68 Degrees in January!

Today's high temperature was 68 degrees F in Boulder. Is this really the end of January? I haven't seen any piles of snow left in parking lots the last few days, and there is minimal packed snow and ice on the neighborhood roads.... but I happen to know that the scene is going to change. - After all, it is Colorado! Come Monday, we're expecting snow and highs in the 20s and teens for the next 3 days, so I have enjoyed today's warmth to the utmost. I let the kits out to play before I walked the Irish kids, and we all moved out onto the patio for most of the afternoon. Right now, Nedi is sitting on the edge of the patio, while Lovey is snacking on some Party Mix at the base of the cat tree. I didn't feel like cooking much of a dinner, so I just had scrambled eggs, hash brown potatoes and sausage - an evening breakfast.
The Chandlers, who have Topgallant Charlie (the rooster) and 8 hens, have just acquired two puppies. Their dog, Hila, passed away from bone cancer while they were living in South Africa. The boys have never been without a dog - and they went to the Humane Society Wednesday evening to see what dogs were available. They hoped to adopt an older dog, one that they wouldn't have to train, or re-train. Ty, the youngest son, immediately fell in love with a female puppy; a Boxer mix. On Thursday, the family decided to get the puppy, plus an older dog. Xena, the puppy, didn't seem to get along very well with any of the adult dogs that the Chandler parents chose; so they adopted a second puppy, Victor, a Lab - Australian cattle dog mix. I'm looking forward to watching these two pups grow and mature!
Rosie and Remy were their usual good-to-goofy selves today. They sat and watched an off-leash dog walk by their house without any sound or movement, but when we passed a bulldog going in the opposite direction (on leash) Rosie just had to bark. Yesterday, I became worried about Danny, the miniature longhaired Dachshund, that lives on Topaz. The family has yet to fence in their yard, and Danny and Shama (the English Springer Spaniel) are allowed to roam free. Danny has started to chase bicycles - and yesterday, he decided to chase one that, besides a rider, had a large dog on a leash running with it. I fully realize that Danny should not have chased the bike - he should have been behind a fence, or inside. But, he started chasing the bike and barking, and the dog with the bike (who was pulling the bike along, as much as the rider was pedaling) stopped short, turned and snapped back. Danny was nowhere near, of course, but the bike crashed and the person riding the bike became very nasty-mouthed. My entire view-point is that (a) Danny should not have been loose, but (b) the bike rider should not have been riding with only one hand on the handlebars, while the other held a 6-foot leash with a running dog attached. The running dog weighed approximately 60 pounds - if it had been startled or "attacked" by anything else, and it had stopped, the result would have been the same. The bike and rider would have crashed. My final words - if you can't run with your dog, do not bike with it. Hire someone who runs and likes dogs to exercise your pet. Riding a bike on the road system, with one hand controlling the bike, and the other hand controlling a running dog is like driving your car at 80 mph while texting on your smart phone!