Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout

Writing about my dad on Father's Day seems like a natural fit, but I'm not sure I'm up to feeling too many intense feels. As my dad died just over four years ago and was a bit of a "character," the danger of being maudlin and also slipping into PG-13+ uncomfortable territory is rather high. But with a little discretion I think I can safely share some memories of my dad (in no particular order). I used to love going to the Sherwood Inn outside of Fall Creek (sadly, now closed) with my dad for pork hocks and sauerkraut. Clearly, I did not start out life as an almost vegetarian. I think I may have been the only family member willing to eat this delicacy with my dad. I still have a pretty high food gross out tolerance to this day Yep, I went there. I don't think we had any parsley though.... I still love sauerkraut. My dad was a good tipper and always polite to wait staff. At least I remember my mom frequently complimenting my dad for that trait (and per...

Oscar (our dachshund) turned 17 this week. No, that doesn't mean he's 119 in people years (that 1 dog year = 7 people years formula is only for the first couple of years of a dog's life). According to Pedigree dog age calculator, Oscar is only 84. That actually does surprise me because 84 seems a little young. I'd at least put Oscar at 90. However Oscar's age is measured, he's old, and his birthday is bittersweet. We know we don't have much time with him left, and watching him age has been very difficult. But I want to concentrate on the bitter, not the sweet, in this post. While our hearts are breaking during this long slow goodbye, we know we have been so lucky to have our Oscar Dude for so long. We got Oscar a little over 16 years ago in March of 2001 in the pre-ubiquitious internet days from a dachshund rescue organization. He was 9 months old and his family was giving him up because they were moving to a place where they couldn't have him....

At a recent web conference that I attended for work, I learned about Road IDs. These are identification tags, usually worn on wristbands, so that runners and other sporty folk who might encounter ninjas, aliens, memory loss, or other calamities while "on the road" engaging in their hobby can have a means for whoever might find them to be able to tell who they are and who they should call. Never one to miss out on a justification to buy some jewelry and to declare to the world "Hey, I'm a runner!" I got online and ordered one for me and one for Chad. With my "fivehead" (big forehead) I look a little like Groot Deciding what to put on our tags was quite laborious, as you could have up to five lines of text, including some type of  short inspirational saying. While having a slogan wasn't required, I couldn't pass up on the opportunity. I've always loved mottoes and whatnot. I think that's part of the reason I loved Star Wars so much...