We're all friends here right?

So I think I know where my next move will be.

I know right - you plan them?

Well, not exactly. However, I don't really want to stay where I am long term unless God says I have to. I'm not going to tell you were the new location is yet, not until more things are known. I will say that there are pos and cons to both.

Pros of the new local:
    - Definitely four seasons, and not too hot, not too cold
    - WOT and SFL could be convinced to live here, in time.
    - It's 8 hours away at the most from my family (not counting SFLs family in NM)
    - I'll probably make quite a bit more money.
    - Land is cheap enough there I could have my own house with some land!
    - There is a lot around for recreation, dog stuff, hiking, skiing, reenacting, etc
Cons of leaving:
    - I mean with every move you'll have to re-adjust and make new friends
    - It's a smaller hospital, but really that could go on the pro list...
    - There are things that I enjoy about here, but really I'm not sure they out weigh things. I will say it is nice to be settled here already, to have seniority, to know where stuff is, to have friends, and be involved in dog stuff. BUT that said, there is a lot to do and get involved with a the new place too - and there are Swissy's around!

Thanks for letting me bounce all that stuff off you - We'll see what happens. Really all the doors could close, and I'll stay where I am - and that's okay too. At least I would know I'm suppose to stay! I'll post more later!!

Catching up

How cute is Corley? She's so sweet!

This is Vinny - he is the Mafia dog for a reason - he isn't vicious, but he looks it doesn't he? He was telling Torque what was up.

I hope the video works - it won't have sound, but you'll get to see the Torque bounce!

Look at all my seeds that I'm planting. I probably have over half already planted...I'll get to the others when I go pick up some more pots...

Aw - the wrong size!

Well Torque's pack came today, but bummers it was a small!! I don't know if I just clicked the wrong size or what, but he definitely needs a large. Fortunately the small home company in Santa Fe, NM Wild Mountain have been great! They have the right size on the way, and I'll just return the small one.

I'm slightly disappointed that we won't be able to use it right away, but oh well!! At least it's coming!

We did have another group hike today, it was great! Me, Beth, Laurie, Kizzi, and Flo all went, and since I have Julia's dogs we all had a dog to hike with (Kizzi and Flo don't have dogs). We looked like a giant train of people and dogs. It was almost 80 degrees out when we finished, and everyone was hot and sweaty. It was a lot of fun though, and if we go every week or so we'll be in great shape. It is about 5-6 miles and takes us a good 2.5-3 hours to complete.

Potting Time!

Seedlings, the quinticensial start to Spring! Unfortunately my Basil was really the only that stayed alive after the animals had their was, but they started great!! Today I restarted the ones I lost - we'll see how it goes!

Vinnie, Corley, Torque after a morning of planting and fun!

Don't you like my new Aloe plant!!!??

Stevia - just for Dad...We'll see how it grows

The other side of my porch. Not everything is planted, but I'm expecting that maybe I'll get some seeds today. I have all the pots filled with soil (I did great estimating how much I'd need), although I do think I'll need some more planters. At least I'm started. I got several different sizes and some big round ones too. I can't wait! I hope everthing grows!

They Haven't Taken Me Yet!

I'm watching Julia's two little dogs for the week...I may not make it.

I mean don't get me wrong I love her dogs, but Torque is a butt head, and Vinni is well - the mafia dog. Corley is so sweet, but Torque harasses her. Lets just say within the hour of my being home last night the squirt bottle got used no less than 30 times. Oh - and yes, Torque lifted his leg on the couch to mark it as his, which I can hardly blame him for it seeing as Mr. Mafia was being a bit possessive.

I'll try to get some pictures.

My seeds should come this week - I'm SO excited...and due to unforeseen events I'll probably be replanting at least some of my original seedlings...thank you cats and dogs.

Torque's pack should also arrive - YEAH!! I'll take pictures of it on him. I'm hoping it gets here before tomorrow so that I can take him hiking with it on. How fun!!!

More later!

Pot Garden

I am rather excited. I ordered a bunch of seeds from Seed Exchange today!! I'm going to have the rocking est garden ever if I can get them all to grow. I've decided that in case I move pots are my best plan. My porch is about a week away from an over haul! I'm going to try veggies as well as herbs, and if I get really inspired I'm going to do my best to save my seeds for next year...but that is a lot of work. I would like to make one raised bed so I can have cucumbers, potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, and Brussel sprouts (I'm so excited!)

On the ground using the porch as a trellis will be beans and peas. I also got some butterfly weed seeds so I can have a flower - in a pot of course. Then I have or will have seeds for:

rosemary
sage
basil
tomatoes
black cumin
st. john's wort
beets
carrots
corn (I'm not planting this season)
kale
2 types of lettuce
bell pepper
chives
cilantro
dill
hyssop
lambs ear
lavender
lemon mint
thyme
garlic (doesn't get planted until fall)

How fun is that??!! We'll see how it all goes, but I'm going to motivate myself this next week to go get everything I need at the store so it's ready when my seeds get here. I do have some of the seeds started already. I'll try to get some pictures from my seedlings that I've had growing - and that the animals have continuously try to destroy by maiming/eating. At least it won't be my fault if I never get any plants to grow! ;p

Training on the Trail

Today was a great day for a hike! I figure that since Torque's new pack is on the way we should get a little more serious about it. I also realized how woefully un-conditioned I am to hike 10 miles. We did about 5-6miles today and I thought I might die on some of the hills. Granted there were a lot of hills.

Torque loved it though. However, we'll have to work more on following me, and not having me correct him 1/2 the trail because he wants to pull me along

Some girls from work came with me, and brought their dogs - it was a blast!

Once he is 18mo old we can start adding weight to his pack, but for now we'll just try to train empty. To train you're suppose to start with 5lbs of weight in the dogs pack, and increase by 5lbs every week until you're 20-30% of their body weight. Every week they're suppose to do 1-3miles/day with at least one of those days wearing the pack. You're trying to train to 3-4 times a week they wear the pack on the 1-3 mile hike. THEN...after 1 month you should be to doing at least 1 trek with they're pack per 2 weeks. The trek should be 2/3s of the event distance (usually that means 6-7 miles).


We did 5-6 miles today with no pack, and I think we're both a little beaten. I should have eaten breakfast before going not just drank my coffee, but I got into a cleaning frenzy and forgot. I think that would have helped my energy level. I also joined the city meet up club for hiking, so we can get in on some good hikes, and find out where the best places to hike are. Woot for getting out and doing cardio NOT on a treadmill!

In the coming week I'll try to photograph my assembling of a Bivvy pack for my bag - I am going to train with that on, just like a real hike. Yeah for blogging again - sorry I've been gone for awhile - it's nice to be back!!

WMI

I just got back Saturday from a week long trip to learn Wilderness Medicine from NOLS/WMI (National Outdoor Leadership School/Wilderness Medicine Institute). It was one of the best courses I have ever taken. There are lots of different types of classes for every level of education. The class I took was for medical professionals, and it was great. The commrodery was fun, the hands on learning was top knotch, and the teachers had year of experience both in the medical world as well as actually doing wilderness medicine. I wish I had more pictures to share, but I do have one.

I got to be demo girl for dressing wounds. It's amazing how realistic a sharpie will seem. At first I didn't think it looked like a wound at all, just a red line down my arm. But when we did the dressing it looked just like one - it was sweeeeeet. The only down side was that when our teacher Jason when to trim the steri strips with trauma sheers he accidentally nicked my arm too. Haha I told WOT the maiming had begun. I never told Jason, I didn't want him to feel bad over it - I mean really it barely bled, and didn't hurt - and I mean heck - I already had an awesome dressing over it! ;-)

Playing Catch Up

Since it's been about a month since I posted, I should really catch you all up to our happenings. I took almost two full weeks to visit the parents, and brought the fur child with me. On the drive up we stopped to see my grandparents and cousins/aunt/uncle which was so fun!! As you can see below Sadie and Torque had a great evening of play when we got out of the car - he was tired of being pent up!

Speaking of catching up - Torque turned a year old on the 22nd. Isn't that crazy! It's been the longest and shortest year ever. He is about 27 inches tall at the shoulder, and 105 lbs. Over this next year he'll fill out more, and hopefully he'll get a brain ;-). Right now he's still all brawn no brain. Dispite that fact we're testing for his CGC (Canine Good Citizen) tonight!! We'll see if he passes. I hope he does so that we can do the next level of obedience classes. I think we're also going to try some agility just for fun, I'll let you know how that goes.

When we got up to the parents house we got to enjoy all their snow! We had so much fun!! We did a lot of goofing off and hanging out. I convinced them to go bowling one evening, which was a blast, but dad and I got wooped by the Dominator (mom) as we called her the rest of the night. It was shamefull...We also went to visit the Museum of Western Art on the weekend because it was free. What a well done exibit!! There were about four floors of western art from old as well as contempory artists, and everything from painting to a collection of old period guns. How fun!! I should have done better and got pictures, but oh well - we were there, I swear!

Sunday we went cheese and wine tasting! We go to visit a goat farm and taste their wonderful cheese. The owner was so sweet she even let us look at the barn, pet some goats, and see two babies that had been born that morning. It was so cold that day that she had placed them by the store furnase until they were dry so they wouldn't freeze to death after they were born. It was a great place. We also checked out a dairy farm on the way to lunch, they had some REALLY sharp cheese, wow. For lunch we went to this Austrian bestro called Dano's, it was spectacular. Unique, homemade, and we had the whole place to ourselves with a wall of glass to look out through the snow and down to the lake. It was a special treat, we all loved it.

As for the wine tasting we only went to two wineries, but they were fun. We also got to check out a local distillery - it was unique and definately worth going to. We had a blast!!

Also - as you can see my flowers have survived snow and cold all winter - amazing!