Randomish

Crystal cottonwoods.

Clematis snow.

Christmas cactus

Fire and Ice.

Rock faces

Darth Vader.

The Emperor.

Precognition

The other night, I was awakened in the middle of the night by a dream. I sat up and turned on the light, but was in a half wake/half sleep state. Gary asked me what was up, and I said I just had a dream that there was poop everywhere.

Went back to sleep. The next time I awoke 4-5 hours later, I woke up to Gary cleaning up poop all over the place. One of our foster dogs had gotten sick through the night and had pooped and vomited and it was COPIOUS!

This doesn't happen very often since we started doing Doggy Duty, only have had 2 dogs with poop incidents in 2 years, but that I dreamed about it beforehand was..."weird!"

Halloween 2009

The Witch and the Kitty Cat.

The Pretorian, the Kitty Cat, the Red Witch, and the Cowboy.

Gorgeous fall day trip on the Uncompaghre Plateau

T-bone springs.

Lone Cone near Telluride.
The San Juans.
The Utah LaSalles.

The biggest tomato plant I've ever seen (or grown)

This single tomato plant is 8 feet high and 15 feet wide and is finally producing some giant tomatoes.


Said bounteous tomatoes.

Water heater broken

At first, there is annoyance, why?, etc. Then later, it is, well at least that is all it is. We are blessed to have running water, electricity, natural gas, warmth, a nice place to call home, all of this in safety without the stress of a war going on outside. So much to be thankful for. We will find a way to get hot water going again.


Cold shower, painful at first, but extremely invigorating afterwards!

Second annual Rock Canyon hike with the Smiths

Mini Smith family.

Bros!

With Grandma Farnsworth.

This was our 2nd annual Rock Canyon hike (including little Phin) with the Smiths. Some of us made it to the "top" (the campground), including my 75-year-old mom! She is an inspiration to us all!

Jazzy gets some fresh water.

We got to take Izzy on our hike. She loved it!

Camping summer 2009

We camped on the Uncompaghre Plateau for 6 days out of 10 with a clean reservoir nearby for morning time and nighttime bath under the stars. Nice way to destress.




Dragon flies sitting on a wet log.

I forgot to bring a hat, so I bought this jewel at a convenience store, "Long Ride."

Jasmine in the green stuff.

Columbines beauty.

I impaled the very top of my head where the sutures meet on a tree branch, ouch! Just another head injury to add to the list.

Ottomon empire style tent.

OCD stack of wood.

Summer weekend

Kannah Creek hike mom and daughter.

Crystal and Jasmine.

Crystal and Chubs.

Sabrina wasn't able to go on this hike because she just got spayed.

I got some fresh last-of-the-season cherries at the Farmer's Market. This is what they did to my teeth, turned them blue. It took a lot of effort to get off the stain, but finally... I was told I looked like the old gypsy woman in "Drag me to H-*-l-l" (which we saw last weekend at the driveinn movie theater in Delta).

June weather

Connected Lakes State Park in Grand Junction.

I am obsessed with weather.com. I generally know what the weather is like all over the US most days.

We have had a different than usual weather pattern lately. What I read about it is that the jet stream which is normally in Canada this time of year, is staying just south of here.

We have only reached one 90-degree day this year, and that was in April!

For about 30 days now, the weather has been cloudy, breezy, 70s during the day, and with rainfall from time to time, not having to use the swampcooler or water things very much outside....nice!

My bad

All I do is sit at the computer and work or go on walks or hikes with dogs, thus that is what I blog about, even though this isn't the dog blog...


About a month ago, I was running the dogs next to the car. I took Crystal's puppy, Sabrina, too (which was very bad judgment). She kept jumping up to the window and eventually got rolled under the tire (going about 10 mph).


This was another horrible experience. I felt terrible. I immediately stopped the car and went to investigate. She was holding her leg up and it was flaccid. I didn't know what was up for sure, but I knew she wasn't gone. I put my hands on her leg. I brought her home and Crystal and I cried and freaked out for awhile. I felt I had let Crystal down (yet again...).


The next day we went to the vet, and she had 2 broken toes by her ankle. She has had a cast for the last 4 weeks. She is such a good puppy for the vet. She has been gamely hobbling on her cast (she sounds like a one-legged pirate when walking). One more week and she will be free again.


Miraculous outcome!

Trail rage

It seems now that I often go around with dogs that complete strangers find it is okay to go ahead and yell at me, tell me what to do, etc.

I don't really understand it, as I would never do that myself.

Last weekend I was hiking in Fruita at a place I have been hiking since the 1980s. Over the years it has now transformed into a national designated place and is much more popular. It is a great place to hike dogs. Over the years, people have walked their dogs without leashes.

Now as the place has become more popular, there are signs to keep your leash handy just in case and baggies to pick up the dog poo.

I had just started on the trail and was walking 4 dogs. I saw a man and his dog running towards us. He saw us, stopped and put his dog on a leash. I just kept walking towards him.

When dogs see other dogs, they want to say hi, so my dogs ran up to say hi to this man and his dog. Most people with dogs are cool with this, and the dogs usually all say hi and then everyone goes their own way. However, some people with dogs are anxious, angry, or afraid and the dogs can sense this (smell it) and so they respond in kind.

This day, Chubs ran up to say hi and sometimes Chubs will bark a little to show he is manly. This man got in Chubs face and Chubs backed off. I was there by then and I used my hands to herd my dogs and we all got going in the right direction, all my dogs on a mental leash. My back was towards this man and I was walking away from him. He started yelling at me, "don't you know you are supposed to have your dogs on a leash!?" I just kept walking, ignoring him, as my dogs were under my control. He yelled at me some more, "do you hear me?" I just kept walking.

He then ran up to me, grabbed my backpack strap and pushed me. I was incredulous. I couldn't believe he did that. I was in shock. What are you doing? He just yelled at me some more. He didn't hurt me physically but I was quite mentally hurt. I couldn't believe he put his hands on me.

It was really nothing, I had my dogs in control but for 2 seconds when Chubs barked.

I told him that if people are cool, dogs are cool. I also yelled at him as he was retreating, "you're not from around here are you."

It seems the local populace is much more laid back about these kinds of things and that it is the "city folk" who get bent about the rules and the signs.

Then yesterday, I was walking Sabrina by the river. This time I had her on a leash, so I was doing everything right. I saw a lady up ahead with kids and I could hear she was yelling. I kept walking towards her. I was about 30 feet away from her, and I realized she was yelling at me. She was yelling, can you just stop and give me some time here? I responded in kind, are you yelling at me?

I then saw she had a big dog that she was trying to control and get out of there before I reached them because I guess she didn't want an encounter with my dog.

But again, it was the yelling at me, and I responded in kind, and then I felt terrible.

After both incidents, I felt terrible because of my reaction. When one dog gets aggressive with another dog, the other dog will usually get aggressive back. In both cases, I got aggressive or retreated back, I was just like an animal.

All this yoga I do daily, sometimes doesn't kick in when I need it. I hope someday when I am encountering yelling strangers or trail rage that I will be able to respond with love and kindness instead of crazily animalistically. I am able to take some deep breaths after the encounter and calm down, I just need it beforehand and during too.

Sifu, teacher or master (Chinese)

Sifu's favorite spot when inside.

Although when he was named (by G) we were unaware at the time, but Sifu is a masterful teacher to the dogs in Doggy Duty. While some cats might get afraid or freak out, Sifu is not fearful to be among the dogs and is very Zen-like, calm, and teaches the dogs to chill out.

Glorious desert spring

A wonderful spring hike in McInnis Canyons near Fruita. We were rained out at the end of this hike, got soaked...nice, really.

Jasmine pauses.

Jasmine and Buddy by a pool. I love the rocky creek beds with water in them, like a rare jewel.

Purple desert blooms.

This hike is a 6-mile circle and at the zenith is a cabin for hikers.

Buddy at the cabin. It is fun to read all the notes inside the cabin from hikers past.

View from the cabin.

This is a cool rock formation from the south.

And the same cool rock formation from the east.

More Sabrina

Sabrina is newest love. We have been able to see her every week so far since Crystal got her. Don't want to miss out on her puppyhood because it is so short-lived.


Sabrina with "mommy" at Mica Mine.

I love the contrast of the 2 colors and textures of Sabrina's and Buddy's coats.