Rockin' the Dane Pasture

The Dane Pasture

We now have a brand-new fence installed in our yard specifically for the Danes. Pinky and Daisy gave the new pasture a test run this evening and, judging by the wagging tails and goofing around, they approve.

In the last month or so the Danes have gotten their own Danemobile and now a Dane Pasture. They're living better than their owners!



See more photos here

While we were out...

While Steph and I were enjoying our vacation, Ma and Pa Powell were watching the Danes. Well, they weren't watching all that much (as evidenced by Pinky busting into their food!), but we appreciate the help just the same.

This was a special trip for Daisy because she was reunited with her brother Khufu. Jason, Khufu's owner, is a friend of my mom's and was the person that got us in touch with the woman we got Daisy from. The two had a fantastic reunion (it was the first time they have seen each other since March '09) with lots of romping and playing at a Madison dog park. As an aside, it was also mentioned that Khufu likes deaf girls as he was humping Pinky.

Family Reunion

Rochester/Canada Trip

Steph and I took a vacation to Rochester, NY to celebrate a family's friend's Bar Mitzvah. While there, we enjoyed excellent food and beautiful surroundings. The highlight of this trip was definitely our stop at Niagara Falls on our way back from Toronto. I have seen some incedible natural beauty in the past, but I'm pretty sure this tops them all. It certainly ranks at the top with Cathedral Pines. Here are some pics from the Falls: Ken and I continue our parade of goofy hats: This is a shot closest to where the water actually falls. You really need to be there to appreciate how powerful it is. Awwwww..... You're not going to get me on one of those!

This is Eden!

After losing my 2000 Honda Valkyrie Standard to an accident, I began my search for a replacement bike. I breifly flirted with the idea of buying a sport touring bike such as the Kawasaki Concours 14 or the Honda ST1300. These would not do, however, because they are simply not made for passenger comfort, and we need to focus on keeping Mama Dog happy. Other options were far out of our price range such as the Goldwing and Triumph Rocket III Touring; both of which are well over $20K new (!). Oh, and of course there a V-Twin options, but that's not my thing. Looks like it was time to check out the Valkyries once again.

I missed my bike badly; it was almost as if a family member was suddenly gone. I felt almost... naked without a cycle. As I've said, we both greatly enjoyed the Standard, but it lacked some of the touring features we wanted (particularly the passenger comfort). So we decided to see if we could find a Valkyrie Interstate in our price range. After nearly a week of searching, a great guy in Minneapolis emailed me letting me know that a guy had backed out on his Interstate. Steph and I arranged to check the bike out the next day.

We put money down on this bike in Eden Prairie and we will soon be bringing the big girl home.

Farewell Charlotte...

On March 31 an inattentive driver pulled out in front of me while riding just outside of Eau Claire. I struck the car's rear quarter panel. Luckily I escaped from the accident with only bruises and pulled muscles. Charlotte, however, was declared a total a few days later.

We bought this bike January 4, 2008 and enjoyed about 16,000 miles together in the just-over-two years we had her. The highlight of our owning this bike was definitely our 3,000 mile trip to West Virginia together last summer.

A picture of the damage (this includes bent forks, a bent frame, bent radiator, damaged headlight housing, destroyed windshield, badly bent crash bar, rash on the right pipe, and a hole in the right valve cover):



And here she is just weeks before the accident: