I have ordered an ATV, a Polaris Ranger. Today, Ed and Emily, our neighbors on Henkle Way, removed the trailer parked in the middle spot of the garage. Ed moved the canopy that was on Uncle Matt's truck to the top of the garage. Perfect! Now there will be room for my NEW ATV. I'm going to insist that anyone who drives it wear a hard hat, so we will look like
p
ro
f
essionals in the timber industry, and/or become known as famous farmers! Why does this k
2eyboard do that!!?? It is so un-nerving! By now. I give up! Love, Bopcha
After a week or two of cloudy skies and rain, we are having a glorious and sunny fall (for the moment, anyway). I don't get to experience all of its glory, but last night my book club and I met at one of the member's lake front home and sat out under the stars and the sliver of a moon. It was reminiscent of nights at Camp Easter Seal.
Tonight we are going to a volley ball game. I hope Seattle U wins! The season started out great, but we've lost most of our conference games so I think we will just get to be spoilers from now on. It's fun to watch Noah's girlfriend, Haley, regardless of whether SU wins or loses. (You can see I'm grasping for a silver lining!)
We think about Ambassador every day. I hope the healing process is uneventful.
I can't wait to meet Tory's new kitten, "Gobi." He sounds like a pistol.
This is what Ambassador's break looks like. It's a picture of his right hind leg. You can see the cancer at the end of the long bone. If you look closely, you can also see the fibula that was broken into two pieces and some fragments. The fibula is a very small thin bone, so you must look closely.
Thanks for the good words and hopes for him. We are hoping for the best, but are also trying to prepare ourselves for his life as a three-legged dog. Boo hoo.
The gang is getting together this Sunday to be regaled with Tory's travels. Part of the appeal will be a food fest, but the real draw is the excitement of hearing of far away places some of us will never have the courage to visit.
Noah's classes have started back up. He is taking Pre-Calculus for Business Majors (5 hours); Macro Economics (5 hours); and History (5 hours). He had his basketball physical today. Hope he passes. He's been informally scrimmaging with the team daily and says it feels pretty good.
Jessica is working away at The Limited. She comes home pretty beat. Smiling at customers all day must be taxing! She and a couple of buddies plan on getting an apt. soon, but I'm not sure where they are in their search.
Ambassador is in our thoughts constantly. Hope all turns out favorably for our very special boy.
I do not have an ATV yet. It seems the salesman at Smuckers sold me one on paper, and now finds he does not have one in stock. Oh my, I thought I was such a good customer, and he was such a nice salesman!!! Do I always have to learn the hard way that 'niceness' is not always the way to get things done! Gerald calls me each night and tells me he is "looking".
The bridge is so pretty. I'm tempted to paint it pink or yellow to make it stand out. Maybe stripes would be pretty.
There are lots of apples on the ground. The deer are just not doing their job eating all the fallen apples. I was at the farm this morning and was mildly surprised at how the latest batch of chickens have grown. Fred is the smallest in his group, and Ginger is the smallest in her group. Bitten is the senior chicken of them all.
Tory must be in the air by this time. She's going to be exhausted but no doubt exhilerated to be home again. I'll bet it will take more than just one 12 hour snooze to get her back to feeling normal!!
During the prelims, Nitro and Tornado tied for first place in open class. Bic, the single field champion competing, also matched their score. During the open class finals, Nitro prevailed--although Tom and I both believed Tornado's course looked more like a winner. They didn't run against each other, either in the prelims or the finals. Then came the best of breed (BoB) run: Nitro vs Bic, the field champion. Watching the course thru the lens of my camera (sort of like looking through a soda straw), I thought that Bic had accomplished the better race. As I walked toward the owner to tell her congrats, she beat me to the punch and shouted "Congrats on Nitro's win." I wanted to leap for joy. Such a sweet little boy.
Ambassador won the Grand National in 2004. The races Friday (which I missed), Saturady, and today are all in preparation for the Grand National Best in Field run in which all the BoB runners compete, 3 at a time, over a course of 1 mile. It's really a strenuous, ardurous test of the hound's condition and desire--especially since each of the BoBs have to run 3 courses of 800 yards each today to qualify. Of course, if Tornado were to win BoB today, then both would be elibible for the Grand National mile. I think, if that were the case, we'd select one or the other (the one best fit) to run but not both.
To: Murray Thompson; Nikole Y. Krause-Thompson; Tom & KC & the ZoiBoyz; Drew Skinner
Subject: Off to Houston!
Hey Family! My flight for Houston leaves in just a few hours but I have had a fabulous time in Paris, easing back into the Western lifestyle. After checking into my hotel, I caught the train into the city and headed straight for Notre Dame. Beautiful and awe inspiring! The weather was overcast and misty but the drum beats of the streets perked everyone up -- yes, that's right, drum beats as I stumbled upon an actual parade of house music DJs, with over 50 of them battling it out in the streets leading to the cathedral. I walked the length of the parade, sampling 1 euro pieces of the most amazing foods: a small eggroll here, a dumpling there, a sugar cookie, chocolate morsel, capping it off with a slice of proper pepperoni and mushroom pizza. Oh my goodness. HEAVEN!!! Back at the hotel, I literally crashed into bed, and slept without interruption for 12 straight hours. Probably not the best thing to do before a long transatlantic flight but let me tell you, it felt like the best night's sleep I've had in ages!
Will try to email from Houston or call, to let you know I'm safe and that I'm back on the continent.
This year's "Other Breed Nationals" will be held just 13 miles from downtown Philadelphia this year!! This is the same race that we went to in British Columbia last year. Kay, Dee and familiy, plus the twins and Nikole helped us out last year. It was like a mini-reunion with job assignments!! This year, we hope that Sid and Sandra will be on scene to watch the fun and handle the hounds. We expect that there will be a bigger entry in NJ than there was in BC last year.
The date is the weekend of 23 October. I can't remember the name of the village. Either Tom or I will be driving there--right now, I think it will be me (KC) since I have no job at the moment and can get away easilly.
I think we'll be bringing 3--Ambassador's babies Nitro and Tornado and Kiev, Bonne Chance's little boy. IF Kazan toe looks good--and we have the help of Sid and Sandra--we might bring him as well. He won last year and it would be fun to see him try again this year, but only if his toe looks ok.
To: Murray Thompson; zoiboyz@elpasotel.net; Drew Skinner; Nikole Y. Krause-Thompson
Subject: Lovely paris!
Hey everyone! I've made it to lovely (albiet smoggy and rainy!) Paris. Internet time is darn expensive and keyboard is only barely qwerty but I wanted to send a very brief note to let you know Im safe and soun and on my way home! I had a marvelous time shopping in marrakesh, and picked upsome local gems-- as well as some pretty entertaining tourist crap. I gotta go, running out of euro coins. Im going to try to overnight at hotel Ibis (chain, like super near the airport. If they have internet then I will email later from there, k?
To: Tom & KC & the ZoiBoyz; Murray Thompson; Nikole Y. Krause-Thompson; Drew Skinner
Subject: Greetings and salutations!
hello everyone and greetings from Marrakesh ! This place is supposed to be the retail therapy capital of the world, so I am definitely looking forzard to winding my way thru the street performers, snake charmers, dentists, henna painting people and etc to get to the souks and serious business of bargaining -- I just have to make sure not to stray too far from a public facility....! Im looking forward to the tumble of smells and sounds and sights -- is supposed to be unique to the world and not to be missed!!
I have to tell you the mountain village I stayed in zas an absolute dream. It is populated zith approx 95 families and has only had electricity since the early 2000s. They continue use their central oven for each familyùs individual bqkery needs, plus the public hamman for bathing. There zere no stores or shops, just a mosque and a small school for the elementary age set. The village is set into the side of a mountain and the trek there left us pretty tuckered -- two in our group rented mules at 50 dirham or about 6 dollars -- but I took my chances on foot. We gained perspective as we walked, ascending from the valley into the mountains, being passed on the trail by locals burdened with enormous stacks of grass and straw, small children as young as 5 or 6 driving goats and sheep, and others on donkeys. The eveningùs entertainment program took the form of a group of 6 local girls who sang for us -- they made up for tunelessness by sheer exuberence, but couldnùt always remember the words in their excitement. Their tag-a-long younger brothers provided the dance portion of the program. The youngest at around 3 will be a break dancer before he is a ballet star. What a total delight!!
After we hiked back down from the village I asked my tour group to drop me directly in marrakesh , rather than continuing to the coast for two days before they will finally make their way here. I have been able to get a good deal zith expedia out of Casablanca, and my existing ticket from Paris to the States changed for a nominal fee. The itineraryùs not great but will still get me home earlier and in plenty of time to get all my excellent pics developed and share details of my adventures! As much as Iùve enjoyed the ups and downs of this exciting and bumpy adventure, the draw of my own pillow, in my very own bed, -- not to mention cottony soft toilet paper --is irresistible!!
Hereùs my revised itinerary:
9/16 Luftanza flight 4117 leaving Casa at 1250am Switch in Frankfurt to 4210 arriving Paris at 835am; spend night in paris then
9/17 Air France flight 38 leaving Paris at 355 pm, arriving Houston at 735 pm; quick night in Houston -- zhere I hope to eat mcdonalds -- then
9/18 Delta flight at 745am arriving Seattle at 1019am -- HOME!!
I zill try to catch an earlier flight to Seattle out of Houston to avoid the 12 hour layover but Iùm not too bummed to NOT have three long flights all stacked up on top of eachother like they zere zhen I flez out here.
anyzay, thatùs it! I zill spend one more night in Marrakesh then tomorrow morning will make my way by train to Casa, and will fly out that night, right after midnight. Thank you so much for your lovely notes and letters! Cant wait to shoz you all the goodies and pics from my adventures!
I gotta go, running out of euro coins. Im going to try to overnight at hotel Ibis (chain, like super 
near the airport. If they have internet then I will email later from there, k?