Another Tuesday Download and How We Saved Three Lives

Well...where to begin.  This is a long post so get your drink of choice ready.  I guess I'll start at the beginning:

Remember a few months back when I wondered what dinosaurs had to do with September 11th?  Well I found out!  Sort of.  That little dinosaur-filled town of Granger built a September 11th memorial and it is very nice:

I made a trip up to Grandview (right near Granger, WA) on Thursday and got to see the final product.  I also got to see a lot of big pipe, some dirt, mud, and a moon-faced horse.  The horse was too far away so I couldn't get a pic of him or her.

I got to see a few deer and about 60 wild horses on the Yakima Indian Reservation.  Oh they are beautiful.  I wanted to stop and take pictures because they get so close to the highway, but there is no good place to turn off so I wasn't able to this time.  Maybe next trip.  In the meantime, read the link and don't ask me why I say Yakima and the other information reads Yakama.  I tried looking it up and I don't know when or why the change was made.  I do know that a lot of Indian words were changed to a phonetic spelling at some point so what we know and read does not always match up with the language of the people who created the words.

That night I went to The Dalles and stayed at my parents place.  A good friend that I grew up with died just before Christmas and the memorial was on Friday.  So sad.  He had a loving wife, a teenage daughter, an 11 year old son and a 6 year old daughter.  A lot of the people I grew up with were there although my friend Tina had to tell me who half of them were.  It was very nice to see everyone and to see so many people at the service. It was standing room only. One woman flew in from New Zealand.

That night a bunch of us got together at the local bar and visited.  I hadn't seen some of these people in 12 years.  I did get to visit with Bobbi whom I have known since 3rd or 4th grade.  What I love about going back home and seeing these people is that we all just pick up right where we left off.

It was chilly on Saturday morning, New Years Eve.  There was a little bit of snow on the Cascades when I drove through the Gorge:

Oh Boy was Saturday exciting!  It started out with a 2 mile walk at the river with my little black sidekick, Clover:

Then I came home and made Swedish Brownies in my new Dala Horse pan that Berniece gave me.  The Brown Eyed Man and The Boy cannot get enough of these.  I made a double batch again yesterday and they are almost gone.

I made myself a new ironing board cover!  I know - I'm a wild woman.  I needed one and I couldn't see spending the money on one when I had the extra fabric sitting around and I needed something to keep me out of trouble:



Now, onto the life-saving adventures of Jennifer and The Girl...

So, Friday night, while driving home from work, the Girl sees a girl walking down the road and the walking girl flashed a flashlight at The Girl.  The Girl pulls over, locks her doors, cracks her window, holds her pepper spray in one hand and asks what's up.  The walking girl is mega-pregnant and is trying to get away from her abusive boyfriend.  Isn't from here, doesn't have a phone, doesn't know any phone numbers.  The Girl LET'S HER IN THE CAR and then drives her to someones house and they part ways.  Miraculously, The Girl was not murdered.

Thursday night, while perusing Facebook, I see that one of my co-workers is trying to find a home for their two year old, neutered, male, black lab.  I casually mention it to my parents and they seemed oddly interested.  Then they proceeded to hound me (no pun intended) for the next two days about this dog.

This co-worker and their spouse had to move to another state.  The spouse was given a promotion and they didn't have much notice to move.  They had a female golden retriever and this male black lab.  The golden went right away.  Black lab did not.  They were leaving Friday morning and had no plans for this dog's new home.  The only plan was that co-worker's dad would come and feed him until they found someone to take him.  HEART. BREAKING.  There were a couple of interested parties though.

Sunday morning co-worker let me know that the dog was not wanted by either of those parties and my parents could have him if they wanted.  The Girl and I high-tailed it out there and picked him up.  His name is Barkley and he is wonderful. 

The sweetest, lovingest, snuggly black lab ever.  We took him to Petco and gave him two baths:

Oh my was Barkley dirty. In his defense, he was an outside dog.  We also bought him an nice new red collar (right after he pooped in the collar aisle) and then we took him home to our house.  Clover nearly came unglued.  Barkley developed an attachment to me and decided that Clover could not come near me.  He got over that though.

I don't understand how they could leave him behind.  I'm trying to not be mad about it, but it really is heart breaking.  This is a two year old dog that doesn't know how to catch a treat in his mouth, go up stairs, jump into a car.  He barely knows how to sit when commanded.  Why have a dog if you're going to ignore it and then just leave it?

Mom and Dad and Belle came to get him yesterday. It was a dog party at the Carters.  Just look at those three happy labs.

He's now at his new home and I hope he loves it there.  He's already spoiled.  Last night he slept in a recliner.  He's anxious though and worried about Dad leaving the house.  I hope he eases into his new life.  We would have kept him ourselves if we had more room.  Brown Eyed Man loved him and that doesn't happen often.

Finally, the last photo.  The Boy and The Girlfriend came over yesterday to watch the Rose Bowl in which THE DUCKS WON 45-38!!!!!!!!  I'm a little happy about that.  Anyway, The Boy loves him some dog and was playing with a very exhausted Clover.  The Boy looks like he might be tired too. Maybe too much partying on New Years?

My gosh that was a long post.  I hope you stuck with me through to the end.  I have a new plan in the works for some of the posts on this blog.  They involve my Gram's journals that she started 40 years ago.  I need to figure out how I'm going to do it, but stay tuned!

J