Ohio Vacation

Welcome home Tommy!

C.S.I. is still on the job, but nobody has seen Turbo since his mysterious disappearance from our backyard 4 weeks ago. We began the search for a new Tortoise about a week after Turbo vanished. That is when I came across a potential adoption from a family in Tucson. They have several of these gentle giants, however the two larger males she has had together for 7 years where starting to fight over her one female.

After a few days of emailing back and forth and her quizzing me on my knowledge of Sulcatas she agreed to let Claire and I take custody of Tommy.

Tommy is a 9 year old male African Sulcata Tortoise. Very heathly, and incredibly friendly! I drove the hour and half down to Tucson today and picked him up. The drive home was interesting, he spent the trip either trying to climb into the passanger seat or trying to pry my dash from the car.

He is now happily wandering his new home in the back yard. I spent the last three weeks (since Tommy's family agreed to let us have him) building a fence across the back yard and building a HUGE dog house for him to sleep in. He seems very happy in our yard, as soon as I sat him down he started eating the grass....which is a good sign!

Tommy weights somewhere around 40 lbs. I am hoping to get him on the scale in the next few days. He is incredibly tame, and doesn't mind having his head petted. Hopefully with a little more socialization he will come to know Claire and I better. I have heard from other Tort owners, including Tommy's old family, that they learn their names rather quickly and will come when called.

Here are some photos. Enjoy! There will be many more photos in the future as this new addition in to the family gets settled in.

My handy work. A special thanks to Home Depot for prefabricated fences (although I did have to build one section by hand!)

I can't even take credit for this. I had it built by a friend, but I did do the trim work, all painting and added the flaps on the door!
TOMMY!
Spying at me through the fence slats. Umm....Tommy....there's something stuck in your teeth.

D'Anns Baby Shower!

Here are some pictures from the baby shower I gave D'Ann!
Enjoy!
Homemade chocolate cake made by Oscars mom.

Frame signing / Guest Book

Guess what is in the diaper! :) ~ Dont worry they are all some sort of chocolate
Hand designed bibs for baby!
My first hand made Diaper cake!

Day with Karin & Addison!

Karin & Addison were in town for a couple of days so we decided to have breakfast together! Can you believe she used to be my Nanny when I was a little one? It was fun to get caught up and see each other again. Last time I saw here was when I was in London and we went to a dinner and a concert! Good times!

Meet Tinker!

Breed: Dachshund
Sex: Female
Born: Jan 28, 2007
Wieght: 2.6 lbs
Color: Black and Tan Dapple
Registered: AKC

Coming home was an experience in itself!

The bus ride back was definitely an adventure in itself. Normally to get back to Accra one would go threw Lome. Some other peace core volunteers said they went threw Ho and it doesn't take that much longer and you get to see more of the country side. So my mom and dad and 2 other volunteers decided to come with us and try going a different route. Well a taxi picked us up at the house to take us to a taxi station. At the taxi station we payed for a big bus costing only 2 dollars. They said they were leaving in an hour so we put our bags up and started to wait. One guy would tell us we are only waiting for 2 more people to come before we left. Well after we waited for 2 hours we decided we will pay for the 2 extra seats so we can go. When Dad went to pay they said it was 4 people we were waiting for. We then waited another hour and decided fine we will pay for 4. But by then, the guy said its 5. In the end they needed 8 more people to go! I don't know if they thought we were rich and would pay for them all but we waited it out and only payed for our seats. We waited I think for 4-5 hours just to get the bus going! The actual bus ride was cramped. They fit 5 people in a row of 5 seats that were half the normal seat size. I was pushed up against the window which we needed to leave open so we didn't feel cramped and the air was hot. Someone even sat in the isle so there was no extra room. It seemed about every 10 miles there were guards that checked out the bus. Some of them made us all get off show them some kind of ID and then get back on. We did this a numerous about of times. At first it was annoying but the last couple of times it was nice to stretch out :) The guards think they can do whatever they wanted. Some tried to make us pay and mostly I think wondered why white people are riding a local transit bus. The border actually went smoothly which was nice and we finally rolled into town around 8. We got up at 7am and should have arrive before dark. In the end it was a long day, and I think we all were excited to be in town and off of that bus!

It doesn't really end there though. We had made reservations at the womens my parents know (Chez?) hotel. My dad had confirmed them early that day and told them we would be in around 8-9. When we got there at 8:30 they had given our room away and had a room for us at their other hotel out of town. My dad and i blew up a little bit at the guys and finally gave into the other hotel. When we got into our room they had sprayed for bugs about 5 minutes before and we couldn't breath. All we wanted to do was shower and go to dinner. We tried to wash ourselves with a wet hand towel and we were covered in dirt. Then the place my mom and dad had talked about all day (Italian with a 5 cheese pizza) was closed. We finally ended up at Frankie's and got a pizza and a couple of beers. We went back to the hotel showered and went to bed. It was a long day and we all slept good.

Then we went to the airport. We went 2 hours ahead and as I was getting out of the car they told me to run because i was the last passenger on the plane! It wasn't quite as bad as I thought but i did have to hurry. Uffda! is all I can say about the last day and a half
when I was there.

It was sad saying good bye to my parents and I miss them already.

View my pictures from Togo!

For all my pictures, click me...

For a short photo book of my photos, click me...

Another update on my trip...

Day 7 - In the morning we tried to stay cool as the power has been off
and on again. In the afternoon we went to my parents Market woman's
saving and loans meeting (Kamoura). It was great to see them putting
money into their bank and seeing them interact. They also speak in the
native tongue so it was fun to hear that. In the beginning it sounded
like they relied a lot on my parents and now they run the meetings
almost by themselves! Its great to see them taking action for their
own good. From there we went to the Peace Corps house and meet more
volunteers and cooled off. Some other volunteers had just been to the
market so it was fun to see what they were buying for gifts and food.
We then went to Georgie's ( the Godfather of Atakpame) for a Coke/
beer. My parents seem like they have been able to make a great
impression on people and I believe they are really respected here.
George also set us up with a taxi to use the next day to take us to
the falls.

Day 8 - Before coming to Togo, I tried to find "tourist" things to do
and see. One of the few I found was a waterfall in Badou. The website
described it as a shampoo commercial with cascading falls and
butterflies everywhere! I was sold on the butterfly part so we decided
to hike and see the falls. I didn't know that would mean a 3 hour
cramped taxi ride on a pot hole road with 7 of us in a 5 person car
and a hike that was up steep stairs for an hour each way. I never
thought the trail could get more steep until I turned another corner.
Even at the end the when the rest of us got sodas to relax our driver
had a beer before heading back to town! A Togo beer is about 2+ beers
in the states so needless to say we were all a bit worried. In the end
the waterfalls were amazing and we got back safe and sound in 2 hours
(not like the 3 it took to get there). All in all it was a good time
and we are thankful we went.



For the next 2 days, I'm sorry for the short notes but we have been
out of power for the past 13 hours so we are short on batteries...

Day 9 - I built website for an NGO, Mom and I gave each other
pedicures and we headed to the group house to meet more volunteers.

Day 10 - Today we went to Akpene grandmothers house and was greeted
with all ages of kids wanting pictures taken. From there we again went
to the Peace corps house hoping the power would be on and we could
cool off under a fan. On the way back to my parents I helped pound
fufu, learned how to make Beignets (banana fritter), got a Bubu from
Mama downstairs, packed my parents things for me to take back, looked
at other volunteer pictures from the falls and created 2 more websites
for the AIDS offices here. I am about to teach mom how to make jewelry
with a head lamp on, praying the power will come back on so we can
sleep better and cooler.

Tomorrow we head to Accra as I leave early Tuesday morning and over
all this has been a fantastic trip!! Power is running low, got to
go... love Claire

Ghana, Benin and Togo! the first 6 days

I have seen and experienced so many things it is hard to write about
the trip so here is a very short overview from day 1...

day 1 - Im finally here and Africa welcomed me greatly to say the least!! I flew into the Ghana airport and not knowing any French smiled at the customs man and he waved me right through. A girl who I sat next to on the airplane had her bags checked and some items taken! My parents should be thankful that my bags weren't opened as one was all for them with US food, etc. From the airport we went to the hotel to drop off bags and then headed to the center of town. We ate at Frankies which had hamburgers, pizza, etc as my parents said it was a good way to slowly be introduced to Africa. From there we did some shopping and then went to Savannas hotel right on the beach out of town a ways. The owner Beth is from the US and is opened up an Inn in Ghana. It was a cute place but the mosquitoes got the best of me.

day 2 - We woke up early to see fisherman bringing in boats by hand. It was great to see as the rest of the family had said such great things about watching and some participating in pulling the boats in. From there we went to the Ghana border to meet a Peace Corps driver who took us to Grand Popo, Benin. Entering and leaving African countries is quite an experience in itself. Lots of people hustling around, some selling things on carrying on their heads, some grabbin at you trying to get you in their taxi and some looking at us weirdly and the rest I who knows if they were crossing borders or what. Grand Popo is an old French military base on the beach with a refreshing swimming pool and a relaxing restaurant.

day 3 - We found a ride to take us to Ganvie (a village on stilts). One of the few tourist attractions in this region. We had to take a boat to get there and on the way saw many women and children paddling their boats with items to sell. Each family has 3 boats - 1 for fishing, 1 for the children to get to school and 1 from getting around. We had a motorized boat which many locals looked down upon it
seemed. We were told the locals didn't like it becoming a tourist thing to do. So we respectfully took pictures and didn't say much when the kids begged for money. On the way home the taxi took us to Ouidah. There we drove down the last couple of miles of an old slave route which at the end had a big monument (the point of no return) on the beach. It was the last spot the slaves passed through before loading on a boat to other countries.It is also the heart of Voodou center. From there we went to the Temple of Pythons. They do religious sacrifices and worship the 40 pythons living inside. They took us inside the room which the pythons live and to say the least it was creepy. We were inside a small space with most of the snakes sleeping but my eyes followed every snake that moved and I am happy to get out of there. That night we stayed at the Grand Popo hotel again.

day 4 - We woke up and headed straight back to Togo. We stayed at the nicest hotel in Lome and it had great air conditioning and a great Olympic sized pool. This was my parents 30 wedding anniversary so we spent half the day by the pool and the other shopping in the big market there. We (or Mom and I) had fun bargaining on "rip off row" buying all sorts of fun souvenirs. Since I don't know any french it was fun seeing Mom and Dad in action. I also spent most of the evening and night on their fancy toliet trying to enjoy the joys of international travels. It only lasted a short time and knock on wood I wont get sick again.

day 5 - Mom and Dad had a great/huge breakfast at the hotel while I was still recovering. We did a little more shopping at Jackies and then we bargained for a taxi to take us to my parents house in Atakame at the local taxi gathering. It only took 2 hours which is about an hour faster then ever before. Once we got to my parents house the neighborhood kids came out and carried my luggage on their heads. I feel pretty weak when I see a 6 year old carrying my 60 pound bag on his head up a steep hill. They were more then happy to do this and fought over my bags. Once we were here Mama and Papa came and introduced themselves. (they are the land owners where my parents are staying). Mom and Dad opened all their anniversary cards and decorated the table. A few Lundring tears where shed but all in all it was great to see their excitement and fun reading the cards. (thanks for sending them!)

day 6 - I woke up to the roosters crowing early and headed for a walk around town. We pasted a few schools already in session and many women with their goods for sell. It was a great walk being able to see what my parents have talked about and meet the locals they know who have built them furniture, sold them fabric, etc. The windy season is now over and the weather has become hotter. Many other volunteers stopped by the house to visit and catch up on work. It is great to put names to faces. I also got my first french lesson! Learning another language was never my specialty but it was fun meeting Innocent (their teacher) and learning the basic greetings. Mom and I later today headed into town for some fabric and and for me to see the market and town. On the way back a soccer game had just gotten out so it kinda felt like we were fish headed up stream. Tonight we looked at my parents pictures from their trips and just trying to keep cool.

Overall the food isn't as bad as I expected, the people are great, the kids are very cute and it is great to be with my parents. Sorry this isn't as short as I meant it to be, but even this doesn't come close to all that we or I have experience so far on this trip and its only half over!

Until later...
Love you all, Claire

The Twelve Days of Matney's Christmas (explained)

Dear Friends and Family,
Thanks so much for taking the time to visit our blog and get a better understanding of exactly what put the words into our song (we hope you actually sang it!)

The First Day- We are still living (stuck) in Arizona.
The Second Day- We have acquired yet another English bulldog! Bentley is quite the character and getting along great with Cooper! Cooper is now a year and a half, and Bentley is 6 months old.
The Third Day- We got a little surprise when we had our cat Lily into the vet for her annual shots. The vet looked at us, giggled and then asked why Lily had a pink collar on. Turns out Lily is actually a boy...we haven't told her yet.
The Fourth Day- Tyler has taken up golf as a means to pass the summer months. During the summer it is to hot to do anything but sit in the air conditioning...UNLESS you get out on the golf course around 5am and get 18 holes in before 10am.
The Fifth Day- Cooper has still struggled with his eye problems. Surgery after surgery. Hopefully he is finally in the clear.
The Sixth Day- Claire is still very actively creating her earrings, necklaces, and bracelets which are available through her website; www.clairesjewelrystore.com.
The Seventh Day- Our saltwater aquarium is still up and running. It has it's good times and bad, but still seems to be a focal point in our house.
The Eigth Day- Claire has made a drastic career change during the last year. From office work to selling puppies. She is the Assistant Manager at Animal Kingdom.
The Ninth Day- Tyler is still mountain biking, and more than ever. He has joined a local race team and gets out on rides at least once a week. To have a peek at the team website check out; www.missinglinkracing.com.
The Tenth Day- Tyler has also made a career change. After 4 years with United Natural Foods/ Mountain People's Warehouse, he has taken a position with Protection One Security as a Residential Security Consultant.
The Eleventh Day- Claire's parents are in their second and final year in Togo working for The Peace Corps. Claire will be travel around the globe in late January to spend 2 weeks visiting her parents and getting a grasp of what life is like in this unique country. To see more about Wayne and Cate's experience visit; www.catewayneafrica.com.
The Twelfth Day- Another wonderful year as the Matneys!

We hope your year was as wonderful as ours, and that your Holidays are filled with joy and peace. God Bless, and Merry Christmas.

Love, Tyler and Claire

Mountain Bike season is BACK!!!

The sun has given up for the summer, and the cool weather is upon us! I have officially joined a team for the 2007 mountain bike season. Missing Link Racing is a great group of riders, most of which just look forward to a cold beer after a hard ride. I will be spending lots of time with the team througout the season.

We got a small ride group together and headed up to Sedona to enjoy the red rocks, and red dust provided by the beautiful northern Arizona wilderness. We rode a 9 mile loop through the Little Horse Trail system, just west of downtown Sedona. It wasn't a long ride, but with all the "slick rock" areas, we spent just as much time goofing around on the rocks as we did riding the trail. Here are some photos. The first one is of me making sure my suspension is getting it's daily workout, the others are of the group at Chicken Point, a VERY scenic view point that affords amazing views of the red rock cliffs. Enjoy, and plan on more mt. bike photos as the race season kicks off in January




.

Happy Halloween!

Claire was a Witch and Tyler was a Burgler... get it... he sells Home security systems!

We got a BENTLEY!

Most of you know we really can't afford a real Bentley, but our new English Bulldog comes close. Who couldn't say no to this cute face! He is about 4 months old and just a bundle of energy. Plus Cooper is having so much fun being a big brother! You can look forward to more pictures down the road.


Create Your Own!

Finding Nemo? Look no further!

Just got a new addition to the reef tank yesterday. I adopted this beautiful long tentacle anemone. Some of you have probably seen Finding Nemo, and know that a clown fish is most happy while living (hosting) in an anemone. So, we bought our anemone a Clarki Clown to keep him company. This is a two way relationship. The anemone provides protection for the Clown in the form of a hiding place, and those tentacles can sting other fish, the clown fish is immune to these stings. In return the clown fish is kind enough to gather food and drop it in the mouth of the anemone...paying rent in a way! Here are some photos, enjoy!

FORE!

Zach came down to Arizona during the most perfect time of the year to visit Claire and I am and enjoy a few rounds of golf. Zach landed on Thursday evening and we got up Friday morning and headed out to Kokopelli Golf Resort for round one of our marathon golf weekend!
After shooting 18 holes at Kokopelli we decided we hadn't had enough, so we booked another tee time for later that afternoon at Western Skies. We teed off pretty late, right in front of a great group of drunk Alaskans who kept us entertained the whole round. We ended only getting 9 holes in, and the 8th and 9th holes were basically shooting in the dark.
We took Saturday off from shooting golf, and instead went up into the desert to shoot guns. About 2000 rounds of ammo later, we kicked back and relaxed Saturday afternoon away...until poker started. We ended up at a friends house until about midnight on Saturday night playing Poker...which Zach beat me heads up to win a game.
Sunday morning we were out for more golf. We played Gold Canyon's Dinosaur Mountain, one of the nicest courses in the Phoenix area. ABSOLUTLY AMAZING! The course is set back into the mountains, which makes for stunning views from very high elevated tee boxes on the mountain sides. Here is a photo from that round!

We were both sore at this point from to much golf, and not enough sleep. So we let our Poker buddies drag us out again on Sunday afternoon for 18 more holes at View Point. Wheewwwww........LONG WEEKEND!

Zach, it was great to have you down, and I hope we can make this a regular visit! The golf courses are ALWAYS open and ready down here!

If only animals could talk!

Yesterday morning I took our cat Lily to the vet for routine shots, etc. As I chatted with the vet, she noticed something very odd. She thinks because Lily was neutered/spayed so young and she was so under developed, that they miss marked Lily as a female. Lily is actually a BOY!~ We are still laughing when we call him and he comes running with a pink collar on. If only animals could talk!

  

Camping on Labor Day

This weekend we went for a short camping trip to Ashhurst Lake. We headed up early Sat morning and got lucky as Friday night it rained hard and scared some campers away. Therefore we got a great camping site close to the water and some free dry fire wood! We didnt take that many pictures but here is some below... Cooper loves his tent! It was so nice to get away from the heat and the city. It felt GREAT to feel cold again!

Tessa was in town!!

 

We had such a fun time with Tessa in town for a few days. Sunday night we went to the Tempe Improv which was hilarious! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Then Monday we decided to take a tour of AZ and headed North with Cooper. Our first stop was old town Prescott. Then we headed to Cooper's parents house and he got to play with some dogs. Then we ate a late lunch in Jerome at the Mile High Cafe. Our last stop was Sedona and then we headed back home. We had quite the lightening show on the drive back which made it interesting.
It was great to have her in town and we are sad it was for such a short time. Glad she got to see the house and meet the animals. Can't wait for them to be here at Christmas!! 

Ok so we have had some complaints that we haven't updated this in a while... SO we put a new photo of us below from the Huey Lewis and Chicago concert. We will try to keep this better updated :)
Tyler update: I have started a new job with Protection One. I left United Natural Foods Inc./ Mountain Peoples Warehouse after nearly 4 years of wonderful employement. Protection One is a residential and commercial security monitoring company. My position allows me to help families better secure their homes, and is turning out to be very rewarding! Hopefully I will enjoy many years of success within Protection One, and with a little luck it might be our ticket out of "The Valley of the Sun", and back to a state/ town with seasons.
Claire update: I am loving my new job at the puppy store. It is so fun to see the pups go home to good people and see their excitment. Don't worry, I havent brought any other animals home yet...our Matney Zoo is enough for now :)
Animal update: Cooper eye still have some stitches in it, but doing much better! Lily is great as normal and the fish tank has its ups and downs. Biff is going strong and loves this Arizona heat!
House update: The house is holding out strong. The AC was on and off for a while there, which sucked but thank god we bought the home warranty when we purchased the house!
I think that is all for now! Enjoy!!

....Happy Birthday Dear Cooper....

Happy Birthday Day to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birth Day dear Cooper.......HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Cooper turns ONE year old on Friday June 9th. We are so happy to have him, he is absolutly the most wonderful dog you could ask for. I think he is the most wonderful pet our veterinarian could ask us to have too...but that's another story! Happy Birthday Cooper! WE LOVE YOU.

Our One Year Anniversary!

Claire and I decided to head north up into the mountains, to beat the heat for our anniversary. I planned a 4 hour scenic train ride through the Verde Canyon out of Cottonwood, AZ and surprised Claire as we pulled into the train station. On Monday morning we got up early and went to Out Of Africa. Out of Africa is a wildlife preserve that both rescues and houses a variety of animals, but their biggest draw is the Sarengeti Safari ride. We have plenty of pictures, and should have them available on here soon. For now, you can click on the slide showes below and flip through the full sized photos.

For information on the Verde Canyon Railroad visit http://www.verdecanyonrr.com/
For information on Out of Africa visit http://www.outofafricapark.com/

Im domestic!

OK maybe I dont cook, but I learned how to sew and made these curtains! Thanks Matneys for the machine! My next goal is a pillow!

Our new tank is up and running!

Hello everyone!
I got our rocks and sand into the new aquarium. As you may remember, this our (my) second attempt at this hobby. My first went horribly wrong and I ended up selling it all and starting over from scratch. This new one was custom built and stained to match our decor. The only missing thing is a matching box to house the chiller (gray box on the right with red digital display) which is sitting in the garage stained to match our stand...but needs some work done to make the chiller fit. Here are some pictures of the complete tank and stand and then a few of some corals that came on our live rock. I will keep you updated as I add fun stuff to the tank! Thanks for looking, and feel free to ask questions in the comments section. I love this hobby and recommend it if you are looking for a way to burn some time (and paychecks!). -Tyler