"You didn't tell us there was pond too!"

Yes, the dogs finally discovered the pond. Walking down to the pond and seeing them both out in the middle of it, smiling, one could almost sense them thinking "all this and a pond too!" Anyway, it was quite a weekend here on the compound with the guys.




It was quite an exciting time on the compound. Duke and Maxx met Aunt & Uncle who came to watch the Redskin game. Fortunately it was a 4pm game which gave us plenty of time to get the dogs bathed and cleaned up. Now, a bath and grooming would not be something we would ordinarily do because of a visit by Aunt & Uncle (or anyone else).




BUT as you can see from the stunning photographs (click on a photo to view full size), Maxx & Duke having discovered the pond were in to shape to have company. To say they smelled bad is an understatement. They stunk so bad that we had to hose them down just to be able to allow them onto the back deck (which we had to "wall off" to make sure they didn't go BACK to the pond). A quick backyard shampoo was in order which proved useless in combating the slime, grime and pond scum that clung so tightly to their soft long coats. Off to Petco for a professional 'emergency' grooming. It is probably a good thing that Front Royal now has that shiny new shopping center north of town with Petco and others, since we now have what amounts to an open account at the pet store. Fortunately for us, they were able to 'work' the boys in, have them all neat and clean, smelling nice and ready for their first Aunt & Uncle meeting. They (the dogs) are a trip! The day went well, Uncle who is not a big dog person, enjoyed the guys and Maxx, sensing maybe he needed to be extra nice to Uncle, immediately sat at his feet and propped his head on Uncle's shoe all the while looking up at him with those eyes that say "i know you really like me". Quite a day! Too bad the Skins had to ruin it all by losing to the hated New York Football Giants. Oh well, on to the next game (and dog adventure). Stay tuned...

Cleo RIP




Sadly our beloved Cleo has passed away. Her long battle with arthritis and old age finally got the best of her on August 19, 2007. It was a sad day here in Browntown for mom, me and grammy. Cleo was a sweetheart til the very end, and even made her passing an easy event for us all. She is now with her doggie friends who went before her, buried out beyond the pool garden in the area reserved for all of the Browntown dogs who went before her. Remember her fondly, because she gave us all so many good memories and great times. We miss her and know you all will too.

Introducing Maxx & Duke

Mom and I would like to introduce everyone to Maxx and Duke, the latest additions to our Browntown family. They came to live with us last Friday and are settling in quite nicely. Maxx is the sweet old guy with the white face. He's 11 or 12 yrs. old and quite the character. He immediately let us know that he enjoys anything soft: squeaker toys to balls of mom's yarn. So far no damage to any of her projects, although he eyes them longingly. Duke is Maxx's best friend and sticks to him like glue. Duke is about 6 - 7yrs old and is a HUGE boy! While we haven't been able to get an accurate weight on him, records show that he's somewhere around 125lbs. Fortunately he's a sweetheart and not the least bit aggressive but rather mild mannered. They were both rescued from a Golden rescue outfit in West Virginia and both are quite happy to live in Browntown now. We (and they) hope to see you all soon.




Both of the guys have found the fish barrell and enjoy many long drinks from it. The fish doesn't seem to mind.



Maxx has a very unique "Angel-like" personality. You kids all remember Angel? and her total disregard for personal space? Well Maxx has that same personality. I've wondered over the last couple of days if Angel has been reincarnated, or has she sent Maxx to us? In any event, he's very entertaining to be around as you can see from his performance when I tried to pose him.














Duke on the other hand is quite content to just sit and look regal. Quite a handsome fellow isn't he?
...

Happy 4th Birthday

Happy birthday to Richie! Festivities were held at Wilson's Pet Farm outside of Winchester and attended by the usual suspects including Aunt, Uncle and a host of the little guy's friends from far and wide. As you can see a fine time was had by all.


 

The theme this year was "Cars" a current favorite of Richie


 

A chorus of many serenade with a rousing version of Happy Birthday !


 

Kara, the perfect hostess with party goer. Can you all believe how big she's getting? Seems like only yesterday we were celebrating her 4th.

The View from the Top

For those of you who don't know, I had a long weekend in the Mile High City this past weekend. My friend and I went to Denver to visit her cousin, see the sites, and go to a concert at Red Rocks Ampitheatre. It was a fantastic trip. Denver is a lot of fun, the mountains are spectacular, and Red Rocks was breathtaking. Lots of laughs and lots of fun, despite the stress of flying stand-by and spending the night at the Denver airport. It's all good.

We flew into Colorado Springs on Thursday night, and I was a little disappointed I couldn't see much of anything upon arrival - but more than made up for it later in the trip. Our host had to work Friday morning, so Lori and I walked all around downtown taking in the sites of the museums, shops, people, etc. Very interesting place. Friday afternoon we headed to nearby Golden (Mom's old stomping grounds) to tour the Coors Brewery. It was a lot of fun, and surprisingly Coors is pretty good beer when it comes straight from the tap at a cool 36 degrees. My friend who lives in Vail drove down to go out with us Friday night, and we had a good time taking in the local scene. Saturday morning we had breakfast with drag queens, and then headed to Morrison CO in the early afternoon, where Red Rocks is. Morrison is a tiny (and I mean very tiny) little town whose claim to fame is the Red Rocks Park and Ampitheatre. Which, I have to say, may be the best concert venue ever. We were there to hear a band called Leftover Salmon (Colorado natives who are no longer touring together) and moe. The show was fantastic, certainly everything we expected it to be. Sunday, our last day in Colorado, we headed to the old mining town of Central City. It really did look like something out of a movie. The hour or so drive there and back was definitely worth it. The mountains are spectacular. We were traveling on a state route that followed the path of a creek where people all along the way were rafting, fishing, and swimming in the shadows of the Rockies. It was extremly "Colorado-ish". We made it back to Atlanta Monday evening after spending a long night in the Denver airport. But I can honestly say, it was totally worth it. We are already planning next year's trip to see another show and go rafting! Sorry, the pictures are not in chronological order, but I think you can figure it out. Wow, one would think I'd never seen mountains before...

Percy Sledge @ Strasburg Theater

Who would have thought that we would be sitting in Strasburg listening to a legend?

Here are a couple of shots that show how nice the theater looks after the renovation. Good venue for seeing music. Ok, so the pictures didn't turn out great. You get the idea.

 




 


Percy workin' it hard. Nothing wrong with his soul, it's as intact as ever even if the voice isn't.

 


Mom, up close and personal with the man. Even got a $5 autographed picture. Doesn't get any better than that! Sorry about the lighting. She couldn't get any closer because 1. there were dozens of people waiting, and 2. Well, mom just isn't pushy enough :)

 

Video from camp

I've been playing around with video at camp this year, and though you guys would be a good test audience.

Back To WV-Next Time I'm Going For Good

So we just returned triumphantly yesterday from the three day excursion to West Virginia for the annual All Good Music Festival. The occasion was to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of our good friend Ryan Proctor-A good time was had by all, a ton of music was seen, and well, I realized AGAIN for the second summer in a row that one day Ill head to West Virginia and possibly never be heard from again, other than my occasional bloggings from my mountain cabins. Ok, so maybe I won't be that remote, but you get the point.

Great performances included Grace Potter And The Nocturnals (the new love of my life honestly) Leftover Salmon, Moe, Sam Bush, The late night All-Star Jam that went until 4 am, and too many others to name. I hope you enjoy the pictures of the two tattooed, elf-eared, dreadlocked folks above, we crowned them the king and queen of the entire festival. I don't believe their look needs an explanation. Enjoy the photos.

Peachtree Road Race

The 4th of July in Atlanta was celebrated by many this morning by participating in the 38th running of the Peachtree Road Race. This is the world's largest 10k road race, with 55, 000 participants. I am pleased to say that there were two participants from 991 this year, Jarrett in his 4th consecutive PRR, and me in my first! It was a lot of fun, and I am very glad that I started this Independence Day tradition (even if I am a little sore sitting here on the couch as I write this). This 10k race (6.2 miles) runs down Peachtree Road, beginning at Lenox Mall, running through Buckhead to Midtown, and ending at Piedmont Park (not very far from our house). It was a great route, flat for the most part - there were really only two hills, one of which is "Cardiac Hill" that runs in front of Andrew's old apartment at The Darlington. The entire route is packed with people yelling and cheering, there were water stations, live bands, and water sprayers all along the way. One of the big churches in Buckhead even hooked up a sprayer on their lawn with a sign advertising "Holy Water" for those runners needing an extra kick. It really was a great experience! I should be able to get some pictures online in a few days, crossing the finish line, etc. In the meantime, here is a picture of Jarrett, Cyerra, me, and John Marc in Piedmont Park after finishing the race.

Happy 4th to everyone!

So there was a little wind that blew thru Browntown this past week. These trees used to stand in the grove between Grammy's house and the pool garden. A total of 5 trees were affected. It was quite an operation to clear them out. Complete with cherry picker, mulching machine and a small army of chain saws. Note to Emma: It was probably a bigger job than you and I could have handled. Grammy had to call in professionals to clear it out. The good news is there are now 2 small mountains of mulch piled up over near the creek.




 
 

 

Camp pictures online

I don't know how many of you keep up with the 4-H Center's blog, but we've added a new feature...camper contributions! One of the classes we have here each week is Broadcast Journalism. The kids work on a podcast, a multimedia slideshow and, this year, a blog entry. There will be at least one each week, all the text and pictures will be camper-generated.

http://swva4h.blogspot.com/

More Mexico Pictures

Here are some more pictures of Mexico.


Pictures here include the "Infinity Pool" (last picture, pool on the right) that was just unbelievable. Mom claims that I held it down for two days. Actually it was just too cool to get out of.

The Iguana in the picture below was our neighbor. Each morning he (and several of his friends) came by to check things out. They even hung around the pool, laying under beach chairs (yes, with people sitting on them) and enjoyed watching the people, as much as we enjoyed watching them.

The snack bar facing the ocean was nice too. The great thing about these "all inclusive" places is you can walk in anywhere, anytime and get whatever you want. Even while bobbing in the ocean, or hanging out in the pool, the waiters will bring you a drink (or more) :) Hope you enjoy the pictures. They really can't do justice to how pretty this place was.