Busted

For those of you who follow this blog, you know that I try to post a new piece every day. But you also know that some days I forget or I get too busy and then I must go to bed. Generally, I write the blog I miss the day after and write from the perspective of the day before. It can get confusing to be living in a Thursday but writing about a Wednesday. I do my best to remember what day I’m writing about, but some days I forget.

Like last week. I got too busy to write Wednesday’s blog so I got up early on Thursday and wrote about Wednesday. Only I wrote about Wednesday as if it were Thursday. Are you confused? Well, apparently I was too and the result was that I forgot to write Thursday’s blog. Of course, then the three-day New Year’s weekend happened and it all got messed up so now I must make amends or at least confess that I’ve been busted for my little white lies about what day I’m writing about.

Gretchen tried to console me with some phrase about “you’re only human” and then she caught herself because we both know I am not human. When I was feeling kind of bummed about it all, she said, “Give yourself a break, Rubin” and then I felt a tad bit better, but I suppose I’ll only feel better if I apologize directly to all of you.

So…I apologize for missing and misnaming my blogs. I’ll do my best in the New Year to keep up, but I suppose this is as good a time as any to let you know that my life will be changing after January 14. After January 14, we’ll be cutting back on our dog walking so Gretchen can work more full time at the pool. While it saddens us both to say goodbye to some of our most loyal clients, I know this is the best move for Gretchen who’s been working 12-14 hour days both putting in miles during the day and hours at the pool in the evenings.

She promises me that I will still get the same number of hours of play and walks and adventures and that I’ll get to go help her at the pool more often, but still it’s hard (as well as exciting) for both of us to make this transition. What this means for the blog is that I’ll be keeping a weekly blog instead of a daily one (though I might cheat and do a blog every couple of days). I know my grandparents will be sad about this because reading my blog is part of their morning routine — coffee, newspapers, and Rubin’s blog — but I also know they’ll understand.

But that, of course, is in the future. For now, I must catch up on all the activities over the past few days.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

It was a short but beautiful day. Gretchen walked Rosie and Tyson while I went out with Ann and my Auntie Jessica and her dog, Quillette. While I had a good time, it looks like Rosie and Tyson had even more fun playing fetch at the tennis courts on a cloud, crisp, blue-sky day!

I did get to walk with Saber and we headed down to the lake where Gretchen took us out on the dock. “I’m not sure this is a good idea,” I told Gretchen since Saber LOVES the water and would do just about anything to go for a swim…

…but even he had to admit it was way too far down to take the plunge.

So instead, we hung out in the sun as Gretchen tried to capture our silly expressions!

Friday December 31, 2010

And then we packed up the car and headed to the mountains! I thought it was cold on our side of the hills, but let me tell you, my paws were mighty cold in the 8 degree temperatures by the Wenatchee River. Here’s just a sampling of our time at the River…

That’s Lake Wenatchee on the left and the river on the right…

And this is me on both sides (tee hee) dressed for the chill (10 degrees in these photos), but I’m being very impatient. Good thing there is no sound in these photos because I’m whining, begging to keep going on our snowshoe trip.

I love to snowshoe and ski, but I wish Gretchen would buy me a set of skis and snowshoes so I wouldn’t have to wear these boots!

When we got done snowshoeing, I got to play with my little pink friend. She throws the ball for me and then chases after me. It’s the best game ever and would only be better if I didn’t have to wear the boots.

Still, it was mighty chilly and so I suppose the boots were a good thing.

Yep, it was so cold that the river got icy! I told my little pink friend to be careful or her tongue would stick on the snow. She didn’t believe me.

Gretchen and I went snowshoeing again the next day. I didn’t have to wear my coat this time, but I did run into some scary folks! That’s a unicorn bunny with a weapon (I’m a bit cautious as you can tell) and I think I know that masked woman!

I know you can’t tell from these photos, but we actually got a little lost. Thankfully, we were in a state park that went around a lake so once we found the lake again, we made it back to the car. Still, it was a long haul and since no one had broken trail yet, it was a difficult long haul.

I bounded my way through and Gretchen smashed the trail with her snowshoes. I’m not sure who was more tired by the end of the day, but both of us were a bit stiff and sore after the hike.

Oh and I had to cross this treacherous passage — it was a downed tree and it was laying across the path in such a way that we had to walk across the tree that had about 2 feet of snow on it. It was stretched out over the lake about 6 feet off the ground and even I, who is afraid of heights, made it across the 30 foot expanse. I was proud of myself! Still who was more tired at the end of the day?

Saturday January 1, 2011

The next day I met a new friend — Scout! — and engaged him in an icy game of chase!

Sunday January 2, 2011

We drove home…kind of boring, but then I liked the long nap in the car.

Monday (today) January 3, 2011

And finally, today. The past few weeks have been kind of slow with people on vacation, our travel plans, and the holidays so when we got back out on the road, I was kind of surprised at the 9 miles we put in. Whew…I haven’t done that for awhile!

First up were Gemma, Oshi, and Perrito. We hadn’t seen Gemma for awhile and though I stayed home (to rest), Gretchen said she was very excited to see everyone.

Gemma, as you can see, has a new collar — a Halti — which is designed to keep her from pulling. Much to Gemma’s torment, the new collar really works and Gretchen’s elbow is very very happy.

Oshi and Perrito are particularly wooly, which is a good thing since it was about 24 degrees this morning. Not the -5 degrees from our trip to Eastern Washington over the weekend, but still rather nippy for the start of 2011.

Oshi and Perrito were happy to have their wooliness!

The chilly day made for spectacular views and so Gretchen, Rosie, Tyson, and I walked up to our favorite viewpoint to capture the grandeur of it all.

Despite the chill, the sun felt warm and wonderful and we soaked it up!

Well, I soaked it up with my eyes closed! Rosie and Tyson were just waiting for a treat.

Saber was last dog of the day (he usually is) and we went for a long walk down by the lake and up through Frink Park. I told Gretchen it was a bad idea to try to take a photograph when we were surrounded by sticks, but did she listen?

I shook my head in disbelief! She’ll never listen!

Hard to say what makes Saber look up, but eventually he gets tired of the stick and raises his head. Today the sun caught him just at that moment and made him look sort of angelic.

Yeah right…

Still, I’m glad he looked up because the stick thing was getting annoying.

Okay, I’m caught up…whew. My paws are tired. I’ll do my best not to get this far behind again, but know if I do, it’s for a good reason!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Rubin