Interbike Trade Show & Stuff

Earl left yesterday for Interbike in Vegas. Sounds like he's meeting some awesome people in the bike industry. I did question him as to why I hadn't heard from him until lunch time. Too much tequila last night? I got no confession. Didn't really expect to. I know a lot of the folks Earl is going to see and I can predict a bit of trouble and chaos. So far the craziest story has been $100 bet to run down the escalator in underwear only. Chris (last name witheld) won his $100 for streaking, but gave it back because he wanted to do it anyway. I'll post if there is anything more to add. Gotta love Vegas stories.

We started our Mandarin lessons last week. UGH! What a difficult language. Thank goodness we go over the same material for three lessons. I keep falling back to my weak Spanish and pronounce the vowels with a Spanish flare. I don't think that will work in China. I play the CD's in the car and the dogs get really nervous when they ride with me. Not sure what that means. Maybe they hear a strange voice but don't see anyone besides me in the car.

Work has been good. Keeping busy with different projects and making headway on organizing some things. Our China plans are coming along. Exciting times.

The farm is good. Getting about a dozen chicken eggs a day. The horses are fat & happy. The goat is just fat... never seen him happy... probably because he's a goat. The ducks are only giving me two eggs a day. Time for a talk... with the axe. Not really. I talk tough, but that's it. But really, the return on 11 ducks and only two eggs! Enough free-loaders. That's what the dogs are for.

Chica has an abdominal tumor. Taking it day by day with her. We have her on some anti-cancer Chinese herbs. Hopefully it will buy us some quality time with her. Jaeger & Vinnie should be thinking about hunting season. All they seem to do is eat & play. Like I said... free-loaders. Osa is doing great. She's really protective of Chica and wouldn't let Vinnie near her when she wasn't feeling well. Vinnie is close to 100 lbs. He can manage to pull himself up to see what's on the counter, but can't get his butt in the back of the truck. Might have to get one of those lifts or a ramp. I weigh 20 lbs more than him. No wonder my back hurts.

Well, that's a wrap. Can't think of anything interesting to add. Until next time...

Good times, good food, good friends, good life....

Labor Day weekend was busy for us. Work at work, work at home, socialize at work, socialize at home. Yep-- life is rough! At least it's an even balance. It's always a good time when you can work and enjoy your client's company with a cold one. Friday, Karen P. was over for a shoot, Matt & Heather stopped by to share their great news about expanding their Schooner Exact Brewing Company http://schoonerexact.typepad.com/. Teri & Mickie stopped by to pick up the donations from our GNO http://gno-dgd.blogspot.com/ for the Treehouse for Kids organization. After the work day was done, we headed home to host a small dinner party for Gene, Brighty and Manny. Earl made an awesome dinner of course.

Saturday and Sunday was farm work. Starting to get things ready for the rainy season. My buddy Kevin came over and rode Fancy and gave me a riding lesson. Apparently my mare is so fat in the belly, he thought she was ready to foal. Just another fatty on the farm! No one goes hungry around our house.

On Monday, Earl made an awesome Spanish feast to share with a few friends. Dennis, Laura, Casandra, Lisa, Wylie, Matt & Jenna (from the Corson Building http://www.thecorsonbuilding.com/) all came over for a farm tour and a feast. Moses & Chae (Wylie & Matt's dogs) came along and ran around the farm with our crazy canines. Earl made tortilla de patata, grilled linguica, fried smelt, tuna stew, paella, spanish olives and we had a boat load of great wines that complimented every course! I think we finally wrapped up dinner around midnight or so. Dennis & Earl tried to solve the world's problems until 4am. Tuesday morning came early and I had to jump start into clean up mode since my Dad, Step-mom and Uncle were arriving later that day for a week long visit from Georgia.

We took them over to Leavonworth yesterday. What a beautiful time of year to go. It was warm and the flower baskets lined the streets. Not too crowded and we drank great beer. Today they are visiting Pike Place Market and doing touristy junk. Tonight we are going to our friend, Scott Fuller's, gallery opening at Evo. Planning on meeting a bunch of friends at the studio or there to enjoy his larger than life art work. Check him out... http://www.diekotomy.com/. Great stuff.

Tomorrow is another dinner at the farm with the fam. Sunday morning we are watching our friend Jennifer Block do a sprint triathlon in Federal Way. Just one of her training stints for the big Kona Ironman in October! Yep, that's right she qualified for one of the hardest races known to man. And she's raising awareness for Niemann-Picks Disease too. Check it out to help her out... http://www.race4ty.com/. Great things come from great people.

We just wrapped up the Raleigh & Diamondback catalogs just in time for the big Euro trade show. The BDA work is getting final touches and we are taking care of wrapping up a few other projects. Earl's looking at his schedule to plan bird hunting trips and his next business trip to China. It's going to be a busy Fall.