11 hours

and counting until Ken gets home.

I can't wait.

Storm & the Balls

I know Ken is out of town because Kinley has the runs again.

That also means that I have four pure craft nights at home with the dog. In theory, yes. In reality, I am going out every night that he's gone barring Tuesday (where I actually did craft with the dog). Last night, I went out with Sara Burke's good friends -- Sarah & Heidi (and their friends Beth & Jane). The five of us met at Sarah's for Flirtinis before taking a cab downtown to see Storm & the Balls. I had never been to her show before but knew Sara & Sarah adore her. And she didn't disappoint. I was very impressed. Incredible voice, a beautiful girl and sultry moves to make a perfect entertainer. She opened with a cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" such that it just exuded sex. Other songs I recognized included the "Star-spangled banner" that turned into "The Pusher", "Hopelessly Devoted to You" as an homage to stalking behavior, "I Want You to Die" (which I got a karaoke version from Sarah ahead of time; hear the song and others here), "Where is my Mind" by the Pixies, and "Crazy Love" by Van Morrison, I think. In all, it was very fun and probably one of the few concerts I've really enjoyed -- I loved that the show was not too loud or smoky (it was a smoke-free night) and that I could talk to the girls around me as we sat around a table-top fire pit.

Tonight is the Co-Ed Adult Dodgeball season opener. I'm on the team this season. Your beloved Dodgy Slappers will be taking on Axis of Evil at 8 pm. After that, the whole league heads to Billy Reed's, a bar that sponsors the league for $3 burgers and $1.50 PBRs (or $2.50 microbrews). Taryn & Paul are also coming up tonight since they're flying out of the Portland Airport early tomorrow morning for Paul's brother's wedding.

Friday marks Ken's return at 11 pm. In the meantime, I'm joining friends Brian, Adam & Kelly for the Misfats and Stay Tuned show at the Ash St. Saloon. Misfats are "the fattest Misfits cover band" and Stay Tuned is a band that plays nothing but TV theme songs. I've never seen Stay Tuned before, but I'm sure I'll be amused.

Despite all this going on in the evenings, Kinley's getting plenty of attention, don't worry. I toss the ball around with him after work and I've actually woken up early every morning Ken's been gone to take him for a walk before work. (I know some of your jaws just dropped). Tonight, I should be getting home from work before dark (first time this week) so I'm taking him to the Dog Park (aka Kinley's Heaven). I don't like going on walks through the park alone at night even though I know it's probably fine.

And lastly, even though I'm having fun and staying busy, I really miss Ken. I'm excited for him to come home. My life is brighter when he's here.

Bringing the Pain

My forearms and fingernails ache from the massive amount of weed pulling this weekend. We are cleaning out the back lot that's full of ivy, holly, tree starts, berry brambles (who knew I would ever get rid of berries!) and an invasive vine that smells like peanut butter. Two days x ~6 hrs/day = Two pickup trucks full that we took to McFarlane's to be recycled. Turns out each load was $6 ($40 per ton, $6 minimum) and we had a total of 450 lbs. That was just in weeds. We still have another 2 loads in trimmed branches. Exhausting. I went with Ken on his second load. He didn't tie it down since nothing was moving (berry brambles are like velcro) and we stayed in the right lane with our hazards on so people could see us, but that didn't stop the police officer from pulling us over. The problems?

1. Load not secured
2. Illegal use of hazard lights on highway
3. Illegal license plate frame that covered registration stickers
4. Not having our valid insurance card with us (although we have insurance, we forgot to put the up-to-date proof in the car. oops).

The license plate violation was $240 on its own, so our $12 in yard debris took an unexpected increase in cost. But for whatever reason, the officer let us off with a warning for all of it. Maybe he saw the exhaustion in our faces and dirt on our arms or perhaps it was the lack of any priors. Either way, we were quite relieved to be excused and learned an important lesson about taking yard debris in a pickup truck.

It's time

for the weekend. My lip is split and my experiments aren't working. My eyes are heavy and my back hurts. I am ready for two days of gardening and glass, Ken & pets.

Oh, I'm also addicted to the Dog Whisperer and have about 10 episodes waiting for me on Tivo... if I can keep my eyes open.

Going to our co-ed softball team's potluck tonight at 7. I made chicken wings & tapioca pudding -- two of my favorites. Jen & Drew are also coming down from Seattle for the weekend. They'll be staying with us on Saturday night as they tour the Oregon wineries.

The latest and greatest

For those of you clamoring for some special puppy time, here's a treat.





You will feed us. You will pet us. You will obey US!!!!


These were taken after one of our trips to Laurelhurst Park. As you can tell, it get's muddy here.

Weekend

It's been a long, but very fun, weekend. Thursday was Ken's Dodgeball game, the last one before his tournament this weekend. Friday was St. Patrick's Day, also the night of the pub golf game that Brian organized. Brian had score cards and even those mini golf pencils. Here's the scorecard for the event:



It was very impressive to see the number of people that turned out for it. Taryn & Paul came up for it too and at one point, there were 25+ of us walking down the street. Most people dropped out throughout the night but there were quite a few people who shot a 9... meaning they drank all their beers in one sip. Scarily, the winning score was a 4 by Adam Galvan. That's nine guinesses, all chugged in one stroke + five additional Irish Car Bombs (which is 3/4 of a pint of guiness into which you drop a shot of 3/4 Baileys and 1/4 Irish whiskey and drink the whole thing). Unbelievable. Five people ended up sleeping at our house (T&P, Brian G, Adam G, & CanErik) since our place was within walking distance and nobody was allowed to drive).

Ken played in the dodgeball tournament the next morning; I had to cheer him on from my slumberland. There was a end-of-the-season Dodgeball party that night at the league bar with all the free beer you could drink, but we skipped out on it as we'd had enough for one weekend. Instead, we moved the coffee table from the living room, put down the air mattress and our double sleeping bag and watched a movie & ate pizza with Kinley by our side. We slept there too -- like camping but without leaving the house. Kinley was an angel and just slept soundly on the floor by our side. We heard a couple noises that night, but were surprised to see someone sleeping on our front porch when we woke up. Turns out it was Gaffney, who went to the Dodgeball party and then to a bar near our house and didn't want to drive home. Luckily, he had a sleeping bag & sleeping pad with him from the night before.

Sunday, we went on a hike in Forest Park with Kinley and then Ken helped me pick out a softball glove, as we joined a league together this spring - my very first time playing softball - I'm a little nervous. Then a bit of gardening, a bit of stained glass and then sleeptime. I can't believe it's only Monday.

Now that's what I call a Tuesday

I decided to stay after work to plan out some easter stuff. All of a sudden a band starts playing in the common space outside our door. I go out and grab a red solo cup filled with Widmer microbrew and head back to my office to drink my beer & listen to music while I scheme out easter festivities.

Strongyloides

Behold the little guy holding Kinley's GI tract hostage:



Ken stayed home yesterday morning for puppy poop patrol; I took the afternoon shift. Poor Kinley's rectum might as well be a urethra. Ken picked up his medicine (a powder that goes on top of his food), but I think the dog feels a bit too violated and sick to eat. I used the magic trick of mixing in yogurt - his favorite - and he ate everything right up.

And then puked about 90 minutes later.

Twice.

The yogurt trick didn't work for dinnertime. Kinley has learned my sneaky trick of getting people to eat things (they think) they don't like. (Ryan Buff really likes cheese, by the way). Anyway, he puked several more times over the course of the night. I held his ears back and kept petting him, since that's what I like when I'm sick. Also tried to get something in his stomach, but he wouldn't even eat his beloved treats. Finally around 9:30 he started drinking water, ate a bit of his food around 10:30 and slept through the whole night. Ken's talking to the vet today about whether its the worms or medicine that's making him vomit. Either way, we're on it. I'm paranoid that I have worms too, since I let the dog lick me and I read they can penetrate human skin, make their way to your lungs, where you cough them up and swallow them -- thus making a happy home in your virginal GI tract. I know I've been sick and the cough is probably just coincidence, but Eeek. Gives me shivers just thinking about it.

Either way, I just didn't know a dog could puke that much.

The Downside of Powder

Ken & I ended up taking a personal day on Friday to ski the knee-deep, untracked fluffy powder on top of Mt. Hood. The morning was absolutely beautiful and when things were getting tracked up, we stopped for lunch. They opened the highest lift by the time we finished eating (after detonating bombs all morning to control for avalanches), so our sore legs headed for the top for a few more runs. Sadly, it was snowing hard and really windy -- meaning we couldn't see 3 feet in front of us -- a scary situation when you're up to your knees in snow you can't see. We got down & called it a day, cleaned off our windshield and headed home. Turns out I was getting sick the night before, so my (cough cough) was actually true. I loaded up on dayquil before we went skiing and figured I might as well have fun before I was really sick. Needless to say, I slept for three hours when we got home, woke up to eat dinner and went back to sleep at 9 for another 12.5 hours. Another 12 hours the next night. And 9 hours last night. I've been fighting it all weekend and am still loaded up on decongestant to clear my sinuses. Kinley's been fighting something, too. He's been "squishy" for about a week, but the explosive "valentines" started last night around midnight and have continued every two hours since. Ken and I have a bet going as to whether it's spirochetes again or not. We are currently awaiting the stool sample results. I also hammered my thumb this weekend by accident and have a throbbing, black & blue bruised thumb. I can't believe it's only Monday.

It's Snowing!!

It's snowing here today. Giant mashed potato snowflakes. It's been going for hours and is accumulating. Which means...

(cough cough)

I think it might be a sick day tomorrow. I'm getting this terrible rash that I think only altitude can cure. Luckily Mt. Hood has 24 inches of fresh powder to help alleviate my symptoms. It's the strangest thing that Ken has also come down with the same cough and rash.

Thursday, March 09, 2006 at 8:30 AM
HOURS OF OPERATION 9 AM - 4 PM
TEMP BASE AREA 17
TEMP TOP OF MT. HOOD EXPRESS 13
WIND BASE AREA 5-10
WIND TOP OF MT. HOOD EXPRESS 20
NEW SNOW IN LAST 24HRS ENDING 4AM 24"
NEW SNOW SINCE 4PM 20"
NEW SNOW SINCE 4AM 2"
CURRENT STORM TOTAL 55"
SEASON TOTAL 548"
SNOW SETTLED AT BASE 14ft
SNOW AT MID MOUNTAIN 22ft
WEATHER: Snowing HARD!!!!!
SURFACE CONDITIONS: Power tilled with a lot of powder on top.
ROADS: Traction devices are required on both Hwy 26 & 35. Roads are slick under the snowpack. Please drive carefully.

St. Patrick's Day Pub Golf Match

Much thanks go to Hawkins and Muddy for this one. They were the inspiration behind some of the rules...practically verbatim. An email from our friend Brian:

The course has been designed, the rules have been finalized, and if you know what's good for you, you've already begun a stringent training regiment of heavy drinking.

Rules
Each bar = a hole
Each sip = 1 stroke
The best possible score for a hole is 1, which is awarded for a "hole in one" (i.e. chugging your whole beer). The worst is 10, awarded if you take 10 or more sips to finish your beer, or you don't finish the hole. A maximum of 20 minutes will be spent at each hole.

Ties at the conclusion of the 9th hole will result in a sudden death Guinness chug-off.

Penalties & Bonuses
+1 penalty for ordering any non-Guinness beer if the bar has Guinness on tap.
-1 bonus for drinking an Irish car bomb once you've already completed the hole.
+1 penalty if a spill hazard occurs, and you may restart the hole.
+1 Out of bounds penalty for any unfinished drink spotted either not in your hand or on a coaster.
Bathroom breaks are only allowed on holes 1, 3, 6 & 9. If you urinate at any other hole or in public, you will be pee-nalized +1.
Puking will result in automatic disqualification.

The Course
1 - Belmont's Inn - 3357 SE Belmont St
2 - The Side Street Tavern - 828 SE 34th Ave
3 - Triple Nickel Pub - 3646 SE Belmont St
4 - Horse Brass Pub - 4534 SE Belmont St
5 - Sewickley's - 4901 SE Hawthorne Blvd
6 - Bar of the Gods - 4801 SE Hawthorne Blvd
7 - Angelo's - 4630 SE Hawthorne Blvd
8 - Bagdad Pub - 3701 SE Hawthorne Blvd
9 - Mulligan's - 3518 SE Hawthorne Blvd

Tee time is 8:00 sharp at Belmont's Inn. I suggest being there a few minutes early to receive your official scorecard with course map and rules. So, no need to write any of this down. Don't plan on driving home.

- Brian

God help us!!

Portland Urban Iditarod 2006

The Iditarod was very fun. Remember how halloween was so fun as a kid? Now everybody has grown up and is more creative with their costumes. Lots of alcohol, silliness and running around with shopping carts. Ours was filled with empty cans and bottles and made a lot of noise. My feet hurt afterwards from so much dancing. We'll definitely be running in it again next year.


The Team at the first watering hole


Running through the Park Blocks

See Brian's pictures here. I'll post ours and links to others soon.

It's a good thing I can refer to this blog....

...otherwise how would I possibly know what's going on in my life? A case in point as noted in the column to the right:

Wednesday, March 29th, 2006 - Taryn & Paul staying with us prior to their early flight out.

Not that it's a problem in any way, shape or form....but....really?