Kaya Is Here!!!

Yay! Kaya is here. She is sleeping in her crate as I type this. We were planning to bring her home this evening, but ended up getting her two days early, Sat. evening. It was good we brought her home during a weekend. Sunday I was so pooped by the time I went to bed. She is only sleeping about 3 hours at night. My wonderful husband stays up with her until about 1 or 2 am. I go to bed early and then get up with her at 4 or 5am.

We are kennel training her and so far that is going well. I have never tried to do this with a dog before. She has only went in the kennel once by herself to sleep. Usually we wait until she is tired and then put her in there. All the books say you should never let the puppies out when they are whining. She has done that only a few times. Today was really hard at lunch time. I was able to come home and let her out and then when I had to leave she really didn't want to go back in the kennel so I had to kind of push her in. She was quiet for a few seconds when I shut the door but then she started crying and howling. I had classical music on for her when I left. When the husband go home he said she was quiet. I hope she does well with this kennel training.

She is doing great with potty training so far. We have been watching her very closely and bringing her out a lot. So far NO accidents in the house or her kennel!!!

I better go check on her. More news and pictures soon.

Growing Puppy

This past Saturday we had a chance to visit and play with our new puppy Kaya. Here are some pictures of our little girl growing up.

Playing with her sisters (she's the one biting the other's neck)

Down time with Dad

Pointing

Our smart Puppy

Nap time

Awww.....

Summer Vacation Part II

The second part of our summer vacation was spent up north in the place where I grew up. We picked a really good week to visit. The summer weather had been cool and fall like (even where we live), but this past week was in the low 80's and sunny. :)

We left on Monday and decided to take a different route than normal. We went up through the Twin Cities and Duluth and then cut across northern WI and the UP of Michigan. We left at noon and were lucky to miss all the road construction back ups and heavy traffic. We almost got into a fender bender in the Twin Cities near dowtown St. Paul, but the brakes on our little rental car work well! We never quite figured out what caused the congestion there. One thing that is great about driving north is the changing landscape from open areas to miles and miles of tree lined highway. We saw a few deer on the way, but never came close to an accident with them. When we arrived at our destination on Monday we were greeted by my Dad and a happy golden/lab mix, old boy Cody.


The next three days were spent with slow relaxing mornings, a run each day, sightseeing, and visiting with family and friends...

Tuesday we ran along the lakeshore of Lake Superior. Marquette has been building up townhouses and condos along the lake and has created some really great trails.



Another great new addition to the downtown is the Food Co-op and Farmer Q's. Before leaving home I had checked Local Harvest to see what was available. We bought some granola, cashews, fruit, and milk from MN at the Co-op after our run. That evening we went to one of my aunt's houses to meet my mom and some of her family. My mom had planned a surprise get together, which was great!

Wednesday started much the same way as the day before. After some breakfast and coffee we went for a run along the lake again. This time in the opposite direction. We checked out Farmer Q's and bought some local blueberry jam and fruit. In the afternoon we went out to Presque Isle and walked a bit on the breakwall. There was a little family of ducks battling the waves to eat the algae caught along the wall. Those little ducklings seemed like they would just get carried away, but they managed just fine.






That evening was spent with friends and their growing families. It was so great to see everyone! I wish I was closer so I could watch the little ones grow day by day. I hope we can start a new tradition of getting together at least once a year.

Thursday was our last day in town. After our morning of breakfast, coffee, and a little frisbee with Cody we drove out to Presque Isle for our run. This was the first time I had ever done that and I'm kicking myself for not taking more advantage of the time when the island was closed for walkers/runners/bikers only while living in MQT. After the run we took more pictures of the lakeshore, of course, and caught a ship setting out from the ore dock.



That afternoon we went to the Marquette County History Museum. They have an exhibit titled "Anatomy of a Yooper". Ha! It was interesting to see the history of all the different immigrants and melding of traditions.

We ended our trip with an evening downtown for ice cream (Mackinac Island Fudge in a waffle cone! YUM!) and walking around with my dad. Here are some more pictures from our trip. Can't wait until we come back!



Friday we heading back in our little rental car (don't have a picture of that surprisingly). We drove through WI and stopped along the way to visit the in-laws. We spent about 4 great hours visiting with everyone. The last stop we made was to visit our uncle. He has been retired for a while and for fun he built, by himself, a little wood cabin in his backyard complete with stone fireplace. It had that great wood smell and was amazing to see.

Puppy Love

This past week was very eventful and exciting. The work week went very quickly. So much to do and so little time before another week off. On Thursday we went to an annual department picnic. It was so much fun! There was live entertainment the whole night which was mostly provided by people or kids of people that worked in the department. The main even was a group called The Dweebs. They were so much fun. I always am up for dancing, but the husband was a little reluctant. A co-worker and I convinced him to come up and dance though and we were dancing for at least an hour to hour and a half straight. My legs and body were so sore the next day, but it was sooooo worth it. My cheeks were even hurting from smiling and laughing so much.

The other exciting thing that happened last week was that we decided to get a new puppy! August saw a women that works at our apartment building complex on Tuesday. She asked if he wanted a dog. Her purebred husky had just had puppies a month ago. The dad is a mix of black lab/greyhound?/hunting spaniel/wolf. We are not sure exactly. They got him from a sled dog breeder. The wolf in the dog is in his great-great grandparents. He looks like a very tall black lab. We will most likely be getting our new baby, Kaya, in the beginning of September. We already have some training books and a leash and collar. We decided on a name after looking at some baby name books in Barnes and Noble. Kaya is Hopi Indian for wise child/older sister. It is also the word for Yew tree in Japanese.

This is Dad

This is Mom

This is our girl Kaya

Summer Vacation

What I did on my summer vacation...

Part 1:

Last week I was happily able to take a week off to relax at home. Usually when you take a vacation people ask “Where are you going?” “What will you do?”. My answers were simple.

No where

Relax

I try to take this kind of vacation at least once a year and it does usually involve some kind of house chore that I do not seem to ever get to on the weekends. I did still do a lot of relaxing though. Here is what my week looked like:

Friday:
Stayed late at work to finish up items on my ever growing to do list. Husband not to excited about his b/c I have been at work for 10 hours and thinks I am working to hard...probably right. Get home, eat dinner, which husband has prepared (loves him very much!). Go out to Kohl’s and BBB to look for ice cream maker and bread maker. End up buying bread maker and pasta rolling machine. Want to buy lots more at BBB, so many fun kitchen items, darn BBB. Husband starts making bread right away...very good.

Saturday:
Get up early to run a women’s 4 mile race. Didn’t really train for race and have not run 4 miles all summer, so was very nervous. Husband comes to cheer me along. Ran best pace EVER in a race: about 9:30 (37 minutes, unsure of seconds). Went to Farmer’s Market, which was very busy since we were there later than usual. Bought very yummy foodstuffs. :)

Later...made homemade pasta with new pasta roller. Way better than rolling by hand. Glad we rolled by hand at least once, but will never do again after using pasta machine. Made spaghetti and fettucini. Ate former, dried and stored latter. Sooo good. Could actually taste egg in pasta dough. Spent evening relaxing.

Sunday:
Slept in...yay! Can’t remember what else I did, but may have involved laundry and reading my book. Made roasted chicken with sautéed fingerling potatoes and salad for dinner.

Monday:
Husband had school in AM. Woke up early with him anyway. Ate breakfast and watched the TODAY show...got sucked in, even though topics were only so-so, and ended up on couch for couple of hours. Read emails and surfed internet. At 11am went for 1.5 hour bike ride on trail near apartment. So nice! Saw many birds and enjoyed sunshine and fresh air. Showered and watched Martha Stewart Show. Made vanilla yogurt (best batch I have done yet). Dinner for husband was left-over chicken sandwich, dinner for me was chicken salad.

Tuesday:
Started on one of my home projects: Cleaning office, filing bills, throwing out papers I don’t need. Worked on that all morning. Grocery shopping in afternoon. Bought ice cream maker. Chicken salad dinner and lazy evening.

Wednesday:
Woke up early with husband (school) and went for run through park. Again, one of best paces ever! Approximately 9:15 min/mile. Ate breakfast and watched TODAY show again, and again got sucked in for a bit. Continued on office cleaning project. Going though bills and papers was kind of like going back in time over last few years remembering when different things were happening. Chicken soup in slow cooker and salad (with first tomato from garden!) for dinner. First attempts at making ice cream...ice cream not cold enough before putting in maker, had consistency of malt shake...still tasted wonderful though.

Thursday:
Slept in. :) More cleaning. :) Made car reservation for trip home to MI. Had to take cat/child to vet for shot. Measured weight and said she needs a diet. Poor kitty. We are switching to diet food and hope she likes it. Husband makes more ice cream...it is more firm this time and still very delicious.

Friday:
Woke up sort of early (going to bed later and sleeping in longer...reverse from the practice you use to do as a child to get ready for back to school...oops). Went for run on different trail...was great! The weather all week was cool without any humidity. It felt a little like fall and was so great for running. More cleaning and organizing, then trip to laundromat to wash down comforter (had been meaning to do that since early springtime). Cost was $3.50 and time was 1.5 hour. Trip to Goodwill to drop off items. Took very bad route and ended up stuck in middle of road at intersection b/c traffic was backed up due to road closure. Had old guy yell “Lady, you’re blocking traffic!” to which I replied “I know, I know!” Was glad to get out of there and took freeway home to avoid any further traffic and bad driving on my part. :)

Went to matinee movie, The Ugly Truth, it was okay but very predictable. At least tickets were cheaper due to matinee. Went to target so husband could buy oils for making soap...yes soap!

Saturday:
Woke early for Farmer’s Market. So many good buys and fun chatting with vendors. Lots and lots of cleaning in afternoon. Husband makes butter for second time (First time was earlier in week). Butter is actually really easy to make. Just whip heavy cream until it looks pale yellow and curds a bit and buttermilk is released. Husband then made homemade buttermilk pancakes, eggs, and sausage for dinner. Had with homemade bread. YUM! Attempt to give kitty some wet food, but only licks once and then does not get close to food again. Ugh.

Sunday:
School night. :) Minor cleaning, but mostly relaxing. Finishing up office organizing project. Made homemade yellow butter cake with chocolate buttercream frosting for husband’s birthday. Husband makes soap with olive oil, vegetable oil, and lard with lavendar essential oil. Had homemade ravioli (frozen from previous pasta making), with homemade tomato sauce and sausage for dinner. Watched Gilmore Girls (started watching whole series from beginning again...unsure of how many times we have done this, but this show never gets old and is so good) and had ice cream. Great way to end vacation.

Somewhere in there I also finished the book “Julie and Julia” by Julie Powell and started reading “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver, both very good books.

Very sleepy at work today, but was so busy the day just flew by. Only one more week until....

Summer Vacation Part 2...Trip to MI