Priest Lake

Walter and Elliot in Tandem

On my last few days off Nancy and I went up to Priest Lake and stayed in a wonderful little cabin owned by one of her friends. The weather was beautiful though a bit cold. The good time was tempered a bit by a little "cancer" scare. Nancy went to have some lumps checked out and was immediately sent for blood work and a CAT scan. We were both freaking out pretty bad. We came back early from our little trip for the scan and got there late because of the blood test. What they were checking out turned out to be ok, but some other stuff looked a bit suspicious so she has an upcoming appointment with a Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor. I am banking on it just being a wad of snot that showed up in the CAT scan.

Nancy and the boys taking it easy

We took Walter and Elliot with us and had a nice time. On the first day we were there we went on an 8 mile walk which was a lot of fun. We hung out in the cabin, read a lot, and I took the boys out for a canoe ride. Walter has not been in a canoe for a couple of years, and I am sure Elliot has never even been near water before since he was kept shut up in a yard with virtually no human contact for his first year and a half of life (die Montana puppy mill bitch, die!!!). When we got to the cabin and walked down to the dock he actually walked off the edge and into the water. He learned quick though.

Nancy and Elliot

Because our time was cut short, Nancy's friend is going to let us use the cabin again in the next few weeks. My work schedule has changed dramatically, but luckily, just temporarily. I am now on Monday through Friday for the next 8 to 10 weeks while a coworker has surgery, then I will go back to my 4-10 hour midweek days.

The boys and me in the canoe

Yes, the Fockers do exist

Oh, and just a side note, I went on a cool little kayak jaunt this afternoon with Michelle and Sparky on the Spokane River. We put in the river sort of across from Gonzaga off Desmet, in a skanky sort of neighborhood where we had to carry the boats down to the river. We then paddled upstream past Avista to some rapids just downstream from the Freya Street bridge. I shot the rapids twice because Sparky swamped it and I went back to make sure she was ok. It was cool. We saw lots of urban crap in the water...bicycles, shopping carts, a big ass car stereo, etc. If the water would have been warmer I would have done more fishing out of garbage but all I managed to get were a couple of cans and a beach ball. But it was a cool little urban paddle.