Scout's First Trail Experience

Scout is still our wandering warrior. He isn't bolting as much as he used to and we can generally keep him around us. We decided it was time to see how he did on the trails. He did awesomely!! He kept up and mostly stayed with us. There was one time in particular that he caught up with another group and started running with them even though we had stopped. We had to ride up to them to get him back, but he then stayed with us the rest of the time. It's so much fun to be able to take both of the dogs with us now on adventures. Here is a series of pics when we got in the car after the ride (I forgot to actually use the camera on the trails).

When we first got back in the car.

About 5 minutes later. Standing was just too much.

Keeping the eyes open was too exhausting too.

Finally both dogs zonked!

Our Cute Little Front Door Neighbors Grew Up and Flew Away!

The little birdies that were living in our front awning grew up and flew away! Here are some of the pictures of them growing:

I hope that they come back next year!!

Oh La La - The Garden is Growing

I planted a garden this year for the first time ever!! I've planted before, but never an abundance of vegetables and never with a plan. This year, I had a plan, I made some boxes and I am gardening!! I planted spinach, green peppers, red peppers, edemame, green beans, sugar peas, cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, jalapeno peppers, collard greens, garlic, cucumber, watermelon, and pumpkin. So far, I've eaten a green pepper, green beans, sugar peas, cherry tomatoes, zucchini and yellow squash from my garden!! I love it!! I love watching the plants grow. I love eating my own food that I planted and watered. I'm looking forward to many years of gardening and getting better at it.

There have been quite a few lessons learned so far! When I told someone that I was going to garden this year, they said, "you are going to spend $20 for one tomato after everything is said and done". I went in with ZERO expectations. I was hoping I would get a pepper or two, a tomato or two, maybe I would see a flower here or there. At the end of the day, they were wrong!! With my zero expectations, I planted everything a little two close together. I have two 8'x4' garden boxes and I planted everything about a foot apart. I bought the medium sized tomato cages because I figured there was no way they were going to grow over 2 feet tall. My cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, and zucchini are all in a little over half of one box and they are SQUISHED! The cucumber plants are just trying to find the sun and they are climbing up the tomato plants. The yellow squash are getting overwhelmed by the zucchini so they are growing sideways now. Big lesson: provide the plants with more space!! Lesson two: I wasn't aware that you were supposed to remove the flower from the spinach plant! I missed my spinach opportunity because it all flowered and the plant becomes very bitter after flowering. Quite frankly, I'm not sure if I would plant spinach again. I'm not sure why not, but I'm not sure why either. Lesson three: tomatoes require stakes and cages!

All in all, it's been a fun experience and I'm looking forward to gardening adventures. Here are some pictures of the bounty so far:

The edemame wasn't quite ready yet! I got a little two excited!

A love letter to Nate (that is posted on our blog so won't be all mushy gushy but rather silly)

To My Dearest N8r,

You know on Tuesday night when you kept making me go first even though I was failing miserably and I cut you off and you fell off your bike and cut up your leg... Yeah, I wish I could say I did that on purpose... :-D Sometimes, it's just better if I go behind you even though you have to wait for me!!

With all my love,

Jenny

PS... I wish I was that good of a rider to actually think that I could do something on purpose to cause someone else to fall...

PPS... I would never make you fall and hurt yourself on purpose!

My Vent About Workout Clothes

I recently purchased a tank top that was a riding/running specific tank top online. I bought it at a really discounted rate so I was more psyched about the price and didn't really read the details about the actual tank top. When I put the tank top on, I was happy that it was comfortable. After I wore for a few minutes, I felt something itchy in the middle of my back and I couldn't figure it out what it was. I took it off to inspect the tank top and it was one of those clasp things that are on a real bra!! WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS THE POINT OF THAT?!?!?! It's a built in sports bra in a tank top and yet it has clasps so that you can adjust the size of the bra?!?! But why?!?!? It's a sports bra!! It's a sports bra in a tight fitting tank top! Why would someone need to adjust the size?!? And it's not like you can adjust the straps... If I knew how to sew, those little claspy things would be so gone right now!! but I don't know how to sew so... i'm stuck with itchy clasps!! :(

Anyone out there reading this that might know someone who designs clothes for athletics, please share my rants!

1) No need for clasps in a sports bra in a tight fitting tank top!! All they do is itch!! I was a swimmer for 20+ years so I have a really wide back and if I don't need to adjust the clasps, I'm not sure there is anyone out there that would need to adjust the clasps!!

2) Just like tall size pants in the women's department, make tall size shirts/jackets/sweat shirts! I'm 5'10" and my wingspan is probably 6'0" or wider. When I look in the women's section for long sleeve shirts for doing stuff, the sleeves make it about 2/3 down my arm. I haven't been able to buy a women's coat since I was like 16. I know many women taller than me so I can't be the only one having this issue!

3) Oh, and those thumb holes that are in some long sleeve shirts but not all... they should be added to all!! They rock out!! Nothing like a little security blanket in the shirt you are wearing!! :-D But again, only if the sleeves fit...

4) To all the wetsuit designers, I can't imagine that the girls that surf are petite and have a petite back. I might be the only one that has this problem, but I have the SAME HOLE in every wetsuit that I have purchased. There is a hole in middle of my upper back from the back being stretched while I paddle and it's happened in every wetsuit that I own!!! Again, WHAT THE HECK?!!?!

I think that is all of my rants about sports clothing for women! I'm sure there are girls that have similar issues! Bring it out!! And again, if you know someone who designs athletic gear for chicas, please pass on my observances!! :D

Swimming with Bossy Boots!

I am going to give credit right now to Anna Ransom for sharing "Bossy Boots" with me... :D

Since I have two broken toes and it takes too long to walk and I can't run, I have been thinking of new things to do with the pups in the morning. Last week, Nate helped me out and took care of the dogs in the morning and once I got off the crutches, he let me take care of them again. So, Tuesday morning, we went swimming as many of you saw from my Facebook post, Oakley is the worst lane mate on the planet!!! Since we are swimming in a damned up part of a river, or as we call it, a pond, there is lots of room to swim... However, Oakley likes to make sure we are all very close to each other and she's leading...

Let me share a little about Oakley and Scout before I go on. They are both great dogs and super fun! Oakley is part retreiver, part whippet, and a whole lotta crazy. Scout... I'm still not sure what breeds Scout is. They said he was a Border Collie/Lab/Boxer mix... He could have some Border Collie... maybe a little lab... probably not boxer.... probably some terrier something or other... and also a whole lot of crazy! Oakley is the intense dog. I've heard that whippets are stubborn and sensitive... and Yes, Oakley is both of those. She's also scared of men so if a man comes over to our house, she barks and barks and whines and scatters... and on and on! We have worked on a few ways to keep her calm and quit the barking, but it's hard when a dog's tail is so high up between her legs that you think she is going to crawl into herself. Scout is the uber affectionate one... in the house! If I pet Oakley, Scout is all over that and trying to work his way into the petting session. However, the minute he gets out of the house... Poof... Scout's gone! He's a hunter and he likes to hunt out birds, squirrels, chipmunks, chickens, you name it... He wants to hunt it! He's getting better about staying with us, but we still are creative about keeping him close!!

So, this morning, I took the pups to the pond for a little swim session before work. Because Scout is a wanderer, I have tried many ways of keeping him close. We have a 15 foot leash that we put on Scout so that he can wander, but I can stop him if I need to. While we are swimming, I don't have to worry about him too much. I make sure he's following us or at least close by, but I can catch him if I see that he's breaking free. However, the minute we get back to shore, Scout's out and about running up the road! At first, I felt bad making him drag his 15 foot leash in the water. He can hardly keep up with us, now drag 15 feet of rope... the poor pup looks like he's gonna drown!!! This morning, I thought, "I'm going to let Oakley babysit Scout and I'm going to attach Scout's leash to Oakley"... BRILLIANT!!!! Not only did Scout keep up, but there were a few moments, that Oakley had Scout's leash in her mouth and she was pulling him along!! To recap, Oakley must be in front. If she's not in front, she will scratch the heck out of your legs. If Scout isn't keeping up, she'll pull him along by his leash! Hence the bossy boots!!

I am going to have to bring my waterproof camera along with us some time so that I can take pictures! They are pretty cute when they are swimming side by side. Plus, their little feet are super cute while they are swimming! So next time that there is a swimming post, there will be pictures with the post!

Kayaking around New Castle (I think that was the New town)

With my broken little nuggets, Nate & I have been trying to think of things to do so that I won't go stir crazy sitting at home. On Sunday, Nate & I took the kayaks out for a little spin around the bay between Portsmouth and New Castle. It wasn't super exciting except that we saw a deer prancing through someone's "compound" and we had to help two kids get back to their parents. The little girl was stuck in the weeds and had no idea how to kayak. Nate pushed her back to the island where her parents were hanging out watching. They had a boat so they could've easily saved her if the situation got bad. All in all, it was a lot of fun and a great adventure out of the house and away from my book! Enjoy!

Deer prancing through the "compound" on the island:

The old prison on the ship yard

 

Our Cute Little Front Door Neighbors!

We have five little babies living in our awning over our front door. (Correction added) They are purple finches. Here is daddy feeding his little babies.

Proud Garden Momma

This year was my first year as a gardener and I'm soo proud!! :D

 

 We've had a few snap peas already and they were fantastic!! I can't wait to try the rest!!