dogs | My Blog

And back into the Icebox!!!

Posted on October 21, 2009 by

Last night it started to rain. We went to bed fairly early because Morgan had a field trip to go on and they had to leave at 6am this morning. At some point in the night, the rain turned to snow. Daniel turned up around 2:15am. He didn’t want to fall asleep and not be able to be woken up. I woke up at 3am, when something pissed off the skunk. Oh gads! The smell sent me into an asthma attack. 4am, my alarm went off. Dan was suppose to get up, but didn’t want to move. I don’t blame him. 4:25am, Dan and Morgan finally got up and moving. It was snowing and they knew that they needed to get on the road. Dan, Daniel and Morgan left around 5am for Gardner. I went back to bed, as I could finally breathe.

7:35am-The phone rings. Daniel. “Hi mom, we’re stuck in the mud and Erin is coming to pull us out.” Huh? Okay. I figured that they had gone off the road and were just stuck on the side of the road. I hung up the phone and went back to sleep.

8:58am-The phone rings. It’s John this time telling me that Daniel and Dan are still stuck, Erin couldn’t get them out of the mud, and that they were waiting for Daniel’s Towing Service to unstick them. Great… The boyz went Mudding. What the hell were they thinking? I debated rolling back over and going to sleep versus getting up. While I lay there debating, Dan and Daniel arrived. Dan was soaked and mud covered. They were hauling the hose out of the back yard to clean off Daniel’s car. I got up and took a peek. There must have been ten pounds of mud on it.

Brandy and Blanca of course took advantage of the chaos to run off. Dumb dogs!

They hosed it off, and Daniel headed home to shower and hopefully get his car fixed. He had planned to get a ball joint or something like that repaired today. If he couldn’t, he was just going to sleep. While fixing breakfast, Dan told me what really happened. They had gotten Morgan safely to school and were almost home when they decided to go play in the arroyos near Toltec. Dan said to Daniel that this probably was NOT a good idea. Daniel, being Daniel said “Well, I want to” and off they went. They did fine right up until they hit clay. The sand in the arroyo was okay. However, the mud was…. sticky, sucking and treacherous. Daniel almost got them out. he slid off the ‘road’ and that was it. So, they called Erin, who has a big 4WD pickup. Daniel’s is a 4WD Blazer.

Erin came out and couldn’t even get near Daniel’s Blazer. He got stuck twice and finally gave up. So, they called the towing company. The guy with the tow truck has a Mudder truck that he tows with for situations like this. He almost got stuck. It took Everyone, 8 wheels, two drivers and lots of luck to finally get the Blazer out. The guy told Daniel he was lucky! gads! Boyz!

Dan said the mud was sucking the shoes off of his feet, and rivaled Montana mud. (and that is something to rival!)

So, now we are curled up with a fire in the fireplace, the two dumb dogs have returned and are drying off on the back porch, Spike is with me in the house and the cats are on the front porch. Dan keeps saying he will take a nap. (ha! silly boy) At least he did crawl in bed even if he does have his computer with him.

There is about 10 inches of snow out there and it is still snowing. Such fun. I’m going to finish this post, play on the net a few more minutes and then go back to writing my story.

Update on life, part 2

Posted on October 10, 2009 by

I ran out of hours in the day… I didin’t get to the fun of Thursday. We got Morgan off to school and I started to get ready for the day. Spike, Daniel’s dog, went tearing into the house and scared the kitten, 5. 5 ran and Spike gave chase. He caught the kitten and started to shake it, when the kitten planted all twent claws into the dog. Meanwhile, Dan and I are trying to get the dog to let go. Spike is a pit bull… I thought that we were going to loose the kitten. However, Dan pulled Spike’s gums back and popped him in the jaw. It worked, and We got the kitten free and out of the way. Spike went out on the back porch, and we took 5 to the vet. Just a puncture in the jaw from what the vet could tell. So, we came home. Cleaned up the blood and looked at Dan’s hand. He broke two small bones when he hit Spike. Ouch!!!!

Then Dan went to work on a computer for a client. Meanwhile, I discover that there is a bat on the inside of the porch. Normally, this wouldn’t have bothered me. However, with everything else, I was a bit nervy about moving the bat. When Dan got home, he moved it outside. I have a picture, but it isn’t very close…

The other thing that freaked me out is that I adjusted the piece of plexiglass between the bat and the outside world earlier that morning, and I don’t remember seeing the bat!!!!

Then it was time to head off to Gardner and then to Westcliffe, because Morgan had a volleyball game at Custer school. It was snowing of course. We drove up and watched the game. The girls won!!! After that, we went to Pizza Madness for pizza. Very good! Ate more than I should, but oh it was nice. Then we drove home in snow and fog.

Next day was suppose to be nice and quiet so that Dan and I could get school work done. Hahaahahaahaa….. First Daniel showed up to talk to us about Spike. (7:30am!!) We know he was just being a dog and 5 a kitten. Now we will just take care to lock up the cats before we let the dogs in. sigh…. Finally got Daniel out the door and thought we’d snooze a bit when the phone rang. It was Dad. He had computer problems. So, we got up and tried to get stuff done… Oh yeah….. I think the phone rang 20 times in at least a two hour span. Sigh. Daniel came back with new cables for the dogs and then they all escaped. Dan and Daniel went after them and I stayed put in case they came home. That escapade over, Dan tried again to get his school work done. He finished it just in time to go out to Lathrop park to help my Dad and the park rangers with the computer equipment. Meanwhile, I did laundry, housework and tried to start my school work.

Morgan spent the night and Dan and I got our school work done around 10:30pm….. Off to bed because Saturday was Volleyball tourney time!!!

Up at 6:30am and started to get ready. Dan was a slug….

And Brandy wasn’t helping………

I finally got everyone up and fed… and out the door. There was ice all over the car. Brrr….. Dan got it started, but then it died. No idea what is wrong. So, I came in and called Faith Espinosa who’s daughter Madiana (sp?) is on the team as well. She gave us a ride up and we got there just as the tournament started. Wheeee!!!!

Gardner B team played Gardner A team first. Then there were games between Primero, La Veta and Gardner. Gardner B team ranked 4th. La Veta 3rd, Primero 2nd and Gardner A team Won First Place!!!!! It was a really good set of games with lots of breath holding. Morgan did really well and we are so proud of her. We got home around 1:30pm and started a fire in the fireplace. It is still bitterly cold. I’ve got chicken in the oven and I figure we will curl up with a movie later tonight. Brrrr!!!!

Chaos Central

Posted on September 4, 2009 by

Oh gods…. Since I last wrote, school has started, and we’ve had company, and TEENS!!! At the same time no less. Aieeeee!!!!! So very busy. The weekend of the 29th, we had four teens…. three girls and one boy spending the night for Friday and Saturday night. Giggles, gory movies, lots of junk food and oh…. more giggles.

We all went to the Sand Dunes at one point. One girl didn’t go with us, but spent the night, so we had three adults and three kids. Wheeeee!!!!! It was a lot of fun, and very sandy. There were also two trips to Pueblo. One with Daniel in tow, and we all went to our favourite Chinese buffet. Daniel was drooling over one of the waitresses and we got him to hug her goodbye. All of the adults thought that that was a riot. We did some grocery shopping too. Oh that was fun. 🙂 Daniel is so funny.

By the time Sunday came, we were ALL ready for the teens to go home. Our company left Tuesday morning and life got sort of back to normal. School runs, picking plums at Mum’s and Dan going out on hikes with Dad.

Today they just took a drive and a little hike. Mom and I went out to lunch and I finally got the jam bottled. Gods that was a lot of plums. I just hope it sets up well. If not, oh well…..

I am half way through my class at the moment. English 112. Not as bad as English 111, but oh my… Teaching to the lowest common denominator. Argh….

Rainy hikes, college grades and flying dogs

Posted on August 19, 2009 by

It has been a busy month! I finally had enough of a break in classes to go hiking with my Dad and Dan. Wheee!!! We headed up to Apishipa Pass. Of course, it was rainy! In fact, it got worse. Dan and Dad hiked down one trail and I took a shorter hike up to Vista Point. The idea being that you can see for miles. Well, not in the rain. So, I headed back down a trail that was turning into a stream. I found a spot under the trees that was dry and curled up. I read my book and ate my lunch. Bliss!

It was a well deserved break. I really enjoyed my day up in the mountains. We followed it up by being absolute slugs for the next 36 hours. There are times it feels really good to just lounge about, talk and snooze.

Especially as I worked my butt off on classes. English class was difficult in that I wanted to strangle the teacher. I have not been so frustrated in a long time. However, I got an A out of the class.

Then there was Business Math. Lots of tears, frustration, gnashing of teeth and LOTS of help from Dan and Cindy the Math Tutor. Without them I’d have failed miserably. I appreciate their translations of Mathese into English. Best of all, I got an A!!!! Not bad for a 32 year hiatus from Math. To put the icing on the cake, that gave me a 4.0 GPA! I’m on the Dean’s list and the Chancellor’s list. 😛

I took some time this week to finish a pair of socks I’ve been working on for a few months. If I had just knitted solidly, I’d have had them done in about a week. Oh well… they are LOUD!!!

Another milestone today was letting the kittens out of seclusion. We figured that they were finally big enough to survive the dogs. Not that Blanca or Brandy are mean, they are just huge in comparison. They are nearly two months old, and we have actually found homes for three of them. This leaves Squeak and Squeaker.

It was a real three ring circus as the dogs tried to sniff the kittens, etc. Brandy tried to herd them. Blanca bathed them. Fun part is that the kittens wore out the dogs.

Blanca was laying on the couch with her back to the living room. She stretched to wash her tail and the next thing we knew, there was this THUD! that shook the living room as Blanca fell off the couch. She had that sheepish grin on her face like she had meant to do that. Such a Tollpatsch! (klutz)!

Teens, drama and dogs

Posted on June 12, 2009 by

We’ve had Morgan and Kayla at the 520 house for the last three nights. We had Matt here last night as well. That wasn’t too bad, but we also babysat Spike for Daniel. The house was full of noise. Squeals, barks, hisses and noise from the TV and computers. We got a short break when they went swimming and out for pizza, but the rest of the time was rather loud. They watched vampire movies until nearly 2am!

Morgan and Kayla planning world domination

Here are the girls. Giggling and being silly on the computer. This morning I made bacon, eggs and biscuits for breakfast. It is Matt’s 16th birthday. Tonight the kids are working at the move theater and treating Matt to the movies. Wheeee…. Then they are here again for the night.

I have to admit that it will be nice to have a bit of quiet while they are at the movies.

In other news, Lyra had five kittens on Tuesday. That brings the number of cats up to fifteen at 203. Gods! I have possible homes for three of them.

School wise, I’ve got all A’s. All points too. Now if I can keep that up when the subjects get harder. Intro into online learning isn’t that difficult. Biggest issue is not dissing the instructor during Live Chats. I’ve made a few friends too. Daphne in Louisiana and I have struck up a good beginning friendship. We have fun chatting back and forth. There are a few others I want to get to know better.

The library is getting ready to shut down and move into their new building. I get to go help pack boxes later next week. Wheee….. At least I am not swamped by classes at this point. I took out a stack of books to read while they are closed. The idea being to get all the patrons to take home at least 10-15 books each. This way there will be fewer to move. It makes it interesting on the other end, when they all get checked back in, but… it does make fewer to pack up.

John is in Denver today. He had a VA appointment. Dermatology. His skin is doing better. He is waiting in town to pick up some caviar for the grand opening. I hope someone likes the dammed stuff. I sure don’t. Bleckkk…. Tarmasalata is good, but totally different. I have a dress made for the grand opening. I need to make a waistcoat to go with it to finishe out the outfit. Plus, as I like this pattern, I’m going to make a few more in different materials. I also have a surprise… 🙂 Can’t wait to unveil that one. Of course, the grand opening coinsides with the end of the first chunk of classes. This shall be interesting.

Well, best go tackle the laundry.

Babysitting…

Posted on May 31, 2009 by

Daniel brought Spike over to play with Blanca and Brandy. Oh how that pup has grown.

I can barely lift him now as he weighs nearly 45 pounds. Our new cat, Shadow wasn’t too concerned that Spike was around.

She just laid there snoozing while Spike, Brandy and Blanca ran around like three little kids on a sugar high. It was hilarious.

Daniel wanted breakfast, so we made a big breakfast. Daniel cooked the bacon while I made the pancakes. Daniel had three eggs too. It was heavenly!

He will probably get mad at me for posting his picture, but he looks good. Dan and Daniel talked about him going into the Marines. Eeeep! As a mom, I’m allowed to get wigged out. sigh…. At least I know that of all the boys, Daniel will probably handle the military the best.

Power Breakfasts and Snowflakes

Posted on April 15, 2009 by

If I had to characterize the last ten days it would snow, sun, snow, power breakfasts and snow. It has snowed almost every other day. Some of it wet and slushy, others of it freezing cold and icy shards. Then the next day it would be 65 degrees! Gads!!! On Easter Sunday, we woke to snow falling. In fact, it snowed for 12-13 hours. And yes, it was gone the next day.

I had the grandpuppy over to play. He weighs about 20 pounds now.

Spike and Blanca on the couchKids in the kitchen

On Thursday, we went up to Pueblo and attended the BBB Power Breakfast. We got to see a different business and see a friend we hadn’t seen in a few months. Debora Hood. We had a great time talking to her and Zella and then we met Debora again at Barnes & Noble where we talked for nearly 3 hours. It was great. We talked business, kids, and employers.

Saturday and Suday we tried to do the stay at home and relax thing. Didn’t work too well. Lots of running around.

Monday, we re-arranged the office area again. I cooked a big breakfast for Dan, Matt and I. Moving the furniture totally confused the dogs. Also ran to Pueblo for dog food.

Yesterday, we picked up little Morgan and went to Pizza Hut for dinner. She had one of those book-it coupons.

Today we took my mom to Pueblo so she could do her shopping. Dad is still having trouble with muscle spasms, so he didn’t want to drive. She picked us up at 8:30am and off we went. It was a really good day, and we finished it off by eating lunch at Romeros. Yummmm!

After we got home, Dan went off to pick up little Morgan and I puttered around on my computer. Erin, Morgan and Logan came by to visit. Logan ate enough gingersnaps to stuff a small ursine.

They left, I made dinner and Erin showed back up to talk to Dan. As he got ready to leave, we saw the deer! They are half a block away!!

We figure that this is the same herd we saw yesterday up at the high school. So Cool! Not more than 15 minutes later, they were on the front lawn, causing the dogs to go nuts. It was too dark for our cameras to get photos. Drat!

Cold, quiet and queesy

Posted on March 30, 2009 by

Today was one of those typical Colorado weather days. Wait five minutes and the weather will change. We’ve had snow, sun and wind in various combinations all day. Oh, and Cold! My fingers nearly froze trying to get my resume ready this morning. I applied for a secretarial job out in La Veta today. Took Pauline with me so that we could catch up on each other’s lives. Turned into a nice girl’s day out.

We went to lunch out at the Rambler, and then went to a couple of shops. One of them being Collection Corners. Lots of antiques. I was so good. Looked and didn’t buy anything! I dropped her off around 5pm and came home. Dan had a meeting to go to and I decided to just curl up with my cup of mint tea and the computer. My lunch didn’t set very well. uggghh….

Sunday Dan and I took Blanca and Brandy to Pueblo and Petsmart. We needed to get her a body harness as Brandy keeps escaping the yard. We figured that fitting one would be better than just guessing. So, off we went. Blanca was very good. In fact, she was better than I thought she’d be. Brandy was good, but she yammered ala coyote at the other dogs and scared some of them. I teased Dan that there was a language barrier. Dog vs Coyote. Maybe I wasn’t so far off.

However, the girls had a good time.

So far, I have three resumes out. One to the local hospital, one to La Veta high school and one out to a gentleman wanting data entry work done. Now for the wait. sigh…..

I think I’ll go to bed.

Then Hell froze over…

Posted on March 27, 2009 by

You see, yesterday was my last day of work. I resigned on the 12th. Finally had enough of the board breaking the law. I can say stuff now that I am no longer employed. Wheeeee!!!!

In case you the audience hadn’t guessed, they screwed up big time. Broke the Sunshine Law, various state and federal tax laws and various state and federal labor laws. Oh, and had the audacity to say that they didn’t have to follow the laws like other boards do. My biggest concern was how to bring them to justice… I didn’t want to sue them. I don’t want their little businesses. However, I really want them to understand just how badly they screwed up in the best way I can.

I hmmmed and hawwed for a month. Then it came to my attention that not only hadn’t they paid all of the taxes correctly, but that they had totally missed the Unemployment and Workmen’s Comp stuff. I tested the waters of that illegality on two of the people who work for WorkForce, the “jobs” people. Their reaction was pretty impressive. That whole OMGS!!! type thing. So, later today I will be calling Labor Standards and filing a complaint.

Dan, who is the treasurer at the moment will be resigning too. As his lawyer told him, 27 different violations that she counted, so get the hell out! It will be interesting.

Between sitting on my hands and doing nothing in the name of the Chamber, I applied for two jobs and did a bunch of writing. Some of it will be up on my wordwytch blog. Other bits…. who knows. 😛 I attended a lot of meetings about gardening too. :>

Now, about that hell freezing over… Our standard phrase around the office when someone decided to not choose us is “Either you pick us, or you made a mistake.” It started out as a joke and then we realized that most times it was true. Especially when we have had to redo work because some idiot charged less and screwed up badly. Well, in this case, it was one of “you had the best and threw it away.”

We have had beautiful weather. Nice, warm springtime stuff. Yesterday, we were under a winter storm warning. 1-2 feet type storm. I got up yesterday, and while it was cool, there was no snow. Went to work and around noon, a few flakes fell and then melted. Some storm. 2pm- quitting time! We packed things up and delivered them to my “supervisor”, the one who did nothing this entire last two weeks. Dan said that he’d take me to lunch. I said fine, and as the weather still hadn’t hit, we went to the bank and then headed towards Pueblo.

2:30pm. All the work done and we headed out. Five miles out of town, the flakes of snow started to fall. The road went from wet to slushy. Nothing we couldn’t handle. The snow got heavier and so did the wind. We stopped at Colorado City for gas and decided that we were not going to make it to Pueblo. So, we at lunch at Max’s. Nice little place. As the wind howled and the snow fell, I started to giggle. I had to explain that it looked like Hell was freezing over, and perhaps that was rather appropo considering it was my last day at work. Dan, the waitress and the other customers in the place all giggled. There was some good natured teasing about it being all my fault. 🙂

Then we drove home. Oh gods was it snowy! We got back to the highway and our first suspision that something was wrong was the fact that while there were plows on the Northbound side, there were none on the Southbound side. Dan was plowing the road. The wind was blowing harder and it was difficult to drive.

It took us 45 minutes to drive home 23 miles. It was an adventure. The girls were happy to see us. They’d been outside! oops!!! I missed a lady I was suppose to go check on a garden with, but I would have reguardless because of the snow.

Today it is still snowing. We have at least a foot in places where it didn’t melt on impact. The dogs are enjoying the stuff. I slid and plowed my way to Safeway this morning for soymilk and eggs. Wheeee……