Camping and Hiking Weekend (and Race!)

Life's been a bit unpredictable lately...  Stefano came home for a visit the second weekend of July, but then his project kept getting pushed back little by little.  I was pretty upset about it since I had to still go out of town the week after his visit, and I thought he'd have to leave right when I was coming back.  But lo and behold, things worked out, and he got delayed through the weekend, and then delayed again through this week and weekend.  It's been so hot in Chicago, though, that it's not looking likely that he'll have to go back for much this summer, and they might just start up again in September.  We'll see.

But in any case, I was already planning on going up to the mountains to camp with Christine, Sean, and Jamie, since Sean was running a 50-mile trail run on Sunday (Leadville Silver Rush).  Yep.  50 miles.  Don't worry; I have zero desire to ever run for that long.  He was running for almost ten hours... And that was a great time!   He ended up finishing 10th in his division.

So instead of heading up to the mountains Saturday with just Christine, Stefano was home and I finished a day early, and the three of us headed up to meet up with Sean and Jamie on Friday night.  There was a complication finding a campground (a lot of them in the area are non-reservable, and they were full already when Sean and Jamie went up), the two of them camped by the roadside and Christine, Stefano, and I found an easier (and closer site) for the night near Dillon Reservoir.


View Hiking and Camping July 15-17 in a larger map




It all worked out well though.  The three of us got up and headed up to a trailhead near Leadville, did an awesome 6-mile hike, and by the time we were done, Sean had found us a campsite for the night (one had opened up since there was a mountain bike race Saturday morning, so some people were just camping Friday night).  We didn't make it all the way to the end of our hike (we were hiking to Native Lake) because it was getting a bit rainy, and the trail was very wet and marshy.  Even with it being the middle of July, there was plenty of snow left on the trail melting, and it was a bit of a mess.  I'll never complain about getting too much rain or snow though!


All in all, a great weekend.  Hopefully Molly camps a little better next time -- she was a bit whiny since we kept her tied up and she couldn't jump all over everyone else.  Sigh.  And she insisted on sleeping on top of my legs a bunch of the night in our tent.  Pictures after the break.

Hiking at Golden Gate Canyon State Park

I just realized today that I never posted this.  Woops.  Hike was the weekend before last, and Stefano's actually still home since his project is delayed.


Went on an awesome 6.5 mile hike today with Molly and Stefano (yes, he still exists! He's home for a visit!).


View Hiking July 9, 2011 in a larger map


Lots of pictures after the jump...

Very Squeaky Puppy

So Stefano's home for a visit after being gone for a month.  Molly was a little excited to see him...

Molly vs the Bath

I gave Molly a bath tonight, which of course made her miserable until the time for drying off came. She loves to run around, shaking all over the house (shedding fur of course). And I have to put a towel down for her so she can do this:

Happy Fourth of July

It just wouldn't be the Fourth of July in Colorado without going for a hike.  Christine, Molly, and I headed out first thing in the morning to Golden Gate Canyon State Park, in the mountains above Golden.  I got to drive Pepper up an awesome windy mountain road, and we picked out a nice hard (but short) hike to kick out butts.  Felt good, since we'd both been slacking on the running ever since the half marathon...


View Fourth of July Hike in a larger map

Molly was just looking at the camera, then as soon as I pressed the shutter, she snapped her head to the side.

And she did it again...  But Christine looks awesome!

Molly is a happy hiker.

"What are you waiting for guys?  Enough with the pictures!  Let's go!!"

So the hike was great.  Glad we got out there early; it ended up being a very hot day-- 101 in Denver.  And, it really wouldn't be a Fourth without grilling, so we had a nice spread of burgers, chips, and guac after sunbathing.

Apex Park

Stefano and I took Molly on her first hike on Monday.  She did awesome!! About four miles in about two hours, and she even learned to avoid mountain bikes and trail runners.


View Apex Park Memorial Day in a larger map

Not smog for once... Think this was just humidity!

Excitable Dog

Molly was very VERY excited to see Stefano on Friday night. He'd been in Chicago for work for almost two weeks, and I think she'd given up on ever seeing him again... Wish I'd gotten my camera out sooner; she was jumping all over him and rolling in his lap.

Hi Internet

I'd like to say that I've been too busy to update the blog, but really I just haven't been much in the mood. I feel like I haven't written a real post in forever.  So I figured I'd at least pop in and say hi, and post a picture of my wacky dog.  She likes playing in the hose water and getting all wet.

Stefano and his team won their hockey championship game, and then found out pretty much the next day that he had to go to Chicago for work.  So he's been there almost two weeks now, though I was able to fly out and join him for Easter last weekend.  We got to stop at my Grandma's and catch up over coffee, and had Easter with his immediate family, his grandma, and his great-uncle.  His aunt, uncle, and some family friends joined us later for the Hawks game-- it was LOUD!  Had a great weekend, even if I had too little sleep and too much food.  Oh well.

I did manage to run both days in Lemont-- a little over 8 miles on Saturday, with Stefano, which was very very slow and painful thanks to too many hills, and then a nice quick 3-mile recovery run on Sunday sandwiched between church and guests arriving for Easter dinner.

This week has been pretty quiet.  Still running four times a week, and my joints are really starting to feel it.  I feel like I have old woman knees today;  I kept almost gasping whenever I had to kneel to grab something off a lower shelf at the grocery store.  Oh and I went to the grocery store after work (it was mobbed.  Ew.  I actually had to circle around a few times and stalk someone for a legal parking spot) and bought a truly massive amount of vegetables.  Veggies make me happy.

Ok, spazzy tired Carrie signing out.  Time to go sleep so I can wake up, work, run, and sleep some more.  I guess having a routine is kinda nice.

One last thing-- I am still working slowly on figuring out nutrition info for the family recipes, but it's complicated by the fact that a lot of them don't have info on number of servings or serving sizes, which means I need to make the recipes and work it out.  And I haven't been doing too much cooking lately since I have no Stefano and it takes a long time for me to eat leftovers.

Funny Puppy Story

Molly is afraid of the vacuum cleaner.  This is a new development; she didn't use to mind it at all.

But anyway, it would make sense for her to run and hide, right?  Except that as soon as I started vacuuming the bedroom, she came in from the living room.  She was still keeping her distance from the vacuum cleaning, tail down, and shaking a bit, but she seemed to think that she needed to be there.  I'm pretty sure she thought she needed to "save" me from the evil loud vacuum, but was too scared to get close or try to attack it.  I eventually calmed her down and got her to leave the bedroom (she was kinda in the way...), but she just went across the hall to the office, and sat on the futon where she could keep an eye on me.

After I was done, I joined her on the futon, and she was very excited to see me.  And licked me all over.  And I could have sworn she was saying "oh, I was sooooo scared.  I wanted to save you but I was scared.  I'm sooooo glad you're ok!!!!"

She is seriously such a sweet dog.  And according to the vet this morning, she's all healed, and no more "cone of shame" or bandages!

Advice

Ok, so what would you do if you were in my shoes?

My neighbors, on the far side of the our duplex (so they're not immediate adjacent to us), insist on having their large poodle/lab mix, Jack, in their front yard, unleashed and out of control, at least once a day.  They have a backyard, so it's not Jack's only place to be outside, but they let him out in the front yard whenever they're outside doing yard work, playing catch with him, etc.

We have a backyard, but no door to it.  We have to go out the front door and up the driveway to get to the backyard.  It's not fenced, but we have a dog run so we can tie up Molly when we're in the backyard.

However, since it's a pain to go to the backyard, I usually let Molly out in the front yard, on a leash, whenever she has to "go".   But whenever Jack is out, I can't take Molly out in the front yard, because he will come over, jump all over us, and distract her from her "business".  The neighbors don't usually notice, and when they do, he doesn't come when he's called, so they have to come over and drag him back by the collar.  If they even bother to.  Usually I scoop Molly up and go back inside until they have the decency to control their dog.  He's about three times her size, and she gets pretty freaked out by him.

But regardless of if we're outside, Jack doesn't stay in their yard.  He wanders over into our front yard, up to our door, all over our porch, and they don't call him back until he comes back on his own or they have to go inside.  Needless to say, Molly gets very upset because like all dogs, she's territorial, and our yard is "hers".  Today she was growling, barking, and had her hackles raised.  And today, Jack decided to walk up our driveway to our backyard and poop!!  Of course, our neighbor had no idea, because she was on the phone and taking in the garbage cans.

So am I justified in being angry?  If you were me, would you say something to the neighbor?  What would you say?  Help!

Molly, Before and After, In Videos

Before:

After:

Cone of Shame

Molly is not very happy with her cone. Ok, she's not unhappy, she's mostly confused. And her back feet are bandaged because we got her rear dewclaws removed. And the bandage on the front leg is from the catheter. Basically, she's a mess right now. Poor girl!

Dog Park

We took Molly to the dog park this afternoon, just in case she was feeling unloved and un-played-with.

There's an old amusement park across the street from the dog park.

Run, Molly, run!

Molly stopping suddenly to grab the ball Stefano threw.  It was a bit dusty there.

Play-fighting witha another puppy.

Molly digging randomly at the dirt.

Oh, and Stefano is doing well, by the way.  He was working from home all week, and went back to the office on Friday.  Not much in the way of pain other than a little bit of a headache, and his only sign of surgery is that he still gets tired out pretty easily.  That's why I dragged him to the zoo and the dog park today after Molly insisted on waking us up at 8 by whining nonstop!! Wait, that doesn't make much sense.

Ok, done posting for the day, I swear.

Puppy likes to hide

When Molly was a little puppy, she crawled under EVERYTHING.  Couch.  Futon.  Bed.  Chairs.  Desk. Etc.  She doesn't fit under much anymore, but if she squeezes she can still fit under the couch.  She especially does this when she's feeling insecure. But it's pretty cute regardless to see her squeezed under there.

Apparently I need to upload pictures more often

So Stefano and I went to the zoo today, and I took a bunch of pictures.  With my real camera!  Not just my cellphone.  So I had to hook it up to upload pictures, rather than just emailing them straight to the blog (which is where most of my just-picture posts come from).

I hooked up my camera to upload pics, and realized I hadn't copied pictures to my computer since the middle of January.  Woops.  So here's some random ones for your consideration.  Lots of pics after the break, and zoo pictures to follow in another post.

Dog Show and Dog Park

Thoughts while I'm watching the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show:

It's really funny watching them judge the dogs with lots of excess skin (i.e. bassets and bloodhounds).  Their handlers are picking up the skin and holding it out of the way so the judges can see the actual muscle shape.

Really cute beagle!  He looked more like a stuffed animal than a dog.

I really wonder why the trainers all dress so terribly.  I know it's from the awkward combination of dressy + something you can run and move in, but why don't the women wear slacks?  Why the ugly frumpy skirts and flat shoes.


We took Molly to the dog park near our house for the first time this weekend.  She had a couple moments where other dogs bullied her, and she got a little freaked out, but for the most part she held her own and enjoyed running around like crazy.

Disjointed thoughts

Stefano and I are mad at the poodle because she woke us up at 4:15 a.m. crying.  I got up, got dressed, and took her outside, because I honestly thought it was time to get up.

We call her the poodle when we're mad.  Does this make us bad puppy-parents?

It's supposed to get up to 38° today.  I'm very happy.  It's also supposed to snow, but just a little bit, so we'll see.

Work is really slow this week.  It's a slow time of year for us.  It's really hard to stay motivated at work when you don't have enough things going on.

I'm still emotionally recovering from the conference.  Conferences take a LOT of energy out of introverts.  I'm still amazed that I managed to do it.

The poodle is chewing on her tail.  Weirdo.  At least she's quiet.  She has been so whiny lately. Crying for attention.  Crying to go out every 20 minutes.  Crying whenever either of us leaves the house.  Ugh.

Going out for sushi with Christine tonight :-D!  Stefano has hockey tickets, so we're having a girls night. And tomorrow is Friday!  Plan for this weekend: clean up the house and do laundry.  It looks like a tornado swept through the house.  Also, insulate the darn crawlspace.  Maybe go to the zoo if its nice out.

Nose smears

I'm sitting on the couch, watching the snow and taking a quickie sanity break from working, and I'm realizing that  my front window is completely covered in nose smears as far as Molly can reach.

Ahh the joys of pet ownership.  Guess it's time to get out the windex.

Oh, and I don't know if this is really weird or gross, but I pulled out two of her baby teeth yesterday because they were really loose and driving her nuts-- she was chewing ferociously on all her toys trying to get them out, and when she wasn't chewing, she was licking at them.  I saved the teeth cuz I'm a nerd and I think they look pretty cool.

Made it to the weekend!

This week felt really long.  Thankfully I'm only working three days next week, then I'll be at a conference the week after that.  And then possibly in Las Vegas for work.

I suppose I could catch up and post some of the cool photos I took this week while I'm waiting for Stefano to get home...

I went and watched Stefano play hockey on Wednesday.  Unfortunately they lost, but Stefano did take out the goalpost.  It must have said something about his mother...  Too bad I didn't get a picture of it.

 And then some other random pics from this week...

Molly has a new favorite spot, since we took the Christmas tree down and put the ottoman in front of the window.

I finally got some birds on my bird feeder!  I was super excited...  Still am, actually.

Ok, that's all.  Time to make dinner, since I am super super hungry and we have to leave for the airport soon after Stefano gets home.  Las Vegas, baby!  I plan on sleeping, reading my book, and getting a massage.  And nagging Stefano not to lose all our money at the blackjack table.

Drum roll please...

So we decided around Christmas time that we were going to spend the money to get Molly DNA tested to find out what she is... We (aka I) were super curious.

We got the results today...

Her eight great-grandparents are:

• Mixed breed
• Mixed breed
• Sheltie (maybe)
• Mixed breed
• Miniature poodle (!!!!!!!)
• Mixed breed
• Mixed breed
• German shepherd (maybe)

(The maybes are matches that they're not sure about)

She is seriously the muttiest mutt around.  Good thing we love her anyway.  So much for us thinking she was an aussie shepherd - border collie mix...

Doesn't she look like she's posing for a school portrait?