A Week In The Life

Gosh, I actually have so much blog-worthy material this week that I haven't known where to start.

I got my new stereo installed in the van last Thursday. This was necessary because the stock stereo didn't have a CD player. I went ahead and added iPod connector, and I've now stepped into the grand world of iPod users. I don't own any (or many) digital songs, but I really like listening to podcasts, so I saved off many hours of podcasts for my drive Friday.

Friday I drove to Brookville, PA (near Punxsutawney in Western PA) for the big Rarities Dog show and Shiloh Specialty, including a Shiloh Regional and the National Specialty. Just Ebby and I went, and Diane stayed home with Indie. We tented on the fairgrounds, and Ebony did great! I expected her to be a little nervous most of the weekend, but she was quite comfortable, even in the tent overnight. She got a leg of an NKC obedience title, Companion Intermediate, and I took her in the show ring 4 times for the Spay/Neuter class. She took it all in stride, and on Saturday, she even "auto-stacked" both times in the ring (which means she set up her feet in the right position all by herself. For Shilohs, the position is just like you see in German Shepherd show pictures, with one rear leg stretched out behind.)

We went home Sunday night, and fortunately did not try the air conditioning, despite the heat. On Monday, I turned on the air conditioning while Diane and I were running around on errands, and some valve broke in the coolant system, stranding us at Target. The tow truck couldn't give us a ride all the way home, so instead of calling a cab, we decided to hoof it. It was about 5 miles, and the stupid part was that the heat was incredible. We bought a couple liters of water, took plenty of opportunies to rest and cool off in the shade, and made it home without incident. The nice thing was that we were able to take the bike trail (the W&OD Trail) for most of the trip back. Seeing all the other morons out in the heat ON PURPOSE made me feel a lot better about our decision. The whole incident killed any chance for a productive day off, but it was a fun adventure.

Ben comes home with us tonight. Although I've talked about him, I haven't exactly mentioned this here that he's coming to live with us (Dad, if you're still keeping up with the blog... surprise!). I imagine we'll be in for a rough week or two while everyone adjusts to having a third dog in the pack, but I expect it to go pretty well once they're settled. Both Ebony and Indie have had time to spend with Ben outside of the house and it's gone well, and I think Ben will end up as a good influence. Can't say I'm looking forward to the extra walks though... we're already thinking about getting the house together so we might upgrade to a yard again in another year or two.