Pocatato and stuff

Wow. I've been, like, totally busy! We were up in Pocatato this last weekend for 'OctoberFast' - a big race between the Utah and Idaho regions; it's always a big rivalry. And usually, the weather is awful. When Mom and Dad first went up there 3 years ago, it snowed. Seriously. Mom was Very Happy that she was driving a MINI - because they have great seat heaters!!!! :-D

This year, however, the weather was spectacular! Cool at night, and nice and warm during the day. And the drive up in the House With Wheels was pretty.


Clearly, Abby and I were Most Interested in the scenery.

Mom's attempt at an aerial photograph....

I was interested in their music selection (some blues channel - I heartily approve):

We were towing the trailer, so we were 64.5 feet of rolling death (as Dad likes to say).

Pretty cool, huh?

Anyhoo, as usual, Mom and Dad didn't get any pictures of themselves driving because they were driving together and too busy to get any pictures. But here are a couple of pictures to give you the feel for things...

Uncle Charlie in the Miata

But Mom did manage to get a few pictures of us (for a change...).

Here's Abby thinking she's a lap dog (and Dad totally laughing at the idea):

And here's me and Abby thinking that Mom would be Much More Interested in a front-row seat for a round of bitey-face than in reading her book.

Heehee.

Oh, and Mom did manage to take both of us on walkies at the same time (and lived to tell the tale, I might add!):

So it was a fun weekend!

And when we got home, we discovered that the roof is Almost Done...

And now that we are back home, Abby and I are right back into the routine!

And now that we are back, we are back to our walkies and bitey-face-ing, so life is good!

BTW, I would really like to thank Mango for re-starting the voting for the 'I Wanna Be Like Mango' contest due to a clerical error - he's super cool! (Which is all the more reason why I wanna be like Mango!)

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

Hi from the House With Wheels!!!

Hi!!! We're in the House With Wheels (aka the Starship Enterprise) this week. Nope, we're not at a car race, or some exotic vacation local (well... if you consider Park City an exotic vacation locale then I guess we are, but since we live here, it sort of loses some of its exotic-ness). We're here because our House Without Wheels has been invaded.

Do you see all those people crawling all over My House?!? And do you have any idea how much I hate people crawling on my house? Let's just say that I hate it enough that Mom and Dad decided it would be better if we stayed in the House With Wheels while these people crawl all over my roof.

And create mass destruction. If I was Dennis, I'd probably think they were looking for termites or something!

So, yeah. This chaos is supposed to go on ALL WEEK.

Mom can't find a picture of the House With Wheels in Park City (and Uncle Larry has the camera so he can take pictures of the demolition), so here's a 'stock' photo from when we were in southern Utah, for those of you who might not have seen the House With Wheels.

We are back to our usual hiking, but (again, since Uncle Larry has the camera) we haven't had a chance to get any pictures of the fall flame that is coming out on the hillside - the colors are quite brilliant right now. (I'll make sure Mom gets pictures. I promise!) In the meantime, I'll leave you with a few pictures from our zoomies yesterday (before the people came to tear down my house...).

Here's a picture for you that shows you a hint of our fall color in the background...

Mad ball skillz? I got 'em!

And Abby wants to be just like me! :-)

The number #2 Rule of Fetch? Keep your eye on the ball.

The #1 Rule is to keep an eye on your sister....

Good times! But alas, we won't get our yard back until the weekend. *sigh*

So, in the meantime, go vote for my sister Abby and her Hippobottomus tag, PLEASE!!!! (On the right side bar.) THANKS!!!!

We'll be preparing ourselves for tomorrow's adventures!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

I'm Ba-ack

Hi everybody! I'm back!

Yes, I was gone, thanks for noticing! *grin* Of course you missed me. I know it!

*ahem*

This weekend Mom and Dad had a big car race in Pocatello (aka 'Pocatato'), Idaho. This race is called Summerfast, and is a Big Deal, because three regions (Utah, Eastern Idaho and the Snake River Regions) all get together to compete against one another for bragging rights and a big trophy. Because this is a 2 day event, we took the House With Wheels up.

The drive up to Pocatato is about 3 hours, and so Abby and I spent a lot of time getting comfortable. We tried the time-tested yin-and-yang position first.

And then we got bored and started wandering around a bit. Here, Abby has clearly done something wrong, because she's looking REALLY guilty. Maybe she farted. Heehee.

My sister's lard butt makes for a very good pillow...


And here I am preparing to move into a more comfortable location.

Heh.

Mom's lap is WAY more comfy than the floor! See, I am so a lap dog!

Anyhoo, we made it up to Idaho and Abby and I got tons of attention and front row seats spent a lot of time snoozling while Mom and Dad were driving and working, and not taking pictures of us (or themselves, apparently). Seriously. This is the only picture they got of us all weekend!

But don't worry, we actually got a bunch of attention. On Saturday it was about eleventy-billion degrees out, and since Uncle Charlie and Aunt Linda didn't want their kids to turn into piles of cinders in front of their eyes, the kids came into the air-conditioned House With Wheels, and pulled out all sorts of toys for us, and kept us quite entertained. But did anyone get any pictures of this? Of course not.

Mom and Dad were either racing or working all weekend long, so they didn't get any pictures of themselves (or anyone else - but I'll get to that in a second) either, so Abby and I don't feel quite so neglected.

Anyhoo. Speaking of eleventy-billion degrees, apparently most of Idaho was on fire. The race was held at the Pocatello Regional Airport, which is also (apparently) a base for fire control, and this plane was flying in and out all weekend long.

The only reason Mom got this picture is because they had to stop the race every time a plane went by. There was also this really cool 'Sky Crane' that was helping to fight the fire. It actually landed, near the race course, but Mom didn't have her camera on her at the time, due to the whole racing/working thing... The haze in the pictures is actually from the smoke from the fire(s).

There was even a Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopter than landed (but again, Mom didn't have her camera).

So, some pictures of the race. Mom didn't get any. However, one of the racers is a photographer, and took some pictures of some of the cars (not the one Mom and Dad were driving, however...). So, with credit and many thanks to Chuck Bissey for the pictures from the race.

Here is a Utah car - a C Prepared car (called the 'heavy metal class' because of the muscle cars that are used to make the cars that race in this class). Nice braking there!

And here is a car that Mom was quite fond of. Until she heard it run. Or didn't hear it, as the case may be. It is a Tesla, which is an electric car - which means no 'vroom-vroom' noises. And apparently Mom needs to be able to hear the engine to know what she's doing. Yeah, I have no idea what that means, either. I think it's a pretty car!

And here are a couple other of the fast cars that were out there.

Above is a Utah driver, and below is a Pocatello driver. Both were quite speedy!

I just like this next picture, even though something looks fundamentally wrong....

Anyhoo, despite not having any pictures, Mom and Dad had a great time, and after two days of racing, over a hundred drivers, about a bazillion runs, and all sorts of mathematical slights-of-hand (done by the Pocatello people, BTW - it's not like Mom was using her 'statistical mathematics' to manipulate results...), when it came down to it, Utah Region and Eastern Idaho Region (Pocatello) were tied, and they had to take 21st place on the 2nd day to break the tie. And guess who happened to be in the 21st place, and who was the tie-breaker? Yep. You guessed it! Dad! So, Dad won the big trophy (of which we have no pictures), for Utah!!!! Go Dad!!! (Even though we have no pictures of you!)

Despite the lack of pictures, Mom and Dad had a ball. After the racing was all done yesterday, we got all packed up, and drove back home. We got home about 9pm last night and everyone (except Abby, who is suffering from serious case of Puppy Brain) was exhausted. Mom and Dad were still quite tired today (this racing stuff seems to wear them out), but they did take us on a walk today, and the evil pond troll nice Animal Control officer wasn't there, so we got to go swimming.

And we also got in some 'illegal' off-leash fetch time. Because we are rebels without a clue like that.

Me, doing my own zoomies!

We are such law breakers!!!

BTW, now that we are back, I'll make sure Mom helps me catch up on all the bloggies!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Mutant Puppy

Mom and Dad have been "busy"

So. Mom and Dad had a Really Big car race this last weekend. They were so busy getting ready for it that Mom hasn't had a chance to take pictures of us. Seriously. At least that's what Mom says.

C'mon Mom. How could you not take pictures of my beautiful snooter? Whatever...

Yeah, um, so. This race was a 'National Tour' event - which means that a lot of the people who race at the National Championships come out for this. So, for the first time since last year's Nationals, Dad and Uncle Charlie had more than themselves to compete against, and Mom and Aunt Linda (Uncle Charlie's wife) had more than themselves to compete against, too.

The big race was at the Wendover Airport (this was the second weekend that we've raced out there this year), and because Friday is full of 'pre-race' events, and the Utah Region was hosting the race, Mom and Dad decided that we'd go out on Thursday. And, because there is another big National race at Wendover next weekend, Mom and Dad towed the Jeep out so we could drive back to Park City after the first race,and leave the House With Wheels out at Wendover for the week. So, we got there on Thursday, and Dad and Uncle Charlie set the course while Mom got the House With Wheels all set up.


There was a big 'paddock' area with lots of houses with wheels and trailers and stuff, but Mom and Dad chose to park away from everyone else (the big paddock area was all on concrete, and far away from the dirt, and since I don't like to piddle on concrete, Mom and Dad wanted to be close to the dirt; also, Mom and Dad are kind of anti-social! *grin*)

Here's the main paddock.

Since Mom and Dad were So Far Away from 'the action', they had to ride their bye-sickles back and forth so their feet didn't get worn out!

Oh, I do want to show you a sponsor that really caught my attention:

It's the big Bridgestone tire truck/tent. Mom and Dad use Hoosier tires, and my tires are my own personal brand, but I am a new fan of the Bridgestone people because one of the nice people from that tent met Abby (who was out on one of her many 'Mom is taking her for a walk because she's driving the rest of us - meaning me and Dad - crazy' walks) and for some reason, he was suckered in by her puppy cuteness (and Abby just sucks that up like a sponge - she's such a diva). He was So Suckered by her puppy cuteness that he stopped by the House With Wheels the very next morning and brought us Vita-bones!!! If Abby and I needed new tires (or doggie cookies) we'd have gone straight to the Bridgestone people!

And while Abby can be a little obnoxious with this whole 'cute puppy' thing, if this face has people bringing cookies to our door, well, I guess I can't complain too much!

Work it, baby! Heehee!

But when Abby wasn't doing her cute puppy thing, she was being a General Pain. Mom says it has something to do with all her needle-like puppy teeth falling out and her Big Dog Teeth coming in. I think it's just because Abby is a pest, but that's just my humble opinion. But she was Such A Pain that Mom took her on a lot of "course walks". In the car racing Mom and Dad do (it's called autocross), they drive around cones, and they can look at the course by walking it, but they don't see it at speed until they race it. The more you walk the course, the better you get to know it. So under the guise of wanting to "walk the course" Mom gave Dad and me a break from The Not-So-Little Monster. Abby probably saw the course more times than most of the racers out there! (Seriously. She was being a Monster!)

Unfortunately, Mom couldn't actually take pictures of her walking the course with Abby, what with not being able to step out of her body and all, and Dad and I were hiding in the House With Wheels, far away from The Giant Pest, so here's a picture of Other People walking the course. And in case you were wondering, Abby only made one 'deposit' on the course - which Mom promptly cleaned up.

Unfortunately for my totally photogenic self, pretty much all weekend long, when Mom or Dad was racing (or working), the other one would ride back to the House With Wheels, take us out (one at a time, thankyouverymuch!), and then get back to "the action". Personally, I think they were trying to avoid The Pest!

However, they did get a bunch of pictures of themselves. Hello?!? Excuse me?!? Whose bloggie is this, anyway? Pictures of people and cars? *YAWN* I'm just saying... However, since Mom generally indulges me, I'll cut her a little slack and let her post some car racing pictures. Just this once.

Here's Dad in the 'Franken-Miata'.

And here's Mom.

And Dad again!

And Mom going 'zoom-zoom'. Heehee.

Here is some of Dad's competition:

Unfortunately, this car broke (which is totally common for the cars in this class), but in the true spirit of competition, one of the other driving teams gave up some of their runs and let this guy drive their car. Pretty cool, I think!

And here are some of the other cars that were out there:
If you are wondering why the cars are going in different directions, it is because they ran the course one direction one day, and then changed it slightly and ran it backwards the next day.

Here's a picture of Mom and Aunt Linda after their runs on the second day:
And Mom sitting in the car looking all racer-y.

As for how everyone did? Dad did okay the first day, and Really Well the second day, and ended up 5th. Uncle Charlie won the class. Aunt Linda came in 2nd in the women's class, and after a really bad first day, Mom did really well the second day, and ended up 3rd (she probably would have been 4th, but for the broken car; the car that broke in the men's class had a lady driver in it as well, and the woman ended up driving a completely illegal-for-the-class-but-very-cool-looking Mustang, and so she had to be DSQ'ed.) Mom and Dad were both very pleased with how they did on the second day, and so while they are Very Tired now, they are happy with how the weekend went.

Next weekend we are back to Wendover for another race, but I am hoping that before that, Mom will get some pictures of me. (Particularly pictures where I am beating up on The Pest, who needs to be put in her place!)

Oh, and we had a moose encounter today, but Mom didn't get any pictures because she was too busy shooing us inside, and panicking about the very pissed off moose in the yard (the moose only got pissed off after we got inside and Dad was trying to get her to leave...)

*kissey face*
-Fiona