Veteran's Day

My younger brother, Lt. Col. Allan Conkey is getting sworn into his newest job in Washington D.C. (this pic is from a change-of-command ceremony last June)
He has been in the USAF for 24 years now

This is Philip. I think the picture was taken while he was in South Korea. He recently got back in Ft Hood,TX...which had some unfortunate crazy excitement this week. Luckily Phil is safe and thinks we are all silly for worrying about him. Phil has been in the Army for only 3 years and is thinking of getting out.

This picture below is Adam, when he first joined the Army. He has been to Iraq twice and now stationed in Hinesville,GA.

I may not always agree with these 3 guys on every subject that pops up, but am sooo glad I have the right to freedom of speech and the freedom to disagree with them when ever I want and the freedom to come & go when ever the mood strikes me, and of course tons of other freedoms that I'm sure I take for granted without even thinking of them.

I guess I need to say Thank-You to them more often for my freedoms.

*around the canyon*

Well I seem to be having Monday-Wednesdays off from work this month. Not sure how I forgot, but went to marketplaza to get my mail & go to the bank...oh yeah, post office & banks are closed for the holiday today...DUH

Guess I will have to go into bank before work tomorrow, seeing as my atm card ain't working.

Shop Till We Drop

Shop Till We Drop

Luckily I had today off work so I could go down to Flagstaff with my friend, Brenda. (She always has weekends off)
We went into Michael's craft store. Halloween is Brenda's favorite holiday and I've been calling her "The Queen of Halloween" for a couple yrs now. She needed to get supplies for project/gifts that she is making for about 30 people, she also wants to make 2 haunted house (1 for home & 1 for her work office) and stuff to make a black halloween wreath. She will go back down later to get stuff for her yummy fattening treats...that will be part of the 30 peoples gifts.

Her excitement was almost contagious as I almost bought stuff to decorate my door. Instead I got jewelry making supplies and a jewelry book to get new ideas. (I'm hoping to sell jewelry at our next Winter Bazaar) I forgot my 40% discount paper so my total was about $63. Brenda remembered her 40% and her total was still about $88. I better sell lots of jewelry at the bazaar to make up for my crazy shopping.

Later we went to Fry's for grocery shopping. Why is it that I always seem to get lost in that store? At least the produce section is easy to find, which is good because I wanted strawberries (2 containers/$5), bananas ( .59/pound), avocados (.88/a piece), tangerines ($1.99/pound), and baby carrots (.88). The avaocados were a tad bit softer then I woulda liked but I got 2 anyways. Flagstaff felt like a sauna today, so I got a few 32oz bottles of powerade for .88/a piece. I ended up losing Brenda in the store when I wandered off to look for Clif Bars...they were $1/ a piece.

Not sure if it was all the driving around or if it was just the heat...but I was sooooo tired on the way home. Was able to make 1 necklace (so far) since coming home though

To leave or not to leave~Q of the week

ok, I'm a bit stuck at the moment and not totally sure what to do.

I might have a job working at a hostel for 2 nights a week. I'll get free rent, free food, free wi-fi and its close enough to make it to my sons graduation next June, without the hassles I get here about needing time off. I can also work an extra day if I want to for extra $$.

?Will I like the job? ?Will I like the location in Winter? (IDK)

This was quite a shock to Brenda today. I sent her an email before I went to work today telling her about it. She was surprised that I would actually leave the Grand Canyon park. But geez, the park ain't going nowhere, which means I can always come back in a year if I want to. Actually leaving Brenda behind is the hardest thing about this decision. Brenda is probably the main reason I have stayed put here as long as I have.

But would Brenda still be here in a year??? Maybe if she gets the new promotion that she is hoping for. geez, if damn management had just let me stay in Maswik kitchen like I had wanted I wouldn't of even thought of leaving right now...but since when do I get what I want? I guess out of all the jobs I've had here at GC, I liked working in Maswik Kitchen last winter the best but that didn't last long enough.

Well, I guess whoever is reading this will have to stay tuned and wait for further updates later.

Summer is almost gone

Wow, hard to believe that it's September already. September started out with a little bit of sprinkles & thunder. In a way, it seems like Summer flew by and I didn't have time to do everything I wanted. Then again it seems like I wasted alot of time doing nothing to special.

Well today was supposed to be my last day at the kennel, but think I might be made to stay an extra week.... then I'm going back to Yavapai as a busser. But first I get 3 days off during holiday weekend. Was scheduled for health fair in Flagstaff but takes to much time and money. So I could just stay home and FINALLY get my room cleaned out & organized. Or at least spend 1 day this weekend with Brenda and see how her Halloween crafts are coming along...she's making something new this year, that I'll have to take pics of later.
OH! speaking of pics...I entered a photography contest here at the canyon last week...not sure when we find out who won. I put 2 pictures from Indian Gardens in the contest.

Well according to some story online, I guess Farmer's Almanac is predicting a harsh Winter this year.

no more daydreaming~just jump in

Well I have daydreamed about selling my own homemade jewelry for a few years now. While I was living in Kentucky back in 2006, I even had gooten some special license # so that I could buy stuff wholesale. But seeing as I left KY soon afterwards, that dream sorta floated off with the clouds.

This year Brenda has been encouraging me to make something and be creative and usually asks what I have done for the week. Well on Wednesday Doris drove us all to Flagstaff and I went shopping at Michael's & Jo-Ann's among other places...but I bought over $130 just for jewelry stuff.
Brenda will be surprised that I even signed up on etsy...now I just have to get pictures on my page there.
http://www.etsy.com/profile.php?user_id=7880432

funny names for dogs

I have to laugh sometimes when people come into the kennel to leave their dogs for a few hours so they can go hiking or on some tour.

Yesterday a couple came in with 2 little dogs named "Brown Sugar & Soda Pop". Seems they used to have a dog named Cinnamon and figured that the name Brown Sugar just went with it.
But I guess the day they got Soda Pop, the wife had opened up a soda and the puppy got all excited when it fizzed up and started licking up the fizz, so they just decided to call the dog soda pop to remember that moment.

Last week, we had a golden lab (I think) come in with the name "Tater Tot". Seems that the wife thought taters were the perfect food and their dog was the perfect pet.

We have 15 stray dogs at the moment. (Brandy in the picture with the last blog found a new home on Sunday). Sometimes if People abandon the dogs with us, we will change the dogs name.
1 high school kid left his dog at the kennel when he moved to Phoenix..he called the dog "Segi" and we are now calling her "Sasha".

Sharing a day with the dogs

Here's 2 of the strays at the kennel "Brandy" is 1 of our newest strays. "Penny" is the black puppy that came with her brothers.

Today started off super busy, with a F&S person admitting dogs in before I even got to work and I had 5 dogs check in during the first hour.