Crazy Colorado

Okay I don't know about you guys but it seems as though Mother Nature is a bit miffed at us.  Used to be that Colorado was the place to live weather wise because we didn't get those dangerous extremes.  Then the drought happened.  Then fires.  Then floods.

This year the rain seems to have come back a little.  When I was a kid I remember thunder storms almost every evening.  That's somewhat coming back but some of these thunder storms are a bit crazy.

Facebook Video

That was at work the other day.  I felt like we were in the middle of a hurricane.  Hail, wind and cascading rain was something behold.  Our building has a huge skylight and it was so loud in there.  In the video, you hear me go "OW!" near the beginning when I'm standing at the open door.  I got hit with a piece of hail on my stomach and it bruised me!

Then after this crazy downpour we had blue skies and sunshine.  Colorado be crazy!  Or that's proof that there is bright skies after a storm if you just wait it out.

But if you're taking a life lesson from this weather then you're in for a bumpy ride because after the clear skies we had another huge storm.  By the end of the night I was exhausted because the wind was blowing the rain in the store and flooding everything while knocking things off the shelf.  I had to run back to Shay and call for more towels and spent much of the evening mopping all the water off.

Colorado, can't you just cool it and stop having these mood swings?  Have some chocolate or something...

Puppy makes three... I mean four...

Depending on when you ask me, I either love having a puppy again or wonder why I wanted to do this again.  That answer is mostly dependent on how much I've slept.  Some nights Jeanine is a champion sleeper.  Other nights I want to choke her until she stops barking.  Good thing she's so cute huh?

I've really enjoyed her.  She's exactly what I want in a dog.  Good temperament, easy going, playful but also loves taking naps and chilling out.  Smart too.  Oh and it's weird to have a good natured dog again.  I don't have to worry about her biting anyone.  It's lovely not to be on my toes constantly scanning for children or stupid people who invade her space like I do with Whitman.

Speaking of Whitman, he's getting payback for being such a butt to Gerani.  He hates Jeanine.  I keep reminding him that Gerani hated him when I brought him home but they turned out to be fast friends.  I don't think he believes me.  At least he's transitioned from being openly hostile to either ignoring her or guarding things from her.  He's such a grouchy old man.  She was licking his face at work once and he did bite her for it, which I let happen because she needs to learn that's not going to fly.  I swear to God it was like the world was ending.  She screamed and ran and screamed and ran.  Eventually I actually checked her to make sure she wasn't hurt.  Whitman has great bite inhibition but you never know.  No, she wasn't hurt.  Just being very dramatic.

That hasn't changed the fact that she loves Whitman.  Someday he'll warm up to her and they'll play or snuggle and that will just be the cutest thing known to man.  Until that day she'll just have to be content with Shelby, Ryan's new puppy who is three days younger and looks like she could be Jeanine's littermate.  It's cute how much they love each other.  They play and play then nap together.  Very sweet.

I was a little worried about how Jake would take the puppy but he loves her.  And I mean loves her.  He talks to her in this cute little voice and she just lights up when he's around.  I swear I might as well be a part of the wall when Jake is around.  She's a daddy's girl for sure.

I know she's going to grow so fast but what I wouldn't give to keep her little like this forever.  Oh and whoever figures out how to bottle puppy smell is going to make a fortune.

Daddy's Girl! 

Champion Napper!

Trouble to the third degree!

CCI #4- Jeanine!

Welcome to Jeanine, my new CCI puppy!  She's so freaking cute and reminds me so much of my first lab, Jonas.

Since the world is now without the three wonderful dogs I raised in high school, I figured I'd do another CCI puppy.  I hope that it isn't a crazy decision because I know it is a lot of work and I have so much going on right now but my experiences with CCI 10 years ago were such a big influence on my life that I couldn't let that go without doing at least one more.

Can't wait for all of our adventures!  Plus she's stinking cute...

I picked her up in Denver without a hitch this morning and brought her straight to work.  First thing Ryan did was take her from me.  I think she has a bit of puppy fever.  Jeanine is handling everything so well.  This has been a big couple of days for her.  She was taken from momma yesterday, tattooed, then put on a plane early this morning to come to me.  That's a lot for a pup that's not even 8 weeks old yet.  Luckily she's so well bred that I hope her temperament will be right on for a service dog.  Here's to getting a dog through!

West Coast!

Jake took me to Portland to meet his family.  Very exciting.  I missed a family reunion with the crazy Hastings clan, which is really too bad because I so love those crazy people, but it was worth it to spend some time with my honey and meet his family.

He's from Portland so we jetted that way.  His dad is very sweet.  I don't know why Jake was so worried about me meeting him.  Jake's friend, Jake, had me a little worried that his dad was all big and mean looking but I found him enjoyable.  Conversation was guns and dogs.  I can cover half of that with no trouble so I think it was just fine.  It was really nice of him to let us stay with him.

After a few days in Portland seeing the city and Jake's friends, we took off to Bend to see his sister.  I drove thank you because someone was a little hung over... a lot hung over.  We spend the 4th in Bend and it was really great.  I love his sister.  We could be friends just fine I think.  She's wonderful with Samuel, he was there a whole two weeks before us I think, which I really admire.  She has some horses so she took me riding which was wonderful.  I miss riding so much.  If I had the cash and the time I'd own horses.  My dream house has always been out a little from town with a pack of dogs and some horses, which is exactly what she has.  Jealous.

The 4th was great and we celebrated with some poppers and sparklers.  Great fun for all but it's especially fun watching kids enjoy those.  There's nothing like the joy and innocence of a child is there?  We watched the fireworks from far off and then hit the hey.  Can't ask for anything more.

Then we returned to Portland and had a full day to go hiking and play in a creek and see a waterfall.  That was the best part.  Warning: mush alert!  I have to say, I really felt like a little family.  I am more in love with Jake than ever.

PICTURE TIME!

Dashing!

Can't believe how much I look like my sister here...

I love water and green things!

Tough crowd...

Gone riding!

Aren't we cute?

Beautiful Oregon coast.

Panorama!

My favorite place... Dunes of Sand!

Ah the Sand Dunes, one of my all time favorite places on this planet.

We went camping this weekend with the family.  Great time with a campfire, family time and dune fun!  I'm glad Jake had a good time too.  He wants to bring Samuel back.  I told him that this was like a kid's paradise.  I mean, I can appreciate it but after a while, as an adult, I just get sick of being dirty and sandy.  As a kid, that doesn't matter in the slightest.  You can really get down and dirty and enjoy everything the Sand Dunes has to offer.

Don't get me wrong, it's still fun as an adult.  If you haven't been, make a trip next year.

After all the family fun, Jake and I went and hiked Zapata Falls, which is a creek from snow melt.  He found out just how sensitive his feet were to cold.  Good times.

Moving moving... moving...

I've decided to move and rent my house.  Partly financial, partly in hope of what else is to come in life.

This is a hard choice because I love having my own space and my own house.  Course it would help if I was there more often so I could get more done.  Since Jake and I have been serious I've spent more time at his place than at my own.  It's getting to be an expensive place to keep my belongings rather than my home.

Financially, in order to afford my new car, this makes sense too.  I can make a profit off of renting rather than just scraping by.  All in all, it makes sense.  Plus I'm renting to someone I know and trust so I'm not so worried about that.  Still, it is a bitter sweet.  I don't feel like I've been able to really settle my life somewhere.  I feel like I have been on the move or just not quite settled enough to really take a deep breath and relax.  I haven't felt like that in a long time.  So hopefully just a few more moves before I get that feeling.

So where am I going?  Theo will be vacationing with my parents for a while.  He'll be so pleased to be with my mom, whom he loves, and have a grand old time bullying my dad to put him outside on his tether so he can spend time communing with nature and possibly catching birds.  Whitman will be with me "at Caitlin's house".  My things will probably be all over the damn place again.  My parents will probably get some and I'll bring some to my sister's house.  Then I'll have some with me wherever I am at the moment (probably Jake's).  So again, unsettled.

Hopefully it isn't forever though.  My sister is going to go through some treatments so maybe I can help her out at home some.  Or at least not stress her out more.  That's the goal.

I have to say though, I am purging my stuff FOR SURE this time.  Where do I get this much stuff?  I have no idea.  I honestly think that some of my stuff gets together and buys the rest of my stuff a drink and then more stuff is born.  I would like to get rid of 2/3 of everything I own.  I am not really materialistic so I wonder where I got all this.  It will feel wonderful to shed myself of anything I haven't touched in the last year.  That's quite a bit of stuff.

I MUST do this because I am not moving all this crap again.  I HATE MOVING!  You wouldn't know it though since I end up doing it all the time it seems.

Anyway, here's to the future!  Homeless again!

Princess!

Meet Princess, my current foster dog.

The poor thing has had a hard life.  I guess she was a 9 Lives, which is what the rescue was called before we started Lucky Dog Rescue, dog.  9 Lives adopted her out when she was a year old.  Seven years later, her owner dumped her and her brother at the humane society where he was euthanized.  I hate people that give up dogs for stupid reasons but doing it to a senior dog is so much worse.  Princess was given up because a family member's allergies were too bad... after seven years.  Bull crap.  How much do you want to bet they have another dog already?  Anyway, that's beside the point.  Princess was dumped at the humane society and thank goodness they scanned her chip.  That got them in touch with an ex-9 Lives member who got a hold of us.  I got the sad email about this senior lab dumped at the humane society with nowhere to go so, of course, I volunteered to foster her.

When I first brought her home she was so nervous that she couldn't settle down and wasn't eating.  It was a full 36 hours before I could get her to eat.  She was overweight, limping from a bad leg break that never healed properly, had cloudy eyes and had the worst ear infections I've ever seen in a dog.  She was also itching herself so bad that she was opening sores.  She really just broke my heart.  It's hard to see such a sweet dog that has gone through so much.

It took a couple of days but she finally calmed down and her very sweet side came out.  She loves pets and scratches, follows me around and loves carrying around bones or toys.  We had a few scuffles with the other dogs, which is funny because this old girl has the boys in line.  She has no problem telling them what for.  Most of the time she's just as sweet as can be.  She's great with my cat and good with the dogs as long as they aren't showing interest in her food or bones.

Her health has gotten much better now that she is on a good diet.  She's lost a lot of weight, though we still have a few pesky pounds to go.  Her coat looks so much better and the itching has gone down dramatically.  Both her eyes and ears have cleared up.  She doesn't have a hearing problem.  She also doesn't have any training but we're working on that.

Overall, she's a really sweet dog.  I do enjoy having her around.  Jake may not feel the same way but the way he says "Princess" is hilarious and oh so cute.  I do like her but I would love to see her adopted.  Sadly, several people have come to see her but they realize she's an elderly dog and walk away.  Sure she's elderly but she has lot of good years yet to live.  She's so sweet that she deserves those with a happy family that loves her.  I hope we find that home soon.