The arrival of November

As crazy as it may seem, we have reached November.  I swear every year goes by a little faster as I get older.  I think that the strange weather we've had all year has me confused too.  From our unseasonably warm Winter and early Spring to our rainy, cool Summer and abnormally warm Fall, nothing has seemed normal this year.  Things have started to cool down though and we had some more normal weather with freezing temperatures and overnight frost earlier this week which has finally brought on the color changes and falling leaves that we expect this time of year, although there is still plenty of green out there and just last weekend I was still picking tomatoes and broccoli from my garden.  It's just been a strange Fall overall.  

This week has been a blur too, though I'm not sure why.  It's hard for me to believe we celebrated Halloween just one week ago.  It was a quiet Halloween here, but we did get a handful of trick-or-treaters.  Peaches donned her costume and tolerated me getting a couple of pictures and then proceeded to sleep the rest of the evening.  Maddie's presence was especially missed because I had no dog beside me watching for the little ghouls and goblins.  It was a new Halloween experience for me because Imke and Maddie always got so excited on Halloween night, but I know that everything is going to be a little weird over the next year as we adjust to life without Maddie.  

Our walks early in the week were done in our neighborhood.  The Fall colors are really beginning to pop out here and I enjoy the walks close to home when the weather is a little cooler and the sunset is earlier.  It's just hard to get out for much of an adventure when the sunsets earlier than 6:30pm.  

In addition to our daily walk, I spent time in the yard on Monday evening doing some garden clean-up to prepare the garden for Winter.  It's sad to see my little garden with no plants and the fencing down, but I look forward to the Spring and seeing what I can grow next year.

On Tuesday, I worked the evening session at the polls for our local mayoral election here in Lansing.  It is the second election I have worked and I enjoy being able to be part of the election process.  Since I worked my normal job for the first portion of the day and the election for the rest, Peaches and I didn't get out for any fun, but I made sure she had plenty of time in the yard while I was home and a special treat while I was gone.

Since we aren't going somewhere different for our walks every night, I make it up to Peaches with fun brain games for her mid-day and evening meals.  She has really been enjoying using the treat ball and snuffle mat more and I like that she gets to use her nose and brain while doing something as simple as eating a meal.  Plus it takes her longer to eat which is also a win.  But that doesn't keep her from the occasional moment of begging.  

Thursday morning we welcomed a new foster into our home.  Ruby is 3 1/2 years old this month and weighs just about 38 pounds.  She's a tiny little thing, but she's full of personality.  She was an owner surrender, and I was lucky that the family was driving right through Lansing on Thursday morning, so I met them just 3 miles from home to pick her up and bring her home with me.  

She has some really adorable personality traits and is pretty quickly making herself right at home here.  She is feisty, loveable, and fun, and Peaches is slowly adjusting to having her here.  Peaches takes a bit more time to adjust to new dogs in the house; it's never been as easy for her as it was for Maddie or for Imke, but she tries really hard and I think she's happy to have a new friend.  But after 10 years of fostering, it is strange not having Maddie here to welcome our new visitor.  She would have loved having Ruby here.  Peaches and I are happy that we're able to give her a warm, safe home to lay her head while she waits for her forever family.  She'll find one quickly, I'm sure, because she's an awesome little girl.

After a busy morning of emptying all of the toys out of the toy baskets and running around the backyard, I thought it would be important to get both girls out for a little walk on Thursday evening.  We headed out to Shubel Park, which is a Lansing area park that I had never visited.  While I had seen the sign for this park many times, I had no idea what a beautiful little park it was.  Wooded with some short trails along the river, it was a beautiful place to start our walk before heading into the adjoining neighborhood as dusk fell.  Boy did the girls enjoy that park.  I'll definitely add it to my list of places for a quick walk.

After a nice walk around that neighborhood, we made it home for dinner around 7pm and, once they had eaten, the girls quickly fell asleep for the evening and we all slept well that night.

Friday morning started with a little neighborhood watch.  It's funny how Ruby perches herself to look out the window to watch the world go by.  Peaches didn't want to feel left out, so she joined in the fun.  

Late Friday afternoon, we got out for a little geocaching fun and walk through the woods.  

I wasn't sure how geocaching with the added pup would go, but Ruby did surprisingly well.  She and Peaches thoroughly enjoyed the time in the woods and all of the wonderful scents of the woods in Fall.  I only had to untangle us a few times, so I thought it was a very successful first geocaching outing for Ruby.  

I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful colors and peace and quiet of nature.  While we saw a few people, for the most part, we had the woods to ourselves.  The weather was perfect-sunny and in the low 50s and we had a nice long walk in the woods.  It was just what I needed after a long, exhausting week.

We had a busy Saturday which started with a little cleaning followed by a 2 1/2 mile walk through the neighborhood.  I left the girls home for a few hours and headed out to enjoy lunch with a friend, an author event and book signing with the local library, and picking up my daily geocache on the way home.  Both Peaches and Ruby love to ride in the car, so I picked them up and took them with me and when I went to get my hair cut.  I knew they'd both enjoy the time in the car.  We ended the day with another 2 mile walk around the neighborhood just before sunset because this is the last sunset we'll have after 6pm for about 3 months and I was going to take advantage of it!

When we returned from our walk, I decided to see how Ruby would do eating dinner using the treat ball and let's just say that she's going to take some time to learn that one.  Peaches enjoyed her dinner in the ball and I helped Ruby hoping she'd eventually figure it out on her own.  They have now made themselves comfortable on the couch for the night.  It was a good day for all.

Tonight the clocks Fall back an hour as daylight savings time ends and darkness will arrive earlier and earlier for the next 6 weeks.  Thankfully we expect sunshine and low 60s for our Sunday and I have plans to make the most of that weather.  We'll get out for another nice walk in the woods tomorrow, will do some leaf clean-up in the yard, and I will probably start putting the Christmas lights up while it's still nice too.  It may also be the day that I finally open up Maddie's ashes and bury a portion of them in the backyard so she can join Spunky, Jake, and Imke there.  

And as I sit here tonight, I can't help but think about this night 3 years ago.  At this time that night, I was sitting on the floor next to Imke with her head resting on my knee not knowing that the next day would be the day I would say good bye to her.  I remember so much about that night so clearly and I'm glad that I have those special memories.  I sure do miss that girl.  I always will.  So after our adventures tomorrow, we will eat some Mexican food for dinner and then we'll head out for the final day of the season at our favorite local ice cream place, Twisters, and eat some ice cream in her memory.   I know she'd approve.