Recently in FAMILY LIFE Category

Meet Zoe (ZO-EEE, I can't make the cool umlaut over the "e"), our new dog we just rescued from the Battle Creek Animal Shelter.

(And no, she's not blind, she just blinks like Jane does...)
She is a labrador/corgi mix, found as a stray in Jackson, MI, and sent to Battle Creek where Jane found her online. She's come from a tough background, and little by little she's getting used to not being on the run.

Sheesh, you'd think I could do a better job of filling up a blog, with all the crap I've got packed into my life, but hey, that's the way it goes. Anyhoo, had an excellent birthday season this year, entering into my 42nd year (Yipes! Old Dude Alert) on this planet. Got lots of cool swag, including:
1. Firefly DVD box set (so addicted, and funny 'cuz I hate space opera and this ain't space opera, just the best written TV show I've seen in years!)
2. 1st volume of the Fanatagraphics COMPLETE PEANUTS series. (beautiful books, and the other 3 volumes are on their way for Xmas!)
3. Batman Begins DVD
4. Modulations (very cool movie about the evolution of electronic music)
plus Jane got me some very cool Japanese comics from the Japanese mall in Chicago when she was there. She also got me MP3's of David Sedaris' "Dress your Family in Courderoy and Denim", and Sarah Vowell's "Partly Cloudy Patriot" and "Assassination Vacation" (!)
All that, and I got fed tons of incredibly good food for Thanksgiving, all made from scratch by Jane and my sisters.

So, I got a phone call today from my sister who asks "Did you hear what happened to Mom?" Here's where it gets weird...

Seems my parents were both down photographing the Notre Dame/Syracuse football game at Notre Dame (my father has photo press pass access and often shoots the games as a freelance photographer for Lindy's, a college football magazine). Both of them were down on the sidelines shooting the game. My mom turns around for a second to shoot the crowd and a play on the field quickly changes direction and 4-5 players go out of bounds right beside her, one of them clipping my mom! He spun her around and dropped her to the ground on her back, hitting her head.

About a minute before this, my brother Dave (who lives in Seattle) decides to switch over to check out the Notre Dame game, knowing Mom and Dad were there photographing it. He tunes in to see the play go down and my Mom get spun and dropped by the player! He even hears her yell out from the impact.

Within seconds, my Dad and Mom are attended to by the ushers and on-field physician, who questions my Mom and determines she can walk over to the nearby door where she is taken to the team's medical staff, who looks her over and determines she has a twisted/sprained ankle and possible concussion, but is OK to travel back to Kalamazoo to be checked out more thoroughly. My parents decide to be safe and take my Mom to the emergency room to get looked over and tested. I meet them when they arrive, and after tests, my Mom was shown to be OK with no concussive trauma and just a humdinger of a sprained ankle she'll have to nurse over the next few weeks. Because of the hit on the head, my mom can't really remember the exact event, but everything else is in fine working order!

Geez Mom, if you wanted some national attention, you could have figured out an easier way than getting creamed by a Notre Dame running back!
That's my Mom, one tough mama! Love you and glad you're all right!