Susan and the Giggles

One of Anna Rose's school's Rites of Passages is the First Grader "Famous American" project. Each student chooses a Famous American to study. Then, they write a speech in the first person and perform as their Famous American in front of a bunch of people.

Anna Rose chose Susan Butcher.

I never heard of her. But over the last month, I sure have learned a lot about the lady. Turns out, she was a pretty amazing person. Her love of animals is what attracted Anna Rose. Susan, like Anna Rose, was a dog lover. She used to round up the neighborhood dogs and take them to the park - like 20 of them at a time! It was great preparation for the Iditarod Racer she would one day become.

The woman won the race four times!

Long story short, I've become a big fan.

And it just so happened that Anna Rose's assignment coincided with this year's Iditarod. And of course, there is an App for that.

We cheered on Ally Zirkle the whole way. Sadly, she came up 2 minutes short! Erg! That Dallas Seavey. I guess his stardom from the National Geographic Channel's Ultimate Survival Alaska (my new favorite show - thanks Jeremy for telling me about it) hasn't yet gotten to his head. 

All that to say, it is a tough sport. 1,157 miles is tough for any gender. And for Susan to compete with dudes and win it four times is quite the accomplishment. She actually finished in the top 10 fifteen out of sixteen years (the one she didn't - her dogs got mauled by an angry moose - and that year she had been on pace to set the record). 

Well, Anna Rose has done an awesome job with her speech. Here are some outtakes that are sure to give you the giggles!

Here is Anna Rose performing in front of the Jr. and Sr. Kindergartens.

Pot

What did YOU think I was talking about?

Ha!

Since CLAY has come out, I thought it would be a good idea to freshen up on my pottery skills. Because after you write a book called CLAY, you can be sure that someone's going to ask you: "So do you do pottery?"

Well, at least now I can say I have taken classes.

I took a "masters class" actually. (I knew the teacher, and it was the only time that worked in my schedule).

And let me tell you, these ladies (they were all ladies in the masters class) can throw some serious pots. Good Lord. I need to load some pictures of their work. (These pictures are from a retreat I led last year).

Check out the rowboat. Nice work!

All right. Everyone who is still reading this blog entry, raise your right hand and repeat after me. "I, state your name, will take a pottery class, someday before I die."

There. 

Seriously, the trial and achievement of throwing a vessel that can hold liquid is an experience every human being should have. 

I drink out of this mug most every day. And let me tell you, coffee tastes better out of your own mug. 

Listen, I'm giving this advice to you free of charge. The Sawtooth Center gives me nothing for rep-ing it. Find some time. Take a class. You'll be happy you did. 

And when you complete a mug of your own, let me know. We'll meet up. We'll drink a cup. I'll let you pick the beverage.  

Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

"Head Shots"

"Tip of My Tongue"

"Dancing Dave" 

"How Did My One Eye Get So Big?"

"Jacket Thermostat"

"Bunny Ears"

"

"Olaf"

"Red Headed Step Child"

Then There Was ONE

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

I'm not sure where my Ring fits into all this...but something mysteriously Middle Earthy and miraculous happened when it came to my Ring Number Two. 

Just when I had given it all up for lost (I was planning that night to talk "The Ring Tattoo Idea" over with Leela) I looked down, and there it was. 

Sitting in the middle of the carpet. 

Here I thought I had lost it on Silas Creek Parkway. Turns out it had been sitting on the floor of our closet. 

I'm not sure how I missed it. There is the fact that our light had been on the fritz. I had changed it out the day before. Even so, our closet isn't that big. Certainly, I would have stepped on it. Was it in the pocket of my jeans? Had it gotten caught in one of my shirts? I don't know. However, what now is certain: I didn't have a ring, and then I did again. 

I can't explain it. 

I did pray. A few weeks ago, I had asked God to help me find two things, my Bible and my wedding ring. Small items. Insignificant.

Didn't find either of them. The following morning I went downstairs to pick out a new Bible from the pile. I walked through the den back to my coffee that was awaiting me at the kitchen table, and out of the corner of my eye - there was my Bible just sitting there. 

The new Bible went back on the pile. 

I had this weird feeling the same kind of thing was going to happen with my ring. The next day at around midnight I drove to Ebert and Silas Creek and spent an hour or so looking for my ring. No dice. Disappointed I drove home, went to bed, and gave up hope. 

A week and a half later, I change out the light - and there it was. 

Two lost things found. 

I don't usually quote Scripture on my blog, but my experience reminds me of Luke 15:8-10

Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

I'm rejoicing this morning. 

Number Two

I lost my second wedding ring on Valentine's Day!

Total FAIL. There's no way to spin this. If there was a contest for the Worst Showing of a Husband on Valentine's Day, I would win, hands down. Guys, if you found yourself in the doghouse this Valentine's Day, feel free to tell your wives, "Well, did you hear what Ned did? I'm nowhere near as bad as that!" You're welcome.

Here's how it happened. Me and 40ish of my high school friends were on our way to a Winter Retreat on Valentine's Day (Fail Number One) when we got stuck at a light behind another one of our caravan. So I decided to throw snowballs at them from the snow that was on the roof of the van. Snowpocalypse 2014, yay. So I was throwing snowballs from the snow that was on the roof of my van when I happen to look down at my hand, and low and behold, my wedding ring's gone. 

Call it the curse of the lefty. Call it what you will. This is the second time this has happened to me. 

Bottom line, wedding rings don't work so well for lefties.

We continued on. 

I didn't tell Lia (Fail Number…who's counting).

Anyway, a few days later, I spent an hour searching for it. 

No dice. 

No ring. 

I told Lia. She, like always, was gracious. It helped that ring number two had last ten years and had only cost $9.90. 

So now I have to decide what to do. I'm leaning toward a ring tattoo. What do you think? What would you do?

Summer in Winter

On a snow day, there's is no telling what might happen in the car.

5 years 6 photos

Happy Birthday Dave Dave

You were born on February 9, 2009 - a great day to be sure...

You have always been full of joy.

You bring a good attitude with you wherever you go.

You are fun to be around.

You have a great sense of adventure.

You live life to the full.

...and as great as February 9, 2009 was, I am confident that your greatest days are ahead of you. I love you Dave Dave. Happy Birthday. 

We're Climbers

That's right. We Ericksons might not be tall human beings, but we sure like to be on top of tall things. This winter we've been climbing stuff.

Dave Dave can't even see, and he's climbing stuff.

Anna Rose has never even seen Rocky. Not once.

Even the dogs…

Our dogs like to climb things.

Not to be out done.

(Lia's climbing footage…suspiciously missing…)

Hot Yoga - an Expose

Lia has been trying to get me to do Hot Yoga for months. It has quote, "changed her life." I know I just quoted twice. It's for emphasis. You see, Lia loves hot yoga. And I appreciate that she wants to share something that she loves with me. Really I do.

"So what do you do exactly?"

She describes it. The thing is the ecstasy in her voice doesn't match up with the words coming out her mouth. She tells me how you stay on this rubber mat for sixty minutes in a room that is 115 degrees while putting yourself in painful positions…oh, and you aren't allowed to leave. In other words: torture. But her voice is so enthusiastic. "You just have to try it. Promise me."

"OK," I promised.

So I go on line to see what hot yoga looks like. Here is what I saw:



Oh boy.

Over Christmas my father-in-law showed me this famous illustration of what the slave ships looked like for the Africans who were transported across the ocean. You probably have seen it. Here it is.
 

Now, please don't hear me say that these yoga peeps have it as bad as the slaves did. Hot yoga's only an hour or so, and they choose to be there (unless they are dragged there by their wives, not that I'm speaking from experience or anything). 

So last Sunday I get dragged. The room is packed. It's hotter than the tarmac in Dubai. The girl two rubber mats away is touching the back of her head with her toes. This guy strips down to his Speedo. I turn to Lia, and I tell her I'm out of here. 

She says, "Relax."

Relax. Right. My heart's racing. I can hardly breathe. There is so much stretchy clothing around me. I'm freaking out. The instructor says that the max for the room is 70. We are at 74, not that I am counting. There is definitely not enough oxygen for 74 of us, I think to myself. I panic. I tell Lia that I'm leaving. The instructor shuts the door. She says that whatever you do the one thing you cannot do is leave. I tell Lia I'm leaving anyway. She gives me the trust-me look, or it might have been the do-not-let-me-down look, I can't tell with the sweat blurring my vision. 

I'm just saying.

Somehow, I stayed. I survived. I didn't pass out. It was…a miracle. 

Lia says, "It will be better next week."

NEXT WEEK!

Thank God I promised Hugh I'd run with him. 

I have a week to come up with another excuse. Any ideas?

The Results

 She's what?

Here is the entire genetic history.

Which certifies her as a bone-fide Mutt. The test also found traces of Chow, Cardigan Welsh Corgi, Sealyham Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier (Pit Bull), and Dalmation!

However, the three most dominant breeds are Australian Shepherd, Boxer! and German Shepherd. If you see it, you have better eyes than us. 

And so, the winner of the Guess That Dog Contest is Kevin Smith, who guessed Australian Shepherd, Chow mix. Others were close, but we decided that retriever guesses were nullified by the breed not registering at all! I know, can you believe it?

Congratulations, Kevin. A signed Clay is coming your way. 

DRUMROLL PLEASE!

This morning I picked up the results from Summer's (dog on right's) genetic history. They confirmed what we expected: she is a mix breed!

However, there were a few surprises in her past, a few breeds that rose above the others in her melting pot of a gene pool. 

We will reveal the results here tomorrow at 4pm. So that means you have a little more than 24 hours to submit your guesses. 

Ned will send the winner a signed copy of Clay. 

Good lick, I mean luck!

Here are photos from this weekend. (Neither will be used in next year's Christmas card).