Chapter 2-adventures with Chuck(y)...

OK-this has nothing to do with triathlon really but is an interesting story, at least to me.

Yep, the dog is still loose wandering the neighborhood. I finally met our neighbor, the Millers. I didn't want to alienate her by insulting her sign so I chatted with her. She is very nice actually and told us the scoop on "Chuck". He bought the land-that's right-he actually owns the property he is inhabiting..worst news..However there are covenants that say he has to build something within 2 years. Two years of looking at that trailer/shanty scene? Ohhhhh-Nooooo...They are upset too, more so really because he is right next to their home. Regarding the dogs-she hates it too. I guess "Chuck" broke his leg before Thanksgiving and has not been back since but someone-a friend I guess?-comes and feeds the dogs every once in awhile..
Well, I decided to take action. I called the local sheriff, the State police, the local vet, the local Animal Humane Assoc (no longer exists). All calls pointed to calling Animal Control in Espanola. I felt a real dilemma about this. I don't want any one's dogs destroyed-even if they aren't really pets. But they are still dogs and I am a dog lover. Geez-this sucks. But I called Animal Control and talked to them. I guess they can come get the animals and leave a note and the owner has 10 days..He doesn't have to know who called them. Of course i feel guilty too because the poor guy broke his leg. BUT the neighbor said the guy can be a real jerk and has gotten into it with her and he left his dogs out in minus 14 weather for goodness sake...
So "Sipi" the animal control officer is coming tomorrow morning to check out the situation..

I am officially the bad guy now so we could be screwed but it sounds like at least we have back-up. Mrs. Miller also said the neighbors down the road are appalled too. Looks like we may have a little neighborhood association being born..all over "Chuck(y)" and his dogs. Now I have to go and find a copy of our covenants. I have a love/hate relationship with covenants. We have gotten nasty letters from our "association" at home for leaving our garbage can within sight of the road-for heaven's sake. That is ridiculous! But now I can really see the value in having some parameters for neighborhood living..

What a way to start the New Year..

BTW-we ran 84 minutes today, keeping my HR below 132 ala Mark Allen style. I really will need to put my ego on the back burner for this kind of training-I can already see that. I ran a whopping 6 miles! Yes folks that is an average of 14/min. miles. "I am training my body to burn fat" is my new mantra..

Dilemma in the mountains..

We have a peaceful bit of heaven here. We bought the property in 1993 and have 13 acres of beautiful mountain land. We built the cabin in 1996 and have spent many happy, quiet weekends here the last few years. There are a few cabin homes sprinkled around the area. Nice log homes-everybody seems to be here either weekends or fulltime minding their own business. Well, you can imagine how thrilled we were when the new place next to our property placed a huge wooden Miller Beer bottle on the road at their property-I assume their name is either Miller or they own the brewing company. Never-the-less, it certainly has spoiled our nice quaint view coming up the road to our place. Although now we can say "oh we are the next driveway after the Miller bottle" I guess that the one positive is that it is a landmark of some kind. BUT-that is not the worst. A couple of months later a very old trailer arrived, sitting almost on the road, by this home and along with it a man, who I may describe as "non-traditional" I am trying not to be judgemental here but the guy has no teeth, long greasy hair and looks like someone from "Deliverance" Oh, and he has 2 pit bulls tied up to a line on a tree next to his "home" he also built an amazing (sarcastic tone) lean-to of blue canvas which looks a bit like one of those shanties in the homeless part of town. WELL, I thought when one of the scary pit bulls got off his chain this past Fall and tried to attack our very old dog right outside our cabin, I would take the high road and go meet this fellow. Hartley followed since he was afraid I would be killed. Well it turns out "Chuck" seemed fairly rational, was actually nice, got his dog back, apologized, said he was living there full time (we were thrilled) and waiting for his disability check..OK so he didn't' seem like a serial killer and he knows we are nice folks and all, right? Something about loving our enemies, or attracting something with honey comes to mind here.
That is not the worst of it...the drama continues..fast forward 3 months and here we are. "Chuck" is no where to be found but his dogs continue to be tied up to the trailer and god knows if or how often he comes back to feed them. They were outside all night in these minus 14 degree nights we have had, howling, barking. We are scared to get near them because they sound like they would kill Mocha, our dog and probably us if we did. Oh and "Chuck" told us one of them had put someone in a hospital with an attack (he felt bad about that). Hartley saw "Chuck's" vehicle there a couple of days ago so he must come back intermittently to feed them or they would be dead. NOW-one of the dogs is loose and running wild. This means we cannot run, walk our dog or generally walk anywhere for fear of attack. What are we to do? We are afraid if we call the sheriff or Animal Humane and they pick the dogs up, "Chuck" may stop taking his meds or whatever and burn down our cabin. Otherwise we are prisoners in our own home...Geez, I hate this..the other neighbors don't seem to be around for the past 8 days. So i think it would be obvious if we were the ones that called. Hartley just said he is calling the sheriff tomorrow if the dog is still loose. If anything happens to us, there is a guy named "Chuck" that I would suspect...Stay tuned for chapter 2 of the drama of the trailer guy and his pit bulls. The eventful life of mountain living is overwhelming!!

Oh, and I got to experience the "La Clinica" in Tierra Amarilla this AM. I have some female issues which were addressed there. i was actually impressed with the level of medical facility and care they have here in Chama Valley. The only annoying thing was the Nurse Practitioner's questions which had nothing to do with my problem. Oh well, hopefully problem solved with prescribed medication..They even have a pharmacy in Chama. Goodness-I guess we could actually live up here now-medical care and all! That is if we can get rid of the pit bulls.

2008-I can't wait!

OK so it is January 1st, 2008. We saw the New Year in last night as we watched via web cam the dropping of the ball in Times Square, New York-yes that was 10:00 our time but who cares? We were awake, which is important when celebrating the New Year. It is also H & my 15th wedding anniversary. So double celebration! We got married at midnight, in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Wedding Gardens at the stroke of midnight 15 years ago. We had all 4 girls with us, rode in a Limo to and from the chapel. It was a very sweet ceremony with a minister who actually seemed to care. Our friends Ken and Esther were our witnesses. After the ceremony Hartley & I went back to our honeymoon suite with a jacuzzi and well, you can guess the rest. Except we went out at 5:00 AM on the strip and walked down to breakfast. It was still chaos! New Years Eve on the Las Vegas strip is nothing you can imagine. At 5:00 AM it is like New Year's just happened. Celebrations galore and noise and music-something you have to experience at least once in life. We had a great breakfast on our wedding day. It was a fabulous way to start our new life with the kids. They played at Excalibur kid's zone the whole time. It was a memorable time. I'll scan in a picture when I get home..What a trip!

New Years goals so far:

1. To do Ironman Coeur d' Alene in June and Ironman Arizona with Hartley in November. I swore I would never do another Ironman and here I sit, signed up for two. I look forward to the training and planning. Let's face it-I am a IM junky! My daughter says we are in an Ironman cult. She is convinced we are sacrificing small animals in secret or something..

2. To learn about Buddhism. I am taking a class in the Spring.

3. Learn to knit. Taking a class for that too. This is to replace my disgusting habit of biting my nails, which is a habit I am giving up TODAY!!!

4. Reach out to friends in person more often.

5. Continue my quest of eating no sugar and no white flour..keep my fighting weight at 125. Except the rare occasion where I give myself a treat, like today-I am making blueberry pancakes and blueberry syrup for breakfast-YUM!

6. Weight/core training and yoga at least twice a week.

7. Stay positive, complain less, hug more, tell people I love how much I appreciate them and why.

8. Be a better sister-reach out more..

9. Stay in the moment more. Laugh, play more..be grateful..everyday is a gift and I need to remember that..

10. And last, but not least-probably a marathon but I am not competely sure I want to do a stand alone one. Perhaps a shorter triathlon or a few-haven't deciced which or where yet. I really want Hartley and I to cross that finish line together in Arizona in November. My dream-to be an Ironman couple! Now we pray/hope for no injuries or crisis to get in the way...

Happy New Year blogworld!!

Highlights of 2007..

1. I finally got back into the training/racing groove. I did PRs in a half IM, sprint, and Oly. I finished 3rd in the Southwest Triathlon Series, doing 12 races in all.

2. My mother-in-law finished chemotherapy and is in pretty good shape right now.

3. Got to see the whole family twice this fall. Too much fun-I love those little grand-kids. This is the payoff for all the work of parenting.

4. Got to travel to Phoenix, Costa Rica, Peru, St. Louis, Santa Cruz, Long Beach, Cancun, many places in New Mexico, Denver and even Lubbock & Alpine, Texas!

5. I served my Jury Duty for the decade. What a pain in the ass..

6. I had pretty much all of my body tested, ultrasounds and a biopsy and have a relatively clean bill of health. A few odds and ends of preventative medicine and I hope to stay that way.

7. We had a major flood at the cabin in Chama but got a remodel out of it and it is more beautiful than ever!

8. Hartley and I completed our first full year of "retirement" and have had the best year of our life/relationship. All the hard work and now it is harvest time-it is the best really.

9. I started blogging for the first time and it has opened a whole new world for me. I thought Geekgirl was a little off to be honest when she started talking about the blog thing until I started it. Now I can't stop! I have met some amazing peeps through all this. Plus I have a running diary of my life, which I cannot seem to remember much of these days. I get to keep up with the folks in triathlon land, even if I don't see them often.

10. I lost the last 8 lbs that I have been "lugging" around for a couple of years. I feel better than I have in 5 years. Maybe the hormones are finally settling down. Maybe menopause is over-yea!! No more hot flashes..

Goals for 2008 tomorrow..