Sunday, December 18/2016 - Saturday, December 24/2016

Our new family member coming home from the shelter, They called him "Blu"

This week had a few highlights.  John and Kay had been looking for a "rescue" dog for us as it just seems wrong not to have a dog.  After several phone calls and a few disappointments, we finally found one that needed rescuing!!  He was dropped off at a shelter and the owner just never bothered coming back to pick him up!!  They had him in their care for 2 months and he was scheduled to "leave" before Christmas.  He was 10 months old and needed a forever home.  We talked it over and decided to go take a look at him.  Kay and I headed out a few days later and made the trip to the shelter which was on the other side of the city.  It took us and hour and 15 minutes to drive to the shelter.  Once we got there, we were introduced to "Blu".  That was the name he went by in the shelter.  He was a sad, skinny pup who was very nervous of us and used his "big boy" bark to show his discontent.  We soon won him over with treats and decided that this pup "needed" us.  We paid the adoption fees and managed to lift his 53 pound body into the truck.  He was quite nervous and we were a bit unsure as to how he would travel.   As it turned out, he did quite well and even when we left him alone to go into Walmart to shop and then to Petland to get dishes, a collar and some toys, he was cool with that!!  We brought this sad, skinny dog home and introduced him to his new life.  He came to us with a few issues and those included mange, open sores on his feet, ribs, hips and backbone showing and infected ears.....Jeez, did I miss anything??   This pup needed some much needed love and between John, Kay and I, well, I am sure we can provide that!!
He had medication for the infected ears and medicated shampoo and creme rinse for the mange.   Kay and  I headed to get some good quality dog food and we decided to keep his dish full and let him eat as he wished.  He needed a good 15 - 20 pounds on him.
John changed his name to "Booko" (as in booko bucks) as he was pretty damn sure that this dog would end up costing "booko bucks"!!  So far, we had spent over $300.00 dollars on him!!  WTH!!
Booko seemed to settle in pretty darn well so I guess time will tell as to how he acts in different situations.  It will be a learning curve for both him and us for we really have no idea what his life has been like.
We managed to make another trip to the Canyon earlier this week to see what we could see.  IT was a pleasant trip and we got back to the yard just in time to start a campfire and enjoy the rest of the evening.

pretty skinny - but quite interested in his surroundings

Christmas in AZ

With Christmas only a few days away,  I got got Christmas balls out and decorated the agave cactus in the North 40!!  We spent the rest of the week picking up the balls each morning as the Javalina would come every night and knock them off.  It wasn't so bad that they knocked them off, but they also bite them so, several had holes in them from their huge teeth!!  Some were just too mangled to put back on the cactus!!  It was always an adventure to see how many they had destroyed during the night!

This tree has been in "the family" for more than 50 years.
There are a lot of childhood memories associated with it.

He is settling in

Our first scorpion

I see that the picture of the scorpion did not show up but this week marked our "first" of the season!!  Hopefully, it will be the last.   Once Kay spotted him on the wall, it didn't take me but a few minutes to take his picture and then send him to scorpion heaven!!  They carry a nasty little sting and no one here wants to be on the receiving end of it!!

Really settling in

We renamed him Booko

Booko checking out the pigs - He really was not too concerned
about them so that is a good thing.

Fire time

The week ended with Christmas Eve.  We sat around the fire and waited for Santa to appear.  The weather has been great so we really have nothing to complain about.   Apparently, it is quite chilly at home so we will take our temperatures as simply enjoy.  Life is good!!