Life with the Three Crazy Dogs

DB received 2 red envelopes from Marlboro, just like what I had received in the weekend.  Those two envelopes are the exact ones, immediately I told DB we now have three chances to win a trip to the ranch, the Crazy Mountain Ranch in Montana.  Here are some pictures from our previous trip in the fall of 2006.  Excuse me for the crappy pictures.  The free camera provided by the sponsors were not that good. And yes, there were a lot of free gifts from them: digital cameras, hats, two luggages, backpacks, jackets,windbreakers, pens, picture frames, ashtrays, cigarettes, shirts, bandanas, I think that were all.

This was taken on the second day after our trip to the Yellowstone National Park.  It rained, sleet and snowed the whole day but we still enjoyed it.

Out by our room getting all ready for the group picture.  The hat and red windbreaker were a gift from Marlboro upon our arrival.

This was inside the saloon where we have our breakfasts, lunches and happy hours. 

The General Store where you can buy films, toilettries, stamps, change of activity itineraries, etc.  Here are two more pictures of the inside of the General Store.

DB waiting for his turn to change his next day’s activity itinenary.

The displays in the store.

Clay shooting with John the guide on day 3.

Horseback riding on our third day.

Wagon ride to the Pavillion on the third day.

The Crazy Mountains in the background on the way back from the Pavillion.

Isn’t it gorgeous?  I can definitely go back to this ranch again.  Picture taken by Steve and Kim, who we befriended on this trip.

Today is the end of January.  The month of February and March are both busy months but, my department’s out-of-office calendar says otherwise.  My boss has already plan her vacation to Lost Wages at the end of February to the end of the first week in March.  Yep, she and her buddy and their hubbies will take two trips to Vegas annually.  My boss has all her plans for their hotels Las Vegas where I know they will be staying in the Flamingo for their spring trip and the Venetian for their fall trip.  The first part of their fall trip is always a business convention held by her hubby’s company and then they both will take another week to spend it with their buddies.  It would be nice if I can enjoy life just like her.  I will just wait for my turn.

Nice day today, blue skies in the morning and partly cloudy in the afternoon, but don’t be deceived by the beautiful sight out there.  It was -14F when I left the office building this afternoon at 2:30 p.m.

With the weather so damn cold today, guess what happened???

Yeppers, my car wouldn’t start no matter how much I tried for 15 minutes in the car without heat.  And I knew I shouldn’t have done it, I did it.  I stepped on the gas while turning the ignition on.  Did it so many times, I almost killed the battery and then I flooded the whatever pump with gas.  All this happened while at company’s property.  I had to walk to the lobby of the main building and told the security guys I needed help to jump start my car.  I waited for about 15 minutes, Mark’s Towing appeared, I got in their truck and went right to where my car was.  That guy jump started it within minutes, came back to the truck and told me all is well but he did ask me what it was doing before I called SOS.  I just told him when I tried to fire her up, it only turned and it wouldn’t fire up even when I stepped on the gas.  He said I shouldn’t step on the gas with this type of car with injection-fuel cars.  So, my car really smelt of gas big time when I got in.  I had to sit in the car for another 10 minutes to burn the gas off before I finally left the parking lot.

When I got home, this is what I saw in our kitchen.

Our kitchen window frosted from being so cold.  Yeah, we have very old windows that need to be replaced but that will have to wait.  The above picture reminds me of some suspense movie. 

I didn’t walk the boys either; sent them out on the backyard and they both had some sort of play time with the neighbor’s visiting dogs. 

I know you will be wondering what those brown/black thingys out on the snow.  They are the poop we have not gotten to them.  Yes, the backyard is becoming a cow pad.  These two boys formed two paths that they will always use to do their business or just to walk from the patio to the very end of the yard.  It’s nice to have winter loving dogs.  They can be out there for quite some time unless the wind is howling like yesterday, than I would force them to come in.  And during winter, they are a little fatter!!!  DB always feeds them a little more since they need the  fat to stay warm which is making the boys so darn happy and I have to walk them more when it gets warmer!

Anyway, that’s my day of fun for today.  And I still has this song spinning in my head since this morning. 

Don’t you hate it when you have a song that keeps playing and playing like an old broken record in your head since you open your eyes to face another gorgeous day with minus eighteen temperature with windchill of minus 45F? 

What is that song?

It’s this song from Feist, 1-2-3-4.   For some reason I cannot embed the YouTube codes to my blog.  *Darn*  Added the plugin, the image still did not appear. 

I like this song very much since it was released and then I heard it on the Apple iPod commercial.  And the best thing is, DB likes it, too. 

Oh yeah, I was going to say, it’s actually not bad waking up to this song in my head, a very upbeat song, to the crappy windy morning.  It definitely took my breath away when I got out from the car on my company’s huge parking lot and walking towards the building.   See a lot of fast walkers this morning, no putzing around like usual. 

This is what it is now as I’m writing this post. 

Absolutely REFRESHING! 

Like all Minnesotans will say, “If you don’t like the weather in Minnesota, wait 5 minutes.” 

Sure thing, the weekend and yesterday’s temps were just nice which was in the 40s, perfect for outdoor activities (for me at least).  Snow were melting away – slush and water along the sidewalks and streets, tho there were still some ice beneath water.

The arctic air kicked in middle of the night last night.  When I woke up this morning it was 11F degrees and the temp is dropping throughtout the day and still is.   I took a snapshot of the weather it was 0, and that was less than 5 minutes ago, it’s now -1F.   And plus the windchill it sure feels like 21F below.   The wind is gusting up to 27mph, per The Weather Channel.  Just lovely!

DB keeps complaining about the cold.  He said his “old ex-alcoholic bones cannot take the cold anymore and wants to fly to some where warm for good.”  He is definitely seriously thinking of moving south or to wherever that is not as cold as the midwest.  *Sigh* Good for him, too bad for me.