My Wish for You in 2008...
May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts. May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills. May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips! May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires, may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy. May the problems you had forget your home address! In simple words ...
May 2008 be the best year of your life!!!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
My Friends
Of course the other dogs were running around like crazy pulling on all the ribbon and trying to eat it but Willow (next to me) and Ziggy took the higher road and stayed with me for this priceless shot. I really do love all the dogs with their quirks but Willow being the only other female in the house is my girlfriend. Ziggy is the Alpha dog of the house, although he always defers to me. We have a special relationship. I had a blast rolling around in the grass with the dogs. It was one of those special moments of peace and happiness.
Smokey ...the Bear
We have been down to 5 dogs for the past few months so when I found out that Smokey was being kept in a little cage at the local vets office I had to rescue him. After a few conversations with the owner (who loves Smokey) he agreed to let me bring Smokey home with me. After all it is for the good of the dog. Smokey's original owner passed away and her son agreed to take the dog but he lives in Florida in a small house that was not ready for a 110 lb. Weim pup. So for the few months he was going to board him at the local vet clinic. While this was satisfactory - it is just not a good thing for a Weim to stay caged up so now Smokey is living here with us. He is learning to be part of the pack and has really been enjoying outside time and long walks with the other dogs. He is a lover and never misses a chance to have his tummy rubbed or to snuggle on the couch. Occasionally Smokey can't resist the temptation to give me a bear hug which is why I now call him Smokey the Bear!
Wolf Gang
On December 8th we had the pleasure of having the Wolfs come to visit us on their way from NJ to their new home in TX. They wanted to stop to have a rest during their long drive and to see Grandma. I guess I should explain the relationship; Joanne (mother in the middle) is my Grandmother's brother's daughter. Graeme, Hayden and Taylor are three of thier children (Spencer was already in TX) and Gus is her husband. As I was saying they were on their way to their new home which means they had just moved out of a house they had lived in for 30+ years. Just a little stress. They all arrive here after being crammed into a little mini van for 12 hours and they are just as pleasant as can be. The kids don't bicker, instead they willingly play the piano (ok, keyboard since I don't have a piano) and then to top it off as a family they sing in harmony! How impressive! Even more so because I am RELATED to them! This family is pure joy to be around, kind, sweet, genuine. Seeing them together makes me even want to have a family. They were certainly a breath of fresh air and added tremendously to the holiday spirit in our house.
Three Generations
I think this picture represents the best part of my Christmas. Some easy time spent with my family. We don't make a big fuss about Christmas gifts we just simply try to spend a little extra time together. This picture is of me (34), my Grandmother (92) and my Mother (Shall we say 65+). I just hope that I still look as good as both of them when I am that age!
Friday, December 7, 2007
Earthquake!
This morning a few minutes after 6 I was launched from my bed by a loud rumbling and a bang! I literally took off running because I was pretty sure the furnace had blown up or some other really bad thing had happened to our house. After a quick run around the house and checking for gas leaks I called the neighbor who also had on all of thier lights. No one even guessed, we all figured something had exploded. The epicenter was actually 6 miles from where I live. The fact that it was so loud at my house is pretty scary. It was only a 2.1 on the Richter Scale but still enough to give us all a good scare and certainly it kept me from going back to sleep - what a way to get up!
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Everything and Nothing
I have not blogged (is that now an accepted word?) for a while not because I haven't had time but because I have not felt like anything really significant has happened. On the other hand I am sure all sorts of significant things have happened that I have somehow overlooked. So forgive me if this blog today appears to be rambling because it is but then again so is life most of the time - at least mine is!
I have blogged a bit about my training for the Tybee Island Marathon (Feb 2). I have been trying to get back to my old form with my running. It has been years since I have really put a lot of effort into running - aside from tri training. I have been on the marathon training program for about 4 weeks now and up until last week I still wasn't really feeling the "love". I feel heavy and sluggish, but last week I went to the track to do 800's at 6 AM in the morning in the freezing cold. Two weeks previous to that I had done 5x800 all at 3:30 pace. Yeah, I know nothing stellar but I already admitted to having some work to do! So for last week my goal was to do all 6x800 in 3:20-3:25 at little faster but not killing myself. The first one I rolled past the 800 mark in 3:19 - I was kind of happy and kind of sad since I always try to negative split and here I had started a little on the fast side. As I went I just tried to fall into a quick cadence and really stay focused and all of a sudden the "love" was coming back to me 3:15,3:13,3:12 all falling right in the neighborhood of faster than what I expected. I felt like I was working hard but not killing myself. Meanwhile the sun had come up so I could do my cool down on the gravel road around the high school while the new school farm Alpaca's and goats watched. It was a good start to a day and proof that the training is starting to pay off, but also a bitter reminder that there is a lot more work to be done.
Aside from track work I do most of my runs on the trails but lately I have been overly frustrated by the hunters. WHY do they feel the need to hunt ILLEGALLY? I am running on private trails in the subdivision where I live and that is where they are hunting! After getting some advice from Glenn I purchased an outrageously priced ugly florescent orange hat for myself and 2 orange hunting vests for the dogs that always run in the front of the pack. So hopefully we don't get shot! I have even unwillingly moved my early morning runs to late morning runs - because when I hear the guns being shot I figure that is a sign to stay out of the woods. So, sorry hunters I am mad that I have to rearrange my schedule to avoid being shot by someone who is trespassing to begin with! I will get over it but I AM frustrated.
Last weekend I did some Christmas shopping - NO, not at the mall. I hate the mall. I don't like the crowds, the pushing, the shoving and the rude people make me feel very un-christmas like. I went to Hendersonville and walked all over down town and to my surprise had a GREAT afternoon. A nice lunch, then some browsing in a gallery, then another gallery where the drunk artist (admittedly so) showed me some paintings and offered a Bloody Mary. (I passed) Then on to a new store called ZB Zports. WOW - they had some cool "technical" gear for running and other outdoor activities. Some of you have made fun of my constant reference to "technical" fabrics but honestly if you started biking & running 20 years ago you too can remember going for a ride in your wool jersey and shorts with real shammy in them. I have a few pair saved just to show those of you who are non-believers! Anyway - the prospect of new, soft, comfortable, wicking fabrics excites me - it makes me want to go ride and run in the cold! After spending a lot of time in ZB sports I only had a little time to go in Mast General but their selection looked less interesting and my interest in shopping was waning.
For those of you who actually have read this far today is my birthday. I officially get to move up an age-group in triathlon this year. That is the only good thing I can think about getting older. I guess the older I get the more I can look back on life and reminisce but I think I am still too young for that. There is a saying on the Wildflower Bakery in Saluda that says "If you didn't know how old you were, how old would you be?" Today I am feeling about 25 so I will go celebrate!
I have blogged a bit about my training for the Tybee Island Marathon (Feb 2). I have been trying to get back to my old form with my running. It has been years since I have really put a lot of effort into running - aside from tri training. I have been on the marathon training program for about 4 weeks now and up until last week I still wasn't really feeling the "love". I feel heavy and sluggish, but last week I went to the track to do 800's at 6 AM in the morning in the freezing cold. Two weeks previous to that I had done 5x800 all at 3:30 pace. Yeah, I know nothing stellar but I already admitted to having some work to do! So for last week my goal was to do all 6x800 in 3:20-3:25 at little faster but not killing myself. The first one I rolled past the 800 mark in 3:19 - I was kind of happy and kind of sad since I always try to negative split and here I had started a little on the fast side. As I went I just tried to fall into a quick cadence and really stay focused and all of a sudden the "love" was coming back to me 3:15,3:13,3:12 all falling right in the neighborhood of faster than what I expected. I felt like I was working hard but not killing myself. Meanwhile the sun had come up so I could do my cool down on the gravel road around the high school while the new school farm Alpaca's and goats watched. It was a good start to a day and proof that the training is starting to pay off, but also a bitter reminder that there is a lot more work to be done.
Aside from track work I do most of my runs on the trails but lately I have been overly frustrated by the hunters. WHY do they feel the need to hunt ILLEGALLY? I am running on private trails in the subdivision where I live and that is where they are hunting! After getting some advice from Glenn I purchased an outrageously priced ugly florescent orange hat for myself and 2 orange hunting vests for the dogs that always run in the front of the pack. So hopefully we don't get shot! I have even unwillingly moved my early morning runs to late morning runs - because when I hear the guns being shot I figure that is a sign to stay out of the woods. So, sorry hunters I am mad that I have to rearrange my schedule to avoid being shot by someone who is trespassing to begin with! I will get over it but I AM frustrated.
Last weekend I did some Christmas shopping - NO, not at the mall. I hate the mall. I don't like the crowds, the pushing, the shoving and the rude people make me feel very un-christmas like. I went to Hendersonville and walked all over down town and to my surprise had a GREAT afternoon. A nice lunch, then some browsing in a gallery, then another gallery where the drunk artist (admittedly so) showed me some paintings and offered a Bloody Mary. (I passed) Then on to a new store called ZB Zports. WOW - they had some cool "technical" gear for running and other outdoor activities. Some of you have made fun of my constant reference to "technical" fabrics but honestly if you started biking & running 20 years ago you too can remember going for a ride in your wool jersey and shorts with real shammy in them. I have a few pair saved just to show those of you who are non-believers! Anyway - the prospect of new, soft, comfortable, wicking fabrics excites me - it makes me want to go ride and run in the cold! After spending a lot of time in ZB sports I only had a little time to go in Mast General but their selection looked less interesting and my interest in shopping was waning.
For those of you who actually have read this far today is my birthday. I officially get to move up an age-group in triathlon this year. That is the only good thing I can think about getting older. I guess the older I get the more I can look back on life and reminisce but I think I am still too young for that. There is a saying on the Wildflower Bakery in Saluda that says "If you didn't know how old you were, how old would you be?" Today I am feeling about 25 so I will go celebrate!
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