watch his people.

I know I'm going to be quite pathetic when I have to say good-bye to my buddy... but that won't be for a few years now.

Below are a few photos to show his "war wounds". He's on the mend and he'll be back to his daily routine soon.

Lake Tahoe Regatta

2008-06-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I rowed with Dave Goldner in the Tahoe Regatta. We rowed a double on the short course (3.75 nautical miles). Last year I did the long course (8.75 nm) in my single and I have to say—that this year the race was a bit more relaxed and enjoyable. Dave and I really didn't have any competition as we were the only flat water double. We had a nice little workout row in one of our favorite places to row.

Meeting before the race.

All the singles heading out to the start for the long course.

Getting ready to head to the start.

My new water shoes that I LOVE. They are so light, comfy, fun and happy. You can get them at Glagla. Never mind the goose bumps on my legs--it was kinda chilly in the a.m.

Bad, Bad, Bad Blogger and more Ireland

2008-06-29T10:05:00.000-07:00

Geesh.... I've totally been a bad blog girl. I think I left you all hanging on my last post when I said I was going to post some more photos of Ireland. Well here's a couple more photos of our bus trip to Northern Ireland. Specifically to Giant's Causeway and the coast area we visited. You can read about that by CLICKING HERE

Rope bridge we all had fun crossing to get to more amazing views.

Giant's Causeway

Digging Deep...

2008-06-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

When rowing, it's not usually a good thing to bury your oars. For Roz Savage perfect form isn't an option. Even if you don't row, you have to appreciate the tenacity and soul of this chick. Roz has already rowed across the Atlantic and now she's going for the Pacific. Truly an inspiration. May we all find her courage and do remarkable things for mankind and our planet. Godspeed Roz!

Roz Savage Website, Blog, Videos & more

Dublin, Ireland

2008-05-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

I try to never turn down an opportunity to travel to places I've never been before. So when my friend Audrey needed a travel buddy to Ireland for her nephew's wedding, I was happy to tag along. Later in the planning phase, her girls Kayla and Sierra were able to miss some school and make the trip. Sierra flew out with us, while Kayla flew out a few days later. Audrey and I took a couple of days at the beginning of the trip to walk all over Dublin while Sierra headed to the country to stay with her cousins.

Below are a few photos from the Dublin part of the trip. More of the rest of the trip to follow later.

I think it's fair to say that we experienced something most people don't in Ireland... continuous SUNNY days! Out of our nine days we had eight with blue skies. Ireland was green and blue which certainly makes Irish eyes smile!

A view from the River Liffey that runs through Dublin.

Audrey was the designated Dublin "Map Girl". I took photos and she found the next stop.

With sunny skies, everyone was out enjoying the good weather. We walked through St. Stephen's Greens where everyone was lounging on the lawns by all the flowers. All the blooming tulips were beautiful.

Audrey in front of Christ's Church Cathedral.

Me in the courtyard of Trinity College.

It's a Two Car Garage Again...

2008-04-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, maybe one and a half. Well, I'm finally driving around in my little car after a year long wait for it's delivery date. I just love it. It's a tiny little car but when you are in it, you FEEL big. Lots of headroom and large front window and sun roof. Needless to say, it's getting lots of attention wherever I go.

My interior photos turned out bad. I'll try to take a few of those later when the sun isn't making harsh shadows and thus some icky photos.

No Brainer...

2008-04-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

It seems people my age and older have started freaking out about looking older. Certainly, I could care less what other people think and have found it a bit disturbing how insecure people can be about that stuff. When the whole Botox thing came about, I said to myself "Self, how stupid would it be to actually have a toxin inserted underneath my skin into my body?". After about a nano second of contemplation—I ruled it out as my path to a more youthful appearance. I'm opposed to anything invasive unless it's necessary to prolong or save my life. I've always found it amusing to witness individuals super critical about what they and others eat and then go out and have a toxin injected into their skin.

So my lovely friends (All who do not need any help looking beautiful)—if you were even thinking about Botox or other crap injections (Hmmm... has anybody tested crap as a wrinkle filler? Eeeeeewwww!) —THINK about it. Where is all that stuff going??

Read on and you'll look differently at those cute little lines. If you look hard—those little lines are smiling back at you!

A New Reason to Frown
Have Botox, Will Travel

Backyard Wildlife

2008-04-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

This time of year we usually have some visitors in the wash area behind our house. A group of Javelinas. I snapped a few pictures of the new tiny additions. Kobi shares his dog food and I threw out some carrots for them. The babies are so tiny and cute.

New Urban Land Maintenance?

2008-04-09T17:22:00.000-07:00

On the way for a hike on North Mountain last evening. Matt and I stopped to see the new clean up crew along a busy Cave Creek road. I'm pretty sure my Dad will be surprised. Usually I only see these on the farm when I visit home.

The BIG Bruise....

2008-03-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry kids... I'm so woefully behind on my "e bloggin". I'll try and catch up right after the taxes are done.

In the meantime, I'm posting a few picts from the now infamous snowboard crash in Canada. If you hadn't already heard--Matt (a.k.a. Cricket) landed on a nice bunch of rocks and broke his hip while on the annual snowboard trip. The photos below are supplied by his fellow trip snowboarder, Ed Hager. When I first got the call I was told that it was "a rock". After seeing the photos, I think a "rock" really meant boulders!

This happened almost 3 weeks ago. Although, Matt tested the Canadian healthcare system through 3 days of hospitalization... I think we can all be thankful that he didn't land on his head!

He's made a remarkable recovery. He ditched the crutches after a couple days at home and is now riding his motorcycle, taking rehab walks and getting about without much of a limp. Per the Doctors--he was lucky to have broken his Iliac crest-- which is a non weight bearing bone. Any further down and he would still be in a world of hurt.

Now I know what to do with Sparky...

2008-02-02T18:14:00.000-07:00

Sparky is my yellow barn cat that sometimes has WAY too much energy. He climbs up my leg all day long to get me to play with him. Perhaps he needs to go to cat agility...

The Bowl's Always Half Full...

2008-01-26T19:14:00.000-07:00

I was practicing with a new lens on my camera today. Matt got it for me for Christmas after reading a Merlin Mann's 43 Folders (now one of my favorite geek "e" sites). The lens is a single focus 50mm. It is great for portrait photos. It actually forces you to be a little more selective and creative with the close shot. Here's one I liked of Sparky doing his favorite thing... eating out of the big kitty food bowl which always seems to have food in it for him. He's an appreciative little Michigan barn kitty.

Wicked Smart....

2008-01-21T21:00:00.001-07:00

I saw this Smart Car ad and HAD to put it on the blog. Certainly when I get a Smart car I can feel GOOD about this!

Back At The Farm

2008-01-04T12:17:00.000-07:00

I went back to the farm in Michigan to spend Christmas with my parents. It's always a good experience and a reminder of how quickly times goes by when the work day consists of farm chores such as taking care of animals and cutting wood to keep a big old farm house cozy in the winter.

Winter lamb. It's a good thing they have wool coats!

Giving me that sheepish look.

My Dad as a lumberjack.

Mom treating the farm dogs.

Farm dog Zach after getting a "snow" drink.

Chopper Dan

2008-01-04T08:28:00.000-07:00

My B-I-L Dan used his helicopter to drop a guy off whose dirt bike broke down in a remote area. As there were no flat spots for landing, he had to do a "drop" literally. Check it out.

I'm NOT good about these things...

2007-12-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

Ok folks... I have a SIN for which I must confess. It's the "Oh I'll remember to..." one. You know when someone you REALLY want to contact leaves a message on your phone... and then you proceed with deleting BEFORE you've written the number down. You know-- the long lost high school buddy.

Well long lost high school buddy/probably would be more if I hadn't well.... lost your phone number way back when....
I'm REACHING out to you via the web. Google up! You'll find me and if you could just call one more time, I won't be so quick to DELETE!

Oh.... I'm a bad friend. Ok, I'm NOT if you actually touch base with me. Or better yet, REACH for me.

So if you've called--please call again. I really DO want to talk to you.

And if you don't reach me--I'm sending you brainwaves...

"E" or as a slight few may know "Betsy" (Don't even think you can go somewhere with this unless you KNEW me in high school....) is here. I really DO want to talk/see you again.

Makenna Cares...

2007-11-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a pat on the back to my cousin Todd (Steve) and wife Heather for teaching their kids about charity and compassion. Their daughter, Makenna, tossed aside vanity to get her long locks cut off for the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program. This program allows one to donate their beautiful healthy hair to create free wigs for women who have lost their hair due to cancer treatment.

I received her haircut photos in an e-mail and thought that it needed to be blogged and shared. Perhaps you are considering a shorter hairdo, but have been hesitant to see those long strands falling to the floor. You can follow Makenna's lead and give something back and feel good about getting a fun new short style. See the link above for details about the program.

Makenna--AWESOME new hairdo. You GO girl!

When Cats Talk...

2007-11-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, cats DO talk!

All Things Ancient

2007-11-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my Black Sea Cruise with a cajillion (that means A LOT) photos. This weekend I'll be sorting through them all and posting a few on my blog and web gallery. However, to appease those that are already asking why I haven't posted anything, I'm posting a few from our last day that we spent walking around Rome.

First, let me say that our Cruise took us to many places of ancient and historical interest. "Must see" places as far as I'm concerned. Both at the beginning and end of our trip we spent some extra time in Rome. Two days still wasn't enough. Rome is one of those cities where you just start walking and around almost every corner there is some marvelous piece of art and beauty. I'm kind of a fountain freak so I got an overdose in Rome.

Our last day in Rome was beautiful. Crisp cool air with gorgeous blue skies. Everyone was out enjoying the day.

Token "old guy" photo taken by the Pantheon.

Wanda and Julie (Greenbank) at local market. We bought some really cool spice blends for Italian cooking. I always love the markets with fresh fruits, vegetables, olive oil and more.

Up close fountain photo with fresco buildings for contrast.

The Pantheon. This photo doesn't do it justice. I'll have more photos of the Pantheon when I get them uploaded to my web gallery.

When in Rome... you MUST have gelato!

How Cats Wake Up Humans....

2007-10-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

This is so funny... Matt's the official kitty breakfast feeder and I think he will attest to the persistence of cats when they want to be fed!

Mr. Whooooooo...

2007-10-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

Jan and I were out walking the dogs when we saw our neighborhood Owl. He was perched on the house next to mine (my other neighbor). I heard him in the wash area behind my house last night. It's been awhile since he's been around and I'm glad to see the owls coming back. I was worried that they had left us for good as I didn't see them much last year. Needless to say, Jan kept him there (using her small dog, Teddy, as bait) while I got my camera. He's definitely a beautiful owl.

Marina Needs A Home of Her Own

2007-10-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

If you haven't read how I obtained this cute little cat, please read previous Marina entries (They are tagged "Marina" and you can do a tag search to pull up all the entries on one page). I really love this little kitty, however, I've finally come to the conclusion that she will have to be confined to her guest room OR I must find her a really good home. There is discord between her and my other Siamese (Pepper). I've broken up a few cat fights (so far no ones been hurt) and I worry when I have to leave them alone in the house. Marina gets along fine with Kobi (the dog) and seems to like my other cats, Chili, Figaro and Sparky (although she screams bloody murder when Sparky pounces on her without warning--he does that to all his family).

Anyone who knows me--knows how much I love my pets. I've never given a pet away and I'll probably shed some tears when I do. Marina is a loving little blue tipped traditional Siamese. She loves people. Every morning when I come in to say good morning (she isn't allowed on the bed as Pepper will go after her), she talks up a storm, purrs and begs to be picked up. She loves to be brushed. I bring her out during the day and she lays on my desk and purrs everytime I pet her.

So my dear friends, family & kind hearted animal people... I'm hoping you can help me find a home where Marina will be the "queen", spoiled and be able to roam about her Castle without fear of being beat up by another cat. I think she was already terrorized in her previous outing, when she found herself amongst a group of feral cats (thus the little tear in her ear you can see in her photos).

I would like to GIVE Marina to someone who can provide the following:

An indoor home. She is not an outdoor cat, nor should she become an outdoor cat. She shows no interest in going back "out there" after spending days, weeks in 100+ degree weather. She is small and would be owl, hawk and coyote bait. In fact, I'm not a fan of anyone letting their cat out.

Preferably a home without children and if there are children, they would need to be mature enough to handle her with loving care.

A home where she may explore freely.

Owner/s who will brush her, pet and hold her, talk back to her when she wants to chat and will spoil her rotten.

In summary, my ideal new home for Marina would be a mature couple or owner, who is retired or works from home and who can provide this loving little girl with the attention she deserves.

Marina has had all her shots, tested negative for feline leukemia and appears to have been spayed (She has shown no signs of going in heat (see my previous entry about taking her to the vet). Just to be on the safe side and to make sure she has a good start--I will include all her toys, kitty house, food for a month AND should there be the remote chance that she is not spayed and goes into heat (which you will know from the "yowling")--I will pick her up and take her to the Humane Society and get her spayed at my expense, and return her to her new home. All vet bills and record will be given to new owner.

Please pass on to anyone you might know that may fit the above criteria and who loves cats. I have no stomach to take to her to the Humane society or even put her on Craigslist as I worry that may jeopardize placing her in a good home.

It's been almost 2 months since I found her and so her fur has grown back where I cut all her matted fur out. She's an absolutely beautiful kitty. She is small, weighs 7.5 lbs and the vet said she is likely only a year old.

Arizona Outlaws Erg Marathon

2007-09-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

Last year you might recall that I posted some photos and a blurb about participating in the Arizona Outlaws Erg Marathon. It's a 42,195 meter (26 mile) rowing session on a rowing machine for which we rowers call an erg. This year I did a good deal of organization as the previous organizer, Ted Paxton is in the Netherlands and soon Taiwan. Being a tad heavier than I was last year at this time-- and not erging for almost a month--I was really dreading getting on that ominous looking machine. The week before the event, I was in Seattle/Bainbridge Island visiting my friend Mary. I jokingly told her at least 10 times "I'm going to die" when discussing what I was doing the next weekend. It's probably good that self fullfilling prophecies are not that prevalent. I finished the erg marathon and somehow managed to improve my time from the previous year by a little over 3 minutes. Go figure!

That being said, my achievement was small compared to others. So I think a recap of the day from "E's eyes" is in order. First I want to say--this erg marathon is NOT easy. It sucks all the energy out of you and when you're done you can barely stand up. It's painful (especially the day after). Keep that in mind when reading on.

Last year we had 14 people but this year there were lots of conflicts. Hopefully, next year we'll pick a weekend where more people can participate. Nonetheless, there were some great results and I know that all of us went home with a sense of satisfaction (and soreness).

Here's the things that stick in my mind that made the difference:

Jim Harrison drove up from Tucson with his son Calvin--who became our super helper. Calvin got the movies started, shut garage doors and practically saved me from the super bonk by bringing me a Gatorade from the cooler full of energy drinks they brought. Jim was the first to finish in 3 hours 3 minutes 29 seconds. He is also the leader of our virtual C2 roster to date. Was great to have both Jim and Calvin there.

First time Outlaw erg marathoner, Laura Erhart, was the last to arrive but one of the early finishers. An amazing time of 3 hours 6 minutes and 48 seconds. Certainly an inspiration and an awesome row. I expect she will be in the C2 C.R.A.S.H B sprint event in Boston and finishing up at the top. Her family, friends and even her coach, Dan Duxbury showed up to root her on. Her daughter and 3 Tempe Jr. Crew rowers passed out ice cold wash towels to all of us. That chilly towel on my neck was a temporary distraction from the fact that my legs were like concrete. Thank you!

Then there was Rebecca Clark . A month ago, I was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to attempt the Marathon as she was still battling constant chronic fatigue from a case of Mono and/or Epstein Barr. She mentioned before we started that she may opt out at the half marathon mark. She completed the entire marathon AND improved her time from the year before. Ordinary people would not have made the attempt--but that's what I like about Rebecca--she's not an ordinary person. She's extraordinary!

Art Reimanis had e-mailed me before the event that he didn't expect to do well as he was getting over a respiratory illness. He said he was going to try and do it in 3 hours and 20 minutes or better. Well he chose the later and ended up with a time of 3 hours and 10 minutes, 12 seconds. He's been at the last three erg marathons and is always a consistent performer. Another fine marathon for him.

I remember Kathy Moum telling Ted Paxton last year that she was going to get the exact same time as she always does. Well Ted wasn't there this year--so maybe not saying it allowed her to put in her best marathon time--improving by almost 6 minutes from the previous year. She seem's to get better as she gets older (I have more to say about that... so keep reading).

I first got caught up in rowing with a beginning rowing course taught by "Okie" or Joe "Okie" O'Connor. He's in charge of Tempe Town Lake rowing and everything boating on Tempe Town Lake. Needless to say, many of us admire how much enthusiasm he's fostered about rowing on Tempe Town Lake (TTL) and all the great events coming to TTL because of him. We also admire his super overall athetic abilities. That being said, I'm glad he was there. He's done the event "virtually" in the past, but hopefully he now feels like all of us-- that there is comfort in toughing it out together. He finished behind Jim Harrison by only 2 minutes and in all honesty I think he may have helped us all get a better time than we thought we could just by being present.

Then there is Kat Soderberg. This was Kat's first marathon. Here is where I get back on the subject of age. I don't know how old Kat is... I just know she looks younger than she is. She doesn't know it--but I want to be HER when I'm her age. Kat did the marathon in 3 hours 44 minutes and 6 seconds. Only a couple of minutes slower than my first marathon last year. I do know she is likely more than 10 years older than me and I bet you she will have an even better time next year. So awesome Kat. While still on the subject of age--Laura, Kathy & Kat are all older than me--but they keep rowing better and faster. That's what's so great about this sport-it makes me look forward to getting older!

Great job Erg Marathoners. I hope to see you all again NEXT year!

Here's a few photos (Click for bigger less fuzzy view). I'll post more as I get them from other people. I didn't have my photographer (spouse) there until the very end, however, I know there were lots of camera shots from others.

The Outlaw Erg Marathoners from left to right (If you're reading my blog you already know I'm the short one in the front). Jim Harrison, Art Reimanis, Kathy Moum, Rebecca Clark, Kat Soderberg, Laura Erhart & Okie O'Connor.

Calvin--our "Superboy". Thank you Calvin! Come back and erg next year.

Jim has his system down. Hmmmm, I think the fan made him go faster. I better get one of those for next year.

Kathy and Rebecca establishing their plan to get through another marathon.

I think I'm looking at the erg monitor and thinking "Will I ever finish...) Meanwhile, Laura, (with fan club) is looking at her monitor like "I can't believe I'm going this fast..." Ok, I'm not sure what she was thinking--but she was WICKED fast.

Marina Update

2007-08-30T18:39:00.001-07:00

Well... it's almost 2 weeks now since I picked this little Siamese stray up at Tempe Town Lake Marina. I thought I would give a brief update on her integration into Diethelm "Pet Central". Today I spotted her sneaking down the hall and going into the bedroom. She eyed the big bed but noticed there was another BIG kitty on it (Figgy) so she opted not to go there. She went underneath and checked that out--hissed a little at Sparky who really wants her to play with him (he keeps taking all his toys in her room and dropping them). I think she's content to be another "Queen" in the house. Each day she warms up a little more and extends her territory. For the first week we couldn't get her off the carpet cat house set up in her own room. Now she's checking out the "mod" canvas fleecy cat condo I bought at Target. Her eyes match the fleecy material perfectly!

Every night she's spending an hour or two watching a television show in my lap. She's still growling and hissing at the other cats at first sight but settles down after she gets comfortable. Chili, Sparky & Figgy are allowed in her room without any confrontation but she and the other girl cat, Pepper (Lynx Point Siamese), are still not sure who's going to boss the boys around.

Regardless, she loves to talk to me as soon as I walk in the room. She's purring more, running to greet me and loves her brushings. She is quite joyful for the always full food dish and water with ice cubes. Not to mention the moist kitty food breakfast and dinners. Such a life of luxury after laying on cement under sailboats in 100+ degree weather with no food available and her only shelter a cement ditch area. Her hair is starting to grow back where I cut mats out and she loves to clean herself now. She's had all her tests and vaccinations at the vet--no parasites & no diseases. Each day she grows a little closer to her family and reveals a little more personality. I think she's beautiful and certainly she's becoming my "little" girl.

Update on Jerky Treats

2007-08-28T18:49:00.001-07:00

After fuming about how insensitive Adi Pet was about the crap product I bought today (see below) I did what I usually do—I "Googled up". Then I got mad because I found that over the last few weeks many, many, people have had sick dogs or still have sick dogs. They're having seizures, vomiting are lethargic etc and they all have one thing in common—they've been giving their dogs Waggin Trails Chicken Jerky Treats.

I immediately called my Mom & Dad as their border collie mix, Zach, had been having seizures recently. They've been giving their dogs these very same treats. They had no idea that others where having similar problems. I'm lucky Kobi has shown no signs of illness—although admittedly he's vomited a few times for which I attributed to eating grass.

If you have been feeding your dog Waggin Train Chicken Jerky, please visit Newsdays Forum and be astounded by how many people have written about what these treats have done to their pets. If you give your pets these treats--STOP immediately. If your dog has experienced any symptoms, do not throw out your bag with lot number ect. You may want this evidence later. Waggin Train/Adi Pet is certainly in the defense mode phase and perhaps in denial as anyone who e-mails will get the same canned response that I did. Obviously, there is a breakdown between the so called irradiation that is done and packaging. I believe this to be the case as the package I bought was completely sealed with no holes anywhere. I think my package was easy to detect a problem where previous batches may have not gotten to the point of noticeable bacteria, mold build up. Thus why pet owners unknowingly gave their dogs these treats without concern.

The last thing I would like to say is.... I learned something today. Our world has changed—we can not trust big companies to look out for our well-being. We have to do it ourselves. Please reward your small local businesses that want your trust and business. Reward those that keep their businesses close to home and who want to know you by name. Reward the businesses that use healthy products and ingredients. Cook meals with love and whole, organic ingredients. Do the same for your pets. They're family too.

My Consumer Alert...

2007-08-28T14:54:00.001-07:00

Ok, maybe I'll vent a little bit about an annoying e-mail response as well.

So the story goes...
I may be kind of a bad doggy Mom. I've been feeding Kobi these chicken jerky treats that he got addicted to after he was given one by his doggy Grandparents. They're like "doggy crack" or something. The only problem was--you could only get them at Sam's Club or Wal-Mart. I'm not a big fan of Wal-Mart for the reason that they drive so many local trades and business' OUT of business... but I love my dog and he loved these treats. So I reluctantly went to the EVIL EMPIRE to purchase them. Only recently have I noticed that these treats were imported from China. This has been making me wonder what I'm feeding my loving, almost 14 year old, best buddy in the whole-wide-world dog.

Well today something happend that pretty much convinced me that buying CHICKEN Jerky Treats from a company that sources it out to China is really wrong. Below is short pictorial of the said event and then some more commentary after.

Here is the product. Waggin Train Chicken Jerky.

This is what was INSIDE said product. It not only looked bad--it smelled rank. Certainly, it would not have "tasted like chicken".

The lot number--just in case you have an unopened bag laying around that you might want to check.

Being the good consumer that I am, I immediately called the Wal-Mart store and spoke to the manager on duty and explained that I would be returning the product. I have to say--even though I was talking to the "evil empire" they at least apologized and thanked me for letting them know so they could go pull the product from the shelves to check it. I returned the item a half hour after purchasing and even the customer service desk workers were nice, polite and incredulous when they looked at the open bag. I noted the girl wrote in huge letters with exclammation marks MOLD!! on the return slip.

So I'm all cool with what transpired at Wal-Mart. It's the actual treat company that's giving me a rash. I sent an e-mail to the address listed on the package waggintrainbrand@adipet.com. I explained that I had been a buyer of their product for some time and explained what I found in my most recent purchase. Of course, I'm doing this to be nice as one would think they would want to check it out to be assured it was an isolated bad bag or batch. Here is their word for word response:

Dear Concerned Pet Owner:
-- NONE of the Waggin’ Train Brand pet treats have been recalled --

Regarding our Chicken Jerky Tenders:

Waggin' Train Brand Chicken Jerky Tenders are completely safe and should not be confused with the other two brands of chicken jerky that are being pulled from Wal-mart’s shelves. We have NO association with the Pingyang Pet Product Co. or Shanghai Bestro Trading Co. nor do we purchase our ingredients from the same supplier.

As American joint-owners of the factories, ADI Pet is completely familiar with and confident in the exceptional quality-control protocols that we have in place for the processing of our Chicken Jerky Tenders and other Waggin’ Train Brand products. We are intrinsically involved in all aspects of the manufacturing process.

Please be assured that we sell thousands of bags of this product each week and have never had a recall on our product. Over the past five years, approximately 50 million pounds of the Waggin’ Train Brand Chicken Jerky Tenders have been consumed (without incident) by thousands of dogs nationwide. Based upon this excellent track record, we truly regard this product as safe for pets of all sizes.

All of the raw material that we use to make the Chicken Jerky Tenders is fresh, 100% premium chicken breast tenderloins and natural seasonings. Our "natural seasonings" are simply apple cider vinegar, sugar and salt.
The Chicken Jerky Tenders contain no grain fillers, no wheat gluten and no rice protein additives. Nor do we use artificial preservatives, colorings nor flavorings of any kind.
All Waggin’ Train Brand products are sterilized by irradiation, based upon USDA safe sterilization guidelines. The sterilization process eliminates the possibility of contamination by any potentially harmful microbes including E.coli and Salmonella.
Because chicken is a regulated product, the USDA regularly pulls samples from incoming containers of product, for laboratory testing. We have never had a positive test for product contamination.
Our facilities are regularly inspected by SGS, which is one of the largest international inspection companies in the world. Costco, Sam's Club and Wal-Mart contract with SGS, for inspections, to ensure that the products are being processed, based upon USDA processing guidelines.
Please be assured that when you give your pet Chicken Jerky Tenders, you are providing your pet with the highest quality chicken pet product that is available in the marketplace.

For more product information and to view our current Press Release and FAQ's, please go to our website: http://www.adipet.com/

To speak to a Customer Service representative, please call (864) 622-0101.

Best Regards,

Customer Service
Waggin' Train Worldwide LLC

This kind of made me a bit PO'd as the tone of this response is "it couldn't possibly be our fault". Geez, I was e-mailing the e-mail address listed on THEIR product afterall. My response back was dissappointment in their response and that one could respond without even saying "We're sorry and we'll check it out".

And then their response....
See response above. It was the SAME exact response. This pompous response is an auto responder --which tells me they don't even READ their e-mail. I could call them, but now I'm at that "it's their problem" point. I'm not ever buying their product again and I won't be buying pet treats made in China anytime soon. That being said, with all bad experiences comes good. On my way home from Wal Mart I stopped by "Bonnie's Barkery". It's a small holistic/organic pet food place right across the street from my house. There I found some chicken jerky/good-for-you treats with the stamp of the USDA, organic and made in the good ol' USA. Kobi loves them! They cost more—but believe me—he's worth every penny. By the way his new favorite treats are Plato Smart Dog Treats. So away from the EVIL EMPIRE and the big cheapest route to make money company and back to the small local business I go. I feel much better about that!

The Cat Named "Marina"

2007-08-20T17:54:00.000-07:00

Yes... the little cat pictured below is at my house. There's a story behind this kitty as there is with ALL my cats that have been Humane Society or midwestern barn kitties (Sparky). I've been calling her Marina as she found me at the Tempe Town Lake boat marina. On Saturday I went to take my scull for a row. While I was getting my slings out of my gear box, I heard it... the meeeeeeeeeeeooooooooooooow! Uh oh...

You see, there's quite a few strays and some feral cats hanging out by the marina. They like to lay in the drainage ditches to try and cool down. It's been easy to look the other way as they tend to run away from me. But this meow was getting closer... until she was smack dab in front of me. Looking up at me and meowing. I looked down into those big blue eyes and immediately felt a tug at my heart. She was hungry, dirty and her fur was all matted up. Then she "head-butted" my leg and I squatted down and pet her. Here was this small friendly cat out in what would be a torturous hot day. I gave her some water from my water bottle in a make shift bowl that I made out of the bottom of a soda bottle. She was thirsty...

I came to row and I told myself that she would be gone or somebody would take her. She was too friendly to be left out in the heat. So I rowed and the entire time I thought about her and started thinking about all the people I knew that could give her a good home. I finished up and carried my boat back... secretly hoping she would be gone. But she wasn't. She was laying under the sailboat next to my gear box. I had some granola bars in my bag so I got one out and she sniffed it and decided that she was hungry enough to eat this strange object. She snarfed down a good quarter of the Clif bar, purring and twitching her tail.

"NO... I cannot have another animal. I have too many." I kept telling myself this and mustered the strength to pet her and tell her someone would find her. Someone would give her a home.

All the way home, I felt terrible for leaving her. I went home grumpy and mad at the world. Mad at people who don't take care of their animals. They count on us. How can anyone be so cruel. I told Matt about it and he didn't say anything. I didn't blame him--we have 4 cats already.

On Sunday, I went to row again. Matt was helping me pack up the car and asked "Should I put the cat carrier in the car?"
I got to the marina and there she was—laying on top of my gear box. She chose me and I knew it. She even walked right into the carrier when I opened it!

After I got her home, I cut all the mats out of her fur. Her back looks a bit like a really, really bad haircut at the moment. My neighbor Jan came over and we bathed her. I thought she was all gray. But after her wash she had cream colored fur.

Today she went to the vet. That was really scary as her tummy was hard and they though she might be pregnant... I left her to get x-ray and blood tests done. They called a half hour later and I was SO relieved that she was not pregnant. She was instead a little bloated and there was a object in her stomach that looked like plastic or some other foreign material that she likely ate while scrounging for food. She had no ear mites, tested negative for feline leukemia or kitty AIDs and they couldn't tell if she had been spayed or not. So the vet said to wait and see if she goes into heat. If she does, then she can get spayed.

Tonight is Marina's integration into the household. We'll see how that goes. I think there will be some hissing but at the moment the other pets seem to be keeping their distance from this stranger. Kobi layed down on the floor in front of her and let out a sigh. He likes his kitties.... and now he has one more.

Here's some photos of her. Mind you, she had lots of shots today--so she's not too spunky. One more kitty with a good home. I wish they all could be so lucky.

Matt's In-Between-Jobs Motorcycle Ride

2007-08-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

I should have had this blog up a couple weeks ago, however, I got a bit side tracked with a temporary office management job in which I had to drive to work on a day to day basis. I forgot how little time one has before and after work when you add in drive time etc. Needless to say, I'm happy to be home working today and so are my animals—many animals—more on that in a subsequent blog.

For those of you that still don't know. Matt decided that change would do him good. He resigned from his job at Honeywell after 20+ years and started working for Kutta last week. His first week of work was spent in West Virginia helping to test Kutta's subterranean radio in some mines. Prior to that he took his new motorcycle on a pacific northwest swing to visit relatives and friends. He went to Portland, Seattle and then stayed over with his Uncle Jim and Aunt Gaylene in Wenatchee, WA. Matt Sr. and I caught up with him for the weekend in Moscow, Idaho. It was a full house at Gary & Marilyn Pope's. HIs friend GK (Gary Kindorf), Jim Pope, Matt Sr., Matt and I all stayed at the Pope B&B. We had such a great time going fishing, hiking, going to get Huckleberry shakes and playing Texas Hold'em. I particulary love Moscow as it always reminds me of how much I like being in a small town. Thanks again to Gary & Marilyn as well as Alice & Erol Barbut for the hospitality. Also thanks to Jim for trying to get me to fly fish correctly. I still need to WORK on that.

Photos are on my web gallery. CLICK HERE for that.

Matt (a.k.a. Cricket) catch.

I'm sure this will be me when I get my Smart Car...

2007-07-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

Milwaukee

2007-07-28T12:11:00.001-07:00

I'm finally getting around to posting some photos from the Milwaukee part of my vacation. I stayed in Milwaukee before and after my Michigan excursion. It's very easy to take the Lake Express Ferry across Lake Michigan to Muskegon (Michigan side). I find this more of an adventure than just flying into Detroit. Admittedy, I really don't like the Detroit airport and flying into the smaller Milwaukee airport for less money was WAY better.

My Uncle Tom and Aunt Kathy were their usual awesome host. They made sure I got in a long bike ride along Lake Michigan and another to see more of the city (We found a nice little Inn and had an icy cold Milwaukee brew on the latter trip--that was an added bonus!). They also booked me on a schooner outing which was a nice way to see Milwaukee from the lake.

Milwaukee's very cool Art Museum. We saw the Pissarro exhibit here on my last day.

The schooner we sailed on.

Huge sail on schooner.

Uncle Tom & Aunt Kathy at one of their favorite local dining cafés.

Sychronized duck competition.

Lake Michigan

2007-07-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

I camped for 4 nights in Northern Michigan (yes, I actually slept in a TENT) and was lucky enough to camp with my friend Audrey and her girls for the first night. Audrey's spouse Collin was in a softball tournament in Traverse City so I didn't see much of him as was in games all day.

We camped in the rustic park by my old summer stomping grounds in Interlochen, Michigan. I spent 3 summers working as a camp counselor for the music camp while in college. Some of my most memorable summers. It was strange, yet comforting, to go back and see that almost everything was the same. The Fireplace Inn where Wednesday polka nights took place to the same pizza place (Ciceros) that we ordered from on a regular basis. The campground was on Green Lake where I spent lots of time lifeguarding and no doubt getting skin damage.

We took a ride just outside of Traverse City and visited a light house and played around on some pretty Lake Michigan coastline.
My only regret is that I was too lazy to lug my camera on the mile walk to the beach where my parents were camping (Platte River Campground on the Sleeping Bear Dune shoreline) as the view was beautiful there as well. I did take some pictures with my Mom's camera so maybe if I can get her to e-mail them to me, I'll post at a later date.

Here's some pictures of the Smith girls.

Audrey, Kayla and Sierra getting ready to walk down to the shoreline.

Sierra showing her usual "cute-a-tude".

Kayla is going into high school next year and is on her way to being a track star. She's turned into quite a beautiful young lady.

Kayla and Sierra are NOT shy when it comes to getting their picture taken. I keep laughing at the "photo shoot" photos where I just let them strike poses while holding the shutter down. I love hanging out with Audrey and her girls. They are too fun and even though the girls think we're "old" they certainly make us feel younger.

Audrey and Sierra having a little fun on the rocks.

Michigan Gardens

2007-07-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

Last week I took a vacation to Michigan and Milwaukee to visit family. I thought I should break up blog entries by topic so I could post a few more photos. What I love about visiting my parents farm in the summer is the fresh food right from the garden. It doesn't get anymore organic than that. My Mother's garden--as well as my Sister's--make for some great photos too.

My Mom's garden.

I love sticking my camera amongst the greens for hidden fauna like these squash blossoms.

Tomatos on the vine... I'm not a tomato lover. However, they certainly look good when they stay on the vine!

Awesome elephant garlic growing like crazy in my sister's garden.

The daisies from my sister's yard were beautiful.

A Few More...

2007-06-28T15:45:00.001-07:00

Here's a few more pictures of the Smart Cars. More commentary in my previous blog.

Black Smart they had on display in the Mercedes Dealership.

Here is a back view with the tailgate down. Just enough room for some groceries or a piece of luggage.

The tridion safety cell of the Smart.

Tom's saving my place in line while I snap some photos. I think we got there at a good time. As we were leaving, there were lots of people coming in.

Smart Car Test Drive

2007-06-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

Neighbor Tom and I had a good time going for a Smart Car test drive today. I've loved these little cars ever since I saw them all over Europe. So when I learned you could do $99 reservation for one--when they become available in 2008--I immediately filled out the online reservation form.I played around with the colors on the website and gave a preference for red with gray side trim. So I was very happy that I drove one with those colors. Tom drove a blue convertible. The convertible tops were very cool. We got to see a person before us opening and closing the top.

We got there shortly after the test drives were to start and there was already quite a few people waiting in line. Even more when we left. We didn't have to wait very long and we got to wait in the nice cool Mercedes Dealership. And no... I was not the only goober to bring a camera. There were lots of people with cameras and channel 12 News was there as well.

The Smart was a fun drive. I didn't use the automatic setting and instead used the paddle shifters. My Smart representative was impressed by my shifting ability. He said most people are scared to try the paddle shifters. It was super easy though and the car automatically shifted down when I started to slow. That was cool. There was a surprising amount of room in the driver's seat and I immediately felt comfy driving it. Overall, it was a fun day and Smart did a wonderful job with tons of people who were very happy to answer questions.

Here's Tom in the blue convertible Smart.

Getting ready for my Smart Drive.

Here's the red Smart I drove. I took a full photo of it as this will likely be my color combo.

Photos from the Lake Tahoe Regatta

2007-06-22T20:05:00.000-07:00

As promised here are photos that Matt took from the chase boat during the Lake Tahoe Regatta. He was on the long course so unfortunately there are no pictures of short course paticipants (sorry Dave & Liz). CLICK HERE for the photos.

Lake Tahoe Regatta

2007-06-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I was in Lake Tahoe and I had forgotten how beautiful it was. I was even more appreciative after having the opportunity to row on that crystal clear water.

This was my first real open water event. I had a good time during and after the race despite being left in the dust by some very experienced rowers. However, my expectation level and goals were realistic (Not to finish last, get lost or go swimming) . I was happy with what I accomplished. I chose the long course (8.75 nautical miles) and I learned a few things about open water racing that will likely help me out next year. The first lesson is that deviating from the most direct route really adds some time and extra distance. It was recommended that you use a compass or GPS for navigation and I chose a GPS. Matt (a.k.a. spouse) gave me a crash GPS course just before the race. It was perfect for the last 2 legs of the race but I didn't know that when the line connecting the arrows--pointing you in the right direction--disappears it means you are to far off course for the GPS to track. I thought maybe it just wasn't working as I had other rowers behind me and in front of me in view. So I ended up rowing extra on the first leg -- the longest leg (over 4 nm of the course). The other two legs the GPS worked perfectly. In fact on the last leg I never even had to look back until I crossed the finish line.

I also learned something about myself. I have more effort to give and I have more endurance than I give myself credit for. I honestly can say at the end of the race--I really wasn't tired. I was way too conservative in the start and first part of the race because I was worried about using my energy up and then bonking at the end. I'm planning on doing a marathon over labor day weekend so at least I know I need to push myself more.

The regatta was great, but rowing the day after and hanging out with fellow Outlaws Dave & Rita Goldner and their family & friends at their campsite made it that much better. We had some good chuckles around the campfire. It was great to see Dennis and Pat who I had met at the Louisiana marathon last October. Another friend of Dave's, Lloyd also joined us and made an awesome breakfast. Loved those hashbrowns. A fun group of people to be around. Matt and I are looking forward to it next year if not again in the Petaluma marathon.

Matt rode on one of the chase boats and took photos. I'll add a link to all the pictures later.

Here's Pete who was my basic sculling coach/teacher with Ellen (She's a California open water regular in this event) in the 2x race. They beat all the doubles with the exception of one men's double.

Here I am looking back to see if I can spot exactly where the next buoy/finish line was.

Women's double winners. Names unbeknownst to me.

What I love about rowing... age just makes you a better rower. Something needs to be said for this rower as the men's single racers started after the doubles. Doubles should always be faster than a single--more oars, more bodies... I'm not sure where this rower ended up in the standings but my guess is somewhere near the top.

The view while rowing really sucked... NOT!

Don't worry... I will catch up.

2007-06-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

It's a busy summer so far and I'm a bit behind on blogging. I wanted to let everyone know--I'm aware of the "situation" and am looking forward to a nice quiet blogging moment--next week. We've got lots of upcoming events and trips and Matt/Cricket has a new motorcycle. I have a new/old road bike that I'm hoping to seriously ride when I get back from my rowing regatta in Lake Tahoe this weekend. Pictures of bicycles, motorcycles, rowing and Lake Tahoe are on their way.

Hope all is well and everyone is having a great summer so far!

Freddie Spencer Riding School--Link to photos.

2007-05-19T20:59:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to a small sampling of the photos from Freddie Spencer motorcycle school. Enjoy!
Click here for motorcycle photos!

Freddie Spencer Riding School

2007-05-17T20:29:00.000-07:00

Anyone that knows Matt (a.k.a. Cricket) knows how he's always loved motorcycles and we always have had one in the garage (I'm still amazed there's only one!). He Tivo's all the Moto GP races and I often get up in the morning to hear the sound of motorcycles racing around the track. One of his all time favorite racers is Freddie Spencer. For his birthday last December his brother, parents & I set him up for Freddie Spencer's Riding School in Las Vegas for 3 days. We just got home today and I've been sitting at my computer sorting through nearly 2000 photos that I took while standing at various corners on the Las Vegas Speedway track.

There were four instructors--all who have their own long list of racing accomplishments. I rode out to the track in the mornings with Cory who had all the coolers with water and snacks. He gave me the rundown of where I should not stand to take pictures etc. and frequently checked on me to make sure I had water--I suppose if I wasn't from Phoenix my standing out on pavement for so long would have been a factor. It was hot--but still not Phoenix HOT. Thanks for watching out for me Cory!

Matt probably should be writing this blog--however, I think he knows I know what he would say. He LOVED his 3 days on the track learning from these great instructors (Read more about Nick, Jeff & Dale by CLICKING HERE the only one missing on that page is Ken Hill.) I'm pretty sure he'll be going to the Sport Rider II class next summer. His classmates were all very nice and even though I'm not a motorcycle rider myself I saw big improvements on the track through the lens of my camera. As I ALWAYS enjoy taking pictures, I certainly didn't mind being a photographer for everyone in the class.

To all of of the riders, and instructors... I'll figure out how to get them all to you.

That being said, I'm going to put up a few pictures on my blog and work on some links to photo pages tomorrow. Check back over the next few days to see some cool track photos!

Freddie Spencer on the track demonstrating good cornering.

Quite frankly, Freddie was going so fast--I was lucky to get him in my lens view.

Here's Matt working on his own cornering.

A little on the track talk.

Student (Tom Hampton) and instructor Dale Kieffer following. The last day, the riders were looking so much better!

Call the Waaaaaaaaaaaambulance...

2007-05-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

Most people who know me know I'm not really a spiteful person but I do express my views when I feel strongly about something or I may get snarky when people are being idiots. That's my lead in to the next few paragraphs that I put on a separate blog to keep my own personal blog shiny and happy. After thinking about that a little, I decided that I can always be shiny and happy later. Besides, I love to hear what normal people think. After I copy and paste them below--I'll just sit back and let good Karma wash all over me. See... that's shiny and happy!

Here's the two entries in order of my thoughts and as I had them posted on my now deleted blog.

You've come along way baby...

... with the exception of maybe being able to be a fully recognized member at the Phoenix Country Club.
I was having dinner with my M-I-L who happens to be a member (well not really, as she's technically only the spouse of a member). Apparently, she's a bit peev'd by the large dues they pay out in return for the "we don't give a crap" about you legal mumbo jumbo the Phoenix CC has been weilding lately. You see, the Phoenix CC still has a "Men's Grill" with the "no girls allowed" policy. If you have XX chromosome then you better pick up the phone and call someone if you want service. Oh and by the way there are special hours for you to golf. I'm sure the dirty laundry list doesn't end there. All for a later blog. In the meantime, if you're a chick and have lots of $$$ and are thinking of joining a country club to take clients golfing or a place to have luncheons--you may want to consider a Country Club that doesn't blantantly discriminate against women.

Hmmmmm...wonder if Oprah could get a sandwich in the Men's Grill?

Googling Up
First I thought I should mention that I don't even golf. Nor do I belong to the Phoenix Country Club (PCC). This entry transpired out of a dinner conversation that kind of had me in disbelief. I am always into some sport or another and I don't recall ever being told what time I could participate because I was a woman. I also can't think of a time I was ever excluded in any health club, or restaurant because I was a woman. Being of a younger generation, I'm truly amazed that old stodgy ways could even exist or survive today. That thought led me to a bit of "Googling".

All I had to do is type in "Country Club discrimination" and I found a bunch of articles and shorts of case law. The strange part was that most of the articles were from 2005 or older and it seems most of the litigated cases favored the individuals bringing suit againt the Country Clubs. Just goes to show how behind the times the PCC is. The PCC seems to be making an attempt to hold on to their outdated rules/bylaws by notifying it's members that they can be expelled if they bring suit. Likely with the hopes that no one would sue because of the large initial investment they forked out and won't get back, plus the cost of litigation.

Regardless of having a "Club" status--it's still a service industry. Old ways will not appeal to new ideals and eventually someone's going to sue the pants off the PCC and win or they'll have to seriously consider changing their ways to survive.

Obviously, this is an issue my mother-in-law is dealing with as a member. I'm sure if she's not liking the tactics of the PCC, there are others as well. It's not as if EXTRA consideration is asked for--it's EQUAL consideration. I started this blog to be a voice for her and to just express how incredulous it is that a business can get away with blantant discrimination.

Here's a few articles I thought interesting. One relates to a "Men's Grille" in Louisiana. The defense of why they had one--I thought comical.

New York Times article about Louisiana Country Club Men's Grille"
Assessment by the CPA of the Hartford Golf Club
Christian Science Monitor article about growing market of women golfer's and the issues they've faced with clubs etc.

More Images from AZ Jr. Regatta

2007-04-22T17:58:00.000-07:00

I've posted a sampling of photos on my photo page. Click Here to view. Or paste url http://web.mac.com/e_diethelm/iWeb/Site/Jr_Champions07.html in your web browser. The slideshow will give you a nice big picture view.

I certainly don't claim to be a professional photographer and I did this for fun. For coaches, competitors and Regatta staff--if you see a picture or two you would like e-mailed. I'll be happy to do so and at no charge to you.

Enjoy!

Arizona Jr. Championship Regatta

2007-04-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I spent the morning at the Arizona Jr. Championships helping out on the dock. I took the opportunity to work on my photo taking skills. Of the 1024 pictures I snapped, I edited down to about 750 good photos. I wish I could put them all on the web as I think some of the individual pictures really gave you a feel for the enthusiasm and effort these high school rowers put into their sport. Most of them didn't know that I was taking pictures both close up and while they were rowing because I had my 300 mm lens allowing me to be close but far away.

The weather was a bit unusual with choppy water, wind and cold in the early races. It cleared off for a calm sunny afternoon. The later races definitely benefited from that. Although this was mostly an Arizona HS regatta there was a contingency of scullers from Connecticut that were having a week long camp on the lake. They competed in the regatta which is a nice way to finish out sculling camp.

So many of the pictures came out well that I will post a chunk more on a photo page elsewhere and add a link on a subsequent blog. I know the coaches will want these to pass around and I certainly will get those to them.

My only disclaimer is that these photos are scaled down for my blog. They are a bit more detailed in their full high resolution view. You can click on the images for a larger web view--which is still pretty scaled down.

Here's that enthusiasm I'm talking about. Rio Salado women's four leaving the dock to race.

The Varsity women's eight was the battle of the day. As well as the last race of the day. These boats were side by side until the very end when Rio Salado powered up for the win. I love this first picture as it's quite exiciting to look over and see the competition right next to you.

Here's a full view of this crew battle.

This shows what the single scullers had to contend with. The conditions were less than ideal for them but they showed their determination to get through it. This is one of the visiting Connecticut rowers. I think she was feeling more like she was in Conneticut than Arizona. I was out on the lake sculling last week when they were having camp so I'm glad they got to enjoy the flat water and sunshine the week of their camp.

Oh those regatta volunteers... they take their job VERY seriously. This is Rebecca and Alicia having a serious (seriously staged) photo at Regatta Central. I laugh everytime I look at this!

Good Eats II

2007-04-12T07:10:00.000-07:00

I thought maybe I should comment on the final outcome of Matt's first full meal cooking job. It was delicious! Like any good cook--one thinks of ways it could be even better after. Alton Brown's recipe called for red snapper. However, they didn't have any at Whole Foods, so we got trout instead. We decided that red snapper might be better or another light white fish. Also, I'm not sure if Alton showed it on his show or not but it would be wise to remove the spine from the fish first. We did that after cooking and it kind of made our plates messy. We also deduced that this would be a great way to cook fish over other vegetables or grains such as spinach or rice. Overall, I think it was a really nice meal and one we can play around with for lots of future great meals.

A picture of the cooked version is below.

Good Eats!

2007-04-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

Matt (a.k.a. Cricket) has become an Alton Brown Good Eats watcher. I think he's connected with Alton on the Food Network because he approaches cooking in a logical way with lots of history, science, chemistry and explanation mixed in. He also has everything ready before he starts mixing up dinner. This is appealing to a GEEK. I fixed a Rachel Ray recipe one night and followed her lead by just throwing stuff in as I went along. That was a bit to chaotic and messy for him.

Tonight he's fixing one of Alton's recipes. He's doing an excellent job and I can't wait to taste it. I'll let you know how it turns out. Until then, here's a few rare pictures of the spouse cooking. I think he's having a good time... so maybe it will be a more frequent thing (I'm hoping!).

He's got all the Alton Brown shows on his laptop so he can watch and prep at the same time.

Looking good... even if he is putting my not so favorite food on. That's ok, I like tomatoes COOKED.

If it taste as good as it looks prepped, I'll have to give him a big pat on the back for an outstanding first meal.

By the way, this is basically fish stuffed with herbs, with cous cous and veges. White wine to steam and wrapped up in parchment paper. It's cooking right now and smells really good.

How Geeks Get Out of Housework...

2007-04-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

Cleaning the floors at our house has always been one of Matt's "honey do's". A few years ago he was pleased to discover that he could get a robot to vacuum for him. We purchased an iRobot Roomba. He was quite happy as he only had to mop the floors after "Rosie" (Our name for our Roomba--after the Jetson's robot). However, early Roombas had a few flaws that made them break down after about a year or two. Most of the mechanicals were a result of the onslaught of pet hair Rosie had to clean up on a day to day basis. Roombas are a little pricey so we decided that it wasn't cost effective if they were going to break every year. So Matt begrudgely went back to vacuuming and mopping. Spending precious hours on the weekend keeping up with his house chore.

After a couple years sans Roomba, we broke down and bought another. Kind of an anniversary gift to ourselves. Now they make a model just for vacuuming up pet hair. The wheels are more durable AND replaceable should they go bad. So Rosie 2 has been diligently keeping our floors vacuumed. She does such a good job that we decided the only thing better would be to have a Scooba as well. A Scooba will actually wash the floors. Today FedEx showed up with the big box. My joyous spouse couldn't wait to test "Scooby" out. He got Scooby's battery all charged up, filled him up with cleaning solution and anxiously watched as he moved about the floors cleaning. I think the results can be seen by images below.

Here's "Rosie" our vacuuming Roomba. She get's all the dirt picked up before Scooby has to clean.

Here's Scooby leaving a nice clean wet trail. He has little brushes that clean up the goo. The amount of water he puts down is just right. No streaks!

Scooby does very well up against walls etc.

Scooby's clean and dirty water containers.

Here's the dirty water being emptied. This is just from a small hallway floor job.

Yuck! Look at all the dirt that was on what appeared to be a not so dirty floor.

Overall, the floors look great. In fact, they're so shiny and clean you can see the reflection of things on top of it. I know Matt is quite happy that his home task has been automated. Now if we can just get a robot to clean blinds & windows!

Spring Visitors

2007-04-06T07:11:00.000-07:00

My cousin Tim, and son Timmy, are visiting from Michigan. Yesterday I took them to Pinnacle Peak Park for a hike. This is the time of year where everything is blooming, including the cactus. Pinnacle Peak Park is one of the better places to see a lot of spectactular desert fauna and get some great city views at the same time. The City of Scottsdale has done an excellent job marking the trail with information about the desert fauna. So it makes for a good educational hike as well. Not sure these pictures do justice to all the colors. Click on pictures for bigger picture.

Timmy was a good hiker. He was also very tolerant of my picture snapping.

Tim, Timmy, and my Uncle Steve taking a breather. Ok... maybe Timmy didn't need it--but it's always good to stop and look at the view.

Pretty wispy flower that I don't now the name of.

A view from the trail.

My Aunt Jill and Steve at the bottom of the trail.

Big Bank Blues

2007-03-29T21:25:00.000-07:00

Every now and then I've just got to blow off a little steam as a result of being beat down by big business. I usually don't feel this way unless I've experienced really, really bad customer service and it usually has to happen on more than one occasion to make me spout off.

Although, I recognized awhile back that Bank of America was not a good deal for my small graphic design business and have since moved my account to a Credit Union (Arizona State Credit Union) who treats me like a person and actually pays interest on the money I have in my checking account! Unfortunately, Matt and I still have our home/personal debit/checking, safe deposit box with BofA. The last couple of days dealing with them have been annoying. What's driving me over the edge is this: I went to the bank to deposit a check in the ATM. The ATM sucked down my check and then proceeded to have a "run time error" (a.k.a. crappy "we don't give a crap" software) and CRASH. "No problemo" I thought to myself in spanish--I'll go in and let them know so they can pull out my check and desposit it. Still in good spirit I told one of the worker bees my story and their face turned to stone. I was told "We don't have access to the ATM. You'll just have to wait and see if is deposited to your account and if it doesn't then you'll need to call and file a claim". I must have had a look of disbelief as the whole "YOU have to do something--because it can't be OUR problem" scenario was repeated to make sure I understood.

Still optomistic that it would show up and someone would recognize there was a computer crash and maybe not all the checks were processed....

Yeah, right... I e-mailed BofA first and got a totally bogus form e-mail that didn't even take into account the issue. I'm suppose to report check fraud?? It's not check fraud--"it's my "f@#% ing" bank ATM check sucking etc. etc."--I thought to myself.

Then I tried to call... What a joke that is. You get into a continuous automated loop with NO option to speak to a real person in India (I'm sure even BofA is on the outsourcing band wagon). Now I'm just MAD. I certainly would not have the check writer request a stop pay because that would cost them money. Why should they? Clearly this is my banks bad business flaw.

So tomorrow I'll wait for the reply to my e-mail (They respond in 12 hours) where I think I used all caps and said something like "Give me the number where I can talk to a person that can actually answer questions without pissing me off more and tell me where all those checks collected from the ATM's go..."

We've had our share of Big Bank Blues and luckily we're already in the process of transferring to a credit union for our personal accounts. Can't be soon enough for me. Of all businesses--a bank needs to be trusted. I have no trust in BofA .

Looking for a place to park your bucks? My suggestion is to see what credit union you can join up with. They haven't forgotten who they work for and they can offer up services that the Big Banks do. No one should ever park their $$ somewhere without a little appreciation--whether it's by getting a little interest on your money or providing good service.

Muffin "e" Goodness...

2007-02-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

Mmmmmmmm, nothing better than a muffin right out of the sunoven. Warm, moist and satisfying. Did I mention how amazigly good for you these babies are? I made up my own recipe and they are low cal & low fat. Not to mention I used FREE energy from the sun to cook them. My sun oven's up to 375 degrees today and still working. I threw in some garlic heads to make a garlic paste for slathering on all sorts of my "granola crunchie" goodies.

I'm omitting oil and such from my recipes as I'm testing out the Dean Ornish philosphy of super low fat cooking, healthy heart etc. He actually promotes a heart healthy diet through Vegetarian-lowfat cooking. Check out his Everyday Cooking with Dr. Dean Ornish-150 Easy. Low-Fat High Flavor Recipes. Lots of good recipes in there. He gets NO credit for my muffins. They're my own lowfat creation.

I'm always willing to share a good thing so here's my recipe that makes 6 muffins (can't fit a 12 pan in my Sunoven):

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup egg substitute
1/4 cup plus one Tablespoon Non Fat, plain yogurt.
1/4 cup Splenda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1.5 bananas mashed
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

I threw in some Craisins but you can pretty much put in whatever fruit you'd like (Ok--maybe not grapefruit!). Strawberries, blueberries etc. My disclaimer: Cooking in a sunoven ALWAYS makes everything more moist. I usually have to cook things a little longer as well. I cooked these for 25 minutes. If cooking in a conventional oven, you may want to check them around 20 minutes. Unlike the sunoven--if you overcook them they will be a little dry. And if you live in a sunny place I highly recommend getting a Sunoven. They're great when you don't want to heat up your house in the summer, not to mention the energy savings. Everything comes out moist and delicious! Enjoy!

Here's my quick add up of the stats per/muffin:
133 calories
2 g fat
20 carbs
2 g fiber
1 g protein
0 g cholesterol

Teetotalism Times Two...

2007-02-20T21:23:00.000-07:00

Well it's been over two weeks now that I've managed to abstain from my glass of wine per night habit. Good stuff, but I was starting to wonder if the habit was permanent. So I'm practicing alcohol abstinence for awhile as a way to break the habit and make a glass of wine more for special occasions and not an everyday thing. I'm on a roll, so we'll see how long I go before I cave. I am married afterall!

It's interesting how other's react when I ask for a Diet Coke or a glass of water when out to dinner. For some reason I'm questioned as to why I'm not drinking and I have to explain. I can't recall ever asking someone why they chose something other than alcohol for their beverage, but if I have--I'm sorry for that. There is really no reason one should have to justify a non alcoholic choice. No one ever asks why one chews sugar-free gum.

So far I've learned that it's pretty easy to skip alcohol, so I don't think I'll have to attend an AA session anytime soon.
Just don't take my coffee away... or someone is going to get hurt!

Cheers! I say that affectionately with my glass of skim milk.

Home Improvements Update

2007-01-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

There was a little Weekend Warrior action in my kitchen over the past couple of weekends. A couple weeks ago my Uncle Steve cut and installed the molding on the tops of my cabinets. I was suppose to help, but he certainly didn't need it. In fact, I had bought extra because I was sure that if I did it there would be mistakes. Not my Uncle Steve... he calculated each cut and it all installed perfectly. Thank you Uncle Steve! Also a big thank you to my Aunt Jill for coming along and bringing lunch!

This past weekend I spiced up the back splash with some tile. It's amazing how a little texture, pattern and color spiff up the place. My trusty tiling coworker and neighbor, Tom, helped me out with this one. It's the first time both of us tiled "on the point" so we had to do quite a bit more thinking and lots of cuts. I'm glad we went that route though--because it definitely adds more interest. Tom had to endure quite a bit of "nit picking" but he was a trooper and let me be boss "e". Thank you Tom! I'm sure I would STILL be doing this project if it weren't for your help.

We had a rough start with some mechanical problems and I had to do some drywall repair after taking off the previous Silestone partial back splash. I can attest to the durability and strength of Silestone. It took quite a few hammer wacks to get it to break. So my good intentions of starting to tile on Saturday morning turned into late Saturday afternoon. Tom and I had to stick a tile on the wall just to feel like we accomplished something. Sunday we cruised and got the whole back wall and some of the side wall done. We finished it up on Monday and this morning I grouted it and put most of the outlet cover back on.

Not including our time, both the cabinet moldings and the tile were about $700 for materials. After I take all the molding back my Uncle Steve didn't use it will be about $650. So for not alot of money, I'm really happy with the result.

Next up... cork flooring in my spare bedroom to hide the disappointing contracted out cement acid stain. NO Thank You's are going out to Syntec Concrete Coatings for that. The only thing they did was reaffirm that I can usually complete my own home improvements and do a better job. Cork was my plan B and learning more about it--I think it should have been my plan A (By the way eD--I bought the material from Floorshop.com which I learned about from your blog).

AND after cork flooring... I suppose I better start on the spare bathroom that has been gutted. I've been using it as a closet for all my tools.

Masters Sculling Camp

2007-01-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I spent some time on Pacific Beach in my scull attending Patti Pinkerton's Master's rowing camp. Wish I had some photos but the camera got left at home as all the worry about what to pack-made me forget "what to PACK". Besides the camera, I think at least 4 or 5 more pairs of socks would have been helpful. Regardless, sculling alongside seals, sunny skis and along with the best coaching tips I've received thus far... I would say it's a "MUST" for any sculler that wants to improve one's skills.

I rode out with Julie Busskohl who car-topped my boat and rode home with the spouse who came out on Saturday to work by the beach. We had a nice time meeting up after my day of sculling instruction. Going out for a light dinner and walk along the beach. Matt & I had spent a month or so in a condo along Pacific Beach 3 years ago. It was kind of cool to scull by it and to just hang out in the area again.

As for Patti Pinkerton, I can say that I felt honored and lucky to get some coaching from her. She has a long list of accomplishments behind her and truly KNOWS how to relay her thoughts to get you to make changes for the better. Great coach and a lively personality. I'm going back next year for sure!

They ARE way smarter than dogs....

2007-01-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

My way-to-many cats never stop amusing me. So bossy, yet SENSITIVE and most of all... they have "no fear". Here's a few pictures that may relay my thoughts...

Chili & Pepper go together.... well, like Chili Pepper!

Sparky is our "no fear" kitty. If there's a high spot he MUST go to the top. If there's something to be explored then he'll be there. To this day... I have to DOUBLE check the washer machine to make sure he's not in it before starting the wash cycle.

Ok, maybe that's not so smart--but I certainly would call it brave!

I Resolve...

2007-01-04T12:22:00.000-07:00

About my New Year's resolution...

Last year it was to walk to the grocery store and to places in general that were within walking distance. Last night, I finally figured out what this year's resolution would be while WALKING to the grocery store. You see I was walking to the store to get some needed ingredients for a new soup recipe I had. Then I thought "I should try more new recipes" and then I thought "Violé!". So I decided I need to try one new vegetarian recipe a week. In turn it will help me to be a better vegetarian and not rely on the usual trap I fall into when needing a quick meal--pasta or fish. Because I don't plan meals like I shoud I've been a pesco vegetarian. I'm not sure that's such a good thing as it becomes convenient to use fish as my primary protein source. This year-- I'm going to be a better planner and fix totally vegan meals and figure out which ones are keepers or that I can take to dinners where there's not much of a chance for a real vegetarian choice.

By the way, it was a fabulous soup from Vegetarian Times which was wicked easy and delicious. Loved that so much--I'm testing out another recipe tonight opposite the soup recipe page.

If you're up for a vege meal every now and then--let me know--I'm sure I'll be able to let you in on the ones I've tried that are "keepers".

Bon Apetite!

p.s. I get harassed by people almost on a daily basis because I am vegetarian and I still get stupid questions like "Do you eat Chicken?" That one still amazes me. I suppose I might deserve it as I break down and eat fish just to avoid the questions during dinner outings. Diet for a Small Plant is always a good read and it might surprise you how much our eating choices impact our planet. A bit dated now--but prophetic considering how much our planet has changed since the book was written in the 70's.
Certainly, I don't inflict my eating choices on others, but if I could get others to consider just going vegetarian for one night a week-- well... a little goes a long way.

Christmas Last Year...

2007-01-03T12:31:00.000-07:00

Oh my... I'm just now putting some Christmas Day pictures up and it's already a New Year. Happy New Year everyone!
I'm still thinking about whether I'll make a resolution for this year. Walking to the grocery store was last year. I think I did a pretty good job with that--although I think I could do better.

Here's a few pictures of Christmas Day dinner at Dan & Karen's brand spanking new house with brand new everything. Quite posh I must say. I know many of you want to see the house, however, I didn't do a good job as the lighting was a bit low both outside and inside. Part of the appeal of a new house is being able to dim lights for mood lighting. Not so great for my still amateur photography skills... sorry! To see the other photos CLICK HERE

This view is from the back patio looking into the main room. You can see through to the door in the front.

Matt Sr. and neighbor Tom testing out the backyard grill.

Dan and Karen's house has a really nice view of Camelback mountain from the patio.

Neighbor, Jan and Aunt Jonni in the kitchen.

Dan giving out instructions on how to correctly roll crescent rolls out of the can. He's the pro at that.

It's the Little Things...

2006-12-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

Like a cozy place and a homemade quilt to nap on. Picture below was taken at Kobi's favorite other home (Tom & Jan's next door). Merry Christmas!

Backyard Birds

2006-12-23T09:27:00.000-07:00

This morning it's crisp, cool and beautful outside as the dewdrops are shining in the early morning sun. Our mornings are filled with some backyard activity thanks to our interesting metal bird feeder and some wild bird feed. Matt has been going out and putting bird see in it every morning and after that our backyard transforms into birdie mecca! The cat's especially love the close-up view and are mesmerized by the activity.

Freshly filled bird feeder.

It's not long before there's a flock of quail stuffing themselves.

Sparky looking out... wishing he could be out and having a quail breakfast!

A Cardinal in our Ocotillo getting ready to kick some Quail butt to get the bird seed.

And here's a little bird waiting to get in on the food fest.

You're On the Right Blog

2006-12-20T16:50:00.000-07:00

I've changed to a minimalist look for a little while while I contemplate the meaning of Christmas... I'll get back to you on that and maybe I'll have some pictures that will add all the color needed.

Uh oh....

2006-11-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

I knew it would happen--I just didn't know it would happen this fast. That's right kids--the big 40 is just around the corner for me. Two days to be exact. I've decided that I should maintain a low profile and let it be like any other day. In fact, I've scheduled in my "well woman exam" for my birthday. How much fun can that be!

I don't normally blog without some type of image to go along with it, however, I just don't have an image... well at least not one to portray my current train of thought.

40.... people say that's middle age. I have noticed a few more wrinkles and the desire to retire early... like tomorrow. But other than that--I just don't feel like 40. In fact, it's got me thinking about what I could do to keep feeling like I'm not 40. Rowing is keeping me active and has been inspirational. So many of my rowing friends are older than me and they look great. Into their late 40's, 50's 60's and going on 70's they defy the norm. For sure, I'm holding onto the sport. And maybe I might add a few more...

Consciousness... Now I'm even more intent on using plastic baggies more than 3 times and recycling as much as possible. Living lightly on the earth is a major goal and not doing so is a concern. I question those that need to have more things and I look up to and admire those that are simplifying.

Health... in my 20's and 30's I worked out to keep from buying larger pants. In my late 30's and soon to be 40's I'm working out because I've discovered it actually makes me both mentally and physically younger. I'm counting on my activities and sports to get me through what I've felt will happen at some point--being diagnosed. It's no secret in my family that the cancer gene runs rampant. Staying true to my sports gives me hope that I might outrun "it". And if I can't, then at least I'll be strong enough to fight it.

Family... I don't know that I should even want to continue on to 50, 60 and beyond without them. My first real loss was losing my grandparents within a year of each other. I still miss them dearly . And despite sometimes differing veiwpoints-I might crumble without the rest of my family.

Friends... I'm not always the best friend. Neglecting to write, e-mail or call. However, my friends understand and I understand them when they are to harried to keep in touch. We never lose track of each other in mind and spirit and when we reconnect--it's as if only a day or two had passed by. They've all turned 40 before me and I'm sure they're quite happy that I've caught up to them again.

Marriage... Many my age have found that the first one didn't work out for them by 40. I feel lucky to have married for the first and last time. My best buddy and my best friend--Matt keeps me young on a day to day basis with good humor and lots of support. Even when I don't make enough money--so he can quit his job--he forgives me and takes another smack from corporate america so we can live in relative comfort.

So my friends... 40 isn't so bad for "e". I've got a good attitude, good life and good health.

Here's to 40 and beyond!

Living in the "Hood"

2006-11-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

The pictures below are the result of some vandals in our neighborhood on Saturday night or Sunday morning....
I suspect it's from rock slinging (with a sling-shot by the damage that was done). A peice of evidence was left for us.
Unfortunately, we have teenagers with friends in our neighborhood. My guess is that they have to much free time and a curfew that isn't enforced enough to keep them from getting bored. Nor have they learned consequences. Quite a bit of damage as they managed to dent the car as well as break the glass.

My neighbors Tom and Jan got a stray flying rock that broke a tile off their roof. Today I'll be making an insurance claim and likely a police report as well.

Likely this was the source of the damage.

The tempered glass is one tap away from shattering everywhere.

One impact point that dented the car.

Another impact point on the back of the hatchback.

Marathon Picture Page

2006-11-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

As promised I've uploaded my rowing marathon pictures. CLICK HERE to view the page.

Natchitoches Rowing Marathon

2006-11-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

I'm back in town after completion of my first on the water rowing marathon. We had a great time in this cool little town. The marathon was action packed with 24 crew eights competing. I think this may have been their biggest participation year yet as they ran out of T-shirts!

The Cane River made for an "attentive" row. Lots of winding curves and unfortunately some 20 mph (seemed like more in my scull) headwinds and at times crosswinds. The night before there was a big storm and the temperature dropped 20 degrees. Lots of tree limbs were hanging out in the river. I actually snagged one and afterwards was more cautious and tried to stay towards the middle of the river.

My goal was to finish the marathon in 4 hours, however, after fighting the wind for the first 10 miles, I decided finishing upright would be a more realistic goal. I finished in 4:43 minutes and I was unchallenged in my master's class. My boat number was #9 and so I thought the gal that started in front of me and had bow #8 was in my class. We went back and forth passing each other for the first 23 miles and then I realized that she looked really, really young for her age. Come to find out she was a college gal and not even in my class.

Kathy and Rebecca kicked some serious butt. They rowed so well that despite high winds--they still managed to set a course record in the Women's Master A class. I was so proud of them! During the course of the race there was a college men's 2X that stopped to take a rest when they caught up to me. I saw Kathy and Rebecca in the distance and told them that 2 girls were about to pass them up. That got them rowing! It's kinda fun to bring down those young kids huge egos for entertainment. I have no doubt that Kathy and Rebecca eventually passed them up.

Dave did great too. It's really hard to row a single in the wind and he took a beating from it. He jokingly said he should have quit at the 12 mile mark... but we know he wouldn't have. His family and friends were there and they were so wonderful. They whisked our boats away and unrigged them after the race and helped set up before. My M-I-L Wanda made the trip with me and was my "pit crew" so to speak. She drove me everywhere and knew the town like the back of her hand within a day. Plus she braved cold winds to shoot some pictures from the Front Street bridge. It certainly wouldn't have been as much fun without her. AND most importantly, she somehow tricked me into eating tomatoes. Fried green tomatoes! Anyone that knows me knows how I feel about raw tomatoes so this was a major breakthrough for me. I actually ordered them on my own the last night. However, I assure you all that I still do not like red tomatoes.

I'll upload all the pictures and add a link to the photo page soon. Also, I'm sure Rebecca--who is far more diligent with her blog than I-- will have lots of pictures as well. CLICK HERE for her blog Stained Glass. Also see pictures as the Arizona Outlaw blog is updated. There's some great pictures of the Hot Head that Rebecca took. CLICK HERE for Arizona Outlaw blog.

Sporting our gold medals... which look silver. We were assured that they were "Gold" in theory. Lots of people were looking at their "Gold" medals saying "These aren't Gold!" So we were content to sport them as is.

Rebecca posing for a picture with me while getting my scull ready to go.

Here's Dave finishing out the race.

Green Protest In the News... NOT!

2006-11-06T18:26:00.000-07:00

While in London, Wanda and I came out of Lillywhites (sporting good store), to witness a protest march down Picadilly Street in London. I didn't have my camera so I ran all the way back to our hotel and then caught up with the protestors. Well at least some of the 10,000 or so marchers.

I'm sure this didn't even make the news in the U.S. Especially so close to an election here in the states...

I am somewhat of a "granola cruncher" and I think it's OK to actually care about our planet. I also would agree with these "Brits" that it's shameful for the U.S. to not take the Kyoto agreement seriously. And like them... I'm not very proud of our President and his anti-enviromental policies. Fortunately for me the protestors didn't mind me taking their pictures and I don't mind giving them a little press on my blog because I happen to agree them.

Hot Head Regatta 2006

2006-10-31T08:13:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I participated in the Hot Head Regatta on Tempe Town Lake. It's a 2.75 mile head race--which means it's a staggered start and best time wins. I rowed a double with fellow Arizona Outlaw, Kathy Moum, and we won our Master Women's 2x race in 20:34. I was also going to row in the single race but it was cancelled due to high winds. Although I think I could have handled the waves and probably the wind, I'm sure it would not have been a pleasant row. I was somewhat thankful that they cancelled. The Arizona Outlaws did well in all the sculling events. In fact, we placed first in all that we entered.

More Images from Burgundy

2006-10-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

I finally got a chance to put some images up on a photo page from France. I took a cajillion, so I had to select just a few for the photo page. Some of the pictures look like they have a mist over them. That's because it was foggy for at least 3 days. The fog would usually burn off later in the day. Certainly, it made the old chateaus look more mystifying. To get to the photo page CLICK HERE

Below are a few more added to the blog. Next week, I'm off to London with Wanda and then onto Louisiana for my rowing marathon. So check back soon for more travel pictures.

Pretty berries on a bush outside the apartment.

Mmmmmmmmm, fromage (stinky cheese). No one does stinky cheese like the French. This was taken at a local market where Wanda and I gathered fresh goodies for and evening meal.

A view of the apartment from the road. We had a vineyard as the front yard. Merci to Joe and Susan Howe for going on vacation to let us have the run of the place.

Bon Jour and Au Revoir!

2006-10-21T01:17:00.000-07:00

Today we are leaving Paris for the States. We spent a week traveling around the beautiful French countryside. Very rural with lots of little villages within a few kilometers of each other. As we were in wine country, half the enjoyment was being able to drive up to farm houses with the sign "Cave" (French for cellar) and "digustation" (for tasting) and try out the local wines. So many great wines and a shame we can only bring 2 bottles back each. The only mishaps of the trip were transport related (rental car/s). The first day our auto had a flat and the last day the NEW Ford S-max mini-van just turned off on a highway exit and wouldn't restart. We were in a rural area-- so it was a long day of waiting for tow truck, taxi's and re-renting. All a learning experience for sure and I learned quickly how to talk to non English speaking policemen through broken French and sign language. Wanda was a good interpreter throughout the trip. I really think if she stayed another month or so she would be speaking fluently.

Below are a couple pictures of our trip. I'll post a picture page when we get home. Au Revoir France! Bon Jour U.S.A.

One of the farms we drove up and did a tasting. Not very far away from the apartment we stayed at.

Wanda was quite happy to go wine tasting in the area of Chardonnay.

Here's Wanda's next house.

Matt at a tasting place where they have Brouilly wines (grapes from the area of Mont Brouilly and Beaujolais). Definitely our favorites. We would have loved to be able to ship home cases, however, the cost was prohibitive.