My allergies are KILLING me but the pollen report says tree and ragweed are nominal and grass is low.  What is going on?  I am suffering from some kind of rare invisible pollen that does not show up on pollen count reports.    It was so bad last night I actually took a Benedryl ... and them immediately fell asleep.  I mean immediately.

My new job is going very well, I leave early on Friday's to avoid beach traffic and I love that.   When I started, I thought I would have the chance to telecommute from time to time.  It is what my boss told me and now her boss is against that kind of schedule. 

I am feeling somewhat disgruntal about the whole thing, I feel lied to and I feel stuck.  I would have taken this job anyway, even without some work from home,  but I feel cheated. 

I am so confused by marathon training programs.    I have 3 of them in front of me and two are too hard, one is too easy.  I worry about just doing the easy one because I feel I won't be prepared but I don't have 12 miles in me this Saturday.    I think I'm going to put my hopes in Hal Higdon's hands and assume he is right with his program and maybe I'll just bump up some of the miles if I feel ready. 

Running gear is expeisnve, $94 for shoes, $35 for a runing bra and $9 for socks.   It's important to have all the right gear though, there is nothing worse then getting 5 miles from home and having your running bra give you blisters or have uncomfortable feets.   

Another problem I have is the heat and humidity, it gets to me.  The hazy hot and humid days of this city are awfull.  Fortunately most of my runs are close to the water and I get a breeze from time to time but I can't seen to hydrate enough on the hot days and I run poorly.  

My only wish for the marathon is cool weather.  I need to do some research on American Indian Cool Weather Dances and have everybody I know do a cool weather dance for me.   Historically it could be as high as 94°F or as low as 20°F .   No point in worrying about that right now. 

I told my sister about Zippy's episode with the baby bird and she said Pit's are breed to be aggresive.   We laughed and laughed. 

Zippy has tasted blood, it's all over now.  He's going to have to go on the lamb for a while.  The police will be coming around, asking questions and we're going to have to come up with an alibi for him.

Last night there was a teeny tiny little chick sitting in the chain link fence in the front yard.  We cut down 2 very large limbs over the w/e and probably demolished a nest or two.  Zippy was  barking at the bird but was not interested in approaching it.  
Here is the account of an eyewitness who saw the attach this morning:

"When Zippy and I went out this morning, The chick (which turned out to be a cardinal) was still sitting on the fence. The momma was also sitting on the fence chirping up a racket. Well, the baby bird flew towards its mom, about 2 feet off the ground....Zippy ran over and snatched it out of the air, shook it and bit the poor little guy. I screamed "leave it" which he did not. Anyway....Zippy killed the little guy. He is now a killer. He seemed very proud of him self. I just couldn't get there quick enough. "

Zippy tried to drown a Boxer pup at the dog beach. Zippy was galumphing through the water as a couple brought their puppy to the water and tried to coerce her into the water. The pup was inquisitive but a little timid, just like Zippy when he was younger. Zippy caught site of the pup and went over to play. The 2 of them frolicked on the beach and the pup was pulling submissive moves so Zippy started pulling alpha moves and biting the pup on the neck and ears. He was being gentile and the pup kept coming back for more so I let them play.

Eventually the pup made it into the water and Zippy thought it was play time in the water and pounced on the pup. The pounce pushed poor pup under the water. It was a slow motion moment as I lunged in and grabbed the pup by his collar and yoked him out of the water. He was under water for probably ½ a second but that moment lasted forever.

I held Zippy between my legs and told the pup to take a cheap shot while I had my dog immobilized but the pup just was disinterested. I hope the owners weren’t to outraged by my homicidal dog.

My Yahoo sends me cheap flight every day.  I am waiting for one to get us to Houston (TWICE) and to Vegas.  Today there was a flight to Amsterdam for $217.  I almost booked it.   He has never been out of the county and I thought it would be great for me to see the city as a tourist instead of working there but we have far too much travel this fall/winter to even consider another trip.  I even went on line and looked at renting a houseboat for the week of Thanksgiving. Sigh... I suppose those cheap flights will come around again. 

After weeks of being wish washy about the marathon, I have committed myself to it.  It's wired the process my brain went through before commission to grips with the fact that I just have to get out there and take baby steps to get to 26.2.  At first I was dreading it and felt an incredible amount of guilt. Then I felt like it was a really unobtainable goal and "what was I thinking!".  Now I just think about running 4 miles today, and that is as far ahead as I think.  Additionally I revel in the fact that I fit into clothes that were waaaaaaaaay too tight 6 months ago. 

 

We tell the dog that something exciting happens every day and usually it does. He will see a squirrel, he will meet a new person or smell a new dog.

Today was my day. My boss and I were driving to another facility and I see a black pick-up truck. As the truck pulls up next to me I look over and see the front end of the truck is all banged up. Next, I see the steering wheel and a magazine draped over the steering wheel so the driver can read it while driving BUT there are no words on the page..... only naked ladies!!! Ewwwwwww!!!!!! He was looking at porn while driving on I95! Can you believe just how icky that is!!!!
Ew
Ew
Ew
Ew
I need to go wash my hands.

The dog got his paws on a squirrel this weekend! We took him out in the backyard and when we walked out the door Mr Squirrel was hanging upside down from the bird feeder. The dog flipped and went after him. The squirrel deftly ran up the tree and the dog became totaly disinterested after a few minutes of pacing the tree.

Mr Squirrel thought it was safe to come down the tree and came 1/2 way down the trunk and then.... the dog saw him.
Zippy took off and caught up with the squirrel at the fence and actually swatted the squirrel down as it was trying to escape by climbing the fence. The squirrel decided it couldn't make it over the fence after the hit Zippy put on him and came charging towards us, then took a hard left and went back up the same tree with the dog right on his tail. We were both so shocked all we could do is stand there, dumbfounded and wide eye-ed saying "oh shit" over and over as the dog beat the squirrel and as the squirrel charged at us. Mr Squirrel made it back up the tree safely and Zippy spent the afternoon trying to climb the tree. We gave him a once over to make sure that rodent get him and Zippy didn't have one scratch on him.

After he calmed down we brought him back in the house and he starred at the ceiling, the top of the bookshelf and anything else that may have been hiding a squirrel. He normally sniffs the ground like a little piggy so I think he just realized that trees have tops on them AND there are squirrels in the top of trees so he was checking out the top of everything in the house.

This morning at 7 am, they went out for a cigarette and Mr Squirrel was hanging upside down from the bird feeder again! Zippy went bonkers again and I get the feeling that he will never look at trees the same and I worry that he will tangle with a squirrel and get hurt.

When we picked Zippy up from jail, he came running up to me and promptly wet himself. We laughed and laughed, poor little guy, he was so excited to see us again but I was also a little bent out of shape. It was 9:30 am and when we took him outside he pee-ed for a long time. He can hold his bladder for at least 8 hours so it had been a long time since he went out. I don't think I will be using them again to board him.

Additionally, he picked up some bad habits. He started to jump up on people and he is much more vocal then he was before. I was running around the house with the flyswatter and he was galloping behind me, I stopped to scan the room since I had lot sight of the fly; and he barked at me to keep going. He rarely barks unless there is someone at the fence so I was a little taken aback by that. Then, while we were getting ready for work this morning he was in the living room and we heard a woof, we went out in the living room to see him rolling around on the ground with his squeaky kitty. I suppose he was taking to it.

It seems like we just got him to stop the awfull paw-ing my mother tought him when he picks up yet another bad habit. Next think you know he'll be stealing cigarettes!

This morning I was asleep and felt the covers being pulled off my toes. Next think I know there is a wet puppy nose on my warm sleepy toes. I giggled and went back to sleep. Later on I heard the jingle jangle of his tags and decided to open my eyes and call his name. He came tearing into the bedroom and JUMPED ON THE BED! The only place in the house he is not allowed is the bed. I chased him off the bed and he explained to me, when I call him in that high baby talk voice he looses it. I hate baby talk and am pretty pissed at myself that I was speaking like that.

We walked to the tip of Eastport for the fireworks with him and he was such a gooooooood boy. There were little kids everywhere and big kids with firecrackers and screaming babies and big fireworks and he lay on the cement and slept. What a good boy. We missed him so much when we were gone!