Thursday, December 27, 2007

Christmas past...

I am back from Colorado, along with (finally) my luggage. Brief highlights from the trip:
  • Driving down the steep grade of I-70 toward Denver, we come upon a horse trailer holding a reindeer. Anna (SIL) says, "Wouldn't it be funny if Santa were driving?" Then we pull abreast of the vehicle towing the trailer, and Santa actually is driving!
  • Getting to see Derek and Anna's new house, meet a few of their friends, and hang out with them and their dog, Chief.
  • Sleeping on a heated waterbed.
  • Visiting the huge Chick-fil-a by my parents' house, where they were so busy they actually had a person outside directing drive-thru and parking lot traffic.
  • Seeing my parents; playing Boggle, Taboo and Pictionary with everyone; staying in a cute, rustic, cozy cabin in Estes Park.
  • The look on my dad's face when Derek and I ordered Rocky Mountain oysters for an appetizer at Christmas dinner. (Disgusted expression or not, he still had to sample them.)
  • Among the suckage that was my trip back yesterday, highlights were getting a free meal coupon from the airline and getting re-booked to a window seat in first class. Less enjoyable was spending four extra hours in DIA after getting about an hour of sleep the previous night, and arriving in JAX to find that my luggage had not. Fortunately, it is here now.
  • Seeing this critter and her pals again:

  • Going to pick up this guy in a few minutes:

Monday, December 17, 2007

update

wow, i haven't blogged since november. guess there isn't much going on outside of work.

bishop's doing okay, learning stuff, responding to training, just not so much when we're at petsmart (where they inevitably say, "is he in puppy class? no? he needs to be."). i've decided to install a screen door between the kitchen and laundry room after the holidays, and puck is going to go live in the laundry room. last night i was trying to train bishop, and he was supposed to be sitting and staying, and puck bolted out of hiding and smacked him really hard in the back, with no provocation whatsoever. so bishop ended up on my lap trying to climb up my head, for which i can't exactly blame him. puck also peed on my pillow friday night, so while i can't bring myself to cast him outside, he does need his own space where he can't attack the dog or wreck my stuff.

fade refused to eat his rat last night, so i let the thing go in the backyard. i haven't seen cleoratra in weeks, but there seems to be digging activity going on near her rubbermaid, so i think she's still around. i guess if she and rattila get together to procreate, i can just set sadie and/or bishop loose for a little while, and they should be able to take care of the problem.

leaving for colorado wednesday. keep your fingers crossed that this year's trip is nothing like last year's debacle. if nothing else, at least i know now to pack my meds in my CARRY-ON.