This blog post is dedicated to Dot

The family- with wife- the medal around her neck is an Awesome Wife Award :)

Today on the way to the race Dot said, "by the way I do read your blog." Huh? I wondered. Initially, She was too busy and the Arantix thing was too frivolous so I am sure she didn't. But I wondered if she peaked every once in a while. Well I guess that's OK. Right? Everyone else does- I use the term 'everyone' loosely since it is more the 'one' than the 'every'.  It's just that at first I could pretty much assume she didn't and I didn't have to include her in it as much- plus I assumed she didn't mind the anonymity.

So today on my third lap I had run out of water, I was all alone, I was in survival mode and I hit this great curvy sage brush section that really got me into a zone and I thought about her and our conversation. I had the great idea to dedicate today's blog to her! PLUS she and the boys came along to the race- rare- AND she hung out along the course to take pictures of me- rarer! Don't get me wrong she is an awesome wife and mom but she doesn't get into the pandering the husband thing. I'm Not complaining........much.

Boys at the start

So I asked her what she thought about the blog. She said it sometimes seems that I am obsessive about the boys. Well; I guess I am in a way. I have the luxury of working evenings and nights so I have the luxury of being with them a BUNCH relative to most dads. I guess in many ways I fit the Mr. Mom bill. And when moms are with their kids most of the day they are the focus in life. Plus I really enjoy doing stuff with them and for them. Like Karate, making them a Volleyball court, a bike track, bike trips, camping trips etc. etc...... OK. Maybe I am obsessed with them. But I am a parent for pete's sake. Luckily, I don't thing that equates to spoiling them. Most anyone will know I am strict with them and make them do chores, and keep them on a short leash with attitude problems -(e.g. I made them pull weeds for an hour today and pick peas yesterday!)  I guess in the end, I may be guilty as charged- but I like it :)

I also heard from the wife that she is not mentioned much in my posts (except on occasional- "the wife" notation in parenthesis. Well I thought she wasn't reading them so why bother! - not really. Again, I thought she enjoyed the anonymity. and realistically the activities I do with the boys are generally when she is at work. Oh and admittedly just from the egocentric nature of blogging bloggers its all about ME, ME, ME! Should she start one of her own? His and Her blogs? Interesting.

Joey crossing the finish line with Mom chasing him

Either way, from now on I vow to TRY to make my posts more WC (wifely correct). I love you dear! :)

By the way, the race was way fun, the course was great and I generally felt strong. Just not strong enough. I initially finished 3rd but someone wrote in a name ahead of mine so it was really 4th- I guess. Bob puts on a great show.

Epic ride with the boys

I took the boys up CC. We started at the top rolled down to shoreline, played in the roaring river/stream, and headed into town. We stopped at Dancing Yeti Coffee shop for some smoothies to replenish the "lost" calories since my boys don't have much to spare on them. Then rode home- 11 miles and 2.5 hours- total. Quite a journey. Then I rode back up Ghost to get the truck. Just trying to keep to my commitment to them to ride more for fun with the boys. It was good. Now let's hope I have some legs left for tomorrows Round Valley race.

Belated Father's Day

Father's day was wet and I had to work anyway. So I had a good day with the boys today instead. The weather was better and we broke in the Volleyball court with the kids. What a great way to spend a day playing with the kids.

I think father's day is becoming my most favorite holiday. Normally I think these are made up for commercial waste and expense but the way we've been celebrating it with the boys is on home activities and if they buy anything I request it to be something we can use together. The boys (and Dot) got me a planting science kit we can set up together and learn from. Even better, I liked the cards the boys made for me (Dot made a great one too that I can't share :)

Family ride coupons! Sweet!

Deer Valley Race

Gourmet after the race- Guess I gotta do another race to be calorie neutral.

This is June 11th at Deer Valley! Moguls are still evident at the base! The race course had to be redirected in a couple place but was in pretty good  condition- except for the start. The start was straight uphill and in mud and steeper than the usual ridiculous climb. I cleaned it but had to take what seemed like half the first lap to recover. I cleaned it the next two laps- surprisingly- and had a good race giving it a good effort. Yes. I still ended towards the back but not last. I'll keep training. I can only improve from here. Right?

Rulon and I

Dr Jacob Poulson, Rulon Gardner and I

I got to work an MMA fight with Rulon Gardner. He MC'd it and I got to be one of the docs to examine the fighter afterwards. It was a fun little local event with a big guy guest. Some good fighting- including the gals who had some of the better technique!

Let me die! - When should families let go?

When a loved one is so ill that they voice the unthinkable, "Let me die", it can be traumatic to the family. Too often than not, what happens is that the family guilts the sick into "doing everything, every time".  So not only does the sick family member have to live with the pain that made them make the declaration, but now they have to live with all "the life-saving" measures thrust upon them. They will be destined to many extra needles, the side effects of the $50k per pill magic medications that may give them another 6 months of agony and the humiliation of the family watching them waste away to nothing. Then in the end, because the discussion of end of life is taboo, they will suffer the last insult of ending up in the ER where we will be required to put the body through the last heroic attempts of drugs, shocks and compressions. We, fighting to give them more suffering and they, fighting for rest. In those times- I hope they beat me.

Recently, I had a case like that. JS (not the real name) was so ill that she would end up in the ER every week or so. We and she would do what the family wanted. She would get patched up. Sometimes she would be admitted but most times she would refuse. This kept going on for over 6 months. There would actually be yelling fights in the ER between her and the family. I respected that at least she had the spirit to fight them. Finally, when she became sick again, she didn't tell the family and delayed coming in so long that her heart stopped while the family was driving her to the ER. The ambulance was called, she didn't have a living will (DNR) so the final assault was begun. We knew it was JS when the ambulance called. We continued the resuscitation briefly but all along I was rooting for her. I placed the Ultrasound on her chest. The heart was still. She won- finally. Now you can rest in peace........

Please give your loved ones the final act of respect and mercy when they ask you to let them go........