Catch Up

This was originally titled quick catch-up but after it took me several hours to post I changed the name. There's no way I can post about everything that happened in the past two years. But I will try to cover the highlights somewhat in chronological order.

July 2015.  I bought a new to me Miata. I have been wanting one for a while and after seeing the Miata Club in North Carolina while I was there for Claire's wedding I wanted one even more. I can never remember what year it is but I think it's a 2014. It had some nice upgrades from the previous owner including shocks, Springs, sway bars, intake, Exhaust & Custom Wheels. A few months ago I put some ultra high-performance summer only tires on it and got a Custom Performance alignment. Edit: apparently I have already posted about this.

Aug 2015. We went on an awesome cruise with Mom and Dad, both brothers and oldest brother's girlfriend. We went to England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. It was an amazing trip and I took millions of photos. Not only did we see tons of great stuff but spending the time with my family was wonderful as well.

We had a day or so in London before we left.

The Edinboro tattoo.

Dec 2015. I got a poodle puppy. Black mini. Born Oct 2015. I had started to get curious about where I might get my Poodle from and was casually looking around. I had a poodle in mind that I loved and I was finally able to track down the breeder and of course she had an amazing agility litter coming up and thought it would be a great match for me. First I said yes, then I said no, then I said Yes again.  Kipling, Dolcet Just So, came home the day after Christmas 2015. He was about the size of a guinea pig. Fearless, outgoing and happy. I picked to the name Kipling because as usual I wanted a name that not everybody else had. I was trying to think of names that also sounded cute and I think it was my dad suggested Biscuit to go along with Muffin. I actually know a biscuit plus I thought it might be too cutesy. But I started thinking about other breakfast items and somehow kippers came into my head. I wasn't sure if it was a breakfast item or not but I looked it up and it's fish. Yuck. Plus there is a British cartoon dog named kippers. But from Kippers my mind made the leap to Kipling. I like Kipling as an author plus it's a cute name. His registered name became just so since my dad used to read us the Just So Stories when we were children.

The first time I met him. He wasn't quite ready to go home yet.

The day I brought him home.

Sleeping next to Pi the first night. In every picture he looks big but he was truly about the size of a guinea pig.

Kip runs, shines something to put in his mouth and runs some more. It is what he does.

On the beach as a pup running with seaweed in his mouth.

His mama four sisters and him.

One of the first days I had him. He was always fast.

He's always been silly too

Besides finding something to put in his mouth and run the other thing Kip does is sleep upside down with all four feet in the air.

One of our first agility pictures. From his novice trial. Picture by contact point tography.

At his first agility trial. Dottie does not look too thrilled does she?

He's always loved toys and been mischievous.

Oh and he has always been very cute too.

Also very cuddly. Here he is sleeping upside down on my arms.

More of the putting things in his mouth and running around with him. As you can see it's a common theme.

Learning about waiting.

Learning about posing for pictures.

I have so many cute pictures of Kip there's no way I could post them all. I better move on.

June 2016. The annual training for deployment for our Squadron was to the US Virgin Islands. Basically I got paid to go on a two-week vacation to a Tropical Paradise. Yes I did work while I was there but being on the islands more than made up for it. The beaches were beautiful the water was warm and there was so much to see while snorkeling. Actually thinking back the water was not that warm but it was definitely not freezing either. One of the highlights of snorkeling out over the wall. This is a massive drop off in the ocean floor. I was basically turning water over an abyss. The humidity on St Croix was killer but it was something to be endured to enjoy the beauty of the local area.

I really enjoyed snorkeling. The reefs Were great and I saw so many different fish.

I just swam out over the wall and there is nothing under me but an abyss.

We were able to take a charter boat to Buck Island.

We went a lots of different Adventures when we weren't working. One of them involved driving through the rain forest. So I posed with a tree with lots of vines on it.

? Somewhere around this time I sold the Sportster.

Aug 2016.  I had to change career fields in the Air Force because my position had been eliminated within our Squadron. Rather than Cross train into the job that my admin job had turned into (which was personalist / HR, I decided to cross train into an actual civil engineering career field. I am now an operations manager. This meant I had to go to Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas for 6 weeks of training. I took Kipling and Dottie with me and stayed in a Motel 6. I'm actually having trouble remembering what I did with the rest of the dogs. I know my friend E watched Muffin for me. The training was very easy and there is enough to keep me occupied around area even though it is a very Podunk little town. There was a little Pond down the street and Kip learned to swim. I think Dottie nd Kip had a great time out in Texas.

Kip learned to swim

As usual opposing with stuff.

These were the rebuilt Wichita Falls that the town was named after. The actual Falls were destroyed in a flood so the town built these fake ones which are pretty cheesy.

Of course Dottie already knew how to swim and she had lots of fun doing it.

Waiting in the doorway of our Motel 6 room.

Sept 2016. While I was in Texas and E was watching Muffin, Muffin passed away from old age. I knew it was a possibility when I left but I couldn't take him with me because he needed access to a yard for bathroom functions throughout the day. I know E spoiled him all the way up until the end. We estimated he was around 15 years old and had a giant liver tumor that probably weighed more than he did. He started going downhill and she was going to take him into the Vet the next day but he passed away in his sleep. I think that's the best you can hope for. He was such a cute and sweet and silly little old dog.  My first preference would be the dogs never die and my second preference would be I could be there when it happens, but I know he was happy staying with E. My little Muffin. Gosh he was cute. I'm glad he was in my life.

He could be very handsome but mostly he was very cute.

Such a good Muffin.

I gave my friend a haircut before I left for Texas. With hair or without he was adorable.

Also in Sept 2016. Moving on from the sadness of losing Muffin the next thing that happened was I bought a 2014 Dyna Low Rider. There was a HD shop right down the road from the base and even though I said there was plenty to keep me occupied one of the things that kept me occupied was going to the dealership and checking it out. Of course I didn't plan to buy anything but that doesn't always work out. I bought the bike and rode it around Texas and paid to have it shipped home by a special motorcycle moving company.

This is what I look like when I first bought it. They parked it outside front of the dealership.

Oklahoma is pretty close to Wichita Falls and I thought I would take a ride out there but I made a wrong turn. I took this picture when I pulled over to try to figure out where I was.

Came across these neat old pumps while out for a ride. Notice I added a Batwing Memphis Shade windscreen  on the front.

While scrolling through my phone looking for the pictures I want to add sometimes just trying to move around makes me accidentally add a picture. Obviously this picture of Kip does not belong here but I'm keeping it because it's a good picture.

Rode quite a bit while I was there.

This is a fairly current picture. I added Corbin custom hard saddlebags. The Dyna Low Rider is not necessarily made for saddlebags so these are the only fiberglass ones I could find I would fit the Dyna.

Oct 2016. Kip turned a year old.
I can't find that picture and I've been writing this post for possibly a few hours so I'm not going to spend time looking forward to. But it was a cute picture of all the dogs wearing hats.


Dec 2016. I bought another house. After I discovered that I actually didn't like owning a house after I bought my first house, I lived in the studio for over a year and a half. I really liked the studio because it was so affordable and allowed me to do somewhat foolish things like buy Miatas and motorcycles. It was nice not having a whole lot of stuff and it was very easy to clean because it was so tiny. But as always seems to happen with me eventually I started looking on the internet at homes to buy. A couple came up and I even have my offer accepted on one but I got scared and backed out. I kept looking and another one came up in the town I was living in the studio. My favorite place to live in Ventura County. In a neighborhood I had wanted to live in for a long time. My offer was accepted and I was a homeowner again! The house is a duplex but it is technically a condo. Three-bedroom two-and-a-half-bath just over 1400 square feet. It has a little backyard and a small front yard as well. It's bigger than what I need and the yard is smaller than what I need but I like it quite a bit anyway. It is in an extremely convenient location to work in all the places in the town that I like to go. It's a nice quiet neighborhood and nobody has yet complained that I have too many dogs. I've done a few improvements since I've moved in. The house have been flipped so as with my last home, it did not need paint or carpet or anything like that. I wish the mortgage was not so expensive because I don't have much spending money for dog training or dog shows. I also wish I didn't have to pay HOA but having the HOA does give me some peace of mind because I know I will never have to pay for a new roof or to paint the outside of the house or even to rebuild the structure if something catastrophic happens like the whole thing burns down. It is a good house.

Dad helped me put up the TV.

Front door and a little of the front yard

Kitchen obviously

Living room. I've since taken the curtains down since they didn't really do anything. 

 I had sod put in which made the backyard nicer. In this picture on the far left top corner is the back patio and then you can see how close the back wall is. It is a small yard.

On going for the past year or so. I've been gaining weight quickly and having difficulty losing it. I've been keeping up with my running the whole time but it isn't enough. I got some assistance from my doctor and started to lose the weight. I passed my PT test and then I started to gain weight again but now I'm losing it again.

February 2016. I got another Poodle. Mini, this time a cream. I was not expecting to get another dog so soon or actually for many years. I've been to see the litter just because I was visiting the breeder who is the same breeder I got Kip from. The litter is distantly related to Kip. All the puppies had homes but one of the homes fell through due to a family crisis. The breeder posted the puppy was available and I posted back jokingly that I would take him. She private messaged me and said I could have him. Kip has a small health issue that is not our fault since none of the other dogs in his line habit however when we discovered it she felt extremely bad and promised me she would give me a free puppy. I let her know it was not necessary and I wasn't planning on getting another puppy for many years but she said she still wanted to do it no matter how long in the future it was. So when she private message me and said I could have him she said "I will give him to you." I knew I already liked the entire litter but I was not convinced I wanted another dog. She said I could take him and try them out I need to keep him or give him back with no pressure either way. Of course he was and is an adorable puppy and I liked everything about him that I still had some struggle wondering if I should keep him or not. My plan was to show him as a show dog and for him also to keep Kipling company. Kip loves to play but none of the big dogs will play with him. Of course they ended up keeping the puppy and I named him Salty. Dulcet's Three By The Sea. The name Salty doesn't mean anything in particular. I was looking for a name that wasn't too common. Of course I guess you can say the name works since I love
Salt.  You could say salt makes everything better. It makes food taste better. Just ignore the fact that if you rub it in a wound it's not so good. City by the sea is one of my favorite books as a child. Since Kipling was also named after a favorite childhood book and I needed something that would work with his call name, I decided to go with three by the sea.

This is the day I picked him up.

He was so tiny! He is now bigger than Kip.

He is with one of his brothers and one of his sisters. A lot of the puppies stayed local.

He was investigating a friend's pool and accidentally fell in. I was right there and fished him out immediately though.

He is not as dedicated as Kip to running around with things in his mouth but he's not adverse to it either.

She loves to play with Kip.

Kip likes to play with him but I am pretty sure salty gets more enjoyment out of it and than kip does

Taking in the sights at an agility trial

Trying to steal the toy, as usual. He really enjoys playing with toys.

He's also well known for letting his head fall off of beds.

And well known for being extremely cute. This is a very recent picture. You can see he lightened up and got a lot more hair.

He loves to tug! I did not plan on doing agility with him when I got him for a few reasons. One important one is it expensive to have more than one dog in agility at a time. So he wasn't being trained for anything at all but I thought he should probably get some exposure to different environments so he's in a baby dog agility class.

March, May, June, July and August 2017 I had to travel. Mostly for work but one Leisure Travel as well. In March we went to March Air Reserve Base before days of the training. And may I had to go to Silver flag exercise at Tyndall Air Force Base for 9 days. In June I went to North Carolina to visit my sister brother-in-law niece and they're brand new baby! That was very exciting. Baby is adorable of course. Then also on that trip I met up with my best friend and helped her drive her belongings cross country to her new house in Arizona. She drove her car and I drove the U-Haul. It was an epic cross-country road trip in just a few days. July was our two-week deployment and for training to Montana. It was not horribly exciting doing the work but we got a weekend off where we went on a three state trip and was able to see Mount Rushmore, Devils Tower, Deadwood and the Badlands all in one weekend. Totally worth it. And finally in August we took a quick trip to the Guard Bureau in Washington DC. Only 4 days. One of those days we somehow ended up in New York City on a unrelated side sightseeing trip. That was so great because I've never been there and I didn't think I would go anytime soon if at all since it's not really related to anything else and I don't think I would take an entire trip just to see it. We saw a whole lot and just a few hours and then we went back to work.

On the March Air Reserve Base trip I got to drive lots of heavy equipment. Sorry I got to operate some heavy equipment. Have to use the correct terms.

I drove the bus too.

Next it was off to the silver flag training in Tyndall Air Force Base Florida. The fire department got to catch things on fire and then put them out.

The explosive Ordnance disposal guys got to blow things up and then be heavy equipment operators got to put it back together.

I got to build tents.

And do some plotting of minimum operating strips which while useful is not as cool as catching things on fire or blowing things up at.

Next tears off to North Carolina to visit my newest and so far only nephew!

Yep. He's a keeper!

After a 2 brief visit with my sister's family and it up with my best friend fluffy to drive her stuff across the country. I had brought salty to keep me company in the truck.

He did a good job.

In the motel room with Fluffy's Little Chihuahua.

On this trip salty learned about posing with stuff.

Next trip was Montana! We were building and renovating houses for veterans on the Crow Indian Reservation.

When are weekend off we took a great road trip. This is the Devil's Tower in Wyoming.

I loved the Badlands in South Dakota.

And obviously this is Mount Rushmore.

On the Crow Indian Reservation one exit from where we were staying is the Battle of Little Bighorn Battlefield in Monument. These white markers are where they found American soldiers after the battle.

As we were finishing up the construction we got to take an awesome boat ride.

It was a lot of fun and also very scenic.

My last trip for a while was a quick one to Washington DC also for work. I've traveled more in the last few months that I've traveled in the last few years combined. The DC trip was good because it was short and I also got to see my brother and his girlfriend who I haven't seen for a while. He picked me up from the airport and took me around too a few of The Monuments and they didn't see last time I was there. Including the Air Force Memorial.

And the Marine Memorial. When we arrived we discovered they were having the sunset parade which included in marching band and a silent drill team. It was very good.

In addition to visiting my brother and seeing memorials I also did get some work done. However after the first day of work the boss decided to allow us all to go to New York City! Here I am in almost empty Times Square when we arrived at 4 in the morning

We saw lots of good things but unless I do a separate post and not going to have pictures of them all here. This is the Freedom Tower, the new World Trade Center.

This is a little out of order but going back to Memorial Day May 2017. Kip had his first agility trial and his first rally trial. Rally did not go very well (although he did manage to squeak out one Q) but the one day we were entered in jumpers  did go well. We were only entered in jumpers and he did qualify.

At the same Mission circuit trial, Salty was entered in his first confirmation show. He did a good job and I even showed him. He did not get any points at that show. But I was pleased that he did well and that I managed to mostly kind of do the right thing.

Not too bad for our first time in the ring.

When somebody sent me these pictures I was surprised how decent I looked.

Various times between May and today which is the middle of August 2017. Kip entered more agility trials and got his novice jumpers and standard title. He even got an open qualification. Salty got three single points and then to the point majors. I showed him for some of those points and his breeder and her team showed him for other points. I did get the two three point majors on him. That was pretty exciting. He now has nine points and needs six single points to finish his championship. Kip is taking a break from it trying so we can improve during class and I can also save some money to be able to enter trials.

His very first agility ribbon

A successful weekend. There should have actually been a title ribbon with this loot as well but the Cub was not offering them.

Another successful weekend.

I showed salty and got two points on him.

This time when I showed him it was a three-point major

Another three-point major. I think this is a pretty nice picture I wish it would rotate.

Those are the biggest highlights but many other things have happened in the two years that I have not logged. I helped my mom decorate her home office to win best decorated office for St Patrick's Day. My dad and brother came out to see some airplanes at the Camarillo airport and later my dad and mom came out for my dad to take a ride at the Camarillo Airport. I had some barbecue at my house with the work people and I saw a movie or two but not that many. I went on lots and lots of jogs trying to improve my run time, and I took lots and lots of pictures of the dogs playing on the Navy base sleeping in my house and playing at my house.

Since I've made is huge post maybe it will motivate me to keep up the blog so I don't have to make another huge Post in two years.