SlatRat.com
The Daily Doings of Steph

Today is Echo’s first birthday!!!! Whoo Hoo!!! She’s no longer a puppy. Although to be honest, she’s still very puppy like. AND CUTE!!!!!

Tyge says that even though he didn’t know it, one year ago today, his life changed in a big way. But he grudgingly admits that Echo isn’t too hideous.

When my first dog, Clementine turned one, I threw a big bbq party and invited all of her doggie and people friends. Party hats and cake for everyone - hominids and canines both. It was great fun. So, I’m feeling a bit less than the perfect parent because we’re not throwing a soiree for the Little Bug. But that’s ok, we’ll just give her extra treats and love this evening. Wait a minute, she always gets extra treats loves every evening.

Here are some pictures from the first year of Echodom:

Four week old Echo. She’s the dark one. Already going after her big brother.

My favorite picture of Peter and Echo together:

Origination of the “Little Bug” nickname:

Tyge reflecting on Echo’s arrival:

My all time favorite picture of Tyge and Echo together. Tyge is not buying what Echo has to sell:

Echo at six months out at Kincaid. I think this one is calendar worthy.

Sledding With Echo!

Echo the day after her first up close encounter with a moose. She decided to do a little research.

Underneath it all, Tyge does love Echo:

Read: Happy Birthday to Echo!!!!! »

Another great FBI Citizen’s Academy class. Last week we focused on: Crisis (Hostage) Negotiations; Human Trafficking, and Bomb Squad.

All the topics were intensely interesting and the presenters were great. I was particularly impressed by the joint leads of the Human Trafficking task force: an Anchorage Police Department Sergeant and a FBI Special Agent, both of whom are women and really dedicated. I was blown away.

Speaking of blown away, the bomb squad presentation was great fun and really informative. I felt like I had the inside story on The Hurt Locker. We even tried on bomb suits - the same models used in The Hurt Locker. $23,000 per suit but evidently the best. They’re very heavy - the helmut alone must weigh 30 lbs.

Below is a video that opened up the bomb squad presentation.
It’s great fun - definitely rigged. But still a blast (literally).

And from two weeks ago, here’s our “Class Photo”. We were doing crime scene investigation practice.

Read: Week Five of FBI Citizen’s Academy »

It is beyond great to spend a weekend at home and not be recovering from a trip or packing for another trip. And an added bonus is that it’s Fur Rendezvous weekend. Which means sled dog races, fireworks, the parade, outhouse races, running with the reindeer, etc. Yesterday, I crawled out of bed a bit too early for a Saturday morning and headed downtown to do the Fur Rondy Frostbite Footrace. It’s short race (particularly if one does just one lap: 1.6 miles) in downtown Anchorage that follows the parade route. The costumes are what make this race a ton of fun. This year, my favorite costume was a group of 5 guys in big bosomed, big haired, and hot pants drag and and one guy in nice slacks, a striped golf shirt, and a putter: Tiger and his girls!!!!

Last year, I ran with the reindeer, but decided to pass this year. And I also haven’t attended any of the sled dog races. I think I’m still a bit punked from traveling. Instead, Peter and I have been watching lots of Olympics - or “Limpets” as Peter refers to them. In addition to dog shows and ads featuring dogs and other animals, Tygey is also a aficionado of the Olympics. His favorite events are figure skating, bobsled, and halfpipe. And, he does wish that skijoring would become a Winter Olympics sport.

Today, Peter and I spent an hour at Best Buy purchasing a new TV set: Samsung 46″ LED series 7100. This one will be mounted on the wall with some sort of razor wire barrier in front to keep Tygey from attacking when dogs appear. Just kidding about the razor wire. Maybe.

Here’s Tygey watching the final run of USA Team One’s gold medal effort.
The goobered up left third of the TV is Tygey’s handiwork.

Me with a post Frostbite Footrace Kantishna smoothie at Snow City Cafe.

Read: Weekend Doings: Tyge and the TV, Olympics, and Fur Rondy »

We’ve been home for almost a week, but I am just now getting around to a wrap up post. It was a fabulous trip. And Peter and I now think that we should do an annual NYC pilgrimage.

The poochies and our house sitter are all very happy that Peter and I are home. Two big bouviers who missed their parents were a real challenge for Katie, our house sitter. This was Echo’s first experience with a house sitter. She was terribly anxious for the first several days - where were Mom and Dad????? Tygey was just fine and a giant sweetheart - until his Sex in the City incident with our 42″ LCD HD TV. Katie was doing homework and watching the second season of Sex in the City with Tyge and Echo when a Jack Russell Terrier appeared in one of the episodes. Tyge is a major television watcher and becomes rapt whenever animals and particularly, dogs appear. This time, when the JRT appeared, Tyge jumped up and put his paws on top of the TV and bonked the screen with his head. He then pulled the TV down to the floor. And that was the end of our TV. Poor Katie was panicked. She thought she would have to buy us a new TV. Which was not the case at all. In my opinion, it was only a matter of time before we lost the TV to Tygey. The next TV will be mounted on the wall. With a barrier in front of it.

So, final New York Pictures:

Me in front of the Reservoir in Central Park taking a break during a very snowy run.
The Reservoir run was one of those life checklist items. It was just like the movies!

A Runner Sled!!! On Display at the Met! Slat Rats love sleds!

The empty spot where the damaged Picasso hung. This was the Picasso that the woman
fell into in mid-December.

From the Tim Burton exhibit at MoMA. I’m thinking of printing it off and
giving it to my shrink.

Read: New York Wrap-Up - and Poochies! »

Peter and I are wrapping up a fabulous six days in New York City. We’ve museumed, dined (to the max), theatered, shopped, and hoofed. And today, was the Westminster Dog Show: our primary reason for the trip. We’re part of “Team Webber.” Webber is the number one Bouvier in the US. And more importantly, he’s Echo’s Daddy!!!!

Westminster is a two day event and today was the Bouvier judging. Peter and I arrived at Madison Square Garden at 9:30 AM. We wanted to snag a good ringside position and do the all important souvenir shopping. By the time 12:30 PM rolled around, I was so so nervous, I wanted to throw up. Unfortunately, all those nerves were for naught. Webber didn’t win. But he and Larry (his handler) were the best team out there. All I can say, is if you’ve ever seen the hilarious, Best In Show, it’s totally true.

Even though our team didn’t win, we’ve still had a fabulous time in my favorite American city. Friday night, on the spur of the moment we snagged tickets to “Time Stands Still” with the superb Laura Linney. On Saturday, we lucked out again. Walk in tickets to the matinee of the revival “A Little Night Music” with Catherine Zeta-Jones and theatre’s reigning Grand Dame, Angela Lansbury. A wonderful production and Angela Lansbury is a treasure - an absolutely great performance. Yesterday, was MoMA and the Tim Burton exhibit - a total blast!!!!!

Tomorrow is running and geocaching in Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and romantic dinner with my sweetums on our last night in NYC.

Okey dokey, here are the requisite pictures:

The view from our hotel room at the fabulous Ink48 in the funky and great Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.

Larry and Webber. Pretty damn fantastic!

Judy - our buddy - and Webber’s Mom!

In front on Matisse’s “Le Dance” at MoMA:

Me and Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles_d’Avignon”:

Pretty irresistible shot of an Old English Sheepdog in primp mode:

Read: “Best in Show” »

Last night’s FBI Citizen’s Academy was a total blast. After a tres interesting lecture on laws and FBI policies regarding use of deadly force, we split into two groups and headed off for actual “training”.

First up for my small group of eight (I was the only girl) was SWAT Team training. We learned several methods for looking around a corner: using a very handy mirror at the end of long pole, “Slicing the Pie” (as opposed to “Cutting the Cheese”); and the “Quick Peek”. Slicing the Pie involves utilizing the projected angle of a corner to get a good view of hallway without the “Bad Guy” being able to see you. You also have a special stance for holding your pistol so you can have a sight line for a shot but not be a target yourself. A “Quick Peek” is exactly what it says with a minimal amount of head exposure.

Oh - regarding the phrase “Bad Guy”. That is the operative phrase. It’s always “The Bad Guy”. I think “Bad Guy” is now a part of my lexicon.

After we learned how to peek around corners, we suited up in SWAT gear, grabbed our deactivated SIG Sauer handgun and proceeded to learn how to enter and clear a series of rooms as a team. My body armor vest was made for a guy about twice my size and filled with ceramic plates. So it weighed a ton and was a bit unwieldy, but I could still maneuver with my team. I just had to slide the vest over to my left shoulder so I could extend my shooting arm.

It took a bit of instruction, but we sort of figured out how to clear the room - which by the way, was the Men’s Restroom and Locker Room. Then one of our instructors hid and we got to go in after him. What fun! It took us about ten minutes to get to him - we were pretty slow. I was running dual point with one of my teammates and so when we found the “Bad Guy”, I was the one who called him out. So, said, “FBI. Come out with your hands up!”

Well, he came out and then told me I had to be THE ALPHA. You gotta show you’re top dog and that you’re in charge with overwhelming force. I replied that I could do Alpha. He went back in and I called him out again:

FBI! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE WITH YOUR HANDS UP! NOW!!!!!!

That impressed everyone. In fact it became a joke amongst several of the agents there last night. One of my teammates said it was his favorite moment of the night.

Next up was FATS the Fire Arms Training Simulator. Basically the several live action scenarios are projected on a screen. You’re armed with a wired up Glock handgun and you participate in the scenarios. It’s sort of like a old fashioned video game with real people projected on a big screen. I didn’t do so well on mine. I sort of killed my on-screen video partner. It was some consolation that the agents said that I had one of the toughest scenarios. And some of my instincts were actually spot on. For example, the bad guy charged my partner and they were wrestling on the floor. I wanted run up and shoot the bad guy at point blank range but I didn’t know how to do that in the video game. I do now - just run up to the screen and fire directly into it.

Anyhoo, all in all it was a great night. Just a ton of fun and very very instructive. And we got more fun SWAG - an FBI Citizen’s Academy pen and and Alaska FBI trading card!

Read: SWAT Team Member Slat Rat! »

I’m doing the coolest thing ever - I’m spending the next six Thursday nights at Anchorage FBI headquarters attending the FBI’s Citizen’s Academy. The Citizen’s Academy is an FBI program geared towards, “business, civic, and religious leaders”. One is nominated to the academy by an FBI employee or alumn of the Academy. My good buddy, Pete, nominated me. And amazingly, I passed the background check!

Our class consists of 30 folks who a real cross section of Anchorage and Alaska: editor of Anchorage Daily News, editor of the Anchorage Press, head of Alaska Airlines in Alaska, folks from BP, Chevron, Denali Gas, and folks active in the community - one of whom is a good buddy of mine at Alaska Aids Assistance Association.

Last week was our first session - we covered the history of the FBI. The presentation included a this no holds barred video bio of J. Edgar Hoover:

We also met many of the special agents in the Anchorage Office and discussed their various assignments and took a tour of the building. The garage is particularly impressive.

The curriculum will alternate between classroom and field sessions. Tonight is a field session: SWAT Team training! I can’t wait!!!! I’m going to learn how to break down doors and clear rooms. Oh boy!!!!

Read: Slat Rat as Junior G-Man »

One of our neighbor moose spent some time with us this morning. This big guy is a an old man. Last night, we saw him walking across Spenard Road from Sunrise Bread to the pizza palor and he was moving very slowly. I told Peter that we should take him in to the vet. Peter thought we’d have a tough time fitting him in the back of Satchel - particularly with Tyge and Echo already in the back.

This morning, he was a tad more spry. He moved around pretty well in the yard and he really is quite large. Although the pictures below don’t him real justice.

Munching his cud. The big white spot below his right ear that looks like red eye gone wild is actually where his antlers were. They were dropped just a week or two ago.

From the back. With our lawn ornament moose strutting his stuff.

Read: A Very Old Bullwinkle Stops by for a Visit »

Tuesdays are my work from home day. I do like the mix of one to two days per week of working home and the remainder of time in the office.

The big plus of working from home is more poochie time. Of course, the dogs mainly sleep. But they’re still great company.

Here’s a shot I took this morning of Tyge and Echo hard at work:

Read: Joys of Working From Home »

Yesterday, da Ski Boy, Tyge, Echo, and I embarked on a little expedition across the Lagoon. Our plan had been to walk the mile across - West to East - and then walk the bike trail up to West High School and through the neighborhood and back home. However, the snow on the lagoon was deep, and the going was tough, even for the poochies. So, half way across we veered right and headed up the steep hill that occasionally serves as a secret neighborhood sledding hill. As we walked up the hill, the snow just looked so perfect. My sledding memories came flooding back. I was a very serious sledder as a kid and teenager. Our homestead was a mile up a serious of very steep hills. I would sled to the bus stop and then stash my sled in the ditch and pick it up in the afternoon. I loved to sled. And at age fifty one, I haven’t sledded in thirty years.

You can see where this is headed.

This morning Peter and I picked up a plastic sled from Fred Meyer. This afternoon during the halftime of the Jets-Chargers game, Peter put the game on TiVo and we and the poochies again made our way across the Lagoon to the hill.

And GREAT FUN ensued.

I think I look like a big 5 year old.
Echo is having a grand time and you can
see Tyge’s feet at the very back of the picture.

The run.
Peter was official photographer. However, I couldn’t
convince him to take a run. Maybe next time. He took
this shot as Echo and I climbed up after our final trip down.

Flying Echo with Tyge in the background:

Careering towards the edge:

From the top. Tygey has not yet committed to
running down.

Tygey and Echoing zooming down:

Read: Sledding!!!!! »