Day 47

Calories burned this morning: 249

I took it slow with the exercising today because I'm still recovering from the dreaded gunk-a-palooza that has been afflicting me.

So, I had just finished writing that sentence when I was informed that my parents had a couple extra tickets to Brian Regan tonight. This was the second time I've seen him live. The first time was in about the 3rd row and center, because my friend and I had connections at the theater. This time the tickets were literally 3 rows from the back in the balcony. I laugh harder when I can see his face, but he is funny enough that my stomach still hurt from laughing when the show ended this time, too. I tried calling some friends to come with me, but no one I called picked up, so we gave the ticket to my uncle Dave.

Tangent: My uncle Dave is my dad's brother. He's lived in the same town as my family my whole life, so I've got a good deal of memories with him and his family. He is responsible for my first real memory. I was 4 years old and my parents and I were moving out of our apartment and into a house. As the curious an social kid that I was, I'm certain I ended up in the way a whole lot. At some point my uncle took a break from moving furniture to sit down on the floor with me and ask for my help pulling playing cards out of the radiator. I couldn't find any, but could not believe it when he seemed to find hundreds of them stuck back there. It was then that I realized my uncle Dave is magic.

He was also one of my favorite friends, because he would do just about anything my crazy toddler mind could come up with.

Our families did a fair bit of camping together. We even did a bit of back packing. A lot has changed over the two decades since that video was made, but one thing hasn't: I still think my uncle Dave is a pretty cool guy. Even if he has grown a Santa-esque beard. 

Anywho, the Brian Regan show was, of course, hilarious and I still can't believe my luck to be able to go.

Other than that spectacular surprise, the highlight of my day was spending a few hours visiting my friend, Tasha, her husband Michael (briefly as he ran to work) and their two dogs, Butch and Penny. Tasha is a friend that I've had back through high school, and she deserves a whole post of her own. Butch is a super lovable pit bull/ lab mix that I happily dog sit whenever I am given the chance. He and I are buddies.

Butch giving Tasha her arm workout for the day

Tasha works with Four Paws and is usually fostering a dog with Butch. Right now they are fostering Penny, who is a pointer mix of some kind. My view of Penny for most of my stay looked something like this:

That is because Penny is a big fan of love. If you give her a small rub behind the ear, she'll pin you down on the couch and cuddle for hours. 

This was not staged. Penny joyfully blocked any attempts
I made to get up. So I caved and just scratched her noggin.

Fortunately, I really love dogs. But Penny is so sweet that she is really hard not to love. If you know someone who would like a cuddle buddy and possible great bird dog, let me know. We all want to see Penny in a permanent, loving home.