Here is just a quick post to add a video of Miele doing her tricks.
It is a little confusing for her when we play the video on the computer and she hears the clicker and the commands. She evens comes to the computer at the end.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
My Hopeless Beard
I realized today that I had forgotten to post a few funny stories from Sunday.
Sunday morning we picked up several folks from the "retirement lodge" and took them to church. Then after Sunday School some of them prefer to return and not stay for the worship service so we shuttle them back, no news there. Well, after the service we were driving the remaining two, a sweet lady in her nineties and a gentleman who is notorious for not being able to hear anything, back to the lodge and they were discussing how our new pastor (he has been there about 18 months) is hard for them to hear and understand. The man said that he uses a listening device that picks up a broadcast from the sound system and he is able to hear much better that way. The lady looked at the little box and said she would have to get one (she has one, she has used it at church before she has just forgotten). Then she asked if he had a hearing aid. He said, "Oh, yeah. I keep it in my pocket." Th guy driving said, "Oh, that's a good place for it". Don't worry, they didn't hear him. No wonder he can't ever hear us when we talk to him.
OK, so maybe you had to be there.
Anyway, Sunday evening I had a meeting with a group that has been working on some long term planning for the church. The meeting was supposed to last from 7:00-8:30 but went from about 7:15-10:00, but that is not relevant to this story. We were sharing some things about what the different sub-groups had been working on and toward the end one lady, who is a great lady but is a little....well, out there sometimes, decided she needed to share. She was talking about good things that had been going on in the church and how some ministries were going, which was good because the meeting had been a little dry and somewhat tense until then so this lightened the mood a bit. Well, she ended with this great story. She said:
A couple weeks ago a man came to our church and he was really a rough looking fellow. He came to the church and was unshaven and messy and people who don't shave there faces are just without hope. It's a sign of hopelessness. (At this point I begin stroking my beard and since I am sitting beside her and everyone is basically looking right at us a couple guys across the table began smiling at me.) And then that gentleman came back this week and he had shaved! I just know he has more hope now and our church has really helped him along.
I was really having to work hard not to laugh at the end. One of the guys came to me afterward and told me he never knew I was such a hopeless guy. Sara and I got a big kick out of it. Maybe one of these days my hope will be restored and I can rid my self of this hopeless beard.
Sunday morning we picked up several folks from the "retirement lodge" and took them to church. Then after Sunday School some of them prefer to return and not stay for the worship service so we shuttle them back, no news there. Well, after the service we were driving the remaining two, a sweet lady in her nineties and a gentleman who is notorious for not being able to hear anything, back to the lodge and they were discussing how our new pastor (he has been there about 18 months) is hard for them to hear and understand. The man said that he uses a listening device that picks up a broadcast from the sound system and he is able to hear much better that way. The lady looked at the little box and said she would have to get one (she has one, she has used it at church before she has just forgotten). Then she asked if he had a hearing aid. He said, "Oh, yeah. I keep it in my pocket." Th guy driving said, "Oh, that's a good place for it". Don't worry, they didn't hear him. No wonder he can't ever hear us when we talk to him.
OK, so maybe you had to be there.
Anyway, Sunday evening I had a meeting with a group that has been working on some long term planning for the church. The meeting was supposed to last from 7:00-8:30 but went from about 7:15-10:00, but that is not relevant to this story. We were sharing some things about what the different sub-groups had been working on and toward the end one lady, who is a great lady but is a little....well, out there sometimes, decided she needed to share. She was talking about good things that had been going on in the church and how some ministries were going, which was good because the meeting had been a little dry and somewhat tense until then so this lightened the mood a bit. Well, she ended with this great story. She said:
A couple weeks ago a man came to our church and he was really a rough looking fellow. He came to the church and was unshaven and messy and people who don't shave there faces are just without hope. It's a sign of hopelessness. (At this point I begin stroking my beard and since I am sitting beside her and everyone is basically looking right at us a couple guys across the table began smiling at me.) And then that gentleman came back this week and he had shaved! I just know he has more hope now and our church has really helped him along.
I was really having to work hard not to laugh at the end. One of the guys came to me afterward and told me he never knew I was such a hopeless guy. Sara and I got a big kick out of it. Maybe one of these days my hope will be restored and I can rid my self of this hopeless beard.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Winter has Arrived!
As the title implies, it is cold here. Thus Miele is less and less interested in going out for walks and to do her doggy business with each passing day. The photos show her new adopted spot on the bed in the office. Anyway, she is learning more and more what is acceptable and not so acceptable. The amount of jumping up on people and the furniture is much more manageable now. She now can sit, wait, shake, dance, and come with some small amount of consistency. We are also going to a basic doggy manners/obedience class soon. That should help to accelerate some of the things we have been working on.In other news, we had a great past week, but it
was pretty busy. Sara started her last class last Tues and it went well. She will be certified to teach in May when she completes this class. She also decided to join a university band. It is a "just for fun" band and they met for the first time Tues as well and Sara loved that. She has missed being able to play her trumpet. They will be performing in April, so we look forward to that.As for me, I am busy as usual at work and things are going well. I am going to start golf lessons again this week. I have two lessons left so that will be fun. I hope I remember something ; )
Sara and I are also planning to big trip for April. We are going to visit Big Bend NP, Carlsbad Caverns NP, and Guadalupe Mountains NP. That will be three to add to our list of visited parks (on our way to visiting them all). We will do some camping, spelunking, hiking, and just relaxing. Unfortunately, Miele will have to stay behind. The National Parks don't allow dogs. We are still working on what exciting experience she will have without us.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Dog Parks and Storm Doors
We got up early Saturday to take Miele in to the dog park in Dallas (http://www.whiterockdogpark.com/). We thought she would enjoy some room to run since she often wants to sniff off on some trail when she is on walks with us, however she was a little timid in the unknown surroundings and took some time to go off on her own. As Sara says, at least we known she is bonded to us. She stayed at our heels for a while then did some exploring. We started out in the small dog area which she tolerated, then tried the big dog area which was much with much trepidation. Although, if I was 24 pounds and three dogs with a combined weight of over ten times that came to greet me I would also be trpidatious.
We also went to a friend's birthday party Saturday. It was a Monopoly party but neither of us partook (lack of patience I think). They played a new version in which all the $$ amounts are multiplied by 10,000 and all the spaces are real "pop culture" places. The birthdy boy won (we heard, we didn't stay) after nearly 4 hours.
This morning brought the usual Sunday routine, I rode out to pick up folks at the nursing home... i mean assisted living lodge. They are always a riot. Church was quite cold this morning, something was apparently wrong with the heating system. I checked the thermometer on my watch and it got down to 64 and was still falling when I had to get up to go. In the van on the way back we were discussing it and Jeff said his bald head was cold and one of the old ladies said her bald head was cold too, lol. Jeff said he would have to tell the facilities guy to get it fixed and the lady said, "Tell him I had icicles on my bald head". They are so funny. One lady calls her mints deltoids, we always get a kick out of that.
This afternoon I went to Lowe's and bought a storm door for our back door. Let's back up a step... We thought it would be nice to have the back door open when Miele is out so we can keep an eye on her and she doesn't feel so separated from us (she has some separation anxiety I think).
OK, now to Lowe's, I measured the back of the Subaru to see how much room I had because I thought it might be close. The door is 32" x 81" and the Subaru had about 82, maybe 83 inches with the driver seat pushed up about as much as I could stand it. I went into the store, tape measure in hand and went to the door Sara and I had decided on. I measured the box and it was 84 inches tall. I went back to the car to see if I could squeeze another inch. It was going to be tight but I thought I could make it. I purchased the door and the cashier asked if I needed help loading it, "Oh no, its not heavy", I replied. Well, it wasn't heavy but it was definitely a tight fit. I couldn't quite close the back hatch so I thought maybe I could just tie the hatch shut, well there wasn't a good way to do that. I thought, maybe I can open the box and take something out because I know the door is 81 inches tall maybe a little less. I opened each end of the box and it was full to the end. I considered unloading the pieces into the car but thought I shouldn't mangle the box until I was sure this door would work for us. Finally I was able to prop th box up a bit in the front and get the hatch closed. I jumped.... make that snuggled into the driver seat and headed home.
Sara and got the door mostly put up. I just need to finish the latch side and caulk the seams. We did have to return to Lowe's for some shim material and Sara found a nice piece of edging that fit the bill perfectly.
Well, we bought a new antenna tonight with a gift card Sara received so I need to try to get that hooked up. We also found that with the new TV we don't have sound through the TV when we play DVDs so I need to solve that as well.
We also went to a friend's birthday party Saturday. It was a Monopoly party but neither of us partook (lack of patience I think). They played a new version in which all the $$ amounts are multiplied by 10,000 and all the spaces are real "pop culture" places. The birthdy boy won (we heard, we didn't stay) after nearly 4 hours.
This morning brought the usual Sunday routine, I rode out to pick up folks at the nursing home... i mean assisted living lodge. They are always a riot. Church was quite cold this morning, something was apparently wrong with the heating system. I checked the thermometer on my watch and it got down to 64 and was still falling when I had to get up to go. In the van on the way back we were discussing it and Jeff said his bald head was cold and one of the old ladies said her bald head was cold too, lol. Jeff said he would have to tell the facilities guy to get it fixed and the lady said, "Tell him I had icicles on my bald head". They are so funny. One lady calls her mints deltoids, we always get a kick out of that.
This afternoon I went to Lowe's and bought a storm door for our back door. Let's back up a step... We thought it would be nice to have the back door open when Miele is out so we can keep an eye on her and she doesn't feel so separated from us (she has some separation anxiety I think).
OK, now to Lowe's, I measured the back of the Subaru to see how much room I had because I thought it might be close. The door is 32" x 81" and the Subaru had about 82, maybe 83 inches with the driver seat pushed up about as much as I could stand it. I went into the store, tape measure in hand and went to the door Sara and I had decided on. I measured the box and it was 84 inches tall. I went back to the car to see if I could squeeze another inch. It was going to be tight but I thought I could make it. I purchased the door and the cashier asked if I needed help loading it, "Oh no, its not heavy", I replied. Well, it wasn't heavy but it was definitely a tight fit. I couldn't quite close the back hatch so I thought maybe I could just tie the hatch shut, well there wasn't a good way to do that. I thought, maybe I can open the box and take something out because I know the door is 81 inches tall maybe a little less. I opened each end of the box and it was full to the end. I considered unloading the pieces into the car but thought I shouldn't mangle the box until I was sure this door would work for us. Finally I was able to prop th box up a bit in the front and get the hatch closed. I jumped.... make that snuggled into the driver seat and headed home.
Sara and got the door mostly put up. I just need to finish the latch side and caulk the seams. We did have to return to Lowe's for some shim material and Sara found a nice piece of edging that fit the bill perfectly.
Well, we bought a new antenna tonight with a gift card Sara received so I need to try to get that hooked up. We also found that with the new TV we don't have sound through the TV when we play DVDs so I need to solve that as well.
Monday, January 7, 2008
2008, off and running
Well, it is past time to kick this off. I have been meaning to start a blog for Sara and I for some time to record what we are up to and display photos of our exploits.
We kicked off 2008 with family in Houston and came home and immediately picked up our new "puppy" Miele (above). After just a few days at our home she came with us to Tulsa for a friends wedding. It was the wedding of the last of my roommates from OSU. Aaron was married first (second from right), then James (right), then me (second from left) and, this past weekend, Sa
mmy (left). We were able to get a picture of the four of us at each wedding so I hope to get all four photos together and frame them.Well, this is my quick opening, more of the basic info on our little family to come soon.
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