Snatches gets a check up

Snatches turned one year old so she was due for a checkup. As always, I have my camera in my pocket and I snapped this picture when we were in the vets office. Add your own caption.

Billy's Hero...Evel Knievel

The last time I saw my buddy Evel was in the mid 80's in Las Vegas. I was doing gambling junkets to the Maxim Hotel & Casino.

Parked right out front in the rock star section was a well used Aston Martin Lagonda (Click HERE for more info on the car) with Montana tags that read "EVEL". I knew Billy's hero was in the house. I looked through the BJ pits and in the bar, but it was at Da Vinci's Restaurant where I spied him with a scotch in one hand. I said "are you Evel?" and he acknowledged his identity.

We exchanged some pleasantries and then I told him about my friend Billy and his condition and his aspirations to be rocketed across a ravine or parking lot or just be able to clear Clear Creek. He just sort of smiled. He knew.

When he got older he would visit with Billy when he was coming through Iowa. I have included a picture of a recent visit. Notice that Snatches took a liking to him as well.

I was listening to the nice people at Fox and Friends and they are telling me that Evel has passed away at age 69. Billy is so sad.

The Wiz

We're off to see the Wizard......or something like that. We're going to be on the road for a few days and hopefully I can keep up the pace. The Crippe's were nice enough to let me have Snatches stay at the house for extra security. Billy doesn't know about this yet and I hope they let him in on the plan, because sometimes he works himself into a frenzy worrying about things. I suspect California is still on fire, but we are not going to California, so it just doesn't matter. Stay tuned for Updates.

Field Trip

Its my weekend to take Billy out for an "outing". So a field trip to view the turning of the leaves was in order. You see its a natural for the lungster, because he is already on his back and looking skyward. Perfect for leaf viewing.

I called on old friends, who will just be referred to as Mr. & Dr. O. They live near the Coralville reservoir and have a perfect acreage for leaf viewing. So with the Diehard hooked to the iron lung and a couple of bottles of water and some gumme bears we back the Hummer up to the Crippe apartment steps. We are getting pretty adept at sliding the payload in the back. We're about a mile down the road headed to our destination and Billy cries out "Snatches..we forgot Snatches"...so we do a U Turn and go back for his beloved Snatches. Followers of my blog will know that Snatches is a very special "designer" dog. She actually gets very little exercise in the apartment and it hard for Billy to take her for a walk.

We're back on task and headed for a nature walk. Billy enjoys riding in the Hummer even though the view is pretty much the same for the duration. The headliner. We arrive at Dr. & Mr. O's compound on this beautiful Saturday afternoon in late October. We are greeted first by their family dog and he and Snatches become friends in a New York minute.

What Dr. O did not tell us was that the trek to the foliage was the equivalent of going on a wilderness safari. This was not such a challenge for able bodied persons, but a lad in a lung without the knobby tires is a different story.

We finally make it to our destination dodging snakes and poison ivy along the way. On the way back we stop by and visit the O horsies. We follow the bread crumbs we wisely dropped along the way wind our way back to the ranch.

When we arrive back to the base we are welcomed to a table replete with shrimp cocktails and the like as if the maid had prepared it in our absence. Out comes the Bombay Sapphire and all of a sudden the hike was all so worth it.

Dr. O explains that she is a Sexual dysfunction counselor and has an office at the ranch. We are shown the office with its Sigmund Freud type fainting couch. We can only imagine the stories that have emanated from those cushions. The office is in their 1860's farm house and Dr. O secretly shares her desire to be the next Dr. Laura..... I Think Dr. O has a nice "ring" to it and she will be a hit.

When she shares stories, which of course have no names attached for privacy purposes, we can't help but think she could be talking about Otto....Billy's dad. You know anyone who urinates in a vat at the Schlitz factory could be capable of other dastardly deeds.

Next we are treated to huge T-Bone steaks that they must have raised on their farm as you could never buy something like this in a supermarket. The wine flowed like the Iowa river and the hottub on their back deck proved the perfect ending to a perfect visit.