Best Friends

These two hang out in our back yard a lot. I'm not quite sure that the squirrel understands most of the things Jozy says to him...but she is pretty persistent in trying to get her message across.

Tahoe Doppelgänger

Which one is the real Jozy?

Get in the hole...

The best part about rain storms on a golf course is that after all subsequent rounds are cancelled, Jozy gets to take to the tee box and play a bit of dogobie. This is one happy dog who does some good work on and off the fairway. Tough to see this in the distance but I think you can tell that she grabs this one in flight for sure.

The Signal and the Noise - Nate Silver

I'm guessing that this is probably one of the more "dense" books that I will read this year in that it drifts a bit further into statistical theory then I would have thought i would typically enjoy. In the end though, I have to say that Nate Silver does a really good job of taking the topic of predictions and statistical theory and making it accessible through a slew of interesting examples such as baseball, earthquakes, weather forecasting, climate change and terrorism. Silver is the author of the NYT blog FiveThirtyEight, was named one of the 100 most influential people by Time magazine in 2009 and in the 2012 presidential election he correctly predicted the winner of all 50 states. He didn't do so bad in 2008 either, predicting 49 out of 50 states correctly as well as predicting 100% of the senate races. The man knows his stuff.

Simple Pleasures

Back home and basking in some simple pleasures. Travel can be a burden sometimes but it also reinforces what you should truly appreciate.

Scholar

I'm not the only fan of a good book in our house by the way...

Shout out from the madness...

The last three days have been crazy: work in VA, flight home for a soccer game, score game winning goal almost at the buzzer, making flights by 10 minutes or less at multiple airports, squatting in a friend's house to take meetings as I run between airports and more. Through it all, my wife is a rock star helping me juggle impossibilities and make it look like a game of backyard catch. Easy, full of smiles, a little bit o'lemonade and just hanging in there riding the waves. This post is a simple shout out to her for helping me through the madness. Jozy is of course, excited to have you around Blades of Blue and just checking in every once in a while. 

Nesting

For the last month or so Jozy has occasionally chosen to "hunt" my car while it is parked in or near our carport. The working theory has been that some sort of rodent or bird has taken up residence outside our house in the area near the carport, gets occasionally startled by Jozy and takes cover under the car. The last week, it has gotten worse and she now routinely jumps, puts her two front paws on the hood of the car and barks incessantly. Today, she started to crawl under the parked car frantically, to the point where I am pretty sure she was on the verge of getting stuck.

That was when we decided to open all of the doors, the hood, etc. and let Jozy explore and satisfy her curiosity to the point of exhaustion...hopefully resulting in convincing her that nothing is living in the car itself.

This did not succeed.

Apparently, something has been building a nest on top of my engine.

Happy New Year!

My wife was backing up her iPhone to upgrade the OS and I found this photo below in our iPhoto library after the import. It's a pretty cool photo of me and Jozy in the snow in Arkansas this past Christmas.

It's been a great holiday season. We were able to visit my family in Massachusetts for Thanksgiving, spend time in Arkansas with my wife and her mother for Christmas, visit with our friends Mark and Karen who came back home from Arizona for the holidays, took lots of time off work, etc. Great food, wine, company, snow and some real fun Christmas gifts added some icing to the cake.

To top it all off in spectacular style, my brother and his wife just had twins! Eloise and August were born on 12/31/2012. Happy New Year to all of them (now a family of 5!) out in Arizona and Happy New Year to anyone one who happens to still come by this small space I've created out here in the world. Looking forward to 2013.

You Shall Not Pass

Trees block the passageway at the end of the road here. Jozy longs for freedom while my wife finds a path. Obligatory victory pose in the last shot.

Winter Wonderland

Jozy began her budding career as a sled dog today by being incredibly brave and successfully figuring out that snow will not hurt her and is actually fun. It took her a little while to warm up to the idea, but after we got her running for a bit she had a blast. It's beautiful here this morning, power is still up (knock on wood) and we are enjoying a winter wonderland. Merry Christmas to everyone - hope you all are having a safe and wonderful holiday season.

Isaac Update: Priorities

It was a bit tough to focus on work today but I managed to do so. In the meantime, the porch was cleared, all random loose things that might fly around in tropical storm or hurricane force winds were packed up, and we are stocking up on water. It's not clear how bad it will get here. Looks like tropical storm and tons of rain. We're hoping our trees hold up. Jozy insists on going outside every 30 minutes to inspect the backyard. She is ready.

In the meantime, my wife is engaged in drafting her fantasy football team and asking me to call Starbucks to see if they will be open tomorrow. 

Pike Place Market Doppelgänger

My wife respectfully submitted this Pike Place Market Doppelgänger for your consideration. Pretty sure I can tell the difference. Can you? Both apparently like pets...but don't be confused.

Community Garden Doppelgänger

Imitators of Jozy are just popping up all over the place these days. Beware, there is nothing better than the real thing. Is Jozy the one on the right or the left?

Houston Doppelgänger

We have another submission to the Jozy Doppelgänger collection! This one comes from our friend Josh Vidrine and was spotted in Houston. Which one is Jozy and which one is Jozy Doppelgänger? Can you tell?

Dry Cleaner Doppelgänger

There was a moment today where I thought Jozy had found her doppelgänger at our dry cleaner. Jozy is a little taller and in a little better shape but this little guy has a lot of Jozy genes somewhere in there. Close to a doppelgänger, or possibly just a link in the evolutionary chain to Jozy-ness.

Jozy:

Dry cleaner doppelgänger:

Portrait of a sad dog staring at the rain

On rainy days and nights Jozy will ask to go out and then just stare at the rain wishing it would stop. Sad dog.

Jozy's Vision...

Last weekend was the unveiling of the LCG Comprehensive Plan Vision Statement, held at the Horse Farm here in Lafayette. The Horse Farm is a 125 acre piece of land smack dab on the middle of our city that is completely undeveloped. There is no doubt that it will be one of the centerpieces of the future vision for Lafayette, so it was a great setting to have the vision statement unveiled. Attendees at the event were able to give feedback on the vision statement as well as provide comments about the future of the Horse Farm itself. Jozy is voting for a massive 100 acre dog park but I am not sure she will get her way. Go read the vision statement here. And congratulations to my wife, intimately involved in this effort, working tirelessly day and night to make it a success!

The upper photo is a picture of Jozy at the Horse Farm, her first ever visit. This is at the front of the 100+ acres and you can see the wide open space behind her. The photo immediately above is of the city parish president on a police horse at the event. 

While there, jozy explored an old house on the property and found this wheel barrow. She was quite excited about this particular antique. Go read about the effort to save the Horse Farm here.

Discipline

Balboa Jozy Reunion

 It's been a while since Jozy got to enjoy Lake Balboa out in Hot Springs Village. Here are a couple photos taken from a brief trip to the beach today. She was one happy dog.