The day Amos came to live with us

It was 93 degrees yesterday in Moses Lake.  I could use a few days away from the heat I thought I left in Virginia.  We were at the Blue Heron city park to meet Marilyn and Randie Gadberry. We'd invited Lucy to join us and she was a quiet, but concerned companion during our trip across the mountains. 

This photo simply doesn't do Amos justice.  He is a beautiful dog with unusual coloring and markings.

The Gadberrys arrived shortly after noon, as planned, with Amos.  Amos is a beautiful red merle with marbled eyes.  It was a trying day for him.  He was so scared he was shaking.  Leaving his home, in a car, being given to people far away from the family he'd always known was really hard for him.  He could scarcely get settled in the Subaru during the three hour drive home.

Lucy isn't wild about a new companion in the house.  She's snapped at him a couple of times, which has added to his discomfort.  I give him lots of attention, though this morning he seemed even more standoffish than ever.  It will take time, but I know we'll be friends.  We've already been for a morning walk and had breakfast. 

"What am I doing here??!!  It's too damned hot!!"  Lucy was an impatient passenger yesterday.

Home sweet home

Katie and her friend Napoleon outside her home in Columbia, Md.

We rolled home last night at about 2:00 in the morning.  It was a wonderful trip.  Except for the heat, I have nothing to complain about, and even at that, I was in an air conditioned environment most of the time. Except, of course, for my amazing outdoor adventures, and there were plenty of those.

Let me just recount this trip for a moment.  Lorri and I left on the 26th for a family vacation that had three parts.  1) Spend three days in Baltimore on the inner harbor, 2) travel to Charlottesville, Virginia for niece Katie Valliere's wedding and share a house for three days with brother in law Paul Miller and Pat and Michelle, 3) wrap up with three days with friends John Valliere and Shirley Hottot in northern Virginia.  Sounds like fun, right?  A bit of travel with the family element included.

Son Patrick, bride Katie, and brother in law Paul Miller share smiles on Katie's big night

Daughter in law Michelle and niece Alex laugh it up at the wedding.

First, let's talk about the wedding.  Katie is my wife's niece.  A 23 year old beauty, marrying an amusing 26 year old cop, Dan, who clearly loves her.  Funny, smart, driven to be successful, and owners of an awesome pug named Napoleon, they are meant to be together.  The wedding was scheduled for outdoors in the Charlottesville piedmont.  Katie contacted me a year ago about officiating at the ceremony, something I haven't done since this blog began.  Unfortunately, Virginia law simply made it impossible, so I became the official reader.  Despite the fact the venue lost all power because of the massive storm that passed rapidly through the area the night before the big doings, the wedding was a huge success, and the kids and their many attending friends and family will always remember it.

A look at the Md. Rte 1 bridge across the Anacostia, the likely crossing place for the British at Bladensburg.

Memorial to the Marines at Bladensburg inside Fort Lincoln Cemetery

Battle of North Point state parkland near Baltimore.

The masts of the USS Constellation at historic Baltimore seaport.

USS Torsk, WWII submarine

My goal was always to be a good soldier and do whatever was required of me, but to sneak in some history adventures when possible.  When we rolled into Baltimore on Tuesday the 26th, we had few plans, but I had already talked Lorri into letting me take Wednesday on the road to visit War of 1812 sites.  I've explained that day on my companion blog.  It was a wonderful day, and really stoked the fire to see more battlefields if at all possible.  During our Charlottesville stay, I made it out to New Market in the Shenandoah Valley.  When we made it to John and Shirley's it was Chancellorsville and Manassas (First Bull Run.)

Frank Robinson statue in Camden Yards

Greeting fans at Pfitzner Park, home of the Peninsula Pilots

Baseball is baseball, and the 4th of July game between the Fredrick Keys and Peninsula Nationals was no different

Yours truly and Lorri outside Phillips on Baltimore's inner harbor.

My other great love, baseball, was also remembered.  I've recounted my trip to Camden Yards, which was truly wonderful.  It's a great park.  John is from New Hampshire and a huge Red Sox fan.  I respect his love for his home town team, which is far more genuine than the bandwagon fans of Puget Sound.  He's also become attached to the Nationals, and on the fourth of July we went off to see the Peninsula Nationals, a high A team, with my nieces Alex and Beth Anne.  Despite the ridiculous weather, it was a lot of fun.  Very much a classic minor league environment and really enjoyable.  Nats lost 6-4 after allowing two late three run rallies, and being shut down by a couple of talented relievers.

I really appreciated those that indulged my goofy obsessions-John, Shirley, Paul, my nieces, and, of course my wonderful wife, who understands that transporting me to a history-rich land is about like supplying cocaine to an addict.

Why the M's must win soon

When Lorri said it was okay I jumped at the chance to catch a ball game at Camden Yards. I'd heard so much about it. Amazingly, it lives up to its billing. About a thirty minute walk from our hotel, there seemed to be a nice walk up crowd.

A bad sign however, was that I got to the park about 30 minutes before game time. They were still passing out loads of t-shirts to the first 10,000 adults. Looked like they had plenty left.

You can see from the photo, taken at the first pitch that there's nobody here.

Why? Camden Yards is a beautiful park. Once inside there is the feeling of carnival inside. Boog Powell's smoke house (and I'd swear it was the Boog himself taking money) the statue of Frank Robinson made it all so legit. It's the only ballpark I've been to that rivals Safeco Field.

Second inning, no score. There are five ex-Mariners on the field tonight. The Indians must have alumni meetings with Shin Soo-Choo, Asdrubal Cabrera, Jack Hannahan, and Jose Lopez starting. For the O's it's just Adam Jones (who just pursued a ball to the center field wall. Unfortunately he wasn't tall enough, 3-0 Indians)

So, why doesn't this team draw flies? They are having a winning season after years of stinky. You'd think that counts for something. But clearly casual fans are looking for more.

The M's seem to be in a similar spiral. Three years since the last winning season, eleven years since their last playoff appearance. Read the blogs. Casual M's fan support is at early 90's levels. This was supposed to be a year of incremental progress, with a big step forward in 2013. I don't see it on the field, though I am more hopeful with the young guys in Tacoma and Jackson. But only winning makes believers. Just ask my 14,000 friends at Camden Yards tonight.

Driving in hell

Driving in new cities is always a challenge. The street layout provides no frame of reference. The landmarks are unfamiliar. North never seems to be where it's supposed to be. In-city driving is especially hard

That said, Baltimore is ridiculous. Like other cities, the streets are crowded. Downtown Baltimore seems to be wall to wall traffic. But wait, so are downtown Seattle and Los Angeles. Here, however there are two complications. First there are some of the local drivers. Driven mad by prolonged confinement in their vehicles, they exploit any tiny gap in traffic to cross three lanes to turn on to the one way street they seek. I also tried to play this game but simply did not possess enough of the suicidal impulses required to be very successful and merely missed my turns.

The other incredibly maddening characteristic of Baltimore driving are the pedestrian death squads. You would know them as jay-walkers. In friendly Seattle we would see these occasionally crossing against the light at a run or at least when it's safe. Perhaps you've even participated once or twice yourself. In Baltimore it's serious shit. Cross against the light, mid-street, through (hopefully) stopped traffic. B-town jaywalkers come in all shapes and sizes, colors and age groups. They're in great need of checking their med levels.

I've not determined the purpose of the crosswalks here, because nobody seems to use them. It all just contributes to the madness.

Flying coast to coast

We're leaving today for Baltimore, and I'm posting from the airport. A colossal line at security for 5:30 am. Going through security always makes me nervous no matter how many times I've flown. Maybe it's because I always feel I'm half undressing. Lorri got stuck in a line behind some foreign visitors carrying shampoo and other liquid in small barrels. I told her she should have stayed with me rather than hang with these folks that argued with every TSA employee they could find. Lucky it wasn't strip search a-go-go.

Time to board at last.

The no no

The Mariners used six pitchers to combine for a no-hitter against the Dodgers.  That's awesome, but the way they did it is what's incredible.  Kevin Millwood pitched six great innings before leaving after one practice pitch to open the seventh.  He's diagnosed with a slight groin injury, if such a thing exists. Charlie Furbush, Steven Pryor, Lucas Luetke, Brandon League, and Tom Wilhelmson closed it out for the win, the shutout and the clean slate.

Rookie catcher Jesus Montero celebrates with all six pitchers in their no hitter against the Dodgers.

It's a game in which the Mariners scored only one run.  Hopefully this isn't a return to the curse of Safeco, and it's simply a matter of hitting against a pretty good pitcher, Nathan Eovaldi, on a team they haven't played much.  Even so, they managed eight hits.

There were contributions galore tonight.  Offensively, Ichiro, perhaps showing signs of escaping recent struggles at the plate, managed three hits and scored the winning run.  Kyle Seager again had a two-out base hit to drive in Suzuki. Chone Figgins and Brendan Ryan made decisive defensive contributions. League looked like he might be ready to reclaim his closer status, if he can wrest it from Wilhelmson's greedy grasp.

Coming off a really unpleasant road trip against the division leading Rangers and White Sox, and the surging Angels, the team really rallied to put up some big numbers against some decent pitching staffs. Today, the pitching staff rallied in the face of some adversity to accomplish something really amazing. More and more these guys are starting to look like a team.  One that's learning to pull together and win. I can't wait to see what this team looks like at the end of July.

It's Been Four Weeks

Monday May 7th was the night we lost Jack.  I don't mean to be maudlin or depressing, but honestly it's been a tough four weeks. Most days are good.  I'm busy, and that's my typical modus operandi.  Work consumes my thoughts and my time.  I try to paint figures at home, update my blogs, keep up with my e-mail and the Mariners, etc., etc.  But there are those moments, before sleep, or when I wake up in the morning, or when Lorri just wants to talk and we remember . . .  And that's when it's still hard. 

My wife handed me a very nice keepsake last night.  It's a little keychain with three stamped metal plates.  The largest one says "My Boy Jack."  She bought it for me to help me feel better.  It was a really nice thought, and the sentiment is really how I think of him.  I'm not sure it makes me feel better, but I really do appreciate the thought.

So, what now? We have another dog, Lucy, and I've never appreciated her as much as I do now. I cuddle my Lucy and bury my face in her fur, but it's not quite the same as my Jack.  Lucy is sweet and shy, except around food, and the house is quiet and strange. It once bubbled with action and sound, and we often complained  My red dog's ashes sit in a box, waiting for a plan.  Tonight is the last night of deadline until October, so I'm looking forward to putting some work into a special place under the big maple tree in the backyard for Jack's remains. My life feels as though I'm on hold.

We're trying to move on; we miss him so.  We worry about Lucy and know she is lonely.  We decided to welcome another dog into our family this summer to keep Lucy company and add one more generation of Aussies to our life.  We believe we'll be buying Amos, a beautiful red merle from Lucy's breeder in July.  We don't expect him to be Jack, but according to his breeder, the two boys have a lot in common-good and bad. 

Amos is two, though this is a puppy picture.

Until then, this will be the last post about my missing friend.  I just needed to say it.