New Puppy

Where are all the kids you promised?

Lounging in my office.

A little more lounging.

Your kicked back too!

He doesn't care for the flash.

Not the flash again!

Taking a nap at my feet.

Those shoes look mighty tasty.

I picked the new puppy up on Thursday, July 31st. He is starting to adjust to his new surroundings and follows me around like, well......a lost puppy. The kids and Heather made it safely to IL last Friday, so the kids have no idea that I've got a new puppy here. It will be a big surprise when they get home from their visit.

The new puppy's name is Remi and he's 16 weeks old tomorrow. He doesn't replace Bow, but he sure makes me happy. He does some of the same things Bow did and I have a hard time not calling him Bow.

The last photo is under my computer desk in our basement (note the 70's carpet that will be replaced in a couple weeks). When Bow was a puppy he would curl up under there when I was on the computer.

Joe and LeeAnn visit & Heather's IL Trip

Joe and LeeAnn will leave from IL on Friday and be here on Saturday. We are looking forward to the visit. I'll still have to work, but will get to spend time with them each evening. May get to take Joe fishing somewhere and drive them up over one of the passes (12,000 ft) to see a few mountains and breath some clean air (if they can breath at that elevation).

On the following Friday, they will start driving back to IL and Heather will be driving along with them for a 2 week visit back home. She will go to Lacey's wedding at Gulf Shores while visiting. I will fly into Nashville at about 10:20 pm August 7th, stay at mom and dad's Friday and Saturday, then start driving back with Heather and the kids Sunday.

While Heather is gone I'm getting a new pup from the same parents Bow came from. I wish I could have him now, but the owners are coming to CO on the 30th and considering gas prices, I'll let them deliver. The pup will be 15 weeks old by the time he shows up. Owners have already brought him in to start crate training and they are working with him on retrieving, so we should still be ok. I'll have to kennel him at the vet when I fly to IL. It costs too much for him to fly with me.

The kids do not know we are getting him, so it will be a nice surprise when they get back to CO. We all miss Bow quite a bit. He was a great dog and could have had a really great future with grouse hunting.

Very Sad News

Bow made it through the surgery on Wednesday and they called me to tell me they wanted to keep him a couple days. They removed the ball, but he had some damaged small intestine. They warned me of the possible problems, but then said their gut feeling was he would recover fine.

At 6:30 pm the doc called and said Bow was bleeding and he needed permission to go back in and see what was up. He was really concerned about the amount of blood. In about 30 minutes he called back and said it looked really bad. Bow's entire small intestine had died and the only option was to remove the entire small intestine and reattach the large intestine to the stomach. He felt that even trying that was a very long shot of survival.

They had told me what the problems were with only small sections of the intestine removed, but I could not imagine him having any kind of life without his small intestine. The other option was to euthanize him. He was going to be in terrible pain if he were to wake up and he had very little chance of survival. Reluctantly, we decided we had to euthanize him.

We are a very upset family. Bow living in the house with us had made him part of our family. He never hesitated to show us his love. He was our friend and we miss him.

Bow is in surgery!

Bow eat something in the last few days that will not pass and he has been sick. Today it became clear that the only way to get it out was with surgery. The vet has him right now and should be nearing completion. I'm worried about it. A dog living in the house quickly becomes a family member. Hopefully they'll be calling with a good report very soon.

Baseball Season Finished

Olivia and Boyd had their last T-Ball game on Thursday and Isaac's last baseball game was Friday. We planned to get out hiking and scouting for elk and deer on Saturday, but I decided to sleep in. We went to a friends birthday party in McCoy Saturday night and had a good time.

They live on a farm in McCoy along the Colorado River. We fished for a while, actually I tied and baited hooks for kids (and adults). The river was moving fast, making the fishing difficult, but fun. I also let Bow run and do some retrieves in their field. After eating, they had a fire and everyone made smores. Then they had a lot of fireworks that were great. They are situated in a canyon, so the fireworks echoed off the walls. It was the best home fireworks I've ever seen.

Boyd started Sunday morning off sick. Becasue he was sick, I stayed home with all the kids instead of going to church. Heather made it down the mountain on here own. Boyd was feeling fine by mid-day and played like nothing had been wrong.

This morning my back decided it didn't like the way I bent over to pick up a pair of socks and I yelled like a little girl. Heather didnt' know what was wrong. I'm at work now and my back still hurts. I've been trying to stretch to get rid of the stiffness, but it still hurts. I'm walking like someone has given me a "wedgie".

I'll send some more photos out soon.

Baseball

This is the best photo. Actually looks like he knows what he's doing.
This is one of his "change ups". Actually, this is what I talk about below. He doesn't lob it like that when I practice with him.

Baseball will be over at the end of the week. Isaac is not old enough to play in the All-Stars. He needed to turn 9 before May 1 and his birthday is May 18. Other than that minor detail, he would have been playing. We want to get out and do some camping, fishing and scouting for deer and elk anyway.

I've included a few photos of Isaac pitching. He was able to pitch in two games. He pitches pretty good to me, but he changes everything when a batter gets up to bat. I think he is afraid of hitting them. Maybe he'll get over that and be a pitcher, but I expect he'll be an infielder. Him and maybe two other kids on the team are the only players that have any clue what they are doing. Some of these kids just quit T-ball and still want to run with the ball. Drives me crazy. Coach Drew taught him quite a bit back in IL.

On another note, there is still a lot of snow up high, but Isaac and I will be getting out looking for elk and deer. I kept an eye on several of the herds as they followed the snow line up, but other than the big group of "calving" cows, the herds are mostly out of sight. I did see a few bulls outside of town a little while ago, but they are in a limited unit that I can't hunt. I've got some plans on where to look in one of the closer unlimited units.

I desperately want to find elk, but finding a big Mule Deer buck above treeline is one of my goals. I guess big may be relative to the fact that I've never killed a Muley. But, I have no intentions of packing a little buck or doe for a long distance.

Also, if you did not know, we are supposed to close on our house in IL on June 30th. The buyers are from Ledbetter, KY and lost their house to the state due to the new hwy and bridge.

Summer has arrived

Summer finally showed up here. Temps have been near 80 here in Avon. I still wear a jacket in the morning, and if it clouds up and the wind picks up it can be needed up in the day. I got good and sun burned yesterday. A short trip into one of our subdivisions to check on some work turned into a standing around a couple hours watching someone work. I'll be putting sunscreen on today.

Work has steadily picked up here in Town, so that I don't feel like I can keep up sometimes. I like this time of year much better than the dead of winter when paperwork rules. We've been working on the house again. The basement bathroom and bedroom has been gutted and all new materials have been bought for the remodel. After I get that done, I'll start on the new fence in the back yard.

Our house in IL will be officially sold on June 30th. At least that is the scheduled closing date. It will feel good to have only one mortgage payment. I'll probably get rid of the old Tahoe and buy a used four door Toyato Tacoma. I want an 05 or newer. We have had the 95 Tahoe since 99, so it has served us well for nine years and now has 170,000 miles on it. I may keep it for a while longer, but it needs multiple things fixed on it and a new set of tires.

Heather and the kids are enjoying VBS this week, but the drive down everyday is killing them. I believe next year we will probably sell the house we are in now and try to buy down here. Most likely it will be in Gypsum, but calling it affordable there is only relative to homes in the valley. It is not affordable at all. We'll see how this winter goes, but I believe we will have had enough of the long drive to work and church. I know Heather will have had enough of the snow.

Heather will driving to IL July 25/26 with Joe and LeeAnn after their visit out here July 19-25. She will head back to CO on Aug. 9 after I fly into Nashville on the 8th to drive back with her. 1200 miles is too far for her and the kids to drive alone.