tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22352799670183308662024-03-05T03:25:07.858-07:00MORE Tales From Table RockThe male perspective on life with a wife, kids, grandkids, horses and a newfoundland, oh... and 7 cats, more in the barn... See www.talesfromtablerock.blogspot.com for the FEMALE viewoldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-34585628333121989662012-01-08T11:45:00.000-07:002012-01-08T11:45:57.731-07:00Through the Christmas and Thanksgiving Holidays.... Back to work....<div style="text-align: justify;">I started "vacation" on the 16th of December, 2011. I return to work tomorrow (I did work a bit two days last week). </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Christmas Holidays were really nice, most of the family came for a visit, except for Ed who had to work, you know, that EVIL corporation Halliburton forced him to do whatever it is he does to DESTROY the environment. ROFLOL (and still typing).Susan and I had a very peaceful and private Christmas Eve, prime rib and lobster who cares about the "sides". All five grand kids and Allisa's kids were here, while quite a ruckus, made the entire holiday well worth while... </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">My father is improving and they are making plans for him to go home. My mother-in-law on the other hand is in the hospital but scheduled to come home tomorrow (maybe today).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I got to spend multiple hours down the "septic tank" hole, replacing the lift station pump, don't ask you don't want to know. Talk about a sh**ty job, changing the pump qualifies. So why not hire a plumber? good question. The pump cost almost $600.00 and really takes just a couple of hours to install once you've done it. A plumber wants almost $2000.00 to do the same thing, Hmmm I can deal with a lot of sh*t for $1400 bucks, besides I have a washer (for the clothing I didn't toss) AND a shower. In reality it's not nearly as bad as one would assume, well considering the $1400 dollars.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I went to the eye doctor, fortunately I can still see fine HOWEVER I have developed diabetic retinopothy in both eyes. This is where blood and/or plasma leak into the eyeball and cause damage to the retina which causes blindness. Fortunately it seems that the leakage has stopped for the time being and no real vision damage has occurred. I can however see the ghosts (in eyeball photos) of the damage that has already occurred.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As for going back to work tomorrow. I truly love my job, you know, working for another EVIL UNREGULATED corporation, ripping off the general public (right). I feel fortunate to have liked my work at Digital Equipment, running my own consulting firm etc., and now working for Wells Fargo. I can honestly say that I learn AT LEAST one new thing (significant thing) every day, that alone makes it worthwhile? BUT <strong><em><u><span style="color: red;">there's nothing like time off to spend with friends and family</span></u></em></strong>....</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas Holiday and hope you have a grand 2012. (*NOTE* no political comments) lol.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-62185748462317720152011-11-23T12:17:00.000-07:002011-11-23T12:17:14.992-07:00So, Tomorrow is Thanksgiving....The Traditional Begining of the Holiday Season (for me anyway).Well tomorrow is Thanksgiving, like most people we have plenty to be thankful for. First my 81 year old father is in the hospital, the bad news is he has twelve(12) broken ribs, the GOOD news is they broke his ribs doing CPR to revive him, and it worked....<br />
<br />
Thanksgiving is usually pretty interesting around here. HOWEVER last year we had a great Thanksgiving at James and Solitares. Why you ask... Well the year before, as some of you probably remember the Turkey in the turkey bag, caught on fire and scared the heck out of me. "Susan, where's the flippin (not the real word) fire extinguisher?", yup the one I kept one on the kitchen counter for YEARS. "Well I got rid of it a few years ago, we never used it", CLEARLY I never checked it either... dang....<br />
<br />
A few years back we tried the deep frier. Turns out that they don't work too good when it's windy and 8 degree above zero. FAIL... plus that too scared the heck out of me as we had to move it to the garage to keep it lit. It took nearly a 20 pound tank of propane to get the oil hot, and then... we stuck the turkey in.... Hmmm (not Mmm Mmm good, just Hmmm).<br />
<br />
In any case most of the family usually come by, of course work schedules are tough for us 53% so occasionally not everyone makes it. Usually a bunch of friends drop by, Susie, Mitch, Brandi, Allisa Sam, Lex... ect..... <br />
<br />
In any case I started cooking stuff yesterday, more today.... Oh hold on, phones ringing......... Hmmm that was Santa Claus, he wants to know if he can take a test run and use my barn to refuel (read feed) Rudolf and the other reindeer. I told him no problem, I'll keep the young 'un in the house..... Stay tuned for pictures... lol.oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-38935695135476602382011-11-20T08:02:00.000-07:002011-11-20T08:02:41.220-07:00How a Great Day Quickly Deteriorates into Panic, Fear and ?So, Friday the 18th of November I spent the day at Freemont Elementary, got to visit with Molly, Gabe and Isis. Susan even came at had lunch with them while I helped out around the school as a "Watch D.O.G.S" volunteer (Dads Of Great Students, in this case a grand-dad.<br />
<br />
So schools over and I'm exhausted, drive home and get ready to go to a "practice" cutting (on one of the horses), I feed the horses at the house, Susan is going to meet me there so she doesn't have to wait till the wee hours for me...<br />
<br />
Robert, the horse trainer and I get there early, I saddle up Betty (Chic's Betty Crocker) and have a quick bite of fabulous green chili at the arena grill. I go out and start warming Betty up as people trickle in and start getting ready. We set up the arena for "cutting" and bring the cattle in, in this case we had 16 head of probably 700 pounds, maybe a little bigger... <br />
<br />
A brief side note on cutting. A horse and rider enter a herd of cattle, select one and only one to separate from the herd and physically intervene the "cow" from returning to the herd. Of course this sounds simple BUT cattle are very herd oriented and will try all kinds of back and forth running, slamming on the brakes etc. moves to try and by-pass the horse and rider to return to the herd. The rider has a couple of jobs. First, select a cow that the rider thinks will help the horse show "his" stuff to the judge. Second, hang the hell on and stay outta the way...<br />
<br />
The horse, 1200 pounds of pure muscle, physically places itself in front of the "cow", "reading" the cow to try and determine what it'll do next.Moving in gut wrenching side to side motions to "block" the cows path. This may seem like the hard part, but let me assure you that the hanging on is hard for anyone, but for a 58 year old man that thinks he's 26, well that's "wrenching" to say the least.<br />
<br />
So we get a couple of chances, each one lasting 2.5 minutes, that seems like hours and we didn't get dumped even once, Betty was FABULOUS, she is VERY, Very good at this "job"... <br />
<br />
It gets to be about 10:30, cold and windy outside I loosen Betty's saddle, take off the bridle and leave her tied to a hitching rail while we get stuff cleaned up and she has a few minutes to dry off (it is a lot of work for the horses). <br />
<br />
I go outside, get the trailer ready, turn around and come up by the door. THEN I go in to get my saddle to put it in the trailer and I can't FIND the saddle, worse yet I can't find Betty, the lead rope and halter are both gone too. About 30 feet away is the "overhead door" and it's open (of course, so people can get horses in and out of the arena).<br />
<br />
So I ask Robert, "where's Betty", thinking he moved her, he thinks I'm joking and I can't believe she's gone.<br />
<br />
another side note - Betty is very, very good at all she does including making fine foals. In addition to having her for the last 12-13 years, we paid $30,000.00 in cash for her in 1999. She was a 1998 NRHA Futurity Finalist finishing 10th out of over 400 horses. I wouldn't sell her for $60,000.00 dollars today and that's a fair price. In addition I had loosened my $3,500.00 dollar custom made (fits my ass like a glove) saddle and hung oh maybe $1200.00 dollars worth of headgear on the saddle horn... <br />
<br />
The Latigo arena is about 12 miles from the horse ranch.<br />
<br />
So everyone goes outside (about 20 people or so) and walk around the Latigo grounds (some driving), checking every place we could, two hours, not a single sign except you could see a trail from the lead rope leaving the arena. <br />
<br />
About one AM after driving EVERY road in the Latigo housing development (surrounds the arena) we took the other three horses back to the ranch. NOPE, she wasn't there..... Put everyone else away, dropped Robert off, went home and broke the bad news to Susan. We had bought Betty for Susan in 1999 so she could learn to rein from and experienced horse, Betty bucked her off the first day).<br />
<br />
I set my alarm for 5:30AM so I could be at the arena at sun-up. From experience we knew she probably hadn't gone far, but there's so many fences and barbed wire around, one has to be worried about her getting scared and tangled in some bad thing... (I set the alarm but didn't get much (any) sleep).<br />
<br />
So I drive to Latigo as the suns coming up, drive in and take a quick circle (with the truck and trailer) around the outdoors arena, low and behold, there's Betty, the saddle (still just like I left it) and headstall still hanging on the horn. She's munching on grass next to another horse in the Latigo stalling area (they board horses), about 100 yards from the arena door she wandered out of.<br />
<br />
I pull up the truck, jump out and call "Betty", her head flies up, she takes one look and runs over to the trailer pawing the door to get into the trailer... I let her in and we (I should say I) had a good cry...<br />
<br />
One really good thing to know about horses is they <em><u>usually</u></em> stop at the first place they can find food and wander around that eating... <br />
<br />
So after an anxious night with little sleep (for me or Susan), Betty and the rest are home waiting to torture the old man next month with another practice cutting... December 16th at the Latigo arena if you want to have a good laugh... (an old man acting like he 26). OH YEAH, I'll check and double check the knot...oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-21842204725959900642011-06-12T12:25:00.000-06:002011-06-12T12:25:14.496-06:00Eighteen Years ago TODAY!<div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQIdAGmplh6A2GmlMT1y6-ZPyVlVH24lhdBjo57z3K6BUQt3rpFIwHzAh8a2Kj_bj-szpaDOdvovAxSqPnqJAAUp2RI0U6x1VgEUDzNyxNCOrkXiLp6M-Q_sCjnMZYqHPY37SYYzGYztk/s1600/18YearsAgo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQIdAGmplh6A2GmlMT1y6-ZPyVlVH24lhdBjo57z3K6BUQt3rpFIwHzAh8a2Kj_bj-szpaDOdvovAxSqPnqJAAUp2RI0U6x1VgEUDzNyxNCOrkXiLp6M-Q_sCjnMZYqHPY37SYYzGYztk/s640/18YearsAgo.jpg" width="458" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">18 Years Ago Today, June 12th, 1993</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Eighteen(18( years ago today, just about this time of the day, friends and family were starting to gather at our nearly brand new house in Black Forest. The occasions was our wedding. It wasn't big, we had at the most a couple dozen people, BUT we were married outside our house in the forest on a sunny Saturday afternoon.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Susan & I had already been together for eight(8) years when we decided marriage might be a reasonable option. It has proven to be a good choice, especially for me since I'm fairly certain I'd have driven most anyone else off by now.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZgIbrvxSbWiwbdjwYq9-q6bwXCDEGmPS70N1PNfYyaZ_nwRtipTbEgVllXwbTjMh4SDWOmQI978VJZpH-jbYCAPEvOapjhzHr813qlA-2QZQ-EQ1Ig798WbQDbUyKxsNWtqQb2RLSkHc/s1600/Announcement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZgIbrvxSbWiwbdjwYq9-q6bwXCDEGmPS70N1PNfYyaZ_nwRtipTbEgVllXwbTjMh4SDWOmQI978VJZpH-jbYCAPEvOapjhzHr813qlA-2QZQ-EQ1Ig798WbQDbUyKxsNWtqQb2RLSkHc/s320/Announcement.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I proposed to Susan while we still lived in the old house in town. Becky and James were BOTH there for that too.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNDHoaS3vkeX8rUVNRJR5CWlcI_d4YiKekMyvIbmV0dJoesP95yqm_l18bXHKvKuXaxt_izY-mtsR56O4TtHil8uhgPM2V_JPlelKe8B1rlplX31sPkTQ3t-MMATYnXrwbUODZ8WjLhno/s1600/with+Becky%2526James.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNDHoaS3vkeX8rUVNRJR5CWlcI_d4YiKekMyvIbmV0dJoesP95yqm_l18bXHKvKuXaxt_izY-mtsR56O4TtHil8uhgPM2V_JPlelKe8B1rlplX31sPkTQ3t-MMATYnXrwbUODZ8WjLhno/s320/with+Becky%2526James.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Note that Ed is not in ANY of these photos. He was honorably serving our country as a United State Marine.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSPlHy3KsdJVsATFIdh0HQ-1BOwHdmUlCgfQk9bOzqkAQu3n5puEkih0Ej56HJ12Rd4lG2HzD9tAPRRfFnIY2yWXQ6O5sg9L0wgQDl1b1h8-_ZeZpO57Yi8LoQDz8eEWwuFHe09lFW-7Q/s1600/Everyone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSPlHy3KsdJVsATFIdh0HQ-1BOwHdmUlCgfQk9bOzqkAQu3n5puEkih0Ej56HJ12Rd4lG2HzD9tAPRRfFnIY2yWXQ6O5sg9L0wgQDl1b1h8-_ZeZpO57Yi8LoQDz8eEWwuFHe09lFW-7Q/s320/Everyone.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Not a huge wedding but all of the family that could make it. (Hmmm time travel).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit8f6cBQzgzWpcHF7t0qJ8Hr29d9JDVeWuWzp0Wp_Etvg7NoGCTSxzuRxiFaoJURw2m8yUeCY5R7k-e-hgEFNxS3nr0Lr5xc-AyKhtFIlj5rAyEW_24eJM3ShclM2XePI_54MmgkUPSPY/s1600/Ceremony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit8f6cBQzgzWpcHF7t0qJ8Hr29d9JDVeWuWzp0Wp_Etvg7NoGCTSxzuRxiFaoJURw2m8yUeCY5R7k-e-hgEFNxS3nr0Lr5xc-AyKhtFIlj5rAyEW_24eJM3ShclM2XePI_54MmgkUPSPY/s320/Ceremony.jpg" width="216" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">We were going to sell this house. I would have regretted that decision every time I saw these photos. This is really OUR place, we picked the lot, designed the house and chose the forest and "mother nature" for our life long commitment...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Guess we all know what happens to a "long haired hippy" when he gets old? dang had a lot of hair once...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"> <strong><em><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Happy Anniversary Sweety</span></u></em></strong></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-69371382301932364492011-05-08T12:28:00.007-06:002011-05-08T13:26:13.731-06:00What Sets Us Apart From the Other Animals on This Planet is Our Infinite Capacity to Love...Happy Mothers Day to all the Mothers out there. Thank You..<br />
<br />
Just went outside with the chainsaw and cut a bunch of unhealthy trees down, including one that had been killed by pine beetles. After bending over cutting down dozens of little trees (1" to 6") I stood up and nearly went down myself, thought my heart was going to explode, guess I better get back on the wind trainer. Dang.<br />
<br />
Being outside in the "yard" reminded me of how exceptionally lucky we are to live here. 100 foot plus trees, beutiful wild flowers, great topology, I don't think we could have found a nicer place to live... and it's SO quiet just the wind in the trees. While sitting on the ground recovering I looked up at some of the older trees (140+ years) and noticed how many had been struck by lightning over the years.... Simply amazing...<br />
<br />
Two nights ago I was outside feeding the horses and heard an owl, hooting. I looked across the road, 30 feet or so and there was a HUGE (2.5 foot tall (guess)) Great Horned Owl with something it had scrounged for dinner, no not one of our cats. <br />
<br />
We can certainly claim Spring has sprung when the "birds of prey" start there annual migration, soon we'll see the geese and the most amazing of all, "Sand Hill Cranes". They fly in GIANT flocks making incredible noise, then periodically they fly in a giant whirlwing circular pattern before continuing on their way to the "Sand Hills of Nebraska" along the Platte River. Twice in the eighteen years we've lived here they've landed in great hordes all around us for the night.<br />
<br />
Grizzly and Gnarly are the best of friends, Gnarly has really settled down since Griz has been here. Everyday after dinner the wrestle like two huge bears for about an hour... Both are covers with teeth marks and scabs from playing too rough. Never seem to hurt each other though...oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-77191097553613682522011-03-22T20:14:00.000-06:002011-03-22T20:14:06.001-06:00OMGoodness Gnarley FINALLY has a playmateIt's pretty amazing to watch 257 pounds of newfoundland "play". As Griz feels better and as he's started adjusting to his new home he not only puts up with Gnarley's instigation but actually plays back. Griz is the FIRST dog to actually play with Gnarf.<br />
<br />
So today we went for a walk, newfs are not only water dogs but draft dogs too. Used for pulling in fishing nets and extensively in Newfoundland for pulling milk carts and other carts around. Newfs hold the world record for pulling over 8,000 pounds. So we're walking around the circle, well sorta walking, two yellow labs jump our neighbors fence (she's a vet) and come charging out like they're attacking. Of course the newfs wanted to play and started chasing them, back to their yard, back over the fence The choice, let go of the leash or bite the dust. Now I gotta chase the dang dogs chasing the dang dogs.... dang.<br />
<br />
So I'm trimming the hair on Griz's front paws, they look like he has on fuzzy slippers, I should say looked like. In any case his paws are as big as my palms and I recalled a conversation I had with James a few days ago. Our first newfoundsland was "Windwalkers Feel The Thunder" after her daddy and the Air Force Football "theme". We called her "Windy". Her daddy's name was "Windwalker Thunder Paws", but try as we might neither James or I, certainly none of the rest of the family could recall our second newfoundlands "proper" AKC name. It suddenly dawned on me during a "Thundersnow" we had the other day. We called her "Rainy" (We also had a Sunny, a Stormy and a Snowy the half newf), but her long name was "Riverfronts Delicate Sound of Thunder". ( a Pink Floyd live album, for those that don't know).<br />
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Well both dogs are passed out, I'm next!oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-4198203853428514472011-03-20T08:47:00.000-06:002011-03-20T08:47:56.642-06:00It's "Grizzly" aka "Griz" and yes, he lives hereWell, it's been a little over four weeks since Darth > X > Grizzly came to live with us. I still can't believe how massive he is. Even more than his giant size, he is amazingly gentle and laid back. When James and Solitare came down with O.C. and Baxter it at first seemed like there might be a little excitement but it turned out good, all four dogs got along fine with Gnarley being the top instigator, well "play" instigator.<br />
<br />
Gnarley really likes having the big guy around they lay out on the front porch most of the day and now both sleep around our bed ay night. We take them everywhere we can while it's still cool outside, they run out and jump into the van then when they get home they run to the house. Fabulous.<br />
<br />
Poor Griz lost his "family jewels" about ten days ago and it's been quite an ordeal. They were the size of tangarines and after removal he got all swollen and bruised. Of course after a week they became infected so he's now on anti-biotics. This underscores the reason to have this procedure done when they're young.<br />
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It is still amazingly sad that such a well behaved, loving and handsome dogs would simply be dumped. That's right DUMPED, we haven't heard a single thing from the humaneless society, (except they now send me solicitation mail since I gave them my address), nothing from Craigslist, neither of the two newf rescue groups have heard anything and not a SINGLE "lost dog" sign.... <br />
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gotta go feed the equine, then take the pups to Castle Rock so WE can have some Dream Pasties for breakfast... bye....oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-8110060227669179702011-02-27T15:15:00.000-07:002011-02-27T15:15:27.802-07:00Miles, thought he died and went to hell! Poor pussy cat...So we had a very exciting Sunday. The Bannfield" vet clinic at the Monument Petsmart had (I guess has regularly) a rabies vaccine clinic from 11:00AM to 1:00PM on Sundays, at a pretty darn good price, $19.05, regularly $50.00 at Bannfield, over $60.00 dollars at our regular vets. It just takes a long time.<br />
<br />
BUT not as long as we thought, Since we had not gotten "X" (for eXtra-Gnarley) to come into the house tht I thought we'd need the entire two hours to get him into Petsmart, especially to the back of the store.<br />
<br />
So we move the seat in the van so both Gnarf and X can fit, we then head for Petsmart a little after 10 for the 11:00 slot. Stop and get some coffee at my favorite coffee shop, no not Fourbucks (nothing against Starbucks though), then to get a newspaper. We actually got the Petsmart just a little before 11. I went in to warn them of the impending potential disaster. Filled out the paperwork came out for the rodeo. Susan took Gnarf, I took X and followed Susan right through the door... Got a little hesitation after he got inside, but followed Gnarf to the vet clinic with not a single issue.<br />
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He didn't really think he wanted to go through the exam room door, so Susan, Gnarf and I went in, left the door open. He laid outside for a bit then ever so cautiously slithered in.<br />
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He got his rabies shot and back to the car, which he was real happy to see. He just jumped right in. So on the way home we devised the "get the newf in the house" strategy. Susan would get out first and take Gnarley through the garage and into the house. hmmm... X and I would follow.<br />
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Well Gnarf is VERY good about staying in the car till he's told to get out. X on the other hand jumped right out and headed for the gate to get back into the yard. Well at least he wants in. He burned my hand pulling the nylon leash through my fingers which were too stupid to let go, well too stupid and too slow. <br />
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Susan and Gnarf go in, and X follows RIGHT into the house. I kept him on the leash for a bit but NO issues. I finaly turned him loose, Gnarf showed him around the house and introduced him to Miles the Russian Blue pussy cat that was peacefully sleeping on our bed. Miles actualy belongs to Allisa Elliott but seems to have taken up long term residence with us.<br />
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So X spots Miles on the bed and gently puts his feet up with his ear perked up, as much as a newf can perk up his ears. Meanwhile Gnarley was on the opposite side of the bed just having a look. Miles jumped up when he saw X and headed right for Gnarley and was absolutely beside himself when he ran face to face into Gnarf.... Somehow he jumped to the floor and tried to make a break for it but they caught him. Standing over his poor cowering little kitty body BOTH barking at the poor thing, a total of 257 pounds of Newf and he can't be more than 8 pounds wet. Hence the title of this post, I have no doubt that Miles was afraid he'd died and gone to kitty hell. I did pull X back and let Miles escape, to where, I have no idea...<br />
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I did muscle X onto the vet scale, I was a little over, he actually weighs 147 pounds. Bet he weighs at least a pound less when he gets neutered.<br />
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I am fighting the urge to tell the rest of the story, X at Petsmart. Susan took some photos that are really touching. I'm trying to encourage her to post the verbiage and the photos.<br />
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Oh, BTW ask her to post the painting she hung at the pastry shop with a couple of Brandi's. They are simply wonderful. My Susan and Brandi are amazingly talented. I simply can't believe the work that comes out of them.<br />
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<a href="http://talesfromtablerock.blogspot.com/">http://talesfromtablerock.blogspot.com/</a><br />
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See what susan has to say AND some of her most recent artwork at the above link.oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-80442121261077909442011-02-27T08:16:00.001-07:002011-02-27T08:17:31.124-07:00New subject, the Maine Coon Cat Susie rescued last year - FurB (fur-bee)FurB, short for furbag or perhaps furburger is the largest of the cats that live inside, or nearly inside as he has laid claim to the laundry room and occasionally scoots outside for five or ten minutes. He weighs over fifteen pounds and is the laziest animal I've ever seen.<br />
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FurB is absolutely the dumbest, or perhaps the smartest cat in existence. He is terrified of three of the other indoor cats. all weighing only bout ten pounds. They chase him till he hides in the laundry room or in the bookshelf in our beds headboard.<br />
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Now this cat is absolutely hilarious running, hissing and spitting at the other cats. hmmm.... enter Gnarley who frequently goes into the laundry room to search for kitty Tootsie-roll treats. Fortunately he rarely finds any as Susan is fastidious about keeping the litter box clean.<br />
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In any case enter Gnarley, FurB jumps down from his perch on the drier and sometimes actually comes out of the laundry room to rub up against Gnarf. That's right, Gnarf steps on him, tries to play with him, drenches his with wet tongue. other than an occasional squack or hiss when Gnarley steps on FurB. This interaction is completely beyond me. Not afraid of the 110 pound Newf, but terrified of the 10 pound cats.... <br />
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Life is truly an amazing mystery, the observation of the things around us an the study of nature is truly fascinating.Of course some might say I'm easily humored.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPXMi9HuToSNwbbGcqACGc_Y0sUw-yahvjpjDMNDNo1hV02dV0YYfqcuO3jQP9rAD0tcKNWo7LuR2qU9x__qAtKUGMjiIPi8B-NzkuB7gG7RAPpzqA5yhZYhhYDiAwLER4X6_pPOMBadU/s1600/FurB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPXMi9HuToSNwbbGcqACGc_Y0sUw-yahvjpjDMNDNo1hV02dV0YYfqcuO3jQP9rAD0tcKNWo7LuR2qU9x__qAtKUGMjiIPi8B-NzkuB7gG7RAPpzqA5yhZYhhYDiAwLER4X6_pPOMBadU/s640/FurB.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div align="center">FurB on his lofty washer/drier perch</div>oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-16504916146354025622011-02-26T06:34:00.000-07:002011-02-26T06:34:13.871-07:00Judgement....I really do try hard not to proclaim judgement on people but on occasion I just can't help myself. Fortunately the last time we found a dog, sitting in the middle of Walker Road, it turned out she HADN'T been abandon as we suspected, she actually belonged to one of our neighbors, she was chipped but the information was old, finally found a lost ad on Craigslist. We had just about resigned ourselves to being the owner of a very gentle and easy going pit bull we called Brownie.<br />
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But I'm really disgusted with the current situation, Brownie was a pit bull so we avoided the humane society as Pit bulls aren't generally kept for adoption, or so I'm told. She did have a chip so perhaps that would have changed the situation but no sense in taking chances, besides many pit bulls are used as penis extenders for the less well endowed of our society.<br />
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But this is really pathetic. One would never believe how absolutely gentle and docile this huge newf is, I've been calling him Darth but I don't really like it. I did in fact call the humane society and put "Darth" on the found dog list, newf rescue put a found ad on Craigslist and we've talked to people regarding him. not a SINGLE call, not one.... <br />
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We've made some progress as all four feet have actually come into the house but he immediately leaves when you stop petting him or bribing him with treats. I'm fairly certain I could force him in, one pushing and one pulling, but it seems he would really be traumatized. He's perfectly content to sleep on he front porch in the 10 degree weather. Sure doesn't appear to be suffering from the cold. He has a tremendously heavy coat and I suspect he would be uncomfortable in the house at a balmy 68. Regardless, I want him to have the opportunity.<br />
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We're going to go to Petsmart Sunday for a rabies clinic, he desperately needs to be groomed but they won't touch him without a rabies vaccination certificate. Gnarley freaked out at the Petsmart door, I'm not sure how "Darth" will do, but I'm not optimistic. Come to think about it I wonder how we're going to get him groomed. Dang... We may try the garage door to the mud room since it's a lot smaller and he can survey it from the door. Plus FurB kinda hangs out in the mud room/laundry room and loves Gnarf (Gnarley + Newf)<br />
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How about Extra-Gnarley and calling him X? He truly is HUGE...oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-33300010500522851042011-02-24T15:56:00.000-07:002011-02-24T15:56:56.229-07:00So, Exactly Where Did The Design For Darth Vaders Helmet Come From!<div style="text-align: justify;">I got the answer.....</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Well a little, very liitle story first. Last night Susan was at the Equine Vets annual dinner and presentation on "what's new in equine medicine", accupuncture, that's really true... but not this story....</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was about 7PM, I had finished my microeconomics class and just laid on the bed to watch an episode of "Dead Like Me" (look it up on the internet). kinda dozing and the phone rings. Hmmm dang... It's the guy that fostered Gnarley, so I answered.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Clyde! do you know who this is?" Sure. Brian with Truman, the biggest dog I've ever seen. "Yes", I have a problem... uuuh ohhh!!! I love solving problems but this sounds ugly.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We got called regarding a Black Newfoundland living in Black Forest Park. We went to get him but have no place for him to go. You had said that perhaps you could keep one even if for a short time."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">OK where are you. ..... off I go, I meet them in greater Black Forest and low and behold in the back of Brian's Volvo station wagon is a monster. No, really a huge black newf, but still much smaller than Truman (30 or more pounds smaller). We don't know if it's a male or female so Brian checks to see if "it" has any "junk". DANG does he... So of course now I have to see if he has the rest of his "junk". Dang he size of tangerines. Now what, a fully intact male newfoundland at probably 160 or so pounds. whewww... </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">He sits between the van seats with his chin on the dash, looking out the windshield.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I decide I'd bring him home and let him stay in the barn in the foaling stall until I could check him out and make sure he didn't eat Gnarley, or at least try. I'm serious here!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the morning I held Gnarley on one side of the fence and let 'em sniff noses, and all I got was waggin tails. I tied Darth (that's what I call him) to a tree on a longe line and took old Gnarf in. WOW to Gnarf it was love at first site, someone that's finally big enough to play with me... I finally got around to letting both off the leashes and after a little butt sniffin, and tree peeing it was off to play, and play, and play. Darth got a little tired of it but Gnarf was still going strong.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Darth is very very gentle. Really a gentle giant of a dog. HOWEVER push pull or bribe he will NOT come into the house. I'm fairly sure he's never seen the inside of a house before. He comes to the door, looks inside then leaves. In any case, no collar, no chip and not a single response to craigslist or the humane society. BTW Susan has already said NO! you can't keep him. Dang, I didn't even ask, I ain't stupid, well maybe a little.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">He's in kind rough shape, big mats on the bottom half, smelly and kinda dirty. The fact that he's not neutered is also a bit concerning, Why would someone keep a 160 pound newf intact, clearly he isn't being shown or being put on display for stud, he's in pretty bad condition for that.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In any case I did get a couple of pictures this morning....</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaogP-QtLJIfzTiDIuJuEGeiXMDDUbvW06pmQ9VzBZQ6ZzwQ4VgFsfWEc9yUwBIkBlMEbpEPRWP3wK2bI-J9CpDmB0MHa9EWI69QZ32bur83siujFLZbocdW6oPIC-lFezTCHo2yAqMHs/s1600/Gnarley-and-Darth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaogP-QtLJIfzTiDIuJuEGeiXMDDUbvW06pmQ9VzBZQ6ZzwQ4VgFsfWEc9yUwBIkBlMEbpEPRWP3wK2bI-J9CpDmB0MHa9EWI69QZ32bur83siujFLZbocdW6oPIC-lFezTCHo2yAqMHs/s640/Gnarley-and-Darth.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Anyone that knows Gnarley knows how big he is but I bet Darth outweighs him by 50 or 60 pounts easy</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim6E_ni8PJvwwbA7U_BBFf_k1i4VYuSVpKBeNZj3_RH1xjvu7McRT4h95W4aHcIHw4zk9xhGS7edhdwhtDDFD0ehcSipGl7MWz30gwb3l57G4foK_ma6pbbdImSRz98dGvvEZtWfZu9KA/s1600/Darth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim6E_ni8PJvwwbA7U_BBFf_k1i4VYuSVpKBeNZj3_RH1xjvu7McRT4h95W4aHcIHw4zk9xhGS7edhdwhtDDFD0ehcSipGl7MWz30gwb3l57G4foK_ma6pbbdImSRz98dGvvEZtWfZu9KA/s640/Darth.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Check out that face, whoever made the Darth Vader helmet musta known a newf, a big newf</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">And no, all that isn't his slobber, like any newf he has his drool but a lot of this is snow from plowing furrows.</div>oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-18930540926043597732011-02-01T17:51:00.000-07:002011-02-01T17:51:04.207-07:00Dang, Global Warming Strikes Again....<div style="text-align: justify;">Ah, the main stream media, and how they love "global warming". Pretty dang funny, yesterday set a new low of -2. Today the HIGH was -13 degrees, -19 when I fed the horses at 6AM in the dark.... Not to worry, they're all pretty good. Don't even seem to notice. *NOTE* these are NOT windchill temperatures.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We have to use 8' florecent "freezer" bulbs in the barn or they won't start when it's colder than 20 degrees. I turned them on couple days ago when it was "relatively" warm. Today it's so cold in the barn that the bulbs can't even stay lit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The diesel truck was plugged in and started pretty easy this morning but it wouldn't stay running because the fuel in the lines were turning to geletin.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We drove 45 minutes to the 7:00AM Dr. appointment and never got even close to warm. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">What REALLY amazes me is the global warming mongers aka "climate change" fear mongers now blame the chilling cold on man made CO2. Certainly one can say the "climate" is changing it most certainly is, always has... Sure wish they'd send some of the warmth our way. I'll tell you what, we are certainly pouring out the carbon, heaters running nearly non-stop. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hmmm Hmm Hm homemade cream of mushroom soup for dinner.... </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div>oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-55203590872053679962011-01-22T17:43:00.000-07:002011-01-22T17:43:05.357-07:00Believe me, I've tried to be more timely with posts............. but I always have to decide, sleep or post.. guess what wins.<br />
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Well as you can see my last post was shortly after Thanksgiving last year. well Christmas came and went, we enjoyed all of the kids and grandkids, not all at one time but over the holidays.<br />
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I got hurt in Grand Junction, nothing too serious but I had to go to the urgent care facility to get some pain meds.<br />
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I still have the old job and doing a new job (same company, same boss). But I did finally get some relief, we hired a guy to help out with the old stuff.<br />
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I started a macroeconomics class early in January which is very time consuming as it's compressed into five weeks, it's really very interesting.<br />
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Gnarly is doing real well, he's going to start a refresher course (I guess a refresher) in doggie obedience next week. I'm really enjoying him, just wish he wasn't so rough when he plays, but if past Newfoundlands are any indicator, he'll turn into a rug by age four. The funniest thing is we spend all kinds of money on doggy toys, Susan says $12.00 to $20.00 on each, they have a very short life expectancy. I don't don't know why but Susan threw an empty plastic gallon milk container out for him. He carried it around, smashed it up, chewed it and generally had a great time with it. He'll have a brand new one real soon... dang dogs. Amanda really loved them when she was his age too.<br />
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Gabriel is here without his younger siblings and it's VERY peaceful.<br />
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Talk about peaceful, Gnarly the couch potato in his favorite resting place.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ0DiKjCAljZZFtzBH68ka0kRHuTTP7prTV8YdQvD4YBSry_msGMT2NbGTWt3Snc_pFruDGa-Mm22VpkZZ-v3Bq2AbCcqSUdvSP7HnRMVOna0xQxF0Yrd7wKDNlULKAtN8w9YLtV7n7-A/s1600/couch-potatoe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ0DiKjCAljZZFtzBH68ka0kRHuTTP7prTV8YdQvD4YBSry_msGMT2NbGTWt3Snc_pFruDGa-Mm22VpkZZ-v3Bq2AbCcqSUdvSP7HnRMVOna0xQxF0Yrd7wKDNlULKAtN8w9YLtV7n7-A/s640/couch-potatoe.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div align="center">Couch Potato</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">It's been a long time, years and years, sometime around the age of 30 I weighed in at more than 200 pounds. Got up to near 300 at one point (but not quite). Changed my eating patterns thanks to Dr Akins, in general simply eating less processed carbs and junk. I don't drink soda or eat very much "junk" food. Like the endo Dr. suggested I eat 2-3 eggs and plenty of bacon nearly every morning.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Finally, payoff. I vowed (to myself) that the first day I didn't see a 2 as the first digit I would take a picture for all to see. I don't check daily and I've been stuck around 208 for MANY months, but a couple weeks ago I fired up the old scale and low and behold...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1S2rjNf9pQmvlEqdZtsMWm2VlgHn30WXQFzKyzpDhSP-xbnnjjNfBwuSW2WSRsxfZmKkqklMxHFWqfb5ri-vjOKKob-_yd6owSpATa-u0BkT6OEbFFczSKDiP4sPEPN5CqtFt6snZa3Q/s1600/1995.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1S2rjNf9pQmvlEqdZtsMWm2VlgHn30WXQFzKyzpDhSP-xbnnjjNfBwuSW2WSRsxfZmKkqklMxHFWqfb5ri-vjOKKob-_yd6owSpATa-u0BkT6OEbFFczSKDiP4sPEPN5CqtFt6snZa3Q/s320/1995.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hmmm what ugly feet, hairy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I got on the scale first thing in the morning, 5AM, thought I was seeing things the scale said 199.0, amazed I ran out got the camera and got back on, 8ozs for the camera is probably about right.<br />
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Few days later I went to the Dr. for a physical and the scale in his office said 204 fully clothed sans shoes.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"></div>oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-74748816307070531332010-11-24T07:36:00.000-07:002010-11-24T07:36:15.681-07:00Well, well.... Thanksgiving is here again....<div style="text-align: justify;">Thanksgiving has to rank right up their as one of my favorite holidays. THIS year however it's going to be a little different. NOT for as long as I can remember, BUT for a long time, we've cooked a Turkey, and frequently a ham too and had anyone that wanted to join us to feel free. Mostly we've had the family and friends and friends of friends. It's always been a fun day for, well for ME. My lovely wife usually (always) feels obligated to "clean up the mess", and it ALWAYS a huge mess, before bed time. This year we're taking Gnarly and driving to Loveland where our wonderful (one of two wonderful) daughter in-law is fixing dinner, I'm sure with James hindrance (I mean assistance). Mitchman is going to feed the horses for us, and his mother, Minnesota Susie is stuck doing homework... Other than that we expect we'll see pretty much the same folks we always see, maybe some new additions from he Loveland area...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Gnarly update. - What a nice, nice dog... he is exceptionally easy to get along with. He really tries hard to please both of us. He still chases the cats, but not nearly as much, it's especially funny to watch him try and get them to run when he does catch one... he's sure the hissing and swatting are the cats wanting to play with him. He has a few little annoyances but nothing serious. He has a VERY HEAVY paw and uses it when he wants to play. He plays VERY ROUGH, but is EXTREMELY gentle to LITTLE children and cats. 105 pounds of Newf is quite the treat to play fetch with, well it's actually more like "I'll chase the ball, then you can try and catch me" haha... We've shredded several old t-shirts playing tug-of-war... Hmmm he's learned that he likes people food and is a very annoying beggar. Sits there and stares Newf like, with those big brown Newf eyeballs, hard to resist.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Horses are all pretty good. The crippled "Kat" that was scheduled for execution a few months ago is doing VERY well all thing considered. All the babies are going to be a bit chilly tonight -1 to -11 degrees is forecast... No worries, horses are especially designed for the cold as long as they can get out of the wind...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Watercolor painting is going OK for me, BUT Susan has painted a beautiful "Urban Landscape" based on downtown Colorado Springs at a "famous" ice cream parlor, Josh & Johns. It features Gnarly and some scraggly old man feeding Gnarly some ice-cream.... she's almost finished....</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We're going to go see the most recent "Harry Potter" movie in a little while. we rarely go to the theater as we usually watch Netflix, or nothing but we've always enjoyed the Harry Potter books and movies... Hmmm kids books my ...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Had a power failure Monday night, a couple of hours in the dark, all of our "emergency" items, except ONE(1) flashlight failed. The generator wouldn't start, the camping lantern was corroded and unusable etc. etc. We went to Wal-mart (since it was to dark to do anything in the house) and replaced the stuff with new LED technology... wasn't too long ago the camping lantern was propane or white gas and had a silk mantle, hmmm... Now it's a single very bright LED and 8 "D" cell batteries. I did get the stuff to get the generator running, if we don't have electricity, we don't even have water.... The generator will at least keep a few lights on and run the well pump (straining) and the heaters, if we're desperate for heat we can always light the stove... </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In any case I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Oh. The camera is not working at the moment, BUT I'm going to appropriate a couple of the pictures Susan took for her latest and greatest watercolor.... </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnL__WPl1F-Zfu9BJSLkNF4oeZOw6cPfZqq-11u_tCUyN_RF7Trdf-VkFieF6-gMzCOf1YQJJygQ1Iz-ONuAg1bqKWaOqhB12XIYHc_QYi3EmHpHCVXsMjlk4NlmB3SfA4HU8vIwY_5Ik/s1600/gnarley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnL__WPl1F-Zfu9BJSLkNF4oeZOw6cPfZqq-11u_tCUyN_RF7Trdf-VkFieF6-gMzCOf1YQJJygQ1Iz-ONuAg1bqKWaOqhB12XIYHc_QYi3EmHpHCVXsMjlk4NlmB3SfA4HU8vIwY_5Ik/s640/gnarley.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-38619578098289833442010-10-10T18:06:00.000-06:002010-10-10T18:06:52.135-06:00Gnarly meets the grand kids, well three of the grand kids<div style="text-align: justify;">Gabriel, Molly and Connel came over for a visit and got to meet Gnarly.... It all went MUCH better than I had thought it would. Susan picked 'em up, Gnarly and I met them at the gate with Gnarly wearing his leash and collar, just to make sure there was SOME control... Face it Gnarly wants to sniff and lick see what these guys are all about. Problem is the littlest two look him right in the eyes and have a tongue level face perfect for licking.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Well as it should be, Gnarly behaved exactly like a newf should, he LOVED the kids, even played subservient to Molly, laying on his belly and woofing little woofs....</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Of course when Connel ran, Gnarly followed . When Connel jumped out of the way, Gnarly was invariably in Molly's face... Licking...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">All in all they all settled down pretty good, none of the grand children even got knocked down (bumped into) by Gnarly.... You know what they say, "Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best"... I can't express how Gnarly has more than met my hopes and expectations, he's 99% newf (the other 1%, well he just doesn't "eat anything" like most newfs. He is expanding his taste a little).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It makes me cry to think he spent two(2) years in a "bad situation", but I'm sure glad he came to be with us... </div>oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-87219867238868219222010-10-08T16:28:00.000-06:002010-10-08T16:28:02.089-06:00Been a little over a week since Gnarly came to live here...... Hmmmm........ Well it's been just a little over a week since we "rescued" Gnarly (was Marley). He likes Gnarly better. Gnarly chases the cats, but that's kind winding down as the cats are running less and he's getting kinda tired of them. When he catches one he wags his tail and barks, they usually let him have it with the claws if he gets too close.<br />
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He sleeps on our bed but he's WAY TOO MUCH when we're in it.<br />
<br />
He hasn't eaten the cat food, either before or after they eat it? He actually doesn't eat much of anything but liver snacks and dog food, potato chips...<br />
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He's VERY gentle, loves everyone he met. He does have a definite play time, about 7AM & 7PM then he's ready for bed shortly after 8PM and out like a light until morning. He is a rough player.... <br />
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We've left him at home a couple of times, closed him in the bedroom and expected to come back to at least SOMETHING ripped up... nope, he's just happy to see us and ready to curl up at my feet and sleep some more....<br />
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All in all we probably couldn't have picked a better match for our family.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY179D-XZO_dWxP6IyxihIYpmcJplJ0QyjKCuf-RQbfBO2kqQlihta1imDTxPEC6tUuh_he8MVTdneKUrO3rn1zoQroOlBqoKNl4ut5VP0h5BtCIfDIYQOnFn4Dqe3CmU786CZE3dOR2k/s1600/snoozing-gnarly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY179D-XZO_dWxP6IyxihIYpmcJplJ0QyjKCuf-RQbfBO2kqQlihta1imDTxPEC6tUuh_he8MVTdneKUrO3rn1zoQroOlBqoKNl4ut5VP0h5BtCIfDIYQOnFn4Dqe3CmU786CZE3dOR2k/s640/snoozing-gnarly.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">And he's very small as far as male newfs go</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQbI7WI7dm_MOP8j6pjjH-2WOxGndoZzrnHn7eO9LhBNtV1jqzN5ZqaaP609ySlSQsnM4CtMymewMuNK_RdgDPtIev_gqw3T2-gFijS4g1G5Zyag0f3MREuHrMhW4isKjCCEK8KxeO0rQ/s1600/GnarlyGnarly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQbI7WI7dm_MOP8j6pjjH-2WOxGndoZzrnHn7eO9LhBNtV1jqzN5ZqaaP609ySlSQsnM4CtMymewMuNK_RdgDPtIev_gqw3T2-gFijS4g1G5Zyag0f3MREuHrMhW4isKjCCEK8KxeO0rQ/s640/GnarlyGnarly.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">"I think I'll stay, I like it here"</div>oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-73824144327529041312010-10-01T20:40:00.000-06:002010-10-01T20:40:39.426-06:00AGAIN, this house goes to the dogs, or dog...<div style="text-align: justify;">As my lovely wife pointed out a couple days ago a new (used but new to us) newf came to live with us. He's a two year old solid black neutered male newfoundland that came with the name "Marley". He's more than welcome to stay as he's very very nice. HOWEVER his name has got to go.... at the very least it's kinda "feminine".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So the first order of business is to pin down a new name. I immediately thought hmmmm Harley sounds like Marley, Susan nixed that as one of the horses is named Harley...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So we crossed several off the list - Harry (hairy), Darth, Gizmo, Buddy, and a few more...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Currently our short list is Chewie (Chubacca), Bailey, Riley - I'm leaning toward Chewie myself...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So if you have ideas, please post them under the FB pointer to this blog, well if you're my FB friend, you can use he comment here if not, OR you can become my FB friend. If you don't have any new ideas how about telling us which of the short list you like... </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">He has a fabulous personality, typical newf. He weighs a little over a hundred pounds, about the same as Amanda. He looks a lot like Amanda but with an obvious male head... </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">He does chase the cats so they've been hiding... When he catches them he just barks and wags his tail...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The camera has experienced a few issues. Susan used it and somehow, who knows how she changed all the autofocus settings so all the photos she took of him playing fetch with a ball are blurred. It's true, a newfoundland that likes to play fetch. If he's like the others he'll outgrow it at about four(4) when he turns into a black rug.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I DID however get one OK photo that follows. That gnarly looking thing on the right is a HUGE bone he drags around.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigI_ApO8O7hThaJ19W94kQZcaZsMr0fyFuRSyxoFrbBtce33GfD8ly0D0E7mP3waed1hyphenhyphenlSl53fmuK-cSapoyr_lGDPzS6mH9HxAglOKjeUZwwLEeo9ITey2P5qw0p3FoS2SnN4FJHn9Y/s1600/blacknewf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigI_ApO8O7hThaJ19W94kQZcaZsMr0fyFuRSyxoFrbBtce33GfD8ly0D0E7mP3waed1hyphenhyphenlSl53fmuK-cSapoyr_lGDPzS6mH9HxAglOKjeUZwwLEeo9ITey2P5qw0p3FoS2SnN4FJHn9Y/s640/blacknewf.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't care what they call me as long as they call me for dinner!<br />
Newfs aren't generally very photogenic being black and rather camera shy!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>His general story is that a "service dog trainer" was looking for a newf, found him in Denver full of mats and left outside without too much contact. While she didn't think he would be a good "service dog" (for allergy alert & companion) for a four year old girl, she gave the $300.00 they were getting for him and turned him over to the newf rescue group. <br />
Well all I can say is I think he'll be happy here, actually I'm pretty darn sure he's already happy.<br />
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</div>oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-50817857045534677262010-09-22T19:03:00.000-06:002010-09-22T19:03:56.578-06:00Well, We did come home!The train ride back from Grand Junction was nice too... Unfortunately we got a good view of the Four Mile Canyon fire just after it started... It had only burned about four acres at that time.<br />
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Ah, so now we're home, all is pretty good.<br />
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I saw my lovely wife made a FB entry that said she put some paintings at the "Dream Pastry & Crepe" shop in Castle Rock. <br />
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I had pointed out that she FAILED to post a picture to go along with it....<br />
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BUT, not only did she FAIL to post a picture, she FAILED to tell everyone that after THREE(3) days she sold one of the paintings for the asking price.<br />
<br />
I was going to let her post it since I didn't want to "steal her THUNDER", but I haven't seen anything about the sale. Ahhh perhaps she didn't want to brag too much..... hmmmm.... That's OK I can rag for her. congratulations lovely wife....<br />
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On the weather front. It's been hotter since we returned from Grand Junction than it's been all summer. No rain in about a month, VERY HIGH fire danger, it finally did rain today.<br />
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We got TWO(2) smallish acorn squash from our garden. At least they were good. NO tomatoes, NO melons and NO peppers.<br />
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The Hollyhocks is 6 foot tall and has several dark red blooms.<br />
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The squirrels have shared he sunflower heads with the Stellar Jays. <br />
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The Cherry Tree, which did great as did the rhubarb, is starting to turn yellow and lose her leaves (I call her Virginia). I did find out that MOST varieties of cherry require TWO trees to fruit... hmmm...<br />
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I almost forgot. We went to the "water dog" trials at Chatfield Reservoir. We didn't stay long as we had the grandchildren and they get hot and bored rather easily.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOaZwMUv7dULUCguFPHa9tj6coIkLSvuwJwqgUwgfkv4j0TOMtb96tmae-HGVPojRwgtd3i0r7TFQh3jICQA70oJzxJzseQKqXroBA8NstkinHikcZebY22xF_-5saB4WGvXrbT9RE0JE/s1600/Newf1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOaZwMUv7dULUCguFPHa9tj6coIkLSvuwJwqgUwgfkv4j0TOMtb96tmae-HGVPojRwgtd3i0r7TFQh3jICQA70oJzxJzseQKqXroBA8NstkinHikcZebY22xF_-5saB4WGvXrbT9RE0JE/s640/Newf1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div align="center">Brown Newf retrieving the paddle</div><div align="center"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaf8xjx32JQ4QVOfySsv_muUkP_Ix_exUNCmnLl38dtjJkT8OFjDGKtXPFcTDYNBfTLVMqepSc62M2l1HB9lkq_3Hq5liVLwjDStXB14Uj0ID1vL5_N2DArqBUBg1hRE0SjVZtT45dvpc/s1600/Newf2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaf8xjx32JQ4QVOfySsv_muUkP_Ix_exUNCmnLl38dtjJkT8OFjDGKtXPFcTDYNBfTLVMqepSc62M2l1HB9lkq_3Hq5liVLwjDStXB14Uj0ID1vL5_N2DArqBUBg1hRE0SjVZtT45dvpc/s640/Newf2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div align="center">Same Newfy pulling the "stranded" boat</div>oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-6812827513817218212010-09-09T14:35:00.000-06:002010-09-09T14:35:12.887-06:00Grand Junction, Home to TWO of the FIVE Grand Children<div style="text-align: justify;">part II .........</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rachel went to WalMart for me and ordered a cake for the NO surprise birthday, well it woulda been a surprise but it "leaked" out. In any case Rachel told 'em yellow with sunflowers. As you can see it's yellow with sunflowers, I think it's great, taste pretty darn good too...</div><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh25DcWn1LxNmKdyETpFZqBXQG1vsCGCrDCYmCGG89OjYb8O0z0iVv21ExhND_3EuzK1a1nUmC-Ife9RYkYQh3Hm7EX22Ks4TGwLUrcETlgj-8YGTTBRPQEeRbBo32pxmIHIvyAO00XDpc/s1600/cake-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh25DcWn1LxNmKdyETpFZqBXQG1vsCGCrDCYmCGG89OjYb8O0z0iVv21ExhND_3EuzK1a1nUmC-Ife9RYkYQh3Hm7EX22Ks4TGwLUrcETlgj-8YGTTBRPQEeRbBo32pxmIHIvyAO00XDpc/s640/cake-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy Birthday, dear Grandma, Happy Birthday to you!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>So, picked up the cake and called "Famous Dave's BBQ" (Rachel Suggested and it was good) to get food for a dozen, to go.... Got there right on time to pick it up, expected it to be ready and waiting and figured Becca, Brent and the other three grand kids would be there when we (Cordelia went with me) got back.<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Went to the Famous Dave's bar, just like they told me. The bartender looks at me like I'm outta my mind, says "I'll get my manager, I don't HAVE an order for you"... While I was waiting for the manager I pulled out my cell phone and re-dialed the number I had called.... "Hello, Famous Dave's BBQ, FT COLLINS"... oooohhh nooo... Well I placed an order to feed twelve that I was suppose to pick up at 3:15. Well the problem is I'm at the Famous Dave's in Grand Junction, 300 miles away... DUH!! "Oh no problem sir, we'll use it all". So I ask him to read me the order so I can place it in Grand Junction... OK so everyone got a laugh at my expense... At least Cordelia and I had a strawberry shortcake while we waited... hmmm hmmm good.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Well after dinner and cake, between eating too much cake and drinking too much of Becca's $6.00 bottle of cheap spiced rum, I felt kinda bad, went in, laid down and promptly "fell asleep" (read - passed out) till morning... cake, rum and don't forget the "run Forest, run" to the front of the train.... mild case of shin splints....</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Woke up to a major slumber party, kids and Becca in the living room.... </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We were SUPPOSE to get up and go to the Colorado National Monument for morning photos (it's the light). too bad, so sad perhaps tomorrow. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We did however make the butterfly pavilion, ONE that's right ONE butterfly but hundreds of fabulous flowers.... and a fruiting cherry tree, beautiful. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKG9Xam9890lH_lgH8yYPdQCB7qfBw7ge9GX0TQFxWySZUJ3qxrrhpO9QDIp9IAN31oM7v6upy2Uad2opyS4DEUvuUCM0QkFeCJL4dDXYBIi6uiHPnkpqcqdNl9VblgJlAIL4oSlmqwcI/s1600/lillypad-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKG9Xam9890lH_lgH8yYPdQCB7qfBw7ge9GX0TQFxWySZUJ3qxrrhpO9QDIp9IAN31oM7v6upy2Uad2opyS4DEUvuUCM0QkFeCJL4dDXYBIi6uiHPnkpqcqdNl9VblgJlAIL4oSlmqwcI/s640/lillypad-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Water Lillie's</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy2-xTMe2S929YhTUcxVQlQ1aWdDzxX9JwaituSaFslPMNHq8_YY6zCo07rtA0xWdld3HeohMM9DhhcQKQya50WR9NiN0cG2vcY1bY8pVI-_sbZwDNB4rH0P2mwyk7Z3t7DQ4kSZdcIEo/s1600/red-orchid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy2-xTMe2S929YhTUcxVQlQ1aWdDzxX9JwaituSaFslPMNHq8_YY6zCo07rtA0xWdld3HeohMM9DhhcQKQya50WR9NiN0cG2vcY1bY8pVI-_sbZwDNB4rH0P2mwyk7Z3t7DQ4kSZdcIEo/s640/red-orchid.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Exotic Red Orchid</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB6_S7GsJ1fg1B5IaoOtaTmt1oUpRKgXz6jHqHWY83rFXUmW0c2aTK3c8OjADkIAL6zjO8aW1BlEC15FIVGTEzE6_Hq7VXxowbk2oBv2dAyu0MVJH2q2usb50uEuBLFC-x5sELOffE1yA/s1600/Cherries-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB6_S7GsJ1fg1B5IaoOtaTmt1oUpRKgXz6jHqHWY83rFXUmW0c2aTK3c8OjADkIAL6zjO8aW1BlEC15FIVGTEzE6_Hq7VXxowbk2oBv2dAyu0MVJH2q2usb50uEuBLFC-x5sELOffE1yA/s640/Cherries-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">My favorite - Cherries, probably Sour Cherries</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">More later.....</div>oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-61961848893092826822010-09-08T13:53:00.004-06:002010-09-08T14:46:02.442-06:00The train ride to the first annual NO surprise birthday party<div style="text-align: justify;">Hmmm Am I the ONLY one I can surprise? must be... Last time we drove to Grand Junction we saw the Amtrak going into the tunnels through Glenwood Canyon.... Hmmm I smell an adventure, sure enough the train stops at Denver and Grand junction on it's way from Chicago to San Francisco (EmeryVille)... $184.00 round trip for BOTH of us...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I made the tickets for the weekend of Susie's birthday. Conspired with Rachel to "surprise" her. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Left Friday morning in the dark to drive to the Denver Union Station, got there and learned the train was two(2) hours late for down trees in Iowa (some storm). No problem off to breakfast we go, followed by a trip to the corner three story ancient book store, the "Tattered Cover". Susie bought books... </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We boarded the train, found our coach seats and promptly moved to the "lounge" car. It was a GREAT eight(8) hour ride.... never did go back to our "reserved" seats... Met lots of people, 1 couple flew from London to Denver, the train from Denver to Salt Lake City where they are going to rent a car and drive to the western national monuments.... sounds like fun to me... The other couple, also from England, brought their two teenage kids and were going all the way to San Fransisco to drive down the California coast... I reminded me of our family vacation to Europe.... OH YEAH, they don't hate Americans like the MSM would have you believe... They say that's just the elitist politicians, which I already knew...</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhixmlUcbkj78I_Jy94UADAg6dojaK_LZHNWfTRAiE-ZeEACLlLNkd_LdM9yuPOf9nThekEajyVazmU3nVWzfAr5VeO7t8x6GicdiwQ-i9DBf6L7Y17aUyBhqO7re-Ji-9dYQXXfxO5Q18/s1600/Lounge--Car-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhixmlUcbkj78I_Jy94UADAg6dojaK_LZHNWfTRAiE-ZeEACLlLNkd_LdM9yuPOf9nThekEajyVazmU3nVWzfAr5VeO7t8x6GicdiwQ-i9DBf6L7Y17aUyBhqO7re-Ji-9dYQXXfxO5Q18/s640/Lounge--Car-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtEfmhKlvTKi8LotXqcxFmI2jpkFY3IstI5PVHQPoh62DeuqM-rygAQHLTPDRsFGAc2SVJhCnWftP9mgkI5UsnCFf4SMOlbVqc4DlT7Y_1R01czSoh19lgPeceVHIOxJ7eO89e7BgVdhQ/s1600/Loung-Car-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtEfmhKlvTKi8LotXqcxFmI2jpkFY3IstI5PVHQPoh62DeuqM-rygAQHLTPDRsFGAc2SVJhCnWftP9mgkI5UsnCFf4SMOlbVqc4DlT7Y_1R01czSoh19lgPeceVHIOxJ7eO89e7BgVdhQ/s640/Loung-Car-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Two(2) shots from the lounge car, the second in one of 28 tunnels before Winter Park, one is 6.2 miles long and takes 12 minutes to traverse.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So we're going to stop at Winterpark/Frazier for five(5) minutes. "If the whistle blows two(2) short, make sure you get on because it's LEAVING".... Hmmm...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Me being the type that likes LOTS of pictures for "documentation" decided I was going to the front of the train engine and taking a picture back along the length of the train...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">my, oh my.... who would have guessed it would be THAT far away? Certainly not me....</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So there are two(2) engines, a baggage car, three sleepers, a diner, the lounge and finally our car, the 510 coach followed by two more coach cars.... You can't leave from the diner or the lounge car so I went back to our car, got out on the platform and thought WOW that's a long way, better RUN....</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">when I got there I was in a full blown asthma attack (which I haven't had in over five(5) years) standing there wondering how the heck I was going to get back.... DANG, dang.....</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-f820FNm4AZGqO-M2fpxbro9ZbGL4Mv1SJzaruFFWHWLMJW5QpXcGEDHGHlszI2HZtg6MDr5xh1EVeshJKLpvx5r58YTjVAINCJbpjVsJ8TaptDlOZ_NZLMo9q-evM7u3IpPn8dPGL7w/s1600/Engine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-f820FNm4AZGqO-M2fpxbro9ZbGL4Mv1SJzaruFFWHWLMJW5QpXcGEDHGHlszI2HZtg6MDr5xh1EVeshJKLpvx5r58YTjVAINCJbpjVsJ8TaptDlOZ_NZLMo9q-evM7u3IpPn8dPGL7w/s640/Engine.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Got the shot Hmmm, at what cost. The 510 car was PAST the people on the platform.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">NOW all I gotta do is get back before it leaves. On the return run, I notice the door on the first sleeper, no one guarding it, I'll try that... So no sooner did the door close, toot... tooot... and it's away... I walk through the train to the lounge car and there's my lovely wife sitting there patiently waiting. guess she knew I'd make it. Unfortunately the next 3 hours of asthma made it questionable as to the worth....</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> I did take quite a few photos, but the following out of the back of the train was of particular interest to me. I actually DIDN'T notice the rock standing in the pond when I took the photo, I found it later.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggSkymY8nGkNY_zqewnQcUpxllW3RiBtRACNCocjLasnTr2s4Dn0ktt0JvZeYlczIRfahBWuvfULnh3O5Xh8tMb5EdrsRibqJOpbRf2GW4Oq3KPBikdSfB28gqbCW1w3OBBn4nHsVtbHQ/s1600/Pond-Rock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggSkymY8nGkNY_zqewnQcUpxllW3RiBtRACNCocjLasnTr2s4Dn0ktt0JvZeYlczIRfahBWuvfULnh3O5Xh8tMb5EdrsRibqJOpbRf2GW4Oq3KPBikdSfB28gqbCW1w3OBBn4nHsVtbHQ/s640/Pond-Rock.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">We are on the last leg of the journey to Grand Junction, I'm just taking photos out of the back of the train and happen to get the rock balanced in the middle of the pond. Watercolor reference photo...</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">More to come........</div>oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-59321076716005010652010-08-29T15:50:00.001-06:002010-08-29T17:26:03.238-06:00Cats!!!, Why??? & the continuing EPIC truck/brake story. (whine)EPIC truck/brake story.... Hmmm, Finally got the entire right side apart, now I'm just plain sore and tired from fighting with it. I put the caliper on the left side and tried for 30 minutes to attach the brake line. Hmmm this is weird, wonder why the "banjo" bolt won't go back in. FINALLLY in disgust I try the bolt from the other side, same deal so I take the dang thing off. set it next to the other new caliper and low and behold they (Chinese I'm sure) had re-threaded the hole (looked like a heli-coil job) the WRONG FRIGIN SIZE, too small....<br />
<br />
Went BACK the the parts store for the THIRD time, and showed them. Hmmmm.... well we don't have another in stock but we can get one by Monday or err...Tuesday. Fine.... It's ALMOST together, just waiting on the replacement caliper.... So for all those that wonder why we pay $85 to $135 dollars per hour for our mechanics to do this HORRIBLE, FILTHY, GREASY, THANKLESS task (or any vehicular task for that matter). Just come and help me work on truck brakes and it'll ALL be crystal clear.... BTW I'll be making the FOURTH trip to the parts store to pick up the replacement caliper (this is at 30+ miles round trip)...<br />
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Cats.... A couple of years ago we decided to let a couple of kittens live in the house with us.... I have NO IDEA what I was thinking.... <br />
<br />
Today there are a total of SIX(6), that's right SIX(6) frigen feline CATS.... Now don't get me wrong I have affection for all of them, each is unique in it's own little feline personality, each is physically attractive... The PROBLEMS however <strong><em><u>seem</u></em></strong> to far out weigh any benefit. <br />
<br />
1. We have MICE in the kitchen (I have caught two(2) cats ZERO).<br />
2. The white cat (Cream) self apppointed queen of the house and cat that LOVED Amanda, picks on all the other cats, well one of them (the grey cat, Miles), hooked her in the eye almost to the vitreous humour, the clear gel that fills the eye ball. That was nearly $100.00 dollar trip to the vet.<br />
3. Try and pick up a cat, any of the cats to get them a little love and attention and all they want is DOWN.<br />
4. Try and keep a cat away because your busy or something and all they do is NAG to be held.<br />
5. We have to close all six(6) cats OUT of the bedroom at night or they climb up on me and play "king of the ass", (good thing I sleep on my stomach).... they fight over who sleeping where, the purr, claw with that annoying "kneading" action, they PLAY in the dresser drawers and generally cause trouble..... OH and don't forget, eat the cut flowers knocking over the VERY EXPENSIVE one of a kind vase we picked up from Waterford Ireland. I finally tossed the flowers after the fifth or sixth time.<br />
6. I almost forgot, they've lived in this house (well mostly) their entire lives, at the minimum a heck of a long time, They are AFRAID of people (UPS Guy) knocking on he door, afraid of planes flying overhead, helicopters, noises the horses make, the ESPRESSO machine.... They take off like cats out of hell skidding, sliding and failing to gain traction on the hardwood floor..... This I gotta say is at least FUNNY...... stupid, but FUNNY!<br />
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Some people point out this behavior and tell me "cats are SO independent" personally I find them, well rather STUPID, relative to the other animals I have or have had around here.... No this doesn't mean I'd get rid of them, BUT I just can't see what I get from them relative to what I get from a dog or a horse (or seventeen) for that matter....<br />
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We have one(1) cat (Garfield) that's SO STUPID all he does is purr, NEVER stops except PERHAPS when he sleeps. Doesn't matter WHAT you do to him, he keeps right on purring, I think he's broken.oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-90241164571081518152010-08-04T19:09:00.001-06:002010-08-04T19:16:05.912-06:00A couple of things... In cronological orderSo, last night I go feed the horses as usual. It's getting dark and Susan calls the outdoor cats into the garage so they don't get eaten by the foxes trying to feed their young.... Almost EVERY night I "nag" Susan to get them in and close the door. Well July is the month the mama creatures teach their younguns the ways of the world. I'm getting, uhm... my "pajamas on" (scary huh?) and getting ready to crawl into the warm bed (it's about 50 and "cold"). Susan open the people door to the garage and SCREAMS running back inside doing the "woman hop" telling me there are two HUGE ones out in the garage. "Ones?" .... uhhh raccoons.... DANG or the other word.... (this is a family friendly blog site). <br />
<br />
So I go out to see one little baby raccoon scooting to the door. I see a SECOND baby on the shelf, scared and looking for an escape route so I can kinda cleared a path and number two scoots out. Well I stand there trying to see if any more are around, sure enough little cooing, whimpering under the wooden pallets holding all the expensive, boxed stuff from Ireland.... hmmm.... I could see the little eye peeking out and these desperate little noises. Well this one was much harder to clear a path for and I thought for SURE I'd get bitten and have to take the rabies series..... In any case it FINALLY decided to venture out and I kinda scooted it toward the door with a broom.... TONIGHT if Susie doesn't call the cats (they like her), I'm closing the overhead door and the fox family can have some tasty morsels for dinner.<br />
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So this morning I get a call from the mother of the young lady that Squirt went to live with. She's in tears telling me that their California home is being foreclosed and Squirt is coming back. While I'll be glad to see Squirt I am broken hearted for him, Carson (the girl) and the entire family. They've lived in the house for over 20 years. Scott, the dad, has been a landscaper for his entire working life, owns his own business and just can't make it in the California economy..... This is a real nice family who's entire life is being upended and turn upside down by the liberal policies that have wrecked California and are wrecking THE REST OF AMERICA as we speak.... To me this is an more pathetic than I can possibly describe.... Please Pray for Scott, Georgan, Max and Carson.... I told them Squirt will be here for them if and when they can take him back.... PLEASE go out and vote conservative in November.... Help a family survive....oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-64342212562617223982010-07-24T13:18:00.000-06:002010-07-24T13:18:50.316-06:00An Interesting Week in the Forest....<div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Well the BEST news is that Susie's (she WAS mine BUT SHE chose Susie), 22 year old mare, Kat, is STILL with us. She was scheduled for ah, "termination" last Wednesday. The vet arrived but the grave digger had a broken hose and couldn't make it till later. In the mean time I started giving her extra large doses of pain meds and she seems to be MUCH better. the PROBLEM is that the pain meds are like aspirin and will eventually cause other issues that will kill her. BUT she's good for now..... I did take a few pictures Wednesday morning I'll post at the end.</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTDuPED5a57xNybp5PpTu4cuWGxfsfdx_jtPySKNJA6_IHQsNTc6hRxaUr_FmEareoFbijpph-XV31xSHCQUUIaC6tZOmmGJy03jAHfI7Q27i2Lea5x8f72KKT6FY5EestwzcX9i9G2Ws/s1600/KAT-Eye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hw="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTDuPED5a57xNybp5PpTu4cuWGxfsfdx_jtPySKNJA6_IHQsNTc6hRxaUr_FmEareoFbijpph-XV31xSHCQUUIaC6tZOmmGJy03jAHfI7Q27i2Lea5x8f72KKT6FY5EestwzcX9i9G2Ws/s320/KAT-Eye.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">Kats Eye</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The mama doe that's been hanging around, I call her "Notch" because she has a rather large notch in her left ear, has FINALLY exposed her fawn. I saw it once several weeks ago, just a fleeting glance. Subsequently we've seen Notch all the way up into our "yard". She's been acting very strange, we thought that perhaps the fawn had died, but Susan saw the fawn (Spot) out playing and eating with mom. Sorry no pictures, well Susie may have one or two but Spot's nearly impossible to find... Pictures of "Notch" will follow.</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFErl4eamFOi9ut7tJ9NhdTn67VvByS3ZJvfoKmQB82s46MX2TsXkfkTik1r8CG656ARMJiuo_dIqstMkbhc3W5h5OAEEeyTnB-TeycTbHUjRqiYQxDbB_Syc-C7UMAZbatRjWKlnbc7M/s1600/Notch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" hw="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFErl4eamFOi9ut7tJ9NhdTn67VvByS3ZJvfoKmQB82s46MX2TsXkfkTik1r8CG656ARMJiuo_dIqstMkbhc3W5h5OAEEeyTnB-TeycTbHUjRqiYQxDbB_Syc-C7UMAZbatRjWKlnbc7M/s640/Notch.jpg" width="564" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">Notch</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">So I get up this morning to 50 degrees. That's right, heater weather in July. It's suppose to get up to a glorious 64 degrees with "flash flood" warnings from noon until Sunday Evening..... Hmmm more rain...... Well at least the grass will grow (if it warms up) to feed the equine. Guess I'll just have to stay indoors and watch NetFlix....</div><br />
I'm a little concerned with our garden, because it's been so cool this "summer", all the plants are rather stunted. The Daisies are just starting to open, the Sunflowers are half as tall as they need to be before they bloom. We are getting plenty of Basil and Chives and ONE(1) of the tomatoes is starting to produce "licopene" (what makes them red). None of the squash plants or melon plants has even produced a flower yet. The shiny garden spot is the Cherry tree we planted last year. No Cherries just yet but it's gotten MUCH larger and has a lot of new growth, I thought it froze to death last winter, all last years growth had been killed but the root system survived.... This year I'll use Solitares solution and put a plastic trash can over it, well her, I call her Virginia, she still has all her Cherries. lol.... (how stupid)!<br />
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Cats, six, yes six cats live in the house full time, one lives in the house when the weather is bad, but stays outside when it's nice.... I finally had to run them ALL out of the bedroom at night to get sleep. If they stay, they play.... and play....and play, inevitably one of them offends another and they start a fight.... this went on night after night until I got the can of "air" (compressed air for cleaning the cameras and the computer), they simply haul ass out of the bedroom with one TINY squirt, then I close 'em out.... Hmmm.... a good nights sleep at last.<br />
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So we go to the farmers market in Monument and the sun comes out for a beautiful morning, still only 61 degrees, but sunny is always good.<br />
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When we get back, Susan decides to take some "slash" (branches and limbs) to the slash recycling center They grind it into mulch and essentially give it away.... Well you can load it yourself or pay a skip-loader dude $2.00 per bucket, BIG bucket....<br />
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In any case I'm working on other things and Susie is loading the truck with the slash.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDS8d_e0py9j6vLpP98Cjg4LxPQwJP5tjdxjAvyA_FjpbwvVVK-mwFuzAf4SC85KhzdT-3nMLOq63FDwMjv_xqNnPAWNK1DDfKtRUMC3cAUnAWvnEU3cjArePjDyvRglf_B-WQy_C4hJM/s1600/30-feet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" hw="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDS8d_e0py9j6vLpP98Cjg4LxPQwJP5tjdxjAvyA_FjpbwvVVK-mwFuzAf4SC85KhzdT-3nMLOq63FDwMjv_xqNnPAWNK1DDfKtRUMC3cAUnAWvnEU3cjArePjDyvRglf_B-WQy_C4hJM/s640/30-feet.jpg" width="640" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Clearly one can see the slash pile BEHIND Susie. She's loading the truck from about 30 feet. Hmmmm....<br />
<br />
NOW, I am NOT "making fun" of Susan, this is a serious matter. I'm wondering why it SEEMS like MOST women would rather walk the 30 feet than take the 20 seconds it took me to back the truck up to the pile. Personally I admit I'm way to lazy to walk the 30 feet.<br />
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For further clarification, Susie cut the branches off the tree, made the pile and is OBVIOUSLY loading the truck while I'm taking pictures.... <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY-wZiSRhUSAh_J80mc5v-8yNBPkJF6J-0SMTeB2xg3_O7kG73Z16U3CdTDgzWKS9uPY1voMJCZgrPcnwiFf3RcjmFV3WW71E7R0iJ2Au1_fFG7UNGIXkwTcV_uCxgobV2P61bEIXxFoY/s1600/back-it-up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" hw="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY-wZiSRhUSAh_J80mc5v-8yNBPkJF6J-0SMTeB2xg3_O7kG73Z16U3CdTDgzWKS9uPY1voMJCZgrPcnwiFf3RcjmFV3WW71E7R0iJ2Au1_fFG7UNGIXkwTcV_uCxgobV2P61bEIXxFoY/s640/back-it-up.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
It just seems to me that in the name of efficiency backing the truck... well.......<br />
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I did find a shot that Susie took of Notch and Spot. It's hard to tell from the full frame photo, BUT through the magic of photoshop and the really high pixel rate of Susan's camera, we could crop out all the extraneous stuff and zoom right in.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">You can see more photos including <a href="http://www.talesfromtablerock.blogspot.com/">Notch and Spot</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-80540273433517991282010-07-03T11:02:00.000-06:002010-07-03T11:02:21.534-06:00Some days it just doesn't pay | and to our Military HerosSo this has been a VERY annoying month. (well June and so far July). First the Red Dodge Ram finally died. The fuel transfer pump was bad, several hundred dollars. and subsequently caused the injection pump to fail (diesel stuff), Over $1,700.. just for the pump. One of the back windows is ALSO broken.<br />
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Then the White Dodge (Susie's truck) had the transmission rebuilt for $3,500.00+, BUT it runs real nice though. NOW the brake caliber on the right front side hung and destroyed the rotor. Figured may as well replace both calibers, at least the destroyed rotor (probably both as it'll be all new) and obviously the brake pads.<br />
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So what am I doing on our 4th of July holiday weekend, replacing the brake components on the white truck, a little over $400.00 so far, just in parts. <br />
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GggggRrrrrrrrrrrrr....<br />
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Well I suppose the good news is the brakes on the white 3/4 ton are MUCH easier than on the red 1 ton....<br />
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<strong><em><span style="color: red;">On seconds thought, I suppose it could always be worse, think about and pray for the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in afganistan, iraq and around the world.... Hmmmm Much much worse for them. I (and I hope you too) thank them for thier service and sacrafice.....</span></em></strong>oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2235279967018330866.post-60087539647557905162010-06-13T15:27:00.004-06:002010-06-13T15:39:12.226-06:00His and Hers Riding Lawn Mowers.... | lol<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;">So we've had two consecutive days of rain. It's really nice because it was getting rather dry here... BUT even better, my neighbors who have HIS and HER's riding lawns mowers, AREN'T out making a hell of a racket mowing the "lawn" (really it's pasture grass that looks like #$%& cut to 2 inches....). </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;">Every single sunny day (most days in Colorado) he and his woman are out cutting 10+ acres with a puny little riding mower. If it wasn't so funny it would be pathetic.... You know move to the country and bring your lawn mowers... roflmao</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;">NOT to be outdone, the Smith's (me and Susie) ran out and got our very own riding lawn mowers.... Not only are they RIDING mowers but they can be used in full AUTOMATIC mode (fairly reliable). In addition these are ALL weather mowers that double as snowmobiles in the winter.... The very best part however is the automatic fertalizer attachment, well come to think of it, it's actually always attached and operational. Some might say it's a rather #$%&ty design.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieoTRCdgkdHm19SGgjMeYx71F-wjxKZ5eQN0cijAUcHdWRy5X1XbF8gQF9Vmqhd5eoezqwv2PdVbcCIn3HvqKui3WKSUHPnWxisSeFvHKT7sq75KoV5q4bz7HI5tqqykVGN8nrf_Kmnfs/s1600/mowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieoTRCdgkdHm19SGgjMeYx71F-wjxKZ5eQN0cijAUcHdWRy5X1XbF8gQF9Vmqhd5eoezqwv2PdVbcCIn3HvqKui3WKSUHPnWxisSeFvHKT7sq75KoV5q4bz7HI5tqqykVGN8nrf_Kmnfs/s640/mowers.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">RedMan & Nic Supervised by "Fur B" the cat</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: justify;">This actually works out pretty good, while Susan is in cleaning the house, I'm cutting the grass!!! lol... </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: justify;">In reality Susan cuts the small amount of lawn (pasture grass cut to 2 inches) we have!!!! we DO turn the equine loose to eat down the growth around the driveway and cloths line....!</div>oldmanfromblackforesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477338543465779435noreply@blogger.com1