Riding with Gustav

We got some remnants of Gustav this morning. It's just a gentle rain up here. It was a fun commute!

Shawn had to go to a meeting downtown today, so I was on my own getting to work. I was hoping to ride "Speed Race" my go-fast bike, but without fenders or a rack it would have made for a messy commute. I need more time on Speed Racer, I'm going to do the Reed's Lake Triathlon on Saturday and have had limited time on my race stead.

My biggest worry will be my knees at mile 4 and 5. I better start pre-medicating with the Advil right now!

(try to) Keep dry Cats!

Marais turns 13 this week!

Unfortunatly, this may be what she gets for a present :-( . She is losing her hearing, poor thing. It has happened very quickly. She goes to the vet/kennel tomorrow, so we'll see if they can clean her out. There does not seem to be any infection.

Used to be when she was loose and would hear my whistle, she would turn on a dime and come to me. Now, not so much :-/ . It makes for scary travels when she is near a road and not able to hear.

Today I put food in the bowl and clanged the spoon against her bowl...just a few weeks ago she would have been on full speed getting to the kitchen to check it out, but today, she just layed in the living room, oblivious to the sound of food. I think the worst part is when I walk next to her when she is laying down, she is so easily startled! I feel so bad for frightening her!

It's sad to see her get old, but she is remains a wonderful, and very well loved companion!

(She is also well photographed - I'm hoping my family can add a few of their favorite Doggy Dog pictures on their blog!)

Happy Birthday Doggy Dog!

Here's my beautiful wife on the start of our 28th year!  (yup, we're old!).  She hates Crooked pictures and hates pictures taken from below, but I think when you combine the two, you really have something!  Plus, she has the Conan O'brian hair style down pat!

We've been enjoying the olympics - it seems to be the thing to do this summer.

Not much else is new - Tomorrow night we'll be packing for a quick trip to houghton and a long bike ride to the UP!

Keep smilin' cats!

The "E" in service

Well we bought the Element for hauling Mango Tango - here she is , all loaded up, along with Matt's bike and a seat down for Matt.    It all fits inside!

It hauls it all cats!

Home Again!

Wow - am I sa-lee-pee! I must still be on Alaska time cause I just can't seem to fall asleep at the normal time. And what is the deal with darkness? Just when I get used to sleeping in the daytime, I have to sleep when it's dark! I hope I catch up one of these days...

ANA-way, one last photo from Alaska. I don't know if this got posted before, but it's worth a re-run.

As shawn posted in the photo comments:  At the Eilson Visitor Center, Denali was no longer in view.  But they had it painted on the window.  You stood on the floor at a particular spot according to your height, then you could shoot a picture.  Pretty cool way of showing the size of "the high one" to the many visitors who don't get a view of it.  Lots of cool exhibits at this visitors center, which was just opened.  You could read about many of the exhibitions that attempted or made it to the summit

 Mt. McKinley (the cool cats call it Denali) is absolutely huge! You think the mountains in the foreground are big enough, but Denali towers above them. It's a very impressive site!

Top o' the world to ya Cats!

I'm Brian!!

Beaver Chew!

My kids and my wife know how much I love finding beaver chew. Well, appearently I am not the only one - in fact, someone in Alaska loves it so much, they put it in The Museum of the North - here in Fairbanks.

Keep chewin' cats! (Or your teeth will get too long!)

(Alaska's great by the way! I'd put Fairbanks in my top ten cities list - it might even make the top 5).