Race for the Cure '10

If it weren't for the Posse, Pam would have stayed in bed for the 25th annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Why? 80 reasons...43 degrees and 30mph wind at 7AM. You do the math. But she made it and it was a great morning of encouragement for her and the hundreds of survivors joined her. They had about 18,000 overall participants in Peoria this year. Probably not as many as they expected, but the weather played a huge role. Too bad the great weather of the previous month and a half didn't stick till last Saturday. As you stroll through this post, click on any of the small photos to make them larger. You can also steal the ones you are in if you so choose.

This year Pam's Posse had around 38 "registered" members. The Posse photo shows about 25 made it to the event. The photo doesn't show everyone in their Posse shirts, which would have been cool, but again, blame the weather. I even felt cold much of the time. Pam's Posse was born last year as she participated in the Race, right in the middle of her treatments for her recurrence. This can be considered the 2nd annual for her Posse (remember the 1st?). She isn't alone in fighting breast cancer in her posse. Also intimately involved are her mom Flo and friends Carol and Cheryl. This is the day when the women in the pink survivor shirts don't have to feel so lonely. It really is a great event and a great day.

The race was less dramatic this year. None of the intrigue and injuries of last year. Just windy!

Thanks to everyone for supporting her! It means a lot.

Then we made the news. WMBD-TV posted it in a tiny little version here. Don't know how long that link will work, so watch it below.

busy dog people

Spring is a great time of the year. This spring has been better than usual mostly because we really were blessed with some great weather since about the beginning of March. I say that because that is when track started and since I am the second assistant unpaid distance track coach at Chillicothe Junior High, it matters because I have to be there everyday, cold/snow/rain/wind/whatever.

It is also a better than usual spring because our team, led by a great group of seventh graders (Josh among them) has experienced some great success. They won the conference meet as well as the county meet in the past couple of weeks. We have our sights on winning the Canton Invitational next Monday and we won't stop there. But it does keep us busy.

Josh is also on a baseball team that began practicing sometime in late March. The games started a couple of weeks ago. So far he is enjoying it, but his (and our) enjoyment is limited a bit due to the overlap of the two sports. Track is rolling and going great. Baseball is kind of making it extra busy right now. Give us a week and half and things will be different.

To keep us occupied at home, we got that dog on March 20th. He is working out great, except I am seeing some of us turn into dog people. Oh Cesar would be upset if he could see some of the things that go on with Shafer. But Shafer is a good one. He is pretty obedient despite just turning 5 months old a couple of days ago. He hasn't destroyed anything. He is crate trained, house trained and hardly barks. His separation anxieties have diminished greatly. He loves people and other dogs more and more each day. So as we find ourselves solidly into month two of the dog, I have to say this experiment is a success.

Erin and Pam are the dog people I was referring to. This week made it official as Erin began letting the dog into her room to snuggle with her and read to him when she goes to bed at night. He falls asleep with her and has to be removed at some point and sent to his crate. In the morning when I lose him, I need look no farther than my bed...yes, my bed. That is where he escapes to after Erin goes to school, trying to sneak a little nap with Pam.

His pedigree has proven itself. He is all German Shorthaired Pointer. He sits at the door and points at birds in the yard. On walks he stops abruptly and unexpectedly and points at every robin digging for worms. He is an expert at finding bumble bees and pointing at them. He points at our neighbors yappy dogs. He even pulled off the most perfect and closeup point of a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier ever recorded in a photograph.

I closed out Pam's blog for a while. Hard to know what to write. Being a busy dog person has also kept me from updating this blog so our family far away can know how exciting our lives are. This one is loaded with pics to get everyone up to speed. Hope it was successful.