Sunday, November 21, 2010

another drive to NE under my belt

When you drive 12 hours by yourself with two pups that don't talk back(thank goodness), you have a lot of time to think and observe. Here are my observations for my first drive from NM to NE.

* This drive is incredibly desolate. I often wondered when I got down to 1/4 tank of gas if I was going to hit a town that had a gas station before I ran out of gas...I follow a lot of back-roads through Colorado and Kansas and am "in and out" of cell service so I'm quite thankful I have a reliable car.
* Rural America makes me smile so much ~ you get a lot of the one pointer-finger(not the other "one finger" obscene waves) waves from the farmers and ranchers. I find myself feeling rude if I don't return the pointer finger gesture.
* Speaking of the drivers ~ I love when I come upon a vehicle and I can see the silhouette of the cowboy hat of the driver. It makes me smile everytime!
* I love the NE Cornhusker pride in Kansas and western Nebraska. I saw lots of Husker flags and numerous shops and cafe's with some sort of Nebraska reference! Go 'skers!
* The Starbucks near my house wasn't open when I left Santa Fe so I thought, "I'll just hit another Starbucks on the drive since Starbucks are everywhere." Well - not so much! I think the first Starbucks I saw advertised wasn't until I hit Colby, Kansas which was more than half way through my drive. Needless to say, I survived the drive with only one Dr. Pepper of caffeine.
* I panicked when I got to a gas station that had the "old-fashioned" gas pumps. No credit/debit card option?? I have to share the pump with the car on the other side of the pump?? I seriously almost went to find a different gas station because I didn't know the proper etiquette of using the pump and paying. But I survived and was able to settle my tab inside the store - who knew something so silly could cause a little stress?!!? :)

So - here I am in NE and so excited to see family and friends. But I am definitely missing the Santa Fe sunshine...it's so gloomy in NE!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

a mini tribute to the pups - Love them so much!

Life has been pretty steady lately ~ nothing too earth-shattering to report. I think I'll dedicate this blog to a few stories about the pups.

* I was playing fetch in the back-yard with Boulevard a few weeks ago ~ threw the bouncy toy into the air, it hit the ground, took an odd and very high bounce, Boulevard jumped up to grab the toy in the air, and BAM...face plant into the fence on the way down from his jump. An appropriate response from a mother would be to freak out and I DID JUST THAT! I expected a bloody mess, chipped teeth, busted nose...but Boulevard just ran on back, "released" the toy, and was ready for another throw. I checked out his face, mouth, and teeth and there was no damage. However, I looked up to see a panel in our fence was split in half.(something for Mike to fix when he gets back!) Guess Boulevard won that fight!

* Boulevard really loves ice cubes so when we get ice from the freezer door, he comes over and we toss up a ice cube and he chomps away. Stuart doesn't like to be left out so I usually slide one on the floor for him to naw on. But the funniest thing is that right when the cube comes out of the freezer and Stu starts chewing on it, it usually gets stuck to his long chin hair and he just lets it hang there. HA! It's pretty comical.

* Since we've been in our new house, and a couple times when we were in MD, Stuart finds it necessary to leap into the tub at very odd times. In the middle of the night, I can hear him flop into the tub and then jump out a little while later. Mike says it's because he wants a bath(I can get a little lazy about giving Stu regular baths) and I say it's because he's trying to quench his thirst(even thought there's no water in the tub and they have water available to them at all times). Weird!

* Boulevard likes to chase flies. It's not very often a fly is found in the house, but Boulevard will seek it out and pounce at just the right time. He's actually caught a few and then spits them out...guess the chase is better than the catch.

There's many more puppy dog stories I could share but Boulevard is giving me the "I'm ready for dinner" growl so I'm off to get them fed. What would I do without them?? Especially when Mike is away!!