Grammar Lesson

As an English teacher, I find myself studying the English language making sure I understand the ins and outs before I teach it. I often find myself doubting or wondering why something is the way it is. For instance, I never stopped to think about the rules for the simple present tense in English. I understand the rules for the same thing in Spanish, but I had to learn them by trial and error so I could teach them to my non-English speaking students. If you're wondering, the verb stays the same except for the 3rd person singular (he/she/it), which gets an "s" at the end. I jump, you jump, he/she/it jumps, we jump, you all jump, they jump. Interesting...not really, but it's how I spend my days.

When I got married, I had to stop and study how to write my new name, Brooks. Jenny Brooks is only one person, but it ends with an "s", so what do you do when it suddenly becomes plural and there are more than one Brooks? Well, here is what I found out...

Jenny Brooks (Singular)
The Brookses (more than one Brooks)
Mrs. Brooks's classroom (singular possessive)...looks funny, but it's correct
The Brookses' house (plural possessive) ...looks even funnier

Who would have thunk...

If you're interested in other common errors in English, this website by a WSU professor Paul Brians is amazing. http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html. I'm hoping to get his book or desk calendar for Christmas. I'm a dork.

Snugglebug

Since it's now quite cold outside, Lucy has become quite fond of the indoors. She spends most of her time napping, pacing until her next meal, and being cute. She enjoys snuggling, but it's become a bit more difficult now that she's 50 pounds. One of the first things we learned in puppy class was to flip her onto her back and hold her there until she submits. It takes a bit of effort for me to flip her now, but she doesn't fight nearly as hard as she used to. She actually doesn't fight at all...she passes out...and then starts snoring.

What is this white fluffy stuff??

So after our smelly and messy experience with the dogpark, I went out and promply bought some rubber boots that could withstand the smelliest poo. Lucy was a big fan of the new rubber tire smell that came with my boots.

The boots came just in time because we got a nice dumping of snow last weekend. It was little Lucy's first snowfall and she looked out the window wondering what the hell was going on out there!

We let her outside and she started jumping and trying to catch all those little flakes. She couldn't quite grasp that the little flakes melted in her mouth (kinda like M&Ms but different). She ran around like a banchee around the yard revelling in the newness of the whole thing.

We took her over to the park across the street and let her run and frolic in a little more space.

Niece Lucy

Here is one of Lucy's biggest fans. Somehow, Lucy knows Don is the ultimate yellow lab lover and attempts to smother him with kisses and uncontrolled energy. After Don's short visit, Lucy will is on her way to remedial obedience classes. We'll forward the bill...

Turkey Weekend

Steve, Lucy, and I had a great Thanksgiving weekend in Spokane with our parents. Not many people can say that they get together with both sets of parents for holidays. We feel pretty lucky in that aspect. They get along so well, Steve and I don't really need to be there!

Lucy was a great guest in both houses, but I think she started to get a bit confused because she became very anxious anytime Steve or I got ready to leave. She was a bit like Velcro this weekend. Her stomach hasn't been treating her well either. Puking's no fun...

Even though the Cougars weren't very impressive this football season, it was nice to end with a win for Apple Cup. Go Cougs!

We've spent today getting ready for the week- doing laundry, mowing the lawn, and more laundry (Lucy puked again).

We're already looking forward to the Christmas holiday...

Dog Parks

Seattle is fairly famous due to the number of dogs that inhabit the city. There are more dogs living in Seattle than children. This is mainly because dogs are much more affordable as well as a few other reasons I'm sure.

Instead of socializing with the other parents at the playground, dog owners in Seattle socialize with other dog owners at dog parks. Everyone is quite fond of their own dog and a resemblance can often be found between the dog and the owner. That brings me to Lucy.

Lucy LOVES dog parks. She gets to be off-leash and run free. That wasn't such a bad thing in the fall time when leaves covered the ground and she remained dry.

It became a bit more troublesome yesterday. When arriving at Golden Gardens dog park, we noticed it was a bit muddy. I have invested in some wonderful Target rubber boots, which I believe to be one of the best purchases of my life. Steve, on the other hand, wore tennis shoes. Big mistake. This dog park used to be covered with bark, with with the addition of recent torrential downpours, it is one big mud pit. Lucy has proven to be quite an excellent digger. She is more of a fan when the holes fill up with water. Yesterday, she dug and dug in the mud, often sticking her whole face in the mud. She was covered, head to toe, in sludge. The rest of the owners watched Lucy is amazement and wonderful what poor soul had to bring her home. Back to the part about the dogs resembling their owners. I'm not sure what that says about Steve and me, but it's open for discussion.

Even though I forgot to bring the camera to the dog park, this is what she looked like after getting out of the Subaru. She also stunk like cow manure... Needless to say, Steve went on amazon.com and bought some rubber boots as soon as we got home.

She couldn't even look me in the eye...

Feliz Cumpleanos a Esteban!

On November 9th, 2007, my wonderful husband turned 32. It's hard to believe that both of us are in our 30's because neither of us believe we are that old.

Steve and I really wanted to get away from life for a while or at least a night. We looked at places in the San Juans, Portland, Vancouver, etc. and we were hoping to take Lucy with us. We eventually settled on staying in Seattle and booking a hotel room on hotwire.com, which by the way, is fantastic.

Steve's parents agreed to come and stay with Lucy for the evening and we had an amazing trip to Seattle! We ate like kings...or at least Steve did. I ate more like a queen. We stayed at Hotel Monaco, which is walking distance to nearly everything in downtown. This was our itinerary...

1. Check in 3:30

2. Eat lunch/dinner at Purple Wine Bar (awesome!) 3:45-5:00
3. Back to Hotel Monaco for Wine Reception and Tarot card reading 5:00-6:00
4. Nap 6:00-7:00
5. Shopping 7:30-9:00
6. Dessert and drinks at Rock Bottom 9:00-10:30
7. Hotel Monaco to watch flat-screen TV (favorite of Steve's)
8. Sleep sideways on king bed (until 9am!...no Lucy!)
9. Breakfast at Lowell's in Pike's Place Market (Yum!) 9:30-11:00

10. Visit new Seattle Library...closed. 11:30













11. Check-out 12:00
12. More shopping! 12:30-2:00
13. Arrive home to celebrate Steve's birthday some more!

All of Steve's family arrived at our house at 5:00 to celebrate Steve (and Matt Cain who also turned 32 that week) and have some pizza, beverages, and cupcakes. We had a great time seeing everyone and we were ready for another nap by the time everyone left. We don't get to see the girls nearly enough, so it was a great opportunity for some Brooks togetherness. Steve enjoyed getting some gifts and being the center of attention.



Courtney, Tracy, and Jenny

Megan, Steve, and Bill Jr.


Kate, Taitum, and Grandma

All in all, I realize what an amazing human being Steve is and how blessed I am to be married to him. As always, we had an amazing weekend together.

Growth Spurt

When we brought Lucy home in late May, she weighed 9 pounds and looked like this...

When she was "fixed" a few weeks ago, she weighed 42 pounds and looked like this...Where has the time gone? She used to fit in this crate with room to spare...

Halloween

We've been a bit neglectful in our blogging as of late. I'm back teaching nearly full time, interning, going to class 2 nights a week and taking care of a husband and puppy. Life's busy...but, that's no excuse. Here's my effort to squeeze a few months of living into a couple hours of writing. Please accept my/our apologies.

As many of you know, Lucy has been attending doggie day care a few days a week. We felt a bit foolish considering this option at first, but now we think it's one of the best inventions. Lucy goes to Fuzzy Buddies, which is a huge room with old couches and a rubber floor. There is an outside area as well, but it's concrete and the dogs seem to prefer to stay inside. We usually drop Lucy off around 7am and pick her up about 5pm. By the time she hops in the back of the Subaru, she's passed out for the rest of the evening. Comatosed. It's quite amazing and allows us to go out on the town every once and a while. Just this last Tuesday, they notified us that Lucy has been humping other dogs lately. She seems to pick on small males that can't defend themselves... this might be trouble.

Back to Fuzzy Buddies. They hosted a costume party for all the dogs a few Saturdays ago and Lucy was dressed as her alter-ego, Lucifer. She hated her costume until she got there because she totally forgot about it with all the dogs to pick on. There were some pretty amazing costumes, but Lucy didn't place in the contest- we were a bit annoyed. Maybe next year...

Lucy's first class of her second round of classes at Puppy Manners in Woodinville started on Halloween evening, so we didn't get to experience the 4 tricker treaters we usually get. Bummer- more candy for me!

I was a fairy for Halloween complete with glittery purple wings and a crown. My students thought I looked pretty silly.

Poppyseed as "The Energizer Bunny"

Steve getting Lucy prepped for the costume contest. She wasn't a fan of her horns...

Welcome to the Terror Dome

Lucy was so cute when she crawled into the boxes we stacked together from Costco. She then chewed her way out, shredding the industrial strength cardboard across the yard.

She was on a mission. Cardboard boxes have always been her favorite, but chewing them from the inside out is a new trick she really enjoyed. Can you blame her?

Benefits of Hiking

So the benefits of hiking are widely known: promotes good health, connects you to the outdoors, etc. One great side effect of hiking with you puppy, is you come back with a tired puppy. This in a rare condition and should be cherished. It last for a day if you hike long enough, but never fear: the hyper puppy will return after inhaling her next meal and pooping half of it out. P.S. no comments about the dirty floor...

Hike @ Rattlesnake Lake

We have a little catching up to do on our Blog. On Sept 9th, little Lucy and I went on a hike at Rattlesnake Lake. A gorgeous cool morning awaited us and we were the only ones at the trailhead next to the lake.

She pranced around the beach smelling as much as she could get her wet little nose on.

As you can tell, she is a big fan of the camera. So much so she tried to eat it here.

Cousins

We had a very busy day on Saturday. In the morning, we returned to Marymoor to check everyone out at the off-leash dog park. Lucy had a blast chasing (and being chased) by all the fabulous dogs that were there. Steve managed to get a pretty nasty rope burn on the back of his knee. For some reason, someone thought it to be a good idea to leash their dog using a flexi-leash and give the dog a bunch of slack. Well, Steve got caught in the middle and suffered a pretty nasty wound. FYI: If your dog needs to be leashed, don't bring them to an off-leash dog park.

We stopped at Bill and Tracy's in Redmond on our way home to Shoreline. Boone and Kallee have both had nasty cases of kennel cough, so Lucy had to stay in the car. It was great to see everyone and check out the newest member of their family, Kallee. She is a 2 year old blue (gray) Great Dane and is huge! When over at our house, she was able to put her paws on the top of the fence and look over. Quite an amazing site.

The Walther set of parents were in town for the San Diego/WSU football game Saturday afternoon. We headed down to the Exhibition Center around 1:30 to start drinking like all good Cougars. We met up with the Loopers and enjoyed a great win at Qwest field. I'm not sure what the score was, but we sure ate some expensive hotdogs and Jones soda! It was great to see my parents as always. Thanks for a fabulous dinner and tickets to the game!

Sister!

Lucy got to play with her sister Gretchen tonight at the Edmonds dog park. It was really neat to see them play together. They immediately went to each other and played together almost the entire time we were there. I think they could tell they were both part of the same pack. Malcolm our breeder is doing well and we were thinking how fun (crazy) it would be to get all 9 littermates together (at someone else's house).

This picture was probably the only 2 seconds they weren't running at each other or teaming up on another poor unsuspecting dog. Can you tell which is which? Hint - Lucy is eating the log.

My First Hike

On the eve of my 5th-month birthday I finally broke into that silly laptop Mom and Dad keep staring at. Who needs opposable thumbs! Here's my first blog:

Dad took me on my first hike today and I loved it. Instead of the usual nap I take after my 6am breakfast, we packed up the car and set off for some place called Little Mt. Si.

After a tough first part (it was sort of steep) the trail leveled out and we traveled through the lush green forests. I met a few other dogs and people on the way up and they all told me how cute I was and how well trained I was (they really meant how well trained Dad is).

It was a lot of fun sniffing all sorts of new things and jumping over logs and rocks and branches. Speaking of branches, it would take me weeks to chew up all the sticks I saw up there. I'll try that next time.

We kept stopping to look over cliffs and something called "vistas". The view was great, but I prefer to stick my nose to the ground and sniff for... whatever comes by! The top of the mountain did have a great view of Big Mt. Si and the valley. Quite nice. I also got a few more treats for doing my usual tricks for a few people who had gathered to chat with Dad. Dad forgot the water bowl, so he made me drink out of a Ziplock bag. Nice job big guy. I gave him a stern look. I think he got it.

On the way down, we met lots of other dogs. A big Newfoundland and a couple of labs were fun to meet and greet. I kept getting ahead of myself on the downhills and damn near chocked myself a few times on that damn pinch collar. I wish I could get off that silly leash and just run down. I don't think Dad could keep up. I drank a boatload of water when we got to the bottom and wished I could have jumped in the river to cool off.

Good thing we got to the trail early. When we got to the parking lot, there was a lineup of cars to take our spot! I can't wait to go hiking again!

Bumbershoot

Steve, Lucy, and I had a very exciting day today. We took Lucy to Marymoor Park this morning in Redmond where they have an off-leash dog park which is larger than we could have imagined. Lucy met a lot of new friends, got to swim in the water, and overall, was a fantastic puppy. She's learned to listen to Steve's whistle and usually comes back when she hears it. Too bad I have not yet learned to whistle. We also met up with two of my colleagues, Marietta and Mali and their combined 6 dogs. Lucy loved being a part of the pack!

After all the fun in Redmond, we headed home, showered, got a bite to eat and left for downtown Seattle with Lucy. We met up with Steve's "cousin" Matt at his condo and that's where Lucy stayed for the day. We bought tickets for Bumbershoot, which is a 3-day music and arts festival over the Labor Day weekend in Seattle. We saw The Shins, half of the People's Republic of Komedy show, and a fantastic performance by Rodrigo y Gabriela. If you haven't heard of this band, look them up or download some of their music. They are a guitar duo who doesn't do any singing, but their playing makes up for it. They're originally from Mexico, but now live in Ireland.

Tomorrow, we're both planning on going to work for a bit. I have to get my classroom ready for the first day of classes, which is Wed. Sept. 5th. Yikes! It was great to take a year off of work- I stopped grinding my teeth, having dreams about middle school angst, and overall had a lower stress level. Too bad it can't last! Honestly, I'm excited to be back and in the swing of things again. I think if it weren't for Lucy, it all would be much easier!

Big Girl Bed!

Time for Lucy to move on up in the world. We got our family's first dog bed that we hope will last a while. She still isn't quite ready to be sleeping on her own yet, but it is perfect for naps. In the evening when she falls asleep before bedtime, it's difficult to convince her she needs to leave her new soft bed for her little kennel. A dog's life isn't easy.

We put it down and she took right to it. She circled around her new bed and moments later...

Passed out puppy!

Cari Rieckers Morton 1976-2007

Yesterday, we got news that Cari Rieckers Morton, a dear family friend, died early yesterday morning. She had been under Hospice care since January and fought hard for her life until the end. A harpist came Wednesday to play for Cari, which finally allowed her to release her life. She has inspired me in my own life to puruse my dreams and possibilities. She lived a life full of health issues, yet she was an amazing friend, conversationalist, and host. She was interested in the lives of those around her and did not want to leave her loved ones behind. She will be missed, but I am so thankful she is finally at peace and that her struggle is over. Her parents, Keith and Kay, and her husband Keith, are in our prayers.



Cari's obituary from the Spokesman Review is as follows:


RIECKERS-MORTON
Caroline Suzanne (Age 31)
Died on August 23, 2007 after a long struggle from a rare neurologic disease. She is survived by her grandmother Pat Herda of Chewelah, WA; parents Kay and Keith Rieckers; and husband Keith Morton. Cari was born on January 28, 1976 at Deaconess Hospital and was raised in Spokane, WA on the South Hill. While growing up, she enjoyed skiing at Schweitzer, swimming with friends, traveling with her family, and visiting her many relatives in Chewelah/Colville. She graduated from Lewis & Clark High School (1994), and later obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art from the University of Redlands (1998). It was at the University of Redlands, while running on the cross country team, that she met her future husband Keith. They were married in Spokane in 1995. Cari returned to Spokane in 2002, and, while her health allowed, taught at Cataldo Elementary School. Though she had no children of her own, Cari, who was adopted at birth, served as a role-model to children in California, Virginia, and Washington as a teacher, nanny, and baby-sitter. Cari had a special place in her heart for those children who were less fortunate. Cari was an inspiration to us as she perservered through the tribulations of her life. While her body was weak in the end, she maintained a sense of humor and kept on shopping! We know that Cari is in a beautiful place with those who have passed on before.

In the words of Benjamin Franklin: "I have often … looked at that sun behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now at length I have the happiness to know it is a rising and not a setting sun."

From 2 Timothy 4:7: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."

A Memorial Service will be held for Cari at Sacred Heart Parish Church, 219 E. Rockwood Blvd, Spokane WA at 1:00 PM on Tuesday, August 28, 2007. Donations in Cari's name may be made to Horizon Hospice, 123 West Cascade Way, Suite E, Spokane, WA 99208, or to The Hutton Settlement, 422 W. Riverside #931, Spokane, WA 99201.

Newman Lake

As a current grad student, I only had 1 week off between the end of my finals at Seattle U and the beginning of my internship at Explorer Middle. Steve set off for Spokane with a bunch of his buddies to celebrate Grant's bachelor party at Schweitzer. He met up with me in Spokane on Sunday evening and we spent the rest of the week at my parent's cabin at Newman Lake, which is just outside of Spokane (38 minutes door-to-door). We had an incredible time relaxing, swimming, eating wonderful breakfasts, walking, talking, drinking morning coffee on the dock, and introducing Lucy to lake life. She proved to be a great swimmer and loved wading in and chasing her chicken squeaker toy into the water. She hasn't yet realized ducks are for chasing, so they were safe this year. She enjoyed long naps in the sun and swatting the bugs away that interrupted her sleep. She got some training in a big field at the end of the road and went after the grasshoppers, which confused her beyond belief. We hope to spend more time at the lake in the future- I believe it's good for the soul. We miss our families already...

Lucy and her cousin Boone at Steve's parents' house before we left for Newman. Lucy looks up to and learns a great deal from Boone. She also enjoys tormenting him. Poor Boonie.

Lucy swimming after her chicken.

Steve and I both enjoyed Grant's wakeboard and the Connelly "Big Daddy" ski. It took me a while to get used to wakeboarding- I never figured out how to turn and spent the entire time screaming. Steve was much better at it and he got up on 1 ski for the first time! Bravo!

Did we mention Lucy got big?