Fiesta Bowl

If, while watching the Fiesta Bowl Monday, you happen to see a small group of men wearing body paint, orange mountain man-type beards, and orange sombreros, sit comfortable knowing that one of those men is my K.

I'm so dang proud of my sports fan hubby...

This is an actual press release written by real journalists (not like me) about K and the gang. Since then, K has been contacted by varied media sources about this. By the way, he sooooo owes me a pair of diamond earrings. I think all the guys on the trip should chip in.

FOR TRUE BRONCO FANS, GETTING TO THE GAME CAN BE HALF THE FUN

Within five minutes of the close of the Boise State Broncos' regular undefeated season, as fans rushed the field in Reno and commentators mused about the football team's upcoming appearance at the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, alum K H of Boise received four text messages in rapid succession.

All of the messages asked the same question: "How are we getting to Arizona?"

Within 20 minutes, H, a 2001 English secondary education graduate of Boise State, had talked his mother-in-law into letting him borrow her RV for a road trip to Tempe, Ariz. As his friend and fellow Bronco fan Alex Baxter puts it, "It wasn't a question of if we were going, it was a question of how."

For the group of fans, students and alumni traveling in this RV - at the moment, seven guys are going down for sure, but the party might balloon to 11 on the way back - a trip to the Fiesta Bowl is the cap to a magical season.

"I knew it was going to be a good season," Baxter said, "but I didn't want to say it out loud because it might jinx them."

With an RV ready to go to Arizona, all the guys had to do was get tickets. H and his friends camped out on a street near the Boise State campus the Friday night before tickets went on sale at the ticket office and played NCAA football video games in the RV.

"We kind of tailgated our way through the night," H said.

Baxter came along for support even though he had secured his ticket through a season ticket holder. "If someone in my crew doesn't have tickets, we're not done yet, you know?" he explained.

Now that their places in the stands are safe, the guys can look forward to spending New Year's Day in sunny Arizona - even if they have to make the sacrifice of going without their wives or girlfriends. "My wife had no desire to spend three days in an RV with some stinky boys," H said.

And they're prepared to take one for the team. Baxter said that he'll break out his "secret weapons" at the game to help cheer the team on, including a beer can holder helmet outfitted with Tostitos salsa on one end and Tostitos cheese dip on the other. "It could be pretty hard to suck down," he admits.

Russ O'Leary, a Boise State student and member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, is
traveling in the RV and says that he's one of about 20 current or past fraternity members making the trip. He's part of the face-painting, blue-and-orange crowd that has become so familiar to TV viewers and fans.

It's going to be a great game no matter what the outcome, he says. But as a true Bronco fan he has a prediction: "It's going to be the Broncos, up by 6."

Did you know...

Putting a cap full of vinegar in a water bottle to use on your pets when they're engaging in bad behaviors like barking works really well to lessen that bad behavior.

You can purchase master's thesis on line and pay for them in installments.

Dog training classes really do show results after one day.

A Boise teacher with the same qualifications and experience as a Meridian teacher will make about $1000 more a year.

The national average bra size is 36C.

BSU now has on-line grading.

There are currently zero openings for English teachers in either the Boise or the Meridian school districts.

Onions can grow in your fridge.

Dear Prissy Girls in Short Shorts Who Go to the Gym to Chat,

The gym is a place to work out - not to have your next cell phone conversation. You should be sweating, not talking with your roommate about last night's date. Please stop clogging up the machines I want to use with your worthless prattle - either work out like you mean it or have your conversations over coffee instead of over the treadmill. Did you realize that when you talk on your cell phone while walking, you could burn the same amount of calories as if you just walked around outside - with the added benefit to those around you that your cell phone conversation wouldn't be overheard just because we want to use the treadmill next to yours?

The gym is also not a place to meet men. Stop coming to the gym in your tiny shorts that barely cover your panties, perky ponytails and full makeup. Boys don't come to the gym to meet "chicks," so they're hardly checking out your ass - especially when your ass is sitting around not doing anything.

If you would keep these things in mind during your next gym visit, you would indeed be making this world a better place for all of us.

Ode to My Desk

You're dirty, desk, with tea cups and tape dispensers and lots of pens.
But thank you for not complaining as I pile on more.
File folders and books and more pens and paper clips and extra books and stray papers without a home.
You don't even complain that nothing is tidy, that nothing is stacked - even though at one time it was stacked and I ruined that quickly.
I promise - as soon as my master's thesis is completed, we'll go back to normal. I'll remove the excess books and pens, put away the papers in neat, paper clipped piles, and carry all my tea cups to the kitchen.
Until then, desk, I appreciate you taking the abuse.

Education and Culture

It seems to me sometimes that we - this huge, cultural, ambiguous "we" - really want everyone to be and act the same. Ah...But we celebrate diversity, you say. Um, true...if you count celebrating MLK day and Cinco de Mayo as celebrating diversity. Or maybe they're just reasons to take the day off work or drink yourself into a stupor.

We live in a country where it used to be (very, very recently) all right to hang a man from a tree in his front yard because he made a pass at a white woman. One of the largest terrorist organizations in America founded on the principle of a singular nation comprised of middle-class, white, male Protestants - the KKK - still operates today. Our government right now is trying to ban people who love each other from marrying - in the case that these two people share the same sex. When foreigners travel to America we expect them to speak English and (heaven forbid) if they move here and don't speak enough English, we think they should "go back to where they came from." As children with disabilities go through school, they are not instructed in ways to learn, work and study in a way that works best for them; children with disabilities are taught how to get along in a world where people are "normal" and no one needs handicap ramps or special bathroom stalls or little bumps on the keypad at the ATM or extra time on a test. Essentially, they are taught how to pass the standardized exam with the same expectations as everyone else. Don't make waves. Keep your mouth shut. Wear the right clothes. Only share what's appropriate.

Yet we value individualism? We celebrate diversity?

Gifted students too are expected to conform to this "norm" - the umbrella standard we have set up for all students to conveniently fit under. In doing so, we abandon those students in this field of boredom where school becomes for them a waste of time. Perhaps it's because teachers are afraid of progressing this elitist movement that GT students are thought to have - even though research and testimony show that that's not true. Perhaps it's because as adults, we're afraid to acknowledge that a child is more gifted than we are with our college degrees and super-important business suits...which points more to pointless and destructive pride on the part of the adult more than anything else. Perhaps it is a way of avoiding another underserved portion of our population - which will only work for so long.

My point is simply this: diversity is here and it is around us and it should not be ignored. To ignore it is to lump everyone together in this mold that meets no one's needs. All categories of students - ESL, gifted, special needs, at-risk, jocks, emo, preps - need to be specifically targeted in the classroom to make the school experience and learning in particular significant to their lives. This means not giving everyone in the class the same copy of the same novel and requiring them to be at a certain point by Wednesday for a test. If we really are celebrating diversity and taking care of each individual's needs, we cannot continue to treat all students the same, because it does nothing but alienate the students that fall outside of that umbrella and teach them to hate school.

And then we wind up with more idiots who think that homosexual marriage is destroying the sanctity of marriage as a whole, foreigners are stupid for not speaking English, immigrants should bow in reverence of all that is American, owning guns with the intent to actually kill another human being is all right, and we can really get a good feel for what people know by having them take a bubble-sheet test in two hours or less.

From the London Bridge to Mexico!

For our week of Thanksgiving, K and I drove to Arizona, visiting old friends and spending the holiday with family.

Saturday, we drove. And drove and drove and drove. Or, rather, he drove. I sat in the passenger seat reading the last Harry Potter book aloud. That's how we've gone through the whole series. Now we can't wait for the fifth movie next summer - and the seventh book! While driving through Nevada we stopped at three casinos in little towns between the Idaho border and Las Vegas. At each one we each spent a single dollar in quarters. I think I came out negative a dollar fifty, but K ended up winning about five bucks. Obviously, we weren't at all serious about the gambling; it was a great way to break up the drive, though.

Sunday, we arrived around midnight at Billy and Michelle's in Lake Havasu City and went right to bed. Sunday morning, Michelle made breakfast, which we ate out on the porch in tank tops and flips.

After breakfast we walked around the downtown-ish area a little and around the London Bridge. Evidently, some guy thought it would be a good idea to buy the London Bridge for a million dollars a few decades ago when they tore it down in London and have it reconstructed over Lake Havasu.



That evening we went to a wine tasting at a little wine shop where the guy gave us far more than just a little taste of the wine - between us, we finished off a couple of bottles. I think he was amused by us and knew that the store would return to boring once we left.



Before dinner we took the ferry across the lake to a reservation in California. Michelle and I didn't do much gambling because we sat in the bathroom talking for about a half hour until K came looking for us. I know at one point Billy was ahead twenty dollars, but kept pushing that little button and lost it all.



Monday morning we woke up super early and drove to Williams, where we boarded a train and rode the train to the Grand Canyon. After eating lunch, we started our trek along the eastern side of the canyon - well, from where we were we walked east for about four hours. I think it would have been impossible for us to get to the eastern side of the canyon by walking in one day. It seriously is huge.






Tuesday we hiked. We took a trail actually into the canyon for about two miles. I don't have a whole lot to say about it except that it was a giant hole in the ground. K and I decided that after this trip we don't need to return ever until we have kids old enough to also appreciate a giant hole in the ground - so in about fifteen years or so. I am pretty sure it won't change much between now and then. It was beautiful, though, and I'm definitely glad I can join the ranks of individuals who have seen this marvel. Then came the trip back to Billy and Michelle's - a reverse of the trip to the Grand Canyon - and our last night in Havasu.

Wednesday we put on swimming suits and planned to lay out at the lake, but after we ate and dressed, the clouds had moved in. Since it was still in the upper seventies outside, we still went to the lake - just to enjoy the scenery and the experience, not so much for a tan. That afternoon we packed and drove to Phoenix where Kim and Chief live with their little girl Hailey. Charity and Elizabeth were also there. It was wonderful to see old friends again and catch up on everything. Kim is expecting her second baby in January; it's fun to watch my friends' families expand and change as we all grow older.

Thursday morning we woke up before everyone else at Kim's and sneaked out before sunrise to drive to Tucson. When we arrived at our hotel (the fourth different bed we slept in on this trip) we met up with Rex and Liz for breakfast before heading to K's sisters house. Laurie and Dwayne and their two kids have a great little house in the traditional southwestern style - stucco and cacti. It was great spending a quiet Thanksgiving with family and getting to know one of K's sisters and her family a little better. K and seven-year-old Patrick played video games a lot that afternoon and Laurie prepared a delicious Thanksgiving feast that we all enjoyed. That night we played board games - one of which Miranda made as a middle school science project.

Friday was Mexico day. We all met that morning at Laurie and Dwaynes and drove to Nogales, a little border town about an hour south of Tucson. I took a ton of pictures of both Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Mexico, to show my students who for whatever reason think that people coming from Mexico have so much at their fingertips once they cross the border. Honestly, there wasn't much difference in the two sides of the town. We wandered, we shopped, we talked with strangers.






After Mexico we went miniature golfing in Tucson. We went in two groups - the four youngest and the four oldest. The four youngest made a bet with the four oldest - the losers had to make dinner. Well, suspense aside, we lost. On the way back to Laurie and Dwayne's, Patrick kept coming up with every excuse he could not to help. He was too short, he didn't know what to do, he had never made dinner before. The list went on, but K and I just kept telling him that we could surely find something adequate for him to help with. He turned out to be very good at setting the table and stirring things - much to his chagrin.

Saturday brought more and more driving, as we wound our way home through the desert. On the way we crossed the Hoover Dam and stopped at more casinos to spend our dollar. The trip home was much less eventful, as we were both tired of driving and no longer had the excitement of a trip as motivation. Home at last, we went straight to bed just after midnight.

Bubble Butt

Lucy ate four packs of Bubbalicious Bubble Gum yesterday. Since she has been eating - or should I say terrorizing - more things around the house (the corners of the coffee table, the rug, any paper within snout's reach), I've been trying to take her out on more walks. This morning when walking her at seven, before coming to school, she decided she couldn't hold it any longer and pooped in the neighbor's yard. It's a good thing I was prepared with a baggie in my pocket, otherwise that poor old man would be so confused as to why there was blue and green swirled poop with pink flecks in his front lawn.

Here's my full holiday article for anyone interested in Boise fun...

As leaves fade from bright green to shades of gold, orange and red and the air develops that crisp coolness that makes people pull out scarves and contemplate winter jackets, there's something about a cup of hot cocoa that justifies an evening inside under an afghan more so than at any other time of the year.

This is the season not for bursting shopping bags, checking off lists and sitting in the car listening to carols while waiting for a break in traffic as television commercials may tell us it is. This is the season instead for turkey, apple cider, pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. This is the season for pine trees and candles and wishing for snow. It is family, friends, community and charity.

It is winter again in Boise and regardless of how you spend your holidays, here are some events happening in the City of Trees this holiday season worth checking out on one of those cocoa-on-the-couch kind of days.

Boise Lights
The Idaho Botanical Garden covers the garden grounds each winter in an array of lights perfect for a family outing or a cozy winter evening walk for two. They supply hot chocolate, caroling and cookies while visitors view the spectacle of lights from around the garden. "My husband and I go every year," said Trina Clifford, Eagle resident and self-proclaimed Christmas romantic. "It feels like magic to walk through the rose bushes and under the trellises, everything glittering with so many beautiful colors." The Winter Garden aGlow runs from Nov. 24-27, Dec. 2-4 and Dec. 9-Jan. 1 from 6-9 p.m. nightly.

To see holiday lights around town, Boise Tours will carry you in heated trolleys and mini-buses to tour Boise homes. Tours run from Dec. 14-Dec. 23. The tours will only run on the west side of town this year, picking up spirited holiday tourists at the Moxie Java at Cole and Ustick. Tickets for the trolley rides are available through Select-a-Seat.

There's always the option of enjoying lights from the comfort of your own vehicle, too! It's a fun way to spend time with someone close by, sipping warm beverages from travel mugs and enjoying a holiday-inspired conversation.

Christmas Celebrations
Each Saturday from Nov. 25-Dec. 23, downtown Boise will celebrate Christmas in the City. The holiday party features downtown Boise glowing in a festive array of holiday lights with Santa roaming around visiting with kids young and old and the Holiday Trolley offering free rides between downtown locations.

Sun Valley welcomes the public to come out and experience the magic of the area. Holiday events include a Gingerbread Decorating Party, tree lighting, Torchlight Parade and caroling parties. The holiday events are free to the public and occur throughout the month of December.

For an unexpected holiday venue, check out Zoo Boise Dec. 9 for Claus N' Paws - a day with great Zootique discounts, holiday music, hot chocolate, photos with Santa Claus, and much more! "My daughter and I used it as a fun day for just the two of us last year," said Boise resident Krista Monroe. "Neither of us had been to the zoo during the winter before. Sipping cocoa and seeing our favorite animals while all bundled up in our caps and mittens was definitely a trip to remember!"

Holiday Productions
Knock 'Em Dead Dinner Theatre presents The Magic of Christmas Dec. 1-16. This KED production turned holiday classic offers performers in a variety of skits, readings and holiday songs people love to hear and delivers a traditional message of love and peace.

Opera Idaho Sings Christmas! Dec. 2-3 at the Egyptian Theatre. The Opera Idaho resident company and children's chorus join voices for this holiday tradition. Together, they will sing selections from Handel's Messiah, familiar holiday tunes and ask the crowd to pipe up for a sing-along.

Prairie Dog Productions presents Scrooge, Older but Miser! a play set in the 1950s in Dickensville, USA Nov. 24-Dec. 30.

Dec. 15-17, Ballet Idaho will perform the holiday classic The Nutcracker at the Morrison Center. "I go every year," said Boise resident Mike Brown. "It's a holiday tradition my mother started when I was little and is one I just can’t get out of - even as an adult. It isn't Christmas until I've seen The Nutcracker." Ballet Idaho performances will combine talents from Ballet Idaho, the Capital City Children's Chorus and Opera Idaho's Children's Chorus and the Boise Philharmonic plus a spirited new cast of little mice, angels and dragons.

And, because every holiday is more fun when celebrated with a high school band performance and unicyclists in goofy hats, the Boise Holiday Parade will be Nov. 25 at 9:45 a.m. The route begins at 10th Street and Jefferson Avenue, traveling east to 5th Street, south to Idaho Avenue and then west on Idaho back to 10th Street.

Giving
Toys for Tots will have donation sites at all Boise Toys R Us stores and all Treasure Valley fire departments, Albertson's, Wal-marts and Big Lots. Operated through the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Toys for Tots aims at collecting new, unwrapped toys and delivering those toys to needy children in the area.

The Veterans Resource Network is sponsoring Operation Care Packages - a project that attempts to send care packages to deployed Idaho service members. To help fill boxes for the first round of mailings scheduled to be sent before the holidays, call 376-0753.

Plus, there's always the option of giving through a local school or church community or directly to a local shelter or community agency such as the WCA or the Boise Rescue Mission.

City of Trees!

Sunday, K ran the City of Trees Half Marathon! He accomplished both of his goals: to finish in less than two hours and to finish without stopping. It was pouring rain all day, but that didn't stop runners or spectators from having a good time. K says he's still hurting from it (he thinks he may have injured his right foot), but I think he's stoked about accomplishing something like this. To see the race results, check out the bottom of the COT website. But for the real fun of the event, here are some photos I took.

Here he is around mile two on Warm Springs Avenue. This is after only about a half hour in the rain, so he isn't completely soaked yet.


This is on Americana - around mile eight.


This is mile twelve at Capitol and Main. K told me afterwards that when he saw me here, he thought he was almost done - he had forgotten that he still had a mile left to go.


And here's the finish line! K finished in one hour and fifty-four minutes! And, in true K fashion, he raced the guy running next to him for the last 0.1 miles, even thought they were both exhausted and had just been running for two hours. K sneaked past the guy for a little personal victory.


After the race, K declared that he was not running again for the rest of the week. He had some problems with stairs (mostly descending them) for the rest of Sunday and all day Monday, but he's better now. I'm a little worried about his foot pain, but it doesn't seem to be bothering him so much that he's mentioned going to a doctor. If it still hurts next week I think I'll make him go in and get it checked out. K has even mentioned perhaps wanting to take part in the City of Trees Marathon next year - spending the next year or so training for the full 26.2 mile run...and I think it would be fun to train for the half next year.

Here's the opening of my newest article. Thought I would share.

As leaves fade from bright green to shades of gold, orange and red and the air develops that crisp, coolness that makes people pull out scarves and contemplate winter jackets, there’s something about that cup of hot cocoa that justifies an evening inside under an afghan more so than at any other time of year.

This is the season not for bursting shopping bags, checking off lists and sitting in the car listening to carols while waiting for a break in traffic as television commercials may tell us it is. This is the season instead for turkey, apple cider, pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. This is the season for pine trees and candles and wishing for snow. It is family, friends, community and charity.

It is winter again in Boise and regardless of how you spend your holidays, here are some events happening in the City of Trees this holiday season worth checking out on one of those cocoa-on-the-couch kind of days.

Writing Prompt

I wrote this from a writing prompt I received in a writing seminar over the summer. Lately, I haven't been able to stop thinking about this girl - who she is, what she's doing. I'm going to revisit her and her story, but I wanted to start with her here. What follows is just what I wrote on the spur of the moment in class.

If there was an answer, she'd find it there - there where the road met the state line - that place that for so long had only existed in her imagination - that place where the sun always used to sink below the horizon. She stood there looking - looking out, over and beyond. She wasn't completely sure what it was that she was looking for, but she knew it would be there. She took one more trepidatious step forward as if it was at this point that someone would finally be there. Her second step - the one that actually crossed the state line - was a little easier. By the third step, when she had clearly and with all of herself entered Nebraska, she finally noticed the weight of her backpack and thought to herself "I can't go back now." She trod forward, wobbling slightly with the weight of her expanded belly, the weight of her reason to walk three days in worn-out sneakers and cutoffs, her dark hair darker with dirt and sweat, the sun beating down on her face, arms and exposed parts of her shoulders. The answer - she was still looking for an answer. An answer to her blackened eye, to her throbbing left knee. "If there is an answer," she said, "I will find it here."

Barber to Boise Results

I placed 25 in my age group - that's out of 37 women ages 25-29. For not being much of a runner, I'm pretty impressed with myself. I finished in 33:29. Kathy finished half a footstep behind me. This means we finished in the top 68%. This makes me think that maybe with practice we could get a little better!

Barber to Boise

Kathy and I did the Barber to Boise 5K yesterday! We ran the whole thing because we're rockstars. They took pictures of us and posted them on line. Check us out! You have to search under the Barber to Boise pictures and then search by my last name. I don't know our times yet because they're not posted, but I'll put them here when they are.

Eight Mile

K ran eight miles this weekend as part of his half marathon training. We purchased a bikedometer for my bike - that's what I call it because I don't know its real name; it's just an odometer that sits on my handlebars - so that I can ride behind him and keep track of his time and miles and such. I like it because riding behind him makes him look stationary, almost like he's riding in front of a blue screen - he looks the same the whole time, but the scenery changes. Plus, it's a way for me to be involved with the outside running since I can't keep up with his pace and I can't run eight miles the way my knees have been hurting lately.

The race is in less than three weeks. Mark your calendar for November 5 to come out and cheer him on!

In Memorium

Today I went to a funeral service for an old high school teacher, Mr. Fout.

Honestly, I was disappointed with the service. It felt to me like a political scheme on behalf of Mr. Fout's church to proselytize to the 1500 people there to mourn. The funeral was directed at his family and church, neglecting half the crowd who turned up: students and colleagues.

Now, it isn't that I have a problem with the funeral being directed to his family and church because there's no doubt in my mind (especially not after the service today) that those two entities were huge in Mr. Fout's life. I just think that since he had been an educator for 25 years and because the funeral was open to the public and because the public showed up in huge numbers and because the service was held at the high school gym that there should have been some recognition of the people who filled that part of his life. You know, rather than four prayers, including one where people were supposed to give their lives to Jesus and ask Jesus to come into their hearts so they too could go to Heaven, and two pauses for poorly dubbed church music. I was genuinely surprised there was no communion.

And so, because there was little opportunity for people to express their heartfelt appreciation for Mr. Fout, here is mine.

Dear Mr. Fout,

Thank you for being fun and engaging and supportive for three tough years of my life. I always knew your classroom was a place I could go when I needed help, ideas or a laugh. Most of all, thank you for being the best male role model in my daily life for so long, giving me love in your teacherly way, because whether you knew it or not, I wasn't getting that at home.

Just before I entered the large auditorium to receive my high school diploma I saw you helping organize students, straightening tassels and giving everyone high fives and slaps on the back. I went up and hugged you, crying. I was upset because at that moment I realized I was really moving on. I was upset because I thought I would never see you again. You told me that I would see you again - you promised. You said that with my drive and aptitude and intelligence I would do something great and that our great paths would be sure to cross again.

Well, I saw you again today. It wasn't in the context I had hoped for, but it did give me hope. I hope that I can have an impact on people the way you did - that they will remember me with the same fondness we remembered you with today.

Thank you again for trusting me, for humoring me and for telling me to go ahead with all my plans that probably sounded at first a little nutty. You’re right – I plan to do something great. I plan to be as inspirational and helpful as you were for me and to never give up on my own dreams and never give up on a student’s either.

Welcome Home Lucy!

Lucy contracted Parvo - a nasty puppy virus that has serious potential to kill - and has been staying at the vet's for the last two nights with an IV in her arm to give her fluids. But today she gets to come home again! The clinic has taken great care of her so she's doing well and her strength is back. We've missed her around here!

I've decided I never want to raise another puppy.

Lucy is still working on potty training, leash training, gathering enough courage to run down the stairs, and learning not to chew Mom's favorite dress shoes. Meanwhile, we haven't had to go through any of this in a year and a half because Radley is that much older and has it all down pat. I didn't realize how wonderful it was that we had a dog in our house who knew where things were kept, how to get himself put outside, what to do when there's a problem, and how to behave when we have company over.

Having Lucy around has made me realize that when we finally decide we're ready to have kids, we're having them close together. I do not want to get one kid trained to not pee on the carpet and not chew my shoes just to turn around and start it all over again years later.

Women's Fitness Celebration

Yesterday, Kathy and I did the Women's Fitness Celebration - a 5k around downtown Boise that raises money for local non-profit groups. This year the 5k became the largest 5k in the nation with more than 14,000 women and girls participating.

The energy was incredible and the whole event was just fun. Kathy and I are already planning to do another 5k next month. We ended up running the whole thing, even though neither of us thought we would. I think it has psyched K up for his half marathon in November too. Who knows - maybe I'm becomming a runner!

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Her name is Lucy.

Yesterday I took her to the pet supply shop to pick her up a toy that is just hers. While there, a little girl - no more than five years old - sat on the floor and started playing with and petting my new pup.

"Good gir, Lucy," the girl said. "I love you, Lucy. Your fur is sooooo soft, Lucy."

Hearing my pup being referred to by a name was odd, since she didn't yet have one.

"We haven't given her a name yet," I told the little girl with red hair. "Are you calling her Lucy because you think she looks like a Lucy?"

From her cross-legged position on the cement floor of Zamzow's, the girl looked up at me with wide eyes and nodded. In a tone that indicated that I should have known better, she said, "That's her name."

When I relayed the story to K, he said, "Well, if that's her name then I guess that's what we should call her. Welcome to the family, Lucy!"

Thank you, stranger child, for naming our new puppy.