Unique

Our dog Lucy is unique, if nothing else. She has decided her new favorite place is lying in the potted plant that sits on top of our pond waterfall. She is lying in a plant that rests in the water. But it is shady and cool, so it is tough to blame her. I snapped a photo of her there on Sunday.

Sunrise

Colorado has some of the most amazing sunrises and sunsets you will ever see. I snapped this on my way to work. It is stunning.

Here I lay

There are few things I hate.
Not being able to sleep.
That is something I definitely hate.
Here I lay.
Unable to sleep.
Counting the minutes.
Until the alarm clock will sound.
Telling myself.
I should be asleep.
I need to be asleep.
Thinking to myself.
How tired I will be later.
Annoyed.
Frustrated.
Sleep.
Sleep.
Sleep.
Nothing.

The Dark Knight Rises

I saw the movie The Dark Knight Rises with Dale and our friends Tammy and Judy. We all felt slightly uneasy in the theater since a week ago 12 died and over 50 were injured in a shooting at the same movie in Aurora, CO. I found myself staring at the emergency exit door and I was very aware when people left or entered the theater. I also found myself watching the movie and wondering what scene was the exact moment the shooting started. It was hard not to think about the panic, fear and shock that audience must have felt during the attack.

Overall I like the movie. I felt it tied things nicely to the first and second movies and felt like a true trilogy. I felt The Dark Knight was better, but it is tough to beat Heath Ledger as The Joker. I was impressed with Ann Hathaway as Cat Woman. All in all, I was pleased but felt the movie was a bit long, but I did think the final 20 minutes were stellar. If you are a Batman fan it is worth seeing.

Tomato

Our garden is really paying off this year. Not!

My wallet, Dolly Parton and John Mayer condoms

My dreams were very strange and random last night, but I suppose that is nothing new, right? I remember pretty much all of them.

Dream #1:

I lost my wallet - actually I knew it was not lost, but rather stolen. I was in a wooded area searching for it. I am not sure why I was looking there, but I found it near the base of a tree. It was all wet and the credit cards were missing. I also found someone else's wallet with it. I spent the rest of the dream stressing over what else was missing from my wallet that I could not remember and calling my credit card company and bank. I felt so much anxiety over the missing wallet in my dream that I woke up thinking I need to photocopy all my wallet contents and put it in a file for safe keeping and easy reference if it does happen.

Dream #2:

I was walking with my college friend's Cindy Bomzer and Wendy Fitzgerald Fried to some Italian restaurant on Colfax Avenue in Denver, when we ran into Dolly Parton. We told her we loved her and she told us that was sweet. She was incredibly kind, we chatted a bit and then she went on her way walking along Colfax. The odd parts are I have not seen Cindy or Wendy in 20 years except Facebook, they do not live anywhere near Denver, I do not know of any Italian restaurant on Colfax, the part of Colfax we were on is not a place you really ever want to hang our, dine or expect to see Dolly Parton walking along the street.

Dream #3

In this dream I was visiting my childhood friend Mike Flynn. It was not recent as he was not living in his current house with his family. It was almost like he was back in college. I had never visited him in college but it felt like that time in our lives for some reason. In my dream, Mike was living in a two bedroom, street level apartment with another guy. There were two unusual parts to this dream. Directly to the right of Mike's front door was a double window with an air conditioner unit in it. Mike kept a milk crate on top of it with a bungee cord wrapped around it to secure it to the air conditioner. It had a sign on it that read "homeless garden" and in it Mike put all his leftover food and dinner scraps for the homeless to pick up. Every time I came to his door there was a homeless person there picking up food. Even in my dreams, Mike is still the kindest and most thoughtful guy I have ever met. The other part of the dream that was weird was Mike's roommate. He was short, stocky, always dressed in sweats, had a buzzed haircut and a wicked cute smile. In the dream it seemed like I was not out about being gay and was crushing hard on Mike's roommate. I kept finding excuses to sit near him, touch him, wrestle and joke around with him. At one point he and Mike were leaving to go to an amusement park to ride a roller coaster I did not want to go to because it was so intense, but I convinced myself to go just to be near this guy. It is a good thing, I never visited Mike out in Syracuse, when he was in college as obviously I would have molested all his friends or at least this one.

Dream #4

I was walking on the sidewalk with my friend and fellow book club member Juli Tingle. I am not sure where we were but and the houses all had chain link fences around their front yards. It almost felt a bit like Troy, NY where I grew up, but I am not sure. It was definitely modern day though. Anyhow, I am not sure why we were there or where we were walking but it felt normal, safe and like we had somewhere to be. In the dream Juli asked to see my wallet. I gave it to her and she started to go though it. She laughed at my driver's license photo and made fun of the fact that I had a condom with John Mayer on the packaging. Now in real life I do not carry condoms in my wallet and I have never seen one with John Mayer on the packaging - yet in my dream there it was in my wallet.

I told you these dreams were very random. It is weird that two of my dreams featured my wallet - that must have some significance, right? The bigger question is why can't I just dream about flying like everyone else?

Neither Dream

I had not one but two separate dreams last night where Michael J. Fox was standing off to the side. He was not the main part of either dream but just there watching. In both dreams I clearly remember thinking how weird it was he was there and neither dream had anything in common except Michael J. Fox. I am not sure what this means. I don't even remember seeing or hearing about him lately that would cause him to seep into my subconscious.

Where is the line?

Yesterday I asked a question about the need for semiautomatic weapons on my blog and Facebook. It lead to a flurry of conversation on Facebook, which I appreciated as multiple opinions are great. I commented that the ability to openly express oneself and debate is what makes America great.

A lot of the discussion centered around whether it is our government's place to regulate how much of an weapon an American can have since we have a Constitutional right to bear arms. I feel the government regulates pretty much everything from who you can marry (gender, age, relative) to how fast you can drive (55, 65, 70) to food standards (too many pesticides, refrigeration, sanitary), so saying the government should not regulate is silly. The real answer is someone does not feel the government should not regulate gun ownership (quality or type).

I think as a whole we are comfortable with this regulation when it does not impact something that is probably important to us. Would we like to drive 90 miles per hour? Maybe. But is only being able to go 70 miles per hour a big attack on our freedoms? Probably not. However, we do live in a heavily regulated, structured society. I think we like to pretend otherwise but we are governed but hundreds of thousands of laws daily. The easy part is that most of these laws seem like common sense and for the common good, so we are okay with them.

I remarked yesterday that things like abortion, gun control and gay marriage seem to continue to be items that people remain passionate about when it comes to what the government should and should not regulate or allow. There was one a time when prohibition and slavery were topics held with equal passion. There has always been a debate on where the line is drawn when it comes to government and personal liberties. The big question yesterday was where is this line?

I think the line constantly changes. It changes as society changes. Slavery was once the norm but our society changed its views and eventually our elected officials (and a war) changed the laws to reflect society's views. In theory since we elect who govern us, it means that our views are eventually turned into laws. Again this is theory as often it takes time for the views of those elected to match those of who they represent and we know one elected person does not represent the views of everyone they represent. However, since politicians love being in office, I find their views tend to match the views of the group most likely to have the greatest chance to get them elected and reelected.

With that said I read an article today about forced abortions in China and the single child laws. In essence in China you are allowed one child in China unless you live on a farm (free labor), both your parents are deceased or can pay a lot of money in extra child taxes/fines.

This law started in the 1970's to control overpopulation in a heavy poverty country. The government felt that to create economic growth they needed less people in poverty. There is logic to this thinking. A society will struggle to grow if the percentage of poor keeps growing too large. It is simple math.

Now, we all know who logically can afford the fines and taxes for multiple children - the wealthy. This means if you are rich, you can basically have any number of children, while the poor cannot. China has more abortions per capita than anywhere in the world.

The article focused on forced abortions in poor families who violate the law and do not have the money for the taxes/fines for a second or third child. It recently became public of two cases where Chinese woman were abducted by government officials, taken to a hospital and injected with a drug to kill their unborn babies. In one case the woman was 7 months pregnant and the other case the woman was 8 months pregnant. Likely this is not new, but social media has made the sharing of these stories more common. And created people being vocal on objection to these practices.

Personally I think the line where your government kills your unborn baby is a line that should not be crossed. I think that is horrible and sickening. I doubt many will disagree with this. However my real question is should the government be able to regulate your number of offspring? Is this a personal liberty that every human should control? What happens when this liberty impacts overpopulation, the Earth's ability to support the number of humans? Or even a country to support its citizens? America is struggling economically? Could this ever be proposed here? Where is the line? What should government regulate and what is off limits? It makes you think. Right now I do not have the right to marry the person I love and share my life. I see this as a restriction of my personal liberty. Should the government have this right? I say no because it is something personal to me. However I agree that two 12 year-olds should not be allowed to marry and drunk drivers should lose their right to drive.

I guess all have our lines when it comes to our personal liberties and this line is different for everyone. There is no right or wrong to this line. It really only can exist based on the majority who elect those in power (in America at least, not necessarily in China). That is a tough thing.

What if

It is amazing how the media gets to you even when you think you are fine. The news here in Colorado has been non-stop about the recent shooting. So much in fact I intentionally did not watch the news on Sunday. I had to get some space. I did not know anyone directly impacted by the shooting but it still hits me. It makes me think when in a large crowd - what if? What would I do if attacked? How would I react? I think it is natural. Last night the impact of the event and the media coverage seeped into my brain. I had a dream Dale and I were at an outdoor event and suddenly there was a woman with a gun. At that moment my heart raced and I woke up. It was a weird feeling and not a good dream. And it just makes me think even more - what if?

Profound

I saw this and it made me think. We all do this.

So damn great

Today I posted on this blog and Facebook asking people their opinions on semiautomatic weapons and more specifically why someone needs that type of weapon. It created a ton of comments on Facebook and even a few emails. I love that people are so passionate on their beliefs. It is what makes this country so damn great.

I want to understand

Obviously with the Aurora Movie Theater shooting there has been a lot of discussion about gun control. I debate even writing my thoughts here as guns and gun controls are extremely volatile topics for many. But I am writing this less to give my opinion to understand that of others.

Let me start by saying, I personally do not own a gun. In fact, I have never held a firearm of any kind in my life. I know for many of you this sounds extremely odd and naive but it is the truth. There has never been a need or interest.

So do I think stronger gun control would have prevented the Aurora shooting? It is impossible to say, but part of me feels that this particular psychopath was probably not tapped into the illegal gun market; however I do feel he probably would have just resorted to homemade bombs to blow up the theater instead. Based on his apartment this definitely seemed in his wheelhouse. I feel he was smart enough, although insane to find a way to execute his evil with or without a semiautomatic weapon.

However I keep going back to one question - why does anyone need a semiautomatic, quasi–machine guns that can shoot hundred of bullets at a time? I do feel people have a right to handguns and hunting rifles, but I do not know if it is our Constitutional right to have semiautomatic, quasi–machine guns that can shoot hundred of bullets at a time. I do not think that this was even a thought when the Bill of Rights was written and maybe it is just my lack of gun knowledge, but I cannot think of a good use case that requires an average person or any person to own this type of gun. If you are a hunter, I see very little sport in 100 rounds a minute and I imagine the meat is impossible to use full of that many bullets. So why would an average person need a semiautomatic weapon?

I know one argument will be that honest, law abiding citizens need these weapons to protect themselves against the criminals with illegal semiautomatic weapons. I do not know if I buy that argument either. I think need stronger penalties for illegal gun holders, distributors and manufacturers. The answer in my opinion not to create a problem to solve a problem. But I would value other insight here.

I truly do not believe that a gun is evil. I believe the evil exists within the human who chooses to use the gun for bad. However, I do wrestle with understanding the need for a semiautomatic weapon or automatic weapon other than mass destruction. Would a tank help ensure the average citizen for to work safely? Probably. But does that mean we should all be driving tanks? Probably not. I feel the same about these types of weapons. They are too much and should not be something anyone can walk into a store and buy.

So please educate me. I am sincerely asking (without argument, drama or battle) to understand why someone needs a semiautomatic weapon as I do not understand. And to me the simple argument because it is my right is not the answer. I want to understand why you feel you need to exercise this right.

Random Encounter

I just had a wonderful conversation with a young girl named Ashlee on the 16th Street Mall Shuttle a few minutes ago. I jumped on the shuttle heading to Market Street Station to catch my bus home. Ashlee was already on the shuttle, who I assume are her Mom and Dad. She said hi to me and immediately told me her life story. It was incredibly sweet. I learned:

1. Her name is Ashlee.
2. Two e's, no y.
3. She is 4 1/2.
4. She starts pre-school next month.
5. She already met her teacher, Miss Lee.
6. She is very excited to start school.
7. Her cousin goes to school.
8. She is here in Denver visiting her Grandma.

She asked me if I went to school. I told her not anymore, but I had a job. She responded by asking if I worked with her Daddy. I told her I did not. She told me she liked my glasses (I am wearing my glasses today because my eyes have been bothering me). I told her I liked her pink sunglasses. She told me she also has a purple pair.

Sadly my stop came and I had to say goodbye to Ashlee with two e's and no y. I sort of wished we could have talked more. She was sweet and the fact she liked me in my glasses scored her huge points. Plus I love random encounters.

Oh, What a Night!

Another great night.
Amazing friends.
Katie.
Tim.
Shannon.
Judy.
Dale.
Mellow Mushroom for dinner.
Dessert at Starbucks.
Jersey Boys at the Buell Theatre.
Incredible music.
The Four Seasons.
Love that show.
3rd or 4th time seeing it.
Never disappoints.
60's music is the best.
Perfect night.

Miniature Golf

Last night Dale and I joined our friends Tammy, Judy, Shannon, Mallory, Drew and Tim for some miniature golf (or putt-putt as Dale calls it or maybe he calls it mini-putt...either way he played that game with the little golf balls and the windmill). It was a blast. It was hot and humid, but still fun. After a long week and the tragic shooting, it was the perfect, wholesome way to end the week and remind us about the good again.

Yawn

I caught Zoe mid yawn this morning. So cute (and in need of a haircut).

Perfectly Fine

The no-so-funny part of Lucy is she completely lacks any social skills or concern for others. Even though I am sleeping she feel it is perfectly fine to use my check and neck as a pillow. There is nothing quite like waking up to dog fur in your mouth.

Life is fragile

It has not been the easiest summer here in Colorado - far too many wild fires and now the shooting at the Aurora movie theater.

I think the news coverage last night and this morning is the toughest of all as now the names and stories about the 12 who died and the 70 injured are starting to surface. It is hard not to feel a bit overwhelmed. All these people wanted was a fun night out. They wanted to be first to feel the thrills of the new Batman movie. They wanted to escape the world for a few hours, but instead evil was thrust upon them. The confusion, fear and pain those individuals felt can only be described as true horror.

The part that angers me beyond the senselessness of the shooting is the opportunistic scum who use this tragedy as an opportunity to get in front of the media. One group claimed this shooting is God's way of telling Colorado gay marriage is a sin and by considering it - this is the price. To me that is truly the work of a horrible human. To use the loss of human life to promote your own hateful agenda is just short of evil.

I do not understand why Colorado continues to have these mass shootings. It is probably the most peaceful place I have lived in my 40 years - yet here we sit once again with another shooting, with more death and a state full of TV crews from around the world.

I often joke saying I celebrate my birthday like it may be my last. People say I should not say or think that. I do not say it with pessimism or negativity. I say it because of days like yesterday. Life is fragile and you never know what day will be your last, so it is important to live your life with love - love for yourself and love for those you share your life.

I hope and pray that those impacted yesterday by the shooting find peace and are able to move forward in their lives. They do not have an easy road ahead. My heart goes out to them all.

Happy birthday to our Millie

Our dog Millie would have been 8 years old today. She was a special little dog and we miss her a lot. It is still hard to believe at times she passed. It was so sudden and unexpected. She will always be in our hearts and memories.

17 years

Yesterday was the anniversary of the passing of Dale's Mom. It has been 17 years. I think we tell ourselves to remember and honor the birthdays of those you have lost and love, but it is hard to not remember the days they passed too - it is these days that change your life forever.

I wish I had had the opportunity to meet Dale's Mom. From what I hear of her, she shared the same kindness and heart I see in Dale.

Weird

Just woke from a strange dream. Dale and I were at the new house of our former neighbors, Sam & Anjanette. They had called asking for help finishing there yard. The strange part was hundreds upon hundreds of people showed up too, so it took only about an hour even though their yard was the size of a city park (which in real life it is just normal yard size). The weirdest part of the dream was I saw friends from high school there who live in NY and in the dream it seemed perfectly normal they traveled across the country to do yard work for an hour at a stranger's house. Weird, huh?

Lucy and the pond

Lucy loves the pond and so far has only used it as her own personal drinking fountain. Part of me half expects her to be doing laps when I walk outside one of these days.

Morning rituals

I love Standley Lake in the morning. I have not walked over with Zoe in a while. I am not sure why, but it felt good this morning to return to a ritual we both love. There is something so calming about a walk, along a lake in the morning with man's best friend. It just puts the world into perspective.

The Amazing Spider-Man

Yesterday evening Dale and I went to see the new Spider-Man movie. I had not planned on rushing to see it in theaters as I felt it was too soon for a Spider-Man reboot, but Dale asked if we could go see it. I was shocked that he picked a 3D showing as Dale has not previously liked 3D.

I was pleasantly surprised by the new Spider-Man and liked it a lot. As compared to the previous Spider-Man movies this one seemed more human and emotional. Andrew Garfield, who played Peter Parker did a great job showing the emotion that would probably be felt by someone with sudden power and the feeling of responsibility.

The special effects were incredible and the 3D was done well, where rather than being gimmicky for effect was used to enhance scenes throughout the film. Add in Emma Stone and Sally Field, who I adore and you have a great film.

I give it two enthusiastic web slings. Go check it out!

Different than any other dreams

Last night I had a dream about my Mom, but it was different than other dreams about my Mom. In this dream it was current day and my Mom looked like what I would expect her to look like today - a little older, a little bit more gray, but still beautiful. I have never had a dream about my Mom other than how she looked in the past.

In the dream, Dale and I met my Mom and Dad at a restaurant to give them a surprise anniversary gift - a trip to New Orleans. We also had a second surprise that while they were on their one week New Orleans trip, they would be surprised with tickets on a ten-day cruise from New Orleans through the Caribbean.

I always wonder how my life would be if my Mom had not passed away 9 1/2 years ago. Would I have a better connection with my family? How would my Mom and Dale's relationship be? I wish they had the opportunity to had meet and my Mom had met the man I would spend my life.

Far too impressionable

I watched a video before bed last night about the aggressive Asian Carp destroying our rivers. Of course it worked it way into my dreams too. I dreamt about a small girl releasing carp into a river that her father brought back from a trip to China. I have no idea how he got said fish into the country or why the small girl would release them into a river rather than keeping them, but there she was in my dream doing it.

The moral of the story is I am far too impressionable when it comes to things working their way I to my dreams. Oh, and please to do introduce new species to foreign habitat - the results can be horrific.

Good morning sunshine

Beautiful sunrise this morning over Standley Lake.

It just seems too coincidental

Is life cyclical? Do we experience the same moods on the same days year after year?

As you all know I post everything on Facebook, Twitter and my blog. Yes, probably too much - there I said it for you. However this over sharing has yielded an interesting and unique result - I can look at the same day last year to see what I was doing and very often feeling on that same day.

I have not been what I would call "jolly" this week. Not sure if it is the heat, far too busy days at work or what...but I have been moody. Dale would agree.

The strange part...I posted the exact same feelings last year this week. I looked at 2010 too and same thing. Maybe our emotions are on some cycle and we just run on repeat.

I also post my dreams quite often on my blog. I have had several occasions where I have a bad dream and have blogged about a bad dream the exact same day the previous year.

Weird, huh? It just seems to coincidental. I think I have unlocked something cosmic in the world. How can you nominate yourself for a Nobel Peace Prize?

Black Squirrel

Black squirrels are the rarest of all squirrels. I have only seen them twice, but now I have one of my very own.

As my final birthday/anniversary gift, Dale bought me a Jonathan Adler black squirrel pottery. Isn't it beautiful? I love it.

We have collected pottery by Jonathan Adler for years and this little squirrel is the 35th piece to join our collection. In addition to vases we have some pottery dogs and a fish, so this black squirrel will feel right at home.

I have named him Owen in honor of the squirrel that often visits our backyard.

Frog

We have a frog in our pond. I sure hope he sticks around. I love animals.

Look for me

It's hot.
My bus just broke down.
We are close to a Mexican restaurant.
They have great mojitos.
If we do not get moving soon.
Look for me.
At Los Arcos.
Under a pile.
Of empty glasses.

I wish it was easier

I need to figure out an exercise program. Dieting has gotten me this far but it is not enough to get me where I want to be. I see myself starting to slide already, so exercise is the answer.

But, what exercise?

That is the dilemma. I hate the gym. It always bores me. I feel trapped there. I tried running and it just does seem right for me. I can never get into a stride and remember to breathe. I tried a cardio kickboxing class, but the class times are tough at all the nearby places. Plus nobody is interested in joining with me, which I would prefer. Part of me wants a work out buddy to do this with me.

I know these all seem like excuses and they are, but they are also realities. I need to take a long hard look this week and figure out a time and way to consistently increase my heart rate. I do not sitting in the couch is not going to do it. I know I am going to start walking again in the evenings and weekends, but I need more the shed this fat.

I wish it was easier to have more time. And motivation. But I am going to figure it out.

I was wrong

I had thought I hit a wall of exhaustion at 4:00 PM. Apparently that was just a speed bump as I hit the real wall at 7:00 PM. Ugh.

Extra pop

While in Florida Dale bought me new sunglasses as a birthday treat. I love the sunglasses (and of course Dale too). I especially love that the sunglasses are standard black on the outside, but have a fun gold/green color on the inside that is just enjoyed by me. I just like when something has an extra pop of color or pattern, but it is where others do not see like the inside of a cuff or coat lining.

Storm clouds

Afternoons this time of year are often full of storm clouds. Like most people I do not love monsoon rain storms, but I do love how beautiful the skies can look.

Yet, I sit here feeling bad

I cannot shake last night's encounter with our neighbors over their noisy guests. It is sitting in the back of my head and just holding there, gnawing away at me. I am not sure why I feel so bad for being honest over how Dale and I were feeling. I keep feeling like we need to apologize, when all we were asking for was not to be woken up on a work night by screaming kids.

Yet, I sit here feeling bad. Why?

Maybe it is the Catholic in me. Catholic guilt seems to be something I cannot seem to shake as much as I try. Or maybe I am more like my Dad than I give myself credit. He is always the peacemaker. My Mom was always the one to react, while my Dad is the type to access a situation and weigh the pros and cons. I can hear him saying in the back of my head, "Is it really worth it to complain?" I can also hear my Mom saying, "Hell yes. You deserve to be able to sleep in your own home." Who is right? Who knows? Maybe both.

I do know I hate this feeling. I know I hated seeing Dale frustrated last night. We love our home. We work so hard to keep it nice. We are homebodies for the most part and I think in many ways we see our home as our little sanctuary from the world. Maybe that is my frustration...some 16 year old kid was so easily able to break our sanctuary. He was to make us not love our home.

Is it wrong to expect a peaceful night's sleep? Is it wrong to not want to be woken from a sound sleep? Is it too much to want to feel peaceful in your own home? Is it weird to feel guilty over asking for these things? Is it natural to feel that by complaining you are being seen as "those neighbors" that do not understand and are a pain to live around? Again, I do not know the answers. All I know is what I am feeling.

I hit a wall

By 4:00 PM today, I felt like I hit a wall - not enough sleep, a morning of monsoon rain and an afternoon of proposal writing wiped me out. I felt sluggish and my mind was mush, so I decided to call it a day. I headed to Starbucks for their 60 calorie green coffee Refresher. I love these. It has no coffee taste, is just like fruit juice and is low in calories. Today I tried the Strawberry Lemonade and like it - not as much as I like the Raspberry Pomegranate, but still good. Plus, I think it actually helped a bit too with my low energy. Once again Starbucks saves the day...is there nothing they can't do?

Series of weird dreams

I slept very poorly last night. Not only was I woken up from a sound sleep by kids outside yelling, but I had a series of weird dreams that made me restless.

In one dream Dale and I were on vacation - I am not sure if we were actually on a vacation and if so where we were on vacation, but it felt like a vacation for some reason. We were walking along and bumped into my college friend Bridget Hallock (or at least we thought it was Bridget). The woman said she was not Bridget when we approached her and said hello, but in my dream five minutes later I saw on Facebook that Bridget was in the same town also on vacation. I made me feel sad and frustrated.

In my other dream high school friend Keri McCauley and I were in a car at night looking for an address. I was driving and she was in the passenger seat. It was raining and very dark outside. We kept searching and searching but could find the address we needed. I am not sure who or what we needed at the address but in the dream it felt urgent and important, so again I woke feeling very anxious and frustrated because we could not find the address and kept getting lost.

I am not sure what either dream means, but it is amazing to me how a dream can have such real emotion attached. The mind is a crazy thing.

Those neighbors

It is tough to be woken from a sound sleep and try to get back to sleep. Right now my heart is still racing. I hate this feeling. Most of all, I am annoyed. I hate these situations. I hate having to be "those neighbors".

I know to most kids 10:45 PM sounds early but I get up on Mondays at 4:45 AM as my week starts with a 7:00 AM conference call. Most every other day I am awake for work by 5:30 AM. Based on this, Dale and I go to bed early. It is a reality but I doubt we are alone in being early to bed and early to rise. Hell, Ben Franklin made a mantra about it.

Tonight at 10:45 PM we were woken to the sound of yelling and screaming. When you hear screaming outside your bedroom window, you wake up. When there is screaming outside your bedroom window, your dogs wake up and they growl and bark. Zoe had been with us for nine years and is very keen at knowing the natural sounds of our neighborhood. When she barks at night, you know something happening outside probably should not be happening. Tonight, she was once again right.

Dale and I jumped out of our bed with our hearts pounding and we see what appears to be friends of our neighbor's The Walters. They have two teenage daughters and these boys yelling along the side of our house seem to be their friends. First, let me tell you that it is near impossible to distinguish between screams of kids joking to screams coming from a real problem. At night, yelling is just yelling. We would never ignore that type of noise because what if it was our neighbor, their children or anyone needing help?

But tonight it reached a boiling point for Dale and I. We live on a corner lot and our bedroom is on the corner of the house that is along the street. As a result we hear all the noise along our sidewalk and street from our bedroom. In case you are wondering, we would never buy a side lot house ever again where the bedroom faces this side of the street as it is a pain in the ass.

The past few years have been tougher since more of our neighbors have kids driving and the street on the side of our house has become a parking lot of sorts for our neighbors and all their friends. We hear every car alarm beep, truck exhaust and door slam from our bedroom windows. Most of the time it does not wake us, but this summer has been worse than past summers. The noise seems to get later and later and now include teens yelling to each other as they head to/from their cars. Maybe we are just getting older and it bothers us more. I do not know. I get being a teen and being clueless to the rest of the world. I used to be that kid too. It just sucks being on the other side of it now.

The difficult part is that it is rarely our neighbor's kids themselves making the noise. It is usually their kids' friends so we blow it off as uncontrollable as our neighbors cannot regulate everyone who hangs out with their kids. Like I said, tonight reached a boiling point and we went to The Walter's house to complain. The two boys who do not live there (and are friends of the daughters) answered the door. They apologized for yelling but went we asked to talk to our neighbors, Brian and Kristen Walters they told us, "No - they were asleep." They refused to wake them when they were sleeping. How kind of them. Screaming along the side of our house and waking us up did not seem to bother them in the slightest, but they are such nice kids they did not want to wake up The Walters. Honestly, I found it slightly ironic but it angered Dale more. The boys refused to tell Dale their names. There was no sign of either of the daughters. Dale grew angry and demanded they wake The Walters or he would call the police. I hate seeing us be "these neighbors" but it is frustrating. Now would we have called the police? No. At least I doubt it.

We do not own the street. We cannot expect people to not come home when we are sleeping. I get all that. I do expect people to try to be respectful and quiet at night. We are early risers, but I know not everyone is. Do we use our law mower on a Saturday at 7:00 AM? No. We assume people may be sleeping. Do we let our dogs bark uncontrollably? No. We know this would be annoying. Do we play loud music? No. Do we burn a fire pit that blows smoke to our neighbor's windows? No. We try our best to accept we live in a neighborhood that is made up other people and be respectful. Are we perfect? No. Nobody is. But it feels like things just keep getting worse and worse along the side of our house and tonight these two boys broke the last straw.

Eventually the two boys must have woken Brian Walters or he heard the commotion and came to the door. He apologized and said he would talk to the kids. I knew he would as Brian and Kristen have always been incredible neighbors. We probably should have mentioned something to them sooner that it was bothering us, but you hate being "those neighbors" who have to complain. Plus, it is not their kids that are the problem, so you hate putting the expectation that they have to be responsible for every kid that comes to their house on them, but there we were tonight in their driveway frustrated and annoyed with our hearts racing from being woken from screams.

And here I sit now, an hour later unable to fall back to sleep. Tomorrow will suck as I will be tired. But will some sixteen kid, who probably sleeps to noon understand that? Probably not. But like I said, what bugs me most of all is being "those neighbors" and feeling like we had to complain. I hate that most of all.

But I also look at it this way...had it been our neighbor's daughter out there screaming for help for whatever reason, Dale and I also probably would have been the first ones out there helping her. And it is worth having neighbors like us who would help, protect and defend our neighbors, their kids and their property. We just want to be able to sleep - that's all.

Good night.

It is time

Lying in bed.
Waiting for our bedroom to cool off.
Room still warm.
From day closed off.
In case of rain.
Too warm.
To sleep.
Yet.
Window box fan humming.
Adele signing on iPhone.
Soothing.
Calming.
Dale glowing.
From light of iPad.
Dogs asleep.
Foot of the bed.
Okay.
It is time.
To disconnect.
To try to sleep.
Good night.
Sleep.
Good night

Convertible Brunch

Today our friend's the Spencer's and Stubbendick's headed out for the 2nd Annual Convertible Brunch, where we head to the mountains in our convertibles for brunch.

It was a blast last year and just as much fun this year. Even though the skies were cloudy, it was still a beautiful drive up to the mountains. This year we headed to Country Road Cafe in Kittredge, CO, which was amazing. The menu and food were excellent. After brunch we did a little shopping in Evergreen, CO. It was a great morning and afternoon. My thanks to Dale, the Spencer's and the Stubbendick's for a fun time.

Final Birthday Shots

I keeps forgetting to post the rest of the photos from my birthday barbecue last week...so finally here they - including a shot of me blowing out the cake. It was a great party. Dale did an amazing job planning the party and my friend's made it incredibly special.

Beautiful drive

A few more photos from the drive up to Evergreen, CO for breakfast. It was a beautiful drive and a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Grey skies

I snapped this shot from the car heading toward Evergreen, Colorado. The skies are grey, but even grey skies in Colorado are stunning and beautiful.

So different

It is funny how we can raise two dogs yet they can be so different.

Zoe is perfectly content sitting on our patio furniture, while Lucy is only happy when she can be out in the yard exploring.

Lucy loves to lie in the dirt and play in the mud. You would never catch Zoe getting dirty like that.

They are both so different.

Yes...if you look closely under that tree in the picture that is Lucy checking out the top of our waterfall. And at that same moment, there was Zoe on her throne.

Love and great memories

Every year for our anniversary, Dale and I buy matching rings. It is a fun tradition.

Some of the rings are expensive with diamonds, while others cost under fifty euros in a little shop we found in Venice, Italy. No matter what there is love and great memories behind each of these rings. But we are finding it tougher and tougher to find unique styles year after year, but I do love the tradition.

We bought our new rings in San Francisco in late May and are wearing them for the first time today. They are a Celtic design and represent my Irish heritage.