Last Sunday (a week ago) I drove to Memphis for Hannah's baptism. I had a nice, though short, visit with B, K, and H. H had grown so much since I last saw her. She's a little firecracker and lots of fun.

Here are a few pictures of us:

The crawl race:

Wrestling:

The baptism:

This weekend we're headed to John's 3-year-old birthday party. I hear we all get to wear hard hats!

Racing and Goldie

So I raced more cyclocross this weekend and had a great time, mostly. I had hard time keeping my bike upright. Not sure why, but I crashed Sat and Sun. Anyway, my crash Saturday put parts of my bike where they don't belong (in the rear wheel) and I was 30sec into the race and dead last of 14. I bent things back and got going again. I rode really fast apparently (my second lap at 7:41 was faster than the next fastest lap by anyone in my race, 8:00). I caught all but 3 people and finished 4th. Pretty good.

Sunday it had thawed out and it was a little sloppy on a little mud. Really fast start to get to the single track first. I was 5th going into it and the rest of the folks behind me (8 of them) were way spread out. My teammate was 3rd and he slipped on the mud and crashed, then somehow I fell too. I landed softly and got up quick. My teammate had the bent bike part problem I had on Saturday. I chased hard and at some point I caught, what I thought was a lapped teammate, who let me draft and recover while he pulled me up to a guy I was chasing. Technically illegal since my teammate wasn't dropped, but pulled out of the race (feeling sick) and got back in. He should be DQ'd. Anyway, I caught the guy I was chasing and blew by him with 1 lap to go. I rode really hard and beat him by 50 seconds. I rode real hard sicne I was afraid if I crashed or did something stupid, I'd have time to spare. I fell over after I crossed the line in exhaustion. I finished 3rd of 13 for my first top 3 placing in a bike race ever!!! And all I got was a coffee mug full of Double Bubble. Either way, my racing is coming along in terms of physical ability, confidence in cornering and hammering down scary stuff full speed, and not fearing a tumble.

I also saw a Snowy Owl near where the race was. Yes, a Snowy Owl is a tundra species and it is only the 10th record in Tennessee. VERY rare. Folks from 5+ hrs away came to see the bird. Huge white owl. They are rare in Pennsylvania in winter, so in TN they are really rare. I only saw it from ~200+ yards, so not a great look, but....

I'll post race picts before long and Bec will post about Memphis. Sorry I missed the event, but you know I don't work my rear off for 3 months to not race. At least I am getting good results, finally!

Oh yeah, the other half of the title involved Goldie. She comes inside while I hold the door open, rather than propping it open and walking away. She's better when it is food time. She even came up to me today while I was on the couch and let me pet her, she even shimmied closer. Huh.

Goldie and I are friends!

So after the trip to Vburg with the dogs, Goldie and I have bonded. I stayed home to work from the house on Tues (and today because my truck is back at the shop) and I tried to work with Goldie when I couldn't read about climate change anymore.

First, I did actually get a LOT of work done at home. In 8 hrs at the house, I can get done what would take me 14 hrs in the office. Major progress. Anyway, I actually got Goldie to come in the back door for the first time. It took a couple treats, multiple attempts for 3-4 hrs, and me using the latch to keep the screen door propped open for a couple minutes while I was away from the door by the washer. She came in (after trying a few times), went right into her kennel, let me partially dry her off (she loves sitting in the rain) and then came out to me sitting on the steps to finish drying her off. Yesterday afternoon she even wandered around the house with me there, rather than hiding in her spot the entire time.

Last night she even laid on the floor by us on the couch for a while! She got a lot of petting and is gaining confidence in me not being the evil man she thinks I am. Although, I would get up and she'd scurry off, but she came right back after I sat down.

I even got her inside again this morning!!

Christmas and a New Year

We spent Christmas in Alabama with most of the family.  J was old enough to be excited about Christmas and was really cute about the whole thing.  After spending a few days at home, we (and the dogs) headed to Vicksburg to spend a few days at the old homestead with my grandparents and aunt who had headed south for the week.  I don't really have anything interesting to say, so without further ado, here are the pictures:

the night before Christmas

bonding over stocking loot

king of drool (notice the drop in mid-air...cool, yes?)

cars

help with opening presents

Dr. J shoots and scores

getting all dressed up for the hospital

Uncle D's sexy undies

helping Nana make birthday cake

the birthday girls

Snuffle-face in the johnny-jump-up

And, as special treat, I give you a sneak peek at the Vogue series by Betsy and David.  Enjoy.

We wish you all a happy and blessed 2009.