My Busy-ness

What's been sucking my time all summer you ask?

Well, I'll tell you.

It looked like this:





That's part of my four month training schedule.

Remember those half marathons Vanessa and I have been running?


Well, one of us, (and we can't remember who it was so we'd know who to blame!) - thought it would be fun/a good idea/challenging/ whatever, to run a full marathon.

That's 26.2 miles.

Yeah. It's a long way.

Let me explain. Vanessa and I are not athletic. Yes, I know, we've run some half marathons. Well, walked/run them. And they've been tough. We're really NOT very athletic. But we were told that we could train for a full marathon in four months - and all the running sites online agree - so, for some very odd reason, (now that I look back on it, it does seem so VERY odd), we thought, running a full marathon - "Yeah, good idea!"

So we signed up. And we started training.

At first it wasn't too bad. The runs were four days a week. Not bad, right? Not at first. The runs were rather short - three 3 mile runs and a 5 mile. No problem.
Then, of course, they get longer; Two 3 mile runs, a 4 mile run and a 9 mile run.
Yeah, a little tougher.

The training wouldn't have been so bad if we weren't also working 40 or more hours a week and attempting to have a social life of sorts. Lucky for me Kim picked up most if not all, of the gardening chores. At least two runs per week had to be done after working 8 hours on my feet all day. When we started hitting the longer runs of 12 to 18 miles all I could do the rest of the day was recuperate.

So I ran both the longest runs of the week during my weekend. Not the best plan. I really needed more rest then NONE between the longest runs. Oh well, hindsight and all that.

We did get some great advice on where to run a marathon and I'm glad we listened: choose a destination marathon.

So we looked around and found one happening at Lake Tahoe. A place we'd never been. Beautiful!

And Lake Tahoe is very pretty.

Here we are pre-race.





Mile 13; halfway through.





































Mile 20 with beautiful Emerald Bay. You can see the 2nd hill behind Vanessa we still have to climb.






I'm still not sure how, but we made it to the finish. (Don't want to mention how sick I was from mile 15 to mile 21. But I was; nearly vomiting and almost passing out.)

Actually, I do know how we made it to the finish line. Hard work and perseverance!!! And thanks to my lovely daughter for never giving up on me!

Post race well-deserved Champagne.




And hours later we're still managing to stay upright and go out for a fantastic celebratory dinner.





The time spent at Lake Tahoe was great. Loved finishing the marathon. Enjoyed spending time with Kim, Vanessa and Chris.

Smartest thing we did the next day: NOTHING!!!!




Would I run another marathon? Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo. But I'm glad we managed to do at least this one.

Busy, busy

Here's what's been keeping Kim busy this summer.

He did a make over on our kitchen; new paint, new tile, new light fixtures and new counter top.

BEFORE:





AFTER:







He also built this:







This nice little shed I didn't especially think we needed but now that it's finished I really like it.

It will house all our plant containers over the winter and the chicken food among other things.

(We have some winter plans for our greenhouse.)





Poor Kim has had to try keeping up with pretty much everything around here on his own this summer, including finishing these two major projects. He's been VERY busy!

Next post I'll show you what's been sucking up all my time......

Blog Anniversary

It's my blog anniversary. I don't remember if its year 3 or 4. Just noting it, no prizes or anything.

My vacation was pretty unforgettable, but I felt relaxed and ready to go back to work by the end of it. Yes, back to work = I'm still working.

Lyn had a birthday during the vacation. He's a person that is hard to shop for - he never wants anything. He thinks presents are a waste of time, but I'm a person who thinks you can't have a birthday without presents. So I ignored him and went for a theme at the Backyard Bird Shop.

I found this plaque to put in the garden that a river flowing with leaves in it. The calligraphy on the side of the river says, "Leaf falling on leaf, on piled up leaves. Rain splashing in pools of rain." by Gyodai.



My other favorite gift was this owl carved from a Tagua nut. Tagua nuts are huge nuts grown in South America and they are huge with all these bulging protuberances that are the nut that is often called vegetable ivory. This little owl is all white and it sitting on a brown branch. Apparently the nut stains well and often you see colorful jewelry made from it, too. I like the figurines, myself.



Then there is this birdbath with a little clay frog in the bottom. It's clay on the outside and the bottom is blue ceramic.



Lyn also bought himself some black bamboo. I think he enjoyed the presents and I'm going to continue to ignore his "I don't want anything" requests from now on.

I only read one book during vacation, The Passage by Justin Cronin.

Okay, it was about vampires, but it wasn't true horror. It was a great adventure and a very long adventure at that. However, I was never bored and I didn't want the book to end. There's going to be a sequel and I have to wait 2 more years!! This book went beyond my vacation - I finished it on Saturday evening. I guess it's the last book I've read this summer. I had a great reading experience this summer. All the books were lengthy but I loved everything I read.

I finished some butterfly socks - socks I had been working on awhile. These are knit from a prepatterned commercial sock yarn called Online and this particular line is painted with butterfly wing patterns. They fit perfectly and the orange matches an orange sweater I recently bought - a pumpkin orange.



Friend Betsy McCarthy recently revised her Knit Socks book and I started a pair immediately upon buying it. I'm using one of the first sock yarns I ever bought at the Loopy Ewe. I can't recall the name of the dyer, but the colorway is called Cattails. It's a gorgeous golden brown with stripes of turquoise. This particular pattern works well with variegated yarn and the yarn doesn't pool. I love it. I'll add a picture in a few minutes. I should finish the sock soon and may wait to show the yarn then.

I tried to take pictures of Madeline, but she's not cooperative when she sees me pointing the camera at her. I know this really freaks some dogs out, so I'll try to do more picture taking of her when someone else is handling her.

Here's an example of Madeline looking like she'd rather do anything than look at me and pose. She's sitting nicely by the couch, but I think her expression tells me she's going to run away soon.



Sure enough, she slinks away.



And then reluctantly stops and looks at the camera again.



My son-in-law finished his special education certification program this summer and then began a tedious and frustrating job search. He found a job outside Salem the second day of school and we're all excited for him. I think he and my daughter will need to move closer to Salem, but at least it's not Texas!

So, that was my summer vacation, not overly exciting, but I got to do things I enjoy doing and it was restful, which is exactly what I wanted.

Puppy Outing to GDB Boring Campus

We had a late morning outing to the Guide Dog campus to use the observation room to see how older dogs handle being alone in a room (a desired skill before the puppy goes in for training), and then to ask questions of our new CFR, Deana, and to work on individual skills and group exercises. I was not enthusiastic about going, initially, since it's kind of a yukky day for traveling, but I think this has been my favorite outing to date.



We started the outing by walking outside from the auditorium to the observation room. This is a room set up with a couch, counter, radio, garbage can (covered with a net) and a toy. There is an observation window and we went in 3 groups to observe the 3 older puppies in our group that could go inside the room (no intact males could go in, and puppies had to be at least 5 or 6 months to be able to go inside). Some dogs were busier than others, but I understand they all did well.

While the other groups were going in to observe, I walked to the kitchen to see the bulletin board and take a picture. I talked to a tech there about 0 phase. Some dogs seem to be there for some time. I learned that when dogs are returned to campus, 2 classes are brought in. One class goes into training, the other class, called a "back class" waits for a string to start later. During this time, the back class is busy reviewing obedience, getting used to all kinds of collars, and doing all the fun things the dogs get to do when they return to kennel life. I toured the kennels on Fun Day and read the display on a dog's typical daily schedule. The dogs have a very full life even if they are career changed or not in formal training. They have play times, nap times, training times (learning cool tricks if career changed), grooming times, and one-on-one times with trainers. Believe me, everyone wants to keep the dogs interested in their environment. Since we don't hear anything about training, it's easy to imagine that the dogs are just sitting there, but they aren't. GDB seems to be a happy place for trainers, techs, and dogs, and I hope it brings a measure of comfort for those who have been waiting a long time to see their puppy in a string.


From the observation room, we went back to the auditorium and asked Deana questions and then worked on individual skills that new puppy people wanted to work on. I have been having some issues with Kristin taking food roughly from my hand when doing recall. I learned how to "stuff" the food in Madeline's mouth (or baby bird feed). I'm going to be working on Madeline just taking food from my hand for a few days before restarting recall exercises. Madeline was an enthusiastic learner. Other skills worked on were the command "down" and how to begin teaching it, and how to avoid mouthing. The key was patience, engaging the dog and having fun. I can't tell you how much I loved Deana's teaching techniques. We really are getting away from hard corrections and are learning more about using praise and keeping the dog interested, as well as giving the dogs a chance to make decisions.

One of the funny things that happened was when an older puppy, Josh, was working on distractions with Deana's 2 standard poodles. There was an immediate interest in the 2 new strange-looking dogs, especially the female. Josh obviously was smitten. Josh wasn't the only one and after we broke the meeting, people took their puppies over to meet the poodles, including Madeline.



The male poodle was a hoot, too. Deana participates in free style dancing with her dogs and the male, who she kept by her side during group exercise, would sit until he got bored, would stand up, and then Deana would tell him to sit again. Instead of sitting, he'd sashay around her and then sit down. I wanted to take a picture of that. It was hilarious.

Here are a few pictures of Maddy I took while Lyn did the group work with her. She doesn't like to have her picture taken and it's very hard to take posed pictures of her. I loved having Lyn work with her as she wasn't looking at me watching her through a camera. I love this picture - it's her incensed expression after being surprised by the flash.



Here's Madeline looking up at Lyn waiting for a command.



Here she is attempting "down."



Deana says that for young puppies learning the down command, that length of time in the position is not crucial. If the puppy goes down, you can allow the puppy to get up again, but praise the puppy a lot whenever it lies down and if the puppy chooses to stay in that position, great. Praise, praise, praise!

We had a good time today.

Finally, I have added a music mix gadget and I wanted to mention the song by Dar Williams, "The One Who Knows." It's a song I've played a lot since Kristin has gone. It's a song about parenting, but I think puppy raising is like parenting, and it captures many of the feelings I have had since Kristin has gone. This verse gets me weepy eyed every.single.time.

"Before the mountains call to you, before you leave this home,
I want to teach your heart to trust, as I will teach my own,
But sometimes I will ask the moon where it shined upon you last,
And shake my head and laugh and say it all went by too fast."

"You'll fly away, but take my hand until that day. So when they ask how far love goes,
When my job's done you'll be the one who knows."

Sob! I'm off to find a Kleenex!

Something special

It was announced in puppy class tonight, so I think it's safe to say it here.

After Kristin was career changed, my leader emphasized to the CFR what a nice dog she was. The CFR decided to see if there might be a place for Kristin in another program like Canine Ambassador and she had a potential placement that did not work out. However, a K9 Buddy family position has opened up and Kristin has a potential placement as a K9 Buddy!! Things can happen so I can't say where she's going, but I'm thrilled beyond thrilled that there might be a special place for Kristin. She will be an awesome buddy! She's very attentive to the people she is with and very loving.

I knew you were special, Kristin! I'm so happy there's a place for you!

Boiling Springs

Kim and I managed to fit in one camping trip this summer and it was a lot of fun. We went to Boiling Springs with our daughter Vanessa and her boyfriend Chris.

You can see the steam off the hot springs in the early morning. Maybe that's why it's named Boiling Springs.




Here we are enjoying those hot springs.






We indulged in the usual camping activities.

Sitting around doing nothing;












































Taking some mini-hikes;















Seeing some butterflies and taking pics.

































































Smelling trees because Vanessa told us some of them smell like vanilla. (And some do!)

















For one of our dinners we made campfire meals. They were a big hit. In case you've never had them here's what you do.

Step One: Lay out some aluminum foil and put together your personal meal from a variety of foods such as potatoes, corn, peppers, onions, meats, cheese, tomatoes, etc. Add olive oil and seasonings to taste.
(I had par-boiled most of the veggies.)
















Step Two: Wrap them up nice and tight in 4 to 5 layers of foil.















Step Three: Arrange them around the campfire, turning occasionally.











Step Four: Play a few games of Blongo while they cook. (For about one hour.)

(This is a great game, especially since I could play it with one hand while still holding a glass of wine in the other.)









Then enjoy!





Great time.

Summer vacation - Day 1

I have 10 full days of glorious vacation. I'm not going anywhere because Madeline can't go yet and Lyn didn't get time off, but I treasure spending time alone and I'm looking forward to doing things for long periods of time that I don't get to do as often as I like. This will be a vacation where I do all the things I keep wishing I was doing instead of working.

Speaking of work, I won't be thinking about it at all. I'm still in limbo, there have been some promising developments and I hope I can say I have some job security soon, or they'll make some decisions soon. My mother thinks I'll still be employed this time next year. I say either "from your mouth to God's ear" or "That is my worst nightmare." The idea of living in limbo with a threat over my head makes my blood pressure skyrocket.

I've been spending a lot of time today looking at the Eating Well website. I love this place. I love the recipes, the diet plans, the ability to save recipes and make shopping lists. It's kind of overwhelming what they offer, but I think my oh-god-it's-time-to-think-about-what's-for-dinner-days are over for awhile. For that matter, same with breakfast - I am hating instant oatmeal. There's a feature about Meatless Monday that I'm going to adopt. I want their book about Eating Well on a Budget. So, obviously cooking and meal planning are in my vacation plans.

In a moment of work optimism, I invested 20 dollars for the new Borders member club plan. All books are 10% off for members and many new releases will be 40% off. I bought 3 books yesterday to read on vacation:

I never liked Dave Eggers' autobiography, but his novels have appeal. Hurricane Katrina and being Muslim in the US - my kind of combination (Kind of timely with the uproar about Mosque building near the twin towers and elsewhere in the US).

I've always wanted to read something by A.S. Byatt - I have struggled to finish Persuasion, but this one has some appeal.

Finally, I'm a sucker for thrillers/mysteries in cold countries. I keep hearing good things about Jo Nesbo.

However, first I need to finish The Passage by Justin Cronin. It's huge, but I have a lot of time to read. I'm not a fan of horror, or of vampires, but this one is good and I'm making an exception.

I'm also looking forward for time to knit. I have a desire to knit sweaters and hats. I'm loving slouchy hats and berets lately and I love cardigans that don't need buttons. I have a huge list at Ravelry. That will be for another post.

I still don't have any good pictures of Madeline. I think this is like the 2nd child syndrome. Just take my word for it that she's really cute! : ) I have plans to take pictures on vacation, of course.