The ice storm

The highlight of this week, if you can call it that, was the ice storm that moved through the area Wednesday.  I know these things are hard to predict, and the forecast was constantly changing for the few days prior.  The amount of ice and where it would be worst as well as the potential for high winds werd unknown variables, but the one thing we knew for certain is that there would be ice.

The storm moved into the area on Wednesday morning, and knowing we'd be stuck inside once it started, I decided to take my "lunch" at work early so that I could ensure the girls would get the outside time they needed.  We were out for a good walk before 9:45, and even then some precipitation had started.  If I walked in the wrong direction, my face was being pelted by little frozen pellets.

After our walk, I took them for a quick ride to Speedway so I could top off the gas tank and grab a Mt. Dew.  Then we made a stop at Soldan's on our way home.  We took a short walk around the parking lot and then spent some time in the store letting them sniff to their hearts content.  One more quick trip around the parking lot got us to our quarter mile we needed for our third walk of the day, and we headed home as the sleet really began to fall.

We had gotten in some good walks and a little adventure, and the rest of the day was spent with me working and the girls napping as the sleet and freezing rain fell on and off throughout the day.

After my work day was done, we had some good rounds of playing with the tennis ball and some fun training time so that everyone would settle in for a quiet evening.  I spent my night hoping for no downed trees and that we wouldn't lose power.  Luckily, the high winds which we thought were likely to happen overnight into Thursday didn't develop.  While we woke to a very icy world, the only damage in my neighborhood was this one tree branch down across the street from me.

I put my new ice cleats to good use on Thursday to take a walk around the yard.  The girls were glad to be able to get outside, although Peaches didn't appreciate the ice.  Mina was unbothered by it...not much seems to phase her.

By mid afternoon, the temperatures had risen to nearly 40 degrees, and the ice began melting from the trees.  We had some light winds that picked up later in the afternoon, and any ice still in the trees began raining down.  Mina had the best time chasing after and licking the pieces of ice.  

We weren't able to walk due to the slippery sidewalks on Thursday, but the girls spent a good amount of time outside and after work, we played brain games and chased tennis balls and I had another quiet evening at home.

By Friday, the mud had returned to my backyard, although colder temperatures had come with it.  Thankfully the warm temperatures Thursday and the sunshine on Friday melted the ice on all of the sidewalks so we were able to get back to our normal walking schedule.  We all needed a good walk after a stressful week of work and ice!

The other highlights of the week were my visit with Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona on Monday, and Mina's final Doggy Do Good class on Tuesday evening.   I can't believe both of these girls are just two months away from their first birthdays.  They have both changed my life in such a positive way in such a short period of time.   

Friday night, I finally attended one of my nephew Mason's basketball games.  It was a big game at Durand with an outright conference title on the line.  It was a good game, but sadly Chesaning lost and will share the conference title this year, but it was nice to see him play.  Hard to believe he's nearing the end of his third year on the varsity team and this is the first time I've seen him play in person since he started high school.  

Yesterday, I had a few errands to run and I wanted to get the girls out for some fun, so we combined the trip into one fun adventure around town.  We had a nice walk along the Lansing River walk from Old Town to Downtown.

We made a stop at the dog-friendly Lansing Shuffle.  The former sight of the Lansing City Market, it now has several restaurants.  The girls shared a pup cup and I got tacos at The Browndog.

While they still have some work to do, I thought they were pretty well behaved and I'm glad there is somewhere like this to take them so we can continue to practice our manners.

After eating, we walked back down the River walk toward Old Town.

I had to make them practice some outdoor listening skills along the way too.

We had a nice walk back to Old Town and then walked around Old Town too.  I'm always fascinated by the juxtaposition of the revitalized areas right next to the areas that haven't received much love.  It is the reality of city life, I think.

We finished our errands and our walks, but I had one more thing I wanted to do before heading home.  Our friend Claire has been in town, visiting from Australia.  While Vanessa and I had big plans for Claire's visit, due to covid and the ice storm, we weren't able to do any of them.  

Last time Claire visited was three years ago, literally just before the world shut down due to the pandemic.  We had to see her before she headed home to Australia today.  The girls and I met her at her hotel and had a wonderful 2 1/4 mile walk and chat.  I was glad Peaches was able to see her again and that she and Mina got to meet each other.  It was wonderful to spend some time with her.  

At the end of the day, i had two pooped girls. We had walked 5 1/2 miles, worked on manners, finished some errands, and met with friends.  It was a wonderful way to spend our Saturday. 

It is a beautiful sunny Sunday and the girls have already spent a lot of time outside enjoying it.  I'm hoping for a quiet but productive day at home today.   I hope you all enjoy your Sunday.  

Is it Spring yet?

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for this Winter to be over.  Not because it's been a hard Winter, but because it has felt much more like a long, extended Fall.  With cool temperatures, but rarely brutally cold, and barely any snow,  the weather has been ideal for walking the dogs, but also has created the ideal conditions for my backyard to turn to mud.  And I am over it!  

I've especially hated the last couple of weeks because as they run and play in the yard, they continue to create more mud, and I have to wipe off muddy paws every time they come inside.  And that is getting old!  This morning, I let them out for a little time in the yard, and when they came back in 10 minutes later, they had mud splattered up and down their legs and all over their bellies.  I then spent the next 20 minutes rinsing them off in the tub to help prevent the spread of mud through the house...but honestly fighting the mud has become a losing battle.  So our weather either needs to get cold enough to freeze the ground for a longer period of time, or start to warm up and dry out so that I have a fighting chance and so, hopefully, some of my lawn will recover from the damage.  

On Monday, the girls and I made a trip to Benjamin Davis Park for our after work walk.  I'm so glad we're reaching the time of year when the sunset is late enough for us to be able to get in a nice walk after a full day of work.  We have walked here often over the years, and I was disappointed to see that some of the work that Consumers is doing along the power lines on the park boundary led to the cutting down of a huge swath of trees... the views from the park have really been ruined because of it, plus I can't help but think of the wildlife habitat that has been lost.  What a shame!

Tuesday was a busy day at work and Mina had her Doggie Do Good Class in the evening, but it was also Valentine's Day.  The girls each got a special treat and a toy to celebrate, but overall it was a pretty uneventful day for us.  

Wednesday night I walked Tootsie Roll during our shelter dog walk.  She was a total sweetheart and we thoroughly enjoyed our walk together.  

Thursday the weather forecast called for rain, and potentially freezing rain as well as a couple of inches of snow.  We took a quick walk before I stated work for the day, and I had hoped to get them out for a nice mid-morning walk while it was still dry and sunny, but my crazy morning of work prevented that from happening.  By the time I was able to take my lunch and get the dogs out, the rain had started.  I was determined to get them out for a nice walk regardless of the weather because I didn't know what the condition of the sidewalks would be on Friday.  So we bundled up and headed out into the sprinkles.  Luckily it wasn't bad for most of our walk and we enjoyed the time outside in the fresh air.  By the end of my work day, the sleet/freezing rain had moved in, so we played lots of fetch and then settled in for a nice quiet evening at home.  

We woke Friday morning to snow on the ground, and although it wasn't much, I welcomed the beautiful white blanket.  It was nice to get a break from the brown muddiness.  I also got a reprieve from muddy paws for almost 24 hours!

Because there was a layer of ice under the snow, the sidewalks in the neighborhood weren't safe for walking so we kept busy with training, brain games, and several rounds of fetch.  Mina seemed very happy with the endless rounds of fetch and crashed for the night earlier than normal.

I started my Saturday morning walking Shortbread at the shelter.  What a darling little girl!  I then joined a geocaching event and ran some errands before heading home.  

After getting home, I decided to load the girls into the car and go for a drive.  We headed out for a nice drive in the country outside of Marshall to do some geocaching.  I spent a few hours just driving around and picked up several caches along the way.  It was a beautiful late afternoon in the farmlands

On our way home, we stopped in Olivet for a walk around the Olivet College campus.  It is a tiny little school, but it was good to get the girls out somewhere new.  They enjoyed all of the new smells and even met a student who gave them lots of love.

It was dark by the time we finished our walk, but I couldn't resist taking this picture of Mina when she jumped up next to the sign.  She was sitting so nicely.  She's such a good girl.

It is has been a quiet Sunday at home and when I wasn't cleaning mud off the girls, I spent a lot of time with either Peaches or Mina in my lap as we watched an interesting series on the History Channel on the history of food entrepreneurs in America.   Indid a little cleaning and there were more brain games and fetch, and I ended the evening with a big bowl of homemade chickpea noodle soup.   Yum!

I've got the day off for President's Day tomorrow and I'm looking forward to a visit with Fiona who is walking now and is officially 10 months old today.  My how time has flown since she was born!

Busy nights and weekend fun

We had a pretty good week thanks to longer daylight hours and mild temperatures.  My plan to take multiple walks throughout the day every day wasn't as successful this week, but I'm going to continue to try to make that a focus of every day.  

After a busy Monday work day, we had a really nice sunset walk at the park down the road.  The girls got to spend some time sniffing around in the woods and that always makes them happy.  

Tuesday was Mina's 4th of 6 classes in her Doggie Do Good class.   She did better this week than she did last week, but she is more challenged by distractions than she has been in the past.  That's making our daily training work more challenging and even more important.   I'm trying to train her around more distractions more often so that she can learn to be really well-behaved no matter where we go.  She has the potential to be a really good dog if I keep working with her.  We've already signed up for her Canine Good Citizens class this Spring and she has to pass a real test at the end...so we have to really make sure we keep up the daily training work.

Wednesday night dog walking club was lots of fun this week.   We walked four really awesome dogs.  My walking buddy was Butterfinger.  She was a pretty happy, spunky girl!

Thursday rained all day so the girls and I were stuck inside a lot more during the day.  I became an expert at throwing the giant tennis ball for Mina which helped alleviate some of her energy for the day, and we used a variety of mind games throughout the day to keep both girls occupied while I worked. 

After a tiring day of work, I needed a walk as much as the girls did, so I threw on my rain boots and a rain proof coat and headed out into the weather.   I was too lazy to even put on real pants...so I wore my flannel pj bottoms and didn't even care if anyone saw me looking like this!  We got in a quick 1 1/4 mile walk, which is much shorter than normal for us, but I was glad we got out.  The girls were happy too.

I had a quiet and productive Friday morning, but by mid-afternoon Mina had had enough quiet time.  So out came some toys to keep her occupied while I finished my work day.   Thankfully we were able to get out for a couple of walks too, so we had a quiet Friday night. 

Saturday morning we met Vanessa and headed South to Hillsdale County to finish the final 5 mile road walk section of the NCT that we needed in that area.  I've been wanting to get this section done for a while and I don't know if we could have picked a better day for it.  The sun was shining, the temperatures were in the 40s, and the wind was at our backs.   

Most of the roads were dirt, and most of them weren't that muddy so our walking was easy.  There weren't a whole lot of exciting things to see along the way, but Mina was fascinated by the sound of the electric fence here and the cows behind it.

And while there wasn't a lot of mud, Peaches made a point of finding it and insisted on walking in it.  Her belly and legs were coated in it by the time we got back to the car.  She was a mess, but she had the best day!

We finished our day with 5.1 miles on the trail and even found a few geocaches along the way.   We're at 15.85 miles for the year and right on track for ensuring we all reach our 100 miles this year.

After we finished our hike, Vanessa headed home, while I headed out to find a couple more geocaches on my way to the Ohio border.  I was determined that I was going to take Mina to Ohio since we were less than 10 miles away and I couldn't resist having her visit a new State .  I found this really interesting walnut plantation along the way.  

We made it to the border and I pulled over to read this historical marker and pick up a geocache nearby.  

Then I got the girls out of the car and ran across the road to get this picture of Mina and Peaches.  It is her first State sign picture.  She did such a good job waiting for her picture!  She's officially traveled to three States now (Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois), and  I can't wait until we really start making some road trips together.  She's going to be an awesome travel buddy!

Of course I couldn't resist a Pure Michigan picture too!

We then settled in for a drive to visit Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona.  We had such a nice visit with them and enjoyed a special dinner together too.  It was the best way to end my Saturday.  The most exciting part of the visit was watching Fiona as she toddler around.  While she doesn't go far, she is officially able to walk all on her own!  

We had a slow start to our Sunday before getting out for a couple of late morning/early afternoon walks.  We made a trip to Preuss Pets, and I did something I rarely do...I let the girls come in with me.  While there i received one of the best compliments I could get when a fellow GSP owner stopped me to comment on how well behaved the girls were.  While I thought they were a little crazy, it's nice to know what others think of their behavior and I was pretty proud of them.  

We made a couple more stops on our way home, and then spent the rest of the day at home.  It was a productive day and the girls were able to get in some quality play time outside.  Overall it has been a really good Sunday and it's going to be a great week.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday from Fiona.  

 

February's cold embrace.

Our first week of February has been pretty cold with most days in the teens and 20s.  Add in the wind, and boy has it been cold!  Luckily for us, the sun has been around most of the week, and feeling its warmth on my face or on my back as I walked the dogs made the cold days more tolerable.   

Mina's Doggie Do Good class is going well, although she was very distracted and whiny during class this week.   Hopefully her next class she'll have better focus.  She still did well showing off some of the skills she learned in puppy class as the other dogs in her class were learning them for the first time.  

Despite the cold, we held our weekly Wednesday night dog walk at the shelter.  Oklahoma is a handsome little guy and not much older than Mina.

I walked Saiga.  She and Oklahoma wanted to play so badly which made it challenging to keep them focused on our walk.  But it was also a great workout!

Vanessa chose Barts as her walking buddy.  This sweet old guy preferred a slow meandering walk, so he got just that.  He had some quality one on one time with Vanessa outside of the shelter and seemed very happy about it.  Sadly, Barts health deteriorated quickly this week, and the shelter had to let him go to prevent him from suffering.  

The sad reality of shelter life is that not all of the dogs who arrive there will find a forever home.  There are lots of reasons this happens, but health concerns and temperament are probably the most prevalent.  

While Barts was near the end of his life, the shelter took him in and gave him a chance at a better life.  And while he didn't find a home in his short time there, at least this old boy was warm, well-fed, and shown love in the end.  He was a staff and volunteer favorite and was well cared for in his final days. I like to focus on the good we do for all of the dogs who end up in our care at the shelter, and I'm really glad we were able to give him one last walk and the chance to just be a dog.  

The girls and I have continued our new routine of multiple shorter walks each day followed by training time, and in this colder weather, it makes it easier to convince myself to get outside with them.  They have also enjoyed some fun out in the yard with their neighbor friends multiple times every day while I am working.  

After a busy day of work, it is really nice not to have to get out for a long walk, but instead take a shorter stroll with the girls and then focus on a longer training session and some fun play time.  Then I can feed them dinner and sit down with my own dinner at a reasonable hour.  

Friday was the exception, and my work schedule prevented me from taking any walks during the day.  After work I had to run some errands and we ended up near Central Park in Okemos just before dusk.  It was only 10 degrees, but I knew we could get in a quick walk before the park closed.  Luckily the paths were mostly clear and we did a quick round trip of just under a mile. Boy was it cold!!

I then took the girls to the Okemos Pet Smart for a little more entertainment.   We never go to this store so there were so many new smells and so much to see.  They loved it!

They especially enjoyed seeing the birds and  Guinea Pigs, and thoroughly enjoyed some fish watching.  We took a quick walk around the parking lot to get in a short quarter mile before getting back in the car to head home.

Saturday morning we were off to Lowell with Vanessa to continue working on our North Country Trail miles for this year.  Our starting point was just outside of Cannonsburg, just North of Lowell, so before our hike we stopped for a short playdate with Sherman and Ruby.

Sherman was not happy to be out in the cold, but also had no desire to be in the house all by himself,  so he just sat by the door looking pathetic. 

Mina found all the fun toys and was zooming around the yard.  She and Ruby had some really good games of chase and tug while Peaches supervised.

After some good rounds of chase, Ruby was content to sit and just watch the world around her.

After our playdate, we headed to the trailhead in Cannonsburg to park the car and then Tom shuttled us back to our starting point.

It was 23 degrees and sunny, and the wind was at our backs, making for excellent hiking weather.  Not long after starting, my gloves were off and I had worked up a good sweat.

The first 2 1/2 miles were road walk, both gravel and asphalt sections of road, but nothing too busy.   It was wooded and kept the wind away from us and I was thankful to see that the roads were mostly dry and free from ice.

We then reached the trailhead for a nice paved section which was plowed.  While there was still snow on the trail, I was happy to see very little ice.  Most of the walk was easy going on a really pretty section of woods.

The last mile was a more icy because it was more open, but we completed our 7 and 1/4 miles in good time and no one fell!  We then headed back into Lowell to pick up a late lunch at Three Brothers Pizza.  Their Stromboli is delicious, and it was the perfect way to end our day.

We've had a slow start to our Sunday, but I'm working on paying bills, doing some planning for an upcoming vacation, and getting some other things done around the house.  

I've got a basketball game to watch and afterwards we'll  head out because I have some errands and of course we'll get in a walk or two, but mainly we're going to have a restful day to prepare for another busy week of work and life. 

Hopefully we'll have some fun things to share next week.  The weather is supposed to be a bit warmer and I may even have a fun surprise or two to share.  Now I'm off to enjoy my day!