A Dog's Christmas

Today was my last day of work for a while. I don't have to commute down to my place of work until after the New Year. That being said there is always work to be done around the house. The first and foremost is taking care of our pack of dogs. We have four total.

The old lady of the Group: Rosie She turns 17 in February. She's a Schnauzer mix.

Mischief personified: Emily on the left Amy on the right. Miniature Schnauzers. They will turn 3 in February

And the only other male in the house besides myself: Scruffy. He's 11

All our dogs are rescues.

Ann and I take turns walking the dogs or at least letting them out to take care of business. Scruffy gets the longest walks as he's the biggest dog by about 30 lbs and he's also the easiest to walk. At 17, Rosie isn't that interested in walking. She's more about the treat waiting at the end of the walk. The twins can walk as far as Scruffy, but walking them is a disaster waiting to happen. If we run into someone, they go berserk with the barking, pulling on their leashes and carrying on. Their bark is just at the high pitch level thats it's like fingernails on a blackboard. No one wants to hear that. Especially first thing in the morning. So Scruffy gets the long walk. Since its currently Canadian weather here in Virginia, I limit the walk to one mile round trip. We walk to the local elementary school, which is a half mile away. This time of year school is in session so there are two crossing guards at the school. One always carries a treat for the local dogs. Obviously she is a dog person with three of her own. Scruffy eagerly awaits for her to dig into the pocket of her uniform to produce the prized treat. He gets a bit mystified on weekends or school holidays when we walk to the school and there isn't a treat waiting for him. Last week, after giving the Scruffy his treat, she said she had something for us. She went to her car and brought back this enormous chew bone. She told Scruffy he had to share it with his sisters. We placed it under the tree too hand out Christmas morning. Its for a Dog's Christmas.

Fosters and Rescues

I mentioned in an earlier post, how we enjoy getting Christmas cards. How they help set the mood for the holiday and how it lets us reconnect with old friends, even those we haven't seen in years. The other day a card arrived and I didn't recognize the address. It had a Virginia return address but it was from a town I wasn't familiar with. Upon opening it, we discovered that it was from the woman who had fostered one of our dogs before we adopted him. Back in 2009 we had lost our miniature schnauzer Winifred after 17 years. We still had one dog, a schnauzer mix, Rosie, that we adopted through the Mid-Atlantic Schnauzer Rescue . Ann decided she was ready for a bigger dog. One that she could take walks with. Not that you can't walk with miniature schnauzers, but they can be, shall we say, a challenge at times. I thought a second dog would be good if nothing else to be company for Rosie. Because I'm allergic to some furry animals, cats especially, it was important to pick a breed that has minimal shedding. Schnauzers had filled that bill hence why we had picked that breed in the past. As it turned out I had been donating to a local rescue organization HART - Homeless Animal Rescue Team. Occasionally I would visit their page to see what dogs were available. I came across a dog that would seem to fit the bill. He was a terrier (low shedding) and mid-size (about 45 lbs) so Ann could have a dog to walk with. He was a Wheaton terrier. We ended up adopting him this past February. Here was Scruffy on his ride home

And trying out one of our dog beds.

Anyway back to the Christmas card. In it, the former foster asked how Scruffy was doing and how he had been a favorite foster of hers. She had fostered him for just over a year. It was obvious she missed him. She asked if we could send her a picture of him. So today we broke out the camera and took a few pictures of Scruffy in front of our Christmas tree.

Ann was off camera bribing him with a treat to look her way while I took his picture. This of course drew the attention of our other dogs. Thats Emily in this picture with Scruffy.

I hope she enjoys the pictures (we sent her three). My hat is off to those who take in these unwanted pets and foster them until they can find a forever home. It must be difficult giving them up when the time comes. She did a wonderful job with Scruffy. He 's about the most well behaved, laid back dog ever. We're so glad we found him and he us.

Oh Baby It's Cold

As I sit here and write the temperature outside is a chilly 18 degrees. The wind chill is approaching zero. These temperatures may be par for the course for places like Minnesota or upstate New Your, but this is Virginia. It's not suppose to be this cold in December and certainly for not this long. All I can do is groan when I wake up in the morning and ask Ann what the temperature is. "It's 16 and the wind chill is 8" she gleefully intones. "Have fun on your walk". I grumble as I layer up hoping to keep the cold at bay. I harness up the twins and we're out the door. The wind is so cold and it stings my face. My eyes are watering and my nose running. All I want is for the dogs to go so we can get inside. Of course they don't cooperate. They are more interested in the squirrels running around them. So we walk and walk and walk some more. My hands are frozen. Eventually there is success and we quickly retreat to the warmth of the house. I'm in the house long enough to blow my nose and then begin round 2 as I harness up Scruffy and we head back out into the cold. Thankfully Scruffy is a lot more cooperative and we're out and back in a reasonable amount of time. We get to do it again in 4 hours. Spring can't come fast enough.

One Of Those Days

Ever have one of those days? You know the ones. Where the days starts out bad and just goes down hill from there. Today was one of those days. My first chore of most days is walking the dogs. The devious twins, aka Amy and Emily, go first. I try to get them out in that time between when the middle school bus has picked up its charges and when the elementary school kids begin their walk to their school. I do this to minimize the chance of actually running into anyone. The twins tend to go ballistic if they see any one (as terriers are want to do) and who needs that racket at 7:30 in the morning? Upon opening the garage door there at the end of our driveway walking passed our house was another person walking their dog. Clue in the barking, the yelping, the carrying on. As the Grinch noted: "The noise...noise...noise...noise..." I dragged the twins back in the house to wait a few minutes and tried again. This time with success. After walking all the dogs, I showered and was getting ready to leave the house when I got a phone call from Ann. She had gone to Mass and was calling to report she had a flat tire. Great. Luckily a few kind men offered to help her change the tire so I was off the hook for that one. Dodged one bullet. Then I was off for an appointment with my eye doctor. I'm having continuing problems with my eyes due to the fact that some of my lower eye lashes grow back toward my eye and scratch my eye. Today was a scheduled treatment where the offending lashes are literally burned out of existence. Sounds painful doesn't it? Actually that part isn't bad at all because your lower eye lid is numb. Now getting the shot in your eye lids to numb them - that's the painful part. That and they bleed like crazy. While waiting for the doctor, Ann calls and informs me that they tire has been changed. Great news! Except the spare is also flat or just about. Crap. The kindly gentlemen that help change the tire direct her to the nearest service station to get both tires fixed. I hang up and I'm then directed into an exam room and given three injections in each of my lower eyelids. It's as painful as I remembered. I'm left alone to give the shots a chance to work. And alone and alone. The doctor finally returns with an apologetic "Oh I forgot all about you!" Oh how nice. Three eyelashes from each eye meet their end and I'm released. Thank goodness. I now get another call from Ann who is sitting at Starbucks while the tires are being taken care of. Someone or something has tripped the alarm at our house and the police are on their way to investigate. She thinks she may have forgot to cancel our dog walker or maybe not. I finally arrive home and no police and no note. I assume that they found no forced entry and no one home and figured it was a false alarm. A bill should arrive from the county in a few days for that. Merry Christmas. Driving into the garage, I notice the door into the kitchen has blown open and thats what tripped the alarm. Not to self - make sure the door is securely shut before running off to appointments. The rest of the day in uneventful. The quiet before the storm. Just as we are about to sit down to dinner, The Son calls. A phone call from The Son is almost always bad news. Its just a matter of degree on how bad. Turns out his car battery is dead. He wants me to come take care of it. What? He wants to use our car (flat tires now having been fixed) to go to work in the morning. I tell him to call AAA and they will install a new battery for him. Grumbling ensues, but he agrees to do it. 30 minutes later he calls back. AAA has arrived, but they don't have the right battery for his car and will have to return to the shop and pick one up. Oh and by the way, they're showing 2 different types of batteries called out for his car and would I know which one is the right one? Of course I don't so they leave to get the one they do have and we're all praying it's the right one. AAA returns and all seems to be ok. We'll see come morning. The car will be sitting out all night during the coldest night so far. The wind chill is already down to 3 with 25 mph winds. We finish dinner and Ann and I immediately fall asleep in front of the TV. We're old. Its what old people do. We wake up and face the dreaded job of taking the dogs out for the final time before bed. Its cold. Its windy. We whine a lot about it, but we walk the dogs. Scruffy's business looks terrible. We get home and unleash the dogs. We notice an unsettling smell coming from the dining room. Apparently Scruffy isn't feeling well and the dining room has borne the brunt of his intestinal distress. I watch the dogs while Ann does the clean up. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he isn't all up night having problems. After all who needs another day like today?

Back on the Water

The weather over the weekend here in northern Virginia was just great. Temperatures reached into the high 70s with low humidity. It felt so good just to sit out in the sun. The start of this month also marked the first time when I could get back on the water in a single. I directed my browser to the appropriate web site and paid my membership fees and then hoped in the car and drove over to Sandy Run Park. The park was pretty crowded for a Friday mid-morning. This was mostly due to the schools being out for spring break and the coaches taking advantage by scheduling practices during the day rather then late afternoon after school lets out. In addition, the first full regatta was the next day. So some last minute fine tuning of starts and getting familiar with the course, I presume. I signed out my boat (but forgot to list the time I left - oops) and headed up stream. The water conditions were good. A slight breeze, but no choppy water. The first time out I want nice flat water until I get the feel of the boat again. Sculling in a single is not unlike riding a bile. Once you master it, you never really forget how to balance the boat but the first few minutes you're still a little unsure if you'll remember how to row and keep from flipping the boat. Overall I would judge it a good first outing. I got the boat to move much better then I had any reason to believe. I'll be the first to admit that my winter training this year was pretty much nonexistent and I need to work my way back into shape before my sweep rowing starts in June. Again given my fitness level, I was able to row decent distances between water breaks. My hands came out in ok shape. First rows of the season are notorious for chewing your hands up with multiple blisters and abrasions until the callouses develop. I had no real blisters although I manage to abrade the skin off the tip of my middle finger on my left hand. and a small part of my left palm. My right hand came out unscathed. I rowed up to Fountainhead park and back. A distance of 7 miles. I'm hoping to get up to 350 miles before the season ends. The wind started to pick up just as I was finishing up, but managed to get the boat back to the dock in one piece. I just missed hitting one rather big log floating in the water and one large tree that had fallen into the reservoir due to high water eroding the banks. Both times I turned around just in time to see them and stop the boat. Hitting objects in the water is not recommended.

Saturday had a meeting of my men's team (sweep rowing) for some instruction on the erg having to do with catches and releases. Unfortunately I missed the part of the message saying that's what was going on and I just thought it was an organizational meeting of sorts and didn't dress appropriately for erging. I listened to our coach for a bit and then cut out after the other rowers started their pieces. I feel a bit bad about that. After I got home, I took our two new miniature schnauzers (Amy and Emily) out for a long walk. At two years old they have endless terrier energy and long walks helps to calm them down a bit and not get into so much mischief at home (like chewing up one of our dog beds). We still trying to arrange some basic obedience training for them so they don't go so ape shit every time they see a living soul be it human, another dog/cat/squirrel. It does make it challenging to walk them. I try to go out on our walks when I think the least amount of pedestrian traffic will be about. The rest of the day was spent running errands and then, finally, watching the Final Four. I was happy to see Butler win and not so much to see Duke win. I will definitely be routing for Butler tonight.

Sunday morning Ann and I headed off to mass. Lord it was crowded Not quite as bad as Christmas eve masses, but not an open seat to be found. Seemed all that kneeling was a bit harder on my knees then usual. Getting old is hell. After mass and another long walk of the twins, it was off to get some much needed mulch for the island out in front of our house and the shrubs that border the house. and front walk. The yard looks 100 per cent better. Given the yard work and the nice day, I cracked my first Corona(s) of the year. Now if it will just stay warm. Fingers crossed.

Daughter In The House

Yesterday Daughter#1 traveled down from Connecticut to visit with the rents for a week. She's down to look into getting registered for some college classes when she leaves Connecticut in May for the foreseeable while while she works on her nursing degree. Her husband will join her on Wednesday and stay until the end of the week when they will return back to Connecticut. Hopefully they will have some power by then. It has been out since Saturday night. Ann and I went and picked her up at National Airport yesterday morning.

It was Daughter#1's first chance to meet the new kids in the house - Scruffy here on the left and the twins, as we are now calling them - Amy and Emily, the miniature schnauzers. She loves them all, of course.
The twins are so full of energy, but seem to be settling in well. We even discovered that they know how to fetch. Obviously someone has spent some time with them doing some training, but lord can they be loud. We also bought a "coupler" so we can walk them on one leash that splits into two leads. Note the last remnants of our February snowstorms. Even this little bit is now gone.

Scruffy too has settled in and we are even getting him to eat without to much problem. Seems he likes various takes on dog stews. The Hill brand Irish Stew seems to be a favorite.

The twins are into everyone and everything. Here The Son keeps an eye out to make sure they don't get into trouble. Amy on the left and Emily on the right.

I forgot to mention in my last point that the previous weekend, my rowing club, hosted erg sprints for the local high schools. It is the 7th time we've held the sprints and it marks the end of their winter on land training as they switch to on water training. We had upwards of 180 rowers competing. The registration desk: two coaches and a rower checking in.

We hold the sprints at the local Gold's Gym where our club and Golds own 20+ ergs. 10 ergs were set up, and run through a laptop and the display shown on a large screen TV so spectators could follow the action.

Rowers taking their seats on the ergs. It was very competitive and everyone seemed to have a good time. A fitting end to the toil that is winter training.

Big Hearts...Weak Minds

In my last entry I briefly spoke of the web site Petfinder.com. It's a wonderful site for adopting all types of pets. It's also crack for those of us with big hearts and weak minds - like Ann and I. One of Ann's (and Daughter#1 for that matter) favorite activity is surfing Petfinder and looking at various dogs. Periodically she would send me links to certain dogs with the suggestion that we should adopt such and such dog. They all come with such sad stories (owner went into a nursing home, a victim of divorce where neither party wanted the family pet, etc.). Obviously you can't adopt them all and we just did adopt a dog (see last post), but your heart does go out to them. Did that deter us? Of course not! So this past Saturday found us on a road trip to of all places, Follansbee, WVA. Of course Follansbee wouldn't be that part of WVA that is just over an hour away. Oh no Follansbee is located about as far north as you can possibly be and still be in WVA. It's that portion of WVA that is like a spike up between Pennsylvania and Ohio. It's actually WEST of Pittsburgh. Oh man. Not to mention that Pennsylvania was hit by a snowstorm the day before. For that reason we opted for the slightly southern route taking I-68 rather then the Pennsylvania Turnpike. So we rolled through the mountains of western Maryland that looked like this:

We rolled through the town of Cumberland, Maryland:

Finally after 300+ miles and 5 plus hours on the road, we arrived in Follansbee. We were short on gas at that point and we wanted to refill before arriving at out ultimate destination. The first three gas stations we saw in Follansbee were all closed and shuttered up. Their gas pumps long removed. We eventually found an open station and gas up and headed off to the Brooke County Animal Shelter. It had started to snow as we pulled up to the shelter. It was an old building that had seen better days. It has two outside kennels for dogs and additional space inside. After filling out the appropriate paperwork we were now the proud owners of Amy and Emily - miniature schnauzers. That's right - we no own 2 more dogs.

They really are miniature. They are 2 years old and barely 12 pounds each. And seem to possess endless energy. Their previous owner was the "had to go into a nursing home" type. As I texted the kids, right now they remind me of the Siamese cats in "Lady and the Tramp". It's going to be interesting.

Newest Member of the Family

Ever since I was little, I have had a love/hate relationship with pets. I guess hate is too strong a word, but I had a problem with them. The reason - I'm highly allergic to animal fur. So where as I love dogs and cats, they make me sick, specifically trigger severe asthma, and thus it has never been very practical for for me to live with one. After I married and had kids the subject of owning a dog or cat would inevitably come up. I always would tell them that we couldn't have pets because they made me sick. Not that it stopped the kids from trying. This is where you could say the Internet is actually a good thing or a bad thing. As the kids got older and personal computers came into our home, they began to do their research. The coup de gras was when a neighbor, who also was Daughter#2's 4th grade teacher, told us how she had written this touching essay on how she would love to have a dog. Shortly thereafter, Ann and Daughter#1 spotted this cute miniature schnauzer as a local pet store and as they say the rest is history. They assured me that schnauzers don't shed as they have hair (and hence need to be groomed on a regular basis) and not fur so I would be fine and I was. So we had our first dog - Winifred or Winnie as we mostly called her. She was with us for 17 years before she crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Another good or bad thing (depends n your view) of the Internet was the formation of Petfinder.Com. Ann and daughter#1 spend way to much time on this site for animals needing to be adopted and the result has been two more dogs - Napoleon, another mini schnauzer and Rosie. He was with us only two years before he left us due to cancer. Next up was another senior - Rosie. She was advertised as a mini schnauzer also, but we think she is more of a schnauzer mix. We got her 5 years ago at the age of 9 and she is still with us. Ever since we took in Napoleon (both he and Rosie are rescues), we've had two dogs. With Winnie's passing a while back, we've just had Rosie and we've sort of fallen into a routine with just having her. Not that the dog surfing had come to an end. There were a few attempts to adopt another dog, but forever the reason things didn't just work out. That all came to an end this past weekend when we adopted Scruffy from the Homeless Animal Rescue Team (HART) located in Fairfax County. Here is the newest member of the family:

Scruffy is another senior dog. He's a 10 year old soft coated Wheaten Terrier. He's has been fostered for almost a year awaiting a new permanent home. He's a victim of a divorce. His owners divorced and neither party wanted him. That is so sad. How can you own a dog for 10 years and just abandon him?

So far he's settled in fine. He has met Rosie and after a few butt sniffs on both sides, things seem to be going well.
He's not a mini schnauzer so I'm hoping I don't have asthma problems with him You can't really row suffering from asthma. So far so good. The Internet assures me I will be fine and you can always believe what the Internet tells you, right? We do need to get him a bigger bed though. It's a tight squeeze for him to fit in Rosie's bed given he's twice her size. As an aside, the first dog I remember my family having when I was growing up was a cocker spaniel mix also named Scruffy. I think there is a connection there. Welcome to the family Scruffy.

A Wet Weekend

If there was one word to describe the weekend it would be wet. It rained almost the entire weekend. That does cut down on the outside activities. It meant a lot of TV watching. Considering my faux Tivo was almost full maybe it was a good thing.

Friday was a day off and I was definitely looking forward to getting out on the water for a row. Before I leave the house I always check the temperature and most important, the wind speed. The temperature was mid 60 and the wind was around 5 mph. Both good for a row. I arrived at Sandy Run and the wind is blowing hard and the water is really choppy. More choppy then I care to row in. Its just not fun and if its not fun, why do it? There will be enough warm days with flat water where I can afford to wait. So disappointingly, I turned around and went home. By the time I got home, the wind at home had also picked up. So much so that my idea of doing a bike ride was put off too. Instead, Ann and I went to check out a pet spa and resort. I can't afford to go to a spa and resort, but apparently my dog can. Daughter#1's wedding is fast approaching and we need to board our dog, Rosie. Of course it always makes us feel guilty to have to board her. When we had two dogs, we would just leave them at home and have dog walkers come walk them a few times a day. Now that it's just Rosie, we didn't want to leave her alone all day while we are gone. So we drove out to the Old Towne Pet Resort. We got a tour of the facilities, including the pool - for the dogs. It was really quite impressive. We got to view all the various kennel alternatives, which come with a variety of walks and visits, etc We also checked out their doggy day care. We thought that might be good for her so she wouldn't be in a cage/room all day. They break them up by sizes with 50 lbs and below in one area and larger dogs off in another. The smaller dog day care had about 30 dogs running around. Now Rosie gets along with other dogs, but usually on a one on one basis. We weren't sure how she would do around so many and whether it would be too overwhelming for her at her age. She's 15 years old even though she looks a lot like a puppy. Our tour guide suggested we may want to bring her on on a Sunday when there are less dogs just to see how she does. That sounded good so we plan to do that before we head out to the wedding. We're also considering getting her a massage while she's there. Not that she's spoiled or anything.

Saturday I did managed to get out before the rain started and get in a bike ride. I skipped out on driving to the trail and just biked closed to home. It was a 17 mile trek just from the house to the end of Bacon Race Road and back. On the way home it started to sprinkle, but the rain held off until after I got home. Saturday we also settled in to watch the opening game of the Capitals-Pittsburgh hockey series. Unfortunately the Washington area is infested with a large number of transplanted Pittsburgh fans so for any local event involving Pittsburgh teams, they show up in droves and frankly they're pretty obnoxious. So it was sweet to see the Capitals win the opening game. Hopefully the Caps can send them home permanently.

Sunday it was rain all day long. By this point the rain was getting pretty old. No rowing regardless as George Mason was hosting the Mid-Atlantic Sprints and I'm not riding in the rain. Apparently that doesn't apply to crazy runners. Idiots. Anyway, I did laundry and did grocery shopping. I also dug out one of our Netflix movies that has been sitting around for a few weeks. It was The Day the Earth Stood Still. I loved the original and was eagerly looking forward to this remake. It was just ok. The little kid was just too precocious and with dreadlocks and all. Oh please. And the ending. What a crap ending. No getting the special phrase to the Robot as in the original. And the whole plague of bugs? Weak. Then its like, Oh I changed my mind, you eathlings can change and save your world. Bye. Its like they realized they were running long and need to cut the ending. Disappointing. If you want to see it, watch the original.

We're not suppose to dry out for another day or so. By then I'll have to start scrapping the mold off me.

Coxswain Appreciation

It's a beautiful late summer day here in the Old Dominion. Sunny, in the low 80s with a very tolerable humidity. I should be out rowing or biking, but the Club had a Coxswain Appreciation dinner last night for our coxswains. A few beers might have been drunk, but not by the coxswains. Almost all, save one, are high school students. It's a small way to show that we appreciate the time they are giving up, especially getting up early on weekends so that we, the adults, can row. Without them our boats don't leave the boathouse. So Thank You coxswains.

I mentioned in the last entry about spreading mulch around. One area that needed some (and still needs a bit more), is our final resting place for our pets. We've been waiting until we could spread some mulch before we put out the memory stone for Winifred. Her stone joins that of Napoleon's.

We can see the stones from our deck. It reminds us of the love and joy our pets brought into our lives. We still miss them.

A Hot Weekend

Summer has descended with a vengeance. Temperature's soared into the 90s and combined with the high humidity, the heat index is well over 100. Thank god for air conditioning.

Friday was actually a nice day. Sunny and warm, but not hot. I had to work (from home), but I managed to get over to Sandy Run for a row. I got in 7 miles before returning home and work. The water was pretty clear of debris considering the heavy rains on Tuesday and Thursday. It was a good row. My endurance is growing and the boat was running well and not just toward the end of the row, which is typical of a lot of my sculling efforts. My catches are getting much better and I'm also getting better suspension. I was pretty happy with it.

While I was out rowing, Ann was taking our terrier mix, Rosie, to the Vet. Her ear has been bothering her and she has been scratching it a lot. The Vet cleaned the ear out and diagnosed it as allergies and gave Ann some medicine to treat her. The Vet also stated that Rosie needed to lose some weight and like right now. So we have her on a diet plan and are giving her more walks. She needs to lose about 5 pounds. We'll see how our little garbage disposal does.

Today, Saturday, I had 4 hours of rowing scheduled. Two hours of my regular club practice and two hours for our adult rowing camp. As I made my way to the boathouse this morning, I was struck by how foggy it was. I'm use to seeing fog in the fall around the water as the cooler air interacts with the warmer water. But this was different. The dew point and the air temperature were the same creating the fog. The fog was way to thick for us to take out the boats. We pulled the boats out to do our weekly check on them hoping that the sun would burn off the fog. After about an hour it became obvious soon enough that that wasn't happening and we put the boats away and went home. I returned about an hour later for the rowing camp and the fog had pretty much dissipated and it was now hot...very hot and very humid. We broke down into our boats and headed out. There were three 8+s with each containing four experienced rowers and four camp/novice rowers. The organizers had set up a serious of four events. A 2:00 minute race with a cap of 26 strokes per minute, a 2:00 minute race with a cap of 20 strokes per minute, a 180 degree spin from a dead start and a 2:00 race after spinning with no rate cap and finally a pass the water bottle from cox to bow while we row. It was the last session for the camp rowers and it was designed as a fun way to end things on the water as well as give them a taste of what it's like to be in a race. I was stroke for one of the boats. We did quite well winning all three of the races and coming in second on the water bottle pass. Our novice rowers were pretty excited about winning and they did quite well at the higher stroke rate. Remember these people had never rowed before last week. Most have indicated that they will join our club and continue rowing with us, which is good for them and for us. I'll post some pictures once I have them in hand.

A Day for Doctors

I love my Fridays off although today was spent dealing with one type of Doctor or another. Rosie had an appointment to have her teeth cleaned. Since dogs need to be out under, she had to fore go her breakfast this morning. She was not pleased with that at all. We dropped her off bright and early around 7:00. I had an appointment of my own with a surgeon at Georgetown Hospital to see what was going on with my skin infection. The infection seems to have started at one of the incision sites for a labaroscopic surgery I had a few years back to correct a hiatal hernia. The surgeon that originally did the surgery examined me and his opinion it was unrelated to the surgery since they leave no permanent stitches at that particular area. His opinion was it was a small cyst causing the problem. We'll have to wait until the infection clears for a final diagnosis. A bonus for having to drive into the District was being able to see crew teams practicing on the Potomac in the morning sun.

After my appointment we headed home and did some grocery shopping. I also went shopping on my own (I know!) and picked up some new underwear. Mine was in desperate need of replacing.

The rest of the day was spent watching basketball or taking a nap. Naps are way underrated. The Vet called around 2:00 to say they were finished with Rosie, that all had gone well and that she was just coming around. We finally picked her up at 5:00 and seemed none the worse for wear despite having a few teeth removed. She'll be on painkillers for a few days. Good drugs.

Hope your Good Friday was a good one.

Winifred 1991 - 2008

Yesterday we lost a much loved member of the family. Our miniature schnauzer Winifred or Winnie as we more often called her, passed on due to old age and failing kidneys. She was 16 1/2 years old.

We got Winnie as a puppy in 1991 from a pet store. We're pretty sure she came from a puppy mill in Kansas. I had resisted getting a family dog since the days the kids were old enough to start asking for one. The big reason being that I'm very allergic to animals or at least their fur/dander. Animals just trigger my asthma. However, when the twins were 9, Daughter#2 wrote an essay on how she really wanted a dog. Her fourth grade teacher, who is also a friend, passed along her wish. Ann and Daughter#1 meanwhile were doing their homework. They found that certain breeds don't shed as they don't have fur, but have hair instead. One such breed was a schnauzer. The stars aligned when Ann and Daughter#1 visited the local pet store, now gone, that had this adorable salt and pepper colored miniature schnauzer. That puppy joined the family that Christmas. As a puppy she chewed the furniture a wee bit and she also nipped at the kids. We took her to a dog trainer and manged to tame that behavior. She was an only dog for all her puppy days and well into adult life. She never had much of a chance to socialize with other dogs. If she saw another dog, she would bark at it like crazy, as schnauzers will do. They are terriers after all. However, when the time came to introduce other dogs into the family, she was very accepting and we never had a problem. A few sniffs and she was cool with it. Another dog? No problem. She was such a good dog that she paved the way for us to consider adding others to the family. We eventually introduced two other dogs into the family, both coming from a schnauzer rescue organization. Napoleon was our first and was with us for two years before passing over the Rainbow Bridge when he developed bone cancer. Rosie was our second rescue dog and is with us still. Winnie was a good traveler until well into her senior years. She traveled with us to Atlanta to visit my sister and Orlando to visit my Dad and more recently to Harrisonburg to visit Daughter#2. She loved sitting on The Son's bed and looking out his window. It was her window to the world. She knew when the school buses would come for the high school and middle school kids and when the elementary school kids would walk by. She barked at them all. Most of her life she slept with Ann and I. She was on the big size for a mini schnauzer at 26 pounds, but she didn't take up much room. When we had Napoleon, he had his own bed in our bedroom. When Napoleon passed on, Winnie gave up sleeping with us and started sleeping in Napoleon's bed. It was quite strange. She slept in that bed for the past two years. The bed is as empty as the void she has left in our lives with her passing. She went very peacefully as we were with her as the Vet put her to sleep. It was all very sad and we miss her dearly.

Daughter#1 has provided her thoughts about Winnie:

I remember going to the pet store with Mom after she picked me up from school. She had been in earlier and wanted to show me a miniature schnauzer puppy she thought was really cute. When we got to the store, we walked over the to puppy section and there she was-SO CUTE. She was so little and had perfect coloring. Mom asked if she thought we should buy her, and of course the response was "YES!" We weren't allowed to have pets up until this point because my Dad was allergic. Mini schnauzers do not shed. Mom didn't think Dad would be thrilled, but the twins really wanted a dog as well. I don't really remember Dad putting up much of a fight, or maybe Mom didn't even ask him about getting the dog, but we got her!!
Although she ruined all the carpets in our house, Winnie was the sweetest dog ever. She was tolerant when we eventually brought other dogs into our home. She was definitely part of our family for a very long time, and I will miss her a lot.

And The Son had this to say:

I just wanted to say how sad it was that she spent her whole life up on my bed, looking out that window. From Sunrise to Sunset you always knew where to find her; at her guard post defending the castle.

Travel Woes and Babysitting

Right about now Daughter#2 and her husband should be winging their way east over the North Atlantic, probably very close to where the Titanic sank, on their way to Manchester, England. They are scheduled to trek across the lake area of northern England with a group from Virginia Tech's School of Architecture. Thanks to US Airways they are here at our house spending the night and waiting for another flight tomorrow evening. They drove up from Harrisonburg early this afternoon and we drove up to Pentagon Row for an early dinner. Her favorite Lebanese restaurant wasn't open yet so we dropped into Sine's Irish Pub instead. It was very crowded with the post work crowd from the Pentagon and Crystal City and we ended up sitting in the bar area. We enjoyed a leisurely dinner before dropping them off at Washington National just after 5:00 for their 7:00PM flight to Philadelphia where they would connect with a 9:05 flight to England. Plenty early enough or so they thought. Although why it takes an hour to fly to Philly from Washington is beyond me. When they checked in they were told that their 7:00 flight was always late and they would not make the connection so come back tomorrow and fly to Philly at 3:00. How nice of them. Needless to say our brave travelers were heartbroken and had to scramble to make changes to their itinerary and make attempts to notify their group of their delay and make alternate travel arrangements in Manchester to catch up to their group. It would have been nice if US Airways had been a bit more forthcoming with their connection problems when Daughter#2 was making her reservations. Jerks.

On the up side, we get to babysit the Black Demon for the two weeks that they are treking across merry England. She seems none the worse for wear from her hiking accident. Her fur is pretty much grown back and she seems her normal rascally squirrel chasing self. It will give Ann someone to walk with and keep her company.

The Ice Man Cometh and One Year Ago

Yesterday was Virginia's primary election and I was looking forward to voting in it. In Virginia you can chose to vote in whichever party's primary you want. I figured the Republican side was all but locked up by McCain, so I was going to vote in the Democratic primary. Unfortunately the weather had a say in it all. On voting days, we usually try to leave work an hour early. We must have been brain dead (or just too tired) to think about coordinating 8 different people's schedule in order for the vanpool to leave early. By the time we thought of it, it was too late and we paid for that mistake. It took us 3 1/2 hours to get home in the freezing rain. The last 16 miles alone took over two hours. The Springfield interchange, better known as the mixing bowl, where three interstates converge was shut down as all the new flying ramps were iced over. Even after we took back roads to avoid Springfield, we got caught in the HOV lanes as they closed them right in front of us to clear an accident. Three and a half hour commutes suck.

My Dad celebrated his 79th birthday over the weekend. My sister and her husband took him out for a lobster tail dinner. Ann, The Son and I called to wish him a Happy Birthday. Here's to many more Dad.

Speaking of The Son, he was over on Sunday and we went over his taxes. They're still pretty easy to do since he bought his Condo so late in the year. Next year he can start itemizing. He came over again on Tuesday and had dinner with Ann while I was stuck out highway. At least someone got a warm meal.

Daughter#2 called on Saturday to let us know her dog Gracie, had been injured while they were hiking. She has no idea what happened. Gracie is use to being let off her leash during their hikes and running ahead and to the side of her and her husband, but always returning from time to time to check on them. This time when she returned she had a nasty gash on her side. One that required 18 stitches to close up. Poor Gracie.

February 12th also marked the first anniversary of Ready....Row. I've enjoyed writing it and hope you've enjoyed reading it. Comments and e-mails are always welcome.

Teeth and a Movie

The last two days have been uncomfortably cold in the morning. So much so that we haven't been taking our furry kids for their morning walk. Yesterday's temperature (Thursday) it was 18 and this morning (Friday) it was 17. It wouldn't be too bad if our dogs actually walked, but most of the first 15 minutes outside is spent smelling every possible blade of grass to find just that right spot to go on. I'm just getting too old to stand out in the cold while they sniff around. So we've just be letting them out the door and then right back in. We're suppose to be getting a warming trend over the weekend so we can go back to our old routine. Here are the furry kids - Rosie, on the left with the alien eyes, and Winifred on the right.




I slipped away at lunch time for a dentist appointment. Actually my dentist is a periodontist. Not that I have bad gums or anything gross, just bad genes. My back wisdom teeth didn't come in properly (do they ever?) and caused some damage to my back molars. I've been seeing a periodontist since I was 24 years old. Seems like a long time now, but really its been pretty unremarkable 99% of the time. Today's visit was pretty typical. I go in, get my teeth cleaned and polished by hygienist. The dentist will come in at the end for a quick look see, tell me things are looking well and we'll keep an eye on those back teeth and see you in four months. Frankly, I prefer keeping the visits boring. Now my periodontist is in Friendship Heights and for those of you familiar with the area you know its a pretty hoity-toity area. There's a Tiffany's next door to the building that houses my Dentist just to give you an idea. Upon leaving after my appointment I had a celebrity sighting. George Michael, the long time local NBC sportscaster and host of the Sports Machine got on the elevator with me. He retired in 2007 after GE/NBC ordered him, in a cost cutting move, to dismiss a large portion of his staff. Good for him although he is sorely missed. Photo by Washington Post and NBC Channel 4.


After finishing up work for the day, Ann and I headed out to catch a movie. We saw Charley Wilson's War. Very entertaining and pretty remarkable what one man was able to do to defeat the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Tom Hanks was good as was Philip Seymour Hoffman. Amy Adams is pretty cute as Wilson's (Hanks) Administrative Assistant. There is nothing more enjoyable than watching a good movie with a large bag of popcorn. Yum!