2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

HOPE 2011 IS A VERY HAPPY HEALTHY
YEAR FOR EVERYONE.. :)

TWAS THE NITE BEFORE CHRISTMAS...........................

Twas the nite before Christmas
  when I decided to look
To see who was writing
  on my FaceBook
The games were all buzzin'
  and stories were told
What everyones doing
  and "My, was it Cold"
Stay warm and real Cozy
  and Kids don't be Nozy
Santa is coming and soon
  you'll be dozing
Christmas is near,  thanks to
   eight famous Rein Deer
I turn to leave and
  hear so much chatter
I look at my computer to
  see whats the matter
It's Cathy & Wendy & Amy &  Bandie
   Theres Anny & Alice &  Forrest & Randy
Marilyn & Karen & Rebecca &  Chelsea
  Andrew & Stacey & Rachel & Maddie
I hear Theresa & Greg & Niesee & Danny
  Then Faith & Liz & Olimpia & Candy.
 All my friends and Family are here
  It can only mean its been a good year.
With everyone here, Now I will write
Merry Christmas to All and to All
 A GOOD NIGHT.
Happy Holidays from Debbie , Kim, And Ben (the DOG)

BLOGGING IS SO PEACEFUL

I have not posted anything for a long time. I hate to admit it but when I get the chance to sit at my computer I usually will visit Face Book. All my  Friends and Family are there and it is a good way to catch up with everyone. Face Book is so busy. To me it feels like a very busy shopping mall on Black Friday. You have to push and shove your way to be heard or seen and hope that what you post will be noticed by everyone. But still it seems to be the place to be.  The beautiful picture that I posted is one that my brother Randy,who lives in Hawaii took. I couldn't resist using it. It seems so quite and peaceful, kind of like Blogging. It is still my favorite  social media and I have even made a few new friends here. I want to wish everyone a Happy Holiday season, hope you find Peace and Joy each day .

OH GOOD GRIEF----------CHEESE PLEASE!!!

So last week I called Izzy's pizza parlour for an order to go and here's what happened:

them: Izzy's can I help you
me: Hi , I would like to call in an order
them: you'll have to speak up we are very busy
me : can I call in an order please
them: I'm sorry, we are a few people short and we are busy I cannot hear you
me: I want to place an order
them: OK , what would you like
me: I would like a 2 piece chicken and mojos , a small order of mojos and a small cheese pizza
them: what kind of pizza
me: cheese
them: what
me : cheese
them : I cant hear you , what kind of pizza
me: CHEESE
them : I am going into the office where I can hear you
me: OK
them: OK now what kinda of pizza    
me: cheese please
them: what was that 
me: OH GOOD GRIEF
them: well I am sorry  we are busy
me: oh you heard that but you can't hear cheese
me: cheese plain cheese    C  H  E  E  S  E 
them: pepperoni
me: no---- cheese
them :I am going to give you to some one else
me : great, 
them: what would  you like
me: 2 pc chicken & mojos extra mojo, small cheese pizza
them: got it , give us 20 minutes

OK, so I go to pick it up and I get 2pc chicken (no mojos) small order of mojos and a pepperoni pizza
I tell the guy (very elderly guy) who came to the drive up window :
me: my order is not right
them: are you sure you called here.
me: Yes I am sure
them: Give me your food back

He takes my food fills the box with what he said was all of the chicken, adds mojos and brings it back.
them: have you paid yet
me: no but here's my card
them: keep it , take it, my name is Larry and I am the night shift superviser, you may here something about this and I DON"T CARE, now,what about the pizza,
me: don't want it , we wont eat it
them : then have a good night

All we wanted was a small cheese pizza, I think Larry may need a break.
            

FISHERMANS WHARFS

Kim and I went to San Fransisco for a few days and this is a few photos of Fishermans Wharf. This is one of our favorite places to visit when we go to the Gold Cup Races each Fall.

DAISIES AND CARMEL FRAPPES'

Today is my Birthday. I feel like I should have really deep thoughts about the rest of my life. But  it just seems like any other day. I am getting ready to go to work , the closing shift of course. I have cleaned the house, gave Ben a bath and walk to the park, finished the laundry and even washed some windows. Kim is in California working and its just another Tuesday. I guess it is what you make of it. It is not sunny, or raining, it is just quiet outside. So, what will I make of today? Its like plucking the petals off a daisy. Good day Bad day Good day Bad day.  I know today will be a good, no great, no wait, SUPER day. Nothing will  go wrong today,(my daisy is never wrong) My Day, my way. I need to go to McDonald's and have a Carmel Frappe'. Yep, that it how it begins, the rest of my life. With Daisy plucking and a Carmel Frappe'. And heres to many many more!

STEP BY STEP

BARK BARKBARKBARKBARK!!!   This is how my day off started,
Ben was barking at nothing. Absolutely nothing. He was pretty darn proud of himself too. So at 7:00 am I got up. Thank you very much Ben.

Next, me and Ben went to the park for an early walk (maybe this is what Ben wanted with all the barking).

Then we got ready for a trip to the Vets, time to update a few vaccinations. While we were there, Ben made two new friends . "Baby" the pug and "Sandy" the standard poodle. That was pretty fun. Ben is weighing in at 85.5 lbs. He is quite a bit smaller than our former Collies, all three weighed over 100 lbs.

Came home and worked in the yard pulling, spraying and killing tons of weeds. We kicked their asses. Don't think they will be back anytime soon.

Met my friend Suzanne in town for lunch and a little shopping. That was fun.

Sat outside enjoying the sun, my Dog and a good book.

Will be watching big Brother tonight. Love that show.

 Day off. Gotta get more of these.

BENS BROTHER HARLAN

THIS IS A PHOTO OF BEN'S BROTHER HARLAN WHEN HE 
WAS 12 WEEKS OLD. WE JUST LEARNED THAT ON JULY 8TH,
(6 DAYS SHORT OF HIS SECOND BIRTHDAY) HARLANS LIFE WAS ENDED WHEN HE WAS HIT BY A MOTOR CYCLE. THIS IS TRULY HEARTBREAKING....... OUR THOUGHTS ARE WITH HARLANS PEOPLE. 

TWO YEARS OLD (A PUPPY CARD)

Today Ben is a BIG boy. He turns 2 years old. He would like to send out Birthday wishes to his 3 brothers and 2 sisters.

Hi family,
I am hoping that this birthday wish finds each of you to be happy and loved, I have heard from Debbie and Kim( they are my peeps) that you all have changed your names too. Remember, I used to be called Phillipe, and I knew you all as , BJ, Gaston, Chip, Babette, and Fifi, so since I am not sure what your new names are I will use the ones that I knew you by. OK. 
So you remember how much fun we used to have crawling around in that huge 'O pool when we were just puppies, Well guess what, I have another one, It is not as big but it always has water in it and I really really REALLY love to play in the water. Sometimes Kim will let me just play and play when he is using the water hose in the yard. It is so funny because when he is all done doing what he was trying to do ,he is so wet, I am too  and I had so much fun spraying him and shaking water on him. 
Hey Chip, remember when you always picked on me when we were like, two or three weeks old. Fun times Huh. Gaston,do you still like to be held ALL the time?

I was looking at some puppy pics today and you know what, I think that me and BJ looked so much alike and I bet we still do. Fifi and Babette are you two still real pretty. I bet you look like Mom. I saw some pictures of a whole new family that Mom had and her puppies were so cute. Debbie says that I look just like Mom. I love you Mom, I know you will be thinking about all of us today and please know that I have a very happy and healthy life. So, I  will be going , I bet I will get something really great for my 2nd Birthday. Hope you all do too.

Happy Birthday Family. Miss you all

BEN

EL NATURAL

 BEAUTIES IN MY BACKYARD!

A WALK IN THE PARK

  Ben's favorite thing to do on a Sunny Afternoon is go for a walk to the Park. Today he got to chase a frog, of all things, into the brush. He also chased a baby snake in our own backyard. Yikes! I hate snakes. I think this was probably the first one Ben has seen and I am really hoping he doesn't decide to " fetch" me one. But it was a very nice walk in the Park.

TAKE THE TIME

 I was taking a few photos of Spring things in the backyard when I noticed Ben taking the time to enjoy some flowers. Actually there was a little bumble bee buzzing around and I think he may have been spying on it.

Ben is so funny about thingz. He will  N O T  let you hold his toys when you are playing fetch with him. He has to chase them , bring them to you , chew on them , tug with you while placing them in your lap. He wont let go . You have to wrestle them from him in order to continue playing fetch.

When You finally get it away from him and toss it ,it starts all over again. Or it may not. You may throw it and this time YOU have to go get it.  This is Fun. This is the best ever. Life should be so simple. Get a toy, chase a toy, bite a toy, tug a toy. I really need to take the time to try this.

BARKING FOR FUN ?

This is what I spent my entire day off doing. Barking. Me and Ben. While barking is nothing new for Ben. It sure made my back sore. Got caught in a terrible down pour before it was over and honestly I didn't really mind. I was so hot from laoding and pushing wheel barrow after wheel barrow that the rain was kinda of refreshing. Wish I could plant some Palm trees . I really like palms. This is a before and after shot of some of the area I worked on. Glad it is done.

IT ALL COMES OUT IN THE WASH, RIGHT?

My dryer quit working. So This weekend we spent all Saturday looking for a new dryer. We went to alot of stores, two of them four times each. You have to compare quality, brands. features,and of course price. The last time we had to buy a washer and dryer it was easier. Now you nearly have to get a loan to pay for a set. Most are ranging in price from 1200.00 to 4000.00. You have to choose front load verses top load and do you want pedestals or would you rather squat. Some washers and dryers also have steam! Steam. My clothes have really been mistreated. They may go into shock. Dryers shut them selves off when clothes are dry, that's pretty smart. They each have at least 50 different settings ( I will probably use two of them, once I figure out where the start button is)Wow. It is so over whelming. So by the end of Saturday we were pretty sure we had made a chose. But then ,we get up Sunday Morning and confusion of which set we would get started all over again. So we went back to three of the stores we started with and tried again to pick a set. We were armed this time with information from consumer reports and instead of making it simpler, It felt like it was harder. But finally, we did choose,we are getting an LG set, front load, with only a few features that seemed reasonable that we would ever use. COLORS, did I mention colors. You can get a rainbow of colors. So we did the only thing we could, we chose a beautiful white. No pedestal. We are going to make a platform to stand them on.Oh yeah, You also have to be sure to use a special HE detergent in these computerized clothes cleaning gadgets. Welcome to 2010. I am excited to get these but a little nervous I may not be able to operate them. : !

HOW  DOGS CELEBRATE LIFE

1. RISE AT 5:30 AM.  WET NOSE THE MASTER

2. GO OUT AND PEE ON THE WORLD

3. MAKE POOPY

4. SNIFF POOPY

5. SERIOUSLY THINK ABOUT
 EATING POOPY

 6. EAT FUNNY LOOKING BUG INSTEAD

7. THROW UP BUG PARTS ON LIVING ROOM FLOOR

                                                   

8. DRINK OUT OF MAGIC WELL

                                                   

 9. SLEEP FOR 17 HOURS, START ALL OVER AGAIN.

C L E A R

So, At work Friday I learned how to save a life. YIKES! Right, who in the world would possibly want me to be working on their heart. We were taught how to use a defibrillator. It turns out it is a lot easier to use than it is to say it or spell it. The trick, while crazily uncomplicated is to first , make sure the person you are about to use it on, really really really needs it.

We learned that just because a person appears to be unconscious, they may simply be taking it easy, or sleeping or tanning. So you must first shake them and tap them on their shoulders to see if they will arouse. If not, (NO it's not time to shock em just yet), You must listen and feel for their breath for at least 5 seconds or maybe even 10 seconds.

Then, you can give them one of your breaths. And if you happen to have a mouth guard on you or filter paper to protect you from their germs, well that's even better. Then, ( Still, NO, it is not time to zing-a-ling ), but it is time to begin compressions. Yep, thirty hard pushes on the old ticker and two quick breaths. Then thirty compressions, two breaths, thirty compressions, two breaths, thirty compressions, two breathes, and finally thirty compressions and two breaths. Five sets.

Now, if while you were doing all of these heart thumping rhythms you were wondering maybe just how fast you should be pumping blood thru your victims body, don't worry, Simply hum "Staying Alive " and keep that beat going. It has the perfect "beat" to get their juices flowing. An adult actually has enough air and blood coursing through their body from time of collapse to survive for 4 minutes. So while you are aerobic-sizing, if someone is near by, take a second to send them to call 911 and get the defibrillator (A E D).

Then continue compressions. I know , I know, its really hard, you just cannot believe how much this takes out of you. But there is so much adrenaline in you, you will hardly notice that your legs and back are numb and your chest aches like mad.

Once they arrive with the weapon of choice, you quickly open the case, get out all the parts, Turn the thing on (big green button) stick the pads to their body where indicated by cartoon drawings, and listen for further instructions. The Defib will actually monitor their system and tell you if it is detecting any heart rhythms and whether or not you get to shock them.

Sooo, if there is nothing going on in there, the defib tells you to "STAY CLEAR" while it is charging up and "STAY CLEAR", final warning!!(and long after panic is no longer the option and you are absolutely exhausted from compression after compression and the defib is charged and waiting), you finally get to Hit the BIG RED BUTTON and "ROCK THEIR WORLD".

Thank God if it works and hope you never ever have to do that again. This training is so great anyone and everyone should have it. You can save a life.