Lots o Dogs and other stuff too

(From left to right - Harry with the ball in his mouth, Pepe', Willow, Yoda, Ziggy and Duke in the background...don't know where Smoky is)

Here is a picture of my beloved family of Weims. I love these crazy dogs like they are my children so when someone criticises my pups I put the boxing gloves on. Last week was a bad week concerning dog issues. Next door to the dog area they are building a house...so guess what? The dogs bark all day. I admit that it is horrible, I hate it, but with 7 pups there is not much I can do about it. Then on top of that I have been told (per a letter from the powers that be) that we should not be on the HORSE trails! None of this sat well with me last week. I tried to sneak into the woods with the dogs via my rear gate. It seemed to work well. I came home via the front gate and forgot that the rear gate was left open. I asked the dogs if they had gone anywhere but honestly I think they all stayed home despite the fact that I had left the gate wide open the entire time I was on my bike. Such good dogs! After their shameless night of barking (again I was out on the bike) my neighbors had enough. I basically told them that I would keep the dogs inside and get them all bark collars. (Well, maybe not since each bark collar costs $120!) So I went to Petsmart and came out with a plastic bird house. Yes, a tacky bird house that emits a sonic boom every time the bad dogs bark. I was pretty sure there was no way that thing was going to work but now after a quiet weekend I am a believer. I have gone out on the trails very very early to avoid any problems with horses. Although I think most of the horses are fine - it is their owners. I am trying to keep everything in perspective because the area where I live is really beautiful and I don't want to feel like I need to move.

On another subject Ironman AZ was yesterday. Team mate Brian Benitez-Nelson had a smokin time of 9:30 something. I am not sure if that will be sending him back to Kona or not but either way it is impressive. Sione (my friend from the Netherlands) had an impressive finish of 10:05 for 9th place overall. She will be here in NC next week getting ready for the Florida 70.3 race. Basically she will be kicking my butt into shape! So if I look tired next week...it is because I am!

I finally used some of my bike mechanic skills to tear down my "good" bike. I took everything off it and have sanded the frame down and will take it to get painted today. With my new knowledge I was able to order the appropriate parts (I hope!). I am a little worried that taking it apart was much easier than putting it together is going to be. We will see. I should be able to have it back together by the end of the week.

Maybe this week will have some more interesting news but for now I am going back to working on schedules - that is if I can get my software to work. Nothing like a challenge on Monday!