BFFs: Toby & Wally

Waldo Mize is staying at our house for the week while his parents are gone with the Juniors on history trip. "The boys" are having a great time being together.

Poor Toby has to be tied up since he will run away. Wally will too - if you go back inside and don't call him back to the yard.

"Goin' on a smell hunt, see what I can find..."

Toby sniffs the air...

This ingenious little bird has built a nest under the roof of our front porch and we don't have the heart to knock it down. As long as she doesn't dive bomb our heads when we walk out the door!

Ryan came home from work, said hello to Wally, then went to pick up Toby, and Wally got jealous. "Me too! Me too!"

Time out for a nap.

Matthew and Lynsey have Wally trained to go to his bed on command. This makes a great way to separate the dogs like time out when the dogs get crazy or have been bad and we need them to be still! Wally is with us all the way til next Tuesday so I'm sure there will be more pictures to follow!

Spring turns into summer

I came home from Denver and spring had gone to summer!

These tulips came up in our yard this year and I don't remember them from last year - I love surprises!

Little red bud tree in the front yard

Please help me ID this tree? It blooms like this every year and the blooms only stay for about a week then fall off and then the tree just has dark redish green leaves.

When I left this tree just had buds - I came back to open leaves!
I certainly will miss this view in the backyard, but not the smell of the cow paddies.

Dogwood blossoms make beautiful pictures.

Left = Before PSE Right = After PSE
Yet another Photoshop experiment. And I learned how to put them side by side in one file. Its not perfectly equal but oh well. You can get the idea. I'm learning so much more about photo editing and experimenting!

The First Tee

I sped home - literally - after landing in Tulsa to get to Ozark before Ryan's PE class was over. I decided to document a few of our surroundings since they will soon be changing.

This is the fastest speed limit I think I have ever seen - courtesy of the Cherokee Turnpike in OK about 15 minutes from our house.

The lovely Cherokee casino, right across the border into OK where gambling is legal on Indian land. This place gives our ER quite a bit of business.

The main stoplight where we do most of our business: Walmart and Lowes on the left - bank and mechanic on the right.

Driving up 59 to Gentry from Siloam. Very flat, but nice to see all of baby calves with their mommas this time of year.

I wanted to get to Ryan's PE class because the First Tee was there teaching them how to play golf. This organization came for two days and worked with Ryan's class - how nice!

Its not over until everybody finds all the balls.

Visit to Denver: Rockies vs. Padres

Ready for the first pitch.
The mascot at home plate is a purple triceratops.

View from our seats

My fantasy player Ian Stewart up to bat. I love the Rockies scoreboard! Lots of great information. Their batting averages change each at bat and eventually it even shows what each batter did in previous innings of the game.

Since I didn't have any other baseball gear (besides my NW Arkansas Naturals shirt and who wants to be from Arkansas in Denver) - I wore my Red Sox shirt and hat. I didn't think about the fact that the Sox put the Rockies out of the playoffs in 2007. I got a couple of comments like... "Why would you wear Red Sox stuff to a Rockies game?" and "Hey, lets kick this Red Sox fan out of here!" but there were also several closeted Sox fans who gave me the "Go Sox!" fist pump, albeit, quietly.

Early in the game - bases loaded for the Rockies

and two runs score!

"The Rock Pile" - our section started a wave that went around the stadium four consecutive times! I also heard one of the Rockies signature calls - they finish off one of those clapping sequences by yelling TULO! when Tulowitski is up to bat.

The outfield fountains and the bullpens are really pretty.

(Click to enlarge)
I learned how to make new files with multiple pictures on Photoshop this week. Although this isn't perfect and its too small to see really well... I'd say its ok for a first effort. Now you have a fish eye like view from our seats!

Tara & Erik had been waiting all weekend for this. I wish you could see how long the hotdogs really were! We went through lots of water sitting in the summer-like sun. Its nice that the Rockies let you bring in unopened beverages and food!

7th inning stretch

Game over - Rockies win!

Time to go home...

And Monday morning it was time for me to fly home.
Here's to 13 years of friendship and many more!

The best way to mend a broken heart is time and girlfriends. ~Gwyneth Paltrow
A good friend is a connection to life - a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world. ~Lois Wyse

Visit to Denver: Sabbath

On Sabbath afternoon after church we took a hike up into the foothills. Sabbath afternoons are one of my favorite times of the week!

Kona sits like a little buddha - sometimes even more than this.
I became her friend during the visit. By the end of my stay she came downstairs to find me every morning.

Tara's first daffodils were starting to bloom

Kona found some water to play in

Kona the water dog
I think I like taking pictures of animals because they just act natural - even if a camera is out.

Erik trying out my macro lens. We enjoyed taking pictures while the other two walked on ahead.

Their friend Lindsey came with us along with her dog Aspen

Aspen is a Wheaten terrier - hypoallergenic I might add and I always love a terrier!

I finally caught a picture of Prozac

Tara & Erik were excited because they got the itinerary for their Grand Teton's backpacking trip this summer. They starting planning out their route right away.