This is my favorite place on earth! The Bear Creek Dog Park. You can't tell from this picture, but there is a trail that goes around in a large circle, with several paths in and around it. Along the west side of it is a creek that Rooby loves to bathe in! This place is great, because not only do your dogs get exercise, but you do as well. You aren't just standing there in a dirt pit watching your dogs having a great time. You get to walk too. We have a ritual out here, mostly because I really want my poochies to play with other dogs, and really all Rooby wants to do is chase a ball, and Millie still isn't sure what the deal is here. So, we walk around with no ball thrower in hopes that they will play with dogs. Well, usually it doesn't always go this way. Rooby gets busy trying to steal everyone else's balls, then growls at the dog she just stole the ball from. I am apologizing and trying to reassure the dog owner that Rooby isn't as ferocious as she looks. Mean while, Millie is attacking the dog that just wants it's ball back. I am running around trying to leash Millie before the owner has an aneurysm. Millie gets leashed for awhile as punishment, and we move on. Not much playing with other dogs takes place, just lots of sniffing. If a dog even tries to play with Rooby, Millie goes into protective mode and attacks the poor pooch who was just trying to have fun. Sheesh! Millie leashed again. Well, we do have fun though. They jump in the creek, Rooby lays in it, not caring that it's freezing! Then, once we have gone around one time, I go get the ball thrower, which sends Rooby right into ball mode. It does not matter what is going on around her, all she cares about is that ball. I throw it, and they are off like rockets. It is still amazing that Rooby, age 3, is so fast! Millie doesn't really get the concept of catching and retrieving the ball, she just wants to chase after Rooby. They really do have a blast...except when Millie has to be on her leash, which sadly happened a lot today. Oh well, what can ya do. The last pic is of Rooby and Millie coming back after Rooby caught the ball. Hope you all had great weekends!

I miss my God.

God and I have been on a stand off for quite some time. I am being very stubborn about going to church by myself, so I have not been going. Instead I listen to church radio and drink my coffee on Sunday mornings. I know I am rebelling about going to church by myself. I am soooooo tired of going to church by myself, because I HAVE to. Now, I know it is ridiculous to to not only keep from going to church for this reason, but it is also ridiculous to try and win a stand off with the Lord! But still, I keep trying. Besides the company of my poochies, I do most things alone. God knows I hate being alone all the time. But for some reason, that is my reality. I have no family here, no real close friends, no husband, no one who will go to church with me. I know, wah! I'm really tired of wahing about it too! The truth is, I am really missing God. I miss feeling close to him. I haven't felt him that much at all lately. I feel like my life is at a stand still. I know too that it would be initially a good feeling to be at church with God, but inevitably, that loneliness feeling always creeps in. Seeing all the people there with family or friends. Then there is me, solo. I hate it. I know I know, some of you are say, "well then, get your butt to church!" I know. See, I have done that, I have joined small groups, I have become a member of a church, but that empty feeling remained. Today, I got myself up to go to church, although a half-n-hour late. I was going to go. I had picked out a church I wanted to check out. I made coffee, then went to pick out my clothes. That's when I went blank. I stood in front of my closet forever looking at my clothes. I stood there, and stood there. Until it was clear that I wouldn't have time to make it to church. This was the closest I have gotten in a long time to actually getting to church. But still a no go. I wish I could get past this and just go. Why am I being so, I don't know weird about this. Oh well, maybe next time.

thinkin......SPRING!

I found this at Wal-Mart for $16.95! There are a couple of different ones, so you know I am going back for another one! So, if you can't tell what this really is, it's a flower pot! It will be going in my backyard this spring. I have to say that this giant cup, made me so happy today! Now I really have the Spring Fever!

It was Mardi gras time in Manitou Springs this weekend. I have never been to this before, but I have heard that it gets pretty crazy. They have a parade that anyone can be in as long as you are wearing the costume. A lot of people did! I missed the parade, but really had my own parade just walking from my very far away parking spot. I was surprised that it actually was such a big deal. I thought I would see a few people in costume, but really most people dressed up. I will try and post some of the pics if I can so you can get the idea. First of all, those of you from the Black Hills area, Manitou to me has a Sturgis vibe only with Mountain people as opposed to Biker people. I'm really not sure what is going on in this picture, but here is an example of some of the tamer costumes. The next pic below this one gets a little crazier. You can see the Dreadlocks band in the background that is apparently a local favorite. Seriously, I don't want to think what is growing in their hair! Some of them had dreads down past the middle of their backs. The last pic is the creepiest. Where in the world would you get a mask like that! I was surprised I didn't have nightmares after seeing that one!

How many set ups does one have to endure before the right one comes along?! Seriously! Sometimes I wonder exactly what people are thinking when they try to set me up with someone. Do they even know me at all? Come on already! Ok, I know their hearts are in the right place, and the reason they are trying to set me up in the first place is because they like me and want to see me happy. Noted. But why on earth are they not keeping me in mind when they find someone to set me up with? Or maybe they are and I deserve the guys I have gone out with from Blind Dates, I don't know. I know I am not a beauty queen by any means, and I am not looking for the perfect looking guy, but you know when you get set up with a guy that you would not be REMOTELY attracted to, you have to wonder about yourself. Is this the type of guy they see me with? So, all my past set up stories aside, I will talk about a couple others later, I was set up with a guy that I went out with last night. My hair stylist's partner told me a few weeks ago, that he had the perfect guy for me. Now I have been going to my hair lady for the past three years. She has set me up several times, none of which have panned out. James, her partner, has heard me talk about what I want in a guy for a long time now, and has gotten to know me. And I have an open mind, you know, so I agreed to go out with this guy when James told me about him. I talked to this guy, Dale is his name, on the phone a couple of times. He seemed ok. Then I met him for dinner last night. He looked nothing like how he was described to me. He was barely taller than me. Balding, and had a handle-bar mustache. HANDLE-BAR MUSTACHE! Not only that, he was closer to 50 years old if he wasn't in fact 50. Seriously? He was nice though, so I went to dinner. Throughout the whole time I was with him, he swore like a trucker. He actually told me that his favorite word is the F-word. Nice. He also wanted to know what my favorite swear word was. Nice. He talked about himself the WHOLE time. I had to actually tell him to ask ME a question about me. Then when he did, and I attempted to answer, he interrupted me with another tale about...him. Urggg! Why do I even try to date. I have been set up with a cartoon-looking guy who was a workaholic and actually stood me up for a date because of work, and I was suppose to just understand. I once had a friend who tried to set me up with two different guys who were the biggest nerds. She, herself would have never dated either one of them for various reasons, but she thought I would? Should I be looking at this more closely? Maybe I am not very attractive myself, maybe I should be dating these guys. But really it's not just the physical reasons here. These are men that I have nothing at all in common with what-so-ever. What do I do here? I really don't want to discourage people from setting me up, because quite frankly it is the only way I date anymore. But I really don't want another one of these dates! I am so ungrateful, right? Sheesh!