Just another week in the journey of life

While I had another crazy week, I made a decision early in the week that I was going to take time every day to do things that really matter to me.  So I was happy when I saw that the shelter had the need for someone to transport two rabbits across town to the Humane Society during the day on Monday.   Most of the time during the week, I am not available to help because of work, and I am really missing my volunteer time at the shelter.  But since this transport was just moving the rabbits across town, it was the perfect opportunity to get in a little volunteer time on my lunch.  It just feels good to be able to help, and the bunnies were pretty cute!

I had another overnight trip for a work meeting in Troy on Thursday, so I packed up the car and loaded up the dogs Wednesday to head that way.  Hershey had an overnight stay planned with ISR volunteers Laurie and Scott. and they were pretty excited to have a visitor for the night.  They don't currently have a dog of their own and love senior dogs, so I knew he was going to be spoiled rotten while he was there.

He took walks, supervised meal prep, bossed them around, and stole the couch and pillows.  He really knows how to make himself right at home no matter where he goes!

He also got his first try at using a snuffle mat, which he loved, and he was loved and spoiled the entire time he was there.  I think he enjoyed his time with them and I know that they loved having him.  That sure does make it easier for me to concentrate on work without having to worry about him.  He's got one more overnight and then I'll finally be done with work travel for a bit.      

I'm really grateful that he is such a go-with-the-flow kind of guy because all of the moving from person to person, home to home, has not phased him at all.  He is just happy to have someone to pet him and a comfy place to lie his head.   I'm also extremely grateful for the ISR volunteers who stepped up to help him while I worked.  While he may have lost his original family, I know we aren't making this trip toward the end his life alone.  He has gained a wonderful ISR family with so many people that are there to support us, to cheer him on, and to love him until the very end.  He's a pretty lucky guy.

After dropping him off, I headed to the hotel with plans to get Peaches out for at least a little adventure, but work got in the way of that, so I just ordered dinner from the hotel restaurant and we ate dinner in our room.  Peaches spent the night watching me work and napping.  

She spent the day Thursday snoozing away while I worked.  It's a tough life!  But after my work day ended, I had promised her we'd get out for some fun.  I stayed an extra night in Troy to avoid the hassles of traffic and getting home late, and instead made plans to visit a friend while we were in the area.  So we left the hotel, drove to meet Laurie to pick up Hershey, and then headed to visit our friend Janie.  Janie got us some awesome tacos from a local spot and we ate a nice dinner while Peaches and Hershey explored her yard.  I didn't get any pictures while we were there, but I think they both enjoyed the visit and I was happy to get to see her too.

After our visit with Janie, we drove back to the hotel and had a nice walk before heading in so the dogs could have dinner and settle in for the night.  I think Hershey had a busy day because he quickly fell sound asleep.

Friday morning Peaches was up and ready for breakfast early, so we took a quick stroll around the hotel for a potty break while Hershey continued to snore away.  I was able to feed Peaches her breakfast, get my breakfast, and get ready for my day of work while he slept.  I planned to work from the hotel until we had to check out and I was busily working away when Hershey finally strolled out of the bedroom around 9:30am.  

I got him outside for his potty break and then he got to make friends with some of the banquet staff at the hotel and some adorable boys who were staying at the hotel for a hockey tournament in town.  He's so silly because each time one of the boys would stop petting him and start to walk away, he'd bark at them and they'd turn around to come back to pet him again.  This happened several times before the boys had to leave and we got on the elevator and headed back to the room so he could have breakfast.  

My work day flew by as I hurried to get as  much done as I could before we needed to leave.  Before I knew it, it was 12:15 and we headed out of the hotel, loaded up the car, and started the journey home.  I had to make a stop for quick lunch, which I ate in the car with an audience, and then continued the drive home  

After looking at the weather, I knew we were going to get some rain at home in the early evening, so we made a stop in Howell on the way home so we could take a nice walk before the rain arrived.  We had a nice walk around town and explored some of the history of the area.  We were on our way back to the car as the sprinkles of rain started.  The rest of the ride home was quiet.  Peaches and Hershey insisted on eating dinner as soon as we got home, but then they settled in for a very quiet evening at home.   

Saturday was spent running errands and doing some stuff around the house.  I also stopped at the shelter for the volunteer appreciation picnic and enjoyed lunch and a visit with some volunteers.  We got out for an evening walk downtown and enjoyed the warm and sunny day.   After a busy week, our Sunday plans are to stay home and do some chores.  It's supposed to be a rainy day, so it's the perfect day to get stuff done inside and spend some time resting up for one more busy week.  

The best part of the week, though, was the birth of my first grandchild!  We have been waiting for this with much anticipation and I was so happy to get the news of the birth of a beautiful healthy baby girl late Tuesday night.  She was born on Tuesday at 10:02pm, weighed 9lbs 1oz, and was 20.5 inches long.  Her delivery went very smoothly, she is healthy, and mom and baby are both doing great.  I can't even begin to express just how happy I am for my own baby to be a mom.  She's honestly wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember and she's going to be the best!  Welcome to the world little Fiona.  You are so very loved already!  I can't wait to see where your life journey takes you.

2022 is going to be a year I will never forget as we experience the journey of life and watch it come full circle as we reach the end with Hershey and we start fresh with Fiona and soon add a new puppy to the mix.  

It's been too long

I apologize that it's been a bit since I've written.  I have spent some long days working, and honestly, at the end of the long days, I haven't felt like sitting at the computer any longer.  In addition to the extra hours of work spent helping out another team because they are shorthanded, I've also had to travel for work meetings five of the last six weeks.  So when my weekends come around, I haven't wanted to write then either.   I'd much rather just get out with the dogs for some fun.  And when I finally sat down to write a few days ago, the blog website was having issues and nothing I typed would save...so I decided that was a sign that I should wait a bit longer.  Well, I've now waited long enough and need to catch up with you all.

Hershey has really settled in well to our routine here since he arrived.  I'm impressed at how well he's been able to adjust, especially during this crazy time of work travel.  He seems to easily move from foster home to foster home without a worry and he just loves everyone he meets.

While Hershey has been staying with other foster families in each location that we've visited, Peaches has gotten to stay with me because she is an excellent hotel dog.  I'm lucky that Peaches has been able to join me during my travel and I think she's enjoyed her time in each different hotel.  It has given me the opportunity to spend some time one on one with her and we've been able to get out to explore each different location.  It's also interesting to me to see the excitement Peaches experiences exploring each of these new areas.

I think she really enjoyed her stay at the Marriott in Livonia because we had a first floor room with a great view and a patio with a table so we could sit outside to eat our dinner.  She also got an in room visit from Nicol, which I know made her very happy.

And while the travel and work to make these meetings happen can be exhausting, it's nice to see some of the folks that I work with from external companies and remember all of the great people I've gotten to know over the years due to my work.  I was pretty surprised by this gift of an adorable onesie from our local Putnam Wholesaler.  

I think our trip to Toledo just may have been Peaches' favorite.  The weather was beautiful and we got out for a nice long walk before dinner.  Due to the fact that we stayed near a busy shopping center, we saw lots of people and it seemed that all of them wanted to stop to say hello to her.  She was much adored by everyone who stopped her too.

In our free time, we've gotten out for small adventures.  Some of them have been close to home, like our recent walks around campus.  It won't be long before all of the flowering trees are in full bloom and Campus will be gorgeous.  For now I'll take the first little yellow flowers of Spring.

We were also able to get out for a nice walk along the North Country Trail in Marshall in our travels.  

Hershey made his first trip to the Capitol grounds and we enjoyed a nice walk there.  We hadn't been downtown in a while, so it was nice to get out for a walk.

Peaches and Hershey have been enjoying lounging in the sun during the days while I work.  While they don't always cuddle, I love this adorable snuggly picture of them.

And we did some volunteer work with the Chief Noonday Chapter of the North Country Trail, leading some hikes to teach people about geocaching along the trail.  We had some rainy, dismal weather, for the three events we led, but all three of them were well-attended and fun events.

But the best part of the last few weeks was our trip to the UP.  In the one week I had a break from work travel, we headed North for a break from our routine.  I haven't had time for my normal Spring vacation, but I needed a few days away.  This trip was just what I needed.

We headed North on a Saturday morning, crossing the Bridge and heading East to spend our first night in Rapid River.  Along the way we stopped for a burger at Clyde's in Manistique and made a quick side-trip to Kitch-it-i-kippi to ride the raft before continuing on to our hotel for the night.

Hershey and Peaches settled in well for our first night in the hotel. 

After a good night's rest, we grabbed breakfast from Jack's and then headed out for a snowy drive toward Marquette.  The roads cleared after the Marquette area and the sun even came out for our drive into the Keweenaw.  

We stopped in Eagle Harbor to pick up lunch and then continued on to Copper Harbor.  While there was snow across the UP, it was definitely a lot deeper in Copper Harbor than anywhere else.  We enjoyed a walk around town before settling into our room for the night.

Peaches enjoyed the view from our room and I think she especially enjoyed watching the local deer population as it wandered around town.   We  had to introduce Hershey to our Copper Harbor friends and were all excited to have visits from both Scott and Tom, two of our favorite Yoopers, while we were in town.  

It was bitter cold while we were there, so we happily enjoyed some time snuggled up in our room.

But we also made sure to get out and enjoy the peace and beauty of Copper Harbor in the off-season, when the locals aren't outnumbered by tourists.

We took a walk around town, stopping to enjoy some views of the harbor.  I really enjoyed watching Hershey become a real UP adventure dog, climbing snow banks and sniffing all of the new smells. 

We were able to make the hike out to Hunter's Point Park too.  While our stay was short, it was so nice to be out there enjoying one of our favorite places.

After a day full of adventures, Hershey was so tired that he didn't event want to get out of the car when we got back to our room!  He was so happy napping in the sunshine, I didn't want to wake him.

We took a short break from adventuring to eat dinner and then headed out for a visit with Bryce and Hope at Great Sand Bay.  

We enjoyed a wonderful early evening walk on a frozen Lake Superior.  Peaches and Hope got to run and play, I got to catch up with Bryce, and Hershey got his first Great Sand Bay experience.  While our visits there are never long enough, I was so happy that we were able to spend time there.

Our trip to Copper Harbor came to an end much too quickly, but I never regret spending time there, no matter how short. We left bright and early Tuesday morning to start our trek South to Munising where we would be spending the next four nights.

After have a string of bitterly cold days, the weather on that Tuesday was warm and sunny so we made sure to make the most of it!  We got settled in our Airbnb and then headed out for some waterfall viewing and short hikes.

We had great stops at Wagner Falls, Munising Falls, and Sand Point, and I was even able to get Peaches and Hershey to stand nicely for a couple of pictures.

The rest of the week I spent the days working from the room while the dogs enjoyed napping.  

And after my work was done for the day, we were able to get out for walks around town each night.  I loved that I could take a short walk from our room to a view of Lake Superior.  It made every day feel like a vacation.

I enjoyed some amazing food from some new restaurants in town and I loved the change of pace from our normal daily life.  It was refreshing!

After freezing rain on Wednesday and a blustery Thursday, we had some wonderful sunny weather Friday and we took full advantage of it.  We headed out to Au Train to enjoy a walk along the beach.  We were able to spend a couple of hours out there just enjoying the quiet.  It was amazing quality time together and the best way to spend our final night in the UP.

We left Munising Saturday morning to start our trek eastward for a stop in Grand Marais   We got out to stretch our legs before continuing our drive home.

The next leg of our trip took us to the Soo for a burger at the West Pier diner, and while waiting for my burger, I got the notification that the Mackinaw Bridge had been closed due to falling ice.   I stayed a bit longer in the Soo before heading South to St Ignace.  

The Bridge was still closed when we arrived in St. Ignace, so we took advantage of the extra time to get out for a walk on the North Country Trail.  The boardwalk was a bit snowy, but we were still able to get in a couple of miles.

I also discovered St. Anthony's Rock in town.  I don't know I have never seen this before!  

After several hours of waiting, the Bridge finally reopened, and we were off for the rest of out trip home and back to reality.  

It had been an amazing week and I was so grateful that I had been able to make the trip.  I think Peaches wishes we could have stayed longer.

We came back to more work travel and extra work, but luckily we had a long weekend for Easter weekend.  We spent the day Friday getting in a nice hike on the North Country Trail starting at the Michigan Ohio border. 

We enjoyed a six mile hike and some geocaching along the way and then had a great lunch in the town of Hudson. 

We had a visit from the Easter Bunny on Sunday...and Peaches and Hershey were very happy about the goodies.

We spent Easter at my parents.  It was a beautiful day to be out in the country and Peaches loved her time exploring.  I left my parents' house with two very pooped pups

I think that brings us up-to-date.   I still have a couple work trips and a few weeks of extra work left, but hopefully soon life will slow down so we can spend more time enjoying it.  I promise I won't go away for so long again!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

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