This is the first time, for both Gary and I, that we’ve not had some sort of pet. Through time, all our animals have passed and we have made the decision that we will wait until we are home more frequently, before we get more pets. It’s hard sometimes not to have a four-legged friend or two here, but we agree it would not be fair to animal to leave it so often.

When I was young, I walked or rode my bike to school. Even though I grew up always having dogs, I would often, come home from school with stray dogs that I would tell my mom, "Just followed me home." We usually did not keep the dogs that I brought home, but we always found them a good home or back to their lost family. I remember, at one time in my young life, I wanted to have a ranch for stray dogs to help find them homes.

Going through the box of pictures on my organizing mission, we have some great pictures and memories and stories to share. Just a note: I was the one that would pick up the camera to take cute pictures, so I’m not in many.

Raj, as a puppy

Myraja was my first dog. Our family had others but they were the family dogs. Raj was mine that I picked out and maintained all responsibility for. I got her when I was 16. She rode with me everywhere in my 1965 baby blue Mustang, like a permanent fixture. She was my buddy going everywhere with me. She was also a great shop dog for my dad. Dad is a wood worker, and on the weekends, when he was in the shop, Raj would quietly keep him company, except for when the phone rang, then Raj would bark and jump around. If dad had equipment going he would know the phone was ringing because of Raj. She was friends with Gary’s dog Kona, but understood that Kona was the “Queen.” That story is next. When Gary and I moved in together, I left Raj with my parents. She was a good dog and loved to be with dad in the shop, so she stayed there. She ended up passing after 10 years from cancer. She was a great German Shepherd.

Kona was Gary’s dog that he got when we he and his brother were renting the house they grew up in, from their mom. Kona as a pit bull and ???. We are not sure what else she was, but whatever breed it was a possessive one. If I were to sit or lay next to Gary, Kona would get very jealous and squirm and nudge her way between us like a wedge. Gary doesn’t remember this, but she would sometimes give me a soft growl to let me know that he was hers. I knew my place and she eventually became used to me and would give me permission to sit by Gary by not wedging between us.

Her endurance and strength was focused around her sports activities. You could not pick up a ball to toss to her, as she would pester you for hours to continue the game. One time, my family had some concrete being poured in their back yard. We were probably racing that weekend, so Kona was at my mom and dad’s house. After a few hours, there was a knock on my parents' door. A very exasperated concrete worker was standing there, with a ball in his hand, and said, “How do you get this dog to stop? I’ve put the ball down, hid the ball, even put in my car and it still follows me around barking and jumping on me.” My dad laughed and brought Kona in the house.

She loved the outdoors. We would take the dogs when we went camping and skiing. Often Kona would swim out in the lake with Gary and pull him back to shore. She would also try to pull the boat buoys around.

All the joy she gave us, she would equally give us some heartburn, as she was fickle. I guess that’s the word I would use. Kona was an escape artist, in the fact should could get out of our backyard whenever she wanted. Usually all our animals would walk around freely and not leave our yards, front or back. Kona, however, once or twice a year would disappear, and not just for a few hours or days. The first time she took off, we scoured the neighborhood and put up signs. After about 1 month we resolved ourselves to the fact that Kona was gone. Then, Gary and I were having coffee on Christmas morning, and we heard a familiar whine and some noise on the front porch. Sure enough, we open the door, and there stood Kona. Interestingly enough, she was about 10 pounds heavier, freshly washed and was wearing a new collar. There were no tags on the collar, but we quickly realized she had another family somewhere that was taking care of her.

She did this disappearing act about four more times, and always came back with a new collar and freshly washed. We never did find out where she was going, when she would sneak off, but assumed all was well if you have more than one family that loved and took care of you.

Kona passed after 10 years, just before Gary and I moved to Nevada.

Max and Kona

Bear and Kona

Max amd Lulu

Maxwell was our Doberman who thought he was a lap dog. ‘Max’ or “Maxie” was our first dog we got together. He became friends with Kona right away (probably because he too, let Kona think she was the “Queen”) J . Max truly thought he was a lap dog, which is fine when he was a puppy, but as he grew to 100 lbs, it became a little challenging.

In many ways he was exactly like a Doberman but then in others ways he was the farthest from one. He would sit on the corner of our property, like a statue, very proud and prominent. He would never leave the perimeter of our property in any house we lived in. He would, however, walk the edge of the properties, as if we was marking or guarding it.

When someone would walk by, he would get so excited that he would smile. Yes, I said smile. Most people thought that he was showing his teeth at them in anger, but his tail would be wagging and he would walk up and bump their hand to pet him. That was another thing the Max did. He would use that nose to tell you what he wanted. Often you would be sitting or standing next to him and he would try to open your hand with his nose and them slide his head forward so your fingers were by his ears for scratching and petting.

He was a treat or biscuit catcher as we used to place the biscuit on his nose and make him wait to flip, catch and eat it, until we gave him the sign. He was very smart and was easy to teach hand commands and rewards.

He was a great dog, who made the move to Nevada with us. Max lived a wonderful 16 years, passing from old age.

Bear was an Akita that we had for a very short period of time. When Gary and I moved in together, we had a corner house with a back gate. Bear was a brindle Akita that was very friendly. He was stolen from our backyard. (Hopefully he ended up in a great home)

Gypsy was our adopted pet. She was an Australian Shepherd that was Dee Dee’s. I mentioned before that Dee Dee lived with us for five years in Southern California. When she moved in she brought Gypsy, or “Lulu” as we affectionately called her. Max, Kona and Lulu all got along together just fine. In fact they were good friends, as long as everyone understood that Gary belonged to Kona. When Gary and I moved to Nevada, Dee Dee felt that Lulu would be better if she stayed with us as Dee Dee moved into an apartment. Lulu made the trip to Nevada, and had a wonderful life helping to herd cows on the farm down the street. She had a great life and passed after 10 years from pneumonia.

Tugger as a kitten

Max and Tugger

Tugger and Dity as kittens

Tug and Dity in the yard

Now the cats ....

Gary had cats and dogs when he was growing up, but I just had dogs, so when Gary said he wanted a cat one day, I was a little unsure.

Dee Dee was living with us at the time so we had three dogs when Gary walked in the house one day with his hands behind his back. He said he found a great kitten and pulled his hand out from behind him. It was a cute little ball of white fur, with these deep blue eyes. I picked it up and instantly became attached, when Gary said, “and, I couldn’t separate her from her twin brother” and we pulls his other hand out with another ball of white fur in it. So, Gary, Dee Dee and I played with the kittens as we came up with their names.

The boy, who definitely had a “cool” personality, was called Rum Tum Tugger from the play “Cats”. The girl was named Dity, after Aphrodite the Greek Goddess, as she was very loving.

All the animals become very good friends and usually hung out in the backyard together when Gary, Dee Dee, and myself when we were out in the garage working on race toys.

At times, I would swear that Tugger thought he was a dog by the way he acted and hung out with Max.

One time Tug, or Lug, the name I called him as he started to put on weight, left our backyard. Our cats were not outdoor cats so I was surprised that Lug had left the backyard. He was gone for three days and I was pretty devastated. One night we came home from the races and began unloading the race bikes from the truck. I was calling out Tugger’s name once in a while, as we were unpacking, just in case he had wondered back home. Gary was laughing at me until we both heard a meow. I knew it was Tugger, so I kept calling his name to see if I could identify where he was. Finally, Gary looked over in the vacant field that was fenced off at the end of the street, and there he was. Gary hopped the fence and passed him over to me. That was the one and only time that Lug left the yard.

Dity was a little cuddly lover, and just wanted someone to pet her. She did however have her mean side when it came to the vet. When we came home from giving them shots or checkups she would his and spit at Tugger for a week. Like a light switch, she would suddenly revert back to her normal self. We though it was so strange that it was just focused on Tugger, but for some reason she associated the vet as a bad experience that Tugger triggered. It’s always the brothers fault.

Dity also lived for 10 years and then died from cancer.

Tugger died of old age a few years ago. You may remember I wrote a blog about him.

Currently, Gary and I satisfy our pet “paternal” needs, with Tuxedo, our Team owners Chihuahua that travels with us. He’s a great mascot and extended family member.

That’s the story on our “kids.”

I made a decision, not a resolution, but a decision, that this is the year of change and organization. The change has already begun, and all good, and I have now focused on the organization.

We moved into our house in 2004, and I have yet to really organize the inside. I’ve been focusing on the landscape and outdoor activities so really the inside has very little personality. The first thing on my agenda is to build a closet organizer. I know, that sounds like a girl to need to organize a closet, but I will tell you that there is much more than clothes in my closet. I have bags of old Levis; boxes of old and new dress hats, photos by the truckload, Christmas gifts (I buy early), and clothes. I could go out and hire one of those closet design companies, but I really like to do those things myself. I guess you could say I am a “journey” person rather than a destination person. I will then move on the laundry room for organization. (Get my plan here?) I really don’t have a timeline or schedule, just a plan to move from area to area and arrange it and give it some paint, design, and personality.

When it comes to our living and great room, I would love to participate in one of those home design shows like Color Splash or Divine Design. Not to do the work so much but to give me the ideas. I often tell Gary that I am going to get the Garage Mahal team here to organize my garage before he completes his shop. You may not know the shows, but if you go to DIY or the HGTV channel, you will see what I mean. For you guys, you should watch Garage Mahal, just once. I bet it will make you want to go out and re-arrange your garage. OF course, all these plans have to fit into my race and work schedule, that’s why I have not set a timeline.

Work has been exciting as I have a new role and it’s great. I am still working with GE and the operating system of our business (SAP), but what’s really nice is the group of people I work with. They’re the best, and it’s going to be a productive and exciting time at work. I really can’t say too much more, but my new title is now Manufacturing Programs Manager. It wouldn’t surprise me to see my new team show up at a few races in 2010. My new boss has already asked for a 2010 season schedule.

The 2010 racing program for our GEICO Powersports PSM team will also undergo some subtle changes, probably not too noticeable to the public. I have a new PR agent in Rob Geiger, the same as Morgan Lucas. I’ve known Rob for a long time, and it will be fun working with him. The entire team has been working hard on our program over the winter, and I know we will definitely reap the benefits this season (I am so excited and can’t wait to start).

I have also decided this year the blog will change. I actually thought I might have to give it up on it because there is so much of my current life that I can’t write about (GE) that I’m finding myself struggling for topics of interest. Well, this whole plan of change and organization has moved its way into the blog. Remember the boxes of pictures in the closet that need to be scanned in and organized in order to build my closet organizer? Well, by the end of the year, you will probably know things about my past that you really never wanted to know. Scanning the photos I am able to group them and so that will be my plan for blogs for 2010. I will start with “Me and Dee.”

Everyone has that special friend that has been there with them through thick and thin, ups and downs, tears and happiness, well for me that friend is Dee Dee. As I look through the past blogs you see her all over the place. Dee Dee and I met through a mutual friend Tom at Los Angeles County Raceway (LACR). Dee Dee’s dad owned the racetrack and she worked, well, everywhere at the racetrack. We hit it off and clicked right away. I’ve mentioned this before in an earlier blog, but she moved in with us (Gary and I) and lived with us until we moved to Nevada in 1993.

Living together, she taught me everything about the racetrack, in fact many times you would see Dee Dee on the computer and me running the staging lanes. Sometimes, during special events, we would work the concession stand or even the starting line. Whatever her dad needed, Dee Dee and I were usually always there.

I remember when Dee Dee’s dad managed Famoso, then Bakersfield Raceway, for a few years. Managing two racetracks, he left a large part of the responsibilities to Dee Dee. That’s when she talked Gary into helping too. Yup, Gary actually worked the water box for a divisional event, as did I, at Bakersfield. It was short lived though because Division 7 introduced bikes the following year and we began competing in divisionals.

Racing on the weekends at LACR, we would often go home after the race and have an ‘unwind’ session at the house. During one of those times, we started a conversation about how there was really no progression for the motorcycle racers to move to Pro. Meaning, the West Coast really only had the divisional series for motorcycles, and that was bracket or dial-in racing. Dee Dee and her dad wanted to provide the opportunity to develop Pro Stock Motorcycle skills at the sportsman level. So that night, at the table, probably over some beverages J NMRA was reborn. National Motorcycle Racing Association was the place where motorcycle racers could bracket, index, and open race. Creating the classes, rulebooks, finding sponsors, marketing, all of it was Dee Dee. I guess you would call me her “Girl Friday” during the 10-plus years that she ran the organization. Gary, Tom, Tony, and I were her sounding boards and support network. It’s also the place where she met her husband. NMRA finally closed down after Dee Dee started raising her family. I think I still have some video footage of NMRA, which, if I can get it digitized, I will post.

Through her busy career, kids, and life in general, we still can pick up the phone at any time and have a conversation like we just spoke five minutes ago. So I have attached a few pictures of Dee and me!

I hope you enjoy this year’s blast from the past from me.

Wow! It’s been pretty busy for the last few months: Interior walls painted, solar added to the house, appeared on Pass Time, trip to Glamis, two snowstorms, a new quad, a new Mac, a new TV, Wii tournaments, race season ended, and the holidays. That doesn’t include my GE career and seeking a new position.

I’m not sure I can get this all in order, but I think the first thing was the addition of our solar on the house. I commented before that the panels were here and up. Now, the new meter box is on the house. I find myself walking out and reading the meter box every day so I can see how much I am saving. It will show you how much each energy source is proving to the overall total. During fall, about 60% of our energy was being provided by the sun. Now, in the cold of winter it seems to be running at around 35 to 40% is coming from the sun. Once we see our consistent use, we can add more panels as we need them. The nice thing is when you get to a point where you are receiving more kilowatts from the sun than you’re using, your meter runs backwards, and the power company owes you. ? I can’t wait for that to start happening.

Most of my spring and summer months are spent outside on the landscape, while the fall and winter months are spent inside. The walls in my house were all painted flat off-white when we moved in. My plan is to slowly paint and decorate my way across the house until all the walls and areas are painted and decorated. The color alone is not the issue. The flat is. My very textured walls and flat paint make cleaning any marks impossible.

I have two rooms done and six more areas to go. The last room I painted was the guest room, which will probably become my “at home” office.

We painted and may convert our guest room because our friend and roommate moved back to Ohio — closer to his family. We’ll miss him and Maggie, his dog.

His leaving also triggered us to buy the TV and Wii game. We hooked everything up and now find ourselves having bowling and boxing matches after dinner. I have to say, Gary and my dad are the ones to beat for bowling in this house, but they can’t touch my boxing.

It hasn’t all been about the house and the indoors. Gary usually gets to race his Super Gas car in Las Vegas during the Lucas Oil Series event the weekend after the Full Throttle Series. This year, the show Pass Time was there filming some episodes during the week between events. Gary was picked with another friend of ours to be in the combo round of the show. It will be shown some time in January or February, so look for the Black Stealth ’68 Pontiac. (It was on the camera side.)

We squeezed in some time at the SEMA show, where I spent time signing autographs at the Speed Dawg Racing and Hot Rod Gear booth. I was honored to appear with both Ron Capps and Cory Mac. Pretty cool. That was the first time Chris and Speed Dawg had a booth at SEMA, and I think he was very successful based on the time I was there and the crowd that was around his shift knobs. As I walked around checking out all the vendors I had another very cool moment. I bumped into Shirley Muldowney and her best friend. We were able to chat for a few minutes and share a little girl talk. It’s not very often that you get to have small talk with such and icon and truly inspiring person. A very special memory for my book.

After the SEMA show and the finals, we made our usual trip to Glamis, the little Sahara desert in the United States. Located in Imperial Valley in southern California, it has the pristine riding weather and sand conditions that riders across the states dream of. In fact, there was a group of four semis that came in from Massachusetts, loaded with every sand toy and camping convenience you could think of. I’m not sure how many people were in that party, but they needed those four semis for something. We had a wonderful time in the beautiful weather.

In between all that ‘busy-ness,’ I was able to stay in touch with all the latest NHRA news with the NHRA Mobile App. Actually, I think Hank was the first to download the new App in our group. He, Lillie, Debbie, and Doug all have iPhones, and in Concord, at the zMax racetrack, they all downloaded the NHRA Mobile App. It works great. I don’t have an iPhone, I have a RAZR, and it works great on that, too. I recommend that you try it.

It was on the new NHRA Mobile App that I read for the first time that Peggy Llewellyn was coming back in 2010. That’s great news. I just keep hoping a few more could make that announcement for next year.

I will keep my phone and NHRA App close as I also hope to see some rule changes for the bikes this year. It’s also great when I have to quickly look at the schedule to see where I am going to be next year since it changed so much. I am sure you will find many uses for the NHRA App until racing starts again and you get the real-time racing data, right on your phone. Now I can double check Bob Frey’s commentating and information on the Live Broadcast with the real data on the NHRA Mobile App. ?

Bye for now!

A lot has been happening over the last few months in the Stoffer camp. On the home front, we finally have our Solar being installed. If you remember, I wanted to run our outdoor living and landscape elements with renewable energy. We have a natural landscape but we’ve added outdoor living.

I’m pretty excited about the solar and the fact that we can use what we need and sell the unused energy back to the power company. We plan to expand in the near future to cover more and more of our power needs.

Things seem to be coming to a conclusion at work for GE, too. I am on a short-term assignment as the Business Leader responsible for upgrading our business SAP system from version 4.6 to 6.0. It is similar to going from Windows XP to Windows Vista. It is a large global upgrade and I have been up at all hours of the night having collaborative meetings across the globe.

We are now in the process of ‘cutting’ the business over, so the project will end in November. At this time, I am not sure what my next position will be.

Racing too, is in the final stages of wrapping up. We made it into the Countdown and have been able to move up a few positions thanks to a decent race in Charlotte. That was a fun race. We had a great representation from many of our partners. The facility is close KYMCO scooters and GEICO so we had hospitality full of scooters, employee’s friends and family. My brother and his family showed up as well as Debbie and Doug’s family.

One of the highlights of our weekend was when David Pearson, “The Silver Fox,” and his son Eddie toured our pits and sat on our bike. They are good friends of Chris Figdore, owner of Speed Dawg shift knobs, accessories and apparel.

Many of you may think that David is strictly a hero and legend in the oval and turning style of racing. Yes, he is, but he also enjoyed a very competitive and successful era in drag racing, winning 17 of the 17 drag races that he raced in the early ‘70s. Really, a cool guy to meet and have hanging out in your pits.

I will definitely add that to my memories and events of 2009.

Talk to you later.