Roxy training diary month 24 May 2005 |
May 29. Preparing to move, we were going through a stack of old photographs. These are the pre-pre-RoxyLog days in the House of Gray Animals. The picture of Kodiak and Annie play-fighting is my favorite, mostly because of the shadow on the wall behind them which increases the drama. |
Aerial view, tilted so you can see Mt. Ogden in the background
Aerial view of our house and the Weber State campus
Kodiak and Annie play-fighting. Looks (and sounds!) fierce, but it was all in fun. From 1993.
Annie doing her "tonsillectomy trick". We wowed the crowd at our first ACDCA National Specialty with this one in summer 1993.
Annie (now all grown up) showing Dylan how to play with squeaky fluffy toys. Fall 1997.
Dylan's Booty
Roxy Takes Advantage of Weber State's Open Enrollment Policy
Dylan Loves His Inflation
See That Boy With the Rubber Ring? He Knows How to Shake that Thing.
Smokily Sexy Tracey Roth, Josie Agility Starlet, Jim, Happy Roxy |
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"Sometimes, you just get to the point where you have to unhitch your wagon." Mississippi State Rep. David Green, announcing his unexpected retirement |
May 27. Graduation day, my last at UMMC and therefore a bittersweet occasion. I took some time this evening to design my own personal hell. Enjoy, then contribute yours. Dylan rolled in dog poop, and everyone was overdue for baths, so it was a Bath Night. They are angry at me because I got out the baby shampoo and washed faces too. |
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May 25. Our offer on the Edgehill house was accepted, after some negotiation, so we are preparing for a June 16 closing. Roxy still has no opinion on any of this — but she will. May 24. It's Edgehill. The Pierce owner failed to see the sense in our generous offer, and said she'd rather move back into her house. Maybe she misses her panties. So, we made an offer on Edgehill today. That was Rosemary's favorite, so everyone's happy; I got my shot at Pierce, she gets to live in the house she preferred. Roxy doesn't care one way or the other. May 20-21. The most amazing 48 hours of my life. Thursday, Weber State presented me with an offer letter, and so when I picked Rosemary up at the Salt Lake City airport Thursday night we had a chance to talk things over. By Friday May 20 we had decided to accept the Weber State offer, so I went to sign my letter and firm up my commitment to Weber at noontime Friday. All day Friday, both morning and afternoon, we spent looking for houses. We even looked at a few. We both fell in and out of love with several, but when all was said and done there were two that really stood out for us. So, Saturday, we decided on a price we could afford for each, ranked them, and called the agent with an offer. Now we have to wait and see what the present owners want to do. |
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I've downloaded pictures of the two houses. One is on Pierce; the other is on Edgehill. The advantages of the Pierce house are its location, and the fact a distressed property that we could acquire relatively cheaply is adjacent. Its disadvantages are manifest. It would need tens of thousands of dollars worth of work just to make it liveable. In spite of its faults, or perhaps because of them, I fell in love with this toad. Perhaps if we kiss it it will become a prince. |
There must be a use for someone like myself. |
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If the Pierce deal falls through, then we plan to make an offer on a house on Edgehill. It's a great place, because a gate in the back fence leads directly onto the Weber State campus so I would only be 5 minutes' walk from work. The yard is terraced and beautifully done. The neighborhood is okay, but perhaps dodgier than the Pierce house. |
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Mississippi (Bob Dylan) Every step of the way We walk the line
I was raised in the country
It's sinking fast Got no future, got no past For those who've sailed with me
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I've also set up a page with pictures of the Edgehill house. It's a great second choice, and I would be happy with either one. The power transmission line that runs nearby is a concern, not so much for me (the literature on cancer from power lines is horse poop) but more for the resale. There are things not to like, but the yard is beautiful, if a bit smallish for agility. A new job and a new house? Not enough stress by far, so I went for the Trifecta of Stress, and decided to buy a car. We had been leaning heavily towards the Subaru Forester, but could not find a good used one in Ogden. We went by the dealership and found a great deal on a used Subaru Outback wagon, a 2002 with only 31K miles. So I bought it, too. This sounds mad, but we had worked on and discussed a plan over the last few weeks, so none of it was really as spontaneous as it seems. Still, it seems crazy to me as I write this. Tomorrow we fly back from SLC to Jackson, and I begin the process of transitioning from one job to another, and from one house to another. Rosemary will stay behind and Annie and I will take a rental truck with some personal goods up to Ogden in early July. That's why the car; I will need something to drive for several months before she can join us. Someday, perhaps by the end of the year, we will have our family back together again. May 13-15. We spent the three-day weekend at an agility trial in Kiln. Big excitement on Friday when I got a phone call I'd been hoping for; I had worn my "lucky shirt" for the occasion so Roxy and I were prepared. Roxy had a fairly terrible agility weekend. She continues her streak of being freaked out and fearful in the ring. Much discussion about what to do about this ensued. Our best run of the weekend was Starters Gamblers last thing on Sunday; she only spent a short time sightseeing on the dog walk and she almost made the Joker, though it was all theoretical since she didn't have enough points in the opening. Dylan, on the other hand, had a fantastic weekend. Rosemary had decided to move him to Performance Level II (i.e., 16" jump height instead of 22" Advanced Championship). That new jump height agreed with him. He pulled down a PII Gamblers leg (with me running him), a PII Jumpers leg, and two PII Snooker legs. So he is only one Q away from running in PIII Snooker, just like Annie. We have a Snookerphilic household, I guess. May 11. Agility practice tonight. Roxy is still working on the A-frame thing. Weave poles (in practice) are getting better. We also did stays: 50 sec on a sit-stay and 90 sec on a down-stay. Annie got to do some Rally practice as well, which she seemed to enjoy immensely. May 10. Dylan likes to play with his inflation. This is a toy made from an "inflation", which is the term of art for a rubber milking sucker that fits on the cow's teat.
May 7-8. We drove up early-early Saturday morning for a trial in Holly Springs, Mississippi under one of our favorite judges, Paul Stolzenburg. Little known fact: under Mississippi Law, the Holly Springs Tourism & Recreational Bureau is run by nins. Not even the HST&RB can find a decent place to eat in Holly Springs. |
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Not much (good) to report from the trial. Roxy and I had a few good half-runs, but she has completely forgotten what to do with weave poles. The A-frame is still iffy but better than it was. Dylan and I got to run Jumpers together, and despite a couple of knocked poles, he did a fantastic job for me. He is so much more focused than Roxy — the advantages of having an OBM on board. The ever-cool Tracey Roth was at the trial with her new cattledog prospect, Josie. Josie tore up the place, earning four of the seven legs she needs for her Agility Dog title. She's only 18 months (Josie is; Tracey is somewhat older) but she is already tearing up agility courses. We were very proud of her, and we got to visit some with Tracey's mom who drove down from Memphis. May 6. I have been remiss in updating the RoxyLog, mostly because of getting tied up with work-related stuff. I spent the first four days of May in Ogden, Utah, visiting the campus of Weber State University. The mountains, particularly Ben Lomond, are spectacular. I keep forgetting to install Contribute on my laptop, so even though I had high-speed internet access, I could not update the RoxyLog. It's a sad day here, because today was the day we helped Kodiak pass away. He had more and more trouble getting around and eating, and would tire easily. Rosemary bought him a pound of trout, so he got a final treat and we took him to the vet for the last time. I've set up a photo tribute to Kodi. |
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