So, this happened........

So, this happened -

 

Tucker and I decided the household was too quiet/calm with Booger gone and went in search of a new kitty friend.    I had looked a couple of times at a couple of shelters but couldn't find one that stole my heart.

Last Saturday we took the day off of skiing and went to a couple of shelters.   We met 'Miss Kitty' and she was so calm and lovable that we thought we'd take her home with us.

Turns out she has been in and out of the shelter 3 times since last April.   First, she was delivered to the shelter with LOTS and LOTS of other animals from one home - we assume animal hording.   Second, she was returned because she was 'aggressive' with someone's children.   Third, she was returned due to the owner's inability to care for her....    She had been there for only 2 weeks before we found her!

She is 10 years old.  She has feline herpes (so does Handsome) and knows how to (not) use her claws.  

She needed a name though......

a name... .how hard can choosing a name be?  She already had one.

I got 'pressured' into choosing a name for 'Joe' 16 years ago.... They absolutely had to have a name to give to the 'chip' people.     I couldn't decide but his name was NOT Joe.  And I had to decide at that very moment.   And I thought back to a childhood story of Tucker's about a fire breathing dragon that is the last one on earth and must save the earth from the sun freezing over.   The dragon is young and doesn't know how to breath fire....    They give him a mirror to convince him that he is really a dragon and not one of them.   He looks into the mirror and says 'Handsome, handsome draaaaggggoooon!'
That dragon figured out who he was and I figured out that 'Joe' was really 'Handsome Handsome'!

Soooooo.... long story, I know.   Stay with me.. it's almost over.

The woman at the animal shelter left us alone with 'Miss Kitty' and we decided that we should start thinking of names so we didn't get 'pressured' into it.   We threw around a few names - Fireball.....   I don't remember what else.    I asked Tucker 'Where was the last place we skied?'   He answered 'Copper Mountain, why?'  I looked at him and suggested 'Copper'.....     And now we have a beautiful tabby named Copper (after the ski area)

Interesting where names come from, huh?

 Everyone else is still trying to figure out what this new addition to the family is even doing here.... and not very happy about it.

Espana - part 4 of 4

where we met Sarah, Jack, Idrie, and Andrew - friends from Colorado.   However, Jack, Sarah and Idrie live in Switzerland and just happened to be traveling with Andrew (from Colorado) and posted on Facebook that they were in Spain so I sent a message asking 'where' and it turned out they were 1.5 hours away from where we were staying.   We spent the afternoon in Seville doing a walking tour of the city and taking in as much as we could in the short time we had.   Amazing.   That is all.

 Dude is wearing a skirt and FMBs.   End of story.

Espana - part 3 of 4 - Cadiz

And a whole day to visit Cadiz and Seville..... 

First, Cadiz.   We could see the bridge from our hotel room....

 We had to drive across the water to get here.... apparently the gps hasn't been updated with the bridge.....

 A castle - with a re-purposed moat......

 Ruins of 'something'

 A(nother) cathedral - yeah?

 

Not sure what is up with the maple leaves....

 

Then on to Seville......

Espana - part 2 of 4 - Gibraltar (ok, not really Spain)

We were fortunate enough to take half a day and go to Gibraltar!

Proof that phones are more interesting than scenery.

Espana! 4 parts..... part 1 - work and not-so-much-work

The beginning of the year started with a trip to Spain!   We left on Saturday, Jan 2nd and arrived on Monday, Jan 3rd.....    Tucker was able to go with me thanks to frequent flyer miles from all the travel from his job (yay!).

Well, it sounded good but I ended up working 12-14 hours almost every day - not fun for me....  not too fun for Tucker.   The town we were in was very small and the hotel was on the beach - however, it was January so many shops and restaurants never opened while we were there since it was the 'off season'.

After California there was ..... Pagosa Springs!

We arrived safely home from the trip to Lake Tahoe on Monday afternoon and Karyn went to work on Tuesday.  Wednesday morning we waited patiently for the weather to clear so Tucker could fly us down to Pagosa - Janet, Brad, Kalena and Landon were visiting from Anchorage!

well... the weather never improved enough to fly so we drove down to meet them!   A stop in Buena Vista for lunch and then to Bev's house!

We talked and ate and skied.   And Kalena got strep throat and Landon got sick shortly after that.....    But Kalena was a trooper and 'tried' her hardest to be well enough to ski with us but did not suceed.

New Year's Eve was a Chinese New Year fest!

We drove home on the 1st after breakfast with everyone and prepared for our next adventure.   Stay tuned!