TK's Turf

Another year has passed. Sumo has gone for two years. Last Friday was the anniversary, I bought some flower and J put two of Sumo’s favorite fortune cookies in front of his urn. We still miss him a lot. We talk about what Sumo would be doing or what kind of reaction he would have if he is still around for things we do.

I didn’t really get the idea of sweet sorrow in the past. I thought sorrow is sorrow, it’s sad, how could it be sweet. But, I do now. All the joyfulness, happiness, and sweetness we had with Sumo have been emerging like snapshot here and there in our everyday life. We smile and laugh when we think and talk about Sumo, but in the end, the heartache strikes us. The eagerness to stroke Sumo, give him kisses and hugs, pat his big head, tickle his hair around his paws, and cuddle with him will not be able to fulfill anymore. The sadness of not having him around physically will always be side by side with the sweetness of remembering all the happy moment we had with Sumo.

7:58 PM | Add a comment | Permalink | Blog it | Sumo

March 18

Cross Country Skiing

We tried cross country (XC) skiing for the first time back in 01/2006 at Spooner Lake near Tahoe, it was really a great experience. Since then, I have kept saying “let’s go up and do xc skiing this winter”. Finally, we made our second attempt this Feb and became serious about this winter sports. Purchased our gears, in the process of learning all the techniques, and KEPT FALLING. Boy, the downhill part is really killing me. This sport is all about balance. Without knowing how to ride a bike or skate, and with fear of the speed, I did question why I am torturing myself. But seeing other people enjoy the gliding, and I had fun when the terrain was not that hilly, I just couldn’t resist it.

After last week’s practice, although still falling when go downhill, I am slowly getting the tricks and used to the speed. Now I have to get better on shifting my body weight to make turns and breaks while gliding downhill. And, do exact what John has been yelling at me: flex your ankles, knees over your toes, relax!!

Hope one day I will be good on both classic XC skiing and skate skiing like these skilled Europeans in the video clip. They are so good!!!

January 24

Trees in the West are dying :-(

I was really shock and very sad to hear the news. It's not because of the insects, it's not because of disease, it is because of the “rising temperature”. Another bad news of how global warming is hurting our mother nature.

I still remember a global warming conversation I had with a person at my previous job, he said to me: you believe in all these crap about global warming thing? And he rolled his eyes….. I really don’t know how bad it has to be for people to really realize that we are killing this planet. When it really becomes that bad, I don’t think there would be any idea/method left for human beings to do to convert everything back to what they were.

Dear my fellow friends, I don’t have kids and I am doing my best to help reducing the global warming getting worse for our next generations, shouldn’t you do the same? There are many ways in our daily life that we can help: recycle, reuse, drive less, car pool, take out less or bring containers with you for your take out, have your thermal mug with you when you go Starbucks or whatever coffee shops for your cup of Joe, turn off lights when you don’t need it, have shopping bags with you all the time, stop drinking bottle water, set your thermometer at lower temperature in the winter (you don't need to toast your house), open up windows to cool off instead of turning on your AC in the summer, ….. there are too many to list here. Please, just do it!!!

Here is the link to the article about the dying tress along the west coast: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-trees23-2009jan23,0,2122604.story

Here is the link to Steve Winter, a wildlife photographer, for the photos he took. The leopard is so beautiful. We are not the only ones living on this planet, and we don’t have the right to take away animals’ habitat. http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/btl/steve_winter.do

10:42 AM | Add a comment | Permalink | Blog it | Environment

October 02

The Unforgettable - Words Sumo Understood 16

16. Kitty Cat

Dogs and Cats, don’t know what’s between them. Unless they are raised together from youngster, they would just hate each other.

We have quite some stray cats in our neighborhood. Well, maybe I should not use “stray” as the neighbor across the street has been feeding them, and those cats do hang around this neighbor’s house most of the time. Maybe it’s all about territory, maybe it’s their aloofness, Sumo just can’t stand any of them near our property. He would bark at them fiercely, well, from inside the house. Ha, all of the sudden I wonder the reason Sumo barked at them was because he was envying them being able to roam around freely.

Remember one time we just took off for a walk. First time I saw Sumo acted so fast: he ran (he was on leash which meant I had to run too) and all of sudden I saw him caught a cat underneath his front paws. Can’t forget Sumo’s face expression. It was like: did I really catch my all time enemy? What should I do? As he hesitated, the cat got away immediately. Then Sumo just walked away happily. Boy, you can tell he was still in that moment!! What a silly dog! That was really a highlight of his day. Dogs seem dream a lot at their sleep. Bet Sumo had dreamed about this moment, rewind it over and over.