expending puppy energy

We have had to become a little creative in how to exercise our puppy, as she is not yet fully vaccinated and thus the vet strongly recommended that we wait to take her on walks.  Bummer.  So, what do  you do with a 15 week old Australian Shepherd puppy that has more energy than the Energizer Bunny?  Use the treadmill and teach her how to fetch, of course.

Exhibit A:  The Treadmill
Around the time we adopted Maeby, we simultaneously fell in love with Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer.  One of the tricks he uses to exercise dogs is by using a treadmill.  So, we have been doing this with little Maeby.  She goes about 1/2 mile at 3.5-4.0 mph and does fantastic, except when Sonora walks by, which almost always necessitates a flying leap off of the treadmill by Maeby, who never passes up an opportunity to try Sonora's patience.

Exhibit B:  Fetching
The comment I always receive after indicating that we adopted an Australian Shepherd is, "Oh.  They have a lot of energy."  Yes.  I know.  That is kinda why we picked the breed.  With this in mind, we decided to reinforce her fetching using some yummy treats, so that we can help her burn off some energy, even when we are too tuckered out from a full day of work to move out of the patio lounge chair.  Please pardon the dusty backyard.  We hate it too.

Now while this all is super fun, if everyone could join with us and cross your fingers in hopes of the vet clearing Maeby to go on walks this week, that would just be stellar.  Muchas gracias.

ribs and a short ode to franz.

This past weekend Tyler, our good friend, came for a visit.  His visit was kind of two-fold.  Of course he came to see us, but he also came to visit because he adopted our dog, Franz.  On one hand, it was a wonderful visit with a wonderful friend.  But on the other hand, it was a hard goodbye to a wonderful(-ish) dog.  And, hence, this blog post is somewhat two-fold...

Sunday happened to be Tyler's Birthday and we had fun celebrating with a day of relaxation and, if I may say so myself, awesome food.  For breakfast, I made my mom's Amazing Belgian waffles, which I may need to share the recipe for eventually... or maybe I'll keep it as a semi-secret family recipe?!  And then, for dinner I made barbecue ribs.  Since this may just be the best ribs recipe ever and it isn't a family secret, I thought I would share it.  So, without further ado, copied & pasted directly from AllRecipes.com ::

Texas Pork Ribs

Ingredients

• 6 pounds pork spareribs
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/4 cup salt
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 5 tablespoons pan drippings
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 4 cups ketchup
• 3 cups hot water
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• cayenne pepper to taste
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup wood chips, soaked

Directions

1. Clean the ribs, and trim away any excess fat. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, 1/4 cup salt, ground black pepper, paprika, 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. Coat ribs liberally with spice mix. Place the ribs in two 10x15 inch roasting pans, piling two racks of ribs per pan. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.  (Or, if you are lazy like me, coat the ribs the morning of cooking... they will still taste good.  I promise.)
2. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C). Bake uncovered for 3 to 4 hours, or until the ribs are tender and nearly fall apart. (Or throw them in the crock pot for the day.  On high for a couple of hours and low for a couple of hours.  Pretty much, I make it up as I go.)
3. Remove 5 tablespoons of drippings from the bottom of the roasting pans, and place in a skillet over medium heat. Cook onion in pan drippings until lightly browned and tender. Stir in ketchup, and heat for 3 to 4 more minutes, stirring constantly. Next, mix in water and brown sugar, and season to taste with cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 hour, adding water as necessary to achieve desired thickness.  (This makes a TON of sauce.  Last time I made the ribs, I was smart enough to freeze the leftover.  So, lucky me, I got to skip this step this time.)
4. Preheat grill for medium-low heat.
5. When ready to grill, add soaked wood chips to the coals or to the smoker box of a gas grill. Lightly oil grill grate. Place ribs on the grill two racks at a time so they are not crowded. Cook for 20 minutes, turning occasionally. Baste ribs with sauce during the last 10 minutes of grilling, so the sauce does not burn.
6. ENJOY!

So, the ribs were awesome, but....saying bye to Franz was definitely harder than I thought it would be.  But we are comforted in knowing that Franz will be very happy back in CO where the grass is, quite literally, greener (our back yard is dirt and a couple of rocks).  In honor of my time spent knowing, who I somewhat affectionately refer to as Franzie, I thought I would write a short poem. (Pardon the poor rhyming and rhythm poemie whatever stuff...it has been a long time since my last English class.)

Ode to Franzie

Franz, I did love you in my own weird little way

even though you didn't know how to consistently sit, come or stay.

And I know that we didn't always see eye to eye

and this wasn't just because you stood only 10 inches high.

But you are a good dog and a good boy with the best puppy face

and we will always love you, no matter the distance or space.

So have fun in Colorado with your new owner and best friend.

But stay away from Starburst Jelly Beans and Godiva chocolate, or that may be the end.

j. t. hansford, college graduate

It was so great to be able to travel to Colorado last weekend for my baby brother's graduation from CU.  Apparently he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering... for the week leading up to the graduation, I had been telling everyone that it was electrical engineering.  Obviously I know nothing about the field or how those two types of engineering even differ.  Luckily, those who I were mainly telling were my little old patients, who probably wouldn't have remembered anyway...so I think the unintentional lie will go unnoticed.

ANYWAY, congrats bro on graduating with MECHANICAL engineering from CU.  We are all so incredibly proud of you and love you so so much!

Here are some pictures of the department ceremony:

I love my brothers.  And Brian and I love our "Little" brother.

Grandma and I were super excited that Jared was graduating.

Now, the department graduation happened to fall on Cinco de Mayo.  This made it hard for some people (ahem...Jared), to show up for the real graduation ceremony the next morning.  Come on, CU, think that one through next time.  Yes, Jared made a little bit of a late entry into the graduation, but not before receiving numerous somewhat threatening texts and phone calls from his loved ones who had already arrived to demonstrate our love and support.  We were just glad he showed up.  We love you, JT.  And, yes, we know that you will always been one who loves making an entrance.  ;)

Proof that he did in fact show up.

The amazingly awesome graduation card that I got him.

"The Picture."  Have I mentioned that I love my brothers.  Immensely.

And then there was the party.  There's nothing quite like parents playing Flip Cup.

I heart this family.  And my sister.

We also got to celebrate Mother's day!!!  It was so fun for mom to have all three of her kiddos for mother's day.  We love you to the moon and back.  :)

Mother's Day Breakfast.

And here is a picture of me and Charlie Sheen...  Wait, I mean my Dad.  :)

It was a wonderful visit and, of course, flew by way too quickly.  Hopefully I'll get to see my familia again SOON.

maebysaurus rex

As it turns out, Maeby is a puppy.  Meaning she loves to chew.  Anything.  Hence the nickname "Maebysaurus Rex."  However, we are being very diligent about supervising her, so there haven't been any serious casualties, if you don't count the stuffed Monkey's arms.  It's okay... he wasn't using them anyway.  

She's been pretty fun.  She loves playing fetch and can usually go about 10 rounds before the puppy-ADD kicks in and she is off to tackle the nearest stuffed dog toy.  She is very observant and has pretty much already caught on to the command "Sit" by watching 'Nora and Franzie.  And, Nora and her are getting along pretty well and have become awesome playmates.  But Nora doesn't mind putting her in her place when she bites a little too hard with those sharp puppy teeth.  Let's see... Her favorite place to catch an afternoon snooze is under the coffee table.  AND, the BEST news is that, after the first few nights home that were a little rough, she has been sleeping through the night!!!  Yay!  

She has already doubled her weight in the two weeks that we have had her, weighing in now at 8 lbs.  Oh, how they grow up so fast.  :)

maeby falls asleep

Maeby likes to fall asleep upside down.  It is really cute.  

maeby

Meet the newest addition to our family.  Her name is Maeby (Arrested Development, anyone?)...

Maeby and her froggy best friend, Tobias.

Maeby is an Australian Shepherd.  We just adopted her today and she is a sweet heart!  We think she is going to be an awesome running and hiking buddy!  She is so funny because she will fall asleep anywhere, practically mid-stride.  Narcoleptic?  Could be fun.  Ha ha!

And, we feel that she is taking everything pretty well.  She seems pretty calm and collected considering she was taken away from all of her brothers and sisters today, had to endure a complete change of environment and take her first bath.  Whew.  What a day!  Maybe she will sleep well tonight?!  Well, here's to hoping...

Post bath and our reading material for the next few months.

Sonora has taken to her better than expected.  While she is treating her with somewhat bored indifference, it looks like they are going to get along.  

Future BFFs.

We are so excited about our newest little family member!  I'm sure there will be more puppy pictures to come in the near future!

bringing colorado to arizona.

I have a new hobby...  Trying to find ways to bring everyone I love to live here in Arizona.  This is proving to be somewhat difficult.  However, I did make some some progress over the last couple of months by having several of the future AZ residents come visit their home.

First, there was the infamous, one and only Jenny Jones.  Her arrival couldn't have been more perfectly timed as I was incredibly homesick that week.  As the weather was crummy (it DOES, contrary to popular belief, Snow in Arizona), we spent the time chatting and catching up on life.  Jenny and my life have this awesome/weird way of aligning, in that, we generally experience the same life occurrence one right after the other.  It is kind of hard to explain, but it is like we are living the same life, just one or the other of us is a little bit ahead.  Therefore, you can see why it is important for us to check in with each other because it is like being able to see your future.  We are just kind of cool like that.  :)

Yay for Polaroid pictures!  Note the amazingly awesome manicures that we got!

Jenny, I miss you SO much.  BUT, we are in the final stages of purchasing your home which, conveniently, is right next door to our house.  Yay!

***

Next to visit was my older brother, Brian.  It was so much fun to have him here!  Just like the good ol' days, we went hiking... we just weren't wearing the dorky "desert hats" and tall socks that mom and dad used to make us wear on our excursions back in the day.

The West Fork Trail and Mormon Canyon.  Beautiful.

Favorite.  But, where is Franz??

I even went so far as to marry Brian off in hopes of keeping him here.  It didn't work...yet.  :)

***

Finally, the baby brother, Jared, stopped by on his way to fame and glory in California.  It was a very brief visit which, unfortunately, did not include any picture taking.  But we ate a In-N-Out so, all in all, it was a successful visit.  I heart you, little 'mano.

All of these visits had 3 things in common:  1.  In-N-Out.  2.  Amazing people that I love more than words can express.  3.  Crying when the above mentioned returned to Colorado and I stayed here.

Now, back to CraigsList where I'll continue to find everything (and them some) I need to help expedite the process of getting everyone to move down to the AZ...