Family

If you build it they will come

Published on by Casey

Well, technically I didn’t build anything, but they came anyway.  They being my in-laws.  Noah’s eldest brother, Joe and his family (wife, kids, dog & cat — which got lost and found in the Rockies) officially became residents of Colorado yesterday and in the same town we live in no less!  I Googled the distance between our homes earlier today and it’s 2.3 miles.   Just about twice the distance we lived apart in California.  In both places we were almost due north of Joe et al and while living in California, never saw each other.  Interesting…

Since we moved out here two years ago, and since I’m originally a Jones, I can say they are trying to keep up with the Joneses.  Heh.  It sounds better than keeping up with the Baileys, no one has ever heard of that phrase.  I think Noah is secretively/subtly trying to convince more members of his family to move to Colorado.  But then again, I have been urging friends and my immediate family to move here too.  It’s just so much nicer than California…cheaper too!

Anyway I digress…the in-laws got into town yesterday along with Noah’s parents, another brother (Jake), and Jake’s friend.   The original plan was for them to arrive over the holiday weekend, but they decided to push everything back a day, which essentially reduced any unpacking help from Noah and myself down to next to nothing.  Shucks.  We did go over to their home after work yesterday.  Noah helped unload the trailer, I sat in the Noah’s truck as I was more in the way than actually able to help.  Then, when the womenfolk arrived I helped set-up the kitchen.  Unfortunately I came across a bottle of maple syrup that leaked all over a bunch of spices and later last night  Joe found a container of Pillsbury biscuits that didn’t quite make it over the mountain passes.

I imagine if there is anything left to do this weekend we will be able to help out then.  Maybe tomorrow night if we skip softball, same goes for Thursday but with Life Group.

What not to feed a puppy

Published on by Casey
  1. Aspirin
  2. Advil
  3. Excedrin
  4. Ginger capsules
  5. Caffeine pills
  6. Imitrex
  7. Lip balm

Last night while we were at softball practice Lava decided she was going to raid my purse for goodies.  Unfortunately what she found was my pill bottle.  Not a good idea.  Once again, we (by we, I mean Noah) had to force her to vomit, not fun.  Then, she kept us up all night by either puking or wanting to go outside to eat grass (something dogs do when they are ill).  It was not a fun night and sometime shortly after 4am, when it appeared Lava was on a caffeine buzz and really wanted to chow down on grass, I informed Noah that I was going downstairs to sleep in the guest bedroom.  It took a while to fall asleep down there as I could hear Lava bouncing off the walls in the bedroom above me.

Lava was still sick this morning, the grass came back up, but at the same time, acted like her normal happy self.  But as a precaution, she went to work with Noah where her behavior can be monitored to determine if we have to take her into the vet or not.  Needless to say, Noah and I will be the ones needing caffeine today.

The Puking Puppy Returns!

Published on by Casey

What comes with Easter? Candy and bunnies right? Well, not quite in the Bailey household. Candy yes (bunnies wonder in and out of our yard year round) and one sick puppy dog. If you recall, last year Lava ate a LOT of Easter candy while we were out. So much so we ended up taking her to the emergency vet clinic in Boulder. Not so much fun. This year, I kept the candy behind closed doors upstairs where puppy noses don’t venture.

Last night Noah and I went to another couple’s house for dinner. When we came home, Lava had once again gotten into the Easter candy. How you might ask? As it turns out, Noah went into the office (the room that held the stash) before we left to look up the address for the house we were headed to. Before we left Noah someone forgot to close said door. Oops. Our little white find had gorged herself mainly on Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and a couple small packages Skittles. Thankfully our friend Bernadette had educated us on how to make a dog barf. Lovely. Since I can’t stand barf and basically this was all Noah’s fault, he got to do the honors while I laid on the love seat with a book in hand.

So, now that the puking puppy has returned I can wish everyone an early Happy Easter!

Slowing Down? Probably Not.

Published on by Casey

I can now say February is winding down. This has been a very busy month for us with visitors, snow excursions and sporting events on top of our already pretty busy schedule. This weekend Noah’s eldest brother’s wife, Erika, stayed with us as she flew in from California to attend a teaching job fair in Aurora yesterday. It was a quick trip, in Friday night and out this morning. But just because Erika was here didn’t mean we sat around idly waiting for to get back from the career expo. I went to my friend Alison’s baby shower in the morning and Noah went golfing in the afternoon with the husband’s of all the wives that were at the shower. When Erika did make it back to the house, she and I headed into Boulder in an unsuccessful attempt to make it to Celestial Seasonings before they closed. So, instead of buying good tea she can’t get in California, we drove around the city as I showed her points of interest (Noah’s office, my office, our church). Okay, so they may not make the tourist map, but it helped put the area together for Erika.

With each step forward they carefully avoided each of the large holes. The absence of vegetation exaggerated the barrenness of the field. As the sun set lower in the distance and the wind blew dark clouds towards their location, they knew they had scarce time to safely pass through the land. Warning cries went off in the distance. First one, than another. Time was short. The leader increased her pace, not willing to slow down, but not wanting to leave the other two behind. The trees ahead were a shield of sorts, despite their sickly branches and lack of leaves. Although the other side of the grove did not mean certain safety, they did offer a sense of refuge. Another alarm sounded as another faded. Their progress through the field was being signaled, there was no way to avoid it. Without cover, the group was at the mercy of the land around them. One misstep and devastation would be upon them.

Okay, so maybe devistation is a bit unreallistic, after all the above description is of Noah and I walking Lava through Rotham Open Space (another open space that our neighborhood backs up to…but not the one behind our house) this afternoon. We had never actually walked through this open space, but decided to today. As soon as we made it through the tall grass we entered a barren “wasteland” and was soon greeted by prairie dog warning barks. One would pop up out of its hole, sound the alarm and then jump down into hiding before we got to close. But, then another one would pop up a little further down the path and continue the warning. This continued until we left the open space and they felt the threat was eliminated. Lava, the terror that she is, didn’t blink an eye. However, a thought I had as we walked through the barren hole filled land was that it looked as if we were walking through a mine field. Only if I had to walk through a mine field, I would choose one with holes that bark and were not caused by large explosions.

A Visit from California

Published on by Casey

For once, to see family from the West Coast we didn’t have to take and 18-hour road trip (it actually took them around 20-hours due to heavy snow along I-70). Last weekend Noah’s eldest brother Joe, and his wife Erika came to Colorado sans kidletts for a much deserved week of R&R. But that’s not the real reason for their excursion, they drove the 18-hours to scout for houses and jobs in the Boulder County area. Another couple trying to keep up with the Joneses (I can get away with saying that since I’ll always still be a Jones). Noah and Casey – the trendsetters. Hah! Joe and Erika arejust succumbing to the fact that California is ridiculously expensive and Colorado has much more to offer! I hope they are able to find a house and jobs, allowing them to move out here. Wonder who will be next…Gretna?

Gone Fishin’

Published on by Casey

Last night I fumbled a Swedish Fish and it fell in Lava’s water bowl.  Funny enough on it’s own, I know.  But it gets better.

Lava, knowing there’s something other than water in her bowl laps a drink a couple of times in an attempt to get to the fish.  Undeterred, Lava dunks her face into her water bowl and “catches” the fish.  Very funny.  Another fish had tumbled to the floor when the 1st one landed in the water, but Noah and picked it up.  After the first fish was “caught”, we dropped the other one into the bowl.  Lava, laps a drink once before dunking her face once again to retrieve the fish.  Very funny, but yet, still gets better.

I had gone downstairs to call my sister and tell her about my dog’s innate fishing ability.  Meanwhile, Noah finished drying off the dogs face in the kitchen.  However, Lava wasn’t done.  She proceeded to dunk her face in her water just to check there weren’t any more fish.  Noah got tired of drying her and said he wouldn’t do it again, so I grabbed a new towel (still on the phone with my sister) and dried the dog’s face.  I then dropped the phone, it hit the floor and freaked out Lava.  Lol!  So I picked up the phone, laughing hysterically, and left the kicthen.  No more had I stepped out of the kitchen then did Lava dunk her face once more.  Now, as much fun as this was, I too had tired of drying her face, so I dumped the water out and washed her bowl…effectively removing all fish smell and ending the face dunking madness!

The Great Mouse Detective

Published on by Casey

Our dog must think she’s a cat…or maybe she’s just disgusting.

Tonight Noah was putting the boxes of Christmas decorations under the house. While he was up doing something Lava went down to “explore”. I had placed more boxes by the door and thus trapped her in an area where she couldn’t get to the rest of the house. Anyway, Noah came back to watch a scene in X-Men before going back under. I heard noise like Lava was eating something, and Noah went to investigate. He had her drop whatever was in her mouth, which she tried to take back under the house, and it was a MOUSE! A dead, decaying mouse! Yuck! Noah grabbed some potholders that he had pulled from the camping box and took the dead mouse outside. Gross!

The people who had the house before us had placed bait and traps under the house but we had never seen any evidence of mice living down there. I had even asked Noah earlier tonight if he saw any, and he said no.

So, now, since the mouse had been dead for some time, probably due to the poison, Noah is in the kitchen making Lava vomit.

This is how we bring in 2008 folks!

Christmas 2007

Published on by Casey

Yesterday was Christmas Eve and I started my day by going into work for a few hours to get some things done before the end of the year since our office is closed until the 2nd on January. Yea for me! Off with pay! After dinner the plans were to finish wrapping gifts, go to church then have Christmas dinner at a friends house. The friends requested that we bring asparagus and bread to dinner, so I figured I would grab these items at the store on the way home from work. This plan was all well and good until I discovered that Lafayette was completely out of asparagus. So, Noah called the host couple to find out what else they would have us bring. Potatoes, yams and green beans were out and I was drawing a blank. One call to my mom and she saved the day! Creamed corn of course! Yum! My Grandma’s recipe and oh so much better than asparagus! Done. I headed home to finish the wrapping and making the corn and we were out the door for church…arriving 15 minutes late since our church is in Boulder. Oh well. We made it for the sermon.

After the candlelight service we headed to our friends house in Frederick where we had dinner. We were also informed on the news that there was a 50% chance it would snow last night. However, when we left our friends’ house the sky was only partly cloudy. I thought for sure we were going to get jipped and I was going to be without a White Christmas this year. Made it home around 11:40pm and we still had gifts to wrap. But when we made it to bed around 2am it had started to snow! Yea! When I got up this morning we found out that not only was it snowing, but we had a Winter Storm Warning and would get 2-8″ of snow!

Christmas morning, like last year, was spent opening gifts with my family, in California, via webcam. This afternoon we went to dinner at Noah’s uncle’s house, who lives 3 blocks from our house. So we bundled up and trudged through the snow, with the puppy on leash. It was awesome! We headed to their house on the open space trail and returned on the streets to view all the Christmas lights. If it weren’t for the kennel and wreath Noah was carrying and Lava trying to kill me by running around on ice, it could have been very romantic.

Our measurement of snow at home was 3″. I gained my second White Christmas and my first Christmas was falling snow! Christmas 2007 is definitely one to go down in the books!

When I get around to it, I’ll post a few pictures I snapped this morning of the tree, presents and Lava attacking her stocking.

Thanksgiving

Published on by Casey

We had a great Thanksgiving vacation in California, thanks for asking. 😀

We left in the afternoon, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving w/ a car loaded up with food and presents (save on shipping by delivering Christmas goodies) and headed out on our 18-hour, 4-state trek. Thankfully we were able to beat the snow, so I-70 was a breeze through the Rockies…well, except for that Audi. We reported an Audi to the state troopers around Eisenhower tunnel. We had been following them since Wheatridge and watched as they almost creamed into several cars and for some reason could not stay with-in the lines on the road. Anyway, they got a ticket, Lava barked at the Trooper and we went on our merry way.

We finally made it to Ventura just before 8am the following morning. Noah crashed immediately at my parent’s house and somehow I was wide awake and didn’t crash until that night. I suppose I could put a plug in for Red Bull, I’m sure that played a part.

Everyday of our trip was spent with someone doing something. We’re always so popular when we show up in the Golden State. We visited with my aunts and uncle that came out for the holiday, several sets of friends, had 2 Thanksgiving dinners (on two days, which makes it much easier to digest), and of course, both of our respective families. We headed back for the hills (literally) Sunday night and made it into town Monday afternoon.

I think of the three of us travelers, Lava was the happiest to be out of the car and able to run around in her backyard again…although even with sleeping most of the ride she crashed, completely zonked that night. She was probably glad to be back on her own turf without little kids terrorizing her (when nephews attack).

All in all it was a busy, but great trip. Who knows when we’ll be headed back to California again, there are no plans to do so in the immediate future. Plus, I’m glad I’m back in Colorado so I don’t have to miss out on any more snow (it snowed Wednesday & Friday around Thanksgiving while we were out of the state).

I’ll post pictures when I get around to downloading them off the camera. I’ll put up another post to let y’all know when they are up.

Also – a big thanks to our wonderful neighbors that kindly collected our mail and dealt with our trash cans!

Lava

Published on by Casey

Last night we came home from the gym to find out that Lava had managed to get my purse off the buffet in the sunroom.  She’s sneaky and it must have taken her a while to get to it.  Anyway, she got the gum and lip gloss, decimating the lip gloss and we think she ate a couple pieces of gum.  Xylitol is an ingredient found in gum that is really toxic to dogs (and can be fatal).  Worried that she might have ingested to much of it we called our friend Bernadette, who just happens to be a veterinarian.  She suggested we force feed lava 1/8 cup of peroxide to make her puke, we did.  And by we, I mean Noah because just hearing Lava gag was enough to make me want to add to her contributions on the kitchen floor.

Anyway, as much as I’m sure she didn’t enjoy upchucking, she was back to her perky self shortly thereafter.  And thanks to Bernadette we now own a turkey baster and didn’t have to speed Lava into Boulder to the after hours vet hospital!  Yea!