Birthday 2022

Mom's birthday, the day before mine, we got together for birthday lunch

apparently birthday #52 is Disney Villains themed? 

literally all the "birthday" photos I took. 

But I did manage a few screenshots from Miss Colbie's FaceTime calls :)

 

Tuesday July 26: Meet Orian

Since we lost Jake May 28 and then Charlie moved July 13 I started bookmarking all the animal shelters within driving distance to start looking for a new brother for Aidan. 

For two weeks I'd hemmed and hawed and found a reason for any border collie that came up not to be just right. 

My list:

No puppies, at least 2 years old.

No seniors, because my heart can't take another loss too soon.

No dogs who look too much like any of our past dogs.

No girls. Katy will be the one and only girl.

No dogs that have any behavioral issues that would be a problem with Colbie or Olive visits (dogs that test aggressively with other dogs or react in a way that makes them worrisome around small children)

There had been a couple where I saw them in the morning, went to see and they were already adopted by the end of the day. I tried to only look in the evenings in case the One showed up, I might be able to get to the place before the opened the next day. 

Monday, July 25 in the evening, only newly posted border collie mixes were puppiers.

On Tuesday, July 26 for some reason, I decided to just look again at lunch and there, at the Fort Collins Animal Friends Alliance shelter, popped up this guy, named Dean at the time.

The write up listed him as three years old, in love with people and other dogs, and very much needing a canine companion to play with and a person who would be around a lot. 

I filled out the application and got an email back about an hour later saying I was approved but they didn't hold dogs. He was there at the moment, if I wanted to come meet him. Of course, it's the middle of the day and Fort Collins is two hours north of here. But Bob, already up in Golden at work, was able to take the afternoon off and get up there in 90 minutes. 

They told him Dean had already been adopted once and returned by an elderly lady who reported he was just too "high energy." He's a border collie (by at least half). Of course.

On the drive back, on group text, after I said we needed a name starting with an O or a U (the only two vowels we haven't used) and ending in -an, Sam suggested Orion, which I decided was just fine as Orian. (I won't be looking for his name on a souvenir, no problem.) 

Because Colbie answers "what does a cow say?" and because of his Holstein black and white markings, his middle name is Moo.

Even though it was starting to rain when he arrived, within a minute, here was the action in the backyard:

He is a small guy, although we'll likely have to get a doggie DNA test to figure out what he's mixed with. He has that BC personality, but size wise, he might be part Corgi or Aussie Cattle Dog. He almost never barks. He is housetrained (one accident due to rain issues). 

But after three days (at the time of this blog) if he's 3 years old, I'll eat my hat. His behaviors are way too puppy like, his teeth puppy white, for me to believe he's out of his adolescent year. Our main focus is "off" because he loves to jump up. He's already made incredible progress in just three days.

He wasn't sure about the stuffed Evan...

But he's very sure about the live Aidan. They've only gotten into a non-play tussle once, just growling and wrestling, no biting. Good sign.

the play wrastlin' on the other hand, is pretty adorable

He really loves being on his back. He typically sleeps with all four paws up, too. 

a rare ear down photo 

Empty House

Now that the kids decamped to Florida, the house needed rearranging again, so the first week of the empty house was filled with a whole lot of sorting, trashing, organizing, and moving. 

Thanks to Amazon Prime deals the same week, I was able to get both another room AC and a convertible chair that turns into a twin bed for the Disney room, aka Colbie's room when she visits. 

So there's now room for her pack and play until she graduates to a bed, an AC unit for the summer heat visits, and a great space to read and sleep that doesn't fill up the room like a regular bed. I did however get a super thick cooling gel memory foam topper for guests because there is no convertible bed in the world that has a good enough mattress to sleep on comfortably. 

After Colbie's visit, I was more cognizant of what I'm organizing down low -- so the shelves down low have either cubes or soft things she can play safely with.

I had already reorganized the area in between the rooms with her books (including a growing NYC children's book section) and my Weebles and Playskills blocks on the lower shelves. 

I had also moved the pet shrine upstairs to the other corner by my bedroom

Over in the other guest room I put all the non Disney treasures like my drafting table (a gift Dad procured from an auction on my 19th birthday, it's been moved around soooo many times), Nell's clock & rug, Mamammy's dresser, Sammi's nighttable, as well as a double fold out bed in the couch (also with packed away 4" gel topper available to actually sleep)

I was able to hang my Broadway signed posters up again, too!

 

July Cabin Trip

Quick little trip out to the cabin, despite messing up the moon calendar and realizing it's about as far away in the month from a new moon to try Milky Way photography as possible. 

And despite Marci forgetting the telescope that hooks up to my camera to try some up close moon shots. 

And despite the fact that clouds would have obscured any attempt at either kind of photography . . .

it was a lovely visit filled with good company, conversation, a whole lot of hummingbirds, and a few other wildlife sightings.

Victor burros in their pen

Milo the shop cat at the Victor Trading Co.

The Fortune Club had just reopened after a long refurb. 

The morning brought a few elk out to the road

we took the scenic route back to Marci's and stopped along Tarryall at the waterfall

On Guanella Pass, we came across this herd right on the road, with a bunch of babies

Back to Idaho Springs for a short walk in the sunshine and a sit on Marci's porch