Mid-Week

I have mastered time travel.

No kidding, I have. This morning I happened to look at the clock and it said 8:15 am. After a brief interlude of looking away and then back again to the clock, it then said 9:30 am! Obviously I have only just begun to unlock the secrets of time travel as first revealed in the movie "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. How odd I be given this gift.....

The Wife has been having coughing fits the last few days and it's really been wearing her out. Imagine feeling like you've been repeatedly punched in the chest about 200-300 times a day and just maybe you'll get an idea. It's NOT swine flu! I haven't heard her oink yet but I don't think that's a symptom anyway...right? She's getting better but will skip the local triathlon this Sunday. She could finish it but it wouldn't be to her satisfaction and she would take the risk of aggravating her illness again. Who needs that?

The guest bathroom is starting to look pretty good. All that's left now is getting the mirror up (after we get it cut to size) and a new medicine cabinet. I still have lots of touch-up to do but it's looking sharp. I'll post photos in a few days.

Got in an interval workout with one of the Centenary kids this afternoon and she did pretty good. Jonathan came by to get his pedals but he's still waiting for a bike he wants to arrive at the bike shop. Doesn't matter since he's studying for finals and doesn't have time to ride. The first year of the cycling club went about as I expected except that we did a national triathlon race and no conference cycling race, which was opposite of what I thought we'd do this year. At least we did something and I hope we are supported enough to continue into next year. Even if we weren't I think we'd continue the club anyway and find other means of financial support through sponsors and donors (I'm going to do that anyway!). Now we just need to grow the club next year...I'd like to have 20 members by the spring semester.

Anzac Day in the States

Well, admittedly, Australia's Anzac Day isn't celebrated here probably for the same reasons that the Fourth of July isn't celebrated in Oz. But to all my buds Down Under I hope you had a good holiday.

Hard ride this morning...got in about 78 miles all told and I hope I can walk tomorrow! I haven't done a long hard ride in several weeks and I was just hoping I could knock out about 50 and do real well at that. But apparently I had a good day and had more energy than I thought I would start out with. It was still hard to hang on to the group and thankfully a couple of flat tires from other riders allowed some of us a chance to get our breath back and recover a bit. Tomorrow I should be conducting a ride with a few of the kids from the Centenary cycling club and it should be a tad easier, maybe 25 miles tops at a slightly more sane pace.

Farley had been gone a week now and I'm still having my moments where I find myself thinking about him when I notice the emptiness in the house. My feelings on the whole episode are getting easier to deal with, as I expected, but it'll be a long while before things are "normal". I told Jonnene what makes this tougher for me than with the death of a person is that you don't really "talk" to a pet like you do a person. You can't express your feelings verbally to the pet....it's all gestures, sounds, actions, and enviroment. It's like, even as he was dying, I couldn't get on the phone to tell him anything like a last chance to tell him how good it was to have him in my life so he'd know before he left. Thing was he probably already knew that.

The next couple of weeks will be busy ones. We're planning to go out of town for our third anniversary celebration and, like all trips, there's so much to do before you leave. I'm starting to dread it already. The guest bathroom is getting closer to being finished, got the wainscot up and will need to put in the chair railing trim. Then it's a medicine cabinet to get and a mirror to put up and it's practically done. Pictures to come.

Lubbock Triathlon

Don't worry, this won't be an All-Farley-All-The-Time blog although I'll most likely talk about him from time to time. The house still doesn't feel right but things will get better. I've no doubt about that.

Last night's Tuesday Night Worlds went better for me than I expected since I hadn't been on the bike since last Thursday morning. I stayed with the main group for the first five miles and it was fast. I showed a top speed of 36.7 mph at one point and another time I went to the front and chased down Jason who had gone off on a little flyer. But just before the crossroads my legs had had enough and I dropped off the back. I need to get back into a regular ride pattern and get my endurance back! I caught up with Jon and Brian and the three of us pushed on at a pretty brisk pace. Later we caught Paul which ramped up the speed a little more. At the end Brian and I added some extra miles and I ended up with 44 miles all told at a nice 20.1 mph average. We did get a little lazy toward the end!

This past weekend Jonnene and I were in Lubbock, Texas at the National Collegiate Triathlon Championships where we took two students from Centenary College to participate. Aside from the crisis at home with Farley, it was a great weekend to see all these young folks from all over the country representing their schools in a sporting event NOT sanctioned by the NCAA. This is not unusual...there are other sports like water skiing that are not recognized by the NCAA but that doesn't keep these events from happening. USATriathlon was the sanctioning body for this race.

We arrived at Buffalo Springs Lake, site of the race, on Friday after lunch after spending the night in Fort Worth, Texas. Our two racers, Jacquelyn and Jonathan, had to spend some time in the lake in their wetsuits to get a feel for the cold 58-degree water (which you won't find me in!) and ride their bikes over part of the bike course. Then it was off to race registration and the pre-race meeting late in the afternoon. We had dinner at the local Outback restaurant where I usually tease Jonnene about how it feels like we're actually in Australia (she just rolls her eyes at me). We were joined by Jacquelyn's boyfriend, Keith, and his parents who were just marvelous people to get to know. Keith was doing an Olympic invitational triathlon after the college race (he would finish 24th overall).

After we got back to the hotel I worked on the bikes and then we got word that something was wrong with Farley. We stayed on the phone monitoring the situation until we got the word around 11:30 pm that he had died. Jonnene and I spent a lot of time out in the hallway during all this so the kids could sleep. I hardly got any sleep and would spend most of the next 24 hours awake on will power alone.

We got up at 4 am Saturday morning, packed up everything and headed out to the race site about 20 minutes away. It was 38 degrees and everyone was rugged up for the cold! After number markings and prepping the transition area, we finally started getting some sun and some warmth as Jacquelyn and Jonathan did their warmups and got their wetsuits on. Then their races began and I stood off to the side, worried and hopeful, since I had arranged all this and hoping that they were prepared enough to survive such a hard test. We knew they wouldn't place in this race and looked at it as preparation for next year when this race will be held at this same location. The main thing was for them to learn.

Well, they survived! And they did well, staying within themselves and raced smart based on their level of experience. Maybe they did listen to everything Jonnene and I had told them? Jacquelyn finished the Olympic distance event 513th overall (135th of 269 women) in 3:00:11 and Jonathan, in his third ever triathlon, finished 545th (310th of 366 men) in 3:04:24 among the 736 total finishers. The winner, from UC-Berkley, said it was one of the hardest courses he had ever completed in.

Jacquelyn talks about her race with Jonnene as she tries to get her legs back.

It was a great experience, both for them and for me. I'm hoping we can get more students from Centenary to come next year.

Follow-ups and Other Things

In happier times: Sophie and Farley chow down on some rawhide treats.

This morning Jonnene and I walked Sophie around the neighborhood. I took Farley's collar and leash with me to represent him on the walk. Yeah, I kept his collar...I figured, you came into this world naked, you should go out naked. And it was something for me to keep and remember him by. He'd worn it for almost 9 years and its red color was quite faded now. I'll probably carry the collar & leash on most of our walks for now but eventually I'll stop. Or maybe not. Who knows?

Anyway, we got home late Saturday night and Farley was laid out on his bed in the laundry room, looking like he was asleep. Jamie had brought him back from the emergency vet's office when we told her we wanted him so we could bury him. The house was very cold, set that way by Jamie to help preserve his body until we could bury him on Sunday morning. I rubbed his head and played with his left ear that was up in the air as if he had heard us come in. I told him that it was good to see him and that we missed him and that I was sad that this would be the last night we'd spend together in the house.

From what we've been told by my mom and from Jamie, and later today by my veterinarian, Farley's death was unavoidable. It looks like there was a series of strokes that did him in. Without going into a lot of details (which I might do in later posts), he didn't seem to have suffered much and probably didn't experience much pain. The strokes paralyzed his hind quarters and slowly worked their way up his body over the last few hours of his life. His organs began to shut down until the end when he probably was already unconscious when the stroke finally got to his brain (he had a seizure prior to that). Jamie had brought him to her house and we're sure he was comfortable being around people and other dogs he knew. The important thing was that he wasn't alone and I've been told that it was probably a good thing that I wasn't there for all that. I believe they're right but I always wanted my face to be the last one that Farley would see in the end and that didn't happen.

We buried the Farbar in the back yard of my old house in Bossier City. He lived there for 11 of his 13 years so it was a familiar locale and it was right that he end up there. He had a spot between the house and the storage shed where, for many years, he would scratch his back by laying on his back in the grass and flipping side-to-side, grunting as he did so. He'd leave these perfect little "crop circles" and the flatten grass would stay that way all summer. So I put him there because that part of the yard gave him the most pleasure. Jonnene and I wrapped him up in an old red blanket and I cut some hair from the scruff of his neck to keep, then took off his collar. Mom and Jim came over before we covered him up so they could pay their respects. As we filled in the hole, I laid the last shovel-full of dirt that would completely cover the blanket from our sight. At that point he was totally gone from us and I had to cry a bit.

Okay, so the house is now empty and Farley's absence just hangs over the place. Jonnene feels it. Her dog, Sophie, and the cat, Taz, also feel it. Taz has been making these moaning types of mews, and Sophie has been mostly sleeping in the middle of the bare floor. They know things are different and Sophie probably knows it more since she saw the whole thing from the beginning and it's too bad that she can't talk to tell us how it all started. As for me, I've found it hard to stand up straight all day and it's not from all the digging I did Sunday. I can feel sadness weighing all over me though I feel okay otherwise. Talking to the vet helped a lot and I know that there was nothing that any of us could have done to prevent this. That makes it easier to deal with, that it's nobody's fault...there was no coulda's, woulda's or shoulda's that would have made a difference. The thing to take from all this is that Farley made a difference in my life and I hope I made a difference in his.

Of course, the absence was really driven home when Jonnene drove in from work today and Sophie jumped up to greet her at the door as she usually does (and as Farley used to). I said, "Mommy's home, Far-.....Sophie." It came out of my mouth so naturally. Jonnene even remarked that it seemed strange to be greeted by only one dog, that it wasn't right.

By the way, I will eventually get to our trip to Lubbock. Lots to tell there and my Centenary kids did a great job. I'm not going to overlook them so they'll be in my next post.

He Will Be Loved

Farley

January 15, 1996 - April 17, 2009

He's gone. We were out of town when it happened. Many thanks to my Mom and to Jamie and Ryan for all they could do. We can never thank them enough for the love and efforts to help one of the greatest creatures I've ever known. I'll have more later but we're home now and I'll bury him at the old house in the morning. I've done a lot of crying in the meantime and Jonnene has been at my side to support me. Both of us miss him and that spot in the den looks very empty without the FarBar there wagging his tail and perking up his ears to greet us.

He's running with the other dogs in heaven now and he's strong and young again. I hope he misses me, too.

Farley gives me a small scare

Farley tolerates Taz claiming a spot on his bed.

"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." - Roger Caras

It's been a busy week. My faithful dog, Farley, has been having trouble getting around quite suddenly over the last couple of weeks and I finally took him to the vet on Tuesday. I was worried...he's 13 years and 3 months old which is getting on there for a Black Lab. His geriatric checkup was due in May but this was a reason to move it up a month. I left him at the vet's office and I realized that I was extremely sad and getting quite emotional over this. I was wondering if the vet would find something wrong enough that we might be dealing with Farley's last days and it really got to me. He called me and said he was going to take some x-rays of Farley's hips and, depending on what he found, we'd talk "about the future". That put me in a funk the rest of the day. I tried to stay busy but after lunch all I could do was pace about the house, look out the windows, and try to keep from crying. I've known Farley since he was six weeks old and I know he won't last forever. I started writing about him to keep me busy...reads pretty good so far.

"Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring -- it was peace." – Milan Kundera

So my vet calls about 3pm and he's got good news but not great news. It's definitely hip dysplasia, a common ailment among larger dogs although small ones can get it, too. I come over to his office to see the x-rays and he pointed out that Farley's right hip is real good and that's a plus. However, his left hip is practically bone-on-bone and the socket is getting worn out with barely half of the ball of his femur inside the socket. So, we're going to keep him on medication to reduce the inflamation and pain for the next two weeks and then see how it goes.

"The biggest dog has been a pup." - Joaquin Miller

So I took him home and after a couple of days he seems more active with the pain meds but the long walks are a thing of the past. I can't take him out for more than 10 minutes a day max for now. His bloodwork came in and he's very healthy for a 13-year-old...no liver problems, no heart problems, kidneys are fine, and a few extra white blood cells but that's probably because of the inflamation in the hip. In other words, except for a nearly bum leg he's in good shape. The nice thing about the right hip being good is that he's got something he can still stand on. So by the end of the day, I was in a much better mood. My sadness had been lifted and I was giving Farley lots of lovin' and a few extra treats.

"The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man's." - Mark Twain

But I tell ya, when that terrible time comes someday (and it'll be sooner than later), I don't know if I'll be ready. I really love that dog and I'll miss him.

"You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us." - Robert Louis Stevenson

Staying Focused

So, this evening I spent about two hours with 19 other people watching snipets of local TV news and weather....where we all commented on what we saw, wrote out our impressions, and had some great cookies and finger sandwiches!! I was part of a "focus group" arranged by the advertising company that a friend of mine runs (see the baseball game entry from last week). It was an easy fifty bucks for my opinion on the state of the local news programming in Shreveport-Bossier City. I was brutally honest with my assessments and I enjoyed the cookies very much, thank you.

This morning I was finally able to force myself out of bed to do the 5:50 morning bike ride. There were seven of us out there and the wind. was. quite. noticeable. But we pushed thru it and actually sweated out there...well, it was warm enough...'bout time. There's supposed to be some storms coming thru tonight and you can hear the wind moving the tops of the trees around. So we were getting the beginnings of that during the ride. Maybe I can ride tomorrow morning if it's not raining and wet outside.

Last night we had the first of the local time trial series to get 2009 off the ground. There were 18 folks who came out to ride the "new" course...it's new because the original course currently has too much traffic (re: gas rig trucks and frak trucks) and recent road repairs have actually made the road worse. So, for safety's sake, we went back to a course we used briefly in 2005 for the same reasons. The Wife made it out there to ride and though she finished 17th her average speed of over 21 mph was pretty good. She'll just get better.

Riding Again

Finally...finally...got back out on the bike again this morning. I hadn't been on the road since Tuesday Worlds and now I was going to do a long ride of 60+ miles. I needed it, I don't think I'd done a ride of longer than 50 miles in the last 4-5 weeks and that's pathetic if you ask me. Plus taking time off after busting my foot at the duathlon really dropped my endurance levels and it showed.

I rode from the house (which gives about 10-12 extra miles to my ride) and arrived at the church parking lot in time for the Saturday morning start. Our group was heading to Keatchie where some of the stronger riders were going to do the Deadwood Loop for a nearly 100 mile ride while others were doing the Four Forks Loop to get around 62 miles. I intended to do the Four Forks but I knew I wouldn't be in the main group the whole time. I wasn't disappointed...I finally got dropped about 25 miles into the ride when I made a chase after Jason and dragged the whole peloton with me. That took a lot out of me and when we climbed the hill soon after, I wasn't able to hang on. I rode the rest of the way to Keatchie on my own, stopped at the intersection there for a moment where John rode up to me. He had been dropped just a bit before I was. So the rest of the way we rode together but didn't talk much...he had his iPod plugged into both ears which I'm not too wild about. If you're going to ride with music, put an earbud in your right ear but leave the left ear open so you can hear traffic and other riders. Or when your gears aren't lined up right and making noise!

After passing the Keithville elementary school we wre held up by a flagman at a road construction site and we were joined by The Wife, Jonnene, and some of the local bike club members who had been traveling a shorter route but coming back the same way we were. After we got past the construction John, Jonenne, and I left everyone else and booked it back in. I turned to ride back to the house while she turned to go to the car at the church. I ended up with 72 miles all told with an even 20 mph average after a high of about 24 mph in the first third of the ride. Yeah, I kinda slowed down a bit after I got dropped by the pack! After a bit of rest at the homestead, the two of us went out to spend money at Home Depot and Lowe's, do some grocery shopping, and pick up a few things around town.

Tomorrow we're riding again, doing hill repeats up at Rocky Mount, and then I have to meet some of the Centenary kids for a ride in the afternoon. When I get back home, I'm going to lay on the couch and sleep for a while!!

At The Ballpark

It was a great night to go to a baseball game last night.

Michael, a friend who has an advertising agency here in town, and I went to Monroe Wednesday night to see my beloved ULM Warhawks play the Mississippi State University Bulldogs in an out-of-conference game at Warhawk Field on the ULM campus. Michael graduated from MSU as did I from ULM and the two of us have made it a tradition to go to any game that the two schools play against each other that's within driving distance. Counting last night, we have been to three baseball games and one basketball game over the last 8 years. We have a great time but usually Mississippi State wins the games.

Until last night. The Warhawks broke a 1-1 tie game pitcher's duel with six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat the Southeastern Conference team 7-1. The story to the game is HERE. I didn't gloat but it was hard to hide my glee from Michael. Overall, we had a good time as usual, sitting in reserved seats midway up the stands on the first base line. We had our game caps on and sat in front of another MSU graduate who lived in Winnfield. He ended up catching a foul ball that arced over into the stands, bounced over us and the guy stretched out backwards to catch it...a really good catch! We were also part of the 5th largest crowd to see a Warhawk home game with 3,673 in attendance. Five of the six largest crowds were here when LSU came to play...not much of a surprise.

The "Left Field Lounge" area of Warhawk Field,
part of the large crowd on hand.

Well, the windows are in an finished for the most part. I have to do the painting on the casings...one of the ways we're trying to save money on this job...and we'll have to get new blinds. The glass area on these new windows is larger than the old ones and we weren't expecting that, so the old blinds are about 2" too narrow. That's an expense we weren't expecting but it has to be done. The new windows look great and really enhances the look of the house from the street. Now we'll see if they save us any money on our heating and cooling bills! There's a tidbit of work left to be done in the guest bathroom by the wall guy and then I can dive in to finish up the renovation there. I'm actually anxious to get on with the painting and attaching the wainscot paneling. It's going to look really nice when it's done and it shouldn't take me that long to do it. We still have to decide on a medicine cabinet and on how we want to hang the mirror. We're going to use the mirror from the master bath but we haven't decided how to frame or hang it yet.

I ventured out to Tuesday Night Worlds to see what my fitness was like after all this time off the bike (well, I did ride Saturday thru Monday but those were short rides) and to see how my foot would hold up under real pressure. I ended up doing alright, got in about 30 miles of hard riding but, yeah, I need to build my endurance back up. It'll be tough to do in April since I'll be spending a lot of time with the Centenary kids at races. May will have to be my big training month to where I'll look at doing some races in June and July.