Day 20 - Halloween

It is beautiful here right now, but it looks like storm clouds over the ocean, we will see. I hope it stays nice because this year I decided to give out candy. Maybe TH and I will even carve a pumpkin.

I don't remember ever going trick or treating, I am sure I probably did but I have no memory of it. In some respects T1 and T2 had more traditional upbringing getting to do the Halloween bit and probably all sorts of other holiday fun things that we younger children just didn't get. There is a certain envy there, but that was then this is now, and now I want to see trick or treaters.

Today is suppose to be the first 4 mile walk - TH said he was coming with us but leaving WM. We will see. I am not sure that he will be up to it, but it is Halloween, he should do something to commemorate this day. Also it is the start of week 4 for me.

BIL2 goes all out for Halloween, I have never met anyone else who seems to just embrace the holiday like he does. Loved his costume - I think that he is frustrated director under all that family man stuff.

Anyway Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Day 19 - Dog car vs people car

We have the luxury of having enough cars that one can be dedicated to the dogs. My poor T is just a bit too heavy so she has problems jumping right now, so the easiest car for her would be the newest car, but TH wants to keep that for humans. Asking why and he says we have everything in the big car for the dogs so if we go on big trips its ready to go.

Now when he says that the big car is set up for dogs he means that we have water pans and balls in it. Hmm, I guess it would be hard to transfer two water pans and three balls to other car.

The major problem is the hair. You open the door of the big car and hair just flies all over the place. It clogged up the heating vent once, it gets in between, under, above and any crack and cranny you can think of. Dog hair is like much like a pest you wish you could get rid of, but they just keep coming back.

I took the big car in once to be detailed, and when I pulled up they took one look inside and said no way are we going to be able to clean this car. They literally laughed at me. Laughed. We hadn't cleaned the car for maybe a couple of years, but still the hair wasn't more then an inch thick.

Now T doesn't shed as much as WM, but T lets me comb her, WM won't let me comb her. I think the solution to this problem is leave WM at home, TH doesn't feel that would be fair to her. She is getting on in years and he feels she deserves to go on walk with the big boys.

I disagree. She is 13 years old, and while the idea of a walk may appeal to her, physically it isn't really in her cards. Take last night for instance. I didn't have a dog car because the big one is in the shop, so I waited until TH came home so we could take the truck (the truck is much to big for me to drive - another story), so we lifted both dogs into the truck (the WM was much easier to lift) and drove to the Bay Trail. We humans had decided that TH and WM would rest if need be and do what they could while T and I went ahead and got our mileage in. So the minute we got out of the car I had to go to the bathroom (damn water) and said we had to go home. TH wouldn't hear of it and told me to "suck it up". Hmmm. Anyway I tried to put it at the back of my mind and started walking. We agreed not do three miles, but I decided we would do 20 minutes out 20 minutes back - easy peasy.

Well we went ahead immediately, TH didn't even try to keep up with us. The problem with being so far ahead was that T was nervous about them and kept wanting to go back and check that they were still coming, so every few steps she would stop and look behind to make sure they were still there. It is the herding instinct Dog T1 did that too, actually she would run at top speed between the two of us. WH started out fairly strong, but ended up getting slower and slower. By the time we actually turned around I wasn't really sure that WH would make it back to the truck. She was at the very end of her six foot leash and barely able to lift her little legs. I told TH he should probably carry her back, but he was too tired as well (he had already walked to Bart that day.)

We made it back to the truck the dogs got in and WH immediately fell asleep. Life of dogs is so hard especially when humans interfere. Next life I am coming back as a dog.

Day 18 - Rain again

We were suppose to have a 6 hour power outage but it has been called off on account of the rain. I can only guess that all those baseball fans are giving a sigh of relief that the game isn't in the City today. TH told me that on his bucket list he wanted to see the Giants win the World Series. I personally think that is an odd item on the bucket list. But who am I to judge, on my bucket list I want to go to an Olympics.

I have found myself in awe around those who are top in there fields no matter what the field. With six billion going on seven billion people, to meet or be in the presence of one of the best in their field is humbling. With sports it is easy to judge those who at the top of their class, in other areas it isn't so easy to judge. But you know when you have seen a great movie or read a great book, it is almost universal.

I was cleaning my office yesterday and came across a letter my dad had written me. In it he says "The adventure lies in the process of (re)invention". How apt is that? I feel very lucky that I was raised by two unique and sometimes great individuals.

Day 17 - Achy Breaky Tootsies

I went to bed last night and a little sore back a little sore knees a little sore feet, and I woke up with a little sore back, a little sore knees, little sore feet, and really sore toes. I am in search of the perfect shoe, then I will buy enough to last my life time. I have a great pair, but I can't quite figure out what they are. So I went and bought what I thought was closest to them and while they are comfortable they don't support the ball of my foot as well as the other one does - hence the achy breaky toes. I keep wearing them, because I don't want to wear out my other pair before March.

So I woke up this morning thinking I just didn't want to walk today. I finished my Chet and Bernie book, and I haven't started on another. It is hard for me to transition from one book to another, so sometimes I have a lag between the two. So I don't have anything to listen to and my body aches a little. Maybe I will check out Down the Rabbit Hole...

Anyway, because I don't have anyone who will notice that I didn't walk today, I probably won't. I don't have a car and it looks like rain and...bummer.

Yesterday in the park there were probably a dozen or so older men in the park and the were doing what I could guess as the samba. I wanted to stay and watch, but they gave me black looks as T wanted to join in the fray. T was especially bad (did I mention that I have a sore arm too?) and had to check out every rodent hole, and now she wants to chase those stupid creatures. I think I like her a bit out of shape.

The suspense will kill you I know -did she walk or not? Maybe I will tell you tomorrow or maybe not.

Day 16- Start of third week

558 days left. Everyone last night had a great week. I know that this is evil to say, but I wish everyone hadn't had a "perfect" week. My competitive nature never sleeps, and I want to be the big winner, and I can't do that when everyone is being "perfect". As I told T2 - second generation Winning is everything.

But the woes did come in force. I was so hungry, the food made me soo sick, I was having migraines, all I did was think about food...and I had food dreams. One other person said they had the dreams, but they didn't eat in the dream - they were just surrounded by food. So I cheated in my dreams what are going to do - shoot me?

Half the class has also engaged a shrink. My shrink is getting to the bottom of my eating. I am thinking maybe the other doctor told them to. Talking in this class isn't enough?

Kaiser says to exercise 30 minutes a day, so I wrote down that I was walking the dog for a 3o minutes a day and she wrote back that I needed to walk the dog 100 minutes a day. Okay now that is a far cry from walking 5 minutes a day now isn't it.

I think that I am going to buy a dance video and pound on the floor for those 100 minutes, that should do it for me.

Day 15 - Weapons are us

This is not a kid friendly home. TH loves medieval times and all the pageantry that he thinks comes with it. We have spears, swords, daggers, knives, and bow and arrows. Those are just the medieval weapons. They are stuck in corners hanging on dressers, bookcases, under the bed, in drawers, locked up, unlocked, hidden and open.

Every couple of months he comes showing me a magazine with some new type of weapon that he just must have. And if he decides on a sword he spends hours on whether or not he should have them send the sword sharpened. Sometimes they won't sharpen the sword, but mostly he decides on his own to not have them sharpened. But if they come sharpened, oh boy does he have fun showing me just how sharp they are.

One of our first dates was going to the renaissance fair. He had full costume, and though the temperature was well over 100 degrees (he hates hot weather), I couldn't get him to leave. I was miserable and annoyed as people would come up randomly, speaking in those fake old english accents "fair maiden how doth thy fair". I think that is all they could really come up with. It really is not my cup of tea and though I continued to go in the beginning I finally put my foot down and said no more. It is kind of like dragging someone to the opera who hates opera.

We haven't been to that fair for 15 years - but that hasn't stopped him from dreaming. Me, I never really got the fascination with the middle ages - I need my indoor plumbing which brings back to where I started, we had a sword hanging on the bathroom door and it fell on my foot, luckily it was one of the unsharpened ones.

Day 14 - Again with the Food dreams whats up with that?

I had another food dream. Geez two weeks into the program and I have had 3 food dreams. Last nights dream was more about Saturday nights dream. Saturday night I dreamed I ate 12 bagels, and one of the other participants also ate bagels so they went first on how they cheated. The facilitator then got all worried and told her that eating bagels could kill her and a good thing she only had a bite. But I had 12 (not 13 - I should have realized it was dream then)- I began to worry that maybe I would keel over right there in the room before I could confess my sins. I kept going over in my head how did I eat 12 bagels. I ate them and didn't even notice I was eating them. They just kind of fell into my mouth.

Last night I dreamt about dreaming about eating the bagels. I dreamed in my dream that I was dreaming about eating the bagels. Then in the dream I thought how stupid is that I would never eat 12 bagels, and I certainly would know that I ate them so I definitely know this is just a dream. So I sat there with my cup of tea and a piece of fudge thinking how silly that dream really was. Then ACK I was eating candy. Make a liar out of me from my prior post saying I never ate candy - or something like that...and that is all I remember. Oh dreams are such pesky little fellows!!!