The arrival of Spring

This week we experienced weather the exemplified a typical week in Mid-March.  From gray, cold, and blustery to sunny and warm, sometimes all in the same day, that is part of the magic of this month.  It definitely keeps you guessing!  

In the UP, they received their annual St. Patrick's day weekend storm, but this year it was one for the record books.  Across most of the UP, they received 2 to 4 ft of snow Sunday into Monday with some areas receiving up to 52 inches of snow.  With Monday's blizzard like conditions and winds in the 60 to 80 mph range, the roads were made impassable in many areas.  The weather basically closed down the area for 3 days and the pictures were amazing to see.  

For us,  Monday was cold and windy.  As I worked the day away, I watched it go from sunny to gray, with crazy little squalls of snow flurries and wind. 

As I wrapped up my work for the day, I was feeling tired and unmotivated to go out into the cold.  But I rallied, reminding myself that the girls deserved some excercise after being really good all day.  So I bundled up and headed out for a visit to Preuss Pets and a walk around Old Town.

It was cold and the wind was the kind that cuts through you, but we found a way to stay in areas that blocked the wind as much as we could.  When the dark gray clouds gave way to sunshine, that certainly lifted my spirits, and we had an enjoyable walk with a trip into Preuss squeezed in the middle.  When we got home and I was making dinner, I realized just how glad I was that I had made the effort to get outside. Excercise and fresh air are always the answer after a long, stressful day!

Tuesday's weather was chilly again, although much less windy than Monday.  It was also another exhausting day at work.  As I wrapped up my work for the day, I made the decision to take a drive to Eaton Rapids for our evening walk because we hadn't been there in a while.  But once we got to Eaton Rapids, I changed course and decided we'd continue on to Albion for a walk on the North Country Trail.   We were already half way there, and I'm really trying to hike while its still cooler for Peaches' sake.

We were able to have a nice 2.6 mile walk on the trail before I decided we should head home.  The girls seemed very happy with my choice of locations for the walk and I was happy we are continuing to make good progress toward our 100 miles this year.

On Wednesday, temperatures dropped into the 30s.  More poor little frozen crocuses looked so sad.

After work, I headed out to the shelter for our Wednesday night dog walking club.  We had a small group of walkers and they were some of my best and most competent walkers, so I decided to harness a dog for myself too.

It is a rare occurrence that I actually get to walk a dog with the group and I was pretty excited about it. 

We enjoyed a really nice walk despite the cold and I'm happy to share that all three of these girls, plus Quin who I walked, were all adopted this week.

It was still light out when I got home from the shelter so I was able to take the girls out for a walk around the neighborhood before feeding them dinner.  I think they enjoyed it.

On Thursday, the girls spent quite a bit of time outside throughout the day.  They had lunch in their snufflemats and got an afternoon Kong as well, which has become a regular part of our afternoon routine.  I have discovered that the licking helps Peaches relax and relieves some of her anxiety.  Then they settled in for a nice afternoon nap.

After work, I was struggling to decided where we would go for our evening walk.  I didn't want to stay in the neighborhood, but couldn't decide where else to go, so we headed out for a quick walk around the block.  The weather was beautiful.

When we got back to the house, I had figured out where we could go, and we headed out to Maguire Park for a walk on a less frequented portion of the River Trail where it connects to the South Lansing Pathway.  It isn't the most scenic area, but it was quiet.  Since we don't walk there often, the girls were enjoying all of the new smells.  

When we got home, the girls spent some time outside and I enjoyed watching the sun as it set for the final time this winter.  It was a beautiful end to the season.

Friday arrived and I had a full day at work.  Fridays have become one of my busiest days of the week, and I was so focused on everything that I needed to get done that I completely forgot to eat breakfast.  Mid-morning I decided to get the girls out for a ride to Speedway with me to get a Mt. Dew and before eating an early lunch.

I was wrangling Peaches into the car as winter transitioned to Spring.

It was so nice and the girls were enjoying hanging their heads out of the car windows as I drove.  I decided to make a couple additional stops and spent nearly my entire lunch hour driving.  

When we got home, I fed the girls lunch in their snufflemats while I quickly made a salad and sandwich for my lunch.  Then I gave them each their afternoon Kongs, while I settled in for an afternoon of calls and to-dos 

To celebrate the end of the week, I decided to head to Durand for the Eagle's Friday night fish fry.  Their walleye is delicious and I have been craving it.  It had been a long time since I'd gone.

The trip was a little emotional since I hadn't been in Durand since the last time I saw my dad and I hadn't had this fish fry since the last Friday that I visited him, the week before he died.  

I sat in my car eating with an audience and I even shared some fish with the girls.  I had even bought an extra piece of fish to ensure that they both could have some.  Then we slowly weaved our way home.  

Saturday morning I spent some time cleaning and doing laundry before meeting up with my mom at Mancino's in St. John's for a late lunch.

Then the girls and I took a walk with mom on the Fred Meijer CIS Trail through St. John's.

It was a beautiful day and we had a really nice walk.  I was happy to see the Pussywillow in bloom.  That is a sure sign of spring.  We also enjoyed the artwork on the bridge.

After our walk, we slowly drove the back roads meandering our way home, and picking up some geocaches along the way.  The girls were happy to hang their heads out the windows and watch me as I jumped out of the car for the caches.  Before I knew it, it was 6:30pm so we headed home for dinner.

The girls spent some time outside while I made myself a quick dinner.  I had planned to make braised cabbage with perogies, but I only had two small perogies left so I decided to find something else I could make.  I ended up making  a new recipe I found for smothered cabbage and potatoes and I added a can great northern beans for a little added protein.  It was so good!  I'll be eating leftovers for dinner tonight. 

Then we had a quiet evening while I watched the Big Ten Men's Hockey Tournament Championship game where U of M beat Ohio State.  

We had a quiet and relaxing start to our Sunday and I spent some time writing.  Then we got ready to head out for some fun.  

Temperatures started out in the 60s in the wee hours of the morning but continually fell throughout the day, and I decided to take advantage of the cooler temperatures to get some additional miles on the NCT.   Mid-40s in the afternoon seemed perfect for Peaches. 

We took a leisurely drive to Marshall and when we arrived, it was 57 degrees when we staryed our walk, which was 8 degrees warmer than Lansing.

  

During our drive and walk, we saw dozens of sandhill cranes, two swans, and a number of turtles, as well as several black squirrels.  Everyone was enjoying the spring weather.

We completed 2.6 miles on the trail, which was the perfect length for Peaches today.  Then we got into the car for the drive back to Lansing.

We had one more stop to make for the day to visit the Maple Syrup Festival at Fenner Nature Center. 

It was cooler and there were a few sprinkles,  but that didn't stop us from enjoying our visit.  We walked around, checked out the displays, and got stopped a dozen times for the girls to make some new friends.

As.we we're leaving, we ran into the nice lady who works at Fenner who is also a GSP owner.  She always loves saying hello to the girls and even got them a pancake to share from the pancake breakfast fundraiser.   They were very happy to see her.

On the way home I stopped to pick up a couple things at the grocery store.  We ate a late lunch when we arrived home, and the girls have been sound asleep ever since.  I was going to quickly complete the blog, but opened it only to find that half the work I had done this morning hadn't saved. So I just spent some time rewriting what had disappeared.   

Now I am going to sign off and enjoy the rest of my day snuggled up with a dog and a puzzle book, getting in some rest and relaxation before the busy week ahead.

Winters slow transition to spring

It was very clear this week that March has arrived and has brought with it the crazy weather that goes along with the transition from winter to spring.  We had rain and snow, 30s and 60s, calm and windy, sunshine and cloudy skies, sometimes all in one day.  One thing is for sure, March weather really keeps you on your toes!

My work days have been busier than I like lately, and I am exhausted at the end of each day.  But life outside of work must go on even when I'm tired and even if the weather isn't always perfect.  

Monday's are always my most exhausting days, and at the end of the day, I wasn't feeling very inspired to get out with the girls.  I decided to run to Costco to use a gift card I had been given.  I don't have a membership to Costco, so I only visit when I have a gift card to use.  I knew exactly what I was there to get, and made a quick trip of it, because I didn't want to spend any more time there than I had to spend.  I know lots of people love Costco, but I am definitely not one of them!

As I was making the drive toward home, I passed the El Oasis food truck in Haslett. Remembering that I have a gift card from there too, I decided to stop and pick up dinner.  We parked in a park nearby while I ate my burrito, then continued our drive toward home.  We made one final stop along the way so I could get the girls out for a walk before finally arriving home after dark.

Tuesday started out mild, and, when I ran a quick errand on my lunch, I only needed a light jacket.  By the time we were ready for our walk after work, gray skies and colder temperatures had started to move into the area.  

Despite the colder temperature, I was happy that we were able to get out for our evening walk on the South Lansing Pathway.  I had to force Peaches to keep moving about every ten feet because she wanted to leisurely sniff everything along the way and we were nevwler going to get anywhere.  But I did allow her some snuffy time along the way to keep her happy.  It was a bit windy and we were racing against some incoming rain, but overall we enjoyed the walk.

Wednesday was rainy all day.  When I forced myself to leave the house and take a break for lunch, I was happy to see my pretty little crocuses covered in raindrops.  

The girls and I enjoyed our little lunchtime drive.  When we returned home, they had lunch in their snufflemats and got an afternoon Kong.  Then they settled in to nap away the afternoon.

After work. I headed out to the shelter for Dog Walking Club.  Despite the fact that the hourly forecast and radar showed no rain after 6pm,  we started our walk with some rain sprinkles.  But we didn't let the rain get us down, and I think everyone enjoyed the time away from the shelter.  Pebble and Subwoofer were such good puppies on our walk.

It was yucky weather and dark when I got home, so I decided not to take the girls out for a short walk like I would normally.  Instead, they had dinner in their snufflemats, and then seemed content to relax for the rest of the evening. 

The weather was sunny on Thursday, and the girls spent a lot of time outside throughout the day.

After work, we headed downtown for our evening walk.  We walked through downtown Lansing to the LCC campus, where I forced the girls to stop for some pictures. 

Then we continued around downtown and along the River Trail.

As we walked along the river, I had to chuckle at some of the signs we saw.  

Finally, we headed back to the Capitol grounds to finish our lovely evening walk.  Both girls were distracted by a squirrel when I took this picture. 

Saturday we had a full day of fun planned.

We started the morning with our shelter dog walk.  We had a really nice group of dogs.

While it was cold, everyone was happy to be outside enjoying time away from their kennels.

While I was at the shelter, the girls patiently waited in the car so we could head out for our day of adventures as soon as I was done. 

Our first stop was at Grand Traverse Pie Company for a Pi Day geocaching event and a feee slice of pie.  Nothing better than a free slice of pie for breakfast!

Then we headed to Lowell for some time on the North Country Trail.

We started our hike along the Lowell river walk and continued as the trail weaves through town and past the cemetery.  

Mina had a stare down with a squirrel along the way.

While Peaches took a good roll in the grass.

Then we had to closely watch the ducks and geese as we walked back along the river.

We crossed the street to check out the trail on the other side as it enters a grassland and then the woods, but the Flat River had flooded the trail and it was impassable.  So we turned around and headed back to the river walk.

We had completed 2.8 miles on the trail by the time we got back to the car.  That was longer than I had planned on walking for our first walk since I had other plans for the day, but Peaches was still going strong and we all had enjoyed our hike.

Next we headed out to do some geocaching along the Fred Meijer Flat River Valley Rail Trail.   This was our first time on this trail, and we enjoyed it very much.

We passed a few bikers and a couple of runners, but fir the most part, we had the trail to ourselves. It was a quiet and enjoyable walk, and we found several geocaches along the way.  We stopped aftet 1.8 miles on the trail because I was trying not to do too much for Peaches and her arthritic hips.  

We did a little more geocaching and stopped for one last quick potty break for the girls and another half mile on the NCT before starting our journey home.

We finished the day with 3.3 miles on the NCT and 1.8 miles on the Fred Meijer trail...for a total of 5.1 miles for the day.  We took the slow, leisurely way home, making a couple of quick stops along the way. 

 When we arrived back in Lansing, I stopped for gas and was debating what to do for dinner when the nice lady at Speedway reminded me that they were running a Pi Day special on their pizzas, so I decided to bring a pizza home for dinner for just $3.14.  

We all had dinner, then the girls went outside for a bit. I cleaned up with a nice hot shower, got into my pj's, and then we all headed into the bedroom for a quiet evening. It was only 7:45pm. The girls slept while I worked on a puzzle books and read. It was the perfect, peaceful end to just the day we had all needed.

We had a chance of snow overnight, which didn't happen, and a rainy morning forecast, which also didn't develop.  The temperatures are expected to get into the low 60s by early this evening with rain,  but we are currently in the mid-40s.  The UP is getting slammed by a major storm with blizzard conditions.  The forecast is for 2 to 4 ft of snow across the area and wind gusts over 60 miles per hour.  I also saw the potential for 30 foot waves on Lake Superior.  That all os just crazy!  Most of the businesses are closed, the Mackinac Bridge is closed, and I hope people just decide to stay home and hunker down.  I know that's what I'dbe doing. 

It's been a fairly quiet morning here, except for Peaches' occasional bouts of pacing.  She's having a little extra anxiety this morning, and I can never figure out what triggers them.  These pacing episodes can usually be cured, temporarily at least, with a trip outside or a meal.  I think the latest bout was her indicating to me that it was time for lunch, so she just had her Dr. Harvey's with eggs and a vetprofen in case she's experiencing some soreness from all of yesterday's walking.  Usually after a good lunch, she will settle down.  I'm hopeful that will happen. If not, I may have to add an extra Xanax for today. 

If I can get Peaches to relax, we are going to have a nice quiet Sunday at home for our final Sunday of this winter.  We'll watch the Men's Big 10 Championship game this afternoon, eat some leftovers for lunch and dinner, the girls will get a Kong, and maybe we'll take a quick walk around the block before the rain starts.  Mostly, I just want a day of no work, no thinking, no people, and a lot of relaxation before heading back into Monday.

I hope everyone has a great week.  By the time I write next Sunday, it will be Spring!