My Word

I always look back on the successes and failures of the Old Year and then set goals (rather than make resolutions) for the New Year. I'd never had a yearly theme though and I thought it was pretty interesting to discover what "word" for 2011 other bloggers chose for themselves. None of those reverberated in that inner place that tells me when something is right so I've happily muddled through January wordless. (Better make that "word-free" since my guys can tell you wordless I'm not!)

Well, one of this year's goals was to start walking again; I've been really bad about it but I actually had the time to take the Kharma dog and get outside this weekend. The trails were mushy instead of icy, so they were out. I could quickly tell that my usual hilly hike would be more than my post-holiday lassitude could handle, so I chose an easy route. Hey, I figured that a brisk walk on a flat surface was going to burn more calories than sitting on the sofa watching Season 3 of The Tudors would!

Once I actually got myself outside, the misty rain/snow wasn't at all annoying and I began enjoying moving some unused muscles and breathing deeply while Kharma investigated all the new scents in the neighborhood. I discoverd a previously unnoticed cottage with a green door that was the exact right shade I've been envisioning (third home on the left from the trail). I practiced some heelwork with my best girl since I had the forethought to store lots of treats in my pocket. There were ponds with unusual ducks and trees filled with shy little birds, all unfamiliar migrants that made me wish for my Audubon Western Birds and my mini-binoculars. Kharma enjoyed meeting new dog friends out for a walk and gloried in out-racing a speedy hunting dog in the pasture.

I came home pleasantly pooped, with hat hair and a muddy dog. I also brought home something I wasn't looking for. A word floated down into my hands, one perfect for 2011. You know how the world seems washed clean after a rain? And how energetic and vocal the birds are in spring? How everything seems filled with newness and possibilities? While I was surrounded by all that nerve-tingling delight, the word "fresh" popped into my mind and I realized that, while fresh described our day, it also epitomized what I needed from this year: freshness, a fresh start.

Other phrases began popping into my mind. Fresh outlook. Fresh snow. Fresh veggies. Fresh eggs. Fresh fruit. Fresh air. Fresh breath. Fresh paint. Fresh laundry. Fresh water.  Fresh flowers. See? This word has possibilities!

Down with outworn habits and useless complaints and poor-me groans and all the muck that I realize has been smothering any forward progress.

Fresh! It's a touchstone inspiring me to rediscover what makes me happy.

Fresh! It's my clarion call to change and reinvent.

Fresh! It's my new motto.

Our Day At The Lake

This is Quincy (now four months old) and his mom. Isn't he gorgeous? He's a very blonde golden retriever pup. They invited us--"us" being the K-dog and I--up to their lake cabin. It's become a much-loved summer tradition.

It's Kharma's favorite place. She enjoys swimming by the dock, chasing the ducks, geese and seagulls that hang around. She loves swimming as much as any kid and will spend as much time in the lake as allowed. Conservatively, she probably spent six hours in the water.
Quincy's mom gave her a new nickname--Air Kharma--because she pogos off the dock to get onto the beach. Any normal dog would use the ramp. Doesn't Air Kharma sound like a great name for an airline? Just imagine the commercials--"Fly Air Kharma and get your just desserts"--showing a girl and her dog lolling on a tropical beach. Okay, maybe I'm a little old for the girl designation, it's a granite shore, and Kharma's legs are filthy--but the delight and relaxation were primo.

Kharma's never been in a kayak before; I wish I had some photos of our struggles.

• Plan A was just have her jump in with me;
• Plan B was just to get her to sit;
• Plan C was to let her jump overboard and swim;
• Plan D was hauling her out of the lake and letting her stand on the kayak's stern;
• Plan E was letting her walk all over the kayak's deck until she fell off;
• Plan F was to give up and put her in her crate;
• Plan G was to give up kayaking and return to a howling dog;
• Plan H is to have her get completely comfortable jumping in and out of and sitting in the kayak on shore before repeating the same steps in the shallows before ever letting her in with me again.

This kayaking afficianado is determined to succeed in getting her on-board and calm!

The K-dog was much happier hiking around the lake--pushing through ferns, leaping creeks, dashing down into the lake, meeting other vacationing pups, keeping our beach free from marauding ducks, playing with Quincy and occasionally checking to see if I was napping or awake.

I had a very pooped puppy dog; she napped in her crate during the two hour trip and nothing, but nothing, that Zelda did could get her to play when we got home.

As usual, Kharma has let me know that if Quincy's mom wants to adopt another dog she'll happily change homes. (It's just her way of telling me she had a good time.) She'll have to settle for me, the frisbee in the pasture and hikes up the creek until next summer rolls around and another trip to the lake is on the calendar!

Clueless and loving it

I have no idea what date it is, 'cause I'm on vacation.

I do know that I get two extra days of someone else doing the cooking though. Does that count? You are thinking, she gets two extra days and wants credit?! She's lucky I don't deck her. I feel your pain, all you worker bees. Still, I earned the two extra days by being incredibly saintly while waiting for my sweetie to finish up while my son was having a birthday WITHOUT ME.

I'm thrilled that I've actually got an internet connection for a couple of minutes. It seems like ages (possibly it has been ages, see sentence one above).

I've been on vacation so long that I almost forgot my blogger password. That's long.

Today we played tennis, boxing, bowling, and golf. (Yep, my sweetie discovered the Wii once the younger set turned off Guitar Hero). I use "we" loosely since I sadly have no interest in it at all. I'm weird that way with computer games of any sort.

Continuing with the loose use of the pronoun: Today "we" dug up and carted two seedling cottonwood trees which actually look quite happy in their new home considering that it's 95 degrees out. I would have gone and helped but the menfolk obviously considered that my babysitting abilities were more valuable and went without me.

The Sandia Crest is amazing. Albuquerque is typical high desert and the Sandias don't look much different from down here. But our hike to the tram and Kiwanis Cabin was amazing, awesome, incredible, cool, shady, lush, flowery, slippery, interesting, easy, challenging and fun.

I can hardly wait to get back to my own computer and download the photos and show you how fantastic it was. I just love wildflowers and the Sandia Crest ranks second only to the Rockies near Yellowstone on my wildflower meter.

I have more petrified wood in my near future when we start back, so the memory of those wildflowers is going to keep me going.

p.s. I am a Nevada girl and the humidity here is killing me. It's the monsoon season and we've had rain showers daily and then 90 degree heat. Yuck. Thank heavens for ceiling fans. It could be worse, Reno was so smoky when we left that it was horrible. I'm hoping it's cleared up a little bit by the time we're back.

Busy Bees Make a Mess

I've moved from landscaping at the Queen Mother's (turning lawn into lilacs and roses) to my own nest. I'm bouncing from one project to another with enthusiasm.

• Two lavender bushes joined the other perennials by the mailbox, along with a hollyhock and a daisy mum. They should all love the sunny exposure there.
• I finished cutting the pussywillow branches into itty bitty pieces and loaded them into the garbage for pickup tomorrow.
• Then I disinfected my tools, since the willow has issues, and started pruning back the Japanese maple. Now the flower bed underneath it has some sun, finally. Wow! I've been itching to attack that maple for months; it likes its location way too much and just grew like a weed.
• Since I was in the vicinity, I began removing deadwood from the lilac trees.
• Now my front lawn is covered with tree branches and my garbage cans are full. Good thing they'll be empty tomorrow.
• I have three bags of books to take to the Paperback Exchange later today.
• As well as four boxes of goodies for the SPCA thrift store.
• The new motion detector light for the front porch is unwrapped, the instructions are committed to memory, and I'm ready to install it as soon as it cools down a little on the porch.
• Erkie Pie and I moved his hand-me-down patio table and chairs into our backyard.
• I watched the re-broadcast of Euro 2008: Netherlands 3-Italy 0. Ruud Van Nistelrooy is hot (and not just in scoring goals).
• I got up at 6:30 to hike with friends. Funny how quickly I tallied three thousand steps and have only added another thousand since.
• Kharma, the clicker and I are still working on backing up on command. She's getting the idea.

Time to scoot, empty my car of bags, select some new paperbacks and get started on the new light. I LOVE summer!!

Arbor Day

It used to be a cool hike on a hot summer day, winding along a trickling creek shaded by huge old Jeffrey pines. Kharma loved to alternate jumping the creek like a squirrel on a pogo stick and wading through it like a determined salmon. She'd gambol uphill and come crashing down at full speed through the loose soil. Inevitably she looked more like a chocolate lab than a blonde border collie when she was finished.

Then came the fire. It roared through the little drainage, consuming bushes and trees, cracking rocks with its heat. The windstorm it created scattered huge chunks of charcoal on our yard.

Today was the first time I'd been back. The lower approach was an unfamiliar-looking lunar landscape of blacks and greys. Gradually the trail wound upwards through what remained of the forest. So many of the century-old pines were blackened and sad. The fire crews' stellar efforts saved many of the larger trees. Yes, they had many toasted branches, but the tops were still green and the trunks weren't charred down below. They had a hopeful air.

Kharma and I were part of a community effort to re-forest Alum Creek. We had ten baby pine trees to plant with our team, a dad and his fourth grade son. We dug deep, planted tenderly, mounded soil and mulched with rock. The fourth grader acted as water boy, carrying water uphill from the creek to "our" trees.

Kharma pogo-sticked over the creek and splashed happily through the water as usual. She looked in vain for birds, lizards and squirrels to chase. She had black socks before long as the ash and charcoal began to coat her wet legs.

We're dirty and tired but happy. The century-old pines cannot be replaced easily or quickly, but we plan to nurture our baby trees, watering them through the summer, mulching them to retain moisture and watching them grow year by year.

Someday, someone else will take their dog for a walk through a cool and shady forest next to the stream. That'll be our reward. That, and this simple poem we found posted on a fence enroute. It resonated, especially on a day like this one:

Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like no one is watching.
Live like it's heaven on earth.

Amen.