Perfect day = Adventure at the beginning and the end of the day!

An adventure a day keeps one not wanting to go back to work... ever...

Today we had some business to take care of so I knew the puppies were going to be homebound, so I took them to play in the woods in the wee dawn hours. I went for a little snow shoe at Vaughn woods. It was beautiful!!

The little hiking trail all winter wonderland like.

Had to show off my snow shoes. I'm from Illinois... I've never seen a pair of snow shoes until I moved out here... and it was still about 2 years after I lived here before I figured out what they were for. No more falling into massive snow piles for me!!

The puppies sniffing around for goodies in the snow. (sorry for the shaky pictures. It was COLD out!!!)

One of my favorite parts about Vaughn Woods in the winter is coming up on the river. The sides are usually ice packed and the park is always quiet in the morning so you can hear the ice pack groaning or smashing into itself. It's pretty cool. Again, being from the midwest, it's new and exciting! :-)

After business was taken care of, Nate took Tyler and our neighbor, Paul Henry, to his work so that they can build something electronic. It was just me and the dogs again and the house was under construction, so I took the pups to Fort Foster. It's an old fort on the coast of Maine that was used to protect Portsmouth. There are some buildings still standing, but now it mostly has trails, beaches, and good places to play hide and seek or just run around. It's dog friendly in the winter so I take the pups there when I can. They get a chance to run around like crazy animals and I get to walk along the beach. It's a win-win for our house! It just happened to be about the same time the sun was setting so I soaked in that gorgeousness. 

I think the puppies enjoyed the setting of the sun as well. I do like how both of the dogs' ears are flapping in the wind. I literally sat down for like 5 minutes waiting for them to stop moving so that I could get a picture.

Our First Winter Wonderland Adventure (this year)

This morning, I woke Nater up super early and made him go play in the snow with me. We went cross-country skiing in the fields across the street from our house. It was super fun. Oakley's ear started bleeding again so she quickly became my little red pup and Scout, in his Scouter way, was always the disappearing act. It was fun to get out and play in the snow again. Maybe we'll go again before it all melts again!!

I wanted to see how much snow we got... Not as much as they predicted, but still enough!!

Nater and the dogs.

I made Nate turn around to smile for the camera.

We found a fun a little path in the middle of the fields that provided a little shield from the winds.

My little best friend pups running down the street.

I'm such an awesome skiier!!!

My Poor Baby Puppy Girl

Last night, a blizzard hit southern NH. I decided to celebrate with the dogs and we hit the field behind our house. It was just starting to snow and it was really nice out. The dogs ran all over the field and were having a ball. I rounded them up and headed back towards the house. Both of the dogs are frequent rollers in yuck so when I saw Oakley and the side of her head was dark colored (I didn't have my headlamp on so I didn't know what color it was), I figured she found some muck and rolled in it. I grabbed some snow and tried to wipe the muck off. She ran off and no big deal.

We got back to the house, and the puppies took off towards the neighbors house. They were playing on the neighbors porch, and my neighbor went outside to say 'hi' or grab them or shoe them off the porch and all of a sudden, she was like, 'Jenny.... GET OVER HERE'. I ran up to their house and she was like, 'what happened to Oakley?' Oakley was covered in blood. I could see that it was coming from her ear and I know that dog's ears BLEED!! But oh dear!!! She was nasty bloody!!

I got the pups home and I went into the garage. I called Nate and asked him to come down to the garage with some medical supplies. He thought that I hurt myself but I told him it was Oakley and she was bleeding all over the floor. He brought some gauze pads and a towel. I ended up just wrapping up Oakley with the towel and putting her in the bathtub. I cleaned her off and got her ear to stop bleeding. I took her out of the tub, she shook her head and there was little splatters of blood ALL OVER THE BATHROOM!!!! Then her ear started gushing again.

I put her back in the tub and grabbed Nate and was like, 'what do I do?' He decided that we should just cordon Oak in the bathtub. Poor thing hates the bath tub and now she was stuck in there with no where to go.

I left her in there for about a half hour. I then packed her up with a towel again, and moved her to her kennel. I figured she could nasty up her bedding and it would be ok b/c I could wash it.

This morning, everything looked great. She ran outside to play in the snow, shook her head once and little blood splatters everywhere again. I was lucky no one saw us on our adventure b/c I'm pretty sure I would've been reported for animal cruelty.

She's resting comfortably now. She might be adventure-less for the next 24 hours until we can get this little ear healed!!

Here's a pic of my poor bloody pup:

Our One Tradition!

Nate & I don't usually follow rules or have many traditions, but there is one tradition that we do have and we make sure it happens rain, snow or shine. Our tradition is to surf Christmas morning! So far we have yet to get skunked (knock on wood) and we have had awesome waves every year. We had nice, clean, thigh to waist sets that we shared with our friend Sean. The air temperature was a chilly 18 degrees, but the 6 ml of neoprene and plenty of urine kept us nice and toasty. I lasted an hour and was pretty proud of that!! My big toes told me that the time was up and I headed in. The boys stayed out a little bit longer.

Here are pics of this year's Christmas tradition:

Winter surfing requires getting ready in the car. Nate has his wetsuit on up to his waist.

The boards lined up ready to go.

Self portrait -- Aren't we cute!! Maybe I shouldn't make Nate look into the sun? :-)

The boys walking up the beach after their last wave.

Sean, Nate & I after our session.

I hope that everyone enjoyed their own special traditions!!

Snow! Snow! Hazardous Snow!

Finally... Snow!!!

However, with me, there's always a story!! I think that since the first snowfall came so late this year that southern New Hampshire completely forgot what you should do when it snows.

Sunday night, we had soccer and they asked Nate to play goalie. They looked at me and said, 'are you cool with this?' and I said, 'well, it's not like our winter can get more ruined. It's never going to snow so what do I care.' <-- always the optimist, I am! My friend Lauren looked at me and said, 'it's going to snow tomorrow!'. I looked at her all funny like, and said, 'It is?'

On the way home from soccer, I looked at the weather report and sure enough, snow in the forecast from Monday to Wednesday.

Monday came along, no snow... until about 5:00pm. And then, it snowed!! It snowed good!!

At about this time, I headed to spin class. I was driving from Dover to Portsmouth. It didn't look bad out, but it didn't look great either. However, as I was getting into Portsmouth, my friend Maria called and said, "New Hampshire drivers suck. There is someone already smashed into the guardrail. Be careful.'. So I hung up, went to slow down, and went to press on the brake a little and low and behold, my car starts the lovely spin. AWESOME!! I was able to keep it somewhat under control, except that at the end, I was heading north when I should have been heading south. But, no one got hurt. So, all's good.

Basically, we have been getting a Noreaster from what I can gather. There is a storm that is sitting a little off shore and it's just spinning and snowing. It's not an awesome one where it's dumping feet of snow, but a nice one in that we have snow on the ground now when we didn't on Sunday.

But there is really no clean-up happening. Last winter, I would love to wake up to the snow plow turning itself around so it could go back down the hill. I would sit there and be like, 'YES! It snowed last night!' Last night, it snowed. I was up at 5:45am and the snow plow still hadn't been by my house on the major road. AND, it had been snowing since before 8:00pm last night. I heard a news report yesterday that said something along the lines that NH was surprised by the storm on Monday that they didn't get a chance to get the trucks out until the storm was already hitting. Then it was too late because the trucks were stuck in traffic because there were so many accidents already. All I can say to that is, DUDE! I knew there was a storm coming... why didn't you?!?!? NH DOT get on the ball and start paying attention to the Doppler or something... maybe even the surf reports. They usually are right on the mark!!

Taking a trip to Irrationalville?

The background story: Monday's are my hardest days. It starts at 5:00am. I walk or run with the dogs from 5:00 - 6:00am. I then get ready for work and am at work by 7:00am. I work from 7:00am to 3:00pm and then head to the pool to coach. I coach from 3:30 to 5:00pm. Then I head to spin class and I spin from 6:00 to 7:00pm. Then I head home always exhausted and always hungry. I try to bring snacks so that I am not the most irritable person on the planet, but I'm not always the best at that.

Last night, after spin class, I headed to Tyler's band concert and we had our first snow storm. The 10 mile drive took 45 minutes and I got to see one song. Then I got home, I was starving, exhausted, stressed from driving in the snow and PMS'ing. Nate got the mail and brought it inside. He grabbed the outside magazine and immediately started reading it.

Jenny: "Nate, what should we do for dinner?"
Nate: "I don't know"... head didn't even come out of the magazine to look up.
3 minutes go by.
Jenny: "Do we have a pizza in the freezer downstairs?"
Nate: "I don't know"... head still doesn't come out of the magazine.
I walk down stairs, no pizza in the freezer.
Jenny: "Nate, is there anything you want for dinner? I'm really hungry".
Nate: "No."... head still in the magazine

I was about to give up. I went and put my PJ's on and seriously considered just going to bed.

Jenny: "Nate, listen... I'm hungry, I'm tired and I'm PMS'ing. Please, help me with dinner."
Nate: "Guess who is the winner tonight?"

I walk away again to get my head back on straight. I walk back in the kitchen and open up the fridgerator.

I pull out some sausages and stuff to make a salad. Nate makes the sausages and I make the salad. And then the funniest comment to date comes out from the Nater...

Jenny: "I seriously was about to just go to bed hungry."
Nate: "Yup, and if you did that, I would've just made dinner for myself and sat next to you in bed eating it."
Jenny: "Thanks bud, that wasn't the answer I was looking for."
Nate: "Well, not everyone wants to take a trip to irrationalville"
Jenny: "Irrationalville?"
Nate: "Yup, and you can quote me on that."

I'm glad that we can laugh about all this stuff.

It's Winter Time

It's winter & southern NH has 0 inches of snow right now. The ground is frozen, my house is cold (still), but we are missing the white stuff.

We did go to the pond yesterday and played around on the ice. This is Scout's first winter and he seems to be loving it! He's always up for an adventure and yesterday, he definitely got one. We got to the pond, Nate & Tyler walked out onto the ice, and Scout followed right behind. He took one step and slid about 2 feet. Oakley stood there, watching to see what Scout was going to do. I threw the tennis ball for Scout and the two were off. We played for a little over an hour and the pups were pooped.

Nate & I are taking next week off of work and I'm a little worried that we are going to be sitting there staring at each other trying to figure out what we can do outside with the ground frozen, but without any snow. There may be some interesting adventures ahead of us! I'll try to actually remember my camera!!

That is the question....

More than ever, I have this debate with myself whether or not I want kids. A lot of my friends have kids and they seem to enjoy them... but they also seemed to enjoy kids prior to having kids...

I like kids... in small doses....

I like kids... when they are quiet...

I like kids... when they go home...

I keep telling myself that if I have kids, it won't be for another two years or so... which seems to be a far enough out in the distance that maybe I'll like kids then... I do think raising kids will be fun b/c it will be a challenge... but I'm not sure I have the patience, stamina, energy, patience, kindness, thoughtfulness, did i say patience yet? for a kid...

But in my mental dilemma, I enjoy the company of two kids on a weekly basis. Most of the times I look at Nate and say, "if I have a kid, are they going to be like this?" and he says, "yes, all 5 year olds are like this"... Oh dear... so then I ask my mom, "mom, what was I like when I was 5?". Because if my parents had 5 kids and they survived, I must have been a breeze to deal with b/c if I wasn't easy to deal with, then they would've been nuts while I was growing up.... Oh dear....

So, it'll still be 2 years until I think about having a kid... Time to go buy some stock in Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Trotting for Tukey

I have been running more and more with my two little spastic puppies and decided to run another 5k this year. I ran one in the beginning of September, and it was really fun so I thought I'd sign up for another. I had convinced Nate to run with me. We were going to have a non-stop action turkey day of running, surfing and eating. However, two Sundays ago, Nate decided to put his foot in front of someone kicking a soccer ball, sprained his ankle badly and is black and blue from the ankle to his little toes. So, he got out of running the 5k with me. Unfortunately for him, the Atlantic Ocean has turned into a large lake in the New England region so I got out of surfing with him!

There were 1,500 people signed up for the Seacoast Region Turkey Trot. It was pretty cool to see so many people out running on Thanksgiving day. It was in the high 20s in the morning so it was rather chilly! I think it might be the coldest weather I have run in so far.We started on an island off of Portsmouth, headed over a bridge and then ran through the city a bit. Nate rode his bike b/c his ankle is so bad and carried all my warm gear that I stripped off 3 seconds before running. He had to wait for all the people to get over the bridge before he could start riding. I didn't see him until at least 1/2 way through the race.

Since it was my second 5k, I was a little more excited about how fast I could go. It definitely was apparent with my splits. I went out WAYYY TOOOOO fast and my first mile was 7:08, the next mile was 7:35 and the last mile was 7:41. Since last week, it was the first time I had paced under 8 minutes, I was psyched to be running fast, but when I heard my first mile pace of 7:17, the only thing I could think was, 'oh dear.... what did you do to yourself!' My overall time was 23.19 which I am really, really happy with. I was 10th in my age group and 167th overall!! For my second 5k, I'll take that!!




Here are some pictures of my run:

 

Waiting to start

And we're off...

 

Making strides...

 

Heading back to towards the river and dying....

 

It's so disheartening when you get passed and you can't do anything about it!! 

 

Finishing!!! 

I convinced my friend from work, Anna, to participate in the 5k too. It was her first 5k and she had only been running for about a month. She pushed a stroller with two youngens and I'm soo proud of her for finishing. Here are a few pics of her and her two year old daughter ZJ running:

 

ZJ posing for the camera as a runner! 

 

ZJ pulling up her pants and putting her feet to the ground.

 

Anna, her husband Michael and ZJ right after they finished!! Congrats Anna on finishing your first 5k!! 

New Appreciation

I have a whole new appreciation of parents, pre-school teachers, janitors or anyone who has to clean up vomit on a regular basis!

I went mountain biking with my friend yesterday and I thought everything was all good as we headed home. My friend looked at Oakley and was like, 'hmmmm.. Oakley looks like she got into something'. This is no big deal, Oakley ALWAYS gets into something. Then we looked at Scout, and he had a little funk on his nose. Again, no big deal. Scout tends to get into stuff too. I got the dogs in the car, started heading home and pulled onto the highway. Then, not a big deal turned into a bigger deal. Scout threw up. I looked back and it was a funky color, but in doggie fashion, Scout started eating it up. Again... no big deal... THEN... the smell... it started taking over my car... and it wasn't your normal smell... it was BAD!!!!! When my friend pointed out that Oakley had something on her head, she thought that it might've been poop. When the smell wafted up from the back of the car... It was MOST DEFINITELY POOP!!! I drove home for a good 45 minutes with my hood over my nose so that I didn't have to smell it. He ended up throwing another time in my car and another time on the rug in the family room!!!

This morning, I got to clean up all that... (I was not going to skip my date last night to clean up vomit, but I did put some carpet cleaner on it to nutralize the smell... a bit...). It was ALL over the carpet in the back of my Vue. It was all over the spare wheel and underneath the spare! It was FANTASTIC!!!

But it's clean now!! and I'm SOOOO happy that it's over!! And I will do whatever I can to keep Scout from eating random stuff from now on!!!

Chocura, Chocura

Nate & I went hiking with our friends, Brian & Cassie, on Sunday October 24. We hiked Mount Chocura, 3,490 feet. The day started chilly and was sprinkling a little and ended up being just plain cold and icy on the top. Cassie is 27 weeks prego and a total champ. It was Scout's first hiking experience and he ended up making it back in the car to go home which to me marks a successful first hike. I spent more time on my bum on the way down, and thankfully, no injuries! Here are some pics of the day:

Nater on the way up to the top

Proof that we made it to the peak. :-)

Brian & Cassie & Emma at the top

Cassie, 27 weeks prego at the top.

Nate & I

Oakley showing no fear scaling the rocks. It's amazing how much she has changed since we got Scout. She showed no fear the the whole time.

Scout has definitely lived up to his name and the bell has eased my mind a lot in the last few months!!

All of the rest of the pictures from the day are here.

Check that off the bucket list

We did it!! We accomplished 100+ miles on a road bike in the Berkshire mountains! The ride was called the Great River Ride and here is what the critics say: "Gorgeous but gruelling" is Bicycling's description for what we believe is the most challenging century in New England. It was hard as heck and I'm positive that next year if someone asks me to do it again, I'll say, 'No, thank you!'.

Here is the map of first two breaks on the ride. My phone died after the second break. There were two more breaks... and 66 miles to go. Rumor has it, that the total elevation gain was about 10,000 feet. No pictures were taken, unfortunately. The camera got left in the car. All, I gotta say that it was hard as heck... oh, I said that already!!

And now for my shout outs: 

First, I'd like to thank Erin for hooking us up with biking gear!! I didn't exactly look like a super biker but I at least had the gear that I could look like a biker! :-)

Next, I'd like to thank the makers of Gu! I'm positive I would not have finished it without Gu every 12-15 miles.

Also, I'd like to the dude who heckled me in the first 10 miles. That hill was a beast and I wasn't ready for it or in the right gear. Your heckling helped me get up the rest of the hill and I made sure to keep my eye on you. And yes, not only did I finish it, I finished it BEFORE you! So, kiss off!!!

Finally, I'd like to thank the Nater Potater!! Thank you for sticking with me and encouraging me, but not like that one guy who was yelling at his girlfriend to keep pushing up the hill as she was dragging him and two of his friends up a hill or that lady who yelled at her husband for taking too long at the VERY FIRST snack break. Thank you for hanging with me when I was steadily crawling up the hill at 4 mph or not making fun of me when I needed a break to just breath on the hills. You are the best riding partner out there! XOXOXOXO

Name that Emotion!!

*This was meant to be silly... although, when one is going through the rollar coaster, do not mention the game or what may cause the game, unless you want a fist to the face... which again, may not happen depending on one's mood 10 seconds prior to the comment or 10 seconds after the comment. It could always come back and bite you in the bum!

It's that time again to play, "Name that Emotion". In this game, not only will you need to name the emotion, you need to name the source of the emotion... Alright, let's start the game... First scenario:  You asked if I wanted a banana and I stormed off, what was that emotion and what was the source???? Your first answer... "You have no idea" is completely wrong... The answer was "emotion: pissed; source: you are offering me a banana because you think I'm fat and didn't want to offer me the candy bar that you were eating".

Second scenario: "You gave me socks that were too big and I cried. Why?"... "No idea!"... Correct Answer: "emotion: sad; source: remember that time... sniff... sniff... when you said I had cankles... sniff... four years ago... waaaaaa..."

Third scenario: "We went mountain biking and you took me on a really hard trail. I'm a mess. What am I mad at?" Answer: "Oh, this is a tricky one... and very dependent on the where we are on the trail and what is happening... At the beginning, I'm mad that you took me on such a hard trail, but there are moments of "why does he hate me so much to take me on a trail so that I never want to mountain bike again?" Then there is a few moments of "why did he convince me to buy such an expensive bike if he's going to take me on a trail that I'm going to walk?" mixed in with "I'm just going to sell my stupid bike". Next, there may be a few of "why won't he talk to me? He really must not like me anymore. He takes me on a trail that I can't handle and now he won't talk to me. UGH!!" Then finally, "I SUCK AT MOUNTAIN BIKING!! Why do I SUCK at mountain biking? Why can't I do anything? Why won't he swim with so that I can be better at something then he is? Why do I suck at EVERYTHING?"

*Disclaimer -- some of these scenarios are made up for comedic purposes but they are not THAT far from the truth... unfortunately... for everyone around me!

"I don't even feel like I rode today" - Nate Schontag

Nate and I signed up for a century ride in March... When did we start "training" for it?? Oh... one week ago... That's when I found out that Nate was NOT going to let me bail from it! This century ride is in the Berkshires which are a set of mountains in Massachusetts. Last year, we signed up for the "flattest" century ride... We didn't end up doing the ride because it was in Maryland, it was an 10 drive to ride our bikes for 6+ hours and then drive home. Oh, and it was going to rain. Oh, and I had fallen off my bike a few weeks before and hurt my hip really bad. This year, we didn't sign up for the flattest century ride. Quite the opposite actually. We signed up for the "most gorgeous, yet grueling" century ride. And we have 3 weeks to "train" for it... FANTASTIC PLANNING!

Back to our training. I knew that we needed to ride a few long rides before we attempt 100 miles, so I figured, oh yes, let's ride around the largest lake in NH. It'll be pretty. It might be a bit hilly. I unfortunately did not use my GPS thing on my phone, so I don't have a complete elevation gain... but I did find this site that does have the elevation gain... We only rode 60 miles and there are three different places from that site that we didn't follow, but for the most part... Yup, we rode that!!!

Here are a few of my favorite examples of elevation gain:

and my favorite...

I will not claim to have rode up that first hill non-stop!! I did ride it! I did stop...  A LOT!!! But I did ride it!!

I'll give it a few days before I say whether or not this ride was fun!! It was hard!! My muscles are sore! I was really uncomfortable for the last 20 or so miles. Not uncomfortable enough to quit, but definitely uncomfortable to complain about it... Not that does any good!!!

Some of my accomplishments... Slowest riding ever... I think it was right after our first stop. Of course, we stopped at the bottom of hills and this hill we could not see as we were resting. But as I neared the top, I looked down and my speedometer said, 4.5 and my cadence was about 40. OUCH!!! Another accomplishment... fastest riding ever!! My speedometer clocked me at 39.7!! WAHOO!!! I was cruising!!! I'm pretty sure the speed limit was 45 mph so I unfortunately did not speed. Final accomplishment, I took a picture while riding!! I didn't make a phone call or facebook or anything like that, Carrie... :-D

And my lovely boy, what are his comments:

"I really don't even feel like I rode today."

"I think I'm going to go home and mow because I'm not that sore."

"That hill (as we just finished going up a hill) was really fun."

"Really? You are that tired?"

Thank goodness that he's soooo stinking cute!! He would've gotten beat!!!

Here are some of the pictures I took while I was riding:

Amanda enjoying the flat road on a beautiful day.

Nate, happy as a clam on our first break

Nate on one of our last few uphills

The lake! The only picture I was able to take of it and it was a little cock-eyed b/c there were lots of cracks that I was riding over...

I cannot say good-bye to those whom I have grown to love, for the memories we have made will last a lifetime and never know a good-bye -- Anonymous

A week and a day ago, I woke up, and noticed that I had an email alert on my phone. I looked at the email and I had two emails from my mom. The first one ripped my heart out. My sister-in-law's father passed away very suddenly. One day he was healthy; the next day, he was no longer with us. The second email was letting the rest of us know that my parents were going to be in Michigan for a few days to help my brother and his wife out with their four kids.

My sister-in-law was daddy's little girl and I totally feel for her every day. I'm daddy's little girl too and I can't imagine losing my father! Kattie, my heart goes out to you!!

I talked to my brother the other night and he said, "whatever happened in the past should live in the past, all we should focus on is today and move forward". He's right!

If you have a problem with a loved one, forgive them without them having to say they are sorry! Life is WAY to short to harbor grudges and sweat the small stuff. Hug them tighter and let them know that you love them!! You never know what tomorrow is gonna bring...

I wanted a perfect ending, now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious amiguity.


Gilda Radner

Maybe I should get a hobby

Oakley and Scout go to daycare every Thursday. The daycare posts pictures of the dogs each day. I like to make up little stories about what the dogs were thinking while the pictures were being taken.

"No, really, I said, LEAVE ME ALONE!"



Scout and I have a few things in common. We don't like to be bothered when we are tired...

"My name is Oakley and I have big guns!!"

Look at those shoulders. She works out... just a bit... Although she doesn't look as proud of her big guns as I am!

PS. Nate & I have been on a lot of adventures this summer. We just haven't taken any pictures. Maybe on our century ride, I'll take some pictures... anything to keep my mind off the fact that we have to ride 100 miles and I haven't ridden 50 this summer... TOTAL!

Is running really becoming part of my routine?

So, yes, I have two dogs! And yes, they are NUTS! We take them mountain biking a bunch on the weekends and occasionally during the weeks, but most of the time during the week, it's a bit difficult to get them exercise so that they can be relatively calm. And relative is just that... relative!! :-)  So, I started running with them. I first started just running a mile or two once or twice a week. I would carry both of their leashes and I think my arms got more of a workout than the rest of me. Then I started running the almost three mile loop by my house. And slowly, I'm coming up with ways to make it easier on me so that I can go faster... Before each run, I take them on a little walk so that both of them will do their business so that we don't have to stop for business. Oakley has yet to do her business on the actual pre-run-walk but at least Scout does... Although Scout did master the bathroom while you run technique so I'm not sure I care if he goes or not. However, it is nice that I don't have to dodge #2's as they come my way.

I ended up getting them a leash that I can wrap around my waist. I then have a coupler so that there is only one leash. I have yet to fall (KNOCK ON WOOD) but there have been a few times where I thought the pavement was getting awfully close. I am tempted to talk to one of my neighbors who also has two dogs and ask them to PLEASE, PLEASE not let their dogs outside prior to 6:30am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. When we are walking, one of their dogs runs alongside us and Oakley and their dog bark at each other. I usually have to pull with all my might to get Oakley back on the road. So, I can't exactly imagine what will happen to me if the dog comes flying outside and Oakley pulls me and Scout toward the dog as we are cruising down the little hill. It might be similar to those times when I held onto Oakley's leash while I was riding my bike... Both of my hips have lovely scars from those two occasions.

Then I bought myself a cute little outfit... which I do wear every time I run... because I only have ONE cute little outfit... I have washed it ... now...

So, today, I signed myself up for a 5k... WHAT THE HECK AM I THINKING!?!?!?

Oh yes, I remember now... Those sprinkled donuts were awfully delicious today... If I run more tomorrow... maybe I can have some next week!!  YUMMMMMM

My pups have personality!

My puppies are freaking awesome!! Just when your day may be getting slow... You get to see my little princess crossing her feet and squinting her cute little eyes! That is her happy face!!

And you get to see my little buddy:

Do you see any resemblance?

Ah, yes... My little buddy resembles the flying nun!! Ain't he cute!!!

Random Thoughts by JP

So Anna R & Nater are usually the only ones that are exposed to my complete randomness... but here goes nothing...

1) I saw a guy this morning riding his bike with dreadlocks that were past his buttocks... I'm not sure why dreadlocks give me the heebie jeebies... but they do!! And hair past your buttocks gives me the heebie jeebies too... Nothing like standing in the shower with your hair in your crack to make you feel clean... so, he gave me double heebie jeebies...

2) And just to prove how random my brain works, here's a multi-random thought... This morning I surfed by myself. I went to my favorite surf spot and I paddled out. As I was paddling out, I was mentally preparing myself for the 'what if' scenerios... What if I see a seal? what am I going to do... Random thought part 2a... so, every time I tell people that I surf, someone inevitably says, "oh, did you hear about the shark sighting at such-a-such place?" To them, I usually want to look at them as bold face as I can and say, "Oh, did you hear a child molester moved into your neighborhood?"... b/c to me, they are very similar... please, if someone tells you that they surf, leave the shark stories for discovery channel! Back to my seal... so if I see a seal and I haven't paddled completely out, I'm just gonna turn back around, grab the dogs and have some fun on the beach... if I see a seal and I have surfed a few waves, I might stay around and surf some more... or I'll just high-tail to the beach and get out of the water... So, I caught a few waves and paddled back to my spot, I look around... oh, and here comes mr. happy seal... bobbing up and down... all happy like... What to do? what to do?... The waves were pretty dang fun, so I stayed out and got another one, but every time I looked at my feet, I heard the jaws music... and now... I have heart burn!! GREAT!!!

3) After surfing in the mornings, I put my pj's back on, go to work, and take a shower at work. Today was no different. I leave my toiletries in my little locker at my cube so I have to go to the third floor to my cube before I go to the second floor to take my shower. I walked onto the third floor and was pretty happy to see that no one was at work yet. I was seriously hoping that I wouldn't have to talk work before I took my shower. I grabbed my toiletries, grabbed my back pack, turned around... and wa la... there was someone standing there. He chuckled at me, which immediately turned my smile upside down, and then proceeded to just talk at me. I wanted to stop him SO bad and say, "dude, I'm wearing my pjs, can this wait?" For this guy, yes, I would've called him dude. But he didn't let me talk until he was done with his diatribe. So, I'm standing there a good few minutes in my pjs at work. And of course, it was something he could've emailed me about and has to email me anyways... so to mr. dude, I say... Please, it was 7:30am... Next time, it most definitely can wait!!!!

4) I just was conversing with Anna R and I made a comment about someone's outfit. She was like, 'uhm, excuse me. look at where she is from?'. I then said, "Anna dear, I am from Illinois. Should I wear overalls everyday?".... Sometimes, I crack myself up!!! :-D

Wanted: A friend ....

Wanted: A friend that's a girl that likes to mountain bike who lives in the seacoast and who's partner likes to mountain bike and can keep up with Nate. I'll take that back... It doesn't necessarily need to be a girl... Just someone who will mountain bike with me that I can keep up with and won't take me on uber hard trails!!! And if we do end up on an uber hard trail b/c inevitably if Nate's leading, we'll take the hard way, someone that can make me laugh before I throw my expensive bike in the woods, kick it a few times and nearly scream, "I WILL NEVER MOUNTAIN BIKE WITH YOU AGAIN!!!"... I didn't yell it, but I sure wanted to!! Yes, I did throw my mountain bike in the woods... It only weighs 29 pounds, it was pretty easy! I didn't kick it, but I kicked a few rocks that were on my way off the trail as I stormed away from the trail... And I never did yell at Nate, but he sure did apologize 500 times for taking me on the most technical trail that I've ever been on!!! After about 30 minutes of riding in the car after the disasterious mountain bike ride, he was like, "yeah, that trail was really fun for me"... Don't make me pull over and drop you off, buddy!!!

The Curse of Mt. A

The curse continues for us at Mt. A. Earlier this summer, while mountain biking there, Nate threw out his back and was laid up for over a week. It was not one of those pleasant adventures. And last night, we got another not-so-pleasant adventures... But let me step back...

On Saturday, while playing in the field across the street from our house, I saw Scout take off over the hill towards the chicken pen. I grabbed Oakley, told the boys to hold on tight, grabbed the bike and took off after Scout. When I got to the chicken pen, I saw that Scout has somehow evaded the electric fence around the chickens and was in the pen with the chickens. I turned off the electric fence, jumped in the pen, and grabbed Scout only to see a dead chicken near Scout. I picked him up and got him out of the pen and turned the fence on. I dragged him back to our house and put him in his kennel where he spent most of his day. I had to go tell the farmers that Scout had killed a chicken and I felt TERRIBLE!! I promised that we would do whatever we could to keep him from killing another and offered to pay them!!

So... karma has a way of creeping it's head back in and sure enough, Scout got a karma-slap to his mug!!! Last night, we went to Mt. A to ride around. We were doing great. Flying through the trails, laughing, having a great time. Nate saw Scout turn and buzz away from the trail. Then Nate heard Scout yelp. I was out in front so when I heard Nate yell for Scout, I stopped. Eventually, Nate and Scout came up the trail and Nate was like, 'oh $hit'. I looked at Scout and he had a beard of quills from a porcupine. The dumb dog went mouth first for a porcupine and got it in return. We spent a few minutes trying to pull out as many as we could, but as it was getting dark, decided it was not the time or place to keep working on it. We headed back to the car. Scout would fly up in front of us, scrape at his face until we caught up, and then would fly in front again. Part of it was very comical and part of it just sucked. We finally got back to the car, loaded up the dogs and the bikes and headed home. On the way home, I called an emergency vet and they said we could try pulling them out ourselves, but it might require Scout to be put out so if we can't get it done, to bring him and they'd take care of it. We got home, pulled out the pliers and tried pulling them out. Nate got one out between Scout's toes. Then he tried to take another one out around Scout's lips and Scout almost bit him. We decided it was officially time to take him to a vet. One of my friends from swimming in New England is a vet... He's a great friend to have!! I called him and asked him if he would be able to take care of Scout. He said, yes and meet him at the clinic. So, off we went.

Scout is one tough little $hit!!!! My friend said, "Here is a horse tranq. It'll make him sleep. This is all we should need". So he gives Scout the horse tranq. Scout starts to slow down and eventually lays down. The vet started pulling the quills out of his neck and around his head. He then goes to pull one out of Scout's lip and Scout springs back to life and nearly bit his hand. So my friend goes back into his medicine room and pulls out something a bit stronger. This drug kinda paralyzes Scout. At least that's what it seemed like to me. Scouts eyes were huge and bugging out but he couldn't do anything. So the vet pulls out the quills around his lips and his nose. He then starts to work on the quills that are in his mouth and Scout bugs out again. The vet gives him another shot, and as the vet is working on the quills in Scout's mouth, Scout's tongue is going nuts and Scout is hissing and trying with all his might to pull out of the way. Granted Scout was on something and was paralyzed and couldn't really move, but he was trying!! So, next step, Scout is put out. The vet gassed Scout and still, Scout put up a fight! The vet would think he was out, and would try to put the breathing tube in. Scout would start whining and hissing... more gas for Scout... try again... more gas for Scout... I had to walk away from all this because I couldn't stand it. Scout's whining was sooo sad. Eventually, they were able to get a breathing tube in and he was knocked out completely. The vet was then able to clean out the remaining quills from his mouth. I wish I would've gotten a good picture of where some of these were, but I'll do my best to describe it... One was through his gum by his front teeth on the roof of his mouth. It started at his teeth and came out near his lip. Another was under his tongue and was completely in the base of his mouth. At one point, I heard Nate say, "Scalpel". Yes, Nate was very happy to help!! It took about an hour and a half but all of the quills were successfully removed.

Once it was done, we had to wait until the anesthesia wore off. As he woke up, he peed on himself twice, he threw up, he walked around like a drunken sailor. He was a mess... and all we said to him was, "Karma's a bi-atch, Scout. Karma's a bi-atch!".