"Nothing is impossible to the man who doesn't have to do it himself." - A.H. Weiler

We're getting ready for Al to join us. That involves a couple of unusual purchases, at least for people living in Sun City.
The first is a traffic cone for the backyard/gravel bed.
As part of their pre-race routine the Greyhounds are taken out of their assigned crates and into a room where they have their racing "silk" put on, get weighed, checked over pretty thoroughly by a vet and then walked in front of a blue screen so the betters up in the enclosed stands can get a look at them. But just before all of that happens the dogs are taken, one at a time, out into a covered dirt area with a traffic cone. The dog's assigned race steward leads them over to the cone where the dogs are trained to pee. A second steward holds a little paper cup at the end of a pole under the dog to catch the urine, which is then set aside until after the race. The urine of the winning dog and two other dogs chosen at random is then tested for the presence of any drugs.

Retired racing Greyhounds aren't house trained because they've never been in a house. But they are crate trained. They spend most of their day in a large crate (wire on the top and all sides, not one of those fiberglass crates you see used by people traveling with a dog). In addition to their training sessions, a handler comes along every four or five hours and takes each dog to the turn-out yard where they relieve themselves. We've learned that house training a Greyhound happens quickly and easily. It's just a matter of getting them to think of the house as a giant crate. They said to expect one or two accidents before they figure it out - assuming you're diligent about taking them outside at the appropriate times, like first thing in the morning. And having a cone in the backyard helps them make that transition to going outside because they associate a cone with peeing.

The second purchase is a child safety gate.
During the spring and fall months when the mornings are cool we open the garage door and the door that leads into the garage. That helps us get cool morning air into the house. But the combination of two open doors spells trouble if you own a dog that goes zero to 30 mph in three strides and hits 45 mph in five. Some blue-haired lady is going to walk by with her Chihuahua, or a rabbit will go scampering across the driveway and Al will be gone! Greyhounds don't jump, so a child safety gate solves the problem.

At the Greyhound adoption center's store they sell signs for people who have guests over, guests who might not realize how important it is to keep the backyard gate closed. It has a picture of a Grehound on it and says,
"Can you get to the gate in 2.1 seconds? Because I can."

I'm watching Detroit play Cleveland in an NBA playoff game. This is embarrasing if you're a Pistons fan.
Speaking of Detroit, did you see that the 0-16 Lions unveiled a new logo, a lion with a fiercer look? The team president said, "this is about who we are as an organization." Naw. This logo has teeth.

We hit 102 degrees today, one degree shy of the record. So for my bike ride this afternoon I only did 12 miles and concentrated on spinning. Spinning is a term that refers to going at an easy pace and keeping the rpm's up. No big gears and no hammering.
My natural tendency is to push hard even on days when I go out planning on an easy ride. But temps this high help me pay attention so as not to over-exert. Spinning through a shorter ride today got me to thinking about how easy and enjoyable that is. But only because I've put in the time hammering. Those days pushing hard, climbing hills and doing longer distances make a short spinning ride extra enjoyable.
I'll let you think about life parallels to that.

I think this story has legs. Somebody is going down. But I love the way a politician, when caught with their hand in the cookie jar, rails against the system that snagged them.

I'll be out in the garage at first light tomorrow, before the temps are too high, to pull, rebuild and re-install the carb on Gerta. I haven't rebuilt a carb since our '59 Olds, and that was back in the mid-80's. All I have to go on is an exploded diagram of this carb so I'll be using my digital camera to make sure I can get all those tiny parts back in the right place. If you don't hear from me tomorrow night you'll know I'm still out in the garage pulling on my already thin hair.