Humor

Here are two blogs that were recently noted by blogspot, and I thought were terribly funny. If you are bored...

http://bentobjects.blogspot.com/

http://overheardlines.blogspot.com/

80 years old?

My Grandmother turned 80 this weekend, we had a big party for her. She is one amazing woman, you'd never know she was an age that some people naively call old. She still runs circles around me, and I'm only 27! The party was a pretty big success, even though we ran into a couple of tiny little problems. #1. there was a forest fire not 5 miles away, started about an hour before the guests were supposed to arrive. Between us and half the guests, us and the highway out, us and just about everything. As we were setting up, we noticed first the smoke, then the ash drifting down. It was rather unnerving, I must say. The whole party had the phone ringing off the hook with people asking about the fire, telling us they were stuck behind it, etc. It was a bit daunting sitting in the mountains thinking about evacuating 50+ octogenarians. It turned out the fire was controlled pretty quickly (though don't ask the people stuck behind it if you want a realistic estimate) and we finally got the second wave of held up partiers at about 6:00 at night. Made for one long day, I must say.

My uncle Dave
John Moran, my grandfather's best friend, and an amazing man. (and Aunt Karen's back!)















My Mother's husband Larry



The Geracis, another good friend, and the family doctor.















Cousin Katie and Aunt Linda
Roberta Moran, another 80+ amazingly feisty woman, and my Great Aunt Dorothy













And me and the girls, my lovely cousins Katie and Polly

Mitch

I took Mitch with me to do some field work at the beach. He had a blast! I really like this dog, wayyyyy too much dog for most people, but such a cuddlebug. He would try to drink the water, but get a horrified face everytime (did that stop him though?). He was also afraid of the waves, though he would chase them out. It was fun to watch him scramble to get out of the way at times.
Here are some silly pics of us having fun at the farmer's market

Travel photo contest

I'm thinking of entering a travel photo contest. You get to submit 3 pictures, and I am having a hard time choosing. So, I ask for your help. Vote at the poll on the right, and let me know what you think!

A. Sand dunes in Coastal Peru

B. Lago Llanquihue, Chile

C. Torres del Paine, Chile

D. Lago Peohe, Chile

E. Puno, Lake Titicaca, Peru

F. Cusco, Peru

G. Pan de Azucar, Chile

H. Colon, Panama

I. Colonial Panama City, Panama

J. David, Panama

K. David, Panama

Garden update

And, I've got a new foster dog now. It's only temporary, a relief for a foster that has 2 dogs of her own, family coming in for the week, and a home ripped apart for remodeling. This boy Mitch, is one hell of a lot of dog. He is part shepherd, and very large, got to be 90 lbs. He is one of those creatures who tests his boundaries, constantly. Seems to crave discipline though, he just needs to respect you. I am working very hard to get him to know that I am the boss. He loves to run with the bike though. Scared me actually. He ran so fast that I was pedaling as hard as I could and he was still dragging me so much that his collar was making him wheeze. Can't let him do that very often, yikes! I will get some better pictures later, he is a beautiful dog. Total cuddle bug too. Has a bark that will shake your socks off, don't think anyone will mess with me while I have him around, that shepherd protectiveness is very apparent!

Statue of Liberty

I finally convinced Holie to do the stupid tourist thing and visit the Statue of Liberty, it took some work.

It was very windy out there, with amazing stormy skys and beautiful colored clouds. One little girl walked by us, laughed and pointed. Her mother felt obliged to explain that it was the continuation of a conversation about the wind in everyone's hair, and that we were just particularly fine examples, not freaks for any special reason. I looked at Holie, and had to agree, don't you?Here are a couple of views of the statue from the jaunt around. It was actually much more interesting and impressive than I expected.Holie, showing her feistinessThe skys eventually did hold up to their promise of rain, and we got rather wet. Didn't help that we had to stand in line for the ferry for an hour.The sun on the sycamores through the black clouds was... well the picture doesn't do it justice, but still looks nice so...

Beautiful morning, beautiful Holie

I was playing with my camera one morning, and Holie looked so beautiful... so I took lots of pictures of her.