andycrews

We woke up today at 6:15 AM. I managed all of four hours of sleep, for the second night in a row. I'm not sure why I woke up so early, I blame Shadow. Andy immediately got up and starting making breakfast. I took a little longer, like a half hour longer, to actually wake up, stretch, read a couple chapters of Harry Potter, get up. You know, the important things.

We packed up and started off on the remaining part of our hike. The dogs started walking fairly slowly, Blue with his athletic tape booties, and Shadow with his Sampras look.

The hike out wasn't nearly as long, it seemed, as the hike in. Knowing much of the path really helped. We weren't able to time the hike with half hour increments, as DanO, Megan and I did on the way in, so I tried to remember where I was at the various points. I recalled crossing into the Ventana Wilderness at 12:20, so we had only two miles to go when we found that sign. I also recalled seeing a fantastic ocean view around mile three.

Shadow was able to walk up hills pretty well, and Blue was able to gallop or stop, but not much in between. The pads on his feet were fairly well chewed up. That he could move at all was impressive. Andy was, of course, the most impressive of all, carrying one or the other dog at various points during the hike. The dogs are 50-60 pounds. Even with his harness, the one that nearly choked him at one point, Andy had to use a lot of arm strength to hold them up. He never mentioned his knees hurting, even carrying the extra 90+ pounds over some incredibly unstable ground.

We arrived at the end of the trail around 12:40 PM. After checking to see if the station had any ice cream (it didn't), we sat down on the tarp under a large pine tree that had a breeze. Shadow didn't really want to lie down on the tarp, and opted, instead, to sit in the back seat of the first open car. The owners of said car were actually quite confused when they looked into the seat and saw a dog sitting there.

I rushed over to get Shadow from the back back seat of the van he was lying in, calling him to come. He didn't budge. I had to climb into the back of the van, pull him out, pick him up, and walk him all of 30 yards to the tarp. Sure, I could argue I didn't have my pack balancing me out, but I don't think I could have carried Shadow very far on the trail unless I really really really had to, Andy's encouragement to the contrary.

After settling the dogs on the tarp, I confessed to Andy I had read Harry Potter from 1:00 am to 2:00 am this morning when I couldn't sleep, and suggested he read to catch up to where I was. Me? I'd sleep.

So, Andy read and I slept for about an hour. Once again, I was unable to sleep without knowing he was there, and fell asleep with a light touch against him. He woke me up by dropping a cashew into my hand. Tasty, tasty cashew.

We read Harry Potter for a while until even that wasn't very interesting. Andy called his dad to see if he was around locally, but had to leave a message. After a bit, I offered to rosham to see who would walk the half mile to the lodge for ice cream. Andy offered and started walking.

He made it all of three minutes before DanO walked up, the three of them done with their hike at 2:40 PM. Borrowing DanO's cell phone, I called Andy, who had my cell phone, and back he came within moments. Ten minutes minutes later, we were off to drop Andy off at his truck, listening to the various craziness of our fellow teammates: Mark swimming downstream instead of hiking being the biggest news.

The distance between the two trail entrances was actually two hours, not something I had realized, though Andy did when he figured out where his exit (and DanO's, Megan's, Sitka's and my entrance) was. Up the coast, through Carmel Valley, up the mountain, farther up the mountain on a dirt road, and a smidge off, and we were at Andy's truck. The same thing in reverse to head back down for the four of us to go home, sans Andy, Blue and Shadow.

Now, Mark had told us about the race at Laguna Seca. He told us not to continue along Carmel Valley, but to head back to 1 before heading north to the 156 and the 101.

What Mark didn't realize was that traffic was going to just as bad on 1 as it would be on the 101. All from the race.

We stopped for dinner at some Baja Racing Grill place, with a Steve McQueen Le Mans poster on the wall, before braving the traffic heading back north to the Bay Area. After about fifteen minutes in the back seat with my lying down next to him, Sitka decided he couldn't stand me any more, despite documented proof of the momentary snuggling he showed me, and climbed over me to way back of the truck. He curled up on our bags and fell asleep.

More room for me! I stretched out in the back seat and passed out. DanO and Megan slowed when the drove by my house, throwing me out the side door and rolling my bag out the back. I stumbled into the house around 10:30 PM, thinking, oof, DanO and Megan had another hour to drive. Ugh.

Tragically, the dirt on my legs was so thick, I had to shower like the heathens do, and used a washcloth to scrub the dirt off. Kris would have been proud, if he hadn't been so engrossed in Harry Potter at the moment.

Danger, through his mom, had given Kris two VIP tickets to today's A's game against the Mariners. The Mariners who, by the way, have Ichiro playing (Ichiro being the only consistent hitter I have in the Beat the Streak contest. At Doyle's suggestion, I prefilled Ichiro as my hitter for the next two weeks, in case I forget to pick a player. What do you know? My best streak is at 13 now. Kris' is at only 9.).

Not being exactly the biggest baseball fan ever, I suggested Kris ask someone else to go with him. Yes, I'd go, but wouldn't he rather go with someone who will also enjoy the game with him, and not go and wonder why she was there, thinking of all the other tasks she'd rather be doing? I mean, come on, think of the babies!

So, he called up his new best friend yesterday, and made plans. I offered to watchin' the doggen, so plans were made to leave from here, with two dogs having a doggie fun day at Krikitt Downs.

I'm still not sure what drugs I took to make such an offer escape my lips.

So, this morning, Andy came over with Blue and Shadow. Thankfully, he didn't knock when he arrived. Instead, he followed standard Krikitt Downs' friends protocol and walked right in. I love when my friends know they can do that, and do.

A short while later, Kris and Andy were off, and I was in the house with four dogs. Four dogs that, combined, were double my weight. More doggen that I'm used to having.

Blue spent the first half hour of his visit with me staring at the front door where Andy had gone through. He stared almost as if, by sheer force of will, he could bring Andy back through the door.

When that failed, he sat down next to me and stared up at me.

Panting.

For two hours.

Might have been longer, I'm not sure. I tried to pet him, get him up on the couch next to me to snuggle me as Bella does. He wasn't having any of it, and sat there, staring and panting, panting and staring. At one point, he went back to the front door to stare at it, no panting. He returned a few moments later to stare at me.

And pant.

A strange way to spend the day, to be sure.

Eventually, the game ended, and the boys came back from the game. Blue heard the car door shut and either Andy's or Kris' voice first, and bum rushed the door. He was shortly followed by a Shadow, the Cone-head and the Howler.

That either Andy or Kris made it through the front door with the mounds of doggie flesh piled up behind it, amazes me still.

"Hmmmm, look at that. I accidently ordered our Harry Potter books twice."

"Yeah, Andy thinks ordering two copies of Harry Potter is a bit excessive."

"Why? One for each of us."

"Well, he thinks that's a bit much."

"So, who is going to let the other person read first? Not me."

"Yeah, I told him you wouldn't share. I sorta blamed you."

"Hey!"

"You weren't there. It's not like I was going to fall on the sword."

"Hmph. I think I'll cancel your book, too."

Today at practice I worked on my low release backhand throws: I'm determined to make that throw on Beth well before the end of the season. Tyler also worked with me on catching before practice. He doesn't like the claw catch, but it works for me, so I won't be changing that one any time soon. He did, however, recommend than I attack the disc on any catch, pull it closer to me on impact, always have my hands moving aggressively towards the disc. Lessons to practice.

After practice, it was clear Andy wasn't doing much to minimize his disc charm. After most everyone had packed up and headed off, Kris, Andy and I wandered to the cars. Instead of just heading straight over, each step was practically a moment in a playful game of "What can I do with this disc now?"

As we approached the batting cage, I asked Andy if Kris had told him about his 30th birthday party, where we recorded various disc throwing speeds. Andy said yes, and, after sliding under the netting into the cage, threw a disc fairly hard at the far end of the cage.

The netting, of course, caught the disc, and gently dropped it to the ground. Andy went, picked it up, and threw it straight at us. I flinched. Kris laughed, and tried to catch it. And tried, and tried again. The net kept deflecting the discs Andy threw. After about ten tries, Kris finally caught one and Andy crawled back out of the cage.

We made it all of maybe 10 yards closer to the cars when Andy threw his disc into the open shelf of a file cabinet on the side of the shot put field. He missed, but Kris immediately followed by trying to throw his disc onto the shelf. A few seconds later, another disc came flying in from Tyler, as he tried his hand. The three of them spent a few minutes playing with discs and the file cabinet, seeing who could both hit the target opening and have his disc stay put.

Normally, the walk from the fields to the cars is uneventful. Today, it was entertaining and fun.

I blame Andy.