Let's go to the Dog Park

This week we spent a lot of time at dog parks. I'm not sure why, but that was just how things went.  It was a pretty quiet and uneventful week around here, even work was quiet.  Aside from a little rain, the weather has been decent, and the girls have spent a lot of their days outside during my work day.  I love when they can do that.  The days are getting warmer and the bugs are becoming more evident, but I like this time of year because it's daylight until around 9pm and we can actually get out for some fun during the week.  Tonight's sunset will be 8:59pm.  I've always loved the late sunsets.

As I said earlier, it was a dog park kind of week here, and after my busy Monday at work, the girls were ready for a run.  We made the drive to Soldan Dog Park for a little fun.  There was plenty of sniffing and running, splashing around the water and ball chasing, and we were having such a good time that I completely forgot to take any pictures until we were leaving.  Of course just before we left, Peaches found the muddy muck near the entrance and decided this would be a great place to explore and no matter how much I tried, I couldn't get her attention and keep her out of it.  So both girls got a good rinse off with the house just outside the park.  Peaches was not happy with me!  Luckily I was able to get them to stop for a quick picture on the path back to the car.

Tuesday was another good day.  The girls were in and out of the house all day long enjoying our excellent weather.  I tried to take a little break and quiet time to myself after work, but I had two girls staring at me ready for some fun.  I was able to convince them to relax for a bit, and then I decided to take a drive out to Dewitt for a dog park visit there.  We saw a couple of their favorite friends from this park and Mina spent the next hour happily playing fetch while Peaches sniffed around all by herself.  There were games of chase and lots of other fun for Mina, and Peaches even decided she'd like to play with a ball for a bit too.  Finally it was time to go, even though Mina was not ready to leave.  

Wednesday I decided to get the girls out for a walk on my lunch.  I decided to make the short drive to Moore's Park for a walk along the Lansing River Trail.  It was Mina's first visit to this park and exploring this part of the River Trail.

It was a little warm, and Peaches doesn't seem to tolerate the warm weather as well as she used to, but she did great.  It was a beautiful day along the river, and we all enjoyed our walk.  Mina was really distracted by the geese when I stopped for a couple pictures on our way to the car at the end of our walk.  And of course, Peaches found a shady spot in the grass to enjoy.

After work, I headed out to the shelter for our dog walk.  What a beautiful evening to walk our shelter dogs.  It is always one of my favorite parts of my week.  

The weather on Thursday called for some rain showers in the early evening, so I decided to take the girls to Soldan Dog Park over lunch to burn some energy just in case we couldn't get out after work.  It was another great visit to the park for them.   I enjoyed watching them run around and explore.  Sadly, I experienced my first mosquitoes of the season there on this day in a quiet corner of the park where I like to sit and let them explore a bit.  We didn't sit there long before I was swarmed and decided we'd just keep moving.  Our visits here may become less frequent during the mosquito season, if they get bad.  But for now at least, I was able to avoid them for the most part.  

After work, the sun was still shining with no rain in sight, so we headed out to the opening day of the South Lansing Farmer's Market.  I picked up a few baked goods, got my egg rolls from Ming Dynasty, and picked out some spring produce, and I got lots of compliments on how well-behaved the girls were.  After I was done at the market, the girls got their trip into Feeders' (formerly Soldan's) to check out all of the smells and treats.  It was a successful first Farmer's Market visit .

I then headed home to mow the front yard before dinner.  Luckily, I was able to finish despite the fact that I had to do the last few swipes in the rain.  It had been a very good and productive day.

Friday was hot with a chance for some evening showers, so I made plans to get the girls out before the rain arrived.  I debated on where to go and what to do, and I changed my mind a few times before we got in the car and headed out toward Eaton Rapids.  I had planned to make a stop at the Dog Park in town for a quick run before heading on to another destination where we'd get out for a walk.  But as we got close to town, I decided to stop at The Flower Garden, which is my favorite local greenhouse, to look at the vegetable plants.  They are dog-friendly, and they always have a great selection of plants. We left with $29 worth of awesome veggies that will spend the summer in my garden and provide us with lots of tasty meals and fill my freezer in the fall.  

We then headed over to the Island City Dog Park.  It was completely empty and ours to enjoy!  It is on a quiet street and I don't know that it gets a lot of use locally(we've never seen another dog here), so it's a nice spot to enjoy some quiet time with the girls.  

I walked around and threw the ball for Mina for a bit, until I eventually took a seat in the shade under a maple tree.  Boy was it hot in the sun!  Mina and Peaches ran around and explored, and finally Peaches joined me in the shade.  Eventually Mina came for a rest in the shade too.  She alternated between chasing her ball and lounging in the shade, while Peaches and I decided the shady spot was exactly where we wanted to be.  We stayed for quite a long visit because it was so nice and peaceful.  

Finally, we left the dog park to make the drive home.  I took the long scenic drive through the countryside and picked up a few geocaches along the way.  Then I picked up dinner to treat myself and headed home.  It had been an excellent evening adventure.  

I had a full day planned for our Saturday, starting with a Saturday morning shelter dog walk.  We had a fun walk with Trace and three other puppies at the shelter.  It's always a great way to start my Saturday.  On the way home from the shelter, I made a quick stop at the Holt Farmer's Market to pick up a some dog treats from our favorite treat lady, and then had an interesting visit with a couple of my neighbors when I arrived home.  

I did a couple of quick things around the house before I had to load the girls into the car to head out for a fun meet-up at the dog park at Joey's Pet Outfitters on the other side of town.  One of my fellow volunteers at the shelter reserved the space so volunteers and employees at the shelter could bring their dogs out for a little fun.   Mina made friends with Duncan and they spent a lot of time running and rough-housing.  Mina also had a great time exploring the shore of the pond and chasing birds.  Meanwhile, Peaches spent her time exploring or just hanging out with all of the people.  They took full advantage of our trip and had a blast.  

After 90 minutes of fun, we were back in the car so I could get them home and then I headed out the door for Mason's graduation open house at my brother's.  Before going to the open house though, I met Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona at my Uncle Charles and Aunt Dawn's farm so Fiona could see the cows and chickens.  She loved it!

Then we were off to the party.  After eating, I spent most of the rest of my evening chasing around Fiona.  We stuck our feet in the pool where she loved kicking and splashing, we took a ride in the golf cart with Sidnee driving and Fiona sitting on Nicol's lap, and we watched lots of games of cornhole.  It was nice to spend some time with the family.  My dad was there and wheeling himself all over with his walker, and he even made it up the steps to the pool deck to watch Fiona splash around.  It was a good evening.

It had been a long Saturday with a majority of my day spent outside and I was exhausted when I got home after 10pm.  Luckily the girls were happy to have a really late dinner and then settle in for the night.

I was excited when I realized I was going to have my entire Sunday to spend at home and had made lots of plans for all of the yard work and gardening I was going to get done, but it is now after noon, and I've accomplished nothing.  We slept in this morning, and then girls went outside for a bit while I relaxed inside, but they came back in and have settled in to a nice nap while I have been writing.  With temperatures reaching the mid-80s this afternoon, I'm not sure how much time I'll spend working in the yard, but I'm hoping to at least do some work in the garden so I can get my veggies planted this week.  Mina has now woken from her nap and is demanding a trip outside, and it is lunch time for us all too.  So I'll wrap up for this week and maybe go get to work in the yard...or maybe we'll go have a relaxing walk somewhere first.  Whatever we do, it's going to be a great Sunday.

Normalcy

When I ended the blog last Sunday, I was about to head out for a geocaching clean-up event that I was hosting in conjunction with our shelter dog walking club to clean up an area where we walk every week.  There were ten people and a dog that showed up to help, plus I brought Gio along with me while the girls stayed home.  It was a good turnout, and we made fast work with an area that really needed the clean-up.  I was thankful for everyone that showed up to help!  One of the geocachers came all of the way from the Flint area to help us, and she fell in love with Gio.

After the event was over, I took Gio out for a hike along the Ram Trail and did a little geocaching along the way.  We had a really nice walk and he was very brave.

After our two mile walk, we headed home, where I left Gio for a nap and loaded the girls into the car for a trip to Soldan Dog Park.  They definitely needed to burn some energy.

While I got no pictures of the girls, I did get some pictures of spring flowers that were in bloom, including the last of the trillium.  The girls had a great time too.

After our afternoon of fun, we threw a little ice cream party for Gio in the hopes that maybe he'd get adopted on Monday.  It was a great way to end our day.

On Monday, I had a full day of work.  While I worked, the girls and Gio spent most of the day outside playing.  Finally around 2:30pm, I received the call that the lady who had met Gio on Sunday was coming back to the shelter with her husband to adopt him.  

 

After my final work call of the day, I headed to the shelter with Gio to meet his new family.  They were so excited to take him home, and while he was a little shy about getting into their car, he got in and headed off for his new life.  I'm so happy for this sweet boy.  

After dinner that evening, the girls and I took a drive to Dimondale for our walk.  We checked out the trails at Danford Island Park and then took a walk around town.  It was a beautiful walk  along the river and beautiful weather for it.

Tuesday was a long day.  I spent the morning at work, and then I spent the afternoon and evening working the election.  We had some storms move through the area on Tuesday evening, but nothing like those that moved through the Kalamazoo area which produced tornados in the area.  Boy am I grateful those storms didn't move our way.  With the long day of work and the weather, we didn't get out for any adventures, but I think the girls forgave me.

We had beautiful weather on Wednesday, and the girls spent a lot of time outside during my work day.  I enjoyed a wonderful walk with the shelter dogs on Wednesday night.  It was a great group of dogs and they had the best time.  It always makes me so happy to see how happy they are to be out of the shelter.

I tried to get the girls out for a quick adventure on Thursday during my lunch, but the park I had chosen for our walk was pretty muddy from the storms earlier in the week.  The weather after work was rainy and I wasn't feel well, so a Thursday evening adventure didn't happen either.  The girls got to have their meals in some of their brain games and Mina got to have her collagen chew.  Luckily, they are pretty understanding and both of them relaxed for the evening.  

Finally Friday arrived, and I was determined to get the girls out for a good adventure.  Rain was once again in the forecast for later in the evening, so I made sure we left home right after work. 

I decided a nice walk at Lake Lansing North Park was just what we needed, and the girls were pretty excited to be there too.  

We walked just over 4 miles, and it was perfect weather for it.  There were hardly any bugs, and  we even got some peaks of sunshine along the way.  It was a great day to be in the woods and a much needed adventure for us all.  

Afterward, we made the drive to Durand for their Friday night Fish Fry and then picked up a few geocaches in the areas before heading home for the night.  It had been a great way to start our weekend.

On Saturday morning, I had the pleasure of making the drive to Saginaw County Animal Care and Control to pick up 5 dogs that were being transferred to our shelter.  Saginaw County has a beautiful new shelter that I've wanted to see and I was excited to be able to help them out by picking up some dogs.  

I drove the shelter van to Saginaw and arrived around 10:45am.  While I waited for them to pull together the paperwork and get the dogs, I took some pictures of their shelter.  I also made friends with Travis, pictured above, who is a heartworm positive dog that is available for adoption there.  He was a very sweet boy.

I loved their cat enclosures that are large and open to the lobby, and the section of dog kennels that you can see from their lobby.  I had a few faces peaking out at me.  

This shelter is way over their capacity with well over 100 dogs in their care, and they are in desperate need of help.  There are dogs everywhere and they are doing their best to help them all find homes.  They are short on funds and short on staff and volunteers, and it breaks my heart because I know that they are working hard and doing their best, but they just overwhelmed. 

The staff members and volunteer who helped me load the five dogs into the van were so grateful for this little bit of help and I thanked them several times for the work that they do and let them know that they are appreciated.  Phoebe got to ride nicely with a seat belt harness while the other four dogs were crated in the back.  Everyone was quiet on the drive back to the shelter, and I helped get them all comfortably settled into their new kennels before I finally left the shelter and headed home.  

Here is a rare picture of me doing something I really enjoy.  This was such a worthwhile trip.  

After I finally got home, I loaded the girls into the car and we headed out for a visit with my parents.  We had a nice visit, and the girls got to run and explore.  They had a great time hunting for whatever critter was hiding in the branch pile and I had a nice visit with my parents.  My dad continues to get better and stronger, and my mom seems much less stressed now that he's home and they seem to have a good routine now.  Before I left, I event got to see Brezlyn, who stopped to see my parents on her way to prom.   I told my dad before I left that I realized this was the first week since January that I hadn't made multiple trips to the hospital or rehab, and it seemed weird to not see him a few times during the week, but it also felt nice to know that life was starting to feel normal again.  He agreed.  Normal is good.

After a busy and exhausting week, I was looking forward to a quiet Sunday.  I've been tired and it was nice to get a good night's rest and to wake up with no where to go and no real plans for the day.  After a quiet morning at home, I drove out to the farm to check out their greenhouse and and get some of their fresh made donuts.  The donuts were still warm when I picked them up, and they were as delicious as always.

We then stopped at the Dewitt Dog Park for some fun.  The girls had the place mostly to themselves.  Mina spent most of her time running and Peaches spent most of her time sniffing everything.  We were there about an hour.  Both girls were tired and happy.

On the way home I decided to stop at Lansing Shuffle for lunch.  I love that they have several choices for food and that it is dog friendly.  The girls got a little treat from the restaurant and waited patiently for my order to be done.  Then we headed outside to eat on the patio.

We finished lunch and then headed out for a walk along the Lansing River Trail.  It was nice to see lots of people out enjoying the beautiful day.  We made a quick detour over to the Capitol before circling back to the River Trail and then back to our car.  

With the exception of a little yard work, most of the rest of our late afternoon was quiet and relaxing. 

The best part of my dad was the call I got from Nicol and Fiona.  Fiona yelled Happy Mother's Day as I answered the phone and was very talkative telling me all about their day.  While personally I don't really care much about Mother's Day, I do love being a mom and a grandma and those girls will always have my heart.  I can't wait until I can see them next weekend!

Now I'm off to relax for the evening before the week starts again.  I can't wait to see what fun this week brings us.  

Welcome May: New friends and more adventures

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  It has been an interesting week here for us with lots of fun and exciting things happening. 

We started our week by bringing in a new foster.  After a busy morning at work, I took the girls out to the shelter on my lunch to meet a couple of the boys who have been there awhile.  My intention was to to meet two dogs to make sure everyone got along and then bring one of them home with me after dog walking on Wednesday night.  We met Donatello first, a 9 month old German Shephard mix, and I knew he'd do fine with the girls.  I thought he'd be the one I would ultimately bring home with me, but in the event that he got adopted before Wednesday, I wanted to make sure we had a back up to bring home.  

Giotto, or Gio for short, came out second to meet the girls.  He responded really well to Peaches' old lady corrections and then they all just started to play.  They were having so much fun and Gio was struggling so much at the shelter that I knew he needed to be the one to come home with us and it needed to be that day.  Honestly, the girls picked him, and I'm glad that they did.  He is a really sweet boy and he and Mina have had so much fun playing together all week long.

Tuesday we continued to adjust to our new friend, and he continued to adjust to our routine.  He has done really well here, and I can't imagine he'll be here very long because he is such a good boy.  He and Mina will spend hours outside wrestling while I work, and Peaches sometimes joins in on some of their games.  On Tuesday morning the youngsters ganged up on the old girl, but she held her own and they are both respectful of her when she tells them she's had enough.

After work on Tuesday, I made a visit to see my dad, the girls came along for the ride.  I joined dad for dinner and we had a nice visit.  The improvements in his strength and ability to get around and do things for himself is so nice to see.  I left that night with the hopes that, if everything went according to plan, that would most likely be my last visit to him at the rehab.  

For their patience, the girls were rewarded with a stop at Magoo's Pet Outlet on our way home.  They had a great time sniffing around the store and I got some good deals on some bone broth for their meals. Gio stayed home for the night, but he did great in his crate.  He had energy to burn after we got home, so there was some fun wrestling with Mina before everyone settled in for the night.   And with that April ended and we were on to May.

Wednesday was a beautiful day and the perfect start to the new month.  The weather was so perfect and the dogs were happy to spend lots of time outside.  I love sitting at my dining room table working and watching them play.  Mina and Gio were having the absolute best time.

Wednesday night the weather was great for our shelter dog walk.  I was happy I got to walk Donatello.  I felt so bad for not bringing him into foster.  He had a great walk with me, and on a happy note, he was finally adopted on Friday.  He's such a nice boy and I hope he has a wonderful life.

The best thing about Wednesday, though, was that after 4 months of hospital and rehab stays, my dad finally went home.  While he still needs to use a walker to get around, he is doing pretty well and I know he is happy to finally be home too.  He'll need one more surgery in a month or so, but should only be in the hospital a few days then, and then I hope he'll be able to recover quickly and get back to normal life again.

After a busy day of work and a very nice and much needed lunch with a friend on Thursday, I decided to take the dogs to campus for our evening walk.  Gio has a fear of getting into the car, and I wanted to work on making him feel more comfortable with cars and understanding that car rides aren't scary, but can lead to lots of fun.  I did have to carry him to the car and force him in, but once he's in the car he rides so nicely.  I made it a positive drive by tossing him treats along the way and the girls thought that was pretty awesome because of course they got treats too.

When I got to campus and parked, I didn't expect difficulties in getting Gio out of the car, but it took a little coaxing before he felt comfortable enough to get out.  And then with all three dogs in hand, we were off for one of the worst walks ever along the Red Cedar.  The squirrels were out in force and Peaches and Mina were acting like complete idiots.  Gio was great, but the number of times I had to stop and untangle leashes or try to convince the girls that they needed to stop pulling me and not act like heathens was ridiculous.  

Luckily the pretty tulips and lilacs and all of the beauty on campus somewhat made up for the terrible behavior, but the best part was watching Gio as he explored the world.

I tried valiantly to get  a picture of the three of them together, but every time I tried, chaos ensued.  I guess the pictures I did get will remind me of this crazy night.

At the end of our walk when we arrived back at the car, Gio walked up to the car door and waited while I opened the it without backing away, and then he got in the car willingly with a little boost from me.  It was a huge success and I celebrated this huge accomplishment with lots of cheering, and I'm sure other people on campus thought I was an idiot.  But it was a big deal and I was so proud and happy.

After the walk debacle of Thursday night, I decided that Friday I would give each of the dogs their own adventure.  First was Gio with another trip to a different part of campus.  He got into the car willingly at my house and even tried to jump up on his own after our walk.  Such great progress in such a short time.

There were more pretty flowers and he enjoyed sniffing and exploring.  He is very interested in people too and nearly tripped me trying to say hello to someone.

But mostly he just walks really nicely and enjoys his time outside.  I keep saying that I can't understand why he hasn't found a home yet.  He is a pretty awesome guy.  I even overheard someone with a group of bike riders that went past us say "That is a really well-behaved dog."  I just had to smile.

After I got home with Gio, I loaded Mina into the car and we headed off for a trip to Soldan's.  She reminded me what a good girl she can be on this walk.  She is an amazingly good walker when she is walking without Peaches.  

She enjoyed the trip to Soldan's and even got to pick out a couple of treats for everyone.   Then we headed out for a walk around the neighborhood next to the store.  She was happy to be out on her walk and she didn't even go completely crazy when we spotted this cat sitting in the middle of the street.

We then headed home so I could get Peaches out for a walk around the neighborhood before sunset.  She loved her one on one time with me and I enjoyed our time together too.  

The evening ended with some time outside so that everyone could play before we settled in for the evening.  I really enjoyed this individual time with each of them and need to remember to do this more often.  I think it's good for all of us.

Saturday morning started with a dog walk at the shelter.  I had two walkers join me and after we got back to the shelter with the first three dogs, we decided to take a second group for a walk as well.  So I had walked just over 4 miles by the time I left.  It was so rewarding to get some of the dogs out who really needed the exercise.  I always love to see their happy faces.

I got home from dog walking and decided it would be a good day to head out for a visit with my parents.  So I fed the dogs lunch and then loaded them into the car for the drive.  I spent some time working with Mina on her recall skills so that some day maybe I'll trust her off leash there.  She struggled a bit with some distractions, but I'm committed to working with her more this summer because I know how much she'd love the freedom to run.  

Gio loved meeting my mom and exploring the woods.  He had a really great time and I was very proud of how good he was again.  

Everyone was pretty happy to be out in the country and Peaches immediately headed out to check out all of her favorites spots.  Unfortunately for Peaches, she made some bad decisions and decided not to listen to me so she ended up losing some of her freedom and got stuck on the long leash.  But she still had fun.

After a nice visit with both mom and dad and lots of fresh air and exercise for the dogs, it was time to head home.  On the way we stopped at a local geocaching event, and Gio got to make friends with a little geocacher.  He was very happy to just sit and get some love.  Finally we headed home in time to watch the Kentucky Derby and have dinner.  There was some after dinner fun outside for the dogs, and then everyone settled in for a quiet night.

We have had a pretty quiet start to our Sunday morning.  I'm working on getting Gio to understand our morning routine which includes some quiet time since I'm normally working in the mornings.  He is getting better at relaxing, but it's still a work in progress.  There have been some rounds of play both inside and out, and now the girls have come in for their mid-day naps.  Gio was trying hard to get Peaches to play with him, but has finally climbed up onto the couch with Mina and is snoring away.  

I'll be leaving shortly to do some clean-up along our dog walking club route with some fellow geocachers and some volunteers from the shelter, and afterward, I'll get everyone out for a walk.  Then I need to do some stuff around the house before the weekend is over.  And of course there will be tacos for dinner!  I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.