Final notes on the day..

As I sit here watching the end of a pretty nice day-we both had massages in town, followed by a delicious lunch. We came back to the cabin where I rode my trainer for over an hour. The fire is cooking in the wood stove, Hartley is cooking a great dinner. My life is perfect. Then I think of Laura and Mark George, who do not know the fate of their beloved son, Michael, missing for 7 days now on Wolf Creek Mountain and my heart is heavy. Who knows when this sunset may be our last? Who knows if we wake up tomorrow to some inconceivable news, as these families have endured. The pain and anxiety of not knowing, no resolve, a mother's heart breaking..Life just keeps happening on it's own terms. We ride the waves and pray for strength and prepare for the final journey out of this reality into the next..

Just had to add the snow dog..

This is the good dog, Mocha (ours). The bad dogs are gone..

And more snow...

As you can see, we have gotten another foot of snow or so:

It is suppose to clear today but apparently, Chama has declared a state of emergency so that the governor is sending in the National Guard to help people out. Amazing this is not on the local news at all??? Elderly folks can't get out, etc.. Don't think we have ever seen so much snow up here.

In the mean time, things are looking bleak for Michael and his friend. The Albuquerque Journal has little info in it today-so frustrating. This stuff gets pushed to the back behind Bill Richardson. I know politics is important but come on..This is what i found in the Pagosa paper:

http://www.pagosasun.com/frontpage.htm#Anchor-Two-49575

Not looking hopeful at all..

Very sad. I remember Michael and Allison up at the cabin with us sledding down the hill right next to our home. Mike was just learning to snow board then too. He was such a great kid..

Dogs are gone and snow,snow,snow!

We arrived last night to a very different scene from last week. The dogs are gone!!! We can only hope that Chuck(y) came and got his dogs. Not sure how Animal Control could have braved the storm to get them unless they came up today with a good snow vehicle. At any rate, we are safe at last! Here is the new photo from our window. Compared to the last picture from that view-snow, snow snow! We got at least 2 feet, maybe more..It is really beautiful..



Our friend Michael still hasn't been found at Wolf Creek. Things are looking kind of hopeless.If they are still alive, it will be a miracle at this point. As a mom, I cannot imagine what his mom is going through..very sad indeed..

On a much more serious note.

My daughter's first teenage love, a local man, Michael George, has been missing in the mountains at Wolf Creek Ski Basin for 5 days with a friend. Please help us pray that this young man is found alive and safe. His parents were good friends of ours at one time also and my heart goes out to them. I cannot imagine the pain they are in. I am saddened to think that anything may have happened to Michael. Although I don't know him as an adult, he was a good boy as a teenager and I know he made a difference in Allison's life...

Chapter 3 of Pit Bulls and training..

I'll start with the dog story. Here is a conversation I remember having with "Chuck(Y)"in the Fall.

(Think of the movie "Deliverance" as you read this):

Me: What is the dog's name?
Chuck: Numb-nuts..
Me: No, I mean really, what is his name?
Chuck: Numb-nuts! Really, cause that's what he is..

So I will now refer to said dog as "Numb-nuts". The other dog, that is tied to the trailer, who has been known to attack and would probably maim and kill- well, H and I have named him Tatiana. That is the name of the tiger that got loose in the SF Zoo and attacked several people. I know-we should not be so attached to these dogs. By Friday afternoon, the dogs were still there, Numb-nuts running wild. I called Animal Control in Espanola again and spoke to Cipi (Hartley corrected my spelling-it is short for Cipriano, which sounds like an antibiotic I was on once-I digress). He said he had been up to the property for 2 hours that morning. That he tried to catch Numb-nuts, proceeded by the dog lunging at Cipi's face, so he smacked him down-couldn't capture the dog. He said he couldn't even get the one one that is tied to the trailer-Tatiana to us- with his snare..So now it is time to call in some re-enforcements-he said. He will be back on Monday with a helper to get the dogs. He left the owner, or whoever is feeding the dogs (Cipi said he saw dog food there) to call Animal Control ASAP. Cipi said he came and knocked on our door but I guess we didn't hear him or something because we were there. We don't get many visitors there and our kids are convinced we are deaf so it is possible we didn't hear him. We did not see Numb-nuts for about the last 24hours we were there so maybe he finally got himself killed or lost or someone who has guts shot him..

In the meantime, H & I were to come back to ABQ today for some appointments I have tomorrow. We decided to leave yesterday, since it was already snowing up there and has been snowing since. We will go back on Tuesday and please God-let those dogs be gone!

Training wise: I took two days off. I really did. I figured it is only a matter of a couple of weeks before that will not be possible again, since Ironman training starts in earnest at the beginning of February. Oh and Mark Allen and I are good again. I ran on the treadmill today 6 miles and did 12.5 min. miles. Gee amazing, huh? Well, I guess the altitude and Yak-trax do slow me down a bit after all..

By the way-nail biting is a hard habit to break! I do it unconsciously..oh my. I had to finally paint my finger nails with about 12 coats of nail hardening just to give myself a signal that I was gnawing on my nails again. It is such a disgusting habit but ever since I got rid of the false nails, I have bitten my nails while I am watching TV, in the car, any time my hands are not occupied. Can't wait for knitting class to start..

Stay tuned..I have had several calls to ask about the dog situation so I will try and keep abreast of it and blog when something happens..as I passed by Tatiana yesterday, I felt like crying-feeling so bad for the way these dogs are being treated and it is not their fault they are agressive. That is the way they were raised and is their instinct..