Trendy Pup

By the way... did I need to mention that Nola received tens of compliments on her booties doggy trail shoes??? Every person we passed (ok, not every person, maybe every other person [D agrees, I had to ask because you know, I don't want to exaggerate...]) commented on them! They either liked them, thought she was cute in them, or needed to get some for their own Fido.

(Total side note, Fido is latin for "faithful friend"/"i am faithful" -- sweet...)

Trail Dog Extraordinaire

The Blue Ridge Parkway is gorgeous, most especially during the spring and summer when the flora is in bloom, but I love it in the winter months because you can really see how its beauty gives it its name.

We drove out to Graveyard Fields (sounds creepy, I know... a fire burned the area years ago and the trees looked like grave markers so that's how it got its name) earlier today and hiked several miles. It was a perfect day to be outside. I think the high was 50 but with the wind it was more like 45 or a little below that. Above is D at the upper falls. We finally made our way there after a few horse trail side hikes.

Nola is the trail dog extraordinaire -- right! Actually, she was great. The trail was moderate, definitely not easy but not too strenuous either. Although there were parts that I would consider a little more difficult than others. I had to carry her across a few of the stream areas because I didn't want the water to get in her booties and keep her paws wet. Trust me, she would have LOVED to run through these little areas. I did let her go through some but only when the water was low enough not to wet the top of her paws.

We were done with the trail and thought we were also done with inclines... then we remembered the stairs we had to climb to get to the car. Ugh. We were tired. My legs burned from having to carry little Miss Sunshine over some of the rocks. There weren't enough spaces for her feet without a slick surface. Why don't dog booties come with vibram soles?!

Back on the road to the cabin, we decided to stop at an overlook to take a picture of Looking Glass Rock. This would have been a great hike but not something for our little trailblazer. I think it would have been way too difficult for her if not just down right impossible. The trail is pretty rough from what I understand, but the view is worth it. I actually liked looking at the rock from the parkway myself... but then, I'm pretty easy to please.

We're heading home tomorrow, but not before stopping by Waggers to get Sunshine Trailblazer a marrow filled cow bone (gross) for the ride home.

Cabin fever

Is this not the cutest little cabin you've ever seen?! Last year some girlfriends and I rented a cabin in Shenandoah and it was similar but bigger. Ours is small and perfect for the three of us. The heater is surprisingly warm and the kitchen is well equipped! I'll spare you the bathroom plunging story... just know that because men are dirty, messy manfolk, I ended up using Dawn dish detergent to scrub the floors after an unfortunate plunging incident that left puddles on the floor. If anyone needs a laugh let me know and I'll save that story for a rainy day! ;)

We got in trouble at this park... apparently you're supposed to have a "dog walking permit" to take your dog on the trail. It's $50/year! Silly. The warden stopped us and asked for our permit. I acted like I thought it was a rabies vaccination certificate and said we had it (I did, it was in my Nola-dog-pack in the car) but he informed us otherwise (duh). He even flashed his badge as if we needed to know he was truly the lake warden. It was funny. He was nice enough to allow us to finish our walk but was clear it was "only for today." It was a beautiful lake... the houses were gorgeous! We liked almost all of them.

Since it rained this morning we're saving our longer day hike for tomorrow. We spent today at a few shops around town. We drove out to some outdoor shops then hit up some dog stores for Nola. She ended up with a few treats that are impossible to find back home, and a few that are find-able at home but are more than twice the price. Needless to say, we stocked up. But I blame D for that since he started the trend with antlers (plural).

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Mountain Get-away

How silly are we?! We came to the mountains to get away from everything and this is what we did within about 15 minutes of getting our stuff in from the car. We had to plug the computers up in the kitchen because the cabin was built in the 1930s and has two-prong outlets... we needed three prong outlets. The only three prongs are in the bathroom above the sink and in the kitchen by the fuse box. So... here we are.



We found a great trail off the Parkway, the weather has been perfect!!! It was a little warm on the way up the trail but by the time we came back we were glad we'd brought our heavier jackets.

This picture makes me laugh...D was trying to be all serious and model-like but he was really about to crack up laughing.

Nola got antlers!!! D drove all the way to Roslindale (suburb right outside of Boston) to get Nola more antlers! She just finished the one we bought her in November. It lasted three months! She is in pure heaven. What you don't know is that I have about 14 other pictures of her in action on the new antler. Needless to say, she LOVES it. Happy Valentine's Day Belly!

I'm sure we'll post more pictures, we're internet addicts so expect nothing less than full updates periodically! :P

(OH MY! Guess what?! D likes to smell books too!!!! Amazing! Do you like the way books smell?)

Happy (early) Valentine's Day!

My shirt is SO famous!

So I'm watching HGTV the other night and they're advertising a new show, Generation Renovation... then... I see it! My shirt! It's MY SHIRT! I totally have the same one! Well, mine is light blue, but holy cow! How cool?!

I tried to find a clip of the exact scene I saw but I'm trying to get some work done today (okay, I pretend to work sometimes and am really reading blogs but... I think about working a lot).

Anyway, here's a picture from Gloucester that's on another blog of mine. And...here's the place where I got my shirt! The movie A Perfect Storm was filmed in Gloucester (MA) and the entire town (it's small) thrives around fishing. Since there is so much fishing, they have to have lots of ice to keep the fish fresh until they're back to shore. It was a neat place. They have statues to honor the fishermen who have lost their lives working on boats. The beaches pebble shores are small and have lots of huge rocks. It's really pretty.

If you visit Cape Pond Ice's website, you too can have a famous shirt!

Ethiopia

Last week I'd planned to talk (write) about Ethiopia. I think I mentioned at some point that I wanted to adopt and I've always known I'd adopt at some point. I don't necessarily have a country in mind although I've always assumed either Guatemala (because I have a random fascination with Guatemala, always have...) or somewhere in Africa. I'd prefer, of course, to adopt from Uganda, but to do that you have to foster the child for three years in the country and let's face it, the likelihood of that happening is slim.

Anyway, I came across Joy's blog via another blog (adoption of course :)) and saw a really cute bag she made. It was adorable so I emailed to ask her about making one for me (my sewing skills are soooo not quite there!). I got it last week and LOVE it (thanks Joy!)! I can't wait to start using it! I can't decide if I will use it for my knitting or as my "car" bag for travel trips. I suppose I could use it for either and all but then I couldn't justify another at some point. See how I roll? ;)

Here's my cute tote:


And here's my cute pup after our tiring day playing outside in the beautiful weather:
(By the way, you can't smell her but she smells divine! She's just had a bath and is obviously ready for bed!)

Oh! I almost forgot! Ethiopia! Later this month I will be matched with a child from Ethiopia through Hope Chest. Tom Davis, who wrote Red Letters: Living a Faith that Bleeds, has just returned from Ethiopia with information about children from a couple of orphanages. These children are not eligible for adoption and thus will always live in a home. I'll post more later. I'm not sure how much information I will be able to share but I will post when I learn more. It's very exciting!

On another note while I'm thinking about it -- Irene left for Rwanda yesterday. She's going to be getting in touch with Sister Pat and I'll know more about what transpired with the medical situation. I'm waiting to hear from Dr. Gleason to see if Hope Aid can be of any help too. Not too much of an update but hopefully we'll know more soon. I imagine Irene will email me when she's spoken to Sister. They'll be in Rwanda for a month so it could be a few weeks before I find out what's going on.

I'm looking forward to a warm week with temps in the 60s! Can't wait!

70 degree weekend

We decided to take full advantage of our 70 degree weekend and hit up the local park. There were at least 20 different dogs out hiking today. Nola would have no part of mingling, but then she's not been her usual self this week. Even at Petsmart this afternoon she was snooty. She's sleeping now so I hope she was just tired from all the activity...

Nola's pal Boulder (I named him! :)) gives his sweetheart a smooch!