Update on the Big Giant Bed

We've had questions on the status, so by way of an update, we have completed the first three steps of our plan to get a Giant Bed.

The master bedroom is painted and looks beautiful

We have begun bed shopping but haven't yet found one that meets our requirements and the dogs'.

Also, we bought a roof, so that slowed us down a bit.

Will let you know when Giant Bed has arrived.

'Night

Busy People, Busy People...

Working Hard All Over Town
Busy When the Sun Goes Up
Busy When the Sun Goes Down

For those in the Parker household - ie Lee and the dogs - the last few weeks I've been hard to live with. I have been leading the implementation team for our new Learning Management System, with a go-live day of April 30th. I have been putting in extra extra hours and the stress has been getting to me. I knew it was time for a break after the dream I had last night.

I dreamed I got a 78 percent on my Finance exam. Now, I:

• haven't been in a Finance class in two years
  
• loved Finance but am not an ace at it
• received a B- even though I got a 78 (my dream professor really values my enthusiasm for Finance)

Being me, I was shocked and began to analyze the test for my mistakes. I lost several points for failing to carry a "5" in an amoritization problem and several more for not factoring in the square root of something (did I mention I LOVE Finance!)

The capstone, though, was the Busy People problem. If you aren't familar with Busy People, they are children's author Richard Scary's tribute to work - Busy Town books with worms and foxes and cats all working - baking, fighting fires, etc. There is a video too, with the song noted above.

Anyway, my Busy People problem was a word search. I had to find eighteen hidden words, like "Busytown" and "Bakery". Not Finance words, mind you. So, I only found six. Not because I couldn't find the other 12, just because I was tired of Busy Town Finance. I gave up. Just didn't care.

I need a vacation!

So - How About Hiking the Grand Canyon?

Sure - why not! Well, tomorrow I'm off to Arizona to fulfill a foolish promise made approximately 14 years ago when I took a day hike with my best friend Julie in the Canyon. Now during the day hike - half way down and up again - I was:

• Younger
• Skinnier
• Stupider

I'm really hoping that with age I have the wisdom to plan a little better to conquer a 2-day, down and back hike in the canyon. During the first trip, little in the way of water and food was taken and (the cardinal hiking sin), my boots were new. This time, I have a real backpack, comfy boots, lots of H2O and a lot more prep work. Hopefully, that marathoning experience will come in handy too.

Even so, I'm a little nervous as I can't plan as well as Julie (she's an engineer). Snippets of our planning conversations for this trip:

Julie: I'm bringing the Scorpion anti-venom, so you don't have to too.
Jean: Scorpions?

Julie: I wrote four Yatzee scorecards on one piece of paper, so we don't have to carry extra paper (b/c its heavy - the paper; the Yatzee dice are coming b/c there is no TV at the bottom of the Canyon)
Jean: Umm - do I have room for my Ugly doll?

Julie: We will need exactly 12 oz of water per hour, based on the hourly weather forecast I emailed you.
Jean: I'm bringing gummy bears.

So, if someone is helicoptered out of the canyon, you know who it will be :)

Wish me luck!

Shelties Win Big!

Sparky and His Ribbons

Will Aiden Beat Out the Beagle?

April 28th our dog training club sponsered an AKC Rally/Obedience trial and we decided it was time to enter the ring again. This was Lee and Sparky's second time in the Rally ring, and Sparky - although a little bewildered by all the activity - performed admiredly and brought home a fourth place ribbon, one more qualifying ribbon for his Rally Novice title (only one more to go!) and a very cool squeaky toy as a prize.

Aiden managed to be in the running too, with a score of 99 out of 100 (that one lost point was handler error - sorry Aiden). Two show-offy Goldens took first and second, so it was down to third or fourth between Aiden and the beagle - both with scores of 99. It would come down to time - which dog had finished the course faster.....

Aiden! A nice third place finish - watch out Goldens, next time you're ours!

To learn more about Rally, check out the AKC website.

38 Degrees and Cooling

Crossing the Finish Line

Here I go again with a blog-blizzard. So much going on that I haven't had time to blog, so I'll put out a few posts tonight before heading off on another adventure.

April 14th Debra and I completed the Columbus Distance Classic, a half-marathon (13.1 miles) in our beautiful capital city. I had flashbacks to our fall Columbus Full Marathon experience, as the course was very similar. Some highlights of this course included:

• a walk around the three best public parks in Columbus - Goodale, Shiller and the Deaf School Topiary Park
• Donatos pizza at the finish line
  
• a trip around the Horseshoe with the OSU pep band playing 'Hang On Sloopy", which inspired us to run

Speaking of running, our original plan was this: Jean would run some but mostly walk, as she had done in training. Debra would walk and not run, because it's hard on her knees. I was to run in order to keep up with Debra's 14 minute-mile pace. (My walking pace is 16-minutes/mile). Debra had a goal to finish at about a 14.5 minute pace, so with my running, we could both do it.

Reality was a little different. Debra ran whenever I did! Consequently, I had to run more to keep up! But we finished with a great time of a little over 3 hours. If Debra wasn't motivation enough, 38 degree weather conditions were a big incentive to finish quick. Lee was great support, with drop off and pick up service right at the start and finish lines, so we managed to beat the promised rain/snow by 15 solid minutes. I love Ohio in the springtime!