Farewell 2008

Well, 2008 is over. I have to say that I'm glad, because it definitely was a year filled with challenges. Not all of them were bad -- in fact, some of them were wonderful, but I am looking to a bright and shiny new year. Looking back, here are some of the highlights of the outgoing year --

2008

Roses. Supervising, selling, sorting and delivering over 2500 roses for a Boy Scout Fundraiser on Valentines Day. (I sure had my fill of roses, but we made a lot of money for the Scout Troop.)

Family Vacations. A great family trip to Disneyland.

Scout Camp. Heading up a 3 day Boy Scout campout to Moab and riding the Gemini Bridges Trail (and not losing a single scout off the sheer drop-offs or out in the desert.)

Fine Dining. Meals al fresco on the patio.

Fun-Filled Family Reunions.

Camping in Flaming Gorge, fishing and river running on the Green River.

Staying in a condominium on the shores of Bear Lake.

Camping Trips.
Never enough time for camping, but we squeezed in a few great trips.

Antelope Island

Grand Tetons

Flaming Gorge

Mirror Lake

Fishing.

A Miraculous Recovery.

My 8 yr. old nephew, James, defying the doctors' predictions, recovered from a tragic accident. There was a guardian angel hanging around this little guy, that's for sure.

Fledgling Leaving the Nest for A Summer in Yellowstone.
My 15 yr. old son spent a wonderful and adventurous summer of hard work, camping and hiking in the backcountry of Yellowstone working with the Yellowstone Youth Conservation Corp.


Hangin' Out With Friends. Allie and Rusty had a great year visiting, hiking and playing with old friends and making new friends.

Zephyr, Zandy, Allie & Rusty

Rusty, Allie and Zandy

Zephyr, Allie & Zin

Adorable Zin!

Just Spending Time With Each Other.

Going to the Soldier Hollow Sheep Dog Trials.

A Historic Election Year.

Holiday Parties With Family and Friends.

I won't dwell on stock market plunges, family health problems or any of those things because they are now in the past. I'm going to finish this post to my blog, put on my shoes and take my dogs to the park. Farewell to 2008 -- Hello 2009!

Seasons Greetings!

It's been a wild month and this is the first chance I've had to actually sit at my computer and do something fun. Between the medical stuff (Christmas is a crappy time for a family member to have surgery), the finals (teenage son), the work (everybody seems to want to sue everybody else in December for some reason) and the number of dogs being turned into rescue (and shelters that can't tell the difference between a boy dog and a girl dog), I haven't had a spare minute.

However, the holidays have arrived, ready or not, and everyone at my house is thankful to be in pretty good health and still gainfully employed. So from our house to yours --

Merry Christmas!

(Can you tell how much the dogs love to pose in front of the tree.)

Rusty LOVES the holidays and he especially loves presents -- anyone's presents -- and he thinks Christmas is grand. :)

This is Rusty and "Bear". Bear is not really a dog toy, but Rusty fell in love the minute he saw him. Bear has glowing parts and lots of choking hazards, so all play with Bear must be observed by the Stuffie Police.

Everyone got a visit from Santa!

"Look into My Evil Glowing Eyes"

The real reason that Spike's eyes are glowing, is that after Santa finished filling the stockings, she started digging through the treasure trove of treats and found (oh feline joy!) a package of drugstore catnip mice and liberated one from the wrappings.

Miss Spike spent the rest of the night racing around the house, tearing from room-to-room, sending rugs flying and knocking down decorations. She finally settled down in the wee hours of the morning into a catnip induced stupor of pure kitty bliss.

Not everyone is as fond of Christmas and Allie has spent most of the morning hiding under the bed. (All of those scary, crinkly wrapping papers flapping.) Oh well.

"I don't wanna pose anymore!"

We are looking forward to what will hopefully be a great 2009 and
Rusty says "Merry Christmas to All"!!

And Now For the Main Event -- Mud Wrestling!

It was a beautiful fall day today and the temperatures were in the high 50's/low 60's. What a great day to take the pooches out to the dog park. Recently, one of the local off-leash dog parks had a terrible incident of two dogs being poisoned while hiking (both dogs died) and so I was a little worried, but decided to take them to the one dog park that I can keep an eye on them most of the time -- located at the mouth of Emigration Canyon.

(Can you say "Mud Pit"????)

The major downside to this park is, that whatever the season is, it is almost always muddy -- but today it was even worse than usual. Ugh! However, the dogs LOVE it, so we played frisbee, until the frisbee was dragged into the pond and sucked into the mud, never to be seen again. :(

"Where did that bright red rubber frisbee go????"

The park is actually located in a beautiful area just at the mouth of a local canyon (above This is the Place Monument and the Hogle Zoo). If the dogs would just stick to the grassy area and chase the frisbee and ball everything would be great.

But the huge, muddy pond is a magnet to the dogs.

And so they look like this . . . . . :P (Yes, that round item is, indeed, a mud-caked tennis ball.)

They just can't help themselves and stay out of the mucky, nasty water! (Rusty greets a friend - well actually, Rusty hates most other dogs, so he was actually saying "Mom, do I have to be nice????".)

(This poor German Shepard pup is only 8 mos. old, but he had the worst dysplasia I had ever seen -- however, his stupid owner said "Oh no, he's fine." This poor puppy could barely walk and he was a major sweetie who hung out with us most of the afternoon.)

And we finish out the day with this . . .

With a big sigh, my son and I bathe the dogs and the spouse dries them off. (The mud STINKS!) I don't think I'll be going to this park again for a while.