Thomas' First Film

Here's a project Thomas did for a film festival project at school.  I don't know about you, but I'm pretty impressed!  He did all the work himself: storyboard, drawing, animation, editing, downloading music, adding the soundtrack, burning a DVD to take to school.  My entire contribution was emailing his teacher to ask for the username and password for the free music site.  The rest is all him.

Sherise's Dog Trauma

I'm training for another Olympic distance triathlon in June, so I've been doing a lot of biking, swimming, and running.  I was out on a long bike ride today (by myself, since Paul's out of town), and I was attacked by a dog!

Here's what happened: I was about an hour into a planned 3-hour ride, heading up a steep-ish hill.  A woman was walking two dogs on the sidewalk. They were on leashes, but she was distracted picking up poop, and one of them got away from her and ran at me with teeth bared.  I slowed down because I was afraid I would hit it, and it bit me on the right shin.  Then it circled around and bit me again on the back of my left thigh. It kept circling and trying to bite, but by this time I was off my bike and using it as a shield.  It was a pretty good-sized dog (a retriever/Pyrenese mix), and it was bound and determined to get at me. The owner was yelling and trying to get hold of the leash, I was yelling and fending off the dog, a passing car stopped to help and that driver was yelling at the dog--it was pretty crazy!

The owner finally got control of the dog and pulled it away from me, and I limped over to the curb to check the damage.  As soon as I laid my bike down, the dog was totally calm and friendly--she even came up and sniffed my hand and tried to get me to pet her! (I declined.)  I'm glad I was wearing bike shorts under my tights, because I had to strip the tights off to get a look.  The car driver had a first aid kit, so he helped me get patched up enough to ride home.  The owner was way more freaked out than I was. She was crying and apologizing and offering to pay for not only any medical treatment, but a new pair of tights as well, since mine were ripped.  We exchanged names and numbers, she left, and I rode 3 miles home to grab a shower and head to the ER.

I've got a pretty good puncture wound on my right leg, but it wasn't bad enough for stitches, so they steri-stripped it.  The one on my left leg is less serious (just abrasions/scratches).  I got a tetanus shot and some antibiotics.  The hospital filed a report, and Animal Control will verify that the dog is up to date on her shots.  I think the owner will be fined, but I don't know what will happen to the dog.  I talked to the owner after I got back from the ER, and she was still upset and apologetic.  I'm glad that at least she's not being a jerk about it.  She gets that this is clearly her fault, and I didn't do anything to provoke her dog.

The moral of the story: dog owners, keep your pets under control!

(The other moral: I should've just run the dog over.)

My right shin: 

My left thigh:

Playing in the Snow

Here are a few pictures from the recent Sawyer cousins' visit. They live in Southern California, and this was the first time a few of the kids had seen snow.

Veronica wasn't quite sure what she thought about the cold white stuff.

Neither was Zoe.

Kenzie, however, had no such misgivings.

Quinn just wanted to help bury Thomas in snow.

Thomas WANTED to be buried in the snow.

No, really!

Don't worry about Thomas, though; he can take care of himself.

Calvin tried to play it cool.

But it didn't last long.

And poor Max just wanted to come in out of the cold. (I would have more sympathy for him if he'd actually put on one of the many coats available to him.)