Montana is One!

What a fun birthday party Montana had today at Countryside Park.  Family and friends. Jenna had her Grandmother,Aunt,Uncle,cousins some from out of state.We had yummy hamburgers and Jenna what was that delicious jalapeño dip? Wait til you see how much Montana loved her cake!

G-Mama and Papa gave Montana her pink pony. She loved it. I picked her up thinking she was tired of riding and she pointed to her pony-she wanted to get back on!

Of course I love this!

Brinton makes fast work of bringing chairs.

Awwwwwww!

Miller and Nixin enjoyed the swings.

Look at that face and curls!

Fun to have Aunt Amanda!

Grcie is a pro. She got one of these ponies for Christmas.
She is riding just like a jockey on the racetrack!

Miranda made the drive down and Dad came leaving Mom at home with a bad cold,darn it.

Cash Baby hiding behind his big ball.

The boys throwing baseballs.

Miller,minnie me Scotty.

I have never seen anyone enjoy their birthday cake any more than
Montana did. She grabbed a fistful first with one hand than the other.

She ate,and ate,and ate!

She finally picked up what was left of her cake and shoved as much as she could
into her mouth! Fun to watch. 

She got lots of cute gifts,some really cute outfits,an ASU cheerleader outfit and a D-Backs jersey and a fun bounce house.
My parents gave her this cute monkey and book. She was so excited to get the monkey until she saw the book,then she grabbed the book. She obviously loves books!

Daddy got to sit down after BBQing burgers.

Brannon and Amanda gave Montana a princess baby doll. She was enthralled.
I think one of her first dolls.

The Phoenix Zoo

My mom,Ina Wimsatt,has been a volunteer at the Phoenix Zoo for over 20 years.

When she started at the Zoo the volunteer program was very different from today.

Lets just say that her education and knowledge and interaction with the animals and the public

was far more substantial than today. My mother loves the Zoo and thanks to her so do I and

so do my children and my grandchildren. 

I had often thought how nice it would be to volunteer at the Zoo when I retired. 

In November 2011 that is just what I did and now one morning a week I volunteer at the Phoenix Zoo. 

What makes it really special is that my mother and I work the same shift together. I love

spending time with her and she has taught me so much about the animals at the Zoo so that I

am able to answer the patrons questions.We finish our shift with lunch at the Zoo.

These are just a few of the pictures I will be posting over time.

The Mexican Grey Wolf,extinct in the wild in the United States. 

Not a close up but I liked this picture of a couple of our giraffe.

The beautiful Golden Eagle. One of the most impressive predators.

Our Sumatran Tiger. One of only two cats that enjoys being in the water.

My favorite animal at the zoo right now, our new 2 year old african lion,Kitambi.
He is majestic and already very large. His mane grows for the first 5 years. It will be fun to watch him mature. 

Half Ear the rhino recently lost her friend. They had been together in captivity for 41 years!
She seems to be doing well,better than expected.

He ain't dead yet! This is Al (I think,mom can correct me). He is the patriarch of the
baboons and elderly. On this day he was sunning himself on a chilly morning.
Doesn't look like he has a care in the world.

Can you find the cheetah?

  

Fun picture of our new Dalmation Pelicans. They are the largest pelican.
Pelican #5 is quite a character. He likes to wander the Zoo alone and
interacts with the public! Harmless and fun.

Snow on the Superstitions

I wanted to post these pictures of snow on the Superstitions.
This doesn't happen every year and when it does it doesn't last long.
 I took these in December of 2011.

Cutter and Piper behind their new temporary fence.
They were spending too much time at the neighbors.
When Piper came home with a half defrosted filet mignon,
someone's Christmas Eve dinner the fence went up!

Beautiful! I love our view.

Graduation for Cutter and I

Tonight Cutter graduated from Good Dog Agility's beginner class. It was a sixteen week course and Cutter is a super star! We have a long way to go but he is on the right track. He is very obstacle focused for such a young dog. I was told that most dogs at this stage of the game were still very handler focused but Cutter was one of a few in the class to be obstacle focused.He is only 14 almost 15 months old.

We got to run a full beginner course for graduation. The course was as follows; Through the tire jump,up and over the A-frame,over a winged-jump to the set of 12 weave poles,over two jumps in a semi-circle,over the teeter-totter,onto the table and down for a 5 second count,off the table to a dark curved tunnel,over a jump then through the chute,across the dog walk to another curved tunnel and over a jump to finish the course. I have a hard time keeping up with him so I need to work on cueing him once he commits to an obstacle cue him for the next one. We have a lot of fun,can't wait to start the advanced beginners class next week.

 Cutter was very proud of his blue ribbon and he enjoyed the bone cookie and jerky treat he received along with his certificate! Yeah Cutter!

Youch!

This is my boy Santannah,y'all know him. Handsome isn't he?

This is what Santannah's hoof print looks like. The good news is that it looks to be well trimmed but the bad news is that it is imprinted on my side!

Thursday morning I had a ride planned with my neighbor Teri and our friend Ken. We were going to ride out to Mammoth Steakhouse at the Gold Mine. I saddled up and headed over to Teri's house. When I arrived Ken wasn't quite ready to go. I made the decision to dismount as I thought it would take awhile. As I started to dismount and I had one foot in the stirrup and one foot out and swinging over Santannah's back he spooked and bolted. I fell off,hit the ground hard flat on my back and then Santannah stepped on me as he ran off! I did get up,brush myself off and went on the 8 mile ride. Probably not the smartest thing I have ever done. It was a fun ride but I was in a world of hurt for the entire ride.

On Saturday morning I was in so much pain I decided I needed to go the the hospital and have my ribs x-rayed. They decided to do a cat-scan because of where he stepped on me. They were concerned about my liver,spleen,gallbladder and ribs. I have deep contusions and bruising and possibly a few cracked ribs! I will be pretty sore for a few weeks but I am very grateful because it could have been so much worse!