Regan Black

I’m a big fan of the Olympic games and summer or winter, I watch from start to finish. I know the winter games are over, but I couldn’t resist this.

Today, to honor the greyt achievements of the greyhounds in Regan’s Zoo I’m awarding gold, silver, and bronze medals to the dogs in the following categories:

Snuggling – for best sharing of the couch:

Boo takes the gold,

Bandit the silver (he doesn’t ever try to steal the couch)

and Brody gets bronze, because he feels couches are for retirees only.

Ability to compact oneself when necessary (like sharing the couch or bed):

Gold goes to Boo (who frequently curls up so tight it supports her delusion that she’s really a teacup chihuahua),

Brody moves to silver because he will curl enough to share a couch with Boo or a human when he feels like amusing us,

and Bandit gets the bronze because he’s too young to have mastered the fine art of making himself small.

Running

Gold here must go to Bandit. Tall, fast, and talented, he would’ve been a star on the track.

Silver goes to Boo for speed, determination, and cunning.

Bronze for Brody – unless it’s a reindeer race – he’s a romper not a runner and no one should have a problem with that since he’s retired.

Vocal Talents:

Brody takes GOLD! Because he can talk, grumble and sing.

Bandit is the Silver medalist. He has a wide range, but less control. He’s working on it and will be a Gold medal threat by the summer games in London.

Bronze goes to Boo. (but she’s the winner in the more typical quiet and graceful category.

Gold Medal in Fetching goes to Bandit.

The other dogs do not compete in this category – they are retirees (in case you didn’t get the memo that means they don’t ‘work’ anymore).

And it’s a three way tie for Gold in the Telling Time competition. All of them know when it’s 7am and 5pm. Even more impressive, they know when it’s 7:05 and 5:05 and the food bowls are still empty.

And just to clarify, we only named one of our dogs, Boo, and it wasn’t just so she’d have a ‘b’ name.

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So we’d had Boo for a couple of months, she was settling in and following Brody’s lead on all things regarding etirement when we had the opportunity to dog sit a couple of great hounds.

Ransom was a real queen and her forever brother Ozzie had been one of our more interesting fosters (he didn’t like any flooring other than carpet and came up with creative ways to avoid tile and hardwoods).

But I digress.

So Ozzie and Ransom arrived and said good bye to their Dad and having stayed with us before, settled in easy enough.

Then came bed time.

Ransom, being a high queen, slept on the bed at her house and didn’t find cause to change habits when she stayed with us.

Boo was confused. A dog on the bed? She always slept on her comforter on the floor just like Brody. But now there was a dog on the bed with her mama.

Boo’s world tilted – as did her ears. The potential was undeniable.

And apparently irresistible. Some time in the night, she made the leap and I found her curled up next to my legs in the morning. Ransom was near my pillow.

So began a week of quiet, regal competition for supremacy . I would turn on the alarm system and head upstairs. Invariably, Brody and Ozzie were already up there, content with their portions of the floor.

Boo and Ransom however, finding it necessary to escort my every move, flew up the stairs and juggled for the spot closest to my head. By the end of the week, Boo was winning.

It was almost as if Ransom was content to abdicate the pillows because she was so pleased with Boo’s personal growth.

Most nights, Boo sleeps on the floor, though she’s happy to grace us with a few minutes of cuddling first.

But if Ransom’s in the house, you can be sure the bed will have Boo in it: as close to the mama as possible.

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If you’ve been following along with the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, you’ve likely seen lots of interviews of athletes as well as lots of action.

The stories posted on the US broadcasts seem to have a common theme: how athletes dig in to overcome challenges.

From Lindsey Vonn’s shin injury to Bode Miller’s ups and downs over three olympic games to the moment Apolo Ohno’s dad forced him to think about his future. All of them faced adversity and obstacles. All of them kept going and did it anyway.

It can’t just be that US reporters are looking for underdogs or sob stories – though there are certainly those angles.

These athletes have become characters – in our hearts and on our televisions. They have shown integrity and dedication to their sport and their supporters to give it their best effort – no matter the score at the end of the day.

Shaun White at the top of the hill didn’t even have to make a second run – he’d won the gold. He was so excited he claimed he couldn’t make a run, but he did.

He settled himself and threw down a run like no one’s ever seen, earning a 48.8 out of 50 possible. He didn’t do it for the points, he did it for the fans.

Alexandre Bilodeau, the Canadian gold medalist in men’s moguls dragged himself up the mountain for practices even on days when he didn’t want to simply because his brother couldn’t.

In watching the reporters, in listening to the questions posed, dodged and answered, it helps me refine the questions I’ll ask my characters – both the protagonists and the antagonists.

Not just what makes you mad or elated, but what would you go to the mat for? Who is the motivating force that keeps you going back to practice?

Villains have just as much motivation as heroes and character interviews can peel back the layers to get to the heart of it. And putting that character heart on the page turns your readers into fans!

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