Spooky Season Adventures

After a week of vacation and a fun-filled weekend last week, Monday we were back to reality, and I was back at work.  As usual, Monday was full of meetings, and I questioned why I hadn't just taken the extra day off because I have plenty of time off to use still.  By the end of the day, I was exhausted!  But the weather was beautiful, and even though the girls had spent a lot of time outside all day, by the time the clock struck 5pm, they were ready for some fun.  Since my legs needed a break from all of the hiking we'd done the previous week, I decided the best decision I could make would be to take the girls for a run at the dog park.  Mina hadn't had a chance to play ball in over a week, so I knew she'd love that, and Peaches is always happy to run around the park.  

We arrived to quite the crowd, but as is typical for the girls, Peaches ran one way to start sniffing and Mina headed the other to look for a ball.  We were able to find a big open space for Mina to play fetch while Peaches continued her solo adventures around the park.  She made a couple of new friends along the way, and had a good round of chase with one of them after we'd been there awhile.  Watching her flop around and play like a silly youngster made me smile and also had some of the dog park regulars cheering her on in her game.  Peaches and Mina are both pretty popular with the regular crowd, but Peaches seems to be loved the most, I think because she's such a sweet old lady.

What I thought would be a quick trip ended up with us at the park for nearly an hour and a half, and we finally left after sunset, but before it was completely dark.  The girls were both very happy with their Monday evening fun.

Tuesday was another beautiful day, and the girls took full-advantage of the weather while I worked.  As the work day ended, I had plans to head out for a walk, but Mina climbed up into my lap for some snuggles and a little nap.  I never say no to those moments of peace, so we sat quietly for about 30 minutes.

By 5:45pm, she and Peaches were both looking at me with those looks that tell me they need a little fun in their lives.  So we headed out the door for a trip to campus.  

I had wanted to make sure we visited campus at least once this fall before all of the color disappeared, and I was not disappointed with our walk.  It was a gorgeous evening, and the squirrels were out in force, so the girls had the best time too.  Honestly, I don't know if there is a time of year that campus isn't just amazingly beautiful.  But Spring and Fall seem to be extra special.  After a great walk, we headed home in the dark.

On Wednesday, I drove out to Mason for a late lunch to take a quick walk with a shelter dog since my Wednesday evening schedule wasn't going to allow me to hold our normal Wednesday evening walk.  

I stayed in Mason to finish my work day, and when I was done, I got the girls out for a nice walk on the Hayhoe Riverwalk and through the cemetery.  This cemetery always has some of the best fall color in the Lansing area, and I was not disappointed during our walk.

Then before heading home, I made a quick stop at the shelter to pick up our former foster, Mae, who had been returned by her adoptive family earlier that day.  Unfortunately for this family, their special needs child was just not adjusting well to having a dog in the house, so they made the difficult decision to return her.  While I'm sure this wasn't an easy decision, I do believe it was the best decision for everyone, and I was happy that I could bring her home with me for a few days while she waited for a new family.

I took everyone home, and fed them dinner and got Mae and Peaches settled in for a nap.  Then Mina and I headed out for a little fun with a group of fellow geocachers at a fun annual geocaching event at Fenner Nature Center.  There was food and fun, stories were shared, and there was a nice little bonfire.  It was a beautiful night to spend a little time outside enjoying this event.  

On Thursday, we had another gorgeous fall day.  Mina and Peaches spent a ton of time outside, and Mae occasionally joined them.  When they were inside, Mina stayed close to Mae, and I found them on a few occasions sharing the dog bed.   

Since I knew that I could get a call at anytime asking me to bring Mae into the shelter to meet potential adopters,  I skipped my lunch and ate at my desk.  After a full day of fresh air, the girls all came inside for a nice nap, and as they all settled and my house was completely quiet, the call came that there was a family at the shelter who wanted to meet her.  So into the car we went for the drive out to the shelter.

Her meeting went great, and she wiggled her way into the hearts of the family.  By shortly after 4pm, barely 24 hours after she had been returned, she was headed back out the door with a new family.  I really hope this sweet little girl has the best life because she's such a good little girl.  

Thursday evening I was excited for our plans.  Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona were driving to town to join us for Jack-o-Lanterns unleashed at the fairgrounds.  Thursdays are dog night, so the girls were able to join us too.  I drove out to Mason and got the girls out for about a 30 minute walk around town before Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona arrived.  Then I met them at Bad Brewing for dinner before heading to the event.

After dinner, we headed to the fairgrounds and Fiona was so excited to see all of the inflatables at the entrance, and even stopped and stood nicely for a picture with the girls.  Then we headed outside to check out all of the pumpkins.

I'd say this event was a big success and that she thoroughly enjoyed it.  She had some definite favorites, like the singing jack-o-lanterns, the dinosaurs, and Taylor Swift, and she sang and danced along the way.  

When we got to the end, just before closing she was still going strong. Another little girl there that was 7 befriended Fiona and was showing her some of the fun things at the end.  When her new-found friend asked her if she wanted to go see how many pumpkins tall she was, she turned to the girls and said "Come on Peaches and Mina, let's go."  It was adorable.

As we exited, the girls got two buckets of treats from the staff because it was the final dog night of the season and they didn't want them to go to waste.  Nicol even took a bucket home for Picasso.  And we all scored a free hot apple cider, which was an added bonus.  Nicol said despite it being past Fiona's bed time, she was so excited about the night that she talked the whole drive home.  Seeing the season through the eyes of a two-year old made the evening so much more fun.  

Friday arrived and I was happy for the end of my work week, but even more excited for the new guest that we would be meeting late in the afternoon.  

I left work at 3pm to start our drive toward Kalamazoo with plans for a stop along the way.  We arrived at Historic Bridge Park about 4:10pm, and got out for a nice hike on the North Country Trail.  We're behind schedule on completing our 100 miles on the trail this year, so I was happy to be able to take advantage of my trip to get some mile under our belts. 

It was a gorgeous fall afternoon, and there was still some nice color to enjoy along the hike. 

After hiking the wooded section of the trail between Historic Bridge Park and Kimball Pines, we headed back to do the short section of the trail in Historic Bridge Park itself.  

We made great time, and by the time we got back to the car we had completed 2.8 miles.  

And we arrived back at the car to this beautiful color and just enough time to make it to Kalamazoo for our meeting.

We made the short drive to Kalamazoo and a quick stop to pick up our newest foster, Smokey.  He was loaded up into the car with girls and settled in right away, and then we were off toward home.

Since we made good time on our drive, we reached the Marshall area just after 6pm, and that gave us enough time to get out for a walk on the Marshall Riverwalk portion of the NCT.  

I figured it would be a nice place to stop to get everyone out and let Smokey stretch his legs and explore a bit since he'd been on the road for a few hours already.  I never know how these first group walks will go, but he did great and it was like he'd been walking with us forever.  Although the girls aren't used to walking with a boy and are going to need to adjust to his frequent stops to mark his territory along the way...and to realize they should stay out of the way so they don't end up getting peed on!

The trail was beautiful, the weather was nice, and everyone was doing so well that we got in another 2.5 miles on the trail, for a total of 5.3 miles on the day and now a total of 73.35 miles for the year.  Only 26.65 miles to go!  

When we got back to the car, dusk had fallen, and I was excited that we'd be able to go into downtown Marshall to make a visit to the Holiday House all decked out for Halloween.

Since it was a Friday night, it was pretty busy, but we were able to get close and take a walk around to enjoy all of the cool stuff that goes into making this a special place. 

After we finished our visit to the Holiday House, we headed down the main drag through town to check out the skeletons on display for the Marshall Skeleton fest.  I was pretty happy we found a bowl of water and some treats left out in front of one of the businesses so that I could get everyone to look at me for a picture.

There were plenty of cool skeletons, but this was probably my favorite this year.  

And I loved the googly eyes planted in one of the gardens at a small park near where we were parked.

We finally got home around 8:30pm and everyone ate a late dinner, took their evening potty break, and then Peaches put herself to bed, Smokey made himself comfortable on one of the dog beds, and Mina finally settled down on the couch for the rest of the evening.

We all slept well and were up early for breakfast on Saturday morning.  After a little quiet time at home, I loaded everyone into the car for the drive to Mason.  

I started my Saturday with a morning walk with the Dog Walking Club at the shelter.  We currently have a solid black GSP at the shelter, and if I hadn't already committed to fostering Smokey, I would have brought Ogo home with me.  But at least I could make sure he got out for our walk.  We had three other dogs join the walk this morning, including Caddy, a beautiful hound, and Tom, pictured below, who I got to walk.  It was a really nice group of dogs and a lovely way to start my morning.

After we finished our walk, I drove to Westside Deli in Mason for a slice of pizza and a breadstick for an early lunch, and then we drove to the courthouse square where I ate in my car, and then got the dogs ready for the Doggie Trick-or-Treat event that the Mason Chamber of Commerce puts on every year as a fundraiser for the shelter.

We were all checked in and ready for the fun by shortly after 11:30am, but the event didn't officially kick-off until noon, so while we waited for the event to start and for Vanessa to arrive to join us, we just took a slow stroll around the courthouse and stopped to visit the booth of our friends from Patterson Veterinary Hosptil.

When Vanessa arrived, we headed out for the trick-or-treating fun.  This dog dressed as a lion had to be my favorite costume of the day.

Vanessa took Smokey, and he was such a gentleman the whole afternoon.  I wasn't sure how he'd do and I was prepared to put him in the car to wait for us to finish if it wasn't going well, but he did amazing.  He loves people and loves other dogs, and he walked so nicely.  I think he had a great time. 

Peaches and Mina were crazy, and weren't nearly as well behaved as Smokey, but they had the best time.

After we finished trick-or-treating, we walked Vanessa to her car and then walked back to our own car.  I dropped all of our goodies in the car, and since the crowds had died down, I decided to take the three of them for another slow meandering loop around the courthouse square.  They got so much love and attention from people and were so well behaved, I was pretty proud of them.  We eventually stopped to get our picture taken at one of the displays, and made final stop to visit the team from Patterson's where Smokey got a once over from Dr. Jason, who will officially be seeing him in the office soon and providing any of the care he needs while he's with me.  

We made a few stops on the way home for a few groceries I needed, a stop to pick up my Halloween candy at Menard's, and a stop at the farm for some potatoes and the pumpkins that we'll carve this week.  When I got home, I noticed how beautiful my burning bush and maple tree were, so I had to get some pictures.  I think this is the best color I've ever seen in either of these trees in the 21 years I've lived in my house.

It had been a long busy day, but boy did we have fun.  I made a new recipe for dinner using the spaghetti squash I got from the farmer's market, fed the dogs their dinner, sent them outside for a bit, and then we all settled in for a quiet evening and the big rivalry game.  

For the first time all week, we were able to have a slow start to our day and to have a quiet and relaxing Sunday morning.  It was a nice way to start our day.

Finally, after lunch, I headed out with the dogs for some Howl-lo-ween Pawty fun in REO town.  Happy Feet Pet Rescue's annual Howl-lo-ween Pawty event is always a good time, and I figured it would be a good way to get everyone out for some excercise and fun. 

I decided since I was solo for this trip, and it's always so full of so many fun things to do, I would take each dog into the event individually.  I'm so glad that I did because it gave me a chance to enjoy the event more than usual. 

Everyone had a wonderful time getting treats from local businesses as well as enjoying the fun doggy craft activity and their  pupkin lattes and personal pupkin pies.  

At the end of the event, I took all three of them in together for a group photo, which wasn't a great sucess, but everyone there loved them.  Smokey ended up not being very cooperative for the photo, but I did get a picture of the girls.

As we left the photo area, they all found the fun kiddie pool full of snuffle mats and treats and had a great time using their noses to hunt for all of the treats together.

And then they were all treated to a second pupkin latte as we left the event.

I'm so glad that Smokey was able to partake in all of the fun, and I always love being able to do fun events like this with the girls.  This was officially our final big Halloween event of the season.  Now we just have to carve our pumpkins to get.ready for all of our Trick-or-Treaters.

The remainder of our Sunday should be quiet and relaxing, although Mina is currently trying to get Smokey to play, Peaches is pacing, and Smokey is just confused by all of the chaos.  Thankfully this should quickly pass and everyone should settle in for the evening soon, and I will have a chance to rest a bit before the work week begins again.  

We're really going to do our best to make the most of our evenings for the coming week, because next weekend daylight savings time ends, and we'll be facing 5:30 sunsets and the struggle of getting out for enough exercise during the week. But until then, we'll continue to enjoy spooky season and what remains of the fall colors and getting out for adventures after work.  I can't believe October is already coming to an end.  Where has the year gone?