The days of early darkness

What a week we have had!  With Daylight savings time ending last week, we entered the week with 5:20pm sunsets.  Between work life and early darkness, this time of year really makes it hard to get out for weekday adventures.  But as a GSP owner, I know the importance of regular adventures to make life happier for everyone in the house.  Now that Ruby is staying with us, this is more important than normal.  Thankfully working from home affords me the opportunity to get out for some short lunchtime adventures during the week.  

We took advantage of a warm, sunny Monday to get out for a nice walk and pick up a geocache over lunch.  The weather was perfect, and we explored a park we hadn’t visited before which made it a little more interesting for all of us.  Ruby was crazy and I felt like I was relearning how to walk with two dogs again.  It is weird walking two younger, healthy dogs again after the last year of our life with a slow old lady, but I’m adjusting and grateful to be able get out on some nice walks again.

Since we took our walk at lunch, I was able to get outside right after work Monday to get the Christmas lights up around the house in preparation for the holidays.  While I’m not turning them on quite yet, when I’m read, so are they, and I didn’t have to freeze to get them done.

We have started to settle into a new routine during the week now that Ruby is here.  She loves to play in the morning, and she and Peaches have been able to spend a good amount of time outside since the weather had been mild.  They like to play chase or wrestle and Ruby loves to grab stuffed toys and shake them around a lot.  As the week went on, she began to relax a bit more each morning after a good round of play.  She’s able to keep herself entertained which makes working from home much easier, which is important.  

After a busy morning, she has started to settle down a bit before lunch, but she always gets a surge of energy in the early afternoon, so I’ve been giving them both a frozen kong or other fun treat after lunch to keep them happy.   

Ruby loves to ride in the car so on the days that we don’t walk over my lunch, we usually take a quick drive somewhere close by to pick up my daily geocache.  I’m just 20 days away from completing 365 days of finding a geocache every day and I’m so glad that I strategically left some easier caches close to home for these next few weeks so that I can make those finds over lunch.  Ruby really enjoys those car rides even if she doesn’t get out of the car.  

On the days that we don’t get out for a lunchtime walk, we make sure to get out right after work for a walk around the neighborhood so that we can complete our walk before it gets dark.  Those walks get better every day as Ruby learns to pull a little less each time.  After our walks each night, I have been feeding the girls dinner using some of my special feeders.  The treat ball was a big failure since Ruby couldn’t figure it out and I spent the entire time rolling the ball around for her, trying to show her how it works.  The last couple of nights, I’ve pulled out the snuffle mats for dinner time and they have been a big hit!  Between the car rides, walks, and other activities, I feel like I’ve been doing a pretty good job of keeping the youngster happy…and there is hope for the day when I finally bring a new puppy into the family.

Dinner time completes our fun for the day and both of the girls tend to lie down and relax for the evening.  It’s so nice that they relax so well and I’m loving that I don’t have to make multiple trips to let them outside after dinner, especially as the weather gets colder.  In general, they snuggle up on the couch and sleep most of the evening.  Sometimes I end up with one of them on my lap(or occasionally roosting on my shoulder) for a bit, but that never lasts long, and they move back to the couch to settle in for the night.   

Our nights always end with a trip outside for a potty break and then the girls come in and head back to bed.  Ruby is great about sleeping through the night and tends to sleep until around 7am when we get up, the girls head out for a potty break, and then come in for their breakfast.  After breakfast, Ruby is happy to head back to bed and snuggle for a bit longer, but she’s generally up and fully ready to start her day by 8am.  Peaches, on the other hand, is happy to sleep a little longer. 

After a busy week, I was excited to get out for a real adventure with the girls this weekend.  We were joined by Vanessa on Saturday for a little geocaching and hiking fun close to home.  We picked the perfect time of the day to meet because the temperatures were in the low 40s, we avoided the rain for the most part, and the sun even came out for a bit.  It was a pretty day in the woods, and we had a couple of great hikes.  We also found all of the geocaches that were on our list to find for the day.  

The girls were pretty pooped after our adventures and it was a quiet Saturday afternoon at my house…until dinner time when I ended up with both of them in my lap!  But once I fed them dinner, they once again settled in for the night.  

The weatherman promised us rain and snow for our Sunday, and he didn't disappoint.  Luckily it was only a light dusting of snow and there was a break in the rain late morning, so we were able to head out for another adventure today. The girls were very excited to get out for a walk at Hawk Meadows.  

We saw a deer, plenty of squirrels, and several nice people who stopped to say hello to the girls, and I was able to pick up my daily geocache before we wrapped up our walk and headed home.  Since returning from our walk, we've enjoyed a much needed quiet, relaxing day at home.  It was a great end to our week.

The weather over the next week looks like its going to be fairly mild and we’re going to make the most of it.  We are less than two weeks from Thanksgiving, and I know eventually Wintry weather will arrive, but until that happens, we’re going to keep getting out as much as we can to enjoy what remains of Fall.   We’ve got some fun plans for this week, so next week I’ll have more fun to share.   I hope you all have a great week.