Life on the High Plains

What is spring break without a trip to the zoo?  The day after Dana, Adam, and Miss G went home we took the nieces and baby Dixie to the zoo.  One of the best thing about our zoo is that you can purchase lettuce and feed it to the giraffes.  They are really friendly and will even let you pet them. Here's Miss Dixie with the baby hippo in the background.  It was a brisk 41 degrees and slightly windy.  Her parents must be raising her to be tough because I had my winter coat, hat, and gloves on, but she didn't even have a jacket.  Her moms didn't either. Our new African exhibit lets you walk among the penguins.  They're so adorable that I'd like to bring one home. One of the mountain lions was enjoying the sunshine. Dixie liked getting out of the stroller and walking with mama and Uncle Irvin. It was nice being inside the hippo exhibit to warm up a bit. Of course I have to show you some puppy pictures since National Puppy Day was this week.  The new ...

 Dana, Adam, and Miss G came to town for Spring Break.  We played tourists while they were here. First stop was the U.S. Figure Skating Museum.  I'd never been there before so it was nice to finally see it.  The three of them got in free because they are members of U.S. Figure Skating. There were displays for many of my favorites including Scotty Hamilton.  It was cool to see the outfit he wore at the Sarajevo Olympics and his gold medal. I loved Kristi Yamaguchi also.  There was also a beautiful memorial to the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating Team that perished in a plane crash in Belgium.  Miss G also found one of her coaches on the wall of "100 Years of Champions"  Then it was onto the brand new U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum.  A definite must stop if you're ever a tourist in Colorado Springs. I thought it was extremely well done with the largest collection of Olympic torches and medals in the world.  Georgie even got to hold a gold meda...

 It has been awhile since I posted.  We had a houseful of company for about a week that I had to care for. Let's go back to March 14th when it was my big 6-3 birthday.  It was a wonderful day with greetings and messages from friends and family, dinner at my favorite Irish pub and then a concert. Tanya Tucker was in town for my birthday so we ventured over to the Pikes Peak Center.  I've been a fan of hers probably as long as she's been in the business (50 years).  I credit my brother with our family liking her.  I believe he introduced us to her music when he spent summers working in the oil fields of West Texas.  We've seen her in concert several times over the years and I'm thrilled to see her making a bit of a comeback. Tanya was extremely personable with the audience which I really appreciate.  She even brought her dog Stella on stage.  In 2020 she won Best Country Song at the Grammys with Brandi Carlile.  It's a beautiful song with ...

After three years it was time to head back downtown for my annual birthday run also known as the Colorado Springs St. Patrick's Day 5K.  We had signed up for this event in 2020, but then had to do it virtually.  The day started out windy and chilly although in the sun it wasn't too bad.  Everyone has big smiles before the event begins. The crowd looked smaller than previous years.  According to the results there were 534 males and 735 females taking part in the race.  I knew I was walking so I found a spot along the side near the back.  No reason to get in the way of the runners. It's a flat course that goes through the downtown streets.  I always look forward to the mile markers.  About this time I was nice and warm and paused to take my jacket off which later turned out to be a mistake. Here I am on Tejon Street headed towards Colorado College where the turn around to the final stretch is.  I never did see the two mile marker, but I caught ...

 We finally got the call last Monday!  Aspen was distemper free and was cleared to come home. We did all the paperwork and then the lady went to the back to bring her out to us.  They always carry the puppies to prevent piddling in the lobby.  When we first saw Aspen in the lady's arms we couldn't believe how big she had gotten!  Her ears are too big for her head and she looked humungous. After getting her home though she didn't look that much bigger than Maisy.  She's about 18 pounds compared to Maisy who is 14 pounds.  She doesn't like sitting still for pictures so I don't have any good ones yet. Everything is a first for her since she's been in isolation.  She loves going for walks as long as Maisy is with her.  She likes being the lead dog so Irv has to run with her at times to keep up with Maisy. Her first few days she just wanted to sit on the couch and be cuddled.  Every sound startled her.  The couch is still her safe spot w...