Eats

By the way...smoked black bear is very tasty. It looks like corned beef but it's very red in color. Tastes better than ham though. Incredibly lean. That pretty much settles it. I'm getting something that I can kill big animals with.

Wood

We had our first snow last night. It was starting to come down when I went to bed and I woke up this morning to the sound of the plows running. There was like 2" of snow. I guess they were bored. I had this wood delivered at about 10 in the morning and the snow was pretty much already gone. I chopped wood for probably 4 hours today and hardly made a dent in that pile. Rocky aint got a thing on me.

Thanksgiving

We'll be having a pretty calm day over here. I'll go work out up at the middle school and then we'll do a long walk and obedience stuff to try and tame the beast. Then after I squeeze a ride in, I think we're going to head over and hang out with some friends for a bit. My buddy Hayes who completely wasted his time while in the special forces (he shoulda been a chef) is preparing not only a bird but also some more black bear and I can't turn that down. The last time he cooked he made up some black bear sausage (Jimmie Dean didn't have nuttin' on it) and stuffed it in mushrooms. Apparently tonight it should taste a lot like a smoked ham.

I just wanted to wish all my dear friends and their families a happy Thanksgiving. I'm lucky to know all of you.

Big boy

Fatty McFatpants gained just under five pounds since we brought him home. Heather and I have been trying to whip his ass into shape this week since we're both off work. There's been loads of crate training, potty training, and basic obedience. He's got the SIT down already. He's gonna be a Grand Champion. Dharma was/is good but Bodhisattva is on the path of awakening. He will labor and sacrifice for the benefit of other beings. It aint gonna be easy though. The little bastard just doesn't back down. It's now the start of the 4th round in a scheduled for 10 round fight. Bodhi is up against the ropes and there's a cut above the right eye. He's goin' down.

Surprisingly, I'm holding up pretty well. I'm hitting the weights hard for a bit of cross training. We've been walking the dogs about 3 miles each day and then I'm working with Bodhi on obedience. I'm usually getting in a 2 hour ride in the afternoons. Today as we were working in town, some cheeseball and his 2 very little children approached and the guy actually gathered his kids and informed them that this dog was very mean and they went well out of the way. I missed it as I was paying attention to Bodhi and correcting his endless shenanigans but Heather told me about it later. She usually tells me these things well after the fact because she knows I can't resist engaging with ignorant people on this particular topic. I'm not sure why, but I always feel it's necessary to at least try to get folks to see things from my perspective after hearing theirs. It's been a while for me. The last debate took place in the North Face store atop the mountain village in Telluride a few years back after he said, "All those dogs should be killed". I found it amussing that my dog never left the heel position while his bratty ass kids ran around the store grabbing everything in sight. Normally I don't get into it with anyone but I'm really passionate about my dogs and breed specific legislation in general. I enjoy healthy discussion about bully breeds (and well adjusted DOGS vs. DOGS that aren't) but when someone is that uneducated it truly saddens me. Particularly when they're raising young people. Let me climb off my soapbox.

Here's some worn out and extremely aggressive dogs:

Free dog

I only do this for about 13 minutes each day and when I'm out, not even a bomb going off could wake me up. The rest of the time I am a complete jerk. Sometimes I drink water too quickly and then throw up. Any takers?

Did I mention that I fart?

P.S. I'm sackless.

Dreams

It's been a while but when I dream they are always very vivid. Last night was no exception. I really wish I could go into the contents of the dream but this is a family site and that would muddy the waters. I'm speechless.

Break

Yesterday the man in brown dropped off a big box for me. In it was my Alma...among other odds and ends that appear to have been thrown in for comedy. I got it built up today. It is trashed. I gave it a bath but I still need to go over/tune the entire thing. I might get to that tonight.

I also finally got my singlespeed bike up and running again after TK sent me some much needed and wider bars and an O/S stem. Looking forward to riding that thing up to grab a coffee in the morning.

Now that I have 2 functioning mountain bikes, I am ready to get back to some trail riding before the snow hits. I have a nice little route mapped out that I have been wanting to do at night. So I got excited about that tonight and went looking for my lights. They're MIA. I just realized that I haven't seen them since the 12 hours at Burnin'. I took apart the garage, and then my closet (don't ask) but did not find them. Finally I phoned TK and...wouldn't you know it...they were in his garage. I'm so happy. I have been sick to my stomach for the last 2 hours. Losing the SPOT was bad enough. Heather just walked outta the room when I asked her if she'd seen my lights. I'm back in baby!!!!!!! Thanks TK.

I've been going to bed at around 8:00 just to try and get a bit mor shut eye lately. It doesn't seem to matter when I go to bed, the Bodhster still averages 2-3 pit stops each night. Towards the end of last week, Heather was taking some pulls with potty patrol but this week it's been all me so far. Last night at midnight I asked her who was up to bat and I got no response. At 4:30 I, again, asked, who's got this one? Nothing. At 6:00ish I stumbled outta bed and find my lovely wife talking...bright eyed....bushy tailed....singing. I mumble how tired I am and she says, "I feel GREEEEAAAAATTT!!!!!!!!". Seems the misses popped not 1 but 2 Tylenol PM's last night (unbeknownst to me of course). She left me hangin'. Tonight I'm taking somethin' I likes to call a little 2 and 2. That's 2 PM's and 2 chasers of my choice. By 10:00 I should be deep in discussion with Jaques Cousteau.

I have not been riding at all lately. I've been so tired that just walking is difficult enough. However, I did manage to sleep really well on Friday night. Bodhi still had to be let out to pee but that extra bit of sleep in the morning seemed to help loads. I got in 2 hours on my road bike Saturday. Took satans dog down to Pet Smart to get him a new crate (the one I bought last week is a wee bit small so we returned it). Last night the wild Neumann's were in bed at 9:00. That's right...we party down over here. Bodhi was an absolute shit last night. He just kept whining all night. I let him out 3 times!!! Once he just grabbed a stick and laid down in the dirt (we don't have grass) and started chewing. I almost killed him. So I was up at the crack of dawn doing grad school work and then for some stupid reason I decided to ride that road bike again. I think TK sold my mountain bike and used the proceeds to buy himself some colorful new shoes. We walked the dogs 3 miles and then I gave the Bodhisattva a bath tonight and that pissed him off real good. I'm planning on being in bed tonight by no later than 8. Just 5 more days until Thanksgiving break. Both dogs are much better after this weekend and I know we can get them in a different spot after spending a week with them.



Normally I don't gaurd my package while sleeping but he's only a pup so I gotta do what I gotta do ya know what I mean?

I'm so tired that I am beginning to lose my mind.



This stuffed animal lasted exactly 3 minutes and 23 seconds.


Ya gotta love the title of the book that happened to be on the stairs when satan's dog got tired of mauling the defenseless reindeer.

I'm on no sleep over here. Bodhi needs to be let out every 3 hours at night to take a dump and/or pee. After school I'm on duty to make sure that all play is fair. It's like watching 2 five year olds play. Eventually one gets tired and cranky but just doesn't want to stop and then I have to step in. These damn dogs just don't know the meaning of chill. I'm up at 5:30 in the mornings now and he had 3 ten minute time outs in one hour before I left for work.

Devil dog

WOW

For the last 2 hours, there has been nothing but utter chaos in this house!! 2 dogs that are finally getting familiar with each other and hardwood floors provides loads of entertainment. Bodhi's MO is to sneak attack and then head for the coffee table or dive under the couch. It should work for the next month or so but after that, he's gonna have to step up his game.






In this picture, Bodhi is attempting to compete with Rosco for the most uncomfortable sleeping position. Just to clarify...that red thing is a toy.

A loooooong night

I don't remember Dharma being as much work at night. I know she wasn't the first night I brought her home. But Bodhi had the run of the place where he was from. He stayed with his dad at the shop where there were about 3 adult pits, and 5 other pups so I'm sure they partied the night away. He did well though in the new setting. He slept in his box and I took him out 3 times to poop and pee. He's a pooping machine.

We really wanted to get pics of Mariah's Promise yesterday. What a scene. It's a house and some acreage up in Divide, CO. There are day pens outside (maybe 30) and they housed up to 3 dogs in each. So we toured that area and saw some neat dogs (particularly this Pit/Bull Terrier mix that was awesome but older than I'm comfortable with) who spend their days in those pens. Each dog had plenty of water, food, and hay to stay warm and they all looked great.

We were then invited into the house where ALL the dogs stay at night. There are easily 100 dogs there. Most of the dogs are "pits" but there were some other ones as well. There was even a Shepherd there that had just arrived. Toni had been called to come pick him up from Denver (where they said he was a pit). Most people don't know dog breeds from a hole in the ground.

Once inside we were greeted by about 15 pits in the first room. Each room is the same as it would be in your house except that each "door" is a massve, locking gate. Each room has some furniture in it and also 15 or so dog crates. Unlock the gate and move into the kitchen where there were 10 more pits (some running free, some in their crates). Same thing with the bedrooms. In the bedrooms, all closets had been removed to make room for more industrial cages. I walked into one of the rooms and there was several big cages built and I found a Presa Canario that was probably 1 year old but Heather said no way.

Normally I'm not at a loss for words but I was speechless as I walked from room to room and I knew Heather was too. Hats off to Toni and her husband Mike for dedicating their lives to saving the dangerous "pits" of the world. Even the dogs that had clearly been fought were very nice (look at all the dogs they saved from the Vick house). The pups are just too little to be in the house with all the big dogs so Mike lives with them at his shop in Woodland Park.

Pits

I used to teach at a residential treatment facility for severely emotionally disturbed adolescents. Heather would find them throughout the state of Missouri and then plunk them down in my classroom for me to educate them. It was during this time that I first started looking for a dog. I researched breeds for a long time and I always came back to "Pitbulls". In my mind, they always seemed to have a lot of similarities between the students that I looked forward to working with each day. They were a challenge, and they required a special person but they weren't evil. It kinda applies with the students that I typically deal with now. My students are either emotional, autistic, ADD/ADHD, they learn differently, or they're a combination of these things. I deal with students that many teachers would rather not have to spend time with and that's unfortunate because they really are fun to be with.

Anyway...I got Dharma 6 years ago. She is an American Staffordshire Terrier. I was given pick of the litter from a friend for a house warming gift. She was the best thing to happen to me until I met Heather. We've talked about getting another dog for a while now. Heather wants an English Bull Terrier but I'm fond of the American Pitbull Terrier. Today we met an 8 week old pup that was neither and we both fell in love with him. He's a mix of something but he's got a boatload of APT in him. So we spent the better part of the day with him and Dharma and decided to adopt him. We got him from Mariah's Promise. This is a nearby no-kill shelter that deals mostly with pits that have been wrongly booted out of Denver because of the ban. It's perfectly fine to posess up to an ounce of pot in Denver but you can't have a dog of particular breeds (APT, English Bull Terrier, Am Staff, Staffie Bulls, etc.). I hate breed specific legislation. For some reason I picture a lot of teachers complaining about my students being in their class when I hear people complaining about these dogs. I am not saying, nor have I ever said, that all pits are great (I've owned some dangerous ones). Obviously, there's horrible dogs, and horrible owners everywhere but to perform genocide is pretty drastic. I hope that we'd bat an eye if the idea to kill the race that's statistically involved with murder or even assault was proposed.

I'm as passionate about these dogs, and responsible dog ownership in general, as I am about my job. Here's my new boy. His name is Bhodi. 12.8 pounds at 9 weeks and a handful.

My father in law was diagnosed with cancer several weeks back. My relationship with my own father was non-existent for the most part and when Heather and I tied the knot, I felt like the relationship between her father and I really grew and it's one that I really cherish.

The doctors successfully removed the tumor and we thought we were out of the woods. However, it looks like the cancer has spread into the lymph nodes. He's back home now and seems to be doing as good as can be expected. Doctors will not go back in and have opted to go the chemo route now. He'll start that in about 4 weeks.

I can't imagine going through an ordeal like this. It's been nerve wracking enough just knowing that it's someone in my new family. We're thinking about you all the time Pop. Hang in there.

Northern Pike

This is one of the little northerns I caught on Sunday. For being such an ornery fish, I actually find them to be kind of pretty. That's not to say that if he hadn't been a bit thicker I'd a made samich outta him.

More fishing

The last 2 weeks have been really stressful around here. Work has been full of drama from adults that think THEY'RE the ones in middle school. In addition to that Heather and I have had our hands/minds full once we're done with work. I should have have spent the day doing grad school stuff but Heather told me to go fishing with my buddy Scott. He lives in Denver and we don't get out as much as we'd like and I really enjoy fishing with someone else that's got the fever as bad as I do. So we met up for several hours today. The winds were in full force so it made things interesting but we still had fun. After hours of changing things up and missing 2 fish, Scott finally got into a decent rainbow. She was good for 19". I goofed around a bit chasing trout and then switched things up and actually got into 2 northern pike. I have never caught a pike before so I was pretty excited. Pike, however, are not my favorite. They compete with trout and will actually prey upon them. In recent years, they've caused a marked decline in the trout population on one reservoir so the DOW wants them killed. I've seen pike go for baby ducks. They are nasty fish with a bad temper. The ones I caught were small and hardly even worthy of making a sandwich. They're only good for throwing at a rock and being eaten by the gulls. Hardly even photo worthy.

On the way home, I saw countless mule deer (2 really nice bucks), a herd of antelope that I was able to get in pretty close to (the buck shown would have been a perfect shot the way he's quartered away) and a nice herd of elk. It was good to get out and seeing wildlife never gets old for me.

CB 100

I found this picture of me at the Crested Butte 100 on Mountain Flyers site. I'm about the 5th rider from the back in this shot and I'm in yellow. What an incredible trail system they have over there. This was in the first hour before all hell broke loose with the weather.

I was also lucky enough to be pictured in issue 10 of Mountain Flyer for the CTR. The picture shows winner Ethan Passant riding next to Jason Shellman, Allison Ganett and myself several miles after the start in Waterton Canyon. Check it out. You can find this Gunnison Valley magazine at Barnes and Noble, Borders, and good bike shops. I left my only copy with that TK guy and it's probably reading material in the shop bathroom being perused by the likes of him and Devlin during times when they need to get away from it all. I'm trying to source another one. If you can find me one, I'll give you a sixxer of good micro-brew and pay for the magazine. Sorry Devlin...that one's been flagged now.