Red Barn

Rapid City Visit

2007-07-06T07:08:00.000-07:00

Hey All! I got into Rapid around 930am Wednesday, July 4th. The trip over went good and Cooper was good, just not a whole lot of sleeping! I left from Missoula at 7pm and got into Billings around midnight. I didn't want to get a hotel so was going to sleep in the car - well didn't feel comfortable anywhere around there and went on to a rest stop about 20 miles out of Billings. Finally laid down around 1am and slept on and off till 5am. I then hopped back on the interstate and kept going.

Brian worked me like crazy yesterday digging post holes with a two man auger! Sucked Big time! The ground is clay and there are rocks and it didn't work that great... 31 holes! I think he is going to have someone come and finish 15 or so of them - make them a little deeper... We went to the lake yesterday too! It was really nice - we are actually heading back over there in about an hour. Brian is at work till 9am, then we will go get the doggies and head to the lake. I am hoping to shoot the guns a few times and then we will swim again. Bear loves to swim. He just jumps in and swims nonstop. Cooper only goes in to fetch things.

This is a picture of Sheridan Lake where we were yesterday and heading back today!

Best of Friends

2007-04-11T19:47:00.000-07:00

These boys drink so much water!!! They play so hard that they can easily empty two or three bowls of water in an hour! It is crazy. Cooper loves having Bear around. They get along so well and just really enjoy each other. I have really come to love Bear too. At first, the whole puppy thing was a little annoying, but Bear is such a great dog! I will definitely miss him when he has to return to his daddy!! - But I am sure his daddy will be happy to have him back!

Bear and Coop

2007-03-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

Bear and Cooper have become great friends! This past weekend was there second time hanging out and they wore each other out again!

Bear is in Missoula now with Cooper and I. We are going to take really good care of him until

April 20th. Brian is going to Cincinnati for some training for work. Bear is almost 5 months old!

Living the Life

2006-12-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

Almost! This is my kitchen counter I built. The sink just needs put in as it is just sitting there right now. I then will attach the plumbing. It went pretty good. I will most likely be building another one eventually for the wall to the left of this picture. I still need to finish the walls in the kitchen and then tile to the back of this picture. There are a couple of tiles I will replace while I am tiling. The bathroom still needs some work and I hope to eventually tile the shower. Still need to trim throughout and put some transitions down between rooms. At least there will be a kitchen sink if all goes well with the plumbing stuff!!!

The Tiling Project

2006-09-23T14:50:00.000-07:00

Check out the before and after of the hallway! This was pretty easy today. I need to work on the bathroom tile and then add the partial tiles- all I have done is the full tiles...

Dogs and Bruises

2006-08-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

Wow, two nights in a row I blog!!! Played softball tonight. We have a double header tomorrow night and then the season is over. I am ready for softball season to be over. I told a guy today I was not going to play on their team this year... Too much going on!
Sierra and Zion will be leaving soon. Scott is coming back Wednesday night, so I will probably get rid of them Thursday - maybe Wednesday night... I love them to death but it's tough taking care of three dogs - especially when they are all capable of different amounts of exercise and eat different foods and want to eat the other dogs food, they bark three times more, and they are harder to keep track of when at Kelly Island or wherever! It will be nice just to have Cooper and get to spend more one on one time with him.
If you look through the blog pics (mom) you will see one of my high stomach area - the bruises from all the work I have been doing - we will just say that sometimes I choose to do things the hard way! Right MOM??? :-)
Good night!

New Truck and New Shower!!

2006-08-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

I had a busy weekend. Worked a lot and got a good amount of stuff done. Got the hardibacker up on the shower wall and then put up the wall surround. It was a lot of work and I didn't do it exactly the way others might (mom!) but I got it done and that is all that matters - right Mom??? :-) I also cut a bunch of hardibacker for the bathroom floor, painted the bathroom and got a couple of things brought over from my apartment. I have to be moved out of there next week - the end of August. My house will definitely not be where I had hoped, but I will but everything in the garage and continue...
I also have a new truck! I love it, the dogs love it too - as I have been keeping Zion and Sierra for the last couple of weeks.
Well, I must try to get a picture loaded on here and head to bed!!! Good night!

My New House!!!!

2006-07-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

Hello one and all! As most of you know - I bought a new house - well, new to me! I have been putting a lot of time and work into it in the last few weeks. I am currently painting every room, every ceiling, every piece of trim... The process is taking longer than I would like, but the rooms look very different at this point from when I bought the house- in a good way :-) I pulled up the carpets yesterday (as all floors will be replaced) and found that the living room and it looks like the entry way also have wood floors. The wood floors will need A LOT of work to get them presentable, but I am going to give it a try. There is wood floors in one bedroom attached to the living room and most likely another bedroom that is attached to the living room. I am hoping to put ceramic tile in the kitchen, dining room and bathroom. My goal at this point is to have all painting done by the end of July. Then I will start working on floors and a couple projects. I am not living in the house yet and won't until the end of August - I have my apartment till August 31st. I haven't been able to find my digital camera - it is hiding somewhere - probably over at the house. When I find it I will try and get some pics on here! Good night!

Hello Again

2006-06-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I am back in Blog mode - i think :-)
Soon I will have pictures to share of my house! I am closing on this Friday - June 30th! I will be sharing them next week! In the meantime, I have added a few pics to the picture show at the bottom of the blog - Cooper has GROWN!! Cooper is now 7 months old. He is being bad also, cause he keeps jumping up on the desk as I type!
I am also at my new job now - at Allegiance Benefit Plan Mgmt. I have learned a lot, am still learning and still like it! My house is actually about a mile from work, so I will be biking or walking to work most of the time.
Well, I must take rowdy here out for a short walk!! Enjoy the new pics and I hope to have a big house blog next weekend!

The last few weeks...

2006-03-20T21:10:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a while since I last blogged! My apologies. Cooper is keeping me very busy and he is growing SO fast! Tonight at Kelly Island he swam across a small creek that was flowing pretty good, grabbed a stick and then swam back across with the stick! He has never done that before and did it with NO hesitation! What a dog!! He is becoming a fast runner and he loves to play hide and seek. He sleeps all night in his crate in the living room and then he stays in his crate while I am at work. I say "Go to bed" and he runs in there and waits for his treat. Tonight we also went to Petsmart and he carried his bone to the counter and then carried it out - Just to bad he didn't pay for it! :-)
I was able to go to the NCAA tournament in Salt Lake City this weekend. My boss was really nice about letting me go and even partially persuaded me to go. I went with Daniel who is from Stockton California and we were with the Pacific entourage. I really enjoyed the games. I got to see Indiana also! I have done a horrible job once again at picking my brackets. I am losing to Mike - a guy at work, and I might actually be beating Scott! I picked two brackets tho, one is decent and one is horrible!
I best get some stuff done and head to bed! More later!

It's Been a While!

2006-03-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I may have fixed my wireless here at my apartment. I haven't been able to get on a stay on longer than a few minutes so I haven't been updating my blog! I will see if this continues to stay up long enough to post this blog... only time will tell. There really hasn't been too many exciting things to update you all on. Cooper has obviously grown and I hope to post some pictures this weekend as long as I am able to gain access this weekend. We have been to McClay Flats the last couple of nights and he seems to enjoy himself there.
I have been playing a lot of basketball and the last two weekends played in tournaments. We won the tournament this past weekend in Ronan. It was called the Salish Kootenai College Tournament. The games were exciting and fun. There are several more tournaments I have been invited to play in in the upcoming month or two.
Other than that I can't think of any exciting news. I hope to be able to blog again this weekend and add several pics!!!!

Cooper Meets Some Ducks!

2006-02-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

Cooper ran some ducks off today and yesterday. He seems to like to watch them and smell 'em. Yesterday he went out on some ice (that i am sure wasn't really that deep - the water under it that is) and slid around scaring them off. It was quite the scene and you could tell Cooper was enjoying every minute of it!
I talked to my little brother Barry tonight! I noticed Barry's blog mentioned we were talking and that I would 'get tired' of him and let him go!! Well, my little Barry better be ready cause we are going to talk a chunk one day and he will be begging to go and I ain't gonna let him! Take that B-RAY!!! :-)

Are You Ready For Some Football!!!

2006-02-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

Good thing people weren't ready for some football, as I thought it was a pretty sucky game! I had Brian, Janine and Bill over for a little Superbowl Party! Boy was it WILD!! :-)
We had a good time, ate chili and nachos, some slept, and we chatted. Cooper slept through the first half, Brian through the part of the first and second quarters, and who knows about Janine.

Scott and I went to the dog park the other day and Cooper got to hang with a bunch of dogs. One little guy wanted to jump all over him and then another couple were running around and would sometime run him over. He will soon be big enough to get them back tho!! Watch out Dog Park!

And then we rest...

2006-01-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

After a couple long weeks of not much sleep, moving and just craziness, Cooper and I are starting to settle in. Cooper is still learning a lot and has had several firsts in the last week. Cooper learned to go down the stairs and Cooper hiked the M!

I am going to be sitting out this semester from school, mostly because of medical stuff and just the overall expense of being an off-campus MBA student but will be looking to start up again next fall and hopefully finishing in the spring next year!

The stomach stuff is about the same. Several other radiologists believe there is inflammation in the small intestine so I will be getting another catscan in February - let's hope that is the last one!!

Another Week with Cooper

2006-01-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

Cooper is now a little over eight weeks old. He is growing all the time and getting more and more of an attitude! He has learned a great deal and can sit, lay down, fetch, and come pretty well on command. He also bites all the time and it doesn't feel good! I have a new pet patio door so he can go outside and I am trying to teach him to go outside and use the potty pad out there instead of putting potty pads throughout the apartment. He will learn in a couple of days if I stay patient enough. Cooper is getting VERY good at sleeping in his crate. I actually put him in it tonight in my room and left the door open and he has stayed in there and is asleep but the door is still open! What a change! I noticed he ran into his crate a couple of times today when he got scared of the vacuum. His crate really is becoming his safe spot.

I still have a lot of work to do on the apartment. My room is pretty well trashed still. I hope to go to goodwill tomorrow and see if they have any cheap dressers. Tomorrow will be a day of football and Germany - I hope to finish my work on the Germany studies tomorrow!

Cooper goes to the Vet!

2006-01-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

Cooper got a little check up today and we also checked out his cough. He has kennel cough and has antibiotics for that now. He doesn't cough much and actually was better tonight. The vet said it was going around town. He is sleeping in his crate right next to me now. He did some yelping but has settled down now - hopefully for 3-4 hours but we will see!!

AHHHHH!

2006-01-15T18:27:00.000-07:00

Cooper is eating everything!!! :-)

More Cooper and New Apartment

2006-01-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

Cooper is doing better and better. Today he was unbelievable!!! He has struggled with the leash and this morning he did really good!!! His job with the leash this morning was very encouraging. He can sit whenever I tell him to and this morning we did a little "get the stick". He even ran on the leash this morning. He also climb both sets of stairs this morning twice!!! He held his poo longer twice this morning. He went at 11:30pm and 6am and then 11:20am! What a good dog Cooper is!!!
I also moved into my new place, you can see a couple pics on flickr!!!

What's up with the Colts? It is currently 14-0!!! YIKES!!

My Messed Up Intestines!

2006-01-12T19:13:00.000-07:00

I have been seeing the doctor about some stomach/ intestinal problems I have been having for years and years - well, today i had an endoscopy. They sprayed some stuff on the back of my throat to kill the gag reflex and then they put me to sleep. It was great!!! I didn't know anything was happening and they stuck a tube down my throat and took some pictures of my esophagus, stomach, and the first part of my small intestine. The pictures showed up normal. They took a specimen off my intestine to check for celiac disease which I will find out about later. They have also decided too have be do another catscan as two other radiologists read my previous catscan and are concerned that their might truly be some inflammation that my doc wasn't sure was really inflammation and not just healthy standing up villa!! Anyway, they gave me some pics of my insides and just knew you all would love to see them - so enjoy. One of them is my vocal cords, esophagus, stomach, and part of small intestine... All for now.

A visitor!

2006-01-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

Cooper has this friend, it is really his Aunt Janine!! Aunt Janine came to visit two nights ago and brought Cooper a gift!!! She brought a really cute passifier dog chew toy. There was also a dog toenail clipper and another chew toy. Cooper enjoyed the passifier all that night. Thanks Aunt Janine!!!

A week with Cooper

2006-01-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

I have had several nights and days now with Cooper. He is learning a lot and learning to sleep for longer periods of time at night!!! The first couple nights were tough and I slept very little. Last night I slept for about 5 hours straight tho!!! He is getting a lot more endurance too! We are still working on our early morning walks with the leash! I think he is still a little young for the leash but I am still trying to get him acquainted to it.
We will be moving in to our new place tomorrow so I hope that will give a little more structure to his life and he can make progress in training and just overall confidence.

Coop Sleeps

2006-01-09T04:41:00.000-07:00

Well, Coop was up early this morning and did his duties on the pee pad and then we went outside and he pooped outside!!! I know, HOW EXCITING!! He then wanted to play a little while and pretty much slept on my neck all night - literally! I slept on the floor out in the living room so that i could be next to him and we were close - let me tell you. He must of found it really comfy to sleep on my neck. i was on my back when he first crawled up and slept for a good while i am sure on the back of my neck. Then i decided to roll over and moved him and he came back up and slept on the front of my neck. I was pretty well awake so have decided to get up and get some work done for job #2 before going to job #1. We will probably go for a short walk around 6:20 after feeding him around 6. So, I have about an hour and fifteen minutes to get some work done!!!

His Name is Cooper!!!

2006-01-08T20:31:00.000-07:00

Mom helped to come up with this name and I have decided it is great!!! Cooper seems to be adjusting just fine. He visited the girls' house and pooped on their lawn! - better than someplace else!! He has figured out a couple of his toys and is enjoying them! He is excited to move into our new apartment this weekend and so am I!!!

My Little Puppy

2006-01-08T16:57:00.000-07:00

Well I did it!!! I got me a new black lab puppy! I need to go out and get some puppy supplies so will leave you with some pics!

A January Hike

2006-01-07T17:58:00.000-07:00

Brian and I went on a hike today down near Lolo Hot Springs. There was some snow but it really was great weather for a hike up a mountain. We didn't see any big animals but saw lots of prints in the snow. Brian had been up this way before and followed a herd of about 20 elk there. It's about time to take Sierra and Zion for a walk so I am outta here!!

My Place to Jog

2006-01-07T17:52:00.000-07:00

I know it hasn't been since last year that I blogged, but give me a break!! We haven't had much snow - really since the one week and now it has been warm enough that the snow has pretty well melted. SO, my running spot is runnable!!! I went up on Mt. Sentinel just the other night - I think it was Thursday, the 5th of January. I took Zion and we jogged up and then jogged down. I was going to go across the fire road as well but I couldn't find my headlamp and I wasn't able to take Sierra so I felt like i needed to get back down and take Sierra for a walk. The scenery up there is just great, I love it.

Well I've Got these Dogs

2005-12-29T18:43:00.000-07:00

You think you've got a big bed until two full grown black labs join ya! I really can't complain - I love them to death! For the next few weeks I will be dogsitting Zion and Sierra. We just got back from the dog park. The park was covered in ice but they didn't seem to mind. I am sure we will have some very interesting moments in the next few weeks and I will do my best to share them all...

Insurance

2005-12-28T22:14:00.000-07:00

What else would I write about? All I really have to say tonight is "Insurance sucks!" or should I say "My insurance sucks!" I am sure there will be more about this later so keep an eye out! Good night!

Gotta Love those Three Day Weekends!

2005-12-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning saying, "Just four days, then another 3 day weekend!!" From what I have heard I WILL be able to hunt this weekend at the Montana Prison! This is the last weekend that the prison will be open. I had hoped to hunt most of the Christmas weekend but some fool tried to build a tunnel out of there and ruined my holiday FUN! Jerk! Regardless of what the prisoners are doing - the hunting season is winding down and I will soon have to find something else to do with my time! (Besides work more of course!)

Nat (Natalia Kolnik) visited us again in Missoula so we went to Taco del Sol and ate some tacos. Thanks for visiting Nat and it was great seeing ya! Thanks for my great Christmas gifts - I will and am really enjoying them! Be careful and good luck next semester in South Korea!

My First Blog

2005-12-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

Hi ALL!!! Rael made me a blog for Christmas!!! So now you can all read and look at pics that I put on my blog! I know you are SO excited!!!! Me too... It will take a little while to figure all this out, but I hope you enjoy it all!
Thanks Rael for doing this for me - I will try and make you proud!