Here's a photo of Hitcher playing with his friend Truly.

Ted and I are heading to Memphis this afternoon to visit Rusty for a few days. We're not taking bikes, so it'll be a true vacation, which will be kind of nice. Hitcher is being boarded at the kennel for the week, and the kitties are enjoying their own dog-free vacation.

I got home from Walla Walla yesterday to discover that someone had gotten a hold of my credit card # and charged ~$2500 to my card yesterday, so it's been a bit of a hassle to deal with that. All in all, I've called three different customer service numbers and talked to about ten people, but I think I've gotten it all taken care of now. These people definitely need to work on their customer service skills. It seems to me that it should be easier than this.

women's racing

I finally got some racing in my legs this past weekend, although both races were very frustrating, in different ways. I really wasn't surprised when I had no snap in my legs on Saturday, as it has been about three weeks since I last raced, and most of my time since then has been off the bike. I fell off of the pack early on and rode in with two other women. It was a good training ride in nice weather, so it was still a worthwhile race to do. I can't be too frustrated since I was sick for a week immediately after Redlands and then threw my back out immediately after that.

Sunday's race was more fun for me overall since I felt better on the bike and was actually able to "play" a little bit, rather than just trying to hang on. I found the tactics of some other teams a bit shady, so that made the race frustrating. At one point, I bridged up to a woman from another team who was off the front. I looked back and we had a good gap, and both of our teams were slowing down the pack, while the other teams weren't chasing at all. I told this woman we should go and work together because I thought we could have stayed off. She, however, would not work with me and we were both caught. I really think our teams would have gotten first and second, or at least had a good chance of it, if only she would have worked with me; instead, neither of our teams won. Why did she refuse to work with me? Not sure honestly. She said it was because she wanted to go for the prime. Hmmmm... I'd rather try to win overall than walk home with a new pair of socks, but I guess that's just me. This is the problem with women's racing (or women in general, really) - cattiness.

I have new confirmation that I am getting older, in the form of glasses. My eyes have finally gotten bad enough that I need correction for things like driving and watching tv. When I made the appointment for the opthamologist, I also made an appointment for my family doctor for the same morning; I really don't like going to the doctor, so I figured I'd get it all done at once.

I had the eye appointment first and then went to the other appointment. I had the impression throughout my second appointment that my doctor was looking at me strangely, so I decided to make a comment when I was leaving about how bright the lights are after you've had your eyes dilated. He said, "You know, I was wondering. I noticed your pupils were dilated, but I was thinking you couldn't possibly be a drug user. I'm really glad you said something." So am I. Otherwise, my chart would have a note about my possible drug use. I'm still surprised that he didn't ask me about it, especially since he's been my doctor for years.

Sleepy hound dog.

The Cats and the Hound

My back is slightly better today, though it has tightened up as the day has gone on. I'm not sure about racing this weekend, but we'll see how much better I am by then. If all else fails, I'll dogsit while Ted is racing.

Hitcher is doing pretty well. We took him to the vet for a check-up this afternoon. He's still a bit underweight and the vet thinks his growth was stunted from being so malnourished as a puppy; he has very big paws for his size, so he probably would have been bigger if he had a proper puppyhood. She guesstimates that he's about a year old, as he has all of his adult teeth, but we're going to keep him on puppy chow for a while to give him more calories. As of now, he weighs about 32 or 33 pounds, so while he's long/tall, he really is very skinny. Poor little guy. He also probably has tape worms right now, so I just gave him his worm treatment with his dinner. I'm guessing he'll feel better in the next couple days. I'll just try not to look when he poops for a couple days; given my violent gag reflex, it could get ugly.

He met the resident pregnant cat at the vet clinic and really reacted pretty positively to her. He definitely wanted to get closer and meet her face-to-face, but his body language was not aggressive. She managed to swat him across the nose when he got really close and he looked completely perplexed.

Both Shamus and Pazza ventured down to the bottom of the stairs last night, so I think they are becoming a little more curious. It honestly seems like they talk it over upstairs and take turns coming down to check things out. Pretty funny.

Hitcher also met mom and dad's Schnauzer, Gretel, yesterday. It didn't go as smoothly as we had hoped. It began with Gretel barking at Hitcher and then Hitcher began barking (really howling since his barks are howls). It was hysterical to see the two of them barking at each other. People walking by in the park were getting a good laugh over it.

My spastic back

Here is my back. I am leaning a bit more to the front now, and slightly less to the side. The spasms in my back are causing me to have horrible posture. Hitcher, the pound pup, isn't so great at walking on a leash yet, so it is really tough on me to walk him right now. Ted has very nicely taken him for his walks the past two days. Thanks Ted!

Hitcher

It's been a very busy few days here. We picked up the new pup, Hitcher, on Saturday afternoon. He's a very sweet dog, who is content to just curl up in your lap. Considering his background of being lost and starving, and then shuffled around from place to place, it's amazing he's the good fella he is.

I'm still worried about the kitties, but I think it'll all work. Upstairs has been turned into "kitty safe zone," where Hitcher is not allowed to go. The cats can come downstairs if they choose, but he cannot follow them upstairs. Both Shamus and Pazza ventured down on Saturday, but they've been upstairs ever since. On the plus side, they are totally fine with us. When Pazza first came here, Shamus seemed angry at us and wanted nothing to do with us, but that's not the case this time. I'm really anxious for them all to meet and get along.

My back started bothering me yesterday afternoon and got worse as last night progressed. By the time I went to bed last night, I could barely walk! I have absolutely no idea what I did to it, but it is not happy. When I looked in the mirror this morning, I saw that I am totally leaning to one side. I had spastic scoliosis a couple years ago when I crashed, and I have it again now. I look ridiculous. I can barely get around today and feel like a cripple, so I have a feeling today will consist of sitting around. Bummer! I just got a new training schedule and was all ready to go riding today.

Hitcher's curled up next to me. I have to admit that he's pretty cute, and it's really been funny to watch him suck up to Ted. Ted's never had a dog before, but I think he's starting to bond with Hitcher. Tee-hee!