Progress

Boy oh boy did we have a busy week.  I'm not sure how we ended up with so much happening, but it certainly felt great to get so much done.

My Monday morning started with getting a new roof on the house.  I was up earlier than normal so that the girls could have breakfast and spend some time outside before the roofing team arrived because I knew once the work started. they'd be stuck inside all day. 

While they were outside and I waited inside, I did dishes, a load of laundry, and some other odd jobs.  By time the roofers arrived around 7:30am, I had accomplished quite a lot, including cooking myself a hot breakfast which is definitely not normal on a weekday morning.

There was lots of load noise throughout the day, but I was able to continue my normal Monday work routine despite the noise.  During all of the chaos, the girls were excellent, even Mia, who I had been concerned would not handle it well.  But she did great! 

When the team of roofers took a break for lunch around 1pm, i was able to get the girls out of the house for a potty break and a walk around the neighborhood.  The weather was beautiful and we had a nice little walk.  

When we got back from our walk, we all had lunch, and then the girls settled in for their afternoon nap while I got back to work.

It was a very long day with lots of noise and commotion, and I was so proud of all three girls for handling it so well.  

Thankfully there was no project on Tuesday,  so the girls were able to spend lots of time outside during the day while I worked. 

After work we drove out to Mason to meet up with a group at the Daily Scoop.  The girls were happy to say hello to everyone.  Even Mia seemed happy to be there, although she did start to show some signs of stress at the end of our visit.  She is getting so much better in busy situations and around crowds.

Before we left Mason we took a nice walk around the Courthouse and around the downtown area.  Then we got in the car and headed home.

After dinner, the weather was so nice that I decided to spend some time enjoying the lovely weather and the lighting bugs.  The girls were pretty happy to spend more time outside too.

We were up extra early once again on Wednesday because we were expecting the arrival of the tree removal company.  Sadly, I had to have my Willow Tree removed because it had reached the end of its life.  The normal life span of the Corkscrew Willow is 30-50 years, and I know from speaking with one of my neighbors that the tree was already pretty well-established when she moved in 47 years ago.

I decided I'd spend some time out in the yard with the girls that morning to enjoy the last hours of my beautiful tree.

I was able to spend some time in the garden which is finally starting to produce some veggies, although much later and slower than normal. 

Then I just sat on the patio and watched the girls enjoying their time outside.  When 8am arrived,  I brought my laptop outside to work for awhile too, since i knew we'd be stuck inside once the tree removal began.

The team finally arrived around 10:30am, after dealing with a morning tree emergency.   The entire project from their arrival until they pulled away after the final clean-up took just over three hours.  Of course, I had to take several pictures to document the whole process.   It sure was sad to watch the tree come down so quickly after standing tall there for so many years.

And now i have this huge empty spot in my backyard!

As the tree crew was finishing up, the team arrived to install my gutters.  I didnt know they were coming that afternoon, but their timing was perfect. 

It felt great to get so many big projects completed this week after feeling like I spent the last year and a half letting things continue to fall behind.  I still have some other projects to do around the house, but theses three were definitely the biggest items that I needed to check off my list.  Progress!

I was excited that we had a nice group of dogs to walk at the shelter on Wednesday night.  Rum Tum Tugger is my favorite at the shelter right now.  He's a pointer pitbull mix and super sweet.  I always love spending time with the shelter pups.

I was up early again on Thursday, this time for Mina's annual vet appointment.   While we waited, she was obsessed with the "fleas" hanging from the ceiling in the lobby.  

This little stinker weighed in at 54.4lbs which is up 4 pounds over her weight from last year.  Since she doesn't over-eat, I blame it on the lack of adventures we had while my dad was sick.  She'll need to lose a couple of pounds to get back to a better weight, but I don't think that will be a problem as we get back to hiking and walking more regularly again.  Otherwise, she's a happy, healthy, normal GSP. 

With the high temperatures and poor air quality that we've been having, it's been harder to spend much time outside the last few days, but we did enjoy a quiet night on the patio Thursday evening and Mina took full advantage of our.new backyard to play several rounds of fetch while Mia and Peaches ran after her or just wandered around the yard.  It was a nice evening after a few busy days.

Friday was a busy day at work, plus I was able to get a few errands done over my lunch.  After work it was too hot to take the girls for a walk, so we just went for a drive in the country.  It was a nice way to end our week.

Saturday morning I was back at the shelter to walk more shelter dogs, and I was excited that I actually got to walk a dog myself because that doesn't happen often.  Of course, I picked my buddy Rum Tum.  He's such a nice walker and I really enjoyed walking with him.

On the way home, I stopped at the Mason and Holt Farmer's markets to buy a few things, stopped at the grocery store for some much needed items, dropped off my Styrofoam recycling,  and completed a couple other errands.  Then when I got home, I let the girls out and checked the garden for anything that needed to be picked.  We spent the rest of the day quietly at home in the air conditioning after our crazy hectic week.  

Today, despite the ridiculous heat, I needed to get the girls out for some time on the North Country Trail.   We are so far behind working toward our 100 miles for this year, that we need to average 14.5 miles per month for the remainder of 2025, so we can't waste a free Sunday.  We headed out mid- morning for a drive South with a plan of attack to get in some miles and hopefully not get too hot.

Our first stop was Jonesville.  I knew that the trail here was mainly paved, but also well shaded so I hoped we'd able to get in at least a mile.  I didn't even wear shoes that were appropriate for a long walk, instead I had on a pair of comfy slide on sandals.  So when we got to the trail I slid off my shoe and stepped barefoot on the pavement to make sure it wasn't too hot for paws.  Luckily it was nice and cool, so off we went.  We walked about a half mile until we reached a section of the trail in full sun where we turned around and headed back to the car.  We finished our hike here with 1.15 miles on the trail.  

Next we headed to Fireman's Park in Litchfield.  This section of the trail starts in a park and is mostly grassy.  It eventually becomes wooded, but not until you walk a quarter mile in the full sun.  

But once we reached the woods, it was so much cooler, with a nice breeze and shade, plus some pretty views.

With the heat we still didn't go far, and finished with a nice drink in the shade and 1.25 more miles complete.

We loaded up into the car and enjoyed some air conditioning before heading on toward Homer.

Homer is just a short drive from Litchfield and Peaches hadn't fully recovered by the time we got there.  I knew we weren't going to go far here because the trail is mainly on sidewalks through town.  But there is a small section along the river that was perfect for a short walk.  We walked back and forth along this section until we reached a half mile. Then it was back in the car to continue our trek north.

Our next stop was Albion.  First we added a half mile along the trail in one of our favorite wooded spots along the trail there.

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By the time we reached thia spot, Peaches was walking nicely beside me, but Mia and Mina were still going strong. Crazy girls! 

As a reward for being so good all day, I took the girls to Reiger Park for some time in the river.  This was a big hit!  As a bonus, we added another quarter mile on the trail.

Finally, we headed to Marshall to finish our day of hiking along the Riverwalk.  I hadn't planned on a long walk here, but somehow we finished with another 1.6 miles on the trail and a quick dip in the river for the girls  before we got back in the car for the drive home.

We ended the day with 5.4 miles on the trail, which was more than i thought we'd get, and three happy girls.  Everyone had dinner when we got home, and then after a quick potty break, they all passed out.  

While the girls slept, I treated myself to Mexican for dinner and then spent some time out on the patio before sunset.  

We had such a great week.  Not only did I make a ton of progress on my to do list, Mia made so much progress this week too.  She is getting more and more comfortable, trusting, and confident, and her personality continues to show more and more.  I'm looking forward to another great week and watching Mia continue to grow and thrive.