Cassie, The Best Dog Ever, 1997 - 2008

Our dear friend Cassie succumbed to canine lymphoma over Thanksgiving.  I am thankful that SG was here with us, and that Cassie went quickly.  She was a dignified pooch, and it is such a blessing that she did not suffer. 

Cassie, I will miss you more than I can say.  You have been an integral part of our lives for the past 10 years, and you have helped remind us of life's most important things: eat fresh bread every day (if you can get it off the counter), chase your dreams (even if they smell like skunk) and remember that "or" is a dirty word.  Thank you for being our best friend, and the Best Dog Ever.

New Rig: Update

I just got back from our maiden voyage to the grocery store, and what a smooth ride!  The trailer, no surprise, actually stabilizes the bike.  The drag does make the average speed of the bike about 30% less, but there is no noticeable increase in effort.  Again, even up hills, you just go slower, but it doesn't require much extra work, even under load.  The first trip included the following prioritized list of supplies:

1 six pack of beer

2 boxes of doggie snacks

1 lb butter

1 qt yogurt

1 pack cream cheese (for secret special thanksgiving breakfast)

1 can black beans

1 bottle laundry soap

1 bottle dish soap

1 bag fruit and nut granola

1 jar of chili garlic sauce (Sambal)

6 rolls of toilet paper

1 large bottle of olive oil

1 large bottle of balsamic vinegar 

1 small bag of jelly bellies

5 apples

2 lemons

2 limes

1 bunch green onions

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

1 bag of mushrooms

1 new hardback book (Stephen King short stories)

Not a bad haul for a guy on a bike!  

My new "rig"

There are a lot of gear rigs:

SG and I have a Ford F250 pulling a three-horse with tack and dressing room rig. 

Cassie has a six-foot leather quick-release leash and collar rig.

Larry and the "Daryls" have dual quick-fill, auto-release water dispensers and tempered metal feeding rig.

I am currently rockin"g" my Fender Strat with 10 W practice amp rig (everyone starts someplace). 

HARBOR has a Kenwood TM-D710 ham radio with 1/4 wave antenna and portable power supply rig for tracking the high altitude balloon in the field.

My blogging rig is a MacBook Air and iPhone.

But this, my friends, is my new rig: A Burley Nomad cargo trailer for my bike that can haul 100 lbs!  While I have been going the grocery store on my bike with saddle bags or hauling stuff by bus, now I am ready to do the big pre-T-day shopping trip...on my bike!  20 lbs of potatoes?  No problem.  Case of beer?  We can handle it, as long as we let it settle a bit before we drink it.

I'll post some pictures of it actually set up in a bit.  In the mean time, I have some details to work out.  It says it can haul 100 lbs, but I can't find a motor anywhere on the trailer.  Hmmmm.  Maybe that is sold separately?

FAIL!

I both won and lost at court today. I lost because the judge ruled I was in breach of contract. I won because he "felt my pain" and effectively deducted late fees and court costs from the plaintiff's case. The moral: submit all grievances in writing!

A scary detail: Nearly all of the other cases were "Money Lending Co." vs. "Person". The unseen costs of payday lending.

The only disappointment was when the bailiff came over and told the cub scouts it would be "less boring" in traffic court. Cub scouts have all the fun! I read over one scout's shoulder the following notes:

"Judge got mad 'cos someone didn't show up"

You will have more fun in traffic court!

Piaffe?!

This link from Wikipedia is obviously not me (or my horse) but the animation is a Piaffe, where the horse performs a collected trot pretty much in place.

I rode Music Man yesterday...and he knows how to do this!  Frankly, it was the most exillerating experience I've had on a horse since riding cross country eight years ago.  What fun!

Now I can start focusing on my position, since Music Man apparently can handle himself.

Thanks again to SG, Trish, and Gail for convincing me to ride him.  What a great experience!

You heard is here first

With 99% reporting, McCain lead Utah with only 63% of the vote.  Hot damn!  In this state, that is a landslide victory for Democrats!

MCCAIN Calls to Concede the Election

BOYA!  Finally, my America is back!

I am going to bed!

More calls...

I called another 100+ people yesterday in the Colorado GOTV campaign for Obama.  

(By the way, I've been feeling a little guilty about this, since I don't actually live in Colorado.  But I was raised in Colorado, so I feel I have a vested interest in the outcome of the presidential election.  And, since I live in Utah, this might be my only way to be heard!)

Calling all these folks on a Saturday resulted in some interesting observations:

1. Most people aren't home.  I suppose people are working, or shopping, or whatever.  But it still seems strange.  I don't see anyone on my street at 10 am on a Saturday, so I figure they are in their houses.  90% of them aren't.  Where is everyone?

2. I have a lot of preconceived notions of age and gender when it comes to politics.  I knew Megan, 23, would be friendly (she hung up on me); if I was calling Frank, 66, I would be hoping for an answering machine, because middle aged men tend to be pretty rude to strangers calling on the phone (Frank turned out to be the nicest person I talked to); Delmar, 93, would be an ardent McCain supporter (100% artist for Obama).

3. I hate myself for ever being unfriendly to someone on the telephone.  In this age of caller ID, everyone I talked to knew immediately that I wasn't a friend or family member.  Everyone started out suspicious.  In general, that feeling grew to impatience or anger.  Moral of the story: There is no reason to be rude to people.  Ever.  

(I have a pet theory that everyone thinks they are living in their own private sitcom.  When Jerry Seinfeld is rude to someone on the phone, it's funny, right?)

4. Our elderly need help.  Of all the 80 and older crowd, only one had help with getting to the polls.  One woman, 95 and blind, had already tried to vote by mail 5 times (!) but kept filling out the form incorrectly.  She was about to give up.  One woman told me "We're shut-ins, and we aren't interested in politics".

I hope all this calling helps, because I am starting to realize that the independent America we've built is a myth.  In the end, we are all going to need some help.