what they really think

yesterday i had some time to organize the bookshelf here in my office, and i went through the various publications and notes that jennifer had saved, getting rid of some and returning others to the shelves.

one item i kept, out of curiousity, was 'The Environmentalists' Little Green Book,' a booklet published in 2000 by the u.s. chamber of commerce, subtitled, 'a collection of extreme environmental quotes.'

flipping through it, here are just a few of the included statements from the radical enviro camp:


on eco-terrorism:
'we must reclaim the roads and the plowed land, halt dam construction, tear down existing dams, free shackled rivers and return to wilderness tens of million of acres of presently settled land.' - dave brower, friends of the earth founder

on environmentalism as a religion:
'Christianity is our foe. if animals rights is to succeed, we must destroy the Judeo-Christian religious tradition.' - peter singer, the 'father of animal rights'

on reproducing:
'the right to have children should be a marketable commodity, bought and traded by individuals but absolutely limited by the state.' - kenneth boulding, originator of the 'spaceship earth' concept

'phasing out the human race will solve every problem on earth, social and environmental.' - dave forman, founder of earth first! adn member of the board of directors for the sierra club (1995-1997)


most of the time the radical enviros hide their bold messages behind politically correct statements, and what's acceptable to the public at the time, and i think sometimes we in the livestock industry can forget they're there, and what their intentions really are. that is, until something like last week's deal between western watersheds project and the el paso pipeline company surfaces.

the nuts and bolts of it are that the company has agreed to pay western watersheds and an oregon enviro group $20 million in exchange for their dropping any complaints or lawsuits about the routing of a pipeline from western wyoming to oregon. if that doesn't say their real motive is money, i don't know what would. but western watersheds claims they'll use their $15 million share to purchase and retire federal lands grazing permits, which isn't even legal. the only way someone can keep a grazing permit right now is to actually graze cattle on the allotment, and we can be sure they're not going to do that.

western watersheds leader jon marvel says his goal is to 'destabilize' ranching to the point where ranchers 'get so mad and miserable they quit the business.'

i'm not trying to say looking after natural resources - the grass and greenery and rivers and soil - is unimportant, it's just not all-important.

there are always good operators and bad operators, no matter what the industry, and i think in the last decade livestock managers and natural resource agencies have done a great job in stepping up and making sure grazing plans are in place, water developments are available and that they leave the land better than when they began. wyoming is leading that charge, with ranch families from the state frequently winning the environmental stewardship award on a regional and national scale, which allows them to showcase their family ranches and how they work to sustain them for the next generations. it seems like every time we turn around there's another prime example of a wyoming individual or ranch doing something good for the environment.

why don't the enviros work alongside them, instead of against them? if all their money were put directly onto the land instead of into federal courts, lawyers, offices and litigation, everyone would be a lot less frustrated and a whole lot better off. and so would the land and water.

so much for that plan....

i've been bound and determined that i would not make any plans for this weekend. so far friday night and all of saturday have filled. :-)

scott and i had planned a date night, with dinner and a movie tonight, since it's been a long time since we've had time to do something like that. then i remembered my sister's coming over from lander to spend the night, but she won't be here till later, so we're going to go ahead with our plans, then she'll be here and i'll take her to the airport at 5:30 in the morning, at the latest.

and guess what? that leaves just enough time to get up to the ranch and head over to pathfinder, where they're meeting to start branding their late calves at 6:30. i'm supposed to drive my truck for getting back in to the corrals, and not my car. that must say something about the road.... but it's just 200, and a well-run operation, so we'll easily be done by noon.

then i don't know if i'll hang out at the assoc or head back into town to get some work done, because that evening we're headed to hiland for steak and bringing our branding irons to brand some new wall or fixture or something they've got out there. i've never had the hiland experience, so i figured i probably needed to get out there. it's nothing more than a blip on the 90 miles of emptiness between casper and shoshoni.

here's a brief explanation of some of the places around casper that i visit the most:

as you can see, the oregon and mormon trails go right through the association, and many of the covered wagon ruts are still visible, so that kind of neat to see when we're out moving cows around.

so anyway, the better part of my weekend has filled. hopefully i still have sunday mostly free and in town. i need to mow my yard. it hasn't been done since before july 4, and although it's quit growing, it could use a little evening up.

in other news, i went to one of my favorite stores, ross, yesterday, and couldn't resist these salt and pepper shakers for three dollars. are they not adorable? and they were only one small part of my purchases.

and then i made this beef salad for supper, and when scott finally got off work - he's been working late a lot - he came by, and he really liked it. i ate it with crackers and he ate it with tortilla chips, since neither of us was hungry enough for a whole sandwich. the recipe's another keeper!

i forgot to take pictures while i was putting it together, but here's the recipe, listed below and linked from pioneer woman cooks:

Beef Sandwich Spread
Prep: 15 min Cook: 0 Difficulty: easy Servings: 8 (mine didn't make that much. i used one large package of ground beef)

1 pound leftover cooked beef (pot roast, steaks, etc. i just thawed ground beef since i have tons. literally.)
3/4 c mayo (i used kraft's new reduced fat to lighten the calories. i suppose you could also use part plain yogurt)
1 T white vinegar
1/2 small white onion, finely chopped
4 whole hard-boiled eggs (i used five)
6 pickle slices (i used one whole dill pickle)
3 T sweet pickle relish (left this out, because i don't use relish that much, and didn't want the whole bottle sitting in the fridge)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Optional: pimentoes, green pepper, jalapeno (i added red pepper from my drawer)

Preparation:
If using leftover beef, grind finely in food processor. I just sauteed the ground beef until cooked through, and didn't drain it. Combine all other ingredients and add to ground beef when cool, adjusting quantities to taste. Add salt and pepper. Best if chilled before serving. Spread on toasted wheat bread, serve as a salad on lettuce, or eat with crackers and chips.

easy! and a great, quick way to use ground beef other than hamburgers....

purchase of the week

my incredible deal of the week is $40 worth of flowers for $10 from galles greenhouse here in town.

some time ago the local radio station started this new 'seize the deal' thing, where if you get online and a certain amount of people sign up, you can get 50 percent off of things from different businesses in town. the radio ad is actually really irritating, but there are a couple that have tempted me enough to purchase a coupon.

so i walked into galles this week, and all their perennials were 50 percent off, so it was great. i picked out a few things and needed to go back and get more, so i ended up with two big strawflowers, a different variety of gernaium, two red pansies and an african impatien, i think it's called, all for $10!

one of the empty pots in the photo above is where my dahlia was. i tried to keep it alive, but it wasn't happenin. the other pot has been empty since i cut the dead succulent of roommate a's out of it.

i really like strawflowers. they're so bright and colorful.

the dogs were upset i put them inside because they kept going to visit the neighbors and i was trying to talk on the phone with my mom.

so now my front yard has a mid-summer freshening of my containers.

the impatien.

the geranium.

and the front steps. i love having so many flowers around.

wednesday supper: thai beef rolls

last night i tried another new recipe for summer. this email came through from the martha steward everyday food mailing list, and it's title was '13 easy no-cook meals.'

now, since it's been a little warm these afternoons and evenings, and since my house doesn't have air conditioning, and because i've come to the conclusion my oven isn't very well-insulated, i haven't used it for anything in a while, and any meal i can make without even using the stove top is great. so, i sifted through these 13 meals to find one with beef - there's an overabundance of chicken recipes these days, and i rarely rarely cook with 'yard bird.' i did find one, called thai beef rolls, and all i needed to do was pick up some deli roast beef.

and i admit, i adapted the recipe quite a bit. there was supposed to be lettuce in them, but i had a bag of spinach, and it's supposed to be just a sesame oil/ginger concoction drizzled on the tortilla, but i added in some salad dressing to make it creamy.

i knew scott would be joining me for dinner, so the whole time i worried, because i wasn't really sure if he'd like this recipe.

especially when i spread carrots over the top! (i don't have mint in my herb garden this year, so i left out the fresh mint leaves that were supposed to be with the carrots)

i also sliced up a big ol' pan of zucchini and summer squash, because we all know it shrinks quite a bit when it's fried, and between the two of us scott and i ate all of this. :-) it was so good, though.

i wrapped the tortillas in foil and put them in the fridge till scott got there, and then we sat down to enjoy the meal, and to my surprise scott not only ate his wrap, but he liked it. :-) credit to him for trying something different. i liked having the crunchy thin-cut carrots in there, and the salad dressing addition was a good idea. this recipe's a keeper!

new silverware alert: for a housewarming gift, heather brought a silverware set to my house party a few weeks back. she'd remembered how i was lamenting about running short of silverware when company's over, so between a set i picked up at ross, and this set she gave me, i'm in a lot better shape now.

here's the recipe:

Thai Beef Rolls
Yield: 4 wraps (serving size: 1 wrap)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 T lime juice
1 T sesame oil
1 T ground fresh ginger (i used dried)
1 T minced fresh garlic (i have a jar in the fridge. it's easier than whole garlic cloves, and keeps longer)
2 t fish sauce (what? i have no idea what that is, much less have it in my cupboard.)
3/4 t sugar
4 8-in flour tortillas (i overloaded mine with filling, as usual)
2 c torn Boston lettuce (again, i used fresh spinach)
12 oz thinly sliced deli roast beef
1/2 c matchstick-cut carrots
1/4 c chopped fresh mint

Preparation
Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Place tortillas on a work surface; brush lightly with 2 teaspoons juice mixture. Arrange 1/2 cup lettuce on each tortilla; top each with 3 ounces beef. Combine carrots and mint; arrange about 3 tablespoons carrot mixture over each serving. Drizzle each serving with about 1 tablespoon of remaining juice mixture; roll up.

Nutritional Information (although it's not quite accurate with my recipe adjustments)
Calories: 194 (29 percent from fat)
Fat: 9.5 g (sat 1.8 g, mono 2.8 g, poly 2 g)
Protein: 22.5 g
Carbohydrates: 30.3 g
Fiber: 1.1 g
Cholesterol: 47 mg
Iron: 3.8 mg
Sodium: 967 mg
Calcium: 127 mg

the kids play together so nicely

when i'm out in the yard in the evenings and mornings i usually let the pups out with me, and the cats like to go outside and sit on the porch or poke around the yard.

these photos here are a very common occurrence, both inside and outside of the house. the girls love to wrestle, and sometimes it gets out of hand with barking and snarling, whereupon they both get yelled at and they take a brief time-out.

and this is link. he doesn't wrestle.

he doesn't even offer to referee.

but you can bet he keeps a close eye on them, and if lucy so much as glances his direction on the way by, she's sure to get a hiss and snarl.

but the pups don't let his non-participation dampen their enthusiasm.

and at least link has a good excuse to be grumpy. and notice lexus isn't anywhere to be seen. she lays pretty low when the dogs are on the loose. she's not as defiant as link, and thus she also doesn't get the harassment that link does.

it's one big happy family. :-)

personally signed copy

i finally have a copy of the pioneer woman cookbook! complements of my mom, who entered a drawing on the blog of a woman who cooked through the cookbook julie-and-julia style. if i could remember the name of the blog, i'd link to it. :-)

anyway, the blogger was planning a trip to oklahoma to meet with ree drummond, the pioneer woman, so she took this copy along with her and pw signed it with my mom's requested message, about how i grew up in iowa but have adapted well to ranch life in wyoming:

since i've been so busy, and it's been so hot and there's no air conditioning in the house, i haven't cooked much this month, but once winter hits and there's no yard work to be done and the days are dark, then i will get busy experimenting!

thanks, mom, for thinking of me and entering the drawing. :-)

it only took a year and a half

in the midst of the ranch rodeo business and excitement of last weekend, i overlooked the notable fact that i had a gooseneck ball installed in my pickup last week, picking it up friday.

since i got the truck in january 2009 i've wanted to put one in, and since i started hanging out with scott and helping with ranch work it's been obvious that i needed to install one so my truck could actually be useful. it's kind of the same situation me and my horses are in with not being able to rope.

so, after all the house start-up expenses settled down, this month i had the extra money and i called up a guy who runs wyoming turbo, as he was the one recommended by friend dejoe, who sold me the truck.

last july's truck project was tinting the windows all the way around, which i love. until i got my mercedes car without tint, i never realized how much cooler the truck's interior stays in the summer sun.

so anyway, there it sits in the driveway with the shiny gold ball in the bed, and it's a B&W turnover ball, so you can pull it out of the square bracket and flip it upside down to have a level truck bed again, if need be. i could have just had a fixed one welded in, but i figured i might as well get the good one. maybe this weekend i can come up with a reason to head to the ranch and hook scott's trailer on it to try it out. :-) there is a used titan gooseneck horse trailer at our friends' trailer dealership that scott told me about, with a dressing room in the nose and a saddle rack in the back corner. thinking about going by to take a look, since it might be a good price.

it's been nice, having the diesel mercedes, as i've already spent a lot less on fuel. yesterday i filled the truck for the first time since returning from our july 4th trip to iowa. it used to take $75 once a week to fill it, and sometimes more. anyone with a truck is very familiar with the fact that most gas pumps shut off at $75. it's depressing to have to run your card twice at one fuel stop!

ranch rodeo weekend

last friday i left work a couple hours early to meet up with scott, pick up friend mike and his brother russel and head to meeteetse for the weekend's ranch rodeo with a trailer full of tack, horses and coolers.

we met up with fellow team members bob and friend ryan at thermopolis, where'd they'd stopped to congratulate the lakes, a couple who had that day signed the contract on a ranch of their own. at meeteetse we dropped the horses at the bratens', where we usually stay when we're in that area, then headed back into town for dinner, where we crashed a wedding rehearsal dinner at the local bar and restaurant.

saturday morning we saddled and loaded the horses and headed into town mid-morning for breakfast at lucille's cafe before heading to the rodeo arena, where the rodeo started at 1 p.m. i don't have many photos of the rodeo itself, but i did take some video because it better demonstrates how these things work. i'll try once again to figure out how to upload them to a blog.

the events of the day were team trailer loading, team branding, team tying, wild cow milking, ranch bronc riding and team doctoring.

in team loading, three steers of a certain number have to be sorted out of the group, taken to the opposite end of the arena and loaded in a trailer. needless to say, they were squirrely and only one team got that accomplished, and it wasn't ours.

in team branding, scott roped a calf out of the group, pulled it to the 'fire,' where ryan and mike wrestled it and i branded. time started when scott crossed the line and ended when i dropped the iron back in the bucket of paint, which was the branding fire.

in team tying, two team members, bob and ryan, rode out to rope a steer by the head and heels, and then the header dismounts and ties the steer's hind legs together with a square knot.

in wild cow milking, all eight teams go at once. a herd of cows is let loose in the arena and one team member ropes, two 'mug' and one milks and runs to the judge. it's quite the ordeal.

mike rode the bronc for our team - he was an essential member as nobody else wanted to do it. the broncs at this particular rodeo were especially tiny, kicky, reary animals.

and in team doctoring, three guys go out to head and heel a steer and the third dismounts and marks the steer's head with a paint stick.

all events are timed, and the team with the fastest time that follows the rules wins. needless to say, it wasn't a good roping day for any of the teams, and our team came in fifth of eight teams. but we still got paid! enough to get our entry fees back.

scott, bob and mike following the rodeo.

and we got a new good picture of me and scott together. originally we had the prettiest red shirts, but bob's didn't quite fit so he went back to exchange them and we ended up with tan. not nearly so pretty. :-(

becky's brother owns a screen printing/embroidery company, so they put the lettering on for us.

these kids got a horse ride following the rodeo, when we were standing around visiting at the arena. i don't know who they were, but they looked quite content with their cookies.

after the rodeo we took care of our horses and went back to town to take part in the town picnic/dance/wedding reception (the same wedding rehearsal we'd crashed the night before had their reception in conjunction with the town party. makes sense, i guess.) there was a band of older gentlemen playing classic country, and a dance floor, so it made for a fun evening, and the weather couldn't have been better. friend daniel woody set his niece up with russell, from our group, and at one point they were out dancing and i was dancing with bob when russell stepped through the crack in the dance floor and his boot got stuck. it was really smooth and a great way to impress a new girl. :-)

a lot of the people i know from that area were there to visit and dance with, and i was the driver for our team and hung around until midnight, but the bus was leaving when bob suggested continuing on to the elkhorn bar.

sunday morning we took our time packing up and loading the animals, gathering our teammates back together, getting another breakfast at lucille's and heading south for the long process of dropping people and horses off. jazz was the last one out at casper, and from there i went to the house, went back out to clean the roundup office, then sat on my couch to get a few hour's break before the work week started all over again. next weekend i'm not scheduling anything!!

oh, and this morning i woke up to the top shelf of my dishes shattered all over my kitchen floor. that was great.

picnic in the park

this is the face of a happy pug who has spent the last couple hours playing his heart out on the green grass of a park with other pups and a bunch of kids.

last night we had a picnic with roundup staff, and our guest of honor was ex-coworker andrea, publisher dennis's daughter who used to handle our accounts. she was home from south carolina to attend a class reunion this weekend.

designer tracy came down from kaycee with her family, which includes husband alvie and daughter bailee, and son grady.

and heather's kids got to come - pearl and emmie.

the park we were at is right near my house, and i often bring my dogs here to exercise.

it's up on a hill, so a person can look over the town, and see the mountain, and the summer sunset was quite pretty.

rain is welcome

being situated on the high plains, casper, and wyoming in general, are prone to a hot, dry climate where pastures dry out in mid-july, or earlier on the bad years, and those in town water their lawns regularly to prevent the same. so, when i woke up to a thunderstorm this morning, i was excited to see it, and the cats and i took a moment to watch the rain come down. we also had a thunderstorm last evening, and some rain during the night. that's good, because i haven't been watering as much as i probably should have!

scott says it rained a whole lot out at the ranch yesterday, and he could barely get in with his pickup. he was going to pull the horses down to trav's in preparation for this weekend's ranch rodeo, but decided against tearing everything up in the mud. he also took the pups out with him last night - becky will puppysit this weekend, and i miss having them around, but i don't think the cats do. they like having the place to themselves.

otherwise, today i need to finish up all the details for this week's paper - i didn't get far enough on it yesterday, so sent heather on a tour i would have attended at lingle in eastern wyoming today. then this evening we're having a roundup picnic, for a summer get-together and to visit with publisher dennis's daughter andrea, who's also a past coworker and now lives in south carolina.

until then, i hope it keeps raining for a while. now it's coming down slow and steady. i'll put my sprinklers away for a few days!

survey of 3s

on sunday my coworker and friend heather posted a 'survey of three' on her blog, double h photography, and tagged me to be a part of it, so here's my version of answers:

3 names i go by:
1. Christine Lynn - from my parents. explanation: 'christine' is spelled the german way, so it's spelled with an 'e' on the end, but pronounced 'christina.' now you know. :-)
2. Kikki - this is all my brother nathan calls me, a nickname that began way back when he wasn't old enough to say my name, and it stuck. now a few of his friends back in iowa only know me as kikki, and several of my friends call me that.
3. Keeks - a shortened version of kikki, which began in college. used less often now that the ex-him is out of my life, but several, including friend kat in new york city, of kitty in the city, still call me keeks.

3 places i've been: (i love going places, do i only get to list three?)
1. Prince Edward Island, Canada - a fun trip with my mom and sister, because the only reason we went was because we wanted to see the island. and i got to see new england, which was different.
2. Las Cruces, New Mexico - another fun, last-minute trip where i flew from st. paul, minn down to el paso, texas to visit my good friend holly, who spent a semester at new mexico state. another interesting trip, because otherwise i'd have no reason to see that part of the country.
3. Alberta, Canada - a trip taken many years ago with my aunt diana, uncle mitch and cousins jeremiah and emily, who were all moving to a town near calgary. got to hike the canadian rockies, visit some caves, see lake louise and tour calgary. now i just need to get back up there for the stampede!

3 favorite drinks:
1. 20 oz hazelnut latte - it's what i always order when i buy coffee. it's dependable, and not too sweet, no matter what coffee shop i walk into.
2. Pendleton whiskey and Sprite Zero, chock full of ice - a new favorite, since i discovered Sprite Zero doesn't taste like diet soda.
3. Coffee with a little bit of milk - best enjoyed several mugs in a row on saturday morning

3 jobs i've had:
1. Linden Dining Center - food service, in college, at the dorm building known as linden, across the courtyard from the building in which i lived. i liked working in linden. the university closed it down in consolidation after my first year.
2. Jet's personal exerciser - a big black horse i rode and trained for a woman in ames. he was a nut, but i really liked that horse. i took him a lot of places.
3. Highland Park Community Church - the Casper church were i worked part-time for two years. i really liked it, because it was a good way to get to know everyone involved in the church. but, i'm really grateful to have my weekends back.

3 tv shows i watch: (well.... it's been a long time.... i can't remember the last time i watched tv, or had time to)
1. 30 Rock - i did watch all three (or four?) seasons in short order on the 'watch instantly' option of netflix. i like tina fey.
2. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives - with guy fieri on food network, it's one that i like to catch if i'm on the road in a hotel room for the roundup. he has a great personality for tv, and i always try to remember the places i should stop when i'm around the country, but i never do.
3. Funniest Home Videos - they're always on, and they always crack me up

3 favorite retro tv shows:
1. ?
2. ?
3. i had enough trouble coming up with current tv shows

3 favorite dishes: (again, only three?)
1. Snow Pea Stir-Fry - snow peas, mushrooms, slivered almonds, soy sauce, corn starch. all sauteed together and happy. it's easy and delicious.
2. a big fat bowl of ice cream with chocolate chunks (on a hot summer evening, while flipping through a magazine)
3. Kicked-Up Tuna Melts - Emeril Lagasse's doctored up tuna melts. tuna, black olives, red onion, pepper, capers, lemon juice, etc. can't beat them. under the broiler with thick slices of white cheese. then i eat most of the whole bowl of leftovers before it hits the fridge.

3 things to which i'm looking forward: (only three? this is tough. i'm going to cheat)
1. meeteetse ranch rodeo this weekend - wish us luck!
2. wind river pack trip - second annual trip packing with my sister for several days in the mountains
3. a visit from the parents - to see my new house!
4. meeteetse labor day rodeo - was a good time last year, expecting no less this time around.
5. finding out if my mares are bred - i think jazz might be showing a little. it's either that, or that there's just a lot of grass this year
6. decorating my new house for christmas! (yes, i'm already making plans and know where the tree will go)

3 people i'm tagging:
1. Holly, of Musings
2. Kat, of Kitty in the City
3. Carrie, my mother (make a facebook note! :-) )

C } branding day

this is my little heifer calf as she did her best to escape the loops of trav and scott yesterday up at the association corrals. we needed to catch her to put my brand on her, as earlier this spring she only got scott's, as i forgot my irons in town.

captured!

i placed my brand, with help from bob to make it straight.

and lu came up to the corral to observe the goings-on. it's the first time she's come up and helped us work. such a smiley dog. she stayed right with me and did her best to stay out of the way.

after we did a few more of scott and bob's late calves we cornered my mares and blindfolded them for their branding.

ta da!

don't they look nice?

then a storm passed over while we were eating some steaks grilled by becky for dinner. i followed it back into town. that's the backside of casper mountain, and the rainbow right over town.

happy trails to you, too, april. i only brought her back to the pasture, as jazz was left at the association for this weekend's ranch rodeo in meeteetse.

1406 S Lincoln Housewarming

last friday night was my housewarming party! i knew i wanted to have one eventually, so originally i had picked a fairly empty weekend. turned out not to be that way, but it was ok. it was attended mostly by roundup people, and scott's family members also gathered together.

curt and diane and their twins carter and cooper came over.

and jody.

and peggy and publisher dennis and scott's brother bob. note: dennis is sitting on a blue chair. prior to that he was sitting on a red chair, which suddenly and unexpected left him sitting on the driveway and his drink on his head.

scott fired up his fairly new charcoal grill and grilled the burgers. this was the first time we tried the ground beef from tyrone, and it did make good burgers.

this was tyrone, the 20-something-year-old retired lead steer up at the association. some outfits use steers who know the way to help move cattle from pasture to pasture.

a chilly day in april he met his fate. so far scott and i have grilled some tenderloin, that was delicious. don't worry! health inspector friend jamie, who inspects the processors in the area, was on hand to ensure everything was proper. :-) the hide went to lander to be tanned. i want a hide rug someday.

my food buffet table was also in the newly-cleaned patio, and i had the chance to use some of my dish collection. the thermometer hanging on the wall was a housewarming gift from jody. it was pretty hot in the patio, so scott had set up the box fan to keep air circulating.

and some of my glass collection i put to use as a centerpiece. this long table and my long serving table were borrowed from friend jamie, and jody chipped in with the collapsible (sometimes unexpectedly) picnic table on the grass, as well as a crock pot for part of the baked beans i put together.

the girls lucy and foxy really wanted to join the party, and we did eventually let them out, and paula's pug pup tyson was also over.

tyson partied a little too hard! he had a fun time with the kids who were at the party, as did the other two pups. they got lots of child interaction.

p.s. thanks to heather of double h photo for taking most of these pics while i was busy making sure everything was as it should be!