Through the Christmas and Thanksgiving Holidays.... Back to work....

I started "vacation" on the 16th of December, 2011. I return to work tomorrow (I did work a bit two days last week). 

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...

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).

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.

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.

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 there's nothing like time off to spend with friends and family....

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas Holiday and hope you have a grand 2012. (*NOTE* no political comments) lol.

So, 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....

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....

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).

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.....

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.

How 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.

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...

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...

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...

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.

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"...

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). 

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).

So I ask Robert, "where's Betty", thinking he moved her, he thinks I'm joking and I can't believe she's gone.

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... 

The Latigo arena is about 12 miles from the horse ranch.

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. 

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).

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).

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.

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...

One really good thing to know about horses is they usually stop at the first place they can find food and wander around that eating...

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...

Eighteen Years ago TODAY!

18 Years Ago Today, June 12th, 1993

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.

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.

I proposed to Susan while we still lived in the old house in town. Becky and James were BOTH there for that too.

Note that Ed is not in ANY of these photos. He was honorably serving our country as a United State Marine.

Not a huge wedding but all of the family that could make it. (Hmmm time travel).







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...

Guess we all know what happens to a "long haired hippy" when he gets old? dang had a lot of hair once...

 Happy Anniversary Sweety



What 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..

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.

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...

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.

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.

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...

OMGoodness Gnarley FINALLY has a playmate

It'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.

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.

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).

Well both dogs are passed out, I'm next!

It's "Grizzly" aka "Griz" and yes, he lives here

Well, 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.

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.

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.

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....

gotta go feed the equine, then take the pups to Castle Rock so WE can have some Dream Pasties for breakfast... bye....

Miles, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

http://talesfromtablerock.blogspot.com/

See what susan has to say AND some of her most recent artwork at the above link.

New 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.

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.

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.

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....

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.

FurB on his lofty washer/drier perch

Judgement....

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.

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.

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....

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.

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)

How about Extra-Gnarley and calling him X? He truly is HUGE...

So, Exactly Where Did The Design For Darth Vaders Helmet Come From!

I got the answer.....

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....

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.

"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.

"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."

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...

He sits between the van seats with  his chin on the dash, looking out the windshield.

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!

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.

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.

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.

In any case I did get a couple of pictures this morning....

Anyone that knows Gnarley knows how big he is but I bet Darth outweighs him by 50 or 60 pounts easy

Check out that face, whoever made the Darth Vader helmet musta known a newf, a big newf

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.

Dang, Global Warming Strikes Again....

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.

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.

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.

We drove 45 minutes to the 7:00AM Dr. appointment and never got even close to warm. 

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. 

Hmmm Hmm Hm homemade cream of mushroom soup for dinner....

Believe me, I've tried to be more timely with posts.......

...... but I always have to decide, sleep or post.. guess what wins.

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.

I got hurt in Grand Junction, nothing too serious but I had to go to the urgent care facility to get some pain meds.

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.

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.

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.

Gabriel is here without his younger siblings and it's VERY peaceful.

Talk about peaceful, Gnarly the couch potato in his favorite resting place.

Couch Potato

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.

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...

Hmmm what ugly feet, hairy

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.

Few days later I went to the Dr. for a physical and the scale in his office said 204 fully clothed sans shoes.



Well, well.... Thanksgiving is here again....

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...

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.

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...

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....

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 ...

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...

In any case I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving...

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....

Gnarly meets the grand kids, well three of the grand kids

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.

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....

Of course when Connel ran, Gnarly followed .  When Connel jumped out of the way, Gnarly was invariably in Molly's face... Licking...

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).

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...

Been 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.

He sleeps on our bed but he's WAY TOO MUCH when we're in it.

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...

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....

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....

All in all we probably couldn't have picked a better match for our family.

And he's very small as far as male newfs go

"I think I'll stay, I like it here"

AGAIN, this house goes to the dogs, or dog...

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".

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...

So we crossed several off the list - Harry (hairy), Darth, Gizmo, Buddy, and a few more...

Currently our short list is Chewie (Chubacca), Bailey, Riley - I'm leaning toward Chewie myself...

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...

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...

He does chase the cats so they've been hiding... When he catches them he just barks and wags his tail...

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.

I DID however get one OK photo that follows. That gnarly looking thing on the right is a HUGE bone he drags around.



I don't care what they call me as long as they call me for dinner!
  Newfs  aren't generally very photogenic being black and rather camera shy!

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. 
Well all I can say is I think he'll be happy here, actually I'm pretty darn sure he's already happy.

Well, 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.

Ah, so now we're home, all is pretty good.

I saw my lovely wife made a FB entry that said she put some paintings at the "Dream Pastry & Crepe" shop in Castle Rock. 

I had pointed out that she FAILED to post a picture to go along with it....

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.

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....

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.

We got TWO(2) smallish acorn squash from our garden. At least they were good. NO tomatoes, NO melons and NO peppers.

The Hollyhocks is 6 foot tall and has several dark red blooms.

The squirrels have shared he sunflower heads with the Stellar Jays.

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...

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.

Brown Newf retrieving the paddle

Same Newfy pulling the "stranded" boat

Grand Junction, Home to TWO of the FIVE Grand Children

part II .........

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...

Happy Birthday, dear Grandma, Happy Birthday to you!

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.

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.

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....

Woke up to a major slumber party, kids and Becca in the living room....

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. 

We did however make the butterfly pavilion, ONE that's right ONE butterfly but hundreds of fabulous flowers.... and a fruiting cherry tree, beautiful. 

Water Lillie's

Exotic Red Orchid

My favorite - Cherries, probably Sour Cherries

More later.....

The train ride to the first annual NO surprise birthday party

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...

I made the tickets for the weekend of Susie's birthday. Conspired with Rachel to "surprise" her. 

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...

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...

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.

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...

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...

my, oh my.... who would have guessed it would be THAT far away? Certainly not me....

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....

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.....

Got the shot Hmmm, at what cost. The 510 car was PAST the people on the platform.

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....

 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.

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...

More to come........