Sh! Happens

Maybe it just seems this way, but sh!t always goes down when I have very little capacity to deal with it. We came home to this on February 10:

It had been perfectly straight when we left for work that morning.  Both puzzled it wasn't until Kevin went to check his email that the mystery was solved: our tenant happened to be home and sent an email saying she heard a loud crash and looked out to see a garbage truck (a local private company, not the city) back into our fence.  We are just happy that she was home and thought to tell us because there was no note, no message from the garbage company (not cool).

The timing couldn't have been worse since it was the first week of owning the clinic and Kevin's dad was in the hospital. He is okay, thank goodness, but for that week we were not sure and were really stressed about it.  Dealing with this as well just seemed like the last thing we needed. It several phone calls (like a dozen), going up the chain, having a police officer agree to file an accident report if they didn't respond to me (leaving the scene of an accident is a crime), getting progressively more lawerly, and giving a deadline ("if I don't hear back from you by EOB xx date, I'll be pursuing my legal options) but the garbage company did end up admitting fault and fixed the fence.

We came home one day to the fence being completely gone.  And then a few days later:

Fixed! Well almost.  We didn't know before this happened but the last fence post is wired for electricity.  There must have been a lamp there at some point.  The wires are still hot, which Kevin discovered when he went to put the cap back on and got a little shock.  I called again, telling them they need to send out an electrician to tape off the wires and put the cap back on but I haven't heard back from them yet.  Only 11 more calls until we get a response I suppose.

 


 

Eat the Freezer Month: Week 2

An update on how we did on our goal to clear out our freezer this week.  I am not including pictures this week for two reasons (1) I lost the SD card in my phone (long and boring story) and (2) the bad lighting made most of the food look like dog food, even on my dslr.  Except the pesto dish - that looked like dog vomit (red tomatoes + green pesto = not appetizing brown sauce).  Luckily, they all tasted good (even the pesto).

Monday: Veggie burgers (freezer) with harvest medley grains cooked in chicken stock (freezer) and kale.  It very closely resembled this meal.  I broke rule number 2 by buying the kale but (a) they're my rules, I can break them if I want to and (b) I was feeling like I needed some leafy greens.

Tuesday: Pasta with chicken (freezer), mushrooms, pesto (freezer), and tomatoes.

Wednesday & Thursday: Pork steaks (freezer) with potatoes and green beans (freezer).

And berries (freezer) topped a lot of yogurt again this week!

To prevent this from being the most boring blog post ever, some other updates:

• I'm using duolingo to learn some french before my trip.  Have I mentioned that I am going to Paris in May? I don't think I have.  Kevin is not, I am going with my mom and sister. #nohusbands #nokids.  This will make three times in the first half of 2014 that I leave Kevin to go off on my own (DC, plus an upcoming weekend to Philly, and Paris).  I'm going to have to get him a husband of the year plaque.  And hire a dogwalker so he doesn't have to do all the work at home.
• I'm sure you will all be shocked to know that I decided not to run the half-marathon at the end of April.  I debated it, but have been averaging one 3 mile run a week so it is not going to happen.  Maybe in the fall?
•  Roxy has good periods and bad periods in terms of pain.  Unfortunately, it seems like we are entering into a bad period.  She is limping a lot and we've upped her medications to compensate.  I hope this is just the down part of her cycle and not our new normal.

Probably still the most boring blog post ever, huh? Sorry about that.

The Country Animal Doctor

It has been a bit over a month since we closed on the veterinary clinic.  I now can spell veterinarian without hesitation, rather than checking for the red spellcheck line to appear (ironically, it did just appear under "spellcheck").  Before that my process was more like: "He's a veterar... er vetinar..., er animal doctor!" ;)

I did spend the first week filling out forms and wishing that it was called the Country Animal Doctor, but I imagine that would not be so great for SEO.  People search for veterinarians, not animal doctors and google guesses what you want even if you spell it wrong.

Some photos:

The building wasn't burned - I blurred out the dr name and the phone number, keeping us anonymous (in theory)

A really cute dog waiting for his bad day to start (he got neutered).  Actually, by the end of the day he was rubbing up against the cage trying to get me to pet him, so he didn't seem like he was that traumatized.

Another cute dog to come by that day.  I heard there was also a Great Dane, but I missed him because I was in the back filling out paperwork.

Sebastian, the office chinchilla.  Roxy was very intrigued the first time she spotted him.  I was a bit worried she was about to be bit on the nose, but they both emerged unscathed.  From instagram:

Roxy and Kinsey come with us on Fridays (hang out in the office with me) and have made themselves at home.  Roxy regrets being excited to come - so bored:

"Let's get out of here already, at least there are couches at home!"

In terms of buying the clinic - so far so good! I've become accustomed to working 50+ hour weeks (Kevin has been doing that all along) and while I am really tired Friday nights, I feel okay the rest of the time.  My coffee consumption has doubled though - I was drinking 1 1/2 cups a day (both in the morning) and now I'm up to 3 (2 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon).

Kevin has wanted to own a clinic for a long time now.  We searched (and made offers) all over the country and ended up finding one two towns away.  I hope owning/managing a business lives up to his expectations, since he's stuck with it now.

First Annual Eat Down the Freezer Month: Week 1

I've decided to start a new tradition in our house: March is eat down the freezer month.  We need to make room for the new growing season (even though it feels far away, it will be here soon).

The rules are simple:
1. As many of our meals as possible will come from foods already in our freezer.
2. No adding to the freezer unless the entire category is gone (for example, if we run out of vegetables we can buy more but not otherwise).

Our starting point:

How week 1 went:

Berries and cherries that were soon to be toppings for pancakes.

Veggie burgers with chutney and green beans from the freezer. I really liked the chutney, I will be making that again next fall.

I promise the green plant in the baggie is basil, not pot - that is not legal in NY (yet).

Tobie Ziegler approves

Pesto raviolis with bacon, scapes, basil and pureed tomatoes.

Berries topped yogurt a lot this week.

Stay tuned from more exciting updates from our freezer :)

What I'm Reading: Following Atticus

You were expecting a ThrowbackThursday for Pippa, weren't you?  I'm not surprised, since I did a #TBTRoxy and a #TBTKinsey.  Nope, I have another Kinsey-centric post instead.  Poor Pippa, she remains a third class citizen in our house. Here is one #TBTPippa:

This was the morning after Kevin brought Pippa home (best surprise ever!).  Kinsey was not sure what to make of her.  But anyway... on to the real post.  I'm reading a book about a small dog who hikes all the 4000ft high peaks in New Hampshire: Following Atticus.

I first heard about Following Atticus from 3upAdventures, a hiking/mobile living blog I've been reading recently. I am 40% jealous of their lifestyle (mainly the amount of hiking they get to do) and 60% glad I have a house with a stove (they have neither).   I was intrigued about her description of the book because I used to think that Kinsey was the most rugged small dog there was.  Kinsey is pretty rugged - he will hike up mountains and run long distances with us.  At 13 pounds, it is pretty impressive.  Here are a couple photos of peaks he's scaled:

Mt. Piscah, VT

Mt. Roberts, AK

A trail I can't remember, Douglas AK

But I think Atticus has him beat.

Source: http://tomandatticus.blogspot.com/

I haven't quite finished the book but it is providing the perfect entertainment for these busy times. It is light and moves fast (which is good since I've been reading it in 5 minute intervals).  A (sad) overworked man rescues a dog named Max who changes his life.  Max is older and is not around long before he passes away.  The man is forever changed by this dog and so gets a puppy and names him Atticus.  Atticus and the man (Tom) discover hiking and hike all the high peaks in NH.  Then they do it again, in the winter.  Then they do it again, two times over in the winter as a fund raiser for cancer.  I'm still reading about the attempt, I do not know yet if he succeeds.  Regardless, hiking up Mt. Washington twice in the winter is a pretty big goal!

Most of all it is a classic "man meets dog" love story.   The story is about Tom's love for Atticus and Atticus' love for Tom.  (I am pretty sure that anyone who says animals can't feel love for humans hasn't had dogs).  I love stories like this.  Even if the dog dethrones Kinsey as the most rugged small dog that lives.

Source: http://tomandatticus.blogspot.com/

Source: http://tomandatticus.blogspot.com/

#TBT - The Kinsey Edition

Things have continued to be pretty crazy around here.  Between my regular job, the clinic, and the apartments I don't have much spare time.  We've also been dealing with a family member's health issues (scary for a little while but things are looking up!) so I've been feeling very unmotivated to think of topics and post.  I hope you'll take another #TBT as my one post for the week.  Prepare yourself for a lot of puppy pictures because Kinsey was one cute puppy!

The story of how we got him is that he was part of an accidental litter of one of Kevin's clients' pets. She had gone through one litter of Brussel Griffons and decided breeding wasn't for her.  She hadn't gotten around to getting either the mom or the dad fixed yet and oops! she had another litter to deal with.  I was in the market for a dog (my cat Lulu had passed away about six months before) and so Kevin let me know that I could have one of these dogs.  The Humane Society in Juneau was like what every Humane Society should be - there was a waiting list for dogs! They also preferred people who didn't work full time (even if they were really active and had a veterinarian boyfriend like me) so even though I initially wanted a bigger dog, I decided to go for Kinsey.

The morning after we picked him up.  He had a rough first night but then in the morning had full blown Stockholm Syndrome and was attached to me at the ankle.  Because of what happened with Jasmine, Kevin was pretty careful to not show him too much attention the first few weeks.  Roxy was fine with him from the start.  In hindsight, I think the fact that he was a puppy, male, and never got bigger than her was a real plus.  She likes to be the queen bee and Kinsey has always respected that.  He's happy with his place at the bottom of the pack as long as he gets lots of attention.

The result of Kevin taking a back seat was that Kinsey has been my dog right from the start.  A breed trait of Brussel Griffons, they tend to bond to one person.  I used to say Kinsey likes Kevin more than random people on the street but in recent years he has gotten more attached to Kevin.  He will still pick me over him every time though.  It is okay, he is both Roxy and Pippa's favorite.  Unless I have food, and then game over for Kevin.

This is one of my favorite pictures.  I love how casually Kevin is holding Kins.

Funny story - we lived in Juneau, Alaska while Palin was governor and during the McCain/Palin presidential bid.  The governor's mansion was on my route to work so I walked past it every day (no, you can't see Russia from there).  For awhile we were on the same schedule and I would see her every morning and she would never wave or make eye contact with me.  This really bothered me, since I was obviously a constituent and saw her every day, she should acknowledge me occasionally.  Then, not long after I got Kinsey, I was out walking him and she drove by, smiling and waving.  Guys, I was starstruck.  I forgot I hated her for a whole week and just kept telling everyone "Sarah Palin waved at me!" Puppies are a game changer!

The beard growing in!

I'm so mean to him!

He's a happy little dog.  I've been feeling badly lately that we haven't been out running or for very many long walks.  Between being so busy and the bitter cold winter we've had Kinsey has been cooped up inside a lot.  I'm hoping the weather breaks soon and I can squeeze some runs in with him.  We'll both be better for it.