Our visitor this morning.....

Think I will check the back deck for visitors before I go out from now on. This adolescent was balanced on the back deck railing when I looked out the window this morning. I wasn't fast enough to get the balancing act , just his rear-end as he took off.

The pictures are backwards in order...first is actually the last taken.

Teething....Rottweiler style

For several years the only puppies I raised were pomeranian. They don't really do much shoe chewing since shoes are signifigantly larger than they are. You might find a pom baby in the shoe but he won't grab it and gallop off with it. They have tiny mouths and even tinier teeth. Your furniture is safe and they are rather discriminating in what they will and will not nibble on.

Rottweilers....wellllllllllllllllll. They gnaw; they don't nibble. Even this little guy has an amazingly powerful bite and he is willing to try just about anything. Rocks ...yum. Metal table legs....sure why not. Shoes.....at least at this point I am faster and not quite as clumsy ( that wont last - certainly not the first and probably not the last either) and can retrieve them prior to destruction. Leaves are particularly attractive and seem to taste pretty good as do any size twigs. He isnt what one would call discriminating and is willing to try just about anything that doesn't move and a few things that do, including me. I spend half our time outside digging non-edibles out of his mouth.
We did stock up on variously sized chew toys but I have the feeling we seriously underestimated his ability to chew.

You can tell he really has a nose too...the poms dont really rely on smell ( it's all about cuteness with them ) but this guy is on it. We have serious wildlife trekking through the yard on a regular basis and he knows it. Wow.

We are already working on socializing him..he went to a gift shop owned by a friend yesterday and won the heart of everyone who met him. The owner is terrified of Rotties so it was a good experience for both of them (she loved, loved, loved him) . The problem here is that we live in such a small village there is no real place where people congregate in large numbers so we will have to be creative when it comes to meeting folks.

I am determined that this puppy live up to all the good things about this breed and not the bad. I also know its not the breed that is the problem....its moronic people who don't take the time or make the effort, early on, to train up their puppy in the way he should go. Yes, a biblical axiom regarding the rearing of children but equally applicable to dogs. Also, dogs don't take 18 years to get the basics of civilized behavior down pat. Thank you Lord for giving us dogs !

Stryker has arrived

It's not a great picture but this puppy has every reason in the world to be tired.

He missed his first flight because a human from the airline wasn't there to check him in, arrived 7 hours late in tornadoes, thunder, lightening, hail and rain in the Denver area, endured another hour drive back to Colorado Springs. We wouldn't have made it home till after midnight and the breeder definately did NOT recommend that after his punishing day! Yet he was still calm and had a sweet demeanor. I am pretty sure, had I been through all that, I would not have been so people friendly.

The last really young pups I had were poms and to say there is a difference would be understating it just a bit ( cough ). He is still such a baby, just a rather large, kinda clumsy - ok, honestly? seriously klutzy baby. If he shakes his head with a toy there is a good possibility he will fall over. He has rolled off his bed too many times to count....usually it doesnt even wake him up. Oh, and did I mention teeth ???? WOW. This baby has some serious chompers and cant at this point distinguish between toy and finger ( or really doesnt mind chewing fingers...after all he had 10 siblings to chew on till just two days ago ).

I have never in my life had a dog who so literally stuck to me like glue and this pup gives a whole new meaning to under foot. Also, when a pom runs into your leg, it kinda bounces off....when a rottie pup hits you its more of a thud. And to think he is an infant.....

We are working on house training - this means the minute he wakes up or whines I have to be on it - and his business is already bigger than the poms. I think I am definately going to need a bigger pooper-scooper in the very near future. I also am pretty sure there wont be much down time ( or sleep ) for the next few weeks as I need to start work on socializing him with others. He is already such a calm, mellow dog that he can be a real ambassador for the breed with the right training.

Yeehaw....let the games begin!!!

A new baby!!!!

No...its not a miracle....I am not with child. (Thank you Lord!!!!). But we are getting a new baby. I already know its a boy (yay) and I know he has brown eyes and amazing brows. He is so beautiful : )

He is a Rottie pup, coming all the way from the South. He has impeccible bloodlines, both German and Serb and he has "certified" hips, which is a good thing...too bad we humans cant get that kind of certification!! He is gorgeous....coming from a gentle giant mother who is a therapy dog ( again certified ) and a Serb daddy who is a Champ. My kids dont have that kind of pedigree unless you count one of the very early Kings of England....way too long ago to count for much.

I am so excited. Its not like I dont have enough to do here ( actually, I dont ) but I do need a new baby, just not one that walks on two legs and will eventually want to borrow the car, phone, and need college money. Bless my children ...I do love them to the utmost. But this "kid" will love me no matter what I look like, smell like and be by my side as long as I feed him well. And that I can do : )

It all depends on where you look

The back deck of this house is where the "view" is. The mountains and the village. Vale and hill and nothing there is blooming.

The sun ( or Son, depending where you are looking ) hits the front of this house where there is no view. Or is there.....

The Aspens from the back deck have no green....yet the ones in the front...barely 100 ft. from the back are solid green. Mind you, the green is just starting and its pale and fragile...but its there and the difference is startling. One side, that does not face the sun/Son has no visible life. Yet the other..has bloomed.

Isn't that the same with our own lives.....when we face away from the Son/sun....we do NOT bloom and even the slightest shift in our tragectory changes EVERYTHING???

Face Him...look to HIM to make your life bloom.
I am still mostly on the dark side , waiting and praying for His light. I know it is there....I stand in the shadows.

My Mom

This is one of those days that nearly kills me , emotionally. My mother died 10 years ago and I still mourn her loss, heart deep.

I am an only child. My mother was my best friend ( husbands are a different sort of friend...more intimate and less knowing than a mother ) and to this day I mourn her passing. And I mourn what I did not know and what I did not do. I did not know how miserable her life was, how miserly she was made to live and how little she had in the way of love and support.

I did not know she was being physically, emotionally and psychologically abused. She lied to me and told me everything was "fine". How could I have been so self involved and removed that I did not know. How could I not have known.....

I was busy raising my own kids...I was involved in my own little life, I did not "see" what was going on with her until the phone call telling me she was on death's door step. I had 10 days, before her time on earth ended, to be with her. It was not enough.

She was in Montana and I in Hawaii. I did not know she was dying until the very end. She was positive and hopeful and lying to spare me. I did not know all the stupid stuff I sent her for "Mother's Day" wasnt needed. What she needed was another nightgown....a feather bed to ease the cancer pain, help going to the bathroom...taking a bath....all the little things I would gladly have done for her, had she asked. She never did. She never asked for one thing from me except love.

And what I remember is being 17 and standing at the top of the stairs and yelling at her " I hate you". To this day, this is what I think...that she never knew how much and how dearly and how deeply I did love her. And now it is too late to tell her.

I miss my mom.

Mother's Day.....all due to great Fathers

It is so easy to take credit ( or blame ...depending ) for children...especially on Mother's Day. And really, isn't it basically a Hallmark holiday ? Not to say that as a mother, I dont appreciate the acknowledgement...however ( you should know by now that at least on this blog, however has huge implications).....

How in the world would I have ever survived 5 kids without their dad? No way.....I would be bouncing my head against a padded wall somewhere. Without such a great Dad, my kids would never have turned out as great as they have.

Yes, he was at work more hours than I care to count, and yes, he is often the one who says a resounding " NO" when asked for help. But after mumbling and muttering, he is the one who says yes, too.

God bless this man who allowed me to be a fairly decent mother.....I would never have made it without him.

Standing tall

We have trees outside the back deck that are almost 40 ft. tall. Huge. Swaying in the wind.

There is only one tree that does not move. It stands tall and proud. Never moving. Never a sway.

It is the dead one. No life in it at all. Makes me think...as maybe it should you....the only one that "stands tall" is the one that has no life.

If we never bend, never sway , never give....are we really alive? Jesus "gave" when the Jews would not give, not bend, never sway. Are we dead when we dont ?

Lord, let me never be the "standing strong" one....especially when He and i both know it would mean I am dead.....in spirit.

Please pray for me......feeling rather like dead wood at the moment.

Mixed feelings

I have to admit I have mixed feelings when it comes to Osama dying. Not any regret that he is dead....I have no mixed feelings about that.

I know as a Christian that killing, in and of itself, is wrong. I also know God Himself used human warriors to take out bad guys. Am I throwing a party and dancing in the streets? No. Am I relieved that someone who wanted to harm this country is taken out of the picture ? Yes, absolutely.

What shames me is my own reaction to the way we treated his body. When I heard we had "buried his body at sea, in accordance with Islamic tradition" what went through my mind is this : did we behead him, drag his naked body through the streets, burn his corpse and hang it from a bridge????? Isn't that what we have come to know as " Islamic tradition" ?

Is that who America is? No. Is that who I am? I wish I could honestly answer no. I may not be "better than that" but I am glad someone is.

I am not above the initial, animalistic response of blood lust and the wish for revenge even though I know it is wrong.

God help me.

OSAMA IS DEAD

Thank God.

Adventures in Baking, Part 3

Part 1 : Pre-new cookbook was the "never fail" chocolate pound (flat-as-a-pan)cake. Which failed in spectacular fashion.

Part 2 : Post new cookbook, while John was still here, was a "Classic 1,2,3,4 Cake". Personally I am old enough to be considered "classic", at least age wise, and had never heard of this cake. I used the modifications listed and made it a Santa Fe spice cake. Yummy cake, it didnt fall but I used marscapone in place of the traditional cream cheese so the frosting tasted good but was a bit soft ( read sloppy and mushy ).

Part 3 : John is gone, I am bored and decide to try a Swedish butter cake, flavored with lemon. All goes well in the beginning. All mixed, baking, rising.....lovely. Until I tried to take it out of the oven. I had inadvertently set my hot pads in water. Wet hot pads do a really amazing job of heat transfer.....straight from the pan to my fingers. In the process of dropping hot cake onto the counter to stop fingers frying, I hit the rolling pin ( its made of marble and is very heavy ) which rolled off the counter and broke...not the marble and not the floor...but the handle. Naturally with the dropping, the cake broke into several pieces. BUT.....the cake did not fall so, all things considered, its a success, right????

One of my children suggested when I first moved here that perhaps adult supervision would be a good idea. I have no idea what she was talking about.