Farewell 2022

We have reached the final day of 2022.  Who else is having a hard time believing that the year is coming to an end?

Since last week's blog, we have celebrated Christmas, and I have had a week off from work.    

From last Thursday through last Saturday we got a decent amount of snow.  The snowfall along with some big winds made it hard to gauge how much snow we got, and the drifting made shoveling fun.   It also made the roads less than perfect for Holiday travel.

After a slow and slippery drive, I spent Christmas Eve with Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona.  We had a mid-day celebration with our traditional holiday snacks and some new treats.  We enjoyed our snacks and watched the Lions game before our gift opening fun.  Fiona wasn't very interested in opening her gifts; she just wanted to chew on them.  

After gift opening, I was happy to spend time with Fiona reading some of the books I gave her.  Nicol made Chickpea taco bowls for our dinner, which were delicious.  

Peaches and Mina were happy to join in on the fun.  Peaches loved snuggling with Tyler and getting love from Nicol, while Mina zoomed around acting like a crazy fool and kept trying to kiss the baby.  It was a memorable first Christmas Eve with Fiona and Mina and I enjoyed our time together very much.  I look forward to many more!

Since I didn't want to deal with crazy drivers and slippery conditions on the Expressway, I drove the entire way home on Grand River.  It was slow, but I had nowhere to be so I turned on the Christmas music and made the most of the drive.  It was the perfect drive and I felt very festive by the time I arrived at home.

Christmas morning brought more driving on bad roads to get to my parent's for our Christmas celebration.  The normally 1 hour drive took almost twice that, but I arrived safely. 

We celebrated with gifts and lunch with my brother and his family.  It was nice to get to spend some time with the kids.  I can't believe how fast they have grown up!

I headed home before dark and arrived home shortly after sunset.  After a long day, it was nice to be home with the girls and off of the slippery roads.  We ended the evening with our own quiet little celebration at home with some left over snacks, and the girls finally got to open their gifts from Santa.  

It was the perfect end to our Christmas.

After spending two days running around, Monday we spent a quiet day at home, but by Tuesday we were all ready to get out of the house for a bit.

The temperatures, which had been in the single digits, finally started to rise and the sun was shining.  It was a beautiful Winter day.  We headed out to a couple of different parks, one for a nice walk on a paved pathway, and the other to test out Mina's new long leash.  She and Peaches enjoyed the additional freedom to explore and to run in the snow and we spent quite a bit of time out enjoying the day.

Wednesday was another mild day with temperatures in the 40s so we headed out for another adventure close to home.  We took a nice walk before heading to Fine Park so the girls could spend some more time playing in the snow.

Thursday morning I decided to head out to the shelter to spend some time volunteering.  They had asked for assistance transporting a cat to Soldan's which is an off site adoption partner so I figured I'd take a dog for a Sniffari while I was there.

Judy was so excited to get out of the shelter.  She loved her car ride and wiggled the whole drive.  We spent some time walking around downtown Mason and visited some of the local businesses and she had the best time.  

After an hour out and about with Judy, it was time to get back to the shelter to pick up Lebkuchen so I could get her to Soldan's. She was an excellent passenger and seemed to settle in to her new enclosure pretty quickly.  She is friendly and sweet and is exactly the kind of cat I'd adopt if I could have a cat.

I then headed home to eat lunch before loading the girls into the car for some fun. 

We spent the day picking up some geocaches and took a nice walk around downtown.  The Capitol grounds were busy and full of people setting up for the inauguration.  I don't know how I've never seen this before!

Our Friday morning started slowly, but with rain moving into the area, i got the girls out for a mid-morning walk around the neighborhood.   We had an excellent walk with the temperatures near 55 and a few sprinkles. 

It is hard to believe just one week ago we had a Winter blizzard and that the yard was covered in snow.  It is now a muddy mess!

We made a quick trip to pick up a few groceries, stopped at Soldan's so the girls could sniff around and spend the gift card they got from Nicol, picked up some lunch, and then spent the rest of our day at home watching Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  

Our New Year's Eve will be spent watching football and of course I'll make some special treats to enjoy.  We will spend a quiet evening at home watching the ball drop on TV and welcoming a new year together.

As we say farewell to 2022, I will remember the year fondly.   While far too much of this year was focused on work and I was busier than normal which limited my ability to foster or to travel as much as I'd like, I was still able to make several trips North and we were able to complete our 100 miles on the  North Country Trail for the seventh year.

This was the year we helped Ruby find her perfect home and I'm even happier that I will be able to continue to visit her and watch her grow old.  

We were able to help Hershey live the end of his life to the fullest and then surround him with love as we said goodbye.  The joy he added to my life was worth the sadness of losing him and being a hospice foster was one of the most rewarding experiences I've had.  I'd definitely do it again.

I'm also grateful for Peaches and how well she has handled all of the change that I have brought to her life in the last year.  I'm so thankful that she is still here with us and is doing so well.  She's such a good girl.  When she came here in 2018, I never though she'd be around to greet this new year.  Every minute I get with her is a blessing. 

But the best part of 2022 was meeting the two new girls who will continue to have a huge impact on my life for many years to come.   I can't wait to watch Fiona grow and learn and I'm excited for her to be best buddies with Mina.  They are going to bring me much joy and happiness next year and beyond. 

Peaches, Mina, and I want to thank you for continuing to follow our journey.  We are thankful for all of you and look forward to sharing a 2023 of adventures near and far.  Happy New Year to you all!

It's almost time

This week started a little busier than I would have expected it to at work since this week is traditionally pretty quiet as people start to take time off to celebrate the holidays.  Thankfully, the last couple of days have been quiet and I was able to catch up on some projects and prepare for my week off and the start of another year.

Since I had a busy Monday, the girls and I didn't get out for our walk until after dark.  Mina was exceptionally well behaved for the day and we had an enjoyable walk before we settled in for the night.

Tuesday Mina had an appointment to get her Bordetella vaccine, since she and Peaches will need to be boarded while I'm away on some upcoming work travel.  She was happy to see all of her friends at Patterson's and even got to meet a kitty while we were there.  They sniffed noses very nicely and then seemed to be content with just looking at each other.  I was pretty pleased with how calmly she said hello.

On Wednesday we had a beautiful, sunny day with temperatures in the upper 30s.  Since it was the Winter Solstice and I knew it would be dark early, I wanted to make sure we got out to enjoy the sun while it lasted.  We headed out to a local park for my lunch.  While we were there, I placed my second geocache hide.  It is part of a series that a group of local geocachers are putting out celebrating the 12 days of Christmas.  I was excited to get day 10 and had fun with making the container.  

The girls loved our walk and so did I.  The sidewalks were clear and I didn't even need gloves.  And I was savoring the beautiful sunshine. 

I enjoyed a beautiful walk with the shelter dogs on Wednesday night, and I was able to finalize my grocery shopping and a few other errands before heading home.

On Thursday I decided to take the dogs for a lunchtime walk downtown.  With a big storm in the forecast expected to start by early evening, I wanted to be sure we got in a good walk.

We also took a trip to Soldan's to make sure I had some of Mina's favorite chews to help keep her busy during the storm. After work, I ran a few quick final errands and we took a second walk around the neighborhood.  We walked into the garage just before the snow started and, after eating dinner, we settled in to watch the snow fall.

The forecast was 4 to 10 inches of snow and extremely high winds causing blizzard conditions and I was happy to be done with everything I needed to do so I could just enjoy a quiet day at home on Friday.

I worked part of the day today and finished the annual task of signing New Year's cards from our team and finished the day stuffing them into envelopes and making sure they are ready to send next week.  Over 400 cards are ready to go, and I enjoyed the tree and some Christmas music while working, which helped the day fly by.

After I finish work this afternoon, it was time to wrap presents for our Christmas Eve festivities.   Since I have a puppy who would love to tear paper off all of the packages,  they will not be going under the tree, but everything is wrapped and ready to go.

Throughout the day, Mina begged to be let outside almost every hour.  She'd head out and just zoom around the yard, thoroughly enjoying the snow.  I'd let her stay out for 5 minutes and then would force her to come inside where she would terrorize Peaches(or me), squeak her squeaky toy obsessively, or chew on one of her half dozen favorite chew toys.

They ate their meals out of a variety of treat dispensing toys and we did a couple of short training sessions, and Peaches was content to snuggle up on the couch and stay inside.  Mina really wanted to spend more time outside and took awhile to settle down.for the night, but finally crashed around 8:30.  

The picture isn't very good, but Peaches was happy to enjoy the evening on her bed in front of the tree.

I have a few things to finish in the morning, mainly food prep for our Christmas Eve celebration, but I'm 90% done and so I've enjoyed a relaxing evening watching the Food Network and enjoying the tree with a puppy snoring away in my lap.

I decided to finish the blog tonight since I'll be spending Christmas Eve with Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona, and then I have to travel to my parent's for Christmas day with them and my brother's family.  

I am really looking forward to both Fiona and Mina's first Christmas.   It should be a lot of fun to see how they react to presents and all of the holiday fun.

The girls and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope you get to spend the holidays doing the things you love with those that you love.  

More holiday traditions

This week started out stressful and hectic at work.  There were long days of work, skipped lunches, far too many meetings, and plenty to do.  I made sure to get the dogs out for our daily walks, but they were often late in the day.  The beginning of the week was just a daily grind.

By the time we reached Thursday, I was ready to take a break and do something fun.  So after my day at work, the girls and I got into the car and headed to Marshall. 

Every year, the Calhoun County Fairground in Marshall sets up a Holiday drive-thru light display, the Merry Mile.

Over the years the light display has gotten better, and it's become a tradition for us to make the trip every year.  

With lights twinkling and music in the air, we made the slow drive through with the windows down so the girls could stick their heads out and take it all in.

After driving through the Merry Mile, we drove into downtown Marshall to visit the Holiday house.  

I parked the car about a block away and then got the girls out of the car for our walk.  We walked up and down the streets around the neighborhood enjoying all of the beautiful light displays.   The girls had a great time and we walked nearly 3 miles.

Before leaving town, we walked down the main street, I got a picture of the girls in front of this igloo, picked up some food, and then started our slow drive home enjoying all of the lights along the way.  We got home late, but it had been a nice night and a good adventure. 

Friday after work, I decided to make the drive to Davison to enjoy a walk along the trail of lights at the Robert Williams Nature Center.  This was the first time we had visited this event.

The wooded trail was beautifully lit, but fairly short so we were able to make the walk around it a couple of times.

This was the perfect dog-friendly event and the girls thoroughly enjoyed all of the new smells and getting some time in the woods.

There was hot chocolate, the local high school choir performed Christmas carols, and there were bonfires for keeping yourself warm.

And at the end of the trail, we made a quick visit to Santa.  We really enjoyed our time.

On our way home, we took a short detour into Corunna to visit the Corunna Historical Village.

I love this place all decorated for the Holidays.  It is such a magical place.

We walked around the village enjoying the lights and made a stop at my favorite little church.

We took a nice walk around McCurdy Park to enjoy the light display there as well.  

We had some snow for the drive home, but luckily the roads stayed mainly clear and we made it home safe and sound.

Our Saturday started off slowly and quietly.  Mina slept in so we all got to sleep in, which is a rare occurrence. After our slow start to the day, I had brunch with a group of local geocachers and ran a couple of errands before heading home to pick up the girls.

We had some snowy weather which caused the sidewalks to be slippery, so I decided to head out to a couple of parks where we could walk and avoid sidewalks.  We did a little geocaching and Mina was having the best time.  She seems to really love the snow.

After our walk, we headed to Soldan's for our official annual Santa picture.  The Santa that visits Soldan's every year was a GSP breeder and hunter, so he understands their crazy energy and seems to be able to get them to look their best for pictures. 

While we waited for our Santa picture, the girls enjoyed Cookies and Goat's milk.  This is a fun holiday tradition that we have enjoyed for years.

After our photo with Santa, we walked around the store to do a little shopping.  Peaches was overly excited about our visit and wouldn't hold still, so I stopped in the middle of the store and did a short training session with them.  Peaches was just so happy!

It was nearly dark when we got home and we enjoyed a quiet evening at home.  

My plans for today included some cleaning and starting to prepare for Christmas next weekend.  Surprisingly the girls have been really good all day.  They spent some time outside playing, Mina followed me around as a did laundry, we have played fetch, and we have snuggled.  I still have things to get done, but overall it has been a good day.  Honestly I needed a quiet day like to recover from.the week I had.

I can't believe we are just a week away from Christmas and tomorrow Fiona will be 8 months old.  I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with family and enjoying Fiona's first Christmas with her.  Here she is in the GSP holiday pajamas that I bought for her.  

I still have four and a half days of work left this week before getting the week off between Christmas and New Year.   Here's to hoping for a quieter work week this week.