It’s a hoot

For years we’ve seen one perched on top of the barn on moon lit nights. We hear it swoosh in the distance and sometimes catch a Whoooo Whooooo at 2 a.m. when a dog needs to go out. Sunday morning we got to see a Great Horned Owl up close and catch a photo.

LaRita spotted him in the tree about 9 a.m. He roosted there all day, fluffing, watched the little birds dart around, and stared at me when I went out to get the newspaper.

At dusk, he left to help reduce the rabbit population. We had a fun time during the day peeking out to see if he was still there.

Days of our Weims Nov.13 : Win photos, gas prices and standard time

On Tuesday I received Ruby’s win photos back from her two major in Rapid City. Click here to view the picts. I am happy to report both photos turned out. After a string of so-so win photos for outrageous prices, it was a relief. I will pass along the age-old advice for having your photo taken at a show: Look at the dog, not the camera. Hold the collar not the dog’s head, don’t jack the dog’s tail up and no dangling leashes. These simple tips will help your win photos turn out better. We are starting a new wall in the house for photos as the main “winners wall” is now full !
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For the first time in what seems like years, I filled my 40 gallon gas tank for under $75. The price at the pump was $1.86. I hate to be a conspiracy theorist, but is it not a little odd that shortly after the election gas prices drop like a rock? I realize there are economic factors I am not aware of but I am just going to throw that one on the table for contemplation. Supply and demand are easy concepts to understand and just as easy to cook!

To celebrate this development the lines at Starbucks and Jamba Juice have been a lot longer in the last week. If not gasoline then coffee…
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These dogs of ours are not adjusting to standard time at all this year. They have been getting me up at 5:30 a.m. on the dot. On the positive side, I am getting to work 45 minutes earlier which is earning me brownie points for what they’re worth. The dogs go back to bed after I get up. I get ready for work and leave. This is why they call it “a dogs’ life”. It is really funny to have them all piled in the hall way sleeping, waiting for me to come out of the bathroom. Some of them (Minnie, Anna Mae) scratch at the door until I let them in. They both like to stand under me when I am blow drying my hair – it’s warm.

Days of our Weims Nov. 4

Dog people have a peculiar sense of humor. On a recent trip, four dog owners, including myself, were attempting to out-gross each other with tales of canine fecal matter, mostly relating to parasites. My wonderful Minnie Mae just had a bout of tapeworms. She likes to eat rabbits and mice, the likely culprit of infestation. My story of tapes didn’t compare to the “linguine incident”. It’ll be awhile before I can look at flat noodles quite the same. You win Cindy!
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I am still trying to figure out how Heidi opened my bedroom door in the middle of the night. She was lazy about getting to bed so I left her on the couch. I woke up several hours later with the door ajar and the dog on the bed. Not only did she get the door open, she did it without waking me up. Now if she could just learn to roll over without waking me up! I thought I may have imagined this entire episode. However, Heidi liberated herself out the front door a few days later. Thankfully our entire property is fenced.
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Old dogs, especially ones suffering from an excess of character are a never ending source of blog fodder. Avery, nearly 12 years old is deaf, partly blind and tripped over herself so badly last summer she broke three toes. Of course, that was not funny, we were quite distressed. She recovered with her general good humor. We did however, note, during this period of time, her short term memory had left her. She can’t seem to remember if she’s been in or out, had her dinner or had her peanut-butter covered pain-pills. We havebeen left wondering if it is dog senility or if we are becoming suckers when we run and get her a bite of food to get her on her way, or stand by the door letting her in and out, in and out.
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On another old-dog front, Truman has honed his water drinking skills to a fine art, even into his 11th year on the planet. Weimaraner people complain about how messy their dogs are when they drink. Truman, however, refuses to put his nose into the water bowl. He hangs his nose over the far side of the bowl, rests his teeth on the metal or ceramic, and then laps water daintily from the top. The true hilarity comes from the fact his daughter Jubilee drinks from the bowl exactly the same way. It’s an odd genetic characteristic to pass along.

1964 with mold

There are several steps to becoming a wine snob. One person could take a lifetime honing the art of knowing more about the next person when it comes to vinos.

One of the must-haves on a wine snob’s resumé is drinking a wine older than yourself. This is more easily accomplished if you become a connoisseur earlier in life. I had an unusual opportunity to drink a bottle several years my senior, a 1964 Chateau La Croiz De Pez. Appellation Saint-Estèphe Contrôleé. Monsieur Guyonneau. Nolasque-Bordeáux. Don’t bother Googling it. I couldn’t find anything on the internet. It still had the original $3.99 price tag on it.

We (we meaning my wine-snob friends and myself) opened it Aug.16, 2008. Time had not been kind to the old Bordeáux. It had been improperly stored at one point and the liquid was 3” down from the top. The cork was moldy which created an interesting bouquet when we uncorked it.

Eyebrows were inquisitively raised as to whether it was drinkable.

Initially, it was slightly tannic. It sat in the decanter for 45 minutes or better. It smoothed out to a merlot-like texture though the mold had some influence, at least off the top. After mold, green olive settling into a firm oak middle and a slight cherry/orange peel finish.

It was a nice but not mind blowing experience, a pleasant surprise concerning its drinkibility. Too bad we couldn’t find any bragging rights out on the web.

The New Days Of Our Weims

After six months of pouting, I am finally re-taking up the cause of blogging. The last six months brought many good stories and personal developments I should have recorded for your entertainment. I am now through contributing to my original blog which was housed at YourHub.com.

My initial motivation for blogging was to help out a fledging reverse-publishing project on ColoradoSprings.com when I still worked for them. Around January of 2008, they discontinued reverse publishing to print and I slowly lost my motivation to support a project terminated before it had a chance to turn a profit. A little while later, a massive round of layoffs eliminated most of the YourHub community journalists and gutted part of the online staff AGAIN. I would have likely been rolled out at that point if I hadn’t made my voluntary exit 8 months earlier.

I hate to speak ill of the dead (namely, the newspaper industry) but I’ve never worked for a company that so willingly sabotaged viable revenue streams. This will be my final rant about my former employer as there are far more interesting things to go on about.

If you’re curious enough to read through a whole bunch of my older stuff, you can find the YourHub Blog at this location. http://coloradosprings.yourhub.com/~amysfalconblog

I am now enabled in other multimedia capacities including Flickr and Twitter. You can follow what’s going on at the dog show, see new and old photos or just follow my text-message ramblings at the following two links.

http://www.flickr.com/foxfireweims
http://www.twitter.com/foxyweim

The two primary subjects are the dogs and my job but a few other things sneak in there occasionally. I’ve become a wine connoisseur and at the encouragement of a friend, started writing down my tasting notes. Nothing tastes better than full-bodied wine snobbery. We have also added a few chapters to “Days of our Weims” and new members to the household from our 2008 edition of dog breeding madness.