Wordless Wednesday: I Had The Park All To Myself!

*kissey face
-Fiona

Rainy weather, and a vet visit

Alas, no hike today. It rained really hard yesterday afternoon and then again last night, so while it was only partly cloudy this morning, Mom said the trail would be really muddy. I didn’t see a problem with that, but apparently Mom said something about how she would have to remove the mud from my feet with a hose, and that didn’t sound too appealing.



Rain, rain, go AWAY!

Also, she and Dad had a business meeting, and by the time that was done, big dark clouds had started to move in. And besides, Mom had to take TaiChi to the eye doctor to do a check up.

So, on to TaiChi for a minute. She’s doing Really Well. She won’t ever see out of her right eye again, but since her cataracts (waterfalls? I didn’t know you could have waterfalls in your eyes, but apparently when you get old you get these waterfalls. Maybe your brain starts to leak? I didn’t think to ask) were so bad that she probably couldn’t see much more than shadows anyway. But her snooter works really well! She can smell a steak from a mile away! Heehee!

*ahem*

Okay, back to the doctor’s report. Her good eye is very good. She has more of these waterfall thingys in that eye, but it’s not horrible, and all of the other measurements they do on her eyes are Really Good in that eye. They also took her blood pressure because she had really high blood pressure when she first went to see the eye doctor, so they put her on blood pressure medicine. I guess TaiChi’s life is just super stressful! You know; sleeping, eating, sleeping some more – that can all be VERY stressful! Heehee. Note from Fi’s Mom: her high blood pressure is/was just a combination of old age and her chronic kidney issues; if you’ve got an OLD dog, it’s worth having your vet check his/her blood pressure, if they don’t already do it. It doesn’t take very long to do it, and can help prevent some pretty serious issues. In short, her blood pressure went from Super High a month ago to being almost normal; she was 190 a month ago and was 120 today. 100 is normal for dogs, and since she always gets stressed out at the vet’s office, her blood pressure is probably at least 10 points lower at home. She will stay on blood pressure medicine for the rest of her life, but since it gets delivered in a big dollop of peanut butter, she doesn’t mind! And since I get to lick Mom’s fingers after TaiChi gets her pill, I don’t mind, either!

So, TaiChi is doing Really Well and Mom and Dad are Very Happy about that. So is TaiChi. She clearly feels much better. Which is good, because I love my little big sister and she’s much more fun when she feels better!

Heh. We are such buddies. And she's just squinting because of the flashy thing - it's not a permanent thing.

Even if she steals my toys....

Because we had Fall-like weather today (rainy, and cold), Mom broke out TaiChi’s jacket. TaiChi gets cold fairly easily, and so she has a couple of jackets. Granny and Grandpa made her a really cool fleece jacket (that Mom can’t find a picture of at the moment…), and then she also has a heavier jacket with a hood.


I think she's quite sharp looking in her coat!


And because it was kind of dark out when Mom was taking the pictures, I got to display my Super Dog powers!

I can haz laser eyes!

And now, I must get back to catching up on bloggies. Because Mom has been slacking.

*kissey face*
-Fiona

Enough of this car stuff, let's get back to me

So yesterday Mom FINALLY took me on the hike promised as we were driving back through the oh-so-exciting states of Nebraska and Wyoming. I will say this just one more time – until next year, that is – OMD; could those states be any more boring? And I can’t even IMAGINE what it’s got to be like there in winter. Although the big barriers they’ve got to help create snowdrifts and stop (some) snow from blowing across the highway gives a pretty good indication of how miserable it must be. All I can say is that I’m one lucky doggie to live someplace that actually has, erm, something other than cornfields and cows.

We started off on a trail that we hike a lot, and then took a new turn, and ended up hiking over 4 miles. Which was most fun. I just wanna know when we are going to start going on LONG hikes! Heehee! Mom, however, didn’t bring the real camera, and had to take pictures with her phone. Which was a real shame, because the trees are starting to change colors, and there are some really bright reds out right now. So…. Mom is going to have to take me on another (possibly longer? C’mon Mom… There are MILES of trails out there for us to explore!) hike where she’ll have the camera and we can get some good scenery pictures. Because it is really pretty right now.

And perfect for hiking! Did I ever mention that I’m subtle? No? There’s probably a reason for that…

Anyhoo, last night I got in some quality snoozling with my little big sister.


Because Mom promised me another hike today, we went hiking, despite the weather forecast that there could be thunderstorms in the afternoon. Mom looked out the window (her own personal weather forecasting) and deemed it fine. And a chance to get some pictures of the “fall colors”.

So off we went.
Um. Mom? So far this looks like the regular trail. Where are the colors?

Oh. Okay. Got it. Biggify to actually see the colors...

We did the same hike as yesterday - which is our usual hike but with an extra mile loop in there. And lots of hills. And trees and stuff.

This is steeper than it looks. Trust me. In person it goes straight up!


And if you notice, for a while it looked pretty darn sunny.

Are we there yet? You mean we keep going UP? Wow.

We finally made it to the top of the climb, and from there, you could see all the way to the Olympic Park where they held the ski jumping and luge and bobsled events during the 2002 Winter Olympics.

And the hillside to the right was starting to turn all sorts of colors. In another week the colors will really be out.


And if you must know, yes, I am a Happy Dog! I love hiking!


But as we stopped for water, something on the horizon caught my attention:

Uh, Mom. Would you look over there. Please?!?

I think we'd better GO. Because we're only halfway through the hike!

So we dashed off, Mom taking only one more picture before we were all the way home.


By the time we got home the skies were totally black, and literally 5 minutes after we walked in the door it started raining. About 5 minutes later we lost power for about 30 minutes! I'm glad I hustled Mom along when we saw that first dark cloud! But we didn't get wet, and it was a great hike.

So, Mom, whaddya think about tomorrow, huh? Huh? Pretty please?!?

Heehee.

And on other stuff. Thanks to Dennis the Vizsla Dog who gave me this award:

Even if it is a little mis-spelled, I’m a class act! Woo-hoo!!! Heehee. Proof that I can fake people out when I really try!

The award is, of course, made by the The Purple Hatter, and the requirements is that I pass this along to six class act doggies. I know so many. But I’ll pick six class acts.

Martha and Bailey, who are legal masterminds and who get to go on walkies in some of the prettiest places ever.

Clive. Because he actually works for a living. And Mom thinks that he looks like a big Irish sweater! And, of course, because he is a goldendoodle (and rather handsome, if I say so myself).

Doby and Lola. Because they are seriously classy.

Lorenza. Because she is just the classiest dresser I know. Not to mention a sweetheart.

The 4 Bs. Because poodles and a schnoodle? How can they be anything BUT classy?

Sierra Rose. Because she’s classy in the making!

And this isn’t to say that all of my other friends aren’t classy, but I was forced to pick six…

And now, I must nap if I am to be ready for tomorrow hike. And for the record? The little thingy that Mom wears on her wrist to give distance and heart rate and stuff says that we climbed over 1300 feet today. In 4 miles. Not shabby!

*kissey face*
-Fiona, The Intrepid Hiker

A few loose ends

Now that we are back home and have real internet, I wanted to post some other pictures from the trip.

One of Mom's favorite things to do at the Nationals is walk around and look at the cars. And since I like walks, well... It seems like a perfect match - Mom gets to look at cars and I get a walk.

And any ear flappage is a bonus!

So, more pictures of cars...
I think this car goes about as fast when it is on jack stands as it does when it is on the ground... (GP is also called "Grandpa Prepared"...)

Now this car... X Prepared. Fast AND pretty.


And Mom took this picture because she thought it was pretty funny that these people had brought a tent for their tires!


And I think Mom is doing a pictorial Christmas Wish List with this next one... (Because Mom is nothing if not subtle. And yes, I get all my subtlety from her. Heehee!)


Whew! All this walking around and looking at cars in the heat and humidity is tough work!


So I had to snoozle for a while.


Here's Mom in our car (before it was retired). Note the rather complicated dash! Heehee!

I think Mom has her name on the back of her helmet so people know who just knocked down all the cones!

And here we are, on the way home! Last year I fit in Mom's lap. This year? I only partially fit in her lap! But I was quite comfy, thankyouverymuch. (And yes, this picture was taken from the driver's seat. While driving.... And if Dad and Uncle Charlie could 'hot swap' drivers in the House With Wheels, taking a picture is NOTHING! And if you don't know what a hot swap is, I'm not going to tell you, because it would probably only worry you!)


And the scenery on the way home was pretty much the same as the scenery on the way out. Since we took the same road and all....


I had a great time, and I'm very proud to be able to say that I have been at every Solo Nationals that I have been alive for, and I would like to continue this trend (hint, hint, Mom). I had a great time, and can't wait for next year. But I'm also happy to be home. Fall is hitting the Wasatch Mountains, and I can't wait to go on a hike tomorrow. And, no Mom, that wasn't a hint. That was an order; I spent 4 days out of the last 9 motoring across 2 Really Boring states, and then back again. The least I deserve is a hike. Because I need to scrub my brain of all of those mental images of eleventy billion acres of corn. I swear, if I see an ear of corn in the near future, I may, well, bark a lot.

*kissey face*
-Fiona

Pee Ess: Mom says that the awards for correctly identifying the "Flames! There are flames on my car!" quote contest have been awarded. Congratulations to Khyra who answered first! Her prize is going to The Last Resort Animal Rescue and Sanctuary. And the Southern California Vizsla Rescue is also getting a donation, even though Dennis' Dad had to cheat! ;-) Thanks for playing! And for those of you who didn't know, the quote comes from the original (1979) version of the movie "The In-Laws" with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin. Mom's seen the movie about as many times as I saw cornfields in the last 9 days, and she aspires to have a car with flames on it.

The 2nd and Final Day of Racing

OMD!!! What an exciting day yesterday!!! It was pretty tough to get it all photographed, because well, of that whole lack of opposable thumbs thing. But I did the best I could.

The day before yesterday, Mom and Dad and Uncle Charlie were concerned that The Grenade the Miata needed some repairs that couldn’t be done before racing today because of time and parts availability issues. So, they were debating whether to even race or not (because you don’t want to take a race car and drive it if you think it might break – it’s always better to fix something BEFORE it breaks, rather than AFTER). But Uncle Charlie waved his magic wand and shook some beads, and got the car so that it wouldn’t break. And Dad and Uncle Charlie got ready to race. To explain, there are 5 “heats” of different “classes” – all cars in one class race in the same “heat” so you all get the same conditions. Sort of. Dad and Uncle Charlie were in Heat 2.

So they got the car out and got all ready to run. And when their heat came, there were some clouds building, but it didn’t look horrific. And Dad got ready to take his first run. And it started to rain.

And Rain = BAD. See, our car (and everyone else’s in this class) runs on ‘slicks’ – rubber tires that don’t have any tread, but when they warm up get sticky and hold really well. Especially on this rough concrete. When it is warm. When it is raining? It’s like wearing tennis shoes on an ice skating rink. Not Pretty.

Oh, and if you haven’t noticed, the car Doesn’t Have A Roof. Remember the picture from the first day where Mom is holding an umbrella to keep the sun off her? Yeah, well, that no roof thing is also not so much fun when it is raining.

And by the time Uncle Charlie ran, it was still raining, and the course was getting wet.

So Uncle Charlie tells Mom to take the rental car (poor rental car!) back to the trailer (because where the races were was Really Far Away from where the House With Wheels and trailer were) and get the “rain tires” (which are special tires with special tread for, you guessed it, racing in the rain). Now, I don’t know how well you know Mom, but, uh, changing tires is Not Something Mom Does. She says she knows how to do it (in theory at least), but I’ve never seen her change a tire. Not even once. But she’s got a whole list of things that she’s got to run back and get. By herself. Personally, I think Uncle Charlie was taking a Really Big Risk in entrusting this job to Mom, but he and Dad were supposed to be racing, and there is a certain amount of time between runs… So, Mom comes dashing back, and has to get help from the neighbors to get the jack out, and then she gets the tires and all the tire-putting-on stuff, and races back.

And so there is a mid-race tire change.

Luckily, Mom brought all the right stuff over, and this was like a NASCAR pit crew!!! Super fast tire change!!!

But racing in the rain is still pretty tough.

But all you could do is laugh. At least that’s what Dad did!

And when it was all said and done, the rain made some people go Really Slow. Because Dad got to run when it was only sort of slippery, he ended up in 8th, while Uncle Charlie (who started the day in 6th) ended up 13th! And the guy who was leading on the first day? 10th. But, as Mom and Dad say, it’s an outdoor sport, and sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don’t!

Dad and Uncle Charlie decided that running the car in the rain when it Wasn’t Right put enough stress on the car for one day, and told Mom to see if the offer from her co-competitor was still open to drive her car.

Now just to make this clear: there were two people in Mom’s class – Mom and this other woman named Kim. Kim has been the National Champion in the class for years straight. And yet out of the blue, she offers to let Mom drive her car. The only other time she has seen Mom is last year at the Nationals. It’s not like these two know each other or anything. So she is essentially letting a total stranger drive her car. At the National Championships!!! If you ask me, I think that is the ultimate in good sportsmanship. I think it was Really Cool of Kim to let Mom drive her car. Especially not knowing Mom.

So Mom drove a mid-engine MR-2. She had never been in this car before. And heehee discovered that she liked it So Much More that our car. Mostly, I think, because it had a ‘normal’ clutch and not a race clutch like ours, and the seat was more adjustable, and the gas pedal responded to more subtle inputs than our car does – in our car you jump on the gas, in the other car, you squeeze the gas pedal. Since that is what you do in the Big Yellow Corvette, Mom found it a bit more to her liking.

See? Mom’s numbers on a totally different car! It looks sort of funny, but Mom apparently had a Really Good Time!

Note from Fi’s Mom: Yes. I was completely blown away that someone who didn’t know me would offer to let me drive her car. At the National Championships. And if it weren’t for her, I am not sure whether I would have run or not on the second day. I am actually still pretty speechless at how COOL it was for her to offer to let me drive her car. And WOW. Oh. Wow. That car was FUN. Really fun. Easier (for me) to drive than our car, it handled great, and frankly could go a lot faster than I could! (FYI, Kim won the women’s class while her husband won the men’s class in the same car.) But I had a ball driving the car. It was So. Much. Fun!!!

And, Kim and her husband and father were REALLY nice about letting me drive the car, and actually didn’t even charge me (most people would ask, or at least would accept an offer for some money to cover the cost of wear and tear on tires – not them, despite me offering several times). I was super impressed. And extremely grateful. And giddy. Boy, oh boy did I have fun!!!! And that is what this sport is all about: FUN!!!



Fi back. Mom drove very well on the second day, in a strange car, and while she was second (or last, depending on how you look at it), she was closer to Kim than she was last year, and was Quite Pleased with being able to get in a strange car and do well. She was only a couple of seconds off Dad, and BEAT Uncle Charlie. (Of course, they had to deal with the rain, but still!!!)

So now we are just waiting for Uncle Charlie to drop off the rental car so we can hook up the trailer and head home. *yawn* Nebraska *yawn*. And then Wyoming. *major yawn*.

Wake me up when we get to Park City, okay?

Kissey face.
-Fiona

Day 1 of Racing

Well, today was the first day of racing for Mom and Dad and Uncle Charlie, and well, The Grenade may (or may not) be living up to its name. It’s hard to tell without all the proper tools, but I think Mom and Dad and Uncle Charlie are going to run the car and hope for the best. And actually Mom’s competitor (yes, that would be singular) offered to let her co-drive – which is just totally cool – and what a sportswoman to offer her own car to her competitor! Mom hasn’t decided what to do yet. I think it depends on what Dad and Uncle Charlie want to do.

It would really be a bummer if we came all this way and Mom and Dad could only race half the event, but on the other hand, it would be a super bummer if something bad happened to the car.

But, all that aside, here are some pictures from today.

Here is Dad in one of the first gates from the start.


And Uncle Charlie getting ready to run:



And Mom.


That’s so the course workers can see who just knocked down all those cones! Heehee!

Here she is, in grid, waiting to run:

The umbrella is to keep the sun off her – because it gets quite toasty out there!

And here is Mom at the start:


At the end of the day? Mom is second (out of two, but is closer to the National Champion – her competitor – than she was last year), Dad is 11th (but VERY close to the 3 people ahead of him) and Uncle Charlie is 6th (due to the car not operating to its full potential). But, Mom and Dad are having fun, and I’m have a great time looking at the cars! (And playing football; and yes, thank you, my tootsies are all recovered now – I just play football in the grass now, and not on the concrete….) So while everything isn’t optimal on the car side, Mom and Dad are having fun!

More later. It’s time for my late night walkie, and then to bed (because Mom gets up at 6am!!!).

*kissey face*
-Fiona