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Let me tell you about Milo

If there was ever a better dog, I've never met him. If there was a better buddy, it's news to me. If there was a more loyal boy, you could knock me over with a feather.

Yes, I'm talking about my favorite, the one and only: Milo. We adopted this sweet boy from the Humane Society about three years ago, and since then he has been a big, beefy, four-legged blessing. It's no exaggeration to say I cannot imagine my life without him. He is just that good.

When we first came to know Milo, he was just a little thing, probably 40 pounds. His exact age was unknown, but they thought he was around 18 months. He had been adopted twice, and returned twice, and was on the equivalent of doggie death row. They color code dogs based on their activity level, and he was a "red", meaning the most active. When they let him out of his cage, it was like seeing a bucking bull come out of the chute: he was a ball of energy that just wanted someone to give him some love. He was so hyped up that it was hard to get a feel for his personality. It was close to Christmas, so it was pretty cold and kind of a dark afternoon. They let me go outside with him in a big caged area, and he promptly ran around the cage paying no attention to me at all. I tried to bait him with a ball, then a rope toy, but with no luck.

As I sit here writing this, I'm not sure why I thought this would work. Milo was so hyped up with energy that I'm sure they thought I'd bring him back in a day or two. They told me over and over that he needed lots of exercise, and I repeated to them that my wife was a runner, and wanted a running companion.

We borrowed a big metal dog crate from my friend, Ben, and put it up in the breakfast nook the first night after taking him home. When we put Milo in it that night, he figured out how to open both latches, and within 15 minutes he was at our bed. So much for the crate.

As soon as we started feeding Milo, he started growing. I'm convinced he had never been fed right, and just needed the proper nourishment to bulk up. To give you an idea of his size when we got him, he could fit through the cat door on a baby gate. I can tell you will full confidence he is not getting that rump of his through a cat door anytime soon. He put on about 20 pounds, grew an inch or two in height, and put on a nice, shiny coat.

Beka was not too keen on adopting Milo, at least at first. The first two weeks were a challenge: Milo was not calming down at all, and Beka was not used to his energy level. We kept him in a crate during the day (which was not helpful for his energy), and actually had to padlock it so he would not open it. He also kept trying to herd our cats, Fred and Franklin. They did not like it, and he got frequent swats on his muzzle. Eventually he got the hint, and now instead of herding the cats he plays hide and seek with Franklin (I'm serious, they play hide and seek just like little kids).

As time passed, Milo embedded himself in the fabric of our life. Beka would take him on runs, I would take him on bike rides, and he became best friends with our neighbor's dog, Starla. They are now in a steady dating relationship, and he gets to play with her every day while we are at work. He lives for car rides, and has recently gotten used to riding in the bed of my pickup (though we keep that to in the neighborhood for now).

Now, after having Milo in our home for close to three years, it's like he was always here. He has calmed down considerably, and as I write this he is cashed out on the living room floor. You can tell he's asleep because he will start paddling his paws and blow air through his nose like he's chasing bunnies. But I know how to get him amped up, and it's fun to see the pure excitement in his eyes when he sees me put on my shoes and grab my keys and say the magic word, "GO", which means a car ride is in his near future. He has the most wonderful smell, the most loving eyes, and is without a doubt the smartest animal I have ever met. Simply put: he's the best.

So that's the story of Milo, in a nutshell. If you've never met him, I hope you do someday. If you have met him, you already know exactly what I'm talking about.

Oohhhh, it hurts!

I am laying in bed with a sand bag covering my right eye waiting for the worst migraine ever to go away. I can't move, can't open my right eye, can't do hardly anything. Can't put my glasses on, so I can't see the tv. But I can see my iPhone screen, so I'm blogging on my phone to distract me from the throbbing going on right behind my right eye that feels like an ice pick being jabbed into my head just behind my right eyeball. Okay, this is ridiculous. I need to shut both eyes and let this pass.


-- Post From My iPhone

Back from a much needed break

Hello all! It has been about two months since my last blog post, and since then we have been through the hottest part of the summer. In the last two weeks it seems to have been much cooler, which makes me feel like autumn is just around the corner. I'm not ready. When autumn arrives, that means winter is not far behind. And I don't like winter, not one bit. Hopefully we will get a nice warm September.

Since I have been sort of gone for about two months, I am not going to delve into all the details of what happened during that time. So, here are the highlights:

-I have not gotten back on my bike yet. Frankly, I'm a bit spooked about my knee getting hurt again, and it's been pretty darn hot the last few weeks. The cooler weather is actually making me want to get back on the bike.
-I turned 30 yesterday! And met Ted Nugent, also yesterday. I will have to give you more details about that sometime later.
-I got the "all clear" on the skin cancer-ish issues. Whew...
-We tore down the back porch on our house and put up a metal-frame gazebo in the back yard. That has been awesome, more on that later.

That's all I can think of right now, I'm sure there's much more I'm leaving out. It's after 10 p, and my brain is pretty tired.

Okay folks, that's all I have for now. Now it is time to snuggle with the Bekkie and fall asleep soon thereafter. Hope you all have had a great summer!

Hopped up on walleye

This is a test to show Wheeler how awesome my iPhone is.

Still I am hopped up on walleye.

-- Post From My iPhone

Have you ever had a mole cut off your eyelid?

I will be, tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm not looking forward to it. I had a mole cut off my back last week, and that seemed bad. But that was on my back, where there's plenty of room to fudge a little bit if need be. This is right next to my eyeball. The margin of error is almost zero.


I'm not even sure how it's going to happen: knife? Laser? I have no idea. I had an appointment for early September to have it removed, but I got a call today that there was a cancellation, so they bumped me up to tomorrow. The way I see it (as of today, with two eyes), I've got a bum knee, I got a mole cut off my back, why not go all out and get a mole cut off my eyelid? Get it all done at once, heal all at once, get on with life.

I'll post a follow-up picture after the procedure, assuming it goes well. I'm told I may have to wear an eye patch temporarily, so I can add that to the full-length leg brace and pull off a halfway decent pirate look.

Brews and Bikes (list from Bicycling Magazine)

Here are some beers that tie in to summer and cycling:

1. Squatters Beer: Full Suspension Pale Ale
2. Flying Dog Brewery: Tire Bite Golden
3. Terrapin Beer Company: SunRay Wheat
4. Pike Brewing Company: Tandem Double
5. Boulder Beer Company: Singletrack Copper Ale
6. Oskar Blues: Gordon
7. Lost Coast Brewery: Tangerine Wheat
8. Full Sail Brewing Company: Session
9. La Brasserie Artisanale de Rulles: Estivale
10. Arbor Brewing Company: Tree Fort Beer
11. New Belgium Brewing: Fat Tire

You can find Bicycling Magazine's reviews of these beers by clicking here.

I'm bored...

I officially have a condition known as chondromalacia. There is no surgical solution for this problem; the only thing you can do is the RICE Method. RICE means Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. Because I really want to get this injury behind me and get back on the bike (and hopefully on water skis with Beka's Fourth of July family reunion coming up), I am taking this method to heart and doing as much as I can to get my knee healed. This ends up with me spending lots of time at home, on the couch, with my leg up and on ice, and when I'm not icing the knee, I'm being judicious about not moving around much.

This is driving Beka crazy because I have gotten so bored and stir crazy. My natural inclination is to be moving, so having to sit still for extended periods just is not my thing. I look around for things to read, play on the computer, flip through the channels, and generally be annoying (though I really don't mean to). For some reason Beka thinks it's her job to keep me entertained, and because I don't like watching the shows she watches I'm like a little kid who just drank a big glass of Mountain Dew but can't move.

Beka says she feels bad for me because I am so restless, bless her little heart. She asks what she can do, but does not seem to be interested in taking me up on the offer of giving me a strip show. "Classy, real classy," she says. Not that I mean it. Okay, maybe I do. So instead of this, we have spent most of the weekend taking naps, watching Season One of "30 Rock", and putting more ice in my cold water circulator thingy.

Probably the highlight of this day was my dad stopping by on his way to pick up my stepmom from the airport. She had flown with her sister and others to some casino out west, and he was up for the day to get her. He stopped by, we chatted for a little bit, I showed him my little fishing boat, hung out some more, and then he had to leave. Later this evening we went to dinner with Beka's parents at Red Rock Canyon. I had the small tenderloin, and it was excellent.

If I appear to be rambling here, it's because I'm actually bored and just trying to empty my brain of thoughts because the alternative is skipping around on the Internet or watching some stupid Food Network reality show that I have no interest in watching.

Long story short, I need to get healed up before Beka smothers me in my sleep. Not that she would. Okay, maybe she would.

Ski Boat Stringers

I'm writing this for my own benefit, as we are hoping (for me, hoping desperately) to get a ski boat, and it's important that older boats have their floor supports made from fiberglass instead of wood (because wood rots over time, and replacing it is expensive). This is the best information I could find:

Year When Started Using Fiberglass

Mastercraft: 1983
Ski Supreme: 1987
Supra: 1992
Ski Nautique: 1993
Malibu: 1995 (Echelon was 1993)