Weld Romp

Bailey's new brother Simon challenged him to a romp n Weld during our family weekend. The day ended with a movie and--well, what boys and dogs do after a long day of play.

Bailey lands a GodDogFather!

Bailey's brother Alex Szeps from Sweden will now serve as Bailey's God Dog Father. Birthdays, Christmas/ Hanukkah, special days... Bailey really just wants an RV for Road Trips (<--click here for preferred model)! Thanks, Alex!

GodMum & Bailey

Victoria arrived today and Bailey enjoyed meeting his GodMum once again.

Hiking with Bailey

We've had a slew of visitors this summer. Just last week we had a great hike on White Cap Mountain here in western Maine with two former exchange students and our new brother, Jan. White Cap is a just 15 minutes from home.

Lake fun with the Michaud kids

A happy summer day with the Michaud family at Weld.

Lake Webb Fun

We spent the afternoon at Weld with our neighbors Kate and Gayle. Bailey also had his first play date in nearly a month with Zellie--both pups were exhausted by the end of the hour.

On the mend

Bailey had a great day today. He swam a little, met people, and showed signs of improvement.

Pictures:

–Christian & Fred Kent with Bailey.

–Twin brother Yago w/ Bailey.

Bailey injured

Bailey has been down and out the past 8 days with what may be a neck sprain. Xrays, three medicines, and visits to Uncle Fred's have dominated our days. The poor pup is in pain and inactive. Today, he enjoyed a few minutes out on the side lawn. It's hard to watch him be so uncomfortable. We hope for a speedy recovery.

Yago returns

Last night, Bailey and two of Yago's friends came to the airport with me to pick up our Spanish friend. I was so pleased with Bailey's behavior in the airport terminal... who knew that they allowed dogs in the place. An airport staffer watched me standing on the sidewalk for a half and hour when he finally said, "You know, he can go inside if you want." I didn't know and I was so appreciative of the guy's words. For an hour Bailey had old and young alike stopping to say hello. Most got right on the floor with him. He was gentle and laid back and rolled onto his back for most everyone asking for a belly rub. Teenaged girls and elderly "we used to have a Berner" folks petted the furry boy and enjoyed his company. It reassured me that soon he'll be an older, more settled dog and perhaps stints in the nursing home for hugs and hellos will be a possibility. He is a hug-able, happy fella who seems to make people smile.

Today, we have kids and friends popping in to say hello to Yago. Bailey played with them for hours, but now he's underneath the writer's chair taking a nap after a late night of airport love.

White Cap Mountain Climb

After the dentist and a tooth reconstruction, a host of email, a bit of writing on my article about Charlie, a ski racer from Burke Mountain Academy, and phone calls... I packed up a kit and hit the road for a mountain climb about 15 minutes from my home. A bit hot, a bit buggy, but a good deal of fun. Bailey did well on leash on the way up... and on the way down, off leash, he stayed fairly focused and connected to me. He does the same when I'm writing in the morning! :-)

White Cap Mountain Climb

Home at last

I've been in San Antonio, Texas, visiting my favorite sister who is gearing up for another difficult week at START. Go Barbie!

Bailey loved being home, and after a run on Black Mountain, a swim in the mountain pool, a good meal... we both collapsed.

There's no place like home... click click click.

No... no... I don't want to help mow: I want a treat, boy... a treat.

Enrolling at UMaine... Go Black Bears!

Bailey visited UMaine on Friday to sign up for classes in the Class of 2015. Along with the college's Dean Dear Grammie, are many of the Shible Aunts who fed the new admit treats and spring water from a crystal bowl! Now that's the way to matriculate.

Go UMaine!

Adding a chapter

It feels about 80 degrees already this Memorial Day morning, and the June 1st deadline for Writing on the Bus: Using Athletic Team Notebooks and Journals to Advance Learning and Performance in Sports looms. My home office is stuffy and still--not at all comfortable for a pup with a fur coat. But he's here, wrapped around the legs of my office chair, breathing softly, asleep, keeping me in my writer's chair. Co-authorship at its best.

After the run...

Bailey's had a sore leg for a couple of weeks, but now he seems recovered. We ran for about 45 minutes at Black Mountain... he looked so happy to be sprinting up and down the cross-country trails. After the run, Bailey lounged in a stream's pool and then, while the old guy stretched, he took a snooze in the parking lot. It's good to have sunshine, warm weather, and a healthy dog.

Happy Birthday, Bailey.

Happy Birthday, Bailey!

Bailey had a great Birthday week starting with two daylong play dates with his buddy Pete, a run at Black Mountain, followed by a lounge in a fresh water pool in the stream next to the lodge. He's a happy happy boy... so am I.

One writer's desk...

I believe it was my brother Fred who described our grandfather's office desk and the assorted trappings of a writer's life: an L.C. Smith typewriter, pencils, notepaper, pens, paperclips, and stacks of paper and books.... Grandpa Burt wrote five books and taught marketing and advertising at Boston University and Northeastern. His most popular book may have been–and probably still is–The Story of Mount Washington (1960, Dartmouth). He also wrote one called Watch Out for the Racketeers... I find mention of that book in the dust cover of the Mount Washington book, but I don't think I have a copy.

But Grandpa's desk... I know I walked through his study countless times as a boy. In fact, as I write this morning, I can picture the second-floor passageway leading to his office from my grandmother's bedroom. I see shadows of that desk, but back then I wouldn't have understood those papers or his writer's life.

Through most of my writing career, I have kept a messy desk. Every six to twelve months, out of frustration or a new project, I spend a day cleaning the office and that desk. As this book reaches the final stages of revision, I have have begun to clean, sort, file, stack, and discard... it's like living the book in reverse, seeing the connections, the learning, and the moments without a clear path forward and times when the words just appeared. That's writing, I suppose. Or a desk's story, anyway.

Snowy Hike

April 24, 2011, brought snow showers and 30 degree temperatures. After 8 hours behind the computer revising the book, I looked out over my desk and saw Bailey looking at me with his "I- just-want-to-go-out-and-run" eyes. So we did. An hour and fifteen minutes of snow and mud running up toward Joe Pond. We both took naps when we returned.

After the run...

We are hooked on Black Mountain's cross country trails even in mud season. Bailey runs 5x my distance at 10x my speed... and then one of us crashes, deservedly so.

Happy Birthday, Gina!

On top of BMOM

Hiking to the top of Black Mountain–The notion of just going up applied to me; as for Bailey, he must have run up and down, up and down 2 or 3 times as he enjoyed the sunshine, snow, and spring sniffs.

Climbing BMOM

We had a great hike and run on Black Mountain of Maine today. It took 38 minutes to get to the top of the chairlift (my best time three years ago was 28:30)... makes no difference, though, what a glorious day. We met our neighbor, Deanna Petrie, on the side of the mountain, and she was kind enough to take our picture.

One dog's run

We took advantage of the 47 degree sunshine today in western Maine and headed off to Black Mountain of Maine for a run. I'm recovering from a litany of injuries over the past six months, and it felt grand to be able to run (yes, OK, jog) for an hour on the snow-covered cross-country trails. Bailey ran himself into the ground. At one point we were scaling the side of a 25 foot mogul (a steep mothah) built for skiers and Bailey went up and down, up and down... Man. Um, I mean, Dog! Here, Bailey waiting for me to rally for the second hour... maybe by mid-summer.