Rick & Julian's Cross-Country Drive

Julian had a great summer up in Silicon Valley working for Intuit at their headquarters in Mt. View, California (between San Francisco and San Jose).
He had a lot fun with the other interns, going to concerts, festivals, beaches, dance clubs, and having weekly Sunday BBQs. One female intern, a UC Berkeley Comp Sci student, Diane, became a special interest for much of the summer. He joined the San Jose Bike Club, and also rode with the Webcor/Alto Velo Bicycle Racing Club. One of the USA's female cyclists in the Beijing Olympics right now is a member here. www.altovelo.org

And now it's time to return for his final semester at Michigan State University!

So, he and Rick are driving cross-country in his Ford Escort packed with his belongings and 3 bicycles hanging off the back! It will be like a Grand Prix event! Julian needs to get back to get the MSU Bike Club rolling, so the guys are driving THREE 10 to 12 hour days! WHEW!!! (Plus the day before Julian spent 7 hours driving down to our house in Vista! He was barely here 12 hours, including sleep time.)

Then on Wednesday they need to drive up to MSU and move Julian in one last time!

Rick will be dead for about 3 days after that I suspect! Hopefully, he'll have enough energy to make to his return flight!

Rick and I will both be back in Michigan for Julian's graduation on Saturday, December 6th.

-----------------------------------

3 Dog Nights

It's like having babies around again! Getting up at 1:30, 3:30, and then having "babies" wide awake and ready to play at 5:30 am!!

We are puppy-sitting!

Our neighbors, who have taken our dog Goldie several times for us, are on vacation in Boston, and we have their two 7-month old Shelties: Thor, and Zena (the Warrior Princess)!

Actually it was the first night that was the worst -- after all, it was the puppies first night away from home. Every howl of a coyote, or distant barking dog in the night, woke them up and they proceeded to respond with wild, piercing, barking of their own. What a way to be jarred awake -- several times!

The 2nd night Rick slept in the guest room! But the puppies were much quieter. And I closed our bedroom window and doorwall to keep some of the night sounds out. They have still been waking up pretty early, but it's been much better.

Goldie isn't so sure though! She goes to lay down in her favorites spots and, oh no! A puppy is there. She'll go somewhere else, and, oh no! A puppy has followed her! She's snarled a couple of times as one of them tried to come near while she chews on a rawhide -- which, by the way, she stole from them!!!

But puppies are fun! They follow me everywhere! They are really good dogs (except for the ear-piercing barking). They are potty-trained, and well, mostly quite.

And energy!... geez, they run around our yard, hoping up rocks and hills, spinning around, diving between cactus and succulents, running through bamboo, back down the rocks, around the pool, over the deck, and then they do it again! Oh, and they bark crazily while running all around! :)

Saturday: well, 2 quite nights in a row! And coyotes and dogs were barking outside during the night! That sound woke me up, even though it's distant, 'cause I was prepared to hear the puppies go at it.... but nope! they didn't! And I didn't have to get up until 6:30!! They were awake earlier, but played QUIETLY! wow!

Our other neighbors, Wayne and Gunde, come by at 7:30 and take the pups for a long walk each morning. They (all 4!) come back tired and ready for a nap! It's already hot by the time they return.

Sunday: The pups are doing GREAT! I think we are all much more used to each other and calmer. Suzanne has one of the "Dog Whisper" books at her house and I have been reading it while sitting outside with the doggies. The book is probably helping too. This morning the pups woke up but just hung around quietly until I got up.

I have to take them home while Rick and Julian packed up Jule's car to head back to MSU. He arrived about 10pm Saturday night, and he and Rick left at 10am Sunday morning!

With them gone too it will sure be quite when Thor and Zena go home Monday. Then it will be back to lazy days with a 13 year old Golden Retriever! Us girls will have to just sit in the shade by the pool!

Monday:
Well, the puppies went home. And we were starting to have a very good relationship! I had several full nights sleep, they played QUITELY in our yard and theirs, and well, they are really good dogs! Good thing they only live across the street! I will see them every day and we can continue to bond! :-)

----------------------------------

Happy Birthday William Funke

It's funny what we remember sometimes.

Every year on August 1st, I remember the boy I had a crush on in 7th and 8th grade! William Funke. (Catholic school! You couldn't use nicknames like Bill!)

William was so cute! He had long bangs with his redish-brown hair that made him look a bit like Herman* of Herman Hermits (one of my favorites "British Invasion" bands at the time). I think he used to even kind of pretend he was Herman. *Here's another thing I remember: Herman's real name was Peter Blair Dennis Bernard Noone! Now, why in the hell can I remember THAT???? geez.

Anyway, William was cute, friendly, and fun. Then he got sick.

He missed a lot of school in 8th grade. Our nuns told us he was very sick. I don't know of anyone who went to visit him, or even talked about trying to. After a few months we were told he had stomach cancer.

Then one day he was back at school! I was so happy to see him! He didn't look great, but, hey, he was well enough to come back!

I don't know how long he stayed in school, I think it was a very short time, and then, he was gone again. He died while we were still in 8th grade. We were all so sad.

We lost another classmate that school year too: Jimmy Lockhart. The way I remember the story was that he was sliding into base, and the 2nd baseman jumped up to get a ball, and come down on Jimmy's leg, breaking it badly. Somehow, from there he got complications. He too died before we graduated from St. Peter's School that June 1966.

Apparently he had leukemia, a childhood blood/bone disease that somehow came to light while he was in the hospital. I remember thinking the broken leg turned into leukemia, but some adult explained to me that no, he had leukemia, and it was discovered when his leg would not heal.

I was friends with Jimmy's sister Nancy who I think was just one year old than us. I wonder where she is now.

A dozen years ago, shoot, who knows, maybe 20 years ago, I tried to look up the Funke family in Harper Woods, Michigan. I even called one family in the White Pages to see if they were William's family. I explained to them that I was looking for his parents to tell them I still remember him. As a parent myself, I thought they'd appreciate hearing that. But, they were not related.

I've searched again on the internet, but no luck.

I should try to look up Nancy Lockhart too.

In any case, here's to you, sweet William Funke! You would have turned 56 today.

_______________________________