The past few days have been busy but not particularly productive. Let me start by telling you about my weekend.

Several of the warrant officers in my Company invited me to go dirt bike riding with them at a National Recreation Area called "Land Between the Lakes (LBL)" (http://www.lbl.org/Home.html). The area is about 40 minutes from here and is covered with trails for both motorized and non-motorized use. We went to the Turkey Creek OHV area which is reserved for motorized off-highway vehicles.

Many of you know that I own a KLX-650 motorcycle. This is considered a "dual sport" bike meaning that is can be used on or off-road. It is kind of like the SUV of motorcycles. I rode my KLX to LBL where I met my friends. They brought their motorcycles on trailers because, unlike me, that had machines dedicated to difficult trail riding. Their bikes were much smaller and lighter than mine. Moreover, my friends are experienced dirt bike riders. This was my first time bringing my motorcycle off-road.

I got bloody and muddy, and tired and frustrated and had a great time! We spent the day riding trails that I never imagined could be ridden on my motorcycle. I spent a lot of time floundering in deep mud pits trying to pick my very heavy bike back up. The rest of the time was spent chasing my buddies over jumps, around trees, through boulders and up steep hills. It was great fun and good bonding with the guys I will be training (and fighting) with.

The rest of the week has not been nearly as much fun or as good for morale. It is the "Week of the Eagles" at Fort Campbell. This is supposed to be a week of self-congratulatory, esprit de corps events. In reality, it is a lot of group runs and parades and inspections.

Having grown up owning and riding horses I was always able to ride whenever I wanted. It was a integral part in me wanting to have horses be a part of my life forever. However, I think that my views of riding have evolved as I have grown older. As a young person I thought that if you had horses that you needed to go out and show to win no matter what the sacrifice. There was a lot of back stabbing, fighting and rudeness. Everyone was always fighting for the best trainer, the best outfit, the most prestigous shows. I must say that I did get cought up in it. As I went away to college I took my horse with me. In order to pay for her care I decided to work at the stable she was at. $500 a month for a college student was a lot of money. I learned a lot about the equine show world from the back side. What I saw did not impress me. I could not belive that I had been part of it. I began to take a look at my real motives for riding. My horse soon came to retirement age and I decided to let someone have her as a broodmare and small time eventer. I pretty much left the horses behind. Besides doing some exercising and riding other peoples horses I took myself out of the scene. What I did not realize was that it was not the horse part that I did not agree with, it was the showing and the lifestyle. After a few years I had the opportunity to get another horse and decided not to make the same mistakes I had before. This time it was going to be about the horses and the enjoyment I got from riding. Although I have been through a couple of horses I think I have gotten back the feeling of pleasure when I ride.

For the last couple of months we've been trying to work with some vicious dogs being kept by a neighbor. After several requests the neighbors have chosen to do nothing about the constant barking. Recently Sarah was told that the constant barking of the pack of dogs is a desired trait. As you can clearly see in this brief movie these vicious dogs are continuing to come through the fence and have already attempted to bite or bitten ourselves, our dogs and our horses. Yet, in our neighbor's action this is our problem.

Update: Vote about what you think about this situation.

The text at the end of the video points out that our neighbor emerged during the taping of this video and proceeded to do nothing more than watch.