Alex is doing really well. His chemo treatment of ten days ago did not affect him hardly at all and he had a very good week! Finally! His appetite has picked up and he is now eating real dog kibble with chicken as opposed to only dog biscuits and treats and chicken and rice. His activity level is back to normal and he's like his old self. I hate to even say these things out loud (or should I say write them down for all to read) because I might be jinxing him. There is always that chance that he could backslide again, and it's in the back of my mind. I keep pushing it away, but it's still there. I don't dwell on it; I just take each day as it comes and every day is a gift. Especially when he's feeling so good.

This morning he had another appointment and another treatment. The doc proclaimed his lymph nodes "perfect." This week he was given the same drug that he had so much trouble with the last time he had it, so they gave him a smaller dose and hopefully he will tolerate it well. Fingers crossed. It was so nice to have the week "off" last week and have it be such a good and positive week for him. It makes my heart glad to see him feeling so good.

Last week's weight: 91.2

This week's weight: 95.6 — Yeah for Alex!

He has five more weekly treatments, then we move to every other week.

We're moving forward with our plans to go to the cabin. I've talked to the doctor about it and he sees no reason why Alex can't go. He might need a treatment while we're gone but we can do that at CSU Veterinary Hospital in Ft. Collins. Rick's business trip to Amsterdam in the beginning of September is not happening, allowing us to leave for the cabin sooner than we had originally planned and right now we are looking at September 14th through the 27th, arriving home on the 29th. That leaves one whole month before we go to Mexico--if all goes according to plan until then. I am hoping that either my sister or friend Carolyn can housesit for us during that time because we refuse to put Alex in the kennel. If neither one can come than I don't think our little Mexican getaway is going to happen. 

Thank you all for caring!

Photo: Water lily at Skylands (where else??)

Going back into my archives again this week for the Rurality Blog Hop.

Somewhere along the border of Colorado and Wyoming, stands the old homestead. At least that's what I call it. We pass it every time going in to town from our cabin. If you look closely in the above photo you can just about make it out in the distance just above the gap between STATE and LINE on the border sign.

I don't know its story but I'm sure at one time it was a great place to live, sheltered as it is from the wind by the sandstone bluff behind it. It's obvious that they put in electricity at some point in time, but as they used to say long, long ago: beyond here be dragons. In other words, the electric stops at the state line of Wyoming and does not extend over the border to Colorado where our cabin is. (Our cabin is completely off the grid.)

They had a wonderful view.

 But every year it falls further and further into disrepair. I am always happy to see it still standing each year when we return on vacation. I think it has managed to maintain itself as well as it has due to the lack of humidity in this part of the country. The sage is taking over, the fences are falling down and I'm quite certain the pack rats have made it their new home.

But I can still see its beauty. How about you?

Okay, we are going back to Colorado for a day. This old tree lies at the top of our 70 acres. It’s been down a long, long time. I think it was a ponderosa pine but I can’t be certain. There are other living ponderosas that dot this ridge so it would make sense.

You’ve got to admit that in its repose it has a lovely view. If you’re going to fall over you might as well do it right.

If you back up a bit from where the tree lies you would get this view. I took these shots and stitched them together into a panorama. That’s Bull Mountain in the background. The cabin lies kind of mid-photo where you can just see trees sticking up beyond the hill.

The dry climate has weathered the tree to a state of mummification. Its bark and roots have taken on a kind of patina that only years of being exposed to harsh sun and wind can accomplish.

Its mighty roots that once kept it grounded now reach for the sky instead.

Its gnarly branches reach out in supplication.

It is indeed a grand old tree. Even in death it commands respect.

I see many differences between where I am now and where I’ve been. No, I’m not getting philosophical on you, I mean literally, not figuratively.

Sometimes though I might think a little too deeply. Like how it’s weird that while I am living somewhere else, live goes on without me where I used to live. Two different timelines that converge once in a while. I’m not sure if I can even properly explain it. For any one who has traveled a great deal I think you will know what I am saying. It boggles my mind to think about of all the people you pass while crossing the country, people just like you, are going about their daily lives and you know nothing about it or them.

Okay, on with what I really sat down to write about.

Let’s start with what I am doing right now. Huge computer screen and a mouse. Something I have done without for three weeks. I am used to blogging, getting email and virtually living through my iPad2. Pretty amazing really. All my photos were captured through it too. All 1,565 of them. It took me a bit to get used to such a large screen when I first booted the computer up last night. Even now I almost long to go back and blog from the iPad. It seemed cozier somehow. Easier.

Carrying right along with that thought process is where I am blogging from. At the cabin my blogging place/desk was the counter-high table at the cabin in front of the large windows that looks out onto our newly cleared space. From that viewpoint I saw the remaining beetle kill pines, slash piles from the clearing process, chipmunks and ground squirrels running across a few of the trees that fell over during the winter, using it as their super highway, and in the distance was the outline of Bull Mountain.

Now my view (if I turn around from the computer) consists of green, green and more green in the nature of our hedge in front of the house, the big old oak tree and the expanse of green lawn that peeks through now and then from the other green chaos. My computer desk is piled with various stuff. At the cabin we are so pared down that now all this “stuff” seems excessive. Sorry, no pics; no camera. Just picture it in your mind.

Different bird song.

Silent hummingbirds vs the broad-tailed at the cabin which make a busy whirring noise with their wings.

Trees and limited views as opposed to sage and open vistas.

Two-lane tree-lined winding and twisting roads vs straight, wide roads sans trees. (I have no clue why Colorado has such wide roads and the speed limits are so low.)

67% humidity vs 10%.

Fireflies in the grass. They don’t exist past a line somewhere around the mid-West.

Triple the living space.

A dishwasher instead of the dishwasher being Rick or me or both.

Automatic coffee maker instead of putting my mom’s old Corningware percolator on the burner and remembering to turn the gas down once it barely starts to perk.

Lush ferns vs dried grass and sage. (Again, no pic but you would not believe the fern growth since we were gone!)

King bed vs Queen bed. (Ahhhhhh)

Possibly a new bear vs deer and moose. (Yes, according to neighbor Kim we have a bear again. I thought as much since my hummingbird feeder was taken down with a few claw marks on the deck railing before we left.) Please bear don’t come around until I have a camera again!

A grocery store within 10 minutes instead of 45 minutes.

I’m sure there are more, but for now that’s all that I can think of.

It is more of an adjustment after three weeks than you would think!

hi everyone! it’s me, bella! i just wanted to share the day i had the other day with you.

i wented wading in the beaver pond. it’s my most favorite thing to do up here. the pond has lots more water in it than the last time i was here.



i don’t swim but i get really wet.

somehow i got a gash above my eye. i guess a branch got me when i was running through the woods. mommy said it wasn’t bad, just a surface scratch but i don’t have any hair there now. it does not bother me at all.

there is a great mud puddle on the walk and before mom and dad could stop me i laided down in it. such fun! here is what i looked like after the mud puddle.


then i wented and played on the little bit of snow that is still around and that helped get me un-muddied.




after dinner we wented for a ride. here are alex and hailey enjoying it but you won’t see me with my head out the window cuz i don’t like it.




daddy tooked some slow-motion movies of me too. you can see them by following this link and this link and one last link here. mom and dad think they are funny but i don’t get the humor of it all. it’s just me being me after all.

p.s. daddy said to tell you that what you see in the movies is really one second of real time but the movies last about 40 seconds each.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad at the cabin 8,650 feet above sea level