Ellie's Belly Ready to POP

And over 2 weeks to go!  Oh my goodness.  Hang in there sweet girl!

Woody leads us out of the woods

Ok, this blog will soon turn into a post ALL ABOUT PUPPIES.  But for now, while Ellie's belly is growing an inch a day, I'll tell you about our hike.  

Went into the National Forest, via the back acreage.  Took all 5 dogs, and we just followed some trails.  Non are marked there, so it's wise to keep your bearings.  My reference point is Elephant Butte, and now that I've been over in that area tramping around, I've found I can usually see it unless I'm deep in a gully.

We walked a jeep trail that was new to us, and I think it led over to Golden Willow.  There was a dirt road w/houses....  Turned back and took another trail.  But it cut off in the wilderness.  Followed Woody, who has proven to have an unerring sense of direction.  After climbing a pretty steep, rocky slope, over a lot of fallen trees, we got to our old path thru Aubrey Huff's land.  Whew!  Glad to head home after all that.

Harry's Not So Hairy

Harry's hair is going the way of a Barbie doll's.  A few snips here, a few snips there.  Ooops, have to even that up....  G just commented on the puddle he leaves after drinking.  May have to shave the beard next.  We're talking Harry here, not Geoff.  G whittled his down to a goatee and it took us all two weeks to notice!  He felt very ignored.  Now, I ask you, how can you just keep it all to yourself like that?  I would have let the cat out of the bag after a day.  Two weeks?  Imposs-eee-bla!

Aspen & a Doodle Romp

We think Ellie is probably pregnant, after breeding with Beau (Linderlabradoodle's Parti-Poodle Stud) & with Drake (white lab, very squared-off build, and easy-going temperament).  This will be a dual-sired litter.

All of us went to Aspen about three weeks ago and brought 3 dogs.  Harry woofed out the hotel window at the cars and people.  He's not used to town life, but he adjusted quickly.  Everybody enjoyed the food and walks.  It was a ghost town that time of year, but all the more relaxing because of it.  

It was great to see some of the puppies at 10 months old.  They're all so good natured and happy!

Goats in the Barn

Last night, admittedly tipsy, G & I came home from Tuscany's to surprise a couple of goats in the barn.  

Poor Harry, he'd never been in a thunderstorm or seen umbrellas pop open.  Now he'll think that is just a precedent to even scarier stuff.  We walked the dogs in the pouring rain just to the barn to let the horses in.  

G walked into Teddy's stall, "Oh my god, what is this..." 

A large black animal streaked from barn light into the darkness.  The dogs went after it.  A smaller black thing ran to G bleating.  

"They're goats!  Stop the dogs!"

I grabbed for them, missed, and chased them around the barn.  They raced back in, hot on the trail of the larger goat.  G jumped on two dogs, falling to the ground with them.  He stuck them in the tack room, then while I was outside calling, he got Woody in there too.  Poor Harry was skittering here and there, afraid to be caught and unnerved by the commotion.  He'd never seen a goat either.  Eddie kept his tail up and dashed around, terrier alert and ready for action.

G tried to get the goats to come back, but they'd taken off into the pasture.  The horses were a galloping mental mess, so he couldn't get them into the stalls (since Hayley was working at Mimi's and would get home late).  So we gave up, and I let the dogs out of the tack room.  Toby took off into the pasture.  We tried to call him back, having seen what the pack could do to fawns a couple of times.  He was gone though.  Then we heard coyotes start up their yipping down there.  

I brought the dogs inside, where Harry immediately sought refuge on the couch, and Woody climbed onto the green chair.  After dragging their wet, miserable bodies off, I covered them with blankets and hugged them on the floor.  They were so upset!  Eddie and Ellie plopped down beside us.  

Then the lights went on on the deck.  A pistol fired.  

"Toby!  Come!"  G was trying to scare off the coyotes.  

G eventually got soaked getting the horses back in, which was a challenge I guess.  All the dogs were upset that he was upset with them, and they slunk downstairs to pile on the people beds, preferably on top of the people.  Toby put his head between my shoulder blades.  Harry kept his head up, looking into the mirror for 10 minutes, before finally nodding off and letting it fall on the covers. 

I really thought it was the bear in there, at first.  Wonder what happened to the goats?

G goes to Walmart

For a look into future, check out http://pakulakmadness.blogspot.com/2008/04/yet-another-wal-mart-story.html

Rose always knew her boy was capable of that sort of thing.  Well, he's just grown up is all--able to accomplish a lot more now.  It's beginning with yesterday's grocery trip...somehow G picks up random unmarked produce items like dried chilies and serrano peppers that it takes the cashier minutes to identify.  Meanwhile, he moves from the bagging area to look over her shoulder and try to help.  Then the frozen turkey comes up unmarked and has to be weighed and keyed in.  He attempts to do a little assistance there too, all of which takes place at the cashier lady's right shoulder.  At least he forgot to check for bullets in the sporting goods department, which was his reason for going shopping in the first place.  Don't worry, he's far from depressed, just did a little shooting in the back forty over the weekend and needed to replenish supplies.

Eddie turned two on Thursday, and Woody turns five today.  Told Hayley we could celebrate their birthdays together, and she said, no, Eddie hates to share the limelight.  However, as you can see, his b-day was not very exciting.  In fact, Hayley deserted him Thursday night to go out with friends.  Just wait till he turns twenty....

Also to the left is Harold, pictured with the watering can.  Now that it's Memorial Day, we folks at 8200 feet are able to plant, or so goes the traditional wisdom.  The 10-day forecast is for highs in the 50's and lows in the 30's, so I'm not sure I'm willing to put my little seedlings out yet.  They've been coddled since March, with me acting as butler carrying their trays out to the sunshine on nice days and not forgetting even once to bring them in for the night.  I'm sure there's a hailstorm waiting to happen.  After all, Mr. Bear has not abided by the rules of the almanac.  He climbs into the dumpster of manure to search for anything edible and even resurfaces with stuff like  Q-tips and dental floss.  All the really good stuff's in the garage till pick up day, but I guess he feels the need to clean up after eating the neighbor's garbage.  The garbage man ran into me last week while I was carting stuff out in the Mini (garbage on the roof too) in my pj's, and he reported that our twice-monthly pick up neighbors to the west had their metal topped dumpters ravaged by Mr. Bear.  Don't you wish you lived around here?

Hayley is sleeping in after a late night at Mimi's.  She likes to say as she leaves the house, "I have to go to work, you know I'm the only one working around here."   She kinda has G's sense of humor.

Oh, yes, that painting to the right?  The one that's upside down in the dining room?  Notice Toby still has nothing in his gaping mouth.  Painting was put on hold a few weeks ago, but I do hope to get back into it soon.  Meanwhile, Mom's producing one canvas after another in her condo kitchen.  Lordy, she's having a ball! 

Vacation, Vacation!

Geoff's taking a vacation.  It's going to be a bit before r3 gets underway, so he'll have time to bike, golf, and kick back with me.  Yea!  For those of you in the know, it does have something to do with the litigation over his leaving Spartan....  What a gorgeous time of year for a break.  I think the garden and woods will look even better this year.

I took Ellie in for testing on Friday.  CERF & OFA.  Both vets reported normal findings, so we're good to go on the breeding.  I'll be comparing Beau & Clancy next week, to decide who the lucky dad's going to be.  We expect to breed in June.

Next trip coming up is Aspen for a couple of nights.  We're taking all the kids and 3 dogs, probably Ellie and Woody will stay home, because I expect Ellie to be in heat by then, and Woody does not handle car rides well.  

Andy & Hayley finished up their semesters at CU.  McKenzie can't wait to say she's done with 6th!  She & Samantha did a video called Haunting, about the history of ghosts in the Brook Forest Inn.  Really fun & well done!  They'll show it to their class this coming Friday.  Can anyone think of a food or candy to pass out that would go with it???  That would be the cherry on top.

We're continuing work on subdividing the property.  There will be a couple of 10 acre lots, then a 15 acre with the house, barn, and a pasture.  To accomplish this, we'll need to purchase water through a water augmentation plan, then do surveying and platting....  But when we're done, we'll be able to build the new house on the lot we bought in town (across the street from Mom's condo) while still living here.  That's if we can sell the two lots first.  It'll be nice not to have to move twice.  All this is probably a year and a half down the road.

Suddenly, the grass is green and we're a week away from planting flowers.  So many birds have burst into song. It just smells like spring!  As usual, we've gone from a few feet of snow to practically summer, but I'm used to it by now and it seems like the right way of changing seasons.  If anyone wants to come and visit, we have the guestroom whipped back into shape since the woodpecker invasion.  We'll be around a lot this summer, and Geoff will be off for a few weeks, it looks like.  So pack your bags and come on over!