The busy last weekend - Christan's version

My weekend was less eventful than Todd's weekend, which is probably a good thing. I started off visiting Decatur to attend the wedding of a high school friend. I also got to see one of my oldest friends from high school, Tim. We used to do everything together junior and senior year. I was never allowed to ride out of town, like to away basketball games, unless Tim was driving. It was good to see Tim and Sara, my friend that was married. After the wedding, I headed North to visit my high school friend and college roommate, Heidi. She had a baby about 8 months ago and I had yet to see Koen. I got to see Heidi, Kris, and Koen on Sunday. On Monday, Heidi, Koen, and I haded to Brookfield Zoo for the day. It was fun, but hot and humid. Koen did great for a baby that was teething and in and out of the stoller all day long. Here is a picture of him out like a light just before we headed home. He is adorable and loves to play with toys and be around everyone. He is definitely an outgoing little guy, even at 8 months old! For those of you considering a visit to Brookfield Zoo, I would suggest you reconsider this. Heidi and I thought the zoo was okay, but a little expensive. Also, the exhibits seemed to be spaced far apart, which is not the best idea to keep kids entertained. When we lived in Ohio, we had a chance to visit the Akron Zoo and I would say it is a much better zoo! After the zoo, I headed home and back to work!

The busy last weekend - Todd's version

So this week has been a little crazy and I never got to post about our adventures from last weekend. Being a week behind isn't so bad...it could be worse. Last weekend Todd and I went our separate ways. He had planned a hunting trip for the opening weekend of duck season in Iowa. I gave up my tickets to the Illinois at Indiana football game (the Illini won, of course!) to attend the wedding of a high school friend and visit my longtime friend and college roommate of 3 years, Heidi. Here's how the weekend went for Todd...

Todd and Lucy arrived in Iowa on Friday night to go hunting with Todd's longtime friend Scott Judd. They were supposed to attend a cookout and stay overnight at Judd's cabin on the Mississippi. However, after scouting out some potential hunting spots, they discovered all the good ones were already taken. So, they decided to take some boats out on the Mississippi and find another spot to hunt. Of course, they went out after dark (I warned Todd to be careful about mixing men, dogs, boats, water, and guns. I worry a lot, so you can only imagine what was going through my head. Anyway, they ended up finding a spot, pulling their boats on to some land, and sleeping on the ground. Apparently, Lucy got up every 15 mins and wandered off only to come back smelling more and more like poop. Todd, who was too cold to sleep, said the smell worsened throughout the night. In the morning, he went to investigate what she was doing and found a fish that had been rolled in so much it had turned to mush. That's our little Lucy - always rolling in something!

They had a great time hunting Saturday morning and got 12 ducks. Lucy had the opportunity to retrieve several birds and even had a picture-perfect retrieve on one. One bird she went to get wasn't fully dead. She pawed at it and nosed it for several minuted until it died (probably from the stress of getting shot and attacked by a dog) and then made her retrieve. So, all in all, it was a good morning. You can cee Lucy in this picture looking on as they pack up their boat to head home. Todd went back to his parent's house to sleep for the day since he hadn't slept since Thursday night.

But, that's when the real drama started. He and Lucy showered off and got something to eat. However, he noticed Lucy was not walking very well and when he tried to touch her in the hind legs and tail area, she tried to bite him. For all of you that know Lucy, she can lick people for hours, but has never ever tried to bite anyone. So, this was a little weird for her. He left her alone for a bit, but she started yelping and biting her hind area. He tried to take her outside to go to the bathroom, but she wouldn't go and wouldn't lift her tail. So, he and his dad loaded her into the car and drove to the emergency vet in the Quad Cities. Turns out that Lucy had "cold water tail" which is a common affliction in sporting dogs who swim and hunt often. When they swim, dogs use their tail like an otter tail to navigate in the water. There are many tendons and muscles in that area of the dogs body and she apparently had a sprained tail. Unfortunately, Lucy's sprain was very severe. Some dogs just can't lift their tails for a day or two, while others have a worse sprain to the point they cannot walk or lift their tail at all. So, Lucy was given a shot of anti-inflammatory, sent home with pain killers, and put on bed rest for a few days. Thankfully, she seemed completely healed by Tuesday, although we kept her calm all week to make sure it will fully heal. Anyone that knows Lucy should not be surprised that this happened - she always gets weird afflictions. You can read more about cold water tail here.

Whiffleball Update!

There has been lots going on, so I'll post more later. But, the exciting news is that Lana and I have decided to form a whiffleball team. Apparently there is a league on campus in the fall. Who knew?!?! Anyway, Lana did all the leg work (thanks!!) and we hope to field a team of 7. The rules are a little odd. I'll post some info on those after I digest them, but I think it will be a lot of fun. I am sure there will be stories to tell and pictures to post after our first game on October 10th. We are going for a playoff berth! Now, we just need to come up with a team name. Suggestions are welcome...

Whiffle Ball

Seriously, how cool would it be to have a whiffle ball league. I think it was be great fun and produce a lot of good stories for this blog! I found several leagues online while searching one day. They even had the rules and other information posted! It would be so easy to get started. Hmmm...this could be an idea for next summer!

A Busy Weekend!

Surprisingly, we were home this weekend, but that didn't mean that we weren't busy as usual. I started Saturday morning out with a 5k. It was a cold morning!! The race started at 8:30am and the temp at race time was about 50 degrees. A far cry from the 80 degrees and 100% humidity at the start of the half-marathon the previous Saturday! Now that I have finally mastered running in the heat, I have a feeling it is going to get cold, which forces me indoors. My friend Lana ran the race as well. It was her first competitive 5k and she did awesome, even getting inspired to run a few more this fall!

After the race ended, we hurried home to shower and head back to campus to tailgate with Lana and her husband, Tristen before the IU-Akron football game. The game started at noon, so you can see there was little time to fit everything in, but we did and Lana grilled some fabulous hamburgers! Here is a picture of Todd and Tristen enjoying the tailgate before the game. For those at those you who have never been to an IU football game, tailgaiting is huge here - for every game, not just homecoming. In fact, this was just one of two pre-game parties we were invited to. So, I am sure there will be more burgers to have this season. For those who actually like football and keep tabs on the score, IU beat Akron and has a 3-0 record so far this season. Hopefully we'll play 13 for Hep!

We went to bed early Saturday night to get ready for the Dock Dogs competition in Terre Haute on Sunday. The Dock Dog competition was being held in conjunction with the local air show. Lucy loves to do dock jumping and this is her third competition this year. We hope to do more as she continues to improve her jumping distance. Also, it is supposedly the fastest growing outdoor sport in the country, so there are more competitions every year. We could only get Lucy into one wave this competition because there were so many dogs, but she still had fun. Maybe I'll make another post in the future and explain all the rules and how the distances are measured. Anyway, she had her personal best jump this time at 16'5". Not enough to get her into the finals at this competition, but still excellent for her. This competition was being taped by the Outdoor Channel and will air sometime in early October. So, no guarantee, but Lucy may be on TV. Todd wore his Cabela's hat to try and get them on the show, as Cabela's was the major sponsor of the event. Here is a picture of Lucy running down the dock. When I post on how the rules work, I'll post some other pictures of her jumping.

IU Mini Marathon Race Report

Last weekend I completed my second half-marathon. Thankfully, I finished and didn't do too bad. I ran it in 2:15:22.1, which is a pace of 10:20. While this may sound amazing to some of you out there, it really isn't anything fabulous. I am always surprised by the people that pass me along the way (see below). I am just glad I finished, which is always my goal. I am less concerned about the time, especailly at mile 9 when my legs are hurting!

The morning was cool, but extremely humid even at 8am. I was soaking wet by the end of the race - wetter than I have ever been after running. It made it hard to wipe off my face while running and it didn't help I got water spilled on myself in the water stations and a spectator on the course hosed me off even though I was trying to avoid the water to stay dry. Oh well!

The course was ridiculously hilly. I can't believe how many hills we had run up, and it seemed we hardly ran down any hills! Anyway, when the race started I had to go pee before the end of the first mile despite going 5 times before the race. I kept looking for a port-a-potty on the race course, but there were none, so I ran off the race course, hit the Villiage Panty on 10th Street by Eigenmann Hall to pee. This all happened between mile 4 and 5. Of course, they started having port-a-potties at the mile 6 water station. Ugh! The water stations were okay. They had a lot, but sometimes you had to wait for them to fill the water in the cups because they ran out of filled ones. Some people said they completely ran out of water last year, so I am glad they fixed that problem this year. I think they just need more volunteers to fill cups to make the stations go faster. (Note to self: volunteer for a race someday to help out.)

I was fine until mile 9, but then started to get really tired and started getting side stitches. I walked a lot of the last 3-4 miles and had to keep stopping to stretch out my side stitiches, so I actually thought I did worse than the Indy Mini. I was shocked when I beat my time even with all the walking. But, even with beating my time, this little grey-haired lady passed me just after mile 11. She ended up beating me by a few minutes and I looked her up on the list of finishers. She is 67!! All I can say is that I hope I can run that fast when I am almost 70!!! She rocks!

What's in a name?

So, this is the first post for our blog, The Royer Report. I recently felt compeled to start blogging since so many of my friends have a blog. But coming up with a name proved to be a process. I brainstormed for a few days, but nothing exiting came to mind. Then I decided that I wouldn't blog without a catchy name and gave up the idea of creating one. Although Todd is not into blogging, he wanted to me to start one for some unknown reason. So, he came up with this blog name to be like The Colbert Report on the Comedy Channel. Other considerations were Royer's Ramblings or Christan's Chronicles. But, I decided on The Royer Report since the others were a little cheesy. I think he did a good job. Maybe this will be a joint effort afterall.