My baby's growing up! Happy Birthday Milo Baby!

Happy Birthday to you.....

 Milo was born on March 1 2017!

This shot was taken yesterday...

Hey, Valet! Thanks for bringing my hot new ride to me!

Just let me check under the bow, er, hood...

WHAT!??  This isn't for me?   But it's MY BIRTHDAY!

We met Milo when he was 5 weeks old. He was just the tiny little dervish and ran around peeing on the breeder's floor.

I knew he was for me! We brought him home at 8 weeks and our lives have never been the same...

Well, what are you waiting for, lift me off this big porch!

He's still a dervish and still peed on my friend Mary's Christmas tree in December! (so sorry!) He still pees on his front legs because he is so anxious to keep walking!

Why, these weeds are taller than I am!! Where am I???

He got big quickly and everyone thought he'd be enormous.

mmph mmm, mmmphh

 From the beginning he took over!
He has always been mouthy, tasting first and thinking about it later.


He seems to have leveled out at around 54 lbs however. Tall and skinny. The vet says he's perfect.
He was injured at 5 months, a neighbor's dog rolled him, stepped on his shoulder opening it up and stretched all the ligaments and tendons requiring a big surgery. And another 4 months in a strict leg brace and no running. This may have halted growth, as he didn't gain weight for two months after that.

Yes, I learn by osmosis... eating words increases your vocabulary!

He is a very intelligent boy, learning words before I tried to teach him. He learned to sit for treats at two and a half months. He continues to want to learn, and want to please me. He's very loving, often feeling more like a hundred pounds when he snuggles up to me. He wants to be with me, and protect me.

This takes the form of his barking at every. little. thing. And coming to stand between me and other people including Daddy. He's been known to push Drew aside when he hovers over me at the computer.

Milo one day before his 1st birthday

He's inquisitive about everything, so I show him nearly everything he is interested in. He loves fetch, and chase and "my teeth are bigger" games. (we don't like those ) He is elegant and rough and tumble. Always up for a game of any kind, he will turn simple activities into games, such as putting away scarves or gloves. He destroys toys for fun, and love a ball.
He's always listening. He tilts his head all the time. He telescopes up his neck if I start a sentence with "do you want..." and knows if I ask a question.

I'm ready for my close up!

 He loves babies, and seems to know they are human puppies which requires a delicate touch. He's rough with big people though. I'm always happy when he merely leans against them.

Now if the meal is as big as the high chair...

He likes food, and will try anything, taking it oh so gently from my fingers. He'll roll it around his mouth, and drop it if it's unfamiliar. Then look at it, reach out a paw to touch it, pick it back up and then decide if it's to be swallowed.
He only eats his food if hungry, otherwise he leaves it in the bowl. I never have to worry about overfeeding him.  On the other hand, he makes snap judgements about bunny poop, eat first ask questions later.

Sometimes I feel remorse, so I lie down til it goes away

He adores tearing up paper. Shred, shred, shred, spitting it out, sometimes sharing the whole fun experience with me holding the edge for him to tear. I think that started when his legs wouldn't bend in the brace. He still sleeps on his back with all legs stick straight up in the air as if the brace is still on.

He tolerates baths and most grooming. He took to sweaters and boots like a champ. He chews at all leashes, seemingly offended at the very concept. He doesn't jump, probably from the brace and four times in his life of having to be on bed rest. Although the vet cleared him to run, and we took him to a field, and he ran like a wild thing, and jumped a stone wall to get to me! Surprise! Look what I can do!

He's learning not to put his mouth on people, slowly. We had to go to lemon juice squirted in if he did it. Now it's enough to brandish the little squirt bottle and he stops.
He's full of joy and wags his tail. Cole seldom wagged his tail, maybe only three times in his life. Milo thinks life is a joy til I'm mad at him and he has no idea why.

We got him some items to mark the day although every day is a celebration with him!
Either from happiness of finding him... or amazement we survived him that day.
Before I got him, I asked the universe to send a smart loving poodle, that liked kids and other dogs, that wanted to be with me, that would be pretty and sweet and healthy.
I forgot to mention, that won't grab us or the leash!

This is an indestructible chicken toy we gave as an early present. Actually he found it in the bag and took it himself.

He loves it. He often loves his toys to death, so since it's indestructible, I give it a month.

I can climb these big stairs so I can say good morning Mana and say I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

 He will always be my baby.

When I lost Cole I despaired of ever loving again.
Although I will always love Cole, I love Milo to the edges of my heart.

Portrait of Milo at one year old

 My heart expanded to love again, and that old saying it's better to have loved and lost than never have loved is so true.

Milo brought me back to humanity from loss, and daily gives me a reason to reach out and love again. He has taught me about touch, and the need for it. I was so injured by childhood I had a hard time being touched, and he's teaching me the benefits of staying close.He comes in from a walk and runs to me, and flops down on my feet.

 He makes me laugh and scream both. Both emotions are full of feeling and that's a good thing. He lets me know I am not alone, and that I'm safe. He lets me know how much he loves me.
Happy birthday darling!

Buy me all of them Daddy! You know we'll need them!

 This is a recent afternoon video. He had just been running around in circles making me scream with laughter, and as soon as I got the ipad he stopped! Still, you can get the idea...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUwEtIh0eKY
 

Milo's rock collection

Milo has been collecting rocks since we got him at 8 weeks.



















Yep, this little guy would grab rocks on walks. If we tried to take them he'd fight us for them. Tooth and nail literally.

We've tried to break him of his rock addiction all his life and he slowed down on usage til we moved here.

ROCK HEAVEN

Milo: This place has more rocks than any 100 dogs could collect! I mean, every yard is FULL of little delicacies! They get onto the sidewalk, just asking to be picked up. 
I love to find one, I leap on it lest it get away or mama sees it first. I strut around rolling it on my tongue as I go, throwing it up in the air! Catching it, chasing it if it rolls away, and having a great time. 

The way I figure it, Mama should be happy. If I'm busy with the rocks, I don't bite the leash or her hand or Daddy's coat. 

Hey... that's not a rock! That's candy, but I'll eat it anyway.

 LeeAnna: Well, I'm afraid he's break a tooth, or aspirate it  the way he plays with them. I'm personally tired of skittering around on rocks on the sidewalk, and seeing them instead of grass. The rocks are in shades of brown and light red, like the homes, like the surrounding land, like everything I see. It's all a shade of tan. 
 Thank God for the blue sky, just to remind me there is another color on the spectrum. 

All transplants from the east comment on the Brown. We're all starving for other colors. I look out on a sea of roof tops, all brown. The land? Brown. Hills? brown. 

Milo: um, Mama? this is about ME not you. Me and my collections. 

 LeeAnna:  Milo you are right my baby. Tell us what you like about rocks? 

Milo: Like? what's not to like? What do you want me to do, bark a poem to rocks? 
my poem: 
I LIke Rocks.
There! 

LeeAnna: When he comes running in at night from his evening walk with Dad, and happily throws himself to the carpet, still wearing his collar and leash I know he has another rock. We left all the MD rocks behind, but he's starting to amass a new collection

 This might be a life long obsession.

Link to Rock show post: CLICK HERE

Rocks rocks rocks... a show to share

We planned to attend the home show yesterday, for me to see green again since it's also a garden show.

Milo was having none of it. He went right in his crate as usual but this time he panicked. I hate to see this. Pure panic in the form of rigid standing and barking frantically. I let him out and told him just like always we'd see him after his nap. We tried again, but his reaction was worse. I know from experience he escalates quickly and can't come down from it.

We decided to change our plans and go to Golden to the Gem and Mineral show instead, and let him come along in the car. He couldn't come in but he could ride with us and walk around the old town after. It was enough. He's had so many changes in his little life that there was no need to leave him escalating into a nervous screaming meemee of anxiety. (note: he's usually good to go in and lie down quietly)

On with the show. A show of rocks. A room full of rocks and the people who like them. People who's life is all about the rock.

There is a lot to see in a rock and so many kinds of rocks to look at.

Like people, a rock's true beauty is inside and might need some polishing. It might need to be broken open to see the beauty, and can benefit from some embellishments. As if the rocks themselves, (don't forget a diamond is a rock) aren't sparkly enough, there are people more than wiling to wrap them in silver and bead around them.

I had fun looking at the people as much as the stones themselves. I chatted with business owners as well as shoppers, noticed there were people of all ages, genders, wealthy to poor, many boots and cowboy hats, teens with furry hats and tatoos, a woman in a dinosaur costume. It was free (unbelievable here) so anyone could wander in and they did. It was held at the fairgrounds building surrounded by jagged mountains and ice.

blasting caps from years ago

 Driving up it reminded one that we're on a pile of rocks. That the state started as a gold rush, more rocks. That men coming from the East blew up their section of mountain to find rocks to sell and profit from.

spoons to remember the men who mined rocks

Billions of years old, a connection to history itself, these rocks formed slowly. Sometimes trapping little animals and becoming fossils.

OPALS in situ, brilliant bursts of color

The wood became rock as minerals seeped in. Molecules aligned one way or another ...

 to create brilliant color and shapes. Time, Tincture of Time, created gems for us to enjoy

I asked one teen wearing a fuzzy bear hat, wearing two barbells in his upper lip next to some acne and with a pair of brilliant blue eyes, to share with me why he was so excited to find some Herkimer damonds and was purchasing two on little platforms. He was very excited, and said these are beautiful and a good price.

They're from 1961! (apparently a very good year for Herkimer diamonds) I bet he was born after the year 2000. I had to look them up on google and found they are millions of years old, formed in a prior seabed.

My husband and I dug through a box of long crystals suspended on silver wire, with another woman. I asked her, what she was going to do with all those long pendants. She carefully dug around, invited me to jump in too, and said she was buying gifts for her niece and nephews. At $3 each she said it was a good present.

Good indeed, and I wondered how they could cost so little and looked at the business owners. An older couple from a country where women cover their hair and wear conservative clothing. They were carefully wrapping a purchase in paper, then putting in a bag. The woman spoke no English but her smile conveyed friendliness and calm. Her adult son took our money and wrapped our four crystals.

I dithered over cabachons already set with peyote stitch and crystal beads. The owner's MIL makes them, puts leather on the back so they feel soft against your skin, and signs them. At $20 apiece they are a way for a very old woman to make some money while keeping herself occupied making something of beauty. That's win win.

Another vender with jewelry (displayed in antique boxes)  shared that she moved here from Chicago in the 70's and still misses cultural events. I asked where a person could find out what's going on culturally in the area, a website or publication? The Denver post does not do that like my Washington Post did. She said, there is no source for that. There are few high end craft shows anyway. She seemed sad to report this but resigned to the area after nearly 50 years here. Still missing what the East had to offer.

People mention the Denver museum of Art. I say I'll visit when I stop mourning the loss of the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian, the Coccoran, The Renwick, The Baltimore museum of Art, the Walters, the Philadelphia, NYC. It's really hard to leave so much behind. It takes a lot of strength to stop looking back and try to find something here that satisfies my urge for beauty.

On the way there, along ugly disentegrating roads amid too much traffic, we listened to a TED podcast on beauty. There is a lot to that discussion. To just give you a tidbit of the hour, there have been studies done that beauty is as necessary to human growth and comfort, and success as touch.  One man built a school based on it, with fresh flowers in the halls, and an emphasis on beauty to enhance learning. His model is now being put in many states.

Back to the show, I interviewed a gentleman demonstrating rock knapping. He sat in a puddle of sharp black glassy shards. He held the large working piece in a skin to protect his own. He had many cuts on his large hands, as he manipulated the wooden stick with copper in the center, his only real tool along with his brain. I asked what attracted him to this craft.

 He said as  little boy, he saw a man doing it, and decided he wanted to also. So he learned from watching. I would estimate him to be in his late 60's but I'm not so good at age.

He learned more from "Indians" and simplified the process for me in words, "you have to make regular naps as it looks better" See? chip, chip. I was aware of the pieces breaking off, and stood back unwilling to have a piece fly into my hair or eyes. I continued to interview him and he was more than happy to chat as he worked. chip, chip. I asked if he was "indian" as to me his speech reminded me of Native American cadence, and he laughed and said, "nope. Too much German" with a merry twinkle in his eyes.

Funny, before approaching him, I would have thought he would be the strong silent type, but he wanted to connect and talk with us. Also funny, the table next to him, demonstrating wire wrapping which I wanted to learn about, had two people engrossed in their own conversation. They ignored us as we stood in front of them, while they discussed that "you have to talk to people! Tell them about...." They never looked at us, never smiled or asked if we wanted to learn. Never talked to us even after I somewhat loudly told DH I wanted to learn about this. Funny.

The soapstone carver demonstrator was MIA.
I was highly interested in the embedded faces in these rocks.

 And the carved ones in these.

 A painter can learn a lot from these faces, angles, eyes, noses, and lips


And this display of rock food was fabulous.

click to read what rocks these are

Want some cake?? Don't break your teeth, these are kind of dry and crunchy,

Don't you love how people can see something in a rock? Or a tree or a anything really. The artist within.

our purchases all for $25!

I never knew just how rich and varied a rock show could be. I don't know that I need to return to the next one, having now experienced this but it was educational and enjoyable 2 hours. My dh and I could do it together. If was fun to see what interested him. It was fun to learn. It was fun to see all the colors hidden in gray rocks.

What do you see in our sodalite stone? I see a sort of landscape. The seller said it was lapus lazuili but I think it's sodalite. Doesn't matter, it's lovely.

Milo has had a fascination with rocks since we got him at 8 weeks old. More on his rock collection tomorrow. He would have been a nuisance inside wanting everything he saw.
Link: http://lapaylor.blogspot.com/2018/02/milos-rock-collection.html


linking to:
Our World Tuesday
Travel_Tuesday