New spring tools?

We got a lot of snow this winter...and it stuck around.  Today I expect that the last of the snow will finally all melt, but until about 10 days ago I hadn't seen the ground the makes up my yard since before Christmas.  One day this last week I made a tour of the backyard that was uncovered - I was mostly checking to see how my flowers survived the winter and see how much work I needed to do to get ready for spring.  This is what I was inspired to buy:

A "sanitation system".  A Salsa bomb retrieval set-up.  A pooper scooper.  Yeah, I bought a pooper scooper.  I paid money for tools to help me clean up after my dog.  For some reason this really irks me.  Don't know why...it's gonna get used.  Soon.  A lot.  Sigh.

Salsa's many skills does not include...

So several weeks ago during our first real cold spell I was walking Salsa and we were a few blocks away from our house.  Suddenly a little girl comes charging down the walk from her house and she's doing the potty dance, but obviously wants to talk:

Little Girl:  HELLO!!

Me:  Hi!

Little Girl:  Where do you live?

Me:  A couple of blocks that way (pointed west)

Little Girl:  Is that your dog?

Me: (thinking, well she is on a leash that I'm holding...) She sure is!

Little Girl:  So you're just out for a little walk?

Me:  Yes we are, she loves walking in the cold weather!

Little Girl:  Does she talk?

Me: (suddenly confused by the turn this has taken) Ummmm... no (and now thinking do you know any dogs that talk???!)

Little Girl:  So how do you know she loves walking when it's cold.

Me: dumbfounded

Out of the mouth of babes!

I'm alive... promise...

Do you ever go through those phases where you just don't want to deal... with anything?  I have been stuck in one of those ruts - just haven't even wanted to look at the computer when I'm at home, let alone blog or post anything on Facebook or email or anything at all... And so not to overdo it and exhaust myself in a return to social media - just a few pictures from the last little while...

Yeah, this poor dog has a rough life... no one ever wants to pet her, she always gets ignored... just no love at all (this was at the state cross-country meet and was not the first or last group of people who stopped us!)

Kirk, Luci and the boys were in town on my birthday - we'll skip how old, but apparently I needed help blowing out the candles!!  And I just have to add, this is the little twerp who was dying for bunk beds and now won't sleep on the top bunk!!  Good thing the twerp is so much darn fun!

And finally... it snowed... a whole bunch this weekend...  I always think of my sister Sara when it snows like this and how she'd have us out sledding or tubing or doing something in the snow!!  Now if I could just find my snow boots... 

And can I just say I live on a great street... all day I was dreading shoveling snow when I got home from work - I shoveled twice yesterday! - and I got home and a kind soul had shoveled my sidewalk and driveway, and later I came home and yet another kind soul had shoveled the huge pile of snow left by the snow plow on my driveway... so very grateful to the good people who look out for me!!

Salsa story time

Here's Salsa with my next door neighbor's grandkid (Salsa loves them!!)...

Salsa story number one:  When the weather is nice we frequently run into a little girl who seems to really like Salsa, but is a little bit afraid of her and can never remember Salsa's name.  She always asks and I tell her "Salsa", and she'll ask "Salsa?" and I'll say "Yup - like chips and salsa", and she'll say "OK" and go on her way.  So one day last week I see her out playing and I'm running through the conversation in my mind - because it's the same everytime... except that day when she said "Hey everybody look!  It's Like Chips and Salsa!"  And so I finally know Salsa's full name...

Salsa story number two...  Salsa and I were walking in the park when a guy stopped us - and that's not unusual, lots of people stop us to comment on Salsa-girl, but this guy just wouldn't stop - how beautiful she was, her eyes, her markings, where did she come from and on and on and on.  Then he finally asks her name and I tell him Salsa.  He looks at me and says Salsa?  I say yes and he says "Is that because she's hot like you?"  Oh yeah, as I told the ladies at church - I got it, I don't know what it is, but I got it!  And no, the bad pick-up line didn't work - I took off as fast as I could!

Salsa and pants...

First... the dog is driving me crazy!! She's like a super charged Energizer bunny this winter with a bottomless pit for a stomach (although none of her recent eating feats can beat the consumption of an entire 15 lb bag of dog food when she was a puppy...). When we walk the only time I can keep up with her is when she's grazing for food and that's not good because the food she finds to eat results in a messy backyard cleanup (aka bomb retrieval).   At the moment I'm doing my best to remember that I really do love having her and that hopefully we're good for each other... Isn't a human year equal to something like 3 or 4 dog years? Which would put Salsa squarely in the teenage raging hormone years.... hmmm.....  Look at that precious "baby" picture... She is kind of cute, huh?  And she is a good buddy.  And she does seem happy to see me when I come home.  And she does help me get outside and at least walk during the winter.  And it's been shown that people with pets live longer and are happier... I probably should keep her...  Yeah...  I do kind of like her... Guess I'll keep her...

And second...  do you ever have those days where nothing quite goes right?   Today was one of those.  I knew I had a tight schedule and I'd have to start early and everything needed to go smoothly so that I could get home at a decent hour.  Well, I did get to work early, but NOTHING went smoothly - from an electrical outage to computer and network problems to missing equipment to a coworker that I know exists solely to torment and torture me - by 1 this afternoon I was where I'd planned to be at 10 (and I started at 5:30!!) and then suddenly I hear the dreaded sound of denim ripping.  That's right, I split my pants.  At work.  A big rip.  Across my big bum.  I still had about 4 hours to go.  Ahhh....  life IS funny.....

What, Who, me??!!

I have no idea why your flowers are on the deck instead of in the pot Mom...

(the really damning evidence - a muddy snout and front paws - came off during our walk...)

I was just checking to make sure I hadn't put one of my treats in there for safe keeping and suddenly pooouuf!

Poor sad puppy - maybe I'm too good at reprimanding her??

A Little of This, A Little of That...

Wow - summer gets crazy... I always think that summer is suppose to be this mellow, hang out, have fun time, but it never turns out that way. For example - last week alone included 3 softball games (gotta make up those rain outs!), 2 early morning runs of about 3 miles, a weekend volleyball tournament (where we played 9 matches... in a day and a half!), about 45 hours of work (and I took Friday off!), and many hours spent doing church stuff. I pretty much was only at home to sleep. Excuses, excuses, excuses - Any who... a few "treasures" from the past few weeks...

Where's Z-boy?

Right there... it cracks me up how easily little kids are entertained and the most unlikely object becomes the best toy ever!

Salsa's new boyfriend:

Mom, Uncle Gus and my cousin Shawn stopped to spend the night on their way out to California. Salsa really liked Shawn and licked whatever exposed skin she could find - poor guy!

And finally... the bronze medal winning team from the lower bracket at the Utah Summer games (where the 9 volleyball matches happened). So much fun... took so much time to recover!! From left to right - Emily, Anna, Paige, Jen, me and Julie. Sorry for my arm in your chest Julie... but apparently I had to show off that sexy farmer's tan - lookin' good, huh?!

And this picture makes me think of one more thing. I usually run 3 mornings a week with my running buddy Rena. There's only one shower at work, so we take turns going first depending what's on the schedule. Today was just one of those days - I spent the whole day in my running clothes and hair in a pony tail, bangs pulled back (I hate having hair flop in my eyes when doing sweaty things) - no shower (and I bet I smelled sweeeeet). One of my co-workers came up to me and says Rosann, you look different today. I apologized for my lack of shower fresh scent and he said, no it's not that, so I said I just have my bangs pulled back and he tells me "That's it! You're aerodynamic". Oh yeah... that's it... I'm aerodynamic... just like The Flash... or something...

Salsa's treasures

Every now and then during our almost daily walks, Salsa finds some treasure that she just won't let go.  One day last year it was a tree branch that was about 4 feet long and at least 6 inches in diameter on one end - she got it balanced it in her mouth so it didn't drag and proudly trotted home with head and tail held high.  She had cars pulling over and all they could do was laugh and point!  Her treasures the last couple of weeks:

pint sized cartons of chocolate milk - picked up in the parking lot of the high school and carried (surprisingly very gently - only the holes from her teeth) about two miles!

My Car Buddy...

Christmas Pictures...

So last night I realized that I hadn't done Christmas cards yet - at least it's still more than a week before Christmas. I thought, hey no fun travel pictures this year, so how about a picture of Salsa and me in front of the Christmas tree. Great idea, BUT that requires Salsa coming inside. Made all the preparations - lights on, camera aimed and ready... treats to bribe Salsa with, and that dog refused to come inside. I had treats lined up on the floor leading to the Christmas tree and she'd run in grab one and run back outside until she got about 4 feet away from the door and she wouldn't even be swayed by peanut butter.

Change of plans - outside pictures with Salsa for Christmas card... get a stool set up, get camera turned back on and aimed...

Attempt one - me holding a treat:

Attempt 2 & 3 - Treat by the camera:

And Attempt 4 - Treats by camera and in my hand...

Hopefully next year I'll have some fun travel pictures again - this was too much work!!

Winter Salsa

My crazy doggy... the cooler weather (OK - the cooler nights) have brought out "Winter Salsa". Every summer I delude myself into thinking that I have done such a good job of training her, how calm she is, blah, blah, blah. Then fall arrives and she is just like a puppy again - hyper and dragging me down the street!! I'm in charge, I'm in charge, I'm in charge... is it working?