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In loving memory of Juniper Beulah
Our goofy…
travel loving
walk seeking
window gazing
hike taking
backpack sporting
laugh making
coat wearing
dirt rolling
hole digging
food begging
garden guarding
couch cuddling
snow stomping
park running
bed snuggling
sight seeing
car traveling
MOST adorable, lovable, and wonderful dog!
She was everything we could ever ask for in a canine companion and will be missed tremendously.
It’s the Duper-Dog!
Since we had so little winter, when we went for Juniper’s annual check-up, we added a flea and tick shot to her usual complement of vaccines. Unfortunately, and especially so for elderly dogs (we think she’s 12-13!), this particular one can cause kidney damage, sometimes even failure.
We realized this was likely the case when our normally bubbly and energetic pooch stopped spinning for her supper, struggled to get up the stairs, yelped in pain when we tried to cuddle, could not keep up on walks, couldn’t get in the car, and was sleeping nearly alllll the time.
It was a sad and frightening time for us, not knowing if she was going to make it, but she is on the rebound, and mostly entirely herself again after about a month of wondering. What a potent reminder that pets aren’t with us forever. HUGS…
Tags: Juniper Beulah
Welcome to high school hockey at Ed Robson arena at Colorado College. We went to support my cousin’s no longer little number 72. While the team didn’t win their games, our favorite player scored three goals, huzzah!
He and his Mom were in town for a tournament and stayed with us, during which time we learned: Number 72 has grown, both more adult and articulate, AND about seven inches taller since we last saw him, towering over me (zoiks!); our new pizza oven does okay indoors when making two pizzas, but four is akin to a three alarm fire, with all the cornmeal and a single pepperoni getting torched and smoking up the place. Still delicious, however!
Puzzle season began!
We also had some really weird weather in December. All across the state, the temperatures were in the sixties, sometimes seventies, the absolute warmest I can recall in my nearly forty years of life here, day after day. The heat hardly came on, and we were sporting early fall gear, like Greg’s short sleeve tee and jeans. It didn’t make us any less cuddly, however, just ask Juniper.
In January news, we’ve completely made up for it, with several storms, one with a lot of heavy snow, and a deep freeze of subzero overnight temperatures. We are just on the other side of it now, with a nice 41 degree afternoon as I type. Juniper is pleased as punch to finally get a walk!
Since our Dungeons and Dragons group dissolved, good grief, probably five years ago(!), we hadn’t done much playing, which made us a little sad. So, Greg dug through his original D&D gear (1980, I think?) and found an adventure for us. It was a new way of playing for me, drawing my own map, but I really liked it!
I don’t suppose, after any sort of absence, that it is surprising that I would highlight food. Our daily “bread”, if you will. So here we are. Unlike the legions I assume are purchasing every manner of pumpkin spice product I spy on offer at the local grocery, because ’tis the season, my fall and winter tastes lie firmly in turkey and cranberry land, even more particularly, jellied. I can, to be quite crass, eat a shit-ton, joyfully, unapologetically.
This is a turkey meatloaf (I initially typed “meatlove,” and damn, the accuracy!) topped with a glorious, mushroom with a dash of sherry, gravy, to state the obvious. I was deeply saddened when I realized I had no jellied cranberry in the house (rectified forthwith!) but made due with a little tart apple jelly I made earlier. Heaven on a plate, my dear peeps.
Further evidence of our very high-low tastes, a little snack plate of favorites, including, the sharpest of cheddar, cheetos, and slices of american. We take our cheesy products any which way.
In the olden days, I would nearly hack my fingers to pieces in order to peel and dice a ridiculously hard winter squash, bits flying hither and thither, and generally making a mess. Until, one brilliant light bulb afternoon, I decided to put the whole thing in the oven at 400 and bake until tender. The downside to this, I suspect, is not having cute cubes drizzled in olive oil, but a nice puree with said oil or butter(!) is equally tasty. My fingers are happy and Greg, too, as there is no angry cursing involved, either. Plus, how beautiful to photograph!
A few highlights from earlier ambles about. How lucky we are to have such lovely views in walking distance.
Speaking of easy on the eyes, this is my desk immediately before posting. Actually clean and tidy! For a relatively small surface, it took nearly two hours to sort through the mess. Our life has been a little upside down, as of late, and I kept robotically moving piles of this and that, in helter skelter fashion, on and on and on, until the piles became their own chaotic entities, sliding about the desk. Madness. Fingers crossed I can keep it together for a bit.
Also, a quick note about Ducky, who has been one of my best loved toys for fifty years! How cute is he, keeping company at the keyboard.
Hello from a couple of nerdy introverts celebrating thirty-four years since our first date! We took full advantage of Superbowlers watching football, went out on the town in the mid-afternoon to little traffic and even fewer people in restaurants. Our view was nice and the food unremarkable, but it was so fun to ponder how this length of time is both magical and quite unreal. We occupy the same bodies, yet we are not the same people! In more ways than I can count, I thank goodness for this. How much more measured, mature, insightful, and strong we have become. How much more in love, in friendship, in goofiness, and laughter. Here’s to thirty-four more, which is not actually impossible (we’d be 87).
I baked a cake to celebrate and lit that candle for our own good favor!
The icing on the cake of our day was a literal float – note Greg’s look of surprise at his buoyancy! We spent an hour in what is probably most akin to a blissful day on the Dead Sea, minus any fear of sunburn, silently bobbing away our worries, aches, and pains. It was weird, as the volume of salt makes it feel a little slimy, and fun because you absolutely do NOT sink. I highly recommend it.
