The week of early mornings-a busy week in July

It has been a crazy few weeks between work commitments and other responsibilities.  I started the blog  two weeks ago, but didn't get it finished before I had to stop writing, and I just haven't been able to find the time to finish.  I thought I might finish it last Sunday, but I needed a break.  I tried again on Monday night with no luck, but today I'm going to try to get caught up.  I'm going to finish this blog from the end of July which should have been done 2 weeks ago, and then we'll get to part 2, which will cover the last two weeks later today.  Thanks for your patience with me.  I'm juggling commitments to work and family, my volunteer time, and most importantly, the girls.  So here we go, back to July 21...

Because I knew we had a very busy week ahead of us, on Sunday, I planned for us to have a quiet day.  After hanging around the house most of the day, I decided to get the girls out for a a little walk.  It was warmer than I realized, but luckily it was cloudy, so we could take a walk along the Sycamore Trail.

After 1 1/2 miles, we made it back to the car.  When it's as humid as it was on Sunday, I like to break our walks up and give Peaches a little chance to rest and recover a bit since she doesn't tolerate the heat like she used to.  She enjoyed a good drink of water and the air-conditioned comfort of the car.  

After our break, I headed over to take a short walk along the Bear Lake Pathway.  We haven't really explored this area, so I thought we'd check it out.  Unfortunately it isn't very shaded and the sun came out about midway through our walk, so I turned to head back to the car because I didn't want to risk the girls burning their paws on the pavement.  But we enjoyed getting outside and enjoying some fresh air and exercise.

Monday arrived, and my long busy week began.  It was a busy day of work as I finished last minute prep for an event we would be holding in Detroit on Tuesday.  After an exhausting day, I finished my work and took the girls out to Dewitt for some fun at the dog park.  

We took full advantage of the agility equipment and Mina played lots of fetch while Peaches explored every corner of the park.  Mina just wants to play fetch the whole time we're at the park, so I made her really work for it by adding in challenges in between throws.   She'll do almost anything if it means I'll eventually throw the ball for her.

Peaches really just loves to sniff and explore using her nose and thoroughly enjoys our dog park trips.    She can usually be found off in some corner of the park all by herself.  She is always so happy for our dog park visits.  

After our dog park visit, I stopped at the airport on our way home to pick up a rental car for my travel to Detroit on Tuesday.  My car was scheduled for a little work later in the week, and while I was perfectly fine to drive around town, driving a longer distance at higher speeds wasn't going to work.  Somehow, when I arrived to pick up my rental, I was told that they didn't have a rental available for me and they wouldn't have one before they closed.  With all of the rentals closing, I headed home to reset and see if I could find a rental to pick up in the morning.

Tuesday morning I was up early and out the door before 7:45 to pick up a rental from Enterprise.  I arrived as they opened, only to find that they didn't have a car available for me and wouldn't have one until later in the morning.  I made several calls and tried to find a rental car anywhere in town, but had no luck.  So it was decided that I'd just stay home for my work day.  

While I was disappointed to miss the meeting that I had worked hard to plan, it was nice not having to drive to Detroit.  It also gave me the chance to take advantage of the beautiful day and take the girls to the first Farmer's Market at the Capitol of the season on my lunch.  We walked around, picked up a couple of snacks, and the girls got lots of love and attention.  It was hot, so we tried to stay in the shade as much as possible.  It was an excellent way to spend my lunch.

On Wednesday, my work day was busy.  You'd have thought that missing being at our event in person would have freed up time and made me feel less busy, but it actually ended up creating more work.  After a very busy day at work, I was happy to get out for our Dog Walk at the shelter.  While it can be chaotic and busy to get several dogs ready to safely go for a group walk outside of the shelter, it is also so rewarding to be able to give them this time.  

On Thursday morning, the girls and I were up and out of the house before 8am again, this time to drop my car off for a little repair to what we thought was a bad wheel bearing.  Lucky for me, it's only a couple miles from the mechanic to our house, so I dropped the car off and the girls and I had a beautiful morning walk home.  

I didn't expect that the car would be ready until the afternoon, so I was surprised when I got a call mid-morning letting me know that my car was ready.  They had found no issues with the suspension on the car, just some debris in the tire which was causing the front end to shake when I drove over 45 mph.  They cleaned out the debris, and my car was as good as new.  The girls and I took the walk back to pick up the car and I must say I was happy to not have to spend a penny on a repair.  

On Thursday afternoon, I had to attend a three hour training for my work at the upcoming election primary.  Thankfully we ended early, and I headed home to get the girls out for a trip to the Farmer's Market.  It was a hot and humid afternoon, but  we were able to make a quick trip right as it opened.  Mina was happy to visit her friend at Sweets and Treats by Tangie because she's been baking some special treats just for them the last few weeks.  

While we had had a busy day, I still had one more thing I had to do, and along the way I decided to make a stop at Legg Park for a short adventure in the woods to pick up a few geocaches.  The mosquitoes were horrible, and we couldn't stop moving for long without getting swarmed, but the girls were especially happy to be out for a walk in the woods. 

Our final stop of the night was to visit Buddy, the tiny panther.  His mom was out of town for a few days and needed some help making sure he was getting fed, so I helped her out Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  The girls stayed in the air conditioned comfort of the car while I visited with Buddy.  He is a very sweet kitty.  

Friday morning, I was up early because it was finally the day my dad would have his final surgery to reverse his ostomy.  I made a quick visit to Buddy on my way to the hospital, and arrived in time to go back into Pre-op with my mom so we could stay with dad until he would go back for his surgery.  He was nervous, but in good spirits and definitely ready to get put back together.  It was a long surgery, and I was lucky to be able to work while mom and I waited.  Finally, around 2:30pm the surgeon came out to let us know everything had gone well and that they were finishing up the surgery.  I waited with mom until almost 4pm as they finished up and finally moved him to recovery, but we didn't know when he'd actually get to his room and I needed to stop by for another visit with Buddy and then get home to the girls, so I left.  Mom got to see him in recovery for a few minutes around 5pm, and then she went home too.  He finally made it to a room about 3 hours later, exhausted from surgery and ready to rest.

The girls were so happy to see me after a long day.  I was exhausted, but knew that they needed to run, so off we went to visit the Dewitt Dog Park.  After a good run for Peaches and lots of rounds of fetch with Mina, we headed home for the night.  

I was up early again on Saturday morning, but this time it was for a fun reason  One of our Petoskey area advisors has a band that regularly plays on the patio at a Winery/Vineyard owned by one of our local advisors who I've known for nearly 25 years.  I've been trying to find a time to make the trip up to see them, and had finally made plans to do so this Saturday.  My original plan involved spending the weekend in the area, but when dad's surgery got scheduled, I changed my plans and turned this into a day trip.

Since the North Country Trail runs through the area just a few miles away, I wanted to make sure we got up North in time to take the girls for a little hike in the woods after our drive, so maybe they'd relax on the patio.  We hiked just under 3 miles in a very warm and humid wooded area.  It was beautiful, and thankfully the bugs weren't bad, 

After our hike, I fed them lunch in the car and stopped for a quick sandwich before we arrived at Crooked Vine.  We got settled into a spot on the patio on a beautiful day.  The girls were so well behaved all afternoon and made lots of new friends while we were there.  

In addition to enjoying to enjoying some good music and beverages, we were able to take a lovely walk around the vineyard.  What a beautiful spot. 

I was so proud of the girls for being so very good.  Mina is always a good patio dog, but Peaches doesn't relax as easily, so when she finally laid down, I had to get a picture.

After a lovely afternoon, it was time for us to head out for the rest of our fun for the day.  I had promised the girls a trip to a Great Lake if they were good.  So off we went to find some more fun.  

As I looked at the map to find the perfect spot to go, I realized that I could make the drive North to St. Ignace for a burger at Clyde's, some time at the lake, and another walk along the North Country Trail.

After I picked up my burger, we headed off to find a beautiful, quiet spot to sit and eat. 

And then we headed downtown for a walk along the St. Ignace boardwalk.  It was a beautiful afternoon to be on the trail along Lake Huron.

We had a great walk, but sadly our day of fun had come to an end and we headed back to the car for our journey home.  It was dark when we got home, but we had had a wonderful and much needed day of fun.

After our long day away, I was happy to have a quiet morning at home doing some work around the house and in the garden.  I was very pleased with how nice the garden looked after my morning's work.

After a productive morning at home, I headed out to Grand Blanc to visit my dad at the hospital.  Just two days after his surgery, he was up in the chair in his room and looking really good.  He was tired, but in good spirits.  We had a great visit and even watched some of the Olympics together.  After a few hours, he got back into bed and I headed home for the evening.  My long, busy week had finally come to an end.

As we prepared for the arrival for August later in the week, I took a moment to reflect on the Summer so far.  Boy is it going fast, and I'm not ready for it to end.  I never am.  We have so much more to do.  I had hoped that things would slow down in the coming week, but as I'll share in the next blog, that wasn't necessarily the case.  But at least I remembered to take a break and have some fun.