The weekend before last was Richard's birthday. And since it was a "big" one this year we decided that he needed to celebrate it in style. We decided to take advantage of the fact that there is a cruise terminal in Galveston and we could easily do a long weekend away. So we booked a cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. Neither Richard nor I had ever been to Mexico so we were both looking forward to it. We sailed on the Carnival Ecstasy.

I had sailed Carnival before but not a ship this small. Even so, it was large enough to accommodate about what seemed like half of Texas trying to get away for the weekend. The ship had all your basic cruise ship attributes, such as the grand atrium.

More important, it had several bars serving nice fruity drinks!

During the cruise they also offered a wine tasting event which we attended (of course!) It provided several different types of wines with several different cheeses and fruit for sampling together. Yum!

As it was only a short cruise, we only had one stop: Cozumel! The water there was absolutely breathtaking. I can see why people want to snorkel there. Heck, you don't even need to be IN the water to see the fish:

The tour I wanted (touring the Mayan ruins in Tulum) was not offered on this sailing, so we opted for a tour of the island instead. We were shown the small Mayan ruin site of El Cedal but it didn't amount to much more than some rocks.

The tour took us on a circle of the island. We saw how the "other half" lives on the island. The main port of San Miguel is where the ships dock. On the opposite side of the island there is no electricity, running water or cell phone service. It was heaven! Especially when we stopped along the beach of El Mirador with it's limestone formations on the beach. Beautiful!

It was so peaceful and relaxing. We didn't want to leave. Unfortunately we had no other way back home so we had to get back to the ship.

We were docked next to the Carnival Fantasy in port. That's the ship that goes out for for 2 days longer and visits Jamaica. Next time!!! But even though it was a very short visit, we really hated leaving Cozumel.

So on the way back to Texas we had a chance to sit back, soak up some sun and allow ourselves to be pampered for just a little bit longer.

Our last night on board we made a special purchase just for Phoebe. It's the Carnival mascot "Funship Freddie."

So now we're back to the daily grind with just photos to remind us of our getaway.

Now we need to plan what we're going to do for MY birthday!

Posted by Robbi at 07:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Saturday was our Phoebe's 3rd Birthday (and 1st one with us in her new forever home!)

We made sure that she had a wonderful day, which included gifts of her favorite toys and biscuits along with a trip to the Dog Park in the center of Houston.

Her gifts were ready and waiting after breakfast!

She knew there was something tasty in one of the boxes!

And so did the other guys!

Something special to replace a toy she lost recently...

... her favorite Quacking Duck!

Time to read the card from us and the rest of the gang.

There is definitely something of smelly goodness in this box!

Aha! She knew it! Lamb Chop Biscuit Goodness!

Gotta try one I suppose!

Hmm, what could this be?

It's about time our Phoebe had some sparkly things!

She is a girl after all!

The afternoon brought a trip to the Park with he buddy Charlie.

That's one happy Pug!

What will next year bring for our Phoebe?     

Happy Birthday Phoebe!  We love you!

Richard, Robbi, Denny, Charlie, Munchkin, Jacob and Winston!

Posted by Richard at 09:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ladies, you may want to re-think giving that special man in your life any new power tools for Christmas. Let my story be a cautionary tale:

Once upon a time Robbi had a lovely chenille sofa. She had bought it not too long before she met Richard & moved to England. So, the sofa stayed at a friend's house in FL until the Richard & Robbi moved to TX. Then the sofa (along with all of Robbi's other furniture) came to live with them in TX. Not too long after their arrival, the sofa was deemed unworthy of the living room as it collected copious amounts of fur and still (despite a professional cleaning) smelled of a couple of Labradors who lived in FL. So, the sofa was moved to Richard's office where Phoebe perched on it's back to look out the front windows every day.

Richard's dislike of the sofa grew into an ugly hatred. Robbi knew of his discontent, but was unaware of the magnitude of his disdain. Then one day Robbi came home to this:

Poor Charlie is very confused:

So be forewarned, ladies - when your husband starts telling you how much he hates that armoire or kitchen table, perhaps it's a good time to hide the saw!

Posted by Robbi at 04:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We had a very quiet, relaxing Thanksgiving here at Denny Towers. No visitors or large gatherings, just Richard and myself with our little pug pack.

The kids did get a small taste of the turkey, though not nearly as much as they would have like. Nonetheless, it appears that they received enough to help coax them into the post-turkey nap that so many of us fall prey to...

Our sofa turned into a Pug Pile with everybody snuggled up together. Thankfully everybody gets on well enough that nobody seemed to mind the close quarters:

Phoebe especially seemed to really enjoy snuggling with everyone.

In fact, she's turning into quite a softie! She's even taken to letting Daddy cuddle her:

Is there anything cuter than a sleeping puggie????

  Maybe we should feed them turkey EVERY night.....

Posted by Robbi at 08:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As most of you know, Munchkin is our cat. She does not get much written about her and since she is a pretty unassuming kitty, that seems to suit her just fine. However, everyone deserves to have their birthday celebrated and despite her meows of protest I wanted to let everyone know that this is her special day. At least we think so. Like our Pug rescues, Munchkin's actual birth date is a mystery to us.

I vividly remember that cold January morning when we found her outside under our porch. I was living with my brother Mark and he was actually the one that found her. He was late to work that morning because he stayed to coax her out from under our front porch. He brought her in and we put in her a box with a blanket. She was so tiny! It was obvious she was no more than 6 or 8 weeks old. We never saw her siblings or mother. We don't know if she wandered off or if she was left behind by her mother but either way we knew she wouldn't survive in the icy North Carolina weather on her own. So we brought her in with the plan to find her a home. All my co-workers teased me that she wasn't going anywhere despite my insistence that we weren't keeping her. Of course she won me over and soon I knew I couldn't let her go. I named her Munchkin because she was so tiny. One of my biggest regrets is that I failed to take photos when she was little. Kitten-hood passed by so quickly. Thankfully I have been much better about photos in the past few years and I now have quite a collection of her. This is one of my favorites:

It brings back so many memories. It is of her sleeping in the spare bedroom at our home in Sonning, England. She would sleep on the bed because Charlie couldn't jump up and chase her and it was right behind my desk so she was near me. When she felt like exploring she would cross over to the window and jump out onto the roof. From there she would jump into the tree and climb down into the garden. The first time I saw her do that my heart stopped, but she has always been heartier than I have given her credit for. She has made the Trans-Atlantic crossing twice (once by plane and once by ocean liner) as well as numerous cross-country moves. When I worked as a travel nurse taking 3-month contracts at a time she would always make the move with me, quietly sleeping in her carrier as I drove down the interstate. She always adapted well and made anyplace we moved into her home.

Even when she had to learn to live with a dog (and a Daddy) she was amazingly tolerant.

Introducing a puppy to the mix proved interesting, but still she remained pretty easy-going about the whole thing. Now every time we bring a rescue into the house she just looks at me as if to say "Another one? Don't we have enough?" but she tolerates the sniffing like a pro.

I love her so much. She has been with me through incredible highs and devastating lows throughout the years. I cannot imagine my life without her. As she is now in her senior years I try to cherish the time we have together. She means more to me than she will ever know. Happy birthday Munchkin-face!

Posted by Robbi at 06:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We have a nice wide pavement around our pool.  Plenty of room for three or four pugs to make their way around.  Denny though seems to think he needs to walk right near the edge!

For some strange reason he NEVER wants to walk on the concrete.  He just likes to flaunt with danger!

He has of course fallen in on several occasions! (A good swimmer he is!)

Richard

Posted by Richard at 07:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today our little Charlie Bear turns 2 years old! It is so hard to believe, he still acts like such a puppy. We love his fearless, adventurous spirit and hope that never diminishes.

We made a special trip to PetsMart yesterday to pick up some goodies for the little guy. It didn’t feel right to just leave them in a bag, so we wrapped them up in anticipation of his big day.

Charles wasn’t exactly sure what to think when he was allowed up on the big table to see them this morning. But he had to have known something was up.

We let him have a good sniff and paw before helping him open everything. He did quite well: a stuffed cow that says “moo”, a rubber kangaroo that squeaks, a bag of compressed rawhide bones, a bag of Newman’s Own chicken treats and a shiny new Kong!

Of course Charles is ever the gentleman and was willing to share his chicken treats with his siblings. However, the Kong (once filled with peanut butter) was off limits to everyone but him! He is such a good little boy and we are so happy to be able to celebrate this special day with him. WE LOVE YOU CHARLIE BEAR!!!

-Mummy and Daddy

Posted by Richard at 03:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We here at Denny Towers are very excited and pleased to announce the addition of Jacob to our little family!  This fella has had quite a journey to get here, and though we don’t know his full story we are sure that this is going to be the best time of his life!

Jacob has come to us through the PugHearts of Houston and Homeward Bound of OK joint adoption program. As many of you know, PugHearts of Houston (specifically Cindy and Carolyn) recently made a trip up to Oklahoma to pick up some puggies from the Homeward Bound Rescue which had been inundated. One foster Mom actually had 21 fosters in her house!!  So, PugHearts offered to go pick some up for adoption in the Houston area. We are happy to report that upon arrival with 9 HWB rescues (and 2 more pugs picked up along the route), half of the HWB rescues had forever homes waiting – Jacob included.

We actually saw Jacob on the Petfinder adoption site several months ago. I’m not sure what it is about him, but his photo spoke to us. I wanted him, but as he was in a rescue in OK and we were in TX (already involved with a rescue) it didn’t seem feasible. So I would occasionally look at his photo and think “if you were closer little guy, you’d be ours!” but we never pursued it. Then a couple of weeks ago we heard about HWB’s deluge of rescues. All of us at PugHearts agreed that it would be great if we could do something to help and Cindy offered to make the trek. Our next move was to try and figure out which dogs we would be picking up. I honestly hadn’t even put 2 + 2 together at the time and did not realize Jacob was with them until I looked at their website to try and figure out which dogs would be making the trip. Then I saw him. It seemed like fate when I saw his beautiful face staring at me from their webpage.

I thought I had done a pretty decent job of keeping my obsession for Jacob a secret, but apparently I was wrong. Both Cindy and Richard commented that this was our chance to bring Jacob home to Seabrook.  It took very little convincing on their parts and soon we were planning for Jacob’s arrival. Richard was actually the first to see him, as he picked him up from the vet’s office upon the puggie-bus’ arrival back in Houston. As he brought him into the house, I lost my breath for a moment. He is so beautiful!! And that sweet grey face tells us that he has lived quite a life. He came in, met the crew and then set about discovering his new home. He settled in quickly and that first night he had even made friends with Charlie. 

He is so wonderful and we are so delighted to have him with us. Poor little guy rarely gets a break when I am around him as I cannot keep my hands off of him! I just can’t keep from cuddling him and kissing his sweet face. Last night he made us so happy, as he discovered his first toy with us! He had been watching Phoebe play and finally at one point he just walked over and picked up the ball when it landed near him. He then walked around and found a comfy spot to lay down with it.

It was so precious that Richard had to grab the camera and record the moment. Times like this make me so happy that Richard is so handy with a camera. These are memories that we truly want to preserve forever. Thank you Jacob for bringing such joy into our lives. We promise we will do everything we can to give you the life that you deserve!

Posted by Richard at 09:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Pets have a funny way of reminding us what is important. While this has obviously been a very sad time around here lately, our gang understands that life goes on for the living. They have not allowed us to wallow in our sorrow and have insisted that we get on with every day life. Dinners must still be made and puggie bellies need to be rubbed. That is the beautiful thing about animals – though it’s obvious that they know something is wrong (and indeed our guys looked a bit lost Friday and Saturday) they also know that you must get on with life.

Phoebe missing Lilly

They also seem to think that it’s great fun to scare Mummy and Daddy. As such, Sunday morning we were pondering what we would do with the day while the kids enjoyed a good romp. Phoebe and Charlie were running circles around the upstairs when Denny decided to join them. Unfortunately for Denny, he’s not quite the athletic type and his nails were actually in need of a trim. The next thing we know, Phebes & Charlie had run through to the bedroom and Denny came limping behind them favoring his left front paw. Richard picked him up and we saw that he was bleeding profusely. Poor dear had caught his claw on something and partially ripped it out. We tried to wrap it up but he would have no part of it. We called the vet’s office who said to bring him down as an emergency.

An hour later we were in the vet’s office and Denny was being given an injection to help him sleep. He’s always been a bit of a worrier and he definitely hates having his paw messed with, so a sedative was definitely in order. While his foot was being looked at (and he was being given an all-over pedicure) we decided to have a couple of other items taken care of as well. He has had a small skin tag on his upper lip for quite some time and this seemed the perfect opportunity to have it removed. He also had a small bump removed from his ear. Though it appears to have been a skin tag, we are taking no chances and having it biopsied. After Lilly, we have pledged to make sure we do routine exams on all of our babies to check for any unusual lumps or bumps. We’ll do it every month when they get their Heartguard and flea treatment.

As it turns out, Denny did not need the nail completely removed, but it was cut down severely and bandaged up. He was also given shots for antibiotics and a pain killer. He was then given a reversal drug for the sedative and once he was able to keep his head up we headed home. Poor little guy spent the rest of the day feeling generally miserable while Phebes and Charlie keep sniffing his paw and ear.

Chicken rawhide for the patient

I am happy to report that this morning Denny woke up as his usual self. The bandage remains in place until tomorrow. The stitches in his ear are thankfully dissolving ones, so there will be no need to take him back for their removal. And since it has always been Charlie’s job to clean Denny’s ears, he is already seeing to it that the stitches dissolve as they should. Isn’t it nice to have family to depend on?

Charlie – Denny’s official ear cleaner

Posted by Richard at 04:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It has been a rather emotional couple of weeks here at Denny Towers. (Yes, we are still looking for a new name – any suggestions would be appreciated!) A couple of weeks ago we picked up a foster for PugHearts named Boudreaux. He’s the cutest little guy & he quickly stole our hearts. He’s about the same size as Charlie and close in age, so the two of them hit it off immediately. And of course Phebes is always happy to have someone else to play with.

While Denny didn’t seem thrilled with the idea of another youngster running around, he was actually pretty tolerant of all the youthful exuberance. Regardless of how they felt, Richard & I quickly fell for him. He just seemed so starved for affection that we couldn’t help ourselves. Given his age, temperament and unabashed cuteness, we KNEW he wouldn’t be a foster for long. Sure enough, last weekend we took him to meet a family who seemed perfect for him. They had another female pug about his age and within minutes the two of them were romping around exploring together. The family was fantastic and Richard & I had to admit that it was the perfect home for him.

As we said our goodbyes to Boudreaux and left the house I asked Richard “Am I going to cry every time we adopt out a foster?” At least there were tears of joy too, as we know he has found his perfect forever home. Congratulations, Boudreaux, you made it!!

On Monday Cindy asked me if we were ready for another foster. I said “Well, we have an open spot.” She said she was going to have us take Lilly. We had been told that Lilly had some sort of masses “all over her body.” Cindy sent us photos – we were a bit shocked to say the least. I have never seen anything like this.

I picked her up on Tuesday after work. The first thing I noted was how beautiful she is. She has a gorgeous black mask and these piercing eyes.

The second thing I noted was how lively she is. This girl is a bundle of energy! She was running and twirling on the lead as I took her to my car. Of course she wasn’t content to sit in the back seat and ended up as my co-pilot. I kept stroking her telling her how beautiful she was and she would just melt down into the seat staring at me. It was if she hadn’t been told that in a very long time, if ever. I was most impressed with how she acted towards our guys when we arrived home.

She came through the door and paused to let everyone get a good sniff. Then she held her head high and proceeded to make her inspection of our house. She checked everyone else out and determined that we met with her approval. She then jumped up on the sofa ready for her belly rubbins! She was not intimidated at all by any of us. She earned the immediate respect of all of our guys and she was accepted on the spot. There have been no issues with jealousy or dominance between any of them. It is as though she belongs here.

We knew that she was going to have some health challenges. She came with prescriptions for antibiotics and steroids. We were told the results of the biopsies would be back in a few days. The first night with us, she barely slept. She was so excited to be on the bed with everyone she couldn’t stay still. When she finally did sleep, it was on my pillow draped over my head. The following night she seemed to settle in a bit better and slept fairly well.

Unfortunately she got a bit sick during a bad thunderstorm, but we put that down to nervousness. On Friday she had started coughing and had another episode of being sick to her stomach. I called Cindy to ask if a chest x-ray had been done on her. Her symptoms kind of reminded us of Alfie’s early symptoms with Congestive Heart Failure and we wanted to know if that had been checked. I was not prepared for the news I was about to hear. No, the chest x-ray had not been done but the results of the biopsy had come back. It was mast cell carcinoma. Cancer. I was in shock. I had to hang up quickly and then proceeded to cry, holding Lilly who had been sitting next to me on the sofa.

Richard joined us and I told him the news. After letting the news sink in he said “Well we’re not going to give up on her. We do not give up on Pugs.” I agreed and we talked about what needed to be done next. As the immediate problem seemed to be with coughing, we made plans to have her chest x-rayed on Saturday. The Vet had said he wouldn’t be there to read the films, but he would leave us a prescription for an antihistamine since she could be suffering from an upper respiratory infection as she is on heavy doses of steroids. He said he would read the x-ray on Monday.

We drove her to Sugarland on Saturday morning and had her x-ray done as well as some blood work. Dr. Hendrix left word that he will call the pathologist on Monday to discuss her results. We will then get her an appointment at the oncologist’s office as soon as we can. We have no idea of the extent of the fight we have ahead of us. Poor little Lilly doesn’t even seem to realize that she’s sick. Right now we are just savoring the time we have with her while she feels so good.

As I type this she is sleeping at my feet under my desk. In a way, I’m glad she doesn’t understand what is happening. I surely don’t know how I would explain it to her anyway.

Robbi

Posted by Richard at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Seeing the ones you love, content and rested.

Robbi, Denny, Charlie and Munchkin.  Sonning, England.
Taken December 6th 2005 (See it on Flickr)

Just had to share this classic old shot I found in my archives!

Richard

Posted by Richard at 07:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I now have a craving for good old fashioned British Fish’n’Chips!  Why?

Because Robbi just sent me a Daily Mail article with this picture!

COD & CHIPS with SALT’N’VINEGAR!!! YUM!!

She knows how much I miss them!  And I know she developed a taste for them too!  You just cannot beat a good serving of Fish’n’Chips!

Richard

Posted by Richard at 03:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As Robbi mentioned in the last post, we have not got the boat yet – and it’s not just because of the bad weather. Unfortunately the dealer we were getting the Sea Ray from started to move the goalposts and we opted to cancel the order as opposed to getting something we really did not want. As it happens though, this turned out to be a good move on our part – as we put a little extra thought into deciding what we should do next.

Our initial purchase of the Sea Ray was based on getting a boat that would fit in the garage, which was very limiting when it came to length. In fact we only had about 20 foot to play with and this meant we were restricted to getting a boat that was about 18ft maximum and a trailer length of 20 foot with a swing away tongue. As most boaters will know, that does not leave you much choice, especially when you want a boat with more than the usual 135hp engine. Anyway, the Sea Ray actually had a 190hp engine, but it turned out that in the end they could not provide it in the color we wanted, nor with the extras we wanted. Needless to say – we cancelled. Luckily Texas is a state where deposits are 100% refundable by law. So no loss on our part.

Anyway, in the search for a new boat – we actually decided to do away with the idea of keeping the boat in the garage and opted for storing it at a local storage facility in Seabrook – this gives us much more scope for power and length of the boat. We have looked at SO MANY boats in the past weeks including Sea Ray, Chaparral, VIP and Tahoe. All of them are very nice and have great features – but they all had one thing in common. You have to buy the extras to get the specification you want. Myself and Robbi hate that, and it was only when I stumbled across a review of a Yamaha Jet-Boat that we actually found something that not only suited our needs, but it exceeded them! So we have opted for, ordered and are now awaiting delivery on the 21st July, a Yamaha SX210 Jet Boat. This puppy has 2 engines, 220hp, seating for 9, all the extras you would ever need and is more than perfect for a shallow lake launching.

Yamaha SX210 Jet Boat

We will of course have plenty of photos when it arrives– the kids all have life-jackets and harnesses ready for when we take her out!

We are still working on a name, but at the moment the favorite is “Alfie’s Wings”.

Richard

Posted by Richard at 01:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It’s really weird to be back at work.  My first Monday morning commute was in a very hard thunderstorm that seemed to keep with me the whole 35 miles to the office.

Being from the UK I am of course used to a good downpour, but these storms are something that even a hardened commuter from the UK would have a little trouble with.   The last time I saw rain come down that hard was when I was in Florida a couple of years ago.   I expected to get to my destination and find all the paint removed from the car!  Well at least I will not have to wash it for another week.

Being back in an office environment is a bit of a shock too, I have spent the last year basically enjoying myself and bumming around doing what I liked.  Now I have a schedule and a routine again I feel somewhat caged.   But I am sure I will get back in the swing.

Oh well, back to the learning curve – I have lots of documentation to read to get up to speed with the rest of the team here at the office.  Wish me luck!

Richard

Posted by Richard at 01:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I have been a lazy good for nothing webmaster of late.  I finally logged in to the adminstration panel of Denny and Charlie’s site today and found 10+ comments from you kind people!   All of these comments were on hold due to my procrastination and lack of wanting to deal with the situation we had been dealt! 

Sorry if your comments have been left “hanging” for over a month!

You are all now authorized commenters – so it WILL NOT happen again.

Richard

Posted by Richard at 03:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My face is red with tear burns, my heart is pounding and I am feeling like it was only yesterday the little guy was in my arms.  

Today I spend my time going through thousands of photographs and trying to find suitable music to create a tribute to the Pug that started it all.   I never thought it would be so hard to do – but each and everytime I do this I realise it is an uphill challenge.

He was worth it.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1575745332018794841

Feel free to pass on the link to anyone, any forum, any blog.   Let’s get the word out about Alfie and the legacy this little guy left behind.

Richard & Robbi

Posted by Richard at 06:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A couple of days ago I took Alfie for a little drive over to the Challenger Memorial Park. 

This was a special trip for Alfie. Special because it was to meet up with Cindy of DFW Pug Rescue, the person who brought Alfie home from the pound and reared him back to health before we took over as his forever home.

Alfie (in his Mischief Maker T-Shirt) & Cindy

It was a little emotional for Cindy, as she obviously had (has) a special bond with Alfie (formally known as Charlie Brown).  They sat for a while soaking up the winter sun and Alfie seemed so content to be cuddled and kissed.

We are taking Alfie, along with Denny and Charlie, over to Cindy’s place in a couple of weeks to say hi to the rest of the gang and take some photos.   Of course I will be posting the final shots here!

Richard

Posted by Richard at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Thats the problems with the good things in life, they all too often come to an end so soon.   Yesterday, after over 3 weeks visiting us from England, we took my parents to Bush International Airport for their flight home.

We had such a great time while they were here, not a single harsh word was said, not a single bad day and it was so very hard seeing them leave yesterday.  You don’t realize how much you miss your family until you have to let them go again.

We have lots of photos of our adventures, but I thought I would just take the time to show you a few that I took of my folks – happy and enjoying themselves.   The photos of the places we visited can wait for now.

Galveston Docks

Galveston Docks

Sam Houston Boat Tour – Port of Houston

Thoughts of leaving…

Last night before we headed out for dinner. Robbi of course bored of my humor! ;-)

British Airways Flight BA2024 to London Gatwick

Denny, Charlie and Alfie look a little lost today.  Denny was sat in front of my folks bedroom this morning waiting for them to come out.  I had to pick the little guy up and show him that they had gone.  He looked so sad.  After opening the door to their room he had a quick look around and a sniff before sitting on his bed in the corner.  He misses them too.  Charlie keeps running up the stairs to see if they are out of bed yet, I think he is a little confused.  And as for Alfie, he got so used to my mum pampering him every morning that he spent over half an hour this morning wandering around the living room and kitchen looking for her.

They will be back boys, they will be back.

Robbi and I are a little lost too.  We all miss them.

Richard

Posted by Richard at 02:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I have finally finished the new business web-site.  Well it was actually finished a couple of weeks ago, but the server problems I was having put my plans on hold for a while.

It will be officially launched at the end of this week to coincide with a mail-shot to a large amount of Realtors!  

www.riroc.com

Posted by Richard at 06:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Happy New Year to you all!  Thanks for all the comments and good thoughts and emails over the past year – it was an adventure for all of us.   We have a good feeling about 2007 and we will be wanting to share it with our many friends who we have met through this site.

We decided to take the boys and my folks down to the Gulf of Mexico today, specifically Surfside which is just south of Galveston – it was a wonderfully sunny day and I think everybody enjoyed it!

Charlie and Denny

Denny knows better.   Sea water does not taste good! Charlie on the other hand thinks different.

Alfie

Alfie has not been too well over the past couple of weeks and we have the little guy on antibiotics and heart medicine at the moment.  It seems like the trip to the sea really made a difference in him though – he loves to walk up and down the beach!

Dad, Charlie, Alfie and Mum

“Biscuits you have? Yum!”

Charlie always on the scrounge for something to eat!  Alfie as always, patiently waiting.

Charlie

Charlie as always loves the water – as soon as we let him out of the truck he was off and chasing the surf!

Charlie & Denny

A Curious little Pug is our Charlie, he decided that he wanted to have a little dig in the sand for something – Denny of course had to supervise.

Alfie and my Mum!

My mum has really fallen for Alfie, I think it will be a struggle for her on Thursday when the say goodbye to head back to the UK.  And I am sure Alfie is also going to be wondering where his new life-long friend has gone.  Not to worry Alf, they will be back in 2007 to pamper you some more.    We intend to take some portrait shots this week as souvenirs – my mum can then have a photo of her and her furry pal on her desk at work.

We have more photos to come.   I just need to start work on them!

Richard

Posted by Richard at 06:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My posting to the blog has been erratic of late to say the least, and today my thoughts have been all over the place.  So what better place to let it all out than here...

Moving to Texas was not just a change of country for me and the boys, it was also a change of lifestyle and a change of career.   In the UK I was a very successful IT contractor who was never without work knocking at my door.  Giving up life in the UK also meant giving up that comfort.  But I suppose I was also in a lucky position to have that sort of flexibility in my life.

Its been 5 months now since I did any "paid" work in IT, but I have kept my hand in and I still maintain my skills in Microsoft and other products - but I have also been honing my Photography Skills and increasing my understanding with a view to a career change.  It's been difficult making the choice - as I know I can basically walk into a similar IT career in the USA without much difficulty.  But I want out. 

With that in mind I have decided to make a career in Photography - specifically Real Estate.  There are so many options for doing things "different" to the mainstream Real Estate Point and Click mob that I think it would be crazy of me to pass up a chance to do something I really enjoy - taking photos.  And the fact that I can combine my IT skills to provide something unique and different to my clients just makes the whole idea so much more appealing for me.

RiRo Consultants is born, so all I have to do now is get the website finished, wait for the business cards to come from the printers and get out there and sell myself. I see a fun time ahead of me!

Wish me luck.... Please?  It's scary too!

Richard

Posted by Richard at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

As promised....a little late maybe....here is a quickly knocked together video of the boys trip to see FlatNosePups this past weekend.

The file is 6 Megabytes in size, so if your on a slow connection please be patient while it downloads and buffers.

Unfortunatley there are delays in uploads now for Google Video... but as soon as my video is approved and available I will post the link for all you MAC and non Windows Media people.

Richard

Posted by Richard at 04:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)