Favorite Things

See if you can spot the sarcasm....

I love it when people with 'smart phones' ride the bus. From my personal observation (from the seat of my bike) when they step off the bus and begin their journey down the sidewalk they forget to join the rest of us in the real world and they walk and text down the middle of the sidewalk. I'm here to tell you it isn't pretty and it's at least as dangerous to me as people driving and texting.

I also love vehicle shopping. Heaven forbid you have taken the time to know what you want. Because you won't be able to find it. Even if money were no object. Not that I don't totally love my bike being my main mode of transportation. It's just that I forgot to run errands last weekend and I'm out of cat food. For some reason in this town all the pet stores are within one large shopping mall block of each other. I'm not kidding, even the new one. And it's way outside my biking range. Except for the high end one down by the railroad tracks. Its entire business hours are while I'm at work and class all day. Fear not, the cats are just getting fat off the stores of canned food I have for bribing them to not scratch me when I administer twice daily medicine.

I love that I have two dogs. So do the cats. This way someone gets to feel superior at all times. Usually it's the cats. Rarely is it me. A few nights ago I settled down in my study chair to study. I realized I forgot my snack on the kitchen counter, so I retrieved it. I don't live in a huge house or anything. We're talking the journey to the kitchen is approximately 3 seconds from the chair. I returned to the chair and noticed Percy was licking her chops and looking sheepish. I didn't think much of it at the time as she had a kong with peanut butter in it and she pretty much always looks sheepish. Despite having this dog in my life for six years I have apparently not mastered the ability to tell 'sheepish' from 'guilty'. This was obvious as soon as I was a couple pages into the reading and thought I would have a little sip of eggnog. Funny, I don't remember spilling on the outside of the cup.......wait, why is the cup mostly empty....and there is nog on the table, floor, dog bed, ..... dog..... Damn dog. That was a huge cup....and it had rum in it. Maybe that was the attractant. Stay tuned for future tests to see if Percy will be attending AA meetings.

I think most of what else I love in the world right now can be summed up with people's realistic sense of themselves. This includes their pets and children. No, I'm sure your akita on the extendable leash ten feet from you had nothing to do with knocking you off your feet when he lunged at me. Seriously, go ahead, blame the female runner.....with the lab....on the pinch collar....I'm sure he started it. Yes, your chihuahua is so cute it's like it's not even a dog. Go ahead and bring him inside the place of business. His constant yapping won't bother a soul. Don't mind if I do the same thing with my 96 pound black lab. You don't mind, do you? It's okay, he's a search and rescue dog so he's perfect. Oh, except that he doesn't really like little yappy dogs. Thanks for the snack.....

View from the Snow Cave

Most of my winter fun has involved a view such as this from inside a snow cave. Now that school has started this is about as fun as it gets. When it's darker because I'm training at night or there is loose snow over the blocks for a more advanced dog, I often fall asleep. Sometimes inside a snow cave is the best place to be; it's out of the wind, it's quiet, and there's nothing to stress about. Especially if you have done something silly like not doing a radio check before you get in the cave and you actually have a dead radio. Then it's really quiet.

Tatonka and I have a full day tomorrow. We're giving a demonstration to some kids at the science center, doing some backcountry skiing together, and then a little cave work. He has no idea how much fun is headed his way or I'm sure he would have not given me that sappy big brown eyed pathetic look when I left the house this morning.

Big Dig

Tatonka and I are finally recovered from our 5 day extravaganza of training at the resort. It was an experience. We had a lot of snow fall during the last three days. Conditions deteriorated so much that the resort was closed for the 5th day.

Tatonka got to dig people out of the deepest caves he's ever played with. And he finally loaded onto the chairlift without any help from me. We may have even found some methods that work for skiing together too.

I guess that means it was a success. Our final two tests were postponed as the whole group was exhausted. Since classes start tomorrow rescheduling is about to become a nightmare. In the meantime I have been out skiing, improving my 'handler skills'. Very strange to ski without a pack or a dog, threw my balance way off.