Poker Face

We're about two weeks into Presley's recovery and I'm counting down the days (70ish) until I can let my little lady run wild.

Last night we visited the vet to have her staples removed. Below is a picture of us right before the Dr. came into the room. Presley has an impressive poker face because I know she was ready to get the handful of staples our of her little leg.

I have a suspicion that she, and rightly so, thinks that every time we go to the vet's office she'll have to have something done. She does look a little more concerned about why we're at the vet's office in this photo.

But, good news! Her Dr. is very impressed with how well she's doing especially just two weeks after having ACL & meniscus repair surgery. She's also lost a little bit of weight and is currently weighing in at 11.6 lbs as opposed to 12.2 lbs on the day of surgery. YAY!

We'll return in another week or so to see the physical therapist to get a regime for her follow and then again in three weeks for another check up.

Thanks for the prayers, good vibes and well wishes for her recovery, they've worked and will continue to do so!

Summer Adventures

Today is unseasonably cold. Not chilly but down right cold. It even snowed last night. I'm praying that this is just a freak cold system and not an early start to my least favorite season however, I have a horrible feeling that this Winter is going to be brutal.

With today's gray skies and snow flurries floating around, I'm going to take some time to reminisce about warmer days.

This Summer my Dad and I rode the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad and it was really fun! We left his home in Pueblo at 5 a.m. and headed to Antonito, CO which is more than 150 miles or about two and a half hours away.

If you've never ridden a train, I would suggest this one. Here's what the web says about it:

Ride the Longest Highest, most Historic Narrow Gauge Railroad in North America. 64 miles of spectacular scenery through the beautiful San Juan Mountains of Northern NM and Southern Co. Enjoy riding the rails, as they did in the 1880's with modern day comforts. 

This Historic line was originally the San Juan Extension with Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, few railroads in the world climb to greater heights than the historic narrow gauge line over 10,015-foot Cumbres Pass. The trains have been chugging over Cumbres Pass since 1881. Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad was chosen one of the "Top 20 Rail Trips of the World" by the Society of International Railway Travelers.

Here's the gorgeous sunrise we saw as we drove into Alamosa, CO. For this particular train ride you can either take the train from Antonito to Chama, NM or take a bus to Chama and then ride the train back. We chose the latter.

Here's me and my Dad by the engine in Chama right before we left.

This is one of the first pics I took as we rounded a bend. Even though Dad and I had seats on the train, we chose to ride most of the trip in the open car. It was a perfect day to do so and the only drawback was the soot that we ended up being covered in when the ride was over. But it was well worth the black hands!

 I just think this is a pretty shot.

And this is the favorite shot I got all day. The San Juan Mountains look magestic in the distance and this picture really embodies everything I love about this part of the country (in the Summer of course).

Let's Promote Self-Confidence

Good Sounding, Bad Idea: calling everyone a bully.

There's a video floating around the Internet where a news anchor responds to an email she received about being overweight. While she handles the situation with poise I find it lacks professionalism. One of the first things I learned while getting my journalism degree was: "Never make yourself the story."  And this, unfortunately is exactly what she did. In my personal opinion, while I found the subject of this viewer's email in poor taste and quite frankly none of his business I didn't see where it was "bullying" the recipient.

According to Webster's Dictionary a bully is: n. noisy, over-bearing person who tyrannizes the weak; v.t. to domineer; intimidate; ill-treat; v.i. to bluster.

Perhaps the news anchor is weak but I doubt this very much, and wish she'd have ignored this topic all together.

Again, in my personal opinion, I think the word bullying has become a national crutch. People seem to throw this word around when someone states an opinion that either makes them uncomfortable or one they simply don't like. I find the ability to freely share opinions the number one thing, on my long list of things, that makes our Nation great.

In another example: I found it incredibly ironic that the LGBT community began essentially bullying local Chick-fil-A patrons, workers and owners. Across various social media sites people were making the assumption that if you ate the chicken sandwiches, then you too must hate all gay people. However, if the owners of Chick-fil-A want to give to charities that don't support gay marriage, I see this as their business. If you don't like it, don't eat their chicken sandwiches that eventually make their way to these conservative groups. This is yet another wonderful thing about our country, we're not forced to do anything but pay taxes and die (nature not so much anything else on the last one). I do disagree with the company's recent regression. If you have an opinion, whatever it may be, stick with it. Don't waffle because it's not popular with others.

I recently had the pleasure of watching a Rock Center story titled True Grit. Take the nine minutes and 19 seconds to watch it, it's well worth your time and may provide you a different perspective on how to talk to, deal with and teach today's youth.

I love the aforementioned idea of teaching grit to children for several reasons. (1) I don't want to end up with a colleague who can't take criticism or one who thinks I'm bullying them because I tell them their ideas are horrible (2) If I ever have children, I don't want them to grow up in a world where they're afraid to stand up for what they believe (3) I hate the idea of getting a trophy for showing up. In the world there are winners and losers. The faster everyone realizes this the better off we'll all be. Not everyone can be great at everything all the time, so find what you're good at and do it, do it better than anyone else and earn your trophy. And, when you lose, do so gracefully. It will make you a better person and one people want to be around.

So, here's what I propose. Instead of teaching people not to be bullies, let's teach everyone how to love themselves for who they are and teach them about the power of self-confidence so that when, not if, they encounter a "bully" they'll know that no matter what this person says to them or about them, it does not change who they are, what they should think of themselves or their self-worth. Let's teach tolerance not only of what comes out of our own mouths but of what comes out of the mouths of others.

Here we go again

Good Sounding, Bad Idea: Let your miniature dog run, jump on and off of anything/everything and act like a wild woman. Lesson learned and I am now researching doggie ramps.

My poor pup, Presley is once again on restricted mobility. She tore her ACL and today is day one of recovery after surgery. Only 84 more days until she's on squirrel patrol again.

This December marks three years since she had patella surgery and I thought after that we'd be good to go, but unfortunately she had to go under the knife again.

For this surgery, like her last one, I had to leave her overnight at the Vet's office. This morning I was so anxious to see her and bring her home that I kept fidgeting with everything at the Vet's office and so much that the girl at the desk asked if everything was okay. Oops! It probably didn't help that I hadn't had breakfast yet and was running solely on my morning Starbucks.

The Vet did tell me that she was doing this little howl this morning, something I have yet to hear and that it was quite pathetic. She's a smarty pants because she did learn that when she sounded off a tech would come by, take her out of her crate and hold her.  I guess this happened quite a few times before I arrived at 8:30 a.m.

Labor Day Weekend

For this year's holiday weekend instead of watching the Rocky Mountain Showdown in Denver like I've done for the past 11 years, I decided to actually make the most of the long weekend.

My friend Danny and I headed West for the Aspen/Snowmass JazzFest. Mumford and Sons were playing Saturday, after the game, so it was actually perfect timing! We were able to catch the game in town, grab some grub and then head to the concert.

It was one of the best shows I've seen, but Mumford and Sons do put on a great live show. I think what made it extra special for me was the setting. It was so beautiful! I've been to numerous concerts at Red Rocks and my breath is always taken away when I enter that venue, but the mountains surrounding the field we were in, hands down, is one of the best "venues" I've been to.

And, an added bonus is that Mumford and Sons new video was filmed at Red Rocks so even though I didn't go to that show, I still feel like I did!

Happy Independence Day!

This July 4th, we decided to keep thing quiet. Maybe because we all had to work the next day, or maybe because it's easier than throwing a full fledged get-together. Either way, it was fun just being around family!

It's been unseasonably warm in Colorado so far this summer. So, we decided to get up really early (5:30) and head out of town to Golden Gate Canyon State Park for a hike.

We ended up leaving my sister's house at about 6:30 and getting to the trail head at 7ish.

This is Panoramic Point inside Golden Gate Canyon State Park and it is beautiful!

While there were some steep parts, the trail was for the most part pretty flat and a very easy hike!

We chose the Raccoon Trail because it was easy/moderate and it was only 2.5 miles, an easy holiday morning hike. The only thing that was concerning was all the trail signs said .7 miles or .8 miles which doesn't sound confusing except that it was difficult to know if it was .7 or 7 miles because the "." had been scratched off and every mile ended in "s". I felt a little like this...

Here's the best friends, Wilbur & Rocky. They loved the fresh mountain air and space.

I do hope everyone had a great mid-week holiday and were able to get out and do something!

The Avett Bros. at Red Rocks

I love The Avett Brothers. Love everything about them. Their look, sound, lyrics and most of all that they play Red Rocks! Their show last summer was one of the best I've seen so that meant the stakes for this year were pretty high. Well, they did not disappoint! And now I love them even more. Here is a song they played during their encore. It was the first time I'd ever heard it and now I can't get enough.

 We got really, really good seats for the show...Row 16!

And here's a pic of me and Danny. We've been friends since middle school and I'm so happy that we finally get to hang out together more!