Hello Family,
It’s been around a
month since our last update so here goes.
In the first week of
the July Mom stopped by on her family tour and stayed with us for a few
days. It was fun visiting and we enjoyed having her around.
Highlights include the trips out to dinner and the always stimulating
conversations. Of course Mom also got to witness Kari and Alvin getting
married. Everyone in the family was happy to see them finally tie the
knot!
A few days after Mom
flew back to Georgia Susan picked up another foster rescue dog named
Rugby. Rugby is a nine year old female pug-Boston terrier mix (“bug” is
what they’re called). She is a little taller and heavier than the other
girls and has some serious spunk. We believe she was raised as an outside
dog as she seems very at peace when she goes out. Satchel and Tweetie
take outside time as an opportunity to eat and smell everything they can while
Rugby will lounge out on the grass after she does her business. She and
Tweetie have butted heads a few times but this has lessened as they’ve learned
each other’s limits and we’ve learned when we need to keep them apart.
Rugby is very sweet and loves to cuddle. She is very fond of toys and
often falls asleep with one still lodged in her mouth.
Susan got a chance to
perform some professional photography on July 14th when she
photographed a friend’s country farm wedding. I came along to help out
and enjoy the festivities. While this went better than the last wedding
it was not without its challenges. We showed up a few minutes before the
prescribed time to find no one ready and most of the family unaccounted for.
Unaccounted for in that literally no one at the house knew where the family was
and when they’d show up. The plan was to do family pictures before the
ceremony but was moved to after as much of the family arrived scant minutes
before the bride-to-be walked down the aisle. When it was time to gather
for the now delayed family portraits we found that several adults (the kids
weren’t so bad) were uncooperative and smiling was not their first inclination
when facing the camera (or staring off into the distance which was often the
case). Besides the family photo issues the wedding went quite well and
was very lovely.
The attendees sat on
hay bales outside a large country home and the exchanging of the vows was in
front of an artificial waterfall that looked very nice. The reception was
split between the walk-out basement of the house where dinner was served and
the barn where everyone danced the night away. Susan made sure to get all
the standard pictures plus many impromptu shots throughout the afternoon and
evening. In total she took around 2,000 pictures. We both had a
good time although Susan has said this would be her last wedding she
photographs (although she said that last time too…).
This past weekend was
very busy for us between the band playing shows and racing our car. We
played at a friend of a friend’s BBQ on Friday night and at Buffalo Rose on
Saturday night. During the day on Saturday was a rallycross down at PPIR
(Pike’s Peak International Raceway).
The BBQ was located
far north-east of Denver at a quasi-farm. They don’t grow any vegetation
but had several goats and pigs. We set up outside by the goats. The
playing started around 8:15 and it soon got dark so the remainder of the
evening was lit by car headlight. We weren’t complaining though as a
really good time was had by all. Susan and I wanted to leave as soon as
possible as we had to get up early the next day but we didn’t start the 1.5
hour trek home until 11:30. Four hours of sleep later we were up and on
our way to Colorado Springs to race.
It was an interesting
day racing for sure. We were told that if enough people registered for
the event they’d make it worth our while. We ended up meeting
expectations and the event organizers made the course twice as long as
normal. One big difference between PPIR and other locations is that PPIR
has both paved and off-road sections and Saturday’s course had several
transitions between the two. The combination of surfaces and length made
for a really fun day if your car survived. Several cars did not leave in
the same way they arrived. At least two cars could not depart under their
own power. A wheel fell off one car in the middle of the course (crazily
enough the car came back out as the owner just happened to bring a spare wheel hub
with new studs – he had broken three). A Jetta developed a massive oil
leak. One bumpy turn claimed the skid plate from an Evo and the fender
liner from a WRX (one right after the other). The hood on Civic was
barely able to close because the sub-frame was bent. We were mostly
spared trouble with our car just overheating a little between runs (it was
brutally hot out). I managed to eke out another win beating the 2nd place
competitor by only three seconds over four runs and close to eight minutes of
racing. We went home tired and hot.
That evening my band
had its second show of the weekend at Buffalo Rose. The act preceding us
was a bit of blues mixed with a lot of country. Kind of like the oil to
our water in a musical sense. It went alright but we didn’t have the
turnout we were hoping for. We ended up cutting the night short and
played an abbreviated version of the planned set. It was another late
night for Susan and I and we didn’t get to sleep until past midnight.
Sunday was to be another
busy day but started horribly. We woke to find our wonderful little
foster pug Rosie had died sometime in the night. She was still cuddling
with Susan in her favorite spot when she passed. We never formally
adopted her but she had become part of our family over the last ten
months. Susan and I are devastated and miss her terribly. Perhaps
it’s unnecessary to say but the other pugs were subjected to a lot of extra
hugs yesterday.
Sorry to end
our update on such a dour note but it’s all that’s on my mind right
now. I hope this finds everyone happy and well.
Love,
Max and Susan
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