Bandi's Sunset / Night Run

 

Song:  Until The Last Moment

Artist:  Yanni

Bandi and I went on a sunset and night ride/run this late evening.

We had arrived at the top of the mountain just as the sun had set.

Once stopped...

and as I sat on the trike seat...

Bandi was so happy...

she put her paws on my arm and climbed up on me and began licking my face.

She loves her runs...

and once we got home...

she drank a lot of water...

and then lay down on my bed...

stretched out...

and went to sleep...

as she always does after each run.

She gets all of her energy spent...

and then gets so comfortable and relaxed for the rest of the night.

The temperature was in the high 50s F ...

and there was a fresh and light mountain breeze.

I just love my mountain trike rides with Bandi.

Colors are the spice of life.

In them...they are visual music.

The song they play at each sunset is a beautiful sonata.

As the last of the colors faded...

I turned on my lights and we headed down the mountain top...

and up and over the next ridge...

and then down towards home.

But...

as Bandi is getting in much better shape...

I decided to keep going past home...

and farther down the ridge.

We stopped a couple of times for a brief rest for Bandi.

But...

as she was not breathing hard...

we had only stopped for a minute or so at each rest stop.

We arrived adjacent to the driveway to home...

but I decided to continue on down the ridge line for a night run for Bandi.

We had stopped for another break...

but I noticed that my rear lights had died...

and so...

I turned the trike around...

and Bandi and I started back for home.

We are not too far from home here.

It is up beyond the top of the rise...

and around a slight corner.

------------

This was Bandi's first night run.

And although it was hard to see her in the dark as she ran alongside my trike...

I have her leash wrapped around my right upper arm as she runs...

so just by feel...

I can tell if she starts dropping back...

signaling to me that she is beginning to get tired...

and so...

time for another break.

-------------

Bandi just has so much fun here.

She especially loves her runs...

and her country car rides.

And...

I love my trike rides with Bandi...

especially our sunset rides.

I just love seeing her happy in life.

A dog is the most loyal of companions...

and they have the purity of heart of a young child.

She is so deserving of all the simple pleasures in life I can give her...

and as such...

I never give her just kibble to eat.

Dogs love food as much as do humans...

and so...

I always add things to her kibble...

from leftovers to especially hardy canned soup.

I always buy a variety of soups to mix into her kibble...

and I always pay attention as to which are her favorites...

and I stock up.

She never gets the same meal twice in a row.

I give her a delicious variety of foods...

for just as humans get tired of the same old thing...

so do dogs.

I love seeing her gobble up her food with gusto and joy.

It is so good to have such a fun loving companion in life.

What a wonderful night I had.

As my body is now cooled down some...

I am going to stretch...

sit in the IR sauna while I listen to more beautiful music...

take a hot shower...

and then I feel like just relaxing in bed with Bandi

as I put on a good movie.

If you are not feeling fully enthusiastic about life...

do something about it.

Life is just so good...

as joy in life is greatly amplified by its great simple pleasures

to such an extent that few other activities in life can give you

 that which gives for so long and with such lasting and deep serenity...

as can a good long session of exercise and a beautiful sunset.

Mountain Community Pizza Day

 

Song:  To Zanarkand

From:  Final Fantasy X

Today was a meet and greet for our mountain community...

featuring a make your own pizza day...

at the community center.

I arrived to see come cattle grazing in a field adjacent to the community center.

People use cattle or other livestock to keep the fields trimmed...

and fertilized.

It is a smart way to keep the land healthy.

Some people were already there by the time I arrived.

Volunteers put this together for everyone.

I made a sausage and mushroom pizza for myself.

Although it was small...

it was surprisingly good.

I sat in the far left rear corner.

The managers of the community center do a good job for the future of the center.

Although there are some 1,600 lots in the community...

there are only 380, or so...

homes actually built and lived in...

at least part time.

Most are just vacation or weekend homes...

while many of the empty lots were bought by people looking

for their dream location on which to much later retire...

and plan to build their dream home once they do.

And so...

our community is still quite small.

Some photos on the wall near me.

Cute

There are some old buildings from over one hundred years ago...

of which were used by loggers for the mines in Cripple Creek.

Upstairs in the community center...

they have a library and a play room.

They have a basket for book donations.

Hmmm....

I know of a few books I am going to donate sometime in the future.

Hey...

an author will do anything to get his books read  :)

In the kitchen area...

volunteers hard at work.

My pizza was called out.

It was actually very good...

I was surprised.

Yes...

whenever I go to places where they call out one's name...

I use Kuma.

James is just too common a name.

I used to hate having multiple people walk up to the same order 

when the name James was called.

The volunteers of our pizza day.

I really like the community spirit of our mountain community.

Our community center regularly organizes various events throughout the year

for all of our residents to enjoy.

Our community center pool.

It is open year round from early in the morning until late at night.

The pool is always heated to about 80 F.

The community center is also expanding hiking trails in the rear of the center...

and into the mountains.

I took this just before getting into my car to go back home.

It is funny...

it wasn't raining the whole time I was there...

or for the drive home.

However...

as soon as I took Bandi outside to use the bathroom...

it began raining...

and then on top of that...

Bandi had diarrhea for some reason.

So...

she multiple squatted for about 5 minutes.

It began to rain hard as I just stood there getting soaked.

However...

as soon as we walked back inside the house...

it stopped.

There just happened to be a heavy rain cloud which had passed directly overhead...

and let loose just when I was outside...

not before...

and not after...

weird.

When Bandi got on our bed...

she looked at me expectantly...

as I always give her strawberry flavored Kaopectate chews (for diarrhea)...

whenever she has exceptionally loose stools 

(I call them K-chews..."You want K-chew?"...

she knows right away...and hops up on the bed while salivating heavily :)

She loves them...

and one dose usually cures her.

Right now...

the sky is clearing up...

and there are multiple patches of blue showing.

It happened in the space of half an hour from the time the above picture was taken.

Weather here changes in a very short time period.

Just like that...

blue skies shine through.

------------

Starting tomorrow...

it is supposed to be sunny for many days.

I hope to be able to finish up with at least the second deck during this time.

-------------

Although the pizza was a small individual size...

it will hold me over until tonight when I warm up some of my 

Mountain Man Green Curry.

In the meantime...

I think I will do some more research...

and then practice some more music after supper.