7/19/15
Today, we said goodbye to our old dog. He was not little.
He was an adorable puppy
A handsome and sturdy adult.
He was the Arnold Schwarzenegger of Australian Cattle Dogs. Normal size is 35 to 45 lbs. He was bigger boned, taller and broader than both of his parents and every other cattle dog we ever saw. He spent most of his life in the over 85lb range.
We will miss you big guy.
Love Sally
07/08/15
On my quick trip to Albuquerque, NM last weekend we had a jam packed day on Friday.
My only full day there, I knew that I wanted to visit Tent Rocks National Monument. Jasmine and her fiance were heading to Albuquerque from a stay in Taos so we all decided to meet and go for a hike at the beautiful Tent Rocks.
We found each other easily and got to spend several hours enjoying some stories and the incredible surroundings.
We left Jas and Ro after sharing some very interesting Sodas that they had procured from Pops Soda Ranch in Oklahoma on their road trip to NM. Word to the wise: You can skip the Spruce Beer. It seriously is like eating a pine tree and burbs up that way too. Think root beer or ginger beer but with pine sap and needles instead. Between five of us, we still didn’t finish it.
Hugs all around and then Erin, Kenny and I were on our way to Santa Fe since we were very close and they wanted to show me a few spots and eat.
The restaurant was packed with a 40 minute wait at 2:30 in the afternoon! Not having the extra time due to some plans for later, we opted for the same family run eatery under another name in another part of town.
On the way we stopped in downtown Santa Fe and walked around the square checking out vendor booths and then stopping at the Loretto Chapel to see the miraculous spiral staircase.
Really amazing and gorgeous chapel.
We made it to eat and I had a great combination plate which was all very good, but the chili relleno was outstanding.
Back to the house for a quick shower and then we were off to Hotel Andaluz where local Blues favorite Hillary Smith was singing with Darin and the P-Tails whom Ken knows. As it turned out, it was more of a Jam Session and if you had mad musical skills, you could join in. I lost count of just how many amazing musicians and singers rotated onto the stage. Ken got up there and played a set on the drums so that made it even more amazing.
It was about as great of a site filled day as could be had. Thank you Erin and Ken.
We went home and had pie and then off to bed. I had to leave the next morning to head back home. I had lamented for months after Sun Dance that Erin had left in such a hurry that I hadn’t gotten to say goodbye or give her a hug. This time, we hugged goodbye in the kitchen, another at the door, then walked to the car and loaded the back with my bags and got in a hug and talked just a bit more and had to hug one more time before I departed. Can’t have too many hugs from a friend.
I’ve talked about the trip so much that I have confidence that I might get hubby and son to go with me next time as they too would have loved the trip and getting to know my friends down there. We will have to plan for more days as this trip was just too short. Luckily we can leave that to Erin “The Planner”.
Love you guys.
Sally
07/07/15
Last year when I had made friends with Erin at Sun Dance and then she had to leave, I contacted her and we began to email and text one another. We found out early on that we were both football fans.
She is a die hard Indianapolis Colts fan and I of course love the Broncos and well, we now have her beloved Peyton Manning so I could brag about that.
We decided that we should wager a bet on the Colts vs Broncos game that was held 09/07/14. The wager was that the loser had to have their photo taken in the winners jersey so that it could be used as the default photo on the winners phone.
BRONCOS WON!
Problem was, Erin of course didn’t have a Bronco Jersey and there was no provision on when the photo had to be taken.
Solution? I finally go visit and take a jersey and the bet is paid.
This year the Broncos play the Colts in Indy on 11/08/15. We shall see what the bet will be this year.
Oh and fun fact about my friend Erin. Her birthday is the same day as my mother’s. I might have a chance at remembering that one.
Thanks for settling up on the bet. I love that photo on my phone now.
Love Sally
07/06/15
Thursday I headed down to Albuquerque, NM. It was about a 7 hour drive. I have a bit of a tradition that was established two years ago that I have to play a particular CD as another memory of a good, safe and wonderful trip.
The CD is Due Voci.
How the tradition was started is this: The boys and I were headed up to KS Ranch in central Wyoming where we were to pick up a cattle dog puppy. Our old dog was getting blind and we felt it was time to get him his own helper. A bit of investigation had informed us that there is a gene that cattle dogs can have that results in blindness. These breeders test their breeding stock for the gene to make sure it is not getting passed along. It was worth it for me to know that our next dog would not go blind.
We set off on the six hour drive with #2 son driving most of the time to get in his hours that he needed of highway driving for his learners permit.
My car has a radio and a CD player. I don’t generally listen to CD’s in the car as I listen to one of the two stations that my radio gets. I had it looked at a couple of times and there is something in the way the antenna is that doesn’t allow for anything but the two stations. (Oh, there might be the mariachi station as well that comes in crystal clear if you even just hold up a pie tin for reception. Some day, someone will explain how that works)
As we drive out of the city of Denver, I realize that we are about to lose the only two stations I can rely on and we will have another 5-6 hours of driving.
We start looking in the pockets and under the seats to see if by chance there is a CD or two that might have been left by the hubby on another trip in my car as he is always prepared and has CD’s on his trips.
We locate the Due Voci CD. I had purchased this CD after hearing one of the renditions while at work one day and found a Library CD for sale cheap so purchased it. It is a collection of Dianne Warren songs that she originally wrote for the likes of Celine Dion, Aerosmith, Toni Braxton, LeAnn Rimes, Bon Jovi, etc. and reworked in a duet fashion.
So for the rest of the way to Casper where we were spending the night, we listened to the CD. These are mainly love songs to which Devin could equate a few of them to a Disney movie song track. We ended up having so many conversations based upon this one CD which we let play and replay over and over again and again.
We picked up our cute little puppy the next day at the 250,000 acre cattle ranch in the middle of nowhere about forty five minutes up a clay road on a turn just after passing “Hell’s Half Acre”.
We hopped back into the car and drove the entire way back home with still just the one CD to play. We laugh about it to this day and when we hear one of the songs either as recorded by the original artist or by the duet and we always comment to each other. It could have been something that we all complained about the entire time or we could have even purchased another CD somewhere along the way, but for some reason we all continued to listen to the same one learning more words and making up new parts as we continued hearing it.
So that CD now gets played on every road trip I’ve taken of more than a few hours and each trip has been wonderful and so the tradition will continue. I don’t play it the entire time as we did on that Wyoming journey but I do play it at least once on each leg of the trip. So be forewarned if you want to come out and head off for lands far away with me in my car, you will have to endure the CD at least once through.
I still do not get more than two stations on my radio but I have since hooked up my Sirius satellite radio and can tap into that for any selection wanted.
My trip to Albuquerque and back included the playing of the CD and it was a great and awesome trip.
More on the events there tomorrow maybe.
Love Sally
07/01/15
I am probably going to take a few days off from the blog as I will be in the car heading down to Albuquerque for a couple nights. I know I didn’t just make it back to the reunion in Ohio last weekend, but this trip doesn’t require a plane ticket and time off of work – which I have a deficit of at this moment.
So while I will have much time in the auto, I won’t have it with free hands and mind to construct a blog.
Time for you folks to share some of your summer stories to fill in the blanks. It need not be long or extravagant. If you have a story just share it. Send it to me at Betty@thelaughyouknow.com and I will post to share.
Everyone loves a story and you all deserve some from others besides me.
Love Sally