SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!

Ok, I know it's only Friday, but we are stoked!

Yes, I dyed my hair blue and green for the game.  I went with the throwback blue and the current neon green.  T has the dark blue of the current uniforms and the neon green.  Here's something funny: I had dinner with my dad last night and he didn't say a word.  I don't know if he didn't notice or just thought it was... to be expected?  I don't know.  Funny guy.  Maybe he's rooting for the Donkeys and didn't want to say anything.  :-)

Are you going to be watching?  Are you going to root for my Seahawks?  Kaw!  Kaw!

Here's to a good game.  And a Seattle WIN!

Past to Present

Facebook Reconnection

Sometime last year or the year before, I decided to look up a girl (ok, no longer a girl) with whom I had gone on a summer home-stay language course in Guadalajara, Mexico.  We spent 5 weeks living with a family, attending classes in the mornings, and absorbing the culture in the afternoons and evenings.  Somehow we survived.

I was 16 and Kitty was 15.  Let me tell you, there was virtually no supervision!  There was so much potential for trouble!  We found some, but were fortunate enough to avoid much, much more.  Just as an aside, I will say that it was never a 'girlfriend' situation, or even a girl crush.  Just friends and roommates.

So, I looked her up and found her living in Anchorage, Alaska.  She has a son in college in Portland and said that she travels here periodically.  We tried to get together one time last year but the schedules just wouldn’t 

cooperate.  This time, though, it worked out.

We met for drinks at a pub near my house yesterday afternoon.  Besides her college attending son, her daughter has just moved to Portland to complete an internship in town.  So, she has twice as many reasons to visit the Rose City. 

I wasn’t sure what it would be like to reconnect with someone I hadn’t seen for nearly 40 years.  That’s a lot of water under the bridge!  As it turned out, she is a wonderful person and instead of having a quick, awkward drink and scooting out of there, we stayed and chatted for about three hours.  Three hours!  We reminisced about our adventures, about the other kids in the program, we had a lot of laughs and reminded each other of stories the other had forgotten.

I also got to meet her daughter towards the end of our get together.  A lovely young woman, a do-gooder like her mom; smart, sweet, and genuine.  I suggested that she take a self defense class at my school, and I think she will.  She is smart, but she has grown up in Alaska and Portland is a lot more like a city than Anchorage.

That’s something good that I can say about Facebook.  It sometimes helps people reconnect with friends from the past.  I'm glad we met up!

Yes, another.

But, it will be different this time!

Last Saturday we went down to the shelter and picked up another dog to foster.  Not a puppy this time, that was just too hard.  Too hard on T, for sure, because: puppies!  So adorable!  This time, though, it will be different.  Probably too different.  This time we are fostering an old dog.  Here he is:

Handsome oldster, isn't he?!?

His shelter name is Walter, but that didn't work for me because I have a brother with the same name.  Too awkward.  We decided on Angus.  We tried out lots of other names, calling him everything we could think of with a good boy! tone in our voices.  He was picked up as a stray on the 12th and no one has come to claim him.  The shelter originally listed him as a lab cross, but he clearly isn't.  Our best guess is Cattle dog, Australian Shepherd, or Heeler mix.  Hence the name Angus.  I thought that was rather clever.  Soon he will even respond to it!

Here's the thing.  Old dogs don't stand much of a chance at getting adopted.  We didn't want him to have to live the rest of his life at the shelter so we took him in, knowing that we'll probably have him as long as he lasts.  The shelter will call it a foster placement for several months, but after that they will consider it an adoption.  That's ok.  He's super easy going, gets along with the other pets (although, he does want to herd them), walks perfectly on a leash and just wants to hang out with us all the time.  The shelter vet speculated that he was about 10 years old, but who knows.

I wasn't willing to adopt the puppy but I will definitely keep the old dog.

(Photo: taken by me.  But, that is not T sitting behind Angus.  It's a friend of hers.)

Football Fever!

OK, people!  The game is tomorrow!

SHOW YOUR COLORS!

This is me at work today.  I tried to post it during the day, but I was too damned busy.  Not too busy to take a picture, but busy.  Anyway.

So, my team, the Seattle Seahawks, are in the playoffs and actually, leading the league.  They are playing the New Orleans Saints tomorrow.  At Seattle, which is a huge advantage.  We are hopeful and cautiously optimistic and will be yelling our heads off tomorrow during the game.  Give it a looksee if you happen to have the time, and please, root for my team!