Rodeo

The Flower Mound Symphony Orchestra is having their 'Rodeo' concert tommorow, featuring the 4 movement 'Rodeo' by Copland. Most will recognize the last movement 'Hoedown' from the 'Beef - its what's for Dinner' commercials. There are a couple of nice trombone solos in it which I get to play and I'm excited about that.

The full lowdown(including directions) on the concert is here.

Mean Dogs

I took Ranger outside a week ago Sunday in the front yard on a leash, so she could do her business. We wandered to the side of the house and Ranger proceeded to stick her nose under the neighbors fence, where 2 large dogs are kept. Ranger had done this several times from our backyard and sort of touched noses with the other dogs, with no harm done. This time though, the opening was bigger than the one in the backyard and she was able to stick her nose further underneath. The two dogs just stood there as she pushed her nose further and further. Then the big brown one struck. This was the result.



As you can image, she was yelping & in a complete panic. We comforted her and have been treating it with a triple antibiotic compound.

We're not too happy with the dogs next door right now.

The winds were really blowing here for a while. One of the strings used to support the oak tree in the front yard snapped.





I replaced all three lines with stronger twine, rated more than twice as strong as the previous stuff.





***WARNING - OBLIGATORY RANGER PICTURE COMING UP***








I caught Ranger cozing up with M yesterday...

Easter Gig

I got a gig for Easter, which is nice. It feels good to get paid to perform.



Also, we have a concert(Flower Mound Symphony) on March 1st. We are performing Copland's 'Rodeo' which has a couple of nice trombone solos that I'll be playing. There'a a particularly big one in the first movement, 'Buckaroo Holiday.'



And another, smaller one, in Hoe-Down:



So I'm jazzed about this concert. Hopefully some of my friends will come.







Oh, and here's Ranger, The Danger Dog, smiling for the camera.

Floodlight

I installed a floodlight with a motion detector in on the back patio last week to replace the weak one that came with the house. This light is a LOT better.






Here is another picture of Ranger, the Danger Dog(where ever there is Ranger, both food and carpet are in danger).

She's sleeping on the sofa but her hind legs are hanging off.

And even more pictures..

Of Ranger

The Super Beagle!

Playing her games under the dresser


Taking a nap


Taking it all in


After a bath

More Ranger Pictures


Ranger loves getting loose in our bedroom and crawling under the bed. I think that she views it as her own private disneyland and plays there much as a child would in a treehouse.

She sticks her head out and growls and snaps at anyone who comes near.




Sometime she's like a little, furry crocodile

Here, she's under our dresser



Ranger liked the smell of the pasta salad that I was eating. She can be very innovative when it comes to food. Here, she went around to the back of the sofa, crawled on the second shelf of the end table, and is straining to pull herself up - all to get within range of the food.



I got chapped at her one day and tied her leash to the kitchen table while I watched tv. About 5 minutes later she started to whine loudly and I turned around and this is what I found.



Ranger discovered our automatic sprinklers yesterday and decided to take a jaunt.

Ceiling Fan

Friday we added a ceiling fan to the living room. Then we moved the original living room light fixture and used it to replace the 'breakfast nook' light that came with the house.


Before



After



We have quite a bit more light now in the living room & kitchen areas.

A close up of the ceiling fan.


We purchased it using a Home Depot gift card that we got for Christmas. Thanks Aunt Carla!

If Only Everyone Saw You The Way Your Dog Does

Peyton Manning and the United Way




A heartwarming commercial...

More Christmas Pictures

Doggie Nirvana



Ranger LOVES our sofa


Here, we were on the way home from puppy class at Petsmart and Ranger crawled onto my lap and curled up --- while I was driving.

More pictures of Ranger




Ranger loves her stuffed rabbit. Upon further research we learned that beagles were originaly bred to hunt rabbits, so there you go.


Just taking it easy.


The dishwasher is of great interest to her whenever we start loading it.


Here, she's a little apprehensive about going to bed.

Vertical Blinds

We installed the vertical blinds for the patio door today.




Its nice to have that done.

Meet Ranger




Ranger is a 2 month old beagle pup that we adopted from the Denton pound. We don't get to take her home until thursday, though, because the vet needs to 'adjust' her. We are both excited. We've wanted a dog for a while.

Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas

BYU 17, UCLA 16

The blinds are here.


When I got home from the concert last Saturday night I arrived to find that the wooden blinds that I had ordered had arrived, a couple of days earlier than I expected.



I went ahead and installed one of them before I went to bed that night.





Most of them are installed now, including the ones in the master bedroom.





And the master bath




The house now has a more 'private' feel now that the makeshift curtains are gone and the bare windows are covered.

Christmas Concert


The Christmas concert went fairly well. Tonight we played the 2nd of two concerts. The choir especialy sounded good tonight. The orchestra was good as well. There was a moment or two of wierdness but nothing serious.




I wasn't all that thrilled with my playing but I think that the overall presentation came off well.


Here's a photo of the Flower Mound Symphony's low brass Section