Tuesday, May 30

Rally Competition

My Dad and Micah qualified three different times for novice rally trials, securing a Novice title. On to Advanced now. Not only that, but they placed 1st on Friday of all the novice competitors, with a score of 98/100! Way to go!

Rally is a combination of obedience and agility, and you are scored by executing stations in the proper sequence. It's imperative to hold your dog's attention during the run. An overview of Rally may be found here.

:: Shudder ::

A sure-fire way to get me stressed is to let a wasp in my apartment. Watch me scramble to find a magazine, shooing Adam out of the way (I mean, to safety). With the screen door open, I wait for it to go back outside on its own (meanwhile, my gas tank on the grill is shooting out gas and I preferred to have the door closed during that time). Seeing that the wasp is not headed outside, I run into the kitchen, away from the beast. I thought it was chasing me! And it's hot. After that, make me have to read the directions to the Raid spray to make sure I can use it inside. Check. I manage to hit the wasp after it landed on a [sturdy] decorative item on the top shelf. However, Waspie fell behind my TV. Now what? I couldn't just leave it there, hoping it was dead. I had to know. Enter: flashlight and yardstick (thanks, Adam). But how do you adeptly handle a flashlight, yardstick and a can of Raid? One has to go (the Raid, but it was nearby).

I crouched down to look under the TV stand, and the wasp was just sitting there. I nudge it with the yardstick, and it started to fly and bounce around. Where did it go? Hidden wasps are worse than visible wasps, in my opinion. I bravely lean over the TV to get a glimpse of the wasp. It was in firing range. Did I really want to risk getting Raid on the furniture? I had no choice. I aimed and fired, and with great relief, the wasp lay still. Then, with one fell swoop, I crushed it with the yardstick. It was over. I finished the job by putting the wasp in the garbage disposal (with tongs, of course) and gave a satisfying flip to the "on" switch.

In reality, I'm not brave. I'm just overly afraid of bees.

Sunday, May 28

Oregon

At long last, I visited Oregon. It had been 9 years since the last time I was there, and I had been wanting to back for about that long. My dad grew up in Oregon through college, and my aunt and Grandma live there today. Below are a couple pictures I took while there. Click here for more.



















Monday, May 22

Resolve

Karen sent me a CD today, Imagination by Bethany Dillon. I have liked this singer for a while and particularly liked this line from "Hallelujah":

"Whatever's in front of me, help me to sing Hallelujah.....whatever's in front of me I choose to sing Hallelujah."

Thanks, Karen :-)