Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Lassie




















Lassie was probably the smartest and bravest dog that has ever lived.  She starred in movies in the 40's and television all through the 50's and 60's.  Each tv show or movie had generally the same theme, somebody in Lassie's family would get in dire trouble (fall off a horse and break a leg, slip on a mountain side and fall to a ledge where certain death was soon to happen, or some such dire emergency) and the person would then look at Lassie and say something like: "Go get Timmy, Lassie!" or "Go get the doctor, Lassie", or  ..... and of course Lassie would turn on its heels and rush home or rush to town or wherever, bark at that person and of course the person would be eating or teaching or something but they would listen to the barking and somehow know that "Lassie is trying to tell us something, something's wrong" and then they would scurry after her and eventually save the person in peril.  It was amazing.  But we all loved it.
Now in my family, I have 2 granddogs, Judy and Max.  Judy's masters are my daughter Anne and her husband Jake, and Max's masters are my son Peter and his wife, Cassie.  Judy is a border collie, very smart, fast, playful, tireless.  Max is an adopted lhaso apso/shitzu mix that is a wonderful companion, great lapdog, full of energy and pep but just learning how to obey.  The whole gang was down for Christmas and Anne and Jake were out in the back yard playing with Judy and Max.  I decided to join them and as I opened the door to the garage I saw Max walking ahead of Anne (untethered) and I knew this wasn't good.
This wasn't good because the garage door was open and as soon as Max saw that he took off!  He ran directly down the driveway towards the street.  I feared of course a car would be coming at that exact second and he would get squashed for sure.  So I took off running after him to "save him".  Of course I couldn't catch him.  Anne saw the same thing and she took off and easily passed me up and now we are both running down the street after Max, who had taken a left turn when he got to the street. All the while I'm thinking, this is terrible, how are going to stop Max?
Of course I'm thinking the worst: Max will run for miles, we're never going to catch him.  I stopped, put my hands on my knees and had nothing left in my tank.  Jake by this time was also in the street and was yelling at Anne, "keep runing, you're catching up!". Wishful thinking, no way was she going to catch Max.  Max had a chance to run free and he was going for it.
Judy, while still in the backyard, when she realized that Jake had left the door to the back yard open and she saw Jake running down the driveway must have thought, "something's up, I've got to get into this, this looks like fun", so she must have took off after Jake running through the garage down the driveway.  
Remember me, I'm standing in the street not knowing what's going to happen. But then I looked back saw Judy come roaring off the driveway and turn down the street.  I saw the look on her face and I swear I heard the William Tell Overture (remember that would play at the beginning of the Lone Ranger tv show) playing in the background.  She, without stopping, saw what we were doing and raced down the street past Jake, me, and Anne at breakneck speed and caught up to Max in about 2 seconds and in one quick move turned and stopped in front of Max, barked once which froze Max instantly.  Anne then came over, picked up Max and the emergency was ended just like that.  I can only imagine what was going through Max's mind at that moment, freedom to run and then STOP now!  Judy had figured out what was happening and knew exactly what to do.  Max was safe Judy had done the whole thing in about 3 seconds!
Judy is Lassie.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Arizona Jay

In my later years of my athletic life I discovered a great sport where I still think I can get better at - racquetball!  Its great fun, kind of fits my skill levels and abilities and really keeps me in pretty good shape. I play 3 or 4 times a week at Mankato and have been lucky enough to hook up with a number of other players in Arizona.  I resumed playing at the Mesa YMCA just this past Monday. It was great fun.

First, a bit of background on my Mankato racquetball mates.  They mostly come from the University where I worked for 26 years.  Jay, probably the best of the bunch is an excellent player, somewhat unorthodox but highly skilled.  Bob, my partner at the State Racquetball tournament in doubles is a powerful player with terrific finesse skills also. Rod (also known as Thunder) almost knocks the air out of the ball because he hits it so hard.  Bryan  (also known as five-wall because he tries to hit it off as many walls as he can) has cat-like quickness and never gives up on getting to a ball.  Frankie (I call him the "rat") moves around court with rat-like speed and is very pesky.  Denis is smooth as silk and smart as a fox.  I try my hardest to stay up with those guys but each year it gets harder.  However its great fun to try.

Now Arizona is a different story.  The guys are great to play with but aren't nearly as skilled as the Mankato lot.  However I'm totally grateful to have them to play with and enjoy every minute playing with them.  But you know what? I'm kind of the "Arizona Jay".  I'm actually the skilled one of the lot.  Really! Who would have thought it?

I hit the corners, hit the ball low, serve lobs, all things that seem to elude my partners down here.  I just play along and enjoy it while I can because I know eventually I'll have to come back to Mankato and face the music once again.

I'm back at it next Thursday - should be fun!


Monday, January 5, 2009

Photos from the Insight Bowl





The Gopher marching band was the best part of bowl experience - they were terrific! They featured what they called a "Mound of Sound".  There must have been over 400 in the band and they started all spread out and slowly moved into a smaller and smaller "mound", and also kept playing as they edged together.  Really neat!


Sunday, January 4, 2009

Cold in Arizona

It's only going to get up to 60 today in Mesa.  Winter is fast approaching.  

Don't feel too sorry for us.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Weather in Mesa

We have arrived in Mesa and have nothing but great weather so far.  High of over 7o yesterday (Thursday).  Great day to begin the year.  Additionally it was my wife's birthday and we had a little celebration at my sister's place which was fun.

We went to the Insight Bowl on Thursday.  My beloved Gophers got off to a 14-7 lead but wilted and eventually lost 35-21.  I guess it was fun to be there in person, over 49,999 joined us, mostly Kansas fans.  We took the the light rail (free of charge) and parked the car in a "park and ride" lot (free) so that was good.  Kris and my sister and brother-in-law each had a soda and an enormus hot dog, I passed on that.  

I've got some photos from the game but can't find the camera so when I do I'll post some.

Read online it has been below zero the past few days back in Minnesota.  Looks like an arctic winter to me.

My big activity today will be to work on shed organization.  

Racquetball on Monday - can hardly wait!