who's gonna drive you home, tonight

I wanted to take the time (again) to write about my little one's progress. Since relocating four months ago we made several changes to improve and correct a few things. The first was in changing the diet, and the second was getting some much needed exercise. The third was a bit more complicated and very time consuming to fix. Bridgette had developed anxiety attacks on car rides when we moved to Texas (a little over three years ago). I was unable to determine the cause despite my best efforts and was worried that not knowing this would hinder my efforts to fix it. For whatever reasons it didn't and we were able to overcome. I did a bit of internet research and decided the best course of action was to employ a couple of different tactics.

Are you writing about me again?

In no particular order ...

• sitting in the truck and getting treats for tricks
• wearing the thundershirt on rides
• drugging by benadryl for long rides
• short trips to fun places (hikes, petsmart, dog parks)

We're not completely done and will be doing this for a while longer yet, but we're not seeing "the shakes" happen at the start of a ride now. I should mention on this last trip there were no shakes, thundershirt, or benadryl needed which was HUGE. She handled the trip like a boss even though she occasionally needed some minor reinforcement.

Hold. Me. Please.

Along with B, my hand and arm also fell asleep

On the last leg of the trip Bridgette did something unprecedented. She got up, left shotgun, crawled into the seat behind me, and glared at me for some inexplicable reason.

No, no don't take a pic, you're a dick dad!

Progress made!

in the name of my father's left chinese foot

I got the chance to do something on this trip that I don't get to do very often. Something nice for my father. I don't mean to give you the wrong idea either because it's not like I never do stuff like this for the man, I do. It's just that he's a hard read and so agreeable that you can never tell what he really likes until it's sometimes after the fact. This particular time I gave him my TV and even better knew he was excited about it before it was even set it up for him. Here's some more back story. His old TV was a 61" Sony rear projection set and we've been trying to get him to upgrade/ditch it for the last four years. He's absolutely refused to let it go despite how much it's quality has slipped. He was even still refusing to let it go until the day I left. Because of this mom waited until the day I arrived to buy the new stand for it. It took me about a day before I could get to putting the stand together and set up the new set but his reaction was worth it. Dad now gets to watch all his Chinese soap operas in digital HD quality. He's worked his ass off to give this family the best he could provide so I'm glad I could give him something back now that he's (sort of) retired.

Enjoy it dad, you deserve it

Getting to do this was a little bit of a mixed bag for me since it now left me without a TV. My original plan was that I'd see how long I could do without after returning. I lasted two days without. I don't and haven't connected to any sort of subscription service or antenna'd TV in over six years. I'm really selective about what I watch and only ever use it a few ways now. I watch DVD's, Netflix, digital recordings, and play Xbox on it. I bought my old TV, a Samsung 42" DLP HDTV, about seven years ago on sale for about $1400. Yesterday I bought another Samsung 32" LED HDTV for $279. Now it's my turn to be giddy.

Supernatural, my latest vice

Before I gave in and treated myself yesterday, I went our for a routine hike. Not so much. About halfway through the hike I had a little accident. Not only did I jam a toe pretty badly, but I also managed to twist my left foot. I was still able to walk but not without a great deal of pain and difficulty. The good news is that this morning it hurt a lot less and I was able to walk without as much pain. I'd say I'm at about 75% mobility with it at this point. 

Freaking owie!

You can make out the heavily brusied toe in the picture, but most of my foot is swollen too. I'm normally a pretty fast healer so I'm hoping the swelling will be gone tomorrow so I won't have to miss out on my weekday workouts. Wish me luck!

all good things

Traffic, how I loathe thee!

Despite the traffic I still made it home safely two nights ago. The pace of my weekly life resumed the second I set foot in the door and is the main reason why I wrote this now instead of then. Even though I had a lot less stuff, I couldn't escape the unloading and unpacking that always follows a trip. Again, emphasis on the creamy goodness of much less stuff. Our time in Slab City and two days of road travel left the beagle and I a touch on the dusty side so a bath was in order for us. By the time we settled in I learned the roommate was also too tired to cook, so we settled for Indian take out. Food coma, and then Wednesday came to a close for us.

The drive home always gives me a chance to catch my breath and reflect on the trip. There was quite a lot that happened on this trip. As a result of this there will be more posts to follow about each of things I found most important.

I also went back and updated some of the posts over these last two weeks with the corresponding pictures I meant to upload but didn't get a chance to. Like I said, a lot happened on this trip.