Not Enough

August 14, 2006

Hypothetical question: if you left bottles of hops-based adult beverages as inducement to your pet sitter, with instructions to drink one every time your pet misbehaved, how many do you think you would need to stock for a nine-day trip?

Answer: I don't know, but a twelve-pack wasn't enough.

Do you remember reading below how Willie had a talent for shortening all of our shoe laces? Did you know that the same skill works on electrical cords and phone wires? So here's a favor: if you thought you left us a phone message while we were vacationing, please call back, especially if it was important. Willie may have listened to our messages before they disappeared, but he's not talking.

Being in the market for new telecommunications equipment was just one of the downsides of returning from vacation. Blistering heat might be a more obvious one. Starting the grind of the fall semester ranks up there. Counting down the days until Davis moves out also makes the list. But since I don't dwell on the negative, I'll move on.

If I told you about everything we did on vacation, it would sound like that tired joke about people's vacation blogs that ran last week in the Cathy comic strip. Suffice it to say that we spent many happy hours with old and new friends, hiked great trails, and enjoyed each others' company. Many of the highest highlights came at or near the track at Ruidoso Downs. Davis entertained all of our friends by building a mathematical model using Excel to handicap the races. I did not use anything that fancy, but hit the money 8 out of 9 races. Erin was in the money in six races, using her perky ear method to choose her bets. She also put her amazing ability to network to the test and somehow found herself officially escorted under the track to the saddling paddock, where she met some trainers and jockeys and saw the ponies from a much more intimate distance. She was also invited to the winner's circle contingent on a particular horse (who up that point had never won a race and was therefore running in a maiden race) winning. Well. . .Future Cash paid off, and Erin had another once-in-a-lifetime treat. The jockey even gave Erin his goggles as a souvenir of the race. Thanks to Joanie, Jimmy, and Carla for making one little girl extremely happy.

School starts tomorrow, but only for Erin. Davis is very smug that he has two more weeks before hitching himself to the cart. I will close for now (but hopefully get back to it later in the week) with the news that today (on day 15 of 21 on Erin's sixteenth round of chemo since relapse) all of her key blood counts were in the normal range (WBC--4500; ANC--2900; HGB--12.3; PLT--271,000). Hallelujah!