Did Someone See Spring???

Okay, what did you do with Spring?

I buried it.

MISTY HAS BEEN ADOPTED

                                          GOOD LUCK SWEET GIRL

Listen, you have to "visualize" Spring... see, works for me!

We have lots of snow around here ... don't be fooled by Grover's picture it was taken last summer. Anyway, today is the first day of my six week vacation. It feels great not having to get up early to drive on our highways which by the way, are still hazardous winter driving conditions.

This morning Bear came to my bed to wake me up at 6:00 a.m. at least he let me sleep in as I usually got up between 4 and 4:30 a.m. every morning. I am going to have to get myself into a different routine around here so I am not up at the crack of dawn, no wonder I am tired during the day.

Well tomorrow is another day .... and we are all going to live our days to the fullest.

Cheers,
Jaime & Company

I am back ...

It's me, Angel. I am just hanging out today watching the world go by. Usually I am wired for sound, my owner tells me I have ADHD, the dog version. 

Yep that's Angel ... not a usual position she is in but she has taken to the couch as of late and watching TV.

I haven't been blogging to regularly over the past few months. I have been rather busy but things seem to be slowing down as of late. Well almost slowing down. I work my last weekend for training on November 15 & 16th.  

I am getting use to communiting to and from work. However, this will be my first winter out here in the country which should prove to be an interesting commute to work every day. Today, I am off and I am glad I am since the road report this am was for freezing rain and some of the hyways were closed. I go back to work on November 12th I hope the roads won't be icy. It is suppose to get warmer tomorrow. I don't mind snow on the roads but freezing rain makes for poor driving conditions for anyone.

My house in the city is still for sale and I have reduced it a few times. the market has all but slowed down these past months. But I am still glad that I made the move out here to the country. It looks like my house will be on the market over the winter. I know it's not the best time to sell. All it takes is one person to come forward and make me an offer I can't refuse!

Since my house in the city hasn't sold yet. I am unable to proceed with some cosmetic renoivations on my new place. But I do have fun making plans for when I am able to go ahead and put those plans into action. 

It looks like I am not going to retire for another year. I had hoped to be done in January 2009, but this plan will be pushed into 2010! I don't mind I will continue on until such time I am able to stop working and stay at home with the doggies and birds. By the way, I have sold all my lovebirds and have only seven budgies left!

Well I better close off for now as I do have some housework to do since just coming off of a 12 day stretch and needless to say my laundry and house work awaits my presence.

Before I sign off I should say the when I first started this blog I had intended to retire, purchase a RV and travel the country side. However, for now, and maybe for always, my plans have changed. I purchased a mobile home and property in the country. I was thinking about this change the other day when watching my dogs running in the yard. they have a bigger yard than they had in the city and are loving it. There is an addition which has french doors leading to the deck and into the back yard. During the day the dogs usually spend time in this room looking out of the french doors into the yard and barking at the cats which live just across from us. This keeps them busy when they aren't sleeping. They have settled in very nicely into a new routine. 

Cheers,

Jaime & Company

Home Sweet Home

This morning I awoke to the sounds of my chirping birds and the snoring of my dogs beside me on the bed ... home at last.

Since this is a weekend I am back into my routine of laundry, cleaning the cages, and playing with my dogs. I did notice the dogs have the sniffles, I am thinking it likely is kennel cough, they are vaccinated against it, and hopefully they will not get sick from it.

I am already thinking about all the work that awaits me when I return to work on Tuesday, then again, there is always work awaiting me whenever I arrive at work.

Moving on, I plan on rearranging my home office, the place I write this blog, as I can't see the top of my desk anymore. It's a sign for me that I need to reorganize and/or get rid of the things I no longer need. I have an invisible rule: if I haven't used it for six months, I need to rethink its value. If I haven't used it for the past year, it will go into the garage sale.

Would you believe I haven't had my first cup of coffee yet? Hard to believe isn't it? Therefore, I am signing off for now.

Tuesday: Day 2 of 5

I love this picture. I first saw it on one of the GSD forums. I loved it and thought I would share it with you this morning. You guessed it, I miss my dogs. When I awoke this morning, no dogs on my bed, to step over as I make my way in the dark to the bathroom, or to let outside and best of all, no standing by the back door in my bathrobe with my pockets full of treats waiting for the dogs to come back in. Nothing, just silence!

We are very much creatures of habit. In a couple of days I will be use to a new routine while I am away from home. I get up, get ready for the day, go down stairs, have breakfast and then make my way to the lecture hall. I am already tired thinking about sitting all day listening to someone talk. Wait a minute, soon it will be me up there lecturing to a group of people, I wonder if they will be thinking the same thing about me? I am here to learn how to deliver material to people by making it interesting and appealing so they will be motivated to integrate it into their daily lives to make their jobs easier. I am getting ahead of myself. I will explain more later.

We are so use to our own routine that any changes are not easily made especially when we are in "the last chapter" of our lives at least that's how it is with me. My current job keeps me very busy. The days seem to fly by and before I knew it we are weeks away from Christmas.

Speaking of time flying by, I had better get ready for the day. Coffee is made, Good Morning America is on the TV and my shower awaits. I wonder how my doggies are fairing in the kennel this morning? They too, are probably wondering what happened to them and where on earth is mommy?

I just finished a day of training and I am ready to enjoy an evening of relaxation. The day was jam packed with information, exercises and videos. However, by the time 3:00 p.m. rolled around most of us looked like the GSD's in the picture at the beginning of this blog. I am happy to report we survived and are looking forward to a day off from training to accommodate a change in our training schedule.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, November 7, 2007 is an Election Day in our province and being a government agency we had to cancel to allow people opportunity to vote. However, we do have to make up the day and extend our training session to Friday, November 9, 2007. On the bright side we will be dismissed early to accommodate the speakers flight back to Buffalo New York!

This afternoon I called the kennel to ask how my dogs were doing. Of course they told me they were fine and seemingly happy. I could hear barking dogs in the background but it didn't sound like mine. I know my dogs and each of their barks.

I will post more tomorrow and I think I will call it a night!