diary : january 2005

It's all about the snow.  The Sierra Nevada got dumped on - supposedly we got 25 feet of fresh snow in January!  We finally made it up at the end of the month and hung out with pals Linda & Rich & cool kids Colin, Conner, & Garrett.  First skiing of the year - and I didn't do too badly!  We also had a hilarious dog fight incident - but more on that later.

I had my public karaoke debut at The Mint where I rocked the house with "These Boots Are Made For Walking".

Pal Andy was back in town to find an apartment pending his move out here in February.  Scored a great pad just 14 blocks from us in Noe Valley - his landlady is an avid gardener & has promised me some cuttings from her jungle-like backyard.

We started a training class with Shepsie at the SPCA for "growly dogs" (he's totally out of control with happiness when he sees other dogs on lead).  We're amazed at his progress - he's also a year old now so he's mellowing ever so slightly...we don't leap in terror if he runs off without his leash since now we're reasonably sure we can coax him back.

How took his sales staff on a week long Baja Mexico cruise to thank them for a great year.  I didn't go (what was I thinking?) but he had a nice time!

Finally, my coworker's wife Katrina & I hooked up with a wild-woman horse breeder who takes folks on private trail rides all over the Bay area.  We spent a glorious afternoon roaming through the coastal wetlands in Marin County on a couple of beautiful Morgans.

So, the dog fight story.  We're up at the cabin with our pals Rich & Linda, who have a bossy little Australian cattle dog named Allie (with the most amazing ruler-straight markings on her face!). She's a total love & we've dog sat her many times, but this was her first time with Shep. Well, they got along mostly fine unless Allie was feeling possessive or Shepsie was being too playful.

One day I'm out in the snow playing with them. Allie finds an old bone: I throw it & they both go after it. Major fight erupts. Sounds like serious damage being done. I grab Shep by the back legs & drag him off. Check them both over for wounds - not a scratch. I pocket the bone & we continue playing but with snowballs, not bones.

Later that afternoon, I hit the slopes. Now, our cabin is right on the Association's ski slope - overlooking the "bowl". You can ski right in & out from our deck. I'm going up on the chairlift with a nice guy, we chat. "Do you live up here?" "No, we have a house, though." "Oh, nearby?" "Actually, right over there." "DID YOU HEAR THE DOG FIGHT EARLIER??"

EVERY PERSON I went up with on the chairlift that whole hour had heard the dogfight. Some even knew that one of the dogs was named "Shep" (as in "Shep! Stop it! Shep! Shep!") and others made the guess it was a German Shepherd Dog.