Spring In February

It felt like spring this weekend. When I woke up, birds were chirping. And I managed to pick up the poop in the yard. The past few years that hasn't happened until April when I am left with buckets full of moldy, soggy dog poo. And, on Sunday, the sun was shining! That is a rarity here, so I had to take advantage of it. I did some looking online and decided to venture out and try to find a rails-to-trails thing about 30 minutes from here. I did have to stop and get directions on my way, at which point a cute little pitt bull calmly kept an eye on Diesel.
It was a nice little trail. A little mushy yesterday, but it runs right along the Mon river with what is probably very beautiful landscape any other time of the year. Yesterday everything was still pretty brown. We walked about 5 miles I think. That was half of it. It is exciting to know there are places like that close. Oh, and I had to get a picture of this sculpture along the trail. I need to read the plaque on his back next time and find out how he got there!

Wrestling Champ

Tanner and I got to go up to Grove City to watch Tanner's little brother Caleb wrestle at a huge invitational his school hosts every year. Caleb is amazing. He is going to Nebraska on a wrestling scholarship, so it's not just his family that thinks he's good! Here are some pictures I tried to take while he was wrestling. I'm still learning with the action shots and he doesn't make it easy when he keeps pinning kids in the first few seconds of the matches!

Antartica Steelers Fan

My baby sister Lori has been on a marine research vessel for the last few weeks off the coast of Antartica. She sent us a picture of her in her Steelers sweatshirt to send in to the news. I thought if it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me to post here! Get this, she is going to back on land on Sunday and will be able to watch the game from Palmer Station, Antartica. How cool is that! GO STEELERS!

Maddie

Tanner and I got to go up an visit Amy, Dave, and their little girl Maddie yesterday. Of course, as it seems to turn out almost every time we go up to Pittsburgh, the weather turned cruddy on us. It actually wasn't all that bad this time ... but I should probably fix the windshield wiper fluid dispenser, the headlight, and the tires on my car. We had a good time playing with Maddie and eating some of the best pizza and spinach artichoke dip I have ever had. Apparently Maddie uses the blanket I made for her all the time. Dave said I should make them and sell them. Not that I have time right now ... but I'm definitely storing up ideas for home businesses just in case, and that might be a fun one! Here is a picture of Maddie a few months ago on the blanket I made.

Awww!

Isn't Tanner great!

Wine

Tanner came home from Jamaica and had apparently watched a movie about a father and son growing wine on the plane. He decided that it would be romantic for us to drink a bottle of wine together. So, we went an rented a few stupid-humor comedies, got some gummy life savers to munch on, and bought our first bottle of wine. We aren't really all that romantic in general ... but it was worth a shot! I still really don't like the taste of alcohol, but in the name of romance I enjoyed some wine with my main (well, ok, my only) squeeze! It actually was kinda romantic!

Easy to Please

I love my dogs. I don't know what I would do without them! Especially now with Tanner in Jamaica and me here at a new house in a new neigborhood with new drug dealer neighbors (although, so far, they have been very friendly, I still don't trust them). Both dogs got their beloved bones for Christmas ... that is all they really want in life ... and I got myself a shock collar to try to get more control over Diesel. The cheap one we got didn't come with directions and my first attempt at using it sent Diesel carreening through the woods and I don't think he stopped trying to run away from the thing bitting his neck until he got about a mile away. Thank goodness there are other dog lovers out there to find silly dogs like mine and call their owners! So, now we are trying some "on leash" training to see if we can prevent that from happening again! What I have learned from this is that I am not really a good dog trainer. My dogs are far from well-behaved. But they sure are cute and loving and they make great company! And hopefully some day, I will be trained well enough to train them properly!