More Fall Colors Photos

Here's a few photo's my friend took on our hike today. Love the one she got of me and my two by the lake. It's hard enough to get a dog to look at the camera then throw a deafie in the picture! :o)

Just when you thought your car was dirty!
Outdoor gear sudo contained in the pink crate, doggy pack pack, human back pack, two German Shepherds, and probably 100 lbs of shedded doggy hair.



Me and the kids:



Shauna, Chui, and the tops of my two's heads:



Myself, Rocky, and Shika again-one of my favorite photo's of the day:



Shauna and Chui. Juno had to stay home :o(

Fall Colors

Well the colors weren't as spectacular as I had hoped but they were still nice. I'm used to the greater verity of colors back east. I think the reds probably peaked a couple weeks ago so today the yellows showed their beauty.

Rocky started out with the doggy pack but quickly grew hot. I even gave them a lighter load of water today thinking it would be cooler. He's now snoozing it off. Shika was a sport and carried the pack the rest of the hike.

I'm missing my weekday hiking that I did when I used to work shift but I'm not missing the 12 hour days I used to have to work. I was thinking the ATV's would be gone this late in the season and the gate closed where they normally flock. Unfortunately I think I was remember a late season camping trip during the weekday when I hadn't seen the ATV's. So we picked a different trail and about got run over by some other off roaders-moto cross types. These guys though were very polite and stopped their motor bikes in time to miss totally plowing over us and leaned way over off the trail up hill to let us go by.

We also came across some of those crazy off road cyclist and a couple on horses. All were very polite. I find that American Fork outdoor recreation people are WAY nicer than the people you run into in Millcreek canyon where the city people want to just run up do their thing and run down with out stopping to enjoy it. Sometimes the Millcreek crowds are just flat rude. I also enjoy that we, even though we are dog people, don't run into a lot of dogs. Too many people in the other canyon let their dogs run off leash because they are too lazy to train them properly and the dogs are totally out of control, unruly, and start fights.

Here's some photo's of today's hike.

Draper Rehab

Well it looks like Rocky will be going to Draper Rehab (AKA nursing home.) It's about the closest place I can make it to after work by 7pm. Seems most places don't have the option of going on the weekend because they don't have staff and the other place we were going to go was a ways away. I would have had to change my work schedule one day a week.

This week I had to go alone with out Rocky and shadow a woman. She had a Chinese crested. She mostly held him so the people that weren't all with it couldn't really pet him very well. Rocky will go next week. I think his head is as big as Tate's entire body so people will be able to pet him easier with out me worrying about him getting dropped. Next week Rocky and I go with the woman I went with this week. We'll see how he does.

Shika is always nervous when we upset the routine with room mates. Now she is back to her calm self. She doesn't seem to like the whole room mate idea even though she got walked a little more in August the room mate didn't handle her in a way to make her feel secure. She's a dog you have to be very verbally firm with. If you act all nicey nice to her and use a soft high pitched voice for some reason it spins her nerves up.

We moved to a bottom floor apartment at the back of the complex. Even though I hear the squeaks from the floor above we are away from the courtyard and all the screaming Utah children so it's actually more peaceful back here. We are also right by the neighborhood park entrance which is nice. I don't have to walk through all the yappy dogs in the complex who don't get walked further than one building away from their homes. It amazes me that small dog people think they don't need exercise-the dogs or the owners :p

Since we are on the first floor the dogs can act as goofy as they want with out me having to worry about the noise vibrating through the floor to any neighbors. Rocky of course takes full advantage and bounds through the house once or twice a day with his toys. I'm still waiting for them to unpack while I'm at work ;) This is Rocky's idea of helping his mommy unpack:

The Machine Gun Fire/Herriman Utah Fire

Yes we were right in the path of this fire Sunday night. What a truly awesome site as the flames licked up all along the ridge and it moved down the mountain at us. I am truly greatful for all the efforts of the fire/EMS/police/national guard and other emergency crews. Having been one in my pastlife (volunteered on a fire dept in Ohio and police officer in Kansas City) I can imagine what they put up with.



Mostly I am greatful I was home and able to get the dogs out with me. I could not imagine not being able to come home and having my home destroyed with my dogs in it. That would be a thought I would have never been able to get out of my mind had it happened.

Thanks to our wonderful friends who let us stay for two nights until it was safe to come home! You will see her photo with her two husky mixes in many of our posts. Her husband isn't much of an outdoorsman so it's usually us and our dogs and whom ever else we can talk into going.

Photo's from My Louisianna Trip

Recently I was asked to go with a different group than the one I work with and help with a test in Louisianna on our equipment. The test didn't happen due to HSE issues but we were there a week and did take a day to go to the Tabasco plant. This is the ONLY manufacturing plant for Tabasco in the world. Quite amazing.

We didn't get to tour the island after due to rain but I did get some great photo's. The drips running through some of them are the rain coming down. I love the south and the GREEN! I could however have done with out the heat and humidity.

Fall is here.

Or so we thought. It was a very hot hike today. Rocky did great. I think they got dirtier in the dust than in the mud. I scrubbed them with soap and they still had dirt on them after. The drying towels came out brown.

I'm ready for the cooler weather so we can hike later and sleep in!

















One tired doggy:

Raise

Well they supposedly gave us raises at work this week. Somehow I was more offended than excited at their 86-88 cents, or what ever it was. I don't think it even amounted to an extra 1K per year. It's like working at McDonalds and getting a nickle. And it will probably just get taken away in taxes anyway. So much for a raise!

Rocky is finally making the long hikes and wearing his back pack the entire way. Shika I'm sure is glad because she was the water hauler before. I'm still waiting on the final official name badge etc from the Delta Society so Rocky and I can start volunteering with the Therapy Animals of Utah. Many of the therapy animal organizations use the Delta Society registration since they provide insurance etc. and the nation wide status.

I haven't taken any photos lately and since I had my computer fixed I removed all my other ones just in case so I wouldn't lose them. Winter will be upon us soon so I'm sure I'll get some good winter photos of Shika, Rocky, and the rest of the hiking gang.

Rocky and Shika went to Camp Bow Wow while I was in Louisianna for work. Shika was her wall flower self but I was told Rocky was the life of the party and played enough for both of them. This is a great kennel. They don't charge extra for doggy day care and all dogs must pass their temperment test before being allowed to stay. So they were in the doggy day care the entire time and out of the kennel during the day. They also don't charge extra for special diets and other things. They keep your dogs personal things in a little metal can outside their kennel so your things like leashes and collars don't get lost. It's a nation wide kennel and if the others are as good as the one in Salt Lake I would definitely recommend them.

One of these years I'll get internet again and start posting more photos etc. My goal is to get the credit card paid off and get caught up on the student loans before I do internet again. We'll see if that ever happens, especially with my joke of a raise and the continuing rise in the cost of living. As I try to keep telling myself at least I'm still employed.