Teddy and Max: Best Buddies Forever

Two videos made by Glenn and Nita Hughes of our best dog buddies:  Teddy and Max.  The first video was made at our cabin in the Jemez and the second was shot down in the Bosque (the forest along the banks of the Rio Grande).

Cabin:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG3lQr03ex0&list=UULqrzfZPdJT9paihFYp7Pyg&index=2
Bosque:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_8AMzq19A4&feature=youtu.be

First Wedding Pictures!!

Just so you can get a first impression, here is a small selection of four pictures from Maya and Will's magical wedding.  Many more will be posted soon.

The ceremony took place at 6:00 PM in a beautiful shady olive grove on a hillside overlooking the vast green vineyards at Still Waters Winery just east of Paso Robles.  A path of rose petals led to the area for the ceremony, where Jan Stone officiated.  The ceremony was perfect, the vows said, the rings exchanged.  After the "I Do" part, the guests walked to a huge lawn where we had a wonderful catered meal on tables decorated with pinwheels and flowers, dancing, and many heartfelt toasts to the happy couple.  When the trollies arrived to take everyone home, we formed a corridor and lighted a tunnel of sparklers to send the couple off into their Happy Ever After.

Click here for the first pictures -- more to follow soon!

Morro Bay: July 2012

Adventures of Susie and Steve, Jan Stone, Tom Zeller and Mary Kay Rothert, and Teddy the Wonderdog in and around Morro Bay. 

Click here for a few pictures

Maya and Will: Wedding Rehearsal (13 July 2012)

Maya and Will had the rehearsal for their wedding at the Still Waters Winery just outside Paso Robles, California.  Jan Stone, who presided at Sue and Steve's wedding 40+ years ago, will be the officiant at tomorrow's service.  The wedding party consists of Maya and Will, Maya's sister Robin and her friend Courtney, and Will's friends Kirk and Derek.  Lots of family and friends are on hand, including Steve and Sue (duh), Bob and Lois Stevens (Maya's parents), JD Lloyd (Will's uncle) and Michele McGrath, and Tom Zeller (Will's godfather) and Mary Kay Rothert from Indiana.

The rehearsal dinner was planned and catered by Susie.  It was a triumph of taste, imagination, and long-distance logistics.  The tables were decorated with local sunflowers and pebbles from the beach at Morro Bay.  There were delicious appetizers (brie and crackers, bruschetta topped with cream cheese and pears, fruits, nuts), a fantastic buffet (poached salmon, grilled pork loin, mushroom stroganoff, grilled asparagus spears, baked artichoke squares, miniature stuffed potatoes, tossed salad), and desserts (pecan tarts, chocolate torte), plus fine wine and beer for all.

Since Teddy's dog food got accidentally left behind, he was compelled to snack on tidbits from the above menu.

Lois and Bob Stevens shared a parting surprise with all the guests:  a bottle of specially labelled "Will and Maya Pinot" for each one of us.

Click on this link to see a photo album:

Cliff Dwellings

"Montezuma Castle" and "Montezuma Well" are complete misnomers.  The former is a remarkably well-preserved cliff dwelling (not a castle) built and later abandoned by the pre-Columbian Sinagua people (not the Aztecs).  The latter is not a well, but a huge natural reservoir of fresh water created by a collapsed limestone cavern.  They are both part of a large network of caves, pit houses, cliff dwellings, and pueblos that were inhabited by the now vanished Sinagua people from ca. 800 until ca. 1400.

We visited these sites on our way home from California.  They are located just off I-17 about 45 miles south of Flagstaff, Arizona.  Montezuma Castle is a beautifully built masonry structure built into a cave opening high up on a limestone cliff.  It consists of about 20 rooms and once housed around 200 people.  The cliff overlooks a tree-filled valley watered by an all-seasons creek.  The people farmed fields that they irrigated with a system of canals and ditches.  They also hunted large and small game, fished, mined salt, raised cotton, and traded with neighbors.

Montezuma Well lies a few miles to the north.  It is fed by a spring that delivers more than 1.5 million gallons of fresh, warm water every day.  It is 370 feet in diameter and 125 feet deep.  No fish can live in the water because it is too rich in carbon dioxide, but the water has supported human life for centuries.  The cliffs around the huge basin have cave dwellings, masonry cliff houses, and the ruins of a stone pueblo up on the rim.  An irrigation ditch leading from the Well is more than 1000 years old.  The water flowing from the Well is still crucial to livestock and farming operations in the valley.

Here are a few pictures:
Montezuma Castle and Well

On the Beach

No description necessary:  Three short videos of TEDDY romping on the beach at Morro Bay.

For a Waterdog, he is not very fond of the water, but he loves to chase those seabirds!

https://picasaweb.google.com/115513772064488057894/MorroBayBeach

Grand Canyon & Elephant Seals

We're on a ROAD TRIP!

Our first day on the road took us to the Grand Canyon.  We were at the GC years ago when Will was in Middle School.  On that trip, JD, Will, and Steve hiked down the Kaibab Trail to the canyon floor, had a picnic at Phantom Ranch, and then climbed back out via a dark and icy Bright Angel Trail.  This time, Sue, Teddy, and I were content to walk along the rim in the evening and then explore it again the next morning.  It goes without saying that the view is absolutely breathtaking.  These pictures can't begin to do it justice.  Teddy was less impressed with the view than with his close encounters with deer and elk.

Our destination was Morro Bay on the Central Coast of California.  Susie found us a beach house, and Will and Maya drove up from Los Angeles to join us.  Our first day trip took us to a beach just north of the Hearst Castle at San Simeon.  The beach is a famous breeding ground for elephant seals.  The narrow sand beach was populated by thousands of seals.  The bulls reach a length of about 15 feet and can weigh almost 7000 pounds.  The females are much smaller, weighing in at about 2000 pounds.  Many of the females were nursing newborn pups, which weigh about 60-80 pounds at birth.  The variety of sounds they produce is indescribable.  Teddy was VERY interested in these enormous sea creatures and tried to converse with them.

Here are a few pictures and videos of two different landscapes in two days:  the Grand Canyon and the sea elephant breeding grounds:
https://picasaweb.google.com/115513772064488057894/GrandCanyonSeals

Bosque del Apache

The Bosque del Apache is a 57,000 acre wildlife refuge just south of Socorro, New Mexico.  It lies in the woods and wetlands adjacent to the Rio Grande.  So far this season, birdwatchers have counted 377 species of birds in the refuge.  The area is also home to deer, bobcat, javelina (aka, peccary), coyote, and mountain lion.

We took Teddy down to the Bosque on Wednesday morning.  He loved it, but he was frustrated because he had to stay in the car.  What he REALLY wanted to do was jump out and chase birds. 

We saw countless duck and waterfowl of every kind.  A pair of bald eagles.  Golden eagles and many hawks.  Canada geese.  Thousands and thousands of sandhill cranes and snow geese that had migrated all the way from the Arctic.  And as a footnote, a buck and several doe mule deer.

Here are a few pictures and two short videos.
https://picasaweb.google.com/115513772064488057894/BosqueDelApache

Max & Teddy = BFF

Max is the big brown lab who lives across the street from us with Glenn and Nita Hughes.  He and Teddy are absolute best buddies.  If we call Max's name, Teddy will sprint across the street to his front door.  We sometimes take Max with us on hikes or invite him for sleep-overs at the house in ABQ or up at the cabin.  It also so happens that Max is crazy about snow.  Here are two short videos we made of Max and Teddy when we were up at the cabin last November.

https://picasaweb.google.com/115513772064488057894/MaxTeddy