We spent the weekend in Fairview, Utah at my honey’s parents’. It was his Dad’s 76th birthday yesterday and all four of his full brothers and sisters were there to help celebrate. It was nice time.

Here’s my honey and his Papa:

The weather was alternately sunshine, rain and snow (and the occasional hail) throughout. Definitely springtime in Utah.

We got home to a houseful of cats (Reno went with us to Fairview) who were happy to see us.

Coincidentally, it was Jasper’s 1st birthday today. He and his siblings — which we saw, along with is mother in Fairview — were born on my honey’s dad’s 75th birthday last year.

Here he is on Friday:

Jasper Caffeinated

No wonder he sleeps so soundly — during the day.

We finally made arrangements to have Jasper the 7-month-old cat neutered. It’s one of those things that has to be done, but as “elective surgery”, is hard to justify time off of work, the research, the expense, etc.

Fortunately, we found the Spay & Neuter Clinic on 48th South just off of State Street in Murray that allowed us to drop him off on the way to work and pick him up on the way home.

He got all of his shots, some pain medication and his ‘nads removed for a low, low $77.

Right now, he’s still quite under the influence of the anesthetic and is sleeping it off in the bathroom.

He’s not supposed to get excited and run around, so that should be fun to keep him calmed down. He is still a kitten, after all.

Last week a friend told us the story of his new Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner.

While at work, his dog crapped on the floor and the Roomba tracked it all over the carpet.

We got up bright and early this morning and Scotty came over to take us all to the airport (Lee had spent the night at our house). I remarked that that’s the sign of a real friend: one who would take you to the airport at 5:30 in the morning.

We rode in first class to Houston and had an uneventful flight — which are the best kind. Lee did really well with his fear of flying and plugged ear and made friends with all of the flight attendants. He certainly has a knack.

We dropped Reno off at DogMode last night. He ran into the room on his leash and never looked back. We watched him from home via the webcam and he was certainly herding the pack. The cameras turned off at 7:00 p.m. sharp, so we didn’t get to see if they beat them into submission after that time. The dogs sure were having fun up until then however.

Here’s a photo I just snapped from there…right above the lady’s head.

Reno and I went to DogMode so he could have his pre-stay “interview” yesterday.

It was explained that it would consist of taking him into a 12×12 room along with “several” other dogs and to see how he acted.

I had filled out a six-page application as well and had indicated that he didn’t ever bark, jump up, growl or anything else untoward. I only had to fudge a little (I figured I could always say, “I’ve never seen him act like that before”).

I was a little worried because he is quite “alpha-dog” and not as well-behaved as I would like (he’s independent-minded).

Nevertheless, after they led him away, I watched the “pack” of a hundred-plus dogs through an observation window. There was a lot of jumping, barking, nipping and less-than-perfect behavior.

I figured he was a shoo-in.

She brought him back out a few minutes later and said that he had passed and was welcome there.

Whew.

Here’s the webcam views you can access to keep an eye on your dog throughout the day:

Webcam 1
Webcam 2

In anticipation of having to kennel Reno the dog while we take a week’s vacation in Cancun in a couple of weeks, I finally relented and took him to the vet to get his shots (documentation of such is required).

We had adopted him from rescue shelter and I always assumed he had had shots done during his stint there. Upon checking the paperwork recently, I found no documentation to that effect. Oops.

In February, it will make three years that he has been a family member and other than the occasional ear infection, has had no illnesses or reasons to visit the vet, so the shots, boosters, inoculations and vaccinations that he may have had prior to coming to live with us have all lapsed.

So Friday I took off the afternoon and got him all fixed up (they owe me a one booster shot in three weeks and I owe them a poop sample).

With new rabies vaccination papers in-hand, I then visited the Murray City Animal Shelter and paid my five smackers for license no. 1254.

He’s now legal.

Ok, ok, I know this is something that I probably would make fun of on someone else’s site, but it made me tear up this morning and we can all use a little sentiment now and again.

I DO wonder how emotional this would be with the sound turned down. The media has certainly trained us to rely on aural cues to help guide our emotions.