Birthday Hijinx

Our pastor turned 50 this week. To celebrate, someone brought him a couple of birthday cards. Before reading them out loud, Pastor Randy read them to himself, just as a precaution. The cards were pretty tame, it was the gift that he received that was a riot. Back when my dad turned 50, his brother got him one of the joke cans, the kind with the horn and other items on it. Since Pastor Randy is also a CS police officer, his can came complete with little headlights and when he thumped it on the ground, the flashing red and blue lights also came on. And to end the day, Magie announced at the end of service that there was birthday cake out in the lobby.

Katie

Katie, Princess Kate of Colombine, was our Keeshond. Melissa and I bought her 12 years ago as an 8 month old puppy. She was the last thing we had left of the life in Burlington.
One day when Katie was about a year old and Melissa was about 9, we were at the lake outside of Flagler. Katie was off the leash running around. All of a sudden Katie was in front of Melissa barking at a rattle snake. It was late fall and we really didn't expect to see a rattler out. The snake struck at Katie but her chest fur was so thick and dense that it didn't make contact. That's why when we moved to the Springs, Katie was one of the two dogs we brought with us. The other being Cory the Cocker spaniel.
Katie spent her last years as a country dog, barking at the horses and goats. She wasn't a house dog, hated cats and Danny the beagle. Katie had a nice doghouse but sometimes she'd sleep out in the snow. We couldn't let Katie run loose as she'd go down the road and jump in the cattle tank and that was nasty smelling.
Yesterday morning I was out watering the dogs and found Katie lying in her pen. Peter buried her out next to our old mare, Aunt B.

Cute and Adorable, but manly

I have some cute and adorable men in my life. My oldest son, Andy, is 8 year old. Notice that I have photos. This first photo is of Andy and my oldest grandson, James.
Andy really likes being an uncle. He is always going up to James (who turns one year old on September 24) and saying "Hi James."
I can't get another photo to load so I'll do a series about my men.

New Arrival

Finally it has happened. Melissa gave birth to Derek Steven at 2:39 a.m. on September 2, 2010. He weighed in at 6 lb 14 oz. Mother and baby doing well. Grandma is tired. I have James right now. Melissa and Derek will come home on Friday, baring any unforeseen incidents. Derek was born with the cord around his neck. Melissa had an epidural about 4 hours before delivery. She had very little pushing to do. She has an excellent OB.