Alley’s Blog

I know that everyone wants to see more pictures of my puppies.  Due to popular demand, Rocky and Slate are back!  Notice that Slate is HUGE!  He is almost 7 months old, and he is quickly gaining on Rocky in size - he is only slightly smaller than Rocky now.  He is going to be a big boy when he is done growing.

Finally, here are some pictures from when my parents were visiting over the Fourth of July.

Here are my parents at a Midland Rockhounds game.  We went four nights in a row!

Here are my parents at the Texas Stonehenge.  If you don’t want to go all the way to England, there is a smaller version of Stonehenge in Odessa, Texas!

Have you seen the movie "Friday Night Lights"?  It was about high school football in this area of Texas.  This is the school that is featured in the movie.

And, here is a typical west Texas scene.  On the left is a pump jack and on the right is an oil rig.  Texas Tea.  Enough said.

I guess that I should update on our vacation. I should probably post some pictures and stuff, but that is not going to happen. Our vacation got cut short. The dogs got sick, and it just made all of us miserable. Camping with sick dogs cannot be fun and relaxing. So, we just came home.

First, Rocky got some tummy troubles (I’ll let you interpret that one). Then, we stopped at Kyle’s great uncle’s house in Cedar Crest just outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Cedar Crest is named because of all of the cedar groves all over that side of the mountain. We tied the dogs up to a couple of trees so that we could sit inside and visit for an hour with Uncle Bob and Aunt Bertie. Have you ever heard of Cedar Fever? Apparently, dogs are allergic to cedar trees, and it causes them to break out in hives. Yes, my dogs broke out in Cedar Fever. Between the Cedar Fever and Rocky’s tummy issues, Kyle and I were at our wits-end.

We were all so miserable that Kyle and I just decided to head home. I still took the whole week off to relax at home, but Kyle went back to work for a couple days so that we can try to take another vacation later.

In other news, my parents are coming down for a long weekend over the Fourth of July next week. Our minor league baseball team, the Midland Rockhounds, will be in every night that they are here. And yes, they did plan to come down around the Rockhounds’ schedule. For a minor league team, it is a really nice stadium and a great atmosphere. We enjoy going to the Rockhounds’ games, so it should be a fun weekend for all of us. I’ll try to post some pictures of that weekend.

Okay, not yet, but we will be in a few days.  Kyle and I are both burnt out at work right now and decided that we desperately need a vacation.  Unfortunately, the only time that works for both of us before September/October is next week.  Sooooooo, we are leaving on Sunday the 15th for a week of hiking and camping.  We are packing up the car and the dogs and heading north to get out of the heat of West Texas.  We’re going to southwest Colorado to do some hiking and camping in the National Forest up there.  We are really looking forward to the much-needed break.  I’ll try to post some pictures of our trip when we get back.

Apparently, there has been an outbreak of kennel cough here in Midland, Texas.  For those of you who don’t know, kennel cough is the dog version of the flu.  They can be vaccinated, but there are several strands of it.  It is highly contagious, and it can get really bad if left untreated.  Just take a guess at two of the puppies in town with it……that’s right!  DING DING DING!  Rocky and Slate!

They both started out with a slight cough yesterday, so I called and got them an appointment with the vet for today (Wednesday).  Well, they got worse overnight.  Have you ever heard a dog cough?  It sounds like a goose honking!  Seriously!  Let’s just say at 1:30 in the morning, it is not the sound you want to be woken up by.  I don’t think that Rocky slept at all last night.  He would settle down and be drifting off when another coughing fit would come upon him.  Poor little guy looked so miserable this morning.  Needless to say, none of us got much sleep.  (I should probably mention that Kyle is in Houston right now and had a wonderful night of sleep last night!) 

They are now on antibiotics and very very sleepy.  They both passed out in the back of the car on the way home from the vet.  Hopefully, we will all get a good night of sleep tonight.

I just wanted to post and let you know that I am still here.  We have had nothing going on with us.  Kyle is in Houston a lot this month for work, and I went with him for a few days last week so that I can see him more than just on the weekend!  I just played around at the mall and watched movies.  Nothing too exciting, but it was nice to relax a bit.  I’m back at work this week, and Kyle is back in Houston this week.  He will be home late Friday night, so until then, it is just the puppies and me.

Not a whole lot going on right now, so I thought that I would post some pictures of Slate and Rocky.

They cuddle like this all of the time.  It is so cute!

Slate had his dewclaws removed yesterday, so he has some bandages on his front paws.  The good news is that he is ready to star in his very own 80’s workout video!

Over the weekend, Kyle and I travelled to San Antonio, Texas, to go to the NCAA Men’s Final Four festivities.  (For those of you out of the country or just not into sports - it’s the final four teams left in college men’s basketball tournament.  it’s a really big deal!)  We saw a lot of players and coaches just hanging out like the rest of us.  We saw Bobby Knight on the ESPN set doing his game analysis.  We also saw Dick Vitale (another ESPN game analyst) and Steve Alford (Indiana guy - played for IU and now coaches at New Mexico Uni.).  Below are some of the pictures that we got. 

Alley with Dick Vitale.

Kyle with Steve Alford.  (Kyle used to go to Steve Alford’s basketball camps in Indiana when he was younger.)

okay, no more torture.  here are the answers to the final four quotes:

3.   I am the best goddamn dancer in the American Ballet Academy. Who the hell are you? Nobody.  This is that silly ballet movie that Kristin described.  Anyone think of the name yet?     

Center Stage

4.  The British are coming! The British are coming! Well, you made him crack, anyway.  Clue:  He is from Indiana but was visiting England.

Garfield:  A Tail of Two Kitties

10.  Hi, ho. 
      Bye, ho.  Recent movie with Amanda Bynes.  Just came out on DVD in February. 

Sydney White

12.  Tempting but I don’t get out of bed for less than half a million dollars.  Brad Pitt.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

p.s.  we have decided to name the new puppy "slate."  i couldn’t make up my mind and kept going back and forth between names.  it was driving kyle crazy!  so, we just picked one.

Movie meme

7.  Nice Greek girls who don’t find a husband, work in the family restaurant. So here I am, day after day, year after year, thirty and way past my expiration date.   My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Autumn)

8.  You don’t give a monkey a latte!  Super cute cartoon.  Curious George (Kristin)

9.  So you’re not down with the things he does, but you’re still down with him? That makes perfect sense. I understand.   Save The Last Dance  (Autumn)

10.  Hi, ho. 
      Bye, ho.  Recent movie with Amanda Bynes.  Just came out on DVD in February. 

11.  Some people read because they cannot think for themselves.  Cinderella.  Ever After  (Autumn)

12.  Tempting but I don’t get out of bed for less than half a million dollars.  Brad Pitt.

13.  It will be mine. Oh yes. It will be mine.  Speaking about a guitar here.  Wayne’s World (Scott)

14.  Woman… woe-man… whoooa-man. She was a thief, you gotta believe, she stole my heart and my cat. Betty, Judy, Josie and those hot Pussycats… they make me horny, Saturday morny… girls of cartoo-ins will leave me in ruins… I want to to be Betty’s Barney. Hey Jane… get me off this crazy thing… called love.   So I Married an Axe Murderer (Kristin)

15.  I’ve been on a diet every day since I was nineteen, which basically means I’ve been hungry for a decade. I’ve had a series of not nice boyfriends, one of whom hit me. Ah, and every time I get my heart broken, the newspapers splash it about as though it’s entertainment. And it’s taken two rather painful operations to get me looking like this.  Notting Hill  (Autumn)