More dog stuff

Tonight at the dog park they are having a Halloween "party" - dogs are invited to come in costume. We've been to the dog park twice this week, so I think we'll probably pass. :)

I did enter Lenny in a photo contest on dogster.com - there are some really good prizes! He's entered in two categories - "smiles" and "costumes." You can vote for him if you'd like HERE. You may have to sign in to be able to vote....sorry....

We should hear about Walter's photo contest on Tuesday! Hopefully he'll be "Mr. November!"

Tonight we are going out to dinner with some friends and tomorrow I am driving to Columbus, OH for Jen Miller's bridal shower! It will be a long day for me. I also have to finish my princess costume for Monday this weekend. Chuck has had a stressful week trying to coordinate some things for the youth orchestras. We are both glad it's the weekend!

Pictures!

It's been a week since I've updated the blog!

Here's what we've been up to:

Amanda and I went pumpkin-picking with Lenny. We went on a hay ride and I carved my pumpkin while watching Martha Stewart Apprentice. It's a good thing!

We also went with Amanda, another Buckeye in Bloomington, to the Ohio State/Indiana football game here in Bloomington on Saturday. Final score: 41-10, Buckeyes! We had very close seats by one of the end zones.

Lenny has been extra itchy and went to the vet again on Friday. He won't start the injections until his skin clears up.

(When has his skin cleared up? HA!)


The graduate office has gotten very busy again - people are starting to register for Spring 2006 semester. We are also getting ready for Halloween on Monday - we're all going to be princesses! My costume is under construction (meaning I've cut all of the fabric and need to sew it all together!) Once I have pictures of that I'll post them.

Walter is up for Dog of the Month for November on www.barkslope.com - click HERE to vote for him!! He is obviously the most handsome and best-dressed candidate of the bunch.

Saturday morning, Chuck and I entered the Jill Behrman Run for the Endzone 5K. I finished in 36 minutes flat - running for about 2/3 of it, so I was pretty happy with how I did. Chuck ran with me for most of the way until I got cranky and made him leave me alone!

Sunday I played an ad-hoc concert of Beethoven 6. Sunday afternoon, Chuck had youth orchestra rehearsal, so Lenny and I went pumpkin-picking with my friend Amanda. We went on a little tractor hay-ride, which Lenny seemed to enjoy, and Lenny got to "meet" some cows and a donkey.

Tonight, Chuck is conducting a piece (and I am playing flute) on a composition department recital. The pianist hasn't shown up for any of the rehearsals yet, but we are supposed to meet tonight before the concert. It could be interesting!!

Chuck has a new job!
He will be administering the new laboratory orchestra for the School of Music. The conductors will get to conduct this orchestra three times a week for their conducting lessons. It is sort of like a school assistantship for next semester. So between this and his Columbus job, he is paying his own tuition!!! We are thrilled.

Tomorrow is the road race and neither one of us has gone running this week... We may be wheezing and walking tomorrow morning! I have two rehearsals immediately afterward; I hope I'll still be able to breathe well enough to play! Tomorrow evening we will be attending an Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra concert with a friend of Chuck's.

Tonight Chuck has his first performance of the year with the IU Contemporary Vocal Ensemble. It's one piece, written in 1982- an hour and twenty minutes long - and he said it's basically two chords throughout the entire piece. This could be a long evening!

Columbus concert

Last night was the concert season opener for the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. Chuck was introduced on stage by the music director, David Bowden. The maestro made the mistake of handing Chuck the microphone to say a few words. After expressing his excitement about being a part of the CIP organization, Chuck started making wisecracks about his new boss!

We had free tickets to the concert, and all of the people sitting next to us were excited to be sitting next to Chuck, the "celebrity!" We also had to go to the post-concert reception with all of the orchestra big shots at a fancy nearby restaurant. We are learning the art of shmoozing, and getting used to staying up WAY past our normal bedtime!


Here is a picture of the front of the fancy blue "Rhapsody" Steinway piano sent from New York for the concert. The piano and bench were blue, with small white mother-of-pearl stars all over it. Even the hammers inside of the piano were blue.

This morning I played at a church in Indianapolis where one of my friends and colleagues at work is the music director. It was a very different kind of service, called Taize, and very meditative. Chuck has his youth orchestra rehearsals today, and I think they are already starting to work on their Christmas music! I can't believe it's October already - the leaves are all just starting to change here, and it's getting very pretty. The drive between Bloomington and Columbus is a great place to go leaf-peeping!

Because of the concert, I didn't get to see the Ohio State-Penn State game, but I probably would have just been upset anyway. The good news is that IU won its Homecoming game. We saw Coach "Hep" in the parade on Friday. Lenny seemed to enjoy the parade a lot - despite the fire trucks - he actually watched the different groups going by very attentively!

Go Hoosiers!

It’s Homecoming weekend here in Bloomington. We will be going to the School of Music picnic this afternoon to watch the parade. We just found out about one of my employee perks – Chuck gets a little bit of a discount on tuition! We should get about $300 back a semester. We are also anticipating some more financial good news today – I’ll let you know if it happens…

Chuck’s DVDs and CDs from his concert are ready! I’ll send some out but if you would like one, please let me know! His first concert is tomorrow night in Columbus. Apparently they are using a very fancy “show” piano donated by Steinway for the concert, which will also be featuring “Rhapsody in Blue” – too bad Chuck’s not conducting it this time! If you would like to hear clips from the ad hoc concert, he’s posted them on his website.

The results are in!

Lenny's allergy test results came back today. The big news is that our vet is leaving Bloomington Vet Hospital, so we will be starting with a new vet in two weeks. He comes highly recommended by someone we know who works at the vet office.

60+ means that he is severely allergic
40-59 means that he is significantly allergic

Here are his scores for a select few:

Fungal/molds category: 100 - 200
Weeds, grass, trees category: a few at 60+, and many between 40-59
Human dander: 51
Cats: 49

The vet didn't give me a lot of specifics over the phone, but as you can see, Lenny's got some serious allergies! She said the scores probably would have been even higher, but he was on steroids at the time the blood was drawn, which may have suppressed the numbers slightly.

The long and short of it is that Lenny will get allergy shots. It turns out that they are not as expensive as we had feared - in the long run it will be cheaper than his fancy duck and potato food was! These have a success rate between 50-70%. He is getting a special "cocktail" just for him, and we have to inject him at home almost every day....eeeeewwwww!!! That sounds like a job for Chuck. I think our strategy will be to dress Lenny in his Halloween costume - he turns into "statue dog" and won't move - it will be easier to give him the shots!

If you are enjoying the blog and you would like to post a response, you can simply click were it says "COMMENTS" at the bottom of the posting, and leave a note! Thanks!

Welcome friends and family!

Hello and welcome to the new Latshaw blog. I figured that this might be a fun way to do those updates I used to send all the time on email. This should make it easier to see photos and do other fun things!

We enjoyed seeing June and George this weekend. Chuck had a very successful concert on Sunday, featuring Daniela Candillari playing Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." I played flute for the concert. We should have some DVDs and/or CDs ready soon if you would like one.

Lenny's Halloween costume is here! The Force is strong with our dog!

We have heard a little bit about Lenny's allergies. The test results came back. A few things were elevated, but the vet had expected a much stronger response. She sent the results to a doggie dermatologist(!) and we are waiting to hear back from them.

I have been running a little bit again. There is a 5K coming up in a few weeks in Bloomington, and the School of Music has a team for it. (My boss is the team captain!) I'm not sure I'll be able to run the whole distance, but I'm "training" with that as a goal. The finish line is the end zone on the football field!

I have a couple of other projects going too. I'm making a skirt for my friend, and I plan on making my OWN Halloween costume. All of the ladies in my office are dressing up like Disney princesses for the day...I have been assigned "Sleeping Beauty." I'm also playing in several things at IU. In two weeks I am playing Beethoven 6 in another ad hoc with Chuck's colleague Bob conducting. Chuck is conducting a couple of composers' recitals, and I am playing on those as well.

I hope that this blog will be a fun thing that I can keep going. Please send comments and feedback if you'd like! We love hearing back from everyone while we are alone out here in the Land of Limestone. Thanks!