Meet the Family

If you're new, these are my people. And animals. If you were around for my previous blog, this will update you.

Older child PellMel is in graduate school in Seattle. We miss her, but she is happy doing what she's doing. This summer she's starting a series of training rotations all over the Pacific Northwest. I am, of course, figuring how many times I can travel to visit her.

Younger child MadMax is a junior in high school. He's in band, and his track and field season is about to start up. He throws things--discus, javelin, shot.

We have the greatest kids. I'm not prejudiced or anything.

Dean and I have been married for 30 years. That is one heck of a long time. Every time I think about it, it amazes me. We met when we were 20 and married 2 1/2 years later, so we've been together well over half our lives. Clearly, the man is a saint. He's a medical type, an athlete and a tinkerer-- he usually has some kind of hands-on project he's working on.

The animals:
Jazz, the elderly pound mutt. Jazz was quite a fiercely loyal dog back in her prime, but now she is mostly deaf and mostly blind. You have to clap really loudly or stomp on the floor near her to get her attention. She's also pretty decrepit-- her back hips don't work too well. But she's still game. She no longer goes on runs with Dean, but she goes on walks, and she mostly keeps up. Sort of.

(I'm not much of a photographer, obviously)

Sadie, our two-year-old lab. Like all labs, she has more energy than we know what to do with. Also like most labs, she will fetch a ball endlessly. We buy tennis balls at Target in bulk net bags. She weighs about 60 lbs, but she's pretty sure she's a lap dog.

The chickens. With absolutely no idea what we were doing, three years ago we bought six chickens. We've lost a few to predators and illness, added a few new ones, then lost a few more. At the moment we have three. They're Black Astrolorps and they lay extra-large brown eggs. They're pretty sociable. Their coop is down the hill from our house, but if they're out and we're out, they come and hang out. They like to be friendly.

And that's about it.