Bye Sable

I had a rough evening. I went to my parents' house to check on them and eat dinner. I looked outside to check on our dogs. Shadow is a new German Shepherd mix that my dad got a few months ago. Since dad has been sick lately, I decided to go an play with Shadow. I opened the back door and looked over to where Sable was. I knew something was wrong. He was laying on the threshold of his doghouse - kind of half way inside and half way outside. I yelled his name - no response. I yelled his name again - no response. I got sad. I went in and got mom and told her that I thought Sable had passed away.

We got Sable about 18 years ago. I was about 11 when he joined our family. He was so small you could hold him in the palm of your hand. His eyes were kind of crossed - he looked half retarded. When my parents moved from Stephenville in 1996, they left Sable for a couple of days. Our neighbor who was in charge of feeding him told them that he just crawled into a knocked over trash can and wouldn't come out - he thought we had left him. But we didn't. We came back and got him. He wasn't a big dog and he definitely wasn't purebred. I think he got smarter at the end of his life. There was this green rubber bone toy that I would throw. He would run, stomp on it, and then play keep-away with me. I do remember having hard days and just going to pet Sable on his little head. He was feisty. He would bark and probably bite people who he didn't know if we were around - to protect us.

He was on a line going from our backyard to our front yard. My parents don't have a fence, but this way he could move about freely. We nailed a sign to the tree where the line ended near the front of our house. It reads, "In Loving Memory of Sable De La Garza - 1987 to May 23, 2005 - We will always love you!" There's a snapshot of him running and we put flowers under the sign. We just want the neighbors to know what happened. They would come by and pet him sometimes. Some would even take him off of his line and walk him.

Sable was a good dog. He was always happy to see me when I drove up to the house. I will miss him. Eighteen years is a long time. Bye puppy.

My toes went numb

I've been avoiding the blog. There are several reasons why. I question why I have to tell people things and wonder if I'm being genuine. I want to write happy things, but life is screwed up so much of the time. For example, my dad is really, really sick right now. His depression is crippling him - he can't get out of bed and isn't going to work. I don't know why this is happening. I want it to go away and a lot of people are praying for him, but God seems to be silent. I'm angry at myself, at God, at life. OK...enough of that.

Now to better things...

I went riding last night with full gear - bikey shorts, a cycling jersey, helmet, cycling shoes. I got some new shoes and pedals over the weekend. Very cool. I expected my butt to hurt this morning. I expected my thighs to burn last night. I didn't expect my toes to go numb. I don't know why this happened. I'm wondering if it's the new shoes - the guy who sold them to me told me about a metatarsal pad to keep my toes spread while riding. Who knows. Anyway, I'll be riding in the Tour de Tucson on November 19th, but in order to ride in it I have to raise $4000. It's for a great cause: The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I'm excited and scared at the same time. Excited to do something so challenging and scared at having to raise that amount of money.

To my friends: I will bug you until you give something!!

If you want to donate on-line, go here to my Team in Training Website. You might be the first person to donate on-line.

So that's what I'm up to. Please help me out. Thanks for reading.

I'm scared

1. Tucson
2. $4000
3. November 19th
4. 100
5. a lot of prayer

You all will be hearing about this very soon. I'm sure I will have your support...and if I don't, I'll bug you about it until I get it.