Planes were invented for a reason

January 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Dear Kansas highway department,

Please put a curve in the highway so Bob doesn’t have to hold the steering wheel straight for 8 whole hours.

Thanks, Jen

The trip was long, as we expected. We packed up all 3 pets and headed to Rochester for Christmas. The dogs were actually amazing and slept all cute and cuddled up the entire time.

Our only issues came with Paco.

Senor Paco does not enjoy car rides and tends to go to the bathroom in his cat carrier. We knew this already and I packed a “diaper bag” with towels, rubber gloves and wet wipes. Paco had 4 baths on the way to Rochester. The most eventful was when he pooped and we took an hour to find a family bathroom to give him a bath in. The sink was not made to bathe small animals and Bob was not happy about it.

Paco had a few more baths on the way back to Colorado. One time he pooped in the corner of his crate and didn’t smear it all over like he had before. I know it is gross, but Bob was very excited that it was a “clean” poop! He praised Paco for getting it all neatly in the corner of his crate to make clean-up easier. Then Paco got wiped down with cat wipes… for cats that bathe with dignity. I’m not kidding.

Paco begs to differ about the “dignity” part. He was still very embarassed.

Filed Under: Family, Home, Pets, Travel

In search of the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

October 28, 2009 By 1 Comment

It took us two attempts to find a pumpkin this year. Two weeks ago we went to Anderson Farms because we had a great time there last year. It was the day after the first snow and freeze of the season so we were warned that the pumpkins would likely turn to mush if we got any.

It was still freezing cold (around 26 degrees) so we grabbed some hot chocolate and hot cider and fed the goats before heading home. The goats loved Bob. Must be all of his facial hair that matched the goats.

Today we went to Rock Creek farms that had the same problem with pumpkins freezing and rotting. Acres upon acres of the pumpkin patch were a bust to walk through. All of the remaining pumpkins had already turned to mush. We headed to the pre-picked bins to get pumpkins that hadn’t turned into orange blobs yet.

Since it is getting chilly here, the kids have started to snuggle. Don’t look at the next picture if you can’t handle cuteness. Don’t let them fool you though! They are still trouble! Just ask Coda where my loaf of beer bread and pound of vanilla fudge went.

Oh, and Bob wanted to show off his pumpkin again:

Filed Under: Adventure, Family, Fun, Home

Our New House

October 28, 2009 By Leave a Comment

We moved into our new rental house about 2 months ago. The house is a tri-level built in 1977. If a realtor was going to list the house on the market, it may be described as “A 3 bedroom, 1.5 half bath home with a charming and original retro feel”.

In my words, I would say it is a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath home with ugly carpet and and ugly kitchen that hasn’t been updated since 1977. See for yourself.

Bob and I did some work and painted wood paneling in the living room the day after we moved in. Even Mike Brady would have approved of us painting over the paneling. We also painted the office and two bedrooms. I replaced dark navy blue fabric vertical blinds in the kitchen and hung lighter drapes in their place.

Now we just need some ore visitors! Looking forward to Jimmy, Beth, Kendall and Sydney visiting in February. We are taking reservations year-round, so let us know if you’d like to stay at la casa de Spryns.

There is a lake we can walk to from our house. It is called Standley lake and the Colorado state record for the largest walleye was caught there. The lake has bass, trout and panfish as well so Bob and I decided to try our fishing skills out there. We tried to fish from the shoreline but the water was so shallow where we were so we only caught weeds with our lures. I did, however, fish out two golf balls with the net, so we didn’t go home empty-handed.

Filed Under: Family, Home

I turned 1 today!

May 14, 2009 By 1 Comment

Hi everyone, it is me! Paco! Today is my 1st birthday so I told mom to let me write the blog today. Much to my daddy’s dismay, I started my day at 5am by jumping behind a dresser and meowing loudly until daddy woke up and tried to get me out. I love when I get to hide from him! I finally decided to come out from behind the dresser and tried to play with a lamp on top of it. I thought the lamp would look better on the floor, but daddy disagreed and put it back on the dresser. Then he called me a mean name, so I went behind the dresser again.

Mommy and daddy went off to work and I spent my day as I usually do: sleeping and hoping to see my new friend. I met a beautiful furry gal a few weeks ago and she sits on our front porch a couple times a week. We gaze into each other’s eyes and talk through the window. She hasn’t told me her name yet, but I call her the most beautiful name I can think of: Maria Bonita Burrito.

When mommy got home she brought in the mail and I got a Birthday card from my furry birth mother, Dorothy. She’s a sweet lady and it makes me happy to know she still thinks about me. I have seen pictures of her and I’m told I look a lot like her!

As a special birthday treat I was given a few pieces of steak. It smelled good, but I wasn’t in a carnivore mood, so my big brother Coda gobbled up the steak for me. I was ready to get to the presents! Oh boy oh boy! First I was given a shiny crinkle ball. It was ok, but I was pretty much not interested because I knew something better was in mommy’s bag of tricks. Then she pulled out this glorious green ball with a bell inside. My favourite color is green and I love anything that can make noise to annoy my daddy when he’s asleep. This was perfect! I kept shoving it under the couch where I couldn’t reach it, so my parents had to help me get it out each time. I did it on purpose. I love making them dote on me just because it is my birthday. Hehe.

The last gift was wrapped with a nice bow on top. I didn’t know how to open it, but once again, big brother Coda came to the rescue and opened it for me. It was a fish-mobile! I swatted it around for a bit and when Coda came around, I started swatting at him too. Hey, it is my birthday and I’ll swat if I want to!

Paco’s 1st Birthday from Bob Spryn on Vimeo.

After all of that excitement and playing I’m all tuckered out. I’ll take a catnap when mommy and daddy watch TV tonight just so I have enough energy to get up at 5 am again and play with my noisy green ball…right next to daddy. I might even take the green ball behind the dresser where daddy can’t get me.

Filed Under: Home, Pets

Out with 1987, In with 2009!

February 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

My parent’s hand-me-down sofa lasted over two decades. I was never a fan of the blue stripes and small pink flowers. After several months of casually looking at furniture, I finally found a sofa that met our criteria:

  1. No leather
  2. No Microfiber
  3. No flowers
  4. Not too soft
  5. No fluff
  6. Clean lines a must

I found a place called Cort that rents furniture for staging houses. They also sell this furniture at a discounted “used” price, even though the furniture is never really used to sit on. So we got a great deal on a “nearly new” sofa and chair.

Filed Under: Home
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