Remember the Alamo

I wish I could explain the above picture, but I can't...other than to say that last weekend we went camping at Lake Alamo. We wanted to go to a lake so we could take out Pat's boat and also try kayaking again. Here is our campsite:Pat and I had a little "discussion" a few weeks ago about 3 dogs being too many to take camping. I, of course, thought this was ridiculous. The solution was for the dogs to have a tent of their own (the blue one above). This worked great until the wind snapped the poor little tent poles clean in half on Sunday afternoon. That night, the pups had to sleep in their crates. :(

On Saturday morning half of us went out in the boat and half us went out in the kayaks. I was on Team Kayak.
I don't remember it being quite as much work last time. My feelings on kayaking have gone from hatred to love and now they are resting in the fair to middlin' range.There are wild donkeys at Lake Alamo. Apparently when the mining boom ended, the miners left their donkeys behind and now there are packs of them roaming around. I heard them late at night and early in the morning "eee aww"ing away, but I only saw this one:
The wakeboarding season was officially opened! Woo hoo! Saturday afternoon:
The water was really, really choppy. We didn't stay out long. On Sunday morning we went out again. This time the water was smooth as glass!! It was AWESOME:Even though the water was perfect, I didn't try any tricks because I'm still gun-shy from my Maven Session humiliation. I'm terrified of getting hurt. I did land a tiny little jump off the heel-side wake, so I'll be proud of that. David was awesome - he learned how to go over both wakes and back to the middle and hardly fell down at all. By the end of his runs, he was well on his way to becoming pro.

Craig is from Texas, so he has inherent rope throwing skills:

The best part about camping is toasting marshmallows. Mmmmm, marshmallows. I could (and pretty much did) eat the whole bag. Here is a picture of me, apparently pouting because I had to share the skewers with Iren:
One of my favorite parts of the trip was taking the dogs down to the lake. It was a bit of a hike from campground to lake:

Frankie and Georgie hate the pool but like the ocean, so I was interested to see how they would feel about a lake. Georgie started swimming immediately. It was so cute.Frankie swam a little, but mostly just wanted to drink the water.
Mo waded into the water after some hesitation, and she swam a little bit when I led her out to where it was too deep for her to touch, but she wasn't so thrilled about that.

David taught me to play Go and I taught him to play Backgammon. He was much more successful at learning my game than I was at his. I think I had a complete losing streak all day long.Well, them's the highlights of the trip! It was fun and hot and tiring and I ate way more than I exercised, but a good time was had by all.

Oh, wait...Craig wanted me to document that these words came out of my mouth: "I'm candied out." Documented.

The Haircut

I apologize that the last post did not include a picture of my sister's new haircut! To appease all of you who have asked...here it is, courtesy of my dad's phone:
Isn't she cute??

My Dad Has Turned Into My Mom.

My parents are cool. My mom is funny, sarcastic, super-smart and is my go-to parent for family gossip, empathy and chit-chat. She keeps me up-to-date on the goings on of my siblings, their spouses and their kids. My dad is also funny, sarcastic and really quite handy. But he is NOT my go-to parent for family gossip, empathy or chit-chat. He keeps me up-to-date on...um....right-wing politics and funny emails. When I call and he answers, we talk for about two minutes and then he gives the phone to my mom and she and I talk for a half hour. This is not because I like my mom better; it's because this is just how it is in my family.

My mom just had knee replacement surgery. She put if off forever because she was worried about all the things she had to do and how they would all get done while she recuperated. You know, important things like planting the garden, vacuuming and REALLY important things like defrosting the freezer. (Yes, she seriously worried about that.) My dad promised that he would take care of everything.

And he did!

I called them on Friday night to let them know I was going to be out of town camping for a few days. Mom was already in bed (those damn time zones still get me) so I talked to my dad. I expected the usual two minute conversation. About 15 minutes later, we're still talking. Huh. Weird. But it gets weirder!! Then he says, "Anne got a haircut". I look out my window to see if the sky is falling, if aliens are landing or what type of end-of-the-world scenario is coming my way. Everything appeared fine - the world-altering phenomenon must still be two hours away in the central time zone. The conversation continued... all about Anne's hair stylist, who is also my mom's hairstylist, and her opinion of why Anne needed a haircut. Then about all of Anne's co-workers who don't usually talk to her but who have gone out of their way to tell her what a great haircut it is. Really, Dad? Is this you on the phone?? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you just spent five minutes gossiping about my sister's hair?!

Well, he did promise to take care of everything while my mom recuperated! Apparently this includes taking care of the family gossip and chit-chat. So, Mom? Keep taking your meds and getting your rest! Dad has everything under control.

May Is My Month of Domination!

This part of the post has nothing to do with the blog title:
For Craig's 30th birthday he wanted to go hiking and play games. To accommodate my soccer schedule, hiking was planned for the afternoon. Do you know how hot it is in Phoenix at 1:30 in the afternoon in the middle of May? It's about 104 degrees! That's hot. And trails in Phoenix don't come with shade. But we're crazy and we're sort of training for our Grand Canyon hike in July, so we set off to do 8 miles of Trail 100.

It was hot.
Really hot.Craig's co-worker Nick and I got a little overheated on the one super-steep incline. To avoid full out heat exhaustion, I had Pat come pick us up at the halfway point. The others finished the hike while Co-worker Nick and I did the smart thing - we went swimming!

This part of the post also has nothing to do with the blog title (despite appearances to the contrary):
All birthday boys need their spankings!

This part of the post finally ties into the blog title:
Ok, spankings accomplished...it was time to play some games, per Craig's wishes. We started with Acquire, which Laura won. No need to elaborate on that. Let's talk about the next game and the first of the reasons behind this blog post title. The next game was Risk. It was an all-out war! Well, obviously, because that's what the game is...duh. My Risk armies are always comprised completely of gays and women in the military. And on Craig's birthday, my little gay armies and my little women soldiers kicked worldwide ass!! Yep, I won the game and became the DOMINATRIX OF THE WORLD! I suppose I should have let Craig win, since it was his birthday and all. Ummm...huh? Yeah, right!

These are all the people I dominated:Earlier this month, we played Diplomacy over at NFBF's house. It, too, was an all-out war! With a little (read: A LOT) of assistance from the NFBF, who was my key ally, I won the game and started out the month of May as the DOMINATRIX OF THE WORLD! Here I am with my dominatrix Princess Leia hair:(I can't wait to see how many people get to my blog by doing google searches for "dominatrix Princess Leia". Sorry to disappoint, fantasy seekers!)

The boys I dominated:And the NFBF's foster kitty, who found Diplomacy to be quite exhausting:

Lung Infection

An inhaler:
A cat:

A contraption to combine the inhaler with the cat:
My cat, Al, who happens to be the coolest cat in the whole world, has a lung infection. I noticed he was having a hard time breathing a few weeks ago. I thought maybe Mo damaged his windpipe somehow since she plays with him a little too roughly. I took him to the vet, we did x-rays, we spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

Al has a lung infection. And while we're at it, he also has the beginning of kidney failure and heart disease. Crap.

The usual treatment for a lung infection is steroids. However, steroids are a no-no for kitties with decreased heart functionality. And this is how I found myself in the position of having to use a contraption that combines inhalers with cats.

The vet suggested blowing the air into the contraption and blocking the mask part with my hand first before putting the mask to Al's face. This is because most cats tend to freak out when air is blown at them. Al is not "most cats". Like I said earlier, Al is the coolest cat ever. He is completely compliant with no complaint. He lets me do anything to him, including giving him an inhalation breathing treatment.

Inhaler #1:Inhaler #2:What a good little kitty! I heart him.

Happy New Year, Craig!

At my work when someone has a birthday, I make them wear a Happy New Year's bowler hat all day and I decorate their office with blowhorns and confetti and other New Year's Eve crap. This is mostly because I inherited a box of New Year's Eve decorations and not anything that says Happy Birthday and I'm too cheap and lazy to buy my own decorations. It's somewhat relevant though because the birthday boy or girl is starting a New Year and we all hope it's happy. Right? Is that a stretch? No? Good.

Though I didn't have the Happy New Year hat for Craig to wear on his birthday yesterday (his 30th, btw!!), I would like to persuade him to celebrate a New Year instead of a birthday. The main part of the New Year's tradition that I'm hoping translates through to his birthday is that of the New Year's Resolution. And because I am such a good friend to Craig, I'm even going to help him with his resolution.

Craig....repeat after me..."In my 30th year, I resolve to stop getting hit by cars." If you really want to get wild and crazy, you can use this one, "In my 30th year, I resolve to stop getting hit by cars AND stop crashing my bike so often."

Happy New Year, Craig! Be safe!

A Jumping Fool

Frankie is a jumping fool! Last weekend was the DOCNA trial in Pinetop. I love going to Pinetop for agility trials. It's like a little vacation. Pretty location, good friends, good weather, a chance to get away. All of my agility friends stay at the same place in the cutest little cabins. We have a BBQ there on Saturday night. It's a really good time.

We got to Pinetop around 7:00 on Friday night. After setting up my agility stuff and getting dinner, I had time for reading and cuddling up with my dogs. Yay! I don't have a lot of time to do that at home. It was nice to get a chance to relax.
At the trial, Frankie was at his best and worst this weekend. His worst included being up to his old shenanigans again - running around like a man on fire for many of his runs. He even had a Frankie-First - he ran out of the ring in the middle of his standard run. I couldn't believe it. Ergh.

And contacts? What are those?? Here he is flying off the A-frame:
But it wasn't all bad. He did ok in one of his gamblers runs. He even hit the contact on this dog walk. Maybe it was because I was slowing him down from the very beginning of it? After a shaky start, we also finished a Snakes n' Ladders run for the first time ever, though we were over time by about a day. :)

One of the fun highlights of the weekend was Trigility. Trigility is a 3-dog team event where a course is divided into 3 sections and each dog does a portion. All 3 dogs have to do their runs correctly to get the Q. I don't usually enter Trigility because I don't want to let people down with Frankie's unpredictability. But my friend Terri has a brand new pup, Chase, and another lady we know (Lady-Pat, as not to be confused with Husband-Pat) also has a pretty green dog, Tia, and they were willing to try it if I was. We entered with very low expectations for a Q and very high expectations for hilarity. Our expectations were met! Surprisingly, both Frankie and Chase did their runs with no faults. Frankie's portion included a call-off of a tunnel that I didn't think we'd get since he's a major tunnel-sucker. He was supposed to go over that red jump and turn to the blue jump by where I'm standing. You can see him heading for that tunnel, but he actually listened to me (because I was screaming in a really high pitched squeal) and came over the blue jump. Miracles do happen! And lots of people were laughing. Lady-Pat wasn't as fortunate with Tia. Tia would NOT go on the dogwalk for nothin'. She did take the teeter twice though to make up for it. :) Lots of people were laughing some more. Vickie made this cute collage commemorating our first NQ.
The best part of the weekend was Jumpers! At the last trial Frankie earned his Beginner Jumpers Award moving him up to Intern. You need 3 Q's in Intern to get the Intern Jumpers Award and move up to Specialist. There are 3 Jumpers runs in a weekend...and Frankie Q'd in all 3!!! What a super-star! We may be in Beginners for the rest of our lives in most of the classes, but my dog is an advanced jumper! Or a jumping fool... Here is his final run of the weekend. Husband-Pat's not the best videographer (he gets distracted with watching and forgets to follow with the camera, but you'll get the basic idea):



Awww...
Agility makes you tired. You should curl up in a ball and go to sleep.
Mo is cute.
On Sunday I finally convinced Pat to take us home via Mesa instead of Payson. It was so pretty. I love Arizona. And I love rocks.
Mostly I just love rocks in Arizona.
It was a good weekend.

Happy Birthday to the Blog

I have been planning on having a first birthday party for my blog and I was going to invite all of you. In my head, my first blog posting was May 28th, so I had some time to think about what I wanted to say during the toast at the party. But then I actually took a look at my "Previously" list and saw that the first posting was April 28th. Oops! So now I am posting/hosting this belated happy birthday party for my blog. Since you are already here, I hope you stick around for some cake and punch. I apologize that you did not receive a formal invitation.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BLOG!

To commemorate this momentous occasion, I'm going to highlight twelve posts from the past year. I hope you enjoy the party. Here we go!

1. This post just makes me laugh. Saving Captain Jack

2. This post gives you insight into the real me. My Black Heart

3. You don't know me until you know my dogs. These are my favorite posts about them. Frankie: Frankie's Cool Tricks

4. Georgie: Georgie Sees a Ghost

5. Mo: Slo-Mo...Stay or Go?

6. I've got to include posts on the major things I do for entertainment. Agility is one. Crack Pipe Agility

7. Adventure Racing is another. Lessons in Adventure Racing

8. Book Club is another. And this post captures the true essence of my book club. Stuff White People Like: Book Clubs

9. One of my best weekends ever. Dear Blog,

10. One of my favorite vacations ever, documented in an unusual way. 27 Things You Can Do in a Speedo

11. Any blog post with a video of the Xanadu routine obviously has to make the list! Plus it links to my trapeze birthday post so I get two posts in the list for the price of one. I love a bargain! Top 5 Birthday Countdown

12. According to my blog counter, most of my random web traffic comes from people doing web searches that bring them to this page. So, the most viewed page on my blog showcases me falling down a lot. It's no surprise that they don't stick around and get to know me. Maven Session = Humiliation Session

Did I forget one of your favorites?

Ping Pong Tournament

Isn't that the cutest picture you've seen of NFBF? It was taken at the Fabig's Inaugural Ping Pong Tournament last weekend.

It was a real tournament, complete with brackets and everything:According to the invitation, we were playing for two awards - "PING PONG MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE" and "MAKES THE MOST PEOPLE SHAKE THEIR HEADS IN PITY WHILE PLAYING PING PONG AWARD". The invitation advised to "get out your ping pong outfits", so Jamie (of course) did:

I was very sad that the best I could do for a ping pong outfit was to look kind of sporty. Next year I'm gonna wear this (sans the look of drunken stupidity):

(I don't know this person...this is a random picture from a google search for "ping pong outfit" and was apparently a costume for an "anything but clothes party". Quite clever actually...)

My first opponent was Kiri's husband, Jimmy. He's really good and he's been playing quite a lot at work. Yes, at work. What am I doing wrong? My work consists only of budgets and catering and website updates. Anyway...like I was saying, he's really good, but I was on fire! See??But then I got burned. I only managed to score 4 points on him. And I have to admit that 2 of them were because his plays were disrupted by people walking by and he was too much of a gentleman to hit them. I am a poor enough sport that I accepted those points without letting him have a do-over.

Luckily it was a double elimination tournament, so I had another chance to win the loser's bracket! My next opponent was Brian. We were more evenly matched. Alas, after a hard fought game, I still lost. Ouch.

But despite going 0-2, I'm no loser. I was the big winner! The big winner of the "MAKES THE MOST PEOPLE SHAKE THEIR HEADS IN PITY WHILE PLAYING PING PONG AWARD" that is. My prize was a wiffle ball set with the advice of "perhaps you should try a different sport." :(

Kiri lost her first two games, too. Can we at least win the cutest girls award?? OK? Thanks.Tangent: Does Kiri's face look exceptionally wide to you? She'd say it does. She claims to have the widest face EVER. To prove or disprove this assertion, we measured faces at book club tonight and out of 8 girls, hers was only the 3rd widest. That sounds pretty average to me. Sarah and I tied for smallest.

Jamie was playing to defend his Travel Troupe ping pong title from the cruise and he was doing great. He took out all the good players. He was really good at spanking that little ball with that paddle. (yeah...he asked me to say that!) But then he met up with my old nemesis, Jimmy. Jimmy won the first game pretty easily. In the second game though, Jamie was playing great. The game went into ping pong triple overtime. We thought there was going to have to be a shoot-out. But finally Jimmy pulled it out and was crowned "PING PONG MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE" and given the fabulous prize of hand lotion and softee gloves to keep his ping pong hands in tip-top shape.Jimmy - I hope you had fun because I'm sorry to say that you aren't being asked back for the Fabig's Second Annual Ping Pong Tournament.