The past three months have been a whirlwind … figuratively and literally. With the home update finally completed, we moved back into the main floor over Labor Day weekend. Amazing how much stuff one can accumulate. And which is not fully appreciated until one has to pack and move it, be it downstairs, out in the garage or across town! Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity are a regular stop as the clean out continues. One more room to go (the office) and I think we’ll be back to normal.
In mid October, we traveled to Albuquerque to see the end of the Balloon Fiesta (Fri/Sat) and then spend a week at the American Lhasa Apso Club’s (ALAC) National Specialty. Having never been to the Balloon Fiesta, it was quite the experience once the event got off the ground for the weekend. Friday was scratched because of the rain; Saturday because of the winds. On Sunday, we finally got to see the mass ascension of 385+ balloons … what a sight! One of the most popular balloons of the weekend was … Spider Pig!
On Wednesday, Dante was entered in the first-ever ALAC cut-down sweepstakes, meaning dogs who had been clipped could be shown. Given than he hadn’t been to a show in well over a year, I was just hoping we could get around the ring with no new behaviors thrown in for interest. When Dante was being shown and specialed, he was notorious for coming up with heretofore unknown behaviors. Like barking at clapping … bailing off the exam table … barking at the Dobermans in the ring behind us … asking to be picked up. Never a dull moment with this boy! Dante was a sport and did everything I asked of him … and managed to pick up Best of Breed in the cut-down class. His niece, Lily, was awarded Best of Opposite Sex. That was our win.
Late October bought the freak snowstorm that dumped ten inches of heavy wet snow overnight. Given that that majority of the trees in our yard hadn’t lost their leaves yet, they sustained heavy damage from broken branches. We lost one tree outright and there are two others that we’re not sure will survive their wounds. Alan spent a weekend cutting broken branches and hauling them out of the yard … just in time for the next snow storm to hit. Not complaining — well, okay a little — as snow equates to snow pack and snow pack is water on the high arid plains of Colorado. Our beautiful 12-year old Honey Locust is now a bit lop-sided after the snow took five fairly larges branches down, twisting them off the larger wood. Given the struggle to get trees to grow in our yard, it was like losing old friends.
I got word that a certain little dog was a huge hit at Halloween. Cute as a bug … a lady bug to be exact … Tootsie took center stage with the visitors. Here’s what I heard from Jane and Jerry: “I thought that I would share a couple of pictures of Tootsie at Halloween. She doesn’t look real happy in her little lady bug costume, but once she realized it was going to get her lots of attention, she was just fine with it, ha! She is such a little love and I can’t believe we got so lucky that we found her. She has got such a fun personality, she keeps us laughing.” I think Tootsie was pretty lucky to have found Jane and Jerry!
Sang-Po was placed just before Thanksgiving … best part of that he’s still in town with friends so I’ll get to see and hear of him often. He now lives with Don, Kathy and BooBoo. BooBoo is one of our former fosters, our first out-of-state intake. Arriving from Oklahoma, we picked him up late one night in Limon under a full moon that left the eastern plains awash in moon glow for the three-hour+ ride home. BooBoo, who has been in his new home since 2003, is showing Sang-Po the ropes and adjusting to not being an only dog anymore! Photos to follow as they get taken, in the next week or so.
ApsoRescueColorado 
So proud of Dante! ❤